OMB's Masks of the Living God Module (PFS) (Inactive)

Game Master James Martin

"Oh, you thought I meant your afterlife!" She begins laughing with a mocking tone. "Little 'hero', you have no idea what you're up against."

"Well I believe she made her choice and I am convinced she will become a detriment to the completion of our mission should she live and escape. I do not think we can trust her to stay out of this affair nor leave the city after this defeat of hers and she will most likely seek revenge for the loss. I sadly agree with you Ferebras." Hoshiko laments.

Ferabras, glad of his friends' agreement, scoffs at the threats, replying, "I doubt the discussion with the authorities would get so detailed as to talk about your job and its legitimacy. You leaped out at us from under a pile of rags, bare blade in hand. and attacked! We fought in self-defense, as I'm sure our pesh-head friends would testify. Goodbye, and fare you ill."

Before she can speak again, he ends the Lamashtan's life. Pulling away from her in disgust, he studies her bared neck a moment and says to his companions, "She bears a brand of the same unholy symbol she wears around her neck. I could swear that one of the eyes just winked at me!"

DM - it winked after she died? Or before?

You saw it wink after she died.

The pesh addicts don't seem to be returning. Gathering your loot, you move onward down the tunnels that Mikail and Soran's tracking indicates are most heavily traveled.

You pass by some older rooms, clearly not built with water in mind but rather as vaults. Finally you move into a room that seems to be flooded. The central trough of this tunnel is blocked with a makeshift dam of bricks and other scavenged detritus, packed solid with clay. Beyond, the trough is flooded four feet deep with soursmelling, stagnant water.

Do we have a map of this room for reference?

Mikail tentatively leads the way into the next room, carefully trying not to disturb the water. He peers around, curious as to the reason for the dam and the buildup of water.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

I'd find a map helpful too, or more description, as I'm having a hard time picturing what is described. Is there a central trough in the tunnel that doesn't have water in it, and then a dam, beyond which is an area filled four feet deep with icky water?

I put a map that ought to suffice. The water here seems to be brackish and still, and at least 3-4' deep.

Thanks!

Mikail looks ahead at the mass of water blocking the way forward. "That's almost going to cover me!" he squeaks, unhappy with the prospect of swimming through the stagnant mire. "Should we break down the dam and see what happens? I don't much care for the idea of getting in there.."

"I'm guessing someone put this dam here for a reason," Fera muses in reply to Mikail's suggestion. "And I'd hate to take away the dam while we're standing on it. Let me take a look, I'm unlikely to catch anything worse than a foul stench from this place."

He picks up a loose brick fragment from the dam and tosses it into the water some ten feet away, just to see if a massive, toothed mouth or a writhing mass of tentacles emerges. He then ties a rope around his waist and hands the other end to Soran, recalling the scene with the pillow-filled pits. Stepping very slowly and carefully down the slope of the dam, he gradually enters the water.

Hoping that immunity to disease will be unnecessary here, but I've got it just in case.

No sooner than Ferabras tosses a rock, than the water begins to boil and churn and out crawls masses of leeches!

Round 1:
Leeches!
Heroes

As Soran has been away, I'll lump him with you lot!

The leeches boil upward and out, covering Mikail, Hoshiko and Ferabras!
Leech Damage!: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 4) = 5 and I need two Fort saves: 1 vs distraction and 1 vs poison! Further, M, H and F will take 1d3 ⇒ 3 Strength damage and 1d3 ⇒ 3 Con damage!

Poison! Fort Save 15 or take 1d4 ⇒ 4 Dexterity DRAIN! Yikes!

Heroes are up!

Fort vs distraction: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
Fort vs poison: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24

"You were right, Mika, we should have drained the water here!" Fera cries out in alarm as the leeches appear "Now we must get away from them, they'll drain the life right out of us if we stand here!"

Unfazed by the attacks of the horrible, blood-sucking monsters, Ferabras moves quickly away from the pool of fetid water, calling out, "Everyone, move away, we'll fight them out of the water!" He then tosses a flask of acid at the leech mass.

