[PFS] GM Skipper's #2-04 Shadows Fall on Absalom (Inactive)

Game Master SkipperD

Finally getting free of the drapery, the thugs launch a coordinated attack.

Firstly the man in white tries to tumble past Quiven,
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (5) + 14 = 19, but Quiven is too fast.
AoO: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32
Crit confirm: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18 No crit
Damage: 1d4 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Even with the botched move, the thugs now flank Quiven, and attack to their fullest ability.
Attack: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 11 + 2 = 18
Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 6 + 2 = 20
Attack: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 11 + 2 = 32

Crit confirm: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 11 + 2 = 23

Damage: 1d4 + 3 + 5d6 ⇒ (1) + 3 + (1, 2, 3, 3, 1) = 14
The wound cuts deep, and blood starts gushing out. 5 bleed damage

Next, the man in blue tries the same trick on Kleetus,
Acrobatics: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30, and he succeeds against one half-orc, but fails against the other.
AoO, Jagger: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (19) + 22 = 41
Damage: 1d10 + 23 ⇒ (9) + 23 = 32

The pair then tag-teams the Abadarian.
Attack: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 11 + 2 = 14
Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 2 = 25
Attack: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 11 + 2 = 32

Crit confirm: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 11 + 2 = 21

Damage: 1d4 + 3 + 5d6 ⇒ (1) + 3 + (5, 6, 4, 1, 2) = 22
Damage: 1d4 + 3 + 5d6 ⇒ (3) + 3 + (2, 4, 1, 6, 4) = 23
Kleetus starts bleeding too. Not that it matters with your judgment active.

The man in yellow steps up to Kleetus as well, though without the advantage of a flanking buddy.
Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Red, feeling mighty isolated, stays in the relative safety of the changing room and attacks Marta.
Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31
Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Crit confirm: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13

Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Combat round 1/2
Bold may act
___________________________________________
Marta (4 damage), Quiven (14 damage + 5 bleed), Kleetus (52 damage + 5 bleed), Jaggar, The Physician
Thugs (black: 33 damage, white: 8 damage, blue: 32 damage)
Ouroboreia

Marta has 1 non-lethal left over from the first battle that needs to be added in.

Marta gives a full-throated laugh.

"Quit tickling."
"Missing your buddies?"

As promised she activates bane. Her fists start emitting strange and lethal looking colors between being cruel, bane, and merciful.

Crappy rolls :(

Add 2 damage to the AoO you rolled because of our Inspire Courage. Also, I have Combat Reflexes so I think I'd get at least one more shot at the guy, wouldn't I? I don't know his movement track.

If so,: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (9) + 17 = 26 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Quiven attacks the black-garbed thug before shifting out of the flank! Full Attack

Attack: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (4) + 15 = 19 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Attack: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Ouroboreia brings time itself to a halt... yet only the ambushers appear to be affected.

Casting selective time stop slow on yellow, green, blue, white and black. Will DC 22 negates.

The Physician backs away from the fight, but casts a spell to assist Kleetus.

Grease (DC 16) on Yellow and Green. Maintain Inspire Courage.

Unless there's an order as to which applies first, I will assume that bleed and fast healing apply at the same time.

Kleetus looks like he could drop at any moment, but the half-orc grits his teeth and concentrates.

Concentration check DC17: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

I'm going to go ahead and use my reroll

Concentration check DC17: 1d20 + 12 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 12 + 3 = 21
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

For a moment it looks as if the half-orc might stumble in his casting of the spell but miraculously does not. Some of his wounds vanish, although overall it looks as if he has just bathed in blood. He steps back next to Jaggar, and readies himself for another set of attacks.

[ooc]If I still have a swift, I'd like to change my judgment of destruction to a judgement of protect (2). Otherwise, carry on, I am at 8 hp

Jaggar activates his Boots of Speed and then takes a 5ft step inbetween Kleetus and Quiven to attack first the blue foe until he falls and then the green foe...

GG1+PA+FF: 1d20 + 22 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 22 + 2 + 1 = 45
DMG1: 1d10 + 23 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 23 + 2 = 29

Possible Crit: 1d20 + 22 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 22 + 2 + 1 = 35
DMG1: 2d10 + 23 + 2 ⇒ (2, 9) + 23 + 2 = 36

GG2+PA: 1d20 + 14 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 14 + 2 + 1 = 22
DMG2: 1d10 + 23 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 23 + 2 = 35

GG3+PA: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 9 + 2 + 1 = 30
DMG3: 1d10 + 23 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 23 + 2 = 35

GG1+PA+FF: 1d20 + 22 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 22 + 2 + 1 = 40
DMG1: 1d10 + 23 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 23 + 2 = 35

"Stay behind me cousin..." Jaggar tells Kleetus...

