GM Hawthwile - Ageless Ambitions (Inactive)

Game Master Hawthwile

”Shardra, try to keep more than twenty feet from me if your spells have verbal components!” Glasha starts casting silence on her heavy flail. 1-round cast

To the north, the sound of chanting continues.

Round 2! Bold may act!
Orange
Purple
Glasha
White
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman
Seelah
Shardra

What do you do?

Waiting for the door to the north to open.

Thoriel pulls open the door.

Will wait to see what is behind it before taking rest of turn.

Taman moves to the northern door.

As Thoriel opens the door, she can't see much besides the wall from her current position. Similarly, Fendel can only see an empty strip of room in front of him.

From his position, Taman sees the source of the chanting - a human woman in the center of the room. She does not look unduly surprised to see the barbarian.

Round 2! Bold may act!
Orange
Purple
Glasha
White
Thoriel (Standard action remaining)
Fendel
Taman (Standard and 10 ft of move action(s) remaining)
Seelah
Shardra

What do you do?

Shardra moves forward and casts bless on the party.

7 minutes duration. +1 morale bonus to hit / fear effects.

Taman goes near woman.

As Taman approaches the woman, he is surprised as a man in orange seemingly appears from between the tables and tries to stab him in the kidney with a short sword...

Short Sword vs AC 20: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33
Crit Confirmation: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
Critical Slashing damage: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (1, 5) + 2 = 8

...and it strikes true!

Could have been a lot worse if Taman didn't have Improved Uncanny Dodge. Also, remember to deduct your DR from the damage given before updating your stat bar.

Side note - I don't need Taman's raging attack numbers in his stat bar as much as his defenses (AC, saving throws, and the like).

Shardra's blessing reaches all her allies except Glasha outside. There's not a direct line of effect from Shardra to Glasha since the secret door is above the floor and up the chimney.

Round 2! Bold may act!
Purple
Glasha
White
Orange
Thoriel (Standard action remaining)
Fendel
Taman
Seelah
Shardra (Bless)

What do you do?

The detective moves into the room and snaps off a shot.

Merciful Bow {DA/RA} vs ORANGE: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 201d8 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 10 + (1) = 19 NL

"Remember, these are upstanding guards! We only need to subdue them!" Seelah moves into the room and begins a quick scan to determine if her gut was correct.

Thoriel, drawing her weapon, moves into the room, taking up a position to cut off any retreat from the man and to be prepared for any reinforcement from the north door.

Fendel's arrow strikes true and lodges itself in the man's shoulder.

Unfortunately, because Seelah's attention is focused on the man in orange, she fails to notice another man in lavender until too late as he leans from behind a table and takes careful aim with his crossbow...

Light Crossbow vs FF AC 25: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31 This is getting ridiculous.
Crit Confirmation: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Piercing damage, Sneak attack: 2d8 + 4d6 ⇒ (7, 4) + (2, 5, 2, 3) = 23

...and the bolt hits a vital organ that begins dripping blood through her armor!

Seelah, you are taking 4 points of bleed damage at the start of each of your turns until you make a DC 15 Heal check or have any effect that restores hitpoints applied to you.

Round 3! Bold may act!
Purple
Glasha
White
Orange (-19)
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman (-7)
Seelah (-23, bleed 4)
Shardra

What do you do?

Glasha finishes her casting of silence on her heavy flail and now radiates a 20-foot aura of complete silence. She then runs into the room (double move) and uses her hypnotic stare on the chanting woman (looks like that’s white foe).

@ALL: Glasha will trigger your trick whenever you'd like; just note it when you post your actions. @GM: Glasha will trigger Mesmeric Mirror if/when Fendel and Taman are attacked (2 duplicates, as mirror image).

With that handy reminder about tricks, let's do a little retcon magic!

Taman's trick triggered when he was attacked, and two illusionary copies of him sprung into being. Did the man in orange strike him, or an image?

Mirror Image, 1 = Taman: 1d3 ⇒ 3

He struck an image - Taman, you have taken no damage and have one image remaining. Woo!

As the silence surrounding Glasha approaches, the woman scowls and steps back. Hearing her voice again, she pulls out a small vial before casting another spell!

Entertainingly, according to all the rules on the subject I can find, you can totally identify a spell being cast as long as you can see it - even if you can't hear the words. Seems odd to me, but no matter.

Acrobatics vs Taman (DC 25): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (4) + 16 = 20

The man in orange waves at Taman as he handsprings over the table (past a pile of neatly folded pale yellow, black, and maroon uniforms) before zipping around with incredible speed to the north doors and opening one. Taman's reflexes are too fast for him to move safely, but without a weapon in hand the Pathfinder is forced to watch his quarry escape unscathed.

