GM Brunoreturns' Shattered Star (Inactive)

Game Master brunoreturns

You just had a battle in here. If that constitutes 'making noise', nothing appears to be happening.

Paeral shrugs. "It doesn't look like they're coming to us...we're going to have to hunt 'em down..."

Leaving Lockerbie behind for now, the party heads to the southern door. Paeral finds no traps on the door and carefully opens it, revealing a corridor.

The corridor eventually splits into a 'T'. In the center of the 'T', a single stalactite hangs from the ceiling. Paeral approaches close enough to peek around the corner.

To the north is a bedroom, and to the south is some kind of abattoir with hunks of meat hanging from the ceiling. Paeral can feel that the southern room is much colder than the rest of the dungeon. He can just see part of a derro waiting in that room with some kind of odd spear with vials of liquid attached to the tip.

As Deric follows through the hallway, he notices that the light from the everburning torch seems to hit a wall of darkness.

When he becomes aware of the effect, Paeral can tell that the darkness seems to emanate from the ceiling near the stalactite.

Deric pauses as he see his light being extinguished. He whispers "More of that magical darkness just ahead." Total defense, shield away, two hands on sword. AC 24

Deric pauses as he see his light being extinguished. He whispers "More of that magical darkness just ahead." Total defense, shield away, two hands on sword. AC 24

Barkot moves up behind Paëral to peer through the darkness. He looks up at the ceiling where the darkness is emanating from and shrugs.

Not gonna be so easy ta put da darkness it in my pocket dis time, he thinks. Funny place ta put a spell like dat, if da little blue meanie’s waitin’ fer us in da meat locker outside its range. I wonder...

Something about the placement of the spell sets off his Instincts from his years on the streets, and he looks up again at the stalactite, scanning it for a tripwire or trigger that might send it crashing onto anyone walking below it. He leans forward and whispers to the archer, “Weird ta have jus’ one stalactite hangin’ from da ceiling all by itself, dontcha t’ink, Paë? D'ya t'ink it's a trap?”

Perception, trapfinding: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 2 = 15

Paëral shakes his head, whispering . "Could be wrong, but I don’t think so...funny we should find an everburning torch in one room and now perhaps we find its opposite? Any way, there’s a derro up ahead...”

I’m assuming Barkot and I are the only one who can see past the stalactite...is that right?

Yes, that is currently correct @Paeral

Yes Barkot thinks It is strange. Not like we've seen stalactites anywhere else in this structure. Seems awfully odd to have one conveniently placed in the middle of this intersection with darkness surrounding it.

Looking for pressure plates, or wires, or anything that might trigger the stalactite to drop, Barkot is still looking at it when it detaches from the ceiling, opens up a gaping orifice filled with teeth and lashes out with tentacles at Paeral.

The darkmantle swoops down onto Paeral's head, grabbing around his neck and choking the elf viciously.

Slam: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Confirm: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Grab: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14 Correct me if I am wrong, Paeral, but I believe that hits your flat-footed CMD
Damagex2+Constrict: 2d4 + 8 + 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (4, 3) + 8 + (2) + 4 = 21

Round 1
BOLD may act
Squint: Heroism

Deric
Darkmantle Grappling
Paeral -24 Grappled
Squint
Ulyi
Reillana
Barkot -1
Derro

@Deric You heard Barkot say something about a weird stalactite, a loud thump, and then a choking sound. You won't be able to see anything though

Deric readies an attack should anything exit the darkness other than his allies. "Draw it out to the light!

The darkmantle continues strangling Paeral, as it begins scraping him with its teeth. Unable to get air, the elf collapses. Releasing Paeral, the darkmantle clumsily attempts to fly back toward the ceiling.

Constrict: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Round 1
BOLD may act
Squint: Heroism

Deric
Darkmantle
Paeral -32 Dying
Squint
Ulyi
Reillana
Barkot -1
Derro

"Are ya kiddin' me?!? Soralyon, please heal my friend Paë even dough he didn’t pay no attention ta dat t’ing hangin’ on da ceilin’!”

Barkot stretches down and calls upon more divine healing for Paëral.

Cure Moderate Wounds, CL4: 2d8 + 4 ⇒ (1, 6) + 4 = 11

Once he’s certain that the elf is conscious and able to get himself out of danger, the half-orc draws his longsword and steps back into the light. He calls back over his shoulder, “Hey guys! A little help here! Somet’in’ jus’ tried ta squeeze da juice outta Paë like a piece a’ fruit!”

