[PFS] GM Granta's Beyond Azlant Ridge (high) (Inactive)

Game Master Granta

The Paladin uses his wand to give himself divine favor, raises his sword high and prepares for all enemys how attack.

"Well we've looked 'round and it ain't lookin' like we missed extra disks. I think" adds the half-elf with a frown in response to Aelfward. "So... you wanna take some time to look 'round again for other disks?"

The slots are too high, and the stones too heavy, for a single person to place a disc, but with a little teamwork you eventually get the darkness disc into the "void" slot and the light disc into the "sun" slot. They do fit, and stay in place, but nothing noticeable happens.

Or did you want the light disc in the stars slot? I saw two suggestions and no agreement, but either way the (lack of) effect is the same, I just need to note the position for later. And what is the plan, look for discs or prepare for combat when the door breaks down?

Is there a Knowledge check for the construct?

Void Darkness but I think light is stars

ARG Light is sun! Stars shed A LOT less light compared to the sun.

So now that things have returned to normal, Once the two disks are in, Illuthion would looks for other disks, if it looks like there would be additional ones around. And unless Aelfward wants his disk in the stars slot, I would assume he had put it in the sun slot as we had agreed.

You've found all the discs possible so far. Light -> SUN. Darkness -> VOID.

You can tell the door is about to break, but not exactly when. So no round/level buffs, but do everything else you wish to prepare for combat. Once everybody is ready, including positioning their icons, we'll move forward. If you don't already know, this fight is a tough one, so bring your A-game.

And the golem is just flavor, nothing to know about him.

I am unaware of the specifics, but after nearly dying in the first round against that Hydra I figured we were past the tough part. This has been a very strange scenario. Blub Blub has no remaining long-term buffs other than a scroll of remove fear. He has a few 1 minute duration ones remaining but he wouldn't use them until combat had started.

Blub Blub reads a scroll of remove fear to calm his nerves.

"Hey, uhhh, guys? I don't really know what's going on, or what's behind that door, but that golem doesn't have much of a leg left to stand on. And I'll bet whatever's behind there's gonna be super pissed when it breaks out."

Blub Blub looks down the hallway that they initially came down.

"Here's somethin'. Let's make our stand in the room with that gnarly sphere. There's no other exit outta here, so it's gotta come to us eventually. Maybe it'll be worn out after fightin' Mr. Ugly here."

Anyone in favor of moving to the room with the sphere? Seems to me, both in- and out-of-character, that we should be close to the artifact that dispels chaos. Just a guess.

@Blub Blub: This whole thing has taken less than 1 hour, so your buffs may still be up. And the sphere is way too far away from the cell, you need to be closer.

Is there an in-character reason why we need to be closer?

Whatever the group decides, I made two copies of my icon: one in the sphere room, and one near the cell room, so just delete the one we don't end up using.

I just don't see any reason why we need to be confined to this small space. It's not advantageous to us.

@Blub Blub: The problem is obviously in the room with the monolith. I'm not sure what more you're looking for. Knowing that, if you still want to be by the sphere, then you're certainly allowed to be.

Is there an in-character reason why we need to fight it *here*, though?

Because I'm seeing a few in-character reasons why we shouldn't.

Unless I'm missing something?

The remaining two disks to what we think is the Cyclops built backup security system are almost certainly in the same room as the prisoner. Once that door is down the prisoner will be loose but we'll also have a chance to get the disks and slot them in place.

As for just killing the prisoner once the door is broken - Kyra has an oil of align weapon which we could use on some of your bolts and the rest of our ranged ammo (I've got a +3 Str bow, Illuthion a +2 Bow, and Periel a sling which allows his full str to damage and I think unbuffed that's a 21.} So we hammer it at range if we're going to try to kill it.

So to kill it at range using dr bypassing ammo we need to move back some, and to contain it (if we're right about what the disks do) we need to be in close so someone (probably me - everyone else seems to be able to deal a lot more damage than poor Al) goes into the room to get the disks while everyone else buys that person time.