Ranged touch attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Acid damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Status: 49/54 hp, 3 Str damage, 3 Con damage

I am saying some not very nice things right now that would be censured if I were to actually post them... lol

Fort Distraction: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Fort Poison: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Mikail squawks in panic as the leaches boil out of the water and cover the front line of the team. He once again loses his mind as he is covered in the blood suckers, leaping back off of the dam and slapping himself like crazy trying to kill or fling the creatures off of him. Finally, he draws a flask from his belt and gets ready to throw it.
"I am DONE with this damn place! DONE!! Kill it! Kill it with fire!!!!" the panicked kitsune yells out.

Move action to behind Ferabras (about 10'?), standard to draw stowed item

FORT vs Distraction: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

FORT vs Poison: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

"Get it off!... get it off!..." Hoshiko half screams as she tries to remove the leeches from her skin while moving away from any additional dangers...

Remember distraction causes Nauseated: Creatures with the nauseated condition experience stomach distress. Nauseated creatures are unable to attack, cast spells, concentrate on spells, or do anything else requiring attention. The only action such a character can take is a single move action per turn.

Ferabras throws his acid, which burns the swarms a bit, but not enough to stop them as they writhe hungrily toward you! Hoshiko and Mikail stagger away!

Zolarus and Soran!

DM - I would expect that Soran would move back with the rest of us, then toss an acid or alchemist's fire, since we're all pretty accustomed to swarms. Sadly, Soran's absence from the boards seems to be a long one. In the future, would it help if we posted for him, or at least weighed in on likely actions?

Also, those are some awesomely horrifying leech swarm tokens! Did you come up with those yourself?

That would be a HUGE help, actually! If you guys just want to take over his actions, I would be grateful. As for the tokens, no, they were found using Google's image search. I find 98% of my tokens that way!

Posting for Soran:

Soran moves back with his companions, drawing a flask of alchemist’s fire as he gets away from the squirming swarm of bloodsuckers!

Move action to get away, move action to draw alchemist’s fire.

DM - That’s how I do token creation as well – mine just don’t normally come out quite so appropriately horrific.

Zolarus is up!

Zolarus moves 20 feet away and Casts Sound Burst on both swarms.

Sound Burst, Fort DC 16 stun: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Fort: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Fort: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Neither swarm seems much stopped by the sudden thundercrack, but surges forward over the dam barrier! Wriggling furiously they only manage to top the barrier, but they seem to sense the blood just out of reach!

I added another tunnel section to the map. Heroes are up!

Hoshiko follows the others to a safe spot and then begins digging through her pack for an alchemist fire to throw next turn...

Ferabras pulls a flask of acid from his belt pouch and throws it at the closest leech swarm!

Ranged touch vs red: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25
Corrosive damage vs horrible leeches: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Added some nice color to the leeches for identification purposes.

Does the no save area effect sonic damage seem to affect the swarm? If it does, then Solaris will cast it again. Otherwise, he will throw alchemists fire.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Ho boy, yes, the damage affected the swarm. It saved vs the dazing effect, though.

Posting for Soran

Soran tosses the alchemist's fire at the swarm of leeches, hoping to destroy them - and hoping they don't smell too awful when burned. He then pulls a flask of acid from his belt, ready to do more damage to the yucky things.

Toss alchemist's fire at yellow if it's still wriggling, target red if not. Move action to draw acid flask.

Ranged touch, PBS: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Zolarus moves another 20 feet away and again casts Sound Burst on both swarms.

Sound Burst, Fort DC 16 stun: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Hoshiko digs for ammunition, while Ferabras throws a flask of acid that burns one of the swarms. Soran, too throws a flask of acid, and the more of the swarm dissolves into goo. Zolarus casts his spell of sonic doom again!

Fort: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Fort: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

This time the swarms wriggle to a halt!

The swarms are stunned and since they're close to death, someone mark off another acid flask or alchemist's fire and we'll call them done for!