Marta lands three blows on the thug, leaving him shaken, sickened and most importantly, dead.

@Quiven: A move can only provoke once, so you only get the one attack. I've added the inspire damage though.

Quiven gets in three stabs before stepping out of harms way.

Will, yellow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Will, green: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Will, blue: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Will, white: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Will, black: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
The five remaining thugs seem to be moving through molasses.

Reflex, green: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
Reflex, yellow: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21
The magically conjured grease doesn't hamper them though.

Jaggar drops blue with a single well placed blow, while green takes three blows to take down.

The slowed thugs advance on the group and attempt to strike at you again.

Attack v Quiven: 1d20 + 11 - 1 ⇒ (20) + 11 - 1 = 30
Attack v Quiven: 1d20 + 11 - 1 ⇒ (5) + 11 - 1 = 15
Attack v Kleetus: 1d20 + 11 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 11 - 1 = 14

Crit confirm v Quiven: 1d20 + 11 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 11 - 1 = 13

Damage v Quiven: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Combat round 2/3
Bold may act
___________________________________________
Marta (4 damage + 1 non-lethal), Quiven (26 damage + 5 bleed), Kleetus (49 damage), Jaggar, The Physician
Thugs (black: 69 damage, white: 10 damage)
Ouroboreia

I was wondering earlier in the day and I ran across this so I thought I was correct. Let me know if I missed something. Emphasis mine on the bold text :

Combat Reflexes and Additional Attacks of Opportunity: If you have the Combat Reflexes feat, you can add your Dexterity modifier to the number of attacks of opportunity you can make in a round. This feat does not let you make more than one attack for a given opportunity, but if the same opponent provokes two attacks of opportunity from you, you could make two separate attacks of opportunity (since each one represents a different opportunity). Moving out of more than one square threatened by the same opponent in the same round doesn't count as more than one opportunity for that opponent. All these attacks are at your full normal attack bonus.

Or am I taking that sentence out of context somehow?

EDIT : I think I missed the next sentence after my bolded one. Aha! That must be it. I feel better.

Oh, and you can stop critting me. At least you haven't confirmed yet. Hehe.

Quiven looks like he could use a bandage or two but he fights on! Starting with Black then to White.

Attack: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Attack: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13
Confirm?: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20 for Damage: 1d4 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Jagger takes a step north and then attacks green and then white in order...

GG1+PA+FF: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (9) + 22 = 31
DMG1: 1d10 + 23 ⇒ (5) + 23 = 28

GG2+PA: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21
DMG2: 1d10 + 23 ⇒ (8) + 23 = 31

GG3+PA: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11
DMG3: 1d10 + 23 ⇒ (8) + 23 = 31

Haste ATK: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (2) + 22 = 24
DMG1: 1d10 + 23 ⇒ (10) + 23 = 33

Marta also picks up 5 temporary hit points due to the cruel enchantment.

Gliding into the room and assessing the situation, Marta determines that these goons are pretty pathetic and need a serious scalding. She keeps the bane active just in case she gets an AOO. In celestial she opens up with "You are worthless scum and have brought the scorching disdain of the most holy Ragathiel upon you." Since she has tongues active, the goons understand what was said in the holy language and feel the wrath of the holy one.

In other words, Marta casts Blistering Invective at DC 17. Note that this will also hit the thing above them if it is an enemy.

intimidate: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (8) + 25 = 33 (-2 if not evil)

"Ah remember you... Now Ah'm gonna wreck you. ABADAR!!!!" shouts Kleetus, whose wounds slowly knit back together.

Because of my precarious situation, I'm going to bane Mr Yellow.

Falchion vs Yellow, PA, FF, Bane, IC: 1d20 + 12 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 12 + 2 + 2 = 28
Damage vs Yellow: 2d4 + 14 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (1, 2) + 14 + 2 + 2 + (3, 5) = 29
Demoralize vs Yellow (Cornugon Smash): 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (12) + 22 = 34

Falchion vs Yellow, PA, FF, Bane, IC: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 2 + 2 = 17
Damage vs Yellow: 2d4 + 14 + 2 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (4, 1) + 14 + 2 + 2 + (4, 1) = 28
Demoralize vs Yellow (Cornugon Smash): 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (9) + 22 = 31

in my previous post- Jaggar meant yellow then white in order

Quiven brings down the man in black, then scores a nasty hit on white.