Yes, I am a stickler for things like saying you got your weapon out.

"Boss, we got company!" the man yells into the hallway outside before turning his attention back to the invaders.

Round 3! Bold may act!
Purple
Glasha
White
Orange (-19)
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-27, bleed 4) I've already included the bleed damage in this total
Shardra

Active Effects:
- Bless (except Glasha)
- Silence (white radius)

What do you do?

The detective ignores the silence and takes a moment to look for any vulnerabilities in the 'informant' before loosing another arrow.

Merciful Bow {DA/ST} vs ORANGE: 1d20 + 14 - 3 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 14 - 3 + 2 = 271d8 + 9 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 2 + (1) = 15 NL

Move action for Ranged Studied Target, Standard to shoot.

Thoriel, increasingly suspicious that the group's attackers may not be guards but rather others with less noble motives, nevertheless restrains from unleashing her full fury upon them until the group have the chance to uncover exactly what is going on here.

Rushing out of the radius of the silencing spell, she follows the 'informant' and conjures up a patch of slippery grease under his feet to hopefully slow him down a little.

Grease (DC15). Marked on map.

Taman makes one step closer to the enemy (5ft step) and strikes.

to hit: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23
damage: 2d8 + 9 ⇒ (8, 7) + 9 = 24

to hit: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
damage: 2d8 + 9 ⇒ (3, 2) + 9 = 14

Reflex vs DC 15: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

Fendel's arrow strikes true again, but the man in orange keeps his footing as Thoriel greases the floor beneath him.

The woman in white is not as fortunate - she seems to weather Taman's blows only to crumple from some unseen psychic force (Glasha's Painful Stare).

Taman, I'm guessing you took out your overly large bastard sword to attack, but please include such details so I don't jump to the wrong conclusion and slow the game down for everyone. Thanks!

Round 3! Bold may act!
Purple
Glasha
White (-49)
Orange (-34)
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-27, bleed 4) I've already included the bleed damage in this total
Shardra

Active Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)
- Silence (white radius)

What do you do?

sorry, I will do that.

Seelah calls on Iomedae to heal her, laying hands on herself. She then tries to work her way out of Glasha's silence so she can share what she's learned about these 'guards.'

"Wait, these aren't the guards... or if they are, they're corrupt! The evil just oozes off of this one!" She gestures her sword at the man in orange as she arrives next to him.

Shardra moves forward and concentrates on the lady in pink and tries to bring misfortune.

Misfortune As a standard action, Shardra can force an enemy within 30 feet to roll twice on all ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks and take the lower roll for 1 round (Will DC 18 negates). She can’t use misfortune on the same target again for 24 hours.

Lavender Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

The man in lavender feels especially unlucky as he drops his crossbow and moves into a flanking position with his friend - with Seelah caught between them! His sword darts forward...

Short sword, Flanking, Haste vs AC 25: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 13 + 2 + 1 = 19
Short sword, Flanking, Haste vs AC 25: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 13 + 2 + 1 = 31
Piercing damage, Sneak attack: 1d6 + 1 + 4d6 ⇒ (1) + 1 + (1, 3, 2, 4) = 12

...but it is deflected as her shield swings from walking.

Across the hall, another set of doors open. "Wot in tarnation..." says a gruff-looking man. His voice trails off as he sees the Pathfinders, and his eyes widen in shock. He raises a gloved hand and crushes the brown gem within it. An instant later, the ground trembles as a large rocky form emerges. "Cael nhw," the man says. "Targedwch y rhai sydd â llai o arfau." The creature rumbles something in response and disappears back beneath the stone floors.

Remember, if you are within the zone of silence, you cannot hear anything.

Round 4! Bold may act!
Purple (Misfortuned)
Boss
Elemental
Glasha
White (-49)
Orange (-34)
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-13)
Shardra

Active Area Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)
- Silence (white radius)

What do you do?

Glasha dismisses the silence effect on her weapon. She moves up adjacent to the lavender foe (unless that table provides cover, this would provoke an AOO) and stares at them.

”Seelah! I can shift you with compel alacrity past the grease to the bald-headed foe on your turn if you’d like!”

@ALL: Glasha will trigger your trick whenever you'd like; just note it when you post your actions. @GM: Glasha will trigger Mesmeric Mirror if/when Fendel and Taman are attacked (2 duplicates, as mirror image).

