[GDVII, PFS2, Playtest] The Rose Street Revenge (Inactive)

Game Master Blake's Tiger

Please dot and delete to register the campaign on your Campaign tab.

.

Prologue

Nearly a year ago, Absalom fought off an invasion of demonflesh constructs and undead marines remembered as the Fiendflesh Siege, during which the city’s siege lord offered every slave freedom in exchange for their assistance in defending Absalom. Practically overnight, one of the city’s cruelest industries came to an end, and many hundreds of the liberated have since become Absalom’s newest citizens.

Although most have welcomed their manumitted neighbors with open arms, an unidentified serial murderer known only as the Rose Street Killer has systematically slain at least a dozen of these freed people. So far, the city’s guards have questioned scores of witnesses and suspects with no luck. The Rose Street Killer remains at large, and one of their most recent targets was Nelfurhin Zor, a former scriptorium slave who had joined the Pathfinder Society shortly after the siege. The Society doesn’t normally investigate crimes in Absalom, but Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin is furious that a Pathfinder’s gone missing thanks to this criminal. He’s assembled a team of agents to help solve the case. Don’t let him down—lives are on the line.

A messenger delivers each of you a letter:

Pathfinders,

Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin

"Really sewers." Regulas says in disgust. "Well father did say that things could get dirty."

"I'll just need to lace up my waterproof waders!"

"Hmm. Sewer Dragons, eh. Sounds interesting enough. Now, what formula would be useful in this situation...", the elf mutters as he keeps the letter and prepares his extracts.

Well, we are meeting up with a kobold tribe, they are unpredictable.

Oktai rereads the letter, taking things in his stride. A dive into the sewers in nothing new. In fact, it might be more savoury than some parts of his childhood, a part he is glad to leave behind. He muses though that after leaving that life behind, the first task as a Pathfinder is going back to the downlow and dirty.

You arrive at the cramped operating base for the Sewer Dragons as directed.

Dragonspeaker Engashez gesticulates wildly while pacing within the tight confines of a foul-smelling side chamber in the sewers. The energetic and elaborately attired kobold strides around a deep circular pit in the center of this chamber, waving her hands to accent her ongoing speech.

“Bandits! Intruders! Not-true dragons! These new kobolds, these so-called ‘Dragon Sharks,’ are a blight upon the Sewer Dragons’ dominion of Absalom’s most grand sewer ways. They cannot be allowed to continue their intrusion into our territory and must be stopped. You will help us, yes? The Pathfinders have always proven to be firm allies in the past, and it’s time our allies made their presence known in these sewers.”

Engashez looks down into the out-of-place pit, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. “Especially after one of our other allies decided to wander off!” She then looks up and nods her head vigorously. “Yes, you can go with Fazgyn. Trap the Dragon Sharks between two sides and crush them for the glory of the Sewer Dragons and Chief Yiddlepode!”

Society (U): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Erevan recalls his studies about kobolds and turns towards the Dragonspeaker. "Forgive my frankness, but I remember well that your kind are not very fond of bright light. And that you are very skilled in setting up traps. Perhaps you could give us a few pointers on what to expect while searching for these 'Dragon Sharks' that you speak of."

Scurrying along behind the ground, a short goblin creature drags a rather oversized bladed behind her.

"Me sorry I late. Wes good to go now."

Listening intently to the speech, Trinken nods furiously.

Society (U): 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10

"Yes, we help you. From what I were told you helps us often. Seems right we help you now."

"What you know about this other tribe?"

lore underworld: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22 Woah, nice first roll!

Oktai might not have been long in Absalom but the underworld is the same, whether in Hangol or in the Inner Seas.

"Kobolds follow the most powerful member of their tribe or scouting party." He leaves unspoken the obvious - defeating the leader would stand a good chance to cause the remaining kobolds to panic and lose combat cohesiveness. "In fact, spellcasters often take leadership roles by citing a lineage going back to a true dragon. Would the leader of the Dragon Sharks be a spellcaster, by any chance?"

Why what is going on between your tribe and theirs? May I suggest a peace treaty? Or maybe we can ask them nicely to leave As I'm understanding it, it is one kobold tribe versus another. diplomacy: 4 + 1d20 ⇒ 4 + (18) = 22

"Yeah," Engashez answersOkati. "Some scouts say one of the Dragon Sharks is magic-blooded, but luckily nowhere near the skills of Varanog and our other great dragon-blooded!

“They’re kobolds from the other side of Kortos." he continues, answering Hootch's question about the invading tribe. "They’ve come here trying to push their way into our territory, thinking sewers and coasts are the same. We’ll show them that no one intrudes on Sewer Dragons’ domain!”

