GM Endless Forms' PFS 02-10 Fury of the Fiend (7-11) (Inactive)

Game Master Mike Tuholski

Will: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

A haunt? Are you sure? Kyra tries to identify what Weiman means.

Know Religion?: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

Not sure what to do without being able to look at the spoilers!

@Kyra: you would know that the main way to get rid of haunts is to damage then with positive energy before they activate (but since you didn't make the Perception check you didn't get to act in the surprise round). Haunts activate on initiative 10 in the surprise round.

Initiative, for biting purposes:

1. Valeros
2. Enrik
3. Raphael
4. Bruxo
5. Weiman
6. Kyra

Helpful Haunt Link (GMG)

Ah, terrific. So what does she know about stopping them after they activate? Anything? IIRC you have to do something to satisfy the haunt?

I think this one is a "Wait out the effects and take out the haunt to keep it from re-applying any effects" kind of deal.

Will save DC 16: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Don't recall whether Bruxo's ever seen a haunt before; need to check his chronicles.

Kyra, with a 30 Know(religion) roll you would know that channeling positive energy in the surprise round would affect the haunt. EF, does my shouted warning give any of them a chance to act in the surprise round?

Will save 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17 (using lucky halfling)

Will save, +2 more vs fear: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Will save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
:)

Helpful Haunt Link (GMG)

Oh yes, I've read that over several times. Once you've GM'd Haunting of Hinojai you get pretty familiar with them. I forgot that I had already rolled initiatives from when the haunt was activating (to determine who could act in the surprise round) and accidentally rerolled them for the 'feast' but that's ok I guess, it doesn't really affect anything.

@Raphael: Unfortunately no. No one else made the Perception check to be able to act in the surprise round.

@Kyra: Raphael is about right. You could have channeled to harm it if you had acted in the surprise round. You don't think there's any other way to satisfy this haunt. As Weiman said, it's just one of those ones you have to wait out the effects on.

Everyone feels a bit hungry but Weiman takes it to a new extreme and tries to take a bite of Bruxo. He is unable to bite through the witch's skin though.

Round 2! (Weiman gets a new save I believe-and others can try to grapple/subdue him or he'll keep trying to eat people.)

My maximum damage is 1 Nonlethal (even on a crit,) though this haunt IS amusing (given that only I failed the save.) I'm surprised this fight is still going, though. But yeah the link was largely for Kyra's benefit. Too bad Rosham isn't here; this is literally the one time he can beat the hell out of Weiman without repercussion!

Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27 "I think he needs some kind of sauce, though... a chili sauce? No, too exotic. A barbeque maybe?"

Too bad Rosham isn't here; this is literally the one time he can beat the hell out of Weiman without repercussion!

Ah, missed opportunities...LOL

And it turns out that Bruxo has a chronicle for First Steps II, so he's encountered a haunt before.

Weiman! Snap out of it, man! It's that wretched haunt manifesting that has control of your mind![/ooc]

Don't hurt him! I'm sure he can regain control of himself. Let's move from this place before something else decides to show up.

Kyra then asks, Why did the wayfinder point in this direction? Maybe we need to move beyond this point?

"Wait a minute, he said something about a fractured soul. Could the haunt be tied into that? Maybe we should search this spot more thoroughly."

Ah! Wait! I lied. Kyra, you know that destroying this altar would probably end the haunt. Hardness 8 and 250 hp.

Raphael and Valeros eventually beat the altar into submission.

The wayfinder now points towards the statue in the middle of this area.

Glad I could help, sorry to be an absentee fighter.

Ha, you passed the save; that was enough. A barbarian eating people is far worse than a halfling nibbling on the Witch for nonlethal and making jokes about sauces.

After applying enough "positive energy" to the alter, Weiman laughs, ceasing his eating maneuvers. "Honestly, though; you'd be pretty tasty with either a barbeque or maybe a chocolate fondue."

But, yeah; Following the Plotfinder's directions.

A statue stands in defiance against the ravages of time, its granite arm raised in a silent salute. A glint of light reflects off the statue’s rocky belt. The statue’s massive stone legs rest on a decorative, two-tiered, white marble dais signifying royalty. Thousands of words and glyphs are etched along the circumference of this dais.

The statue’s belt contains several semi-precious stones that can easily be pried out. However, even more valuable than the statue’s gem encrusted belt is the actual dais itself, which is covered in Jistkan runes.

"Hey, guess what that says?"

Weiman looks over the entity for traps after casting Acute Senses on himself, barring someone identifying a reason to not do so otherwise. Perception vs Traps T10 (Acute Senses): 10 + 23 + 10 = 43

Bruxo can't make a DC 30 Linguistics without help (he's got a +7), but he can also try to assist if someone else has it. Otherwise we're out of luck without magical help.

I can aid you with my +6 (and give you +4,) thus giving you a 10% chance of getting it and making us not feel dumb for not owning any scrolls of Comp Languages.

I can stand here looking burly.

Kyra can grant Guidance if it stacks.

Mathing together what we have; Bruxo's got the forefront on linguistics at +7. Pending a bad roll, I can aid to get him to give a +4, bringing him to a +11. Guidance (while it would help me help him, won't add more than +1 to Bruxo's check) brings him to a +12. Then we've got Beefcake Brigade in the back, flexing and watching for the statue coming to life and murdering us. Sound about right?

"Grunt."

Well, Bruxo's not about to go flexing for anyone, LOL.

Maths look good to this Liberal Arts major.

