[OutPost] GM Dennis - PFS #8-99B: The Solstice Scar, Version B (Session 1) - Classic 7-8 (Inactive)

Game Master Dennis Muldoon

With the power of the dragon evident Watts presses the attack with abandon lunging at the dragon and doing all he can to his part to bring down the villain as the frigid cold burns away his magical wards.

5 foot step, study and full attack dragon. Taking extra attack from BoF.

attack + inspiration, sword cane: 1d20 + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 1d8 ⇒ (2) + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (3) = 24
damage, piercing magic precision: 1d6 + 5 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 + 4 = 17

iterative + inspiration, sword cane: 1d20 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 1d8 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (3) = 23
damage, piercing magic precision: 1d6 + 5 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 + 4 = 17

extra attack + inspiration, sword cane: 1d20 + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + 1d8 ⇒ (5) + 11 + 4 + 2 + 2 + (3) = 27
damage, piercing magic precision: 1d6 + 5 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 2 + 4 = 15

The dragon deflects two blows from Kaa, then two more from Watts before one finally lands, piercing through his defenses and causing him to bellow in anger. Andrietta, meanwhile considers her next move (delay).

----

The dragon, enraged that someone dared to strike him, savagely attacks Watts.

bite, power attack: 1d20 + 20 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 20 - 4 = 25
damage, power attack: 2d6 + 10 + 8 ⇒ (2, 2) + 10 + 8 = 22 Crit 19-20

claw 1, power attack: 1d20 + 19 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 19 - 4 = 35
damage, power attack: 1d8 + 7 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 8 = 22

claw 2, power attack: 1d20 + 19 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 19 - 4 = 32
damage, power attack: 1d8 + 7 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 8 = 20

wing 1, power attack: 1d20 + 14 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 14 - 4 = 17
damage, power attack: 1d6 + 3 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 8 = 14

wing 2, power attack: 1d20 + 14 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 14 - 4 = 24
damage, power attack: 1d6 + 3 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 8 = 12

tail slap, power attack: 1d20 + 14 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 14 - 4 = 15
damage, power attack: 1d8 + 10 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 10 + 8 = 20

-----

Initiative:

You have a potential crit on claw 1. Again, I'd rather you not crit, but seems fair to mention it. All damage aside from extra damage has been applied.

Claw tries to hold on to the kobold...

Choosing +2s from BoF

maintain grapple, bof, shaken, ant focus: 1d20 + 15 + 5 + 2 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 15 + 5 + 2 - 2 + 1 = 23damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
If kobold still grabbed: mandibles, bof, shaken, ant focus: 1d20 + 3 + 2 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 2 - 2 + 1 = 7damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Tooth chooses +2s

Tooth casts Touch of Bloodletting.

fast dismount, ride DC20: 1d20 + 9 - 1 ⇒ (1) + 9 - 1 = 9 Fails, so dismount is a move action.

Tooth steps towards the dragon, and delivers his spell...

touch attack, bof, ant focus, fight defensively: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 2 + 1 - 4 = 21

CL vs Spell Resistance: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

If the spell lands, the dragon needs a DC14 Will save or else suffers Bleed 1 and Exhaustion for 7 rounds. (DC15 Heal check or magical healing ends both effects).

Tooth's AC is 29 this round.

Actions: cast spell (standard), dismount (move), 5' step (free), deliver touch spell (free)

"Blood god say, false kings must die! Only gods say who can rule!"

You have a potential crit on claw 1. Again, I'd rather you not crit, but seems fair to mention it. All damage aside from extra damage has been applied.

I swear I even glanced over it again to look for potential crits. Sigh. Thanks for the catch.

claw 1 crit?: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23
damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

Claw maintains his hold on the kobold, squeezing more life out of it, but is unable to pull it into his mandibles. Tooth meanwhile jumps down from Claw and touches the dragon, trying unsuccessfully to drain the power of its blood.

Will save: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

Kel, Lissa, and Andrietta may act.

