Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

"And this time, we mean it!", Alia nods to the boy, then takes off in the direction the old man was headed before.

Sheathing her Estoc, she pulls out her bow expecting more targets on the ground, stopping just short of the border, drawing a deep breath as she steels herself.
No point exposing myself there - I'll take a look next turn.

The wall of the inner keep actually rises above the eye-line of the northwest tower blocking its view to the east. Obviously you are not dealing with craftsmanship here.

Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. Posh began on round 2.

Inspired Rage affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. Illthir began on round 4.

Round 6! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Alia
__ Zokon
__ Serena -2 hp (corrected from last round)
__ Durgan barkskin, shield of faith, engine of destruction
__ Scarlet big -21 hp
__ Posh
__ Illthir
__ Erevenywg
__ The hill-dead red -5 hp

Map updated.

Serena charges up the stairs to spot Zokon just as his prey ducks over the side. "Well, damn. I should have stayed below."

Zokon takes a non-lethal swipe at the boy

non-lethal attack spiked gauntlet: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 7 - 4 = 22 Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

"I said not killed." he says as he goes over the side

Outside

The kid hits the ground hard and doesn't immediately rise.

In the dark space
The voice finishes muttering and the door closes again, but this time Victoria can see a number of thin slivers of light. Maybe it is her imagination, but the light looks like torch light coming though gaps in the wall and around the door. The room is still mostly dark (dim light).

The space around Victoria is crowded with alchemical (beakers, vials, a keg labelled "Pitax Black Powder"), and building supplies (lumber, crates of nails, tools).

Sorry. Gotta get to work. More tonight.

"Man, I can't wait to get over there." She steps back from the zombie as it lurches towards her. "I'm getting tired of being a ladder."

It's not much, but it's better than pure darkness. Accustomed to the darkness, her eyes adjust quickly to the dim light, practically hungry for visual data. She tries to focus on the alchemical reagents.
she's got craft alchemy @+9 so I'm guessing she has a pretty good idea what this stuff is and what she could potentially do with it
Now, if I could only get free. In the back of her mind, she feels the presence of her familiar giddy with excitement. Arris may not be able to give her visual images, but she can tell there's something going on, and it probably has to do with fighting.

Scarlet helps the strange fey woman over the wall into the fort so she will not get hurt.

"WHEEEE!!!"

acrobatics: 1d20 ⇒ 6 fall damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

**CRASH!** rattlerattlerattlerattlerattlerattle-plunk!

Erevenywg stands up and dusts herself off.

Assuming he drops Blue, he is now at DR 6/-.

Durgan cuts down another zombie. Meanwhile one of the undead flails at Scarlet.

red slam v Scarlet: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 Miss

Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. Posh began on round 2.

Inspired Rage affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. Illthir began on round 4.

Round 7! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Alia
__ Zokon
__ Serena -2 hp
__ Durgan barkskin, shield of faith, engine of destruction
__ Scarlet big -21 hp
__ Blonde bandit -13 hp
__ Posh
__ Illthir
__ Erevenywg
__ The hill-dead red -5 hp

Map updated. Victoria, I added an inset map of your environs and tokens for you and your fox over by the 'zombie hands'.

Durgan takes a step and attacks the last zombie.
Attack (Red), Inspire Courage, Rage, Deadly Juggernaut +3: 1d20 + 7 + 1 + 1 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 1 + 1 + 3 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

It's an ugly swing, but it should be enough.

"Scarlet, are you going around to the gate or going over?"

Bow in hand Zokon moves to the tower near the front of the fort, next to Alia to see if he can see any enemies

"I'm going over, Durgan." She looks at the Dwarf. "Do you want me to lift you over?"

Whether or not Durgan accepts, Scarlet will use her remaining action to climb the sharp fence.
If I can take 10, I get DC 16 Climb and DC 19 Acrobatics checks. If I can't:

Climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Scarlet has no trouble scaling the wall, but the spikes are sharp.

"Sure, I'll go."
Can she just put Durgan on top of the wall and he can Climb down the inside?

"Then up you go!" Scarlet lifts Durgan over, and then begins her climb.

Durgan fells the last zombie!

Zokon can look over the side of the tower if cares to try, but the bulk of the stone ruin (light gray box) sticks out far enough to block his eastern view.

Not being total masochists, the bandits didn't outfit the inside of the fort wall spikes, so it is a little smoother (DC 20) and a lot safer to climb.

Durgan moves 7.5 feet down the 15' wall.

With no one immediately shooting at her Scarlet can take 10.

Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. Posh began on round 2.

Inspired Rage affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. Illthir began on round 4.

Round 7! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Alia
__ Zokon
__ Serena -2 hp
__ Durgan barkskin, shield of faith, engine of destruction
__ Scarlet big -21 hp
__ Blonde bandit -13 hp
__ Posh
__ Illthir
__ Erevenywg
__ The hill-dead red -5 hp

Map updated.

