PFS 5-16 Destiny of the Sands Part 3: Sanctum of the Sages (Inactive)

Game Master TheBobJones

An issue with PbP, emailing, posting on message boards, ect is simple misunderstandings that could easily be taken care of in a very short face to face conversation. I think that is the issue we are encountering here.

Let me try to explain it in this way using a concept that I often use at work.

In this scenario there are expectations that are 'Loose' and 'Tight'.

For example, a 'Tight' expectation is one that is inflexible.

A 'Loose' expectation is one that is flexible.

In this scenario here are the 'Tight' expectations:

• Attempt to complete all four tasks
• After completing a task, report to Torch (We are handwaving that as it would become redundant and time consuming)

In this scenario, here are the 'Loose' expectations:

• How you accomplish the task
• Attempting to sabotage Torch

Should you choose to Attempt to sabotage Torch, you have now earned a new set of 'Tight' expectations

• Sabotage has to occur before meeting with Torch
• A 'party bluff check' will determine your success (so one primary and any and all that wish to Aid). I will add my own modifiers based upon the type of subterfuge and how successful you were because I am nice like that.
• An opposed Sense Motive check will determine if you have any idea if he is on to you or not.

Due to knowledge you do not have, there will not be time in the wrap up for you to go back and attempt the sabotage.

Honestly if I have to type the word s-a-b-o-t-a-g-e again, I am going to chuck my laptop out the window. Because I dislike spelling correctly and I am tired of fixing it. :)

As for the dust - it is any magical dust. Use the PRD or Pathfinder SRD or Archive of Neyths and search 'dust'.

Some women are in to cars others jewelry. She likes magical dust. Or so you have heard.

Got it. I am a fan of the animated series RWBY, which has magic dust with vague powers to do all sorts of things. I suppose I suspected there was something new introduced here of that sort.

Regarding ways of subverting Torch's plans with regard to Zelakhati, if we don't want her to be placed at a disadvantage in her dealings with Torch, perhaps we can share what Torch has asked us to do and see if she can concoct some reasonable seeming method of obtaining secrets that will take some time to verify. Perhaps by helping her with him, she can share with us some secret about him to limit the favors he can try to extort from us.

Sorry, in light of the PFS plot-train rules, I'm going to vote for no more subversion. Also, this is the task where I need to go above and beyond for the sake of my faction mission.

It's a bit meta, I know, but Xûll has in-game reasons also. Nothing like a bit of PFS to bring out the meta in players.

It seems life is conspiring against me at every turn lately... Trying to make time for a proper post yet this afternoon

-Posted with Wayfinder

RL > PbP. No worries Pooka.

Toorin's plan only involved possible subversion after we discover how she gets her information, so he can easily dismiss that element and carry on with the plan. Assuming we succeed, then we can discuss how to get her to either give information to Torch or to give up the scheme entirely.

So we just need to confirm how she gets the intel, and try to convince her to work with torch. Threaten to reveal her secret if she is uncooperative.

Step 1: confirm method (of which I am sure it is because of the prostitutes) perhaps she has a black book we can find if we are sneaky?

Step 2: convince her to work with torch. Torch does not say how to convince her, so my suggestion is to stay that torch is willing to pay top dollar for the goodies she gets. It's a win win situation for both of them. If torch gets made that he has to pay to get it, well that's his problem, he should have been more specific.

Step 3: Only if step 2 fails, threaten to reveal her operation to the authorities.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Good plan.

Xûll can 'sacrifice himself' by seeing one of the prostitutes and seeing if she pumps him for information. He is, after all, a Pathfinder and Madame Zelikhati would probably really like to know his secrets.

Also, sorry for no posts yesterday. Setting up the Christmas tree, Christmas baking... family fun time... etc. Getting to be around that crazy (and awesome) time of year.

I'm getting the tree down from the attic after I make this post.

Yeah, from now until after New Years is going to be an interesting time for me. Fun, but Conscious level Interesting

Outside lights up - November 24th, Christmas tree up November 25th - priceless!

I am sure that we are all busy in the Christmas push. No worries.

Unlikely we will polish this off by the 20th, would have been nice to get a boon roll in, but I'd rather give you all a good game experience.

So game wise - it is too weird for to two tables to ask about her so close together.

I tried to tie all the people that spoke in, if I missed you sorry, was trying to explain relationships in Star Wars to my daughter and post - UGH!

