Dungeon Master S's "Hydra's Fang Incident" CORE (Inactive)

Game Master Chris Marsh

Guntir grunts. "Justice" He says to himself, barely audibly.

-Posted with Wayfinder

"Our business is Du Moire's business, delicate business as it were. How can it be that you fine gents have drawn the short straw to be patrolling down here? We were instructed to ask about the whereabouts of the Hydra's Fang when we were done. What say we donate a few gold coins to yer cause, and ye let us go about our business?"

I'll take the bluff check (and anyone can help or try a different tack. Just include a roll appropriate to the technique you try.)

Guntir spits on the ground and says nothing.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Epic fail!

Yes, I think it's better if you let us pass, you know how Du Moire don't like when His orders are not followed...

Intimidate: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

"Yeah, and his orders were to let NO ONE pass. Now we could see letting you buy for the low price of 100 Gold, but otherwise, I suggest you turn around..." Both ruffians draw steel and stand ready to deal with your decision either way.

Friar Huck offers his 13 gold to the party for the expenses but has nothing else to offer.

Guntir makes a low growl-like rumble and draws his axe. "The two o' you really bein' th' ones to threaten tha six of us?"

Intimidate: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (6) - 2 = 4

-Posted with Wayfinder

100 gold! Yikes!

"Now, now, gentlemen. There is no need to come to blows about this." Will moves calmly up to the guards as he talks, pulling out a small sack of coins.

"Surely, now, we can agree that allowing us passage is possible in principle, let us negotiate the cost of said services." Will moves right up to the face of one guard, as he speaks. "100 gold, now that's a steep price, is it not?"

Then getting up to the next guard, he says "Perhaps we could settle on something closer to twenty? That's not a bad sum for simply turning an eye for a moment or two?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 3

As this is clearly not working, Hawk prepares for the worst.

That's a no. Initiative!

D'Lack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
William: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Guntir: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Makindi: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
The Agent: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
Friar Huck: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Baddies: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

as combat begins a creature wit hthe front half of a cat and the bottom half of a fish launches itself onto the dock. One of the thugs yells, "Sick'em boy! For Du Moire!"

There's no building on the map, just the docks. Knowledge (Nature) to identify the creature to the NW.

Initiative Repost

Guntir: Current
Friar Huck: On deck
D'Lack: TBD
The Agent: TBD
Baddies: TBD
Makindi:TBD
William: TBD

Guntir snorts, then runs at the creature, hefting his axe over his head and bringing it down with a mighty swing.

Large Dwarven Waraxe, attack, charge: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 4 + 2 = 15
Large Dwarven Waraxe, damage: 2d8 + 6 ⇒ (7, 8) + 6 = 21

Lol. Literally a cat-fish. This charge puts my AC at 14. Here's to a one-shot of the fish-thing and getting my flanks covered.

Know, Nature: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Would this be considered an Aquatic Humanoid? (My favored enemy)

Sadly not a humanoid...

Guntir hurls himself towards the seacat and bifurcates its head in a single swing! The guards cry out in fear (and sadness at losing such a cool pet.)

Round 1 Summary:

Guntir: Seacat Slayer
Friar Huck: Current
D'Lack: On deck.
The Agent: TBD
Baddies: TBD
Makindi:TBD
William: TBD

D'Lack moved to have a clear line of fire on one of the men then shoot the nearest with his heavy crossbow if I can assumed D'Lack have reloaded it before.

Heavy Crossbow: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 3 + 1 = 13
Damages: 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

"Whoa, that's like totally violent, man..."

The Agent flicks some of the carnage from him robes into the murky water, and looks on with a mix of horror and admiration before stepping up to Guntir.

"If these guys don't let up, maybe you should totally do that again..."

Move to Guntir and then apply Bit Of Luck. @Guntir: Roll twice and take the better next round!

Sweet! I love Bit of Luck. The other thing Guntir needs is a Bit of Healing, if you catch my drift. The significance of the 8HP arrow he took earlier was lost on me at first so I didn't think to say anything about it. Let's see what the bad guys do.

I totally didn't notice the arrow!

Since it was last fight, not sure if the GM assumed we healed or would allow a bit of retcon healing at this stage. If so, assume you got this before we climbed down the ladder. Otherwise, I'm also good w/revising the bit of luck to be "bit of healing".

Cure light (losing obscuring mist): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Huck moves along the dock. Double move.

D'Lack's arrow goes wide and ends up in the drink just as the Agent magically heals all of Guntir's wounds from above. The guards, realizing that it's either death by combat or death by keelhauling, choose combat:

Shortbow at The Agent: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Shortbow at Guntir: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16 DMG: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

And the guard on the right sinks a new arrow into the dwarf.

Round 1 Update:

Guntir: Seacat Slayer
Friar Huck: Double Move
D'Lack: Miss
The Agent: Cures Guntir of his wounds.
Baddies: Attack!
Makindi:CURRENT
William: ON DECK

Instead of jumping the docks as he planned, Makindi rushes past his allies along the other side, ending up right on top of the thugs.
Double move.

I'm sorry, he should be closer. That was merely oversight on my part. Let's not retcon a slew of stuff, and simply start him at 10' out.

