Keith's PFS Society Game group A (Inactive)

Game Master Keith S.

This is for the first team I will run through in these forums.

Dotting, will post some more background shortly.

Standing by and awaiting action.

Weapons fully operational.

Rogdar reporting in.

dotting, fleshing out background

Greetings all!

There we go.

You are all young adventures, gathered together in the common room of the Kaer Maga Pathfinder Lodge. Without fail, you are here seeking your next step in life – membership in the Pathfinder Society. You have heard tales of these bold explorers all your life, and crave to be like them.

And so you have left your Masters and Teachers, or even just graduated from the school of hard knocks, and have found yourself here in this Lodge, seeking work and membership.

It is mid morning. Assembled here by letters delivered by mysterious messengers, you eye each other carefully, not sure what to expect next. The morning meal has been cleared away, but a platter of cheese, bread and redfruit sits upon the table, along with a pitcher of weak beer. Two older servants move about, cleaning and straightening the room.

A door to the rear of the room opens with a bang, and a stout dwarf marches in, full beard of red hair liberally streaked with gray. His brown eyes crinkle in a smile, and he laughs. “AH, I REMEMBER MY RECRUITMENT DAY” he bellows.

He slaps his ample belly and lets out a full laugh. “WELCOME! …. WELCOME TO THE PATHFINDER SOCIETY” he booms.

Behind him, a tall figure enters the room, swathed in gray, hooded cloak belted with leather, a well used mace hanging from it.

“Now, to business.” says the dwarf, sitting down and pouring a mug of beer. “I am Venture Captain Left Ear Murgan” Looking at him carefully, you see his left ear is nothing but a stump of old scar tissue.

“This here is Valanthe Nerissia. She is a Priestess of Pharasma here in Kaer Maga. She has a problem that needs to be dealt with in confidence. Now, despite my booming voice and jovial manner, I know the value of dealing with a problem quietly.” His tone lowers even further “I am not the buffoon some would believe. In fact, that very factor has provided success for me in the past” He smiles again in memory. Then he gestures at Valanthe to speak.

“The Church of Pharasma inters the honored dead of Kaer Maga in the Godsmouth Ossuary. We have been doing this for centuries. We have recently had a problem of sorts crop up. It seems that bodies we have recently interred are going missing. We want someone to enter the Ossuary and find out why. Simple enough.”

Venture Captain Left Ear speaks up again. “There is a time component to this. We need you to start tonight. Be at the Church of Pharasma at midnight. An acolyte will bring you in and take you to the entrance to the Ossuary.” He gives a broad wink. “Put an end to this body snatching. No good every comes from that business. Do well at this, and who knows...maybe the Grand Lodge in Abassolom itself will take an interest in you and request you travel there!”

“Now” he says, munching on a piece of white cheese “Have you any questions for us?”

The woman dressed seductively, rises from her chair, her outfit leaves nothing to the imagination and you can't help but wonder if every inch of her is tattooed. Her gloved arms raise to tie her hair back as she asks,So are the dead being stolen, like the grave robbers in Osiris, or are they merely waking up and walking off like in Geb?

An ugly, scarred dwarf sits at the table, muttering under his breath as he sniffs a recently poured mug of ale.

Az'Avis hisses in a breath when the word 'undead' reaches his ears. In a reaction he grabs one of the many charms that decorate his long unkempt hair and mutters a protective prayer in polyglot. "When the mind goes to Pharasma, bodies should not walk. I will help you find the cause that makes dead flesh move."

While his companions question the two superiors, Aviz quietly watches the scene unfold. His unerring gaze is stuck to whoever is speaking. This tall man seems impossibly thin for his stature.

Valanthe raises her hands in a placating gesture..."Lets not start rumors here. No one is saying the dead are rising and walking off. Please, the populace doesn't need to hear THAT."

She looks at the rough dwarf "The Ossuary is essentially a crypt, a Karknak, in your tongue, to bury our honored dead. It lies below our great Cathedral"

So it is undead we are dealing with. Great. Well zombies burn better than skeletons. Delphi merely crosses her gloves arms and a syllable comes from her throat Hmmpf

"Any traps we shoulds be awhere of??", Az'Aviz asks.

