That's cool! I love learning things through my hobbies. Makes me feel like I'm slowly leveling up, hahaha.
Nice! I just knew it was a color of yellow. That's cool!
What kind of knowledge would Carcosa fall under? Leng, the dreamlands and maybe R'Lyeh seem to fit under Planes, but in the Pathfinder setting, are Carcosa and Celeneo also other planes, or are they planets?
Did you find a player for your Eberron game?
Did you find a player for your Eberron game?
We’re back at 4 PCs but if you’re interested in playing I’d be happy to have anyone from this game. We started with 6 so a 5 member party is no problem.
I get the feeling that the Tatterman was in there, somewhere, and that we may have been just a bit murder-hobo-y up in here. I strongly suspect (Paizo being Paizo) that that's gonna come back to bite us more than a little bit.
DC17 will or be panicked for 5d6 rounds?
At 15 rounds we got a little lucky with a below average roll =/
I feel like we may have triggered the bad ending...
I love how this just turned into the end of a horror movie. :D
I guess it depends on how strictly you are interpreting the panicked condition since unlike frightened, panicked says you flee in a random direction away from the source and from other dangers. We might end up pretty much anywhere on the map.
I wonder if the Tatterman can enter the chapel since it seems to have some kind of protection around it.
Is the Tatterman following us as we run in a blind panic wisely away?
Not all of us are panicked. Des and Reine can probably guide John and Broom a bit.
Also, we're not headed to the chapel just yet. Karl is talking about the encampment, which is where all the Apostles are. It's likely all of them will scatter (DC 17 Will saves, after all), but some may prove distractions that slow Tatters down a bit.
Reine and Des can ask the Doc and anyone else for help, but John and Broom will probably keep running for another round or two. That still doesn't get us to the chapel by the time the panic wears off.
And can a bunch of level 1/2 PC/NPCs help? Winter might, but I don't know how appreciative she'll be if we bring the Tatterman in to threaten the kids.
I think trying to get the Doc to help (healing John, for example) would be a good place to start, and we can try to set up an ambush, or hit-and-fade, maybe - depends on whether everyone is still subject to the fear thing, or if it's a once-and-immune for 24 hours thing.
We may have no choice but to fall back to the chapel, but let's at least try to be semi-tactical about it. I feel like this is going to be another case of Paizo "balancing" a level 1-3 module in such a way as to make a TPK a very likely occurrence.
All right, let's head for the encampment first, then, and see if we get any help there. Des has no compunctions about throwing other people under the bus in this frame of mind. ;P
Well, yellow buses are a thing...
I know you're supposed to run in a random direction, but if you're running and not trying to find a place to hide, until you get to the courtyard there's really only 1 direction you can go. If you go out into the courtyard, then you could go crazy and run in pretty much any direction, but you've been treating the mist as a no-go zone and I'd guess that would stick even in a panicked state.
I don't think John could run up to the doctor and ask for help, but Reine or Des could.
The camp itself is pretty big, and I think by the time the panicked PCs got to Debis's room the effect should be done.
Let's do that, then. If Des runs at the front, the others might follow her lead, while Reine brings up the rear, just in case Tatters goes full sprint and tries to catch up.
EDIT: Oops, wrong thread, haha!
Shaken --> Frightened --> Panicked --> Heart Attack?
If Des scares her, Broom will find a path to run from Des. That can be towards the doctor.
DR might not be a huge problem. Broom does elemental damage, and Reine has that touch attack as well, right? Red Destiny is a magic weapon which might be good enough. I"m not certain what kind of attack Itsal does, its kind of ghost touchy but not actually ghost touch, so we have a bunch of options to avoid it.
The fear thing though, I don't know. We have a wand of bless somewhere, right? That gives a bonus to fear saves. Did we have anything that grants protection from evil? Scroll or potion?
This might not be so bad, its just overcoming the fear that seems to be the trouble right now. We don't actually know how tough Tatterman is. We were killed in a dream during box text so this is the first time we are actually encountering him for real.
The DR can be worked around, but it limits our ability to soften him up from range - well, Reine's ability to soften him up from range, anyway.
I'm thinking Enlarged John and Enlarged Shadow try to flank him, Reine hits him with her DT and her Terror, and if he fails the save, he runs for a round, which provokes AoOs from all 3 of us. Wash, rinse, repeat, with Des and Broom chipping in with everything they have from range and covering/supporting/providing harassing fire whenever he's not in melee.
Reine is immune to fear. Broom and John are immune to the Frightful Presence, though if he has another way to cause fear, that's problematic (though counter-point, John and Broom also have +4 to saves vs. Fear for the next 10 minutes).
So we need to protect Des and the Shadow (unless Doc's +4 thingy actually was on Des and John, not Broom and John..?)
It's possible we'll have to hit him here, then fall back to Winter and get her to do Bless/Protection from Evil, if she has them prepared.
Also, Karl, where is Itzel right now?
Depending on how long we've been running, I don't think the shadow is enlarged anymore... and Des only has one spell left, so while she can re-cast it, she can't summon anything to help thereafter. T_T But it could still try to grapple him. Also it's harder to hit in shadowy/dark conditions (miss chance), but that would probably give John (and Reine?) trouble meleeing the Tatterman (dim light).
Pity it didn't do the damage to him while he was in spirit form, attacking Zandalus. That would have been awesome. Full damage!
I think Broom has a point about the anchor. Going around murdering the oneirogens hasn't proved wise so far. We're being awfully hammerlike with nailvision. Maybe there's a way to free the oneirogen in the papers we gathered, but I doubt the Tatterman will give us time to read them.
I'm just not sure we CAN deal with the Tatterman without dealing with the anchor first.
Ideas, anyone?
