GM Valen's The Sandstone Secret (PFS2e Quest 1 - March 2020) (Inactive)

Game Master Lysle

Players -- Don't forget to add +1 to all attack rolls and +1 to all damage rolls (even spell damage), courtesy of the bard's Inspire Courage.

Seeing the two reach for Jeeves, Kel uses his right hand to point a condemning finger at the undead in front of the gnome (red) and yells "Nein!"

The lance of energy from the elf's spell tears through the mummified creature, ripping it in half.

The other, larger mummified creature (black) now rises from its resting place. The creature lumbers forward towards the gnome.

Athletics, Undead black v. grease: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Initiative - Combat Round One cont'd/Round Two Begins
PCs in bold may act
Buffs: Inspire courage (until Round Two Begins)

Master Jeeves (grabbed)
Undead (red, yellow, purple, green)
Kel
Jayma
Undead (black)
Nefaram
Tanuak
Beckett
Hawk
Round Two Begins
Master Jeeves (grabbed)

"Looks like just the right amount of excitement to me! Burn pretty for me ya bastards!" Beckett exclaims as he scampers around the room unleashing a wave of fire over the mummies with the green, black, and yellow tinged wrappings.

Burning Hands,Burn It!(trait), Inspire Courage: 2d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1, 2) + 1 + 1 = 5

One action for stride and two actions for Burning Hands(basic reflex DC 18)

"S@**. Well, that was a pitiful amount of fire now wasn't it?"

Inspire Courage (+1 attack, +1 damage) in effect thru round 4, thanks to Lingering Composition.

Still being grabbed by one of the mummies, Jeeves stares in shock at the much larger mummy lumbering toward him. He sees a rusty dagger in the corner of the room and telekinetically flings it at the large black mummy directly in front of him. He modifies the cantrip with True Strike to improve his chances.

Grabbed-Flat Check DC 5: 1d20 ⇒ 9

Telekinetic Projectile: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 9 + 1 = 11
Telekinetic Projectile: 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 1 = 30
Damage: 2d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (6, 4) + 4 + 1 = 15

True Strike: Use the better of 2 attack rolls
Well, you don't see two extremes like that every day -- a nat 1 and a nat 20! Should be double damage, 30hp, on the big boy.

Tanuak watches all the young folk leaping into action.

"I've never seen undead like that before... interesting."

He waits for the others to react.

Delaying till after Hawk & Nefaram

"Looks like just the right amount of excitement to me! Burn pretty for me ya bastards!" Beckett exclaims as he scampers around the room unleashing a wave of fire over the mummies with the green, black, and yellow tinged wrappings/

Athletics, green undead: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Burn they do, as the dried bandages act almost like kindling.

The dagger, hurled by the gnome's magic might, strikes true and shatters much of the boney remains of the largest mummy (black)

Initiative - Combat Round One cont'd/Round Two Begins
PCs in bold may act
Buffs: Inspire courage (until Round Two Begins)

Tanuak (delaying)
Beckett
Hawk
Round Two Begins
Master Jeeves (grabbed)
Undead (yellow) -10 hp
Undead (purple)
Undead (green) -10 hp
Kel
Jayma
Undead (black) -45 hp
Nefram
Tanuak

Initiative - Combat Round One cont'd/Round Two Begins
PCs in bold may act
Buffs: Inspire courage (until Round Five (CORRECTED) Begins)

Tanuak (delaying)
Beckett
Hawk
Round Two Begins
Master Jeeves (grabbed)
Undead (yellow) -10 hp
Undead (purple)
Undead (green) -10 hp
Kel
Jayma
Undead (black) -45 hp
Nefram
Tanuak

If Hawk does not post within the next 24 hours, I will put him on delay.

Grabbing hold of his holy symbol Hawk says a small prayer and gives a command "Fowl undead go back to the hell you spawn from."

Hawk casts heal to harm undead. As in a burst positive energy flows from him.

DC 17 fort save Heal: 1d10 ⇒ 8

If I can't get most of the group, I will use only a 2 action Heal and blast Purple then move into the room.

Tanuak shuffles past the mummy with the purple cloth wrapping and moves around, before speaking arcane words in Erutaki, and waving his hands aroundm letting blue flames from his burning hands.
The flames burn the undead that are unable to avoid them--
DC 17 Reflex save vs fire damage of: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7

It may not matter much, but both the Harm spell and the Burning Hands spell should do 1 more pt of damage each, due to the bard's Inspire Courage. Don't forget to add those +1's to all damage rolls...ya never know if that could make the difference.

If I can't get most of the group, I will use only a 2 action Heal and blast Purple then move into the room.