With Zokon pushing ahead of her just when Alia meant to take a step forward, ready to shoot, Alia sighs.
"Deadend, it seems", she exclaims, then judges the ruined box keep right next to her. Would that be climbable? How difficult would it be?

That said, we probably want to close the doors. You know, before people from those 30-50 campfires start swarming in...but Alia is not a military tactician.

"It's like climbing a tree. Just one foot in front of another." Scarlet whistles as she climbs up. "No lordling's coming to pay ya! Flee while you can!"

With Zokon pushing ahead of her just when Alia meant to take a step forward, ready to shoot, Alia sighs.

"Deadend, it seems", she exclaims, then judges the ruined box keep right next to her. Would that be climbable? How difficult would it be?

It is. It is basically a rough stone wall that is partially collapsed at the northwest corner and around the north side. (Climb DC 20) it is about 25'-30' tall with the northern face being the most collapsed and lowest bit from what you can see. Currently Alia and Zokon are in a tower whose floor is 20' up from the ground.

Serena reorients herself and heads towards where she last saw Zokon.

Illthir with nothing better to do Illthirbot follows suit.

The blonde boy slowly pulls a clay vial from his vest.

Assuming he wants to drink it Erevenywg opens it and gives it to him.

Poshbot yells "DON'T WORRY I'M RIGHT BEHIND YOU GUYS!"

Meanwhile from just beyond that ruin's stone wall the commotion grows.

Scarlet, because you are almost the size of the wall itself it is just two climb checks to get over and down from it for you.

Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. Posh began on round 2.

Inspired Rage affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. Illthir began on round 4.

Round 8! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Alia Still has last rounds actions available
__ Zokon
__ Serena -2 hp
__ Durgan barkskin, shield of faith, engine of destruction
__ Scarlet big -21 hp
__ Posh
__ Illthir
__ Erevenywg
__ Blonde bandit -7 hp

Map updated.

Scarlet keeps climbing up and over.
Taking 10 for Climb check of 16. If I can't, here are some rolls.

Climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

"Oi. What's going on this side?"

Durgan will climb down.
Climb, Deadly Juggernaut +4, Rage, ACP: 1d20 + 3 + 4 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 4 + 1 - 5 = 9
Do you take damage from falling 7.5 feet?
If so, Durgan is prone and will use his remaining action to stand.
If not, he will use his remaining action to cast Bull's Strength.

Serena catches up to Zokon and Alia, for the moment.

"Seems we are at a dead end, I'll climb down and get to ground level where the rest are" he stows his bow

climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

and climbs down and looks around

Do you take damage from falling 7.5 feet?

If so, Durgan is prone and will use his remaining action to stand.

No damage except to his pride. Durgan takes no damage, but does land prone.

EDIT So after looking at the climbing rules, the falling rules and the acrobatics rules again I owe Alia another move action and an apology because while a person can "fall" by failing a climb check by 5+ unless they are 10-feet up they don't land prone--in fact, they don't land prone unless they take lethal damage from the fall itself. I wish Paizo would hurry up, and develop the third, simplified, version of their game rules and maybe use something other than Legalese as the basis for their communicative text. So, Durgan slips off the wall, lands feet down, and casts bull's strength. He weebles, he wobbles, but he won't fall down. And Alia has about 5 move (3 move, 2 standard) actions available.

Scarlet keeps climbing up and over.

"Oi. What's going on this side?"

Scarlet can get down with one move action this turn, since she is as tall as the wall and pulled herself up last turn. Looks like the only place to come down is in smoke cloud to start. Though I think its duration is near up.

Zokon starts his climb down.

Climbing down the tower is DC 20. Zokon makes it down to about 12.5' from the ground.

Sounds like my Enlarge Person is expiring?

Scarlet climbs down and pulls out a potion of enlarge person. "Damn, that zombie really messed with me. Let's open the front gates. We need to scatter everyone but the leaders. They'll stay here to fight us, anyway."

Scarlet, your Enlarge Person SLA should last 4 minutes, right? I think the GM meant the smokestick is nearly up. A potion of CLW might be better if you have one.
"Don't go running off just yet, Scarlet, I can heal you."

I don't have any curing potions on me. I don't think we got a chance to restock ever since Oleg's was attacked.

Scarlet will cast Shield instead, to protect herself.

Sounds like my Enlarge Person is expiring?

What Durgan said, the smoke cloud not Scarlet. And Old Bokken has a mess of potions waiting for you should you ever get back.

