PFS: The Emerald Spire: Level 1--The Tower Ruins (CORE) (Inactive)

Game Master R D

If a goblin skulks in the darkness and no-one sees it, does it still skulk?

Everybody healed up? Any last minute preparations, questions, or adjustments before we move on?

Desh, are you taking my bow and arrows? (I suggest you do! :D)

Otherwise ready. Well, as ready as an elven wizard with dwindling usefulness will be for these encounters. :)

Ready.

OK. Desh sees the goblin where I've indicated on the map. He seems to be alone. There's a bit more rubble strewn on the ground where I've not yet revealed the map. (No mechanical change to your movement; it's still difficult terrain.) The goblin seems to be using the extra debris and the tower wall for cover. We're in combat again!

Cëanel and Flyndal are up first!

Sorry about the long absence, my posting rate will be pretty reduced for some time due to real life. Please tell me if that's too big of a problem to cope with, I'll understand.
Also, how many combat rounds passed last time around? I can't figure it out and need to know how many bardic performance rounds I used.

Cëanel double moves 4 squares due east, seeking cover, or rather, almost stumbling into it. "Little I can do but cheer you on, Desh," he says as he passes the half-orc.

No worries, Zamoros. :-) Real life happens. Since we kind of had you keep on keeping on--even when you were unavailable to post--why don't you just deduct 3 rounds of bardic performance. I believe that means you have 4 rounds remaining.

Cëanel double moves.

Flyndal is up!

Flyndal is up! Then the goblin will act.

Again, sorry for being unavailable for a few days. I’m back in the saddle now. :)

And I definitely would have pointed that gobbo out so the goblin-speaking of us (is that only Cëanel?) could try to engage it to get some info for us, but am happy to roll with it since I missed my chance.

I’ll have Desh suggest we parley with it on his turn.

Desh, are you taking my bow and arrows? (I suggest you do! :D)

Otherwise ready. Well, as ready as an elven wizard with dwindling usefulness will be for these encounters. :)

I’m happy to take them, but i have 5 javelins and 2 daggers (which, while lower range, will grant me better average damage). And if we can keep a light source on Flyndal and Desh (as well as at least one with the rest of the crew), Kay should be able to at least target what’s immediately around the advance/melee group.

I’d suggest keeping a Light spell on something Flyndal carries or wears (at his discretion), and then–when time allows—see if we can get Cëanel to prep a second casting of it to have Desh put on a button of his clothes … allowing him to keep it covered much of the time (while scouting), but quickly be able to reveal it so that his area is lit up. in those circumstances, would those without Drakvision and at range be able to target creatures in the illuminated area even if there is Darkness between them?

Welcome back! :-)

Botting Flyndal to move things along.

Flyn double moves up

The goblin is waiting around the wall. He clearly has a readied action. It's hard to tell what he has in his hand(s) because of the cover. He looks like one of the tougher "commando" goblins.

Sorted Initiative Order:
Cëanel: Acted
Flyndal: Acted
Goblin: Ready
Kohinoor
Zamoros
Desh

Kohinoor, Zamoros, and Desh are up!

Kohinoor moves up as well, casting Light on a small piece of rubble.

Move to move, standard to cast light. Next turn, I'll give it a toss.

Kohinoor moves. Zamoros and Desh are up.

Zamoros is a bit tied up IRL, so...

Zamoros, too, double moves.

Sorted Initiative Order:
Cëanel: Acted
Flyndal: Acted
Goblin: Ready
Kohinoor: Acted
Zamoros: Acted
Desh

Desh is up!

The light will only illuminate 5' out, if I understand correctly, regardless of where it is, so the only way to create a larger lit area is for two characters or items to shed light next to each other. It will also kill Desh' darkvision, so he shouldn't wear a light source. I was wondering, GM, if folks with low-light vision get any extra distance in their vision or if it's a flat 5' for everyone...

Anyhow, I'll keep the bow and arrow. And I can try parleying, or something.

