PbP GameDay IV: PFS 06-97 Siege of Serpents by GM Aram Zey (Inactive)

Game Master SwampTing

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Overseer Announcement
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I was assuming that my channel healed them, but we moved on so fast I didn't even get a chance. A great deal of the point of nonlethal damage is to take prisoners for questioning.

"And if that was actually what happened, I'd be inclined to agree. But, that's not what happened. Instead, you assumed they where part of the Aspis Consortium, and made the choice to slay them when they where defenseless and harmless. You had other options. You just chose the one that makes the Society look bad and truly be deserving of all the things people say about us. And removed an option that might have saved many more of us down the road. "

Inside later

"Nice work. Saving these folks is the greatest of our duties. Even if the Grand Lodge falls, and it will, if not now, than one day, these people are our future."

Looking upon the crowd of hostages as they are release, "Do not worry, my friends. You are safe. Here, gather around and I will heal your wounds. We have cleared a path that will get you to safety, and we will draw you a quick map to get there. When you are ready, move quickly, as a group. Stay together. Do not fight anything you do not have to, just get back to the group, and help others where you can. This is a dark time, and we all need to be able to count and trust each other, or we all fail. We have a few weapons you can take, that we have found on our way here. Choose wisely, and watch each other's backs. Do not become like our enemies, willing to do anything. Stay strong here" pointing to his head, "and here", pointing to his heart, "and here" laying a fist on his chest.

Channel Energy to heal: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Enhanced Diplomacy (for fun, morale boost): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

If no one minds I'll take a Ring of Protection, Fireball Bead, and Potion of Invisibility.

"I'm referring to the Aspis attack as a whole. Or did you miss the big image of the snake devouring the Glyph of the Open Road? You know, the one that interrupted Farabellus' speech?"

"This is our home. We have intruders killing our friends even at this very moment. If they show signs of wanting to surrender, or of being confused, such as with that mummified person looking for maps, fair enough. But those guys who attacked us at the mausoleum already left two of our own for dead and were seeking to do the same to us, and you want try to talk it out with them? That's just naive. Costly naivety that are paid for in the lives of our allies."

"Our job now is to neutralize the enemy as fast as possible. If it means killing them, so be it. When the raiders are invading my home killing my allies, I don't waste time talking to one serpent whilst another devours my friends. I spend that time stopping both, or more if I can in that time. If an enemy is momentarily incapacitated and I can make sure he is permanently incapacitated, I make sure he doesn't get up whilst I am dealing with the next threat. It's that simple. It became that simple the moment they started attacking people like the caretakers at the back at the mausoleum and the acolytes here."

"They've started a war in our home and are targeting our civilians. If you can't grasp the repercussions of that, I envy your innocence, but I will not partake of your naivety."

Wayreth turns his back to Salubri and stalks off, signalling that he had no intention of wasting more time discussing the matter further.

I'll take the other potion of invis and the hand of the mage.

"No, what is naïve, my friend, is to assume that they where our enemies with no evidence. To assume that they where responsible for those crimes against us with no evidence. Before OR after. The truth is, none of us knows what's all going on here. NONE of us. And we can not afford to act like unschooled, inexperienced novices like that. Too much could be at stake. We need to act smarter. Wiser. Not harder."

Watching as he walks away, "We have to be able to work together. Only by standing strong, being able to count on each other like brothers and sisters, and helping everyone here that we can, can we achieve greatness, and preserve what's left."

"Evidence is right there before your eyes. You just don't want to see it," Wayreth mutters as he keeps walking, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Bickering is getting us nowhere. We must keep our eyes on what matters here -- saving the lives of our fellow pathfinders. Keeping Asps alive, if reasonably possible without interfering with that primary goal, is laudable, but not necessary. Even the Dawnflower recognizes that sometimes the greatest mercy is a swift stroke of the sword."

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Overseer Announcement
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For what it's worth, the humans you have been fighting would have all been carrying Aspis badges. I just didn't think it was necessary to include it in the loot.

Salubri, I'll treat that as a diplomacy on behalf of the Aspis hostage-taker. You manage to reduce the attitude of the acolytes to the Aspis from hostile to unfriendly, which is still not enough to convince them to take your side against Wayreth if that was your intent. Especially since in their eyes, he's the hero that popped out of nowhere to save them.

