GM Bold Strider's PFS 01-52 The City of Strangers, Part II (Subtier 1-2) (Inactive)

Game Master rpblue

It’s been nearly a month since Venture-Captain Drandle Dreng, a decrepit yet well-respected Pathfinder, instructed you to meet him dockside in Absalom. On arrival, Dreng herded you on to a Korvosa-bound merchant vessel and gave you a series of quick, stern instructions.

“One of my good friends, a merchant in the Varisian outcast’s haven known as Kaer Maga, sent me a very strange letter, which I need you to investigate. The merchant—his name is Horis Collgardie—tells me that the residents of Kaer Maga are very upset about the Society’s plan to build a lodge in their city and even further upset that the agents we sent are making trouble, stirring up the delicate balance of power that exists in the so-called City of Strangers. The trouble is, not the Decemvirate or any venture-captain I can find gave the okay to build a lodge there. We know it would be folly to do so—at least right now—and so this idea that Collgardie has that the Society is there and doing just that is worrisome."

Dreng takes a deep breath and continues. "In a few weeks time, you’ll be in Korvosa. From there, book passage on a river ship for Harse, then travel overland to the road’s end at the cliffs below Kaer Maga—the so-called Twisted Door. There you must pay the Duskwardens to escort you through the Halflight Path to reach Kaer Maga. Once inside the city, find Collgardie and find out what he’s talking about. If there are Pathfinders in the city founding a lodge, tell them I order them to stop at once. If this is some kind of ruse, get to the bottom of it and do what you can to keep our Society’s good name in Kaer Maga—we may not be completely welcome there, but neither are we unwelcome. Let’s keep it that way. Any questions?”

.

Hi Strider...I had signed up with Taliesin, my bard, but was wondering if you would mind if I switched to my barbarian. Would that work?

Perfectly fine by me!

Great! This character was closer to leveling, so I'd prefer to use this one. Checking in!

dot

Dot

Tyranius and slicertool, please check in with the info at the Discussion tab!

thejeff hasn't responded, yet. I will send him a message.

dotting

Sorry, it took me so long to put down details. I had to buy all the things.

"Quiet bunch, huh?" Dreng says, a bit surprised. "Well, then off with you!"

You leave his presence and begin your journey. A few weeks later, you arrive at the Storval Stair and reach the Twisted Door. From the moment the sun rose this morning and the dizzying Twisted Door opened at the bottom of the Storval Rise, you, your companions, and a handful of traveling merchants have trudged slowly up the myriad stairs, tunnels, cliffside paths, and underground ruins that make up the famous Halflight Path. On either side of you march several gruff-looking men and women wearing brown-and-gray uniforms, the right breast bearing a badge with their symbol: a golden arch on a midnight blue background. These are the Duskwardens, and it’s their duty to see you safely up the Path to Kaer Maga, hours and hours of climbing above you.

Perception:
Kiyanetikert: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16 +8 with Mutagen
Taliesin: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Aiden: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Rangor: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Emmett: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
Kryssa: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

An enormous chunk of masonry, well-constructed brickwork on the west side of the passage, collapses. From behind it boil dozens of yowling, barking, and yipping creatures carrying swords and snarling viciously—goblins. In a matter of a few quick moments, the goblins were among the merchants and citizens with the Duskwardens desperately trying to fend them off.

Initiative:
Kiyanetikert: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10 +3 with Mutagen
Evenstar: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Aiden: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Rangor: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24 Take Higher
Rangor: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28 Take Higher
Emmett: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Kryssa: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Goblins: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

The merchants and travellers scatter with the Duskwardens focusing their aid on those people, leaving a gap in the defenses with only you to fill them. Four goblin warriors rush you as a caster goblin begins to weave powerful magic in the rear.

