PFS PbP Gameday: GM Beman's Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible (Inactive)

Game Master Deane Beman

The city of Padiskar near the northern tip of the Isle of Jalmeray is not so much a city as a ring of small villages surrounding a massive, howling ruin, from which terrifying screams of whatever the Vudrani Maharaja Khiben-Sald left there in ancient times can still be heard. The new Venture-Captain Vasuman Mihir maintains a small safe house for the Pathfinder Society here, taking over from Padiskar's longtime Venture-Captain Aamina Shahrazad, who was recently murdered by men loyal to Zamir, a bandit lord and rumored Aspis Consortium agent who operates out of the nearby jungles.

Venture-Captain Mihir's briefing was short and serious.

"This is a fake scepter of the arclords,” he said, hefting a bejeweled staff in his hands bearing glowing runes across its surface. “You will lead a caravan toward Niswan carrying this false relic and several crates of minor magical items. My porter, a young boy named Waman, will give you a detailed travel itinerary, which you must follow with care. Except that it is almost certain that you will be ambushed before you reach your destination, since young Waman is a spy for the Aspis Consortium and has sold out and murdered a dozen or more of our brethren and associates, including our former venture-captain—I'm sure of it. The scepter is bait in a trap, and you are the teeth. Do not let on to Waman that you know of his transgressions—we need him to lead us to his master, the bandit lord Zamir. We'll either make Zamir our man or disrupt his business permanently. I'll deal with Waman myself once this affair is resolved.”

Venture-Captain Mihir held up a second item, a plain-looking but easily recognizable wayfinder. “This wayfinder is also a fake, although unlike the scepter, it does have real power. The dial always points to the scepter.” Mihir demonstrated, moving the wayfinder in a circle around the scepter, the needle pointing unerringly at it.

“Waman gave Zamir information that enabled the bandit fool to steal artifacts from dozens of our caravans and even from safe houses such as this one. Zamir has a method of disassembling the artifacts so that he can smuggle them off the island with ease, bound for ports of call in Cheliax. What we do not know is where Zamir is, since he never attacks with his men.”

“I gave Waman the information about your journey, so at some point along the route, Zamir's bandits will ambush you. Previous experience indicates that his bandits will not kill if they don't have to. Let them steal the scepter. You must put up a small struggle, maybe even kill or injure several of his men, but most importantly you must let them escape and they must escape with the scepter."

“Give them a few hours after the ambush to escape and then use the wayfinder to track Zamir to his hideout. Zamir is an arrogant man whose loyalties lie with whoever can make him famous to the people of Jalmeray. Right now he believes the Aspis Consortium is the answer. You will either convince him that the Society is the answer—as he could be a very powerful ally in the region—or you'll end his operations for good. How you handle it, I leave to you. Good luck on your journey and may the gods guide your hand.”

fiery dot

A large man wearing a poorly-made and rusted Scale Mail rubs his chin. He speaks in a deep, emotionless voice:
"Sounds simple enough. Perhaps it would be good to capture some of the thieves, just in case the wayfinder do not work."

"Captain Mihir, can you tell us more about what the society has to offer him? Would be good to know more about the Jalmeray in order to better convince Zamir."

"That may be wise," Tromos nods to Roland. "A backup plan in case Zamir's disassembly disrupts the wayfinding enchantment."

The gnome with the wild blue hair grins widely, and sparks rain on the floor as he rubs his hands with glee. "Oh, this will be a glorious trick!" He stops in mid-gloat, suddenly dismayed. "But how will I keep from killing too many of them? Perhaps..." He chokes on the words. "Perhaps I shouldn't use fire." There are few things that look sadder than a sad gnome, and right now Bendaxalon's crestfallen face is nearly hitting the floor.

“Zamir is a rebel and a bandit and the people of Padiskar know him from his youth as a fool who desires fame above all else. This is why I think his loyalty to the Aspis Consortium is thin at best and there’s a chance he can be brought to our side rather than simply slain. Play to his vanity...that should be all it takes to sway him.”

Any idea where the others might be?

At first, I was missing cause I had nothing to add. Then, I hurt my back at work and getting up and down and what not hurts like crazy... But I am here now!

A tall Ulfen man looks awestruck by the gnome's words, but says nothing to him. His red hair stands in a mohawk, and he wears his beard long and braided. He is adorned in scale mail and caries a rapier at his side.

He listens intently to the questions of the other Pathfinders. Then, "Let us be off then, aye? Seems to me we're wastin' time chattin' here."