Darkvision only beyond 5 feet. Low-light vision doesn't help.

They way the effect is worded, I'm fine with saying that Desh can see with darkvision, regardless of what light sources are around him.

...wait, Darkvision only has a range of 5 feet, or am I understanding that incorrectly? If that's the case, these immune goblins are total b~%~!es.

No, I believe he means only Darkvision is functional beyond 5'. Desh has had no trouble seeing through the darkness up to this point, either.

Desh halts when he senses the goblin, growling as his eyes and speartip point at its location ... like a wild dog on point. He stalks forward, putting himself between the goblin's location and the softer members of the group.

"Goblin. There." He raises his voice a bit, "Hey! Goblin! You speak Taldane? Or do any of us speak his tongue?"

Move into position, ready an action to stab it should it close on us. Mostly giving Cëanel the chance to try interacting with it before we 'splode it.

And, if the space allows it, put Desh 10 feet out in front of the group, so it it throws anything at Desh, the distance might mitigate who actually gets caught.

Yep, Desh's vision is fine--light source or no.

Desh Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Direction: 1d8 ⇒ 8
Desh Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Desh steps into a certain square. The goblin pulls something. Rocks fall. Desh dodges back towards the party. The goblin runs as soon as he pulls whatever it was. Before the rocks completely block the way into room A5, he notices that the goblin runs into a passage behind a concealed door!

Desh spits out a few choice orc curses as he rolls to his feet. "Next time we get a chance, grab one of these little guys."

Did we do an actual search of A3? It looked like there were some beds and what-not, and those may have had some useful items. If we didn't, and we can still act like we did...
Perception, A3: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

After that result is revealed, Desh moves southward from the fallen-rocks trap, stalking into the darkness. "Eyes peeled. He'll be waiting fer us in here somewhere."

Moving south from that A5 room.
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Koh lets the light fade from her piece of rubble, returning it to her holy symbol, and puts a hand on Desh's shoulder. "I appreciate that you tried to talk with it. Perhaps we've scared them? We did kill their guards, and their...dogs."

Falling in near the back of the group, she keeps a firm grip on her longspear, letting the holy symbol hang from her sash.

Desh nods, "Hard to squeeze information out of a dead goblin." He looks back at Kohinoor with a wolfish grin ... little more than a baring of teeth, "But don't worry, they'll squeal."

Then he stalks forward.

Yep. You searched A3: Piles of rags and bones are piled up into nest-like beds around this circular room.

Map updated.

Heading south, you encounter a set of double doors.

"Finally, I can be useful," says the elven wizard, rolling up his sleeves. "I can open these doors with a spell at a distance, but we should be ready for goblins, or traps. Or do we have to worry about traps that drop rocks on us? Calistria's Teeth, perhaps we should check the door."

"And Desh, next time we encounter a goblin, and chance to parley, I can try speaking with them...not that they may be amenable," says Cëanel.

"If you can open it from far enough away, we may not need to check the door. However, we shouldn't let this slow us down. I'm sure the goblins have ways of getting behind us, and with this lighting, an ambush could be disastrous."

Desh stalks forward, wary of threats as he checks the door for traps or locks.

"And if they're ahead of us, expect more ambushes or traps."

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10; +1 vs. Traps
Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

If a trap is found, or the door is locked.
Disable Device: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Desh discovers no traps or locks.

"Kay," Desh says as he steps back, reading his longspear, door's all yours."

Cëanel casts Open/Close, his other hand at the ready to release an acid dart.

"I'm still wondering if anything is safe in this pit," says the elf.

From this curving room, doors lead east and west, and a passage leads south. A small table with four rickety chairs sits in the middle of the room. A pair of dice lies on the table amid cups and plates.

Map updated.

As she moves cautiously into the room, Kohinoor stops for a moment to consider the dice and the table-ware. "I didn't think goblins used cups, or possessed the intelligence to play dice...much less the concentration. We may have other people here."