Initiative:
1st: Rangor
2nd: Goblin Warriors (Red; Yellow; Green; Blue); Goblin Shaman (Purple)
3rd: Kiyan; Evenstar; Aiden; Emmett; Kryssa

Rangor rushes forward as he pulls the club from his belt. As he touches the club it instantly begins to rot and age before his eyes as it becomes broken.

You little wretch will feel the might of Thassilion.

Rangor reaches out as his hand grazes the little goblin. A small tear opens in the goblins skin where once a scar had been on the goblin. Time will tell all wounds as your past will now become your present.

The goblins skin around the wound itself seems to reverse in age as the scar itself forms back into a seeping open wound.

Inflict Light Wounds: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

DC 15 Will for half

As the group has traveled, their companion Evenstar has proven to be an athletic barbarian, trudging up the stairs with ease.

She is dressed in old scale armor with bits of fur and bone strung here and there. She carries a finely-crafted adamantine greatsword that glows faintly with a soft blue light.

She is comely, yet she seems cold and distant.

As the goblins attack, the look on her face is determined, and conveys a distinct message: Don't mess with me.

"Bring it on, puny mutts!" she yells.

Ah, dang. I had forgotten the intro was already going.

Aiden smirks when he sees the small goblins. "Go get 'em, Evenstar. Just remember they're a tricky bunch."

The tall, distinctive man had been a quiet companion on the ride, though he usually had a small quip if someone was paying attention. He hailed out of Cheliax and would sometimes grumble at the Paracountess Zarta Dralneen pulling him from whatever his previous life had been to do her bidding. Those skilled in blades saw that while Aiden might be inexperienced, he had the potential to be a patient, quiet and merciless killer.

Looks like the gobs are up...

Kiyanetikert is caught off guard by the sudden goblins and staggers back from the closest one, fumbling for bomb materials.

Real action will wait until the goblins act. I'm away with family and will be intermittent until tomorrow afternoon.

@Rangor: That's not quite how the spell works. Once you cast the spell, you have to make an attack roll against the creature to see if your spell hits. It is against touch AC, so it probably has a higher chance to hit that against normal AC, but you would still have to roll.

ILW - Touch Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17
Will Save: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (19) - 1 = 18

The goblin feels the pain of the blast, but isn't felled by the evil energy.

The warriors wait for their shaman to finish casting a spell as a blast of rose petals and fine sand cover the Pathfinders.

Will Saves from Aiden, Emmett, and 1d2 ⇒ 2 Kiyanetikert.

The four goblins leap into action against Kryssa and Rangor.

Short Sword @ Kryssa-12 FFAC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
Short Sword @ Kryssa-12 FFAC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Short Sword @ Rangor-19 AC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Short Sword @ Rangor-19 AC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Short Sword Confirmation @ Rangor-19 AC: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Kryssa feels the two goblins merrily stabbing into her side as Rangor takes a sickening stab to the kidneys as one of the goblins leaps at his back.

Damage @ Kryssa: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6
Damage @ Rangor: 2d4 ⇒ (4, 4) = 8

Initiative:
1st: Rangor @ 7/15 HP
2nd: Goblin Warriors (Red; Yellow @ 5; Green; Blue); Goblin Shaman (Purple)
3rd: Kiyan; Evenstar; Aiden; Emmett; Kryssa @ 33/39 HP

Evenstar grits her teeth and moves with uncharacteristic restrain toward the front line of the goblins.

"Clear a path to their caster!" she yells as she swings her greatsword at one of the goblins on the flank. red

MW Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23 for MW Greatsword damage: 2d6 + 9 ⇒ (5, 4) + 9 = 18

Updated hitpoints and waiting my turn.

"Working on it."

Will Save: 1d20 ⇒ 12

@Aiden: You have overcome the spell! Next time, just post your set of actions as if the Save did not effect you. If it does effect you, then I will change your actions to reflect the Save effects.

@Kryssa: What do you mean? It is your turn.

Aiden shakes off the sleepiness he feels from the spell as Evenstar cuts down the goblin warrior in front of her.

