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

Game Master SkipperD

Now, now. Never apologize for a good fireball.

5 charges wand of CLW: 5d8 + 5 ⇒ (3, 3, 1, 8, 2) + 5 = 22

Eolowyn heals herself with her wand. Before she stows it she asks "Are you alright? Or should I heal you?"

While you contemplate the riddle and tend to your wounds, a strangely symmetrical, three armed, three legged, three eyed creature glides out of the brickwork on which the words are chiseled. It speaks to you in croaking Taldane.

"Give food back!"

Base skill exceeds DC.

Vladek's eyes widen as the creature comes through the wall.

"Oh, it's a Xorn! They're from the Plane of Earth. They eat metal and gems. Have we taken any from here?"

"Maybe it likes salt?"

Shel stands back and waits for the others to try to reason with this beast, or she will have to deal with it more directly.

"We have not taken your food. Did someone take it? Where did you see your food last?" Eolowyn asks

I am glad my bow is not made out of metal or gems

Torvald addresses the creature in Terran.

Greetings friend, my name is Torvald and we have only just recently arrived here. We have no intention of taking your food, we are here looking for the entrance to an ancient fortress which once stood here. Perhaps we can help each other out?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (14) + 19 = 33

"Is this your salt?" Qadathra asks the Xorn telepathically. "We did not know who it belonged to if so, but you are still welcome to it!"

Automatic success to aid Torvald's Diplomacy, bringing him up to "35."

The xorn takes an instant liking to Torvald.

It holds out a three-fingered claw in greeting.

Torvald will take its three clawed appendage and shake it rather awkwardly. Aah, there are caves below? Is there perhaps a passageway we could use to reach them? Also, and I do apologise for this, but I don't know what it is you actually eat.

Shel watches on in horror as the group actually begins interacting with the alien. She'd heard horrible stories about beasts such as this, and she wasn't going to let it sneak attack the rest of the group. She kept her knives close at hand.

Linguistics to figure out what it's saying, if possible: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20

Shel suddenly notices Qadathra looking in her direction as his 'voice' echoes in her head:

If your first thought is to attack anything that's simply too strange, you might as well try to kill Vladek and I right now. Fear of the Unknown does not a proper adventurer make!

The xorn points to the corner of the alcove.

@Vladek: You can follow the gist og the conversation.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

Nuar hopes the food it wants isn't the 3,000+ gold we found. When he Xorn points to a corner he'll head over and investigate.

perception: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (6) + 22 = 28

Vladek also looks in the direction indicated.

Perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (12) + 19 = 31 +2 = 33
Qadathra's aid: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Why thank you Casswar says Torvald also taking a look over at the alcove.

Perception: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (8) + 24 = 32

You have been most kind. I do wonder how you managed here with these Barghests about, I hope us removing them has not inconvenienced you at all. Can you tell us anything about what might live in the caves below?

Apart from the salt-stained flagstones, the area indicated by Casswar is seeming featureless.

It licks its lips at the thought of tasty, tasty metal.

After Torvald has translated Eolowyn asks

"We are not capable of earth gliding. You mentioned a shaft in the corner? It seems closed at the top."

Bauble goes over to one of the dead Barghasts and starts removing its talons. He pulls out a wand, the only wand not already decorated with various animal parts, and holds a talon up to it and nods approvingly.

"Any you have glue?" he asks the group.

Casswar gives Eolowyn a puzzled look with two of its three eyes.

"You no rock glide? Weird... Top not thick. Strong claw might remove."

Nuar doesn't need to be a genius to see where this is going. Meh, It's only gold.

In common. "Would you remove it for us? Please?"

"To help good talky man, I remove stones. Should learn to glide. Is very useful."

Casswar skillfully tears up the floor, revealing the lip of an old sealed well, its sides stained with heavy deposits of salt residue.

Shel stays silent. She still wasn't sure everything was copacetic. She frowned at the fairie dragon.

