Ith's PFS pbp (Inactive)

Game Master ithuriel

Alright, so Alie (and Aldred) are going forward, by themselves? (Taking 10 on Acrobatics so that they do not fall over?)

Take 10 yes. Once init is rolled Aldred and Alie will need to roll 12's to move 1/2 speed. Don't get caught in there.

Aldred - Stealth 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Move to T11
While they head in, shield on Magda (AC20) and then enlarge Fog.

We need positions for Fog, Wadi, and Alie in the tunnel.

Wadi will be in R13.

Map

Fog will pake P14

Fog moves to the side of the tunnel entrance, once he's been enlarged, and takes up his pick.

Move Alie to any of the squares adjacent to Aldred. Just want him to help draw some attacks when they come running!

*Smacks head*

For some reason, I was waiting for Wadi to declare his position on the map, only to realise that he posted exactly that three posts up :-/

Sorry guys!

Alie and Aldred carefully sneak forward, working in tandem to produce the illusion of a large, bristly, plague-infested rat, which squeaks as it skitters down the corridor.

Working hard to not fall over on the slippery floor, they manage to keep the rat just at the limit of vision, trying to keep out of sight of whomever... or whatever is in the chamber beyond the tunnel exit.

Meanwhile, Magda works furiously to cast spells, summoning a Shield of pure force to protect her, and causing Fog's stature to increase two-fold, turning him into a mighty mountain of Dwarven flesh!

In order to be able to *just* see the tunnel exit, and hence direct the rat there, Aldred and Alie will need to be in V10 / U9.

As the rat scrabbles across the last of the slippery flooring, there is a very human gasp from the room beyond, and an arrow slams into the 'rat' (although to your eyes, of course, it goes straight through and hits the floor).

Then, a voice, filled with a calm malice, speaks.

"I know every creature in this edifice, at that rat is not one of them; it must have a master! Come, little rats, infesting my cellar. Where are you? You cannot stop what I have initiated; soon, the power of the stone will reach its zenith, and a tide of undead flesh will spill out upon Oppara! All for the glory of Zyhpus!"

Round 1: Magda, Aldred, Wadi, Cultist, Fog, Alie, Zombie, Fel

Magda traces the sihedron over her heart and spits on the ground next to her.

Cast Resistance on herself.
+1 on all saves for 1 minute.

Aldred will delay to make sure Alie is not left alone if he retreats.

Wadi unfurls his scroll of Shield and reads off the runes on it, activating it.

Shield AC 19 for 1 minute.

The Cultist does... something... Fog and Alie are up.

Alie attempts to back out of the slick tunnel, as carefully as possible, knowing the ruse was unsuccessful.

DM, not sure what kind of check you need, but feel free to roll whatever you need for me.

It is slippery, as per the Grease spell; so DC 10 Acrobatics checks to move, and movement is at half speed.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10.

Alie starts to back out of the tunnel, just managing to not slip over...

With a double move, Alie can get back to R12.

Perfect, DM, that is exactly what Alie will do.

Just waiting on Fog.

Fog signals to the others to hold fire, and keep quiet whilst the others return. Fog is hoping that now we have the attention of those inside, not responding may still draw them out.

Full of smugness, the voice you heard before taunts the party, echoing down the corridor:

"Come now, don't be shy; I can promise you a quick death, and a new life in the Zyphus Horde. I am the one with time on my side. It won't be long now before all of those above rise, and the apocalypse commences!"

@Fog: Whilst a nice idea, I am afraid that they are fully aware of the terrain, and have no incentive to come out, when they know there are a few hundred potential zombie reinforcements coming along in the near future...

Gah, well, it was worth a try. So. Charge in?

Round 2: Magda, Aldred, Wadi, Cultist, Fog, Alie, Zombie, Fel

Magda breaks away from the ambush position and grabs an armful of costumes nearby to throw down on the slick cavern floor. "Help me!"

Aldred quickly fires off a parting shot to cover his unsteady retreat.

Not sure about the action for Magda. Probably a move to get to what she wants and a move to pick it up.

