GM RePete: Mask of the.....City of Golden Death (Inactive)

Game Master RePete

The Captain said we were still a few hours out...since the snake attack woke us up,
I was thinking it was night...figured we could go back to bed for a couple of hours, get up and get breakfast before the boat reaches the island...but if I misunderstood, by all means, let's continue...

I believe it was 2 in the morning for the attack. Whendel used a 1st level spell slot with mage armor. But he is probably good to continue. Two hours more travel and then a meal and morning preparations. Then the captain can lead us ashore.

Hearing the Captain's words to Syllyn, Flyn interjects, "Again, no worries...if we're not back by then, I agree, we'll probably be dead..."

"If we are lucky. You forget, this island is touched by the Whispering Tyrant."

Abaal re-sheathes his huge black blade and returns to his bunk to rest.

"Don't worry, Abaal. I have enough worries to cover Flyn and Syllyn both." Whendel smiled crookedly.
"In fact, 'Worry' is my middle name." "Whendel 'Worry' Walkner, at your service."
Whendel then heads below to get more sleep.

I am up any way maybe I can begin my devotions to Sheyln early [/b] she says as she brings out some paper and a quill.

Correct, it was around 2 am. Those that wish are free to get a little more sleep

A couple hours pass and you are lead towards the side of the anchored vessel, where the captain waits patiently. The dark island stands ominously with what seems to be a thing black cap overhead.

With a solemn nod to each of you, the captain climbs into a barely seaworthy boat. The older gentleman you met when you first boarded the Black Mist radiates annoyance as he sits to the side of the vessel holding a bucket. "Dang nabbit ting...told ya should getcha new one." he grumbles to no one in particular.

Once all are aboard, Captain Walren slowly rows towards the shore as Mabon continues to grumble...scooping bucket-fulls of water out as it seeps in.

"I's no gunna sit on da land whilst yall venture." explains the captain, eyeing the Island wearily. "I's gun be on me ship where safer. When yall ready ter leave yas need ter make two fires on shore. Whens I sees dem twin fires I come an getcha."

"Make yas fires fars apart so wes kin tell is signal and nots yous camp and cult camp." he affirms. "And dun ferget. I's only wait fer 10 days. No signal by day 11, wes figure yous dead."

"Storm be looken bad...suggest yall be quick..."

Suddenly, quicker than you would have expected, you find yourselves in shallow water...shore nearing rapidly. "I'd ask iffen yas got any last questions...but I's ne'er been 'ere so...May all da luck of Golarion be yours. I's hopen ter see ya soon!"

With final farewells, he quickly rows back out. Mabon unhappily scooping water overboard in a continues motion.

Maps Slide 1 - Put an X on the island map to show where you landed

Glancing around, you see the ruins of a massive fort surrounding you; Fort Landing. Though the origins have been lost to time, it's clear some ancient civilization built the ancient keep. Now, little more than a complicated maze of tumbledown, sandblasted stone walls surrounds the partially collapsed tower. Beautiful white sand layers the nearby beaches, ceaselessly blowing against the western walls of the ruins and sometimes forming drifts as high as 30 feet.

Looking around, purple light explodes from the black ceiling above, streaking down to the ground. One impacts a stone mere feet from Abaal, exploding it upon impact.

Surging forward into the maze ahead, you find some cover from the elements, containing a burnt out fire pit...and two apparent graves ringed in small stones. From precursory glance, the final resting place of whatever lies beneath were dug in haste...and quite shallow.

Feel free to RP getting to this point/reacting. What do you do next? Explore the Fort further? Light two signal fires and get the hell out of here? ;-)

In order to meet her obedience of the day she will write this little note and leave it under Flyn's door, written in elvish

Perception 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
Those clouds dont look natural, we need to get under cover or something quick

Flyn rises, gets a quick bite to eat and reads the note from Phoebee...he smiles and tucks it away in his pouch before heading to see the Captain to board the row boat. He silently reflects upon the fastly approaching island...upon arrival he nods and bows to the Captain.

"Thank you for your courtesy, sir. Erastil willing, we'll see you in a few days..."