"This is an earth elementa! It has an easier time striking foes touching the ground and it can tell where other creatures are through the vibrations they make when touching the ground." Shardra shouts.

Just to clarify, compel alacrity is still movement, right? I.e. Seelah would still have to roll to move through the grease?

Just to clarify, compel alacrity is still movement, right? I.e. Seelah would still have to roll to move through the grease?

Ah, you're correct. I was mistakenly thinking it was more of a teleport effect, but no, it's regular movement; just doesn't provoke AOOs or count against your total available movement.

Nooooo! My beautiful post was eated? How could the boards betray me like this?

Anyways, I need to head for bed, but I'll post in the morning. Sorry folks!

White stabilize vs DC 18: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 Failure

The man in orange grins and tries to stab Seelah, first with one sword...

Short sword, Flanking, Haste vs AC 25: 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 11 + 2 + 1 = 24
Slashing damage, Sneak attack: 1d6 + 1 + 4d6 ⇒ (6) + 1 + (4, 5, 4, 2) = 22

...and then the other...

Short sword, Flanking, Haste vs AC 25: 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 11 + 2 + 1 = 24
Slashing damage, Sneak attack: 1d6 + 1 + 4d6 ⇒ (1) + 1 + (2, 6, 1, 6) = 17

...but neither blade can penetrate her armor!

Round 4! Bold may act!
Purple (Misfortuned)
Boss
Elemental
Glasha
White (-50)
Orange (-34)
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-13)
Shardra

Active Area Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)

What do you do?

Taman tries to strike the man in purple with his sword.

+2 bastard sword + bless: 1d20 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 13 + 1 = 26
damage: 2d8 + 9 ⇒ (8, 4) + 9 = 21

+2 bastard sword + bless: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 8 + 1 = 29
damage: 2d8 + 9 ⇒ (6, 8) + 9 = 23

confirm crit: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 8 + 1 = 15
damage: 2d8 + 9 ⇒ (2, 4) + 9 = 15

Shardra takes a small step forward. (5 ft step)

Shardra starts to cackle! (move action) - misfortune continues to affect the lady in pink.

And again she concentrates and now wants bring misfortune on the lady in orange.

Misfortune As a standard action, Shardra can force an enemy within 30 feet to roll twice on all ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks and take the lower roll for 1 round (Will DC 18 negates). She can’t use misfortune on the same target again for 24 hours.

Taman does not confirm the critical hit, but the combination of both blows almost brings his opponent to his knees before he cries out, but barely remains standing. (Painful Stare to the rescue again!)

Since the lavender foe is no longer Misfortuned at the start of Shardra's turn, I'll retcon Shardra to have Misfortuned the orange opponent, then Cackled to extend that duration.

BTW, since Misfortune only lasts one round, it ends at the start of Shardra's next turn - meaning that she has to Cackle on the same round if she wants to extend it. Since you would know whether Misfortune failed or succeeded, perhaps include an if/then spoiler with alternative things to use her move action if Misfortune fails.

Will save vs DC 18: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

The man in orange also does not feel lucky, nor does he like how Shardra is laughing at him.

Round 4! Bold may act!
Purple (-55)
Boss
Elemental
Glasha
White (-50)
Orange (-34, Misfortuned)
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-13)
Shardra

Active Area Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)

What do you do?

Recoiling from two very dangerous strikes, Seelah knows she has to get out from between these two. She calls out to Glasha "NOW!" and tries to step into the grease... but the unnatural quickness throws off her balance! It's all Seelah can do to stay on her feet where she stands. She shakes it off and concentrates on the guard in white, internally asking Iomedae to reveal this guard's heart as well. With her conviction settled, she strikes.

The detective keeps his eye on his target as he moves forward and fires again.
Merciful Bow {PBS/DA/ST} vs ORANGE: 1d20 + 14 + 1 - 3 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 14 + 1 - 3 + 2 = 311d8 + 1 + 9 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 9 + 2 + (5) = 23 NL damage

Seelah, I'm not sure who you're targetting. Could you clarify using the names from the initiative list?

Fendel's arrow strikes the man in orange and he collapses!

Round 4! Bold may act!
Purple (-55)
Boss
Elemental
Glasha
White (-50)
Orange (-57, Misfortuned)
Thoriel
Fendel
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-13) (Clarification needed)
Shardra

Active Area Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)

What do you do?

