#7-21: The Sun Orchid Scheme, with GM Pendrak (Inactive)

Game Master Pendrak

kiaru tries to hit blue aspis but fail
elven branched spear: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Pai narrows her eyes, curling her lip in disgust at the Apsis agent closest to her as she sidesteps to keep some distance between them. She then raises her hand. From it issues a sizable blast of crackling, bluish-white lightening bolts, whizzing towards his chest.

Electric blast: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 - 4 = 191d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Vs. Touch AC; -4 to fire into melee

With a loud *ZAP* the Aspis agent goes down, writhing in the sand as he is wreathed in blue electricity, and falls unconscious.

Huni is up.

Did the agent Huni punched go down? I should have noted which one was attacked. If not, he gets Bleed: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Huni goes after green (or a different agent than his last attack) with a back kick to the stomach.
Unarmed Strike: Belier's Bite
to hit: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26 to hurt: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 bleed: 1d4 ⇒ 2
Confirm Crit
to hit: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18 to hurt: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Did the agent Huni punched go down? I should have noted which one was attacked.

Yeah, it was the same one that Huni attacked that went down (green), so it'll be blue that you go for. Nice critical, combat is going exceedingly well for you guys in the adventure. Actually, to be frank, you guys have just been rolling like crazy this whole time.

Huni's back kick shatters the ribs of the Aspis agent, and he goes unconscious from the shock.

"You fools!" shouts the Aspis leader,"I guess I'll have to take care of things myself."

She pulls a vial of alchemist's fire from her belt, and hurls it at the orange tent, which quickly takes to flame, the fire licking up the oil as it spreads. Zzorn is feeling the heat from inside.

Zzorn takes 3 points of fire damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Reflex save or catch fire, but the documents are safe. The fire could be extinguished with a DC 15 Survival check, or by other means.

Tanto is up.

Reflex save DC 15: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Zzorn pats down the droplets of alchemist's fire that threatened to com-bust his sleeve using his cloak.

On his turn, Zzorn attempts to bowl over the Aspis Leader

Breaker Rush, Rage, Charge: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 7 + 2 = 11 vs. Aspis Leader CMD for 5 = 5 bludgeoning damage and prone if CMD exceeded by 5.
GM 3-star reroll: Breaker Rush, Rage, Charge: 1d20 + 7 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 7 + 2 + 3 = 27 vs. Aspis Leader CMD for 5 = 5 bludgeoning damage and prone if CMD exceeded by 5.

AC 15: charge, rage

nice efects on tent, can u explain how set up?, waiting for others to move

I'm going to have Tanto delay down to where the rest of you are in initiative. The tent was done by Zzorn, by the way, I don't know how to do that.

The remaining Aspis soldier steps up to fill the gap filled by his fallen co-workers. It would be dishonest to say that he was thinking of avenging them, rather all he could think about right now was how much bigger his cut was going to be. With that, he took a cut of his own at Huni, which doesn't live up to his expectations.

Zzorn came storming out of the tent, and attempted to rush through the Aspis leader's space, knocking her down if she tried to stop him. However, she did not try to stop him, wisely, simply stepping aside as he passed through like a freight train.

Sorry about that Zzorn, but she is intelligent and tactical enough not to try to resist an overrun attempt. You can keep your reroll though, because she would have avoided you, so you wouldn't have ever even rolled for the attack.

Map

Tanto, Yoon, Huni, Pai, and Kiaru can act.

Yoon is slightly shocked that they shook off the damage and thus again fires a blast.

fire blast at guard: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
fire blast: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Yoon's fireblast goes over the Aspis agent's head.

Tanto, Pai, and Kiaru can act.

Pai takes a 5 foot step toward the red guard, a large collection of bluish-white lightening bolts blasting from her palm towards his chest.