Knowledge check?: 1d20 ⇒ 20
History +6, Local +10, Planes +6, Religion +8

Paeral is conscious again. (He'll have to pick his bow up)

The check is Arcana, but there isn't really anything to know about Darkmantles, so I just gave it to you.

Get us up there, Ulyi!" Squint urges his eidolon forward, arms spread out in an incantation.

Ride Check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Cast glitterdust at the darkmantle. DC 15 Will save or it is blinded. Otherwise it's covered in glitter.

Will: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (1) + 0 = 1

The darkmantle does not show any evidence of being affected by the glitterdust.

It is covered by glitter that the people with darkvision can see.

@ Reillana, anything?

Sorry, I was a poll worker and had a 14hr day yesterday. Reillana would bringing to everburning torch closer and ready a Cure Light Wounds if Paeral comes to her.

I would allow you to stumble into the darkness toward Paeral's voice until you run into him and cast CLW then. Your call.

The derro laughs madly, watching his pet attack the party, then gestures at Squint.

Round 2
BOLD may act
Squint: Heroism

Deric
Darkmantle
Paeral -21
Squint
Ulyi
Reillana
Barkot -1
Derro

Is it a fear effect? Regardless, I'll use my last point of adaptable luck for this check.

Squint Will Save, Adaptable Luck: 1d20 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 6 + 3 = 20

It's a 22 if it's a fear effect.

Deric holds his action at this time.

Nearly up to the ceiling, the darkmantle changes course and swoops toward the seemingly blind and helpless halfling, but finds this summoner has a high AC.

Ulyi may take an AoO

Slam: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Round 2
BOLD may act
Squint: Heroism

Deric
Darkmantle
Paeral -21
Squint
Ulyi
Reillana
Barkot -1
Derro

Barkot lets a wand drop from his spring-loaded wrist sheath into his buckler hand, then takes a 5' step closer to Paëral and leans forward to tap the elf on the shoulder with the wand.

"C'mon, Paë! Ya gotta get up an' offa da floor!"

The oracle casts another healing spell on the archer.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Paëral grabs his bow as he rises. "On second thought, Bark, I think you're right...it's a trap..."

He fires an arrow at the darkmantle attacking Squint...

Longbow: 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 31
Confirm: 1d8 + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 19
Cold Iron/Crit Damage: 3d8 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (8, 8, 1) + 3 + 3 = 23 (Only 10 damage if not confirmed)

You can't stand AND grab your bow AND fire, so I'll just have you fire while prone so the 20 isn't wasted :) Hmmm.. Is firing while prone allowed. Bah! I don't care.

Paeral skewers the darkmantle and it falls to the ground, dead.

"Paeral, keep making noise!" Reillana asks as she stumbles in the dark, wand outstretched.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Thanks, GM...and my bad. I assumed it was lying next to me and thought it'd be like drawing while moving...but, as the norm, when I assume I'm usually wrong...

The thing on the ceiling flops down onto the floor amongst the eidolon and Squint, skewered by Paeral's arrow.

"Lower your lance in the direction I move and ready to attack!" Ulyi orders, then charges into the darkness.

Charge at the derro.

Bite Attack, Charge, Reach: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 121d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

"Wha? Where.....whoa!!!"

Squint, blind as a bat, tries his best to follow Ulyi's instructions while hanging on for dear life.

Ride Check: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
Melee Attack, Charge, Lance, Silver, Blind, Heroism: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 132d6 + 4 ⇒ (5, 3) + 4 = 121d100 ⇒ 20

Squint's lance crunches into the wall.

"Did I hit it?" Squint asks hopefully.

IIRC Squint had cast Light on his lance?

As Ulyi charges forward, Squint passes through the effect of magical darkness to suddenly see the derro and his weird spear. Unable to adjust the lance properly, the attack misses. Ulyi's bite also misses the mark.

During the charge, Squint and Ulyi can feel the temperature dropping rapidly. As they end their charge, they notice a fuzzy looking brown material on the floor of the northern corner of this room. Standing this close to the corner, they can feel the heat being sucked out of them.

Cold (NL): 3d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 6) = 10

The derro rolls its eyes madly as it looks at the unknown creature in front of it. Speaking to Ulyi in its unknown language, he tries to stab the eidolon. Being slightly off balance from the charge, the eidolon takes a hit and feels liquid from one of the vials attached to the tip of the spear being injected into him and an intense sensation of cold.

