Gestalt Academy of Secrets Table 1 (Inactive)

Game Master drbuzzard

Yes, it is OK for everyone to go once I say PCs are up. I'm not overly concerned about order in that bloc since it would hold things up otherwise.

hmmm.. good point Rogard, however i think its better to use the resources of our surroundings first before we deplete our own abilities

Gale will move through the room, still invisible and still in flight, around the table to behind where the fight is taking place.

and will cast Banishment

I can banish up to 26HD of creatures. the save is a DC 21 Will. Also as this "targets" an enemy it will break invisibility.

will save: 1d20 ⇒ 10 fail
will save: 1d20 ⇒ 6 fail
will save: 1d20 ⇒ 6 fail

The first three targeted by the spell go 'poof'. They disappear to those able to see invisibility.

3 down and 3 to go, remember people we are on the clock here, there are others who seek victory and we may not be the first inside, but we must be the first ones out!

Arvaldo hits 4 and 5 with glitterdust revealing them.

Aramus will save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17 pass

I'm used to GM's rolling stealth. I'll do so in the future. I also wasn't clear that the light was coming from everywhere to prevent any shadows. Hopefully the glowing atmosphere isn't everywhere or I wasted a level. I also knew I wasn't up, but wanted to post early since this game moves so fast. It was unlikely that I'd change my action.

Basically the options with extreme stealth cheese are to not have many shadows for you to hide in, or make you effectively invulnerable. Guess which I prefer?

Indeed it does move fast--20 posts to catch up on! Thankfully most were fairly short. Also, thank you drbuzzard for rolling my Will save for me, and sorry I wasn't here earlier--work had me out in the middle of the day, so I was gone during most of the flurry of posting.

Unsure of what to do, Aramus waits with his rapier drawn until Arvaldo flings glittering sparkles into the air. He blinks several times and feels his vision swim for a moment, but raises his rapier and finds it goes clear to see an outline of something before him--likely the cause of his pain. "Very well, invisible beastie--taste my steel!" With that, Aramus flourishes his rapier and drives into a vicious attack. Swift action to challenge followed by a full attack. Note that the invisible stalker takes a -2 to AC against everyone else's attacks while Aramus is threatening it, and Aramus's AC goes up to 36 versus its attacks.

Attack 1: 1d20 + 32 ⇒ (19) + 32 = 51
Damage: 1d6 + 51 ⇒ (1) + 51 = 52
Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 36 ⇒ (9) + 36 = 45
Crit Damage: 1d6 + 38 ⇒ (6) + 38 = 44 Plus 2d6 bleed on its turn.

Attack 2: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (14) + 27 = 41
Damage: 1d6 + 51 ⇒ (1) + 51 = 52

Attack 3: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (1) + 22 = 23 Gah! Auto-miss.
Also, in case you're noticing, the damage is slightly higher than it was during Aramus's last challenge-full attack. This is because last time I forgot about his vambraces of the tactician, which treat his cavalier level as 2 higher for the challenge's effects. Just figured I'd clarify in case there were questions.

Irra takes a breath, focusing on the outlined figures. "Begone" she intones.

Dismissal against the undamaged one, DC 23 to resist

Aramus outright kills his first target on his crit, and does a very solid blow to the next .

Irra targets the invisible one with a spell.
will save: 1d20 ⇒ 1 bye bye

Well these guys didn't fare too well.

Last one attacks Aramus
to hit: 1d20 ⇒ 6 miss
to hit: 1d20 ⇒ 17 miss

Then it attacks again before the party can react (it had that mythic thingy)

to hit: 1d20 ⇒ 12 miss
to hit: 1d20 ⇒ 1 miss

And now the party (which will kill it before it acts again no doubt).

Should it last that long, Arvaldo will roll under the table, turning to come out of the back side. Meanwhile, his sling stone is curving around the bookshelf to hit the last stalker from another angle.

stealth: 1d20 + 40 ⇒ (11) + 40 = 51
Snaking TK blast: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (17) + 21 = 38
TK blast damage: 7d6 + 20 ⇒ (2, 2, 5, 6, 2, 3, 1) + 20 = 41
sneak attack, if applicable: 6d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 6, 1, 4, 1) = 21 And disoriented, -2 to attacks or -6 vs. Arvaldo

Arvaldo kills the last one with a well placed stone.

