The Quest for Perfection — Part one (PFS PBP 3-09)

Game Master Rickmeister

While those more skilled in survival look about the area Horatius takes a few moments to look through the journal, waving Lynthara over if she's free.

Lyn eagerly joins Horatius, her face growing more excited to see what the pages may contain.

"I think this setting is solid enough... it would help the decent... but we'd still need to get up on the other side... "

Noticing the ignored boots, Thaurux grunts as he compares them to his feet and adds an additional grunt of satisfaction as he slips them on with a big grin on his face.

He will then proceed to check to look around
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Attaches the rope around the pillar using the setting to make the construction more sturdy. The whole thing is held together with a sailor's knot.

Thaurux alerts his companions to the terrain hazards ahead. ”I don’t presume any of us knows a smarter way around? I presume I have no choice here.” Thaurux begins to remove and pack his armor, feeling very naked he proceeds to hep Leiff. ”Let’s get this climbing over with!”

Anything of interest in the journal?

All right peeps, enough stalling. a'Climbing you shall go! ;)

do we have a guestimation on how long it will take to get to our destination?

Some, but I'm too lazy to look it up right now.
I'll get it when everyone has reacted to this post.

sigh, ok. Armour check penalties it is then. Is that a dc 5 with those rules or am i wrong?

Leiff makes sure everything is fastened to his backpack, he heaves it on his back with a groan and slowly starts descending the slope using the rope as support....

Climb: 1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 6 - 4 = 8

sincerly hope it's a dc 5 :D

Lyn will climb after the others, taking 10 for a result of 9 when possible.

Lucky you, you had a rope!

Leiff makes his way down, slowly and steadily. Only once does he almost slip as the weight of his backpack pulls him in the wrong direction.

Arriving down, he starts to look up, and fears the climb up will be immensely more dangerous.

Lynthara follows after him, keeping an IMMENSE concentration going as she slowly, slowly descends.

Taking 10 as well. For a total of 16=10+4+2.
Having secured his armor away. Thaurux slowly follows his companions lead.

Lynthara, Thaurux and Leiff are down.
Horatius and Theor are still up.

If they haven't responded in 1 day, I'll ru them on autobot.

Horatius draws his bow and keeps a look out while his companions climb down. Once they have done so safely he sheathes his weapons and descends.

T10 for a 12

If the climbing is over for as much as we can see, Thaurux will put his armor back on.

"Come on already guys! I'd expect better out of you by now, since we've been climbing all day!"

Theor climbs down before Horatius.

Everyone's down thanks to the rope.
Now, start brainstorming about the climbing up part.

Is it possible to pool our other ropes, and climb up bit by bit securing our ropes here and there. thank you inspirational rule links!

You could, but that first person would need to make the climb checks, as well as have a way to attach the rope to the rocks securely.
Who will go first? Talk in-game amongst yourselves, lads!

Leiff looks upward to try to figure out the best path. Looking out for bigger pieces of stone to attach a line to on the way up.

"We got anymore ropes? This climb should be doable once we get a rope up there.... But that first climb is gonna be though.... I don't mind giving it a try but i feel Theor is the better climber of the two of us..."

Thaurux pulls out his climbers kit and silk rope. I have the equipment, but I am not a skilled climber even without armor.

Poke all the others!

"Those would help indeed... "

Leiff studies the climbers kit intently

"hmmm, definitely investing in some of these when we get back"

I'll wait till tomorrow before moving on, don't want to hog the action...

"I'm afraid I am not well trained in the art either. I will take the lead if needed but it would probably be best for one more skilled to do so." Horatius states. While the party discusses their options he hands the journal to Leiff. "This journal may have some information of interest but I'm unable to decipher it. Can you make heads or tails of it?"

