GM Blood's Age of Worms in Golarion

Game Master David James Olsen

I forgot to give Kelkzar a chance to weigh in on buffs. I'll kick in the first round after he chimes in!

Sorry for the delay. If this is acceptable, I'll do this. Heroism cast by Kelkzar before we enter arena (good for 90 minutes). Divine Favor cast by Kelkzar two rounds before fight begins. Bane (dwarves) one round before fight begins (that is an Su). Haste from Rauno in Round 1. In Kelkzar's 1st round he will rage and activate judgement (also an Su). AC would start at 22/14/20.

OK, I misread the fight and there are only 2 dwarves. For some reason I had thought three.

Rauno gets off a quick spell before the two dwarves begin a flurry of attacks, one of them saying something to the other in dwarven.

Dwarf #1 attack #1 vs Kelkzar: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (14) + 17 = 31 *Hit*
Damage: 1d10 + 22 ⇒ (8) + 22 = 30

Dwarf #1 attack #2 vs Kelkzar: 1d20 + 17 - 5 ⇒ (12) + 17 - 5 = 24 *Hit*
Damage: 1d10 + 22 ⇒ (4) + 22 = 26

Dwarf #1 attack #3 vs Kelkzar: 1d20 + 17 - 10 ⇒ (1) + 17 - 10 = 8
Damage: 1d10 + 22 ⇒ (3) + 22 = 25

Dwarf #2 attack #1 vs Trevor: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25 *Hit*
Damage: 1d10 + 22 ⇒ (9) + 22 = 31

Dwarf #2 attack #2 vs Trevor: 1d20 + 17 - 5 ⇒ (9) + 17 - 5 = 21 *Hit*
Damage: 1d10 + 22 ⇒ (4) + 22 = 26

Dwarf #2 attack #3 vs Trevor: 1d20 + 17 - 10 ⇒ (4) + 17 - 10 = 11
Damage: 1d10 + 22 ⇒ (1) + 22 = 23

Moved Rauno to the end of the round to make further rounds go smoother

Round 1

Initiative Order - Pitch Blade, Quintus, Kelkzar, Rowena, Trevor, Rauno

Pitch Blade AC 25 T 13 FF 23 CMD 28

Round 1:

Before either of the dwarves can be injured, Quintus channels energy to take the edge off the damage they inflicted on Trevor and Kelkzar.

Channel energy to heal: 5d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 6, 6, 6) = 25

Yo!

Sweet roll, almost Yahtzee'd it!

Trevor winces under the terrible onslaught. His head rattles like an empty steel box. He makes a step backward as he raises his fauchard.

There's just two of them?!

He calls upon Her Grace to keep him from harm and smashes the fauchard down as he swivels his hips to redirect the blade and curve its angle.

5-foot to D-7, SwA LoH
LoH: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 6, 5) = 19
PA, FF, DF, Haste, Merciful, Flaming: 1d20 + 17 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 17 + 1 + 2 = 261d12 + 19 + 2 + 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 19 + 2 + (2) + (5) = 34
PA, FF, DF, Haste, Merciful, Flaming: 1d20 + 9 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 1 + 2 = 151d12 + 19 + 2 + 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (11) + 19 + 2 + (5) + (2) = 39
Hasted: 1d20 + 17 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 17 + 1 + 2 = 401d12 + 19 + 2 + 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + 19 + 2 + (3) + (4) = 35
Confirm: 1d20 + 17 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 17 + 1 + 2 = 241d12 + 19 + 2 + 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 19 + 2 + (6) + (3) = 39

69 damage

Quintus sends a pulse of positive energy out just before Trevor steps back and uses his long weapon for a pair of blows leaving his dwarf foe wounded.

Waiting on Kelkzar's action and Rauno's turn before the dwarves

Rauno will step back a little further from the front and try to join Rowena in disarming the dwarfs with a minor spell.

Step to F6. Cast Grease on the sword of the other dwarf. DC 18 reflex save or it is dropped and subject to the spell.

"Thanks Quintus!" Kelkzar begins attacking the same dwarf as Trevor swinging his falchion in savage whistling blows. If the foe falls, he quickly switches to the other dwarf.
Free action to rage. Swift action to activate judgments of sacred justice and sacred protection. AC is now 22/14/20. HP is 78/109
Attack (Destructive Smite): 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (14) + 22 = 36
Damage: 2d4 + 26 ⇒ (3, 2) + 26 = 31
Attack (Destructive Smite): 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (13) + 22 = 35
Damage: 2d4 + 26 ⇒ (3, 3) + 26 = 32
Attack (Destructive Smite): 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (18) + 22 = 40
Damage: 2d4 + 26 ⇒ (4, 3) + 26 = 33
Confirm: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (18) + 22 = 40
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (4, 4) + 22 = 30
Free Intimidate to Demoralize: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (16) + 23 = 39

Kelkzar hammers on the dwarf that Trevor hit, ending his furious blows with a finishing blow sending the dwarf to the ground.