Two hits, a miss and finally a hit again from Jaggar takes out yellow.

Kleetus, i'll let you shift your attacks to white.

Kleetus' divinely guided falchion finds it's mark once, but the thug dodges the second swing.

Combat round 2/3
Bold may act
___________________________________________
Marta (4 damage + 1 non-lethal), Quiven (26 damage + 5 bleed), Kleetus (49 damage), Jaggar, The Physician
Thugs (white: 62 damage)
Ouroboreia

Ouroboreia lays her void-filled eyes upon the last ambusher, cursing him.

Reveal Weakness, -4 penalty on AC and saves for 1 round.

The Physician tries to finish off the white thug with his crossbow.

Attack: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 11 - 4 = 9
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Maintain Performance

What happened with Marta's Blistering Invective?

Ah! Sorry Marta... I must have completely missed your post when I went through your actions last night. I'll resolve it now.

The Physician hits a curtain, while Marta puts the fear of Ragathiel into the remaining thug.
Fire damage: 1d10 ⇒ 5
Reflex save: 1d20 + 10 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (11) + 10 - 1 - 2 = 18

Barely able to stand, the thug tries tho finish what he started and attacks Quiven.
Attack: 1d20 + 11 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 11 - 1 - 2 = 27

Combat round 3/4
Bold may act
___________________________________________
Marta (4 damage + 1 non-lethal), Quiven (26 damage + 5 bleed), Kleetus (49 damage), Jaggar, The Physician
Thugs (white: 67 damage, shaken)
Ouroboreia

Ouroboreia renews her weakening curse.

-4 to AC and saves for 1 round.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Marta moves into flank with Quiven and smacks the goon once. No bane though - going to save the rest for later.

+1 enhanced, last d6 is acid but the rest is non-lethal
attack roll: 1d20 + 14 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 14 + 4 = 37
damage: 2d6 + 1d6 + 13 ⇒ (4, 5) + (2) + 13 = 24
intimidate: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (15) + 25 = 40 (-2 if not evil)

"You are surrounded and outnumbered. Throw down your weapon before someone less merciful that I takes the last swing you'll ever see against you."

Kleetus goes in for the kill, his wounds closing even further!

Falchion vs White, PA, FF: 1d20 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 12 + 2 = 17
Damage vs White: 2d4 + 14 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) + 14 + 2 + (3, 3) = 26
Demoralize vs ? (Cornugon Smash): 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (19) + 20 = 39

Falchion vs White, PA, FF: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 5 + 2 = 27
Damage vs White: 2d4 + 14 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (4, 2) + 14 + 2 + (3, 5) = 30
Demoralize vs White (Cornugon Smash): 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (5) + 20 = 25

Kleetus heals another 3

Crit Confirmation: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 5 + 2 = 9
Extra damage: 2d4 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (4, 3) + 14 + 2 = 23

Despite Marta's wish to capture the last thug alive, he does not survive the wrath of Kleetus.

-----Combat over-----

Now the noise of combat has died down, you can hear that the whimpering has increased to muffled cries for help.

How do we get him down? Is there any obvious way, or do I need to use my shuriken?

Jaggar wipes his pole-arm and then looks around...

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25

You locate a winching mechanism and lower the entire costume. Inside, bound and gagged, is Drandle Dreng and a man in his early twneties.

Wait, so who is that guy and that guy? Quiven takes a look at everyone, trying to figure things out.

"I think we will get some answers once we remove the gags on these fellows. I'm betting the second one is Sidri."

Mart puts actions to words and removes the gags, first on the Dreng and second on the extra man.

"Well doesnt that just take the cake..." Jaggar says looking at the two Drengs...

Dreng gets to his feet and dusts himself off.

"Ah! I do appreciate you coming here and rescuing me. And yes, this is indeed Sidri Kalm. His father was an old freind of mine, but Nordris revealed himself as a member of the Shadow Lodge. He had me abducted, and replaced by a filthy doppelganger. Luckily, Sidri discovered this and tried to rescue me. Sidri’s interference made Nordris sloppy, and thankfully led you here."

"I suspected as much about the doppelganger. Here it is, gagged and bound. What does Nordris want exactly? Where is he now?"

“They talked about my vault and a catalogue I keep there. This catalogue, the Prospectus of Artifacts, lists the entire inventory of the Grand Lodge’s vaults. Worse, it reveals where each artifact is located, and how to bypass the vaults defenses. He magically persuaded me to tell him how to access the vault.” Dreng smiles. “But he never asked about my guardians.”