Engineering: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Al watches the door closely hoping to give the team a little bit of extra warning before the door breaks down.

Periel activates his shiedron medallion and casts eagle splendor.falselife: 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 He then, on a hunch sheathes his sword and grips the found flail. btw did we identify it

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (20) + 16 = 36

"I feel that spells that have to do with light may be the key here."

Tsishad goes super-nerd and starts with buffs and studying. He also takes out his Wand of Daylight. Tsishad doesn't play around with darkness, if that's what's coming. In fact, he had to cast Daylight 3 times in the last scenario, which then graciously gave him this wand on the chronicle. ;)

He casts Mirror Image.
Mirror Image: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

He also takes out a Wand of Heightened Awareness, uses it, then put it away. +4 initiative to the next battle.

If it's alright, Tsishad is going to fill out his empty spell slots some. He has fast study, so it only 1 minute per spell to fill an empty slot. Since he made the Knowledge (Arcana) check, he may be favoring a certain spell.

If so, he's going to prepare spells in this order: Daylight (and then cast it immediately on himself), Black Tentacles, Spectral Hand (and then cast it immediately). You tell me how far he gets.

If he casts Spectral Hand: 1d4 ⇒ 1 damage to himself

The hint we were given was make a list of spells with the [light] descriptor and think about it. Unfortunately, I don't have time to parse through such a list but wanted to at least convey that information.

If nobody else wants Align Weapon I will happily take it.

Had a thought.

As Tsishad finishes his studies, he states, "Can the Light disc be activated? Perhaps there needs to be actual light happening and that's the solution." Tsishad tries to activate the disc.

Still want to have Daylight going on Tsishad regardless.

Both discs are active. Although the room is bright enough that the darkness doesn't even make it dim.

Tsishad covers up the area of clothing emitting Daylight for a little to see if that helps.

If nothing happens, next suggestion is moving the Darkness Disc from Void to Moon.

Or shoot, we could move the Light one to the Stars. It's probably one of those two. If not, we could try like the other 9 combinations we didn't try.

Would there be enough time to cast Augury?

Illuthion racks his brains as he casts Spider Climb and lead blades on himself.

What are we missing? What the hell are we missing? Wait...

He pulls out his wayfinder, only to realise it's light spell only works on itself. "Yo can anyone cast light on that light disk over there? Did we get anything that will let us cast darkness?"

Kyra offers her oil to whomever wishes to use it. She also casts shield of faith on herself in preparation.

I also have an oil of daylight. Not sure if that will be useful for the discs but if so she will happily share her oil.

"By my Lady, I'm sure I'm right!"

The six foot two Shonti tribesman rushes over to the VOID slot. "Someone help me with this, I'm going to take the darkness disk out put it on the floor right in front of the slot. Then I'm going to take the light disk out of the SUN slot and put it into the MOON slot. Then come back and put the darkness disk back into the VOID slot."

If no one offers to help right away Al will drink a potion of enlarge person and do it by himself - potion has a duration of 3 mins.

@Aelfward: Is that a heightened potion from a chronicle sheet?

Correction durration is one min. I'm not sure how I misread the spell level on enlarge, but I did. For some reason I thought it was a second level spell. For extra saddness I even checked right before I posted last time, which means I misread the spell listing twice somehow. My apologies.

When you misread something THREE times in a row, then you can join me in the I'm Stupid Club.

Please double check that I listed all of the buffs for everyone. I assumed Iluthion and Tsishad dismissed heightened awareness for the initiative bump.