Rowena throws the other dwarf while taking his sword then uses it to damage the dwarf's armor. I'll change the last trip attack to a regular attack since the second dwarf had fallen already.

Confirm Crit by Rowena: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25
Damage Great Sword: 2d10 + 1d6 + 8 ⇒ (10, 1) + (6) + 8 = 25 19 Damage + 6 Fire Of which I forgot to include in my attacks on you guys...

The dwarf, seeing his brother has fallen, his armor torn apart, and his sword taken all while flat on his back, decides to give the signal for surrender. The look on his face indicates it won't be a slight he will soon forget.

The crowd cheers louder than before as the judges declare you the winner. The spectators in the arena begin to chant your team's name. You can even hear chants of Rowena and Kelkzar ripple through the chanting, amazed at some of the deeds you performed in the battle.

Raknian calles up Ekaym, your manager, to receive your prize money. Praising him and your team on a great victory. Your team receives 5,000 gold for winning and a silver trophy of a dwarf gladiator (worth 500 gp). You had placed a bet of yourself of which has also earned you 750gp

Diplomacy for Bet: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

25% to Raise a rank per critical: 3d100 ⇒ (73, 9, 35) = 117 You are now Rank 5 which puts your betting to even money for the next fight.

Sense Motive check: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

"Quintus, Rauno, are either of you able to cast magic to repair that dwarf's armour? I feel really bad about destroying it like that. Any idea how much it would cost? I would hate to put him out all that money."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

She automatically makes the DC 20 Perception check, but the way you worded the spoiler implied one had to make both checks to read it.

Correct, both need to succeed to read the spoiler

Perception and Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 121d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

Trevor immediately goes to try and revive the fallen dwarf if possible.

I used Merciful, so there might be a chance?

He was only at -8 and is fine. If you use a lay on hands he is not appreciative at all.

Sense Motive 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (14) + 0 = 14
Perception 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

"I don't have a spell that would restore it, but he knew the risk when he signed up for this. I suspect his sponsor would be willing to make sure he doesn't go without."

"They just don't seem like very good losers. I'd hate to think we made new, random enemies."

Trevor shrugs and simply says: "You fought well, but we outnumbered you. That was our advantage..." as a way to try and stay humble.

Later, he'll congratulate Rowena and Kelkzar on their amazing prowess during the combat.

Realized I forgot the bane damage. That might have killed him. Not sure if you want me to roll it or pretend it didn't happen.
Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (5) + 19 = 24
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34
Last in line for the prizes, Kelkzar eyes Raknian as he waits his turn. He delivers a crushing handshake to Raknian as he receives his congratulations. The festivities complete he whispers, "Things are getting serious. Raknian meant for those dwarves to kill us. We'd better be on our toes."

Quintus nods. "I'm not surprised. The rules changes were aimed at slowing us down...must have shocked him when you three took both of the dwarves out in a few seconds like that."

"Do you suppose the dwarves work for him, or was he just hoping for a happy circumstance? Because if they work for him, he can buy them new armour."

She pauses, then adds, "I wonder if the priests who are standing by with breath of life spells have orders not to use them on us, should we fall in the ring."

"Judging by their attitude, they may have been working for him, but I wouldn't know for sure without a chance to interrogate them. Think I've eye those priests next time we enter to see about that Rowena."

The other remaining teams fight with the victors being Auric's Warband and Draconic Brood. After dinner the next day's match-ups are posted, though tradition has that the previous year's winner gets the monster fight, so no one in the Coenoby is questioning the match-up.

However there is an outburst after some of the members of Drconic Brood go over. They can't believe that they are going to face Auric's Warband instead of you. Auric's Warband can't believe it either as they expected to have the easier road to the final round.

You move over and double check it, and indeed, you are set to fight in the exhibition monster fight against what is call "Madtooth the Hungry".

Not sure if you have any plans for exploration this night or are waiting but...

Later in the night the pair of guards are making their hourly to every other hour walkthrough and they are talking as they walk by.

Untrained Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Nope.

Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (12) + 19 = 31
Knowledge (planes) with Monster Lore: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22
"Sounds like they've got an overly large frost salamander to unleash on us. Heard about a Lastwall patrol that ran into one once in the mountains of Ustalav. Unless they're trying to trick us, those creatures have an aura of cold and are hurt easily by fire. We'll need our magical weapons too."
Kelkzar will use his discern lies ability to make sure this isn't Raknian trickery.

"Vulnerable to fire?" Quintus smiles. "I think I have a few things that might help. Do you know if it can be dismissed?"