Seeing the fire pit and small graves, Flyn heads there first. Seeing as the graves appear shallow, he'll carefully dig one up and examine the body...

Heal: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

"A couple of Irrisen's companions, I suppose...slain by some sort of wild creatures with sharp teeth..."

He then re-covers the grave and examines the fire pit...

Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Flyn nods. "She and her party were here within the last three days, no more..."

He continues to look around the area, as well as the skies, in particular checking for tracks to see if he can determine not only the type of creatures that killed the cultists but the number in Irrisen's expedition as well...

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (6) + 17 = 23

Survival (Tracking): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

"You are right, Phoebee. These clouds look ominous and the lightning they bring fierce...must be the negative energy we were warned of. Should we press on or search the fort? As I said, Irrisen has up to three days head start on us..."

"Flyn, can you find tracks to follow their trail?" "It might save us time to just follow."
perception verses dc 18 listed: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
"We should either find shelter or push on, but staying here is no good." "I feel we should push on if we find their trail."

Flyn nods to Whendel. "Working on it...and, if I can find their tracks, I agree, we should probably push on..."

This place is scary she says.

DC 18 Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
DC 20 Survival: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Syllyn taps his shield nervously, or excitedly, or perhaps both, as his eye leaps to every new distraction dished out by the strange island.

"But we knew it would be going in. I find it quite exilerating, but would have to agree that we need to find cover. Following the trail at this time would be too dangerous. And unlike most storms, this one won't wash away tracks."

Flyn shakes his head. "I think this is the norm, my friend. This does not have the feel of a storm that will clear up; we could shelter for hours and we might not be better off. I fear we'll be moving about in this stuff for the length of our stay here on this isle...

"While we could give a quick perusal of the ruins, I feel we should not tarry long here since our quarry is ahead of us...and we might not wish to become the quarry of whatever beasts killed the Razmirans...besides, it's likely if anything was worth finding here, Irrisen has probably already taken it..."

Clouds always look a bit odd to those brought up in the arid desert.

perception : 1d20 ⇒ 10

These are probably what are called cumulus.

The bolt strikes. He looks at the smoldering pit left in its wake. He did say 'all the luck' afterall.

"You could be right, friend Flyn. What do the test of you way. Go on or take shelter here? My vote is to take shelter and see if the storm passes in an hour or two or shows any signs of change at least."

Flyn shrugs. "Split the difference, perhaps? We hole up here in the ruins for an hour and then depart regardless of the storm...I'll keep an eye out for those creatures..."

If the others concur, Flyn will draw his bow, try to find a concealed vantage point from which to watch all approaches, and look out for hostiles while waiting to see if the storm abates...he fears it will not...

Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (6) + 18 = 24

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28

"Yep, an hour won't hurt. Wish I could ask the corpses about what happened here. Perhaps get our enemies plans and numbers. Any waiting will give us a chance to eat."

Whendel is okay with sheltering for a while.

"Excellent. Hopefully by then we will know if the storm might pass."

Finding shelter might be best. We dont want to get fried or anything like that she says. as she tries to keep her glaive close to the ground

Looking around the room, Flyn manages to find a few drops of blood leading down one of the ruined corridors. A few feet farther, the blood vanishes...perhaps whomever it was healed up?

Pausing to take a closer look at the hard-packed earth, he can just make out the smallest of footprint impressions. Studying the markings, Flyn feels confident at best there may be two dozen cultists, but it's unlikely more than a dozen remain.

Glad to be out of the elements, the group huddles in wait, watching for the storm to pass. Flynn easily finds a place to watch safely as the sounds of the storm rage on outside.

Whendel looks through his backpack to find a little hard tack and nibbles at it. "You know when I get a little money scraped together, i think I will start a scroll collection. It always seems I don't have the right spell to do the trick. I get by, but I want to make things easier. Work smarter not harder and all that rot."

Flyn nods to the others after studying the tracks. "Irrisen landed here with a couple dozen cohorts...probably no more than a dozen of 'em left...this island is dangerous indeed..."

The Elf scans the horizon, studying the clouds intently...

Survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

"This storm is not likely to end anytime soon...I'd guess it'll be at least 24 hours, maybe more...and we cannot afford to wait that long as time is not a luxury...knowing that we should be on our way soon..."

Noticing the blur, he whispers, "Beware...just saw a quick grayish creature duck around that corner...might've been a wolf...but something off about it. Might've been what killed the Razmirans...we should go now..."

Flyn looks to see the direction that Irrisen and her party went...

Survival (Tracking): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25

...while also trying to look out for more of those grayish creatures...

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (9) + 17 = 26

Syllyn looks around but sees nothing, nor can he figure out the weird weather, so he decides to trust in Flyn.

"Time is running out so if this storm is not going to cease, we need to get moving."

Whendel casts mage armor and pulls out his crossbow.
"I'm ready for travel. After you flyn."

Let's get going she says with a smile.

"Pardon me, but isn't 'Irrisen' a large nation of witches, goblins, trolls and fey to the northwest? If Irrisen landed here wouldn't there be a lot more footprints? Now I do not discriminate based upon creed, I will slay followers of Baba Yaga as surely as I will Razmir, but we might wish to hurry if we think that the hag's followers are here to find Iramine as well."

"I thought the lady was just named after the land 'Irrisen'. Irrisen or Iramine, no matter. We have to stop her and her Rasmiran cohorts."

"All I know is that that place comes a close second to this one as far as my not wanting to go there."

My bad...another of my PCs is running a campaign in Irrisen and I got mixed up...I'm getting old...

I have been to Irrisen. That is where I killed a white dragon she says as she pulls out a white dragon tooth. My glaive was pretty sharp and I was really inspirational. she says.

Flynn with that roll on the weather forecast, you know the storm will last the next three days at least. With that in mind, I've no problem telling you....you have at least a week left of this storm. Enjoy

Resigning yourselves to the stormy fait, you follow Flynn through the maze of corridors. From what you can tell, as your companion follows the trail, those you track had similar stormy concerns. Their trail sticks to the protected ruins as much as possible.

An hour later, you find the tracks lead out of the protection and into the storm behind. Taking a last, hard look at the ceiling, you step out one by one. Immediately, a bolt streaks down and blasts a stone column mere feet away from Phoebe.

Pointing ahead, Flyn allows Syllyn to take point as he reassesses the trail. Something catches his eye though...something wolf-like...There are four of them! (Ref your standard marching order)

Looking up to get a better view, Flyn can clearing make out four distrinct wolf-like creatures slinking through the ruins towards the group. A pair split off from the other two and start moving around in a large circle. (Still 100 ft away

Large picture so you can see what they look like (no room on map yet for them.

Not in initiative yet.
You are on the map now, Slide 1

Knowledge (Nature): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Flyn frowns. "Don't know what they are but I assume they're hostile...beware, two are circling around, trying to flank us...they're in range so I'm firing before they can close...get ready for a fight..."

Flyn will fire at the closest one of the two that split off...

To Hit: Dex+Base, Magic, Weapon Focus, Precise Shot, Deadeye Bowman, Point Blank Master, Deadly Aim

Damage: Strength, Magic, Deadly Aim

Longbow: 1d20 + 9 + 1 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 9 + 1 + 1 - 2 = 26

Magic/Cold Iron Damage: 1d8 + 2 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 + 4 = 12

...and move 5' SE...

I think I can use knowledge untrained. Let me read up on that so I do it right

Lore Master (Ex)
At 5th level, the bard becomes a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that he has ranks in. A bard can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, once per day, the bard can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action. He can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels he possesses beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.

If I want to take the 20 as a standard action would we need to go into iniative to do that?

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11 know untrained just in case I need to go into combat to do it.

I have heard stories about these things before. These are Terror Wolves. They are Wolves warped by the nature of the storms.

"Excellent. I was worried that they might have been named something humorous."

Abaal draws his blade, and moves up to stand in front of the threat. Don't know which way that is so I haven't moved him.

Assuming we have not been traveling for more then 3 hours, the limit mage armor minus the hour of delay, Whendel should be still protected.

