GM Derek W's God's Market Gamble PFS 03-18 (Inactive)

Game Master Derek Weil

I agree Johann. I will accompany the real item.

Walter smiles--as only he can!

This should be fun!

The party loads the carts and begins to proceed through the marketplace. Soon after getting underway, a young halfling woman in the crowd of shoppers shrieks with glee:

It's him! He's going to be the next to take the test of the Starstone! Let's go meet him!" She leads a small pack of people towards you. They surround Johann!

Obviously, Johann's reputation precedes him! Naurine laughs to herself while simultaneously bracing for an attack. But, we are in the Ascendant Court, so the enthusiastic and the foolish are going to be everywhere. We must not make the first ... unwelcoming move.

Naurine calls out with as much amusement as she can muster, "Johann, explain to these good people that we are but humble deliverers an empty keg to Friar Horace at Erastil's Alehouse! No Starstone Test for us today!" She then looks around and over her shoulders, looking for out of place moves that might be taking advantage of the disturbance.

We should have had some ale in the decoy keg - a forgotten detail! Naurin's mind continues to turn about the details of the plan.

Gunther takes a quick scan of the rooftops, while making sure his sap is close at hand.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

I'll give Walter the antitoxin to drink beforehand.

Malfeas smiles wide at the swarm that engulfs the Gnome. ”Look Arya, Someone’s going to try and become a god!” Malfeas then scans the area for anyone that might be paying too much attention to his parcel of “dirty laundry” Leopard print bloomers… Would not have picks Naurin for one to wear those.

"Haha! That would be a sight wouldn't it! No Starstone for me, sweet ladies!"

Hmm... perhaps this is some sort of diversion?

Sense Motive on the crowd, especially the lady who started the cry, to determine whether this is some sort of ruse: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

A lame, legalistic oracle on the trail of evildoers and on the battlefield;
a lascivious leopard on the trail of do-gooders and in the boudoir.

With her 18 charisma, maybe Malfeas should start do-gooding ;}

**GM rolls eyes, groans** ;)

"Oh! I should have known! The gnome we're looking for has green hair, not blue! He's not going to be a god, friends."

Looking a litle disappointed, the crowd parts and disperses, allowing you to pass down the street again.

You all look around carefully, but seeing no-one, you continue on your way. You wind through the streets, often needing to wait or turn down an alley when the crowd gets too thick.

As you turn a corner, you run into a small crowd of intoxicated revelers singing about the improbable accomplishments of a famed Taldan prostitute. Spying the keg, one of them shouts, “Ale!” and the drunkards rush forward to claim their share.

Hey, leave us to our own devices long enough and this is what happens. Don't want to see that, keep the game moving *whip crack*

"Sorry good friends, but this is the delivery of an empty keg to Friar Horace at Erastil's Alehouse! Come, take a look: it is most sadly empty or we could all have a more pleasant trip there!" Naurin calls out cheerfully, taking the same precautions as before.

Was it a good idea or not to leave the decoy keg empty?

Nah, I love the odd things that can happen in a city. Really, he should be making us roll initiative each time and see if we are jumpy enough to mow down the revelers. Maybe a few drunken verses and rude gestures look a lot like spellcasting...

Burn... Well, if you want fast... The walls of the buildings rapidly close in on you, and the street swallows you whole. You all barely have a chance to scream before you fall into an infinitely deep pit of molten hot lava. The End. Do Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200. =)

Man, it's a good thing this is PFS and not a home brew, or that might have actually happened!

I go to work and I miss the 'Earth swallowing the part' bit? Figures!

Walter examines the crowd,
continually searching for any who step too close to his cart.

He prays to Abadar for His constant 'Guidance'.

perception: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 9 + 1 = 29

Walter will--absolutely--look sternly at
anyone who does get too close to his cart!

intimidate: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

The drunks, even through their stupor, look at Walter as he glares. Their eyes grow WIDE, and they start backing away slowly.

"Sorry, our mistake, no offense meant, beg pardon!"

You proceed on your course a little farther. After rounding another corner, you come across two merchants arguing loudly in the street. A cage of chickens has been upended, and is blocking the narrow street completely. There's no room to turn around and only couple of 5' wide alleyways off to the sides.

As you approach the angry merchants, the keg in the first cart shrinks! Then, as if that wasn't shocking enough, it vanishes from sight!

Johann will sit on to of the keg, with a cord tied to the pin he needs to pull.

Did the keg vanish right out from under Johann? No save or anything?

Well, you guys went way off script, so help me out. Before disappearing, the keg is about the size of a basketball. Johann could definitely feel that it was jerked out from under him, like someone grabbed it away. There's no DC for this eventuality in the script. I'm thinking it's either a Combat Maneuver or a Reflex save for Johann, with some insane difficulty because the grabber is invisible. Maybe a DC 25 reflex save?

Walter cast detect magic immediately!

He peers around the crowd, looking for any traces of
recent magic.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

I forgot about the "cord to the pin" line, too.

Naurin rushes to the decoy cart and to the opposite side of the cart from the direction Johann seems to tumble, or starts to tumble, swinging her shillelagh in wide arcs, hoping to connect to the body of the invisible opponent or the now-invisible keg.

Well, I'd say he wouldn't get a reaction to the keg being jerked out from under him. Then we'd probably go in initiative order as everyone around him sees a floating keg and can tell where the enemy is while the enemy cast shrink item, tucks the item in his jacket, and dashes off.

Don't want to say 'told you so'...
but gluing it to the wagon was a good idea.

Ah, hindsight!

We could have glued the decoy wagon, but we actually want them to either get caught trying to steal it or to successfully steal it and then we follow/Locate Object it back to their boss/base. Right now I am trying to catch one (or more?) of them.

