GM Tarondor's Trouble in Tamran (PFS Scenario 7-07) TABLE "A" (Inactive)

Game Master Tarondor

Jerrik takes another step back after he fires another arrow!

Bow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 for Arrow: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Zhatara crawls away from the mad critter swearing and concentrating her will on it so to sap its resolve and make attacks against it more harmful...

5 ft step back, Hypnotic Stare (swift) and Painful stare (free whenever needed), ehenever a succesful attack against the badger happens Zhatara will use her powers to make it cause 1d6 more damage

Astonished that the group is having so much trouble with a small critter, Tekkannan moves through the group and up to the beast.

"SHOO!" he shouts, poking at it with his sword. "OUT! GO AWAY!"

1 Arcane Pool to make the sword magical

Shortsword: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 1 = 24
Confirm: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 4 + 1 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4
Crit Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 = 6

10 damage if 21 confirms, 4 otherwise

Jerrik shoots the badger in the shoulder. Meanwhile, Tekkannan's attack is powerful and exact, but only seems to make the bloody badger more angry and aggressive.

Zhatara, your Painful Stare ability only does 1d6/3 class levels when -you- injure the opponent. As used, it does an additional 1 point of damage (included below).
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Gyrlak the badger (-19 hp)
Zhatara (-11 hp)
Tekkannan
Dalgron (-8 hp)
Jerrik Payne (-12 hp)

Trouble in Tamran Table "A", Fort Ursoss

Dalgron, go!

Not seeing a clear path through, Dalgron resorts to his shurikens, tossing one at the badger from behind Tekkannan.

Shuriken, into melee, cover: 1d20 - 8 ⇒ (2) - 8 = -61d2 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Hah.. It was either that, or move through its square.

The badger drags Tekkannan down and rips open his femoral artery! The magus begins to bleed out!

Trip attempt vs. Tekkannan: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
Claw vs. Tekkannan & prone: 1d20 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 6 + 4 = 241d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Claw vs. Tekkannan & prone: 1d20 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 4 = 251d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
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Gyrlak the badger (-19 hp)
Zhatara (-11 hp)
Tekkannan (-11 hp)(dying)
Dalgron (-8 hp)
Jerrik Payne (-12 hp)

Trouble in Tamran Table "A", Fort Ursoss

Zhatara, Dalgron, Jerrik, go!

Unable to reach Tekkannan, Jerrik resorts to offense! Not sure if it has cover, Tekk is prone but Dal might move closer.

Bow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 for Arrow: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

SHHHHHHT-THUNK! Jerrik's arrow takes the angry badger between the eyes, ending the fight!

COMBAT OVER

Bloodied Dalgron drops his guard and sighs, then gives the badger another stomp.

"Nice shot, Jerrik. Come, Tekkannan needs help. Does anyone have a potion or wand?"

"Good job" Zhatara murmurs not feeling very useful but shrugging off the sensation in her own unflappable fashion.

Jerrik will offer his wand of CLW to anyone that needs it, especially Tekkannan. Everyone can roll for your own healing, however much you need. I'll record the charges.

CLW on self: 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (7, 2) + 2 = 11 Close enough, 2 charges.

Thank you Jerrik. Dalgron will request to be healed after the gravely injured Tekkannan is healed, of course.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Dalgron breathes deeply as Jerrik's wand cover him in positive energy, watching his wounds close up. "Thank you. Much better. Let's hope we don't see any more of those nasty badgers.. Or feral women.. In here.."

1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Tekkannan groans and stirs.

Take as much as you need to be fully healed. We'll move on afterwards.

Forgive my impatience, but I assume everyone is going to do this anyway. I trust no one will mind me rolling for them? And thank you again Jerrik.

CLW, self: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5 full
CLW, Tekkannan: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
CLW, Tekkannan: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 full
CLW, Zhatara: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
CLW, Zhatara: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 full

After everyone's healed up, Dalgron scouts towards the north.
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

There are two rooms to the north. In the closer, smaller room, two desks facing each other occupy the center of the room; each covered with stacks of reports, maps, and other pieces of paperwork. A large map of Nirmathas hangs from the north wall.

