GM Crunch and the Pallid Plague (Inactive)

Game Master Saving Cap'n Crunch

fort: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Oh, sorry! I was wondering about that, none of your archetypes traded it out but I didn't see it on your sheet. No, you're good.

Fort Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Fort Save]1d20+5

Oh! No! You are a hit with something that is bothering you for the rest of the scenario again!?? :-(

Dana looks at the woman.

”You look old! Can you tell me what is going on here?! We are Pathfinders and we encountered a couple of strange druids that almost sounded like Makras here. So we are looking for peace at the end! Are you looking for peace, too?!“ she asks.

diplomacy : 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24

Doran and Makras each take 1 Charisma damage.

Laurel looks back quizzically. "I'm not certain yet, of course. That man seems to have some sort of boils. As do those two, to a lesser degree, and does he...? Oh! No, he doesn't. My apologies." The woman has pointed at Vanick, Doran, and Makras, but reels back after incorrectly thinking Torku might have the same symptoms.

"As to looking for peace...in a roundabout way, perhaps. But not actively, I'm just a doctor. What a question! If you could tell me what you know of the ailment, that could provide important context. In the meantime, I'll warm up my tools." Now in one of the comfier chairs, Vanick has slumped over, asleep.

Dana shrugs.

”Interesting that you assume that we are trying to find a cure! We know that some flowers are the source of this plague and that some crazy druids are trying to end this town!“

She looks at those in the group that do not feel well.

”My companions here also are sick I believe so that we would appreciate any scrolls or other items you have that are able to combat the disease!“

Torku also shrugs, not seeming to have noticed the woman's mis-diagnosis. "Why would she help us?" he asks flatly. "We've done nothing for her, aside from perhaps bringing her another paying patient. If we're lucky, she has some antiplague we could purchase from her."

Dana looks at Torku.

”Yes, of course we’ll pay for a scroll of remove disease. That is what shops are there for? Or not?“

”She’s a doctor, not a merchant.”

Dana starts laughing.

”That’s exactly what I mean! So forgetful!“ she says and looks at the doctor / merchant.

”You sell anti plague, right?!“

Hood thing I bought some before leaving....[ooc]I have 2 doses of antiplague...hadcone and boight another[/b]

"Sorry, I don't sell much of anything," Laurel says, straightening up as she returns from the top floor with her arms full of supplies. "But that includes my services. You won't need to pay for that, I mean, I wasn't implying I wouldn't help! But I'll need your aid as well. I don't want to bring anyone else in here, what with the active illness. So none of my usual assistants."

The woman suddenly looks taken aback by her own words. She holds her hands up in a supplicating gesture, as if under the impression she offended you. "Oops, not trying to lay blame on you! You've done everything perfectly right, bringing the sick to me. I just could use some extra hands. Retrieving my things when I call for them, and any know-how you can chip in would be valued. This disease is entirely new to me, so we'll have to improvise."

All right, we’re entering a special encounter! Every round, you’ll each roll a check to aid Laurel in creating a remedy. This can be done with just about any skill, provided you can justify its ability to help. Some are easy to explain, like using Craft (alchemy), Heal, or Knowledge (nature) to directly help her with your knowledge in the field. Other skills will require more creative reasoning, such as using Perform to boost her spirits (although not in too distracting a manner). Each PC may only use a specific skill once, though others can use the same skill in later rounds.

Time in each phase is variable, but assume each will take around an hour. You can try to substitute a skill roll with an appropriate spell use if you think something you have works here.

Also, OOC, I’m having Laurel ignore your talk of antiplague. More information on that later. But feel free to take it yourselves for further saves if you want.

Phase One:
Doran
Makras
Torku
Korum
Vulpina
Dana

Makras' ramblings about the coming end times provide Laurel with the incentive she needs to work faster!

This is a fun challenge for someone like Makras. GM, if you'll allow it I'll try a Profession: Street Preacher to scare Laurel enough that she works harder than ever before. If that's too far of a stretch, maybe a Survival check to identify some of the herbs and roots that might be useful?

Profession (Street Preacher): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

”I am supremely exited about this path of cooperation!“

Dana immediately starts to assist by sorting the alchemical reagents.

craft alchemy : 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

Torku stands by the workbench, Dana's sorted bottles in front of him as he deftly mixes ingredients based on her instructions. Even without formal training in chemistry, his steady hands mix and mash while his tail grabs the next ingredient.

A bit of a stretch, but Sleight of Hand? And can we Take 10?

Sleight of Hand, Take 10: 10 + 11 = 21

Doran tries to remember some of his herbalism training.

heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Vulpina isn’t entirely sure what she can do, so she takes a bit of instruction and helps make sure the devices and equipment are in operational order!

Knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Korum tries to recall the various implementation of the various roots and herbs on display.

Religion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Laurel smiles down at Makras during a break in her work. "You know, some of that sounds like something I've heard from a Jadwiga friend. Or were they a relative? That sort of thing runs out of steam quick enough, but it sounds funny."

Doran and Korum aren't certain about all of the reagents at work, though Dana is! The herbalist seems to enjoy working with her.

Torku holds the implements steady, but ends up having to hang on to two vials most of the time. Vulpina runs into a similar problem. Most of Laurel's equipment isn't much more advanced than a pulley system rigged to a pestle, or is already running quite well.

Taking 10 is fine, although since you failed this time you have an idea of the DC.

Phase Two: (one success)
Doran
Makras
Torku
Korum
Vulpina
Dana

Dana realizes that this disease could have some magical aspect.

Even if not then falsifying this assumption could be of use too.

If taking 10 is possible then I’d rather do that.Kn arcana for 24 total then. Can I use kn arcana each round? Or do we have to change skills.

"It's too bad the cure will have toadstool root in it, or this disease would sweep unchecked across the Inner Sea," Makras observes wistfully.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Doran grabs a handful of different plants and fungi and mixes them together.

know nature: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Might be something here...

Each PC can use a specific skill once, and a skill can only be used once amidst the party per round. So you could use Arcana this round, and no one else could. But in the next round, you can't any more and someone else is allowed to.

Results of the latest checks to follow later, I'll be at a PaizoCon table shortly.

”Well, now that the instruments are sorted...”

She glances around, then closes her eyes. She never did alchemy with her gloves on—too expensive, and it was often impossible to get some of the more colorful substances out of the material.

She undoes them at the wrist, pulls them off, slides them into a pouch of her bandolier and quickly gets to work.

Her hands are filthy underneath.

Black marks each of her fingers, primarily the index and thumb, with a bit less on subsequent digits. A few splotches go all the way up to her wrist.

Craft (alchemy): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

The paladin tries to recall the root meanings and origins of the words to see if he gleans any insights as to the healing properties the herds may have.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Whatever the equivalent is to Latin roots.

Torku carefully adds small drops of Vulpina’s concoctions to vials with hands steady from years of carefully manipulating springs and wires.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

Dana is almost certain the plague was magically created, corroborating Captain Brackett's 'an evil dryad did it' theory. This is a go-ahead to add some common ingredients strong against magic to the mixture. Makras is unsure of much more.

Doran finds some plants more familiar to him and puts them to good use. Korum hits some of the herbalist's many books without success.

Vulpina ends up getting her hands dirty to no avail - during a lull in the action, Laurel points out an incorrect measurement that has destabilized most of the Lady's later mixture.

Phase Two: (three successes)
Doran
Makras
Torku
Korum
Vulpina
Dana

Since people are actually listening to him for once, Makras describes, in great and revolting detail, exactly what the symptoms of the disease feel like.

I'm really scraping the bottom of my skills, so I'll throw an untrained Heal in there.

Heal: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

posting next roll to expedite things in case I get behind today...tying survival check...can't hurt to try

Doran heads out to see what kind of herbs, plants and the like he can find using his survival skills.

survival: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Dana tries to give her opinion on any extraplanar influences that might have been used to create the disease.

Taking 10 Kn planes for 24 total then.

Torku double-checks Dana's hypotheses, trying to ensure that nothing usable is left out.

Knowledge (arcana), Take 10: 10 + 12 = 22

Doran goes out for a short while to replenish Laurel's supplies. Dana and Torku focus on the pox's magical aspects, not drawing many conclusions when thinking extraplanar, but seeing vague similarities to the pitiful quasit demon's poison.

As is his custom, Makras disturbs most present with information they wouldn't want to know even if it did help save lives.

Phase Three: (six successes)
Doran
Makras
Torku
Korum
Vulpina
Dana

Vulpina tries not to retch when Makras describes the new and interesting ways that the pollenborne disease is interacting with the fungus he already had growing between his toes, and fails when he insists on showing them.

She volunteers to assist with some of the finer detail work:
Sleight of Hand: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Feeling he is just getting in the way, Korum focuses on trying to get more information on the symptoms from Vanick himself. He rouses the druid and asks him a few gentle questions about his condition.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Vanick isn't very lucid when woken up, and what few comprehensible things he says are similar to Makras's disgusting utterances. Vulpina breezes through a few precise steps in Laurel's current notes, prompting enthusiastic clapping from the herbalist.

Those recently affected by the palepox find themselves feeling a touch worse as dawn gets close to breaking.

Doran and Makras, another round of Fortitude saves! The DC here is also 22.

