[PFS] GM Skipper's Echoes of the Everwar series (Inactive)

Game Master SkipperD

Reflex, red: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Reflex, blue: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

Bauble wrecks what little remains in the room, and then the skeletons rush Torvald.

Attack: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30
Damage: 2d4 + 14 ⇒ (4, 3) + 14 = 21

Attack: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (4) + 16 = 20

Combat Round 1/2
Bold may act
_______________________________________
Bauble, Shel
Skeletons (red: 42 damage; blue: 42 damage)
Eolowyn, Naur, Shel, Torvald (21 damage), Vladek

Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

Qadathra zaps one of the skeletons with a wand of simple lapis...

magic missile wand vs blue: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

...and Vladek lays a gentle hand on Bauble's forehead, storming the confused Human's mind with vivid memories of the heroic acts of ages!

Bauble, I'm giving you 100 minutes of heroism. Enjoy!

"Move a step back, Torvald, let's flank these one at a time!"

Shel delays until the first skeleton comes through the door, hopefully setting up the flank.

I love heroism. Thanks.

Torvald grunts in pain as the blow lands and staggers back. The tight quarters make using his longspear impractical. Dropping it he draws out a morning star and swings at the creature before stepping to the side.

Morning Star, 1 handed PA: 1d20 + 14 - 2 ⇒ (9) + 14 - 2 = 21
Damage: 1d8 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 4 = 18

I assume they are using falchions from the damage dice so Torvald takes 5 less damage due to defending bone.

Qadathra blasts the skeleton, while Vladek bolsters Bauble.

@Torvald: Claw + Vital Strike, so no luck there.

Torvald bashes the skeleton that struck him, but it still stands.

Combat Round 1/2
Bold may act
_______________________________________
Bauble, Shel
Skeletons (red: 60 damage; blue: 46 damage)
Eolowyn, Naur, Torvald (21 damage), Vladek

How can Bauble resist. More FIRE!

Bauble casts an intensified burning hands and catches both skeletons in the area as it spreads out after the first 5'.

Burning hands: 8d4 ⇒ (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 3, 3) = 23, dc 18 reflex for half.

"More fire! More!"

Reflex, blue: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26
Reflex, red: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29

The skeleton in the doorway crumbles, but the other still stands

Combat Round 1/2
Bold may act
_______________________________________
Bauble, Shel (delaying)
Skeletons (blue: 57 damage)
Eolowyn, Naur, Torvald (21 damage), Vladek

Since Eolowyn won't be back until probably Monday...

Nuar moves up a bit and upon seeing the skeleton and the results of the previous Fireball he decides on a less destructive option and just fires a volley of Magic Missiles at the foul and slightly crispy undead.

Magic Missiles: 5d4 + 14 ⇒ (4, 1, 4, 4, 1) + 14 = 28

Naur blasts the last undead to splintery pieces.

-----Combat Over-----

And now for some insultingly low skill DCs:

Perception: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (2) + 24 = 26
Heal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Torvald scans the room, looks like we have found Heralt but sadly he is dead. He draws a note from a hidden pocket, he claims to have been murdered by the chelish. He has been throttled, more likely he was killed by the orcs! says the chelish cleric...

As he heads around the room searching it Torvald taps himself a few times with his wand.

CLW: 5d8 + 5 ⇒ (3, 2, 1, 6, 2) + 5 = 19

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

"Hmm. Let's finish exploring and keep an eye out for more notes. Or orcish battle plans perhaps."

Nuar will be detecting of the magics in the room including both doors.

Shel moves forward to the next unopened door and listens before opening it.

Perception 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (2) + 16 = 18

Vladek notices Heralt and his note nearly as quickly as Torvald.

"Do the Chelish have something against throttling people? It certainly could have been the Orcs, but why suspect them when the victim named the primary suspect himself? I'll just ask him to clarify, shall I?"

Vladek sits down beside the corpse, and there is a sense of time ceasing to pass (although it does, and for a full 10 minutes) as Vladek stares at the corpse - those who look into Vladek's eyes see fantastic, terrible, and seemingly impossible vistas reflected in their unbroken opalescent surfaces, moving at lightning speed.

Will DC is 21, but hopefully he's in a helping mood.

