GM PDK'S PFS RPG 'HONOR'S ECHO' FOR PBP GAMEDAY VI (Inactive)

Game Master Purple Dragon Knight

As requested, Remaio indulges you on a bit of history. He starts at the beginning it seems, and tells you the following, “For millennia, magnificent Taldor reigned as an enduring empire, praised for its culture, military, wealth, and connections to the glory of Azlant. By the beginning of the fifth millennium AR, Taldor had begun to sag under the weight of excessive ceremony and decadence. Its old rival Qadira led an invasion against its declining neighbor in 4079. Sensing an opportunity, many of Taldor’s western provinces declared their independence in what was called the Even-Tongued Conquest—a war on two fronts that the empire could not handle. Taldor repelled the Qadiran forces, but it never regained its lost lands.

In the aftermath of the war, emperors of Taldor sought scapegoats to bear the shame of their defeat. They stripped numerous noble families of their titles and lands to condemn their failures in the two campaigns. Most who suffered this punishment faded into obscurity and never rose again. Countess Honaria Alcasti, my ancestor, was an influential commander during the campaigns before and immediately following the Even-Tongued Conquest, yet all her skill could not make up for the shortage of supplies, and her career came to an ignoble end. When she dared to critique the crown’s strategies, the emperor sentenced her family to life as common people. I am her many-times-great grandson but alas, I only have incomplete references to her heroism and title, and I long to exonerate her name and regain the noble title that I believe she deserved. If you can all help me gather the right evidence and present it in Oppara, I am certain that I will succeed. I need you all to keep following my lead across several additional countries to uncover the truth and, with evidence in hand, advocate for my ancestor’s grand legacy.”

The next morning, you are invited by the man who presides over the Aroden Basilica, Father Basri. He grants you all an audience, and extends an official and very formal protocol of gratitude for the stolen relics you brought back. He also blesses the party in the name of Aroden. Even though some of you may think this blessing no longer carries any magical weight, you at least all agree that Basri would now be predisposed to support you in a future endeavor. Although the Church of Aroden no longer receives spells, its members have considerable influence with the nobility and various historical societies across Avistan and particularly here in Taldor.

Vello enjoys himself at the feast, but his eyes glaze over a little bit with the long history lesson. He only sips a little bit of spirits and mostly drinks water while eating.

He accepts the blessing from Father Basri and thinks of possible future benefits of being on the Church of Aroden's good side.

He begins to think on their group's next mission and remembers it will require a desert trip, which is out of Vello's comfort zone being a water specialist. At least, the group won't have to worry about drinking water with him there.

Barid keeps to himself but is gracious during the feast and the benediction and lesson afterward, showing genuine interest in the history of the region.

On the night of your morning meeting with Father Basri, Remaio comes and finds you all at your regular meeting place, and lets you know the next mission will be in a few days and in Qadira.

You have thus a few days to shop, relax and tend to personal errands. When Remaio sends for you, a meeting is arranged at the lodge.

He tells you that years ago, he sold an exquisite sword to the Qadiran Ghazali family in a desperate bid to earn easy coin. Although the sword allegedly once belonged to Honaria Alcasti, claims of its magical properties were, in Remaio’s estimation, fiction. Struggling to stay afloat in a state of near-poverty, Remaio delivered the blade to
Qadira and never looked back.

A few months ago, everything changed. Remaio’s research into Honaria’s life led him to the church of Aroden. The church’s records detailed a powerful intelligent item gifted to the brave Honaria: a sword matching the description of the one he sold.

Remaio arranges your next leg of the trip as usual and you all enjoy an uneventful trip to Omash. The guards at the city’s main gates help you find the Ghazali family manor. The luxurious estate lies on the outskirts of Omash, outside of the fortress-city’s towering walls.

Instead, the property uses its own walls for protection. The two-story building boasts intricately patterned stone floors, rich wall hangings, and floor-to-ceiling windows. A sandstone wall decorated with geometric mosaics surrounds the opulent Ghazali manor. Through the brass front gates, white cobblestone paths wind through a garden of flowering cacti and acacia trees to the manor’s entrance. A pair of guards clad in polished armor flanks the heavy wooden door to the residence.

