The Red Arm of Absalom - Ongoing Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master GM Red

D's shot flies into the tree and through one of the beetles' heads. It falls onto the ground dead, its light flickering out. One round, and then they're alerted, so I won't use those other two shots.

Alerted to your presence, the fiendish beetles suddenly swoop down from above. They appear to be covered in some of the same purple-black substance that's on the decayed tree, and while your ordinary beetle of this variety would glow greenish-yellow, these ones flicker like torches, matching the baker's description.

And we have combat! I'll give you some time to roll initiative before I do it myself. The map has been updated.

Knowledge Planes: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31

Cup peers at the bugs, then recoils. "That oozy purple-black substance is known as Demon's Bile. If ingested, it damages a creature's wisdom and strength and shifts them towards evil. In addition, creatures under the effects of it hear a constant buzzing in their heads that, along with their shifting alignment, prompts them to undertake tasks that most would consider madness. Left unchecked, the bile spreads to cover a larger and larger area each day. It can also spew forth vermin each day. We'll need good-aligned damage, positive energy, or damage from cold iron weapons to destroy the bile."

Init: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Whoops, to clarify, the bile itself requires that sort of damage. The beetles don't have those same properties. The bile seems to have affected them in other ways, however.

Better we got the drop on them than the other way around.

Init: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Whoops, to clarify, the bile itself requires that sort of damage. The beetles don't have those same properties. The bile seems to have affected them in other ways, however.

On that roll, do I get more information on how to fight the beetles?

EDIT: Do we roll initiative, or does GM Red?

He usually does, but since he asked for it, we can do it ourselves.

@Cup Yes, I'll post in some monster lore shortly. With Red Arm games I have let the players roll it themselves since you're all so fast, but after a few hours, I do it myself for those who have not yet.

"Oh. Where did this bile come from?"

Sirettis stands up, alert as D clobbers one of the beetles and the others fly down.

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

I've got no problem with Red mass rolling for init. Saves some time and I assume he's gotta put up a init block anyhow. The dice do what the dice do.. no matter who /rolls them.

Mr Peppers watches the beetle fall dead at the base of the tree. "Woah ya them things would carry Isa off instead! Look out!"

Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Ok. I'll roll it next time around.

Cup recognizes these beetles as fire beetles but with a sort of mutated, evil form. The changes confer energy and spell resistance and allow the beetles to smite good. They bite and can fly. SR 4, Energy resistance vs cold and fire

___

Evil beetles, Round 1
D, Sirettis, Blaster, Cup are up
Green
Mr. Peppers and Gallix
Pink
Uesugi
Red, Blue

D. aims his next sand bullet at pink.

Sand bullet, PBS: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8Dmg, PBS: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
"Tch...."

ack I take a nap and now I'm acting last!! This is why Uesugi rolls his own initiative hehe. Sorry all winds are busy keeping my son entertained errand running for the week

Blaster said he's be away all weekend so Blaster Bot or someone will need to aim his musket for him.

♫ This orchard's like a bomb baby c'mon get it on
Covered in bile to create buggie demon spawn
Kill it like a champ before the creatures ramp
Demolition D, Cormac can you be
Razzle 'n' a dazzle 'n' a flash a little light
Pathfinder teammates this is our fight

They're glowin', smitin' good
They're bad, not misunderstood! ♫

Cup inspires courage.
+1 to attack and damage

__
Source: Pour Some Sugar on Me by Def Leppard

Click. Whirr.

BOTTING BLASTER

Blaster steps forward and takes careful aim.

Musket, Inspire, Point Blank: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 26
Damage: 1d12 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 + 1 = 12

A flash of powder and bug parts fills the air!

Sirettis steps behind Gallix and lets her hair down. Strands of hair fall to the ground and take a life of their own, flowing around and trying to squish the beetles like a giant hammer.

"So many targets...we should silence them, and quickly."

D's aim isn't quite as true this time, and Blaster indeed blasts apart the pink-scaled beetle, blowing it into nasty chunks of bile and bug!

The green bug scurries up towards Uesugi and tries to get a bite out of the samurai.

Bite!: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 81d4 ⇒ 1

... With no luck at all as Uesugi pulls his ankle up to avoid the bite.

Mr. Peppers, Gallix, and Uesugi are up

Fire resistant and spell resistant? Inconceiveable!

Mr Peppers seeing Blaster and D shoot down the vile little demon beetles decides it can't be that hard right? Def Leppard jammin in the background, he's feeling good, so he scoots to the north for a clear shot on the teal beetle. Now that he's had more practice he's able to quickly draw his crossbow while he gets into position and takes a shot.

