GM Evil's Seasoned Six - Severing Ties (Inactive)

Game Master Baerlie

to push a bit

Aeleth leads the way up to the lookup post. Up there he spots a man, badly injured and unconscious, and two half-elven girls. They look at you "Please, don't feed us to the monsters!"

Aeleth's eyes go wide as the implications of the girls' words dawn on him.

"No one will be feeding you or anyone to any monsters whilst I am here. Who are you, little ones and who is this man? What has happened here? Why do you think you are about to be fed to monsters?"

As he speaks, he trots up to the injured man and checks his injuries.

"Stephani! Starling! Are either of you able to help this man at all?"

Dusklord looks concerned that there may be monsters nearby.

"I assure you we have no monsters to feed you to, and of course would never do something like that anyway. What are the monsters, and what happened to this man?" he asks the girls.

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

diplomacy if needed: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

"I can help repair this man's injuries, however I would like to know what is going on here before I accidentally use my Gods-given powers inappropriately. Girls, please answer - what has happened here? What monsters do you fear?"

If the man is bleeding, Heal to stabilize. If not, use the roll to identify the injuries.p
Heal: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (12) - 2 = 10
If that doesn't work, then Stephani can use Lay of Hands to kee him from dying.

"Two men kidnapped us and our dad, they wanted to feed us to the monsters in the temple. Big creatures from the sea! The beasts turned against them and we had a chance to get up here where they can't reach us." the girl answers again. "The monsters look like lobsters, but with the tail of an eel. There are three of them. Dad fought them off and brought us up here, then he did not move any more. Is he dead?"

Stephani is able to stabilize the man. Most of the wounds look like caused by claws, others are bruises or lines from ropes around the ankles and wrists.

Dusklord looks at the two girls. "You are safe now, sweet younglings," he says, appearing to be speaking to children for the first time in his life.

"Where are these two men that kidnapped you? Are they below?"

"Yes, below. Inside the temple."

Serak summons a small ball of fire in his hand and grins.
Finally! I was beginning to think there wouldn't be anything to set on fire this time...

Dusklord smiles slightly and follows Serak down the stairs.

"Well then, if they look like lobsters, then let's hope they taste just as good! You just wait right here, girls. We'll take care of the monsters, then bring you and your daddy somewhere you can get help for his wounds." Aeleth replies as he follows his allies down the stairs.

Starling pats the girls on the heads, "don't worry, everything will be fine," she smiles reassuringly and heads after the others downstairs.

"Yesss, Nagi can eat them." Nago says to the kids as he pats the crocodile's back.

You move down the stairs, into the temple. Two dead Besmaran acolytes lie near a pool, killed very recently by the sea monsters here. The ravenous sea creatures have escaped the pool and are looking for food.

The reefclaw with the blue legs reacts fastest and moves towards you. double move, they have a movement of 5 ft. only

Round 1
Reefclaw blue
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Dusklord
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Reefclaw red
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Stephani
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Reefclaw green
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Starling
Aeleth
Serak
Nago

"Hello there," Dusklord whispers as the monsters move toward them.

The sickly-thin wizard is quick to react, and conjures a layer of grease underneath the closest one.

Grease, DC 15 Reflex

Ref: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Dusklord casts a spell and the floor below the reefclaw in the front gets really slippery. The creature falls prone. Another reefclaw moves forward.

Round 1
Reefclaw blue prone
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Dusklord
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Reefclaw red
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Stephani
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Reefclaw green
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Starling
Aeleth
Serak
Nago

"Foul monsters, you should not have come and murdered our people. Justice will be swift, I think!"

Stephanie charges at the greenish lobster-man, bringing her sword down in a large arc.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 2 = 10
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

(AC 18 for round)

Stephani attacks the reefclaw at the far side of the room with her sword, but misses. The reefclaw tries to strike back and also misses.
Attack vs. Stephani: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Round 1
Reefclaw blue prone
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Dusklord
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Reefclaw red
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Stephani
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Reefclaw green
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Starling
Aeleth
Serak
Nago

Starling begins to sing an old ballad about a group of even more ancient heroes fighting evil, encouraging the rest of the party and stirring them to heroic actions themselves.
Inspire Courage, +1 to hit and +1 to damage.