Cëanel casts Detect Magic. "Don't touch anything. I assume this entire place is poison, myself," he says casually.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

The party starts to walk in.

Nobody sees it coming--the goblins hid really well. But nobody is surprised either--you came in ready. (Though, you're flat-footed until you act.)

The Red Goblin goes first:
- Standard Action: Shortbow at Desh: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16, Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2
- Free Action: Drop shortbow
- Move Action: Draw shortsword
____________________________________________________________

Kohinoor and Cëanel are up next! You just saw an arrow thunk into Desh. But, you cannot yet see the enemy.

Lyffan, where are they?

My familiar has Scent. What's the ruling at aiming Grease at a spot it can identify? No attack roll needed, obviously.

Scowling, Kohinoor moves straight forward, dropping her spear and drawing her sword.

Will move three spaces south and draw my scimitar. Don't have the BAB for an attack too once I'm within sight range, so...

Kohinoor bravely moves forward.

Cëanel consults his familiar to target Grease. You can target an area with your familiar's guidance; that's fine.
____________________________________________________________

Red: Acted
Kohinoor: Acted
Cëanel
Blue
Zamoros
Flyndal
Desh
Green
____________________________________________________________

Awaiting the remainder of Cëanel's action.

Cëanel casts Grease in the area of the goblin, guided by his familiar.

There are 3 goblins ... which one are you targetting? And do you have any specific thoughts on the Grease's position? And it looks like the spell's DC is 16?

To avoid any further issues with party mobility, I'm going to say that he targets the farthest goblin (blue). (Goblin Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21) The goblin doesn't seem to mind.
____________________________________________________________

- Standard Action: The blue goblin attacks: Shortbow at Desh: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17, Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1
- Non Action: Then he moves out of the Grease. Acrobatics: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

Desh has taken a grand total of 3 HP damage thus far during this combat.
____________________________________________________________

Round 1
Red: Acted
Kohinoor: Acted
Cëanel: Acted
Blue: Acted
Zamoros
Flyndal
Desh
Green
____________________________________________________________

Zamoros, Flyndal, and Desh are up!

Desh tries to ignore the pain of the two arrows that graze him as he steps into the room, longspear stabbing at the elusive (Red) goblin.

5’ step south. Then stab at Red.
longspear: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Desh attacks, but misses.
____________________________________________________________

Round 1
Red: Acted
Kohinoor: Acted
Cëanel: Acted
Blue: Acted
Zamoros
Flyndal
Desh: Acted
Green
____________________________________________________________

Zamoros and Flyndal are up!

Flyn rushes down to help Kohinoor with the pair of goblins she faces. "Let's clear this blace of bloody gobbers and be done with it!"

Move to right of Koh
Target Green
Mwk Cold Iron Greatsword, Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

Aaaaaaaand the magic dice are back.

Oh, my! Sorry, Flyn. :-(

Flyn attacks and misses.

Zamoros moves up, but has nowhere to go without getting in the way of other party members.
____________________________________________________________

Green attacks: Shortsword: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22, Crit?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4, Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Kohinoor takes 3 HP of damage.

We are now in round 2.
____________________________________________________________

Red attacks: Shortsword: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5, Miss!
____________________________________________________________

Round 2
Red: Acted
Kohinoor
Cëanel
Blue
Zamoros
Flyndal
Desh
Green
____________________________________________________________

Kohinoor and Cëanel are up!

Zamaros is getting botted at the moment?

Kohinoor screams a short scream as the goblin's sword pierces her armor just below the ribs. She swings her sword wildly, trying to keep the goblin at bay as much as hurt it.

Scimitar: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Damage?: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Zamaros is getting botted at the moment?

Yep. He said that his posting rate was going to be reduced due to real-life demands. He is most welcome to retcon that action, if he has something else he would prefer to do.