Finally he turns back to Erevan. "That's why we send you with Fazgyn, most skilled trapper of all the Sewer Dragons. If you don’t know about kobold traps yet, he’ll teach you!"

EDIT: "Peace treaty!? I cannot even dignify that with an answer."

Introduction to Exploration Mode in Discussion.

Turning towards the pointed eared human, Trinken raises an eyebrow. "Peace treat-tee? Shouldn't they have considered that before invading the home of our friends?"

Thumbing his chin a moment, he shakes his head slightly. "Now, I'm not saying we has to kill them, but theys need to understand no can stay here."

"I for one is happy you are sending your trapmaster with us. It be unpleasant to get lit on fire...trust me."

"very well, another set of eyes are always welcome" the elf says while he thumbs an arrowhead.

Oktai says little more and instead, keeps to one side. As soon as the party is ready to move, he keeps himself in the shadows and creeps ahead.

Sneaking for exploration mode (Stealth +4). He only has normal vision so will have to depend on light from party members, and hence no point Searching. If need be though, he has an elixir for 10 min of darkvision.

"Wonderful! I'm sure we'll learn a thing or two from Fazgyn." He turns to the rest of the group and tries to decide how he'll best help in exploring the sewers. "I'm not the sneakiest, so I'll just be near Fazgyn while we search for traps."

He is searching for traps Darkvision/lowlight vision and high perception people up front.

"I not sneaky either, but I see ok in dark. I help look for traps." announces Trinken as he joins the band of pathfinders.

Not exactly skillful in these things, but i have darkvision and a positive modifier. :-P

Fazgyn turns out to be a sharp-eyed, red-scaled kobold wearing a fine mail coat and a bow strapped to his back. "Welcome, you trap-novices," he says. "Fazgyn--that's me--will teach you how to not be completely inept at not stepping in traps."

"To find traps, you have to be trap-smart, and you get trapsmart by dealing with traps or being really good at spotting traps. If you’re not good at looking, you might miss the trap that kills you!” Some traps require a minimum Proficiency rating in Perception to spot.

"Now, let's get going," he says as he heads into the sewers. Several other kobolds join the group.

“It’s easy to get distracted by enemies and arrows and forget to watch for tripwires. Want to stay alive? Take a moment to look around.” In Encounter Mode (e.g. combat), a PC must use the Seek action to find hidden hazards.

Harry makes the group wait. He speaks quietly In the future, we go slower, let's not worry about stealth, be quiet, yes, but remaining unseen, well we are in a tunnel, if they see us, we see the. They didn't say there was a time limit on this.
It says if you move no more than 100 feet a minute in the search mode, you are sure to find traps.
Harry takes the seek action every five feet, five feet, stop, seek action, another five feet, seek action, pulling back anyone and everyone who does do the same. He whispers We stop seeking when we see the other Kobolds, can't do that in combat

Fascinated by the amount of info Fazgyn is giving, Erevan takes out his journal and starts writing down important notes. "Interesting! Need to write that down...", he mutters to himself.

Zork taps his foot, encased in a waxed leather wader. "Let's go, let's go! Time's a-wastin'!"

The elf, impressed by this kobolds knowledge, listens carefully. Making sure to keep his eyes peeled.

One of the kobolds snickers at Harry's last comment. Fazgyn stops the march and looks back at the snickering kobold. "Hey, now, Horgritz, there was a time when you didn't know nothing and walked right into a wall because you were too busy looking for ropers on the ceiling."

The other kobolds look at the chided one and snicker.

Fazgyn turns to Harry. "No, you can see traps in battle, if you're not too distracted." The Seek action (page 308) allows you to search for hidden creatures or hidden objects during combat. It takes 1 Action.

This 'tutorial' is a little clunky on PbP, so I'm going to carry on in an expositional manner, but feel free to ask questions retroactively.

The kobold trapper continues on down the sewers and continues his lesson, “When I’m walking like this, I’m always looking. It takes effort unless you get really good at it. Some dragonbloods can sense magic and magic traps, but that also takes effort. You want to focus on sneaking? Hiding behind shields? Life’s full of choices, and my choice is to look for traps and stay alive.” In less strenuous situations (exploration mode), a PC needs to use the searching tactic or detecting magic tactic to uncover hazards.

He hops over a stream of run-off and floating offal before leading you into a hard-to-see crevice. “Once you find a trap, you can jam it, trip it, reconfigure it—you name it. Or you can hit it until it’s gone, but that probably sets it off.” Fazgyn rolls his head in exasperation and makes a disgusted sound. Disabling a typical hazard requires the Disable Device use of the Thievery skill, or the liberal application of brute force.

“Or just use magic to kill magic traps. I don’t know the details,
but it takes strong magic to do," he continues. Magical hazards can typically be dispelled.

