GM Harker's PFS Season 4 Campaign

Game Master Justin L. Warren

"The elf didn't answer my question about where she went so he must not know. But this tunnel seems like a good bet." Quiella leads the way to the tunnel. "Someone check that big room real quick to make sure there's nothing promising that way; then follow me!"

don't forget we're in a hurry, y'all. We can explore the rest of the tower after we take care of this drow

Those zombies will have 40 Hit points as per this Link

Does that include their Toughness feat bonus?

They lose all armor proficiency since they no longer have a Class and zombies lose all Feats, so if they are still wearing armor then they take an armor check penalty.

What kind of armor are they wearing? If it has an armor check penalty, I'll strip them before we move on.

Otherwise, I'll leave it up to the party: Do we want to keep going forward, or is it worth waiting (about 50/40 minutes more now, I'd guesstimate) for some very useful reinforcements in time for our next fight?

Caldion doesn't know exactly where the leader went, nor exact numbers. He was blindfolded before reaching the tower, then kept in the altar room. Everything he knows comes from overhearing or from the bragging of his captors.

Zephyrus, no I did not add Toughness into the HP total. The armor they were wearing were +1 chain shirts.

Melufiuos detects faint abjuration magic on the books, which probably keeps them preserved.

Looking through a couple of the books, Vailis gathers that they are collection of extremely old observations of the people and places in the area. One of the tomes suggests this is was once a checkpoint into and out of the forest.

Since the majority of the group appears to want to go forward, we will do so.

Following the excavated tunnel out of the library, it eventually leads to what appears to be a natural cave system. This trip takes 3 minutes.

The tunnels open into a small natural cave that hosts a colorful riot of fungi. A narrow path winds from north to south between mushrooms four feet tall with violet caps as large as shields. A jagged opening in the rocky southern wall reveals a tunnel that leads down into pitch blackness. Beyond the exit tunnel, the passage breaks into three additional passages.

You're not sure where the leader might have gone, someone will need to make a successful Survival check to find her trail.

"You are right Quiella. Let's hurry up" Vailis leaves the books for later after noticing useful observations on places "We better catch the leader than finding her escaped"

As the group reaches the fungi area, Vailis requests help to the Hound Archon. The archorn uses its scent ability to track down the escaped drow.
Survival+aid (track by scent): 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 14 + 1 = 25

The Hound Archon picks up a trail and begins to lead the group vigorously down one of the tunnel. Three minutes later, however, his duration on this plane is up and he disappears.

I'll need another Survival check. Also, all of the Aid spells have expired.

Heccan follows, unusually silent. The group can tell the danger of this place is wearing on him. He make a not to keep his defensive magic engaged.

Mage armor should still be fine. Hec will zap himself with a charge from shield wand and re-cast cat's grace on himself.

Unfortunately Quiella is useless with Survival

"Vailis, can you bring another one of those things back to pick up the trail?"

Mel is pretty useless too, but he gives it a try first.
survival: 1d20 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 1 + 2 = 13

I have a mapmaker's kit (on my porter). It gives a +2 survival to avoid becoming lost. I assume that does not help here, but I wanted to mention it anyway.

I also have a Mount scroll. If Quiella rides a pony, would that make us faster?

"I could bring another hound, but it will last just for another few more minutes. I am open to try, but it might be not enough" Vailis takes a jade amulet from his chest decorated with serpentine dragons and the Open Road Glyph and addresses Valik "You have showed before to be a fair tracker Valik. What if you try to guide us through the trail the hound has found?"

Vailis tries to help as well to follow the proper trail.
Aid survival: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (11) + 0 = 11

A wayfinder gives a +2 Survival to avoid getting lost, and allows casting at will 'guidance' rendering a total +3.
My idea is to try help Valik with his +6+3 wayfinder+group aids to attempt navigate the caverns, and summon scent monsters to help track the leader on the most difficult cavern crossings.