Spear: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3
Ulyi needs a DC 13 poison save

I'm assuming that's a Fortitude save?

Fortitude Save, Poison: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 4 = 26

And because of his eidolon-ness, the cold damage does nothing. (Cold resistance 10).

Round 3
BOLD may act
Squint: Heroism

Deric
Paeral -9
Squint (10 NL)
Ulyi -3 (10 NL)
Reillana
Barkot -1
Derro

Ulyi steps away from the cold brown fuzz and bites and claws at the derro in a vicious array.

5 foot step, then full attack.

Melee Attack #1, Bite, Power Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 241d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Melee Attack #2, Claw, Power Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 171d4 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Melee Attack #3, Claw, Power Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 181d4 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

The cold is less intense from a distance, and all of Ulyi's attacks are successful, battering the derro to the brink of death. It attempts to brace itself for more coming attacks.

Squint calls out.

"It's COLDD-DD-DD!"

He then tries to cast in a way to avoid the derro's retribution.

Casting Defensively (DC 17): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15 And fails, losing a 1st level spell slot, but avoiding an AoO.

His shivers are too much to overcome.

Paëral moves 5’ west and fires twice at the derro...

Longbow: 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 = 28
Cold Iron Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 1 = 4

Longbow: 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 = 23
Cold Iron Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

Deric moves into the darkness. That is his previous turn he held last round. Should still be bold this round.

Barkot double-moves into the room, sword drawn. "Hey, are you guys OK?"

Paeral's first arrow kills the derro.

Heat is sucked out of Barkot by the brownish moldy looking substance.

Cold NL: 3d6 ⇒ (4, 1, 5) = 10

Ulyi needs another Fort save vs poison.

The derro has studded leather armor, his injection spear, and four vials the look like the same stuff loaded into the injection spear.

Some of the frozen hunks of meat hanging in the room look disturbingly humanoid.

Barkot backs away from the brown mold until the cold no longer is no longer so intense - if that means going into the hallway, he will, but otherwise he stays in the room.

Fortitude Save, Poison: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 4 = 25

"What is that brown stuff?" Squint whines. "It's sucking the energy out of me!"

"Kill it with fire!" Deric lights a torch and hands it to the wee one.

Deric lights a torch and carries it toward Barkot, Squint, and Ulyi. The torch starts flickering as it fights to stay alight while the heat is being pulled out of it.

The mold on the floor reacts as if it was fed a magical growth serum, instantly expanding to cover half the room.

Deric, Squint, Ulyi, and Barkot all take more cold damage before wisely deciding to run out of the meat locker.

Cold NL: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 1) = 8

Status
BOLD may act
Squint: Heroism

Deric (8 NL)
Paeral -9
Squint (18 NL)
Ulyi -3 (18 NL)
Reillana
Barkot -1 (18 NL)

I'll post the next room tomorrow, unless someone has something else they want to do.

"Hmm, it seems to feed on heat, and rather vigorously at that!" Reillana observes and she brandishes her wand.

Do we want to expend the charges for the nonlethal damage? Also do any of us have Knowledge (Nature) to see what we can do about this frigid mold?

”Ahhh! Get away from me!” Squint yells, racing out of the room with the brown furry stuff.

Yes, Squint would like some healing. Ulyi wasn’t affected by the cold (Cold Resist 10).

Deric moves away from the cold and back into the light. "We can wait until the darkness spell wears off."

"It's a spell?" Squint wonders aloud. "How do you know that?"

Yes, how would a fighter know that? *wink*

As the party gathers and heals, they notice Lockerbie emerging from the northern room. He is dragging the corpse of the slain derro toward the northern entrance to the room.

@Reillana and/or Barkot, please take care of whatever healing is going to be done.

"Hang on Hungry, let me inspect that before you eat it."

Heh - I was going to say I’m jammed until the weekend, and then should have more time to post through Christmas...

Dec. 29-31, though, I’ll be tied up. My son’s birthday is that weekend and I expect we’ll be planning something, and I’m going to run a marathon session of our Runelords campaign on New Year’s Eve to try to get us finished (or almost finished) with book 5.

Merry Christmas everyone! And happy Ritual of Stardust tomorrow!

I think we can expect everyone to be a bit slow to post over the holidays.

Merry Christmas to you as well!

