Menagerie PFS: Murder's Mark (Inactive)

Game Master Blake's Tiger

Damnit! Need that skulk out of the way.

GM, was the skulk already there and hiding, or did it approach silently? If it was already there it would have been caught in Aurora's Channel, since it's an AoE.

Aurora plans to capitalise on the skulk's inherent nature. She calls upon the necromantic powers of Urgathoa to terrify the cowardly creature.

Cast Cause Fear on the skulk. DC14 Will partial.

Aurora stands over Damiel's fallen body, and pulls out a wand. Cast, 5' step, draw wand.

"Come on, that's not even fair!" Helvetica argues, forcing herself back up. Stepping back into view of the archer, she sends him another reminder of her existence.

"Do you treat all new workers like this?!"
________
Magic Missile vs Yellow: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Lol, suddenly being prone isn't so great of an idea!

Just in case it ends up being needed...

In the potential timeline where Damiel finds himself lying on the floor and bleeding out...

Stabilize (DC 10): 1d20 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (1) + 1 - 5 = -3

@ Aurora: Good question. He was hiding in the other room waiting for the ooze to be defeated. As a burst, it would not reach him from your previous position to his hiding place.

Aurora's spiritual invocation appears to have the desired effect. The skulk turns to look at the merfolk, and his eyes widen in terror.

Helvetica begrudgingly gets off the floor and fires a bolt of force from her wand. The bolt strikes the thief on the platform in the middle of his forehead and knocks him out cold.

Combat! Round 3. Bold may act.

Ladder is indicated on the map (DC 0 to climb). Catwalk is 15 ft above the floor. The ropes at the middle of the catwalk can be climbed (DC 15).

Yellow (-8 hp; 1 nl; unconscious)
Zu (5/9 hp)
Fuzzy (9/13 hp)
Skulk (frightened 3 rounds)
Blue (-1 hp, sickened 2 rounds)
Red (-1 hp, sickened 2 rounds)
Aurora
Helvetica (5/10 hp)
Damiel (-6 dying, 0/10 hp)

For once, Zu isn't in much mood to joke or even throws taunts at the group's foes. He simply moves up towards Blue and jabs at him with his longspear...

Attack vs. Blue (Longspear): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

...but he slips in some of the blood on the catwalk and it throws off his strike.

Fuzzy scuttles forward, past Zu, and flings themselves at Blue...

Slam vs. Blue: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 + poison (Fort DC 13)

The terrified skulk makes a break past Helvetica and into the shelves of the warehouse.

Up on the catwalk, Fuzzmodeus rams into the first thug and releases a cloud of spores. The man, blinking and unsteady, draws a sword and stabs in the puffball's direction. Largely by luck, the man manages to drive his blade into the fungus' body. Unfortunately for him, this releases another cloud of spores that leaves him even more bleary-eyed than before.

The other rogue makes a tactical decision and jumps from the catwalk. It was a poor decision worthy of his intoxicated companion. Those able to see him land witness his ankle rotates inward, the joint seems to bend at an unpleasant angle and hear a crunch that makes your stomach clench just before he collapses to the ground and smacks his head on the floor. He has just enough life left in him to struggle to a standing position and ponder his career choice.

They keep giving these NPCs with no ranks in Climb or Acrobatics tactics that involve jumping or climbing from high places.

Combat! Round 3/4. Bold may act.

Ladder is indicated on the map (DC 0 to climb). Catwalk is 15 ft above the floor. The ropes at the middle of the catwalk can be climbed (DC 15).

Skulk (frightened 2 rounds)
Blue (-5 hp, sickened 1 rounds, poison 3 rounds, -6 Wis)
Red (-7 hp, sickened 1 rounds)
Aurora
Helvetica (5/10 hp)
Damiel (-6 dying, 0/10 hp)
--4--
Yellow (-8 hp; 1 nl; unconscious)
Zu (5/9 hp)
Fuzzy (6/13 hp)

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Helvetica grunts as she hobbles over to Aurora and leans against a stack of crates.

"Whose leg you gotta hump to get a dry martini around here?" she asks. "And by dry martini, I mean some healing to keep my blood where it belongs. There was this play with a talking dog, and he, you know what? Never mind."

She fires a shot at the fallerjumper.
________
Magic Missile vs Red: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Helvetica limps her way over to the merfolk and sends a bolt of force from her wand into the back of the thief who jumped off of the catwalk. He loses his balance as he tries to steady himself on his freshly broken ankle, falls, hits his head on the corner of a crate, and lays on the ground occasionally twitching. Luck has not been with this rogue.

Combat! Round 3/4. Bold may act.

Ladder is indicated on the map (DC 0 to climb). Catwalk is 15 ft above the floor. The ropes at the middle of the catwalk can be climbed (DC 15).

