#4-21: Way of the Kirin [Tier 3-4] (Gameday 3) - GM Rutseg (Inactive)

Game Master Balacertar

"Before you answer, I do have a fun story of my exploit. A little while back there were some pirates that were kidnapping people. My party found the first little hideout and quickly dealt with those inside, but not before turning a few towards our cause. We then stole their pirate ship and set out for their secret cove to rescue someone of importance. When we arrived, I conjured up an illusion of the previous second mate and my party and I were able to walk right up to the main pirate without alert her to anything. We were then able to defeat the rest of the gang without endangering any of prisoners. Illusions are so much fun."

Amara Li smiles at Aikio story while Tsuneo seems really impressed saying to him "Your command on the fire is impressing maese Aikio. I hope you can make some demonstration later today."

Amused at Peck's story Tsuneo nods in agreement "Yes, Illusion magic is powerful in the hands of the swifts of mind."

When they are finished Tsuneo continues with his questions to the group "Sure, I hope I can explain some of the stories of my own. But first of all, listening to your experiences, it seems being a Pathfinder is something dangerous and often you take the lead in very difficult missions where the Society ask you to kill other people." Tsuneo raises up a bit when asking his question, looking face to face to each of the members of the bodyguard "As you explain it, it seems morally easy to be a Pathfinder, but I have usually found real world is complicated and often the borders of ethics blur. I got you just explained the most glorious of your moments, but... What I am interested to also know is, have you been forced to do something not honourable in your missions? Like being told to kill someone? And what happened."

"Honored Tsuneo...it is not always about killing others. As stated, we are mostly explorers. And I personally have not been forced to do something not honorable, maybe something disgusting, but that is all. When that happens, word gets out, and there is some snickering behind the back for a short time and then it washes away like the footprint on the beach.

Luminos shakes his head, "I've not had to do anything dishonorable in my adventures with the Pathfinders. There are times when some potential clients request such a thing, but we have always been able to satisfy the customer through other means."

Tsuneo nods to your answers and continues with his questions "So then, how does the Pathfinder Society reward honorable acts? And how does they treat their allies? In your own experience, of course, so please provide some examples of your past."

The samurai nods and speaks."It depends on the lodge. Some offer military commissions, other a nobelship and again others offer knowledge or training."

"Before all the changes in lodges occurred, I was on the path to become a trade prince and would be rewarded with cheaper prices for the same goods. Now I am rewarded in knowledge. The proper knowledge can lead to unimaginable glories."

Jules quietly continues her rounds
I am still here and listening

"There is a whole list of honors one can earn from prestige. Many of us get a valuable wand of healing after completing our first mission. Such a gesture offers 'nice work in a dangerous spot. please continue to live and to continue your work." Aikio ponders for a minute. "I was also rewarded with amazing powers to help find thieves of ancient treasures. I must get back to that chase soon, but the offer from one of the Jewel Sages themselves... speaks highly to how our allies think of us. Many of my early missions were to rescue the relative of an ally as well: the little girl in catacombs, the gnomes I mentioned before, the Blackrose family--lots of Blackrose rescues."

"Ha ha ha, that is true Aikio"

Aikio snaps her fingers to enjoy the resulting flame.

Tsuneo archs one eyebrow "So there are different factions within the Society? I thought you were a monolithic block. What are those factions can you explain me? I would also want to know more about your view of the Aspis Consortium. What are the differenc..." the samurai never gets to finish his sentence as he is suddenly interrupted by an explosion far away in the island.

"What was that?!" yells Amara Li as you all grab the table strongly.

Jules starts shouting from the house southern windows hurrying you to come and see.

The misty rain blocks direct view of the sunset. Slowly, the sky darkens with the coming night, only to start lightening again, perhaps a sign that the clouds are breaking to the south.

A warm, reddish-orange glow brightens the horizon. But instead of fading like a normal sunset, it glows brighter and brighter. The glow isn’t the sunset—it’s coming from the pier.

Luminos scrambles to man the catapult. "Can someone help me with the catapult? We are under assault!"

Operating the catapult requires 3 people working for 3 full-round actions to load and fire it.
The attack is resolved with the leader making a check with Base attack + K. Engineering.

When Tsuneo sees the glow he says "Hell! My ship and crew were docked there. Who is attacking us!? How did they found us?" he looks at you and Amara Li not sure what to think.

Jules will sneak down to the docks to see what is going on
Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
What I time for the dice to show there love!

