Outpost II - GM Badblood's [PFS] #3-19 The Icebound Outpost (Inactive)

Game Master Lance K

Feel free to post any out of character discussion here!

For icebreaking, feel free to tell everyone a few things about your character:

Tell us all:
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• What kind of first impression does your character tend to make?
• Why did your character join the Pathfinder Society?
• What is the most interesting/powerful/dangerous thing your character is capable of doing?

Useful info for anyone worried about stringent, uptight paladin cramping the style of anyone who might have a more morally flexible character:
Yagaji is dumber than a bag of hammers. Charming, strong, and extremely stupid. Not necessarily gullible, but since he inherently trusts fellow Society Agents, easy to distract/redirect while you do what you gotta do.

Wants to root out evil, because that's good, y'know?
Likes law, because when world is chaotic, he can't make sense of it at all.

Sword & board, has bow (and precise shot as bonus feat, though he usually goes melee), typical paladiny stuff. (Smite evil his most powerful attack.)

Had a chance encounter with Ollysta Zadrian, who saw the strapping, charming Nagaji as a good recruit, resulted in his joining the society and the Silver Crusade...

@Yagajimoro: I personally won't have any interest in scamming the paladin even though I'm playing the character most opposite to him. To me as a player the game and story are less enjoyable when that happens to paladins. Even though it could be to my character's advantage. So let me point out another option. The Balrog, while he is a CN hedonist, is easily manipulated into doing Good things by making the right appeals to his Greed, Wrath, Pride, or other such attributes.

The Balrog is cocky and a braggart. He is a demonic-looking ifrit who carries a whip and a sword (though he's not great at using both at the same time, so right now he's often sword and shield). Arcane Strike makes his weapons appear to be flaming and he uses that gratuitously even walking down the street.

Someday he will be able to be 12' tall (he can do that now), with wings (not yet), wielding whip and sword simultaneously (not yet). And attacking foes from within a cloud of smoke that he can see through (his stinky cheese trick if really needed). That's his most powerful option: move action to draw smokestick, free action to drop, standard action to cast Spark to light the smokestick. Then he can attack with relative impunity. He's a generalist right now - decent skills, plus Inspire Courage and Rallying Cry and a couple of spells.

The Balrog (Lord Balrog now after a boon) joined the Pathfinder Society at the urging of members of the Ruby Prince's entourage, who hoped he would use his unique talents to benefit the Scarab Sages. Zarta Dralneen quickly saw potential in the Ifrit, and recognized his weakness. With only a few whispers of the "benefits" cooperation might bring, she brought him into the Dark Archives.

Lord Balrog enjoys trolling Asmodeans by extolling his (false) demonic heritage and using the few choice words he knows of Abyssal. He tends to find good company among the faithful of Calistria, though he does not as of yet have any targets for vengeance.

He's currently in a Retrocon game but that is wrapping up.

Salvadore tends to observe rather than talk. He is not a leader, but is quick to share knowledge and make suggestions with his traveling companions.

Salvadore joined the Pathfinders to increase his knowledge beyond simple book learning to practical experience that only adventuring can provide.

Salvadore is an Invoker. He generally uses his force missiles at a distance, and burning hands when needed.

Tall, with a hooked nose, Kala is an imposing figure. Think Brienne of Tarth, but with the Kellids' coloration, and dressed in leathers and hide instead of full plate armor. Tagging along with her is the aptly named wolverine, Stinky.

Kala is closed off, and rarely speaks to anyone. She often has a vague expression of angst on her face, which deepens when she has nothing to do but brood. At those times, she absently runs her fingers through Stinky’s thick fur. Kala usually jumps at the opportunity to DO something--anything to keep busy, which is one reason she took to adventuring. That, and her tribe was wiped out by cholera so she had no place to go, anyway. She stays out of the politics of the Pathfinder Society, so no faction hold any appeal for her.

She and Stinky like to set up a flank on their enemies and go to town on them in melee.

There is now a Gameplay tab to post in. We are going to officially start on the 11th still, but if you'd like to post an introduction or dot in you can. I should have slides up within the next few days.

So just to bring this up to start with, generally I like people to post at least once a day. Even if you want to just post some internal dialogue for your character; you will never go wrong with posting something. I'll typically be able to post something in the morning and at night. I might not post in the morning on Friday.

If you have some botting instructions in your profile, that would be awesome. I will try to keep combat moving briskly and if I haven't seen a post within 24 hours I will bot you. Generally I do something that seems tactically sound that doesn't drain any major resources. If I do bot you and you think the action was boneheaded or out of character we can always retcon the action. I prefer retconning something afterwards than waiting three days for someone to post.