A few more moments of gooey work and the remaining leeches are soon squished into oblivion. However, your sounds of battle seem to have awoke something up above, for you can hear high pitched voices squeaking in an odd language.

Hoshiko finally finds what she was looking for and tosses it at the swarm...

Her fears are momentarily halted due to the swarm stopping it advance but then the voice in an unknown tongue makes her weary again...

Sorry for my absence the last few day. Reading back, I whole heartedly agree with Fera.. the ick factor for those tokens was pretty high!! Thats how I get my tokens as well. It allows quite a bit more creativity, and I often like to look for obscure references or puns that I can work into the picture as well :-) Ie: Summon a beetle and Herbie appears on the map!

Mikail staggers back from the battle, following the rest of the group as they toss acid and fire and blast the leaches with sound. Finally, he comes out of his daze just as the squeaking and squawking echoes down the tunnels. He looks at the rest of the team, one furry eyebrow lifted in concerned question. "I don't know about you guys, but I am really not feeling the love around here. Lets get this over with, eh?"

My home game is playing Hell's Vengeance via Roll20 and every time the cleric summons a lemure, he gets a new pic of a lemur. Makes for a fun joke.

So, creeping forward cautiously? Soran also has his handy clockwork spy, too!

Thanks for the reminder about the clockwork spy, DM. Unless I"m missing someting, I'm not sure quite how to apply it here. It can go forward and record sound, but we can already hear whatever is ahead and we can't understand them. But we'll keep it in mind!

Fera taps himself with his healing wand, checking carefully to be sure no stray leeches are still attached to him. He then says quietly, "Let's be sure we've healed our wounds before we charge ahead, Mika. I feel those things sapped my vitality, I wish we could fix that before we go on."

I usually have a couple of scrolls of lesser restoration by this level, but I have forgotten to buy them. Anyone have any way to restore ability damage?

Also, DM - you say the voices are coming from 'up above.' Does that mean forward down the hallway, or are they above us somehow?

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Status: 54/54 hp, 3 Str damage, 3 Con damage

Down the hallway an unknown distance.

"I feel the same Ferabras.... drained from the recent attack. I have no magic that will remedy this. If no one else can then our option is to rest if we seek to regain our strength."

Mikail shakes his head sadly. "I am not hurt too bad, but those blood suckers seem to have drained me too. Unfortunately, I can't cast anything helpful and didn't buy any scrolls like that. I think that a rest may do us good.. we've been up most of the night anyway."
He looks about at the cramped tunnel walls around them. "I don't suppose you guys want to stay here though.. and unless we want to share quarters, I haven't found anyplace we can camp either."

Honestly, the only place I can think of to camp might be back where the mimic was, but Mikail would almost assuredly have a fit about that..

There have been exits, such as the one the mimic, well, mimic'd. You could leave the qanat, and as long as the exit isn't in a fortress or bandit haven, you'd be able to come back safely. In fact this part of the adventure is one of the only times you'll be able to leave without a lot of trouble!

As you talk, Mikail turns slightly and stubs his toe on a piece of stone sticking up. Ferabras suddenly discovers his backpack strap is worn as it breaks, spilling his possessions. Hoshiko moves to help him and whacks her nose on a brick that's sticking out of the wall just enough to be obnoxious. Zolarus too moves to help and steps into a puddle that turns out to be a foot deep, soaking his clothing and covering him in a thick spray of muck. Soran laughs at this, only to suddenly let out a curse as his bow string, apparently worn from battle, snaps and his bow whacks him in the ear.

What an alarming string of bad luck!

Well played, DM!

Fera sighs as the wee little bits of bad luck pile on top of each other, building from an inconvenience to an annoyance to a hazard. "I think the way things are going, and with the damage we've taken, Hoshiko is right," he weighs in. "Let's rest a bit, maybe see if we can get someone to heal this damage so we don't have to step aside from finding Othine for too long."