From your current position, it appears to me that your burst would only include purple and yellow, so I will move Hawk forward and have him attack purple.

Fort save, purple: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

The undead (purple) manages to weather the blast of positive energy, though just barely.

The dwarf then buffets more of the undead with flames.

Fort save, yellow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Fort save, black: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Two of the undead (yellow & black) turn to ash.

The remaining undead fight on!

First (purple) v Kel: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
Damage bludgeoning plus Grab: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Jaw (purple) v Kel: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
Damage piercing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

One of the undead (purple) pounds the elf, grabbing hold of him. The mummy then tries to sink its teeth into the Pathfinder, but bites only into cloth, tearing a hole in the sorcerer's attire!

First (yellow) v Jeeves: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Damage bludgeoning plus Grab: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Jaw (yellow) v Jeeves: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Damage piercing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

The second (undead) batters the gnome, holding the Pathfinder fast, before its unholy mouth tastes fey-flesh!

Initiative - Combat Round Two cont'd/Round Three Begins
PCs in bold may act
Buffs: Inspire courage (until Round Five Begins)

Kel
Jayma
Undead (black) -62 hp
Nefram
Beckett
Hawk
Tanuak
Round Three Begins
Master Jeeves
Undead (yellow) -23 hp
Undead (purple) -9 hp
Undead (green) -10 hp

Athletics undead (green): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Athletics undead (red): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Athletics undead (yellow): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
...
Athletics, Undead black v. grease: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Well, shoot! That could have gone a lot better. At least the bandages soaked up plenty of nice fuel for Beckett's flames.

Jayma is quite disappointed at the results of her Grease spell. She'd hoped to see undead slipping and falling all over the place, which would have been a real hoot. "Never mind. Let's see if this works any better"

From behind Hawk, she spots the purple undead and proceeds to make several motions with her hands that look a little like she's plucking flies out of the air. She gathers these imaginary flies into her fist and flings them at the purple undead, chanting "Fearsome flies, find my fuchsia foe." Three darts of force leap out of her hand, streak towards the purple undead, and plunge into his chest.

Actions 1, 2, 3: Cast a Spell: Magic Missile (3-actions) All 3 missiles targeting the purple undead, with Inspire Courage

Magic Missile 1: 1d4 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 = 3
Magic Missile 2: 1d4 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 1 = 5
Magic Missile 3: 1d4 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 = 6

Jeeves nods a thank you to Tanuak as the wizard's flames take down the yellow mummy that had been grabbing him. But just as the gnome is about to step to freedom, another one grabs him and he mutters, "So gentlemen and dear lady, I've decided to remain where I am for another round. I'll do my very best to continue ... distracting them."

While being held, Jeeves maneuvers enough to gather up static electricity and unleashes an electrical attack at both remaining mummies.

Grabbed-Flat Check DC 5: 1d20 ⇒ 9

Electric Arc: 2d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (2, 1) + 4 + 1 = 8

Electric Arc at both mummies. Basic Reflex of DC 19

Then, realizing Kel is nearby, he reaches over and casts Guidance on the elf. "Sir Kel, this may provide you an additional bonus for your next course of action."

Grabbed-Flat Check DC 5: 1d20 ⇒ 15

The +1 status bonus from Guidance will NOT stack with +1 from Inspire Courage, but if Kel makes any other check, it should help with that.

Actions: Electric Arc (2 actions), Guidance (1 action)

Tanuak smiles and nods back to Jeeves, and then tries to see what is going on--

Waiting to see who is still up

Jayma's magic missile tear apart the few remains of one of the mummies (purple).

Electricity arcs out of the hand of the other gnome towards the remaining mummy.

Reflex: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (14) + 0 = 14

Unable to avoid the full strength of the current, the mummy spasms for a few seconds, then drops to the stone floor amidst a feint odor of ozone.

COMBAT OVER

"The poor man will never share all his secrets..."

Jayma is ecstatic to see her spell tear the purple undead apart. "Now, that is more like it!" she yells in excitement while doing a little dance of joy.

She rejoins the group in the room and is a little disappointed to see that the rest of the undead are dead, "um, is 'dead' the right word here? Perhaps re-dead, or un-undead is more correct. I'll have to look it up when I get the chance," she thinks.

"So where were we before being so rudely interrupted? Ah yes, Mr. Subeli it was, I believe." She looks around, then down. "Ah, there you are. Come come now, the fighting is over, you can get up," she calls out to the prone figure.

When Nefram does not get up, Jayma bends down to see what the problem is. "Oh dearie me," she exclaims, "It seems that the excitement was a little too much for our new friend. He appears to have left us for an all-expense paid trip to Pharasma's Boneyard." She does not give any indication of being particularly upset about it.