Electric blast: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 - 4 = 81d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
vs. Touch AC; -4 to fire into melee

kiaru makes an acrobatic move to avoid the enemy's attack and strike him in the back
acrobatics check: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
elven branched spear attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
elven damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Pai fires a bolt of electricity that whizzes past the guard. Kiaru tumbles past with less skill than intended, but the guard cannot take advantage of the opportunity, swinging his longsword wildly at the passing elf. Kiaru, once in position, delivers a painful stab with his elven spear.

Huni and Tanto can act.

Huni adjusts his postion to take advantage of Kiaru's presence then punches out at the last guard.

Unarmed Strike: Belier's Bite, flank
to hit: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 6 + 2 = 12 to hurt: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 bleed: 1d4 ⇒ 3

The guard, although he is badly hurt, is able to sidestep and avoid Huni's punch.

Tanto can act. I'll give him a few more hours before I bot him, so we can keep moving. We're on the final stretch, you gives are kicking butt!

Tanto draws his last poisoned blade, stepping forward and stabbing at the last guard.

Dagger (melee): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Drow Poison DC13

Tanto's dagger misses it's target.

The woman who appears to be in charge here steps back after avoiding Zzorn's overrun and fire's her hand-crossbow at the warrior, but the bolt isn't strong enough to penetrate Zzorn's breastplate.

The remaining Aspis thug looks over his shoulder, and seeing his boss still fighting, he turns, drops his shield, and makes a powerful, two-handed attack at Kiaru with his longsword. But the elf is far too nimble, and his aim far too poor: the attack misses badly.

Zzorn, Yoon, Pai, Kiaru, Tanto, and Huni can act.

Yoon fires another blast and shouts "I am so sorry! I cannot control the fire so well, yet!"

fire blast at guard: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
fire blast: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Zzorn 5-foot steps towards the Aspis Leader, and while raging, yells "Now lady, no one needs to lose their life over this! Surrender and we will see that your men don't bleed out!"

Ready action to strike if she doesn't surrender

Ugh! All these big guys are blocking me! As there isn't enough room for Pai to slip through without getting uncomfortably close to the last guard, she begins to dash around the tent to her left. Double move

Kiaru sent a powerful blow to the guard

elven bs: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
bs damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

"Surrender? You must be joking," says the leader with a smirk.

Kiaru is unable to make contact with the Aspis agent this time.

Tanto and Huni can act, and Zzorn can take his readied action to attack.

If she reaches for some bomb or make any otherwise hostile move, then yes, Zzorn will strike pre-emptively
"No, no, no, no, no... lady... DON'T!!!" says Zzorn as he strikes her to prevent her hostile action.
Readied action to strike, rage, power attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27 for 2d4 + 10 ⇒ (1, 4) + 10 = 15 slashing damage.
oh boy...
CONFIRM CRIT: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 for 2d4 + 10 ⇒ (4, 3) + 10 = 17 slashing damage.

Oh, oh! The lady is cut in half! :-D

Huni continues to press the last guard. He performs a flying kick at him.

Unarmed Strike: Belier's Bite
to hit: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21 to hurt: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 bleed: 1d4 ⇒ 2

The Aspis leader reaches for her rapier, and Zzorn strikes, nearly cutting off her hand and cutting through to her chest for a almost-fatal blow.

Huni's flying kick blindsides the remaining Aspis agent, who goes sprawling, unconscious and bleeding as well.

The fight is over, and four Aspis Consortium soldiers, including their cruel leader, lay bleeding to death in the sand. The tent continues to burn, but the documents that were within are safe.

Yoon immediately tries to stabilize the fallen.

Huni will Channel Positive Energy1d6 ⇒ 5 for everyone in the group and their Aspis prisoners.

He'll also do several castings of Create Water over the tent in the hopes of saving as much evidence as he can.

Zzorn hugs everyone, especially Huni, "You wonderful, wonderful magic man! may the gods bless your kindness! let's bring them back for detention once we're done looking over the documents!"

Zzorn starts looking at the documents, putting notes and bookmarks to indicate how they were found, while it's fresh in his memory.