Maps

Round 1
Effects none

• GM -
  
• Aelfward - 24 damage, grappled, enlarge person
  
• Illuthion - lead blades, spider climb
  
• Kyra - 12 damage, shield of faith
  
• Tsishad - daylight, mirror image (6), spectral hand
  
• Blub Blub - align weapon (good), longstrider, remove fear
  
• Periel - eagle's splendor, false life

With a final blow, the enormous iron golem smashes through the stone doors. Framed in the doorway is a gargantuan black-and-red serpent with three tails and six eyes. A gloating telepathic cry exudes from the creature, “Foolish, mindless machine! Now you are the prisoner, and I am finally free!” With a dazzling flash, the two creatures change places: the golem in the smaller room and the serpentine fiend outside of it. As the serpent begins to uncoil, the golem lunges forward and grasps the fiend by its head. The two titans are in a temporary stalemate; the golem cannot release its hold or the fiend will escape, and the fiend cannot break the golem’s grip.

Three tails lash out at Aelfward and Kyra, battering them about. And to make matters worse, one of the scaled bodies wraps around Aelfward and starts tightening.

Everybody is up. The discs are marked with little ovals. Since the creature is huge, everybody except Aelfward can move through its square without having to roll Acrobatics--though the movement still provokes.

Standard Action: Activate Vibrant Purple Ioun Stone containing Gravity Bow (10 Rds).

Blub Blub positions himself another 5 feet for a better aim.

"Could really use a bodacious haste right about now, dudes!"

My buffs are in my stat line.

Out of hastes.

I want to remind everyone of their buffer of health from This Post if you didn't take damage before.

Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

"Holy moly! It's a Xacarba! They resist all elements, immune to electricity and poison, resist magic, and you need to use holy weapons to be the most effective! Also, you need to cast carefully or they can twist your magic." You want to cast defensively when casting a spell. You REALLY want to cast defensively every time.

GM: So what exactly happened with the discs? Are those new discs over there? Since we were missing two, this could be extremely important I think (especially with your hint that we can move through the beast).

Swift Action
Tsishad tries to cast Liberating Command defensively on Aelfward.
Cast Defensively vs. DC 17: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16 - Darn!
Tsishad's spell fizzles.

Standard Action
May as well give it a shot.
Tsishad tries to cast Vampiric Touch defensively.
Cast Defenseively vs. DC 21: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14
That spell fizzles as well.

Non-Action
Tsishad takes a 5-foot step forward towards the new discs.

Yes, the two missing discs are in the prison cell, marked as yellowish ovals.

Someone earlier had predicted that the other two discs were inside, and I thought to myself then, "How would they know that?" Lol

I want to remind everyone of their buffer of health from This Post

Thank you, I had forgotten. So +9 hp for Blub Blub.

To Escape grapple w/Fountain Bonus: 1d20 + 44 ⇒ (11) + 44 = 55

Al breaks the the beast's grapple and continues his plan of repositioning the disks.

I just ran the numbers and Al can only be grappled on a 19 or 20 while enlarged with the fountain bonus and of course you rolled a 20!

I had 5 bonus hit points courtesy of Tsishad so now I'm down to 31/50

"We need to get those discs!"

With a smile Periel activates his armor. Rightous might Good and declares his smite on the fiend.
CHANGES: Size increase +4 to str, +4 to Con (14 extra HP) +4 Deflection (Smite)

Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Illuthion gasps at the ease with which that thing just grabbed onto Aelfward, before calling upon his powers to bestow quickness upon himself before running up the wall.

Standard to spend a focus point on Quickness, move to move up the wall, trying to reach the ceiling then move upside down towards the opening.

@Illuthion: You can easily tell that the ceiling and door aren't high enough to avoid attacks from the serpent. Do you want to change your movement?

Maps

Round 1
Effects none

• GM - 1
  
• Aelfward - 28 damage, grappled, enlarge person
  
• Illuthion - gravity bow, haste lead blades, spider climb, 5 essence
  
• Kyra - 7 damage, shield of faith
  
• Tsishad - daylight, mirror image (6), spectral hand
  
• Blub Blub - align weapon (good), 9 essence, longstrider, remove fear
  
• Periel - eagle's splendor, false life, righteous might, smite, 7 essence

Aelfward breaks the grapple and tries to get back to the wall, but the tail grabs him right back. Illuthion quickens his limbs, then climbs to the ceiling.