Thoriel charges up her scimitar with a burst of crackling energy and thin with blistering speed and graceful movement makes her way across the patch of grease and around the outside of the room, taking up a spot behind the purple clad man. She then brings her sword down in an arc or flickering sparks.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (6) + 16 = 22

-Cast Shocking Grasp.
-Move equivalent of 55' (including two squares of double movement through the grease). I initially posted that Thoriel's movement rate in Spelldance was 50' but now realise that it increased to 60' when she levelled up to Lvl 9 after her last game. Her AC against AoO is also +6.
-Deliver Shocking Grasp
Shocking Grasp, flank, wearing/holding metal, bless: 1d20 + 14 + 2 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 14 + 2 + 3 + 1 = 22 Damage: 1d6 + 7 + 5d6 ⇒ (2) + 7 + (1, 2, 6, 2, 2) = 22

I mistyped; Seelah was targeting orange. We can retcon that to purple. She failed her Acrobatics check, so shouldn’t have been able to move into the grease, so purple should still be a valid target.

Seelah's attack would have knocked out Purple - Thoriel, I'm retconing you to have moved against "Boss" instead of an unconscious target. If this is a problem, please let me know.

The man in purple crumples beneath the paladin's judgement as Thoriel gracefully moves through her slick spot towards the latecomer. He dodge's the elf's attack before responding with his own greatsword...

Greatsword, Power attack vs AC 29: 1d20 + 16 - 3 ⇒ (16) + 16 - 3 = 29
Slashing damage, Power attack: 2d6 + 10 + 9 ⇒ (3, 2) + 10 + 9 = 24

Greatsword, Power attack vs AC 29: 1d20 + 11 - 3 ⇒ (14) + 11 - 3 = 22
Slashing damage, Power attack: 2d6 + 10 + 9 ⇒ (6, 2) + 10 + 9 = 27

...and his first attack strikes Thoriel! He hisses in displeasure as his second swing misses and takes a step back.

Meanwhile, the ground beneath Fendel erupts as the rocky creature rises from the floor and attempts to bull-rush the archer into the air...

Bull rush, Earth mastery vs Flat-footed CMD 20: 1d20 + 16 + 2 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 16 + 2 + 2 + 1 = 29
Miss chance (1 = Fendel, 2 = Miss): 1d2 ⇒ 2

...but he is not able to locate Fendel accurately enough and misses. I believe this would count as an attack and so would trigger the mirror images if you/Glasha wanted.

Since the bull rush failed, it looks like the elemental would stay underground. Unfortunate.

Round 5! Bold may act!
Purple
Boss
Elemental
Glasha
White
Orange
Thoriel (-24, held charge)
Fendel
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-13)
Shardra

Active Area Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)

What do you do?

Shardra moves forward.

Double move.

As the boss's sword swings down towards her, Thoriel calls upon her arcane reserves and flings up a magical shield to block his attack.

Spend 1 Arcane Point for Spell Shield as immediate action for +3AC until the end of her turn.

Deflecting the first blow and dodging under the next, the agile elf spins around in a pirouette on her toes, swinging her electrified blade down and back in quick succession towards her attacker.

Shocking Grasp Scimitar: 1d20 + 14 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 14 + 3 + 1 = 32 Damage: 1d6 + 7 + 5d6 ⇒ (1) + 7 + (4, 6, 2, 1, 5) = 26
Iterative: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20 Damage: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

The detective hops on the table and moves away, hoping to 'hide' from the elemental. He snaps off a shot at Thoriel's opponent.

Merciful Longbow {DA/PBS/Bless}: 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 12 + 1 = 321d8 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + 10 + (3) = 19

acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

Taman goes closer to the enemy on the north, through grease. (double move)

Glasha would have triggered mesmeric mirror (2 images) from the bull rush attack on Fendel.

Glasha stares at the bald foe, then moves through the grease to engage him...
Grease acrobatics DC10: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4...and promptly falls prone. She then uses her remaining action to stand back up.

@ALL: Glasha will trigger your trick whenever you'd like; just note it when you post your actions.

I'm confused a bit by Seelah's current position; I last knew her to be 4 squares south of where she's shown right now. (Between the tables and flanked by the unconscious/dead orange and purple opponents, just south of the grease.) I didn't see any bot posts that would have moved her outside of my own actions, so my post below includes the move actions attempted movement necessary to get her where she is now.

And she failed her Acrobatics, so no movement. I've moved her back to where she started from; @GM let me know if I'm missing something, and I'll ret-con her actions. I left a transparent token in the position I found her in when I started this post, so you can see what I was talking about.

Seelah decides to help pursue the man that appears to be the leader, but she is still thwarted by the slick floor. Her armor proves too cumbersome, and she can't seem to stay steady enough to move through!