Pai, seeing that the big folk have the situation under control, turns to search the rest of the camp for information and items.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Kiaru is responsible for tying the guards and their leader with a rope.

"Very impressive! Tanto commends his fellow Pathfinders, switching into kitsune fox form to hide the red flushes of embarassment of his less than amazing personal efforts.

The kitsune then searches the bodies of the fallen Aspis for anything of value or interest.

Take 20 on Perception if needed.

Positive energy emanates from Huni, stabilizing the fallen and healing his fellow Pathfinders.

There is little else of interest in the camp, but on the bodies of the Aspis agents, a number of items are found.

Among the documents from the orange tent, Zzorn finds many interesting pieces of information. First, the Aspis seem to have bribed a local Water Lord to provide this oasis where the group could operate in secret. Aspis spies used this camp to exchange notes, smuggle contraband, and plan their next moves unmolested by the Water Lord’s enforcers, so long as they work under the Consortium’s banner.

The records also show that Prince Zinlo and the Aspis Consortium conducted extensive trades with each other at favorable rates. But more importantly, the notes further detail Prince Zinlo’s involvement in the Consortium’s scheme, including a detailed provenance of every resource he provided the Aspis agents (mainly information about the Emir’s planned defenses). In addition to some of the information the party discovered at the workshop and barracks, the note describes plans to send multiple decoy transports to confuse would-be-thieves and to move some vials of the elixir “by other means entirely.”

These documents are of particular interest to members of the Sovereign Court faction, as they provide a detailed account of Prince Zinlo’s political maneuvering throughout Thuvia, both in public negotiations and black market dealings.

If you wish you can attempt to interrogate the fallen Aspis, or you can proceed back to Lady Ziralia’s camp to report.

It's not really in Zzorn's character to interrogate, unless via Diplomacy; but if the module has an alternate social encounter mechanism for it, I won't be opposed should anyone want to try that route! I'll just be the grim-looking dude standing in the corner! :)

"Fellow agents... I am unsure if we should reveal the extent of Lady Ziralia's father's involvement with the Aspis Consortium. Surely this is proof here that he planned to 'guide' the Sun Orchid Elixir to his hands rather than have it delivered to the Emir Guldis in Pashow. Because she is Prince Zinlo's daughter, it also brings Lady Ziralia's motives into question. Perhaps Lady Morilla would be the logical first step for our report, as she can weigh in and decide how much she trusts Lady Ziralia."

"Oooh! I hadn't thought of that. But what if Lady Ziralia finds out? At the least she'll be irritated, but what will she do?"

Yeah, there's no special mechanic here.

Yoon is really hurt when she hears about the scheme of Lady Ziralia's father "You are really mean people! If you want to us give the authorities good reasons to treat you fairly I hope that you are wise to tell us all you know!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Once rendered conscious, the Aspis agents seem ashamed by the child's words, with the exception of the leader.

"Sorry kid. We don't know much. Ivira’s boss hired us to help test the sun orchid elixir’s defenses. The only other information we know about the person who hired us are a pair of initials, K.A., from the bottom of the letter explaining our duties."

The female leader, who must be called Ivira, keeps completely silent.

Huni has no questions for them. He stands guard to make sure they are all appropriately pacified.

Pai's eyes narrow, and she commands her comrades in a hard voice full of authority, "Everyone step back."

She plants her feet with menacing purpose before the Apsis leader, holding her hands out to the sides, her palms facing the sky. Locking eyes with the leader, a terrible expression on her face, she calls forth lightening, gathering power in a roaring, booming, cracking display for a 20' radius around her. It harms no one, but all within its range can feel the power, heat, and static electricty of the bolts of lightening zapping around them.

"Tell us who you are working for and what you were assigned to do!"

Intimidation: 1d20 ⇒ 20

She lets the lightening gather a moment more, swirling around her in a torrent of bluish-white-hot bolts, then releases it in a wild burst of powerful energy. With a look of cold calculation, Pai stretches out one hand, her palm aimed at the leader's chest. She cocks her eyebrow, waiting for her answer.