Dr. Vitruvian helps by paying close attention to disturbed fungus patches, drippings of ominous oils, and puddles that look like they've been splashed in.

aid Survival: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Heccan, not much of the outdoorsman, watches on hoping the good Doctor is able to pick up the trail.

This is a tracking roll, the bonus to avoid getting lost is not applicable. I'm just going to go with Mel's roll with the Guidance and aid from Zephyrus.

With some help from Zephyrus, Melufiuos picks up the drow trail where the Archon left off. After three more minutes, the air grows subtly cooler and dryer as the tunnel opens into a wide cavern split through the center by a deep chasm. Air wafts up from the chasm, circulating throughout the chamber and to the chamber roof twenty feet above.

As you come around a corner, you can see a single female drow on the other side of the chasm. As the group moves closer two fiendish creatures step out of the shadows to attack Valik and Quiella with longspears! If 20 hits Quiella's Flat-footed AC, she takes 26 damage. If 22 hits Valik's Flat-footed AC, he takes 22 damage.

Another male drow with a hand crossbow then turns a nearby corner to step behind one of the fiends.

Here is a link to the new map

To identify the fiendish creatures with longspears, it's Knowledge (planes).

PC Initiative
Heccan's Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Melufiuos' Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Quiella's Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
Vailis' Initiative: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Valik's Initiative: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Zephyrus Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Initiative (Surprise Round)
2 Fiendish Creatures {Red, Blue Borders}
Heccan [1 Damage; Surprised. Life link with Quiella]
Quiella [15 Damage; Surprised]
Drow Minion {No Border}
Melufiuos 1 Damage; Surprised. Life link with Quiella]
Valik [6 Damage] <= Up
Drow Leader {Purple Border]
Zephyrus [1 Damage; 1 Con Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Vailis [Surprised. Life link with Quiella]

Valik has a Surprise Round action. After that the Drow Leader goes, then Zephyrus, and then we're into regular rounds.

even if all her buffs have run out, Quiells is at 26 flat footed.

I'll delay Valik slightly to give Zephyrus a chance to get in his action.

The female drow leader levitates 20 feet up to the ceiling of the chamber.

Valik and Zephyrus have Surprise Round actions.

Knowledge (Planes), heroism to identify fiendish creatures: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14 At the very least, I need to know their resistances/immunities...assuming I can get jack-all out of that roll.

Valik draws a shuriken and throws it at the strange planar creature nearest him.

surprise shuriken at purple: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 201d2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Zephyrus doesn't know what these creatures are, but tosses a bomb anyway. It hits the one with the blue veins and burns it slightly, although it seems resistant to the majority of the fire. The drow next to it does not jump out of the way in time and experiences a full fiery splash.

Valik then moves to toss a shuriken at the blue veined fiend, but leaves himself open to two attacks of opportunity by both red and blue. The blue veined comes the closest to hitting. If Valik's AC is lower than 31, the blue/white enemy hit for 17 damage. I'll assume it did for now and alter my numbers if necessary later.

Afterwards, Valik finally gets his attack off, but the nimble fiend steps out of the way in time before the throwing star can hit.

The blue veined fiend then steps up five feet and begins to attack Zephyrus, perhaps in retaliation for the bomb in its face. After two longspear attacks on the alchemist, it then tries to bite Valik. If Zephyrus' AC is less than 21, then the second longspear attacks hit for 16 Damage.

The red veined fiend casts a spell and appears behind the group!

Initiative (Round 2)
2 Fiendish Creatures {Red, Blue Borders}
Heccan [1 Damage. Life link with Quiella] <= Up
Quiella [15 Damage] <= Up
Drow Minion {No Border}
Melufiuos 1 Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Valik [45 Damage] <= Up
Drow Leader {Purple Border]
Zephyrus [1 Damage + Maybe 16 Damage; 1 Con Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Vailis [Life link with Quiella]

Heccan and Quiella are up!

are we presuming I am fighting defensively unless I state otherwise?

