GM Burglar's #3-03 The Ghenett Manor Gauntlet (Inactive)

Game Master mechaedd

Discuss turkey or new games I'm going to play for at least 72 hours next week!

Checking in.

Here and ready. I still need to update character profile from last scenario...you know, buying something, likely.

Discuss turkey ...

OK then. I’ll bring the cranberry and some smashing pumpkin pie!

Ahhh, Luisila. A girl after my own heart.

I get some formal posting going here after I clean up my characters, clean up the house and make sure the lil lady is doing well.

So, update. One more week left on my first Master's class. After that, I'll just have the one to worry about.

I'll have a better chance to think about how I'm going to update Linnea after 11/30.

Am I right in thinking one of your cats just made a cameo in the game, Shan? Bravo!!

Lin, tell SB to get off the boards and crit that Master’s class, so you can join the game with us on December 1 ;)

BTW, I was chatting to a guy from Fernley the other day, if you can believe that!

GM Burglar, if you want to do any social roleplay with the VC or Faction Mission stuff, I am up for it – but no pressure. I have the Katapesh book.

You are indeed correct Luisila. It took me over an hour to type up that post. You would think three "women" vying for your attention all weekend would be a good thing. Once "Yes to the Dress" came on though, I had to get out of the house. But today we put the sister on the train and start the Turkey day prepping.

I'm still around! Just... completing the roster for Smash Bros for the Wii U over a period of a weekend. So... now I don't, uh, have anything left to do this weekend until Thursday. I did get the maps together for this, though! A black box rendition of the dimensions of the building are added on the top bar.

Some bits about Pathfinder Society Locality in Katapesh, pulled from the Dark Markets Guide, this scenario, and Seeker of Secrets:

• There are a large number of lodges, though none of them truly cooperate on a grand scale. By mandate of Katapesh, however, all the lodges are technically part of the Explorer's Guild (since all functioning groups must be a part of a guild for tax purposes.)
• The first lodge is the Kotargo Lodge, located in the Lower City and run by the corpulent, gray half-orc Phlegos Dulm. A known potionmaster and (most likely) expert poisoner, though the latter is not recognized legally as he has never been convicted of such an act despite many of his enemies dying from a bloating, injection-based poison.
• The second lodge is the Farseer Tower, run by Wulessa Yuul, an Katapeshi Garundi woman. Her staff, excluding herself, are all blind individuals. Her self-described specialty is "agent networking" and strives to match those in the Society who need with those who can provide, per se. Given her staff's debilitation, the written word as records within the tower is not as common a thing than a standard lodge. Wulessa acts as the information archive for all these individuals, though does not have her agents contact Phlegos often (as she finds him of low character.)
• A third lodge is located in the outskirts of the capital in an inn/chapter house known as the Winding Road. Venture-Captain Roderus, an aged Garundi man, manages many of the desert-oriented mission from the basement of his inn (which has done well thanks to the growth of the nearby towns of Solku and Kelmarane.)
• The eldest lodge, however, is an unnamed building in the cyclopean ruins in the southern edge of the city called the Twilight Gate. This 3-story structure also functions as the headquarters for the Explorer's Guild and houses the libraries one would expect to find in a Pathfinder Lodge. Most surprisingly, though, are the two Aluum golems placed outside (a rare honor for Venture-Captain Aurora Steelbloom, as the creators of Katapesh usually strive only to regulate trade and punish those who hinder its progress. How the half-elf attained this seemingly-permanent gift is unknown.)

Cool factz: Seeker of Secrets makes no mention of this lodge and lists 3 new lodges as the only 3 but the 3.5 Katapesh guide goes into the fourth lodge as its only lodge. That noted, I'll be around if you evoke any RP shennangians, but I'll just get an intro post up at some point soon-ish if that's a null factor to start debriefing (since there's nothing that'd be even accusable as metagameey to immediately have after the talks.)

I was wrong. As it turns out - Varg did level. He is now 7th! Leveled and ready to go.

Varg at level 7 … looking forward to that!

Once "Yes to the Dress" came on though, I had to get out of the house.

OKay, so I found myself with some time. Here's how I'm going to update Linnea.

1. Retrain Lingering Performance to Weapon Finesse (yes, I could just increase Lin's strength, but the whip is finesse-able and it fits more with the character) - using rules from Ultimate Campaign for this.

2. Retrain Improved Trip to Improved Disarm (fewer trip-able enemies as we get to higher-level encounters). Improved Trip was a fighter Feat, so retraining it using that rule.

