PFS2e PBP Gameday Thread - OMB's the Absalom Initiation (Inactive)

Game Master James Martin

LEave the lecture hall, Indigo heads to the main are to see if there is anyone around.

Indigo doesn't see anyone around, but he does hear faint voices coming from a large area in the center of the museum.

"Ghosts? Do we have ghosts here? I might have a way to hurt them but nothing that can permanently incapacitate them" Barin says before adding "We could check out the other rooms you know... perhaps it's just some sort of trick"

"If it is a trick, then it is a very MEAN one!" Molly says, clearly upset about the disappearing lecture. Perhaps Molly has heard of the information the ghosts spoke of, however.

Off of Molly's lore of ancient texts, does she know anything about Yargos Gill or a codebook?
Lore Ancient Texts: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Assuming Anji doesn't pick anything of interest out, he sighs and moves on...

Anji follows right behind Indigo, continuing to discern if magics might be behind this haunting of sorts. Shouting back, "Fear not Barin, I'm sure to some extent positive energy would help us against any unclean spirits."

Disappointed at being stumped by the first door, Kang picks himself up quickly and moves down to try each of the other doors down the corridor.

(From what I can see, there are three more doors.)

thievery: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
thievery: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
thievery: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

The doors might take more than 1 skill check to succeed per the new thievery rules. As long as you haven't failed enough to jam the locks, might be worthwhile rolling a few thievery skills for the locks.

Odds are that Door #3 is going to get jammed due to the natural 1 on the roll..

Try as he might, Kang jams the door's lock beyond repair and cannot open that lock without extensive repair.

Locks now require multiple successes to open. Your critical failure jammed the lock. You may continue to try, but the offices are plot-unimportant.

Molly recalls the tale the of the Black Echelon, an undead force that was used to assault Absalom during the Silent Tide crisis. Yargos Gill found the codebook used to command the undead force about ten years ago and accidentally summoned a few of the undead agents. They were also summoned during the Fiendflesh Siege much more recently.

We should come back to this place, we might find a key.

"Let's keep things simple and quick. We also have a dangerous monster to contain... or possibly an escaped slave to save and time is running aut. So: who's supposed to have this key? Failing that, I can bash the doors down. Although doing that inside a museum MIGHT be sligthly controversial I guess..."

An echo of a roar, sounding as if it were coming from far away, sounds from the room at the far south of the map. It sounds primal and angry and BIG, but as if heard through a cardboard tube.

Molly recalls the tale the of the Black Echelon, an undead force that was used to assault Absalom during the Silent Tide crisis. Yargos Gill found the codebook used to command the undead force about ten years ago and accidentally summoned a few of the undead agents. They were also summoned during the Fiendflesh Siege much more recently.

It warms my heart that the first PFS2 scenario calls back very first PFS1 scenario

Indigo readies his glaive and slowly moves towards the noise.
Not trying to be silent, just aware, Would be doing the Scont exploration activity

Kang stares gloomily at the doors, almost pouting, until he suddenly shrugs and mutters an "Oh well," as he turns around, only to hear that terrible roar!

Intrigued, he crouches close to the wall as he creeps quietly along the way. As he does so, he pulls out from his bag a tiny figurine that appears to be roughly made up of clay and sets it on the floor. Amazingly, that figurine starts to follow him! He then draws out a sling and loads a stone, ready for danger.

Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Moving stealthily toward the southern room, you spot a strange sight! A gigantic reptilian beast is on display in the center of this expansive gallery, ferociously leering over the collection of taxidermy animals and monsters. Shadows flit between the displays, meandering and shuffling shapes reminiscent of museum patrons. Then a distant shriek echoes off the walls, as the shadow of a stuffed owlbear lashes out at one of the shadow-visitors with its talons. The shadow of the tyrannosaur in the room’s center departs from its source and snaps at the misty image of another patron, tossing its head back and seeming to swallow its meal nearly whole. Other shadows snarl and hiss, scuffling amongst themselves as shadow-guests panic and run toward the exit.

