DM NomadSage's Emerald Spire (Inactive)

Game Master nomadicc

Mikos against a tree behind the tree line and shrugs off his pack to dig out leftovers from the inn. "Not a bad idea to rest and have a little lunch and maybe see if anything comes in or out of the tower, no?"

Ben seems very uncomfortable during the trip through the woods, clearly not enamored of the trees and lack of sight lines.

Tower

"I agree, we should rest. Any chance that green creature will follow us? It didn't sound like a goblin."

From the cover of the forest, you watch the ruin and clearing for about an hour while you enjoy your lunch. Nothing moves except for the sun and passing scattered clouds.

Mikos gets up and stretches. "Well, I'm ready. Shall we?"

Belching out an ale-drenched burp, Bruno hops up and brushes off a couple crumbs.

"To the Spire. Let's go bonk some goblin heads together!"

You leave the trees and start across the open land. The clearing remains unearthly quiet. As you approach the green-glass ruin, you see the stone staircase that once led up to the tower's main door is now nothing more than a rubble-strewn cliff. On the tower's south side, a narrow dirt path winds up a steep berm to a pitch-black doorway. Not even the afternoon sun seems to penetrate the shadow within.

Perception checks please!

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Rodi peers curiously into the depths of the entryway.

As you near the base of the berm, Mikos and Rodi hear voices within start arguing.

"Ow! Why you throw rock down my throat?"

"You snore too loud! Grulk come and smush you if he finds you sleeping. Yous supposed to be watching!"

"Bah! It too bright. No longshanks comes here, or I stabs them."

"You stupid. Raiders come back soon and if finds you snoring, it you be stabbed!"

"Yous the stupid! It too bright... raiders not come back for hours yet. It good time to sleeps."

"I not stupid, you stupid!"

The argument breaks down into scuffling.

Rodi cannot see anything from within -- the shadows appear to be unnaturally deep.

Mikos bows quickly to quietly consult with the dwarves. "You hear that? A pair of goblin guards scuffling. I can't see anything in the darkness, but I'll be right behind you. Move fast."

"Ha ha! Of course! "

Rapier and shield in hand, Bruno takes off at s sprint.

"Perhaps we should pre...pare..."

With a sigh Ben moves after the dwarf, mentally reviewing his list of prepared spells and likely uses for them in the coming melee.

Rodi smiles at the dwarven initiative and follows along behind, pulling a hand crossbow from his belt and cranking it back to load.

Mikos is right behind the dwarves with his sword in one hand and an unactivated sunrod in the other. He pauses at the edge of the impenetrable darkness.

You make a break for it, running up the narrow berm as fast as you can.

Okay, had to read up on the combat rules. It looks like initiative is now a skill check, usually Perception, pertinent to the encounter. I'll keep it Perception here based on the goblins' ability to detect you coming. We can keep the rolls for Mikos and Rodi above, but need ones for Ben and The Keg.

Fixing the arguing goblins to a 4, but...

Goblin Dog Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

You hear a high-pitched yapping from within, adding to the din of the goblins' argument.

Map is up on Roll20. Mikos and Rodi definitely go first. Ben and Keg can post actions if they beat the 14.

Sounds like there's magical darkness on the doorway...

Mikos pauses at the doorway ready to strike the yapping animal if it shows itself.

Cast magic missile at it

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Benjamin finishes his review of memorized spells and cantrips, settling on acid as his go to method of long ranged harm delivery.

Ready to cast Acid Splash Unlimited Usage Spell Roll +5

Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Acid: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Rodi stops, and fires his hand crossbow (ATTACK), reloads (INTERACT) and then fires again (ATTACK)!

Hand Crossbow vs Goblin!: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23 for 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (5) = 8 damage!
Hand Crossbow vs Goblin!: 1d20 + 4 - 5 ⇒ (6) + 4 - 5 = 5 for 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + (4) = 9 damage!

Cast magic missile at it

or shoot it. Gnomes aint got dark vision. Can I have a Mountain Dew?

Mikos runs up to the doorway, weapon ready. The gloom inside only allows him to see a few feet deep. Beyond that, the light fades into shadows.

Should note that Riding can not see any targets to attack them, from your starting position. The outside light only penetrates 5 feet in. Ben and Keg will need to move to see with their darkvision, per the map.

Doh! In that case, move to the side of the tunnel and wait with loaded crossbow!

Round One: Rodimissimo, Mikos, Benjamin, Goblins, *The Keg

Rodi runs up the slope as fast as he can, stopping outside the darkened entrance. Mikos follows close behind, standing ready on the other side of the entrance.

Ben stays on the ramp, acid spell prepared to cast at anything that comes out.

From inside, the yapping steps up in intensity as a second dog joins in. One of the goblins shouds, "Shut up, shut up, stupid mangy thing! Why are you barking--ow! You bite me!"

The other one makes a huge gasp, "Looongshanks!!"

At Keg... and everyone else gets their R2 action before the goblins go.

I revealed the room on Roll20 for the 2 with darkvision. Mikos and Rodi are limited to 5 feet from the threshold without a light source.

Mikos snacks the sunrise against the door frame to see if it reveals the goblins.

The Sunrod illuminates, but is still dampened by the area magic. Mikos and Rosie can see normally 5 feet from the rod, shadowed to 10, and full dark beyond that.