Finally, the deafening silence is broken as Vladek speaks:

"Greetings from the Pathfinder Society, Heralt. The pleasure is all ours. Who killed you?"

I get 4 more questions, which I will think of partly based on how he answers this one.

Naur detects no magic auras, and Shel opens one of the doors revealing a smaller, well-appointed room, which has been ransacked like the rest of the fort.

Heralt's corpse's eyes open lazily at the conclusion of Vladek's spell, and a hoarse voice emanates from its mouth.

"Didn't see the bugger. Garrotted me from behind..."

"Well, that's hardly any way to treat a guest. We found your little note. Why would they want to kill you?"

The corpse chuckles hoarsely.

"Well, I was technically a spy. Chelish don't take kindly to spies..."

"We've been told you've found the tomb of Akila. How can we find it?"

The corpse rattles out another answer, the magic starting to fade.

"It's under the fort, alright. I couldn't figure out how to get in, though. The entrance has been sealed and forgotten for almost 400 years..."

"You sent a letter back asking for time to figure out how to get in. Have you been able to acquire any clues or insights at all that might help with opening the tomb?"

The corpse continues its part of the interrogation.

"Didn't have time to investigate further. Leveling the fort and digging straight down might do the trick. Chelish'll object, though..."

Torvald leans out of the window and looks down.

Maybe that big hole knocked into the side of the hill will provide an access point?

It just might. Good thinking. Let's finish looking around up here first, though," Shel says as her eyes move toward the unexplored areas.

Curiosity gets the better of Bauble and he opens the door to the northwest room at about the same moment as Shel says 'Let's finish looking around up here first.' He's feeling particularly brave at the moment (the downside of the heroism spell). :)

"One last thing: It sounds like the Chelish had a secure grasp on this fort when you died. Well, since then it's been overrun by Orcs and undead. Any idea when and how that might have happened?"

Baubles curiosity is rewarded with a ransacked maid's quarter.

The corpse of sighs its last answer.

"Trouble was on the horizon, literally, when i snuck up here to figure out my next step. Clever of me, eh?"

Ransacked, huh? Why would anyone be looking for something in... never mind. Orcs.

Bauble goes looking for some tawdry romance novels.

Love the detail!

Torvald will finish up checking out the rest of this floor with detect magic and some mundane perception in case we missed anything.

Perception: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (7) + 24 = 31

It seems our agent was discovered spying on the local garrison. An unfortunate, but predictable, outcome. I am afraid my countrymen do not take kindly to spies.

The orcs I understand, we are after all in Belkzen, but where diid these undead come from? Dolt, of course! Torvald slaps his forehead. Nuar, didn't you tell us that Akila had some powerful necromantic magic item? Maybe it is active again?

"A ring. It killed with necromantic energy. Maybe the orcs were protecting themselves from a horde of undead. But if so, Who has the ring now?"

Bauble turns up empty-handed in his quest for gentleman's special interest literature.

"Seems that hole is our next area of investigation" Eolowyn offers her opinion.

There's a few rooms on the ground floor you've skipped as well.

"Let's check that door near the entrance we passed. Then the hole."

Shel takes the lead, looking for anything untowards as they approach the next unopened door.

Perception 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (6) + 16 = 22

As usual Bauble is right there with the leader, poking his nose into everything.

Shel opens the door and discovers the remnants of an armory. It has of course been ransacked. A door leads further to the defenders' side of the murder holes, where two stripped orc corpses lay.

Any preparations you want to do before going down the crater?

Eolowyn casts barkskin on herself before she directs Arano down. She has also taken an ioun torch to be able to see anything in the darkness.

"Should I ask Arano to get you down or do you have a means to go down by yourself?"

Torvald recovers his spear and calls Ka to him. Before heading into the dank, dark hole he casts some extra buff spells and activates a wand of bless just in case.

Shield of Faith recovered with a pearl of power and cast and Freedom of Movement on himself, Barkskin on Ka. I have a continual flame on a dead ioun stone which can provide us with light.

Once we are all ready he is happy to lead the way inside and Ka can carry extra people if needed. I also have a Fly spell available, can we see how deep the hole is?

SQUAAAAAAAWK!

