Sior's PFS Destiny of the Sands Part I : A Bitter Bargain (High-tier) (Inactive)

Game Master Sior

Here we go again with the channeling, hahaha.

Thug 1: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Thug 2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Fort: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Sputtering with fury, Ryster curses louder than usual as he can't hear himself. Leveling his gun, he fires at the impertinent woman.

RTA: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Damage: 1d12 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Can't access map atm. Please adjust position for best shot and add +1 for PBS if within 30'

Moved you one closer to be within 20, which I believe is the musket's range.

The two men stand there dazed from Elena's channeling, giving everyone else a chance to act!

Guilford, Roland, Mikhaere are up!

Muskets are 40 feet, pistols only get 20.

Guilford steps neatly to the the side of Ryster and points his finger at the woman on the shack. He speaks a short arcane phrase and a lance of flame bursts from his hand towards her!

Casting Scorching Ray

Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 4, 4) = 15

fort : 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 vs deaf

Roland steps 5' south and shoots two arrows at thug 2

"Take Zhat you thugs . "

longbow, rapid, Pb: 1d20 + 7 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 7 - 2 + 1 = 19 damage : 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 1 = 10
longbow, rapid, Pb: 1d20 + 7 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 7 - 2 + 1 = 11 damage : 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 1 = 11

Fort: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

"GAAAAAAAAAAH!!" Mikhaere crows loudly and angrily, clutching his poor unshielded ear-holes. Once the pain dissipates a bit, though, he marvels at the beautiful silence of the city around him, and how great it was to no longer hear the chatter of idiotic humans constantly.

Swapping hydraulic push for SNA1
Spell Failure (21+ is good): 1d100 ⇒ 50

He begins to channel the energies of the blissfully quiet world around him, calling a local creature to his side. A greenish summoning circle, made from twisting, interlocked vines, apparates on the ground beneath his feet as Mikhaere intones words he doesn't need to hear to know innately.

Lovely. What would you like to summon, or shall I roll for random?

Guilford's flaming ray hits the woman square in the chest, causing her clothes to cinder for a moment. Roland has similar luck one of his arrows as the second shot skitters to the ground having overshot the thug target. Meanwhile, Mikhaere deafly and deftly performs his summoning ritual.

Seeing the bird casting, the woman atop the shack shouts "Keep magic out of it, you worthless avian!" as she quickly reloads her crossbow and shoots at Mikhaere.

Crossbow!: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 1 = 16

With an unsatisfied "hrmph", she moves to the back side of the shack out of sight.

Ryster, Elena, Ouroboreia are up unless those thugs get dazed again.

Ryster moves down the alley, while reloading and fires again at the woman.

RTA, PBS: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 1 = 23
Damage: 1d12 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

Edit: I just saw the edit tag on the map. If Ryster can't see from there, he'll move closer, going between the buildings.

Moving to the alley, Ryster sees that the woman has dropped prone hoping for a little more cover from ranged attacks. This tactic is no match for Ryster's keen eye, however!

You're good from there, Ryster. Just she gets cover and prone bonuses. Still not enough to save her, hahaha. She is still up and kicking, though.

My forgotten save!

Fort Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Spell Failure, 21+ works: 1d100 ⇒ 95

I am deafened, but at least my spell indeed worked!

I don't have to declare that yet, Sior, do I? The parameters are chosen when the spell comes into effect, not when it's cast.

You make all pertinent decisions about a spell (range, target, area, effect, version, and so forth) when the spell comes into effect.

... it'll likely be an eagle, mind you. :P

Just so I can find a pic early on =)

Elena will indeed channel again summoning some of the last energies that Dispater has provided her with today Saving one for later in case we'd need it

(channel negative energy, exluding party members, not including myself, hitting bot H1 and H2 for half of 3d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 6) = 12 6 damage, and a DC 21 will save or dazed for 1 round)

Elena then moves a bit drawing her morning star as she does towards one of the thugs

(Moving next to Thug 2 unless my channel and Roland's arrow damage have brought him down already..then moving in front of Thug 1)

Ouroboreia moves towards the door frame and conjures from the Nether... a snowball! While most unexpected under these latitudes, the projectile is aimed at the woman inside the hut.

Casting snowball, if it hits Fort DC 17 to avoid being staggered for one round and no save on the range touch attack / cold damage: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 134d6 ⇒ (5, 6, 4, 2) = 17.

Elena, your targets are both still standing!
1: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
And one saves from it! =-O

Ouroboreia, the woman is atop the hut, not within it. You would need to be on the same side as Ryster to see her.

Will wait for Ouroboreia to modify her action before the thug gets a go.

And just saw something that may have let one of them live longer. Ah well. Will roll with it.

Sorry for the misunderstanding. I'll simply change the snowball to affect the first hencheman, since the dice have already rolled.