Kohinoor strikes back, but misses.
____________________________________________________________

Round 2
Red: Acted
Kohinoor: Acted
Cëanel
Blue
Zamoros
Flyndal
Desh
Green
____________________________________________________________

Cëanel is up!

Sorry for the lack of targeting last round--I had sick children to rustle.

Cëanel shifts to behind Desh and unleashes an acid dart at the blue goblin.

Acid Dart: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Concealment Hi Is Good: 1d100 ⇒ 21
for: 1d6 ⇒ 2

Miss. This is really hard. Any nearer goblins and I'm firing into melee or with cover.

Cëanel fires a dart, but it's off target.

Blue retaliates. He intends to prevent the party from being able to heal:

- Standard Action: Shortbow at Kohinoor: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15, Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 1
- Move Action: Open door
- Non Action: 5-foor-step
- Free Action: "ਘੁਸਪੈਠੀਏ!"

Round 2
Red: Acted
Kohinoor: Acted
Cëanel: Acted
Blue: Acted
Zamoros
Flyndal
Desh
Green
Pink
Orange
____________________________________________________________

Zamoros, Flyndal, and Desh are up!

I'm supposed to be to the right of Koh, which would have granted an AOO on blue...

I guess I'll just stick with it, since we're this far in.

"He's calling for others," says the elf in an ominous tone. "These goblins are very prepared and organized."

Discuss here.

The MAP is read-only. I recognize that there's a trade-off: you won't be able to move your characters. But, there's a lot of stuff here. Rather than trying to edit the map, leaving it read-only "hides" some of the surprises.
____________________________________________________________

If you need to make purchases, please list them here.

Please also list:

Player Name:
Character Name:
PFS Number:
Faction:
Day Job Roll (if applicable):

PFS Number: 156771-1
Player Name: Christopher Huisjen
Character Name: Kohinoor an-Gul
Faction: Silver Crusade
Day Job Roll: N/A

Kohinoor buys a Longspear (5gp) and two each of the following scrolls (25x8): Obscuring Mist, Command, Hide from Undead, and Bless. Total is 205 gp spent. I'll save the rest of my coins for later, but I think between my spells and those scrolls (and the wand Desh said he bought) I should be good to go.

Player Name: Ben Jolly
Character Name: Desh Greyskin
PFS Number: 121383-7
Faction: Grand Lodge
Day Job Roll (if applicable): None

_____

GEAR CHANGES

• Sold
studded leather (+12.5g)
thieve’s tools (+15g)

• Purchases
masterwork chain shirt - 250g
masterwork thieve’s tools - 100g
Potion of CLW - 50g
2 acid flasks - 20g
2 Alchemist’s fires - 40g
Backpack - 2g
3 days rations - 1g 5s
5 torches - 5c

Gold remaining: 47g 1s 8c

______

Prestige Spent: Wand of CLW (2 prestige)

Player Name: Jimmy Lomax
Character Name: Flyndal Danwrick
PFS Number: 125008-5
Faction: Exchange
Day Job | Profession (Merchant): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

~~  Sold  ~~
Greatsword | 50gp (level 1 re-gear)

~~  Bought  ~~
Mwk Cold Iron Greatsword | 400gp
Shortspear (x3) | 3gp
Acid (x2) | 20gp

Backpack | 2gp
Flint & Steel | 1gp
Waterskin | 1gp
Trail Rations (x5) | 2gp, 5sp
Torches (x5) | 5cp
Bedroll | 1sp

Gold remaining: 98gp, 3sp, 5cp

~~  Prestige Spent  ~~
Wand of Cure Light Wounds | 2PP

Will also pick up a wand of CLW with Prestige. Didn't know how that worked.

Will also pick up a wand of CLW with Prestige. Didn't know how that worked.

It costs 2 Prestige Points--which you got from the last scenario.

You can reference purchases/costs in the (free) Guide to Organized Play. (Page 26.)

