GM Bold Strider's PFS 01-37 The Beggar's Pearl (Subtier 6-7) (Inactive)

Game Master rpblue

"Besides the pit, and the downstairs area with the big party, there's still the hallway to the left when we first entered, and those double doors across this big room from where we are now, which I believe lead to the same place. Do we want to finish investigating up here, or head downstairs to the big party and fireball a large number of enemies at once?"

"My knees say tae slam th' party tae the wall until it cries for mercy. My brain says tae finish explorin' this floor quickly, then set tae doing the other thing."

Translation: Let's quickly hurry up and finish the top floor and zip down and blow up the party.

So where are you going?

Moved token.

Dhastrach gets a move on after locking the wounded people back in the room, ordering someone to leave a light source to them. Then he heads over to the corridor, and then right, stopping at the first intersection. He goes over to the door and opens it.

Az follows Dhastrach to the other doors.

Shardra's tone gets a bit snappy in response to Dhast's 'ordering'.

"Aeh! Ye don't order fellow Pathfinders around. We were already working on that. Let's get moving, then."

By the time she's done speaking though, her tone's gone back to normal. It's more the etiquette of the thing, just trying to boss people around when they're already working on a thing.

She'll follow after Dhast, keeping her eyes and ears open.

Dhastrach leads the group here to explore and, while there is some opposition to this leadership, everyone follows.

Dedicated to the dwarven creator-smith, the infestation has seemingly avoided this sanctum, convinced it holds some deadly trap. All it really holds are dusty pews and an altar that appears to be an enormous floor-to-ceiling warhammer sitting on its head, handle up.

Shardra will take a look around the room, but in a respectful 'not looting the sacred halls' sort of fashion. Torag probably wouldn't be too keen on that.

Perception(+2 Stonecunning if applicable): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22

Assuming everyone else goes in, Az will follow them in, scan the room with Detect Magic, and take a quick look around.

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

The group of dwarves find the temple to Torag inspiring, however it appears that any treasures that may have been contained here are long gone. There doesn't even seem to be anything that has entered this room in decades.

Lazlo moves forward to the altar and spends some time casting prestidigitation to clean the altar and try to restore it to some of its former glory.

Torag is one of the original gods, according to lore, Lazlo says between castings. Some say that Azurestone came from the Starstone itself!

Azkadellia rolls her eyes at the others, and keeps watch by the room's entrance.

"Thank ye for the courtesy, Lazlo, that's very nice of ye to do. But I don't think anyone's going be worshipping here any time soon? And I'd heard that it'd come from the stars, but was not the same place as the Starstone."

Shardra will head to explore the remainder of the level, clanking along to the intersection...

Perception (+2 Stonecunning if applicable): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

Shardra leads the group to the last area to be checked on the upper floor: a kitchen, it seems.

The derro have covered this room’s stone tables with dozens of ceramic pots, each filled with smelly fungal concoctions. The surface races are typically nauseated by the smell of these mixtures (Fortitude save DC 10), but derros find them stimulating. The eastern exit tunnel leads to a ledge 60 feet above the enormous cavern that you found earlier and shattered dwarven sculptures choke the stairway leading downwards, likely to the ballroom with all of the fey, but can still be climbed with some effort.

Dhastrach marvels about the Torag's shrine, writing down notes, and wondering why the derros and mites have not laid waste there. Fear of divine intervention, maybe?

In the kitchen Dhastrach again writes down everything he sees, hears, and smells. The cacophony makes the dwarf make detailed notes about them all. "Most curriouss. Thiss all suggestss the derrross down below in the hallss arre in fact in a hallucinatorry state. We could easily blow them if my assumptionss of theirr currrent fighting condition arre corrrect."

Fortitude Save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

"Hmmm. Cave mosses. I'd recognize that musk anywhere."

She looks out at the cavern again and sighs. "Looks like there's no cure for it, then. But at least we could... hmm."

She holds up her right hand, thumb and forefinger spread apart, and then squints. "I can get two of us over there. That'd just leave the third. What do ye think?"

Shardra can cast Dimension Door and take two folks with her to the eastern ledge. Best suggestion? The ones that would have a hard time climbing down and up, or can't fly there.

Fortitude: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Azkadellia covers her nose at the awful smell.