The acolytes are swayed a little by Salubri's words, but mumble discontentedly among themselves when they hear the exchange between him and Wayreth.

"You didn't see what they did to us, sir cleric. After they caught us, they beat us till we were almost dead, and they did that so that if the fireball bead dropped on us, we would die for sure. They made sure to let us know that they would do it too. Begging your pardon, and thank you for the healing, but if I see more of those aspis b*stards, I'm sticking sharp metal into them best I know how."

I DID say "it looks like they were each beaten to within an inch of their lives before or after being bound".

With the outer grounds now secured, attentions turn to Skyreach. Marcos Farabellus makes rounds on the grounds and gathers all Pathfinder teams to him, calling for silence while he relays new information. You encounter him at the infirmary when you escort the acolytes there.

“Pathfinders, we have determined the nature of the threat which confronts us! As many of you have already ascertained, a number of Aspis Consortium agents remained trapped in the Hao Jin Tapestry after we captured their back door into it. To our surprise and regret, there remained a means to communicate with the outside world and the serpents have been conspiring. This raid is comprised of two different Consortium groups coordinating in a two-pronged attack. They are aided by creatures from within the tapestry, whom they have deceived about our goals and intentions. At this time, we’re still unsure about what is making Skyreach’s tower hover, but we know for certain that someone has activated the Hao Jin Tapestry. Normally the Master of Spells Aram Zey would be the one to troubleshoot this kind of problem, but he is nowhere to be found. We don’t have time to wait for him, and he may be in danger. I’m sending you in as search parties and giving you temporary clearance to travel into the restricted sections of lower and middle Skyreach. Check on the Sky Key and the archives while you’re there. Zey may have left notes around that could tell us how to shut down the tapestry. We must act with the utmost haste. I believe the Consortium’s plan has backfired on them, but there’s no telling how long before they regroup or, worse still, somehow make the situation worse.”

Ralph, your chaperone from before, is amongst the gathered pathfinders when Farabellus gives his instructions. He rushes over to talk to your group.

"Opening the restricted areas up to all agents... shows how dire the situation is. I suggest you check the restricted library, then the Hao Jin Tapestry chamber and finally the the Sky Key chamber, in that order of importance. The first priority should be to try to contain or shut the Hao Jin gateway - Zey was our foremost expert on the tapestry, but with him missing you will need to try to locate his hidden notes in the library. But don't spend too long there. If you cannot find it quickly, just go to the tapestry and do the best you can with your own resources. Once that is done, see if you can check on the Sky Key as well. After the Tapestry, the Sky Key is probably the most important artifact in our possession, and I would not put it past those damn snakes to try to steal it in all this chaos."

"I would go with you, but there are other important objectives that I need to see to. You will need to step up to the plate for this," he says hurriedly.

"And YOU TWO!" he adds harshly to Wayreth and Salubri as he pulls out a scroll. "I don't care what disagreements you have, you WILL work together. We don't have time to let ideological differences delay our response to this invasion. You want to bicker, settle it AFTER this battle is done. I WILL know if you keep up this tomfoolery, and I WILL come looking for you afterwards if I have to."

With that harsh admonishment, he reads from his scroll and disappears from sight.

"Why not try to find Aram Zey first?"

-Posted with Wayfinder

With a tiny bit of metagame knowledge, albeit very incomplete:

"I sense . . . no. It's more correct to say I do not sense that we could. I'm not sure. I don't understand it."

My metagame knowledge tells me that the GM has just nudged us in a certain direction. Let's take it. =)

"We have our marching orders. Let's get moving. To the library."

"Yes, time is of the essence."

Rowanna had remained quiet and neutral in expression while some of the other members of her impromptu party bickered among themselves. Once they receive their orders from their superiors, she merely says, "Yes, to the library."

You're at an infirmary, so I will assume there are resources on hand to provide the spell, and you can leverage your prestige to get the spell cast on you.

It's been more than 24 hours since this phase started, so I will move us along.

You make your preparations and then head into the fortress of Skyreach. It is a strange feeling, being in these halls but expecting danger at every turn. Fortunately, you reach the library without incident.