A tall, trim human man wearing fashionable clothes beneath a black cloak stand up and adjusts his spectacles.

"Guilford Baldwin at your service, captain. I agree with my fellow Pathifnders. Your briefing was quite thorough. Let's be off!"

Purchased Cloak of Resistance +1 for 1,000 GP and a Wand of Magic Missile for 2 PP

Tromos picked up a Wand of CLW with PP, so we should be alright on the healing. Let's get to it!

Tromos nods to the rest, having nothing more to add before the group embarks.

Bendax Brillam sighs and nods assent, torn between excitement at the trick they're going to play on Zamir, and sadness that he will have to hold his inner dragon in check to pull it off.

"If you will forgive me, my brothers, I don't think that we should really kill this thieves, since we were told they usually don't kill the guards of the items. Nevertheless, my first swing will be with full strength, to bring some adrenaline in their veins. It helps in removing their attention from the details of our stage, but if my sword strikes true the bandit will be beyond salvation." He pauses for a bit and exhales heavily. "Anyway, the capture option is quite a good one, so does any of you have any spell to knock some of them unconscious?"

Has any of you realized why is it called Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible yet?

Daxal L'amor looks dumbfounded. "Knock them unconscious with fire? Ridiculous --" he pauses in mid-gesture "-- or is it? If the heat energies were refocused from direct combustion into explosively generating a wave of force, then..." He wanders off, muttering to himself.

There is now a 33% chance that he will take Merciful Spell for his next feat.

A short mousy man wearing a green cloak with an iron clasp of a down turned bow and arrow comes up as you are disembarking. He carries a longbow, wears studded leather armor, and has a boar spear strapped to his back. You get a general woodsman vibe from him. He comes up after speaking with the Venture-Captain a short bit and then heads in your direction. "Hello fellow Pathfinders! I am Hiram, I will be helping out on this mission. It is my first and while I wear green I assure you that I am not." Turning towards the large man asking about capture, "Yes, I am taught in the ways of capture and interrogation, I have blunt arrows which I can use to slowly whittle away at a hereti--I mean--bad guys."

"Hiram! Good to see you old friend! Let us venture together and slay some heretics, and thwart evil!"

After some last minute preparation you find Waman in the safe house and get the map and instructions from him regarding how to guide the caravan to Niswan. It is a long way to your destination, as the coastal route is blocked by floods and are therefore forced to go through the jungle.”

At the end of the second long day of travel through rough hills, a campsite comes into view. Smoke curls upward from a small fire, where a man is tending a roast on a spit. Three more men are setting out bedrolls and four mules are picketed beside a pile of sacks and bundles nearby. They are camped exactly on the ambush site described in Waman’s itinerary.

So what are you doing? Some stealthy spy-work? Charging in and attacking? Packing up and going home? 8-D

The group all stands there for a bit, flummoxed by the twist to their plans. They were supposed to be the ones camping there! Bendaxalon finally breaks the befuddled silence. "How about I just go in, make some friends, and find out who they are?"

"I for one, am not very sneaky. Perhaps we should try diplomacy first."

"That sounds reasonable enough, fellows. We'll keep close enough to support you if things turn sour. Bendaxalon, Would you like one of us to go with you?"

Roland was about to say something to the gnome, but he gives up and shuts his mouth, lifting his shoulders in a 'whatever' way.

Has any of you realized why is it called Assault on the Kingdom of the Impossible yet?

Haven't the foggiest.

"If our diplomatic assays fail, a pair would be safer ahead," he nods. "I shall stay with the caravan, however. My skills are less useful in brawls."

Roland raises his eyebrows and walks toward the gnome. "Well, let's go then."

Bendaxalon approaches the camp openly, not at all bothered by any stares he might receive; he's used to it, and generally assumes that it's just because gnomes are so interesting to look at. (Sometimes he's even right.)

Smiling widely, he waves a greeting. "Hello and well met!" Given the chance, he introduces himself and inquires about other good campsites nearby, since the men chose so well that it was in fact the exact same one that the caravan had been planning on.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

Hiram agrees with the diplomatic approach. He walks forward with Bendaxalon, keeping his bow ready, but not nocked, just in case--he's seen to many parleys turn into melee. Hiram goes along with the gnome and interjects any other information bolstering the gnome.

Diplomacy (Aid Another): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

"Well met fellow travelers! We weren't expecting to come across anyone on our way to Padiskar...but you are welcome to share our food and fire if you wish to do so."

Assuming you take the men up on their offer....