"Before we go that way, do we want to scout it out? I could send my familiar to fly over and take a quick look around. If we decide to go that way, I have two scrolls of Levitate, and one of Fly, so we have options. But before burning the scroll and your spell, I'm thinking Mobat can tell us if it's worth going that way."

DC 10 Fort save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Oh! Oh, this is...unpleasant.

Just realized I haven't gotten Lazlo a potion or scroll of fly yet. >.< Guess he's going with Shardra then.

"Lazlo, when ye live underground a lot, ye get used to certain things. One 'f the worst punishments I remember as a child was having to eat a porridge that wasn't too far off from something like that. No visions, just nasty."

Shardra shudders at the memory, then looks around warily as if opening up with even that tidbit was damning. Azkdadelia's suggestion saves her from further embarrassment.

"Aye, let's do that. Makes it a bit easier and let's us see if it's worthwhile. We can leave Kolo on watch."

Lazlo ponders Shardra's words a moment. Well, growing up near Brastlewark there wasn't much cause to go underground at all, much less live there. And if we had, why, they'd've called us deep gnomes — svirfneblin, to use the non-colloquial vernacular — and no self-respecting gnome wants to be confused with them. Or worse. But then we harvested our fair share of mushrooms near the woods and grapes from the hills (you normally wouldn't eat those together, of course) and we rarely made porridge. In fact, I can't recall making porridge. Or really knowing what porridge is, even. Hmm.

Lazlo, as usual, will just keep chattering on until/unless someone tells him to stop. And that's no guarantee either. :-)

"Such a shrrouded past you have," Dhastrach comments to Lazlo, "but onto the point, I'm fine with Shardra's plan, although I find going out to the open caverrn a needlesss rrisk."

Sorry. I don't quite understand what the plan is. Go into the cavern and get the whole group to the ledge, but first explore the ledge with a familiar?

"We can send my owl to do a quick pass as a scout, staying high and away from any walls, floors, or ceiling, just to see what it looks like. Then we can decide which direction we'd prefer to go based on what he reports."

"That way, we also know if the area is clear of obstructions and the like. No lie, endin' up in stone is nae a pleasant experience. An that's coming from a dwarf."

So we're having the Owl do a flyby to verify clear LZ for the D-Door, then we're getting our *** to Mars, as it were. 'Mars', in this case, being that platform in that place right behind the areas we haven't explored yet. :)

"Sounds good," Dhastrach says, pleased with his colleagues' resourcefulness.

The owl, called back from the room of invalids, is sent to examine the ledge and it finds that there does not seem to be any traps, but merely just a ledge with a ladder leading to it.

On the top of the ledge, the owl reports that there is a door, likely a secret door that is "secretive" from the other side. You lot easily Dimension Door to the ledge and inspect the door, but find it harmless.

You process through the door and find a hallway which leads to a well-appointed suite. This chamber holds a large bed, a wardrobe, and other
bedroom furniture.

A fresco on the north wall depicts distinctly Osirian ruins on a mountain peak, recognizable as one you passed on their journey. Known as Forlarn Peak, weather has since eroded the foreign ruins beyond recognition.

You see a door at the other end of the room and you can hear the sounds of the party beyond.

Shardra will document the room (time permitting), and the picture, impressed at how well appointed this particular room is in comparison to well, pretty much the rest of the place.

However, she will then give the door a bit of a nod and two sets of hand-signs, with a shrug between them and then after.

The first hand-sign looks sort of like someone yakking a lot, followed by a circling motion.

The second is a bit more... brutish as she draws her hand across her throat and points to the room, though that does give her a bit of pause.

Do we want to talk this through, engage them, or just go over the room with a fine-toothed comb and get out?

I don't mind talking first, though it's admittedly not Lazlo's specialty.

Since Shardra couldn't take everyone as passengers for Dimension Door, Azkadellia uses a scroll of Levitate to help one straggler (probably Dhastrasch, as he's the closest we have to a tank) easily get down the ledge and back up the other side.

Once in the bedroom, Azkadellia tells her owl to go back and help the lizard keep watch over the victims, and he flies off.

She whispers to the group, "If we want to talk to them, I would be good at that, but I doubt if they speak any language I know. Honestly, with the way they treat humans and other civilized species here, I'd probably just fireball them, and not bother with diplomacy."

Lazlo gets a look of total shock on his face. That would be disastrous for any chance of diplomacy! he whispers in horror. Why, if they even survived the fireball, it's hard to imagine they'd be receptive to talking afterw... The gnome pauses a moment, as if thinking over his words, then: Ohhhhh...I think I get it now...

