Ruins of Azlant (Inactive)

Game Master Nathan Goodrich

I've had distractions for a while. Sorry.

So far the group has looked into the room for a bit, but I haven't seen a 'we go in'. Do you guys want me to assume that? It would be faster, but result in less-than-cautious play in some cases.

Yeah. If we don't see anything, let's assume we go in. We can probably come up with a more specific door order/plan if we need to, but generally I favor whatever works fastest in PBP.

Yes, i'm fine moving in. Sorry not to be clearer.

Just posting to say I'm here and checking....

Hope everyone is well.

Same, I'm fine moving in and ready to go, more or less!

I think we're held up a bit because we're fairly sure there's something magical going on that Houghton was able to feel, but none of the rest of us can?

It looks like Taty is the only person who can cast Detect Magic (and do a Spellcraft after). I can't, Houghton can't, our lovely pure-martials definitely can't. Tatienne, if you get a chance can you toss a roll? Or if you're still being very busy, I'd be happy to roll for you, GM permitting.

Like Aurellian, I'm a little confused on if/how compelled we are if at all as well. I'll put a detect magic and spell craft roll in gameplay.

Unless the GM tells us otherwise, I'm assuming none of us have noticed what only Houghton noticed via whatever that spoilered check was.

Indeed, I presented all the information (via Pirate) that your pal would know.

I should probably ask where you guys are going next just so I know in advance. That question doesn't have bearing on whether you continue to try to figure this last room out.

I'd say due south, to the area blacked out below Aurelian's "fig." If that leads down or off this level, let's head instead to the remaining door to the east, south of the clockworks.

My laziness with the map is starting to hurt. To the south, the passage descends below the water level. That shouldn't be a meaningful barrier by now.

There are rooms you haven't explored above water remaining & rooms you breezed past the first time through that might be worth a second look.

Let's stay above water for now (IMO). I still suggest the place to the east.

Houghton could with some ease explore below any water lines.

Yeah, underwater exploration is something that probably half our party can manage with some ease at this point, but it makes sense to clear the above first so that any water-related buffs can all be cast in one go.

Argh, I'm an idiot. I forgot I already HAVE blindsense 30' constant when in the water/to sense other things in that same water. Didn't have to wild shape for that.

Not wanting to retcon it, because being a shark is still cool, but mostly posting this so it'll stick in my memory I have that ability now.

Houghton has tremorsense in the water too, which I'm guessing is just the equivalent to blindsense!

Sorry to go so quiet. Will get a post up tomorrow. I'd like to investigate the coffins/crypts things, but I don't currently have hands-- might suggest someone else do it so I can keep the aquatic wild shape until we're sure there's nothing more here to find.

My whole family, including me, is down with covid at the moment. Hope to be back soon.

Ugh. Hope it's mild and you feel better quickly.

Oh no! :( I second the wishes for a mild case and quick recovery. Mine was no worse than cold, fortunately, and that was before vax even, so fingers crossed for you.

Yuck, sorry to hear that Tatienne.

Hope it's mild and fast.

Same, all the best!

Thanks all - ours have been like a bad flu, though I had slightly different symptoms than my daughter and wife. I've been pretty zonked, but am feeling better today. Getting back to things - thanks for your patience.

I wasn't aware of Houghton's Beacon of Luck spell, so I had to read it over fresh. It looks like the sacred bonus is only for the caster, while everyone else gets a benefit of being able to declare a double-roll saving throw before the saving throw is made. Does that look right?

Yes, that's right. Hopefully the reroll helps.

FYI, I've got a new direct report starting Monday, so will be spending the week onboarding him. Compound that with another employee being off, so my covering his shift at the end of the day, and I don't know how much I'll be posting this coming week. Then Friday and Saturday is Passover, so don't expect I'll be posting then and maybe not Sunday morning. I hope to be be back to regular posting April 18.

Obviously feel free to DMPC (or PPC) me.

Sounds good. Post when you can of course, but take care of things over there. Good luck!

Wrapping up the semester and hope to get caught up tomorrow afternoon.

The party is now at level 9!

We'll continue on instead of waiting for everyone to level up. You can just be at the next level when you have finished your bookwork & stuff.

Casters will need a rest to get their new spells & such of course.

Sorry to have been so quiet. Had RL deadlines and such. Will try ad catch up tonight. Also, yay a level!

Updated the map. There are three ways for the party to go. North from east tunnel, south from east tunnel or doors to southwest.

Nice B).

Did not make post happen today but just quickly typing that I'm fine following the direction Aurelian picked.

Level up:

+7 hp
+10 skills (disable device, arcana, dungeoneering, engineering, history, nature, planes, religion, spellcraft x 2)
+1 fort
+1 trapfinding
+1/0/1 spells per day
+1 3rd level spell (probably displacement)
Favored class: +1 2nd level spell (probably honeyed tongue)
Feat: Phalanx formation

GM, how many rounds would it take to make the knowledge/perception checks in your last post? Trying to figure out if I can burn some rounds of luck to increase Taty's skill checks.

