PbP GameDay 2: PFS 00-08 Slave Pits of Absalom (1-2) (Inactive)

Game Master DM DoctorEvil

First my post got eaten yesterday, then the website crashed in the middle today. It's like this game is cursed or something...

The party moves off towards teh west (prow end) of the boat, sending the Dancing Lights ahead of them to illuminate the slave-filled hold. Being careful to stay in the central aisle and not disturb the sleeping crew, the group sees there are two doors in the prow end. As they begin to move that direction, the left hand door opens, and an enorumous gnoll with a scar and patch over one eye emerges snarling at teh group. Trembling out behind the mighty humanoid is the Vudrani slaver Pardu Piladpush.

In the Belly of the Beast - Round 1

23 Milo
21 Archibald
13 Darvan/Sahba
13 Tobold/Tug
10 Pardu
4 Gnarl Bonegather

All the party is up first before the bad guys get to act. Good luck!

How far along did we get before this happens? We're still where we were when we first entered the hold on the map

And who let the damn slaver out of the cage we locked him in! Aw well, now Tobi can beat him up right proper

and is the gnoll really size large?

The gnoll is large-sized, yes, Enlarge Person does that to you. The party is where they stand on the map (moved forward just a bit). The slaver is down-right tricky to get from the cell to the ship before you...

Hmm... seems an inconvenient place to be enlarged!
Aw well, maybe he'll end up squeezed or something.
Probably not a good place to cast burning hands... less I want to torch slaves too. =)

"Another one of these gits?" Milo says, with disgust, as the gnoll comes out of the far cabin. "And a right big one too." He adds with a concerned frown, a moment later.

"Dunno who let you out of your cage." He shouts to Piladpush, "We'll try a coffin next time!"

He moves up into the clearer area by the central mast, winds up, and hurls a ball of flame at the gnoll.

Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11, for 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11 fire damage.

edit: Bah... at least its touch... and he's bigger, so that will help.

The flame reforms in his hand.

"Or more likely, an urn." He adds, with a wicked grin.

I agree, not sure why he's enlarged below decks instead of enlarging the guy above decks, but it's tactics as written.

In the Belly of the Beast - Round 1 - continued

Milo tosses a ball of flame from his hand, striking the gnoll captain who howls mournfully as his flesh chars.

Anyone else is up before the bad guys have a round at you.

Darvan orders Sahba to attack, then charges the enlarged gnoll himself.

Swift action: Order Sahba to attack the gnoll
Handle Animal (Link): 1d20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 4 = 23

Full-round action: Charge the gnoll
Attack (Shillelagh, Charge): 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 2 = 15
Damage (Shillelagh): 2d6 + 5 ⇒ (3, 1) + 5 = 9

Sahba charges the gnoll as well, but her teeth snap on empty air.

Full-round action: Charge the gnoll
Attack (Bite, Charge): 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 2 = 12
Damage (Bite): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Archibald stumbles toward the back of the hold, trying to keep the hem of his robes dry, but to no avail. As Darvan rushes into the fray, Archibald casts his burning disarm. "Bad dog! Drop it..."

Tobi and Tug rush past Milo to assist their allies with the gnoll.

Tobi's Melee Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Greatsword Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Tug's Melee Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Bite Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Trip Attempt: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Wow...

Wow is right, that's alot of really bad rolls in a row!

oh, and burning disarm has a 30' range. Archi needs to stumble the other direction to up around where Milo is. =)

By Shelyn, you're right~! Archi will do just that.

In the Belly of the Beast - Round 1 - concluded

First, I must apologize because even when asked, I read the wrong Tier stat block. In Tier 1-2, the gnoll is not enlarged, but medium sized.

Archibald stumbles forward and casts his spell that heats the whip handle of the gnoll captain. The gnoll drops the whip like a hot-potato.

As he is disarmed, Sahba and Darvan close in to attack. The dinosaur misses, but the charge of Darvan with his enchanted club, strikes the gnoll cross-ways.

The mounted cavalier also rushes into the melee, but the gnoll pirate avoids all the attacks from the wolf and the halfling.

Drawing out his hand-axe, the sailor swings at Darvan, who struck him earlier. The retaliatory blow strikes the druid for 8 hp dmg.

From behind, Pildapush climbs over the benches, stepping up to strike at Tobold with his dagger, missing badly.

DC 15 Reflex save to drop: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Gnarl handaxe: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Dmg to Darvan: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Pardu dagger: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

End of Round 1

In the Belly of the Beast - Round 2

23 Milo
21 Archibald
13 Darvan/Sahba
13 Tobold/Tug
10 Pardu
4 Gnarl Bonegather (20 hp dmg)

All the PC's are up again vs the two slavers.

man, going to suck being the slaves chained to those benches =)

too bad about the whip though, he was going to have to drop it anyway most likely, due to everyone closing

Darvan swings at the gnoll but stumbles over some of the detritus strewn about and misses.