Whendel readies to fire his crossbow at the closest beast. "Just tell me when, Flyn." "Okay, you mean right now."

crossbow shot: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 6
+1 pb shot if within 30'
5' step SE.
He will then drop the crossbow and pull out his wand of shield.

Syllyn prepares by casting Heroism on himself.

Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 2 = 15

"I think we had better ready ourselves for..."

His comment is cut short as two projectiles fly out from the group towards the marauding wolves and the others prepare in their own ways.

"Hmmm... Stating the obvious, was I?"

We are just waiting for initiative right?

"I don't think we could negotiate with normal wolves much less insanely mutated, mindless killers like these. It's best to shot first and ask questions later here."

Whendel frantically tries to gather his wits for his next action.

Whendel, it has been less than 3 hours so your spell is still up

Flyn wisely judges the foes as hostile given their actions and yes "Hello there!" by burying an arrow deep into the lead ones side. A loud howling erupts from the animals as they prepare to dart your direction.

Whendel, taking Flyn's lead launches his own projectile into the same beast....dropping it.

Meanwhile, Phoebee figures out what the four.....well....three creatures are. Using it as a suprise round for you guys, so yes. You could have taken a standard for the knowledge check if you wish.

The remaining members of the group attempt to ready themelves for the fight to come.

Round 1

Whendel
Terror Wolves (Red....down)
Syllyn
Abaal
Flyn
Phoebee

They are 40ft off the map still. Put the three remaining on the top so you could see where they are coming from
100ft away total

Abaal, i moved you 10 ft towards them, you are free to move how ever far you a single move will take you for the surprise round

WHENDEL up round 1

Whendel feeling very bite sized for these wolves taps himself with his wand.
casts shield from wand. Ac now 22

He then pulls out his morning star for the inevitable close combat.

I am good with identifying them on the surprise round :)

With a flick of his wrist, a complex pattern vaguely resembling a shield begins to pulsate before the small man. Moving so quickly, it's hard to tell just exactly where the translucent shapes will be from one moment to the next.

The trio of beasts surge forward, looking to avenge their fallen comrade. Leaping the fallen bits of fortress with ease, the storm raging around them.

Two of the beasts gnash out at the sturdy man with razor-like teeth! He easily sidesteps one, as the other clamps down on his arm.

Round 1

Terror Wolves (Red....down)
[b]Syllyn
Abaal (-9) AoO option - All three beasts came through your threatened area with reach
Flyn
Phoebee

Round 2

Whendel

Syllyn/Abaal/Flyn/Phoebee up Round 1
Whendel up Round 2

Flyn will move 5' west and fire the first arrow at the beast facing Phoebee and the second one at the blue one facing Abaal...

To Hit: Dex+Base, Magic, Weapon Focus, PBS, Precise Shot, Flurry of Blows, Deadly Aim, Deadeye Bowman, Point Blank Master

Damage: Strength, Magic, PBS, Deadly Aim

Longbow: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 - 2 = 17

Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 12

Longbow: 1d20 + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 10 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 2 - 2 = 20

Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 + 1 + 4 = 13

Syllyn's options are pretty straight forward - he rages and engages!

Round 1

Terror Wolves (Red....down)
Syllyn
Abaal (-9) AoO option - All three beasts came through your threatened area with reach

Okay, so it was a surprise round so no readied action. Abaal's falchion is big, but it doesn't have reach, so unless they bypassed him real close to get to Syllyn or some such, he probably doesn't have an AoO either.

SWISH! v pink (overhand chop, power attack, raging song): 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 7 + 1 = 21 damage: 2d4 + 17 ⇒ (2, 2) + 17 = 21

Rage song only works if we accept it right?

Seeing that these dogs are coming at them the bard is inspired by a song she remembers from her childhood and thinks that she will use it to inspire her party members as well.

Little Bennie had a cat that they wouldn't let him keep
So he put her up for sale at a price he thought was cheap
He took her to a neighbor to ask him for advice
He said, "Leave the kitty here. She can help me with the mice."

But the cat came back, she wouldn't stay away
She was sitting on the porch the very next day
The cat came back, she didn't want to roam
The very next day it was Home, Sweet Home.