I dunno, he seems pretty anchored now.
If Broom's theory is correct, and Zandalus dying brought Tatters into the real world, then Zandalus was the anchor. He was also the gate, keeping Tatters out of the real world, and in dreamland somehow.
(As an aside, before we go mourning Zandalus The Hero/Misunderstood, let's remember that he made other people into the oneirogens, and it was with his permission (if not direction) that the Bag-Lady's victims were hung from the wall...)
I feel like this mod probably wasn't written with the thought in mind that a dream/spirit-Tatters would be an easier Tatters to defeat. That aside, while the direct hammer approach might not be the right/best one, I feel like we've taken out all of the oneirogens (other than the Administrator, who seems broken). The guy we have back in the "cell" at the chapel is just another yellow-robe, right? And right now, Tatters is killing yellow-robes. Tatters is dressed in yellow rags. The oneirogens were spewing yellow smoke. Zandalus called his cult the Apostles in Orpiment (yellow). I feel like any anchor there was, we've probably removed them.
I think it's now a matter of getting clever/tactical about doing damage to Tatters, and finding a weakness. I'm not sure if Melee is the answer (can we get inside his Fear bubble?), or range (he seems to be a Jason type...slow mover, dedicated stalker).
But yeah, bulking up on Will save bonuses and/or anti-Fear buffs would be a good start.
Oh, I thought the guy we brought back was an oneirogen - I'm just confused, I guess. SNAFU
Whatever we do, we should probably do it before Tatterman slices his way through the entire camp...
We have the doctor oneirogen that was spewing a different colour smoke than the ones in the tower (think it was purple instead of yellow?), and the prisoner is just a random acolyte whose life we saved after shooting him full of arrows.
I kind of got the impression that Tatterman was possessing Zandalus, and he was kind of holding Tatterman in until we killed him or something like that.
And yes, Zandalus is either mad or possessed and allowing bad things to be done in his name, but that is a nuance that Broom hasn't really considered in her anticipation of meeting the great prophet =)
John would have dropped Red Destiny when he panicked.
He does have a vial of Silversheen.
I'm game to go get stuck in.
DM, I asked you about what Des and the shadow learned on Discord, is that okay or should I post it here?
I just responded, Des.
It sounds like we still have Red Destiny (named swords are cool), throwing on the silversheen for good measure sounds like a good plan, then that's magic, piercing, silver covered.
We buff for one round then Zerg the Tatterman?
Dreamworld Inception!
Zerging sounds like a plan.
Des will prepare to Enlarge the shadow again.
:O
This is one of those situations where the Tatterman takes a few steps, then realizes he was sliced in half, right? :D
With that kind of roll, you'd think so, wouldn't you? ;)
I am correct that John doesn't enlarge until Broom's initiative, right?
I thought about waiting for that, but decided to plow on in.
I don't think so. Broom Enlarged him the round before Tatters showed up, so he should be able to attack on his init action, AND he should be Large (which means more damage, no?)
I thought he showed up just as we were preparing (we got one round of preparation). Enlarge is a 1 round casting time so it wouldn't actually go off until just before my next action which is unfortunately after John's.
But, since this all started out of combat the timing is kind of fuzzy.
I'm fine saying the Enlarge took hold before combat started.
Cool. Does that mean John gets to re-roll his damage as 2d6 plus bonuses, instead of 1d8?
Tatterman: "Who are you to oppose me?"
John with a silver longsword: "I'm your worst nightmare."
If I've ever seen a better time to crit, I can't remember it. :)
Tatterman: Gaze into the face of FEAR!
John: Gaze into the sword of GRIMM!
I'm not sure where Des and the shadow are supposed to be when the Tatterman reappears - I only just saw the map, has Des already been moved, but to the wrong door? Is the skull and crossbones a dead person, or the shadow? So Confusion, Much Wow
If the shadow couldn't move in the dim areas, it would ride Des closer to the Tatterman.
The skull and crossbones is the guard T killed when he first showed up. The party was near the door to the kitchen when T reappeared. I haven't moved any PC tiles.
OK, we'll say shadow was able to move further. Go ahead and post/roll for it if you can get to melee.
Broom is very alliterative/rhymey today...
Cool, thanks. :) I had it ride Des 60' for last round (I moved her), and this round the shadow will slither off diagonally to the side/SE to attempt to flank the Tatterman, 10 or 40 feet depending on the light level there. If it gets within range, it'll attack.
Any chance it could get an icon? ^_^;
On the subject of casting defensively: The act of casting defensively avoids the AoO, the roll is just to successfully cast the spell. The only penalty for failing the roll is the loss of the spell.
That being said, it is an interesting twist: Making the cast defensive roll be the attempt to avoid the AoO, but a failed roll just means you provoke as normal and can still get the spell off if the attacks miss or you manage the concentration vs. damage taken roll.
Uggg! I totally forgot that. Yeah... so we wouldn't get the AoO's, he just loses the spell.
That said, I'm pretty sure our actions after he loses the spell will be to kill him. Right?
we've got him on the ropes!
we've got him on the ropes!
Now, let's strangle him with them!
I was also surprised at the sudden burst of exceptional rolls! When Reine missed a touch attack with a 16 I thought we might be in a lot of trouble, but I guess I had no reason to worry =)
This fight turned out to be easier than many of the earlier fights we had (ignoring the initial "run away!" moment). Hope I didn't just jinx us
Yeah, I was terrified we were going to TPK. Or at least that Reine was gonna wind up hamburger. But back to back 19s? I'll take it. My dice-bot luck has been pretty bad elsewhere lately, so maybe we were just due?
It looks like the Dicebot has returned to form...
Does that end the first book?
Two and a half years to finally kill that guy! At least he's gone.