Heading the advice of Yargos, the party heads towards the Metro-Cathedral.
As the Pathfinders approach the cathedral, a magnificent tune is playing. It seems that Yargos was either mistaken or the Pathfinders have arrived in time, but then the sound starts to break down and become patchy. Then a creepy moment ensues as the sound becomes a cacophony of off-key noise and then suddenly comes to an end. Yargos screams You have to hurry and continue the music, lest the Silent Tide be summoned!
The Pathfinders hurry into the Cathedral and see most of the priests dead on the floors, sprays of blood showing where their last moments were interrupted by the cruel sickle of the Black Echelon Operatives. The only remaining person appears to be a lowly supplicant surrounding by the Operatives. One of the Operatives hears the party enter the Metro-Cathedral before turning its grim visage of death toward you. The supplicant sees you and cries out in anguish, but you hear nothing as the Operatives close in on her. The Operative facing you seems to almost smile as he unleashes his enveloping mist, obscuring the group from the Pathfinders.
On the giant organ's keys in the center of the room stands two Operatives, each over a body of a slain priest; their sickles are covered in blood. Four Operatives are climbing the pipes of the organ and moving in between the various tubes, silencing all sound coming from them. All of them turn to the Pathfinders before disappearing into the mist.
Yargos yells at the Pathfinders. Hurry! The signal activates if the sound has stopped for one and a half minutes!15 rounds
1/15 rounds of silence
The keys are 15' off the ground and require a Climb check to reach. The pipes are 30' above the keys, require a Climb check to reach and provide cover.
Female Human Magus 1 | AC 14 T 11 FF 13 | HP 10/10 | F +4 R +1 W +2 | Init +1 | Perception +0
Corrina runs through the pews of the Cathedral, drawing her longsword. At the end of the long aisle, she turns to the right, to try to interrupt the Operatives closing on the last survivor.
Will be at amusement park today, so double move forward if her turn comes up. Channel to cure as many allies in 2 subsequent rounds...including fallen clergy.
As we have 15 turns in total this looks to be quite doable. I say we take out the folks down below first and then move up the pipes and kill those inside. We will need at least 3 folks to do the climbing. Farg should have no problem with pulling that stunt off...
Barley and Farg, being the bold persons that they are, stride forward into the mist and turn left!
Victoria, worried about the safety of the clergy and the surrounded supplicant, moves forward as fast as she can.
Corrina and Rhoswen rush forward, turn right and move through some of the expanding mist when they feel a spray of fluid on their face. Their hands wipe it away only to find smears of blood.
No one can see anything but the giant stone altar and the pews. More importantly, no one can hear anything.
This mist claims to replicate natural fog conditions which is to say it is basically like obscuring mist, but then it redefines a few parts. So here they are again: Adjacent: No Concealment; 10-15ft. 20% Concealment; 20-30ft. Total Concealment.
2 of 15 rounds of Silence.
Initiative:
1st: Corrina and Farg
2nd: BEO(Floor)
3rd: Rhoswen and Barley
4th: BEO(Pipes)
5th: Victoria
6th: BEO(Keys)
Farg moves through the fog and spots the first Operative on the floor. He knows he will need all the luck he can get in this encounter and takes a powerful swing with his longspear.
Good plan, clear out the bottom first, then the top. @GM: would there have been rest time to recover Ki since the cliffs?
Barley turns a frown, "These guys again. I shall show no mercy this day", he moves forward unslinging his shortbow and fires at the spook near the keys.
@Barley: You would not have slept since the cliffs as Yargos has been pushing you to solve the problem before the Silent Tide is released.
Barley's readies his crossbow to attack as he steps through the mist. He only sees one Operative looming over the supplicant instead of the three that were here before. Her body in a pool of blood. He fires a bolt at the undead, but it veers wildly to the left and sticks into the base of the overly large organ.