When you arrive, you find the door unlocked and ajar, giving you a clear view of the library. Twelve bookcases line the walls of this cozy lounge room. Their shelves are crammed with books, scroll tubes, and tablets. Comfortable furnishings are arrayed so that scholars may examine the works without needing to remove them from the room. It is here that Aram Zey hid his notes about the Hao Jin Tapestry.

However, it appears that you are not alone in your search for those notes. 4 figures within are in the process of ransacking the library. Or more specifically, three of them (small-sized) are ransacking the library whilst one of them (medium-sized, furthest to the East) keeps watch. He sees you, and calls out.

"We've been found. Time pull out!"

Jani: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Prig: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Salubri: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Rowanna: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Wayreth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
enemies: 1d20 ⇒ 18
enemies: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Initiative order:
Prig (-1)
Rowanna
Enemies (-,-,-,-)
Salubri
Jani
Wayreth

[ooc]Prig and Rowanna are up first.

Catching the looters somewhat unaware, Rowanna opts to take full advantage by casting Glitterdust on the two adjacent to each other on the west left side of the room.

DC 17 Will save or blinded. If anything within a 10 ft. radius of them is invisible, they'll suddenly appear. If blinded, they can make a DC 17 Will save at the end of their turn every round to come out of it, or if 6 rounds pass, whatever comes first.

Prig charges forward at the one on the right, trying to skewer it before it causes too much harm.

Lance to hit: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 9 + 2 = 13
Damage: 1d6 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

Prig charges forward, but he is still not used to running on his own legs, and nearly trips over himself along the way. His target has no trouble dodging the attack.

will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10
Rowanna casts a cloud of glitter over the two on the Western half of the room, and as the dust descends they begin to curse and rub at their eyes as everything for them becomes shrouded in a bright golden glittery glow.
will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

The two on the Western side also begin to act. The one closer to Prig smirks as he takes a step back and draws a flask, then hurls it to the ground a short distance away.
"If we can't find what we're looking for, we'll just have to burn it along with everything else here."

1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
His taller ally moves behind him and casts a spell, and suddenly there is 6 of him.

Initiative order:
Prig (-1)
Rowanna
Enemies (-,-,-,-+5 images)
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Salubri
Jani
Wayreth

The orange square is the fire. It looks like it will spread in the coming rounds if not put out.

Your turn. All of you.

Moving forward into range, I'll call on the Dawnflowers miracles to smite the enemy, unleashing a small jet of flame at the enemies nearest me.

Burning Hands Refl 15 for Half: 5d4 ⇒ (1, 3, 2, 1, 4) = 11

"Watch those flames in the library!"

Jani will cast Hold Person on the caster.

DC 18 Will save or paralyzed for 4 rounds.

"Yes, don't help them burn down the collection!" Rowanna admonishes as she moves south and casts a Snowball spell at the fire to help put it out.

Snowball: Ranged Touch attack at floor: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Cold Damage: 5d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 5, 5, 4) = 23

Not sure where the original fire square is. Rowanna would move wherever necessary to put it out. If the Burning Hands spread it throughout the cone, then I guess the position of the original square doesn't matter.

Salubri moves up and sprays fire over the 2 aspis agents...and over the shelves behind them.
ref: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
ref: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
Both the agents manage to avoid the worst of the flames. In fact, the smaller one manages to avoid the flames entirely, and the other appears for some reason to not care about the flames at all.

The orange squares are the fires. The isolated square is the one started by the aspis. The rest...were courtesy of Salubri. ;)

will: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
"Hahaha! Thank you for helping us, you...." the aspis caster begins to taunt Salubri...but he is suddenly held fast by Jani's spell.

Initiative order:
Prig (-1)
Rowanna
Enemies (-,-,-,-+5 images + held)
Salubri
Jani
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Wayreth

Wayreth and Prig are up.

Prig moves up and starts trying to put out the front square of fire, trying to cut the rug around the lit parts in order to stop the fire from spreading. "By Caydenz sweaty ballz what waz that about? And don't think I've forgotten about you," he says menacingly to the aspis agent next to him.

Combat Maneuver Check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24 and that's enough to put out the front square of fire.

