Cartmanbeck's Age of Ashes - PF2 Play-by-post

Game Master cartmanbeck

The boggard goes down after being hit in the eye with a sling bullet.

Isiros then steps forward and strikes the red monkey-man twice. The charau-ka screams in rage, seeming to go into some sort of frenzy, and then attacks Isiros FOUR times! His weapon is agile, so he only takes a -4 on each subsequent attack.

sickle: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
sickle: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 8 - 4 = 5 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
sickle: 1d20 + 8 - 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 - 8 = 20 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5 x2=10
sickle: 1d20 + 8 - 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 - 8 = 11 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

In its anger, several of its attacks go wide, but one of them hits Isiros right between his armor on his chest. Crit with that nat-20.

Round 2 - bold may act
Isiros (-14)
Abalyn
Charau-ka red (-14)
Hawk
Alak
Charau-ka blue
Zim
Ash

Hawk takes decides to sure up the front line of the battle. And by front line, he means Isiros. He steps close enough to the door to see Isiros and the Charau-ka.

Step, Cast spell: Forbidding Ward (Isiros, Charau-ka red)

Alak steps between the two charau-ka to make room for his allies, then attacks the blue one, as Isiros likely has the red one sufficiently handled.

greatsword: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12damage: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
greatsword: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (5) + 10 - 5 = 10damage: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Unfortunately, both swings fail to land.

The blue charau-ka also frenzies, screaming madly, and swings its sickle at Alak four times.

sickle: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
sickle: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 8 - 4 = 22 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 hit
sickle: 1d20 + 8 - 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 - 8 = 15 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
sickle: 1d20 + 8 - 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 - 8 = 8 damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

He does manage to hit Alak with one attack.

Round 2 - bold may act
Isiros (-14)
Abalyn
Charau-ka red (-14)
Hawk
Alak (-6)
Charau-ka blue
Zim
Ash

Zim casts Magic Missile at the red charau-ka that attacked Isiros.

Damage: 3d4 + 3 ⇒ (3, 2, 2) + 3 = 10

Ash points at the red Charau-ka and gestures across his neck. "Ook, ook, you're next."
Intimidate: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

And Fire.
Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Fire: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

"And that's your last warning fireball."

Zim's magic missiles slam into the monkey-man and he goes down.

Ash tries to intimidate the other charau-ka and the humanoid laughs at him. Then he tires to hit it with some fire, but misses.

Round 3 - bold may act
Isiros (-14)
Abalyn
Hawk
Alak (-6)
Charau-ka blue
Zim
Ash

Abalyn studies the remaining monkey person and attempts to identify it.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Society: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Abalyn notices a weakness and conveys it to her allies. Everyone gets a +1 on their next attack vs the monkey guy.

She reloads her sling and hurls a sling bolt at it.

Sling: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

She misses.

Isiros tries to target the weakness with a powerful blow, followed in quick succession by a jab that missed the mark completely.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27 Damage: 2d10 + 4 ⇒ (8, 1) + 4 = 13
Strike: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (1) + 10 - 5 = 6 Damage: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Actions: 1-2 power attack, 3 strike

Isiros swings powerfully at the charau-ka and it takes a solid wound across the chest.

Alak then swings at it three times.

greatsword: 1d20 + 10 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 10 + 1 = 30 damage: 1d12 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

His sword cleaves through the monkey-man, finishing him off.

The party searches the room.
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

And finds a single vial of an alchemical substance.
Zim Crafting: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Abalyn Crafting: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Zim is able to identify it as a lesser Comprehension Elixir.

There are doors to the north and east.

Zim pockets the Comprehension Elixir, hoping to find an opportunity to use it to further his research at some point.

"Does anyone else find it odd that we've now encountered frog men, exotic birds, and now monkeys? In a creepy, old keep like this, I was not entirely surprised to find the undead we encountered earlier, but these unusual creatures seem out of place."

”Nope, this is definitely odd. I’d say it’s related to the fey invasion, but there aren’t any fey.” She eyes Isiros’s wounds. ”Isiros, do you want me to take a few minutes to patch you up, or would you rather move on?”

"Well, at least this set of strange creatures wasn't as difficult for us as the last set."

You all can make a Nature or Society check to maybe get a bit of info on why you might be finding seemingly out-of-place creatures here.

Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Religion: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Society: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Religion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Abalyn gets the sense that none of these creatures would be native to anywhere around this area, and especially not down in such a place as this. You do get the feeling that they might have traveled from elsewhere.... perhaps through one of these "elf gates"? The birds are definitely from the jungles of the Mwangi expanse, originally.

Zim notices that all of them are wearing a symbol somewhere on their clothing of a smoking dragon's claw. While this isn't a well-known holy symbol, he does recognize that it is probably some sort of cult symbol, and these monkey and frog men seemed very zealous. Bofh types of humanoids are more common in the settlements around the Mwangi expanse.

Hawk, looking at the holy symbol, suggests that it is an unusual symbol sometimes associated with cults to an evil god of dragons, Dahak. Worshippers who wear this symbol are often focused more on the destructive aspects of Dahak's portfolio.

Abalyn swears that the holy symbol is one of an obscure cult of Rovagug, who believe that Rovagug's original avatar was that of a huge, incredibly fat and ravenous dragon, and that practice cannibalism as a religious requirement.

”Guys, do you think these ‘elf gates’ are some kind of teleportation devices? Also, should we be concerned about cannibals?”

"Cannibals huh? Well they did seem to be tasting Isiros. But I'm pretty sure this symbol is related to Dahak, an evil dragon god."

