GM Nowruz's #6–10 'The Wounded Wisp' (Tier 1-2) - 20180502 (Inactive)

Game Master noral

Bats! he says

"Stand back, yall. We's got a ornery critter 'ere." calls out Bob, eyeing the situation. Patting his musket, he advises "Got me a peck o corpsifien magics in this 'ere thing. Jus needen room ta use Vera s'all."

Delay until Grallen's turn.

Mouth opened in a wordless snarl, Umbaraki launches himself towards the bats, an ice-blue warhammer that radiates a sickening chill forming in his hands as he does so.

Knowledge (Nature): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Kinetic Blade: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Cold Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 Full damage to swarms

"Stand back, yall. We's got a ornery critter 'ere." calls out Bob, eyeing the situation. Patting his musket, he advises "Got me a peck o corpsifien magics in this 'ere thing. Jus needen room ta use Vera s'all."

Delay until Grallen's turn.

The swarm will move and start hurting you guys. :-) And you do not know where it will be after Grallen's turn.

Mouth opened in a wordless snarl, Umbaraki launches himself towards the bats, an ice-blue warhammer that radiates a sickening chill forming in his hands as he does so.

[dice=Knowledge (Nature)]d20+5
[dice=Kinetic Blade]d20+3
[dice=Cold Damage]d6+2 Full damage to swarms

You see that Umbraki's hammer would definitely have an effect on the bats but he unfortunately does not hit the main body of the swarm.

The swarm will move and start hurting you guys. :-) And you do not know where it will be after Grallen's turn.

That's why I'm delaying until Grallen's turn. It'll change my place in initiative. Since the swarm moves before him, I'm not doing a readied attack

The swarm of carnivorous bats suddenly fills the room and makes breathing difficult. Treble and Umbaraki are filled with terror as the swarm engulfs them and the young Pathfinder's bodies start to bleed.

Treble and Umbaraki please make DC 11 Fort save or be nauseated 1 rd. because of the swarm's distraction - additionally you are bleeding with 1 HP on each turn of the swarm & receive swarm damage now: 1d6 ⇒ 4

Round 1
1. , Golthwur, Treble, Umbaraki
2. Swarm
3. Grallen, Bob -> GO!

#Swarm: Full HP

Bob:
Golthwur:
Treble: -4 HP
Umbaraki: -4 HP
Grallen:

Treble realizes his disadvantageous position too late. By moving so close, he has made himself a target for the flying vermin. He moves back five feet, feeling the swirling mass affect his ability to concentrate. And he still is unable to throw his alchemist's fire without harming any of his companions.
fort save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Knowing that a hammer is not going to really impact a swarm of bats, he withdraws so as to give room to the people who can harm the swarm

Round 1
1. , Golthwur, Treble, Umbaraki
2. Swarm
3. Grallen, Bob -> GO!

Round 2
1. Golthwur, Treble, Umbaraki -> GO!
2. Swarm
3. Grallen, Bob

#Swarm: Full HP

Bob:
Golthwur:
Treble: -4 HP
Umbaraki: -4 HP
Grallen:

Golthwur holds tight to his staff, ready to strike the bats should they dare come near to his person.

LOL, Swarms will be the death of us :)

Treble moves even further away from the bats. He calls to Umbaraki, hoping to convey the urgency of the situation. "Umbaraki! I can throw this alchemical fire at the bats to harm them, but my code PFS rules, that is forbids me from doing so unless I have permission from my team members to harm them. It would only hurt a little, but I do need permission!"
He silently prays to Magdh that Umbaraki is able to understand him and readies to throw the flask as soon as Umbaraki gives him permission...
throw against ranged touch: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
alchemists fire damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Plus 1 point damage to Umbaraki if he does not move out of range

Aaaaand Umbaraki moved before I finished my post.

AoO from when they entered his space: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 ...
Cold: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Fortitude: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Umbaraki's wordless snarl becomes a grimace as he makes certain not to allow any bats between his teeth.