Dammit, can't reach the shelves to try to put out the fire...but I can at least reach one of the other fires...

Wayreth groans as he sees Salubri's spell creating a conflagration, and at the book shelves to boot! He runs up to the flames beside Prig, grabbing the hem of his cloak and using it to beat at the flames with wide sweeping motions.

"By the gods, you hear them say they want to burn the library, you see them start a fire, and your solution is to use an EVEN BIGGER FIRE!?!?"

cmb check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24 (assuming I can use weapon finesse, if not subtract 7 from the above score.

Orange square deleted.

Wayreth, Prig and Rowanna desperately try to contain the fire that Saluberi started, and manage to extinguish much of it. However, one of the shelves continues to burn, it's paper-based contents consumed irretrievably by the hungry flames.

The aspis agent furthest to the West continues to take a full defence action. The next agent however hears Salubri casting his spell and gets some idea of where he is. She takes a stumbling step towards Salubri and takes a wild stab at him.
attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26
miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 18
But her blind stab misses due to her inability to see.

The agent in the ninja-cowl sees the burning shelf behind him and smiles. "Have fun at the bbq," he laughs. "Come after me and you can watch your precious library burn."
He withdraws to the door to the South and fishes out from his pocket a ring of keys. His held spell-casting friend is held fast and takes some damage from the burning shelf behind her.
1d6 ⇒ 5

And then the nightmare, as the fire spreads.
fire 1: 1d8 ⇒ 4
fire 2: 1d8 ⇒ 3
fire 2: 1d5 ⇒ 1
fire 2: 1d5 ⇒ 5

And your enemies try to recover from your debilitating spells.
will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
will: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Fortunately for you, they continue to be blinded/held for the moment.
You guys were lucky, but you still have a rapidly-growing fire to deal with.

Initiative order:
Prig (-1)
Rowanna
Enemies (-,-,-,-5hp +5 images + held)
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Salubri
Jani

Would Jani casting Frostbite and touching the fire help put it out?

-Posted with Wayfinder

"Everyone! Ignore those aspis idiots for now! We need to contain the fire before it gets completely out of control! The Decemvirate will have our hides if they learn that one of our number was responsible for burning down the restricted library!"

It looks like each fire expands by 2 squares each round, so by simple mathematics, unless any of us has a way to remove more than 1 fire-square per turn, we need to make sure that we never end a turn with 3 or more squares of fire, or it will spread faster than we can contain it. In other words, the only way we're going to stop this library from burning down is if we all ignore the aspis agents entirely and try to put out fires this turn... Fortunately the aspis agents are disabled, or we'd have to do this whilst being attacked by them... The extra fire has effectively disabled us for at least two turns.

Wayreth moves around the growing flames to get to the burning bookshelf. Ignoring the aspis agent, he continues to beat at the flames with his cloak, muttering under his breath at the same time. "Hey I'm a Sarenrite! I will show mercy and use fire at all times because my goddess loves those things, and nevermind the circumstances..."

CMB check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Small correction to the damage. The aspis spellcaster appears to be unaffected by the fire he is standing in. It's almost like he is somehow fire-resistant.

Jani, one touch from the frostbite spell is not powerful enough to extinguish a square on its own, but I will let you get a +5 bonus on your cmb check to put out a fire square if you're using that spell to help you. Each CMB check with the spell will take up one use of the spell.

Wayreth, I understand your frustration since we both like to play combat tactically, but try not to take the banter farther than that. Mistakes were made but it would be best to focus on dealing with the problem. I can tell you that because of some luck with the rolls, you have not yet failed your objective for this area, and your analysis of the situation is spot-on. The situation is still salvageable.

Initiative order:
Prig (-1)
Rowanna
Enemies (-0 + blinded,-0 + blinded,-0,-0 +5 images + held)
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Salubri
Jani

Don't worry, the grumpiness is all in-character. I'll dial it back.

Jani casts frostbite and runs up to the fire, fearlessly thrusting their frost-rimmed hand into the flames to try to put them out. CMB: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

-Posted with Wayfinder

I'm not entirely sure who's currently up.