Obviously, let me know if you're expecting to be away for awhile. I will do my best to do the same.

And finally, keep the Gameplay post for things your character is thinking, doing, or saying. Everything else should go in Discussion. It looks like most of you all are pretty familiar with PbP (probably some of you are much more experienced than I am with this kind of gaming environment), but in the last few games I've been in I've seen people post out of character stuff in Gameplay and it bugs me a little bit so I thought I'd just bring it up.

Looking forward to running for you all. It looks like it will be a good group. Does anyone have any questions?

It seems like everyone is here and ready to go. Is there anyone who would object to starting a few days early? We could at least get you guys into the fortress by the time Outpost 2 officially starts.

I have no problem with that.

Ready to go.

I don't mind and are ready to play, but the discussion on the Flaxseed Lodge has been about having starting early.

I'll go along with the group's consensus.

Kala will buy a cold weather outfit (8 gp; 7 lbs; +5 bonus to Fort. saves vs. cold weather).

She will not buy one for Stinky, because wolverines' natural environment is cold forests, and that would be ridiculous.

I'm sure he'd look super cute with a little scarf and hat though.

The Balrog will spend 2 PP for a wand of Endure Elements to share.

Oh, he'd look cute, but that look is too cosmopolitan for Kala. What's next? Pushing a teacup pig wearing a bonnet and a tutu down the sidewalk in a stroller? Ugh!

I'm totally fine with getting this party started. Let's roll...

And thanks, Balrog. Happy to share some CLW charges, as needed. (Or should I have been more optimistic and said "if needed"?)

It looks like everybody has a way of dealing with the cold weather, whether its some heavy winter clothes or borrowing a charge off Yagajimoro's wand. Which is great, because now I don't have to look up and post the cold weather rules. And I do agree with you, Kala, a wolverine should have no problems with the cold. I didn't see anyone else having a familiar or companion, so I think we're good to go.

The link to the slides is under my banner here. Let me know if you're not able to open/edit it. No hand outs on this adventure, so its mostly going to be the map.

It looks like this isn't a super sneaky party, based on everyone's character sheets. Kala has +2; Stinky would be +3.

Just a side note. I was looking at the party APL and double checking the PFS guide again and it looks like you guys are only one level off from playing in the higher tier. You guys should be a pretty strong party for this adventure. Just thought you should know.

I'm okay with playing up if everyone else is.

I am for low tier

We don't really have choice. The only thing that would make a difference is if I'm missing a level, it would bump us up. But I'm seeing 4 people at 2 and 2 people at level three. 14/6=2.333. The rules for Season 0-3 is that if we are between tiers, we always play up, since these adventures were designed with a 4 player party in mind. If one of you 2nd levelers was secretly level 3, that would be just enough to push us into high tier. As it stands, you guys are the most powerful party that could possible play this adventure.

Definitely level 2 here.

also level 2

Kala prefers the tactical wisdom of eliminating current threats before stopping to search/loot, so she'd prefer to go after the hooded figure. There's nothing more embarrassing than being caught with your proverbial pants down. (Nothing, that is, except her brilliant tactics in this encounter thus far.) ;)

If the group decides to search/loot, Kala will mostly focus on watching for incoming threats, though she may spare a glance or two to spot items of interest.

FYI: I realized that Kala's profile page was missing a lot of information, so I updated it. In doing so, I realized that she is carrying a medium load and that when I switched her to hide armor I forgot to reduce her movement speed. I'll adjust Kala's movement from here on out accordingly. (And begin saving up for a handy haversack.)

Not a problem Kala, thanks for updating.

Sorry for being quiet lately...I had a pretty busy weekend. I'm going to have a big meaty post for you all; either later tonight or early tomorrow morning. And that will be for the next big combat, so make sure you're comfortable with your position on the map, because that's where you'll be starting out. Anywhere that isn't covered up should be fine.

Ready and in position. Not sure if I'm next to a full pillar or a broken one. Mage Armor(6 hours since we entered) and Protection from Evil(2 min. from start of round 1) will be active at the start.

@Salvadore: That mage armor should be good for the rest of the adventure. The Protection of Evil will be good for at least the next encounter. And I think that's a crumbly statue you're in front of and it will provide cover if someone does try to shoot at you.

@Lunevi: I moved your token up next to Nirion since it was still outside.

