Cele's Jade Regent

Game Master Celestine8

Don't worry, most people probably know Sienna just because she is Sandru's sister. Sandru is fairly prolific in the town, she just doesn't know anyone personally aside from a few. So you likely know her name, she just didn't know yours until you said. Though her thoughts were more about Walfus not you. Sorry if it seemed that way.

Ah, okay... no problem then

I think Sienna was referring to Walthus knowing who she was, no Hijiro. Sienna, 20 is the DC, so you can heal lethal wounds on him, patching him up a bit

Kravo identifies this strange aberration as s stunted faceless stalker. They're normally larger than this one, but there could be many reasons for its smaller size. Faceless stalkers are shapeshifters that take on new forms to gain territory and access to prey. They have skin resistant to bludgeoning, normally and gain a burst of energy when they shift back into their normal form during battle. They are immune to attacks that assault the senses while in their natural form and cannot eat solids in any form, using their three hollow tongues to consume fluids, including blood. Their blood drain attacks leave foes physically drained and weak.

"Thank you, I'll do that. It's been a while since I've spoked to Koya. It'll be good to do that again. What brings you out here? Not that I'm complaining, of course."

Balthazar rolls out one end of his rope and holds it in front of Kravo. "Two 5 feet segments ought to be enough to tie his hands and ankles. Kravo, would you care to cut it? I'm not carrying any blades. Also, my vows stop me from touching this creature, so I must ask you to tie him yourself. I can help with the knots, though."

He overhears Walthus speaking Koya's name in reply to Sienna's advice to go see her mother. Who would have thought! This girl is that same Sienna, Koya's adoptive daughter. What is her brother's name again? Sandru?

Sienna clicks back to the thought of the goblins, her eyes show a bit of anger and grits her teeth. She then calms herself before continuing to speak.

"Well, we were here to ask about the best direction to approach Old Fish Trail as we are hunting some goblins that have caused some ... problems ... as of late. The sheriff back in Sandpoint isn't too happy with the situation." Sienna mutters under her breath angrily "Then again neither am I..." Sienna continues "So would you know anything that might help?"

Walthus nods, "The goblins have been braver than normal. Damn buggers, don' know where they got those fireworks, but I see 'em often 'nough. You can try fording a river, but I wouldn't suggest it. Go back onto Old Coast Road and take the road farther to the south. The road goes west. Cross the first bridge and take the fork to the right. Jus' be careful though. There's something else out in the swamp nearby. A pale thing, looks sort of like a man from far away. Leaves animals all mangled, 'n stuff. I'm much obliged to you, and if you need a place to stay, you can stay here. If you need help out there," he pauses, takes a deep breath to collect himself,"I'd help you out there, too."

"Thank you for all the information, Walthus. We'd love to have your aid but you don't look like you're in any shape to join us. Perhaps if we have to return later to rest, and you're feeling better, your help 'out there' would be most welcome."

Suddenly Sienna's face shows signs of panic.

Wait that fog, weather, thing, demon .. is real?! Stay calm, stay calm.. ahhhhh. Why does it mangle animals? Am I going to end up like that if we see them? Why does it hunt like that? What's going on .. why the fog?

Sienna seems to have ignored the rest of what Walfus said and she stares at the floor.

Walthus shrugs, "I'll head out to see Koya in a bit. I'm not feeling up to walking back to town just yet. I can patch myself up a bit and take it easy for a day or two. The offer stands for you to stay the night here, if you find yourself out here at night. I wish you luck with the Licktoads, but could you also see what happened to Old Megus. I haven't seen her lately and she knows the swamp even better than I. I just don't want to think that what happened to me... coulda happened to her."

After the shifter is tied up, Balthazar turns his attention back to Walthus and the others.

"We can check on Megus, too. We've already lost our early start anyway, so it's no problem at all. Meanwhile, we should deliver this creature to the sheriff. I don't feel comfortable leaving it here with Walthus, and it's not a good idea to take it with us to the goblin camp. Maybe one of us could escort it back to town, and perhaps even help Walthus get to Koya, if he's up to it."