The men appear to be traveling merchants and are setting up camp for the night. They seem cautious but polite and friendly, and claim they are traveling to Padiskar with cloth and carpets to sell. One of the men greets you warmly as he introduces himself. "I am called Samarjit; and these lads are Phalgun, Talose and Dmitir."

Who is in the camp at this time?

Sense Motive: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 12

The gnome beams. "I'm Bendaxalon, and these are my friends Roland and Hiram. We're helping a caravan to Niswan, and it has been a very long day, so we would like to camp soon. Right here, if you don't mind." He carries their answer back to the others.

Funny how this game is moving so much slower, with some of the same players. I guess we can handle skeletons and ghouls easier than rug merchants.

As I said, I'm just guarding you. So shine little gnome with the blue beard!

Tromos is still chilling at the caravan, waiting for communications.

Bendax senses that Samarjit means no harm to the party...yet he isn't being truthful about his purpose.

Roland speaks with the gnome at a moderate tune, without caring to be overheard (he wants that, of course):
Sir, I don't think we should bother them. We can find another place to camp and so they will sleep in peace.

I am not sure who all went forward and who stayed back...

i GMPC'd everyone forward...but like Tromos if anyone wishes to hang back just say so. I'm going to bump the story along later this evening...

The colorful little gnome shrugs at the words of the looming human. "I suppose that I can go on a little farther, if that's what most want."

"Yes, let us camp slightly apart, but not too far. We can keep an eye out for bandits, and a larger camp will be a greater deterrent."

"That sound wise to me, Erik. There is some degree of safety in greater numbers. Thank you for your kind offer to share your food, fellow travelers. We are well-provisioned and wouldn't want to inconvenience you, though."

The Pathfinders make camp next to the traveling merchants; some small amount of camaraderie takes place particularly as the ale begins to flow. Judging by the quality of weapons that they carry it is becomes increasingly apparent that these are no mere merchants; but it is clear that they mean the Pathfinders no harm.

Suddenly several arrows rain down upon the campsite; some from the south and some from the north. {b]"Bandits!"[/b] the merchant who was introduced as Phalgun exclaims. Samarjit retrieves his longbow from one of the supply wagons before declaring "Zamir's men are upon us. Take at least one alive if you can!" With that he quickly fires his bow deep into the woods...and the remaining travelers follow suit. The sounds of men screaming in agony is heard seconds later.

This combat encounter is atypical...the bandits have acted; as have the "merchants." The party may act now in any order...but remember your mission instructions! As Hiram is likely at his wedding reception as I type these words it will be my honor to take his action for him!

Map: Camp Ambush!

Hiram always keeps his bow close for occasions such as this. Knocking an arrow he fires at one of the bandits towards the north and takes one clean in the shoulder. "Mind the package gentlemen!" he says to no one in particular.

Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16, Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Bendaxalon looks over at Samarjit with surprise. "What, you too?" Chafing under the need to allow the ambush rather than defeat the foes, the gnome who thinks he's a brass dragon casts a defensive spell instead of killing three with one blow.

The clever sorcerer thinks about what he would do if he were actually trying to defend the caravan, and just wasn't very good at it. Jogging five yards toward the bandits, he grabs a cute little morningstar from his belt and waves it menacingly. "You. Shall. Not. Pass!"

SA: Cast shield for +4 AC and +4 flatfooted AC.
MA: Move 15' NW, N, N.
FA: Draw morningstar while moving.

Well shucks.

Do the trees provide concealment?

Tromos hurriedly unslings his bow from over his shoulder. Reaching into his quiver, he draws an arrow with a heavier, rounded tip.

Attack the south-eastern most bandit of the northern group with blunt arrow, non-lethal.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 5 - 4 = 13
Nonlethal damage: 1d8 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 6

Guilford steps forward 15' and unleashes his telekinetic fist attack against the closest standing bandit.

Ranged touch attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Confirm?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Crit. damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Please, where is the caravan and the package? So I can attack someone moving away from it.

Feel free to approximate where the party set up camp...I'm assuming you had the foresight to leave the package in the open.

"BENDAXALOOOON!!" - screams the deep voice of the not-furious barbarian, pretending some concern about his companion. He moves closer to the gnome, making a wall at the north. and leaving the south open if the others move as well.
Bluff if needed: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

I apologize for my absence. My wife went into labor Saturday afternoon and delivered our baby boy yesterday morning! I am just dotting for now, will post later tonight

As excuses go, it doesn't get any better than that. Congratulations!