The barbarian approaches the journal. He used to look at books in his youth, before the clan thought him the value of might and muscle.
Linguistics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Leiff looks through the journal together with thaurux

"Let's see if we can spin a tale from it"

Linguistics roll gm? or is something else applicable. All knowledge rolls except local and nature are at a +1 so let's bardic knowledge it!

bardic knowledge: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Sorry should have mentioned that it's a Linguistics roll. See spoiler above

Lynthara stands off to the side and crosses her arms. she taps her foot impatiently as she waits for the heroic men to begin the climb.

ah jup i saw, didn't make the dc ohwell :)

"bah! can't make heads nor tails of this old manuscript.... best take it along and study it when we have more time on our hands... "

Leiff drops his backpack with a thud.... he dons the climbing gear and wraps the rope around his torso, shoulder to hip.

With one last look up the hill he mutters a few words in the Skald tongue...

and then starts climbing...

climb: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 2 = 26

climb: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 6 + 2 = 22

climb: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 2 = 9

climb: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 2 = 18

climb: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 2 = 25

climb: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 2 = 14

Leiff gets up about 15 feet when his hands start to slip and bash against the rocks. The resulting pain causes him to let go of the rope, and fall down.
Dmg (first non-lethal, second lethal: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (1) = 4

The DC is 20. Failing by more than 5 is falling down.

..
A little after Leiff gets back up, you al hear a slight rumbling coming from above.
Theor is the first to identify, and shouts "Avalanche!"

Descriptions and reflex saves please.

As Leiff get's up with a groan, bruised and beaten by the rocky fall... He hears Theor shout and quickly looks up and then around to find some cover...

reflex: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Reflex: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2
Thaurux looks at the impending avalanche in a dreamy state of mind.

The smile fades from Lyn's face as she sees the falling snow.

Reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

At the cry of alarm Horatius dives towards Lynthara and does his best to shield her from the falling rocks.

Reflex: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11

Alright, sorry guys. Going to kick it back up a notch, now that my job has gone from 2x full-time > 1x full-time > 1x halftime :p
Reflex Theor: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

After Theor's call, everyone sees the rockslide that Leiff's fall has triggered.
Everyone tries to find a way to shelter his/her own body and survive the brutal pelting of small and medium-sized rocks that are thundering down the hill.
Dmg Horatius: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 3, 5) = 10
Dmg Theor: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 3) = 11
Dmg Lyn: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 6, 1) = 13
Dmg Leiff (you get half dmg): 3d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 2) = 7
Dmg Thaurux: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 4, 4) = 10

Theor is barely standing after the rockslide, and sits down when the rubble finally stops coming down.

Lynthara lies on the ground, her head swimming as she sees a distant point of light in her mind's eye...

I saw this coming, why did I not act? The mountain told us but we did not listen.
Thaurux looks upon the decimated party and debris. ”Sorry little one, we were not prepared for these challenges. I have very meager resources to keep us going, is one of you able to tend the ailments.”

Leiff managed to jump in some cover avoiding most of the rockslide... The cover was not perfect and the continuous pelting of stone seems to have knocked him unconcious.

8 lethal damage so far leaves 2 hp. 3 none lethal is more then my current hp which makes one knocked out Ulfen...

Only Horatius and Thaurux are still standing, I believe.

The standing guys doing anything to help the guys that are down? Or just cutting your losses? :p

Wincing with the pain of his open wounds, Thaurux begins gently clearing the ruble from his injured companions. He retrieves Theor wand and hands it to the paladin. ”I believe you know how to use this.”

Horatius begins dispatching the fallen and collecting their belongings. "Erastils work is never done..."

Slowly Horatius rises from the rubble and debris that had half covered him. Each movement brings a new discovery of pain but he manages to get back on his feet. Looking around he sees only Thaurux is moving, the rest of their companions lay on the ground, bloodied and injured. Thankfully they all seem to still hold onto a spark of life.

Choked by the dust filled air he only nods in answer the the wand Thaurux offers and begins setting it's magics to work.

Horatius will try and get a feel for who among the fallen is most injured but if nothing stands out he'll start with the closest (most likely Lyn)

Heal check to triage: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Heal Lyn: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Heal Leiff: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Heal Theor: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Theor, barely alive, looks around at the others. Coughing he clears his throat of the dust. "I will need some aid but tend to the others first."

Lyn sits up and blinks hers eyes. She looks up at Horatius and nods her thanks. For once, she seems quiet and withdrawn.

"I still feel injured. But please don't trouble yourself until the others are OK."