DM - Do we need to play out which exit we take or anything, or can we just go? Paying someone to cast lesser restoration is 60 gp per casting, and we may need a few of those, unless our VC can help us out.
Am I right in thinking we shouldn't lie around for 3 days to restore our strength, in the context of the mission?

The Mimic exit is the closest and so long as you have some rope, easily exitable.

A few rope climbs later you emerge in a courtyard of a large estate that's fallen into ruin. A homeless man, his eyes wide and fearful, watches you emerge from a broke well cover. He watches but doesn't make any move or hostile action against you.

It's Katheer, which is a large enough city that you can find just about anything. If you head back to the cafe, Whispershade can arrange for you to visit a friend for a 10% discount on spell-casting and supplies. If you want to purchase anything else, note it. We'll move on to the next day.

Back into the qanat you head, watched over the same homeless guy, who looks less frightened to see you go back down. However, as you head back the way you were before, you hear those high pitched voiced again, this time in the leech pond area! What do you do?

Fera, Hoshiko and Mikail are each down 3 Str and 3 Con. A night's rest will bring back one point of each, so I'll see about getting a couple of lesser restoration spells cast on Fera:

Str restored: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Con restored: 1d4 ⇒ 2

Puts him back at full! More post later, stuff to do.

so that would be down 120 gp for the spells correct?

STR restored: 1d4 ⇒ 3
CON restored: 1d4 ⇒ 3

After the spells take their course Hoshiko is ready to go.

Mikail whines about his stubbed toe as the group seems to have one massive bad luck string that could have been written from a comedy act. At the mention of returning through the mimic's chamber, he quickly loses his mind, but under the tender ministrations of his friends, he is able to meekly cower his way through.. most of the time hiding behind Ferabras and Hoshiko. When the rope is secured, he scurries up and out faster than anyone can say "Scaredy Fox". Joining the others on their trip to find some form of restoration, he eventually calms down and gradually resumes his cheerful demeanor.

Str: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Con: 1d4 ⇒ 2
120 gp deducted

Satisfied that a good nights rest will take care of the last of his wounds, he traipses after the others searching for a place to hole up for the night.

The next morning, he pays no heed to the homeless man, simply concentrating on trying to get through the mimic room again! He quietly passes down the rope, and gesturing for the others to wait at a safe distance, he vanishes before scouting forward to see what this day has in store for the team.

Stealth: 1d20 + 13 + 20 ⇒ (2) + 13 + 20 = 35
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

"Wow, he's getting good at that," Ferabras says quietly to his companions as Mika slips silently away.

Mikail slips down to the pond area invisibly, where he sees 8 little dog-men sitting on the rim of the pool yipping and chittering to each other. They don't seem to have taken notice of you, but they seem agitated about the lack of leeches in the pool.

Posting for Soran

Assuming Mika comes back and reports on what he's seen:

"Well, I can guess what those are," Soran weighs in after Mikail describes the tiny dog-men. "They sound like pugwampi to me. Bad luck running into them, so to speak."

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

That ought to get him at least three questions, DM. How about defenses, special abilities, and languages they speak? If he gets a fourth question, make it special attacks.

Ferabras considers what Mika has reported, and Soran's take on it, and makes a suggestion. "How about we see if we can avoid killing them, maybe learn something? Though we'd need to be able to speak with them. If we can speak any of their languages, maybe we can charm or scare them into talking with us, maybe give them something to eat since their leeches are all gone. And if they attack, it shouldn't be too hard to take care of a handful of tiny dog-men."

Pending the answers to Sorans K. check..
"Ok.. We have done pretty well with talking our way through things so far, I don't see why we can't at least try it again."

Defenses: Minor DR bypassed by cold iron, Minor SR. Special abilities: unluck aura (anyone within 20' of a pugwampi needs to roll twice on d20s and take the worse roll); Languages: Gnoll, Undercommon.

"Well, no reason to think we'll be able to talk to them," Ferabras observes after hearing what languages the little creatures speak. "Let's just approach them and see if we can avoid a fight, maybe smile nice at them - or just scare 'em into not attacking."

