PFS #55: The Infernal Vault Gameplay (Inactive)

Game Master Jamesui

I wouldn't put Rathor in the back, as he looks built to be pretty melee combative, and considering cure spells are touched based, I wouldn't mind him being closer to melee anyway.

Agreed, Rathor will go up front with Hangust.

Clutching the sides of the hatch as he drops down into the cellar, Rathor squints to get a view of the area with the darkvision granted him by his orcish heritage.

Keeping his voice down, he talks only loud enough for his nearby companions around the hatch to hear. "Not bad for a basement. Tell Puk to come have a look at these carvings." He slowly draws his sword so as not to alarm anyone; he just wants to be ready.

I am meant to be ranged character

Puk jumps down taking a look around.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Rathor points Puk in the direction of the engravings on the wall.

Perception aid another for Puk: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

And if there's some sort of Knowledge check involved in identifying the source or meaning of the engravings:

Knowledge (any) aid another for Puk: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Rathor and Puk find three stone disks dropped upon the floor. Upon each is a carved depiction, one of a smiling little girl, one of a shining city, and one of a snarling devil. They are about the same size as the indentations on the mosaic.

Adriana prefers being in the middle. Not tanky enough to wade into fights alone, but prefers melee ergo, she prolly slots in behind the front line.

Snorting as he pushes the discs around on the floor, Rathor shrugs. "Well, is this a shrine to a benign or malevolent deity? I guess that would set the order."

Let me see them. says the war priest. Know religion 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Apologies for the delay in posting.

E'li knows of any specific religious significance regarding the disks or the mural beyond the standard cliches of heavens above and hells below.

Once everyone has come down into the cellar and had a chance to inspect the engravings, Rathor asks, "Anyone have any ideas, other than the obvious arrangement of discs?"

The markings are not ones that I am familiar with. the warpriest will report.

"Anyone have any ideas, other than the obvious arrangement of discs?"

Might as well give it a shot or well be standing here staring at them all day.

Picking up the discs, Rathor looks them over as he approaches the mural. He glances back and gives anyone an opportunity to interject before he inserts them into the notches: The smiling girl in the top one, the city in the middle, and the devil in the bottom one.

When the last disk is slotted into position, you hear a loud click. Each disk rotates once clockwise in place, and the room begins to rumble slightly. Streams of dust trickle down from the ceiling, and the mural lurches forward an inch and then slides to the left, revealing an aging, wooden spiral suitcase deeper into the vault. From the amount of light that trickles, flickers, and filters up through the steps, you can guess that it is well lit wherever the staircase leads.

Glancing at Hangust, Rathor nods to the tunnel. "Let's go."

That's what I love about Half-Orcs, always ready to walk down a mysterious tunnel!

Hangust takes to the steps, listening for anything that may lay ahead.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Will we be needing any light?

Adriana gives Rathor a look of admiration. "Very nicely done!" she remarks happily.

Rathor shrugs at Adriana. "Lucky guess." Turning to address E'li, he answers, "I do not, but I suspect some of the rest of you will. If you could provide the proper orison, it would be much appreciated."

He then follows closely behind Hangust as they descend into the tunnel. "Correction: Half-Orcs are always ready to follow a barbarian down a mysterious tunnel. Do not fear, though; I will keep you alive."

The warpriest will touch a few items that can be carried invoking the Emperayal Lord to guide their way Rowdrosh, bring light to the darkness that we might be able to bring good and delay and retard the spread of evil.

E'li, you can only light one item at once.

The party, following the strange duo of Rathor and Hangust, descend the staircase, probably about thirty feet until it opened out into a large storeroom with a high, vaulted ceiling and well-lit by torches along the walls.

This room is split by a long, ten-foot-wide stone walkway, extending sixty feet east to west between two spiral staircases. Two ladders rest on the north side of the walkway and two more on the south, leading down into a fifteen-foot-wide trench twenty feet below. These sub-rooms are filled with objects ranging from decrepit suits of rusted armor, to piles of rotting furs, and to various over-stuffed footlockers.

