World's Most Interesting Night March of Kalkamedes (Inactive)

Game Master Great Green God

I did miss stuff!

Oops! Sorry for posting so hastily before.

Question: Don't we have to get within touch range to use the wand? Which would mean getting through the metal circles somehow?

Well that depends on what might be in the way. The circles themselves are set into the floor like huge tiles. There are no walls that can be seen around the azata, and the ones that can be seen around the demon only show up when it bumps up against them. What this means is that you at least have line of sight for targeting purposes (i.e. you can see your target). The question is (though it has been partially answered in the gameplay thread) whether or not you have a line of effect (i.e. can your effect pass through the space to the target without encountering something that would count as cover, like for instance a wall). Because you are dealing with unknown magic this is hard to say without further examination.

I like the idea of tanglefoot bags on the dragon. Assuming it works, we can chip away at it from behind so it can't breathe on us (assuming it has a breath weapon).

Technically, there is no 'facing' under standard Pathfinder rules (except with specific spells and effects like detect magic). So if the big winged lizard thing does have a breath weapon it could angle it however it likes from its space. For reality's sake one could imagine that its neck is flexible enough to get around to wherever it needs to even if it were otherwise stuck to the floor by goo.

So, we're not quite settled on a strategy yet.

There seem to be two options.

1. focus on healing up the azata and getting her out of the circle.
2. kill the dragon.

I think we need to go all-in for one or the other strategy.

Options appraisal:

1. heal and free the azata; needs an unknown amount of healing; we have theorised that the circle is holding her in place but that it might not prove to be a physical barrier to us; we don't know if restoring her to consciousness will allow her to use any powers, or if she needs to be out of the circle; we don't know what it will take to break the circle, but we know that Stinky's attacks didn't harm it: we can count on Sleeping Sword's adamantium blade doing the trick in perhaps a couple of rounds.

Probable resouces needed: 1 or more CLW spells or potions; the adamantium sword
Characters needed: Kala can do all the healing even without the wand - a CLW spell, draw potion with move action, full round to force a potion down the azata's neck. Sleeping Sword would need two rounds of movement to reach the circle, possibly attacking it once on the second round. The remaining characters are unlikely to hasten the revival of the Azata, or help with breaking the circle unless they have attacks that penetrate the hardness of metallic circles.

Pros: the remaining characters can kite the dragon, whittling it down with ranged attacks. Lynn can use her wand of CLW to top people off with healing whilst singing. We will possibly gain a powerful ally in about 3 rounds from now.
Cons: we don't know much of what the dragon can do yet, it might do a lot of harm in those 3 rounds.

2. kill the dragon. needs us to focus all of our attacks; we don't know much of what it can do yet; we do know it's undead, so we can use CLW wands and holy water against it; we know we can use tanglefoot bags and we have several; if it can't use a breath weapon then it has no ranged attacks, whereas we have many; Sleeping Sword's Gentle Repose staggers undead for 3 rounds on a touch attack (but using it does mean being exposed to potential AoOs due to its reach).

Pros: with the dragon destroyed we are probably safe, as long as we're out of the demon's sight, and he can't leave his circle. If we use the right tactics, and maximise our attacks, we have a chance maybe. I do recommend using the tanglefoot bags - even if it has a better than 50% chance to hit a DC15 save, we can throw a couple each round for two rounds (potentially) and might keep it rooted in place with luck.
Cons: it can potentially 1-shot all of our level two PCs, albeit we might get them back up again with healing potions and wands. If we can't beat it, the mission is almost certainly a fail even if some of us escape with our lives.

Conclusions:
If we think this dragon is potentially beyond us, we need to get the azata into the fight. The fastest way to do that is for Kala to heal and Sleeping Sword to smash her circle. Everyone else, kite the dragon. Stay more than 10 feet away from it, but try to put someone between the dragon and the azata each round. Throw tanglefoot bags - try for 2 per round.

I'm going to start implementing Option 1, but I'm going to wait for comment or objections before I do so. I'll drop my pack where I am now so people can take alchemists fires and holy waters. One possible change to consider - I could hand off my katana to someone else to use on the azata's circle, but I don't think that will be faster than going there myself because it'll surely take a move action from someone to take the sword from me. Also, if necessary, I can use my remaining level 1 spell as a CLW on the azata.

Tactical footnotes:
Angela, you have a monkeyfish extract. You might be able to use that to climb out of the dragon's reach, or swim in its pool (where you would gain cover if below the surface). Of course, if you do this you won't be attacking for a couple of rounds.
Almaas has the potion of hide from undead: this would allow someone to potentially escape the dragon's notice entirely, and either escape and heal or work to free the azata (or make one attack with sneak attack).