Stowing her bow again, Alia starts climbing...AGAIN
Climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
At first, she fails to get a good grip on the wall next to her. But her subsequent attempts work out far better - the collapsed stone building offered surprising amounts of handholds and footholds.
Climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
I would assume with 20 feet starting height and 25-30 feet height that should get me up there?
If there is time left to do so, Alia will take a glance around...if there are enemies up there, she'd draw her Estoc, otherwise her Bow again.
And if there's an enemy emulating an angry bovine, looking like he'll use raw force trying to push her off, she'll simply move to a safer place.

Stowing her bow again, Alia starts climbing...AGAIN

At first, she fails to get a good grip on the wall next to her. But her subsequent attempts work out far better - the collapsed stone building offered surprising amounts of handholds and footholds.
I would assume with 20 feet starting height and 25-30 feet height that should get me up there?

Yes, and now noted on the map.

If there is time left to do so, Alia will take a glance around...if there are enemies up there, she'd draw her Estoc, otherwise her Bow again.

And if there's an enemy emulating an angry bovine, looking like he'll use raw force trying to push her off, she'll simply move to a safer place.

Shoving her way through the thatched roof of the tower Alia peaks over the lip of the broken keep's wall and onto a second floor swathed in deeper shadows than the night could account for. As well as two men with bows in northeast tower, waiting for her to climb up and out of cover.

A big owl calls from somewhere. There's still the noise of the men below but it has gotten much quieter.

The overall lighting on the second floor here is dim (concealment) as it only gets light indirectly from the fires below. However there is a big swath of inky darkness that engulfs much of the open floor space... assuming there is floor space.

Currently you all have cover from one another. Timing-wise Alia spots the men on her second successful climb check. It takes three such checks to mount the wall where there is enough room to stand/crouch but no cover.

While you are climbing the wall you can stop and use a one-handed weapon (using your other hand to hang on), but wouldn't be able to use a bow unless you got up on top of the wall.

Throwing Victoria into initiative.

Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. Posh began on round 2.

Inspired Rage affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. Illthir began on round 4.

Round 8! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Alia (decisions, decisions)
__ Zokon
__ Serena -2 hp
__ Durgan barkskin, shield of faith, et. al.
__ Scarlet shield, big -21 hp
__ Posh
__ Illthir
__ Victoria/Arris
__ Erevenywg
__ Blonde bandit -7 hp

Map updated.

Alia relays the information gained to Zokon: "2 Archers, one in the guard tower, one inside."
Then, using one hand while hanging, she targets herself with an incantation, making her vanish from sight again, before pulling herself up on the lip.
Standard action to cast Vanish on self - second climb check took move of this action. So, NEXT round I'll finish climbing(if I can keep that natural 20 for that purpose-otherwise we'll see) and draw my bow.

Alia relays the information gained to Zokon: "2 Archers, one in the guard tower, one inside."

There is no roof to the keep, so 'inside' is relative in this case.

Then, using one hand while hanging, she targets herself with an incantation, making her vanish from sight again, before pulling herself up on the lip.

Standard action to cast Vanish on self - second climb check took move of this action. So, NEXT round I'll finish climbing(if I can keep that natural 20 for that purpose-otherwise we'll see) and draw my bow.

Sure, keep the roll, besides how would Serene and Zokon catch Alia otherwise? "Do you hear someone screaming? It sounds like it's getting closer."

In all the commotion, a small fox sneaks in the front gate, sliding between a couple of timbers not as well-mortared together. He sniffs the air a few times, trying to decide which way to go.

Victoria reaches out with her foot to see if she can grab ANYTHING that might be useful. Maybe something that could help lubricate her wrists, or something that she could use to dig into the wall to loosen her shackles.

In all the commotion, a small fox sneaks in the front gate, sliding between a couple of timbers not as well-mortared together. He sniffs the air a few times, trying to decide which way to go.

Victoria reaches out with her foot to see if she can grab ANYTHING that might be useful. Maybe something that could help lubricate her wrists, or something that she could use to dig into the wall to loosen her shackles.

There are. If only there were an intelligent fox in here with you to help reach it. ;)

Nothing outside of its original container looks labelled. Obviously your captor is both evil and chaotic. A lot of the contents of the room are items one might find in a general store. All of it was no doubt stolen from passing caravans. There is a bucket of wagon axle grease on the floor near enough one of your feet that you reach it with that foot.

As far as digging out the shackles, there's the keg of black powder.

Illthirbot, and Poshbot do their thing... making stealth problematic, so Illthir moves back to the south tower.

Erevenywg waits patiently for Scarlet to drop from the wall, but the boy with with her gets up and tries to make a run for it in a panic. AoOs Durgan and Scarlet.

Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. Posh began on round 2.

Inspired Rage affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. Illthir began on round 4.

Round 9! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Alia
__ Zokon
__ Serena -2 hp
__ Durgan barkskin, shield of faith, et. al.
__ Scarlet shield, big -21 hp
__ Posh
__ Illthir
__ Victoria/Arris
__ Erevenywg
__ Blonde bandit -7 hp

Map updated.