Torvald heads over to look down the hole. Thank you very much Casswar, can you tell us how big the cave system is down there?

How wide is the shaft and can we tell how deep it is?

The shaft is 5 ft wide, and, assuming you have a light source of sorts, it's 40 ft deep but breaches the ceiling of an undefinable large cavern.

"Top caves not big. Deep caves veeeeery big."

"A lot of effort to just take the stairs. Who's first?"

Nuar only has Light up.

"Bauble go first! Bauble can fly."

Shel takes the second spot, falling in behind Bauble. "Naur, do you think you could cast light on one of my kukri? I don't want to be stumbling around in the dark, while I'm looking for traps down there..."

"Sure. I can only have one up at once but it should be nearer the front."

Nuar casts light in the kukri.

When everyone is ready, Bauble will cast fly on himself and swoop down into the cavern, squealing with delight. So much for stealth.

Caswwar waves goodbye as Bauble flies down the shaft.

The descent through the stone well shaft ends in a vast cavern. The walls, floor, and ceiling are a glistening, crystalline white, and the entire chamber is smoothly sculpted into a wonderland of snowdrifts, high embankments, and perilous slopes in a winter mountainscape frozen in stone. The beauty of the scene is marred only by the debris and filth gathered in the hollow below the ledges that surround this chamber.

How are the rest of you getting down?

Need to retcon something. I forgot Nuar doesn't normally memorize Light. With both Low-Light and Darkvision 60 feet he doesn't have much use for it. But I can switch out Mending for it if you are okay with that.

"I could Feather Fall us down but then how would you get back up?"

Nuar hovers over the hole.

Shouting down to Bauble: "We'll be down soon! If anything tries to eat you just scream! Then duck!"

Nuar is smiling as he says it.

Torvald has a heightened continual flame spell active on one of his implanted ioun stones so light shouldn't be an issue.

Thank you Casswar, you have been most helpful. I wish you well for the future and if there is anything we can help you with please just ask.

Torvald mutters an invocation to Erastil, grant me your wings my lord. Floating into the air he looks around, anyone want a lift down? he asks. As for getting back up, well between the two of us I am sure we can find a solution

With that he will drop into the hole taking anyone who wants a lift. When he gets into the cave, if it is large enough, he will activate the statue and bring out Ka so he can start riding him.

Torvald casts fly on himself

"Yes, thank you Casswar." He takes Casswar's claw and gently shakes it. "For what it's worth, I truly enjoyed meeting you!"

With that, he enters the hole with minimal fanfare, seemingly walking straight into his death, only for his fall to prove so unnaturally slow that Qadathra hops off his shoulder and flies in circles around him in mid-air seemingly just for the show of it.

With my Flight Hex, I can feather fall at will.

Regarding light: I have low-light vision, of course, and Qadathra has both that and Darkvision, but for what it's worth, I also have my (standard) Wayfinder, and I also happen to have prepared dancing lights today.

Shel will hitch a ride with Torvald. It shouldn't burden him too much with her small stature.

Speaking of perception, Bauble will cast heightened awareness from his wand.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 10 + 2 = 18

He's having a blast swooping around the room, occasionally careening off walls (fly skill of 10 but he's going a bit too fast for safety), but he does not notice anything strange. He's much too busy having fun.

How long did the battle and discussion last? He had a shield spell active for 10 minutes and I'd like to know if it expired.

Eolowyn fastens a rope, allowing those without flight capabilities to easily climb down.

As the rest of you join Bauble, Naur, Torvald and Vladek realize that you're not alone...

Surprise Round
Bold may act
____________________________________
Naur, Shel
"R"
Torvald
"G"
Bauble, Eolowyn, Vladek
???

@Bauble: Your Shield spell is still up.
Knowledge (planes) to identify the critters.

kn Planes vs R/G/U: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (2) + 21 = 23
kn Planes vs ???: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (15) + 21 = 36
+2 if they are devils. Primary interest defenses. Secondary interest is vulnerabilities.]

