GM FurtiveZoog's PFS First Steps, Part I: In Service to Lore (Gamma) (Inactive)

Game Master FurtiveZoog

Good call on the screen curtains, IMO. That was one of the things in the description that I thought could help.

Decides to check the obvious hiding spot, under the bed.

My fault for the delay again. I was waiting for someone else to go and there was no one left (except for Eurydes).

Suddenly, the imp appears in a whiff of brimstone directly above Lady Adelaide's head, laughing, chittering, and mocking, before disappearing again as it flies off with the chest.
(FA, FA, SA, MA)

Edit: It might still resort to under the bed, but the detection spells will penetrate the bed material easy enough, I believe, even lengthwise.

The description of Invisibility indicates that whatever you're carrying when it kicks in goes invisible as well. (That's distinct from anything added after invisibility, which needs to be tucked inside clothing, etc. to become invisible.) So I take it the box is vanishing from sight with the imp?

Adelaide inwardly scowls as the stink of brimstone settles in her hair. How incredibly... frustrating.

Outwardly, she maintains as cheery of a manner as possible. "You really ought to help us out, you know. Death just isn't very fun, I've heard."

She will again try to Detect Evil in the NW direction.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Moves to the end of the bed with the bed curtain ready.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

"What an annoying little fiend. I can see why she is not to broken up over us killing it."

Vyk returned to his post by the door, and begins scanning for magical signatures. West

"While you're invisible, little imp, I don't suppose you'd mind telling us what's so important about that box."

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

Oh, man, I'm rolling like Jerry Holkins.

Yes, the box goes invisible each time the imp does, since it is carrying it. I had a brief doubt when prepping since the imp's description says "Self only", but I am 99% sure that that just means it can't be cast on others like the normal invisibility spell.

Well, at least I succeeded in the "annoy or frustrate his enemies" part of the encounter.{/ooc]

Lady Adelaide scans NW and detects evil, Vyk Tyr moves back to the door and scans W and detects magic, while Zander [ooc](whom I moved slightly) scans NE and detects nothing.

(And then the imp moves somewhere. Unless it delays...)

"Zander, Eurydes I have an idea. Start throwing those feathers up in the air."

Will look for any odd disturbances in the feathers. Like something flying in them. Maybe give me a +1 for having feathers?

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Ready action to grab the imp in the curtain if he sees it in the feathers

The feathers were the other things in the room description that I was thinking of that could help you.

Not many people have free hands, but each person who does so could generate several points worth of perception, I think, eventually filling the room with enough fluff to pinpoint the imp (or help the detections).

"Of course you would think of using feathers, Kawrock. Good idea!"

Tuich watches carefully for anomalies in the falling feathers, ready to spring into action if she spots anything out of the ordinary.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Bleh. Sooo... if there's a blatantly obvious disturbance in the feathers, given an opening she'll dash towards it and splash black ink throughout the area.

Adelaide, her hands free, begins to toss feathers in the air with the others.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Eurydes slings his shield and uses his free hand to fling more of the downy fluff into the air.
Eurydes's Perception: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (20) - 2 = 18

Just Zander this round, to see if he will do anything different. Then the Imp may move.

Zander just waits with his magical vision up, hoping to be able to zone in on the creature enough to swat it from the air.

This is really on you GMFZ, Zander isn't going to do anything different until it gets to be minutes with nothing happening.

I thought I gave it away completely, but I guess I haven't. Are you giving up, Zander? ;-;

So...
Lady Adelaide, scanning NW, indicates that she does not detect evil.

I'll leave it at that for the moment, in case anyone wants to do anything different...

Not giving up, but not playing the Imp's game. He wants us to dance to his foolishness. We have him contained, he'll get bored eventually.

Rushes over to Lady Adelaide and sweeps the area above her head with the curtain. Hopefully trapping it in a make shift bag.

Vyk decides to scan for magical signatures over the heads of his companions. Starting first with himself. The Imp seemed to enjoy getting close to them.

In turn, Adelaide will attempt to grab or smack down any invisible thing above Kawrock's head. We catch on eventually!

Tuich grins and giggles. "You know, the imp's probably getting more of a laugh watching you flail at each other than it did hovering over Lady Adelaide's head!"