Aeleth takes on the stance of the dragon as he rushes up to the advancing monster and brings a fist down on its head. With my 40ft movespeed, I should be able to move along the edge of the room and avoid provoking from the prone creature.

attack roll with dragon style and power attack: 1d20 + 6 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 6 - 1 + 1 = 18
damage roll: 1d6 + 5 + 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 16

Starling starts to sing and Aeleth uses the inspiration to get the first reefclaw down.

Round 1 (inspire courage active)
Reefclaw blue prone
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Dusklord
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Reefclaw red defeated
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Stephani
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Reefclaw green
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Starling
Aeleth
Serak
Nago

Letting Nago go first so I know what the positioning is when I set these lobsters on fire.

I'm going to go ahead and go. Screw it.

With a toothy grin, Serak darts forward, and it almost seems like he uses the momentum from his sprint to help belch the torrent of fire that comes out of his mouth like an inferno. The blast covers both lobster beasts in his area, and only narrowly misses Aeleth.
Concentration to Cast Defensively: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Burning Hands Damage: 3d4 + 4 ⇒ (4, 2, 2) + 4 = 12

Handle Animal: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
"Attack them Nagi!" Nagi goes around Serak and bites at the reefclaw in front of Serak. Bite: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8
Nago walks around Serak and Nagi while drawing his weapon and then lets off a Ray of frost: 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 3 + 1 = 191d3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 at the same reefclaw.

Ref green: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Ref blue: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Serak shoots a cone of fire at the reefclaws. The reefclaws are not fast enough to dodge the fire and get burned. Nagi bites the reefclaw, but misses while Nago's ray of frost hits the target and the reefclaw stops to move.

Round 2 (inspire courage active)
Dusklord
Stephani
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Reefclaw green
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Starling
Aeleth
Serak
Nago

Dusklord moves to the right flank to assist Stephani, but ends up shooting some acid dangerously close to the paladin, with it whizzing just past her ear.

ranged touch attack, acid splash, firing into melee: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 3 - 4 = 21d3 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Stephanie continues to attack the green reef-claw.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 2 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

When it comes to my turn:

Unable to close into melee with the last enemy just yet, Aeleth runs up close as he can to the last monster whilst pulling a club from his belt and pegs it at the creature.

thrown club: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18 (-4 firing into melee)
damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Dusklord hurls an orb of acid at the remaining reefclaw, but almost hits the Paladin. Stephani continues to swing her weapon at the reefclaw and hits.

The reefclaw attacks Stephani again, she's too much of a threat for the aquatic beast. The attack is deflected by Stephani's half-plate.
Claw vs. Stephani: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

Aeleth's attack finally knocks the last reefclaw out.

combat over

Each of the two dead acolytes bears a rapier, leather armor, a scroll and outre jewelry. One of the acolytes is wearing a strange looking hat.

Nago casts detect magic then looks at both items.
Spellcraft hat: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Spellcraft scroll: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Wow. I'm surprised he even knows magic.

lol - I know the feeling! no help here either.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

"Let me see that," Dusklord says with an outstretched hand.

"Perhaps I will do better..." he says, implying that it is almost a certainty.

"This is the hat we are looking for," he says.

spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Spellcraft on Scroll: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Serak attempts to decipher the scroll, and then snaps his fingers.
I've seen this before. It's a healing spell. Pretty basic, but still useful...

Scroll of Cure Light Wounds

Starling looks at the others, "Considering that we have all three items, we should probably finish our secondary mission and return to our friend Jenk and try to advance our primary Pathfinder mission."

After making sure that the girls and their father are well and ready to return to their home you return to Jenk at Barracuda Cartage. He briefly looks over the religious items. He nods and hands you a note.