None of the shadow-beasts seem to notice you.

Indigo looks in shock. "What strange Magics are in this place"

There is a strange rythmic chanting coming from up the stairs, suddenly punctuated by a scream!

A look of concern flashes across Kang's face. He hastens up the stairs, still doing what he thinks is keeping out of sight. (I'm assuming I keep that stealth roll...)

Until and unless you do something non-stealthy!

Droning voices echo off the mahogany walls and domed, plaster ceiling of this luxurious room. The sumptuous furniture has been pushed to the sides of the room, making space for eldritch markings and mystical paraphernalia laid carefully over the plush carpet. The chamber seems muted and dim despite the crystal chandelier overhead, and a bonenumbing chill seeps through the space along with a metallic scent. A ritual is obviously underway here, but it doesn’t seem as though it’s working as planned. Shadowy energy lashes out from a twisting breach in the center of the room, and indistinct shapes flit and scuttle along the walls.

1d4 ⇒ 1

Four figures, three in dusty looking ritual robes and the fourth a stern looking woman in office clothes, stand on the ritual circle. Obviously something has gone wrong, for the shadowy energy is leaking out and the woman looks panicked. Each of the three in robes seems to be grappling with a smaller version of the rift, trying to keep it under control but obviously fighting to do so.

Perception Anji: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Perception Indigo: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Kang keeps his 8 on Stealth!
Perception Barin: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Perception Zac Freelan 2: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Perception Molly: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Ritual: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Round 1:

Zac
Ritual!
Anji, Barin, Kang, Indigo, Molly

Zac is up first! You may begin your round at the top of the stairs in the third floor!

Placed myself at the top of the stairs.
Zac moves to the first one and will power attack
hit: 10 + 1d20 ⇒ 10 + (15) = 25
dmg: 2d12 + 4 ⇒ (8, 2) + 4 = 14 bastard sword 2 handed.

Zac moves up to the cultist in the dirty robes and cuts them down, revealing a slightly mousy looking woman who dies with a soft 'o!' on her lips. The woman leading the ritual screams and cries out "No! PLEASE, they're my assistants, please don't murder them! HELP ME STOP THE RITUAL!" as tears stream down her face.

The ritual surges with a black explosion of energy as each participant takes damage!
Damage!: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11
Fort for half, starting with the cultists: 2d20 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5 and Leader: 1d20 ⇒ 15

All of the participants scream in pain, as the ritual seems to surge in strength with the dead cultist and the remaining ritual participants in pain. A shadowy thing erupts from the tear nearest Zac and a tiny shadow wisp attacks Zac! Red Wisp vs Zac: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 for 1d6 ⇒ 5 negative energy damage! It hits, and seems to step into Zac's space! Acrobatics vs Zac Reflex DC 19: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18 It fails and tries to hit Zac again with its tendril! Red Wisp vs Zac: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 for 1d6 ⇒ 1 negative energy damage!

Anji, Barin, Kang, Indigo, Molly are up! If you're close enough, you can make an Occult check as an action to understand what's going on with the ritual!

Indigo makes it up the stairs and surveys the scene.

Occultism: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

"By Shelyn, What is going on here?"

Barin comes up the stairs and at first doesn't seem to know what to do. Then he notices Zac fighting the shadow creature, covers the distance and positions himself behind the creature flanking it. Then he strikes!

Attack roll: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13 → Damage roll: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Move, move and attack I guess. Enemy should be flat footed against me and Zac

Enemy has already acted. Any reason it should be flat-footed?

So I would like to apologize now. My job hours changed to 8:30pm to 7am Central time, meaning during the daytime I will most likely be asleep and not posting. Most of my posts will now come late at night or early in the morning.

Molly hears the sound of her allies in danger, and realizes she has been dozing off on subjects of books! She triple strides to catch up to the rest of the team!