"Was it you that interviewed us and sent us after Sildri, or the Dreng over there?"

Detecting Evil, good, etc. on the two individuals and the assumed shapeshifter.

"Any idea what the face mask was all about in Sifri's room. Oh, and tell me about the lads we found there waiting for us. I have so many questions."

Marta will fill them in on details like names and appearances, etc. if requested.

"Oh-kay... Now Ah'm completely confused by the con-di-shuns we are under and this en-tie-erh state o' affairs. Someone please explain whut in the nine layers o'Hell is going on 'round here?" whines Kleetus as he takes up his wand again for more healing.

Cure Light Wounds (wand): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Cure Light Wounds (wand): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Cure Light Wounds (wand): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Cure Light Wounds (wand): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Cure Light Wounds (wand): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Cure Light Wounds (wand): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Cure Light Wounds (wand): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Quiven will take out his wand and ask for someone to heal his wounds while the party determines their next move.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

That should take care of damage and bleed.

Marta will always be willing to help you out with that wand.

Marta will tap herself once too. With her own wand of course.
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

All better.

Marta senses no evil emanating from neither the Drengs nor Sidri.

Dreng shrugs.

"I haven't sent you lot anywhere, so I assume it was the doppelganger. The boy can probably tell you more."

Slightly displeased with being called a boy, Sidri clears his throat and steps forward.

"Well, I'd better start from the beginning.
A few weeks ago, while going through some of my fathers old things, I found the Skinsaw mask. My father was never a righteous man, but I couldn't believe that he was involved with that kind of degenerates. I started snooping about, and being his son gave me quite an advantage. I learned that he had connections with the Shadow Lodge, and a few days ago I found out about the deception concerning "Dreng". I new I couldn't risk going to higher ranking Pathfinders, since I din't know who was working with my father or not. I played around with the idea of a public "smear" campaign against the false Dreng, but decided to confront him directly instead. I called upon my adventuring buddies to keep an eye on my lodgings and capture and interrogate anyone who came looking for me, hoping that they would catch some of my father's lackeys. It seems though that you were dragged into this whole mess through deception.
How are my friends by the way?"

"They are safe and sound. True Pathfinders at heart, accepting to cooperate with us instead of resorting to violence. We avoided a bloodshed, and were able to track you down to here thanks to them. What's our next step?" asks the void wizardess.

Dreng chirps up once more.

"Nordris left to access my vault several hours ago. We need to stop him. I’ll escort you to my office, but you need to take care of Nordris while I alert the Decemvirate members currently in Absalom.”

"So, would you be so kind as to tell us about the 'guardians' that we're all going to run into?"

Dreng grins.

"I'd usually not reveal such things, but seeing that these are rather dire circumstances, you'll need any edge you can get. To get to the vault, one first needs to go through my office. It is here i had a elementalist bind a trio of rather nasty Invisible Stalkers some years ago. Nordris dosen't know about them, so there are three possibilites in play here. 1: He encountered the guardians and they dealt with him. 2: He encountered them but got the better of them. And finally 3: He surmised that they where to much for him and subsequently evaded them. Regardless of what transpired in my office, I need you to secure the Prospectus of Artifacts, while i alert the Decemvirate to the impending disaster."

"Invisible stalkers? Ah ain't sure Ah like anything 'bout that. Jest in case we gotta fight 'em, whadda we gotta know 'bout 'dem stalkers?"

Investigative Mind. Looking for special attacks, special defenses, then weaknesses.

Planes: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24
Planes: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

"The prosper arti-what the heck? What does the friggan thing look like...a book?"

With that roll, The Physician knows everything.

"Yes, the Prospectus of Artifacts is book. A rather large one at that"

OK, hopefully we don't have to deal with the stalkers. Maybe with luck, we can help them with this guy instead. So, once we get by them is there anything else we'd have to deal with or will the book be accessible then?

"If, by some chance he slopped by the stalkers without harming them, then WE will have to deal with them. Is there a way to do that without destroying them? I assume you wish to leave the stalkers intact?"

"Oh, I've heard of these things. They have natural invisibility that cannot be purged. They're expert trackers as well, but if we can see them, and a Glitterdust spell should do that trick, they shouldn't be much trouble. Unless they've had special training, that is..."

"A non-detection spell might make them more difficult to deal with too. A couple of us have the spell to see invisible active so I don't know that the invisibility thing will be much of an issue. I just hate to destroy a nice piece of work."

"There are no other major obstacles, apart from the stalkers. The safety of the guardians are secondary to stopping Nordris, so do what you must. I can always reinstate my security measures later."