Wanwa'lasse escorts Walthus and the unconscious monster back to town. Walthus offers a cloak of resistance +1 to the party as a reward and mentions that his home can be used in his absence, but to avoid the snake garden. What next, guys?

Sienna says nervously "...well, unless anyone really requires a rest, we should press on .. yes?"

Sienna's gaze quickly darts to look at each the windows in turn quite worryingly.

"I agree, no reason not to move on while we can."

"Let's go, then."

So, you head out once more into the fog, heading up the road to get back onto Lost Coast Road.
Enter Irnk!
You still feel the oppressive feeling of eyes watching you from the swamp, no animal cries or movements are heard nearby, as if the swamp was holding its breath, waiting.

Stealth check to remain hidden while pacing the others. 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14, not bad. Perception check to keep an eye out for any problems out there. 1d20 ⇒ 8, yeah, I got nothing. Now we know why Irnk was as blindsided by the Licktoad problem as anyone else...
Stupid 'Points', "I'm giving you one more chance to prove you're worth a damn Irnk. Go see if you can help those 'kids' Irnk. If any one else dies because of those Licktoad bastards it's on You Irnk!" Like I don't already know that!
Irnk has his longbow drawn, with an arrow nocked. He is mostly facing away from the group (so if you guys make your Perception & sneak up on him he's screwed. Please don't kill me. On the other hand, if you make your Perception it should be fairly obvious that he is pacing you, but he is also more focused on what may be around you.)
W00T! I'm in the game!

perception 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Hijiro pauses and looks off the road at something hiding there... he tugs on Kravo's arm, already aware Balth doesn't like being touched, he hisses softly to the monk. Then he whispers softly to all, "I think we have company, but doesn't seem to be a threat... does seem to be pacing us though."

Wow, that would have beat my normal stealth, nice!
Taking a closer look, you see an unusually clean Goblin, probably male. Equally odd, his armor seems to be an actual fitted suit of studded leather, rather than the usual patchwork of scavenged oddments. He has a shock of slate grey hair, pulled back into a scraggly braid.

Seeing a goblin while on a goblin hunt, Seijiro slowly pulls out his rapier. But it's not armored like a normal goblin and it doesn't seem to be a threat... though it could be a scout... "You there... goblin! I can see you... come out and show yourself," he says in heavily accented Common.

The one who's speaking is a young human-looking character with a ruddy complexion and a shock of red-gold hair. He doesn't appear to be armored, though he is armed.

"There's a goblin round here, where?!"

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

"I see you too you little bugger, come out and fight or I'm diving in after you!"

The women angry is a somewhat dishevelled looking girl similar to the picture with long black hair a little beyond her shoulders wielding a shield and sling.

Finally I can start beating in heads of a some of these creatures.

Perception 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Balthazar can't see anyone, but draws his nunchaku and gets ready to fight as soon as Hijiro and Sienna point out there is a goblin out there.

"Where is he?"

"Hold on, he might be just a scout, but he appears to be alone, and somehow different... he's um... clean, and well-armored. Maybe if he's not with the ones we're looking for he might have useful information."

Well, that went about as I expected! Yes, I know Irnk can hardly expect to be treated as something other than a sneak when he is being sneaky, Irnk... Well, Wisdom is effectively his dump stat...
"@#^%$!" Do you speak Goblin? Didn't think so. Dropping his bow & arrow, the goblin immediately thrusts his arms in the air in acknowledgment of your demands. Stepping carefully out of the underbrush, he replies. "Don't! Don't attack, 'Points'... Shalelu sent me. She said there were five of you looking to commit suicide by goblin with the Licktoads... I mean, you were going to investigate the Licktoad village to see if you could slaughter... I mean, persuade them to call off their attacks. What happened to 'Points' junior? She chicken out?"