Fazgyn stops and stares at a patch of sewer wall, after a moment you notice that it is moving--a swarm of rats--and he leads you down a different corridor. “Maybe it’s not a trap but it’s brambles or falling rocks or sky thunder or snakes. Use your outside smarts to avoid those.” Environmental hazards are typically overcome with Nature or Survival checks.

“Sometimes there are ghosts instead of traps—bad news. The more you know about spooky things, the more you can trick those ghosts into going away.” Haunt hazards are typically overcome with Occultism or Religion checks.

"Now, you got that? Good. You practice. You all keep your eyes peeled as we move forward," the kobold instructs you. The other kobolds fall back to the rear.

We could use a marching order. I've added a slide to the slide set for you to place yourselves in order.

Erevan jots everything and does his best to apply what he's learned so far. "Alright. You go on ahead. I'll be on the lookout way over here." Just a normal Search until we spot something. Or trigger something. Whichever comes first. LOL.

If we're searching and not trying to be stealthy, Zork will do the detect magic tactic.

It says if you move no more than 100 feet a minute in the search mode, you are sure to find traps.[/ooc]

I don't think that's what it means. It says it "guarantees a chance to detect..." In other words, you would still need a perception check. Otherwise, if you move faster than 100 ft/min, you would have moved too fast and walked right over it before your perception has the chance to detect it.

Oktai stays sullenly quiet, faintly insulted that the kobold thinks he would need to "teach" him these matters. Still, chances are the rest of the freshies in the team need the orientation. Besides, he appreciates that the kobolds can see in the dark, something he curses his own human eyes. As the party moves, Oktai stays near the front but doing his best to keep out of sight in the shadows of the nooks and crannies.

Exploration mode: Stealth +4

I forgot to correct that, thank you, Oktai. The statement on page 331 on Searching means that if you are moving faster than 100 feet per minute (1 mile per hour) then you will have no chance to catch a hidden detail.

"Stop!" Fazgyn suddenly shouts from his position near the middle. He pushes his way to the front. "Tsk tsk tsk. You all are being far too careless with your eyes. Look here."

The kobold kneels down a few feet in front of Oktai and scrapes away some grime, bringing your attention to a long crease across your path. "This here is a pit trap. If you step on it, you fall in. There could be nothing at the bottom but a bruised tail, or there could be something worse: spikes, poison spikes, rot grubs, hungry ghouls.

"Fortunately, you had me to warn you. Do better next time," he says in a rather self-congratulatory way. "Now, who wants to try to disable the trap? There's lots of ways to do it. You could jam it so it won't open, you could trick it to think it's already open. Limit is only the imagination."

Lol, I feel like I'm in a crpg tutorial! But separately, since Oktai is Stealthing, I think he shouldn't get a chance to attempt the perception check since he does not have Trapfinding.

Oktai clearly is irritated that a kobold, of all creatures, had to caution him from stepping into a trap. His sole consolation is that it could see better in the dark. "Let me," he mumbles, pulling out his thieves' tools and gets to work on the floor panels, trying to disengage the pressure sensors.

thievery: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

"By fey's blood, I did NOT see that! Good eyes there, Fazgyn." Erevan steps closer and tries to inspect the design of the trap. He also watches in amazement as Oktai tries to disable the trap.

Harry is in the back Paizo has been acting up for the past 12 hours or so, hopefully it will cooperate with us the next few days

You are correct on both counts, Oktai: This quest segment is written like a CRPG tutorial (e.g. "Now try to move using the W, A, S, D keys," where you know the SPACE is jump, but the jump function is disabled until you get to that part of the tutorial), and I'm used to Mersiel being the rogue in this one (she has Trap Finder).

Oktai disables the trap, preventing the door from falling inward. He also notices that it is fairly easy to edge around the pit or jump over it. The Leap action (page 308) allows you to leap 10 ft or 15 ft--clearing a 5 ft or 10 ft zone, respectively--depending on your speed without making a roll.

"Nice work," the kobold guide says and then mutters under his breath, "That was an easy one."

Your band continues through the tunnels for a while. Fazgyn stops you at an intersection. "We're close to where those invading Dragon Sharks have made their camp. You go that way. We go this way. We meet in middle and squash them like falling rock trap. Got it? Oh. Don't forget to look for traps!"

I'm still trying to bash this into a PbP format, but for now, as you decide upon and describe your individual Exploration mode, give me a Perception check if you are using the Searching mode. No check for Detecting Magic or Sneaking (without Trap Finder).

Erevan nods in agreement. When they head off on their own, he does his best to search for anything out of the ordinary. "If I'd had known, I would have studied extracts that would help us in situations like this."

