Raider of Shrieking Peak Playtested till Death due Party Part (or until you succeed) (Inactive)

Game Master DoubleGold

Dot and delete, starts 15th, but not before.

Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin rushes into his office
and drops a small stack of papers on his desk. “Agents,
I appreciate your willingness to meet with me on such
short notice.” He takes a moment to reorganize the papers
into a neat pile and catch his breath before continuing.
“Now then, we recently acquired what may or may not
be the relic known as the Inheritor’s Clasp—or rather, one
of our agents infiltrated a cult of Rovagug worshipers
and stole it. History tells that Iomedae dropped the
Inheritor’s Clasp on the day she entered the Starstone
Cathedral. According to old Arodenite accounts, the
clasp might function as a powerful holy relic, though
that theory has yet to be proven conclusively.
“I received word from our infiltrator’s handler, an
alchemist by the name of Inisa Ardaali, that she was
preparing to take the clasp from Katapesh and deliver it
to the Grand Lodge for further study. Inisa is a cautious
sort by nature. Considering the manner in which she
acquired the clasp and the potential interest of the
church of Iomedae, Inisa determined that it was
best to use discretion in regards to bringing the
clasp to the Grand Lodge. As such, she traveled
to Diobel, where she hired a caravan for the final
stretch of the journey to Absalom. However, we
recently received a missive from Inisa sent from
a safe house in Diobel. Take a look.”

After a brief pause, Valsin
chimes in. “You can see
what’s wrong, then? Inisa
must have been worried about
the message being intercepted; and
to be fair, the Aspis Consortium and
other rivals are strong in Diobel. It
seems to me that after thieves ambushed the caravan,
she helped the survivors back to one of our safe houses
in Diobel and then set out to recover the stolen clasp.
But which safe house, and where is she searching? In
denying any interlopers the information, she’s also made
this a lot harder for us,” a sigh escapes from between
Valsin’s lips.
He hands over a sheet from his stack. “I’ve just
secured passage for you on the next ship to Diobel. I
need you make your way there, locate the caravan, and
retrieve the clasp from these thieves. If you are able to
track down Inisa, all the better. She should have much
more information than appears in this letter. If she hasn’t
met her end searching for the clasp on her own, make
sure she makes it safely back to Absalom. Now, there
isn’t much time, so are there any questions?”

Cryptic Note
A,
Ambush on the path.
Lost package.
Survivors safe.
Will recover package.
-I

Reta slips a live frog she was licking back into one of her many pockets.

Do we gots any contactses in Diobel? Is the survivors still in the safe house? Methinks we should be starting there.

Snorri begins quietly humming a tune under his nose.
When Pathfinders came to Diobel, the thieves have met their ends ignoble...

I'll attempt a Bardic Lore check to recall knowledge about Diobel - what and where is it, any specific landmarks etc. 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Then as if woken up from a dream, he looks at the venture-captain with his eyes wide. "So, how many safe houses does the society have in Diobel? How was the missive received - by a courier? Can we ask them from which safe house they came?"

Crowley removes his thick yellow hood from his head and drums ins long thin fingers together. "We can't simply go asking around for Inisa as the Aspis Consortium will quickly catch word. Is there a safe drop that we would be able to get word out to a contact from the area on any known possible leads?"

He starts answering you one by one. Contacts. Well, if I had so many contacts are there in places, I wouldn't need you all, wouldn't I. Why send you over there to take care of whatever, when I already have people there.

He then turns to Snorri We constantly buy and sell safehouses and clear them out to protect our secrets and avoid suspicion. But the safehouses are marked with our symbols. It is a small town, however, so not many I suppose but look for this symbol for our safehouses is as so. And he draws up a unique symbol which takes him five minutes to draw.

He then turns to Tyranius. Just start with what I gave you, I can't help you much else

Ready to head to Diobel?

Snorri quickly copies the outline of the symbol into his notebook. Ready to go, sir. he comfirms.

Ready.