Update: I forgot to list 1 purchase - a morningstar. Need some kind of bludeoner, just in case! I'm updating my whole list, below:

~~  Sold  ~~
Greatsword | 50gp (level 1 re-gear)

~~  Bought  ~~
Mwk Cold Iron Greatsword | 400gp
Shortspear (x3) | 3gp
Acid (x2) | 20gp
Morningstar | 8gp

Backpack | 2gp
Flint & Steel | 1gp
Waterskin | 1gp
Trail Rations (x5) | 2gp, 5sp
Torches (x5) | 5cp
Bedroll | 1sp

Gold remaining: 90gp, 3sp, 5cp

~~  Prestige Spent  ~~
Wand of Cure Light Wounds | 2PP

Player Name: Eric Santiestevan
Character Name: Cëanel "Kay" Firdhanor.
PFS #: 135388-7

No day job.

8 gp, 4 sp, 7 cp. I just got a few more things for the road... :)

Should we try to recruit a 5th?

I'm sure if we posted a quick offer in the Flaxseed thread, we'd get another body pretty quickly. Everyone fine with this?

I have no preference either way. I feel like we're pretty balanced, but if you'd like to bring in another body, that's fine with me.

Engleaktig, you care if I drop a note in the Flaxseed thread to see if we get any takers? People are usually pretty quick to respond over there.

And if someone does express interest, do you want me to ask them to join on in? Or would you like to vet them first?

I put a recruitment post up in the Flaxseed thread. If we get a bite, I'll point them this way (or to Engleaktig, if that's preferred). If not, we can proceed with whom we have.

EDIT: nvm ... he wasn't actually interested in Core, even though I clarified with him.

Second recruit inbound. A bard.

Player Name: Theodore Berman
Character Name: Forlorn Zamoros
PFS #: 150618-51
Faction: Exchange
Day Job: Perform (oratory) +10

Some equipment changes must be made on my part, I just applied pregen credit to this guy.

Forlorn Zamoros, meet GM Engleaktig.
GM Engleaktig, meet Forlorn Zamoros.

:D

Heeeey, I'm also Dolgarth in your Carrion Crown AP. Cheers!

Welcome aboard!

That sounded like a green light to me. If your purchases are done, we're all in the gameplay thread. :)

My RP could be pretty weak here, I've got a family emergency and while it doesn't mean I can't post, it does mean it won't be as high a quality as I'd like it to be.

No worries. Hope everything comes out OK for the family.

Sorry about that massive tactical outline, Engleaktig. I just wanted to be proactive and just give you a conditional set of actions instead of slowing down the pbp by doing a series of q&a back-and-forth posts so I can make an informed decision.

No prob.

I'll post later today--family errands will take up some time. If I need to be botted, Kay will move and shoot an arrow (while complaining quietly)

Sorry for double post. 3/7 Channels used, Bless used (Converted CLW). Want to try to keep track, so I'm not using stuff I don't have.

Kohinoor (and anyone else, really), I’ve come up with a system that helps me track resources (both daily as well as campaign resources) in PbP … cause as you pointed out with that post, it can be a headache.

You won’t see it utilized heavily with this character—because Desh really only has his Orc Ferocity racial ability to track on a daily basis as a rogue—but on most of my other characters, I track resources in a “TRACKING” spoiler at the top of my profile.

Example: Simon Zoraelius, one of my other PFS characters.

For simplicity, below is the text block I use and have modified for Kohinoor.
If you want to adopt it, simply copy/paste it into your own profile (be sure to remove the space after the “s” in the spoiler tags), and modify as you see fit.

Basically, the top two sections are for class abilities and then spells that need to be tracked. You can edit your page and mark off any uses you expend during play, and it stays up to date with you. As a prepared caster, I find it easier to show how many you can prep per day, and then actually list out which spells you’ve prepped for that day. Once you cast a spell, I’d suggest you use the strikethrough tags to show that it’s used (as opposed to how other resources are shown tracked as a block amount remaining). I’ve struck-through Bless in the block to show you how, though obviously you should undo that if you use this (as you haven’t actually cast Bless yet).

