[PFS Core] GM Harker Presents: The Emerald Spire (Inactive)

Game Master Upaynao

No that's staves

I'm at a conference all week. My posts may be few and far between. Bot me as necessary.

In the first fight, Frēodwēn will cast Heroism on himself with his first standard action. He will begin inspiring with his first move action. Then he'll start shooting stuff.

I have unexpectedly been without access to paizo website. It's getting time out after trying to connect. I believe the issue has been with my ISP due to slower speeds. I apologize for my absence. I can rejoin in progress or wait til next level. I am upgrading to 40 mbps this Friday. Internet is flaky in the mountains apparently.

It would be great to have you, Xakon.
Krago can front-line in a pinch but it isn't what he's built for.

We barely started. I don't think it's an issue for you to resume posting when you get back.

Xakon, as long as you can return before we are halfway done, I see no issues for you to come back once you have stable internet.

Everyone else, I'll post a gameplay update either late tonight or tomorrow.

Real life is busy, will update by tomorrow.

I would much rather have done my second shot and then fallen back into the corridor, but everybody was so packed in there was no open space I could get to in a 20' move.
Hopefully the mummies only have 20' move themselves or else they will get an attack in on Krago.

When combat is about to start, I'm going to move people up towards it. I understand that it makes things more difficult for you in this situation, Krago, but in a PbP dungeon environment, people don't usually move their icons forward. So I have to make the assumption that everyone has moved up, otherwise it takes two rounds for someone else to get into combat and they will be frustrated by that.

Okay. Let's think about modifying our tactics in the future, leaving gaps for movement.
Kiting is often a useful option.

I'm open to proposals to change the SOP, but I'd prefer not to add anything that gives me a lot of 'If, Then' sequences that I'll need to remember because I will forget. Please, keep it simple.

Sure. Next time I see foes when scouting that would warrant a tactic other than "engage in melee" I will communicate clearly what I want to do.

My apologies, but I've had another extremely busy day. I'll post an update late tonight or tomorrow.

I am attending a wedding in the great state of Iowa and out of town from Friday to Monday. Posting will be limited during that time.

Having quadrupled the internet speed is quite the upgrade at home. Yay!

I will be away next week from Thursday to Sunday with limited ability to post.

Just got back in town from an unexpected trip. I'll get caught up in the thread asap.

I apologize for the lack of communication the past 4-6 weeks.

Life has taken a crazy, but exciting turn for me. I've recently launched a business that is doing exceedingly well, but requiring about 60-70 hours of work per week from me. Outside of work, I've made my family time a priority, and my time available to game (and honestly my desire to game) has dropped dramatically.

I've made the decision to retire from the games on these boards in which I'm a player, so that more deserving and focused players can have the opportunities. Best of luck to you all and have a fantastic time playing this game we love so much. I'll miss it, but believe I'm making the right decision for now.

Take care,

Siv

Good luck Siv and thanks for all the fish.

Since we have another cleric already, I don't think we'll need to make any significant changes especially since you all are being super-careful already. If any of you feel differently, please bring it to my attention.

In any event, I'm withdrawing Sivantanpisil from this combat.

One of the other players can feel free to bot Xakon, otherwise I'm going to delay him.

I would prefer that you recruit another PC to replace her, but if that is not possible, I understand.

I have had people drop out of campaigns, but I don't think I've ever had somebody quit in the middle of a PFS scenario. This is unfortunate.

Well it wouldn't hurt to have a full arcane caster, but we didn't have much luck recruiting one last time.

I'm pretty confident your group will be fine. There's also in game reasons why adding a new person at this point is not very viable. If you absolutely think you must have someone, then one of you can bot Siv through the rest of it, but 5 PC's for a dungeon built for 4 PC's should be fine even if you are Core.

Oh yeah, the locked doors. Okay, we will muddle through. I probably wouldn't have signed on without her (e.g. Breath of Life, the Freedom's Call ability), but if you think we can do this, let's do this.

Sorry, Krago.

Each level of the Emerald Spire is more akin to a module than a scenario as you tend to progressive an entire level when taking full credit. Which means that the levels tend to take several months. To get to this stage, we started this level with 4 of the original 5 members that commenced this journey over 3 years ago in May of 2015. The 5th only dropped out last level.