Valik, I don't recall if you said that earlier in this scenario and/or if I agreed to it. Let me know.

no biggie, we’ll say this attack I wasn’t defensive. Should we presumefrom this point forward I go defensive unless I state otherwise at the beginning of each scenario? But I’d still like to know how I went from 6 damage to 45?!

Know Planes: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Heccan calls upon his power to fade from mortal view.

Heccan casts Greater Invisibility.

If Zephyrus' AC is less than 21, then the second longspear attacks hit for 16 Damage.

Assuming I still have the benefits of my barkskin infusion and my Mutagen, my AC is presently 24 - but it just so happens that against weapons of the Spear category, I gain a further +1 dodge bonus, for 25!

Spellcraft, heroism to identify red fiend's spell: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (14) + 20 = 34

didnt see the part about FF, so I see where I went from 6-45

Valik, this is the last encounter so let's talk about how the defensive fighting will work later in the next scenario. If you want to fight defensive from this point forward in this encounter, that's fine, just let me know what your AC numbers are.

Heccan, you are in range of a fiend's longspear if you choose to cast non-defensively.

Zephyrus notes that the fiend cast Greater Teleport.

Heccan can attempt not to provoke, and Quiella is still up.

Yikes, did not realize I would provoke from that spot. I believe Heccan could take a five foot step south and avoid AOO altogether. If that is an option, Heccan will do that. Otherwise, Heccan will cast defensively.

Defensive cast v DC 23: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27

Heccan steps away from one of the fiends with a longspear and disappears from view. Despite the sorcerer's invisible status, the fiend still appears to be eyeing him.

I'll give Quiella a bit more time before botting her.

I did not get to post that Quiella would have used her pearl of power after she burnt her paladin spell slot, but would have liked to. There's no reason for her NOT to since she doesn't have any other use for the Pearl of power, and with only one spell slot there is no wait and see factor. It doesn't affect her action this time, regardless.

Quiella ignores their assailants and starts heading towards the leader. haste would be great if anyone has it. Quiella has an awful move speed

if she takes enough damage from AoOs she may use up a LoH

First, I'm going to assume that someone tells Quiella of the enemy leaders position since she cannot see further than 30 feet.

Second, Quiella can make a DC 10 Int check to have remembered to use the Pearl of Power earlier. Otherwise, she forgot until now with all the distractions.

Third, I believe that Quiella's Shield and Shield of Faith spells have expired since it's been more than 4 minutes since she cast them.

Quiella ignores the fiend in front of her and makes her way forward, following directions to the leaders location. With her magical defensive aid now gone, she gets hit by the blue veined fiend's longspear as she moves past. Quiella takes 14 additional damage from the attack.

The male drow near Quiella then fires a hand crossbow bolt at her, but the projectile goes wide and completely misses.

Initiative (Round 2)
2 Fiendish Creatures {Red, Blue Borders}
Heccan [1 Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Quiella [29 Damage]
Drow Minion {No Border}
Melufiuos [1 Damage. Life link with Quiella] <= Up
Valik [45 Damage] <= Up
Drow Leader {Purple Border]
Zephyrus [1 Damage; 1 Con Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Vailis [Life link with Quiella]

Mel and Valik are up!

Shazbot! Mel has a scroll of fly, but it has a range of touch.

When he sees the leader rise into the air, the magus grins and begins digging through his pouch. By the time he pulls out small scroll, he hears the party directing Quiella toward the leader. Seeing her shamble off in that direction, Mel's heart sinks. Standing there with scroll in hand and mouth open, his mind races. I was planning on vanishing and then flying up behind the leader, but probably would not be able to one-shot her and Quiella's healing would be very far away. Plus that fiend might be able to see invis; I don't like the way it is looking at Heccan. I'd could use the scroll on Q, but she's already run off. Damm! Only one thing to do.. A fierce, determined grin touches the magus's eyes as he kicks his heals together three times to activate his magic slippers. Holding the scroll close, he darts past the fiend and chases after our tiny little dealer of death and justice.

acrobatics: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 13 + 2 + 5 = 23

intelligence: 1d20 ⇒ 3

Despite the aid of his boots, Melufiuos provokes an opportunity attack from the fiend as he tumbles towards Quiella. Fortunately for him, the attack is much less precise than the one made against the gnome paladin and it misses.

