
DM Luke |

Isegrim, reroll that damage as 2d6, not d20.
Isegrim crashes through the underbrush and connects with the fearsome blade. The zombie changes direction to meet the furious warrior but its ambling gate still leaves it short of contact.
Zombies move so slooooowwwww...
Trystan hears movement in the brush to his immediate right, but no attack comes.
Lia's turn.

DM Luke |

Lia slides past her opponent's weapon and runs the man through the back with her rapier. His death scream is more of an inhuman, high-pitched screech as he falls to the ground. He curls up in a fetal position, half hiding a hideous transformation from man to half-man, half-rodent. His face is stretched beyond recognition, and a partly formed tail sprouts from his hind-quarters.
Isegrim, I think your damage is 2d6 + 6, for a total of 12. The +6 applies to the total, not to each d6 roll.
Brenin, either of those target squares takes away the dark elf's cover. Brenin's turn.

DM Luke |

Just a figment of the narrative. He sprung a readied action that interrupted the henchmen's turn. The actual updated initiative is...
Dark Elf 23
Rees 21
Trystan 21
Isegrim 21
Bodiless voice 19
Zombie 13
Lia 10
Brenin 9
Helpful stranger 7
Wererats 6
Brenin's arrow strikes home but doesn't really seem to do any real damage to the woman. Under the robe you catch the gleam of mail, and the arm holding the little crossbow sports a graceful silver buckler that she uses this moment to parry away one of two arrows that the elf stranger launches at her. The second shot whistles over her head and into the night sky.
The elf's curses are practically lost in the screams of the henchmen. Each of them goes through the complete transformation from seemingly normal human to rat humanoid monstrosity right before your eyes. Move equivalent action to change shape for each of the mooks.
Throughout their transformations they attack with wild abandon - more animals than men. They still wield their blades, but they also bite and tear at you as they attack.
I missed Rees. Hit Trystan with 23 bonus. Damage is 4. Trystan must make a DC 16 concentration check to hold the spell. Check is d20 + 3 (caster level) + 3 (wis).
The dark elf loads another bolt into her crossbow and fires at Brenin. Again the bolt comes home. I hit a 30 AC with 3 hp of damage. Brenin must save again versus poison. DC 15. Without stopping to see if the bolt hit her target or not, the drow turns tail and bolts into the trees (and completely out of the firelight).
Rees is up.

DM Luke |

Dammit. You're lucky I suck. That should have been 3 + 8 damage on her bolt for 11 hp. I'm not inclined to redact in the bad guy's favor, so 3 it is.

Rees |

Dang Brenin, I come over to help you out and offer up some healing and you leave me stranded with the wererat. I knew there was a reason I went for Trystan. (wink wink)
God you Werrats disgust me. You should have run the first time I shocked your azz, cause here it comes again. 16+1+3=20 If that does it my damage is 3d6 is 9 points of damage (2,4,3)

DM Luke |

Rees's opponent shakes convulsively and collapses to the ground. Unconscious and dying.
Trystan's up, but I need his concentration check too.

DM Luke |

So much for Stairway to Heaven..
lmao
Trystan's spell is lost and his shot goes awry in the tall grass. The wererat's dirty blade gashed his armor near the elbow - but at least it wasn't the monster's teeth.
Trystan gets the sense that there is someone behind him as he fights the wererat.
Isegrim...

DM Luke |

The dark elf loads another bolt into her crossbow and fires at Brenin. Again the bolt comes home. I hit a 30 AC with 3 hp of damage. Brenin must save again versus poison. DC 15. Without stopping to see if the bolt hit her target or not, the drow turns tail and bolts into the trees (and completely out of the firelight).
I so surprised you with the 3 hp damage that you missed the last sentence. You can no longer see her because of the cover of the brush and the dark of night, but you can certainly follow her by sound and the moving brush she leaves in her wake.
In game mechanic terms she used a standard action to attack you and a move to flee, so it stands to reason she cannot be too far ahead if you chase. In any event...
As the dark elf darts into the trees, the mystery ally calls out in elven.
The hawk in the tree takes off into the night sky.