Ranged Crossbow: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 241d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Ranged Crossbow Crit Confirm?: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 151d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Mr Peppers watches the teal beetle explode into more pieces than Blaster's did. "How 'bout dem apples..."

I smell a Princess Bride reference. :)

You killed my father, prepare to die!

Uesugi watches as the fiendish bug misses him and quickly moves into a better position for him and the barbarian to attack it. As he moves he slices across the hardened carapace of the bug attempting to get underneath the wings joints of the creature.

move 5 ft and attack. Btw if I am adjacent to a single opponent I get +1AC from my trait expert duelist. Forgot to use this last game.

Katana slice-power att+bless: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (7) + 4 - 1 = 10
damage: 1d8 + 4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 3 + 1 = 11

Bah I'll make a roll for Gallix as well

As soon as Uesugi moves to attack the critter Gallix already anticipates what the samurai is going to do. They had fought enough battles together to know the tendencies of one another. Gallix watches blade miss the bug as he moves and drives his cestus at the head of the bug.

Cestus+song: 1d20 + 4 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 1 + 2 = 15
damage: 1d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9

Arcanist turned crossbowman Mr. Peppers obliterates another beetle, and although Uesugi misses, Gallix squashes another bug under his fist, leaving one beetle to fight on its own. It tries to bite at Gallix, angry about losing its bug friends.

Bite, Smite good: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 111d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Gallix laughs at the creature as it fails a chomp of his foot.

Back to the top

Evil beetle, Round 2
Everyone is up! Beetle free for all
Red

D. moves north, until he gets a clear shot at the remaining bug.

Kb: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 171d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Uesugi continues moving and slashes at the remaining beetle just as D. pierces the hard shell with his sand pellet.

Katana+song-p.a: 1d20 + 4 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 - 1 = 8
damage: 1d8 + 4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 3 + 1 = 11

D finishes the battle with another sand bullet through the bug's frail body. What remains is an orchard littered in demon bile and bug parts.

Combat is over

Attack, Inspire Courage: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 4 + 1 = 23
Damage: 1d3 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8

Sirettis's hair resembles the shape of a large boot as it punts the final beetle into a tree.

...is what she would have done had D not clobbered the beetle while she was planning her next move.

Gallix follows up his attack and moves forward once again punching his cestus at the head of the beetle.

Cestus+song+flank: 1d20 + 4 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 1 + 2 = 14
damage: 1d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6

"Ha!" Exclaims Mr Peppers as a giant hairy boot kicks the blown out beetle corpse across the orchard.

Mr Peppers reloads the crossbow, switches on the safety and slings it back over his shoulder. "Well we seem to have flipped our exterminating switch fast enough to ON it seems. Wonder if there are any more of these around the orchard? Think that priest can pray this black goo away? Or maybe at least douse it with some holy water? Either way let's take some notes on these little devils."

Cup drops her performance and tiptoes through the battlefield. She adjusts her glasses as she studies the bile and the beetle carcasses. "You are excellent exterminators."

Experimentally, she tries out her CLW wand on some bile. "Take notes on the shrinkage, Mr. Peppers. I want to know how effective positive energy is on these things."

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"I do think it would be grand to collect up a bottle of this to show to both the priest and the alchemist, don't you? And I'd love to bring the priest back here to channel."

She looks to Gallix. "Got any empty potion bottles or mutagen vials on you? I can gather it up with a spell*, but the only empty containers I have on me are in my tea set."

Oh please, don't make me use my tea set for this...

___
* Cup has both mage hand and unseen servant. The Unseen Servant can gather and carry magical things. If this goo is considered magical, mage hand by itself won't work.

The goo is nonmagical, so you're good to use mage hand, although my earlier spoiler mentioned touching it carries no consequences - just don't eat it. :)

The positive energy from Cup's wand soaks into the pile of bile and it begins to shrink into a much smaller blight. It shrivels and twists, changing from purple to grey and from oozy to ashen until all that's left is a small pile of harmless ash on top of some dead grass, signaling its destruction.

There's enough of it still there that you can take a sample of it, of course

____

Other than the bile, you also find a masterwork sap that appears to have been left behind on the ground near the struggle marks.

Twirl your GM wand Red.. you beat me to the draw.

Mr Peppers nods appreciatively as Cup runs some tests on the goo,seeing it destroyed is excellent news. At least she's got a bright inquisitive mind, and that song was very energizing!

"I wish I could help there but all my vials and flasks are full of alchemical goodness for the time being. Before we head anywhere else it probably would be wise to check out these drag marks a bit better, someone could be in trouble.. like one of our apprentices." His eyes brighten up a bit "Bugs are dead and maybe we're about to find those lost teens.. we could be almost finished up here!"