The third section is helpful for tracking all those items that we run across during a PFS scenario/module … this lets you keep them separate from your purchased, permanent gear. I used this last game with Desh when he picked up the extra lengths of rope and stuff from the river thugs we killed in the initial encounter. Basically it helps me remember what all I actually have in addition to my purchased gear. And it’s easy enough to simply remove all these items after a scenario/module is completed.

The final section is helpful or tracking expenses incurred or items used or lost during the scenario. When I drink a potion, lose ammunition, use charges on a wand, or spend money on picking up gear mid-scenario, this lets me keep an account of those things separate from my gear block. While this may seem redundant, it has been invaluable on a few times when a pbp game folded (and I then had to reverse engineer what items I had actually used or not used back to the pre-game status).

Hope it’s helpful.

_________

[s poiler=Tracking]Class Abilities
Channel Positive Energy (DC 12): 7/7 remaining
Fire Bolt:  5/5 remaining
Touch of Good: 5/5 remaining
.
Spells
Orisons (3 available): Guidance, Light, Resistance
1st Level (2+1 available): Magic Weapon, Bless, Burning Hands
.
Scenario Temp Items
none
.
Expenses incurred in-game
none[/s poiler]

has anyone gotten any updates from Zamoros? I hate to just keep botting/skipping him, but I also hate to lose momentum when we know he's unavailable.

Haven't heard anything. He's only missed two encounters so far; he's still good.

Cool. I hate for him to miss out, but I'm sensitive to PbP games dragging out because of inactive players. It's a pet peeve of mine.

Yeah. I see where you're coming from. Kohinoor pointed out on Wednesday that I was pretty quick to bot Zamoros. So, I wanted to give him more of an opportunity to post yesterday.

Thats fair. More than anything, it's good to make sure we're all on the same page. :)

Yeah, it seems like with as many targets as we've been fighting, and as spread out as they are, there's not a lot of options for pure casters, and the lighting situation makes it worse for them. All in all, I'd much rather follow Flyndal through that door and take the fight to these guys than stay pinned down here.

Sorry, guys. :-(

A lot of Emerald Spire has shenanigans like this. I don't think it's a spoiler to tell you that one of the levels is called: "The Drowned Level." Guess what players get to do in there? ;-P

I don't have a problem with it, personally. It's much more interesting than "there's four goblins, perfectly flat battlefield, ready, go!"

LOL!

We shall get through it all, I'm sure!

And a pure caster Conjurer Wizard is a good utility spell caster. You know, to prepare multiple castings of Air Bubble...(wait, is that Core? o.0)

Sorry, guys. :-(

A lot of Emerald Spire has shenanigans like this. I don't think it's a spoiler to tell you that one of the levels is called: "The Drowned Level." Guess what players get to do in there? ;-P

Drinking games? :)

I bet it's Strength checks. Lots and lots of Strength checks.

As long as we don't have to listen to The Drowning Pool over and overl, I'm good.

whoa--nearly didn't type the L in Pool...

"Let the bodies hit the floor!
Let the bodies hit the floor!
Let the bodies hit the..."

Sorry...

ROFL!

AGH! Where's a Silence spell when ya need one?

"1. Nothing wrong with me
2. Nothing wrong with me
3. Nothing wrong with me
4. Nothing wrong with me"

Truly, no better lyric has ever been written.

Okay, I'm very sorry for my silence, but I've been having some major real life issues to wreak havoc with my posting. My posting rate is going to be greatly reduced (I might be lucky to post once per day) and if that's too much of a hassle to put up with GM, I guess I'll understand.

No worries on my part. I wish you well for your real life issues. If you don't mind, I'll bot you when you're unavailable.

The strongest goblin!

wa da fa with these dice! :D

Posting will be rough until Friday. Please bot me/delay as needed. I'd like to heal Desh with his wand this round if I can.