My apologies. I had actually tried to set the burst to avoid hitting the walls or furniture, and normally instantaneous bursts do not catch things on fire unless they are highly combustible, (like covered in oil) or fail a Reflex with a Nat 1, so didn't expect that to happen. Based on the map, I didn't see any bookshelves in that particular area. And when I posted, there wasn't any post mentioning burning it down. I'm deployed, so I wasn't able to check back in much since then, so this is pretty new to me. Sorry guys/gals.

Don't worry, the grumpiness is all in-character. I'll dial it back.

No worries on my part. I'm doing the same thing, just RPing. No hard feelings on my side. I figured we where all just having fun while we waited for the next part to begin like the DM said.

Currently still need actions from Salubri, Prig and Rowanna.

"That's not what I wanted. I'll be right back to help."

Hoping that the others have the clusterf#@# somewhat under control, I'll move right past the blind woman and directly towards the darkly clad figure trying to flee, leaping into the air to deliver a side kick to the chest, not meant to kill, but jolt and stun.

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Non-Lethal Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1
plus

Prig looks at the guy frozen in place in the flames. "You are lucky zat you have mirror imagez up good zir, or elze you would be dead right now!"
Prig then tries to put out the fire in his space.
CMB: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Yet again I'm drafted to be a firefighter. I simply must procure a wand of Create Water.

Her brow wrinkled with dissatisfaction, Rowanna moves to the nearest fire and attempts to put it out with the assistance of a nearby rug.

CMB: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Jani, Wayreth and Prig manage to finally extinguish the fires from Salubri's spell, and Rowanna manages to contain the other fire a little.

Salubri goes after the fleeing aspis agent, attempting to stun him so he cannot escape.
fort: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
"You'll have to do better than that, Pathfinder!" he jeers as he turns on Salubri and stabs at him.
attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
confirm: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
damage: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (4, 2) + 2 = 8

The red-headed female aspis agent perceives Jani is close by and takes a wild stab.
attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
miss: 1d100 ⇒ 45
But with her blindness she is still unable to hit anything.

The aspis agents continue to try to break free from your spells.
will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
will: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Surprisingly, they continue to have no luck with shaking off your spells!

Meanwhile, the fire continues to spread, as Wayreth prdicted.
1d7 ⇒ 1
1d6 ⇒ 2
1d6 ⇒ 2
1d5 ⇒ 1
It spreads rapidly Eastwards.

Initiative order:
Prig (-1)
Rowanna
Enemies (-0 + blinded,-0 + blinded,-1 nld,-0 +5 images + held)
----------------------------------------------------
Salubri (-8)
Jani

Your turn again. All of you.

CMB: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Ignoring the blinded Asp, Jani runs for the next area of flame and plunges their frosty hand into it. I took the liberty of removing the square since preview shows that roll to be successful.

Rowanna moves 5 ft to the east and manages to snuff out the fire to the immediate east (right) of her new position.

CMB: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Prig jumps over the various chairs and furniture, racing to put out another square of fire. Fortunately dirt from the flower pot nearby is a good way of smothering a fire.

CMB check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Also removing the southermost square. Even if all those squares are difficult terrain, my 30ft. movement means I can get there fine.

Wayreth also rushes over to the fire and continues to beat at it with his cloak.

CMB: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

"Salubri! Ignore them! The four of us can keep the fire from spreading, but we need more people to actually reduce the fire!"

The restricted library is now code yellow. Several other tables have cleared this area now.

Salubri, you're up. Are you going to help your allies put out the fire or are you going to keep trying to fight the aspis agents? I remind you that even if they fail the save, stunning fist only lasts for one round.

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Overseer Announcement
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Table GMs – The Restricted Library [Area E1] is now CODE YELLOW

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Overseer Announcement
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Overseer wrote:

Table GMs – The Restricted Library [Area E1] is now CODE YELLOW

I have ninja-ed the overseer!

If Salubri is on deployment again I don't think we can keep waiting. Somebody post an action for him.

He has Create Water prepared as a cantrip. At his level, this would produce 12 gallons of water. The spell says it can be spread out over an area. Could he use this to drench all remaining fire squares in water?

-Posted with Wayfinder

That would be enough to put out 2 squares if he gets within range.

That sounds like the optimal thing for him to do, then. Wouldn't that take care of all the fire along with our rolls?

-Posted with Wayfinder