Ash looks extraordinarily interested in all the dragony stuff.
Dragon Lore: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
If it's a normal failure, Dubious Knowledge will kick in for 1 thing right, 1 thing wrong :)

"I suppose some stitches wouldn't hurt Abalyn, Thank you" Isiros replies.

”Sure thing!” Abalyn pulls out her needle and thread and gets to work.

Medicine 15: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26
HP: 4d8 ⇒ (8, 5, 6, 7) = 26

Isiros watches intently and becomes increasingly impressed as she works. "Wow, you make quick work of that!" he says graciously.

After Ash's lore check, Isiros is ready to open the next north door

Abalyn is pleased at Isiros’s praise, but she doesn’t want anyone to know. She focuses very hard on her needle and thread as she puts them away.

"Cannibals? Dahak? No, I'm quite certain that symbol is linked to Lamashtu, as I mentioned earlier. An archaic and obscure symbol to be sure, but I'm certain it was Lamashtu."

Abalyn looks confused. ”No, it’s a symbol of Rovagug, used by a cannibalistic cult.”

Ash is very interested in the discussions of Dahak. He seems to remember that the largest cult of Dahak was formed by a dragon-priest named Aashaq, who lived in the Mawangi expanse and recruited local humanoids to her cause hundreds of years ago, but was long-disbanded.

Sorry I forgot to say this earlier:

The door to the north is heavily but crudely barricaded with chairs, tables, other furniture, books, anything the cultist could get their hands on, as if they are trying to keep something inside the room beyond.

Abalyn listens at the door.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Abalyn hears some sniffing behind the door, likely by a large mammal of some kind.

”Guys, there’s something big in there.”

"Well, if those cultists were able to contain it in there...we'll be handle it, I'm sure."

Reaction to the knowledge check above:
"Long ago, the largest cult of Dahak was formed in the Mwangi expanse by a dragon. Maybe this is a revival of that cult. Or even the dragon. Jungle undead dragon cultist? Now that's a mouthful."Ash muses aloud, at some point when Abalyn's ear isn't pressed to a door.

"Abalyn, we might have some research to do!"

"Well, whatever it is will probably be hostile and dangerous. Possibly an ally, in the right circumstances, cause it's fighting the cultists. But the cultists didn't _kill_ it, so possibly something too dangerous to really fight, but easily controlled, so they could trick it into an area then wall it off. If it's not undead, might be really hungry. Wonder if it eats monkey man."

Abalyn nods at Ash. ”There’s a lot of research to do on many things we’ve found out.”

The group waits for Ash to hack a fresh limb off of one of the cultists to offer to whatever the creature is, and then carefully removes the barricade in front of the North door. They hear the sniffing get louder and it's now accompanied with some grunting, and the heavy wooden door bulges a bit with the weight of something trying to push its way out.

As they remove the last of the barricade, the door slams open, revealing a grizzly bear in what looks like it was once a stately bedroom, but now looks like a horrific crime scene. Sprawled haphazardly everywhere are half-mauled humanoid bodies lying in pools of blood, splintered furniture, bed curtains and rugs torn to shreds, and massive piles of dung.

The bear attempts to squeeze through the door that is clearly too small for its bulk.
squeeze, 1=fail: 1d2 ⇒ 1 But for the moment he growls in protest as his body is held back by the stone door frame.

You guys have the chance to try to calm the bear... one round of actions. Otherwise, we'll go into initiative.

Abalyn attempts to determine the bear’s motive.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Abalyn gets the feeling that the bear is currently relatively indifferent to your group, but is frustrated by not being able to fit through the door and roam free. It's likely he'll become angry quickly if something isn't done to soothe him.

Abalyn has 2 actions left.

"The poor creature. Seems he doesn't like being trapped in this room."
Hawk sings a soothing song to help calm the bear.
Performance: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 8 + 1 = 28

Isiros observes the door threshold to try to determine if there's anything he can do to widen the door, preferably without causing any structural damage
Architecture: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

The bear stares at Hawk for a moment, contemplating this strange human singing to him.
I'll need a Nature check from someone to go along with this.

Isiros can't figure out any way to widen the door, but he does feel like the bear will likely be able to squeeze out eventually, and if he can be calmed a bit, could be guided through the process of squeezing out so he is less frustrated by it.

”We should clear out of the hallway to let him by,” says Abalyn. She makes calming motions at the door as she backs away.

Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Between the beautiful renditions of Hawk and Abalyn's soothing gestures, the bear calms down significantly. It sits down on its haunches and starts licking some blood from its front paws, still looking quizzically at the group but clearly not angry. You even get the feeling you could give it some rudimentary commands and it might be willing to follow them, as apparently Abalyn has been training bears her whole life without telling anyone.

Zim is surprised to see the bear so docile after a just a few gestures, but has no intention of going anywhere near the massive beast.
"Now what? It might look friendly now, but its still a BEAR. I'm not going near that thing."
If the others intend to try to coax it out of its room, he intends to duck back into the other room.

"I'm going to let our bear whisperer handle the rest of this. I'll be close by in case anything goes awry. " Isiros says as he steps to the side. "Or just let me know if you need me to do something" he adds.

Hawk also stands out of the way.

Abalyn tries to coax the bear out of the room.

Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

As soon as the others start trying to get the bear to come out, Zim quickly moves back into the connecting corridor and closes the door, leaving it open just enough to peak out of, but ready to shut it and hold it closed as best as he can manage.

The grizzly, all cool and collected now, follows Abalyn's instructions and extricates itself from the room. Then it sits in front of her, looking at her quizzically once again.

"Well, this is awesome. Wonder if it has a name." Ash muses. "Back to exploring, now with bear power?"