Oh, right before you head out, you can find out additional info from the townfolk or you might already know. Diplomacy, Nature, Pathfinder Society lore and Society checks can give you info. You may attempt all the checks, but be warned, If you roll low enough, ie critical fail, fail by 10 or more or get a 1 you get false info. Not saying what the DC is, it might be 20 and a critical fail would be 10 or less, it might be 10, and you can only crit fail on a natural 1. It might be dc 5.

Reta talks up the locals and tries to remember all she can.

Diplomacy, Trained: 1d20 + 5 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 3 = 22

Society, Trained: 1d20 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 5 + 4 = 22

Society: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

Crowley heads to the seedy underbelly of town. His world, at least the world he knows how to work with. His staff clacks hard against the stone as he offers favors to his usual contacts for information.

Does the proficiency level matter for the check result? Snorri's Expert Society and Untrained Diplomacy are both at +6 - does one have a higher chance to be useful than the other?

Snorri will embark on a pub crawl offering free live music. Once the patrons ask him to stop with his annoying bagpipes for Cailean's sake, he will say that he was just on his way to Diobel and try to fish for some rumors about the safety of the passage there or recent events.

Bardic Lore: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Society: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

As the heroes recall info and ask people, they remember and get the following.

:The caravan set off to the east from Diobel via the
main exit through the Harpy Gate.
• Several trade routes head east towards Absalom, some
having seen less use over the years. The caravan was
seen taking the route that traveled closer inland.

• Any Society caravan would set out east toward
Absalom via the Harpy Gate.
• An agent as cautious as Inisa would likely go out of her
way and take the less-traveled inland road that winds
through the wilds, rather than the more common paths
along the coast.

• Merchants travel in and out of Diobel towards
Absalom via the Harpy’s Gate on the east side of town.
• The main road leading to Absalom isn’t the only
route east, though most of these other routes see far
less use due to the dangers of the region. One route
in particular is perfect for a caravan trying to avoid
attention.

• The hills that the road travels through have seen a
number of minotaur attacks over the years, leading to
the road’s eventual abandonment.
• In addition to the danger that the minotaurs present,
Diobel is always on the lookout for harpies. Recently,
a harpy has made a lair on Shrieking Peak, a small
mountain not far from the road.

After a few days on the road, the trip is uneventful.
Their journey
was relatively uneventful until the caravan reached the
Deluge, a narrow river that flows from Shrieking Peak
towards Diobel. what do you do? You are not in the Caravan, you see dead bodies from a Caravan that passed here.

"Poor Inisa - out of the Aspis frying pan and into the monstrous fire!" Mutters Snorri as he begins looking for clues in the area about who the dead bodies were, what killed them and where did the attackers come from.

I am assuming there is someone with +7 or higher Perception who will Seek the area. Snorri will Investigate, including any clues that the Seek tactics discovers. I have also noticed that there seem to be no tactics that use Survival to look for tracks? That is weird but I'll attempt it anyway.

Bardic Lore: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Fenguk has been quietly following along and keeping an eye on anything strange. Once the group arrives at the site of the ambush she quietly begins a grid search of the site looking for anything that might give them a idea of what happened.

Survival: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Nature: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

As they travel, Hylar tries to recall things. He keeps a steady eye on the horizon, keeping especially watchful of the dark places.

Actually there are three Minotaurs on the other side of the water, just wanted to see what you would do

init: 0 + 1d20 ⇒ 0 + (18) = 18 Minotaurs
roll init, next time I will once I get all your modifiers
Map is up at the top of the page, minotaurs are the squares, you are on the other side of the bridge. I did my best to get the map easy to see, so I drew my on black lines as a guide, so you can see the squares a little better and get an idea of the distance of each square.

Well, that escalated quickly! You actually have our modifiers in the post headers and the profiles...
Are the minotaurs Large? Also should we place ourselves on the map?

Init(Perception): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Snorri readies his hammer and shield and begins chanting a rousing tune with increasing tempo, using the hammer and shield as percussion.
Soundtrack

That was Inspire Courage and I'll post my other actions once it's clear where I am in the initiative order and on the map.

Perception (Init): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Crowley grimaces beneath his yellow hood as he notices the minotaurs on the other side of the bridge. "Don't suppose they just wanna talk."