Initiative:
1st: Rangor @ 7/15 HP
2nd: Goblin Warriors (Yellow @ 5; Green; Blue); Goblin Shaman (Purple)
3rd: Kiyan; Evenstar; Aiden; Emmett; Kryssa @ 33/39 HP

Kyrssa, I think anyone in bold can act all together. You don't need to wait for your turn specifically.

Aiden shakes his head for a moment as he began to blackout, but he comes out of it and sees a goblin directly in front of him. The Cheliaxian draws his sword and swings at the pest.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

@Kryssa: What do you mean? It is your turn.

I try not to block those with initiatives before mine who are going to do things like charge or fire a spell. It was just a bit of courtesy. Oh well.

The aasimar stands in red dragonhide armor with matching tooled, red leather chaps. A flash of color in the way of a bangled bracelet hangs off of her belt as a token of some sort. On patches of exposed skin, you can see tattoos but they shine metallic instead of that of traditional ink.

She takes a step to the side and draws a heavy, iron flail and lets the head of it drop to take up the slack in its chain. In a fluid motion she swings the head of the flail at the goblin gibbering next to her.

Heavy Flail+Flanking (power attacking): 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 8 + 2 = 12
Damage: 1d10 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Will Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17
Spellcraft (distance penalty): 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 8 - 4 = 13

Kiyanetikert braces for the closest goblin to attack, then smiles in relief as it turns towards Rangor. Mixing a bomb and moving towards the unprotected caster, Kiyanetikert shakes off the spell's effect and tosses the bomb at the caster:
Touch Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (3, 3) + 3 = 9

Ah crap yea I don't know how I forgot it. Sorry

Ranor draws upon his power staying as defensive as he can as he touches the yellow goblin once again.

Concentration Cast Defensively DC 17: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

Though he stumbles and loses his concentration. What is happening to my feebled mind. I used to be one of the Masters of the Empire of THassilion?

He takes a step back.

Will Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Aiden's attack glances off the goblin warrior's feeble armor as he growls. "Stupid longshanks can't kill Sniggle! Sniggle kill you!"

Kryssa, however, brings him down from behind, caving in his skull with a disconcerting ease.

Emmett slumps to the ground, snoozing heartily. He is dreaming of shooting little goblins in the face with his pistol, but they keep dodging just in the nick of time. It is quite frustrating.

Rangor tries to cast a spell, but his will fails in the face of the two goblins.

Kiyantikert shakes off the Sleep spell and throws a bomb at the goblin shaman, immolating him with ease.

The last two goblins stab at Rangor with their short swords before quickly being taken down by the calvary.

Short Sword @ Rangor-19 AC: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 2 = 8
Short Sword @ Rangor-19 AC: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 2 = 8

Status:
Rangor @ 7/15 HP; Kiyan; Evenstar; Aiden; Emmett; Kryssa @ 33/39 HP

---

Once you defeat the goblins, the Duskwardens clear the rubble from the collapses and help you rejoin the rest of the travelers on the Halflight Path. One of the Duskwardens kicks at the goblin bodies, flips a few of them over, and then grunts. “Haven’t seen these here in a long time,” he says, then turns to you and apologizes. “Our duty is to keep our charges safe—we failed. We’ll have to shut down the Path for a while we plug these holes again and figure out where these goblins came from.”

The goblin shaman's corpse has a potion of Cure Light Wounds, when you inspect the bodies.

After the fight, the Duskwardens gather the body of the one merchant who died in the ambush and continue to guide you and the other travelers up to the top of the Halflight Path. Four hours after the fight, you reach a bunker-like complex just outside the entrance to Kaer Maga. The city is enormous. In all directions, you can see that every inch of it is covered in buildings: cliff side buildings, buildings built on the atop thin balconies around the interior of the walls themselves, and buildings crammed together on the floor of the ancient ruin. Except for the lake at the center of the city (even then, only at midday), the entire city is drowned in permanent twilight.

