DM Carbide's PFS Emerald Spire

Game Master John Woodford

”Another goblin and his dog just came into the room in there, from the north side!” Senja calls out. ”I’ll make his day a little harder…” He summons a tiny ball of shadow into his palm, then blows at it, sending it flying at the newly-arrived goblin.

”Anyone think it’s worth trying to talk to these guys?” he asks.

Evil eye on new goblin, DC 14 Will save or -2 to attacks for 7 rounds.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 3 + 1 = 13
2H Damage: 1d10 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7

Humming along to Asvald's song, Kragnor hefts his axe over his head, steps up and chops at the goblin dog. "Do..doh...de...dum...de..dum."

Round 2:

Initiative order
Kali-acted
Goblin-acted
Kragnor-acted
Senja-acted
Melody-acted
Goblin dog-acted/Eva
Asvald

The goblin dog is unable to avoid Kragnor's wild shot and collapses in a bloody heap. Another one leaps from the darkness at the dwarf, but even with the song taking away Kragnor's attention from his defense he's still easily able to keep the creature's jaws from his throat.

Senja, you're pretty sure your hex bit on the other goblin.

Eva, Asvald, and Kali are up!

Wouldn't Eva's readied action go off between the first dog dying and the second one moving in?

Edit: also, is the square below Kragnor on the map open/occupiable? I just noticed that it looks like it might be.

Asvlad grunts in pain as the two tiny arrows hit him with surprising force, one sinking into his shoulder and the other into his belly.

The young ulfen quickly resumes his chant and gestures, aiming to lay a minor curse on the visible goblin.

Maintaining inspire. Daze (DC 11) on the visible goblin.

Do readied actions carry over from round to round?

Asvald, unfortunately I can't accurately depict how the room is laid out--Kragnor and Senja can see clearly into the room, but none of the rest of you can see more than five feet from where you are.

Afraid that another strong blow might kill her, Kali nods to Melody and waits for the cleric's healing magic.

Delay action until after Melody.

Strike my last; it looks as though Eva can indeed get into the room once Kragnor takes down the dog and before the other one can move. However, the above caveat re visibility applies to you as well--if you have a light source on you, you can see five feet ahead of you, and you don't otherwise know the layout of the room. How far do you intend to move into the room, and in what direction? (I'll assume that there are still a couple of dancing lights in the most convenient spots.)

Just as far as she needs to in order to clear the entrance for the others and either be adjacent to a foe or be at the edge of her visibility (such that any enemies moving adjacent to her won't have concealment).

Asvald will ready to to cast daze if he's able to spot an enemy.

OK. In that case....

Round 2 (revised & ongoing):

Initiative order
Kali-acted
Goblins-acted
Kragnor-acted
Eva-acted
Senja-acted
Melody-acted
Goblin dog-acted
Asvald

Eva leaps into the doorway, just in time to block an attack by a goblin dog. There is a squeak of surprise from the gloom behind the dog, followed by a titter of goblin laughter.

Asvald, given that you can't see any foes at the moment, what do you do?

"We need light!" calls Eva to the others, even as she stares into the darkness with her sword held ready.

Is Kragnor able to 5' step south-east, or is the square south of him considered a hard corner?

It's a hard corner.

Aight. Couldn't quite tell from the map. :)

Wait, you mean northeast? He's up against the north side of the doorway.

I mean... "down-right" on the map.

Can Asvald touch Eva's sword with light before she rushes forward?

In that case, there's nothing blocking him from doing that. It's a hard corner, but he's not stepping around it.

So... are you saying the square directly below Kragnor's current square is open and could be occupied by someone? Sorry, I'm just trying to make sure I understand the map.

In that case Asvald will light up the dorf's axe.

That's my understanding. There's rubble there, but not enough to fill the square.

And I finally found the compass rose on the map--north is to the right on the page.

Asvald, you're acting long enough after Eva moves in that you can't touch her sword. The axe, though, is easily reached and illuminated.

Round 3:

Initiative order

Goblins-acted
Kragnor-
Eva-
Senja-
Melody-
Kali-
Goblin dog-
Asvald

A pair of arrows fly out of the darkness at Eva, but both miss cleanly. A burst of goblin profanity follows the arrows.

Melody sings a few soft words over Kali as she reads from her scroll.

clw: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Eva steps forward and swings her sword at the dog, faking with the forward swing and laying into it mightily with her backswing.

Flurry: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Flurry: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Everybody else feel free to move in as well. :)

Kragnor takes a step into the Spire, looking for the arrow shooters.

5' of movement to look around in order to decide which way to go.