Lissa intensely focuses as she once again forms the paired orbs, though this time, the white frosted orb is tinged with a lavender glow to it. "Ever wonder what your breath feels like to us?" she taunts as she drives the orbs together into a pale lavender barbed whip of ice. "It's something like this," she concludes as she strikes at the dragon with the frigid weapon in hand, blood again dripping from her nose.

5-foot
Full Attack(Empowered Ice Whip) on the dragon. Lissa takes 2 burn(And the Dragon's Ire most likely)

Ice Whip(Hero): 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 14 + 2 = 29 for(Hero): 8d6 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (4, 6, 1, 4, 4, 4, 1, 2) + 12 + 2 = 40 damage
Ice Whip(Second strike)(Hero): 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 2 = 19 for(Hero): 8d6 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (1, 5, 5, 4, 5, 6, 3, 3) + 12 + 2 = 46 damage
Ice Whip(Fervor strike)(Hero): 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 14 + 2 = 27 for(Hero): 8d6 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (3, 1, 6, 4, 4, 4, 1, 4) + 12 + 2 = 41 damage

okay, time for a little more math....

40x1.5 is 60 Damage on the first strike, Half is Piercing and half is Cold. With the Truefrost elixir, that means Lissa deals 45 damage(30 piercing and 15 supernatural cold) with this strike.

46x1.5 is 69 Damage on the second strike, Half is Piercing and half is Cold. With the Truefrost elixir, that means Lissa deals 51 damage(34 piercing and 17 supernatural cold) with this strike.

41x1.5 is 61 Damage on the fervor strike, Half is Piercing and half is Cold. With the Truefrost elixir, that means Lissa deals 46 damage(31 piercing and 15 supernatural cold) with this strike.

----

That being said, Andrietta left botting instructions on the discussion thread. If you'll allow that, then..

Scooting to GM at convention. Not a lot of time to post. Andrietta will move up, taking the BoF in Dodge AC/Ref Saves, LoH as needed to heal self, and smite up the dragon a good 'un.

Sorry for request of botting.

As per those instructions, I moved her forward and...

LoH(If needed): 4d6 ⇒ (1, 1, 4, 5) = 11

+1 Quarterstaff attack(Smite, BoF, Dragon Bane): 1d20 + 13 + 3 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 13 + 3 + 2 + 2 = 30 For(Smite, Dragon Bane, Flaming): 1d6 + 4 + 16 + 2d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 16 + (3, 3) + (4) = 33

Thanks for botting Andrietta, Lissa.

Andrietta steps in and lands a powerful blow, singing the dragon with her staff. It roars in defiance, shouting "Fool! I have no fear of your flame! I shall--" but is cut off as Lissa lashes it with her whip. It screams as it feels the sting of intense cold for the first time in its long life and desperately tries to deflect her follow up blows. It manages to parry the second one, but has no real defense against her fervor as the third mighty blow strikes it down! Dragon is down, and damn near dead! Well done, 91 points of damage from Lissa, even with the cold being halved and her missing on the biggest blow.

There's still a kobold and newt left. Kel may act.

Dropping a White Dragon with Cold damage! Lissa's bucket list checked!

Kel winces seeing how badly Watts was struck by the dragon, even while feeling some small level of elation when Lissa brings the chromatic creature down! Choosing a path that avoids the mounted kobold, Kel rushes around to Watts's side, spontaneously converting his Align Weapon Communal spell to cast Cure Serious Wounds on the tengu.

CSW: 3d8 + 8 ⇒ (7, 2, 4) + 8 = 21

Using Lucky # to add +2 to the second of those d8s:

Watts heals 23
(and an equal amount of nonlethal damage as well)

The green kobold continues her assault on Claw.

---

The newt snaps again at Lissa.

bite: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

------

Initiative:

Andrietta will probably get an AoO from the newt as she moves to her current position.

"Tooth, dear, please keep Claw from murdering the honorable warrior for a moment so they can reconsider their options."

Hearing Andrietta's words, Kel will turn to look at the Kobold and will spend a use of channel energy as a swift action to activate his Authoritative Vestments - allowing him to attempt diplomacy even in the midst of combat.