In the center of the walkway in plain sight the first of you see two rubbery masses, wriggling and jiggling even as their bearers stand still at watch and punctuated by appendages with a nominal resemblance to arms and legs. These creatures turn to look upon you and you notice that their eyes, dumb and distant, seem to hide a lazy malice.

Puk, you're up. Hangust and Rathor are the only ones in the room so far (to be represented when I've got the map up). Your positioning outside the room isn't your actual position, but does represent the distance you need to move to enter the room proper. Please, as soon as your character is in a position to see the enemies on your turn, give me a Knowledge (Planes) check along with the questions you'd like answered about the creatures, in order, should the check entitle you to extra questions.

What kind of knowledge check are these.

Puk gets a look at the things, "Whoa ugly. I haven't seen anything that ugly since the last tavern i stayed at." He says with a laugh.

Begin performance +1 to hit, damage and saves vs fear

Puk can't actually see the things yet. You're not actually all in a straight line heading into the room. A comment on the posted map clarifies that that's just your order on the staircase down, so Adriana is the only one in the staircase who's on the same level as the walkway, and, as such, only she, Hangust, and Rathor can see these things. I specified Knowledge (Planes) in my last post. Puk still has a move action, and I'll leave him the option to take it before we continue.

The staircase is only 5ft right? That means his only move options are to go back the way we came, or put himself in attack range just before enemy initiative?

Perhaps, but if we indulge in just a little tactical metagaming, we can see that staggering the front line means more people can get into position on the battlefield by crossing the diagonal. If both baddies moved all the way forward, that would bottleneck the group. Moving would also allow Puk to see and thus attempt to identify the baddies. Basically, because of the apparent positioning confusion (unless Puk was just asking about what knowledge was needed without intending to roll it immediately), I'm considering this due diligence. His move action might just be drawing a weapon, or he might just leave it where he already did.

It's kind of moot at this point; he already decided to start his bardic performance.

I disagree that it's a moot point - his starting his performance does not preclude any move actions, but if our starting line is raring to go....

The two blubbery creatures screech and hiss loudly. With more of a roll than a run, each charges.

Top Baddy, on Hangust: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Bottom Baddy, on Rathor: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Miss and miss. Hang, Rath, I'm sure the party would be much obliged if you could break the bottleneck. Entire party is up. Remember: Knowledge (Planes) to ident, and +1 to attack and damage.

Assuming I can't see them yet so I'll wait I guess

Hangust attempts to maneuver around his enemy..

Adaptable Luck+Acrobatics: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
If I succeed, please place me on the opposite end of the enemy in front of me. DC is 5+opponents CMD, failure provokes AoO and leaves hangust in original spot. Either way I'll rage and attack. HP:16, AC 14. 8 rounds of rage left today, 2 uses of Adaptable Luck left for today

Kukri,MH (Raged): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 111d3 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Wow, poor rolls.

Death or glory!

Rathor puts his head down and attempts to bull rush the enemy directly northeast of him off the ledge! "Grrrraaaaaaa!"

Bull rush (provokes AOO from just that one, follow-up movement is only a 5' step): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

Assuming the bull rush was successful, Rathor takes a 5' step northeast and growls a prayer to Erastil, using his domain ability to use Enlarge Person as a swift action supernatural ability. Seeing as the other creature occupies the space he needs to be in, he has to roll an opposed Strength check against it to see if it gets moved out of the way or not (off the other ledge!)

Strength check (improved by Enlarge Person): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

They had just rolled worse, so not a lot of sympathy here.

Each of the creatures takes a swing as Hangust stumbles trying to move through them.

Top Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Top Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 4
Confirm: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Crit. Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3
Bottom Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Bottom Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Hangust catches two claws as he tries to snake through the creatures for a total of 8 damage.