The energy of the wand heals leiff, he opens his eyes and crawls from under the remaining debris.

"My, they were not kidding with those rolling rocks...."

Everyone is up again, yay!

As everyone opens their eyes and slowly starts to understand why their bodies hurt tremendously, Theor and Leiff can see that this landslide will not happen again shortly. It must have been amassing for years, and it was disturbed.

NaN ;)

Players of mine that got accepted, please give me a little roar here! :)

Horatius at your service.

Welcome, Horatius!
May your blade strike swift and hard upon the foes of the faith of the communities!

As in: your personal goal is in your mailbox any minute now.

Leiff Gunnarson, Sailor and Skald, ready to head out.

Be sure to select a picture Leiff :)

Workin on it...

Nice!

Theor stimbles in after some *relaxation*. "Here..."

Planning on starting around the 25th or 26th.

So far we've got a paladin of Erastil, a savage skald bard, and a ranger from the River Kingdoms/Brevoy.

Anyone want to invite some friends to come over? If not I'll open up recruitment in +- 24 hours.

Hey DM, I'm good to go again. I still need to finish my character. Going w/ gnome sorceror named Lynthara. 1st non-human non-male character, so wanted to or on fluff a bit more. Will have up by Monday the 23rd at latest.

Can we get the gameplay just so we can dot it?

Theor:
Not going to open gameplay until the 26th, i'm sorry. Makes it easier for me to track (since I'll be out of town for a solid two days).
I will PM all of you personally to remind you, should you want to. I'll update the page of Tide of Twilight too, since it will remain active until the other one starts.
((Don't expect an update from me for the following 50-ish hours.))

Darius:
Make yourself known with your alter ego here then! :)

Right boss! I've set up an alias. I'll fill in details once I've finished the character sheet.

So, our crew is together finally.
° Horatius Lartius, human paladin of Erastil.
° Leiff Gunnarson, human savage skald bard
° Theor Garess, human ranger
° Lynthara, gnome arcane sorcerer
° Thaurux, human barbarian
° Orri Björnsson, human Tetori monk

I will have gameplay on in a few minutes. Please make your first post a kick-ass one, to set the tone :D

Huzzah!

And a good thing you explained that it's a mask :D

Hahaha. I was on the fence with it, but I am big fan of the "Tiger Mask" and it suited a Ulfen wrestler well.

sorry for the delay peeps, first time playing a play by post, so still finding out what is where.

I blabbed in some danish words to fill in for Skald (translation inclosed). If that's ok with my fellow Northlanders ofcourse. Else i will refrain from doing so in later posts.

All right guys and gals we need to establish our stacking order.

I usually prefer running a point man 10 feet ahead of a staggered column with a missile man ahead of the first heavy hitter and magic users protected in the middle. We should delay for the bard to buff outside of the surprise round.

My god, you actually have a plan? =D

Horatius, hear this? We might want to try this thing, sounds like it's useful :D

Thaurux uses a reach weapon. So I could second line next to your missile man.

Planning...that's sheer craziness :)

Do we have someone focused on range?

Horatius can either stand up front or as rear guard.

It seems that I'm the only "full" caster here. And as a level 1 sorceror that means I can cast 4 1st-level spells each day. But I only get to know 2. I've picked Protection from Evil and Shocking Grasp.

I thought I have 5 javelins that did not come across from Hero Lab. I will fix that ASAP. In any case everyone should secure a crossbow so that in the first round everyone will have a readied attack.

o Horatius Lartius, human paladin of Erastil: 1st in squad
° Leiff Gunnarson, human savage skald bard: Center of squad to maximize Bardic powers
° Theor Garess, human ranger: 2nd to support Horatius
° Lynthara, gnome arcane sorcerer: Near center
° Thaurux, human barbarian: Rear Guard
° Orri Björnsson, human Tetori monk: Pointman 10 feet ahead of squad

Thaurux's speed and reach weapon will allow him to move where the most support is needed, thus rear guard is best for him and he is strong enough to protect the casters.

We need the paladin out front for tanking and the ranger for searching.