Pai takes 2 points of burn (non-lethal damage)

Yoon is really impressed by the display!

"Woooww ..." she says silently.

Kiaru is surprised by Pai's interrogation skills and especially the flames emanating from her body

Tanto was about to pull out a dagger and 'menacingly' twist it around his fingers or start to sharpen it as an intimidation technique, but let's out a bit of a gasp and steps back to let the pro do the talking.

The kitsune also heartily agrees with the suggestions to report back all findings to Lady Morilla...her being his faction leader and all.

The rank-and-file Aspis agents are terrified, and seem ready to give up their grandmothers to avoid Pai's wrath, but the leader is made of sterner stuff. Nonetheless, she does blurt out one statement before falling silent and refusing to elaborate: "I'd rather die than face the wrath of the gold agent of Aspenthar ..."

It would seem that nothing more can be gleaned from these criminals.

Soon the group is back at the rendezvous point, and Lady Ziralia is eager to hear all about the adventure.

"I must express my most sincere gratitude for your help. I can see to it that these people you captured are turned over to the proper authorities."

"I should have never doubted the Pathfinder Society. So, who were these other infiltrators? Who were they working with? And furthermore, tell me what you think about the convoy's defenses? How might they be improved? What should we do differently moving forward?"

I take it that she's not working for her father on this yes? if possible Zzorn and Tanto have a secret meeting with Lady Morilla before we go to Lady Ziralia

Zzorn describes the entire operation conducted by the Pathfinders, including who were the infiltrators, and that they were working for her father Prince Zinlo. On the suggestion for future improvement and defenses, he has the following:

1- The construction site for the transport should be remote with site perimeter surrounded by watch towers. No guests should be allowed, and each worker should be magically inspected in the morning and at night. A workers' camp should be setup for the entire duration of the transport's construction.

2- Only one transport should be used. The use of decoys introduce points of weakness in the operation that can be exploited by outside parties.

3- The transport should fly, not hover, and should be escorted by knights and archers riding flying mounts. Investigate existing airships used elsewhere in Golarion. The transport should be invisible or cloaked in fog. Even better would be the use of magically altered weather to create an overcast day with the transport flown above cloud cover.

4- The interior of the transport should be manned by real people, not constructs.

5- Protective detail for the transport should use far-reaching scouts and spotters. Regions like narrow canyons or urban alleys should be avoided.

Realistically you wouldn't be able to meet with Lady Morilla before seeing Ziralia at the rendezvous point. You don't think that Ziralia is working with her father, however. Their two operations to test the convoy's defenses (with the Pathfinders and Aspis respectively) seem to have been independent and for opposite reasons. In fact, Ziralia seems like a prime candidate for a group like the Sovereign Court, because she seems to support the general good over any particular city-state or nation, unlike her father who seems to be bent on trying to dominate all of Thuvia.

Pai stands in the back during the briefing, letting the pros do the talking. In the desert, she was impressed by the leader's perseverance and strength of character. She just has one question...

As Zzorn is relating the information about the Apsis agents, Pai pipes up. "Do you know who the gold agent of Aspenthar is? The Apsis leader said she'd rather die than face their wrath. That's all we could get out of her."

"I believe that Gold Agents are fairly high ranking in the Aspis Consortium. But no, I do not know who serves them in that capacity in Aspenthar," says Lady Ziralia.

"Better trained guards would vastly improve security. The people guarding the caravan carry the weight of your country on their shoulders. They need more than a short training course to perform their duties properly."

Zzorn nods at Huni's statement, "With the guards currently employed, you're begging for the Sun Orchid Elixir to disappear. I'm still not clear as to why your country is opting out advanced magic transportation solutions, or why the customer doesn't travel to the location where the blasted potion has been created, but if you insist on physical transport, you'll need an experienced adventuring well versed in the arts of stealth, combat, divine magic and arcane magic."