Nuar will do a quick search and Detect Magic of the 2 rooms while the others are prepping.

Perception: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (20) + 22 = 42

What a waste of a 20.

After casting detect magic to check out the armory, and trying on various pieces of armor in various odd places, Bauble joins the party in staring down into the hole.

Bauble could cast Fly or Animal Aspect to aid in the descent, depending on what the crater looks like. I'll wait for a description of the means of descent before deciding.

Naur finds nothging of interest in the fort's last two rooms.

The crater slopes down 20 ft, and the hole is 15 ft above the cave floor below.

That's not really worth a spell. Bauble will allow one of the natural flyers to take a look first, then cast shield from his wand and slide down into an acrobatic drop for the 15 feet. If it takes them more than two minutes he will get impatient and go anyway.

Acrobatics and Heroism: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 11 + 2 = 31

Torvald will happily lead the way down on Ka.

Shel's acrobatic abilities should allow her a quick and safe descent.

Acrobatics 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (11) + 19 = 30

Vladek makes what appears at first to be a suicidal leap into the crater, only for his descent to occur at a mere fraction of the speed it ought to, and he lands gracefully on his feet, clothes as unruffled as before.

Flight Hex grants me feather fall at will.

By a combination of flight, magic and skill, you enter the cave below.

This 50-foot-by-55-foot cavern stands fifteen feet tall, littered with stalagmites and stalactites, that make the entire room very difficult to traverse. The only light comes from the hole above. A large rock, about 7-1/2 feet in diameter, rests against the north wall of the cavern, evidence clearly indicating that it punched the hole in the ceiling above. The rock itself is black as night but from it stretch hideous, bulbous vines one to two feet in circumference that stretch all about the cavern and wind down into the other cavern below.

Some of the stalks shudder with a horrible semblance of life and start moving.

Combat Round 1
Bold may act
Shaded areas are difficult terrain (rubble)
______________________________________
Bauble, Naur, Torvald
Plants
Eolowyn, Shel, Vladek

By all the gods what the hell are these things!

Knowledge Nature?: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Muttering quickly Torvald casts a spell on Ka who suddenly grows to enormous proportions. Flicking the reins he pushes him forward and as he does so thick brambles sprout from him covering his armour. As Ka settles into position Torvald leaps down to the ground, this chamber is a little low to be riding a huge Roc.

Cast Righteous Might on Ka, free action for Bramble Armour. Anyone hitting Torvald takes 1d6+4 piercing damage per attack

SQUAAAAWK!

Ka flaps forward 5' and strikes at the red creature.

Bite, righteous might, bless: 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 14 + 1 = 34
Damage: 2d6 + 10 ⇒ (3, 6) + 10 = 19

Claw, righteous might, bless: 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 14 + 1 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
Grab: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (16) + 22 = 38

Claw, righteous might, bless: 1d20 + 14 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 14 + 1 = 28
Damage: 1d8 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Grab: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (16) + 22 = 38

If red is successfully grappled Ka will drag it so that it is next to him and Bauble, akin to a small kitten presenting his first catch to a friend.

Nuar has a kind of if/then command logic. If there re 3+ enemies Then Fireball. That placement should hit all 3 while avoiding allies even if the grab worked.

Kn Nature: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (9) + 18 = 27 Add 3 if it is any of the other relevant monster knowledges. Looking for special defenses, then weaknesses, then special qualities.

Note this Fireball assumes no fire resistances above 10 or elemental weakness other then fire. If that isn't the case Nuar will convert the element and I'll keep the rolls but give you the new damage total. If they have SR Nuar will pull and use a rod of Piercing first.

"Stay back, Time for some fun."

Nuar uses a level 5 slot for an empowered intensified fireball. Even tossing in some saltpeter for an extra point of dmg.

Defensively casting, Can't fail the check.

Fiery Doom: 12d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 3, 6, 2, 2, 2, 1, 4, 2, 5, 5) = 44 +50% = 66 + 41 = 107 fire damage DC 24 Reflex save for half.

SR checks if needed:
green: 1d20 + 12 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 12 + 5 = 32
blue: 1d20 + 12 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 12 + 5 = 33
red: 1d20 + 12 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 12 + 5 = 32