An interesting question, really. A lot of these checks routinely get assessed as a free action (roll called by the GM that no one bothers to figure out a time cost for), but that's really just laziness.

Since Tatienne wants to consider what she is looking at closely, it stands to reason that she would be able to use her ability. Does one round per check sound fair?

There were also some DC 20 checks that I hand waved since I assumed Tatienne could take 10 them. Those were for Shelyn/Abadar/Pharasma. You wouldn't have to spend rounds of your ability on those.

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While we are on this topic, how many min/level buffs do we have running? It's been a few rooms since the fight with the clockworks & some of those may be getting close to expiring.

One round per check sounds fair. I take it I can take lingering song into account?

Taty has alter self running from the mummy fight.

Lingering song is fine.

I like it. Anything that lets someone be cool and good at stuff is great with me.

Shield of Faith, Beacon of Luck.

I thought good hope was up - if it’s gone let me know and he will have just heroism instead.

+8hp (+5 from class, +2 con, +1 favored hp)
Ref +1

Skill increases to: K-Nature, Per, Stealth, Survival/ Handle Animal, Prof Sailor

Feat: Shapeshifter Foil

1 2nd level slot, 1 5th level slot (+5th level domain spell lot)

(and a note correcting my OWN bookkeeping: I do not need to use a usage of Wild Shape to revert to BaselineZay, had to doublecheck that. So -1 daily use)

Invandi levels from 7 to 8 (Started behind a level from the rest of the party.)
+1 Dex (19->20, +1 Dex Mod)
+8 HP (68)
+1 BAB
+1 Fort
+1 Ref
Bonus Combat Feat (Shield Focus) (+1 AC w/ shield)
Brawlers Flurry (Improved Two-Weapon Fighting)
Unarmed damage increases from d8 to d10
+1 use of Martial Flexibility
4+2+1 Skill Points:
+1 Acrobatics
+1 Perception
+1 Survival
+1 Swim
+3 Climb
2 Background Skills Per Level
+1 Prose
+1 Drawing

Tatienne's Strength check didn't go well. She could take 20 of course, though that would chew up buff time.

I'm also mostly assuming that she also disabled all of the shark tank traps, which would also take a bit, since trap disabling is very frequently a multi-round enterprise.

Which all means I need to sort out how much time is remaining on your spells first. It's unlikely I'll be able to get to that until tomorrow after work, if I stay really on top of things.

If you choose to not spend any more time on the sword, I still need to figure out buff times, but we could otherwise keep moving.

We can come back to the sword.

Tried to also remove it and failed. He can grant +2 to an ability check with ancestors council too, if and when we want to make a concerted effort.

Hey all, I'm heading out Sunday on a LONG-delayed family trip to Greece. I won't be back until May 29. I'm hoping to start posting again May 30, jetlag permitting.

Level 9!
+8 hp
+1 BAB
Swashbuckler weapon training +2 (+1 to hit and damage with all my weapons, basically)
+1 feat: Lunge
+6 skill ranks

Character sheet and all my macros are updated.

Have a good trip Aurelian!

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I sat down to figure out how long things had taken & how buff durations were doing. The short version is a lot of the minute/level ones you guys cast before entering the complex would have worn off a bit ago. No need to retcon any results that might have been affected.

First, see here for my earlier proposal on how to manage campaign time without being super-handwavy. I'm assuming for this purpose that you've been using hurried (but not rushed) exploration.

Rough breakdown since entering:
* Elemental fight - one minute
* I'm not charging for exploring the elemental room since you mostly did that before you unleashed the elementals earlier
* Clockwork patrol fight - one minute
* Recovering from clockwork patrol fight - one minute (actually took longer: you guys needed a lot of CLW)
* Sacricity (started getting enchanted a bunch but left before anything too bad happened) - one minute
* Library - one minute
* Robing Room - one minute
* Mummy Combat - one minute
* Holy Ambry & Burial Chamber - one minute
* Pantheon - one minute
* Hall of the Heroine - one minute

By that accounting, you've spent 10 minutes since entering the temple for this adventuring day, and the minute/level pre-buffs cast have worn off.

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I didn't do a full search for what buffs you guys cast at that time (and especially not since) but I found some posts from when you were preparing to enter the temple:

Houghton
Zay
Tatienne

At a glance, the spells that are dropping are something like:
Shield of Faith x2
Bull's Strength x2
Cat's Grace
Bear's Endurance
Good Hope

If anything else was cast in the relevant duration range, it is probably still up but would depend on when it was cast. 'Just before or during the clockwork patrol combat' would probably be gone as well.

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Overall, I think we can proceed & bot Aurelian while he is gone. An alternative would be to explore a few of the rooms that only got a very quick look back above the water surface. With the short-term buffs down now, it wouldn't be a bad time for it. Proceeding forward would mean either exploring the nearby environs outside the temple (underwater), going back to the door you didn't open or trying the west-side staircase from outside-of-water to underwater again.

OK, thanks for looking over everything, GM! Taty would still have her alter self buff up from the mummy fight (probably) but not anything else.

I'm in favor of exploring the above water side rooms, but happy to go with the lower level stuff if that is what folks prefer.