Low=Bad: 1d100 ⇒ 1

The snowball heads straight for the man's head, but then seems to go through part of him without striking him! He then turns his attention toward Elena. "Daze me like that? You [insert offensive word here]! You'll pay for that!" He swings his sap at the holy representative.

Sap: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Mikhaere finishes his spell with a loud caw, pointing imperiously at the man who just attacked Elena with a sap. The air behind the thug crackles with energy, another vine-like summoning circle flashing into view before a white-feathered sea eagle swoops free from the aether with a loud shriek. It then drags its sharp talons across his back and attempts to rip into him with its curved beak.

Talon: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 3 + 2 = 14 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Talon: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 3 + 2 = 20 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Bite: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 2 = 15 Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Mikhaere then wanders up, adding his own scratching claw to the affair.

Claw: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

He's much less interested in fighting than his pet eagle, apparently.

Low=Bad: 1d100 ⇒ 8

While one of the eagle's talons seems to rake the man's shoulder, it leaves no mark or wound what-so-ever!

Guilford and Roland are up!

Guilford hurries over to the other end of the alley, hoping to boost an ally's ability to deliver a lethal blow! He can just make it to Mikhaere's back shoulder...

"Don't be alarmed my beaked comrade. I am providing you with some added strength, temporary though it may be."

Guilford puts his hand on Mikhaere's shoulder and casts Bull's Strength.

21+ is good: 1d100 ⇒ 80

+4 to Strength for 4 minutes! Now we just need to avoid those miss chances...

Wondering if it's a bit sad that Mikhaere is our best front-line fighter. Haha.

Mikhaere blinks as the muscles in his arms suddenly bulk up considerably. "Oh, I've seen this spell before," the tengu mutters. "The one with the water buffalo testicle as a component, right...?"

"Could be, old chap. Don't remember myself, as I've learned to cast spells without using cheap materials."

I realized I had never tried to RP spell components, and never even owned a spell component pouch. Luckily no one called me on it, so I took Eschew Materials at level 3. So much cleaner. And it fits with Guilford's fussy nature.

Roland will step forward for a clear shot at #2

"Stand down zhugs!"

Roland Darkwood bow, PB, Rapid: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 8 + 1 - 2 = 26 for dmg: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7
Roland Darkwood bow, PB, Rapid: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 1 - 2 = 14 for dmg: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7

Low=Bad: 1d100 ⇒ 43

As Guilford bulks up Mikhaere, Roland manages to fire an arrow directly into the thug's chest, felling him!

The woman atop the shack crawls closer to the middle, hoping to prevent most people from seeing her. Must be 10 feet away from the building in any direction to have line of sight.

Ryster, Elena, Ouroboreia are up!

Ouroboreia moves further from the shack to catch glimpse of the cowardly woman again, and unleashes an inaudible scream - except for the crouched woman, whose ears suffer tremendous pains from the noise.

Casting ear-piercing scream on her, 2d6 ⇒ (6, 1) = 7 sonic damage and dazed for one round. Fort DC 16 to halve damage and negate the daze effect.

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Ouroboreia sees the crouched woman cover her ears in pain, but aside from a faint trickle of blood from her left ear, she seems relatively unharmed! Barely...

Ryster takes a step back and fires his musket, only to be greeted with an impotent pop as the gun misfires! "Damn...gods cursed...piece of...." The dwarf dissolves into cacophony of curses. Gritting his teeth, he quickly clears the jammed cartridge and reloads a fresh one.

RTA, PBS: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 8 + 1 = 11
Damage: 1d12 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 + 1 = 12

Spend a grit point of move action quick clear.

Elena tries to return the favor the thug did to her by hitting him back

To hit thug 1: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 2 = 24 With flank
Morningstar damage if hit: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Miss chance, low is bad: 1d100 ⇒ 97

before taking a step to the side to allow someone else to flank

Something I found out the other day is it actually is supposed to be the defender who rolls the concealment roll. Only mention this because I have had a player whine because I rolled them for my NPCs.

The thug turns to Elena, continuing his mutters and insults before swinging his sap at you again.

Sap: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Again, he misses, but steps with Elena to avoid getting flanked.

Guilford, Reynaldo, Mikhaere!

Source on that? Seems weird to me. I've always had the attacker roll for concealment...

There's a sudden flurry of talons and feathers as both Mikhaere and his summoned sea-eagle go at it in tandem!

Mik
Claw: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Claw: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Concealment (21+): 1d100 ⇒ 93
Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Eagle
Claw: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Claw: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Bite: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

My god, what an awful chain of rolls. Par for the course for Mik's eagle though, sadly...

Putting his own poor performance aside, Mikhaere turns to his sea eagle with a dark glare. "You stupid bird-brain! This always happens! Why do I keep calling YOU here?! You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!" It's probably a good thing that eagles can't understand common with the subsequent insults being hurled its way by its summoner...

