[PFS] First Steps, part I: In Service to Lore (Table 1) (Inactive)

Game Master StephNyan

Evan pops out of his hiding spot. "She really likes her liquor!!" Pointing at the old lady. "Sure Mary I will go talk to some kids with you. "

per.: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

Vitarri stops a few steps from the front door, his hands shaking with barely restrained fury as he hears the commotion inside. What the he'll are they doing! We will all get arrested at this rate.... He stands there as the seconds tick by trying to come to a decision.

Finally with a clenched fist he turns back towards the orphanage, he runs his free hand over the silver riding crop as violent thoughts cross his mind...

I guess I am bottom of the rung. Initiative 1 woo!

Muchiko sighs and draws her spear.
With the other blunt end of the weapon she aims for the back of the drunk woman's head.

"Nap time."

Whack the drunk: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Dmg: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Muchiko sighs and draws her spear.

With the other blunt end of the weapon she aims for the back of the drunk woman's head.

"Nap time."

[dice=Whack the drunk]1d20+4
[dice=Dmg]1d8+4

I'm waiting on a response from Steph to figure out which of the options I sent him I can do. I also need to know if this hit or not. If I choose to attack, if that damage stacks it could kill her, which isn't my goal. Sorry for the delay.

Well, with a touch made 10 hitting, this 12 sure would have. We'll have to see. But i doubt she'll put up much of a fight.

Mary, not knowing what spell was cast, pulls out her flail and whacks the woman without trying to kill her, hoping that also makes it harder to cast whatever spell she's mumbling in her drunken stupor.

Mary will pull out her heavy flail as a move action, and as an attack she will attempt to deal non-lethal damage, and thus take a -4 on her attack as a result.

Heavy Flail non-lethal attack: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (13) + 3 - 4 = 12
Non-lethal damage if hits: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

"Stop! Stop!" Auntie Baltwin screams in terror when Muchiko nearly kills her by hitting her on the head. When Mary also hits Auntie Baltwin with an attack, one that isn't meant to kill the old woman, Auntie Baltwin falls to her knees. "I surrender!"

Auntie Baltwin sits on the floor, trapped by the net and trembling. "But know you started the whole thing!"

Combat's over.

Looking at Muchiko, Mary says, "Well, you did throw a net on her, so she has a point. Still, it wasn't lethal, and I won't allow anyone, drunk or not, to cast a spell on us. I know you think she's lying, so I do hope you have some good rationale for the net."

"As for you old woman," as Mary turns with a stern gaze at Auntie Baltwin, "if you have been lying, you'd better start telling the truth. Muchiko's got a certain way of getting the truth, and I know you've been giving these kids jobs. I also disapprove of your excessive drinking and the the way you treat the kids. My report on your activities is going to be MOST discouraging. All I can say is that if you cooperate with Muchiko's questions, you have a decent chance of getting additional help and resources as my report will indicate you need assistance. If you continue on your present course, you will not. It's a very, very easy choice, but I don't tell people what to do."

"EVAN?! You around? Let's go find some kids to talk to and get the rest of the story." Mary walks with Evan to speak to the kids to learn more.

By chance, this hag had enough hp to be conscious after 2 attacks? Wow....

"Now, we'll have a "wonderful" chat about your business with the parcels and the children.
For starters, do you have all these unused parcels stashed for around the house?
Second, what do you "really" do with these kids?"

I made a small error: "When your nonlethal damage equals your current hit points, you're staggered, and when it exceeds your current hit points, you fall unconscious."

Auntie Baltwin has just 1HP left after Muchiko's attack, so let's say after Mary's nonlethal hit Auntie Baltwin was lucky to get a few quick words in before this happened:

While Mary and Muchiko speak to Auntie Baltwin, the latter's eyes roll back in their sockets and her face hits the floor. The old alcoholic woman's now unconscious.

Then the interrogation as per above will happen when she wakes up.
Her still in the net of course.

"Oof, I think she might be knocked out for a few hours. I think perhaps our best efforts should be gathering information from the children until she comes to."