Aldred's shortbow 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 I'm not sure if Aldred can see anyone to shoot at, but he'll go for anyone living if he can see them.
Damage 1d6 ⇒ 1 Ugh.
Acrobatics 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Move to S11

Now we have a problem. Fog can't realistically move through the slimed area except by crawling.
Crawling is a move action and you advance 5 ft. So it would take him about 5 rounds to get through the tunnel. We either cover the floor one square at a time or he crawls through.

Wadi twirls his makeshift sling around, trying to maneuver into position where he can take a shot at the unknown speaker if (s)he tries to cast a spell....

Move behind Fog. Acrobatics 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Unfortunately, he plants his foot awkwardly and splashes face down into the grease. Sputtering, he rises back to his feet.

Move action, stand up. Guess I am done now, he he.

We could always use the grease as a slip and slide. It'd get us in there quickly, but they'd certainly get a free attack on us...

Not likely to slide in a 50 foot curve.

Knowledge Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 Is the grease just water, or is it flammable?

It is mostly slime, and water dripping down the sides of the tunnel; if you had to make an educated guess, water from a crack in the theatre cistern is probably leaking through from above; the tunnel, although functional, is not really up to Dwarven standards.

Area of Effect fire spells/effects could 'dry' the area of the blast, at least temporarily (long enough for this combat, at any rate), but would not clear the entire corridor.

I was thinking more, back up a bit, and light the stuff, and watch it burn through, that may get their attention ;) But not burnable for that it seems... Oh well.

Cultist is up.
Did Aldred hit anyone?

The cultist does something...

Round 2: Magda, Aldred, Wadi, Cultist, Fog, Alie, Zombie, Fel

Fog looks about, and deciding to get this over with, starts to move forward. Not sure how far/fast Fog can move, but he will take the southern route and head in the right direction.

Requires an acrobatics check and you need to roll 18 or higher.

Hmm, so natural 20 then yes?

Acrobatics: 1d20 - 6 ⇒ (5) - 6 = -1

You need to score a 10 but you have:
-1 dex (due to size penalty)
-7 ACP from armor.
So rolling a natural 18,19, or 20 will let you move half speed.

Gah, keep getting the armour penalty wrong, and forgetting the size mod.

Alie takes a deep breath then starts moving into the slippery tunnel.

Balance Acrobatics 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

@Magda: Aldred did not have a bead on anyone in the other room, so he would not have taken the shot.

Fog steps forward, and then falls over, his armor getting the better of him.

Alie tries to move forward, but, stepping on a particularly slippery section, her feet slide out from under her, and she lands prone.

Once again, the voice echoes down the corridor, taunting the party.

"Come now, don't keep me waiting..."

Round 3: Magda, Aldred, Wadi, Cultist, Fog, Alie, Zombie, Fel

Hmmm...I was thinking of having Wadi use his last Burning Hands spell to 'dry' the area of the corridor (well 15' of it anyway). Thoughts?

Magda grunts as she hurls an armload of costumes into the tunnel around Alie and rushes back for more.

MA: get to the tunnel mouth
Free: drop costumes
MA: return for more.

Sounds good to me. Maybe most valuable once the spread can wrap around the curve to maximize the number of dry squares.
If Fog grabs some plywood set piece or something he might be able to cover two or more squares at once since he is large.

Just to hand-wave this, because I don't want to spend a week of posts filling the corridor with costumes and planks, I am happy to say that you build a 'bridge' over the water, provided Wadi uses Burning Hands from W10 to clear the last section of the corridor; to give you an idea of what I am suggesting, I have coloured the corridor according to what I think you can clear.

My rationale is that certain people would be in no hurry to attack whilst you are noisily clearing the corridor out of view, but once you can be spotted, they *would* start to take pot-shots, so the 'flash dry' approach acts as a good compromise to explain how you can clear the last little bit.

Thoughts?

That sounds excellent to me.
How many rounds do you want to estimate?
Probably not a problem. Enlarge person & shield are good for 20 rounds.
Starting right after the burning hands in Init?

I would estimate that 8 rounds should cover it.

Starting right after the Burning Hands in initiative sounds reasonable to me.