Phase Four: (seven successes)
Doran
Makras
Torku
Korum
Vulpina
Dana

Ill take a dose of antiplague first...

fort, antiplague: 1d20 + 7 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 7 + 5 = 31could i make a heal check to aid my roll?

Makras begins to feel ill as the disease further ravages his body. "Ha! Always have the Vekkers been cursed by ill fates. But unlike my foolish ancestors, I know that utter extinguishment comes to all things."

I'm going to use my 1/scenario "Blessing of the Ancestors" boon for a +2 on this save.

Apparently, Makras' ancestors don't particularly like him either. Okay, I'm going to use my t-shirt reroll (with 2 GM stars). Charisma damage on oracles isn't good!

Fort Save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Shirt Reroll: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

"Quite an effective plague. I approve! I've heard tales of those fey in the First World--it makes sense they hate us all."

Makras relates a couple of stories of diseases from the First World making their way into the Material Plane.

Knowledge (planes): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

GM: Only skill with take 10 beating the dc you stated is linguistics. Would that work next round?

Dana concentrates to find historical comparisons of plagues and potential cures that were created in the past.

kn history : 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

Out of skills. Can I sub in a class skill. Drop a channel or a Lay on Hands?

A bit of a long shot, considering how short-lived it is, but this encounter has a way of bringing out that sort of thing. Dropping a channel (so 2 LoH uses) will work. But I'll rule it like a skill and say you can't do it again.

Doran has noticed some pustules gradually recede over the last few hours, hastened by antiplague. But his system doesn't seem entirely cleansed. Makras feels inevitable doom draw ever closer.

Makras takes 1d2 ⇒ 2 Con damage and1d2 ⇒ 2 more Cha damage.

Dana turns her thoughts to the artifact apparently responsible for this, Isandrea's Basin. What little she has heard of it is alarming, but informative.

Korum lets loose a burst of positive energy. It washes over everyone, though it doesn't help the infected on its own. Laurel snaps a book shut to see some particles of the stuff stuck inside the pages. "Good idea! It's always so hard to get this, but now I bet I could break it down a little."

Phase Four: (nine successes)
Doran
Makras
Torku
Korum
Vulpina
Dana

Torku scowls and starts trying to force the cure together. Damnit, we don't have time to do this "properly". Just make it work!

Use Magic Device, Take 10: 10 + 12 = 22

Makras...want this vial of antiplague? I know it might keep you around this world for a bit longer...is that amenable to you? he says with a sly grin. Doran then goes foraging again.

ok...trying to see if i can use Perception or Know local as a skill to use. Will roll1d20...and you modify the roll by the appropriate skill...Perception first, and if not allowed know locl...fair enough?

roll: 1d20 ⇒ 15

You can always consider Aiding Another if you’re out of skills! Lower DC and helpful to the rest of us.

Speaking of which: anyone want me to try to give you a +2?

Aid Lady V. {skill of her choice}: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (17) - 2 = 15

I mean its either this or stepping out on to the patio for a brew while everyone else keeps chuggin' away. Although, it is pretty warm today...

All's good, because...

Rather than wait for the disparate elements to combine, Torku turns magic on the mixture to kludge it together. Thankfully, all seems well as it is transferred to a cauldron - such a gamble could have gone poorly.

"Well, only one way to test it now," Laurel smiles. "I don't see any reason for it to fail, and it certainly shouldn't have any bad effects. Not after all your help!"

She then sets to administering the experimental cure, taking nearly an hour for each of the three affected to do so. She adamantly refuses to let you go until she is sure the palepox is purged from everyone present.

Her checks, if successful, will give the target a +4 to their next save. Each one takes an hour, so we'll see if it triggers any more.

By the time the pangs return near evening, all the infected are properly dosed and feeling prepared. Vanick is conscious and capable, but still looks grim.

Doran and Makras can make another set of saves, with a +4 bonus (plus any antiplagues). If Doran succeeds, he is cured. I'll wait to see how Makras fares to progress either way.

Makras grumbles. "I guess dying just before the coming apocalypse would be a shame. I want to be there when it happens!" In quick succession, he downs the antiplague offered by Doran and the brew concocted by Laurel.

So it looks like if you're already infected, antiplague allows you to roll twice (without a bonus) and take the better result. I'll do that and add in the +4 from the experimental cure to my Fort save (modified by Con damage).

Try # 1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27
Try # 2: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

fort: 1d20 + 7 + 5 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 5 + 4 = 23
Looks like the work paid off...my thanks, madam. You truly are a master herbalist. In the city you could command good coin for your services and wares. But I think you are at home here in the wild...

Laurel's ministrations prove most effective! The lasting damage is still there, as evidenced by Vanick's continued sluggishness, but it will get no worse. Now all that remains is to purge it completely from Makras.

Heal Makras: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29

One more save from Makras, with the +4.