Congrats! Glad to hear everyone is healthy and happy!

Erik moves 30 feet closer and casts cause fear on the closest bandit. DC 15

This game will begin on 10/5/13.

Hello again, Beman! Dotting. Tromos is just about finished up with First Steps, Part I, so he should be ready to go by the 5th.

Speaking of, a rules question that came up in the current scenario: Can splash weapons (such as alchemical bombs) be thrown at empty squares?

Barring any official ruling I don't see why this shouldn't be allowed; when RAW is unclear (or unwritten) I usually defer to common sense unless someone with authority tells me to do otherwise!

Hmm, we are lacking a healer hun?
Walter Filho signing in.

Cool. If you did restrict splash weapon attacks to creatures and intersections, I wouldn't have protested, but at future tables I'll probably just assume that terrain is implied to be a legit target. The object rules do leave a lot of wiggle room for DMs to be quite pedantic, though.

Player: I throw an acid flask at the ground.
DM: Alright. The foundation of the Material Plane is a colossal object, so it has -5 AC.
P: Uh, ok, so-
DM: But you're on a cobbled city street, so the ground has total cover. Can't attack it.
P: What? Fine, I attack the cobbles.
DM: A single brick is a diminutive object. 7 AC.
P: I don't care which one I attack, just hit the street!
DM: The street includes several hundred bricks, so it would be a swarm.
P: ...a swarm of diminutive bricks.
DM: Yep. Make your roll.

Anyway, current scenario has concluded, so Tromos is free and clear for gameday. I'm probably going to 1st-level-retrain him to Elf beforehand--Aasimar are neat, but their fluff is just too weird. They're born to human families, but they age like elves? Too heavy.

This is Eric reporting in with my inquisitor!

Hi, Derek here with my wizard. I noticed some concern about a lack of healing. I'd be plenty happy to run my lvl 2 cleric. He's a bit battle-oriented but does have a cure wand and good buff spells.

I can use Cure Light Wounds twice a day

I'll b honest, I've been thinking lately that I might want to play the cleric more as I transition him into my top backup character. The only reason I didn't switch was because we already had two inquisitors. I didn't want to crowd the field with holy men. I'll leave it you GM. I'll switch if you let me, but otherwise I'm happy playing Guilford.

No worries...no one is locked into the character that they signed up with until the game officially starts...but only play your cleric if you want to; this is an older scenario and you'd certainly be able to get by with 2 Inquisitors handling the healing duties.

As per PM, here's Bendaxalon! The scenario that he's currently in is cutting things a bit close, but when it finishes he'll be level 2.

Bendy! This is Krash aka Arithas! I'm glad your in this one too!

Aha! I didn't recognize you in the Ulfen disguise. Nice to see you here!

For those who are experiencing Bendaxalon for the first time, I went all-out on naming the little guy since he has the Gift of Tongues alternate racial trait, and male gnomes typically choose elaborate names for themselves anyway. He ended up with four names in one: Bendax Brillam + Daxal L'amor + Xalon Morrow = Bendaxalon Brillamorrow. He might use any one of them at any time, but his non-gnome friends mostly just call him Bendy.

As for healing, he can help out-of-combat with UMD +7 and a wand of CLW.

Well, you certainly surpassed my cleric on the matter, not a tongue gifted but a truespeaker...

Hiram here. Actions bleed faster than words.

This is Michael Keith

This will be a fun scenario; one of those adventures where it's possible (and sometimes preferable) to talk your way out of trouble!

1. Please make sure your PFS # is somewhere in your profile. If you'd prefer not to display it publicly you can PM it to me.

2. Please put the following information in the class/level section of your profile: Class Level (archetype) - HP - AC: /T: /FF: - Perception - F: / R: /W: - CMB - CMD - Speed - Init.

3. Faction Missions are no longer given out and a secondary success condition must be met in order to earn that second prestige point.

4. My expectation is that everyone will post at least once every 24 hours during the weekdays. I plan to update the game each morning between 6am and 8am US Eastern Time. If you haven't posted by then I reserve the right to act on behalf of your character.

5. I will be using Google Drive (formerly Google Docs) for all maps. Everyone will have the appropriate permissions to move their own tokens; but if you're posting from a tablet or a phone and are unable to do so just describe as best as you can where you want to move and either I or one of the other players will move your token for you.

6. My assumption is that everyone "Takes 10" on passive rolls like Perception when exploring areas and searching for loot.