The shaman gets a grim look on her face at Lazlo's chain of thought and then nods quietly, motioning to the door and making the hand across the neck motion once more.

We're 'go' on murderhobo, then?

Yep, seems so. :-)

Roger that! Will adjudicate when I'm at my desktop tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

-Posted with Wayfinder

1d20 ⇒ 41d2 ⇒ 21d4 ⇒ 4

Dhastrach reaches for the door and grasps the handle as the group prepares to rush the lady that was seated at the far end of the room.

He tests the handle, finds that it is able to be opened and gives it a push, sending it flying. It seems that the woman wasn't ill prepared for this as a rune illuminates in the doorway and sends out a blast, slamming into the nearby Pathfinders.

Sonic Damage: 3d8 ⇒ (8, 7, 3) = 18 DC 16 Reflex to halve.

The group opens the door and sees that the woman is at a nearby table, but the loud blast has given them away.

The mites and derros that seem to be able to draw weapons, quickly do so but a lot of them look to be too drugged to participate as some collapse to the floor from shock.

The woman turns and grins. "It looks like company. How thoughtful..."

Initiative:
Dhastrach: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Azkadellia: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Shardra: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Lazlo: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Woman: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Initiative:
1st: Azkadellia
2nd: Lady Morilaeth; Derros (A Lot)

Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Azkadellia takes the full brunt of the rune's blast.

Assuming the throne doesn't block line of sight/effect, she tosses a fireball, centered slightly past the woman, catching the woman and as many of her minions in the fiery blast as possible.

I'm not sure how to draw a grid like the yellow one, only bigger. I want to catch the woman and two derros closest to her, but I can also hit some of them in the center of the room.

Fireball Damage, DC 21 Reflex for half: 7d6 ⇒ (4, 5, 2, 1, 4, 2, 2) = 20

DC 16 Refl save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Lazlo has the good sense of timing to be digging in his haversack for something when the rune explodes, protecting his head from the brunt of the blast. He is startled by the trap, however, and his head gets stuck on the inside, making it impossible for him to react quickly to the encounter. Oh! Oh, that's not good! Ugh! Slowly his head reemerges from the sack and he sees what's going on. Oh! Oh, this isn't good either!

Knowledge: Religion: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

Reflex Save(DC 16): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Shardra gets walloped by the blast, and it rings her bell enough that she's having a hard time remembering important things for a few seconds.

Reflex save: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 = 25 vs. spell I think?
Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25 I quickly opened the spoiler and saw the DC was 26, and thus quickly closed it.

Dhastrach winces as the blast shatters his eardrums. "Stupid trrapss," he curses, proceeding to open the door only to see a welcoming committee.

"An elven clerric of Lamashtu? I've seen everrything."

Azkadelia launches a ball of flame that erupts around the woman, incinerating the nearby derros, both active and comatose.

The woman, almost unknowingly, tries to dodge the explosion, but gets hit by the full brunt of it.

Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Her wounds quickly heal as she turns to face the Pathfinders. "We have guests!" she bellows as the derros turn and flee from the area. The party quickly is shocked to the core with fear as he very presence seems to inspire terror.

DC 16 Will Save or affected by Fear

The elfen woman turns and raises her wrist, a blackened holy symnbol of Lamashtu hangs from the delicate frame of the woman. "You will dream of me!" she yells as a pulsing black wave washes over revelers and Pathfinders alike as she floats up into the air to catch all of the Pathfinders.

Channel Energy @ DC 16 Will to halve.: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 3, 3) = 11

The derros that were too slow to hide are swallowed up by the energy and corpses are left in the wake.

Initiative:
1st: Azkadellia @ 26/44 HP; Dhastrach @ 47/56 HP; Lazlo @ 39/48 HP; Shardra @ 55/73 HP
2nd: Lady Morilaeth @ 15; Derros (Much less)

Pending
Will Saves - All (Fear)
Will Saves - All (Channel - 11 damage)

Will Save (Fear), +5 vs. Spell or Spell-like ability: 1d20 + 5 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 5 = 13

Will Save (Channel), +5 vs. Spell or Spell-like ability: 1d20 + 5 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 5 = 14 5 points of damage

Folio Reroll (Fear), +5 vs. Spell or Spell-like ability: 1d20 + 5 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 5 = 28 Shaken for 1 round

Shardra runs away, apparently in fear, out of line of sight of the really mean and nasty woman... and then once she thinks she's out of the radius where she'd actually help the really nasty woman, she raises her hands high and lets positive healing energies flow through her and heal the party.