Starting after work on the 19th I will be limited posting, lots of family obligations and such. I will post once a day during the work week, and offline Christmas eve and Christmas.

The next two encounters are less talky talky so that should speed things up - I hope.

Then on to part 2 & 3.

Please let me know asap if you do not plan on joining me for the next 2 parts so I can find replacements.

See you all in the morning.

Amarok What a great week to be an Arsenal fan!

Sorry guys, my weekend got hectic fast without warning. I am really enjoying myself and would be happy to join the next two parts if you will have me! My posting will be hardly affected over Christmas apart from next Saturday.

Definitely seems that way!

Hey all. Busy day for me today. Can't guarantee I'll be able to put any more posts up until tomorrow.

Also, definitely in for 2 & 3.

Absolutely in for 2 and 3 :)

-Posted with Wayfinder

Just a suggestion, read each others posts - you are all over the place.

Yea - sorry about that. I was trying to get us focused with my post in the discussion thread. I don't think we need to go crazy complicated with this one. We just have to find out how she gets her secrets, convince her to work with torch, threaten to reveal her secret should she resist, and just give up if everything goes poorly. I think we are making this to difficult.

So - I think we should build off of what Xull started. Lets just be up-front.

something like "Yes, we are pathfinders working for the sapphire sage. Our current task has forced us to work with a man named Torch, who you are surely familiar with. Torch has a particular interest in your operation here, and is willing to pay handsomly for a stake in you information gathering." He just said get her to cooperate, he didn't say how...

Now I suspect that the information either comes from the magical sands in the garden, or from the prostitution ring, or both. I have no idea how to investigate or confirm that.

I just want to make sure we are on the same page before we move forward, without spending all week bantering about the minutia of how we do it.

I'm in for parts 2 and 3.

Part of the challenge here is that sometimes things move quickly for people who are able to post and then also get in a follow-up post in before I can follow-up on something I was going for, and so then it's trying to play catch-up after the conversation has moved on.

Toorin was trying to pass on a message to the others using bluff. I was not sure how to play that, given that the GM said he would roll sense motive checks for others, so if Toorin's comment seems odd, that's part of it. Plus that statemet came before some of the posts people made before I was able to get that in. Toorin will keep quiet for a while and watch for now.

I'm unlkely to get more than one post in a day for the next few days, so if others have time to do more posts and move things along, I'll try to chip in with something useful when my time to post comes around.

I'm in for parts 2 and 3 also.

Oh brother - didn't mean to kill the game, just thought you should go off of what others are doing rather than go off in different directions. Here is hoping I wake up to you all blasting this thread :)

Missed a lot of my planned tasks yesterday, so I'm going to be busy again. I'll try to get one post in this morning before 10am, and fingers crossed on a second this afternoon. Sorry about the delays all.

I was going to post now, but then I thought it would be best to read over things very carefully before disrupting anything.

Was going to post this and then I read Pooka post. Well done!

A quick note about your current situation.

FYI, I can also do the intimidate. Just not quite as well as diplomacy.

Xûll intimidate: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

It also rarely comes up as I can't remember the last time diplomatic efforts failed us.

When is the last time you completed a mission given by one other than a VC? Torch's takes should have a seedier element to completion than one given by a VC. IMHO

Well played. Sorry if my efforts did not help but I thought Toorin would try to provide a reason why he would be spying on his own team. He was going for the idea that we all worked for a common boss and he was upset with the others for wasting time. He was also trying to get across the secret message to watch what you think as he suspected she used magic to detect thoughts with the ring and perhaps the sands.

I will have to wait to post until this afternoon as I have some errands to run and a holiday event at work at 1:30 PM (EST).

No apologies necessary Toorin! we were all kind of all over - we never really settled in on one thing, and a few of us took different suggestions and just ran with them.

Sometimes stuff like this can be very difficult over PbP. A simple discussion/debate at a table, translated to PbP can take a week with different posting rates and times.

I don't think anyone is doing poorly, we are all just trying to do our best to keep things moving and succeeding as we go. Sometimes there are hiccups along the way because of the format. Nothing wrong with that IMO.