Soon after Jules go out of the house she distinguishes large dozens of figures going up the mountain in the middle of the night.

They have lighted torches and seem quite confident to not find opposition, because they run up packed and fast, without trying to cover or hide themselves.

As she scouts closer, she clearly distinguishes at least half hundred regulars, a dozen of saboteurs and even a bunch of wizards, as well as some other figures she is not able to identify. She has to run back fast towards the house again, as they would otherwise be soon at a distance they can easily catch her by sight.

"My lady and Sir, please allow us to protect you. Stay here until we find out what is happening. Luminos I can help if needed"
I thought we had already loaded the catapult with a barrel of oil. It should be ready for one shot and then the 3 people would have to reload it right?

Yeah, I thought we had it loaded, but maybe it takes 3 to fire as well. One other issue, I'm not sure how we will reload, since we don't really have ammo, unless some other folks scrounge some ammo while 3 of us operate it.

You notice some stones near the catapult that can work as ammo. Seemingly, you realize the troops will likely not notice you until you fire the first time because of the mist. Indeed you mostly locate them thanks to the torch lights they are holding. Thus, the time to reload the catapult for the first shot will certainly be indifferent.

Luminos waves the party to him and whispers, "my plan is to light this oil and then launch the barrel at the front of their formation. I expect a deluge of flaming oil to coat the forward ranks of their assault. This should kill many and then slow down the rest as they attempt to pass an inferno of burning allies!!" You notice a tinge of excitement creep into Luminos's voice as his fiendish ancestry is highlighted by this diabolical plan.

Aikio snaps her fingers and a flame appears. "I studied how this thing works as well."
Did Jules say a hundred of them? with magic to boot?

It ate my post!
Jules comes running up to the catapult then dashes past and into the house.

"They are coming! Several large groups! Get ready.

Jules finds a spot and attempts to hide, waiting for the enemy to arrive.
Steath: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

As the scope of the invasion becomes clear to Tsuneo, he first accuses you of betraying him, but quickly realizes that’s not the case.

At that point he looks at Amara and says "I know how to summon help, but the assistance will take some time to arrive." He then approaches the chimney in the centre of the room and moving one statue in the side, a secret door opens with some stairs going down. Now, those are the stairs I forgot to hide in the map and you were guessing what was it :)

Amara Li turns towards you "This was totally unexpected Pathfinders. Everything depends on you now. Please, remain behind and defend the house. We need to divert the enemy attention from Tsuneo. You might be brave enough to hold off the invaders for a time, enough for Tsuneo reinforcements to arrive." looking at you with concern she adds just before disappearing in the darkness of the secret tunnel "I hope I can see you again. If not, I will make sure your sacrifice is known and well served."

At the same moment Jules arrives giving the alert and explaining the kind of foes approaching the house.

Please, whomever decides to shot the catapult, remember you need 2 more people helping you to load and shot, and very important, attach an attack roll: K. engineering + BAB
You can as well use area spells, but other ranged attacks, like a bow, will be meaningless to reduce the assailants numbers.

"How soon before they get here?”
Aikio has +10 with the catapult. She'll either take lead or aid.

You took almost an hour to get here, so you can guess between 30 and 50 minutes at current movement rate. But it is not really relevant for the scenario unless you want to change the defences you deployed before.

Luminos is +11 KN:E +1 BAB = +12, so I guess Luminos will make the attack roll. I'm guessing 10' range increment bombs aren't going to be of help? They can be stink bombs, 5' radius and then 10' radius stinking cloud. I'm guessing they will be helpful once the horde is upon us.

"Come on folks, we have time to fire the catapult a few times, help me!"

I think we can assume the Samurai will help you and Aikio with the catapult, thus, you can proceed.
I guess those bombs will come handy at some other phases of the scenario :)

I would need 15-30 minutes to prepare my open spell slots. Create pit & a first level AoE...? If that's possible.otherwise I will focus on catapult. :)

Go ahead if you wish Aikio. I cannot ensure though you will have the time, so it is a bit of gambling for you there ;)
With only 2 people loading and firing the catapult I will rule it to be 5 rounds work.

"Jules, come out of hiding, we could use your help over here. You will have plenty of time to hide before the army reaches us! Also, can anyone give me any spiritual guidance or any other means of help?"

Spitting in his hands the samurai aids Luminos in reloading the catapult.

"Peck, can you help us on the catapult as well?"