She regains 1hp per hour.

"Right, you and Evan would easily pull that off. I'll stay here and "convince" this drunk woman to stay put."

Edit after Vitarri...
Well, that's the aim yes. Keep the hag covered by the net.

Vitarri walks back into the house and sighs at the sight before him. Wordlessly he stands off to the side as he considers his options. If someone hasn't called the guard I'd be surprised...

Clarification: Is Auntie Baldwin still coverd in a net?

@Muchiko: What Mary wrote. Meaning you'll have to wait 4 hours before she's staggered instead of unconscious. I'm not keeping track of every minute, but the party doesn't have that time.

Walking with Mary out to talk to the kids. "Muchiko is a little intense. That lady is old and drunk. I don't like the idea of harming a old lady even a little bit."

Mary walks with Evan. "My friend, I think she means well, although I don't know why she thinks the old woman was lying. I was indeed surprised by the net, but I had to act once I saw the old lady casting some kind of spell. No idea what that spell was, but I couldn't take the chance. I don't think she would have cast a spell if she wasn't in a net. My plan was to get her intoxicated so that perhaps she would talk a bit more openly. It was working, although I sensed no deception from the old woman."

Looking around a bit, Mary continues "Maybe we can find something in the containers that might heal the poor woman up quickly, or the kids might know where something like that is hidden. But we also need answers, and I'm afraid we're running out of time. If I had to guess, I'd say the woman's spell casting is somehow related to these extra containers and children errands. She needed money for something, something big."

Vitarri walked into the kitchen. Seeing the old woman netted he quickly moved to her side, kneeled down and started to undo the netting. If anyone moves to protest he speaks, not ceasing his work. "Touch me and you better get ready to kill me, because I will not stop."

If he gets the net off of her and he pauses before healing her...

"Muchiko. Why did we attack her?"

Evan searches for some kids to talk to while Mary fills him in on what has been going on since he snooping around the orphanage. "Hey you can we talk to you?"

Muchiko neutrally looks up at Vitarri when he asks why they had their "disagreement". She almost shrugs.

"The talking with Mary wasn't going to get her anywhere sadly. If there was another way to get the woman's attention and cooperation, this would have been it."

"By the way, i need that net intact. The woman's covered in it for a reason, she'll have much less trouble casting spells with it gone. The net is part of how she cooperates, i'm keeping it folded, if she tries anything funny, she'll be a fish again.
So if she casts something nasty, don't look at me.
Of course you'll be around when she comes to, won't you?"

Vitarri is kneeling btw, that was my bad. He was asking as he worked. ;)

Vitarri nods to Muchiko's explanation. "So this is what we tell the guardsmen? The ones that come to arrest us?" Although it's obvious in his voice he agrees with Muchiko to some degree as the line between monster and human was blurring greatly with this old woman.

He points to the bottle(s) of whiskey. "That isn't proof of evil. If they enter her house and find her like this they won't ask questions, they will arrest us."

Again he was placed in the hard spot. Why did he have to follow orders as close as possible. Normally he didn't care much but he didn't want their mission to be a failure. "We were sent to find out information on her. We can tell the Silver Crusade and let them handle her." He removes the net as he planned, moderating his tone as not to sound judgemental the last thing he needed was to alienate himself completely from the group. At Muchiko's tone though he had done just that...

"I'll be here." He counted the seconds, trying to wait on whatever it was the others were doing to be complete before waking the woman up again...

"Oh i'm sure the proof will be coming soon."
Muchiko was counting on Mary and Evan's efforts to get information from the kids.
"You know, somewhere you remind me of someone from my youth, before i was separated from my family..."

The sentence was cut off as she realized she had gotten distracted by remembering the past.

Vitarri looks at Muchiko before looking back to the old woman. "Memories are important. Even the terrible ones..." The woman and the child, he never saw their faces, only their backside as they escaped. He or whoever watched them go always turned to face the horrors of nightmares. It made his head hurt to think about it and so he never tried too.