@GM: because he’s flanked? I hear in PF2 flanking just gives the flat footed condition? Spelling errors: writing from my phone

Occultism: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Can Anji re-attempt the check with another action?

Barin, that will do it! Sorry, I'm playing and GMing enough games that I need assistance remembering which is which!

Good question, Anji. I don't see anything allowing you to retry, but I'll let anyone else weigh in.

Barin's swing barely misses the wisp creature, who ducks at the last moment!

Indigo and Anji study the ritual and aren't sure what it's for, but do note that some of the runes drawn seem to be slightly off. They recognize they could correct these as an action with a successful Arcana or Thievery check!

Anji and Indigo still have two actions remaining, while Kang has all three.

(Sorry, just realised I haven't moved Kang's token from in front of the office. Are you ok if I start him behind Indigo?)

From behind the dwarf and further down the stairs, Kang can't see anything. All he can hear are screams, call for help about some ritual, and some bizarre noises.

Quickly moving past the dwarf, he finally gets a good look into the room. "Oh dear, that wispy creature has struck down one of them! Hmm, wait, why is there blood?" He calls out to the leader, "How can we help?"
occultism: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Even as he says this, he pulls out a flask and flings it at the red wisp.
acid flask: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 persistent acid damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6 (+1 splash damage)
(Kang has research field: bomber so no splash damage to everyone else.)

move, occultism, quick bomber

For the record - I normally allow retries unless it's a critical fail.

Anji is curious enough that he spends a little more time thinking about and trying to understand the situation. Cautiously he approaches the center of the room.

Occultism: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

And he will spend a move action to get closer.

Kang's acid flask flies true, striking the wisp and corroding it! Anji strides closer and has a revelation: this is supposed to be a relatively benign ritual to create shadowy representations of memories and past events, but the incorrect rune drawing has corrupted it. If you corrected the runes, you could safely end the ritual and send these menacing shadows back where they belong! There are three incorrect runes, at each spot there's (or was) a cultist!

Round 2:
Zac
Ritual!
Anji, Barin, Kang, Indigo, Molly

Zac is up for Round 2!

What kind of action / check would it be to correct the runes?

Anji shouts out immediately as he realizes the horrible mistake in the ritual. "The runes! They are incorrect! We need to change them to stop this madness!"

Zac will step next to the portal and ready an attack for when a shadow crawls out hit: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16 dmg: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

A single action, along with a Occult, Thievery or Arcana check to determine success. You must be adjacent to the rune to correct it.

Zac readies himself to attack!

The shadowy void explodes with energy again! Cultists: 2d20 ⇒ (14, 11) = 25 and Leader: 1d20 ⇒ 6 for 2d6 ⇒ (4, 5) = 9 negative energy damage! The two cultists cry out and fall down, dead with black energy steaming from their corpses! The leader waivers; clearly she cannot survive another blast!

A new wisp erupts from the void and is hit hard by Zac! Both wisps attack!

Wisp Red vs Barin: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 for 1d6 ⇒ 6 negative damage! It misses, hisses and tries again! Wisp Red vs Barin: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 for 1d6 ⇒ 4 negative damage! And a third time! Wisp Red vs Barin: 1d20 ⇒ 18 for 1d6 ⇒ 2 negative damage!

The green wisp hisses at Zac and attacks! Wisp Green vs Zac: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11 for 1d6 ⇒ 6 negative damage! It fails and tries again! Wisp Green vs Zac: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 for 1d6 ⇒ 4 negative damage! And a third time! Wisp Green vs Zac: 1d20 ⇒ 10 for 1d6 ⇒ 4 negative damage!

Anji, Barin, Kang, Indigo, Molly are up!

