PFS PBP Gameday 4 The City of Strangers—Part 2: The Twofold Demise (Inactive)

Game Master Vahanian 89

"Pfft, a contract under duress is no contract. And I didn't sign anyways... You never heard me say 'I agree' now did you?"

Looking angry after being color sprayed in the face, Reavis picks up his dropped bow and asks, "So, we going after them or what?"

Searlas nods and begins to give chase with Reavis.

"Well mechanical junkheap, the letter of the agreement to let her walk out of the room alive was kept. Now lets make Hania proud and smite some evil!"

Where in her 5 rounds unconscious, then 4 rounds dazed and blinded is Hania?

"Ooh, trust me on this one: You don't want to argue litigious semantics with an automaton from the plane of law and order," Azuk says almost mockingly. He repeats, "Seriously, trust me on that."

He and Warden follow the group outside to give chase, though, as the mechanical man is still bound to protect its charge in any dangerous situation.

Panting as he gives chase he snaps back between bounds "I know his type... the worst he'll do to me... for that little trickery... is refuse to help... I'm no criminal... By his definition..."

Dembar will give chase with the others, and with his 40 feet fly speed should be able to catch up to her. He'll use psychic strike on her as soon as he's within 30 feet of her, and if she is still running when he gets within 15 feet, he'll cast burning hands down on her.

Lol so you murder the fleeing pathfinders. Ok. What now?

Once Hania is conscious again and everyone is ready, Reavis checks the north door in the dining hall for traps and sounds. If no traps are found, he then opens the door once everyone is lined up behind him.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Well, one of them is unconcious but still alive for questioning. And if the other is in a position to be stabilized I'll give it a shot, but no love lost for her if she doesn't make it.

The burning hands would kill them. When you open the door you find a well maintained kitchen. but thats it.

Will post later, but if the party is ok with it since the big threats seem neutralized I'll take 20 searching rooms

"A pity when blood is shed that could be spared, but their callous disregard for those not part of their fight makes them dangerous to leave to their own devices. Considering their level of skill, I suspect they were in charge of this compound. Since they cannot be interrogated we'll need to find some paper evidence of their allegiance and rationale for these assaults to satisfy our society's leadership. As for Dekar, the bodies should be enough. Lets take our time, search each room thoroughly (Take 20 for a 27) and systematically. Bats are common enough here that Dembar should be able to scout out the areas through the portcullis without fear of ambush (I have no idea what the disguise DC is for that, but I suspect it's really low since you're an actual bat). If there are any more beasts, goblins, or shadow lodge agents here..."

Searlas pulls out the scroll of invisibility and continues "Reavis should be able to breach and clear before they have a chance to respond. Any survivors should be stabilized as quickly as possible (Feel free to roll mine for me as needed, Heal +0, +1 if I have time to cast guidance first) for questioning and delivery to the Duskwardens."

Taking 10 on all Perception checks on doors for 16

Reavis checks the western door in kitchen, and if he doesn't find anything inside, he checks the double doors in the hallway south of the dining hall, opening the one of the doors and examining the room.

Okay, so here's the plan since I think we're trying to quickly finish by the 20th. If both those rooms are empty, checking the other unexplored doors in a counterclockwise manner, before stopping at the cell doors. If the cell doors are locked, Reavis will see if anyone has disable device or found a key.

You dont find anything of note in any of the courtyard rooms.

Hania follows Reavis around, ready to deal with any enemies that are behind the doors he opens.

Agreed. In fact in order to speed things up further, most of the party has a perception of at least +0, so for each room if everyone takes 10 to aid another on searching the room, and I take the point, that will give a 10 +6 (My skill) +1 (Guidance) +10 (Aid from Reavis, Hania, Dembar, Azuk, and Warden) for a total of 27. Counterclockwise order is good with me too.

Taking 10 on Perception and checking in counterclockwise order works for me.

Ok, so 27 Perception for searching each room for loot or notes. Counterclockwise should be as follows:

Kitchen
Room attached to kitchen
Courtyard (including bodies of the agents)
Northwest room attached to Courtyard
Southwest Room next to the entryway
South Room

If there are any encounters in any of the rooms you can pause and we'll go from there. Otherwise feel free to just give us a list of everything we find. After that we'll continue into the cells.

I concur with Searlas' plan.

Sounds good to me!

You find 2 potions of cure light on the bodies. The southwest room is a armory that's would be important if faction missions were still a thing. When you get the south room you hear.

"Who is it?" A voice asks from the room.

Warden could really use some healing if anyone has any to spare.

Healing for warden from Hania's wand:
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
once more:
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Anyone else?

In response to the question, Reavis just opens the south door and looks inside.

Searlas does his best impression of the man out front. "Give me a hand, the goblins are wrecking everything! "

bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Lol Searlas gets Ninja'd as Reavis opens the door.

You see a man behind a desk writing out what looks like a letter. He abruptly stands drawing his sword. "Society Eh? Well I was mostly done here anyway!"

He then advances round the desk to stand in front of the door blocking entrance! He also readies his blade.

Attack on first in range: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Round 1
BG
Party

I assume that, as our standard marching order, Reavis and Hania are closest to the door when it opens. Hania has been walking around with her sword and wand of cure light wounds in her two hands.

Yeah, sorry about the ninja'ing. Reavis isn't the most subtle guy.

Figuring the man might be carrying some correspondence worth not burning, Reavis fires an arrow at him instead of throwing bomb.