A good example of that is that I had a feeling we needed to Intimidate this woman, especially considering how things were going. But to Xull's point, Diplomacy hasn't really ever failed us (well - Xull and I as the core of this group). I think one of the challenges of PFS is "guessing" which tact/method the author expects you to take. I didn't want to just roll out there with intimidate (and possibly burn bridges) without at least getting a good sense that the group was ok with that. (hence the please check the discussion thread post).

Once our GM subtly hinted by referring to Torch's request, I figured it was safe to give it a go. I probably should have let Xull be the primary on the intimidate with his slightly higher check, and his propensity to roll 17s in this group... :)

Onward! :)

17s? Never so low.

1d20 ⇒ 20

HA!

17s? Never so low.

1d20

HA!

"Nice..."

Yeah, I think part of our issue has been the format and not having a ready rhythm, so there was a bit of stepping on toes. I kind of stayed back to let others reconcile the disparate conversation threads, but I'm fine keeping momentum.

Also, despite Korasu having a ridiculous Diplomacy, I'm fine when it fails. I'll probably still *try* it first, but I'm polite that way ;)

Really that conversation was going no where.

So we have our first combat. You will notice a Tactical in both my signature and the Campaign notes. Please click on it. It is editable.

Please describe your movements, adding a ooc if it is complicated to designate standard-move-swift ect.

If you cannot move your token, please describe where it should go and say "Token not moved'.

If there is a conditional action, like if Xull drops her, I then move and attack Bonnie. If she lives I cast magic missile. Post both actions in one post with a spoiler.

Watch for your turn, and update your taglines - I know Amarok has mage armor, so ac would be something like 16[20] the bracket being the temporary value.

Have fun boys!

If you haven't caught on already, Pooka, Xull and I regularly game together. So this is what game 6? I've run for Xull, Pooka combo.

Even if I was the worst PbP GM ever, Xull would still game at my table because his rolls are obscene.

It is really beyond not funny anymore as I have no fun when my monsters go down in one hit - ugh!

Korasu are you in for Part 2 & 3?

1d20 ⇒ 16

Heh. Can't lose, right?

Funny, the dice gods usually grant me a 20 for such shows of ridiculousness. I'll take a 16, though.

Sorry. I'm in for part 2 & 3. I'd tried to message that before, but the site Goblins ate it.

Not promising anything, but just in case here it is.

Boon Rolls:
GM: 1d20 ⇒ 19
Amarok: 1d20 ⇒ 15
Korasu: 1d20 ⇒ 14
Pooka: 1d20 ⇒ 13
Toorin: 1d20 ⇒ 12
Xull: 1d20 ⇒ 8
Warpac: 1d20 ⇒ 16
Boon of players choice on a natural roll of 1 or 20
**Re-Rolls not allowed on boons**

Good thing that wasn't combat. Whoa

Also, please provide me with the following:
Player Name:
Character Name:
PFS # & Character #:
Faction:
Chronicle #:
Slow/Normal advancement:
Starting XP:
Starting Fame:
Starting Prestige:
Starting Gold:
Day Job Check:
Anything you want me to include on Chronicle, i.e. Faction stuff

Player Name: Steve H.
Character Name: Pooka Bladespinner
PFS # & Character #: 133958-1
Faction: Liberty's Edge
Chronicle #: 14
Slow/Normal advancement: Normal
Starting XP: 13
Starting Fame: Blank
Starting Prestige: Blank
Starting Gold: Blank
Day Job Check: Handle Animal (farmstead vanity): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (10) + 18 = 28
Anything you want me to include on Chronicle, i.e. Faction stuff N/A

Player Name: Michael Kelly
Character Name: Warpac
PFS # & Character #: 141936-3
Faction: Grand Lodge
Chronicle #: 11
Slow/Normal advancement: Normal
Starting XP: 10
Starting Fame: 20
Starting Prestige: Blank
Starting Gold: Blank
Day Job Check: Stonemason: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Player Name: Sethran
Character Name: Amarok
PFS # & Character #: 34762- 6
Faction: Scarab Sages
Chronicle #: 8
Slow/Normal advancement: Normal
Starting XP: 6
Starting Fame:blank
Starting Prestige:blank
Starting Gold: blank
Day Job Check: Survival, hunters lodge: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19
Anything you want me to include on Chronicle, i.e. Faction stuff none

I will send my name and e-mail (in case you need it to e-mail copies of the Chronicle Sheet) via PM.

