DM Panic's Emerald Spire

Game Master wakedown

Oops! My mistake on the gold.

Fixed Chronicle (for slow trackers)

@Zora: As I'm sure you know already, those purchases are fine.

Also - I'll kick off the Drowned Level this evening if everyone confirms they are ready, and kick it off by tomorrow regardless. :)

Ready to go!

I'm ready...

Hmm, what do I buy for swimming equipment that's core? I have no idea.
Profession(Burglar): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Yah, I don't know. I looked at items for free movement and water breathing, but the stuff is all very expensive and not long acting. Could get something to help with swimming perhaps, but seemed sort of silly without the other two. Non-core has some neat gizmos, but alas - not for us!

Ready to start up the Drowned Level. I'll be running core Serpent's Rise at my game store tonight, so I won't be able to post until later (my local time).

The normal chronicle you linked says it is 1800gp, shouldn't it be 3,200gp?

Yah, I don't know. I looked at items for free movement and water breathing, but the stuff is all very expensive and not long acting. Could get something to help with swimming perhaps, but seemed sort of silly without the other two. Non-core has some neat gizmos, but alas - not for us!

Elixir of swimming might be useful. On that note, mark me down to purchase one.

FWIW, I don't consider it to be a rebuke - I am perfectly happy to Murder-Hobo (TM), when I feel there is justification for it (and depending on the PC I am playing - for example, one of my barbarians would have probably just tried to slaughter all of the trogs as the most expedient option); otherwise, I prefer diplomacy (as it can be remarkable efficient).

I agree, the way that they are presented in this module is at variance with their theoretical alignment.

Apologies, I get a bit tetchy at times.

Ack, you sir are correct, the 2XP chronicle should be 3200gp.

Fixed 2XP chronicle!

Yeah, large elementals are a pain - for their CR, they are surprisingly dangerous :-/

You really either need high-damage attacks (to punch through their DR), or magic (such as, say, Magic Missile, which avoids their DR) to deal with them, and even then, it can be touch-and-go.

I'll probably back up and fire arrows, since my character doesn't know about its resistances. 1d8+2+1+1 should at least plink away at its DR.

BTW, I disconnected from the internet for the 4th of July weekend. I'm back and am checking on my various PbPs.

Hectic weekend. Should get a post up tomorrow!

I will be mostly offline from Thurs-Sun. I will try to check in, but feel free to bot me rather than wait. Thanks!

Just so you are aware, I'm leaving for GenCon tomorrow night. I'm not sure what my availability or connectivity will be while I'm there, but I'll try to post when I can. I'll be back in about a week.

No worries. Been busy for your GM as of late as well, so I apologize for delays in what I always hope are morning PST updates.

We're on the home stretch now though, and I suspect the others not at GenCon can finish off the bunyip and push us to the end.

The suspense is killing me.
Luckily the bunyip isn't killing me.

BTW, I'm back from Gen Con, rested, and getting ready to catch up on the gameplay thread.

The shark automaton makes me nervous.

FWIW, it killed my druid (my only real PFS death in 200 tables) when I played through and ended up as the PC next to it... =p

Yeah, this looks like it could be rough...

...that said, I have (just) enough prestige to get raised (although the restorations will be a pain).

I think the main thing will be to thin the numbers of your foes, fast - the summoner needs to go down, *hard*, ASAP, as then there will only be the construct to deal with.

Thanks for running that :-)

When can we start level 6? ;-)

Not sure who is going slow vs normal this level. Here's a chronicle that each of you who are normal track can complete. Given you're each decorated PFS GMs, once again I'll trust you to fill in your Day Jobs.

Full 3XP Chronicle

I haven't played, run or read Level 6 before. I thought I might've got playing it in over the intervening 3 months that we've been engaged in Levels 4-5, but real life has gotten the better of me and my free time has diminished.

Let's see what other folks want to do. I'm open to reading and running it, but it might be a bit slower run as my ability to check and update every PFS game every day has gotten a bit tighter than it used to be. I'm also fine if folks want to free up their Core PCs for other diversions...