Channel(Positive): 4d6 ⇒ (1, 2, 2, 3) = 8

Everyone (but the opponent) regains 8 hp

Will save (vs. fear): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27
Will save (vs. channel): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

"Puny," Dhastrach comments, casting a protective spell before advancing while taking his magic warhammer to his hands.

Cast protection from evil, communal. Shardra ran away, so Dhastach can only give Lazlo and himself 2 minutes of duration. Azkadellia gets 3 minutes.

Will vs Fear: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Will vs Channel: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Since Lazlo hasn't gotten his first turn of the combat yet, I'll wait for him before taking my 2nd round turn.

You said she healed some? Did she take the fireball damage and then heal, or just heal herself afterward? I'm trying to determine if fire is the way to go in fighting her.

Hit by the Fireball and then healed from it.

-Posted with Wayfinder

DC 16 Will save vs. fear: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Ugh. Reroll with 4 GM stars...
DC 16 Will save vs. fear: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 4 = 17
Lazlo freezes in place for two heartbeats, wondering with horror what it would be like to dream of an elven cleric of Lamashtu. After a moment, he shakes off he vision.

DC 16 Will save vs. channel: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Haha...well, it's only hit points, right?
The wave of negative energy washes over the gnome and he feels a little sick to his stomach, but grimaces through the pain as he moves along the western wall and targets a glitterdust on a corner right below her. DC 16 Will

Azkadellia tosses her final fireball, centered 15 feet south of the woman, so the enemy is inside the edge of it, but it misses our team. This should also hit 2 or 3 derros.

fireball dmg DC 21 Reflex for half: 7d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 1, 5, 3, 1, 6) = 26

Don't forget to apply 8 points of healing if you haven't already.

Glitterdust Will Save-DC 16: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 2 = 17
Fireball Reflex Save-DC 21: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

The woman floats around in the air as Azkadelia and Lazlo blast her with spells, though only one seems to work. She laughs some more as she unleashes another blast of negative energy that washes over the party and any nearby derros, killing the flame-scarred ones outright as the rest flee the room.

Channel Energy: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 1) = 8 Will Save to halve.

As you keep fighting, the urge to flee has not left you as you still feel innate terror from her presence.

Will Saves against Fear from all.

Initiative:
1st: Azkadellia @ 29/44 HP; Dhastrach @ 51/56 HP; Lazlo @ 36/48 HP; Shardra @ 52/73 HP
2nd: Lady Morilaeth (20' high) @ 36; Derros (Gone, for the most part)

Active Effects
Prot. from Evil - Azkadelia; Dhastrach; Lazlo

Pending
Will Saves - All (Fear)
Will Saves - All (Channel - 8 damage)

Will Save(Channel Negative), vs. spell or spell-like ability DC16: 1d20 + 5 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 5 = 17 4 damage

Will Save(Fear Aura Effect)DC16: 1d20 + 5 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 5 = 16 Shaken for 1 round

Positive Energy Channel: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 5, 5) = 19 I think that catches everyone but the opponent?

Shardra will attempt to 'stand pat' and let loose another burst of healing energies for the party.

That's the last one, so... smoke 'em if you got 'em?

Channel Energy and the Fear is not a Spell or Spell-Like Ability. They are both Supernatural, thus Shardra's +5 doesn't apply to either.

Shardra feels the fear wash over her as the channeled energy sears her flesh. She immediately flees back into the tunnel nearest to the room, hiding from the terrible elf lady.

Initiative:
1st: Azkadellia @ 29/44 HP; Dhastrach @ 51/56 HP; Lazlo @ 36/48 HP; Shardra @ 46/73 HP
2nd: Lady Morilaeth (10' high) @ 36; Derros (Gone, for the most part; Three remain near the back, but they are cowering in fear at the moment.)

Active Effects
Prot. from Evil - Azkadelia; Dhastrach; Lazlo

Pending
Will Saves - All but Shardra (Fear)
Will Saves - All but Shardra (Channel - 8 damage)

Okay, good to know. Would have applied it first turn, but was not aware, it looked like a spell. Apologies.