I mentioned this before and I am feeling the need to enforce it...the Gameplay tab is for things your character is thinking, doing or saying. Feedback on how the slides work or rules questions should be in Discussion. Some ooc comments within a post are okay sometimes, but it should be limited.

Balrog, I'm going to say you have 20 ft reach because that's how much reach a Balor has with it's whip.

Yagajimoro ended the fight with his last attack. I will get a post up later today with the contents of the room, loot, etc.

We're almost at the end of the scenario, but things seem to be grinding to a halt. There really isn't anything else you can get out of interrogating this prisoner but there is still another room in the compound that needs to be explored.

Sorry, but with Lord Balrog being deaf I find it hard to think of a non-disruptive way for him to jump in and prod things along. Still here and ready to go.

I really dislike dealing with prisoners and would rather move along rather than question any more of them. Can we wait for the deafness to wear off?

Hey, everybody! Crazy Friday for me and I'm going to be out of town this weekend so I might not get a proper post off until Sunday. I'll see what I can do until then. Big update is that Nirion just ended the fight with that critical hit. The Ninja and the bard both surrender so you'll have two prisoners to interrogate.

Have a good weekend!

The scenario is just about over at this point, but there are still a couple of loose ends to tie up. Also, I haven't received the instructions yet for reporting or distributing boons, so it might still be a little while before I can get chronicles out to you guys.

You can send chronicle sheets immediately after end of game.

GM, you have PM.

Nirion....Heavy sigh.

I understand how to physically get the chronicles to you and know how to use the PM feature on Paizo. I've been "interneting" for quite awhile. I'm running a play by post for crissakes!

This is a Convention and the organizers have specific protocol for how they want GM's to report and distribute boons, including a unique event code for the convention. I just received the information I need this morning, so I will be able to distribute the chronicles once the scenario is finished.

The scenario is *almost* finished. At this point, you have achieved at least the primary objective and can end the scenario by simply going through the eddy and returning to the Grand Lodge.

When I am finished with the Chronicles, I will post them in the Discussion.

On that note, everyone is able to roll for their special Convention Boons. "Roll" a d20 in the Discussion here. 19 or 20's win you a boon. If you roll a 19 or 20, then you can follow that up with a d4 to determine the specific boon you get. I get to roll also, which I am doing at the end of the post.

GM Badblood's Convention Boon roll: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Doesn't look like its my lucky day today. Hopefully one of you has better luck than I did. Happy rolling!

The scenario is *almost* finished. At this point, you have achieved at least the primary objective and can end the scenario by simply going through the eddy and returning to the Grand Lodge.

...Soooo...something missing...

Boon Roll: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Failed again. Only one I have ever one was a F2F convention and that was an Occult skill unlock (Whippie). Oh well.

boon: 1d20 ⇒ 20

1d4: 1d4 ⇒ 1

Congo-Rats Nirion!

Thank you Salvadore!

Boon: 1d20 ⇒ 17

In regards to the smokestick issue, I've always assumed that they can be activated by a standard action. Maybe that standard action consists of sparking the smoke stick on a piece of metal. Considering that they are common items on low level bad guys and are often explicitly used in their tactics but that the enemies almost never have flint and steel listed in their stat block; I would say that the game writers and developers probably feel the same way.

I'm a stickler on the rules when it comes to things like action economy (generally I put my foot down when people want to come up with novel ways to use their swift action), but when it comes to non-numerical descriptions in spells and items I like to be more lenient.

I know someone probably had a GM tell them they can't use smokesticks unless they have spark or spend a full round action lighting it with a flint and steel. The classic ruling that I've seen and really bugs me is that some GMs will rule that horses can never go underground. Where is this rule? Please reference the entry on mules/donkeys. I've had this gem of a rule pulled out on me by two different GMs while playing a cavalier.

Spark is a pretty good combo with smoke sticks though, because it would let you activate them at a distance. Theoretically, you could even use them to light someone else's smokestick (they would just get a Fortitude save to resist).

Anyways...capturing this ninja might be time consuming due to his starting position and the fact that he has a climb speed. Its not going to matter in regards to your ending gp if you let him go. What I can't tell you is what the conditions are for gaining your second Prestige point. Maybe you've met the conditions already, maybe you haven't?

BOOOOON!: 1d20 ⇒ 17
Or not.

Boon Roll for Kala: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Sorry Kala. No luck.

I'm working on getting everyone's chronicle sheets together and reporting everything. I should be able to get everything out to everyone by Saturday.

You did earn both Prestige points for the scenario. All you had to do to earn the second point was to capture one of NPCs in the final encounter and convince them to give you information, which you did with Tzizzan.