Still dripping blood from scores of tiny bites, he bursts out of the cloud, giving Treble a free shot.

Frigid Maul: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Cold: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
At least I'm consistent, sheesh.
Oh, and though I'm (as you noted) out of the way for this shot, feel free to splash me with the fire if necessary in the future

Stepping forward, Bob lowers his musket. "Now dis gunna be shiny!" exclaims the man.

With a few arcane phrases, his boomstick begins to glow red hot. Sighting in the vial bats, he pulls the trigger and a gout of fire explodes from the muzzel. *BaBOOM*

Burning Hands: 2d4 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3 +50% vs Swarm
Ref DC 15 for half
Well...was hoping for more damage that than....

The swarm of carnivorous bats moves to Umbaraki again and his body continues to bleed.

Umbaraki, you are bleeding with 1 HP & receive swarm damage now: 1d6 ⇒ 1

But after the attacks of Treble with his alchemist fire that burns on even after the initial blast and Bob's burning hands you see that the main body of the swarm dissolves.

#Swarm: gone

Bob:
Golthwur:
Treble: -5 HP
Umbaraki: -6 HP
Grallen:

You see black, dead bats everywhere and the smell of burned flesh is almost nauseating.

You check all tunnels but they are too narrow to follow after a while and you cannot find anything more of interest in there. You are certain that there is nothing to be found beyond the documents of those legendary Pathfinders.

Since this is my first scenario, I don't have a wand yet, so I'd love it if someone would let me use there's :)

Umbaraki does his best to bind his wounds, but they're numerous and widespread enough that he's still left leaking...

Heal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

I believe that Golthwur does not yet have the wand or prestige to purchase a wand.

"Well, I am thankful that that unpleasant business is done." says Golthwur. "Shall we be grabbing the wine... and he notes... and going? I suppose we could give a few coins to a street urchin to deliver the wine to Dreng while we plumb the mysteries of the journal entries. Shall we away to the gnome's abode?"

You can stop the bleeding by aiding each other and decide to leave the cellar and the secret room and return to the upper level.

The kitchen personnel is a little astounded to see you again, especially with some of you having blood stains on their clothes. And although Heryn Gale is quite busy when you return she notices that you obviously were in a fight.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?!" she asks with great concern and wants to run down to see what is going on.

When you explain to her that you found the secret door she obviously is very surprised about what you found.

You can decide if you tell her about the documents or not.

Heryn then says "That is truly unbelievable and I agree with you. But to be honest such a matter has to be discussed with a Venture-Captain to align on the next step. I do not know what you want to do now but good luck to you! And please come back and inform us what to do with the room ... I ... I am still in shock ... unbelievable."

We need to take this information to the Venture-Captain. Gale, is there someone here that might be able to provide healing for Umbaraki? he asks.

After hearing the story you were telling Heryn and her not so silent outbreak a couple of the other Pathfinders are quite astounded and offer healing.

Assume you are fully healed.

The pressure is building after the first couple of people are allowed to go to the cellar and some want to question you in more detail on what you found.

But right at that moment you see Dreng coming through the door and looking quite agitated.

He does not really understand the fuss at the moment but before anyone can talk to him he orders you to immediately get out of the Wisp to speak to him.

You follow him outside and again you see him sitting on the floor in front of the Wisp in his beggar's clothes.

You are now just steps away from Dreng who looks at you with a smile at first and with some concern when he sees the marks of battle on your clothing.

"You are late! I waited ages for you to come back. I hope you have my bottle ... and can explain the shape that you are in." he says with a raised eyebrow.

Golthwur pats his robes, muttering, "By Nethys, I do hope that someone managed to grab the bottle." The wizard looks up at the Venture-Captain to respond to his inquiry, but Golthwur manages to muutter only a single word, "Bats."