Not being the best at all this occult trickery, Indigo moves up between the wisps and his allies. "This is art I do not understand. Someone else look to these runes"

He swings then swings twice [ooc]First red than green if red goes down]

Glaive Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20 (reach, forceful, deadly d8)
Glaive Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Glaive Attack, 2nd: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 6 - 5 = 4 (reach, forceful, deadly d8)
Glaive Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Also Indigo will use his Glimpse of Redemption On the first hit of Zac or Barin (or who ever else is in range)

I'm not sure where the runes are on map, but Anji will move towards the nearest rune, interact with the rune, then move to the next one.

A man of the book and not of the blade, Anji stays true to his nature and attempts to right the runic drawings and writings by using everything he had learnt in his time at The Acadamae.

Arcana: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

"Oh no, it's killing them! But hmm, there's no blood this time." Hearing Anji's instructions, he similarly joins in to fix the ritual.

Ditto, don't know where they are. Will move to nearest one, interact with the rune, and move to the next if success. If not, will use 3rd action to interact again, hence the second roll.
occultism: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
occultism: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

[ooc](Realised I made a mistake in that persistent damage. It would take 1 splash damage immediately, but only 1d6 at the end of each of its turn. For the subsequent rounds, should I roll or will GM take care of it?

The Rune by Anji is corrected and the small schism in the air disappears, while the center breach grows smaller! Kang corrects the second, and the same thing happens! Only a single breach remains!

Indigo cuts into the first wisp, which is looking ragged!

The mark on the map is the last rune to be corrected. Molly and Barin are up!

1st Action; Move
2nd Action; Move
3rd Action; Move

Molly moves in and Barin delays!

Round 3:
Zac, Barin
Ritual!
Anji, Kang, Indigo, Molly

Zac and Barin are up!

Back!

Not knowing what else to do Barin keeps assaulting the shadowy creature:"Die!"

Attack roll 01: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20 → Damage roll: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Attack roll 03: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 → Damage roll: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Barin raises his shield and attacks twice. If the first attack fails the second is made at +10 modifier due to the exacting strike feat

Power attack vs the creature in front of me hit: 10 + 1d20 ⇒ 10 + (8) = 18
dmg: 2d12 + 4 ⇒ (10, 4) + 4 = 18

The red wisp disappears under Barin's strikes! Zac scores a terrible hit on the wisp in front of him!

The ritual explodes with negative energy again! 1d20 ⇒ 8

Kang and Anji must roll a Fort save, DC 18 for half! Negative energy: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 6) = 9

The leader of the ritual lets out a soft sigh and falls to the ground, her body shriveled and dead. The ritual ends with an explosion as the void explodes with a blast of negative energy! Negative energy damage to everyone, Fort DC 18 for half: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 6) = 8

The green wisp remains!

Anji, Kang, Indigo, Molly are up!

Fort Save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Distracted by the death of the ritual leader. Indigo does not bolster himself against the blast.

Saying a quick blessing to Shelyn his wounds heal a bit 1 action Lay on hands for 6 HP healing

Then goes swinging at the remaining wisp

Glaive Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 (reach, forceful, deadly d8)
Glaive Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Glaive Attack: 1d20 + 6 - 5 ⇒ (17) + 6 - 5 = 18 (reach, forceful, deadly d8)
Glaive Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7

The last wisp dies!

Combat over.

On the corpses of the ritual participants you find museum name badges. The leader's reads 'Tavvar'.

"Tavvar. The name means nothing to me but the real question is if this ritual was attempted out of ignorance or something much darker. In any case these folls may have some others working with them..."

Fortitude save: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

A book is lying half in/half out of Tavvar's hands. It looks to be the book Gorm mentioned he wanted a copy of! There is also an alchemical flask of some shadowy liquid.

In the museum the shadowy forms and echoes have disappeared. It appears finishing the ritual banished them away.

Which mission would you like to attempt next?

My vote is for the slave resque/monster extermination mission

I'm good for that! By the way, do our wounds heal and resources refresh between missions like quests?

That is a negative. This is a scenario, so no rest/recovery like quests.

Anyone who wishes can roll a Diplomacy roll to Gather Information about the wreck and see if you can find out anything about it.