What do you do now?

"Let's see if we can find Horis Collgardie's shop."

Diplomacy (Gather Information): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Rangor grasps the potion from the goblin's dead body. Popping the top off he sniffs the liquid within. With a smile he downs the contents in one swallow as his wounds fully mend.

Potion of CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

----------------------------------------

Rangor looks to the Duskwarden Do you know where we might find a man named Collgardie?

Aiden looks in awe at the city. He had heard it was quite different than his lawful Cheliax. I bet, I'll get to see exactly this anarchy it is known for.

"Yes, he is a merchant."

"Never heard of 'em." responds the man. "Try asking about town, I guess. Place as large as this... Maybe you'll find him."

Kryssa tries just that, but it seems that he particular brand of questioning is offset by her rather large physique and her mean looking heavy flail.

Kryssa shrugs. "I've been here before. We should keep moving before the pickpockets single us out as tourists." She sighs, "There's a lot of freedoms in this city and despite that many of the people are still not free." She grabs her holy symbol and mutters a short prayer to herself.

Am I still sleeping?

Am I still sleeping?

No, that was hours ago.

Though Evenstar appears very out of place, as well as out of her comfort zone, in this large city, she does seem willing to ask around. Though her manner is often abrupt and tactless, she does her best to ask about Collgardie and where he might be found.

gather info: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (17) - 2 = 15

Rangor asks about town for the man. Though his customs and courtesies are a bit odd compared to this time period.

Diplomacy (Gather Info): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

Diplomacy, Aid another: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Aiden helps Rangor ask around at the various taverns they cross.

Diplomacy, aid: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Thank god for Evenstar!

Evenstar eventually finds the location of Collgardie's abode from a few hours of asking around town. The group meets back up at the aforementioned time and heads over to find the man that they have been sent for.

Horis Collgardie’s house is small but in good repair; judging by the decrepit state of the other homes in the neighborhood, this merchant friend of Drandle Dreng must be relatively well off. His home is made of a hodgepodge of brick and stone matching the city’s walls. Several windows look out onto the thin balcony walkway some 60 feet above the city streets that serves as the access for this neighborhood, but all are heavily barred with the shades pulled. The house appears dark and quiet.

The barbarian with a -2 to diplomacy saves the day! XD

Evenstar looks at the house carefully. The barbarian still appears very uncomfortable in the city.

perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

"I suppose we should just knock? she says as she approaches, then pounds hard on the front door.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Can I get new digital dice?

This is a GM Bold Strider game. The digital dice always favor me! :D Seriously, just put the words "What is up with the dice roller in Bold Strider's games?" and I bet you the responses will be hilarious.

Evenstar knocks loudly.

About thirty seconds later, a big man with a golden golem badge holding his cloak answers the door. "Who're you?"

While they wait, Evenstar shares with her companions the whispered quarreling her keen ears picked up.

Once the big man opens the door, she says "We're friends of Collgardie. Is he home?" she asks.

The guy looks at you suspiciously. "That's fine and all, but who're you?"

"I'm Evenstar," the barbarian responds. "Perhaps you've heard of me. Now where's Collgardie?"

Someone with more diplomatic skills feel free to jump in!

What my friend here is trying to say is that we were sent by a friend of his. May we come in and speak with him?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

"You can tell me who you are and why you're here or I can shut this door again and you can leave. We're busy." the ogre of a man scowls at the pair.

"I'm Kryssa. We're on business of Mister Dreng, a friend of Collgardie. Is the merchant home or not?"

Sense Motive (which sucks, but we'll try anyway): 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 2 = 3

"Now see here, sir. My name is Aiden Richter and our business partners expressly told us to seek out Collgardie. We would like to speak to him."

Intimidate : 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

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Emmett stands ready in the back, wondering which tactic is likely to win here.