Woo. Some of these battles were touch and go. That Shark Automation and the elemental are pretty nasty. Should we look for new people? I know it's hard to find high level core players.

Seems I also don't have Bon or Giovanni's PFS IDs handy. Could you guys post or PM those so I can finish reporting, too?

As far as I can tell, Emerald Spire was intended for 4 PCs, so things should be appropriately interesting for that sized party. This level was a particular headache due to monster selection and the aquatic mechanics (which we mostly skipped).

I could see there's a definite need for Zora and Maiden to shore up their capabilities vs DR-heavy monsters, which is more challenging without blanches (for Maiden). The next level, which I haven't read, has "Clockwork" in the name. :)

You're right there's a definite drought of PFS Core PbP PCs on the forums, though.

20344-29

I believe I was slow tracking.

I'm fine continuing if you like. The party line might be that it is intended for four players, but it is quite difficult with only four players.

Thanks again Panic for running this! It has been great.

While I would like to continue, I am actually cool with taking a break for GD5 (I am pretty over-committed), so maybe we should try and regroup after that?

Zora definitely needs some better blades or something...

I'm fine with continuing, although we can take a break for GD5. The Maiden's defenses are pretty good, it's the offense I need to worry about.

I have a CORE Tier 3-7 scenario I am unable to fill right now that I'd like to run in October. It may be that it's too far in the future, though.

I would be happy to squeeze in a 'normal' scenario before the next level - Giovanni is only 1 xp away from levelling up, which should bring him in line with the other PCs.

OK, perhaps we'll seize the opportunity for a break for folks and your GM to squeeze in a play through of the scenario (a local GM has offered to run it).

@Bon: I'll get a slow-track version of the chronicle up shortly.

I don't know if you need to note this on a chronicle or if I can just add it, but Zora has a lot of cash and not so much way around DR. However, I just realized she can wield two short swords just as easily as sword and dagger, so she would like to buy a +1 Adamantine short sword (5,010 gp), and then just keep her other +1 as well. In addition, she will sell off her silver dagger (+11 gp) and buy instead a mithral one. (small, so only -252 gp).

She will also buy a couple potions of bull's strength potions (-600 gp)

And just for future reference, this chronicle does put her at level 6 (taking a level in Shadow Dancer!), and if she gets another XP, she will make 7th (I had a serpent's rise chronicle assigned to her that just got applied). Will this put her out of range for level 6 of the spire? Should I make her slow track?

thanks!

• Level 6: character levels 4–6
  
• Level 7: character levels 5–7
  
• Level 8: character levels 6–8
  
• Level 9: character levels 7–9
  
• Level 10: character levels 8–10
  
• Level 11: character levels 8–10
  
• Level 12: character levels 9–11
  
• Level 13: character levels 9–11
  
• Level 14: character levels 10–12
  
• Level 15: character levels 10–12
  
• Level 16: character levels 11–13

And [url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw2WxxatA-wBdnBGMmtielo2dDg/view?usp=sharing]the chronicle/url] for those of you who are slow track!

Ultimately with Emerald Spire, I think players need to make a decision which is they essentially hold their PC for Emerald Spire play, or they weave multiple characters through Emerald Spire.

I opted to take a few different characters as the possibility of 4PP instead of 6PP every level affects purchasing power on characters, and also I wanted to let my characters stretch their legs outside of a subterranean dungeon complex and maybe get some more social scenarios in.

As Bon noted, the next level works for 4th-6th level PCs, so hopefully that let's you plan. I've got no timetable set at this stage outside of following up with you guys with a PM potentially around mid-October about resuming. As with when we all reconnected for levels 4-5, I can't promise we'd start immediately again either as we fill the game. :)

Yep - I was just thinking it might be time for Zora to try something else and swap in a new character. She wasn't actually designed for a super-dungeon, so I will try to figure out who should swap in.

Just poking this thread - Giovanni is almost finished the game that will make him 5th level, and I was wondering whether this game was going to start up again :-)

Ready here.