-Posted with Wayfinder

Not sure if Kelkzar would know this with that roll, but I'm pretty sure frost salamanders are native to the Plane of Water, would be extraplanar, and thus (I think) dismissable. They wind up on the material plane by summoning or by finding their way through a thin boundary.

Will Save vs discern lies: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Kelkzar cracks the door open to get a look at their auras and can tell the one who is talking is telling a lie of some sort.

"Good call, Kelkzar," Rowena says once Kelkzar reports the lie. "Rauno, instead of exploring the parts of this complex we don't know about, can you use your magic to find out what the monster we'll be facing is?"

Kelkzar chuckles at Rowena's suggestion, "What a way to turn the tables. Imagine the look on his face if we were to come perfectly prepared for his trick."

"I'm just looking forward to the look on his face when I put my foot through his teeth," Rowena mutters, a trace of the darkness momentarily returning.

"Ahahah! I wish I can be there to see it too!" laughs Trevor as he snorts beer through his nose.

"Do you think we should prepare for fire then?"

Casting darkvision and arcane eye once again, Rauno sends out his eye towards where the creatures where kept. Sure enough one of the cages is still occupied. He sends the eye through a feeding slot.

Rauno sees an immense, three-eyed frog-like creature rears up on powerful hind legs. In place of arms, four huge tentacles thrash and writhe.

Knowledge (dungeoneering) 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

As he is directing the arcane eye, Rauno raises an eyebrow. "A froghemoth? Do any of you know what that is? It is an aberration. Picture a frog, though immense. As big as an inn. It has three eyes and can stand on its hind legs. And instead of forward legs, four huge grasping tentacles. This creature would be a challenge for us indeed. And if they were trying to trick us into using fire against it, I would imagine it is probably resistance to fire. Maybe we should consider other tactics."

"I've never heard of anything like that. I could cast communal air walk on us, and if it doesn't have any ranged attacks we could wear it down from above."

Rauno considers the strategy then says "Well, it may be able to jump like a frog, and I don't know how long those tentacles can reach. Plus, there is no telling if we will have new rules imposed on us to further handicap us. They may drop the maximum height we can go to keep us within the creatures reach, or forbid leaving the ground altogether. But I think it would be worth having the spell ready in case we can indeed do that."

So is there going to be anything else cat or explored or are you going to wait until the next day when they are out on the arena flour. By the way, the other two remaining teams fight before you and that will be about an hour according to the schedule.

"You know more about them than I do Rauno. But, the fact that its an aberration is very helpful because that let's me know how to call upon Ragathiel to do more damage to it."
Knowledge (dungeoneering): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
I think we wait till they are out though we're going to run some risk of going into the froghemoth fight hurt.

Mmmh... Four tentacles mean it can grab Kelkzar, Rowena, Quintus and me... Any way we can keep those tentacles at bay, or at least occupied with something else?" Trevor mentions with a frown.

Can we treat Kelkzar's check as an Aid Another for Rauno, to get him up to the next spoiler reveal?

ETA: "If we can, I think we should do some exploring--maybe take out those undead. Rauno, can you get us there and back undetected?"

"I could create a dimension door, but I don't think I could get us all through it. All but one, I fear. Perhaps someone could just sneak out to join us? Or, I could make us all invisible. But then we'd have to make sure all of us were perfectly quiet to avoid drawing attention. And I could attribute darkvision to those of us for whom it is not natural, mitigating the need for a telltale light source."

No aid another in a monster knowledge check

Rowena has a +18 stealth and if she got invisibility should be able to avoid the guards easily.She could stealth to the secret door and meet you there. You just would have to figure out the way back.

Are you thinking about doing this today or with your free hour tomorrow?

Slipping out towards the space to the south where the stone plug is should be pretty easy. A strong person should be able to pull it out and you could get through the hole single file.

Otherwise it would be trickier to get to the space beyond the secret door in the upper ring, but Rauno could get most of you with the Dim Door and with one person stealthing.

The main decision is doing something now, or wait for your hour. Its likely Team Auriga would not even notice your departure as they will be resting for tomorrow's fight.

My vote is to use the one hour window.

I'd advise doing it now, so we can recover before we fight the froghemoth.

Yup!

Ok, I will go with you decide to do some the same night before. I will make a couple assumptions. First is you are investigating the area behind the secret door in the upper ring (which descends). Rauno will burn an Alarm spell on your door in the Coenoby to mentally alert him if someone opens it. He also scouted some of the other rooms that are currently empty in the Coenoby to Dim Door back into if someone is looking for them. Then he can just say they were in another room for whatever reason you want to make up. (paranoia, safety)

Second, he will use invisibility on Rowena before using Alarm. She can stealth to the secret door pretty easily in 9 minutes and you can open it up from the other side.

So beyond what Rauno used in the Arena combat, and the Darkvision/Arcane Eye, mark another 1st and 2nd off