A familiar figure approaches the intrepid group of Pathfinders.
"Hail and well met my friends. My team has been tasked with making sure others know the current situation. We need to make it past the undead patrols if we’re to reach the rift and other high-priority targets. Each team has three options: canoes, combat, or evasion.
"There are plenty of canoes available for those who wish to brave the icy waters. Seasonal rivers and lakes crisscross the Twinhorn following’s territory, and the Kellids stash long canoes made of wood and hides at various landmarks to catch fish and move materials easily. In winter, these waterways are typically frozen, but the entropic influence of the Negative Energy Plane is causing the ice and snow to melt and flow for miles around. There are likely to be challenges along the way and you will need at least one lookout and one navigator with others paddling.
"The most direct route, though not necessarily the shortest, quickest, or safest, may be to try and push straight through, fighting whatever undead present themselves.
"The third option is to keep to the land and try to avoid the undead patrols. Take the less travelled paths and use your knowledge and skills to avoid being slowed by combat.
"I have first-hand experience to know you are a strong team, I leave the decision to you."
|AC 16, T 11, FF 15|HP: 27/27|F +4, R +7, W +9 (+2 vs death/negative energy)|Init +1, Perc +10|CMB +5 CMD 16|5/5 Inspiration, 7/7 Necroforensics, 1/1 Luck, 1/1 Showman
Khāṇa nods. "I'm inclined to go with Tofang on this one. This ain't bowling for skulls, we don't want to just stick apples in our mouths and sled right into them on silver plates. I mean, even a careful approach could easily still land us in a fight or two; the Dead are relentless, and that only makes sense...yet it's kind of funny how unforgiving they are."
My runner-up to skill would be combat, last choice canoes (not that that might not be an interesting change of pace - where, oh where is 4 Winds Fantasy Gaming's Voyageur classwhen you really need it?!?).
Canoes are out. Got it. The rule of two says straight through. The opinions expressed are equal for combat versus skills so I will let the rule of two decide.
The most direct route toward the standing stones involves fighting through the undead creatures emerging from the rift. While some teams of Pathfinders break off towards the rivers or disappear into the woods, you gather together with other teams ready to battle the undead directly. Soon, the entire group starts forward, Twinhorn warriors and fellow Pathfinders race ahead just in sight, their breath visible in the cold air. It is well into the afternoon and the light is fading.
The Twinhorn following left a rear guard and many of the noncombatants behind as Medda, her warriors, and the Pathfinders departed to restore Ivvora’s sacred weaponry. When the rift first began to tear open again several days ago, most of the following evacuated, but the remaining warriors stayed behind to contain the threat.
Knowledge (planes) DC 17 or Knowledge (local) DC 20:
Their exposure to the Negative Energy Plane and Eshimka’s insidious promises has begun transforming many of them, numbing their minds and bodies to their former lives. Nonetheless, these warriors are still alive. It may possible to rehabilitate them if they’re subdued, removed from the affected region, and given time to recover. Although the afflicted warriors are former allies, they act like enemies.
As this team of Pathfinders move forward they spot what looks like two warriors and two skeletons ahead of them. The armoured skeletons stand battle-ready, their long swords held high as cold blue light shines within their eye sockets. The warriors look like Twinhorn Kellids though subtly altered from those they have been travelling with and fighting beside. With longbows at the ready, they clearly stand with the skeletons against the Pathfinders.
Knowledge (religion) DC 12:
Human skeletal champion warrior – NE Medium undead – undead traits
For every 5 that you beat the DC, you may ask for one piece of information from this list.
Undead are immune to death effects, disease, mind-affecting effects (charms, compulsions, morale effects, patterns, and phantasms), paralysis, poison, sleep, stun, and any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects or is harmless). Undead are not subject to ability drain, energy drain, or nonlethal damage. Undead are immune to damage or penalties to their physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion effects. Undead are not at risk of death from massive damage.
Knowledge (local) DC 11:
As trained huntsmen, Kellid warriors are known to be especially effective in taking down animals.
For every 5 that you beat the DC, you may ask for one piece of information from this list.
Makon chooses Unstoppable Wrath as his boon..(Death effects immunity)
Makon is happy the others were not cowardly and decided to face the battle Head on!. Knowing these skeletons, composed almost entirely of ancient bones, often fall easier under heavy blows, rather than sharp edges...Makon opts to string a blunt arrow in his bow, against these adversaries. The magic of his bow instantly infuses the missile with arcane energy and Makon releases his shot at the nearest undead : +1 composite long bow with blunt arrow:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19dmg:1d8 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12FYI firing at green.
Makon was carrying his bow, used it, then put it away? Do I have that correct?