@Farg: Sorry to steal your crit from you, but two things. 1) There is no Operative on the floor. There are three levels. 0' = Floor; 15' = Keyboard; 45' = Pipes. 2) I will assume you would move to the edge of the giant organ with your longspear at the ready instead of stopping 5' short. 3D geometry is fun!
Farg approaches cautiously through the mist, aiming to take down an Operative with his longspear. The one that caught his eye stood on one of the leftmost keys. As he approaches, he finds that the Operative is no longer there.
Crit wasn't confirmed anyways...Farg will attempt climbing up to the keys then. Drop the longspear btw. Climb check includes +2 bonus from heroism and Archaeologist luck.
Farg grunts and vaults himself up to the keys with the help of his spear.
Considering Farg didn't move his full movement on his move action up to here he should make it up though no? At least that's what would have heppened if we were sitting at a table...
Also just to make sure are the baddies climbing into the tubes or are they standing around them?
You saw four Operatives on top of the tubes, three Operatives on the ground and two Operatives on the keys. The Operative on the keys is no longer where you originally saw him.
Farg:
As you reach the keys, you see an Operative climbing the pipes above you.
Female Human Magus 1 | AC 14 T 11 FF 13 | HP 10/10 | F +4 R +1 W +2 | Init +1 | Perception +0
Corrina swims through the mist to find the last survivor dispatched, and only one Operative standing by. Her heart sinks. She charges her weapon with arcane energy, and swings at the nearby Operative with all of her strength. But distracted as she is, it is a clumsy swing.
"Over here - a woman down!", Barley drops the bow, draws his grandfather's sword and slices at the undead. katana:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11 &damage:1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
The Operative crumbles into dust beneath his cloak.
Farg:
Farg sees the Operative climb higher up the pipes into the mist. A shadowy figure appears 15' to the left of Farg on the keys.
Organ Rules:
• The Metro-Cathedral’s massive organ is played by dancing upon the gigantic white keys. Traveling from white key to white key requires a DC 5 Acrobatics or Perform(dance) check. The DC increases by 2 for each additional key someone attempts to cross in a given round.
• To play the more slender black keys, one either needs to stand on an adjoining white key and reach up and yank the key down with a DC 5 Strength check, or climb directly on top of the black key (Climb DC 10). Leaping from black key to black key requires a DC 10 or 20 Acrobatics check depending on the distance between the keys as indicated on the map.
• Anyone who successfully depresses multiple keys in a round may also make a Perform (keyboard) check as a free action. A success of 10 or more contributes to the hymn and keeps the music alive. The higher the result, the more melodious and impressive the contribution. Provide each PC with a +2 circumstance bonus to their check for each key they manage to depress in a single round. If the same PC can further succeed on a DC 5 Knowledge (Religion) check, they can actually play the correct popular morning hymns.
• The organ keys connect to the 30-foot pipes above. When the PCs arrive, four Black Echelon operatives will have already climbed up the pipes to block the possibility of sound coming out. (There are not yet enough of them to block all of the pipes.) Climbing the giant twisting maze of brass pipes requires a DC 10 Climb check each round.
• As long as the organ continues to play, anyone of lawful alignment in the cathedral benefits from the effect of a bless spell. The bless effect kicks in as long as any key is depressed, whether it is truly musical or just a random key which is pushed down during the course of combat.
The rest of the party sees and hears nothing.
Initiative - Round 3 (No Sound):
1st: Corrina and Farg
2nd: BEO(Floor and Pipes)
3rd: Rhoswen and Barley and Victoria
4th: BEO(Keys)
Agree with Barley. I was thinking Farg should go hunting for operatives as he hits hardest and has a good climb modifier.
@Corinna: You don't need Acrobatics to make a DC5 just take 10...
Farg notices an operative and decides to take him out. While he is making his way over he notices that he can actually play a nice song while doing so.
Good plan. Barley's Acro is +7, but if Victoria is good with keys, he'd rather support the fight. Barley will wait one round to see the outcome of Victoria's take 10 before following Farg.