Marchello, a tall, lean, yet muscular half-elf with dark, olive skin, dark, almost raven hair and leather armor dyed the color of midnight, with the slightest sheens of brown in the right light steps up. He bows slightly in reverence to the Pharasman Priestess as she enters. "It will be an honor to serve the goddess Pharasma and the church."

'I can't believe that I have such a calling, what divine intervention' he thinks to himself as he swells with intent.

Marchello tries to measure himself in the midst of his excitement as he addresses the group that clearly looks as though they do not relish the task "I have devoted my studies and my life's work in the servitude of Pharasma. What I lack in experience I promise to make up for in vigor. My training will afford us at least some advantage in this quest."

What luck, I have a Pharasman Undead Hunting Inquisitor for this scenario ... no pressure.

"Ha! See! The spirits always have a way of making sure de circle is round. With sword and coil I will assist your church, Marchello."

What could go wrong? I'm sure my constrictor snake relishes the opportunity to constrict some undead foes. Good thing I brought some food along with me for him .. and I don't mean the other party members ;)

"We have not placed traps in the upper Ossuary, yet I cannot say what might be there now. We have closed off the doors to the place where the dead have been stolen, and have not entered in several days" Valenthe closes her mouth and her lips tighten as her jaw clenches, and she gazes at each young Pathfinder, almost daring them to disagree with her.

Marchello knows a bit about the Ossuary. He knows of no rumors of undead in that divine area, but one never knows. And he also knows, as slow as the bureaucracy of the church is, it isn't likely they acted in less than a week on this, rather they spent time in interminable arguments about how to proceed. After all, the Ossuary tends to be for the wealthy worshipers of Pharasma, and not the common folk.

Avis didn't know much about Pharasma or her church so kept his mouth shut. It seemed that the only thing to do now was to kit up, go through the final preparations and venture forth into the unknown.

"Priestess, is there anything else that you can tell us about the missing, any clue to how they disappeared or who might want to do this?"

The plainly dressed yet attractive red-haired girl seated at the far end of the table clears her throat before speaking.

"Mistress Valenthe, is the Ossuary used solely by your Church for interring it's dead, or is it also used by other people in Kaer Maga? Either way, if you don't want to cause a public panic, then you must have concocted some false story or other to abate any undue attention to the crypt's closure?"

The girl looks down at the sleeping creature curled up on her lap and pets it with one hand. "I only ask in order to understand what we are all getting into. Personally I'll be happy to assist the Church of Pharasma in any way I can. Disturbing the honored dead is a horrible thing and must be stopped."

"Only Pharasma inters dead in the Godsmouth Ossuary. Other faiths may follow their own path; I pay no attention to them" She sniffs in disdain "We have not 'concocted' a story, young lady, because there IS no story. And you will see to it that it remains that way."

Gathering her robes about her, Valenthe sweeps out of the room, leaving Venture Captain Left Ear with you. The esteemed Venture Captain lets out a belch. "Well lads and lasses, there it is before you. Find out what is going on and stop it. I have been on some of these adventures meeself, in the past. I recommend you take some food with you in case you need to hole up somewhere and rest. You have the remainder of the day to buy anything you might need, or sleep a bit. Could be a long night for you.".

He leans back in his chair and scratches his expansive belly. "This is an important mission for the Society here in Kaer Maga. It will help our standing in this city to have the Church of Pharasma owe us a favor. Do your best, eh? And don't die yourselves"

[there are no faction missions as this is a module. At the completion of the module you get 3 exp and 4 prestige.]

Half-smiling to herself, Paewyn nods at Captain Left-ear in acknowledgement as she arises. "I seem to have hit a raw nerve with the priestess just then. Oh well."

Looking around at the other new Pathfinders with whom she would be undertaking this mission, she gives them a half-curtsy. "My apologies for not introducing myself earlier. Paewyn Temari is my name, and this," she holds up the sleepy, furred creature which was curled up in her lap, a weasel of some sort, "...is Puck, my familiar. Pleased to make the acquaintance of you all."

"I confess that I have no experience as yet with delving into crypts and so forth. How much food and water should we bring with us?"