She keeps her balance, though, and calls out to the other Pathfinders from behind. "Let's try to keep one of these guards alive! We need to get some answers about what's going on here."

Acrobatics DC 10: 1d20 - 5 ⇒ (13) - 5 = 8
Reflex DC 15: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

@Seelah: No worries - I was in the middle of botting and got interrupted. I moved your token before posting so I wouldn't forget to do it after.

Also, boss is radiating an evil aura.

As Thoriel deflects the bald man's attack with pure arcane energy, she responds with her own barrage of attacks - though only the first connects, along with Fendel's arrow (and Glasha's painful stare).

Speaking of which, does Glasha have to make a concentration check to continue her stare since she was affected by a spell? The text on Hypnotic Stare does not offer much in the way of clarity regarding maintaining it.

He roars in frustration and swings back as he steps behind Thoriel and away from Taman...

Greatsword, Power attack vs AC 29: 1d20 + 16 - 3 ⇒ (17) + 16 - 3 = 30
Slashing damage, Power attack: 2d6 + 10 + 9 ⇒ (2, 6) + 10 + 9 = 27

Greatsword, Power attack vs AC 29: 1d20 + 11 - 3 ⇒ (7) + 11 - 3 = 15
Slashing damage, Power attack: 2d6 + 10 + 9 ⇒ (2, 4) + 10 + 9 = 25

...though only the first swing hits. (Thoriel, please include in your post if you want to burn another reservoir point to negate)

I'm going to say that being on a table still counts as touching the ground - otherwise you could hide from tremorsense simply by wearing boots.

Fendel's canny ways do not seem to have fooled the elemental as the ground rumbles again and a large stony figure emerges, knocking aside tables and swinging at the archer with a rocky arm...

Slam, Earth mastery, Power attack vs AC 21: 1d20 + 14 + 1 - 3 ⇒ (10) + 14 + 1 - 3 = 22
Mirror Image (1 = Fendel): 1d3 ⇒ 3
Bludgeoning damage, Earth mastery, Power attack: 2d6 + 7 + 1 + 6 ⇒ (6, 4) + 7 + 1 + 6 = 24

...and pops an image!

Elemental is now halfway above ground, halfway below.

Also, there might have been a misunderstanding with Glasha's tricks - specifically, with how many of them she can have implanted at a time. At level 9, a mesmerist can have up to 3 tricks implanted, and any tricks beyond this deactivate a prior one. Since we've had three tricks so far in this encounter, hold off on using any more for the time being.

Round 6! Bold may act!
Purple
Boss (-56)
Elemental
Glasha
White
Orange
Thoriel (-27)
Fendel (1 image remaining)
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-13)
Shardra

Active Area Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)

What do you do?

Taman steps closer to the Boss and hits him with his sword.

+2 Bastard sword - power attack: 1d20 + 13 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 13 - 2 = 30
damage: 2d8 + 9 + 6 ⇒ (3, 6) + 9 + 6 = 24

+2 bastard sword - power attack: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 8 - 2 = 12
damage: 2d8 + 9 + 6 ⇒ (5, 1) + 9 + 6 = 21

crit conf. - power attack: 1d20 + 13 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 13 - 2 = 28
damage: 2d8 + 9 + 6 ⇒ (2, 7) + 9 + 6 = 24

Seelah spins when the earth elemental erupts from the floor. "We don't sneak around much in the Church of Iomedae; this isn't how it's supposed to go, is it? Do you think anyone in the prison doesn't know we're here now?"

She strikes hard and fast with her blade, slashing back and forth at this monster of mud, dirt, and stone.

Shardra takes a small step back. (5 ft step)

And again she concentrates to bring misfortune on the elemental.
Misfortune As a standard action (Will DC 18 negates).

Shardra also starts to cackle!
(move action) - misfortune continues to affect the elemental should he not make the save.

The bald man falls to the floor as Taman's mighty blade flashes. Taman, that was your first attack - you can move if you want.

Seelah's attacks against the elemental do not fare as well though - they land, but she feels the rocks deflecting some of the damage and even the sharpness of her blade cannot find a weak point in the creature's stony body. (DR and immune to crits.)

Will vs DC 18: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

The elemental roars in defiance of Shardra's laughter.

Round 6! Bold may act!
Purple
Boss
Elemental
Glasha
White
Orange
Thoriel (-27)
Fendel (1 image remaining)
Taman (1 image remaining)
Seelah (-13)
Shardra

Active Area Effects:
- Bless (all except Glasha)

What do you do?