Tsishad tries to cast a couple of spells, but can't concentrate to keep control of his own magic away from the xacarba. Blub Blub risks casting his spell normally, and the serpent wrests it away from him. Illuthion's bow glows with the enchantment instead.

Periel suddenly grows in stature, focusing his divine wrath on the serpent.

Kyra is up. If she hasn't posted in ~20 hours, somebody please bot her.

GM I think you miscounted the distance to Blub Blub from the creature. I don't think he's within 30 feet, so his spell should have worked properly. I could of course be wrong.

To Escape Grapple: 1d20 + 44 ⇒ (4) + 44 = 48
Folio re-roll: 1d20 + 44 ⇒ (14) + 44 = 58

Al tries breaking free again and attempts to move the disks.

@Aelfward: Good catch. Looks like he's 35 ft. away, so the gravity bow does work.

I don't know how the creature's ability works, but it's not possible for me to cast defensively anyways. Do spells from wands, or Boots of Haste, just cease to function?

Illuthion scowls, but then has a moment of inspiration.

"SOMEONE GET THAT MACE TO FREE OUR MOVEMENT! WE GOTTA GET IN THERE!"

Illuthion won't get close to the bastard yet, but will absolutely get on the ceiling. Blub, your gravity bow functioned, the GM thought you were elsewere.

Periel has the flail in hand

I'm a little unclear on where exactly the serpent has melee range to. Looking at pfsrd I don't see a template for a creature 4 squares to a side. Since it sounds like it has 15' reach, based on the template there I could 5' step the first round to get out of reach and then do a normal move action the 2nd round safely. If I am reading this wrong, please help. :D

So first round, channel and 5' step. Second round, move to current location and cast bull's strength on Aelfward, casting defensively. My present location should be back within reach but I can 5' step back out from here and still be in good channeling position.

Kyra prays for Sarenrae's healing to wash over Aelfward and herself, then maneuvers around and grants the Dawnflower's mighty strength to the human.

channel: 6d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 4, 5, 3, 2) = 20

cast defensively bulls strength DC 19: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19

@Kyra: Correct, a 5-ft. step takes you out of its reach.

Maps

Round 2
Effects none

• GM -
  
• Aelfward - 8 damage, enlarge person
  
• Illuthion - haste lead blades, spider climb, 5 essence
  
• Kyra - 7 damage, shield of faith
  
• Tsishad - 32 damage, grappled, daylight, mirror image (6), spectral hand
  
• Blub Blub - align weapon (good), gravity bow, 9 essence, longstrider, remove fear
  
• Periel - 4 damage, eagle's splendor, false life, righteous might, smite

With a quick blessing and a flash of light, Kyra closes up most of Aelfward's wounds, then she backs away from the xacarba's tails.

The creature strikes out at Periel and Tsishad, and lands a particluarly crushing blow against the wayang, dragging him closer in an iron grip. Aelfward fares much better though, as the clumsy serpent drops him entirely.

@Periel: Please add CMD to your stat bar.

@Aelfward: Your AC is 19 before enlarge person, right? Please update your stat bar. Also, you posted early and your action is no longer relevant since I rolled a nat 1 to maintain the grapple. And yes, that means you get your folio reroll back.

@Tsishad: You can tell that he wasn't fooled at all by your illusions.

"Get the discs! Maybe we can imprison it again!"

Standard Action
Basically not able to do anything while grappled, Tsishad tries to escape.
Is it a nat 20?: 1d20 ⇒ 1 - Nope

I posted my second round action above as well. I will move in and cast bull's strength on Aelfward. Also I have 0 damage- the channel got me too! :D

Updated stat line. I had 14 HP of false life so took 18 actual damage.