Yeah, plan is we try and stop them. If we can't, we use locate object to track the items back to their hideout. DEREK: How close are we to the destination of the real artifact?

Perception to notice the invisible person: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Reflex save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

Johann is completely oblivious until he topples over backwards.

My bad, I forgot this part - and Mal, you're about 1/4 mile from your destination

Before you see anything, Walter, Naurin, and Gunther fall fast asleep.

Mal, Arya and Johann notices a pair of hands grabbing the object, but it vanishes a moment later
(it becomes invisible too under the unseen person's cloak).

But I am not even....that tired!

Initiative:

Arya: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Mal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Johann: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

Mal and Johann, what do you do?

But, but ... justice never sleeps!

Perception -- do I see anyone?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

I don't recall if we had an active Message spell going. If so, Johann will use it to whisper to Arya, "Go! We can handle ourselves here. Get the package to the destination."

Johann will pick himself up, and then poke Walter, waking him up.

This situation got so confusing and with so little ability for the PC's to do anything but fail.

"Oh my, that Gnome just fell over. Shame, they are usually so sturdy, or is that a dwarf?" says Malfeas shrugging as he slowly backs up his wagon, looking for a way around this mess.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

As Johann said, working on getting the correct item to the destination. Doing so defensively if possible.

Walter would like to turn his Alchemist
alarm clock to snooze!

Yeah, Malfeas, but it doesn't seem unreasonable that the invisible person/people get a surprise round. If it is "Vanish", at least it won't last but 1 round or 2 total (or up to five, I guess, is possible). (If it is "Invisibility", we are in a lot more trouble.) But, how far could one or two people get with such a cask in whatever time they have left?

Anyway, if it is a necessary plot point, it has to happen this way, lol, even though we took it "way off script".

I wish I heard the Sleep spell being cast, though.
GM, could I use my once-a-day +4 morale bonus to add to my save vs. the Sleep spell? I haven't looked at the roll. It is a "legalistic" curse benefit.
Edit: I just looked at my Will save roll, so considered my morale bonus used and wasted. It is actually worse than the 6 - it would be a 4 - because my Will bonus is +0, not +2. So, 8 total still really fails.

ZZZzzzZZZZ

Sorry for the delay. In order to keep things moving, I'm going to simplify things here a bit.

After the thieves make off with the false keg, the party takes a few moments to collect itself. You gather your wits, and successfully deliver the genuine keg to Kreighton Shaine at the Grand Lodge. He thanks you profusely for your efforts, and encourages you to track down the thieves.

Using the scroll, you are easily able to find your way to an old building near the Pitview Pub.

The exterior of this run-down warehouse is rotting, and the roof is clearly sagging in places. Any paint that once coated its walls has long since flaked off the parched-looking gray wood. The windows are boarded firmly shut, and both pairs of loading doors appear to be jammed closed.

The northernmost door as well as the northwestern loading door have both been boarded closed. The eastern loading door isn’t boarded shut, but it is off its rails.

Is this the same warehouse we were directed to earlier?

The Map

Initiative:

Malfeas: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Arya: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Naurin: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Walter: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Gunther: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Johann: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Combat is not necessarily imminent, but we will need to track movement and turns during this segment.

Our order: Arya, Walter, Johann, Mal, Naurin, Gunther

You're outside the warehouse. The red doors are locked, the yellow door is off its rails.

"Breaking and entering aren't exactly my specialty... Should we try the door, the locked sliding door, or the door that is - oddly - off its rails? We should probably expect ambushes or - again, not my specialty - traps."

Is this the same warehouse we were directed to earlier?

Yes, this is the very same one. Using locate object put the exact location in your mind. It's like a magnet "pulling" you the right way. Once inside, it will help you find the exact location of the stolen keg.

”This was the same hideout the thieves referenced earlier. We should take care to be observant as we investigate as they will probably have traps in place. I can try and pick the lock on the main door, otherwise we would have to use this broken one, which would be very noisy.” says Malfeas, pulling out some needles.

Can I provide Aid another without a set of lockpicks? If not, can I have purchased the lockpicks between the fake being stolen and the delivery of the real keg, since we were in the market at the time?

Disable Device, aid another: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24 Or maybe I should be the one actually doing it! Nice!

Stealth to sneak quietly to the door with Malfeas: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Perception to look for traps or guards: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Once the lock is dealt with, Johann will swig his mutagen, so that his Dexterity and Armor will increase.

Also, I'm assuming we're going in the big door? or are we sneaking around to the little one?

Getting the nod from Johann, Malfeas sneaks up the the locked door, first listening for the sounds of people on the other side and looking over the lock for traps. If he's then satisfied that things are safe, he'll try and pick the lock with his needles.

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Disable Device: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 9 + 2 = 27

Arya delays to allow the lock pickers and brutes space to open the door. She will keep an eye out. They definitely do not want anyone to wander in do they?

It sounds like you're opening the yellow door? Or the big red one?

Red door is the one locked right?

I said some contradictory things about it, so we'll say yes, since that's what I said most recently.

The door does not appear trapped or guarded in any way. It opens easily once Mal begins setting his tools to work.

Yup, the red loading door and red regular door on the other side are locked, and the yellow loading door is off its rails.
Sorry, ninjaed.

Walter--still fuming at being put to sleep!--watches the out lying area as the two experts (hehe) work on the locked door.

He prays for 'Guidance" from Abadar.

perception: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 1 = 30

Walter peers around while holding his Longspear at the ready!

You get all of the great rolls, Walter!

Maybe in this game....lol...
looks like I am out of yours for a bit!

So far, Wuliem hasn't been all that impressive!