Sirettis's hair reaches into her backpack and pulls an empty vial. "This vial used to hold antitoxin. Put some of the bile in here." The hair points toward the bottle.

"We'll need to find the source of this bile. So, be on your toes."

"Thank you, Sirettis! That would be perfect!" Cup prestidigitates the vial clean, and then uses mage hand to scoop bile into it before capping it. "Alright, I'm ready. Let's follow those tracks!"

You find that the tracks end at the southern end of the orchard and aren't able to see any more past that point.

As you squashed bugs in the orchard, some of the locals took note of Sirettis' hair and how it moved magically. The small crowd that stopped to watch dispersed immediately as they saw the witch manipulate her air, gasping in horror at the sight of it.

Cup frowns, eyes narrowing. "I should have known that we would have witnesses. We may have to do damage control on the village to prevent them from lynching us later." She watches their fleeing forms.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

Any of them look familiar? Any features that are memorable?

Admittedly, that was entirely flavor. I'm trying to evoke the superstitious nature of the residents to give the setting a more dark and panicky feeling.

Good job Red I have no doubt we can talk our way through this with both word and action but anyone who lays a hand on the spirit loses their neck!

Flavor? Well, I'm tasting fear now. Gnomes think it's delicious. Cup tries to memorize as much as possible about those she saw.

"There could be no other way. Eyes will see as they want. This ooze is no coincidence. Hmm tracks leading away two of them you said. If the insects consumed this and we're transformed into that. Then what would happen if a person were forced to consume the same substance? Words will eventually make their way to the mayor. We should make her aware before they do. I will head and tell the mayor the incidence if you all wish to speak to the other properitors. "

"These tracks can't likely just vanish can they? Look hard everyone, take your time, start in a grid pattern where the tracks end, everyone to their own area, holler if you find anything interesting. I'll scan the area for magic. Maybe there's a trap door or something.. or maybe whatever it was just hopped on its broomstick and flew off.. or maybe we're just missing some tracks as it leaves the soft ground. Look closely!"

Mr Peppers casts detect magic and scans the area for anything that brightens his day. Afterwards he meticulously goes over the area with everyone, starting in his own square.

I wake up, 13 gameplay posts. :)

We may have to do damage control on the village to prevent them from lynching us later

"We should have a chat, to convince them they haven't seen anything.

As closely as Mr. Peppers looks, he isn't able to find anything more in the form of tracks past the edge of the orchard, nor does he detect anything magical.

GM hint time. Uesugi's idea of continuing to interview the other masters and Cup's idea of collecting a sample to bring to the alchemist later were on the right track.

Ya I assumed the tracks would dead end but Mr Pepper's isn't the type to just ignore such a large clue without exhausting the immediate possibilities :) Unfortunately he doesn't have scent!

"Does that sap have any identifying markings I wonder." He'll take a look at it, including checking to see if it is magical, if so:
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31

"Where to now? We should probably finish interviews first so we have all the puzzle pieces in hand before trying to fit too many together. We wouldn't want to force any of those pieces to fit where they shouldn't."

"I will inform the mayor of our proceedings and to warn her of what might come. I will then find you at which of the masters?"

Talk about waking up to a mess of posts!

Gallix wipes away any of the bile that clung to his fists in the fight against the corrupted fire beetles, then stands beside Uesugi. "Agreed. We should let the mayor know that we may have identified and at least partly handled the insect problem. I'll tag along with Uesugi to make our report. The question we need to ask is: why is there a mess of demon's bile covering the orchard and these beetles? Where did it come from? Who was fighting here and why, and where did they go?" The brawler seems truly concerned about the situation, and his is eager to bring the investigation to a happy conclusion.

"So it sounds like we'll split up briefly here? We've got a cobbler, a haberdasher, and an innkeeper remaining to interview." He'll take out the rough directions from the Mayor. "Well looks like the closest one is _____, so lets head there while you two update the Mayor?"

Sirettis instinctively strokes her hair, and it wraps around her wrist. She can't help but play with it, despite the crowd. She doesn't get to do this very often.

"Betrona Pindlion. Uesegi, meet us there after you converse with the mayor."

Sirettis chooses to simply ignore the crowd while her hair is active. Eventually it loses its strength and most of it tears off, withering away into the orchard. "They look at me with eyes of terror, yet no one questioned the bile that ruined the trees. See no evil..."

The closest one to the Orchard would be The Witch's End Tavern (Location #10)

Mr. Peppers doesn't find that the masterwork sap is magical at all.

Twirl your witch wand Sirettis, ya got me.

"Hmm. Morvinarr Albusin would be closer...let us go there instead."