As for the game, I will be ready to post whenever. I believe we are paused waiting on Reillana to respond to Squint (and for Celia to decide if she is going to take any further curative steps before making another Fort save).

@Reillana Did you want to make an attempt to negotiate with the magic shop you found?

@Squint and @Celia Whenever you get a chance to log on I'll need to know if you are making an attempt at healing. Either way, please add a Fort save to your post.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that completely. Post up soon.

Nice job, Reillana!

I'm still here, keeping up with the posts. Once we get Squint and Celia squared away, I'm ready to go.

While we wait for Squint and Celia, we can try to move forward with the meeting on the morning of the assault of the Crow.

BTW: I'm going to establish an actual date to ease communication. There is no official guidance, so I guess I will just pick a date in late spring to kick this all off. I have a really good site that generates a calendar for any Golarion year (I just have to find the URL again)

Putting a brief Gameplay post up now...

Is this the calendar you're looking for?

Oh, thanks! I could totally use that calendar for the long-term games that I'm GMing!

Is this the calendar you're looking for?

Yeah, that's the one. Found it for my RoW DM (where time of year and date is much more important), but it can work here too.

For the record, I am going to say we started on Oathday 23 Desnus AR 4712, making it now Moonday 27 Desnus.

I'm going to try to add the current month to the slide deck.

He’s got a few fish hooks!

Poles and string? I'm no fisherman, but holding a fish hook in the water with your hands probably isn't very effective

As I said in my post, I'd be happy to lend a fish hook to any of the bow-wielders who want to unstring their bow. They then could use the bow as a pole and their bowstring as the string to make it look like they were fishing.

Sorry. I understand now.

I am assuming Barkot is going to help row, but it isn't really required, since Squint knows what he is about and the seas are calm.

If he wants to help the bluff attempt, that's acceptable. I'll wait a while before moving ahead.

Sorry folks - my son had an allergic reaction at a restaurant last night and we were in the ER until 2am. He’s fine now, but I’ve been a little discombobulated. I’ll post within the next hour or two.

Oh goodness, and on his birthday, too?

Squint, I am unfamiliar with Lore skills.

I am pretty sure that is in the same section of Unchained that includes the Background skills, but I've never read that section.

I don't recall us discussing Lore skills previously, though Background skills are definitely in.

Do you guys want to use Lore? I can read up on it.

@Barkot That's awful! I hope he is feeling better now and that you all manage to get some sleep tonight.

Oops - my HeroLab just adds in Lore skills once Background skills are selected. Apologies for not checking with you about it first. I’ll abide by whatever the group chooses to do.

All right, Lore skills will not be used. Go ahead and reassign your skill points Squint.

Right - Squint took a point in Sleight of Hand instead of Lore. Carry on!

I think we should have Paëral scouting out in front of any light that we shed in order to maximise his stealth and our jump on the Tower Girls.

Slow play warning: I will be on road to my parents' house this weekend. I might only be able to update in the evenings.

Sorry for the holiday absence... play pace will pick up from here on out...

I'm not sure that we did our best impersonation of adventurers by rushing through the room with three open boxes and a bunch of yellow powder on the floor without investigating further.

What say you, Pathfinders?

Clear the hostiles, then come back to poke at stuff.

I’m with Squint - I’d rather know if there’s a trap waiting for us on the way out.

It really makes no difference to me...but just in case we don't come back this way, I'll vote to go check out the room before advancing...Paeral will wait till the others check the room before advancing and stay just beyond Reillana's light and keep an eye on things...

That’s 3 votes for checking out the room with the boxes.

I started to post a diplomacy post for the Tower Girls, but realize I've forgotten why we're here. Aren't we trying to figure out where they got the Pride Shard before it overwhelmed Natalya?

We're here for two reasons:
1. Find the next Shard; and
2. "Neutralize" Ayala, the leader of the Tower Girls.

We believe the next Shard is here in the Crow because you had a vision.

Thanks Barkot, appreciate the refresher.

Looks like diplomacy isn’t going anywhere - anybody want to give it one more shot? Or should we just jump into initiative? I don’t think any amount of persuasion is going to get us through the room without combat.

Is it possible to cast stealthily without a feat? My only other idea is showing them the shard and insisting that we're here to make a deal, and hope that's enough distraction for Squint (or anyone else!) to get a spell off.

Thoughts?

Most of you are down the stairs. It sounds like Reillana is up front in the open, and Paeral and Celia are just behind the corner (and thus behind cover).