Perception (Init): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

Hylar hefts his massive greatsword, looking across at the minotaurs. "Bad day for them if they do not." He waits for them, ready to strike should they come nearer. Interact to draw, ready for a strike action if they come within my range.

Yeah, place yourselves on the map before the bridge. Not everyone put their init modifier in their header and I don't like going through profiles to find them. It didn't occur to me until combat started to have them ahead of time.

init: 7 + 1d20 ⇒ 7 + (13) = 20 Fenguk
init: 6 + 1d20 ⇒ 6 + (17) = 23 Reta Smallgood

Wait, Pathfinders init is perception for heroes? The minotaurs init is given right in their stat blocks. Wow, 2nd edition is weird

It looks like all heroes are up

I think you were supposed to ask us how we were traveling. Stealth, Survival, ... anything can be an Initiative modifier if you can make a case for it. But Perception is the default, it seems.

Okay, this is new so I may screw it up...one action for Battle Assessment, and two for Ray of Frost.

Reta carefully studies her nearest opponent and then calls for a ray of frost at him.

Ray of Frost, vs. Touch: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28 Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Reta fires a ray of frost at the Minotaur. You beat the AC by 10, so you score a critical hit, yay for the new crit system. Also, you are 17 squares away from just one minoutar, which is 85 feet, so I count this as a readied action. Yes they will move
additional dmg: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Fenguk draws his bow (1 action) and fires twice at the Minotaur Reta hit. (2 actions, For some reasons I can't find the part in the rulebook that states the penalty for multiple attacks. Is it a -4 on both attacks or a -5 on the second like in pathfinder 1e. Either way I added it to the second.

attack 1: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13
dmg 1: 2d8 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6
Critical dmg 1, deadly trait: 2d8 + 1d10 ⇒ (7, 4) + (7) = 18

attack 2: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (4) + 10 - 5 = 9
dmg 2: 2d8 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9
Critical dmg 2, deadly trait: 2d8 + 1d10 ⇒ (8, 1) + (4) = 13

A magical and glimmering shield springs forth from Crowley's fist, protecting him from harm, at least he hopes so as he draws a wand from his belt loop.

Shield +1 to AC.

So as I understand Reta didn't hit anyone yet because they were out of range of Ray of Frost, and she will hit them after they move closer. In that case she (and anyone else who acts after me) should be benefitting from my Inspire Courage (+1 to Atk and Dmg).
Also, I totally forgot I don't have an actual shield to hammer upon! Reflavor it as pounding the ground I guess.

Snorri's chanting takes intricate forms as he knocks upon hammer with his free fist, and the hammer begins to glow softly.
Casting Magic Weapon as my 2nd and 3rd actions. My hammer is now +1 for 1 minute.

"Come taste dwarven steel, you half-bulls!", he taunts the monsters.

Fenguk fires twice and he misses while snorri causes Reta to crit harder and Tyranius puts up a shield. 16 dmg on a minotaur, or there will be as soon as it moves forward
Hylar is up

Hylar took all his actions.

All minotaurs tripple move move not quite having enough speed to get to to any heroes, then being on the bridge, all hereos are up

@DoubleGold: Would you mind adding the initiative order in your post? I have a bit of a trouble following it. Or do we act in the order of posting?

"Come closer, that's a good cow... And now stay down!"
Snorri keeps singing and throws his hammer at the closest minotaur, already wounded by Reta. A moment later the hammer reappears in his hand, and after a short arcane chant a glimmering magical shield appears in front of him.
Action 1 - Concentrate on Inspire Courage.
Action 2 - Throw hammer: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 9 + 1 = 16
If that hits: Dmg: 2d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (5, 4) + 4 + 1 = 14
Action 3 - Shield cantrip, +1 AC, Hardness 10

Reta moves to the bridge abutment, where she crouches down and draws her sword, hoping the lumbering beasts will not notice her.

Move, Hide, Draw Weapon

Inits:
Hylar: 27
Reta: 23
Fenguk: 20
Tyranius 20
Snorri: 19
Minotaur: 18

And that hammer bounces off the Minotaurs natural armor

Your stealth is +10?