"ሴት አያቴ ጥበበኛ, ዘንዶ-ዘመድ ናት. አሁን ያለህ ብቸኛ ክብር እጣ ፈንታ ነው. እንደምትናገርም አመሰግናለሁ."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

Kel will then spontaneously convert one of his Liberating Command spells into a Cure Light Wounds spell on Watts.

CLW: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

I swear I even glanced over it again to look for potential crits. Sigh. Thanks for the catch.

No problem. Completely understand. Watts will be able to mark off "survived dragon's full attack" to his own bucket list.

=

Watts does not handle the dragon's assault well, but as he started to move forward on a desperate offense, he was saved by the overpowering attacks from Lissa. He stumbles for a moment before Kel's magic catches him and undoes all the damage dealt to the gangly investigator.

"I swear that one day soon that I will leave a fight without being left broken on the floor, but for now I am forced to thank you Kel."

He also does his best to aid the plea to stop the kobold while keeping in position to stop the lizard from attacking the other members of the party.

Quietly, as an aside to Watts with a friendly smile, "Cooperate is the last, but far from the least of our society's tenants, friend. One block always lifts the other."

Even to those of you unfamiliar with such creatures, the struggle on the kobold's face is evident. After a moment of tense indecision, her shoulders slump and her sword clatters to the ground.

"የእርስዎን ውሎች እቀበላለሁ. ለማንኛውም ምንም ነጥብ የለም."

If released by Claw:
She calms her mount and climbs aboard, giving the dead dragon one last longing look before riding off out of sight.

Tooth gives a click-cluck command and directs Claw to Defend him, allowing the mantis to drop its prey.

The grandmother will quietly lean on her quarterstaff.

She'll give Tooth a 'not right now' look as she speaks to the kobold.

It's a very slim and unlikely chance that it'd undo generations of mutually-reinforced societal paranoia, but Andoletta would whack Andrietta on the back of the head for NOT trying to instill at least a little bit of hope and consolation into the diminutive rider.

Andrietta will turn to the party, not quite preaching, more sober and thoughtful.

"I was like her once. Tied to my family, tied to honor, tied to giving unto others until my last breath. The sort of mentality of 'They put one of yours in the temple, you send two to the Mother of Souls'. It doesn't help anyone, just like eye for an eye pretty soon leaves everyone blind."

She'll turn to the dragon.

"Now, what do we do with this one? We were told to deal with the situation and I'm pretty sure we all know what that's supposed to mean, but do we have enough information about the battle between their parent and Ivorra to bring back to Medda?"

THEN she will look to Tooth.

"As long as you pay taxes Grandma, that O.K. Me have Itanya as Sheriff, but she not very good. She argue too much. You welcome visit me at Mayor House.

Dragon dead now, yes? Dragonhide valuable. Shiny! You ask little lizard where dragon keep shinies, yes? Me get paid?"

You can see a great frozen pile of gold, jewels, and furs in the center of the room, likely the dragon's shinies. There seems to be something else in the middle of the pile as well (though you'll have to wait for the Overseer's announcement tomorrow to find out what).

She'll turn to the dragon.

"Now, what do we do with this one? We were told to deal with the situation and I'm pretty sure we all know what that's supposed to mean, but do we have enough information about the battle between their parent and Ivorra to bring back to Medda?"

"We who follow the code of the Waybringer are tasked to 'strike where we are needed, but only when evil has been unmasked and there can be no doubt of the enemy’s malice.' Chromatic dragonss carry with them immense capacity for bringing death and destruction upon the innocent and the helplesss. The Society as a whole is not bound to thiss code, of course, but I think you can guesss my opinion on this particular matter."

"I know well enough that my opinion is significantly different than if I had not consumed my concoctions, but I must side with Kel. The dragon offered little but destruction to the land."

"My only concern is that if there is information we need from them, and we eliminate them, then that information is lost barring someone speaking to a corpse. From a personal perspective, I have no qualms about ending them after what they did to you." Andrietta offers soberly. "The young one we just let go had honor and wisdom. This wyrm clearly lacked that."