"Sneaky hiding things. Be ready."

Nuar casts Haste on the party.

Haste all around.

Ah, it's a Knowledge (nature) for some of them, but you still make it.
The four identical creatures are gargoyles (monstrous humanoid [earth], DR/magic, no vulnerabilities)
The last one is a half-fiend gargoyle (outsider [earth, native], DR/magic, immune to poison, resist [acid 10, cold 10, electricity 10, fire 10], SR)
??? hasn't revealed itself yet.

The hell-tainted gargoyle flies closer while barking an order.

Surprise Round
Bold may act
____________________________________
Naur, Shel
Half-fiend gargoyle
Torvald
Gargoyles
Bauble, Eolowyn, Vladek
???

I have put Ka on the map as I assume there was time for me to get him out while the others were climbing down. Also I cannot tell from the map which is the half fiend one?

Watch out everyone, flying enemies are about!, with that Torvald intones a quick spell calling on the blessing of Erastil for himself and Ka and then Ka flies them out into the middle of the cave, inviting attack!

Come at me you monsters if you dare!

Torvald casts Divine Favour, spell sharing it with Ka. Ka flies into the cave rising up to the ceiling to give a good view of the area

I've marked the half-fiend with an "F".

Two of the gargoyles rush Torvald, one of them straight into his longspear.

Attack v Torvald: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Attack v Torvald: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29
Crit?: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

The two others slink past the cleric to engage the rest of the party in melee.

Surprise Round
Bold may act
____________________________________
Naur, Shel
Half-fiend gargoyle
Torvald (7 damage)
Gargoyles (yellow: 26 damage)
Bauble, Eolowyn, Vladek
???

Are they evil? If so the 28 will miss. Also, what are they attacking with as he currently has DR5/bludgeoning

Vladek gives one of the gargoyles his Evil Eye.

Blue must make a DC 23 Will save or take a -4 penalty to attack rolls for 11 rounds - and it still takes the penalty for 1 round if it succeeds.

Qadathra blasts the other one with his magic.

magic missile vs red: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 1) + 2 = 4

Eolowyn is busy getting down and does not pay attention to her surroundings. She is totally surprised by the ambush.

GM, I have a ring of featherfalling

Kn Planes: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

When his turn comes around Bauble will be looking for
1) Special defenses, particularly vs. his elemental spells though I suspect someone else will get to this first.
2) Armor class
3) Hit points/hit dice

@Torvald: They are indeed evil, which is why I didn't roll damage for the first attack. You were hit by a claw, so bludgeoning+slashing.

Will, blue: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

The gargoyle succumbs to Vladek's hex, while Qadathra blasts another.

Suddenly, the wall behind Eolowyn and Naur starts to move, and a salty fist swings out at the ranger.

CMB: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (7) + 26 = 33
Damage: 2d10 + 11 ⇒ (4, 6) + 11 = 21

Eolowyn gets flung back, slams into Bauble and lands on the salt-encrusted floor.

Damage v Eolowyn and Bauble: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Combat Round 1
Bold may act
____________________________________
Naur, Shel
Half-fiend gargoyle
Torvald (7 damage)
Gargoyles (yellow: 26 damage; green: -4 attack; red: 4 damage)
Bauble (6 damage), Eolowyn (27 damage, prone), Vladek
Elemental (improved cover)

Seeing blue next to her, Shel turns and begins slicing and dicing the creature with her two kukri.

Attack with GMW 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 14 + 2 = 30
Damage 1d3 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 2 = 7

Offhand Attack with GMW 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 14 + 2 = 17
Damage 1d3 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 2 = 5

Attack with GMW 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 2 = 19
Damage 1d3 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 2 = 6

Offhand Attack with GMW 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 2 = 7
Damage 1d3 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 2 = 5