The Venture-Captain looks at Golthwur a litte confused. "Yes, where is my bottle?? And no ... the vineyard's name was NOT bats! Couldn't you find my bottle and gave up?" he asks and his a raised eyebrow is not coming down.

The dwarf hands the bottle over.

"Very good! But nonetheless I still do not know why you are hurt! Did you get into a fight with other Pathfinders?!!" Dreng asks.

He shakes his head.
No. a swarm of bats attacked us when we explored what was under the inn he relates.

Umbaraki's eyes blaze for a moment before he snatches up some of the documents concerning Eylisia's lost Chronicles and places them before Dreng with an annoyed thump.

At the beginning Dreng is not amused but when he starts reading the documents his eyes are wide open. He asks you to tell him all the details.

"I ... I cannot believe that I have been in this wine cellar so many times and have never noticed this secret door! You Pathfinders might have found something that gives us a taste of our roots." he says with genuine surprise in his voice.

"You had the luck of finding a long-lost trove of documents and by following my directions you will potentially earn some renown in Absolom. This is an important find and you will be the ones to investigate some potentially far-reaching discovery related to Eylysia because you were the ones to stumble upon it." he says with a sly smile.

Then he looks at the documents in more detail.

"The other documents you found that are not related to Eylysia will need to stay with me so that I can begin assigning other agents to decrypt and collate the contents for proper study and comparison to exploits published in the Pathfinder Chronicles."

"You find me in the grand lodge. Now go and solve this puzzle!" he says and walks away.

"Well, I am thankful that that unpleasant business is done." says Golthwur. "Shall we be grabbing the wine... and he notes... and going? I suppose we could give a few coins to a street urchin to deliver the wine to Dreng while we plumb the mysteries of the journal entries. Shall we away to the gnome's abode?"

Where to next?: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Keeping uncharacteristically silent as the encounter occurs, he raises an eye as the VC retreats. "Ya know... I betcha he knew them pretties was there an sent us to find it purposelike."

With but a shrug he turns back to the group. "But I be fine with lookin in on sum purple belly. See what kinda shindig we's got ourselves into, eh?"

Umbaraki has quickly noted a few of the leads, and underlines the Arcanimirium on his tablet in agreement.

You all decide to go to Fimbrik's home first and his address was noted in the documents you found.

FIMBRIK's HOME

You all arrive at the Arcanamirium's campus in Absalom’s Wise Quarter.

Fimbrik's home itself is an impressive stone dwelling reminiscent of what one might expect from an eccentric wizard’s home.
A brick step leads to Fimbrik’s front entrance, which is locked with a rusty lock.

Numerous stacks of newspapers—roughly 2 years’ worth of monthly copies—are piled around the door and crammed into a thin slot at its base. Each rounded corner of the building has a large window, allowing creatures to look into the structure without difficulty.

See the map in the slides for a layout of the house.

You ring the bell and knock but receive no answer. In general the house does not look like it has seen many visitors recently.

You begin to walk to the first window on the left of the front entrance.

D3. Bedroom

A bed and desk occupy this room.

Then you walk to the window on the right of the front entrance.

D4. Study

This study contains a round table surrounded by chairs, and the walls are replete with tome-laden bookshelves.

An elderly gnome garbed in noble attire with a dapper rounded hat on his head and a can tipped with a brilliant glowing gem in his hand is standing in the room. It seems as if he is perusing his book collection.

Keeping uncharacteristically silent as the encounter occurs, he raises an eye as the VC retreats. "Ya know... I betcha he knew them pretties was there an sent us to find it purposelike."

With but a shrug he turns back to the group. "But I be fine with lookin in on sum purple belly. See what kinda shindig we's got ourselves into, eh?"

"Sir, it would seem that you have an affinity for books of spells, but an abhorrence for books of grammar. If we mages are to show superiority to those folk of only mundane abilities, then we should speak as such. Why else do you think grammar was invented!". Golthwur says.