If anyone wants to be able to target the enemies with a spell, they will have to move past those people to get line of effect first.

Hiding casting can be performed in multiple ways, in my mind. You mentioned feat(s), you can also use Sleight of Hand to attempt to hide somatic components that requires training and an opposed roll.

Distractions? Perhaps. I will listen to any creative ideas and attempt to provide a mechanic.

If I summon something else, Ulyi must be dismissed, so I don't want to do that.

Ulyi + Squint were made to charge into the battle. They've got a bonus from their deity in order to do it. I'd like to try that - with my silver lance - if that's ok with everyone. Of course, I'd expect you all to come in right behind us.

@Squint You can't charge from around a corner, nor while on stairs (which require double movement)

Am I missing something?

I don't think the charging bonus matters for those attack rolls, so I just have to make sure a single move can get you in range.

Edit: I think a double move from Ulyi can get you in range regardless, so likely Ulyi just isn't attacking. The lance will still hit, but won't get the double damage for charging

Ulyi has a movement speed of 40. I put the arrows down to suggest where they’re moving to - they can make it in one move exactly. Both Ulyi and Squint have reach with their attacks, so the spot where they ended is correct.

Agreed that the charge bonus doesn’t matter. I also agree that I can’t charge through difficult terrain, and I also can't charge if I don't have line of sight to start the round (which I didn't). I was looking for the ruling that said it had to be a straight line, however, and I couldn’t find that. Where did you see that?

It is a combination of the "directly toward" and the "clear path" rules.

If any

line from your starting space to the ending space passes
through a square that blocks movement, slows movement,
or contains a creature (even an ally), you can’t charge.
Helpless creatures don’t stop a charge.

Starting square was down the steps, ending square was in front of the table, a straight line takes you through a wall.

Also, the Wheeling Charge feat allows you to change direction, and includes the following:

Normal: You cannot turn when making a charge.

Note: You have to charge the closest square (with a large monster, you can't choose to charge a square in the back in order to get around an obstruction or to get the 10ft of movement) and you have to be able to get to that square with a double move. The actual movement doesn't follow a grid, though. That is the reason for clear path rule.

IMO: Wheeling Charge is the best charge feat hands-down. Ride-By and Spirited are close seconds, but the extra mobility of Wheeling Charge is unrivaled.

Very cool. It’s my first time building a charger, can’t you tell?

BTW, the damage should be 5hp total. At least it’s silver.

While mounted, the lance is a one-handed weapon, thus it is 1x and not 1.5x.

Technically, I guess the description says "can", though I am not sure how you would hold it with two hands while riding.

Lance: A lance deals double damage when used from the

back of a charging mount. While mounted, you can wield
a lance with one hand.

So you wouldn’t received the two-handed bonus to its damage when charging? That seems not in the spirit of using a lance to me. I could make a Ride DC 5 check to steer with my knees. Unless proven otherwise, I’m using the lance two-handed.

Guide with Knees: You can guide your mount with your knees so you can use both hands in combat. Make your Ride check at the start of your turn. If you fail, you can use only one hand this round because you need to use the other to control your mount. This does not take an action.

I failed to make the Ride check, but I see that you’ve done it for me, GM - thanks.

The check was for fighting while your mount was fighting. You auto check guide with knees. Currently fighting with a combat trained mount could be failed on a 1.

I did just look at some pictures of spears/lances being weilded two handed while mounted, so it will be allowed.

Sorry for the confusion (mine). Your initial calculation was correct. I will add 2 points of damage.

Thanks, GM, for your carefully-considered judgment.

so very sorry I've been falling behind...had a very sick wife last week..she's doing better now should be able to post more frequently.

Glad to hear that she’s feeling better!

Ditto - and I hope you don't catch it!

Reillana's weapon pierces Sasha's side, but comes out without any trace of blood and Sasha does not appear to have even noticed.

Not to metagame too much, but were you fighting an illusion, Reillana? So where's the illusionist?

LOL. You guys already know she is a wererat and that she had DR, so I don't think metagaming is really required. ;)

Seemed like a good description for an attack that does no damage... :D

I don’t think you can charge if you can’t see anything, Celia. That’s the problem that we are experiencing.

I don’t think you can charge if you can’t see anything, Celia. That’s the problem that we are experiencing.

OK thx changed the post to reflect that Celia had no light source to pursue...