Ignoring the taunts echoing down the corridor, the party does its best to cover the floor with stage props and old costumes, the worn cloth quickly soaking up the slime and making the passageway passable.

Fog in particular, with his vastly increased size, proves adept at hoisting the large scenery pieces around, which helps to speed the process.

Finally, when the end of the corridor comes into sight, Wadi sets off a cone of flame, which boils away the remaining water, clearing a path into the eerily-glowing room.

The chamber has smooth walls, covered in strange glyphs. At its centre stands a tall stone dais, in the middle of which is a huge boulder which, by all appearances, fell a great distance before crashing here. The boulder is the source of the leprous green light which floods the chamber, its brightness pulsing in a slow rhythm, not unlike a giant, beating heart.

By way of retort to Wadi's attack, a human male with dirty black hair, wearing a chain shirt and wielding a short bow, steps around the corner, and takes a shot at Wadi!

Shortbow: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3, for 1d6 ⇒ 4.

...the arrow missing by a mile as the Chelish sorceror ducks against the wall.

Atop the dias, stroking the stone protectively, stands another Taldan male, with blonde hair and cruel green eyes, dressed in half-plate. He sneers at the display of arcane magic.

"Well, it was about time! I was worried my new pets would get to you before you found me! Now, my first pet will have a chance to feed..."

With that, he pushes the flesh of his hand more firmly against the stone, caressing it like a lover. In response, a withered zombie, leaking leprous green pus from every orifice, staggers to its feet from atop the stone, and thuds to the ground, its diseased fingers reaching in Wadi's direction...

Round 11: Magda, Aldred, Wadi, Cultist, Fog, Alie, Zombie, Fel

Let's get this started! :-)

Map We seem to have Wadi in two places on the map!

While his allies move out of the tunnel (and out of his way) Fog casts a bolt of flame at the zombie.

Atk: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

One of the W's is actually W3 ;-)

Fog tosses a flaming bolt at the zombie, but the confines of the tunnel hamper his giant form, and the bolt of flame slams into the ground near its feet, instead...

Alie starts casting Sleep on the enemy with the short bow.

The zombie rushes forward, and takes a swing at Wadi...

Zombie: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19, for 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 damage.

...smashing into him with a sickening crunch.

The priest in plate armor grins, and shouts:

"The power of Zyphus compels you!"

Fog, give me a Will save :-P

Round 12: Magda, Aldred, Wadi, Cultist, Fog, Alie, Zombie, Fel

Will: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 2 = 16

Getting infuriated that he still can't get out of this cramped tunnel, and start hitting the fool nobel in front of him, Fog throws another bolt of fire at the zombie.

Atk: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23 Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Crit?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15 Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Edit, included the +2

+2 from ward

Fog shakes-off the nightmares that descended upon him from the priest's spell, relying on his faith in the Dawnflower to sustain him!

@Fog: Why are you +3 to hit with the Firebolt? You should be +1 normally (from Bab) + 0 from Dex = +1 total; whilst enlarged, you take a -1 size penalty to attack rolls, and a -2 to Dexterity, netting you another -1 to ranged attack rolls, for a total of -1 to hit...? Then there is the -4 penalty for shooting into combat, for a total of -5...

I would be happy to let you ret-con that action, especially since, with the reach granted to you by being large, you can actually take a swing at the zombie with your weapon... or you can have thrown the fire-bolt at the warrior instead ;-)

Regardless of what Fog does here, Wadi knows he needs his help. He tries to distract the zombie as best he can.

Aid Another Fog +2 to hit Zombie. 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

@Fog: Why are you +3 to hit with the Firebolt? You should be +1 normally (from Bab) + 0 from Dex = +1 total; whilst enlarged, you take a -1 size penalty to attack rolls, and a -2 to Dexterity, netting you another -1 to ranged attack rolls, for a total of -1 to hit...? Then there is the -4 penalty for shooting into combat, for a total of -5...

Off the top of my head, I'm not sure, I'll have a look....

Fog, could you please confirm your action? I realise that it may change, depending on what Magda/Aldred do, but it would be nice to know :-)

Round 12: Magda, Aldred, Wadi, Cultist, Fog, Alie, Zombie, Fel