Valik is up!

Valik, despite having grevious wounds, Valik starts to inspire courage in his allies.

Inspire Courage, total defense action as well, AC 37, and if an attack misses me by 4 or less I get an AOO on the target

The party hears Heccan shuffle his feet, no doubt showing some concern over the group's battle. An arc of shimmering sparkling dust arcs over Valik and settles over the fiends battling Valik.

Heccan casts Glitterdust, DC 18, targeting the drow and the fiend fighting Valik. I placed a radius on the map to note location of spell. Cloud will last 8 rounds and will reveal any invisible creatures within.

Heccan isn't up until after the fiendish creatures. I'll check with him again then to see if he wants to change his actions.

Valik begins giving advice to his companions while placing himself in a very strong defensive posture.

The levitating Drow leader casts a spell and the ioun torch illuminating the top of Melufiuos head goes dark and clatters to the floor.

I believe the only other current light source is from Vailis. If this is the case, then the female drow leader is not visible unless you have Darkvision or a light source gets closer to her

Initiative (Round 2)
2 Fiendish Creatures {Red, Blue Borders}
Heccan [1 Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Quiella [29 Damage]
Drow Minion {No Border}
Melufiuos [1 Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Valik [45 Damage]
Drow Leader {Purple Border]
Zephyrus [1 Damage; 1 Con Damage. Life link with Quiella] <= Up
Vailis [Life link with Quiella] <= Up

Group Effects
Inspire Courage: +2 to rolled attacks/damage, Fear and Charm saves

Zephyrus and Vailis are up!

Dr. Vitruvian carefully chucks another one of his glass orbs - this one filled with what looks like nothing so much as sooty water flecked with motes of purple and the various colors of old blood - at the drow behind the demon.

Plague Bomb, heroism, Sensei, soft cover vs Drow Minion: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
fire damage: 3d4 + 9 ⇒ (1, 1, 1) + 9 = 12

It goes off in a fairly muted explosion, but one that blooms into an ominous, dark miasma....

Everyone in the cloud must make a DC 21 Fortitude save or catch...
[dice=The PLAGUE!]1d4[/dice] plus an additional saving throw to avoid becoming fatigued

"Let's do not break our lines! We need to finish these ones first" Vailis attempts to look for a strategy while he steps to the front and tries to protect his weak source of light "I will try to entertain her while we do!"

With a simple movement of the hand the half-elf summons Superior summoning: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 augmented celestial dire bats on the general direction where he saw the flying drow.

The bats' darkvision and blinsense help them quickly locate their enemy and attempt to surround and bother as much as possible.

EDIT: Due to spell range and summons movement, they all need to double move to get into position, but will save his attacks in case AoO are needed

They all immediately smite evil.
+4 damage all if the drow is evil

Sorry, not sure why I thought Hec was up. I may change my election depending on how the rest of the rounds shakes out.

Zephyrus tosses a bomb at the nearby drow which hits its mark and explodes in a plague cloud.

Vailis summons three celestial bats that he sends towards the drow leader.

The red veined fiend moves up five feet, while the blue veined fiend shows signs of the plague. Nevertheless he thrusts his longspear at Vailis twice and hits both times, followed by another hit from the red veined fiend. Vailis takes 66 damage in total from the three attacks (some of it was sneak attack from the flank they set up). I believe he may be unconscious, unless some of that extra HP isn't from Aid (Aid has expired).

The red fiend turns its second attack against Zephyrus, but misses.

Initiative (Round 3)
2 Fiendish Creatures {Red, Blue Borders}
Heccan [1 Damage. Life link with Quiella] <= Up
Quiella [29 Damage; 34 on her turn] <= Up
Drow Minion {No Border}
Melufiuos [1 Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Valik [45 Damage]
Drow Leader {Purple Border]
Zephyrus [1 Damage; 1 Con Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Vailis [66 Damage; 61 on Quiella's turn. Life link with Quiella]

Group Effects
Inspire Courage: +2 to rolled attacks/damage, Fear and Charm saves

Heccan and Quiella are up!