Upon arriving at Fimbrik's home, he casts prestidigitation to produce a light ringing sound by the door.

There is unfortunately no reaction Golthwur.

Golthwur heads to window and casts the same spell a second time, this time to also create a small light display, one resembling tiny fireworks, in an effort to gain the attention of the gnome within.

There is no reaction at all. He is just reading his book. The gnome is either ignoring you or does not perceive you.

The dwarf will teach out and tap the gnome on the shoulder.

You have not entered the building and are just seeing him from the window on the right of the door.

Umbaraki returns to the front door to see if it's locked, looking at the heaps of papers with a confused shake of his head.

The door is locked.

After peering through the window, and noticing the lack of response from the gnome, Treble also returns to the front door. "It would appear the fellow is deeply engrossed in whatever it is he is studying. He may also have some physical impairments that are keeping him from noticing us." He looks at the stacks of papers and frowns. "However, it is unusual for one to let so many papers to pile at his doorstep. It also appears this lock has not seen much use. Perhaps the gnome is incapable of coming outside, or worse yet, not being allowed to."

With amusement, he replies to Golthwur, "Wouldest not a spell be as sweet iffen were called be another name? Wouldest not my trusty gal 'ere still bark as well?" he asks, patting the musket. Quietly he begins following the men around, poking his head in the windows. "Ya dun think he's dun lost hes brainpan, do ya?"

Bob's mouth drops open at the meer thought of the man imprisoned. "Iffen them purplebelly's got him locked inner, we's gonna need to rescue the poor soul. I here they come two by two, hands of blue....like...like clowns!"

Quickly looking up and down the street, he ensures no clowns are nearby.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

Quickly looking up and down the street, he ensures no clowns are nearby.

No clowns are visible anywhere!

"Unfortunately, it would seem that I am without a gnoming beacon or any other means of garnering Filbrik's attention."

Looking at Bob, Golthwur points at the musket and asks, "Can that...what did you call it?... 'gal' of yours open the door? Though I am usually reluctant to be so forthright and rude, he gnome's lack of attention would seem to warrant alternative approaches."

I would like to keep from doing damage to the door he says, holding his long hammer.

I here they come two by two, hands of blue....like...like clowns!"

Oh, would that we had a River of information to help us! I believe that we may not have another option, Grallen. I'm sure the Society and Master Dreng would pay to have the door repaired, given the circumstances. Perhaps going through a window instead? Unless one of our number has a way to manipulate this lock more subtly than with a hammer blow? I believe just letting fire fly to burn the door down is a worse option. Of course, the gnome could have just found his own personal serenity, and wishes to be left alone while he peruses his book's verse."

Too much? :)

Bob McCalister wrote:

I here they come two by two, hands of blue....like...like clowns!"

Oh, would that we had a River of information to help us! I believe that we may not have another option, Grallen. I'm sure the Society and Master Dreng would pay to have the door repaired, given the circumstances. Perhaps going through a window instead? Unless one of our number has a way to manipulate this lock more subtly than with a hammer blow? I believe just letting fire fly to burn the door down is a worse option. Of course, the gnome could have just found his own personal serenity, and wishes to be left alone while he peruses his book's verse."

Too much? :)

I don't mind. I'm still free.

After some discussion you come to the conclusion that you have no choice. You push the door a little harder and suddenly it opens up!

As soon as you open the door you suddenly see a magical circle sparkling and only a fraction of a second later three fiendish looking beetles appear next to the sofa and try to attack you.

You all see the beetles a little earlier then they are ready to react.

Kn(Planes)

Initiative

Ini(Umbaraki): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Ini(Grallen): 1d20 ⇒ 4
Ini(Golthwur): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Ini(Treble): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Ini(Bob): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

Ini(Beetles): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

Round 1
1. Umbaraki, Golthwur, Bob -> You are up!
2. Beetles
3. Grallen, Treble