Not optimistic about either approach succeeding, Ferabras sets off down the hall with a quiet, "Let's go."

Doesn't look like anyone speaks either language, guess we see what happens.

You head back toward the leech pool, where there are at least 8 of the little dog men clustered in and around the water, frantically fishing for leeches and coming up empty. Unless you conceal yourselves, they begin yapping and barking when they see you!

They swarm up out of the water, moving toward you with hands out and eyes wide.

Hoshiko looks to see if they are armed as they advance towards her and the others...

DM - Like Hoshiko, I'm not sure from your description if they mean us violence, but perhaps you've left that vague on purpose. Also, as I read the skill descriptions for Diplomacy and Intimidate, they both seem to say you need to speak the target's language. Do you agree? It seems at least arguable that one could intimidate them by just grunting, shouting, waving weapons and being generally scary.

Discussion thread for discussioning.

If my level 2 elven magus completes his session in time, then I will use him instead.

Ah alright. Otherwise let me know if your gonna do any out of combat heals/spells. I have Divine Caster Support (+2 CL). Also a warning is that this character can't channel. However I do always act in the surprise round which is good.

I'll be primarily a buffing bard support character. :)

A cheerful one, at that!

Craggor is very much a battle cleric. Also gruff, crude, rude and generally a rough customer. He also has the lowest Charisma of any character I've made. A fact that makes me itch when I think about it.

Soran shines best when he's shooting from a distance. By the time this game starts he'll hopefully have two more scenarios credited, A Murder's Mark game I'm GM'ing and a WBG2 credit I'm playing in. That'll give him a little more pizazz I think, though right now I can't think of anything I really need to buy with the pp. He's got enough arrows to be comfortable fighting anything ever.

He's not so great in social situations but in positions where he has to track, or lead through nature stuff he's your man.

Daze is going to be my spell of choice during any fights. Also, someone should identify things for Krestin, as he isn't the sharpest bulb in the shed.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Also, someone should identify things for Krestin, as he isn't the sharpest bulb in the shed.

Or not the brightest knife in the cabinet. Lini has a +5 spellcraft.

Craggor spent more time at the forge than studying spells it seems. Isn't trained in Spellcraft yet. But then again what self respecting priest of Torag doesn't know how to smith!

My group finished up Murder's Mark this afternoon, so Soran will have that GM chronicle added to his character sheet sometime tomorrow probably.

It won't change his level though. Anyone have any suggestions for what to spend the two PP on? I already have a wand of cure light wounds and a masterwork darkwood composite longbow with a str. of 2. I'm considering getting the hunting lodge membership to use survival for day job checks and that survival bonus.

I'll also have enough gp to make said bow a +1.

+1 it, then give it adaptive, haha.

Wand of CLW is a very good investment that you have.

Personally, I'd hold onto it for a bit. Never know when you'll need a res or a raise. But will say the hunting lodge vanity is shiny for one as gifted at Survival as you.

Oh yeah. Adaptive is one of the first things I'm doing to it. Also looking at getting an Efficient Quiver as soon as my fame is high enough.

I just bought the tavern vanity for my swashbuckler/ninja for 5pp, and am kind of regretting it, so I'm a bit wary about buying one for this guy, even though it is only 2pp.

For those that don't know, I may have built something similar of a mental powerhouse that can affect undead that were once humanoid..... Krestin's just a bit slow at realising as who friend and foe may be.

Lini can start anytime. Kitsune enchanters are off the hook.

Purchasing a small sized heavy wooden shield for Lini. 1 gp remaining.

I hope you all don't mind me shamelessly inserting my own Venture-Captain PC for the introductions. Had to do it before he dies at this week's con. Tomb of the Iron Medusa. Excited!

I love seeing stuff like that! It's extra fun efforts on the DM's part that make it more enjoyable for me. :)

Do it do it! For my RoTRL home game, since there's only two people playing, I have a few society characters that help them out here and there, besides it's enjoyable to watch the player's reactions to a pig farmer who can take on enemies with just his fists even though he isn't a monk.