Well, the imp is used to tormenting things for eternities, and rarely does it get to torment anything Good (especially around Zarta's place), so we would be here for awhile waiting for it to get bored.

The screening sweeps through the air gathering fluff and then - *tug* - hits something more substantial! Unfortunately, the imp's foot was only snagged momentarily, and it squawks something hideous:

Yup - Since you can scan the whole room, essentially, with a 60 degree cone (really, if you look at the diagram, it should be called '90 degrees'), the only place where it can reset a clock that is trying to pinpoint it is above the scanning person's head. So, it bounced back and forth. (Zander cast the spell, and Lady Adelaide is a good guess by dress, then 'confirmed' (as a stronger-than-usual good aura) by it keeping focused on her. Vyk Tyr cast a spell but isn't positioned to scan the whole room.

Clearly we should jump up and down. If we hit our head on something, we found him. :p

But for it to get pleasure out of the torment, it would need to get a reaction, which is why Zander isn't reacting.

Clicks his tongue once with glee.

Quickly he is above Lady Adelaide. Hit it or stab it before it moves!

Lady Adelaide - You could wear one of those spiked helmets.

Zander - I was thinking of having it 'relieve itself' on your head - nothing personal, of course! ;-) - but I didn't know exactly how the rules would handle it: A ranged touch 'attack', probably, but would it break the invisibility?

For convenience and probably speed of resolution, we'll say that Lady Adelaide went first, followed by Kawrock. Everyone else can go.

I'm not sure from the description where the activity is or how to handle this. As stated earlier, if she saw the screening "snag" and is close enough and wouldn't be slinging directly at her allies, Tuich would try to dash over and fling ink all over the area in an attempt to splash the imp. But having a single "shot" she'd only do so if she was fairly confident she had a good chance of connecting, so: Your call, GMFZ. Absolutely zero idea what to roll for that... almost seems like an area affect.

If she doesn't have a clear shot or feel like she can get there and splash before the thing has dashed away, she'll stay where she is and readied.

I you say trying to hit someone with something, urine or not, would break invisibility. Also, the urine would become immediately visible and allow us to target him easier.

Based on what he rolled for my attack. I would say it is %50 miss chance and a ranged touch attack. I have called out where he is, directly above Lady Adelaide. This should not affect you hitting her. Since it is a 50/50 chance to hit an invisible creature it would be your call Tuich.

Sorry, I wasn't being that serious. :-P

More seriously, there could be two basic ways of doing the ink attack: treating it like a powder attack, or treating it like a thrown splash weapon such as holy water. The former seems most applicable, since you are not going for a direct hit, although a vial of ink is a lot less and would 'cover' a much smaller area than a pound of flour - AC 10+ instead of AC 5? How long it lasts is another question since powder says it "momentarily reveals if there is an invisible creature there", which sounds like a round or more likely, less, but in the glossary entry on invisibility it says "One could coat an invisible object with flour to at least keep track of its position (until the flour falls off or blows away).", which sounds like a long time. How about 'until it reappears and goes invisible again'? Finally, what do you get for it? The glossary entry also has something displacing water revealing its location but being "still hard to see and benefits from concealment." So, maybe go with that (a 20% miss chance). Whew! Some of these - especially the contradictions... - should be FAQs but aren't, at least from what I've found.
Ink attack against a part of a 'square', AC 10: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Tuich flings the ink (mostly) above Lady Adelaide's head, and droplets splatter across the imp's invisible form, making it a fragmentary, ghostly figure. It squawks something it its infernal tongue.

You can keep track of where it is - for now, which may not be long since it can go invisible at will as a SA - and there is a 20% miss chance.

Now that we can kinda see it, are we still in a chatty mood, or can we kill the devilish hellspawn and spite the paracountess?

Lol, that is up to you. Of course, you could just 'half kill it' (knock it unconscious) and take the chest. Still, I suppose sometimes you just don't know your own strength...

Edit: It is probably less chatty, too, now that you know how to locate it reliably with the detect spells.

Zander, Vyk Tyr, and Eurydes are still up, I believe.

Vyk moves toward Lady Adelaide and launches a magical spray of vibrant, scintillating colors over her head.