DM Luke |

Wow Isegrim. With your latest character choices, calculating your attack and damage is like tracing the path of the magic bullet. I think it is...
atk: 3(base attack) + 3(strength) + 1(weapon focus) + 1(masterwork blade) + 1(Cayden's blessing) = 9.
dmg: 6(twice strength) + 3 (power attack) = 9.
Also, I just realized that you don't have armor training (since you have Overhand Chop), which means your base speed is 20' in that chainmail armor. The armor bonus is +6 though, so your AC is actually 17.
Isegrim impales his opponent, spilling its tainted blood into the boneyard mud.
The wizard Rondo materializes in back of Trystan as he makes a clumsy attempt to grasp the cleric's shoulder. Trystan twists away from the mage's hand, which glows subtly with a greenish-yellow hue and smells horrible.
I can't believe the frickin invisible wizard can hit with a touch attack. The bad guys are like keystone cops (no offense Chris) with me rolling for them .

DM Luke |

The mud-crusted corpse lunges for Isegrim but gets shouldered away. Its mouth gapes, frozen in a long-since silenced scream as it pursues the living flesh so close by.
Lia's turn. I din hit nuthin.

Lia Smythe |

Umm, where'd they go? Weren't there bad guys around here somewhere?
Lia looks at the elf next to her. "Well, if you aren't my enemy than you must be my friend. That'll do for now." Moving on...
Wasn't there a drow around here someplace? Since I am confused by lack of bad guys present, I move to around (13,7) to help whoever needs it most. Maybe I'll trip and fall into another enemy, or a hole, alligator, something...

Brenin Grazier |

Torn between letting the drow go and the reappearance of Rondo, Brenin curses and moves to help Trystan.
"Rondo, what did you get all over yourself? You should have ran with the drow. Now you're going to die all alone in the swamp."
I move to 6,9 and keep firing. Attack is 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 8 - 4 = 20. Damage is 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8.
Ummm...in case that doesn't work...I'll yell fore, or whatever it is you yell when you loose an arrow into a group of friends unexpectedly.

DM Luke |

Check out my reply to Brenin in regards to the dark elf. She disappeared around (4,1), heading back in the same direction she and the wererats came from.
The impact of Brenin's shot is reduced by some magical protection the wizard enjoys, but he grunts in pain nevertheless, and the magical effect on his hand is lost. Failed concentration check.
He's just a shadow at the edge of the firelight, so it's not possible to make out the look on his face, but you get the feeling you might enjoy it.
As the elf replies to Lia you realize that he has a very odd accent as well - definitely not local.
"My name is Kwava - and I've no quarrel with your group. We finish these - this wizard in particular, and then I hunt the dark one."
"These ones," he says as he lines up a shot on the remaining wererat, "I had some warning of...". As he looses his running shot, you catch the gleam of silver on the tip of the arrow. The head buries deep in the wererat's flank and it screams in pain.
The creature looks around for its allies. Seeing none remaining, it flees the fight. Withdraw action into the woods off the NE corner of the map.
Rees is up.

DM Luke |

Rees, your spell focus(evocation) feat is the only reason this hit. It's nice to know when your feat selections pay off.
Rondo lets out a howl as his temperature flashes. He pats himself down and does not catch fire. The damage stands but I passed the reflex save to avoid catching fire. This spell lasts another two rounds.
Trystan and then Isegrim.

DM Luke |


Trystan Glenfauran |

Trystan takes a step back (to 10/12) and casts Spiritual Weapon
Trystan's prayer to Cayden is heard as a rapier made of pure force appears and engages the madman.
"I am a man of my promises Rondo and I think you are about out of tricks.."
Attack 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 additional +1 for Bless?
Damage 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 additional +1 for Bless?

DM Luke |

The magical weapon slashes into Rondo's magical armor in a contest of force. Cayden's will prevails and the cyphermage is gashed by the blade.
Isegrim...

Isegrim Valko |

Shrugging from the hapless bite of the zombie Isegrim turns to face the decomposing corpse which has set itself upon him. "Damn zombies! I hate to stain the Raven's Blade with the your pestilent ooze you spawn of feces and filth!" Isegrim swings the blade to cleave the shambling man (at 9,9) with a massive swing of the Raven's Blade.
Attack 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Damage 2d6 + 9 ⇒ (3, 5) + 9 = 17

DM Luke |

Isegrim destroys the hapless monster with one terrible blow. Its parts continue to writhe on the ground at the big man's feet.
Rondo makes a break for it. Withdraw action. He moves his max speed off the map to the northwest. Anyone fancy a chase?