Peering into the darkness, Senja crafts a small shield-shaped shadow that he holds up before him protectively, then smashes it with his other hand.

Evil eye on whichever goblin I can see (since I could see him before...), DC 14 Will save or -2 to AC for 7 rounds.

Waiting for Kragnor's movement/action to resolve before posting.

Round 3 (ongoing):

The parts of the room that are uncovered are what Kragnor and Senja can see. The rest of you can still see only five feet from where you are, or five feet into the room from outside.

Eva, as you step up you can now see both goblins, both of whom look a little worried now that you're so close. Your second stroke lays the goblin dog out.

Kragnor, you can see both goblins.

In that case, Senja will target the eastern goblin (if north is to the right of the page - why would someone make a make like that?).

Senja calls out to his companions in the thick of battle, "Hit the one on your right, he'll make an easier target!"

"Two little sheets' to da' northeast and southeast of Eva! Watch yourself lass!" Kragnor holloers as he moves in and attacks the northern goblin, swinging his waraxe with two hands.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 3 + 1 + 1 = 16
Damage: 1d10 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 1 = 12

"Thank you!" Kali says to Melody with gratitude before she makes her way into the dark entrance. Following Kragnor's directions, she moves south and encounters one of the aforementioned 'sheets.' She strikes with her wakizashi.

Wakizashi attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Confirm?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Can we not see any farther with the light on Kragnor's axe?

Nope. 5' from any light source. It's kind of cheesy, but there it is.

Light Consumption: Inside the structure, a magical effect swallows up light. Any light source, no matter how strong, illuminates only a 5-foot radius. The Azlanti builders created this magical effect to activate once night had fallen, but it is permanently stuck in its night setting.

Anything beyond the 5-foot area is darkness. Ranged combat and melee attacks with reach have a 50% miss chance unless the attacker has darkvision. Creatures without darkvision take a –4 penalty on Perception checks that rely on sight.

The descriptions of rooms talk about all the features of each room, but because of the lighting the PCs might not learn all this information at once. Adjust the read-aloud text to match what the PCs can see.

Round 3 (ongoing):

Initiative order

Goblins-acted
Kragnor-acted
Eva-acted
Senja-acted
Melody-
Kali-acted
Asvald

Kragnor, you narrowly miss the goblin. Kali's blow strikes home, wounding the goblin, who squeaks in anger. Senja, you're pretty sure the goblin was affected by your last evil eye.

Melody and Asvald are up!

Kali, did you include the rage bonus on your damage roll?

Asvald advances a step and chants a spell.

Maintaining performance. Daze on the northern goblin.

They're both equally "north," Asvald, north being to the right on the map. Also, the way the light-reducing effect works, you have to be adjacent to a goblin to see it, and if you move up west of Kragnor and cast that close to a goblin it would get an AoO on you. At least, if it was carrying something in hand other than a shortbow...want to go for it?

Asvald can't see even though Kragnor has the light adjacent to the goblin? Even if the light only goes 5 feet, that should be enough to illuminate the goblin adjacent to him.

I think we're reading this differently. The magic makes it so the light doesn't go further than 5 feet but it should still be visible within the darkness. A light in the middle of a dark field is visible even if all the space between it and the viewer is dark.

At department retreat today; is anybody hurt? If so Melody moves up and heals them. If not she'll move up and grant a bit of luck to the nearest martial (roll two d20s and take better).

You're right; the light from outside takes care of the doorway, so you can see from one end of the circle of light to the other. Thanks for catching that.

Asvald's magic takes hold of the goblin's mind, and it stands slackjawed.

Asvald has a couple of arrows in him.

With the current situation and since Kali uses Dex on melee attack rolls, I thought it best to refuse the song and keep her full AC bonus.

=(

Oh rage, you're the worst mechanic ever.

If it wasn't for the darkness concealing the number of potential enemies, she probably would have taken the bonuses. I don't know if that makes you feel any better or not.

Naw, it's not your fault. I blame Paizo. =P

And blame Lisa Stevens, for writing that darkness mechanic into a scenario.

I assume since Asvald initially said he dazed the northern goblin, he meant the one who would be north on any other map (i.e., towards the top of the screen). So that one is dazed and the other has evil eye on its AC. Can I tell which is the one that has evil eye on attack rolls? I think the one on the bottom is the one that retreated from the doorway, but I'm not sure.

Both of them have evil eye on attack rolls; you got one before the fight started, and one after things got going.

Who's up now btw?

Melody. I'm not sure how she's planning on healing Asvald.

Per her gear list, I think she only had the one CLW scroll, though on her Special Abilities list seems like there's two. But it seems it's channel or nothing to heal Asvald.