Move to square H8 and fire Color Spray (DC 14) above Adelaide's head. Don't know if I would provoke an AOO, since the imp is distracted, but I don't want to risk casting defensively since I would lose the spell if I fail the DC.

Now that the thing hasn't surrendered when given ample time and motive, let's end it.

Going to wait and see the results of the spray before I act.

One thing to remember about tiny opponents is that they don't get AoO if they aren't already in your square, and generally need to be in the same square to attack you. (I mention it that way because I was doing the imp wrong the first two times I did this scenario...)

The vivid colors illuminate the ceiling in dazzling, stunning patterns and cause the mostly-invisible imp to drop the heavy metal box. Now visible, the box crashes with a great clang against the flagstone, narrowly missing Lady Adelaide's head.
It isn't clear what happens to a winged, flying creature that is stunned, especially one with "perfect" maneuverability, but it will probably drop on its turn if it can't make a DC 15 hover check.

Zander dashes forward to procure the box they were sent to retrieve, his armor jingling as he crouches low to scoop it up. "Well, we have what we came for, AND we get to leave the Paracountesses pet intact. That should make everyone else happy. Lets go, before it comes to his senses, unless we want to stick it in a pillowcase and beat it senseless?"

He will follow the rest of the group if they decide to leave. If they decide to beat it senseless

Nodachi: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14 damage: 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Zander grabs the metal box, a strange affair with seven extraordinarily complex looking locks, and warded (as you guess from subtracting the imp's invisibility illusion) by strong evocation and abjuration magics.
I think it was his turn, not that it matters much.

Kawrock's miss chance, high is good: 1d100 ⇒ 60
Kawrock lands a good thump on the creature, although its otherwordly form is much less damaged than he would have expected.

Eurydes' miss chance, high is good: 1d100 ⇒ 68
Eurydes' Warhammer attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 251d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
For good measure, Eurydes rushes forward and also gives the still-fluttering imp a heavy wallop.

The imp remains hovering but takes no actions.

Everyone is up! Do you want to press the attack or leave?

melee: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12 damage: 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

miss chance, high is good: 1d100 ⇒ 95

Adelaide runs a hand through her hair, dislodging a bit of colorful sand leftover from Vyk's radiant spell. "We have the box; I see no reason to tarry any longer. Let's leave well-enough alone. Of course, that's just one voice." She steps out from under the imp anyway, seeing no lowered weapons among her associates.

"Nice shooting, by the way," she offers breezily to Vyk.

"I agree," says Tuich as she watches the commotion. "We have what we came for and we got the upper hand in a fight with a devil of sorts. And quickly. Not many can truthfully make that claim."

"Let's not press our luck," she concludes with a grin.

Will follow the group when they leave

"Ahhh, I wanted to dip him in chocolate and have him delivered to the Para Countess."

Tuich giggles. "Now why would you waste a perfectly good chocolate-covered imp on someone like her?" she asks him quietly, grinning all the while.

"Because it would come with a note that says 'NOW WHO IS TASTY!'."

"Why, thankee, Adelaide," Vyk said with a slight bow.

"Oh, no!" he then said louder, right before smashing his mace into a drawer.

"That imp is really making a mess!" He then dinged the wall, dropping a painting of the paracountess to the floor.

"Wait, wait, I think I got him this time! His mace then slammed into a bedpost, cracking it.

"Finally, our fierce battle with a worthy foe is concluded!" He put away his mace.

He smiled at his comrades, and gestured sweepingly toward the door.

"Ladies, after you."

And the flowers are still standing!

That's pretty funny, Vyk Tyr :), but I did warn you that it wouldn't stay stunned for very long - up until the first or second smash. Well, we'll just get to play out more violence!

As Vyk Tyr begins adding to the imp's already impressive destruction, Eurydes tries to smash the wobbly imp another time, using both hands as he had earlier slung his shield, but it is disappointingly weak in effect.

20% miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 28
Warhammer: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 131d8 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Everyone else is up!

Nodachi: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15 damage: 1d10 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 18

"See what happens when you goof around?" says Tuich, mildly frustrated. "We were so close!"

With no reach weapon and all adjacent spaces occupied, Tuich will ready a scarf attack and wait where she is.

Am I missing something? What's stopping us from walking out anyway?