DM Luke |

So I have the Pathfinder Game Mastery Guide and it has an optional mechanic for chase scenes such as this - which is great. This game definitely needs a chase scene mechanic as the static movement rules don't really work for this kind of thing. The details follow...
So in a normal turn, you get to spend move and standard actions as normal. Move actions allow you to progress to the next stage. A standard action allows you to do normal standard actions, such as make an attack/cast a spell, etc. If you are in the same 30' stage as your target you can make a melee attack or benefit from PBS. Otherwise, range attacks are subject to concealment based on the number of stages between you and your target. 20% concealment if they are in adjacent stage, 60% if w/in 2 stages, 100% at 3 stages.
If your base speed is less than 30' (Isegrim only, I think), you take a -2 to your actions but still move through 30' stages like everyone else. If you have neither Darkvision nor low-light vision (Brenin, Trystan, Isegrim), you take a -4 to your obstacle-related actions. We'll preserve the initiative sequence, with Rondo acting first in the chase since it was his withdrawal that sparked it.
There's a special full-round action you can take during a chase that allows you to move a total of three stages in one turn. To pull it off, you have to defeat ALL skill/save challenges posed by any stages you leave. If you fail, you stop where your failure occurs.
Lastly, failing one of the challenges will usually just stop your turn there, but some can have more serious consequences (think traps, falls, potentially surprising combats, etc.) Failing a check by more than 5 usually means a more spectacular failure (more likely to result in damage).
The battlemap was large enough to constitute the 1st 2 stages in the chase. Neither of them have obstacles, and which one you start in depends on where you were at the end of the fight relative to Rondo.
Rondo stage 4
Brenin stage 2
Trystan stage 2
Isegrim stage 2
Lia stage 1
Rees stage 1
Kwava stage 1
Who's up for chasing a necromancer through the swamp tonight? His opening turn is quite successful (1st nat 20 I can remember in a long time on my part).
Lia is technically up, but not physically (poor thing's sick again). I think she wants to chase so I'll get her to post tomorrow.
Brenin, you're obviously game. You can fire that shot and still advance to stage 3. I suggest advance then shoot since that minimizes the concealment against your shot. So basically a 20 is going to hit, but you have to roll d100 (or d10 if you like). If the roll is 20 or less (2 or less on d10) you miss due to not being able to get a good view of the target.

Brenin Grazier |

Aw man, it must be late, cuz I'm a wee bit on the lost side. Sorry I posted out of turn, but I wasn't taking any chances on losing both the drow and the necromancer. If I understand correctly, first I need to roll a d10 and aim for a 3 or more. Here goes...1d10 ⇒ 3.
Previewed it...man that was close.
Now, if I follow correctly, Rondo pulled off a 20 and made all of his challenge saves allowing him to advance three stages. My 30' move advanced me one stage, my next 30' move advances me another and my shot counts as my last action. Starting stage was 1. Brenin will end up in stage 3 I think when he's done.
Brenin taunts Rondo relentlessly as he plows through the underbrush. Catching the glimpse of a bush moving, he fires and hears the thud and grunt of his quarry.
"You can't escape me out here Rondo. Not a chance."

DM Luke |

You got most of it. Except your starting stage was 2. You get one move and one standard action, or two move actions (just like combat). If you choose the special full-round action, you have a chance of moving 50% farther (3 stages), but you have alot more chance of failing a challenge, perhaps catastrophically, resulting in damage.
Rondo took two move actions advancing from 2 (his starting position), to 3 for free. Then second move was 3 to 4. Stage 3 contains an obstacle, and Rondo passed it with his roll of a 20 - allowing him to move to stage 4.
Your move takes you to stage 3 for free (no obstacle). Then you fire your bow with your standard action - ending your turn.
Ahead of you, you see the ground drops rapidly. It's a water-filled sinkhole, directly in your path. As you come to a halt before the gap, you see Rondo getting up from his own leap over the hole. You take your shot here, scoring a hit despite the magical armor that protects the mage.
You can choose to make a Perception DC 20 or Acrobatics DC 15 to pass this obstacle, when you try to exit stage 3 on your next turn.