Full-round action: Attack the gnoll
Attack (Shillelagh): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Damage (Shillelagh): 2d6 + 5 ⇒ (2, 4) + 5 = 11

Sahba continues her onslaught on the gnoll.

Full-round action: Attack the gnoll
Attack (Bite): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Damage (Bite): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Attack (Claw 1): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Damage (Claw 1): 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Attack (Claw 2): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
Damage (Claw 2): 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Hrmm... really don't have alot of good options here... too many civilian targets and everyone in melee. Methinks I'll have to ponder spell loadouts more.

Milo, flame in hand, looks for an opportunity to throw it, but has a hard time finding a clear shot.

Somewhere, in the back of his brain, a voice tells him to ignore control, that it was all about release.

With an angry growl, he ignores it and seeing a momentary opening, hurls another flaming missile towards the gnoll.

Ranged Touch, into melee, soft cover: 1d20 + 3 - 4 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 3 - 4 - 4 = 15, for 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11 fire damage.

edit: huh.

Confirmation: 1d20 + 3 - 4 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 3 - 4 - 4 = 13, for an additional 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10 fire damage.

"For Andoran and all the people of Golarion that should be free, I will defeat you here and now, slave peddler!" Tobi declares.

Challenging Pildapush. I'm Order of the Dragon Bro, so all my bros get +1 to attack while I threaten him.

Ride to Fast Mount: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

He deftly leaps from Tug's back and moves to flank with his hunting partner.

Tobi's Melee Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 2 + 1 = 9
Greatsword Damage: 1d10 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 1 = 14

Tug's Melee Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 2 + 2 + 1 = 21
Bite Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Trip Attempt: 1d20 + 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 2 + 1 = 8

I'm not sure if dismounting counts as having "move[d] any distance", keeping me from 5-ft. stepping. If it does and I can't get into a flank, I would rather use Tactician to give all my allies the Paired Opportunist feat for 3 rounds.

Archibald will attempt to daze the gnoll, his eyes rolling back into his head as he attempts to hypnotise the creature with his majestic wizard brows.

In the Belly of the Beast - Round 2

Milo tosses another ball of fire from the back row, hitting the gnoll captain square in the face. The thing's mangy fur also bursts into flame, causing more immolation than intended. The gnoll smashes at his face trying to smother the flames, but falls to the ground smouldering instead.

Archibald targets the Vudrian slaver with his daze but the dagger-wielding man is able to fight through the stunning spell.

While Darvan misses with his swing, Sahba shows how terrible a dinosaur can be, rending flesh and bone and assaulting the man until his screams of pain die away to nothing.

Pardu Will Save DC 13: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

End of Combat

Searching the bodies, you find that the crispy gnoll leader has 2 potions of CMW, a whip, and a MW handaxe. The captain also has a ring of many keys. Pildapush has a MW dagger.

The sounds and smells of the combat have awoken the many slaves in the hold. Because of their chains they can't reach you in the central aisle, but they begin shouting and begging you for freedom, the sound becoming deafening in the small confined space.

Tobold gets the pleasure of freeing slaves! Though we need to locate the noblewoman, make sure she doesn't get lost in the stampede.

Milo will walk up and use his final fiery missile to torch Pildapush unmoving form. "Promised the bastard an urn." He growls, if anyone questions him about it.

"Now where's this toffer of a twist?" He asks, with a frown, peering around looking for Anilah Salhar.

"Any a the screws fit?" He asks, pointing to the doors at the back.

Try the keys on the cabin doors? Or are they unlocked?

The left hand door is unlocked and proves to be the ship captain, the late crispy gnoll's, cabin. It is filthy and dirty beyond description. The name "Snarl" is carved into the walls of the room hundreds of times.

The other door is locked, and after trying many of keys (the rest fit the chains of the rowing slaves) you find that the door to a small hold opens. Inside chained to the wall, is the noblewoman Anilah Salhar. The lady remains courteous despite her low state, and weakly mumbles "I owe you all a favor I can never repay..." before passing out.

While Tobold unchains the rest of the enslaved crew, Darvan picks up the Osiriani lady and with the help of Milo and Archibald, they return her the Grand Lodge.

There she is given the best medical care available and made healthy and ready to return to her estate within a day or two. Venture Captain Alissa Moldreserva calls you to her office upon your return.

Eyeing you up and down, the dour VC says "You handled that well. Guess I had you wrong after all. The lot of you may prove useful to the Society yet, (with a few exceptions...)" she adds under her breath looking at Archibald, who has fallen asleep leaning against his staff.

She passes you a bag of coin that serves as your reward for this mission and dismiss you brusquely saying "Go and have a drink, on me!"

End of Scenario!