The larger, farther room is filled with an assortment of crates, barrels and boxes filled with a variety of mundane supplies.

MAP OF FORT URSOSS

Dalgron surveys the desks and map. "Hm... Is this a command center of sorts? But for what?" He looks for anything noteworthy in the desks or in the stacks of reports.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Perception check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Zhatara searches the room with the barrels carefully...

Dalgron discovers many papers implicating an Aspis agent known as Zurnzal in a plot against the Pathfinder Society.

Player's Handout #3

Player's Handout #4

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Zhatara finds a secret door leading west!

The remaining rooms were unimportant - bedrooms with no loot or information. All that remains is to meet up with Guaril Karela.

My pleasure to assist.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

A secret door, Z? Well, these are always fun to discover. Jerrik suggests they head west!

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Dalgron doesn't notice anything weird about the papers, but takes the incriminating documents with him anyway. "At least we now know why those fools back at the market called us Molthuni agents. They were trying to frame us and the Society. They even installed a fake Venture-Captain! We have to tell Karela."

"Let's go. Seems like we did everything we could here... And by the way is that half beast woman still alive? The society could gain better insight about what happened here if it were able to interrogate her" sugggests Zhatara

Deader'n a doornail.

"I'm afraid not, Zhatara. It seems I may have gotten a bit carried away. In my defense, she did punch pretty hard! Someone had to stop her."

"Anyway, let's get out of here and find Karela."

"Yes, it seems we have what we need to clear the Society's name. And are we to assume that these wdre the smugglers dealing in stolen goods?"

To avoid wasting your time... You leave the old for through the secret tunnel and find Guaril Karela waiting for you at the exit, as promised.

"Well that didn't take long," he says. "Find anything?"

"Venture Captain... There should be 2 people with you, bound and ready for interrogation... where are them?" asks Zhatara in an extremely flat tone

He sighs and rolls his eyes, jerking a thumb at the two bound captives.

Dalgron pulls the two sheets of incriminating notes from his pack and hands them to Karela. "Here. I think you'll be quite interested in just what we found in that fort. It seems they were out to frame the Society."

As the man searches the notes, Jerrik will give a quick rundown of the events that have happened up to this point in time. Quite the adventure, wouldn't you say? In any case, this should be enough to go with. Have we anything else to accomplish?

"Ha! This is Madreki Gael's handwriting," says Karela.

"Thank you for being the second group of Pathfinders to help me thwart the efforts of the treacherous Gael family. I'd like to ask you to hand the documents over to me, rather than giving them to Venture-Captain Tolal at the Ashfall Lodge, because in order for my plans to be effective, I must keep some information close to the chest. I will share enough information with the Venture Captain to exonerate the Pathfinder Society, but this will allow me to get Pathfinder agents into some very effective places."

So here is the final choice of the adventure: give the documents to Guaril Karela (and not Venture-Captain Tolal), or give them to VC Tolal at the Ashfall Lodge?

Zhatara's tone remains flat as she answers:"I don't think that will be possible Venture Captain. Unfortunately we are already committed to fully exonerate the Ashfall Lodge from any accusations levied against it. Venture-Captain Tolal did all she could for the Society here and it would really be a shame if she wasn't fully compensated. Besides the woman has been really supportive and even cast magic on us for free. I think you'd have to find another way to ininuate your agents where you want them to be"

In other words Zhatara wants to give the documents to Venture-Captain Tolal

Jerrik will side with Zhatara in this matter.

"We are sworn to the Society - if you have a plan they are the ones to approach. I must concur with my companions."

"Aye, you heard my friends." Dalgron snatches the notes back from Karela with an annoying smile. "We'll need to give these to Tolal."