The monk will skirmish and draw the opponents into the main body for quick combat rounds. He will also move far enough ahead to save everyone else from AoE magic and traps.

We can fix things up as we move, but a staggered column with the general placement lends itself to higher survivability.

Spells that always help include: Grease & Create Pit.

Yes, yes they are both handy. Create pit is a level 2 spell, however, so can't do that.

Level One spells that I'd love to have:

Protection from Evil
Shield
Grease
Mage Armor (if not Shield)
Sleep
Burning Hands
Magic Missile
Shocking Grasp
Color Spray
Enlarge Person
Expeditious Retreat
Feather Fall

As a sorceror I get to pick two to start off. And why choose something that gives your enemy a saving throw when you can pick something that doesn't?

I always agonize over this when playing casters. Either you memorize a short list or know a short list. It's really hard to have a "right" answer at this point, IMO. Still, I may edit spells once again...

I always like Color Spray and Grease. Anything that makes it easier on the fighter, lol. That is why I took the Crushing Blow feat so I can lower the toughest guys AC giving the other guys a better chance to hack him to bits. Sometimes I wear goggles and just have the caster Color Spray me along with the baddens, lol.

center is fine for me :)

Great roleplay so far guys, and awesome frequency of daily postings..!

Are we at the base camp or the Rock that Hangs at this point? Thought our origin point was the base camp.

No, sorry for the confusion. You started at your last (self-made) basecamp.
This is called "The Base Camp" because the (former) houses were more permanent, and travellers could use them while going up into the mountains.

Ah, understood thanks.

It's a real shame we're all blind. Must be the view distracting us :)

Sorry Lynthara :(

Ouch,hahaha. I hate when that happens to me.

Hey it happens! At least it didn't kill me outright... Besides, she did want to see a mountain cat! Gotta learn to keep my mouth shut... *grumble*

Yep rough way to meet a kitty :( Don't worry though Lyn we won't let you turn into cat food (probably) :)

Sorry for short post today. From work. Not much time. lol

On the topic of healing and nonlethal damage, when you have both (so let's say 4 points of non-lethal and 4 points of lethal) magical healing heals an equal amount of non-lethal for each point of lethal healed. Ex. If you get healed for 3 in the prior example you'd have 1 point of each type left.

Healing Nonlethal Damage: You heal nonlethal damage at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level. When a spell or ability cures hit point damage, it also removes an equal amount of nonlethal damage.

Just to make sure it's clear (and that I'm not holding anything up :), Horatius doesn't have any actions left this round. He's in position to try and grab Lyn if she falls which is hopefully just backup for if she doesn't have a hold of the rock.

He's also at 1 HP so his potential aid may be a limited time offer :)

Theor isn't going to attack unless you drop or you tell him to since he sees you trying to get to Lyn.

Got a bit of an idea then. How about if you strike to aid Horatiuses AC and then I'll try and grab her on the next round leaving you and Leif to kill it.

Lyn not sure if you need a climb check to grab the wall or if you can climb up.

Small climlb check will be necessary, after all she is trying not to fall.
Thankfully, not falling is the DC minus 5, but this could still potentially kill the poor girl.

Correct, an unarmed strike (without the feat or something similar) provokes. However, as you mentioned if something is flatfooted (barring any special feats/abilities) it doesn't get to take AOOs.

Are we ok moving through other characters spaces? Generally allowed but wanted to confirm with the ledge.

As standard rules, no problem if the person allows you to pass.

OK crazy heroic attempt talk here, would Thaurux be able to drop himself onto the ghoule glaive forward and attack him all in the same round. I am assuming the he would normally take 1d6 damage + 1d6 non lethal from the fall. But maybe the ghoul cushion would make it 1d6 or 2d6 non-lethal. Maybe some kind of touch attack to make sure I can actually land on him, no glaive attack but non-lethal damage to the ghoul from falling on him.

I could be wrong but I think it's more of a slope than a drop, is that correct?

As for Horatius, yes he gets a +2 AC vs his Smite target but with the negatives from paralysis he'd be eating both claw attacks.

Ah yes, the paralysis makes you helpless, that's right.

Far-past Rickmeister was smarter than normal-past Rickmeister :D