A guard stationed at the door intercepts you and leads the group to Lady Ghazali’s study. The domed ceiling of this grand room soars above red and white tiles whose pattern resembles roses in bloom. Between the
mahogany bookshelves that line the chamber, suits of armor stand at attention. An empty weapon rack faces the doorway.

Arajida al-Fakhiri, Lady Ghazali, a middle-aged Keleshite woman, sits alone with her head in her hands. She greets you all, but her pleasantries fall flat, and her eyes are slightly bloodshot. When the group shows her Remaio’s documents, she acknowledges that she owns the sword, and looks up to you, awaiting your questions.

On the way to Qadira, Vello comments "I've heard tells that an intelligent item can control their owners. So we might need to be careful for that."

-----------

Vello greets the Lady Ghazali, "Lady Ghazali, what pray tell causes you grief?"

Otto holds out a flask, ignoring the misson for a moment but just seein' a soul in pain. "Sip?" Otto asks as he holds out the flask.

Vindex doesn't own any nice clothing, but he takes care to clean the clothes he does own before heading to dinner. He'll eat heavily and drink moderately as long as Remaio is footing the bill, and listen as the others speak, but doesn't talk much over the course of the evening.

When facing Lady Ghazali, he'll resist the urge to ask her to get to the point about selling the sword and stand quietly in the back.

Barid sees the woman in pain and attempts to coax her story from her, "If something is wrong do tell us, we have a habit of being problem solvers of one sort or another."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Mohag will stay quiet for now, but listens attentively.

She seems taken aback by Otto's offer for a sip, but once Barid approaches with his smooth Vudrani charm, she melts in sobs, and yes, she does take Otto's offer. Otto please indicate what kind of drink you're offering her and mark the purchase on your character sheet accordingly - she's a noble so quality may matter...

After finishing a long drink from Otto's flask, she nods in thanks to the dwarf, and says, "I woke this morning to find My son, Aayef, gone and the sword missing. He barely even knows how to use it. It was supposed to go to my eldest daughter...”

"Do you know where Aayef might have gone, and why? Had he talked about undertaking some quest or mission? Is he just a daring youth out on an adventure, or did he have a grievance with somebody?"

“Aayef has big dreams. He begged to be allowed to train at one of the war academies in the city, but I couldn’t bear the thought. I’m afraid he ran off on his own to slay some imaginary dragon—and found himself a real one.”

Barid frowns heavily, "My brother once attempted the same thing. Do any of your staff have a close relationship with the boy? Or perhaps his sister does? Someone who might be able to direct us to where he might have run off to. We'll retrieve your son immediately."

“I've already asked the house staff and my family. At this point it looks like he slipped out of our family estate... wild animals, slavers, and bandits lurk out in the desert... you don’t think any of those caught him, do you?”

Vello looks to the others before he responds to the Lady, "I'm sure he will be fine. But the sooner we search for him, the better. Would you know where he would've left your estate? It would be easier to track him down if we knew his starting point."

"My guards looked everywhere within our walls... I don't know..."

"I am a fairly good tracker. As Vello said, take us to where he most likely left from and I may be able to pick up his trail.
If your main gate is guarded at night, perhaps he'd have climbed over a wall."

Sir Durant bows to the Lady as they enter, but as her demeanor begins to break, he quickly shifts to take action. “My Lady, I am so sorry for the distress you are suffering, but rest assured, we shall do everything in our power to return your son to you safely. Now, did young Aayef ever mention a desire to take the sword for his own? We see that your estate boasts many fine weapons, but the fact that he took this highly prized sword is concerning. Perhaps he did not take it entirely of his own volition.”

Lady Ghazali begins to cry as a hundred death scenarios involving her son begin to swirl in her mind.

A guard or butler (he could be both by his official stance and posture) steps forward and silently usher you out of her living room, "Come now, gentlemen. Lady Ghazali requires privacy at this time."