Quiella, if you want fly, you'll need to stay put until my turn.

Heccan curses as the fiends set upon the party. The party hears more feet shuffling as Heccan moves to stay out of the reach of the wicked fiend's spear after seeing what happened to Vailis. Sparks fly as the sorcerer sends arcane dust over the western foes. A voice cries unseen from the darkness.

"We are running into a bit of trouble back here."

Heccan will take a five foot step south and cast glitterdust as outlined on the map in the red box.

Quiella swears under her breath as she realizes what just happened. She backs up behind Mel and raises her sword, sending out a blast of positive energy.

Oracle, channel energy: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 5) = 6 using Beneficent touch to reroll the 1
reroll: 1d6 ⇒ 5
so that's 10 healing for everyone else and 14 healing for Quiella. I believe she catches everyone from her current position

Having pinpointed his spell location earlier, Heccan has no trouble casting a Glitterdust spell into the plague fog. With the low light conditions and mists, however, he doesn't know if the spell blinded either target.

Quiella remains next to Melufiuos as she channels positive energy to heal everyone in the area.

The lighting around the area goes dim as presumably the drow in the plague cloud uses some Darkness effect stronger than Vailis' Light spell.

The area 20 feet around Vailis' light is dim light (20% miss chance unless you have low-light or darkvision), and dark beyond it (If low-light vision, Dim Light between 20 to 40 feet from Vailis' light. Darkvision sees normally.).

Initiative (Round 3)
2 Fiendish Creatures {Red, Blue Borders}
Heccan [Life link with Quiella]
Quiella [20 Damage; 25 on her turn]
Drow Minion {No Border}
Melufiuos [Life link with Quiella] <= Up
Valik [35 Damage] <= Up
Drow Leader {Purple Border]
Zephyrus [1 Con Damage. Life link with Quiella]
Vailis [51 Damage; 46 on Quiella's turn. Life link with Quiella; Prone.]

Group Effects
Inspire Courage: +2 to rolled attacks/damage, Fear and Charm saves

Mel and Valik are up!

Fear thundering in his ears, the magus casts Fly from his scroll and touches Quiella. "You can fly now!" He then drinks his potion of darkvision.

I'm assuming that even if Quiella were to drink the potion, she'd still be short-sighted. So Mel drinks it and hopes to be able to help give the party directions.

Vailis falls to the ground skewered like a brochette.

The half-elf unexpectedly opens back his eyes when life link and channel bring some of his health back.

HP 8/59

It would appear that plague cloud does not create fog conditions, but I'll say that with the low-light conditions, it's still difficult to tell who is blinded by the Glitterdust spell.

It has also been brought to my attention that Darkness automatically overwhelms a 0-level Light spell so the entire area is pitch black. You can only see if you have darkvision. I was thinking Vailis Light source was Continual Flame level for some reason, which was incorrect.

Mel, now that it's dark you can't read the scroll. Should I just assume you use the Darkvision potion?

Mel and Valik!

Only those with Darkvision can see.

So just drink the potion and then cast the scroll. That works, right?

No, Mel. They are both Standard actions, I should have mentioned that in my previous post. You can do one or the other.

Valik will continue to take up a full defensive posture and dispense the advice.

Ac: 37

In addition to the ioun torch that got zapped, Mel also possesses an everburning torch and two sunrods. If the darkness around me is not magical, maybe I can just pull out one of those as my move action and then cast the scroll on Quiella? If so, then that is what I do.

Otherwise, yes, I'll just drink the potion. And shake my fist at the leader.

Mel, the darkness from the Drow minion appears to be magical in nature. An Everburning Torch can cancel a Darkness spell, but not Deeper Darkness. Sunrods have no effect at all on Darkness magic.

Based on this info, let me know what you are going to do.