He unconciously gripped his only true possession, feeling the warn silk under his fingers before letting it go and looking down at the old woman. Tying to focus on something else he arrayed her arms to look like she had fallen from her chair, placing the whiskey near where she could have been sitting. He was methodical, knocking over a stool just to make the picture complete.

While Muchiko and Vitarri stay in the kitchen, Evan and Mary go upstairs. They find several rooms upstairs where ill children lie in beds. A few healthy children sit next to the ill and talk or play with them, and a few kids are doing chores.

GM, are you saying the children are singing? Hmm? :P
chores=tasks
choirs=groups of singers, common in churches

Evan already rolled for interactions with kids. Was there no reaction?

@Muchiko: Some might be, but that was an oopsie :P

@Mary: And I missed that spoiler... -_-

A girl who sits next to an ill kid looks from Mary to Evan. "Auntie Baltwin does heal those who need it, but... we're not all orphans... A lot of parents bring their children here when they need healing, and she has them pay for it... She uses her magic to heal the kids, and sells all those parcels people like you bring for money, which she uses to buy alcohol..."

"Also," the girl continues, "some kids are forced to work as a servant or maid in the houses of rich people... She says it's so they can pay for their stay here, but I don't believe it..."

"Well, we thank you for your candor. And you are right not to believe it. While I appreciate her using magic to heal kids, if she didn't spend all of the money on alcohol, she wouldn't need you to work as servants. I would expect things to improve here in the near future."

Turning to Evan, Mary say "I think we have enough for our report. Let's get back and finish our task. If she wants to be compensated for healing people, that's fine. But her expenditures on alcohol is putting the rest of the kids at risk, and that's unacceptable and she lacks the temperament for watching children. Let's get back to our companions."

After hearing the report from Mary, Muchiko has a spark of anger in her eyes which would match Vitarri's suppressed temper.
"I need some fresh air, before i really hit her."
As she's 10 feet past you guys.....

Perception
12

18

Unless Mary has any qualms here goes. ;)

Hearing the report Vitarri nods and pulls forth the symbol of Gorum and a pulse of healing energy passes through the room. However those it touches feel a moment of pain before the flush of warmth that accompanies the healing.

Channel Energy: 1d6 ⇒ 6

He makes sure that the first thing she sees is his eyes. The look he gives the woman would leave her shaking, the moment had come where the blurred lines were made clear and his anger was held back by a thin margin. He kneels down, bringing his face closer to her's before he speaks, his tone was cold as ice and as harsh as a executioner casting judgemen. "Three things you've done wrong. You've lied. Two: You stole. And more importantly you allowed children to suffer because you are a wretched husk of human waste."

He leans in, close enough that if she so much as thought to cast a spell he could crush her with a single blow. He doesn't hide the fact that he could either. "Heres whats going to happen. Your going to become the best person you can be. Your going to stop drinking. Your going to stop using your kids like slaves and abusing the good intentions of others. And your going to start today..." He smiles then but it doesn't reach his eyes as he lays down his threat. "When the guards come your going to tell them you fell out of your chair, if you don't I will be back. Because I've got nothing better to do but watch you, every minute of every day. If I even think for a moment that you have lapsed back into your old habits I will be knocking on your door and you and I will have a reckoning." He stands then still looking down at her. "One last thing... The Silver Crusade will be made aware of your activities. Your parcel is in the living room, use it wisely and have a great day miss Baltwin." He turns away from her then, leaving the house for good.

Intimidate: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Unless Mary has any qualms here goes. ;)

Made me laugh out loud.

Evan stares at Vitarri with new respect. While following the large man out into the street. "Are you really going to do all those things you said? You sounded like my father when I messed up on something he had me doing. I guess big birds can be scary. That old lady is a mean old witch isn't she? Let's get back to Headquarters and then to DINNER!!"

Auntie Baltwin regains conscious and is about to get on her feet when Vitarri speaks. The old woman freezes in place and stares at him with eyes that continue to increase in size while he speaks. She doesn't speak, but nods just slightly when Vitarri finishes speaking. As Vitarri walks out of the door, Auntie Baltwin keeps her eyes on the door.