OK, thanks. Actually, I sort of screwed myself by pointing that out, since now I need a double move to do what I want, but oh well! If I understood Makindi right, he should be in front of the guards now, so I moved him on the map. (Makindi - is this correct?)

Will runs through his friends in the opposite direction of Makindi, skirting along the edge and running all the way around the dock, across the boat, and jumps across to land behind the guards. As he moves, he draws his cutlass and dagger.

Acrobatics, move thru the crowd: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Acrobatics, jump: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

Acrobatics, move through threatened square: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

I am not certain the last was necessary since they used bows, but just in case. The idea is to give Will AoO if they try to shoot again, and setup a flank for Makindi. Hope I don't die.

As a full round action may I drop into the water, swim to the West flank of the bandits, and climb onto the pier 10' to the W of them?

Guntir - yes, that's fine in round 2.

Makindi and Will move into position. The guards look ready to drop bows and draw the short swords on their hips...

Begin Round 2

Guntir: Current
Friar Huck: On deck
D'Lack: TBD
The Agent: TBD
Baddies: TBD
Makindi:TBD
William: TBD

Guntir steps off the pier and splashes into the water. Once he is under, he thrashes around but seems unable to get back to the surface.

Swim: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Dang. Anything other than a 1 and he at least treads water. He only needed a 6+ to do the swimming.

Yeah, that's right.

The Agent frowns down at Guntir.

"Man, that's a bummer. I guess I knew dwarves and swimming don't mix as well as gin and tonic..."

Shrugging, he moves up and presses his hand into Makindi's back.

"Desna, man. She totally favors you..."

Bit of Luck on Makindi.

Finding the pier quite crowded, Huck elects to hang back and hurl stones at them!

sling: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
damage: 1d3 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

D'Lack don't took the time to reload his crossbow. Instead he call for his magical power and cast a simple trick as a tiny ball of acide appeared in his hand before he throw it on one of the guard.

RTA (acid splash): 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 3 + 1 - 4 = 12
damages: 1d3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 1 = 4

Makindi, infused with Desna's blessing, swings in an overhead chop at the eastern thug. "You feelin' lucky, punk? Well, I am!"

Raging Power Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
Bit of Luck second roll: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Damage: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (4, 5) + 12 = 21

Guntir goes for a swim in the harbor. He lept before his mind was ready, and he sputters treading water for a second or two. Meanwhile the friar pegs the left guard's elbow with a stone. D'Lack tags the same guard with acid on his shoulder.

The two guards bring blades to bear:

Attacking Makindi: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Attacking Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

But they both miss! Makindi responds in kind, straight up killing the right guard with a single swing of his blade (and the luck of The Agent.) Will moves into place against the last of the guards.

Start Round 3

Round 2 Summary

Guntir: Splash
Friar Huck: Sling hit
D'Lack: Acid hit
The Agent: Bit of Luck
Baddies: Miss
Makindi:BOOM
William: Move.

Round 3:

Guntir blinks under the water, then powers his way up to the pier and pulls himself up.

Swim: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

-Posted with Wayfinder

"Sorry, mate. And I thought we could have been friends."

Cutlass Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Agreed let's get through before the plane takes off.

Guntir gets his bearings and swims into position and pulls himself up just out of reach of the guard. Alas, the swim is for naught. The dwarf looks east just in time to see the party pirate lay the guard low with a powerful slash.

Out of combat.

Now that we've worked around the map, the building IS there. Sorry guys, shortcomings of the map.

You've got 2 empty slips, and 2 boats still there, but no oars in them.

D'Lack cast detect magic on the scene to know if something magical was on the pirates.

Can we see any other ships nearby?

Will looks around for oars or signs that this route is taking them anywhere.

While nothing radiates as magical, I'll take Perception checks from people (just tell me what you're looking at/towards)

Will looks over the boats with no oars, wondering why they would be useful to anyone.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Then he looks out to the harbor for the ship they seek.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Will can't see anything out on the harbor that matches the description, or more properly, he sees hundreds of ships that do. While turning about, he sees through the shed window that there's a chalkboard with all manner of things written on it, but from here it's too blurry.

the guards were just standing on the end of a pier? What were they even guarding?

-Posted with Wayfinder

Looks like they were patrolling near the shed ;-)

Guntir walks up to the shed and raps on the door. If there is no response, he pushes the door open and looks inside.

-Posted with Wayfinder

The Agent follows behind, checking his allies for injuries before peeking in at the chalkboard.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Is anyone hurt? If so, The Agent will channel (if multiple folks are) or case a CLW if only a single person is.

There's no answer, and no one for The Agent to heal. The only things of note are an unfurled map of the harbor (with some tokens for the harbor master (all Pathfinders know it works as a toll), and the chalk board. It's loaded with alphanumeric code. GM: 1d20 ⇒ 11 one jumps out at you, as it says HF.... Hydra ' s Fang. It gives a location in the safe zone.

Now you have a destination.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Are there any oars in here?

The Agent begins combing the docks for some means of propelling them towards their new destination, whether it be oars to power the boats left behind, or other vessels they can navigate.

We could ask someone, a fisherman or someone else, to bring us to the ship, right ?

said D'lack