On first seeing the enemies, Makon quickly lets loose a blunt arrow that whacks solidly into the chest of the green-cloaked warrior immediately before him. The enemy rocks back slightly from the force of impact but remains standing as the arrow falls.
See above post for various knowledge checkscombat map Bold may act Conditions: dim light
Round 1 Continues - Aid token in play
Volsung Covadil
Makon
Red skeleton
Blue skeleton
Khana
Angie
Yellow warrior
Green warrior -12
"Those are tougher than normal skels! Champions of some sort!" Covadil warns, as he seemingly ignores his own advice and pushes ahead towards the undead.
Covadil is quick to identify that these are not your base level skeletons and to warn his companions. He swiftly moves forward to face the enemy block and the skeletons reply in kind. Double move
Khana closes the distance to the skeletons but isn't quite fast enough to eliminate the gap completely. She pulls a short flat blade and readies to attack if given the chance.
Angie Sen moves quickly to stand next to his companion, facing the skeletons and providing support, blades in hand. I moved you straight forward on the map. I hope this is what you had in mind.
The two warriors let loose their arrows.
Yellow steps to the side and fires at Volsung, striking true 5 points piercing damage
Green fires at Covadil but although their aim is good the arrow bounces off the half-elf's breastplate.
Please put preemptive moves (readied actions, parry/riposte, etc) in spoilers, though I really appreciate having the information available. Thank you.
Sorry about not indicating this earlier. If it's OK with you, Volsung would have re-implanted Mesmeric Image in himself during the day between this and the last encounter, and he would have triggered it when the Yellow Warrior fired at him. Unless, the Yellow Warrior is immune to illusions, there should be a 50% chance to hit Volsung and a 50% chance to hit the image (plus if Volsung is missed by 5 or less, that also destroys the image).
I'm also totally fine if you'd prefer not to retcon this. In which case, Volsung will take the damage and trigger Mesmeric Mirror the next time he is attacked.
Volsung smiles and thinks it would be funny to mess with the "minds" of the skeletons.
Move action Volsung moves up and to the east as far as he can, still carrying his light crossbow.
Swift action Volsung applies Hypnotic Stare with Psychic Inception to the Red Skeleton.
The next person to hit the Red Skeleton will do an additional point of damage due to Painful Stare.
Standard action Volsung casts Deja Vu on the Red Skeleton.
Normally undead are not affected by mind-affecting spells, etc, but Psychic Inception allows mesmerists to use such spells on undead, though the there is a 50% chance each round that the undead will ignore the effect. So, there is a 50% chance of the Red Skeleton being affected by Deja Vu, in which case it will have to repeat its actions from last turn and take a double move again this turn.
Psychic Inception vs Undead:1d2 ⇒ 1On a 1, the skeleton is affected, and on a 2, it is not affected.
I am willing to apply the retcon this time, mostly as you had already established this as pretty much SOP
Thanks.
GM Numbat wrote:
You will find the skeleton is unaffected. I will write these in on the next full update.
OK, though Psychic Inception does say "The hypnotic stare and its penalty can affect creatures that are mindless or immune to mind-affecting effects (such as an undead or vermin). The mesmerist can also partially affect such a creature with his mind-affecting spells and abilities if it’s under the effect of his hypnotic stare..." It seems to affect a very broad range of creatures, though, of course, if they're illusions or something along those lines, then all bets are off
The yellow warrior has a surprised look on their face as they realize that their shot actually was directed at an illusion and Volsung is still standing, unhurt.
Tofang rushes forward to join his comrades.
Volsung takes advantage of the confusion to move forward and then stare intently at the red skeleton.
Please put preemptive moves (readied actions, parry/riposte, etc) in spoilers, though I really appreciate having the information available. Thank you.
Makon double moves through the wilderness taking the long way around the blue skeleton to avoid it's blade. He comes up behind it ready to flank it with Angie. Makon draws his great axe while double moving in a circular route (to avoid AoOs) ending up in a flank with the blue skeleton.
Makon quickly moves, avoiding his enemies until he can close behind them.
Covadil takes a mighty swing with his greatsword but finds the skeleton in front of him a little more difficult to connect with than he hoped.
Unfortunately, red has no trouble when he returns the favour and skewers the half-elf in a most vicious way. Critical hit for a total of 20 points piercing damage.
Blue attacks Angie but is unable to connect with the spry Samurai.
GM screen:
red attack:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27 red damage:1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11 blue attack:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19 blue damage:1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Angie Sen slashes at the skeleton in front of him but even with the distraction of Makon flanking the undead the blades fail to connect.
Khana moves in cautiously to assist Covadil and manages to land a blow, the first against these undead foes.