"So we speak to dead dragon. Sometimes, Grandma, blood has to flow. Sometimes, blood is only language that is understood."

"Corpses are not reliable in their testimony. I know. I've seen it attempted a few times. In the off-chance we end up in that situation, everyone should think long and hard about the questions we'll be asking, so we can ask the right ones and get the most reliable information we can manage."

"I have little to offer other than what has been said. They do not deserve mercy."

Watts groans the mutagen fights back his natural mindset, "You can learn through magic or tome well enough, but I will argue the best way way is through conversation. I can't picture a world where Horralydax would be open to having a dialogue though. A pity."

Con check to stabilize: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (2) + 13 = 15

I'm afraid its a moot point. The dragon has 21 Con and was at -20 after Lissa's strike. You would have had to have cured it immediately after dropping it if you wanted it alive. You definitely didn't have time to debate the matter.

Shhhh. It's not like a shifty grandmother would EVER engage in an ethical discussion to ensure a dragon died, right? Besides, wasn't she very busily saving the life of a wayward kobold? :> (TBH, she'd've made the effort to save the living first, then the near-dead -- it's triage, essentially.)

I do believe Watts has an expertise in moot points. In any case, there may have been a circumstance where Watts would have immediately stopped to stabilize or restore an opponent to life, this didn't seem to be one of those moments.

***OVERSEER ANNOUNCEMENT***

With the dragons defeated and their kobolds fleeing, the Pathfinders assemble in the deep cave. With her phantom Anok in tow, Medda approaches the frozen column and brushes away the outer layer of frost. Frozen within the column is a dwarven woman in steel armor, her body torn as if by immense claws. With her hand pressed against the ice, Medda pleads. “Ivvora, I have found you. Now what? Vildeis said to find you and that you would help me, but how can we help you in this state?”

“You look to me when you should look to the evil that stalks our homeland. It is not I who needs help,” declares a voice that is both sweet as music and powerful as a thunderstorm. The frost melts away from the column, revealing dozens of clear facets that dribble melt water as if from open wounds. The image of a wounded angelic figure reflects in each facet, simultaneously warming the chamber and judging all that the angel sees. “As you can see, I serve Vildeis more directly than before.” The images look to Anok. “I see you took your oath seriously, Anok. I was wrong to have doubted your conviction. How are our people?”

The red phantom’s hue turns rosier as he looks to Medda and responds, “You would be proud.”

With a nod, the angel addresses everyone at once. “Then why do you seek me?”[b/]

[b]“Eshimka has returned,” Medda announces. “We fought off the horror once, but it shall return at the next solstice.”

The angel’s eyes flare with righteous fire. “Then you will need a weapon to defeat it, as I had. Vildeis granted me the blade that I gave your people, but only after I thought I had given everything to vanquish my greatest foe. Even now I can sense evil has returned to that land, far to the south in a forest where the Whispering Tyrant’s legions once ruled. Show our patron Vildeis the same dedication that I did, and I shall ask that she equip you in the same way.” With that, the angelic images fade from the melting column.

Medda addresses the gathered Pathfinders. “I believe I know the forests Ivvora mentioned. You have already done so much, Pathfinders, but I invite you to help more. After I give Ivvora the burial she deserves, I will set forth with all who are able and willing for the Fangwood.”

@Table GMs: Thank you for running Solstice Scar B. Please remember to roll for boons and report the scenario.

With the immediate threat dispatched Watts stops the mutagen to return his temperament to normal and be able to focus his attention on the angle.

"I doubt I would see any other path. I do not believe I could be content no knowing how this journey ends nor leaving this task incomplete."

"Medda I would like you to join an organization of scholars to share your knowledge. Their tasks are not focused on the spread of good throughout the world, but I do believe the information you would gain would be significantly useful to your cause. I will offer you my aid in this task in either case."

Knowledge (local) DC 24: 1d20 + 15 + 1d8 ⇒ (13) + 15 + (1) = 29

"And I must admit I didn't recognize the legacy you hold Anok! I would love to discuss with you your thoughts on changes on the local culture and vocabulary over the years!"