The fairly crazed wizard watches all of this aghast.

"What? How? What happened here? There were invisible stalkers moving the books? They were hiding my spellbook? NOW I CAN FIND IT AND GET OUT OF HERE!" and he starts frantically checking books on the shelves and dumping on the floor as he notices they are not his spell book.

In the interest of full disclosure, if the stalker that attacked would have hit me at an AC of 34, then it did, because Aramus would have used his immediate action to make a glorious challenge on the other enemy he could see, which lowers his AC by 2. Actually, I'm now wondering if he could do that, as he'd used a swift action, and the wording of the immediate action rules almost seems like he couldn't do it since it's still technically his turn. Any ruling on that? Seems like they didn't expect cavaliers to kill targets in one shot (which is weird, since that's one of the things cavaliers like to do as often as possible, and Order of the Flame especially promotes taking out the mooks before hitting the big guys).

Finishing the fight fairly handily once he can see, Aramus exhales heavily and smiles. "Well, that still works, anyway." He turns to the wizard and frowns. "But you didn't know about them? How long have you been here?"

They needed a 20 even to hit a 34 so it is rather moot.

He's frantically looking at and tossing books on the floor, so he ignores you.

Gale helps look for the book, trying to find it before the wizard, firstly just in case he tries anything and secondly so she can use it to get him to answer some questions.

perception: 1d20 + 48 ⇒ (17) + 48 = 65

You don't see any books which look like they might be his spell book. Perhaps it is not even in here.

can i detect magic on him?

Hmmm is he under some kind of enchantment or did he really loose the book like he said

Mister you book is not here

"What do you mean it is not here?!? It's here. They told me it would be in here! IT HAS TO BE IN HERE! WHY ARE YOU HIDING MY BOOK! GIVE ME MY BOOK!"

He appears to be wearing a number of items that are magical, but he does not appear to be under the influence of any enchantments.

who told you it was here?, sir i have acute senses, i can tell your book is not here, and i certainly dont have it. If you dont start explaining yourself i'll leave you here so more of those monsters can find you

"Chyvvom said it was in here. It's in my contract. STOP HIDING MY BOOK! GET OUT OF HERE SO I CAN FIND IT! AND DON'T TAKE ANY BOOKS WITH YOU!" he seems very frantic, possibly on the verge of violence.

Hmmmf very well, we shall leave you to your hunt, and we shall continue ours, do yell out if you find it... Gale says with a sly smile

she then moves to the next door to the south.

Before going in she pulls out a scroll of Chameleon Stride and casts it on her self

and then will stealth stealth: 1d20 + 39 ⇒ (16) + 39 = 55

then she will listen at the door,

then open it, and draw her bow.

"Seems reasonable, shall we adjourn...?"

Irra seems to favor moving on to the next room.

"YES! GO! LEAVE ME ALONE! I WILL FIND IT AND BE FREE!" he screams like a madman as you all leave the room.

Listening at the next southern door, you don't hear anything except maybe some quiet sobbing.

The door opens easily enough.

This room is dark, moist, and rank with the smell of sweat, mildew, and iron. Desks sit in even, tiered rows facing the southern end of the room, where thick metal chains hang from the slate-covered wall. Tethered in those chains is one of the other contestants, the rogue who was there at the starting this morning.

"Oh thank the gods you are here! Please free me! I can't take this place any longer!"

"What happened to you?"

She stepped closer somewhat cautiously.

This was hell. Devils were trickery, even if they liked to talk a lot about laws and contracts. Mi'al was going to be keeping her guard up. Although she did want to free the girl.

Sense motive to determine if she's hiding something, or if there something untowards with the way she's behaving.1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27

"I got my light key and came into the Hall of Wards, though it was really weird and not just a doorway. Then the tentacle lady got me, and chained me up here. I just need to get out of here. Help me!" Much of this is interspersed with incoherent babbling. She does seem to be a few cups short in her cupboard at this point.

"You didn't... Sign anything, did you?" The man looking for his spellbook had raved about a contract.

Mi'al detects evil on the girl.

How long did we spend dealing with the crazy mage before moving on? I'd prefer at least a couple of minutes.

