DM Delmoth's Strange Aeons (Inactive)

Game Master Delmoth

She can debuff Nightmare Dervak with Stardust (-3 to hit for 4 rounds), but his to-hit bonus would still be +20.

Dervak can get his AC up to 33 if he casts Shield and uses Barroom Brawler to pick up Dodge.

Mirror Image might be a better defense, but would go down pretty fast against a full attack plus the bite.

Unfortunately, his Will save is down to +9 right now with Shaken and Evil Eye. If Evil Theo has another Hideous Laughter, that could be it for Dervak.

I'm a bit confused by Rowan's will save numbers; I wonder if he was calculating it correctly. He has 18 Wisdom, so a total of 8 (that's what's on his profile) before Heroism doesn't seem right.

@Mara, that looks right to me. +2 base (Unchained monk with poor Will save), +2 Resistance, +4 Wis.

Ah, Unchained Monk has a poor will save. I was looking at the chained monk chart.

Waiting to see what Kat is going to do. If she attacks makes a full attack against Nightmare Mara, nice Mara will get Kat away from Nightmare Dervak using Heaven's Leap.

Nightmare Mara is blinded, so all those attacks go against her Flat-footed AC with a -2 penalty (or +2 to hit from invisible, same thing). Hopefully that is enough to at least temporarily drop her.

Do we know how to overcome their DR?

Nightmare Mara spent a Standard Action to wipe the mud from her eyes, so she's not blinded anymore.

Nightmare Mara wiped the mud from her eyes with a standard action but the mud is still cancelling her haste. As far as DR is concerned, Rowan cut through it so has to be cold iron or silver.

Ah, so she did. Sorry about that. My mistake.
I was rather distracted by the totally ridiculous luck of Nightmare Dervak in the post...

I considered using the Silversheen on the falchion, or casting Mirror Image, but Long Arm seemed the most essential in order to deal with Evil Dervak's reach and flight.

Don't forget our Dreamlands gear. The Necklace of Fireballs, the Sunblade, the Musical Staff, maybe some other things that might come in useful.

I'm thinking we're best just waking up. Mara can't take another hit here.

Mara's Mantle of Spell Resistance might have negated the Scorching Ray (it is a low-level wand).

It could have also negated Theo's Invisibility wand, had she been wearing it.

Well, a heal on yourself should put you out of "one-hit" range, so I'd appreciate you sticking around a bit more.

Move behind Dervak and Healing Hex yourself, maybe.

Well Mara, do what you wish. You are up. You have a number of spells that could hinder Evil Dervak, and some might even let you remain invisible.

Mara's options that would help me include Scroll of Fly, Scroll of Remove Fear, Fortune Hex, Stardust on Evil Dervak, or Heaven's Leap on me after I full-attack him, to name a few.

I'll understand if you want to wake up, though that is a gamble.

@Mara, I think there is some question about being able to use scrolls while invisible, but one option is to draw, unroll, and drop the scroll, then read it when it is on the ground.

I think Mara became visible when she used Stardust. The clock is ticking on that, so I recommend engaging before it runs out.

@Theophilus: I think Fortune has to be extended with Cackle on the same round, or it expires before your next turn.

Fortune Hex lasts 2 rounds normally at 8th level.

I will engage as soon as I can reach Evil Dervak. That should be next round with a Fly and/or D-Door, depending on where he moves. Evil Dervak has his own clock ticking on his Haste spell (which happened a round before yours and is, I think, of lower level) so he won't want to draw this out.

Fly is on the Bloodrager list, so Dervak can look to get a scroll of it for future use (and learn the spell at 10th level).

Oh right, forgot about the increased Fortune duration at lvl 8.

Not much reason for Mara to take the Flight Hex — she gets Overland Flight as a spirit spell next level.

I gotcha on the bite. My bad for not noticing that. I still disagree with you on the fly spell. The general agreement I'm seeing online is that you do not take falling damage.

As for the healing, Kat would have had to be healed by someone else--probably Mara--so I leave that call to others.

I've seen it ruled both ways.

So reading the rules closely I'd say that you remain flying until the end of your next turn when you would normally check to see if you've moved more than half speed. If you don't move more than half speed you at the end of your turn you need to make a DC 10 fly check to remain flying. Kat automatically fails because she is unconscious and then falls.

The spell never ends so the slow fall never triggers.

If we are going that route, there is no listed failure condition for failing to hover. Falling if you fail a fly check by 5 or more only makes you automatically fall if you are using wings to fly, which she is not.

FWIW, I usually base the failure on what the character was doing. If they were moving and fail the hover check, I keep them moving. If they were trying to stay still, I have them lose 10 feet of altitude, as per if they got hit. I think that that is the fairest solution, personally, if we are adjudicating this by hover rules. It would take two turns for her to fall, and she'd take 1d6 of falling damage.

I'm sorry I'm not ruling in your favor. You clearly feel strongly about this.