DM, can folks aid my roll? Also, once the army is about 10-20 minutes away, Luminos will consume his cognagen to gain +4 intelligence, which would actually raise his KJ: Engineering by +4. I could do it earlier, but doing it then will make his bombs extremely potent...

Aikio will work the catapult instead of filling her remaining slots.

Is not possible to aid in this attack. In fact others aid is already taken into account to operate the catapult.
Indeed you cannot really target properly, you are attacking most blindly, without really knowing where and what are you gonna hit.
I will move on once we have a catapult attack.
Please, feel free to cast range area spells as well.

Aikio go ahead and work on your stuff. I can help with the Catapult.

Yes Luminos. I too have knowledge of catapults and could do more good out of direct combat. By the way, did I mention that I love illusions? I can maintain them without a second though and confuse or slow down the enemy...maybe in the kill zone?
kn E +bab =10

Sorry Crystalstorm was pretending to be me :( wrong toon!

What kind of illusion will you use Peck?
The module states nothing about illusions, but if you come up with a feasible and creative idea that has sense, it might alter a bit the encounters.

With the help of his allies, Luminos lines up the catapult and is about to fire the barrel of oil before yelling, "Aikio, light the barrel!" and then waits for the spark before launching the barrel.

KN:Engineering+BAB: 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 11 + 1 = 29

Luminos directs Aikio and the Samurai to help him with the catapult, setting each string on place and loading the oil barrel as ammo. They start moving the catapult in an approximate direction they expect the attacks from. When some lights spots appear closer to the house, making a good guess about the range of the siege machine, Luminos orders to fire it.

The big barrel flights from the courtyard igniting in fire as it flies thanks to Aikio intervention. The thing spins in the air and you can see the face of the astonished assailants as the barrel comes closer to them. With a terrible BAAAAM! the barrel hits a column of troops and the oil within it splashes in all directions setting on fire even more troops and making into panic another bunch.

The fire set helped the group to better asses the shot, which improves the way you can through more ammo. +2 to your attack with the catapult

Even then, other columns continue climbing up the hill. They are half the way already.

Round 1
You decimated part of the attacker numbers, so less will arrive up, good job for now ;)

"Great job pathfinders!!" Wanting to give a high-five to the rest of the party, Luminos continues his task of loading and adjusting the aim to cause even more devastation with the next shot.

KN:Engineering+BAB+Bonus: 1d20 + 11 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 11 + 1 + 2 = 28

"Squeee!"

"ahem," Aikio recovers from her outburst and returns to work on the catapult. She is too embarrassed to make eye contact with anyone, but she also cannot help looking at the 'flames of their labor.'

I will be using silent image to create a wall with spikes, kind of like sharpened logs cut to stop a charge, on both sides of the walk way to funnel the attacking group together. I can place it about 400ft away but up to 560ft away. I would attempt to place it about 100ft in front of the enemy line. I would separate the illusion to put 40ft wide x 5ft high on both sides using wood that appears from the surrounding area. I can maintain illusions as a swift action and would continue to do so while working the catapult.
Let's blow a few more up!!! I am going to attempt an illusion to funnel them together

The catapult crew load the siege engine again and Luminos directs it towards another column climbing up the hill.

The barrel flies free as precisely as the first time. The hit is total and another bunch of troops are devastated by the strike. Fire splash with the oil burning more men.

As they try to fly away to saver place, they found suddenly a sharpened wall of spikes. Most of the troops look confused around trying to get orders, the army slowed down.

Meanwhile the party loads again the catapult. In the field some officials start shouting new orders, the regulars start scattering and turning off their torches.

The night fells over the hill and the house. Nothing else than the mist is seen now, and further shots by the catapult results in hitting less than a single lost man, at most. The enemy is disappeared and advancing with a better individual strategy.

Even if you cannot see them, you can assess they will reach the house in around 10 or 20 minutes.

Jules quickly climbs the stairs to the second floor and hurries to a window. Opening the windows she scans the area for something to shoot.
I have a readied action to fire my bow at the first target I see

Luminos heads towards the house, "ok friends, now that we have softened them up, let's hold down the fort... literally!"

I will move the illusion to be set up right outside of the house approximately 5ft away from the building, at the same time also moving up to the top of the house after it is in place.

"can we set this to explode if they try to use it? Or set it to throw someone over the cliff?" If not Aikio sts the ropes on fire before retreating to the house.