Almaas will drop his bag as a free action so anybody can take it or he could throw it which would not allow him to full attack.

Just one question.

Are we playing down or up? :-) The dragon is really super powerful.

.... up I think. Which is why this is nerve wracking! Try not to leave Angela behind if she goes down cause she's going in pointy ended!

So we're just gonna slugfest the dragon? Is that what we mean by play up?

I think that they are referring to the tier of the adventure. The scenario is made for tiers (levels) 1-5. The PCs average level puts them 'up' in the level 4-5 subtier which is made for characters for 4 characters of 4-5 level.

Having staggered the undead dragon, Tanglefoot bags are now even more attractive. If it fails a save, it will have to use up a whole turn just trying to free itself.

I still think I should run for the azata. This will provoke an AoO because Ilvaster has reach. I have a slim chance of not dropping if I get hit. I suppose someone else might draw the AoO if they thought it worthwhile?

If I do get clear, that means no penalties for firing into melee.

Kala if Stinky moves 5' west I can potentially 'charge' the azata's circle, although I think I may just double move because I don't want to take an AC penalty on the AoO.

Sleeping, you could risk as acro check to move through the square without provoking at all
Edit:also are any of the mage armor buffs from earlier still up?

OK, I'll hold Kala's actions until someone gets a wand of CLW over here.

Should I send Stinky up to fight the dragon? He's kinda useless down here. Kala wouldn't want to do it, but she'd feel worse if one of you died when Stinky could've helped.

Just a heads up on dancing lights.

The dancing lights must stay within a 10-foot-radius area in relation to each other

Is that from each orb or just one other orb?

They all have to fit within the space of the 10'-radius template. Usually, I place them at intersections rather than in the center of a space since torches work that way (see 20'-radius template).

Ah so it's 10feet from a centered position, alright i'll fix that.

GM, what are your thoughts on the 'feeding an extract to another person' debate?

Do you mean the less filling vs tastes great argument? Because I try to stay away from debates about religion. If you are talking about an alchemist's ability to make extracts (something I know more about than investigators) the rules look like this.

An extract is “cast” by drinking it, as if imbibing a potion—the effects of an extract exactly duplicate the spell upon which its formula is based, save that the spell always affects only the drinking alchemist.

So that seems cast in stone. Unless you are using the Infusion discovery that's pretty much it... for an alchemist anyhow.

When the alchemist creates an extract, he can infuse it with an extra bit of his own magical power. The extract created now persists even after the alchemist sets it down. As long as the extract exists, it continues to occupy one of the alchemist’s daily extract slots. An infused extract can be imbibed by a non-alchemist to gain its effects.

PSRD - Alchemist Alchemy wrote:

An extract is “cast” by drinking it, as if imbibing a potion—the effects of an extract exactly duplicate the spell upon which its formula is based, save that the spell always affects only the drinking alchemist.

So that seems cast in stone. Unless you are using the Infusion discovery that's pretty much it... for an alchemist anyhow.

Ah! That is pefectly clear! I've probably read over that so many times! It definietly won't work for an Alchemist and the Investigator's alchemy is supposed to work almost the exact same way, though their Alchemy ability does lose that sentence (which makes it frustratingly unclear! Argh!) but I'm fine with using the Alchemist's version.

There is a major difference (or maybe 'another difference') between the two that allows alchemists to use wands something that investigators don't get. Is that the sentence you were thinking of? Personally, I would make that sentence disappear from the alchemist's class as well--and I sometimes play them.

There is a major difference (or maybe 'another difference') between the two that allows alchemists to use wands something that investigators don't get. Is that the sentence you were thinking of? Personally, I would make that sentence disappear from the alchemist's class as well--and I sometimes play them.

I looked at both and that exact scentence you quoted about "'casting' by imbibing" is also gone. They just say it acts like a potion and can't leave the invesitgator's posession.

I agree, wands for an alchemist can be too much sometimes (I actually think low-level investigators could use the in-combat utility more.)

Now might be the best time for that Chord of Shards, Lynn?

I think simply shooting it is the best idea, d8 vs a 2d6(or 0 if it saves against 14) it's got a +4 to reflex still so i dont enjoy those odds, but i can try it

Save negates, makes attacking touch AC more attractive, but Kala has gone in to melee it so I suppose it depends on timing.

It can’t have that many hp left. Just attack IMHO.