Rodi = "Rosie" via autocorrect, I guess.

And to clarify the previous post in PF2 terms, Bright light within 5 feet of the Sunrod, Dim out to 10, Darkness beyond.

I like Rosie. ;) it keeps changing sunrod to sunroof as well.. I'll follow Keg in as I assume he's going in. Dont have the rules in front of me, but with activating the sunrod and moving, do I still have an attack?

The Keg roars gloriously as he runs into the darkness. He puffs his away to the door using 2 strides and then raises his shield (makes AC 17/15 + enables shield block) (thats 3 actions).

Took me a search to find the Sunrod... its under treasure, not gear. It says its an action to activate, so you should have 2 more actions to move and strike.

Is it only a single action to attack? I was struggling to find that

Rodi answers to just about anything. Seeing the darkness is going to hamper my ranged, he stows the crossbow and draws his rapier, moving into the build adjacent to a gobber.

If Mikos and The Keg plug the door, with the sunrod, you should be able to shoot over us into the melee

Yes, "Strike" is the single action attack.

I put a 5 and 10 foot aura on Mikos, to show what he and Rodi can see. Assuming he moves in to attack, Rodi will be able to see enough to use ranged. (I wish I could use the dynamic lighting in Roll20. Its really cool but when half the party can see what the others can't, makes it hard to use easily.)

Wait, doesn't Roll20 have role-based vision within Dynamic Lighting?

Round 2: Activate-Stride-Strike

Mikos moves in focusing on the goblin rather than the weird ratdog.

Rapier: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Mikos snacks the sunrise against the door frame to see if it reveals the goblins.

really, autocorrect? not helping...

Ben moves up and shoots the dog.

Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Acid Damage: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Bruno charges into the darkness, stopping just inside the door with his shield ready.

Round Two: Mikos, Rodimissimo, Benjamin, Goblins, *The Keg

Mikos smacks the Sunrod to lighten the area, spots the clammoring goblin and barking goblin dog, and moves in to attack. He stabs the goblin in the side, drawing green blood and a scream of pain.

Rodi waits for the light and moves in beside Mikos, threatening the goblin dog.

Benjamin climbs the rest of the way up the berm. He casts an acid glob but it flies over the target and splashes against the back wall.

With you in the keep and in their faces, the goblins finally fight back. Mikos's target steps over, grabs a crude spear-axe from the wall and slashes it at the fighter.

Goblin horsechopper vs Mikos: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21; Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

The other goblin screams and runs back through the door to the north west.

The goblin dog snarls and snaps at Rodi.

Goblin Dog bite vs Rodi: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24; Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

At the Keg! Don't forget to move your tokens on Roll20 if you indicate a move.

Hmm, should've articulated my plan better. Wasted actions last round this way.

The Keg moves up and past Mikos to look and see where the fleeing goblin went. If he spies him, he casts daze (Will Save DC15 or be flat footed (slow 1 on critical failure)). If not, he moves further to get closer. (up to 2 actions, 20 feet each).

Rodi grunts in pain as the dog's sharp vile teeth cut into his flesh. He steps to the east and retaliates with two strikes at the dog!

Strike vs Goblin Dog!: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 for 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8 damage!
Strike vs Goblin Dog!: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 - 4 = 5 for 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 damage!

Round 3: Strike-Strike

Slightly surprised that the little trash-toad injured him, Mikos redoubles his efforts with a stick and slash!

Rapier: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16; damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Rapier: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (10) + 6 - 5 = 11; damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

The Keg chases the goblin to the north, finding her and another goblin dog in the tower room there. He casts daze but she shakes her head vigorously and resists it. "No! No fuzzy dorff spells!"

Goblin Will save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

Mikos takes a step to close on his foe, stabbing it once and drawing more green blood. His follow up misses by a few inches, however.

Rodi tries to stab the goblin dog with his rapier, but over-exerts himself and makes two sloppy attacks.

Note, making a 2nd attack in a round is a -5 penalty, vs -4.

At Ben's turn!

Good, was more worried about an alarm than anything else

It's -4 if the attack has the finesse tag agile trait.

Edit: and the rapier lacks that... for some reason. Yep, -5.

It's -4 if the attack has the finesse tag agile trait.

Ach! Good to know... another combat rule buried in the equipment chapter? Le sigh!

If we all move properly this round we can set up a double flank with Mikos

Ben squints and gives the goblin dog another attempted acid bath.

Touch Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Acid: 1d4 ⇒ 2

"This is more difficult than I anticipated, outside of an academic setting."

Wait, if I'm reading this correctly I can actually cast this multiple times a turn?

Each somatic component costs an action, so ... it depends on the spell. Daze has a somatic and verbal so it cost 2 actions for Bruno.

Ah. Two for me as well then.

Ben casts another acid glob at the goblin, narrowly missing.

Bleeding badly, the goblin steps to the north and stabs its again at Mikos.

Goblin horsechopper vs Mikos: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19; Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Goblin horsechopper vs Mikos: 1d20 + 7 - 5 ⇒ (6) + 7 - 5 = 8; Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

The rat-dog continues to snarl and snap at Rodi.

Goblin Dog bite vs Rodi: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23; Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

In the tower room, Bruno sees the fleeing goblin reach another rat-dog and climb into a crude saddle on its back.

The Keg is up, and everyone else for round 3!