PFS PbP GameDay 2: The Godsmouth Heresy (1-2) (Inactive)

Game Master John Woodford

Volfie AoO: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 1 = 9
Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 1 = 5

Volfie snaps at the man as he passes, then circles around to attack the man again.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 2 + 1 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 + 1 = 7
Trip: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 2 + 1 = 10

Seeing the man come near, Arnthoth takes a swing and a bite at him.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 1 = 26
Damage: 1d12 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 9 + 1 = 19

Bite: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 7 + 1 = 24
Damage: 1d4 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 8 + 1 = 10

Round 2 (ongoing):

Initiative order
Chochok-acted/Kyra-acted/Number One-acted
Svillenius-acted/Raavan-acted
Arnthoth&Volfie-acted
Keno-/Valt-

Volfie misses both times, but Arnthoth does not. The man is staggered.

Keno and Valt up!

Zombie: -6 HP
Svillenius: -29 HP

AoO: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 231d4 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Bad Dog! Confirm?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 51d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Valt will follow up with another bite!

Bite: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 221d4 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Between Valt and Arnthoth, the heretical alchemist falls, having taken enough damage to kill him outright!

Now can someone finish off the zombie?

Valt also lets out a victorious howl when the man falls! "Awrroooooooo-oh, wait, we're supposed to kill guys like that, right?"

Keno will channel to heal his friends!

Heal!: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Round 3:

With Kyra healed enough to act, she channels to harm undead. The zombie resists the worst of the wave of positive energy, and then Chochok cuts it down with his dagger.

Out of combat!

Channel damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

DC 12 Will save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Dagger to zombie, incl. banner: 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 + 1 = 16
Dagger damage, incl. banner: 1d4 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 1 = 5

My heavens! What was this fella doing down here? Keno will go to look at the scroll that the man was holding and then will look around the room with fascination.

The map is a little confusing there. All you can see, looking north, is a 10' wide hallway with a 10'x10' pit in the middle of it, blocking the way. You can tell that the hall continues for a ways after the pit, and opens up into another room.

Keno will give the room a more-through look around, hoping to find a way to cover the pit or get around it.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

The scroll is part of a treatise on necromantic applications of alchemy. The collection, in fact, is the complete books and notes of an organization known as the Chymists of Life in Death.

The equipment is a full alchemist's lab.

ETA: There's a 3" wide ledge along the western edge of the pit, but you figure it's going to be tough to cross (DC 15 Acrobatics check). On the other side of the pit, you can see a couple of wooden boards that look to be around twelve feet long. The bottom of the pit is where you fought the crawling hands, if you hadn't figure that out already.

Arnthoth begins searching the area for not so secret doors.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Know Religion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Meh, seems like nonsense. Keno tosses the scroll to the ground, losing interest. Well, so how are we gonna get over that pit? Jump? I'm not sure I can make it. What's at the bottom of it?

Keno will go look.

"I could chuck you across," Valt suggests.

See my edit above re the bottom of the pit. It's a twenty-foot drop.

Ah, well if someone could move across the ledge we can use the boards to span the pit. We could even try that door if we wanted. Keno does not volunteer himself of any of this.

Arnthoth shrugs, and takes a running jump at the pit.

Acrobatics!: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Landing on the other side, he grabs the boards and lays them across the pit.

This is one of the confusing parts--there are no doors on your level (at least, no visible ones). What you're seeing is parsimony on the part of the people who drew the map, showing multiple levels on the same image.

Ah ok, I guess we can just move across each pit using the boards, unless someone has another idea as to where they'd like to go.

Arnthoth, before you can do that three figures emerge from the room to your north. All are clad in fine (if much the worse for wear) female dress clothing, which does not hide the fact that two are actually skeletons. The third is a heavily made-up woman; the makeup cannot hide the telltale signs of decay on her face, though. In a cold voice, she asks, "Who are you, and what have you done with Svillenius?"

She looks like THIS.

Oh! Well, I'm Kenotrixjemel Brightbramble, of course! I'm sorry, but who is it that you are asking about? Maybe we could help you.

Diplo: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

"If Svillenius was the man stealing bodies from this place and employing them as undead servants, then he paid the ultimate price for heresy against Pharasma. If you are in league with him, you will be sent back to the boneyard."

i'm assuming we healed our injured? Here is a cure light if needed.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

She might be working towards tolerance of the gnome, but Raavan's words quickly undo any goodwill Keno earned. "You can't help me, if Svillenius couldn't." The woman gestures at the two skeletons. In response they begin to set up the boards for you to cross. As the boards are put in place, she says, "I'll make my own way to the Boneyard." Then she jumps off the edge.

"May Pharasma judge you worthy." Raavan says a short prayer as he watches the woman jump.