Suddenly Auntie Baltwin seems to realize there are others still in her kitchen, and she crawls away from them while keeping her eyes on them. She keeps her eyes on the door even after the last of them leaves.

Back at the Temple of the Shining Star

Back at the temple Ollysta patiently listens to the information about Auntie Baltwin. "Trying to capture her with a net and then hitting her was a bit rash, but at least you healed her afterward. I'm more worried about the kids. Seems like Baltwin heals them, but the other things she does..."

"I'll see to it personally the kids will be cared for. Baltwin will be taken care of as well. I'll let Ambrus know you completed this task, and I want to thank you for your help. Many kids will have a chance for a better youth, and it's thanks to you."

The woman deserved a good whack over the head.
She got away with it mildly. At least she's scared for the remainder of a lifetime.

"Good to hear, they definitely deserve a "good" youth.

"Good youths or lives are always hard to promise, but we'll try what we can," Ollysta replies with a smile.

For the first time yet, Muchiko's face shows a slight hint of relief, as one corner of her mouth slightly curls up.

At Evan's question Vitarri replies simply. "Yes, Evan. Every bit of it.." Those kids only get one shot at growing up right... To hell with her if she thinks she can continue to get away with what she's been doing. He flexes his gauntleted hand at the thought as they took the cart back to the Silver Crusade...

Vitarri nods at the praise, listening silently as Mary and the others brief Ollysta on what they had found out about Baltwin. He felt a slight bit of uncertainty in the shaky way Ollysta spoke to Muchiko. "Let Ambrus know if you need a hand, he knows how to find me."

"Sure, we can always use some extra hands." Ollysta seems happy about the offer.

Ollysta waves at you as you leave the temple. Outside the owner of the cart Vitarri rented for the day greets you. Once you're all in the cart it leaves for the Foreign Quarters, on its way back to the Grand Lodge.

When you enter the Foreign Quarters a throng of people blocks the street ahead. A performance art group commandeers the street, drawing graffiti to create a jolly hellscape complete with illusory devils comically dancing around in circles. A few citizens avoiding the crowd slip off-street through a nearby alley, the only egress past the gathering.

Because the party's only two blocks removed from the Grand Lodge, you decide to take the alley as well. You all get out of the cart, wave the driver goodbye, and move into the alley. Amongst the people in the alley there are some familiar faces.

JUMPED!

A misty vapor arises around you. As it does, everyone but you and the four that have been awaiting your arrival flees. The vapor obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature 5 feet away has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight to locate the target).

You all realize the four people waiting for you don't have good intentions. Because you recognize several of them, they don't have the advantage of surprise anymore.

Turn progression:
Vitarri
Deandre Dulay (D)
Mary
Halli Fosta (H)
Evan & Muchiko
Ledford (L) & Larkin Waever (W)

Vitarri's up.

Combat Map

Vitarri barks a laugh at the thugs. "Really? Is this all?" His insult is easy to hear, as was his intention to anger them. He bears his holy symbol and reaches back to touch Mary.

SA: Enlarge Person - Mary

MA: Draw Greatsword

FA: 5ft Step

Map

Remember that everyone was healed 6 hp so make sure your sheets are updated. :) Now let stomp these punks ( ^-^)/

He advances a pace, leaving the way open if one of his comrades wants to pass him while simultaneously denying the enemy a clear path to charge them...

Changes to relevant stats: AC now 17. Bonus to hit +3. Damage increases to 2d8+4 with a reach of 10'. CMB/CMD are now 5/17

Almost forgot! Seize the Initiative! Ally may roll Ini twice and take the best result!

Mary - Second Initiative!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Shock pulsed through the air, Mary was able to move much quicker as if her physical abilities were sped up some how. Vitarri smiled broadly, his sword was drawn for the first time and he hoped one among these cretins was worthy!

BOOYAH! So long as StephNyan is good with it!