Nothing found within her estate by dozens of staff. What do you do?

Barid hums, finger scratching his chin. "The easy avenues are closed. So, we'll have to do two things. One: Find the easiest way a...teenager?" He looks at the butler/guard for confirmation before continuing, "could leave the grounds under their own power. Two: Figure out if the blade is using the boy as a vessel and what it could possibly want. We can see if anyone in the area has noticed someone with a fine blade skulking about."

Otto's flask contains cheap grog, certainty well below her standards at around a copper a pound.

"We could start in the boy's room and look for tracks there."

The butler politely kicks you all to the curb at this point, reiterating that the boy is nowhere near here at this time and that the party is wasting their time trying to do the same thing 20+ servants did this morning. He suggests you start outside the walls of the estate.

Otto grumbles "Lets make the loop 'round and check out dere"

survival for tracks: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Vello agrees with Otto, "Hopefully we can find a clue where he started his 'adventure', but it is odd the servants don't seem to care about the well-being of the boy. Kicking us out like that."

Perception (Searching for signs of the boy's passage): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

Otto easily find the boy's tracks in the sand once you are at the back of the estate; the trail begins at a gap under the wall. Vello finds a piece of bright fabric sticking out of the sand right where the trail begins.

Vello chuckles, "At least we are lucky the boy is not a sneaky type. If I was in his position, I probably would've snuck out all the time and gotten good at it."

Otto nods "Lets follow."

"Indeed. Let's get this boy back to his mother."

"Let's be alert for those dangers as well -- slavers, bandits, animals. I don't know the deserts of Qadira well but have tried to prepare for the conditions."
Mohag has prepared Create Water and Endure Elements.

Aayef ’s trail leads three miles east to the sand blasted
ruins of a circular building. Chunks of wall and broken
pillars stand as the last testament to what was once a
shrine to Sarenrae. Rubble covers the deep sand around
the structure, creating difficult terrain. The dais (area C2)
is not covered in rubble.

Otto, next to you:
A chunk of twisted deadwood rests atop a pile of ashes in the
lee of a fallen stone column. Cinders surrounding the driftwood
suggest a recent fire.

Further ahead, you see steps ascending the wreckage to a smooth stone dais. A cracked stone shrine stands before the eastern wall. Bones and other detritus litter the floor around the altar.

More importantly, you also see a giant scorpion which seems to have surprised Aayef as he began exploring the site. The beast proved more than a match for the young noble and is about to finish him off when you approach.

MAP UPDATED

Round 1: (bold may go)
Sir Durant
Otto
Mohag
Vindex
Barid
GIANT SCORPION
Vello
Aayef

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8
Knowledge: Religion: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

Vindex pushes forward across the broken ground, pulling out his sling as he round the broken remnants of the wall and bringing the scorpion in sight. "Well, damn, that's not looking good. HEY YOU! GET OUT OF THERE!"

Otto trundles forward as well, casting shield on himself as he moves forward.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

"Barid, a bolt might get its attention!"
Mohag taps Barid with Desna's blessing of luck.
Roll twice and take the better for the next round.
He then advances towards the scorpion, shouting and waving his arms. If needed, he activates his Travel ability to ignore difficult terrain.
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Kn. (Religion): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Sir Durant, realizing that the boy is in desperate need of help, moves south to get a better view of the scorpion, drawing his seldom-used longbow as he trudges through the sand. As soon as he is able to see the scorpion, he fires a shot.

Shortbow, second range increment: 1d20 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 - 2 = 19 Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

There may be other penalties from cover/firing into melee as well, but I’m not sure what they all are. Needless to say, it’s not gonna hurt the scorpion much either way.

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

I'm going to overrule some of you and assume all your characters had ranged weapon out while tracking the boy. Vindex: double move for you is 60 feet so you should be closer than that. Mohag: you delayed to touch Barid therefore you are now next to him. Barid: you moved with crossbow out and already loaded, got touched by Mohag, and took a shot at the scorpion at 70 feet, taking minus 4 due to scorpion and Aayef being in melee and no soft cover from Otto because the dais is elevated (so you're shooting 'up' through a gap in the ruined walls). I've clearly highlighted the difficult terrain rubble in red; the walls highlighted in black block line of sight and line of effect.