The grizzled dwarf leans back in his chair, reluctantly downing another mug of mediocre ale. "Name's Rogdar." He grunts.
"Want some a'vice red-head? Get some trail rations, some water, and some booze. Stronger tha betta. S'pose we'll be needing a coup'l days worth, but all 'pends on 'ow deep tha crypts are.
He finishes off his ale, disguising the task with a bite of cheese."Huh. An' not even an offer of reward fer our services. Pah."

Shopping time. :)

"I'm Az'Avis of Mwangi. My friend Tongi is having lunch in the sleeping quarters right now, but I'm sure you'll meet him later.", he says with a malicious grin. The man probably didn't mean any harm, but he has some rather unfortunate mannerisms. "I talk to da spirits and am what you Avistani call 'druid'."

I'm going to get 4 more rations during the day. After that, I'm ready to go!

She turns before leaving to the venture captain and smiles Don't worry we'll return to you after we've dealt with the undead.

She turns to the group and introduces herself. Delphi, blessed by Feronia, and blooded of the Efreets. Priestess of the divine flame and tattooed mystic of the Varisian Wilds. While I am around you'll not want for water or fire.

Paewyn will go and purchase some rations, bread, cheese and salami or other preserved meat at the marketplace. She will ready what other equipment she has, then be at the Church of Pharasma at midnight as specified by the Captain.

Purchased and added 3 x Trail rations, 4 x Meat, 2 x Bread and 2 x Cheese to gear, reducing current wealth accordingly.

[i will hold off until this afternoon (my time) and then we will move along. You have until then to make any special purchases]

Purchasing 4 rations

Luthor stays a bit quite, hiding behind the dwarf Rogdar. Luthor is nursing a hangover from, well its hard to say if it is a new one from today or a hold over from prior days in the city. Trying to steady himself with the table, he quietly whispers I wonder where the dead have gone if they have disappeared. With that he grabs a piece of cheese and bread and hopes to soak up the leftover alcohol in his stomach.

Marchello nods as each of the party members introduce themselve and smiles warmly at the ladies as they do.

He leans over towards Luthor and replies, "I was wondering the same thing, I have no tolerance for the undead. They are a scourge that I have devoted my life to vanquishing. Nothing good ever comes from the vile things."

Marchello has a weeks rations and is ready to go when the others are. He spends the rest of the time reading and researching what he can about the temple and the Ossuary.

Az'Avis flashes a wicked grin as he puts his elbows down on the table and leans forward. "Why, into the belly of the beast of course, and ain't we dem perfect people to cut that belly open."

The party gathers together late in the evening and by midnight make your way to the Cathedral of Pharasma. A cowled acolyte brings you deep into the building, down stairs and into the catacombs underneath.

The air is musty and close, the torches guttering and flickering, though you can feel no air movement. You pass row after row of empty burial niches. Entering a wide chamber, you see Valanthe standing before you. Another half dozen or so cloaked priests stand motionless to the side.

Varanthe motions to a locked door. ”This is the entrance to the lower portions of the Ossuary. Once you enter, we will lock the door behind you.” An acolytes steps forward and hands each of you two vials. Valenthe hands Delphinia a hollow mithril tube, about 1 foot long and an inch in diameter.

”You each have received a cure light wounds potion and a vial of holy water. The tube is a chime of opening with 5 charges remaining. You may find it useful in your explorations below – but I warn you to save one chime to return here. No one else will open this door for you.”

With this, Valanthe produces a large iron key and unlocks the door. Two acolytes scurry forward to pull the door, which opens with a grinding squeal.

A tight spiral staircase leading down beckons.

[let me know your marching order - single file - as you head down the stairs, or you can ask questions first if you have any]

Az'Avis takes Pharasma's gifts and refuses to thank her. Wouldn't want to be accepting any more of her gifts any time soon. He extends his arms and lets his companion Tongi settle himself perched on his shoulders. Tongi happens to be a constrictor snake, his skin the color of polished obsidian.

When the group is ready to make its way down he says,"Man with eagle eye goes upfront. Maybe stout man follows next and I go behind? If need be, I can have the spirits light our path. Just present me a suitable object."

Once they do go down, he quietly starts murmuring in polyglot.