"Please deliver these items to the Lissalan cultists underneath the Seven Needles tattoo parlor. Please leave immediately, don't let this opportunity grow stale!" he insists.

"Of course, we will be sure to make an impression."

Once they have left Barracuda Cartage, Stephani pulls the others aside.

"So, before we go in there, what is our plan? All of this subterfuge is new to me." Then, suddenly, she looks at the sack on her hip and says "Not now, father! We have to complete this mission first!" She looks back at the group, placid, as if nothing was odd about that.

Dusklord seems more interested in Stephani for a moment, despite their urgent mission.

"Might I have a look at that skull?" the wizard asks her. "It is quite a curious relic...I should like to examine it."

Responding to her first question, he says, "This is the fun part. It should not be too difficult to sabotage this relationship, though the exact manner of doing so may need to unfold. Though perhaps we could keep the relics we are to offer as gifts, and instead try to pass off trinkets as the magic gifts. I have a fork in my mess kit, for example, that could be the Fork of the Devil's Beard, an incredibly powerful artifact. When they realize what we are trying to pull...they will not be very happy."

Serak shrugs.
I could just set the place on fire. That always seems to piss people off.

"Heidmarch asked us to 'sabotage the Lissalan safe house as completely as possible' and 'throw the blame for the sabotage onto the Aspis Consortium'. Setting things on fire certainly seem like the right way to go about it. And if there's any way to sabotage the place by breaking things, I am certain I can do something about that too."

"Passing off non-magical items as artifacts might be taking it too far though. We don't want to be too blatant, nor do we want to do anything immediately and directly traceable to us. I do not believe the intention was for us to battle the entire cult on our own."

Dusklord sniffs.

"I just don't want any innocents to get hurt. It feels strange being the voice of restraint. But if you both insist, I suppose you could convince me to burn...it...down..."

He clears his throat. "With reluctance, of course."

"Can someone disguise themselves as a known Aspis agent? How will we put the blame on them?"

"I have a wand to assist with disguises, should we pursue that course," Dusklord says.

"Well, we are carrying Aspis badges. A misplaced badge could certainly point the blame where we want it to. Actually...Dusklord, if you could disguise one of us as one of those recently-killed corpses, we could show ourselves at the cultists' lair as Aspis agents, then forge circumstances to make it look like one of our number was accidentally killed in the course of sabotage. So for example if we collapse a roof, we could plant the corpse with the implement of the collapse and an aspis badge under the rubble so that when they clear the rubble, they will discover corpse of the aspis-badge-carrying 'perpetrator'."

Starling gets excited at Aeleth's suggestion. "That sounds like a great plan! Planting Aspis badges on some of the corpses we might 'encounter', especially if these are known Lissalans, will make the other Lissalan cultists suspect the Aspis Consortium even more, as they will mistake those corpses for undercover Aspis spies, which would naturally lead them to try and uncover more of those among their ranks."

You have a plan so you move to the tattoo parlor in the Wharf District. Tenements sprawl across the portion of the Wharf District between Zincher’s Arena and the solid-looking Gas Forges. A shop with a sign reading "Seven Needles" stands at the end of a dim, trash-strewn alley. The tattoo parlor is abandoned, its windows cracked and portions of its wooden trim looking like they were removed long ago.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Serak takes a second from tossing a small ball of fire from hand to hand to point out a concealed trapdoor and footprints in the floor of the shop.
Looks deserted, except that the dust has prints in it. We're in the right place. Can I set it on fire now?

Serak has issues. I like this character.

Dusklord looks at the floor and can just barely make it out...once Serak points to the tracks.

"Perhaps we should see what we are dealing with first. You will get your chance for arson soon, though, I am sure."

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Starling nods at Dusklord's comment approvingly. "Yeah... maybe wait a little until we make sure we're burning the right thing, who knows how far the actual safehouse is under this floor."

Down the trap door?