Trained at 5th level == +5, Dex == +4, total == +9?

The magical shield continues to hold as a loose stone hurtles from the ground towards the lead minotaur.

Action 1- Cast Shield
Action 2-3- Cast Telekinetic Projectile

Telekinetic Projectile: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Damage: 1d10 ⇒ 5

Fenguk lines up one more shot at the on coming Minotaur. He thens yells out ”Drop everything you are holding!

Action 1: Shoot the on coming Minotaur
atk: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30
dmg: 2d8 ⇒ (7, 7) = 14
Criticare DMG: 2d8 + 1d10 ⇒ (3, 2) + (9) = 14

Action 2 and 3: Casting Command (Somatic and Verbal) at the red Minotaur.
DC 19 Will save
Succes: Target is unaffected
Failure: target spends its first action doing as you commanded and tha spell is dismissed
Critical Failure: target does as you commanded, spending as many actions as possible doing so and does nothing else.

Don't forget +1 to Atk and Dmg from Inspire Courage guys! I'm spending my actions to maintain it! I am fairly sure it applies to spell attacks too.

Tyranius actually crits on the minoutar
dmg: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12 +1 to dmg applies twice, one for the normal hit and once for the crit? I'm rolling the +2 to make up for both
Fenguk does 30 dmg to the same minotuar +1 and +1 Nearly killing it
will save: 0 + 1d20 ⇒ 0 + (4) = 4 Fail by 10, crit fail
The first Minotaur drops his weapon, his gold, his other items on the floor.

The red minotaur did see you Reta, though you do have soft cover which is what +4 to your AC here? he moves and makes two attacks
hit: 11 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 + (12) = 23
hit: 11 - 5 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 - 5 + (9) = 15
If you hit take dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14 slashing as he hits you with an axe. and another dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19 if he hit you twice.
The Minotaur in the back makes a powerful charge on Snori
hit: 11 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 + (12) = 23 dmg: 3d8 + 15 ⇒ (8, 3, 3) + 15 = 29
And then attacks again with axe hit: 11 - 10 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 - 10 + (13) = 14 dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15
All heroes are up

With Nimble Dodge, Reta's AC is 24 against melee or ranged attacks that she can see coming, so I think both strikes miss.

Is there room under the bridge for a goblin to scurry? Is it Difficult Terrain?

As it happens, Snorri's AC with Shield up is also 24, so it's also a miss!
Bonus damage from Inspire Courage multiplies on a crit.

Snorri holds his ground against the charging minotaur, narrowly avoiding the huge axe. Keeping his shield and his song up, he strikes back, aiming at the monster's kneecaps.
Atk, Ispire Courage: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 9 + 1 = 22
Dmg, Magic Weapon, Inspire Courage: 2d6 + 3 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6, 6) + 3 + 1 + 1 = 17

Actions 2,3 - concentrate on Shield and Inspire Courage

Hylar approaches the enemy, and taps into his primal wellspring of rage, then slashes out at the minotaur.

Attack: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 9 + 1 = 16
Damage: 2d12 + 4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3, 9) + 4 + 3 + 1 = 20

Fenguk smiles as the minotaur drops everything. Seeing one of the beasts nearly dead and feeling the beat of Snorri`s snoring, oops I mean singing, Fenguk pulls three arrows from his quiver and fires them in quick succession at the injured beast. If it goes down he fires the rest at the red minotaur.

Action 1 Atk, inspired courage: 1d20 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 10 + 1 = 23
DMG, inspired: 2d8 + 1 ⇒ (5, 3) + 1 = 9
Action 2 Atk, inspired courage: 1d20 + 10 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (18) + 10 + 1 - 5 = 24
DMG, inspired: 2d8 + 1 ⇒ (1, 7) + 1 = 9
Action 3 Atk, inspired courage: 1d20 + 10 + 1 - 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 + 1 - 10 = 6
DMG, inspired: 2d8 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 = 12

Not to be a party-pooper but it looks to me that Fenguk should take a -2 penalty for firing closer than 50ft and possibly another -1 for screening, unless he moves.