PRD, concealment. "Make the attack normally—if the attacker hits, the defender must make a miss chance d% roll to avoid being struck." [Bold mine] I just find it interesting the minutia of the rules that we often overlook, forget, or workaround. I'm fine with you rolling your own concealment rolls, it's just I was liking Paizo giving me the really low rolls for it ;-)

With all the flurry of feathers raging with the birds' attacks, only one manages to scratch the thug!

That is SO weird. I've never seen a single GM run it that way either. ... So I probably won't change my ways, but it's nice to know, thanks! Dunno why someone would get annoyed with you rolling it for the NPCs though.

Probably because I tend to roll behind a screen IRL and using a GM roll function on Roll20.net VTT games, so they don't trust me. *shrug* But you're right. I cannot recall many GM's rolling for their own. Some do. YMMV, I guess. Like I said, though, I'm good with whatever.

I actually found that same reference maybe a month ago. I think that helps with PbP since it ensures the GM can provide consistent rolls on misses. I had seen people use 1d2, 1d100, 1d20 etc...which opens way for gaming the system. As a GM I will start using it.

Roland will attempt to climb the building in front of him to see if he can find the woman from another rooftop vantage.

climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

"Zhat is more zhe tricky zhan I zhought."

Stand (or retry) depending on the first attempt.
climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

You definitely failed by more than 5 the first time. However, unless I'm seeing something specific, you are not prone as you took no damage from the fall.

With an earnest attempt, Roland is unable to scale the side of the building.

Guilford is up

Guilford casts shield on himself and then get his wand of magic missile out.

From atop the building, the woman stands up and, seeing the one who hurt her ears, quickly loads her crossbow before loosing a bolt at Ouroboreia.

Crossbow!: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 7 + 1 = 9
1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Ryster, Elena, Ouroboreia are up!

Ouroboreia imitates Guilford, taking out her own Wand of Magic Missiles, then she shoots an arcane missile at the woman on the roof.

MM: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
(44 charges remaining)

RTA, PBS: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 8 + 1 = 10
Damage: 1d12 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 1 = 10

Ryster fires his musket again, only to be greeted with the same impotent pop. With a loud curse, Ryster throws his gun to the ground! "Blasted infernal, piece of....

And here I was bemoaning the fact that I forgot to have her drop prone after her shot.

A magical bolt of magic charges through the air and hits the woman. Meanwhile Rysters firearm seems to be enchanted with its own will and has decided to stop fighting.

Hippy gun?
Elena up!

Sorry..site went down while I was posting earlier

Elena steps into flank and tries to hit the thug again.

To hit thug 1: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 2 = 16 With flank
Morningstar damage if hit: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Miss chance, low is bad: 1d100 ⇒ 11

Elena swings but seems to be bested by the blur effect still in place!

The thug retaliates in kind!

Sap!: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
1d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 nonlethal damage
Now he's missing, too.

He steps north to keep out of flanking.

Guilford, Roland, Mikhaere up!

I am assuming she is prone and out of line of sight

Roland will (double) move around the back of the building she is upon.

These last couple of rounds have been awful :P

Feathers-and-talons duo continue to fight on! The eagle, alas, is stuck around the corner of the building and doesn't have the wisdom to do something about that.

Eagle will disappear at the beginning of my next turn. Also, thug should have cover from its attacks.

Claw: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 3 - 4 = 7
Claw: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (13) + 3 - 4 = 12
Bite: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 3 - 4 = 7

Mikhaere facepalms at the utter uselessness of his supporting act and then steps up to do his thing. He seems to channel his anger into ripping the thug to shreds.

Claw: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Concealment: 1d100 ⇒ 94
Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Claw: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Concealment: 1d100 ⇒ 52
Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Concealment: 1d100 ⇒ 78
Damage: 1d3 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

That's more like it!

"Next time," he mutters to himself, "I am summoning a g!%-d$#ned stirge or something..."

No, sir Roland. I had forgotten to have her go prone after her shot. Luckily, everyone missed her =).

With a single blow, Mikhaere knocks down the man! Indeed, the bite would have even been enough to fell him at this point. At least he had better luck than his summoned friend!

Guilford is up!

Guilford points his wand at the woman an sends an unerring bolt of blue force at her!

Wand of Magic Missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Hit with more energy from Guilford, the woman atop the shack moves to reload her crossbow but sees her thugs have fallen.

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

With the ease of one who is accustomed to life on the rooftops, the leaps from one building to another and is quickly gone from sight.

Out of combat. I know, I know, it sucks. I hate having people bugger off.

Shortly thereafter, you hear the sound of feet scrambling to get up and you see the door of the larger, northwest hovel open. A young girl peeks out, eyes widening and hands flying into the air if any hostile intent is shown. "Is it... is it safe? Did she go? Are you... you friends with the scarred man?" she asks with a youthful naivety.

Ignoring the voice for now, Ouroboreia empowers her sight with detection of magic auras and scans the area.

Casting Detect Magic