I'm willing to make this compromise with you, the party has a greater talisman of beneficial winds, Kat has that item equipped rather than it being unclaimed. It would activate when she starts falling giving her feather fall and she takes no damage from the fall.

If anyone else wants one I'll retcon it that you bought one at one of the ports you stopped at. The cost is 500 gold so it should be easy to afford more.

I have to say I'm shocked that the flying rules are not better defined especially since it has been in the game from the start and Paizo has had plenty of time to clarify/FAQ.

Let's go with that then. I am also surprised that the flying rules are not better clarified considering how often they come up. I apologize for getting curt with my responses. I've been stressed out about real life issues the past couple days and it has been affecting my tone.

I'm unfortunately not surprised. I think there's a significant number of rules questions that were never addressed, eg. issues around mounted combat, from what I've heard.

Meanwhile in 2e, the number of hands required for Battle Medicine is hotly debated, with no dev response that I'm aware of.

Our AoA game rules that you don't. Mostly it is because PF2 is so beautifully brutal, we need every scrap of healing available...lol.

We are loving the new edition (on purpose).

Let's go with that then. I am also surprised that the flying rules are not better clarified considering how often they come up. I apologize for getting curt with my responses. I've been stressed out about real life issues the past couple days and it has been affecting my tone.

Its quite alright, I appreciate your understanding and apologize if I came off as curt as well. I'm also so sorry that real life is causing you grief, I know it is for me as well.

I also know this is a high octane fight and everyone is a little bit on edge because I'm being tough on the party. When the adventure described the encounter I honestly had no idea how it would go and fully expected a TPK could result. At least a TPK here would only mean mass insanity and not actual character loss.

Those are some serious buffs they have. Based on Evil Theo's Lightning Bolt, it looks like they are Level 7, but it also looks like Evil Theo has a 32 Int! And that flight was a real advantage for Evil Dervak.

Because Dervak is so reliant on his sword, I had thought to use Long Arm, True Strike, and the 1/day Pugnacious reach boost to Disarm Evil Dervak from the ground somewhere out of his reach (so as to not suffer an AOO which would deal enough damage to stop the Disarm). However, as an Aberrant bloodrager, he had 15' reach while Enlarged, so that wasn't going to work. Sending Dervak in for a full attack seemed the best option. If I hadn't dropped him, I could maybe have taken a round of attacks given all the AC buffs I had done. Maybe. But dice are fickle.

This marks the end of book 3. I'm going to take a short break from major posts for a couple of days. You have gained a well deserved level and should be 9th.

If you have any questions about plot details or anything like that please ask. I know some things can get lost.

Woohoo!

Mara will take the Shake it Off Teamwork feat, if anyone else is going to. Otherwise, she'll take Improved Initiative.

Shake it Off is really good.

I have a PFS Ftr8 who has saves that would make a Human FCB Superstitious Barbarian sit in a corner and weep. Plus fighter AC and solid damage. He has Shake it Off, Lastwall Phalanx, Scion of the Lost Empire, a Ring of Tactical Precision, and Fighter's Tactics (advanced weapon training option). However, that group is pretty good about staying in formation.

Here, Dervak has Bladed Dash, Kat has her hit-and-run tactics, Theo and Mara will go flying about... we could shift our tactics to stay in formation more, but we usually want Dervak melee with an enemy, and Mara not.

Mara could take it and use her FCB to pick up Shared Training. This spell is so much better than Coordinated Effort that I think it's meant as stealth errata. Being able to hand out the teamwork feat actually combines really well with summoning. Theo could go back to bringing along swarms of fairly weak summons (sorry Killa Croc!) for the sake of boosting party saves. Because if Dervak is in melee range of a dragon or an Evil Dervak or whatever, Mara probably does not want to be adjacent to Dervak.

Long story short, I'll take Shake it Off if we can find a way to make it work for our party. Otherwise I will take Defiant Luck (to avoid nat 1's on saves and set up for Inexplicable Luck later).

Edit: Meant to say, Book 3 done! Thanks GM, this is an awesome game. Enjoy your well-deserved break and we will see you in a few days.

I was thinking of taking Blessing of Fervor using Mara's Favored class bonus.

Awesome sauce!

Theo really needs to purchase more scrolls for the White Rabbit to eat. Going to the Dreamlands to do that feels like cheating; although it is in the AP?

9th level! Great game guys! Enjoy your mini-vacation DM Delmoth!

Dervak is leveled up, other than the 9th-level feat.

+1d10+4 HP (new total 85)
+1 Ref, Will
+4 skill points (1 to Perception, 3 to Sense Motive)
+1 1st-level spell per day
+1 1st-level spell known (Magic Missile)
+1 2nd-level spell known (Force Sword)
+2 Bloodrage rounds
Bonus bloodline feat: Weapon Focus (Falchion)

Theo really needs to purchase more scrolls for the White Rabbit to eat. Going to the Dreamlands to do that feels like cheating; although it is in the AP?