I cast guidance on whoever is upfront. Feel free to use the +1 o perception checks, because I'll simply refresh it once you've used it.
With STR18 I assume I can carry him downstairs? The moment we hit the landing and we ain't stuck in a 5ft wide corridor he'll take his place next to me with the command 'defend'.

[I assume the snake takes his own square or is considered to be in yours. But I think he needs to be in his own square to attack, like any pet]

Yes, he's medium. I'll simply carry him down, even though he can climb/move just fine.

Dehlphi will take position behind the Druid, stowing the two vials in her belt pouch.

Before passing through the doorway, Paewyn will take her Ioun torch from her belt pouch and activate it, then place the two vials in the pouch before closing it. Puck will be nestled within the folds of her sash.

"I suggest I be placed somewhere in the middle of the group, close enough that I can see ahead, so that I can cast spells over your heads if necessary. However I'll defer to those of you who are fully trained for combat if you think otherwise."

"Whatever you want, I'm down with it. I don't mind being the one in da back."

If the inquisitor goes upfront, I could stay behind him and spam guidance on him so he has a +11 perception. If the +1 doesn't matter, I can simply fall in behind.

The dwarf shrugs in half-hearted approval. "Aye, sounds aright, s'pose I can go second then."
Rogdar is good with going second. He has an... adequate perception and his darkvision might prove useful. When (if?) we break into 10ft corridors, he can stand side-by-side with Marchello.

So is this a suitable party marching order?;

Sounds good to me Paewyn.

Luthor takes the bottles, disappointments with the lack of carbonation in them. Perhaps there is something good to come from something non-alcoholic. He draws his scimitar and proceeds down the stairs with the others.

Sounds good, when taking my character in to account, remember she can act as a face, healer and blaster.

Works for me.

I see Marchello as a first or second line fighter with a few tricks, so works for me. Similarly, Marchello will be casting guidance on himself before he expects to perform an action. If he is exploring then he will be casting it every minute or so.

Does Guidance stack?

Marchello takes the gifts from Valenthe and bows, keeping his eyes locked on hers. "Thanks be to the blessings of Pharasma, I will not let you or the goddess down, you have my oath."

a few moments later ...

"I would be honored to take the lead, I've always had an eye for trouble." he says as he smiles, "Or trouble's always had an eye for me."

"Right, when we're all ready ..."

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13 Again, if this stacks add another +1 ... and a dice roller biff right out of the gates, better to get it over with I guess

No. You get a floating +1 competence bonus for a minute that you can opt to use on one check of your choosing - so I figured that would be perception to notice traps/danger. I can do the same in the back, just in case :)

Marchello leads the way down the tight stairs. They are narrow, barely 3 feet wide, twisting tightly and steeply down, down, down into the inky blackness.

There is a small gap at the corner of the stairs (imagine a circle fitting into a 10 foot square - the corners are not part of the stair. Rodgar leans over one gap and lets a gobbet of spit drop...it falls out of sight below.

After a descent of about 60 feet, all stop as darkness falls upon the back of the party to the sound of muffled curses. Then you hear Az'Avis let out a very muffled curse!

In the dim light behind you, you can see Az'Avis staggering about, with something that looks like a cloak or blanket wrapped about his head. Whatever it is, it is alive and trying to eat him!

It is difficult terrain to try to move by someone in this tight stairwell.

Alternatively, two people can swap places with no challenge. Pay attention to your marching order of Marchello, Rodgar, Luthor, Delphinia, Paewyn and Az'Avis.

Any character can go (normal round, including Az and his snake)

The snake falls to the ground and tries to strike at the creature that is cloaked in shadows. Avis starts cursing as he fends off the creature to the best of capabilities while frantically yelling,"Light! Need light! Can't see him!"

Az'Avis. Total Defense > AC 22, CMD 20. Move action: drop snake.
Snake. 5 ft step 'back'. Standard action: attack, if possible.
Snake's attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Damage:1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
If that manages to hit AND the creature is medium or smaller, grab:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

I take "back" to be up the stairs one 5' step (if that is the right word for a snake!). The snake misses with its strike; Az'Avis flails about, pulling, pushing, unwrapping the thing as it tries to wrap him up more.

Correct. 'Slithers back up the stairs'!