Now, there have been times when most of us have taken a sabbatical. My first one came when my daughter was born 9 weeks early at 2.5 lbs. I took several months off the campaign and worked hard to catch up with the level I missed. My second sabbatical came last summer when my wife had a heart attack commonly known as the "widow maker" as there is a 5% survival rate. Luckily, she survived and is doing great, but I did take several weeks off from playing any games.

So, basically the 5 original players and the GM have shown an unbelievable amount of dedication to this campaign.

During the 3 years of this campaign, we've only had one really close call when it came to a PC death if I recall correctly. And that was only when a PC got pushed into a pool of lava. In fact, 2 levels ago, I don't believe either Sivvy or Sugarsnap cast one healing spell during combat during the entire level. I suspect that the 5 of you will be just fine. Frankly, 6 players may have been overkill with very little to challenge the party.

If the group is overly concerned about survival, I'll limp along with you for the remainder of this level before retiring from the campaign. I don't want to cause any hardship for the group, but, honestly, I don't think Siv's presence will be the deciding factor between success and failure.

Sivantanpisil had a couple of really nice 'safety net' abilities as I noted. I am surprised the module has been that easy. If that is how it is, and if both you and the GM think we'll be fine without you, I'll trust your judgment and wish you well.

Actually, the group almost had a TPK in the Drowned Level (where I believe Truffles the First died), but hasn't have any major issues since then.

While I'd prefer Siv to stay in the module until we are finished, if there is no motivation for them to post then I don't want to beat a dead horse if they don't anticipate keeping up with it.

I am happy to continue with 4, it was written for 4 players and while the difficulty can be variable (I have played this in standard) it should be manageable for us.

I went multiple levels in a row without taking any damage at all.

Full disclosure: My wife was hospitalized for 12 days since May 31. My focus has been raising my two young sons, 5 and 1 yo. She is back home safe and resting. I'm ready to resume, but understand if you prefer to proceed without me.

Xakon, I'm sorry to hear about your wife's hospital stay, but I'm glad to hear she's back home. If you need more time off, please just let us know, but in the meantime it is good to have you back.

I'm glad to have you back and more importantly, to hear that your wife is safe (and hopefully healthy!).

I'm not going to bore you with all the details, but I have a lot going on right now. It may still be a few more weeks before my posting rate is back to normal. Sorry for the delay, everyone.

I just realized I forgot to notify my tables; I'm out for a funeral and burial today and tomorrow. And I have yet more family coming to visit on Saturday and Sunday.

I have company coming in tonight so I'll be busy, although I may have some time to post on Sunday. I'll choose a random target if Sugarsnap hasn't responded by the time I can post again.

Due to a trip, I'll be away until Sunday.

I am away from tomorrow until Thursday next week. I will do my best to post as I can.

I will be at GenCon through Sunday.

Have fun with the recent release of the new playtest rulebook!

Can we bot Frēodwēn? Otherwise it's a week between his turns.

Go ahead and bot him, I've been very busy irl.

I'm not comfortable botting him. Guess we wait until Monday or whatever.

I will post today.

So what I was thinking Frēodwēn might do is either a) cast Haste, or b) 5' step towards the mummy after his shots, since he threatens with a spiked gauntlet.
With a), Krago could move around to flank with Xakon, and with b) Frēodwēn would provide the flank.
As it is, I think he may have dropped it, but we'll see. Krago will step up and attack. Krago really needs a flank to be effective, but that's okay, I think we've got this.

If Krago had made the latter suggestion, Frēodwēn probably would have obliged.

I wasn't sure how to word it in a six-second sound bite. I know talking is a free action but I try to be reasonable.

"Frēodwēn, close in and we'll take him from both sides!" Would have worked. :)

My apologies, but Real Life continues to keep me busy. I'll get an update done either late tonight or tomorrow by this time.

No worries.

And we are back....for now.

Sugarsnap, this is a tough fight. You have Spontaneous Casting for Summon Nature's Ally. The Giant Scorpion or Giant Stag Beetle (SNA IV) are immune to mind-affecting effects.

If we are still in this fight next round, I would suggest pulling out something more potent than a cantrip. We should be at 1 PC dead already and have only avoided that because the GM bent the rules.