Yes this is an unintended consequence of the rules for the Dreamlands excursion ritual. Mental states carry over but physical states do not. I can't see an interpretation where learning a spell in the Dreamlands didn't carry over.

The other effect is that you carry dreamlands duplicate items from the real world to the dreamlands, including coins. So Theo could go to, say, Celaphais spend all his money on scrolls and feed them to White Rabbit. Then wake up with the knowledge and still have his money for another trip the next day.

I'm ok with you abusing this to an extent. The party has two eldritch tomes which are also spellbooks. I think Kat may be able to learn some of them but that's more Theo's role as the arcane caster.

TL;DR use the loophole with my blessing but if I feel like you're using it too much there will be in game consequences.

Thanks for you kind words this is a fine game and it wouldn't be what it is without its players.

Also really enjoying this game!

I thought I'd check if we got any Dreamlands loot after the last encounter (although maybe we're done with the Dreamlands section?).

I’m also quite enjoying the game! I will work on leveling Kat at the first opportunity.

Side question, have y’all been doing pfs campaign mode chronicles for this AP?

I'll get you links to chronicle sheets sometime this week. I believe I have Kat's and Dervak's PFS numbers in my notes already. If anyone else wants one let me know.

I just filled that Theo really needs to update his spellbook. I shall do it this once; but, need to know how much gp he has to "purchase" scrolls?
Any requests?
Two eldritch tomes which are also spellbooks? Where are those? He can also feed them to the White Rabbit in the Dreamlands. May not need to do scrolls then?
And, of course, start his new Madness at the most opportune moment!

Mara lvl 9 highlights:

Armor Attunement +2
Weapon Attunement +2

+8 HP
+1 Fort
+1 Ref

+1 2nd lvl spell/day
+2 5th spells/day

Feat: To be determined (Shake it Off if anyone else is taking the feat, otherwise Improved Initiative).

Adventuring Skill Ranks:
+1 Diplomacy
+2 Fly
+1 Perception
+1 Spellcraft

Background Skill Ranks:
+1 Knowledge History
+1 Profession Cook

Favored Class Bonus: add cleric spell to spell list (Blessing of Fervor)

Witches can't use a wizard's spellbook to learn a spell. But they are the Chain of Nights, which you recovered from Zandalus in Briarstone asylum, and the Pnakotic Manuscripts, formerly in the Hastur cult leader, Melisenn's possession.

From the treasure sheet's notes:

I shall do it this once; but, need to know how much gp he has to "purchase" scrolls?

The party had a leng ruby worth 10k and a shocking amount of silver pieces. Maybe some other easily liqudated treasured.

Theo is Witch 9
He picked up Spell Penetration, a few new spells (from Dreamlands), and sold his Cloak of resistance +1, Amulet of NA+1 and Headband Of Int +2...finally!
I figure that covers the new spells...been meaning to do that since we switched to ABP...lol!

And he has said good-bye to Killa Croc...sad times; although he has made new Summoning buddies!

sold his Cloak of resistance +1, Amulet of NA+1 and Headband Of Int +2...finally!

I figure that covers the new spells...been meaning to do that since we switched to ABP...lol!

Not to be a downer but those items would have disappeared when we switched to ABP. Theo couldn't have sold them cause they don't exist.

IIRC I gave you the Headband of the Unstudious Mage (a custom item) in place of the Headband of Int. You could sell that.

I'll get you links to chronicle sheets sometime this week. I believe I have Kat's and Dervak's PFS numbers in my notes already. If anyone else wants one let me know.

Thank you!

As for Kat’s level up:

Armor and Weapon Attunement +2

+8 hp

Fortitude Save +1

Investigator Talent: Unbalancing Trick

Feats: Improved Trip (from talent), Greater Trip

New Extract: Clay Skin

+1 3rd and 1st level extracts per day

Trap Sense +3

And a whole lotta skill points.

Kat also should probably stock up on some new extracts for her formula book once we can shop

Okay, if nobody else is taking Shake it Off, then I guess I will pass on it.

It's a great idea, but I just don't see Mara and Dervak staying adjacent often enough to make it work at this time.

Dervak will take Defiant Luck as his feat.

Unfortunate...I guess Theo could "trade" it in the Dreamlands? I really need the new spells and Theo only has lint in his fancy pockets...lol.

Anyone want to "donate" until he gets back?

Take a look at the party page on the treasure sheet. There is about 43,000 gp worth of magic items, treasure, and coin that hasn't been distributed. And that's not counting the Dreamlands gear which practically useless without needing to go into the Dreamlands. It's not my place to decide who owns what.

Okay, if nobody else is taking Shake it Off, then I guess I will pass on it.

It's a great idea, but I just don't see Mara and Dervak staying adjacent often enough to make it work at this time.

Dervak will take Defiant Luck as his feat.

It’s a great feat, don’t get me wrong, but I was looking forward to greater trip this level, plus we tend to need to spread out. Maybe a later level.