Presumptive of Weiman's assist roll and Kyra's guidance, Bruxo will try to decipher the Jistka runes.
1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24
Sad trombone...

I still have my shirt reroll. At the mercy of the GM, I'll allow its use for that roll (2 stars, so +2 more).

Ooh, good call. Hold onto yours, since a) I have one and b) it's also at +2 (should be +3 by the end of January, but that's then, not now), and c) you may need it for your assist check, LOL.

Also might be worth seeing how important the deciphering is, in game terms...

With Guidance and Arch's Luck, I can only fail on a 1. aid: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 25 1(?) round of Arch's Luck used

-Posted with Wayfinder

You can use rerolls. One round of luck is good enough. I won't comment on its importance. But one way or another you can guess that there's a haunt here that you'll have to take care of once it starts to go off. Trigger hasn't occurred yet, I don't think.

Asist on Valero's 'Burly' attempt
Burly assist: 1d20 ⇒ 19
Fear our combined burliness!

reroll! with Weiman assist & guidance: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25
w00t! One better! >.<

So, where do we go from here?

I admit I've gotten a bit turned around as to what we are trying to figure out here. Are we trying to determine if another haunt is here?

You can kinda guess that there is another haunt here but I don't think (and someone can correct me if I'm wrong) that you can't know a haunt is there until it begins to manifest* (when the trigger goes off, everyone gets a Perception check to notice it and act in the surprise round). The haunt then goes off on Initiative 10 in the surprise round (unless you can defeat it before it goes off). If not you deal with the effects and destroy it afterwards.

*Detect Evil being the exception, I guess?

So unless someone corrects me, I've always run haunts (and seen them run) that you don't know it's there until it starts going off and everyone gets their Perception.

Ultimately you're trying to destroy the haunts to free the soul of Eldis Grone, who was the zombie that you tried to save last time. Benton Grone is the one you are trying to save this time.

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

Assuming in all the burliness going on that someone eventually touches the statue (because you'll have to to move the plot along):

As [let's face it: Weiman] touches the statue:

For those people who made it:

Raphael, Kyra, Weiman, and Enrik may take surprise round actions!

Detect Undead also allows it to be seen before it manifests, I think.

Also, Weiman was going to climb the statue eventually, do ho ho. HA! Ninja'd with correctness!

Kn R: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Weiman looks around. "But I'm not! Ha!" He'll then start to climb up the statue more! Climb (not accelerated): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

As [let's face it: Weiman] touches the statue:

There is, frankly, no other choice. :-D

Religion: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19

A haunt, or I should say, another haunt! If we destroy the statue that may do the trick!

Kyra will channel positive energy in the area, hoping to dismiss the haunt.
Channel: 6d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 3, 2, 6, 2) = 18

Know (Religion): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Realising what needs to be done, Enrik casts a spell.
Enrik casts cure light wounds on the statue.
Attack + Damage: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 221d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Raphael, knowing he can do nothing and not wanting to be turned against the party somehow, sprints away from the statue.

Valeros sees Raphael run off and is puzzled for a moment. Figuring it out, however, he mutters quietly to himself, "Oh, I get it, he doesn't want to kill anyone. Well, anyone that he doesn't want to kill. Well, he might want to kill someone, like Weiman, say. But he doesn't want to kill him when he doesn't want to kill him. I guess." As he ponders this, he watches Kyra and Enrik apply their healing energies to an apparently uninjured statue.

Weiman continues to climb the statue as Raphael makes a run for it. Kyra and Enrik use positive energy to harm it, but are not able to stop the haunt!

The statue appears to animate as a sadistic smile spreads across its face. It swings its arm at Weiman.

attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
damage: 1d8 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
DC 22 Fort or stunned

Everyone can take one round's worth of actions before it starts punching again!

Positive energy or just destroying the statue will end the haunt. It's not a construct but it does have hardness.

Valeros calls out, "Hey, Raph! Come on back here, would ya?" He then takes a quick step forward and swings his swords in a blur of steel. Unfortunately, his attacks, while strong, are poorly aimed indeed.

Longsword attack, TWF: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22
Longsword damage: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Longsword attack, TWF: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Longsword damage: 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Shortsword attack, TWF: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
Shortsword damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

We're too late! It has already started!

More Energy!: 6d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 6, 6, 2, 6) = 29

Wow, not bad at all!

Raphael, feeling somewhat foolish, rushes back.

I only had a single action in the surprise round, so I assume I am within one move of the statue

attack vs statue 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (2) + 16 = 18
damage 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (5) + 21 = 26

Valeros beats up on the statue a bit but Kyra successfully brings it to a stop with her channeled energy. There is a sigh of relief and a moment of calm as the haunt clearly dissipates.

The plotfinder now points to the stone structure to the south, particularly to the southeastern wall. Severe damage has laid waste to the area, leaving it quite unrecognizable. Loose rubble lies strewn about the remains of half-collapsed walls, and large tears in the building’s floor provide evidence of a long-forgotten earthquake.

Raphael, Weiman, and Valeros can act in the surprise round!

{b]"Well Weiman, I guess its up to you."[/b]

Valeros instinctively raises his arms to protect his head, then lowers them when he realizes there's nothing actually falling from above. He nods and agrees with Raphael, "Not sure how I'm going to hit it, when there's nothing to hit. Weiman, maybe it needs a joke?"

Since I shouldn't say anything in character right now...what Bruxo would say in character if he could to Valeros would be...

Well, if it needs a joke really bad, I'm certain Weiman has a really bad joke.