EDIT: On second read, it seems like there might be notation to follow, I'm assuming temple tunes is not an endless up and down chromatic scale, and it mentions a DC 20. I think Barley will stay on the keys to be safe, we only have 11 rounds left. Also, I can't resist a fat ninja hopping on the keyboards like Tom Hanks in Big.
Female Human Magus 1 | AC 14 T 11 FF 13 | HP 10/10 | F +4 R +1 W +2 | Init +1 | Perception +0
And I'm not sure T10 really applies. I would think that a bunch of silenced undead operatives fighting your allies among the pipes overhead would qualify as a distraction.
You can't Take 10 in combat without a Rogue Talent. Relevant text: "When your character is not in immediate danger or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10."
With Heroism, Farg can't fail a DC 9 Acrobatics, however. Can you explain how you have a +11 attack modifier? I count you as having +9. It matters because you will miss at +9 and hit at +11. (+4 Str.; +3 BAB; +1 Amulet; +2 Heroism; -1 PA)
Corrina, you weren't on the keyboard before this. You would need to climb to the top of the keyboard first, which would require sheathing/dropping your weapon and spending two move actions to reach the top.
Also, I don't mind discussion in OOC, but make sure not to plan tactics on the fly in OOC. You get six seconds of words per round to talk in character.
Farg dances across the keys of the organ, striking down another Operative, but he doesn't hear any music as he jumps to the his current key.
No one sees any more Operatives.
Victoria stabilizes the supplicant with a few expertly tied cloth bandages ripped from the supplicant's dress.
Initiative - Round 3 (No Sound):
1st: Corrina and Farg
2nd: BEO(Floor and Pipes)
3rd: Rhoswen and Barley and Victoria
4th: BEO(Keys)
The Archaeologists luck bonus which is sustained from last round through lingering performance addds another +2 it'll be around one more turn, before it needs refreshing. Just wondering does message work in silence?
Farg continues to make his way up the organ in the hopes of comening across more of the feeble operatives and take em out before it's too late.
Ah, that makes sense. Message does not work because you have to be able to whisper. Also, you have to make a Climb check for each move action. So if you are double-moving, it will take two checks.
@Farg: You would have spotted him halfway through your second climb action at 15'. He was 30' above you. Remember you can only climb 10' per round. Additionally, if you try to climb up near him, you will provoke.
@Victoria: He is exceedingly too far out of your visual range to see Victoria. All of the operatives except the one trying to kill the supplicant released fog into the cathedral. Also, unless you climb on to the keyboard and up the pipes, you won't find Farg.
Farg slays a second Operative.
Barley, Corrina and Rhoswen both sheath their weapons (move actions) and climb 10' up toward the keys of the organ. They see two Operatives above them waiting for their ascent.
Corrina Climb:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Victoria moves toward where she saw Farg last, but finds no creatures, living or undead.
Farg, on the next round, climbs 20' up the pipes and sees an Operative directly above him. Farg can't fail the check due to the easy handgrips on the pipes and his buffs.
Initiative - Round 4 (No Sound):
1st: Corrina and Farg
2nd: BEO(Floor and Pipes)
3rd: Rhoswen and Barley and Victoria
4th: BEO(Keys)
One of the two Operatives above the group attacks Rhoswen with an attack of opportunity as she climbs and charges at her when she stands up as a readied action but before she draws her weapon.
Rhoswen swings her sword to fend off the Operative and cuts the skeleton in twain. Corrina fumbles with her weapon as the Operative shoves her off of the organ.
Falling Damage:2d6 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5 DC 15 Acrobatics to ignore 2 damage
Corrina feels the concrete floor slam into her as she lands prone on the ground.
Initiative - Round 5 (No Sound):
1st: Corrina and Farg
2nd: BEO(Floor and Pipes)
3rd: Rhoswen and Barley and Victoria
4th: BEO(Keys)