Paizo Player ID: Clebsch73
Character Name: Toorin
PFS # & Character #: #105836-8
Faction: Sovereign Court
Chronicle #: ?? Not sure what this is if it is not #5–12
Slow/Normal advancement: Normal
Starting XP: 6
Starting Fame: 8
Starting Prestige: 8
Starting Gold: 627
Accounts for items purchased since the last chronicle. Let me know if you need to note those purchases on the chronicle.
Day Job Check: Profession (Diplomat): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Chronicle #: ?? Not sure what this is if it is not #5–12

It is your Character Chronicle number, usually found in the top right hand corner.

For example, we just finished Day of the Demon. That was Pooka's 13 Chronicle. Once we finish Sands, that will be Pooka's 14 Chronicle.

Accounts for items purchased since the last chronicle. Let me know if you need to note those purchases on the chronicle.

Nope, just make sure you record it on your ITS.

I will send my name and e-mail (in case you need it to e-mail copies of the Chronicle Sheet) via PM.

I do a communal shared folder on Drive and you just download your chronicle.

You choices are Full name and I can PM or email you the Chronicle, or First name and an initial, and you can get lumped in with the rest.

Whatever your privacy preferences are. Heck my name isn't even Bob or Jones for that matter. :)

Sorry it took so long, this is my 3rd check of the treasure map boon so there was a lot of paperwork to look through.

Player Name: Damien
Character Name: Xûll
PFS # & Character #: 135100-3
Faction: The Exchange
Chronicle #: 10
Slow/Normal advancement: Normal
Starting XP: 11
Starting Fame: 19
Starting Prestige: 5
Starting Gold: 294
Day Job Check: 600gp (3rd check of treasure map boon)

Anything you want me to include on Chronicle, i.e. Faction stuff

Please note and sign the following in the notes area:

- 3rd check of treasure map boon
- Spent 4 PP to reuse treasure map boon

Thanks John!

Just for the record, my vote is an emphatic NO on healing this woman to conciousness. And an even more emphatic NO to interrogating her. Not worth the pain and trouble.

From a story standpoint, it is enough that we have done this for Torch, and that we can hold it over his head. The fact that we even delivered her for him to interrogate should be an even greater boon to us (regardless of whether it affects the scenario or chronicle)

It is a headache that Pooka does not want to deal with.

I also recognize that I am only 1 voice in a group of 6... :)

Heck my name isn't even Bob or Jones for that matter. :)

Yeah, that certainly tripped me up a bit ;)

Personally, after being accustomed to internet anonymity for nearly two decades, it was definitely a weird feeling at first of having my name publicly displayed on the boards when I was made a VL...

I will send my name and e-mail (in case you need it to e-mail copies of the Chronicle Sheet) via PM.

Its stuff like this that makes me hope that someday, even if I never know it, I will have gamed with Vin Diesel.

Normally Korasu would be the type that really wants knowledge. However her methods were unsavory enough that he'd be willing to just leave her there to the justice of the streets.

I'm good either way.

Edit: Re: Vin Diesel. As far as I know, he's pretty staunchly D&D, though that might be a public thing because of the brand recognition. He definitely was a 3.5 guy.

Edit: Re: Vin Diesel. As far as I know, he's pretty staunchly D&D, though that might be a public thing because of the brand recognition. He definitely was a 3.5 guy.

Yea - I just knew he was a gamer, which I think is awesome. He is one of my favorite actors to watch, very entertaining.

I was trying to find the podcast/story about how it came out that he was a gamer, but I couldn't find it.

I could be am very likely wrong, but I remember it went something like this:

Podcast guy: "Do you believe in magic?"

Vin Diesel: "Magic? Yea, maybe there is something like that in the universe, but its not like people are running around casting Magic Missile.

Podcast guy: "Wait, did you just say Magic Missile? That's an oddly specific reference.

Vin Diesel: "Yea, I played D&D when I was younger...."

It totally derailed the intereview. I remember the change in the interviewer's voice when he recognized it and latched onto it.

Fun stuff :)

Normally Korasu would be the type that really wants knowledge. However her methods were unsavory enough that he'd be willing to just leave her there to the justice of the streets.

I'm good either way.

Edit: Re: Vin Diesel. As far as I know, he's pretty staunchly D&D, though that might be a public thing because of the brand recognition. He definitely was a 3.5 guy.

Need your info.