"Shalelu.. sent you..? A goblin? Really? I find that somewhat hard to believe, how do we know you aren't one of those from Licktoad village trying to trick us? After all you were trying to sneak up on us on the road, sounds like what the Licktoads with do!" Sienna scowls back at the goblin.

"What Licktoads do?! Are you calling me a Licktoad Longshanks? How many goblins do you know who know who Shalelu Andosana is?" I can tell you for a fact she does not go around calling her name out to us when she is in the middle of one of her stress relief sessions, ventilating everyone of us she can see with those damn arrows of hers!"

Perception and Initiative checks all around!

Perception 1d20 ⇒ 20, Dang!
Initiative 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9, sigh, law of averages...

Perception 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Initiative 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Kravo rolls!

Initiative 1d20 ⇒ 16
Perception 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 12

GM rolls Stealth and Initiative

Stealth 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Initiative 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Well, at least somebody spotted whatever it is. Unfortunately it still is going first. Ah man! I go last, grr! I have the highest initiative mod of any of the PC's & I'm going last! Some days...

It makes me sad, too, Irnk. But I'm usually DMing and its always my ambush attack monsters with the monster initiative modifiers that end up rolling the day's 2 or 5

Surprise round is Sienna and the Soggy River Monster.

A man-sized blur bursts from the vegetation, snarling, its hate-filled eyes locked onto the goblin, claws poised to strike.

Go Sienna. Remember that its the surprise round!

perception 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

initiative 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Sorry Hijiro, my brain died. I shouldn't have gone ahead without your numbers. Won't happen again!

Initiative order

Hijiro - 19
Soggy River Monster - 18
Sienna - 16
Balthazar - 13
Kravo - 12
Irnk - 9

In the surprise round, only the monster and Sienna act.

Yep, I know how the surprise round works! Hence the monster only moving and not doing a full round. I was more or less apologizing for going ahead without Hijiro, because I somehow thought he had already posted his init and perception. It's been a crazy morning

so we are waiting for SIenna's surprise round action now? internet is 40 cents a minute onboard ship so i need to maximize my time here. Here is Hijiro's action for when it IS his turn:

Hijiro moves forward toward the humanoid attacking the goblin and IF he can get close enough he attacks with his rapier

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

and if that hits does damage 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

If he can't get close enough for the attack, then he double moves to get close enough to attack next round, hopefully with flank if that's doable.

That's right.

"Oh no...no no no no, why now? er...erm what do I do?!"

Sienna reflexes just shoots it with a storm burst hoping to shock it.

1 action:

Storm burst, ranged touch attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
If it hits: 1d6 ⇒ 4 and it takes -2 to hit for the next round.

5 more uses left

Sadly, does not hit

The creature deftly dodges.

Hijiro, you're up

I seriously need to log off now - I posted my upcoming action above Sienna's

OMG... not a good day for me at all. Sorry, once more! Have a good evening!

Must have posted as I was posting... or something. Hijiro hits!

Hijiro plunges his rapier into the creature and it lets out an unearthly shriek, clutching a deep and freely bleeding wound. The creature narrows its eyes and unleashes a barrage of attacks at the goblin and kitsune. The creature flails at the two of them, managing to gash Hijiro with its claws.

Bite directed at Irnk- 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

2 claws at Hijiro- 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 and 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

damaging Hijiro for 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Sienna moves a little bit away from the creature, about 20 feet away, then goes to blast him again.

Move action: move into position as above.
Standard action, Storm blast, ranged touch: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
If it hits: 1d6 ⇒ 6 and it takes -2 to hit for the next round.

4 more uses left

Sienna's spell slams into the creature with concussive force. The creature is barely standing.

Balthazar charges at the creature swinging the nunchaku.

1 nunchaku (charge attack) 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Damage if it hits 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

The thing flails, falling and laying sprawled out before Balthazar's charge, motionless and broken.

150 XP for all

Balthazar crouches beside the creature and stares at its broken body.

"What is this thing?"

Does it look like the faceless stalker?