She searches the body, holds up the notebook she finds, and calls out "Is anyone interested in his notebook? I expect that it will be full of dreary writing. Perhaps you dear Beckett, or maybe Kel might find it of interest." She hands the notebook to whomever gets to it first. Looking down again, she pulls the "wayfinder" from around his neck and looks at it more closely. "Ha! It is as I expected; a counterfeit; though rather a good one since it fooled us from a distance."

Tanuak looks around the room--
Religion, Trained: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
--"I know that statue!
It represents Osiris, the Light Bearer. Patron of the Forge Lighters!"

Finally free of mummies, Jeeves dusts himself off, and winces a little from being battered and bruised. "Ahh...still standing though. Typically a good sign."

Jeeves takes a look in the last chamber and studies the statue.

Religion: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Jeeves looks at Tanuak as he explains about Osiris, and chimes in, "Good Tanuak, I fear you may be mistaken. I'm fairly confident it's actually Set, not Osiris. If it's Set, I believe he's the god of darkness and murder." Jeeves stares at the statue and shudders.

He pulls out his notebook and adds more information to include everything discovered so far.

"Young ones, they know nothing..."

Beckett takes a look at Nefaram's book. "Sure. Why not? I'll see what nonsense this man was spewing in his journal."

After briefly scanning the book Beckett throws it on the ground in disgust. "The man was an idiot! He hadn't the slightest clue what he was doing! It's a bunch of barely comprehensible "notes" he intended to hand over to the government after stealing any artifacts for himself."

Any last things you want to do before leaving the ruins and reporting to the Venture-Captain? Also, we are near the end folks! Please make sure that your character information is correct in the Recruitment thread for chronicles and that you have any Day job rolls complete (please note any field-commissioned PCs as well, it makes my job a little easier).

"Didn't I warn you about disturbing the dead." Hawk says as the last of the undead drops.

"Hawk, you keep using that word. I'm not sure it means what you think it means. Lighting up those mummies was the most exciting part of the job! Anyway, let's scoop up all the knick-knacks Nefaram was going to steal, finish scribbling our notes, and get back to Sothis. I wanna see if Balentiir's got any more tombs full of mummies to burn!"

Beckett walks back towards the tomb's entrance still muttering to himself, "Maybe the next one'll actually have a necromantic ritual chamber..."

Jeeves chuckles at Beckett's enthusiasm regarding a necromantic ritual chamber. "Indeed, my friend. There are never enough of those." It's possible that he's being sarcastic, but you can't be sure.

As the group heads out of the tomb with their notes and artifacts, Jeeves plays a light celebratory melody on his lyre and gently suggests, "If we're not certain about the current state of that trap in the main corridor, might it be safest to loop around through the northern chamber?"

Upon exiting, we give an account to Officer Elrekah and inform her of the fate of the imposter, Nefram.

After defeating the dangerous mummies within the ruins, you are able to finish exploring the ruins at your own pace and return to the surface when ready. Elrekah is relieved to hear that you have dealt with the threats within and a bit embarrassed that she had inadvertently allowed herself to be duped by the clerk.

Venture-Captain Norden Balentiir, too, is pleased to learn that the ruins have been cleared of undead and eager to hear your preliminary thoughts on the nature of the ruins. He concedes that the report that false "Pathfinders" were at the site first gives him deep concern. Yet, Balentiir reassures you that he will work with government officials to root out the source of the problem. For now, though, he notes that you have have each earned a well-deserved rest in the gardens of the Sandswept Halls.

"A job well done, comrades!"

Jeeves, smiling with twinkling eyes, doffs his top hat and bows with a flourish to the group, "It's been my extreme pleasure joining you all on this mission. May our paths cross again in the future...."

Thank you Valen for running a really fun (and quick) game. I appreciate it!

Kel grins and bows to each, "It was a fantastic expedition made all the better by each of you, I hope to see you again someday!."

Thank you all for a great first PBP of Pathfinder for me! It was fantastic! Thank you Valen for reaching out to me and thank you everyone for making me feel welcome.

I'm glad you enjoyed your foray into PbP and hope you get hooked as I did! Thank you to a great table of players. I should have the chronicles to you in about 48 hours (If you need yours sooner, send me a PM).

Happy gaming!

CHRONICLES!

Please let me know of any corrections/revisions/etc. that I need to make.

I will mark this thread inactive once I have heard back from each of you or in five days, whichever comes sooner.

Thanks again all for playing! I look forward to sharing a table with each of you in the future. Stay safe.

Someone was too lazy to check the mail so I was sent instead!

All seems good.
Thanks a lot.

Be safe, all!