Sir Durant's arrow narrowly misses its mark, while Barid's crossbow bolt manages to pierce the giant scorpion's chitinous armor, gaining its attention. It backs off carefully from Aayef and move towards the newcomers, descending the dais and pointing its poison stinger angrily at Otto!

[GIANT SCORPION takes the withdraw action to double move towards 'the big meat'; you notice that it's been stung several time by Aayef's blade!!]

Round 1 --> Vello, you're up!

MAP UPDATED

I think I am unclear on what is difficult terrain here. Vindex's speed is 20 feet due to his armor, so he should either be able to move 20 feet or 40 depending on if the area is difficult terrain or not.
What parts of the map are difficult terrain?

Not much of it is difficult terrain: only the parts I boxed out in red. So, you can effectively move 4 additional squares. Cheers!

@GM: sorry for screwing up the actions, thanks for fixing it.
@Barid: Bit of Luck applies to all rolls for the round, including the confirmation roll, so reroll that of you want.

No screw up detected on my side - I just wanted to clarify the order/difficult terrain situation. My gut feel was the same as Vindex's at first: floppy sand must be difficult terrain. However after search-fu'ing the heck of the PRD I can't find anything about sand being difficult terrain. Only when you do overland travel 'then' you start having the x1/2 modifier...

Round 1 --> Vello, you're up!

Vello makes a move toward Aayef and goes toward the east and then south to avoid the giant scorpion.

Double Move: 60'

"Don't run away from me, MONSTER! AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGH!!" screams Aayef, boldly leaping off the dais and charging the giant scorpion!

The giant scorpion rotates halfway, raising a claw to grab the young noble midair while trying to maintain his defense against Otto and the incoming warriors!

Giant Scorpion AoO vs. Aayef: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24 for 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 dmg plus grab, using only the left claw so as not to gain the grappled condition: 1d20 + 12 - 20 ⇒ (4) + 12 - 20 = -4

The giant scorpion makes a severe gash in the young man's left thigh but the young noble is able to spin away from the deadly chokehold and roll on his back over the raised claw, landing outside the giant's scorpion's hide and bringing down his magnificent sword on the monster's head with a vicious two-handed slash!

Aayef vs. Giant Scorpion, Charge: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 2 = 27 for 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7 dmg.
CONFIRM CRIT: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 = 11 for 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9 dmg.

Round 1: (bold may go)
Sir Durant
Otto
Mohag
Vindex
Barid
GIANT SCORPION - wounded
Vello
Aayef - severely wounded

Otto steps nimbly to the side for a dwarf as to flank with Aayef and attacks the scorpion with a big overhand chop from his cutlass.

cutlass: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 2 = 11
damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Mohag moves so his spell will catch everyone and casts Bless.

Sir Durant rushes forward, throwing down his bow and drawing his long sword. As he runs across the sands, he strikes the pommel of his sword against his shield to raise a noise and hopefully draw the scorpion’s attention. ”Here, monster, come to me! Attack me! Aayef, get out of there, boy! You’ve fought bravely, now let us do our part before you lose your life before you have the chance to earn real honor and glory!”

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Vindex drops his sling as the scorpion quickly closes the distance. He grabs his Naginata and charges, thrusting at the beast.

Attack, Power Attack, Charge, Bless: 1d20 + 5 - 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 5 - 1 + 2 + 1 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 3 = 11

The giant scorpion screeches in agony as Vindex nearly impales it

Aayef is impressed by Vindex and says, "Wow! that was... ouch... awesome! keep going... hnng... it's almost dead!!!.

Those near Aayef can make a heal check as a free action...

the beast is teethering, having lost a lot of its internal fluid... but it turns to Vindex, preparing to unleash a full assault on the this new source of pain!

--> Barid you're up!

heal?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23