3. Purchasing dusty rose ioun stone to put into the wayfinder for the resonance boost to CMB/CMD.

4. Other purchases: +2 belt of dexterity, maybe taking the whip to +2.

5. retraining cat's grace to mirror image (just makes more sense). Using Ultimate Campaign rules for this as well.

Ioun Stone: 5000 gp
Belt of Dex: 4000 gp
taking whip from +1 to +2: 6000

Retraining Costs: 10 Prestige, 720 gp total. (400 for feat, 320 for spell)

That will leave me with some more money to play with. The lore warden and ioun stone resonance boosts to CMD will (hopefully) keep Linnea up to pace with disarming.

Well, what do you think, sirs and ma'am?

OH, and Lui - "Say Yes to the Dress" is a show about annoying women and their annoying families purchasing wedding dresses that cost more than a car.

It is on a channel here in the states called TLC, which hilariously stands for "The Learning Channel".

Also - Taking Improved Steal for my 7th level feat and Greater Disarm for my 8th level (fighter) feat.

I added a +2 Belt of Dexterity, Cleave, and 3 Potions of Cure Serious.

Also getting a +1 buckler.

Brings total of money spent to 17155gp

Total Prestige paid: 10

So, I'll be focusing on disarming weapons and stealing holy symbols and spell component pouches.

+21 to disarm with the whip
+17 to steal with the whip

Niiiiice...

Looks about right for 8th level. Now I'll just have to run all the scenarios comprised entirely of Natural Weapons outsiders! (read: Season 5, do ho ho. Though seriously; feel free to prod for more "what are they carrying" text if I'm lacking now that's it's majorly important.)

I'm guessing you're adding in Bard Song automatically (since you're the source)? Looks like you're missing a 1 if you are (or the much more likely answer of "I'm missing something").

-Posted with Wayfinder

Hmm... actually I don't have greater disarm yet. Went with greater steal. But whips have the disarm quality, giving them +2 to disarm checks. And Lore Warden archetype gives +2 to cmb/cmd instead of armor training 1. Still I need to double check my math in the morning.

-Posted with Wayfinder

And I don't have weapon training yet. That's next level.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Oops ... Sorry, Shan. Another case where I’ve put 2+2 together and got 6,327. You’d think I’d have learnt by now.

Lin is looking good, SB!

Thanks Lu. And how did you end up taking to someone from Fernley?

-Posted with Wayfinder

Just one of those weird coincidences in life.

Met the guy at a networking thing. Said he and his wife emigrated to work in mining in Australia a couple of years ago. Mentioned he was from Nevada and that one of his hobbies back home was driving his own car around a race track in Fernley, NV.

Oh yeah. He had an odd way of pronouncing ba-nah-nah (banana). He called it a ba-nann-ar ;)

Where are the rules for ion stone resonance? Archives of Nethys doesn't seem to specify.

(Campaign Setting/Pathfinder Chronicles) Seeker of Secrets, PG 51-52. The long and the short of resonance is "It sets into a Wayfinder ion stone slot and shuts off a spell-like ability (usually Light for standard 'Finders) and gives a bonus thing." This case is a +2 insight to Combat Maneuver Bonus and Combat Maneuver Defense.

Thanks for that. I will need to pick that up if I plan to play Linnea locally.

-Posted with Wayfinder

And if any of you folks who actually played a lot of the Pasaad/Dwarf merchant missions know how that "Pick your Favourite" went, I'd be appreciative to know.

Hey all! Submitted my paper just this afternoon. I think I have Linnea all ready to go.

GM, thought I'd double-check my math on my Disarm:

+7 BAB
+3 Dex
+1 Weapon Focus
+2 Weapon Enhancement
+2 Dusty Rose Ioun Stone Resonance
+2 Improved Disarm
+2 Weapon with "Disarm" quality
+2 Lore Warden (swapped-out for armor training 1)

Math Check: 7 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 21

And for Steal:

+7 BAB
+3 Dex
+1 Weapon Focus
+2 Weapon Enhancement
+2 Dusty Rose Ioun Stone
+4 Improved & Greater Steal
+2 Lore Warden
-4 using the whip.

Math Check: 7 + 3 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 2 - 4 = 17

This is the first PFS scenario I wrote and still remains my favorite. Glad to see people are still playing it. Hope you guys have a blast. I'll be quietly monitoring game play from afar...

This is the first PFS scenario I wrote and still remains my favorite. Glad to see people are still playing it. Hope you guys have a blast. I'll be quietly monitoring game play from afar...

I think that spells our doom?

Good to know big brother is out there...LOL. Seriously though, I welcome the observation. This group has been pretty solid in past scenarios. It is an experienced group that has worked together regularly.

I think that spells our doom?