Longbow + PBS: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

After Reavis shoots, Hania walks up to the enemy and smacks him with her sword.

attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Uggh, not going to even bother rolling damage...

edit: clarified that I was smacking the enemy, not Reavis...

So was it Reavis or Hania who was the target of that attack?

Dembar flies above the heads of his allies and uses his psychic powers to damage the man.

psychic strike: 1d6 ⇒ 4 DC 13 Will to negate, if he fails, also shaken for 1 round)

Searlas moves in behind Reavis until he can see the man, then unleashes another spell.

Daze DC15

Azuk has a spell ready to go when Warden steps past him, reaching out and touching the robot on the arm to activate a shield of pure force around it.

Mage armor, Warden's AC is now 19.

The automaton stomps into the room and attempts to smash the man.

Slam attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Slam damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (6, 4) + 3 = 13

It would be Vs Hania, as Revis is too far away. Also if you move to there Hania he will get an AoO.

Will Dem: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10
Will Sear: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Ok he dies.

So Hania took 7 damage.

wand of CLW:
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

All full...

Hania looks around carefully.

take 20 on perception gives 20.

"Would anyone mind giving me some aid in keeping him from bleeding out? Looks like someone with lots of information we might need. "

Anyone with a wisdom score of at least 10 can aid and give a +2. If at least 2 people do I can stabilize with take 10

After that, Searlas binds him in a corner, checks him for any more gear, and continues the search as before, saving lengthy interrogations for later.

Hania helps Searlas stabilize the enemy (take 10=10). After he is tied up, she feeds him one of the potions they found on the previous enemy (just occurred to me that I could have used those and saved wand charges...) to try to bring him back to consciousness.

Wait... I thought you can't take 10 to aid another. If my memory is correct, Hania has Searlas quickly tie him up first, then gives the potion, which will stabilize him.

Hmm, you might be right. I'll check the aid rules when I'm at a desktop. If that's the case then any time anyone needs me to aid them on a check, roll on my behalf. Searlas is helpful and will rarely say no. My character sheet should be up to date for all of my skills.

Hania is correct, you can't take 10 to aid another.

While the others stabilize the unconscious man, Reavis searches the office area for information or anything useful.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

You find some letters that he was writing that would have been important for faction missions and he has a potion of cure light. You also see a lever you think might operate the closed portcullis outside the office.

Have you checked the secondary success criteria document? Usually for the old seasons one of the faction missions ends up being everyone's 2nd prestige mission or some strange amalgamation thereof.

Searlas gives a glance at the captive. "We'll be back to speak with you further..."

He then turns to to the rest of the party. "Lets continue on securing the area."

Reavis waits for the others to question the captive and search the area before opening the portcullis.

Not opening the portcullis until the others have finished doing whatever they wish to do.

Hey, back at a desktop! With a keyboard!

"Quite right Reavis, I shouldn't be so hasty."

Searlas turns, looks over at the captive, then slowly and loudly drags a chair over to about 3 ft from him before stepping over it and sitting down. He glares at the man for a good 10 seconds before suddenly launching into a flurry of questions, comments, and statements, leaving little to no time to interject.

"What is your name and affiliation with the Shadow lodge? In fact, forget your name. Your name is now Shadow Lodge Agent. No... that's too long and cumbersome to say. Agent. Your are going to answer all of my questions in the name of justice. You see, there are 4 types of justice that you are currently subject to. As you know, your Shadow Lodge has participated in multiple unprovoked attacks in the last week, including at least one that has the Duskwardens searching for you. The justice of Kaer Maga would see to it that you hang for your crimes. There are also several gangs in this town who hold autonomy when it comes to their business. Business that your Shadow Lodge has damaged. Besel Ardoc and Dekar would likely both have you facing execution as well for your interference. You have besmirched the name of the Pathfinder Society and assaulted it's agents, however imprisonment by the Society might actually result in you keeping your life with cooperation. And then of course there is justice of the sword. You drew your blade on us, we could quite easily have run our blades through your unconcious body. You tell us all you know about the shadow lodge and help us sift through these documents, and you can choose which justice applies today. Otherwise, we take the easiest route for ourselves."

Diplomacy+Burst of Insight: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

Add 1 to that diplomacy roll... I forgot to add my actual ranks. If you feel that should have been intimidate instead, the check would be +11 instead of +15 for a total of 25.

If we go with Intimidate over Diplomacy, Azuk aids another.

Intimidate aid another: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

+2 on the roll.

Rereading that diatribe, I think it probably more closely resembles intimidate. With Azuk standing over cracking his knuckles the whole time, that would give me a sleightly lower result of 27 instead. Searlas is mad today, what can I say?

Hania stands next to Searlas, her hand on her sword hilt, her entire posture one of warning. Her eyes spark with warning.

aid another, intimidate: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

with another +2 from Hania, that brings the total up to 29

Before you even go to wake him up you notice the 3 letters. They seem to have a lot of information that the Society can use to figure out more about the shadow lodge. With this leader alive they have even more information that they can glean. As for trying to get him to talk anything short of torture, which is an evil act, he says nothing. What do you do?

"Let's leave him tied up while we finish looking around. Then we can take him back with us and see if the Decemvirate wants to try to get something out of him. As long as we take him with us, we have fulfilled Dekar's request. As long as he is still alive, there is hope that he can come to see the light of truth and goodness."

I'm assuming that we've now carefully explored everywhere except the cells.