As Mi'al talks with the girl, Arvaldo is examining the room, looking for anything hidden.

perception: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (14) + 23 = 37

"I haaaad toooo!" she sobs loudly.

no evil

The mage flipped out fairly quickly, so it didn't take long. You don't find anything of interest in the room other than the prisoner.

Irra blinks.

Detect Magic, take 10 on Spellcraft/K Arcana for lots.

She has a dex belt, magic leather armor and a magic sword, pretty basic stuff. She is not affected by any spells.

"Mmmhmm. Mmmhmm. Mmmhmm." Irra casually retrieves a small handful of powdered silver and throws it around her in a circle; it vanishes in a quiet golden flash.

Magic Circle against Evil

"Well, you've signed something and appear dangerous. I'll vote for you to come with us, only if you allow me to temporarily blind you. We'll protect you, and I'll get you healed afterwards."

"Are you joking? What are you talking about? Clearly this woman's been forced into some kind of binding agreement, and been chained to a wall--we should help her, shouldn't we?" Aramus seems distressed at the (admittedly pragmatic and probably smart) actions of his companions, and their seeming disinterest in actually helping the woman. "Blind her, asking about contracts? We should just unlatch her and help her."

"We can do that and also take care of ourselves." Irra turns to Aramus. "I dislike chains as much as you do. But everything here is a test or a trap."

"It would be a strategy to let others take the risks and then betray them at the end."he says. "Taking precautions against that balances benevolence and paranoia."

Stravolo pipes up, "I think we should leave her." Arvolo chuckles, "It looks like we have a volunteer to be a seeing eye guard cat." Stravolo's response is not fit for polite company.

With true seeing i would be able to see the true form of anything in the room, can you tell me please GM if anything is not as its supposed to be please.

Assuming everything is what it looks like and there are no monsters pretending to be chains or people ect. Gale will shoot the chains holding the girl using adamantine arrows, while still keeping stealth (-10 to stealth while sniping)

1st shot: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (15) + 21 = 361d8 + 19 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 19 + (3) = 26
2nd shot: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (8) + 21 = 291d8 + 19 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + 19 + (5) = 29

Even with true seeing, the room appears as described. You are easily able to to break the chains.

"Oh thank you, by the gods, thank you. I have to be out of this place, it is driving me mad!"

Arvaldo will be ready to telekinetically grapple her if she tries anything suspicious. "And your name is..."

Once she is secured, then Stravolo will leap onto her shoulder to keep a very close watch on her and let us know if she's being suspicious.

"I am Ilia Ean. I'm fairly well known at my trade in Korvosa. "

Ilia, as you know we are also contestants in this competition, and we mean to win, we have rescued you so in return please tell us what you can of the octopus lady that imprisoned you.

"Well she has tentacles instead of legs and a couple more growing out of her head. She grabbed me and pinned me when I tried to fight her off. "

Did she look like this? lol

would there be enough information to make a knowledge check to identify?

While i do take pity on the meek i also dont suffer fools that get themselves in over their head, i suggest you leave now dear and Study your craft some more. don't return here again.

final perception check of the room to find anything useful perception: 1d20 + 48 ⇒ (3) + 48 = 51

if there is nothing useful then gale will continue to the next room along.

Usual thing listen, before entering while stealthing.

"Leave now? Where do you suppose she should go? It's not like even we could just turn around and... Gale?" she looks around for the woman, who's mysteriously absent. "Where'd she go?"

"How can I leave? Even unchained I'm stuck in here. Hey, where did the crazy lady go?!"

There is nothing else of interest in this room.

I'm down the hall!

a disembodied voices says

Leave, stay, whatever just dont get in the way and try and make yourself useful. Now whats behind door number 3....

Rogard lowers his weight and starts moving behind Gale hoping that he could get an idea one the next room with his now enhanced hearing.

Stealth: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (17) + 28 = 45
Perception: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (15) + 26 = 41

I realized I forgot to mentione merge with familiar, earlier. Ok if I retcon that? I could just use it now too I suppose but given that the brid hasn't been around, retconning probably makes more sense.

Don't suppose it makes a heck of a difference. Just retcon it.

With that, he will head out as well, sneaking invisibly up to the front and checking for traps, as always.

His disembodied voice responds, "While speed is useful, leaving your support and trapfinder behind may not be the smartest action."