Skulk (frightened 2 rounds)
Blue (-5 hp, sickened 1 rounds, poison 3 rounds, -6 Wis)
Aurora
Helvetica (5/10 hp)
Damiel (-6 dying, 0/10 hp)
--4--
Yellow (-8 hp; 1 nl; unconscious)
Zu (5/9 hp)
Fuzzy (6/13 hp)

"Oh, oh wow," Zu winces as he watches Red make quite the series of poor life choices that ultimately leave him twitching on the warehouse floor in a broken mess.

Attack vs. Blue (Longspear): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

He then proceeds to skewer Blue, though his demeanor is almost apologetic as he does.

"Sorry fella, just trying to stay alive, you know?"

Going to assume that probably takes care of Blue, so...

"Hey Fuzzy, down! Good puffball!"

Handle Plant (DC 10): 1d20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 4 = 27

Fuzzy quivers for a moment and then ceases their attack. They wait patiently for further orders or for something else to happen, doing a gentle sort of bop as they idle.

"You look like you're doing great, Hel, you just dropped henchman number two! I've got a dying alchemist here, I'm using my wand on him first. You keep an eye on that skulk!"

Aurora uses her healing wand on Damiel. I think we agreed Zu would have the sheriff's wand? If Zu has his own then let's say Damiel has it.

clw Damiel: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

The alchemist groans and stands up clutching his sides. "Owwww.... what hit me? Feels like the morning after a pesh bender. What? A skulk? Where?"

Damielbot looks from side to side, and steps around the boxes to glimpse the fleeing humanoid. "I see that bastard!"

Ah, a bomb is risky in a warehouse full of wooden crates. But I'll get him if he comes back.

"Yeah, you better keep running, or you'll go the same way as that... that blog-thing!"

Move to stand, free to 5' step, draw wand of clw if he has it otherwise ready a bomb if the skulk returns.

Yep, Zu actually does have his own wand; sorry for forgetting to mention that earlier!

The leshy skewers the remaining, befuddled rogue who fails to notice the apologetic expression or much else as he tumbles from the catwalk and lands with a sound that confirms his fatality. Perhaps it was a mercy that he was so afflicted by the creeping puffball's poison.

The skulk reaches down and pulls open a cleverly hidden secret door and, in his overwhelming desire to escape the terror-inducing merfolk, scurries down the chute.

Combat! Round 4/5. Bold may act (or, if you choose not to pursue, you can be out of combat for now).

Ladder is indicated on the map (DC 0 to climb). Catwalk is 15 ft above the floor. The ropes at the middle of the catwalk can be climbed (DC 15).

Skulk (frightened 1 rounds)
Aurora
Helvetica (5/10 hp)
Damiel (1/10 hp)
--4--
Yellow (-8 hp; 1 nl; unconscious)
Zu (5/9 hp)
Fuzzy (6/13 hp)

"Oh man! I hate to let 'em run like that but we're hurtin' and I'd hate even worse to run right into another nest of bad guys," Zu frets as he watches the skulk flee down a secret chute. He flicks his wrist, allowing his healing wand to drop into his hand from its spring-loaded wrist sheath, and gives Fuzzy a tap with it.

CLW Wand (Fuzzy): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 Charges remaining (44).

Fuzzy continues to idle, ready for action! It's hard to tell but it looks like they perk up a little as Zu mends some of their puff.

"Hmph...we'll be ready for them if he comes back with friends," DamielBot grumbles as he gives himself a tap with the sheriff's wand.

CLW Wand (Self): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 Charges remaining (9).

"Ahh, that's more like it!"

"We can block that escape chute so the skulk can't get back. Time for your medicine first, Helvetica."

Aurora applies her wand to the ganzi.

clw: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Suggest we push a wooden crate on top of the trapdoor that the skulk used.

PUSHEEN! :D

"BLEH! BLEH!" Helvetica spits and scrapes at her tongue after Aurora heals her. "Why does it have to be that artificial cherry stuff? YUCK!"

Healed enough for her daring to return, she jogs over to the secret door. After she closes it, she sits on the opposite side of the hinge. "At least until we find something heavier!"
________
Seconded on the crates! We probably can't move too much ourselves, but there is a handy pulley thingy on that catwalk :D Search the floor then head on down after the Skulk?

I'll take you out of rounds, since it'll take at least a few rounds to push the crate over the trap door.

You close the trap door and push one of the larger crates over it, lest one or more of your foes decide to come back up the shaft. The occasional rainbow hued slimeling scoots away when revealed to the light after moving the crates.