Seeing the minotaur getting so close Crowley takes a step back, retreating. "Crap, its fast." He holds the wand out, releasing the spell within. Black tendrils reach out from the wand and cling to the minotaur right in front of him.

Action 1- 5 foot step.
Action 2 and 3- Spend 1 Resonance point to use Wand of Grim Tendrils.

[dice-Grim Tendrils Damage (Neg energy)]2d4[/dice] + 1 Persistent bleed damage depending on save.

DC 14 Fort save I believe. Reading over the DC's for spells it sounds like they are static based on the casting class ability score?

At Reta, you can't fit, the module says it is a low bridge, there could be space under there, but I would have to say not enough to fit even for a small creature. Oh and I missrolled the red minotaur, it is the weak one, so it gets less for its attack and damage and less starting HP, still a miss

Hylar swings hard and misses
Snorri hits the Minotaur in front of him
Fenguk, even with penalties hits the minotaur and it drops and then pumps an arrow into the red one.
fort: 10 + 1d20 ⇒ 10 + (8) = 18 pass as Tyranius attack does nothing.

Reta is up Dmg posted on the map

Fenguk took a dip into fighter to get the feat that negates the -2 from a volley weapon. It cost 2 feats.
-Fighter dedication
-Basic Maneuver - Point Blank Shot
He probably still takes a penalty for screening

@GM- A pass does half damage and no bleed. I am just no realizing that I meeded up the BB code for the roll as well.

Grim Tendrils Damage (Neg energy): 2d4 ⇒ (1, 2) = 3

Reta nimbly dodges both of the minotaur's mighty swings, and responds with a rude gesture and an intense glare at him.

She strikes twice with her sword.

Shortsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26 Damage: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (4, 4) + 4 = 12
Shortsword: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13 Damage: 2d6 + 4 ⇒ (2, 5) + 4 = 11

1 dmg added because of Tryanius
Reta swings at the minotaur twice, but only hits it once doing 12 dmg.

Reta I still don't know what that did, he is next to you. He can't hear you, but he can still see you is what I'm getting from it.

Minotaurs go three swings at Reta hit: 9 + 1d20 ⇒ 9 + (3) = 12 hit: 9 - 5 + 1d20 ⇒ 9 - 5 + (12) = 16 hit: 9 - 10 + 1d20 ⇒ 9 - 10 + (4) = 3

Three swings at snorri since you hit him last hit: 11 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 + (20) = 31
hit: 11 - 5 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 - 5 + (19) = 25
hit: 11 - 10 + 1d20 ⇒ 11 - 10 + (2) = 3

If any of you got hit one the first swing...dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Did anyone get hit on the second swing...dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
Did anyone get hit on the third swing... dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

Reta, the red Minotaur deals 2 damage less, if you take damage, subtract 2 for each time you got hit.

Any and all crit hits.. add dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 for each one

All heroes are up

Ouch! Not sure I'm on board with rolling damage once for everyone :|
@Fenguk - sorry I skimmed over your charsheet and now feel like a jerk. I'll shut up.

The magic shield cracks and vanishes, unable to protect Snorri from the minotaur's furious strike. Snorri reels as the axe wounds him deep in the shoulder, losing his balance just long enough for the man-beast to score a backswing strike with the tip of the axe over his chin.

That's 13+9+19-10 damage - 31 total. Snorri is at 34HP now.

Realizing the scales have tipped, he retreats closer to the disciple of Erastil. His song cuts off as he spits blood onto his beard.
"My people have been purging Golarion's surface of savages like you for centuries. If I go down I bring you with me!"

Action 1 - Move, Action 2 - True Strike, Action 3 - Throw Hammer. No Inspire Courage this round.

Atk1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Atk2: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

That'll be 21 to hit for 2d6 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3, 1) + 3 + 1 = 8 damage.

Crowley moves back to a safer distance and sends another stone at the minotaur closest to him. "What are so many of these cows doing out here?"

Telekinetic Projectile: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16
Damage: 1d10 ⇒ 1