7. When combat begins I will roll initiative for the group and post an initiative order.

I think that's about it...time to put the finishing touches on your characters. I'll open up the Gameplay tab later tonight so you can dot the thread and roleplay a bit; but my expectation is that we won't kick down the first door until Monday morning.

Have fun!

Baltazar did not finish the module he is in, so I'll have to play something else. Recently made Barbarian to help the front liners in this module.

I think that I have Bendy fully leveled and cleaned up. Please tell me if you see any problem areas, while I go work on Dasiji for the other game.

Hiram and Guilford are missing then?

Yes, missing indeed. I've been trying to decide who to play, but for now Guilford's my only free charater that I don't need to keep open, so that decides it!

I am also extremely busy this week at work, and running a game at my FLGS tonite, so I've been preoccupied with that. Sorry!

Hiram should be posting this evening

I am getting married on Saturday. We are working really hard to get everything together so I might miss a day or so here at the beginning and I will be absent from Saturday (duh) through Wednesday (Oct 12 - 16). I will be very surprised if I get a chance to post during my honeymoon.

Congratulations! And how dare you! I mean, congratulations. I might miss a day or two here or there because of business trips, which I'm sure is totally equivalent. ;)

Indeed...congrats on your upcoming wedding. No worries about taking a break for a few days; I expect posting on the weekend to be sparse anyway and we have a few months to finish a relatively short scenario.

I will also be leaving unexpectantly sometime between now and the 17th for a day or 4... Baby coming :)

Wow! Congratulations to all of the humans on their pair-bonding and breeding. It is a beautiful thing, except for all of the messy biological parts, which we will politely pretend are also beautiful anyway. (But seriously, best wishes, good luck, congrats, and all that.)

Congratulations for the boy young skywalker!

Congratulations Hiram and Erik!

I'm back! The wedding and reception were beautiful. The honeymoon was beautiful as well with clear skies every day we were on the Oregon Coast. Thanks for the well wishes. Since I know Erik IRL, we will be going to see the little one soon.

Congrats & welcome back. My wife and I visited Oregon last year & spent a day at the coast. Beautiful part of the world....

I just recovered from my last trip, and now I find out that I'm leaving for the next one today instead of tomorrow. I'm very sorry, I'll try to post something fast.

Well my new wife's grandfather just passed away. We are leaving on a very early flight on Tuesday morning to head back east. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update.

Take care Hiram. We're sorry to hear that.

Yes, I'm sorry for your loss as well. I wish you and your wife the best during this difficult time.

Soooooooo many diplomats in our team! -1, +0 and -1!

EDIT: Another +0!

My diplomatic answer is ready, but I'll wait for everyone to add something before spoiling the whole scene...

Aside from any roleplay you want to do we're essentially done. The Chronicle Sheets are available for download on the Campaign Info tab.

Thanks for the game!

My condolences to you and your family, Hiram.

So, that was it? How many encounters did we skip through Diplomacy?

You didn't skip them...you just managed to avoid combat. Essentially the monks & the final encounter and, to a lesser extent, the agents you met prior to the bandit raid.

First I was thinking they WERE Zamir's bandits... Anyway, well done everyone!

Thanks for a good game GM Beman! It was a fun one, and a nice change from combat-heavy adventures!

Huh. Well, good job everyone! Talking our way through things despite no one having any Charisma to speak of.

Yeah...you had decent enough high rolls to allow Aid Another rolls to push you over the top. Convincing Zamir to join the society was the secondary success condition...so I'm glad you were able to make those rolls.

Thanks for the table, Beman.

Any word on chronicle sheets? I'd like to get Tromos into another game within the next couple days.

Link is underneath the blurb on Campaign Info tab.

Thanks. Neat boons. I like that there are a unique rewards for multiple resolutions, haven't seen that before. The 'Recruit Zamir' reward seems a bit better than the 'Kill Zamir' one, just enough so to make the players who took the more delicate approach feel justified, but not so much to make the other players feel ripped off entirely (Prestige Award notwithstanding). Mask of the Tiger's Eye seems to be basically a masterwork tool for Intimiate, if anyone was wondering like myself.

If Guilford is still around, would he mind letting Tromos take a peek at his spellbook to jot down a couple extract formulas?

I can't find teh Mask of the Tiger's Eye...

Mask of the Tiger's Eye

This mundane item is worn by students, veterans, and teachers of the Tiger's Eye form of martial arts in Jalmeray. The mask uses up the “head” slot for magical items when worn by a PC and provides the wearer with a +2 circumstance bonus to Intimidate checks. Cost: 55 gp.

My paladin would want that...