GM Rinaldo's Midnight Mirror (Inactive)

Game Master The Great Rinaldo!

Yikes. Take your time!

I had totally forgotten you were a Lore oracle ... should have just said "Ushi, do your thing!" ;-)

I purposefully haven't taken the trance revelation yet, because that extra +20 can be SO obnoxious. :)

And it's hardly ever necessary, unless you aren't keeping all of your knowledge skills up. I have yet to see a DC 40 knowledge check. :)

I can say that I have, but they are very rare.

My next post is going to be pretty long as you enter the mirror, and I will need to set up the map. We are going out this evening, so expect something from me mid- to late-morning (Seattle time) on Wednesday.

Or I'll work on it while my wife works late, then post after we get home. ;-) New map slide is up!

I seem to have a cold. I slept most of the day and plan to be a zombie for the rest. I'll be back tomorrow. :-)

Ushi seems to have a problem with sensing motives. This is not good for business.

I'm going to step out of character a moment, because I feel like you're trying to do something that doesn't make sense, and I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish.

You have walked in on what appears to be a family of fetchlings who live here with Nicasor and (from what they described) his family. They are surprised to see you, but not antagonistic. They say Nicasor is in the next room and are going to get him.

You ask them not to go, that you want to go surprise Nicasor. They say they'd prefer to get him themselves, rather than send strangers to his bedroom.

What is your end goal here?

I’m under the impression that the plan is to deal with Nicasor without the fetchlings interfering. Whoever he is, hostilities are expected. Ushi would rather talk his way out of whatever problem occurs and doesn’t want to be surrounded by enemies if that doesn’t work.

That was basically my opinion as well, that it seems unreasonable for us to insist on going to him ourselves when we don't have any real reason to suspect foul play-- I mean, we do know there are people trapped in here.

I don't wanna kill fetchlings. My goal here is to send them away, so that we can kill Nicasor without killing fetchlings. In case if we need to kill Nicasor.

So there's really nowhere to send them - you walked into their living room, and Nicasor's room is one of the ones connected to it. Is that what you didn't understand? Look on the map slide - the hall they are indicating has Nicasor's room is part of this area, not another area of the flood.

So they can not go out? There is no town in the mirror?

Pretty sure it’s a prison demiplane.

Ah, yes, that's your misunderstanding ... yes, this is a prison demiplane. There is literally nowhere to go. It's just them.

Does that sort it out? I'd like to resume the conversation, but want to be sure everyone is on the same page. :)

Here is how I base my interpretation of Sense Motive:

Common Uses
A successful check lets you avoid being bluffed (see the Bluff skill). You can also use this skill to determine when “something is up” (that is, something odd is going on) or to assess someone’s trustworthiness.

Hunch: This use of the skill involves making a gut assessment of the social situation. You can get the feeling from another’s behavior that something is wrong, such as when you’re talking to an impostor. Alternatively, you can get the feeling that someone is trustworthy.
[...]
Action
Trying to gain information with Sense Motive generally takes at least 1 minute, and you could spend a whole evening trying to get a sense of the people around you.

Retry? No, though you may make a Sense Motive check for each Bluff check made against you.

Sense Motive gives you a general sense of whether someone is being honest or deceitful, and to notice someone using the Bluff skill against you. Except for the specific case of Bluff checks, it isn't meant to be a lie detector used against each statement. He hasn't made multiple Bluff checks against you, so I'm giving you the general feeling that he's basically genuine in his statements.

If you have some reason to believe Sense Motive can be used statement by statement, please show me the reference to a forum discussion or FAQ or something.

OK you are GM , you are the boss. Let's move on!

Sorry about this, but we have a major upgrade happening this weekend, and I have a lot to do today and tomorrow to get ready. If I happen to get free time, I'll post, but otherwise it could be Sunday before you hear from me.

No problem.

all good

Recommendations? I think Laiashi and Ushi need to get out while it can’t attack, giving Nino either Protection from Evil or healing to help him survive. Then, when it lets go to attack, Nino uses a readied action to move. The AoO is one chance to hit versus three on a full attack.

OK, this guy is really too powerful for the level. He's CR8, which is high for a four person party even at level 5 (the module is intended for level 4). And you are expected to fight it, and when you open the wall there is no way not to have at least one person in its reach.

I spent some time looking for forum discussions, but there aren't many. One GM suggested that a certain line in its description implies it might not use its grab and swallow whole abilities, and I think that's reasonable.

So I'm going to retcon that it did not grab Laiashi, and therefore it was not necessary to rescue her. Instead, you moved out of the room, successfully avoiding its AoO, and once back in the dining room, are safe from further attacks. You are out of combat, and can heal and decide how to proceed.

Nicasor's action to leave the room and subsequent disappearance did happen.

Whew! Yea especially since the only solution we have is a single light weapon. We'd have to do some kind of weird pass-the-baton thing to make it work, since whoever's wielding it will just get grappled.