I'm sure you guys will be fine.

Grins. Rubs hands together frenetically. Reaches for popcorn.

Oh boy, we're being watched. That means evaluations and ratings and judging. I...I just don't know if I can handle that kind of pressure.

Linnea, calm down! Get a hold of yourself!

Actually, if I horrendously muss up canon, speak up. I do hate to snowball into wrongness and have already started improv on Ulmeyda. Plus, if (as a freelance) you have ANY idea how that Dwarves Vs Temel thing went, lemme know; I got pretty disconnected from PFS in S4 and I'm not sure of the context of that feud.

Side question: is this the full party? I have no outstanding invites.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Speaking for the games I ran or played, of the two season 5 scenarios that included the Passad vs Dwarves theme, dwarves unanimously came out on top. (5 times)

I believe this is the full party.

Actually, if I horrendously muss up canon, speak up. I do hate to snowball into wrongness and have already started improv on Ulmeyda. Plus, if (as a freelance) you have ANY idea how that Dwarves Vs Temel thing went, lemme know; I got pretty disconnected from PFS in S4 and I'm not sure of the context of that feud.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Frankly, I don't know what happened with the dwarves vs. Temel. I do, however, have a little suggestion for you:

GM Burglar only:

Oh, great! Mike’s giving advice to Burglar … *groans* ;)

Burglar, I have the Pathfinder Tales novel Blood of the City and a signed Chronicle Sheet for it.

I would like to use the following boon if you’ll allow it.

I am also thinking about buying a unique magic ring from the sheet, if you're OK with it. If you say yes and I decide I want it, I’ll let you know before my next post.

Gut reaction says that since its 12 hours outside of the city, it isn't part of the 1000 people requirement. The ring is Chronicle Available, though, and thus 100% buyable in Golarion's Most Open and 2nd Largest Market.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Moving conversation over to discussion, where it probably ought to be.

I forget that the weapon descriptions have actual rules stuff in them - I usually think of them as just flavor.

I still never beat Dark Souls. Never could get through Ormstead and Smaug - or whatever their names are - in Anor Londo. I don't have a strong enough internet connection at home to support online gaming, so I only play it solo.

My Xbox 360 is about to bite the dust anyway. I'm not sure I'm going to move on to one of the new shiny boxes.

According to my excel document's calculations, APL is 7.2. Low tier it is. Post generating now

-Posted with Wayfinder

Fun GM observation: This "encounter" ran the Kalisocrat at least 900gp a dose before the "there's no perception DC listed, so I presume it's either undetectable by mundane means (so Detect Poison would work) or the same as the Fortitude (akin to a trap)." At triple the price (given the astronomically high usefulness of this super concentrated Oil of Taggit From Tian Xia), it was a mere 13,500 to make most of the party fall asleep! You'll have to thank Besai for this later.

-Posted with Wayfinder

So, how did you get that tangled mess of text?

The literal answer is "Google various text and one simple cypher converter." The technical answer is (as far as I understand it) all those little characters in Unicode (the internet's answer to how different languages are even with similar letters/characters/whatever) are actually individual characters that add accents to other letters. By randomizing those selections and applying them all to one letter, you get to summon Zalgo or pretend you live in the Martix or something. The "Unicode has everything" is also the same reason for the upside-down text.

Cyphers and glitch text was a thing I was always considering for a character at some point, but Lovecraftian insane old man Tsusuko ended up being way too awful to see play by now unless absolutely needed. This compounded when the Great Old Ones were explicitly disallowed for worship in any real form in PFS (wow, that was a while ago.)

The absolute best part part of this glitch, though, is that by highlighting and copying them, you still get the core letters and no fuzz (so word games like these can still be done without massive amounts of work on the other end.)

The Overview map link remains in the Full Description under the first tab. Anything spoilery I put in there gets spoilered anyways, so feel free to reference that for the room you're in (if you really care to.)

And as always, rolling any knowledges once you see stuff (or a blanket "Bardic Knowledge X, +5 more for local, 3 more for religion, etc") is A-OK and welcomed.

For clarity, only #3 exists now and all others on the board are to be removed once I get home or someone beats me to the task. Though #6 is invisible and stalking you, if you believe the conspiracy.

-Posted with Wayfinder

That's what I figured. I'll remove the excess fishies.

Its only a conspiracy if its not true. Or if its not true.

Wait. I'm confused. See's Candy take me away. Nom nom nom.

Though #6 is invisible and stalking you, if you believe the conspiracy.

I will put this to Miss and see what she says.

EDIT: We don't have See's candy in Australia. (Had to google it).

See Candy, is that a spell?