Soran's Chronicle sheet is now attached and everything is official. Just a heads up.

Think lini might have missed the part about the orcs in gameplay.

Well I did sort of speed forward to the encounter, so a little bit my fault there.

I didn't miss it. She goes after the orcs, but I appreciate the reminder. Tokens placed inside green box.

Will try to post buy may be unable for the next 36-40 Hours. Friends getting married and I am a groomsmen.

Was the food good? It better have been..... *glares*

Also, am overplaying the whole "Good boy Krestin" bit, or is everyone alright with him? First time playing him, so it's different.

I happen to love Krestin!! Keep it up!

I love Krestin. Don't change a thing.

Alrighty! Huzzah for Krestin!

I'd agree, Krestin is great. I find that in PFS, whether at a table or in PbP, playing a particular role to the hilt is a great way to make a character memorable. I haven't quite found that persona for Ferabras yet, but I tend to do it with most of my characters.

Remember if anyone is casting a divine spell and needs a boost to caster lvl I can help with that.

Maybe I should put my next skill point into diplomacy for funsies, haha.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be on vacation with my family for the next two weeks. I'll still be able to post, but with slightly less frequency, I expect.

Camping this afternoon until late Sunday. Please bot me as needed.

Hey all:

I will be on a 50-mile backpacking trip to Kings Peak in Utah until Friday, and will have no connectivity whatsoever. I'll return to my mosty-posty self thereafter.

Feel free to bot me, or other players can take actions for me. See you all when I return!

Safe travels!

Sounds great, have fun!

I will be gone from Friday till potentially Monday evening if the weather is good. Botting instructions are as follows.

Craggor uses healing on downed allies as a top priority

Tries to provide flanking while attacking with shield and hammer(Or axe)

Will block allies who are softer targets from enemies if asked.

Can't touch this shadow. Oh the joys of being lvl 1 lol.

Taliesin Staccato was able to read the scroll of lesser restoration. Can you cast it?

I can attempt it, but it may blow.

On the other hand Ferabras should do it without much issue.

Craggor, you have read magic, so don't need to decipher the scroll. Additionally, it's on your spell list. Only hiccup is you are not a high enough caster to use the scroll without a check. That said, all you need is a caster level check DC 4 to activate it. Just don't roll a 1 or a 2 and you've got it.

I do not have bless. Might have to wand them to death unless we have Holy Water or something.

Will be attending PAX Prime until Tuesday. Here are some botting instructions as I will be most likely unavailable unless in the hotel. Which from experience is never.

Craggor

1. Trys to keep everyone alive.
2. If no one is dying he attempts to povide the weakened Ferabras with Flanking. Doing so when it will not get him instantly dead or downed.
3. Hes agreeable to the movement others decide in the dungeon.

Sorry about the delays. Work has me at weird hours, and I'll get a post in about two hours! I maybe switching to another shift, which may help out soon.

My turn to post about a schedule thing: I'm being deployed on Wednesday (Sep 2) to the island of Saipan (a US territory) to help clean up in the aftermath of Typhoon Soudelor. My available time and connectivity are both difficult to predict at this point. I return on September 24 and will post as I'm able.

Best of luck, and I hope all goes okay!

Will be going on Vacation for 10 days. Feel free to Bot me as I will be unable to post.

Player: PatheticWretch
Character: Taliesin Stacatto
PFS# 132,076-10
Faction Sovereign Court

day job perform (take 10): 10 + 11 = 21

Player: Vasari
Character: Zolarus
PFS: 40402-7
Faction: Grand Lodge
No day job

Player: Khelreddin
Character: Ferabras
PFS: 80015-6
Faction: Silver Crusade
No day job

Thanks as always for running, Sior!

Player: Michael Hopkins
Character: Krestin Swift
PFS# 97978-13
Faction: Grand Lodge

That was fun, thanks for running!