The bodies have padded armor under their clothes, a short sword each, and a shortbow with a quiver of arrows each. There is a door that you figure must lead into the front office (and, of course, the hidden door in the floor that you've secured).

Status

Aurora
Helvetica (8/10 hp)
Damiel (8/10 hp)
Zu (5/9 hp)
Fuzzy (8/13 hp)

"Dang...feels like we just can't catch a break, can we?" Zu grumbles as he and Fuzzy descend back down the ladder. "Even with those handy-dandy wands I think my melon's gonna be bruised and sore for days!"

Zu is quick to finish topping off himself and Fuzzy with his wand once they get the crate pushed over the secret hatch...

CLW Wand (Self): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 Charges remaining (43).
CLW Wand (Fuzzy): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6 Charges remaining (42).

...and then pads over to the door that probably leads out to the front office.

"Anyone that might've been in there's probably either scarpered or is waitin' for someone to come through the door," he whispers back to the others. "We should check it out before we go down the hatch...and mebbe put up the 'Closed' sign or something."

Even though door-looking business is generally more Damiel's affair, the leshy still gives the door a quick once-over and listen before testing to see if it'll open...once everyone else is ready, that is.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Zu hears nothing through the door, though he does notice the faint flicker of light under the door. Cracking the door, which is unlocked, he glimpses a lantern lit room.

File cabinets line the eastern wall of this room, while two more doors lead south and west. The door to the west is open. A single oil lamp is set in the wall.

Status

Aurora
Helvetica (8/10 hp)
Damiel (8/10 hp)
Zu
Fuzzy

"Anything?"

Aurora wanders over to the two plant-people.

"Better check it out. Hey, maybe there's a file marked 'top secret murder plans' here somewhere?"

Having availed himself of a bow and arrows as backup weapons, Damielbot follows too.

The room through the open door reveals a storage closet. Boxes of old files and papers are stacked in one corner of this small room, opposite a half-dozen brooms and other cleaning supplies

The first few papers that Aurora looks at are terminally boring bills of landing.

Oh, sorry. Re-reading Aurora's post, she didn't specifically go into the room. Apologies. But neither you nor Damiel explode.

"Just a bunch of boring papers!" Helvetica complains, tossing them over her shoulder as she skims a few. "No murder plans in sight! What a scam!"
________
Perception, DC 15: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Perception, DC 15: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

With the coast somewhat clear, Zu heads into the rooms as well and begins nosing around through the papers. "Huh...you really think they'd write it out like that? 'Top Secret Murder Plans'? It'd be nice if they did..."

Perception (DC 15): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Perception (DC 15): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
______________

Keep forgetting my Heightened Awareness - add +2 to both of those checks if it hasn't been 10 minutes since we first entered the warehouse.

After several minutes and mind numbing number of bills of landing to count, you realize that these thieves have not in fact written out their top secret murder plans. However, Zu does find a hidden door in the floor of the storage closet. Underneath it, a rope ladder leads down a chute.

"Lookie there, another secret hole in the floor," Zu exclaims, pointing out this new discovery. "Be surprising if this didn't go to the same place as the other one. Think we should go down this way instead?"

Zu carefully closes the hatch back for the moment and pads back into the file room. "Let's make sure there's no one out front, then mebbe we can search the warehouse really quick..."

Same as before, he listens for a beat at the door that (presumably) leads to the storefront for a moment before cracking it open a tiny bit.

Perception (HA): 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 2 = 26

"They'll be expecting us to come from the Skulkway, let's take this way!" Helvetica suggests, excited that tolerating all those bills seems to have paid off.

Zu continues to hear nothing on the other side of the doors to which he listens. Cracking the door, he is able to see the front office from the rear perspective. A desk and chair sit against the east wall, with additional chairs situated nearby. Wall lamps light the room. To the south of the desk is a single door leading out to the street.

"I'm starting to think that any incriminating evidence is going to be downstairs, rather than lying around up here where any casual inspection might happen upon it" Aurora posits, chewing her bottom lip.

"If there's nobody in there we should head down that trapdoor."

Unless that desk might be worth searching?

"Well, since we're here, we might as well take a quick peek...but if they didn't have any murder plans in their cabinets they probably won't have any in the desk," Zu agrees as he moves into the front office. He begins a cursory examination of the desk and its contents for anything that might stand out.

Perception (HA): 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 6 + 2 = 20

Whether he finds anything or not, once his curiosity is satisfied the leshy hustles back into the file room and takes care to pull the door shut again behind him.

"Hokay, I'm ready to head down...unless we wanted to finish nosing around in the warehouse first?"

Other than a stack of blank sheets of parchment, a couple of quills, and a vial of ink, the desk only contains a small lockbox. The lock looks flimsy, it rattles with the obvious sound of coins, and weighs about as much as a horseshoe.