Perception, Trained: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

His eyes wide with wonder, the goblin seems to be hanging on every word the dragonkin dolls out. Gobbling them up as sweet nectar. "Oh, yes. Well done with that trap there. If you weren't here I"d have either fallen in or....well I could hit it a few times I suppose. That'd break it, right?"

"Oh, so we're close then? Ok. Ok....hmmm maybe more traps? Let me look. I think I've got this figured out now...."

Promptly, Trinken turns around and stares back the way they came...while slowly walking backwards down the corridor.

Perception Trained: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
OH! That's a critical fumble, right?

Agreed...the site issues were a nuisance to say the least. Hopefully it stays up now.

Seeing that the enemy kobolds seem more the type to use mechanical traps than magical, Zork stops casting and looks for more mundane things instead. Perception(trained): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Seem to have a good connection finally at 0745 EST US

Regualas is more worried about spotting hidden dangers than sneaking around at the moment.

perception, expert: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

It would be a Critical Fail, but not every check has a critical fail effect worse than simply failing.

"Stop!" Zork hisses from the back. His keep eyesight has detected--despite the distance and multiple other people in the way--a suspicious looking tile right where Trinken is about to put his foot.

We're on Slide 5.

"Might be another trap. Pull back. Let me look at it but if I fail, you might not want to get caught unwittingly." Oktai crouches over the tile to examine it closely.

thievery: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Hudini takes 2 steps forward waits for Oktai to do his thing. He whispers Good job

Oktai hops into the knee deep sewage to get a better vantage on the pressure plate. He takes out his tools and makes a few manipulations through the seams. Once he is finished, he believes that he has disabled the trap, which triggers something in the wall.

That trap disabled, you are able to continue onward through the tunnel. The canal continues to the east, and along the southern wall there’s a visible break in the masonry wall that leads into a makeshift cavern. You manage to creep upon a band of kobolds. They seem to be idling and chatting with one another, momentarily unaware of your presence.

Position yourselves anywhere above the dashed white line.

Sewage (dark green, center channel) is Difficult Terrain but also provides Cover vs. attacks from outside the sewage. It also allows you to use the Take Cover action.

Encounter Mode! Round 1. Bold may act. Website permitting.

Trinken
Erevan
Robed Kobold
Zork
Kobold Guards
Hudini
Regulas
Oktai

Placed Zork where he'll hopefully be right in the middle of things.

Erevan is startled by the appearance of the kobolds. He takes a moment to look around if hazards are nearby Act 1 and readies an alchemist's fire in hand Act 2. He also draws his light mace just to be sure Act 3.

I forgot to mention that the 10-foot square that Erevan is Seeking pertains to the squares south of him. The Seek action has the Secret trait so I'll just let you roll for it, GM.

Offering a nod of thanks to the kobold and Oktai, Trinken takes a step forward and presses himself up to the wall. Blade in hand, he looks to the more tactical companions and whispers..."Wes ready?"

"Wha? Hey!" the sorcerer shouts as he notices Trinken's shadow flickering in the torchlight. "Hey, you lolligagging lolligaggers! You're supposed to be guarding the cave!"

Encounter Mode! Round 1.

Trinken
Erevan
Robed Kobold (delay)
Zork
Kobold Guards
Hudini
Regulas
Oktai

I think it's best if I delay as well, since I can't move to anywhere I can see a foe in a single stride.

The other kobolds look around confused. It does not appear that they speak common. The robed kobold shouts at them again in a sibilant language.

The kobolds scurry into action. They swarm toward the party, hopping in and out of the sewage to try for better vantage points. The first two encounter Trinken and try to trepan him with their picks. The red belted kobold only manages to chip away at the corner of the sewer that partially obscures the goblin barbarian. The yellow belted kobold, however, strikes him twice as hard as he can.

The pink belted kobold scurries down the walk, into the sewage, and out onto the walk. He swings his pick down at Harry--who is slow to react--and beans him hard. The blue belted kobold slings a stone at Trinken and nearly cracks his skull.

The robed kobold chants and then pulls out a handful of crystals from a pouch. Two translucent spheres manifest and streak unerringly into Trinken.

Encounter Mode! Round 1 & 2. Bold may act.

Trinken (-14 hp)
Erevan
Robed Kobold
Kobold Guards (red, yellow, pink, blue)
^^^^^^^^^^
Zork
Hudini (-5 hp)
Regulas
Oktai

To give you an idea of how much damage even a mook can put out, Hudini nearly received a critical. He was flat footed, so his AC was -2, and the kobold rolled 22, which is 11 higher than the DC. Rolling 10+ above the DC is a critical success. In this case, it was a light pick, which has the deadly quality. That means instead of 2d4-2 damage (+1d4 sneak attack), it would have been 3d8-2+1d4 damage. However, he was in the sewage, so he had cover, and gained +2 AC, making the roll only 9 above the DC.