Sort of assumed she was already undead, but here is a knowledge check anyway to see if her condition might have been reversed.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Raavan, based only on your limited exposure to her, she may have been a type of freewilled undead called a magus zombie (which has nothing at all to do with the character class, but I think the source it was taken from predated Ultimate Magic). They are created from arcane spellcasters, and they retain their spellcasting abilities and their personalities. The interesting feature of these creatures is that because of the retention of personality they are not necessarily evil.

The skeletons stand still after they get the boards in place, and do not resist when you attack them.

Investigating the stairway up, you find that it leads up some sixty feet, ending in a tiny chamber with a single door. While the door is visible from this side, it opens out into the active part of the Godsmouth Ossuary, and the other side is extremely well-concealed. (Even taking twenty, none of you have enough Perception bonuses to find it.)

That concludes the main part of the adventure. You have slain the body thief and found out how he was able to get into the Ossuary; you've also explored a significant fraction of the catacombs. We can call it here or continue long enough that you can finish the exploration. There are a few monsters and traps left, but nothing that will give you a challenge. What would you like to do?

I don't think Pharasma considers the alignment of undead relevant, so Raavan is at peace with the woman's fate.

In their brief of the heretic's chambers and the discovery of the secret exit to the Ossuary, Raavan doesn't feel fully satisfied and suggests a little more exploration, then the recovery of the strange necromantic ring left in the northern side of the catacombs.

I'm fine with calling it if everyone else goes that way, but if nothing, at least recover the ring.

Chochok shakes his head. "Whoa. . . that was weird," he continues to look at his own hands curiously. It was like. . . I wasn't controlling myself there for a bit. Strange. . . " the occultist gets really quiet as he thinks over the odd experience.

I'm fine calling it. We accomplished our mission. Having trouble keeping up right now anyways and even once we get internet back on Monday my wedding is next Saturday so needless to say I'll be busy this week.

Either way is fine here. I don't know if people need their chronicles for another game, if I play anything in person it wouldn;t be until August. I think we need to report this by the 9th, correct?

Since Chochok's connectivity & availability are problematic, and Kyra is dealing with family & exhaustion, I'll wrap it up here. For the last post, though, I'll assume that you do a little more walking around.

After exploring the bedchamber that the magus zombie came out of (it appears that she and the alchemist were romantically involved, and that he was trying to restore her to life), the party elects to return to the large central chamber. A shock or two reveals that the statues of the Runelords are trapped, but the statue of Pharasma is not. There are secret doors behind each of the statues, which the party decide not to investigate.

Returning to the pit room, you find that someone has been there before you--the medallion is missing from the body, which is looking a little less well-preserved. When you go back past the locked door, though, you find it standing open, and the medallion has been placed in the seven-pointed star indentation on the door. The room beyond it is the terminus of a tunnel leading down which the GM recommends you not take, as this is one of the places where the boundary of the module is not well-defined. Perhaps the magus zombie survived her fall, and escaped this way....

But now it's getting late, and you have to report to Valanthe Nerissia...and you've found some interesting information to take back to the Pathfinder Society.

The Ossuary attendants are shocked when you emerge into their demesnes from the hidden door, and quickly convey you to their leader. She listens to your report in silence, nodding at a few points, and looks with interest at the map you've prepared. "Thank you all very much for your aid. I think we can take it from here." She pays you as promised, and you're on your way.

And that's it. Thank you all for playing, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll get the chronicle sheets out and the scenario reported soon.

Thanks for running! Let me know if you run something else.

Nice wrap-up! Thanks for running! The list of things I can play is ever-shortening but if you run anything listed on my EndlessForms profile I'm in.

Yeah, I liked this one. It almost seemed like there could have been a followup to it down that hallway, shame there wasn't.

Most of the stuff I can play now are either 1st level modules or things 5+ now. Outside of the brand new scenarios I think the only 1-5 I have left is The Prince of Augustana.

Thanks GM! Had an excellent time and the party makeup was fun

Yeah, I liked this one. It almost seemed like there could have been a followup to it down that hallway, shame there wasn't.

Lots of hooks for followups in this one--the tunnel leads to the old Thassilonian prison levels; that black stone where you fought the festrogs is something that we could use in EF's Shattered Star, because it's a portal to the Dark Forest; the pit where you fought the necrophidius leads to a dungeon under Kaer Maga inhabited by mohrgs and zombies; and there's another shaft down in one of the places you didn't get to. Here's how it's described in the module:

This narrow shaft drops straight down into the earth. It can lead to wherever the GM wants—a deeper level of the ossuary, another site beneath Kaer Maga, an exit in the cliff face, or even a new dungeon of the GM’s creation.

This would be a good dungeon to run before starting Thornkeep.