Your curiosity satisfied--whether here or after searching the rather mundane warehouse--you make your way down the rope ladder. The lamps have been blown out, it seems, as you descend into darkness. Those of you with a dwarf's eyesight can see that the ladder descends roughly twenty feet.

Once you descend, you see stuffed training dummies line the south wall, crude faces drawn on their heads (this detail only if you bring a light). Along the east wall are pegs mounted at eye level, some of which have a change of clothing hung on them and nicknames scrawled on the wall above (the last detail only if you bring a light). Three doors lead east, west, and north. The rope ladder hangs from the ceiling next to the west door.

Damielbot cracks a sunrod and throws one of the cloaks over himself by way of makeshift disguise. "Huh. This one belongs to 'Knuckles'."

The alchemist listens at the eastern door and examines it for traps.

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Helvetica greatly exaggerates her tip-toeing down the hallway, lifting each leg as high as she can before delicately placing the ball of her foot on the ground. "Shhhhh! I'm sneaking!" she says to Damiel when he pipes up.
________
Perception (Aid) vs Damielbot: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Zu isn't terribly worried about disguises but does move to have a look at the western door while Damielbot checks out the eastern door.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

"Um, disguise might work for you, Knuckles, but the rest of us are quite distinctive. Even with these leg things."

Aurora checks the northern door.

perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

"Probably a door."

Nobody hears anything through the doors nor notices anything suspicious that might indicate a trap. Cracking each of the doors reveals dark hallways through the east and west doors. The door to the north reveals an empty conference room.

A long wooden table sits in the center of the room, surrounded by chairs. Covering the surface are several maps and diagrams. A hand-drawn, poster-sized map of Ilsurian is nailed to the north wall.

"Hey, this might be important. Look at all the maps."

Aurora enters the conference room to see if the maps and diagrams might reveal the plans of the secret guild. Perhaps certain sites are highlighted.

"Weeeell, lookie here! Maybe we'll finally find something worth looking at," Zu whistles as he and Fuzzy follow Aurora into the conference room. He looks around with interest, wondering if he can recognize any of the sites on the maps...

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Kn. Geography: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Aurora's curiosity is rewarded. The map of Ilsurian on the wall has several homes in the wealthy district circled--including the Braeton Manner--as well as several buildings that look like they might be businesses. Among the papers on the table is a sketch of Archivin Walder's route home from the circus. There is also a list of nicknames and instructions detailing who should work what areas of the carnival as pickpockets. A sheet of parchment with the question, "Where to hang Filton?" written at the top and list of scribbled notes vaguely describing locations. Your descriptions--if crudely but obviously detailed--are written on another paper with Helvetica's description circled.

"Wow...you guys weren't far off the mark when you were talking about 'Top Secret Murder Plans'," Zu whistles as the sheer magnitude of evidence in this room quickly becomes apparent. "All this alone oughta be enough to clear the circus of blame!"

Still, the leshy looks around, uneasy.

"But the masterminds - the rest of 'em - are probably still around here somewhere. We gotta track 'em down."

"Do we haaaaaave to?" Helvetica asks as she folds the paper of descriptions up and tucks it into her pocket. "It's a souvenir, bite me!"

"Can't we let the Sheriff handle this now? We have like everything to prove it wasn't us or the Circus," she points out. After at least one incredulous look from her peers, she caves. "Fiiiiiine finefinefinefine fiiiiine!"
________
Move east next?

"They could claim that we fabricated all this, and we are still the weird strangers here Hel. Be much better if we can obtain a confession as well."

East is good.

The eastern hallway has a few crates stacked at the south end and a wooden ladder bolted to the wall on the north end that leads up to a shaft in the ceiling. There are three doors and another hall perpendicular to this one leading east.

"Yeah, or like...claim that we've been in cahoots with these guys the whole time since, uh, they're probably not dumb enough to think we fabricated an entire secret hideout down here since we came in to town," Zu agrees as he beckons for Fuzzy and follows after everyone.

As the group begins creeping out into the hallway Zu pauses and squints as he looks to the south.

"Hey...there's someone down there in a cage or something! Looks like a dwarf!"

"What do you mean a Dwarf? Don't they travel in seven's? Little weirdos," Helvetica whispers back.

Throwing caution to the wind, she approaches. "What'd they do to the other six of you?" she asks. "Are you the last one? Have they been pulling the others one at a time for freaky experiments?"

As Helvetica scoots ahead to speak with the imprisoned dwarf, Zu hangs back at the intersection with Fuzzy and keeps an eye out for trouble...

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

"You gotta be vigilant in situations like this, Fuzzy. Never know what could happen! Especially with that skulk thing still lurking around somewheres..."