I do wonder, does Shooting into melee logically count against larger creatures? Like... for instance if your fighting a giant you've got no reason to be aiming at it's legs(where the rest of your party is), you'd be aiming at the center of mass like and wouldn't have any real chance of hitting or being obstructed by party members or other combatants short of another giant creature.
Not saying that is the case for us and this dragon given it's only like.. 2 horses but just feeling the water on especially large targets. And yeah i also get that the firing into melee penalty isn't only due to obstruction, it's due to the fact that fighting isn't static, but still.

There is something or other about that in the CRB if I remember correctly!
...and some digging shows:

If your target (or the part of your target you’re aiming at, if it’s a big target) is at least 10 feet away from the nearest friendly character, you can avoid the –4 penalty, even if the creature you’re aiming at is engaged in melee with a friendly character.

If your target is two size categories larger than the friendly characters it is engaged with, this penalty is reduced to –2. There is no penalty for firing at a creature that is three size categories larger than the friendly characters it is engaged with.

So you could possibly shoot the back corner of the dragon if it was back a square. Right now, I think he's too engaged!

Nice, also DM I wanna ask if it's possible to pick something up as part of a move action(in this case stinky), move a little pick-up, continue move. Or would it require another action?

Moving or manipulating an item is usually a move action. This includes retrieving or putting away a stored item, picking up an item, moving a heavy object, and opening a door. Examples of this kind of action, along with whether they incur an attack of opportunity, are given in Table: Actions in Combat.

Stinky isn't considered a very heavy or an otherwise bulky object, so no AoO for reaching into the space unless you are doing it from someplace already under threat. He probably weighs as much as a halfling--say 35 lbs. This may effect Lynn's encumbrance.

Depends on how heavy Angela's backpack is.

Let me pull out the calculator!

EDIT: NVM, her charater sheet has the weights listed on it! Thank-you past me! She will keep all combat related gear on herself so that leaves the 28 pound investigator's kit that she didn't keep. Everything else is on her or used up.

alright so that'll put lynn at 109.75 if she picks up stinky(aka medium encumb. But if i drop my pack(and by proxy angela's since her's is hooked on) I'll be out no combat gear as all of that is in my belt, yay wands, bullets(in a pouch) and powder horn. And that'll leave me with 30 pounds extra until i'm up to medium after grabbing stinky.
I should put the weight of my pack and what's in it on my sheet for later reference.(totally not stealing this from Angela *cough*)

But if we're not counting Stinky as a heavy item but does count as an item for the purposes of the action i'm possibly gonna take, so as long as i pick him up, while I'm out of the creature's range it won't provoke AoO.

Can you pick up or manipulate an object in a square within your reach? Does this provoke an attack of opportunity? Does it provoke even if the foe can reach the object, but not your space?

The rules are a little hazy here, but to put it simply, you can affect objects and creatures within your reach. When picking up or manipulating objects, you generally provoke an attack of opportunity, but only against foes that can reach your space. You do not provoke attacks of opportunity from foes that cannot reach you, no matter what action you are taking, even if it includes reaching into a threatened space. Although it might seem realistic to allow an attack in such a case, it would make the game far too complicated.

I forgot to add the bonus of masterwork damage to the dragon last time i fired so it needs 1 more damage on it from earlier *facepalm*

Masterwork only gives you a +1 to hit, not to damage.

alright so that'll put lynn at 109.75....

Not to worry you can cradle the smelly cobwebby, ghoul-gnawed, giant skunk-sprayed, first cousin to a stink badger--possibly at extreme arm's length with one hand pinching your nose shut.

I got rid of a good portion of his stank earlier via prestidigitation(i think anything other than heat, smell application) only last a minute, but cleaning/dying last indefinitely)
Also HOLY crap we killed it with no casualties, huzzah!

Yes, congratulations.

Part of that was the fact that no one person got 'full attacked'.

So we should be wrapping up in the next day or two, with chronicles coming out this weekend.

For those who don't know, a little less than a month from now Outpost II the play-by-post Pathfinder/Starfinder Society online convention is happening starting March 11th. I'm running a couple of things in it as are some of the players in the group. There's still a lot of space open, if anyone wants to get in on the fun.

In case anyone is interested, I am running a Standard mode game of Oathbreaker's Die (Tier 1-5; File line 69; Stay on your toes in a River Kingdom town full of assassins) and a CORE mode game of What Prestige is Worth (Tier 7-11; File line 15; Where you get to adventure with and effect the story-line for the sassy leader of the Dark Archive, and by extension the faction itself).

The sign up sheet with all the link to the various games is HERE.

Nobody in this party was going to come off better in a melee with that dragon! Well done everyone.