Okay! That's the end. Thanks for playing! I will have your chronicles posted tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

If the PCs instead deliver the evidence to Venture-Captain Tolal, she uses the evidence to exonerate the Pathfinder Society and expose Captain Vaylorne's treachery. She places the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Aspis Consortium and the church of Razmir. The Pathfinder Society's name is cleared, and the people of Tamran grudgingly admit that Molthune is not to blame for the plot. The PCs earn the Karela's Gratitude boon if they hand the evidence to Karela. If they instead hand the evidence to Venture-Captain Tolal, they earn the Trusted in Tamran boon.

The Story
In case you're unclear on the story, why should GMs be the only one to know?:

Only months ago, the Aspis Consortium launched an unprovoked attack on the Pathfinder Society's Grand Lodge, and Consortium operatives such as the increasingly notorious half-orc Zurnzal have maintained this momentum by undermining Society operations elsewhere throughout the Inner Sea region. Of late Zurnzal has focused on Tamran, the capital of Nirmathas where Pathfinders founded a lodge only a decade ago. In doing so, the Society inadvertently made an enemy of Nirmathas's neighbor to the south: Molthune, an expansionist military state that has long struggled to conquer Nirmathas and perceived the lodge's creation as the Society picking a side. Ever since, Pathfinders have relied on smugglers such as the Sczarni to sneak supplies past the Molthuni blockade.

Zurnzal hopes to take advantage of the lodge's precarious position in Tamran to get the Pathfinders thrown out of Nirmathas altogether. To this end, he recruited Madreki Gael to help him take down the so-called Ashfall Lodge. Madreki is one of the few surviving members of the Gaels, a Sczarni family and sworn enemy of the Pathfinder Society's longtime ally Guaril Karela—a Sczarni leader who destroyed the Gaels' reputation and holdings with the Society's assistance. Madreki's knowledge of Guaril Karela's tactics has proven invaluable, allowing Zurnzal's agents to intercept Karela's shipments and deprive the people of Tamran of much needed supplies. To add insult to injury, Zurnzal and Madreki are waging a campaign of rumors against the Pathfinder Society, painting the organization as Molthuni sympathizers.

Rather than smuggling in Aspis foot soldiers to serve as muscle, Zurnzal and Gael struck a deal with a local Razmiri cult that has quietly infiltrated one of Tamran's local militias over the past several years. The Razmiri have their own grudge against the Pathfinder Society and so were more than willing to help the Aspis destroy the Ashfall Lodge in exchange for a portion of the plunder. With the recent promotion of one of their number—Jana Vaylorne—to the position of militia captain, the Razmiri are in an ideal position to help frame the Pathfinder Society for selling state secrets to Molthune.

This plan might have worked perfectly were it not for a tip from a confidential source within the Aspis Consortium warning the Pathfinder Society that trouble is afoot in Tamran. Madreki and Zurnzal are currently fomenting dissent elsewhere in Nirmathas and preparing for their final strike against the Pathfinder's lodge in Tamran. Meanwhile, Zurnzal's protégée, a skinwalker named Cetenna, remains in Tamran to oversee the final phases and ensure the Aspis Consortium's plan goes off without a hitch.

Thanks for the game, Tarondor.

Interesting read. Too bad I haven't finished playing with Zurnzal yet.

Your Chronicles are ready. Please let me know if they look right to you.

Also, this game has now been reported.

Thanks for playing!

YOUR CHRONICLES ARE HERE

Thanks to you for the game and everyone else too. It was fun!

Tarondor, what was required to get the Zurnzal's Foe boon? I thought we defeated Cetenna.

Someone in the party had to have played Zurnzal in Serpent's Rise and received the boon "Spoils of the Siege (Zurnzal)". Then Cetenna would have worn (and used!) the slippers in question. Even then, only players with the Spoils of the Siege (Zurnzal) boon could purchase the slippers.

Excellent game - thank you all very much for the experience.

Wow - just noticed GM Tarondor's PFS number - I think that squarely qualified you as 'veteran'!

Actually, that was my second number. I lost the first one and didn't remember what it was. :-)

I started playing D&D in 1977. That qualifies me as a veteran.

Yep, that it would. I think my first introduction to D&D was about 1981.

Guess I'm the resident newbie. I wasn't introduced until 2012!