New Ini! :)
Turn progression:
Vitarri
Mary
Deandre Dulay (D)
Halli Fosta (H)
Evan & Muchiko
Ledford (L) & Larkin Waever (W)

Wouldn't mary now be too big to fit through the alley? Just saying...with that 5ft part.

Muchiko moves up to where Vitarri was, drawing her bow.
She then aims at Halli Fosta.

Release arrow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Okay, I have several questions I need answered first:

1) How can Muchiko fire an arrow at a target if we can't use sight to hit targets more than 5' away? Even if you can, you have to roll a 50% miss chance. So can we shoot at them or not? If we can shoot them, that's my preferred attack since I can shoot multiple times. Does Detect Evil work as a way of allowing me to shoot without having visual?

2) If I have a 10' reach, can I actually attack at 10' or is the mist making it so I can't see them? Pretty much makes the 10' reach worthless otherwise.

3) Looking at the map, the only place that isn't 10'x10' wide is where we are. In a narrow space (squeezing rule), I'm taking a -4 to hit and a -4 to my AC, on top of the -2 AC from the enlarge person. As such, I probably will not move from this location, hold my action and just beat them up if they come at us.

Thanks in advance for clearing this up.

I figured that, if we 'recognize them', we'd have seen them prior to the mist coming down.

Okay I messed up on my actions, as I thought the alley was bigger and wouldn't have casted the spell. So upto StephNyan at this point but we can exchange Enlarge Person for Bless and move forward.

I figured that, if we 'recognize them', we'd have seen them prior to the mist coming down.

Yah, then I'd like to take a few pot shots at them as well. I just want to be clear on the rules.

Personally, bless would work better (and technically Enlarge Person is a full round spell). While the extra damage of Enlarge Person is pretty cool, with only 11 HP and the lowered AC from it, I'm not going to charge into battle. 1 good hit from a weapon and I'm down.

@Vitarri: I'll take Mary's new initiative.

@Muchiko & Mary: 50% miss chance, and the attacker cannot use sight to locate the target. They're 2 separate things, so you'll have to roll the miss chance. Remembering a person's last position is possible, and firing into that square possible.

A shock pulses through the air and Mary feels like she's somehow moving faster. Vitarri casts bless on Mary, and draws his sword.

Turn progression:
Vitarri & Mary
Deandre Dulay (D) & Halli Fosta (H)
Evan & Muchiko
Ledford (L) & Larkin Waever (W)

Mary's up.

Mary quickly launches 2 adamantine blanched arrows into where Ledford stood as the mist rose, hoping to catch him flat-footed.

Range is under 30', so +1 from Point Blank Shot, and +1 from Bless. This is offset by the -2 for Rapid Shot. Thus I'm at a net +4 to hit. I'll also roll % miss 1-50 miss, 51-100 hit.

Arrow Shot 1: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Miss %: 1d100 ⇒ 35
Damage if hit: 1d8 ⇒ 8

Arrow Shot 2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Miss %: 1d100 ⇒ 51
Damage if hit: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Typical

Mary's arrows diappear into the mist, and it's unclear if they hit anything.

What the opponents are doing can't be seen, until Deandre suddenly appears from the mist close to Vitarri's position. Deandre shows him an evil grin.

Suddenly a ray of acid comes from the mist. It goes past Vitarri's shoulder, and hits the wall next to Mary. Where the wall's hit the bricks slowly melt. A girl's high-pitched laughter can be heard from the mist.

Acidic Ray: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21 Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 Miss <51%: 1d100 ⇒ 19

Muchiko fires an arrow at the position she last saw Halli. The high-pitched voice stops laughing for a moment, then continuous hysterically. "Hahaha! I'll get you for that, #@$*^%! Hahahahaha!"

Miss <51%: 1d100 ⇒ 53

Turn progression:
Vitarri & Mary
Deandre Dulay (D) & Halli Fosta (H) [-3 HP]
Evan & Muchiko
Ledford (L) & Larkin Waever (W)

Evan's up.

Updated Map Only Vitarri can see Deandre.

Evan moves silently out of the mist pulling two daggers out one in each hand.

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Map