Hangust, the wording on acrobatics checks to move through an occupied square don't specify provoking only from the enemy you're attempting the check against. If you fail the check, you lose the action and provoke without any qualifiers w.r.t. from whom. The provocation, then is not for moving through a threatened square, but for failing to move through an occupied square. It's perhaps silly, but PFS requires a stricter reading than otherwise. Besides, in this case, the dice don't punish you too badly.

Rathor, enlarge person only allows the strength check to burst through enclosures. A critter occupying a square does not qualify without seriously twisting the rules around. Rather, you are squeezing if you are occupying fewer squares than needed for a large creature. I will let you reconsider using the ability if this would change things.

The bottom one (that I forgot about) only hits me if I fail on it's CMD +2, not +5. Did my acrobatics roll fail that one too?

I wasn't arguing that I didn't provoke an attack of opportunity, I just thought the increased +5 DC was only for the enemy who's square I was moving through, so I assumed it would be CMD +7 to avoid top baddy and CMD + 2 for bottom because I'm only moving through a threatened square for him.

As you are the GM I'll defer to your judgement though. My HP already reflected both hits as taken anyway.

I was attempting to bull rush the top bad guy so it would push him off the ledge, not the one directly in front of me. I'll forego the Enlarge Person though, as you suggest, because it would probably force me to squeeze with Hangust, too.

Thanks for the clarification. Apologies for skimming through the post. I tried something similar when I played this scenario!

Falling Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3

The monster falls into the trench and lands flat on its ass. Granted, it looks to be about 90% ass, so you can't quite make out its orientation, beyond "it is prone." It takes 3 damage.

As you are the GM I'll defer to your judgement though.

That sentence is like kryptonite for me. I feel awful now.

That sentence is like kryptonite for me. I feel awful now.

Well, don't. I mean, either way it's 1hp of damage, and as GM you are the arbiter of the rules, I don't have any problem with it. It's not going to stop me from arguing on occasion, haha, but really it's not a big deal. No hard feelings!

Adriana doesn't waste time with words, moving to the edge and unleashing a mighty blow at the only enemy within her immediate reach.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (4, 6) + 6 = 16

Knowledge Planes: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

This creature is a lemure, the very weakest of the devils within Hell's hierarchy. (You didn't specify a question, so I'll insert a pertinent one.) It, like its more fearsome kin, is resistant to all but silver weapons and those touched by good.

You forgot the bonus to damage from Puk's performance, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong.

You carve a mighty path through the devil's copious flesh, but find its hide more resilient than you'd expected. Your blade catches and drags a bit, and you just barely fail to strike a felling blow.

Puk, E'li, and Flynn are up, and then I decide if the thing on the ground below knows how ladders work.

Heres hoping for an ED-209 situation where the bad guy is foiled by something that requires basic coordination.

Ah true, thanks for that!

The warpriest does not have line of effect with a sling bullet does he?

Come down the stairs (5' step) and you should.

With 20 ft movement you could move through myself and Rathor and shoot at the top enemy without any negatives for shooting through cover.

He will cast Guidance first and then get a bullet ready to move on the next round.

can I get in range for line of sight with a spell

The AC penalty only takes effect AFTER the charge attack. Not during.

"Hit them harder guys and let me know if you need the big guns!" Puk says flexing his muscles.

Keep performance going

Puk, the lemures charged. They take the penalty. Hence lower CMD.

Flyn, I imagine that's your job to figure out. Your character wouldn't know without moving first.

[ooc]Im pretty sure what I did is legal, because apparently you do not take a penalty moving through allied squares. Ignore this if i did it wrong I guess.[ooc]
Rapier: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 91d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Im pretty sure what I did is legal, because apparently you do not take a penalty moving through allied squares. Ignore this if i did it wrong I guess.

[dice=Rapier]1d20+6; 1d6+5

Can we pretend you moved down to flank? It's the same movement cost.