Scarlet has no weapon drawn, and cannot make an attack of opportunity.

"Oi, what's going on?" She looks at the idiot, shrugs and draws her shortsword and light hammer. Erevenywg still has her longsword.

She intimidates him.

"Open the gate and run while you still have a chance! Mivon isn't coming for you! No lordling is going to save you! Face us at your peril!"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 8 + 4 = 18 +4 bonus because I'm bigger.

"Which way is the front gates, anyway? We can't fight all of them, but we can get them to panic and flee."

Durgan also would not have his axe in hand (I assume he dropped it on the ground inside the fort when Scarlet lifted him to the top of the wall). So no AOO from him. "Go on, get out of here!"

Durgan sacrifices Divine Favor to heal Scarlet, then draws his scroll of Invisibility Purge.

CLW: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Sticking to the shadows as much as possible, the little fox darts this way and that, trying to find... something. He heads toward an area of darkness towards the center of the compound.

I don't actually know where she's being held, so I'm not sure which way to direct him. Ahh, I guess I could roll something...
survival(track by smell): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
holy s&**e, he's cursed

Victoria latches her big toe on to the rim of the bucket of axle grease and starts to pull it towards her. It overbalances and spills some on the floor, but that works just as well. She dips one foot in it.
ok, so want I'm wondering if she can do is grab the chains (I'm picturing chains and manacles) and hang upside down, kind of like you might do with the rings in gymnastics. Then take the grease on her foot and coat her wrists to try to slip out. Survey says?

Zokon keeps climbing down and drops when it's safe

Climb: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Acro drop: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

Now, thanks in part to Arris, things get complex. The map is now divided in two between the UPPER FLOOR (slide 2; the place we have been mostly dealing with, this includes much of the "outside" of the keep--the bits without any roofing and the towers and walkways if you sawed off their tops and then looked down on the place from a hot-air balloon) and the GROUND FLOOR (slide 3; which is what it sounds like). To make the transition, I made a copy of the map we were using, left everyone where they were, and then slid the map underneath to the proper position. Then I removed the people and items that weren't there. Some people appear on both maps (those people who were on the ground but didn't have a "roof" over their head other than a tower's thatched one). Those people will have to keep and move both tokens so that they can relate to the tower dwellers--be they people looking to shoot them with arrows or merely hoping for a soft landing when they jump.
When I did this in bit in a face to face game I printed the map to scale, mounted and laminated them to foam-boards and then hand trimmed them into shape then using blocks I created a 3D map for the table.

Inspire Courage +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls. Posh began on round 2.

Inspired Rage affected allies gain a +2 morale bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus on Will saving throws, but also take a –1 penalty to AC. Illthir began on round 4.

Round 9! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Alia
__ Zokon
__ Serena -2 hp
__ Durgan barkskin, shield of faith, et. al.
__ Scarlet shield, big -10 hp (possible actions remaining, see below)
__ Posh
__ Illthir
__ Victoria/Arris
__ Erevenywg
__ Blonde bandit -7 hp

Maps (UPPER FLOOR, and GROUND FLOOR) updated.

Zokon dismounts from the wall like a masked vigilante from Korvosa might. Next to the horses who grow skittish at his appearance, and pull at their ropes to move away.

You don't suppose he's a multiclass ranger-vigilante do you, sort of like the Phantom?

With a prayer and a touch Durgan heals the wounded Scarlet.

Scarlet bellows in a deep rumbling bass at a small cloud of dust that is vaguely man-shaped, it disappears revealing no viable targets to intimidate. Scarlet' actions are just drawing then, though she can draw one of her weapons while moving somewhere if she likes in which case she has a move left.

Arris finds a dead end piled with barrels and such. One of them smells like salted ham. His true master. See the Ground Floor map.

Victoria, the survey wants an acrobatics or escape artist check DC 15 to see if she can touch her toes to her wrists. If you can this means you get a circumstance bonus on your future escape artist checks. As possible alternative, if she happens to have a bobby pin in that updo....

escape artist: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
I guess you never know what you can do until you have no choice. Holding the chains, Victoria inverts herself against the wall and transfers some of the grease from her foot to her wrists. It's not without some pain, but it could be worse. Why do I smell ham all of the sudden?

Scarlet has enough time to move north, squeeze past the western wall and draw her shortsword.

It isn't easy, being large.

Funny enough: That boy you didn't know out and told to scram is the Benzen Boy we are supposed to bring back home. I think Zokon and maybe Posh could remember that, Alia was not around when that quest was given. So it's correct in the meta that most of the party has no idea about the boy...just saying.

Alia finishes pulling herself up on the ledge - finding a good place to stand was not so easy if you were unable to see your feet, but possible nonetheless - and retrieved her bow again, intending to take out the guards who could not see her.