Thanks for an epic adventure GM!

I'm going to join our GM in plugging a couple of Outpost games I am running...

Tapestry's Toil Tier 5-9; line 39 on spreadsheet; hunt the sky key components in the Hao Jin Tapestry!

Fragments of Antiquity Tier 5-9; line 96 on spreadsheet; kobolds in the library (in the Tapestry)!

Sign up on the spreadsheet then check in to the campaign threads (links in spreadsheet).

"Is there still space...Rhinshin will come...me goot little rat...me promise.."

Player Name: Zach D
Character Name: Rhinshin
PFS #: 133462-16
Faction: The Exchange
Day Job Roll (if any): [dice=thieves guild-sleight of hand]d20+11 May want to reroll that

Did you wanna reroll that Rhinshin?

sleight of hand: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31

Wow! Lucky roll, Rhinshin!

Woo that's two pieces of sentient gear assuming we get access to him.

Maybe.... Is Lynn already herself bladebound or does she talk to her gun like Sledge Hammer? ;)

Review the following. Make sure they are correct and lemme know if I have to make any changes. Also, make sure that you actually 'download' a copy of your chronicle rather than just adding it to your Google Drive account. Doing only that gives you a 'shadow' of the file in my account and if it disappears yours will too.

• Almaas
• Angela
• Kala
• Lynn
• Rhinshin
• Sleeping Sword

Nah, got access to a sentient(ish) shield from the Lion's Library, but since i don't use shields well ya know.
Only a master swordsmith can fix Gamin...*looks at the mend spell* yes... only a master swordsmith.. Looks good for me :D

Love the shield. Would love to put it on my core fighter.

Chronicle looks good GM.

Many thanks for an excellent adventure!

"Zzzzz....zzzzz....zzzz...."

My Chronicle sheet looks good. Thanks for running a really fun game, THWIGM!

Chronicle retrieved and it looks good. Thanks for the fun game.

Nah, got access to a sentient(ish) shield from the Lion's Library, but since i don't use shields well ya know.

Only a master swordsmith can fix Gamin...*looks at the mend spell* yes... only a master swordsmith.. Looks good for me :D

Yeah.... I got a pseudodragon familiar for my daring swordsman fighter from Katapesh, and an axebeak for my devil-hunting tengu ranger (who had given up that particular class feature). Whoopie.... Sometimes, I wish PFS weren't so coy about the possible rewards of play or that they could be moved between characters a little easiert GMing 10 games to gain the ability to replay one (and perhaps several more to reach the proper level) with the "right" character, is just a bit of a pain.

I for one was strictly after access to an early cap of disguise for my unvigilante, Madcap! :D Who, coincidentally, also has access to that Lion Shield.

Anyhow, if you haven't already check out the links above to Sleeping Sword/supervillan's and my Outpost II games (one of mine has filled up, I think, but the other one [a high-level for PFS CORE game featuring the Dark Archive's very own Zarta Dralneen] is still waiting for some agents). If anyone else has games they need to fill and want to recruit a bit here, feel free.

I'm still waiting to hear from Angela, and Almaas, but otherwise will be closing the thread down later this week.

Thanks to everyone for playing (games don't happen without players!), and if I don't see you again here I'll no doubt see everyone elsewhere on the boards. And as always--stay thirsty my friends!

Thanks again for the game TWMI-GM this was super fun and actually had me thinking(well here goes 19 prestige on a revive XD) Hope your Gameday games go well.
Same to you Sleepingsword, i may have already posted a little something on one of yours, Lynn can always use her name written on the plaque of who found this sky-key part for another piece of the key.

Also is there any special benefit to having all the sky-key shards?

Thanks for everything to you all!!

Also is there any special benefit to having all the sky-key shards?

It was the season 6 metaplot. There were some Grand Lodge faction card goals connected to collecting the shards I think.

I got a copy of the chronicle (Downloaded and all) and it looks good.

Thanks everyone, It was an amazing game to play in! And I agree on the boons part, luckily I played the adventure that gives a monk ability boosting item with a cleric who dipped into the monk class for a level, so she was really happy to get that!

Giant jump in Lynn's AC after this session, from 15(in leather) to 20(+1 Rallying mithril chainshirt) alongside all of my money flying from my pockets. Also gonna make one last post in the gameplay channel for flavor, gonna be picking up the Ship vanity, Lynn's father is gonna retire soon and he wants to train her to be the captain, so if anyone is ever in Absalom feel free to visit her on the Gilded Mast(no channel or anything but hey flavor). Now to count out how many CLW charges i have left.

Edit: I count 8 uses