The two Kellid warriors let loose a volley of arrows. The two from yellow fly toward Makon but miss completely. The two from green soar toward Khana. This warrior is able to correct when their first shot misses and score a hit with the second. Khana feels the arrow pierce her thigh. 6 points of piercing damage
Covadil, rocked by the powerful strike against him from the skeleton, instinctively fights back against the undead atrocity. He swings his own blade at the creature before stepping back a few feet to hopefully stay out of harm's way until he can recover a bit from the pain.
My apologies for the error above, we really were in rounds 2 and 3.
Tofang steps, aims and shoots at the yellow warrior. As he does so a group of more senior Pathfinders runs through this area calling encouragement. One of them also fires at the yellow warrior who cries in pain as both shots leave them seriously wounded. Everyone has flanking until the beginning of Tofang's next round
extra damage from boosted aid:1d8 ⇒ 3
Volsung moves in to slash at the red skeleton, which once again proves elusive and manages to avoid contact.
Covadil valiantly raises his greatsword to attack but his wounds interfere with his technique and he is well short of connecting with the undead. He steps back to attempt recovery.
(Dice bot is not your friend in this encounter, sorry.)
Makon grips the Mace with both hands and attempts to smash the skeleton wearing the blue fringed armor to pieces calling on his destiny to aid him.. God's grant me my rightful honor to destroy such evil!silvered mace+pwr attack+ destined strike:1d20 + 6 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 2 + 2 = 20dmg:1d8 + 12 + 1d8 ⇒ (6) + 12 + (7) = 25
Looks like you did not include the flanking bonus in the attack so I will count an additional +2 on the attack roll.
Makon takes a mighty sweep with his mace and destroys the skeleton. It disintegrates into a pile of bones and bits.
The remaining skeleton makes a powerful swing with his longsword, targeting Khana. He connects solidly with the half-orc, slashing below her chain shirt and leaving a nasty gash. 12 points of damage
Thank you, Khana. I had not placed the first six HP you took onto the list. Did you also take a 5ft step away?
Please check your positions on the map, I am not sure if something shifted but it looks a bit off this morning.
Angie swings and connects with the remaining skeleton which now looks in bad shape, almost like its armour is holding it together rather than the other way around.
Khana also slashes but her wounds are severe and when she misses she steps away in self-preservation.
Then the warriors fire. This time putting their power into a single shot at a nearby opponent. Yellow's arrow speeds toward Makon and buries itself into the half-orc near his left armpit. (8 points damage.) Green's arrow has a lot of power behind it but no accuracy, soaring past Volsung and off into the distance. Unlike the skeletons, these Kellid warriors look almost confused.
GM it looks like Yellow hit Makon for 8hp dmg is that correct?
Makon *grunts* in pain as an arrow lodges itself high on his flank..he *growls* and snaps the protruding shaft off leaving the arrowhead embedded in his body. Anger clouds his eyes as he stalks towards the archer that dared to prick him. As he approaches, he notices a confused look on the Archers faces ..sense motive:1d20 ⇒ 17..He places himself between both men so that they'd have difficultly avoiding his strikes.
GM if Makon's *sense motive* reveals this man may be confused and not in his full wits...Makon will take the -4 on the attack roll to apply non-lethal dmg...if he can't get a *read* on the Kellid...Makon doesn't bother with non-lethal dmg.
Makon is unable to really make out what is going on with the human archers. They look like regular Kellid warriors just like those who have been fighting and travelling with the Pathfinders but slightly off. Maybe the negative energy of this rift has affected them?
Makon moves between the Kellids and swings with his mace but his focus was divided and his swing goes wide.
Volsung:
I don't see where you would be subject to an AoO. If I remember you were not next to any of the opponents and you have stepped into but not out of a potentially threatened space. Were you really moving out of a threatened space from the skeleton? If so he definitely takes a shot. skeleton attack:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21 damage:1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Volsung glares at Makon then moves up to the green archer, staring at them while lunging most effectively. The rapier skewers the Kellid who slides off the point of the blade spurting blood from a critical neck wound.
A loud sound reverberates through the clearing as Tofang shoots the remaining archer, who staggers back, looking at the spread of blood across their chest. It is unclear how they remain standing.
Bold may act Conditions: dim light
Round 4 Continues
Volsung
Covadil -20
Makon -8
Red skeleton -15
Blue skeleton
Khana -18
Angie
Yellow warrior -19
Green warrior
Tofang
Covadil steps forward and swings at the skeleton but misses as the skeleton turns to slash at Angie. Angie proves to be too agile and well armoured though and the skeleton can not break through his defences.
I think I moved Volsung's avatar yesterday morning when I was thinking about his move but before he actually moved. He did start round 3 next to the Red Skeleton, so he would take a AoO moving away from it. He attempted a Parry which failed but he got back his Panache point due to the critical hit on the Green Archer.