If Ushi can make the concentration check to cast burst of radiance, it could be blinded and help protect the party from the horrible acid bites. If it didn’t have healing we could just chip away with ranged attacks, but none of the party has enough damage that way. Maybe there is something else in the prison plane that could help?

Let's search each room here before go go attack the heart again.

FYI to all of my games: This will be a hectic week at work all the way through Sunday, with me alternating between sitting around waiting and being buried. I will be posting erratically, so if I am a player, bot me as needed. If I am the GM, be patient and I will update as I can.

Just a fast update - don't expect to hear from me until Sunday. Once work is done I'm going into vegetable mode today, tomorrow, and Saturday. ;-)

np

There is unfortunately no clear rule stating that if you can draw a hidden weapon as a move action, then you can also do it as part of your movement. It would make sense, and if I took this build into a home game I would definitely ask that question, but for PFS I just assume it doesn't work that way.

spring loaded wrist sheath lets you grab as a swift action...just fyi..standard gear on my frontliners if i get disarmed...good for wands and potions too...

Wanted to pull that the previous round but positioning wasn’t right.

Could we maybe come to an agreement on what to do next, before threatening otherwise-peaceful NPC's? I'm sorry you're getting frustrated, Nino, but we have other doors to check. Well, one other door to check, which makes a lot more sense than the ones close by. If he's not in there, then we can start opening bedrooms.

Nino, the truth is that I am having trouble with why you are so angry and confrontational to the peaceful fetchlings. You are barging into their home and making demands, and they are responding to that. Literally every door that you have not yet opened is off of their living room, and they have told you that the rooms are the family's bedrooms.

Again, I won't tell you that you *can't* open them all up, I just feel you might not be acting with full understanding of the situation you are currently in.

Lailashi this is the way how I wanna save their lives. Becouse they don't listen I need to threaten to them.

As far as the room is concerned, I just want to go in some order.

Nino, do you think things are falling apart immediately? You haven't killed the Heart, so the only hurry you are in is to figure out what Nicasor is up to. Nobody is in danger of dying in the next few minutes. Are you rushing because you think you have a time limit?

Problem is that you don't understand how my character feels. We have been just tricked by Nicasor.

Nino is mad and furious because of that, in that state of mind he does not think rationally. He wanna destroy Nicasor and he does not wanna be slowed down be some fetchlings that work for him.
He does not wanna kill fetchlings, just scare them away so that he can search there rooms and I don't want them to be on our way when we fight Nicasor.

So that is the reason why I am in the hurry.

I completely understand our situation.

To be honest I couldn’t tell the difference between Nino’s current actions and how he has acted the rest of the module. I had no idea he had changed emotions.

Ok, then I will follow you guys!

Sorry if you don't have fun playing with me!

Ok, then I will follow you guys!

Sorry if you don't have fun playing with me!

It's not about not having fun, just about understanding each other. I was honestly concerned that you had misunderstood the situation, and your response was based on that. You've cleared it up, so now it's between the characters to work out, rather than between the players. :)

So go right now and don't ask questions if you wanna live!!

Nino, before I respond, I do want to make sure this is what you intended, since you mentioned English is not your first language.

To the fetchlings, this is a threat - you are going to kill them if they don't get out of your way. Is that what you intended for them to think? If so, I'll respond appropriately. If not, I'll let you rephrase it.

I don't understand why they are so persistent. They just need to go down stairs and everything will be just fine for them. :)

In character I already have said that but as a bluff in hope that they will leave immediately.

They don't understand what is going on. You haven't actually explained to them what is happening, so as far as they know, you are just the crazy new inmates talking about danger. They see this place as permanent and unchanging, and Nicasor is the person who has kept them sane and relatively content here.

If you are using scaring them into going downstairs as your tactic, I'll run with that. I'll give the others a chance to respond, to let me know if they are good with that or want to try something else.

(Also, just ignoring them is a possible tactic. They are neither armed nor armored. The reason I paused everything was just to make sure you understood the situation and that I understood what you wanted to do.)

Once again, work is hitting me hard. Please bear with me if I don't post often (or at all) for a few days.

OK, I've got a little breathing room. I would like to make sure I'm reading your intent correctly before I go on - you are threatening to kill them if they don't go downstairs? (Whether you intend to do so or not, that is what you seem to be saying to them, and I want to be sure, and want to see if the rest of the party is good with that position.)

Obviously, something terrible is going to happen, since you've been questioning me the same thing several times.
I have no intention of changing what I did. What is done is done. We've been circling for a week now.

I think it would be cowardly for me to go change what I said now. And I have told them several times that if they want to stay alive they just need to go downstairs. Is it so hard to go down the stairs?

The other 3 members of the group are quiet so I guess they agree. Or they disagree but don't want to interfere with what I screwed up.

Rest of the group can soften my words.

Ushi made his one objection but isn't going to stop you if you disagree.

I have a solution....i'll tell them they can leave when we do...give them hope.