GM Blake's PF2 Extinction Curse Campaign

Game Master Blake's Tiger

Sorry, did I miss the mad halfling with my attacks?

Shouldn't my persistent electric damage have ended?

Reflex (DC 17): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Fort (DC 14): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8 Okay no...let's try a HP for the Fort save.

Fort (DC 14; HP Reroll): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

"Ugh...sorry rat-os, but we aren't your food," Clover grimaces as she steps out of the swarm again, draws out her mace, and attempts to squish some of the squirming rats.

Strike vs. Swarm (Light Mace; IC): 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 1 = 24
Damage (Bludgeoning): 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 = 7
______________

Remembered to account for IC this time!

Reflex (DC 17): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Having been issued no further commands from Clover, Snowy reverts to his base animal instincts and scurries away from the snapping, biting rats!
______________

By my understanding of the rules and the minion trait, ACs generally won't do anything beyond flee or defend themselves if they're not given a command each round. If I'm misunderstanding, please let me know!

@ Nabi: The first attack hit. The second missed.
@ Rulean: Yes. My brain went like this: "Oh, both Clover and Snowy need to make the rat saves again. I don't need to change the tracker." And so everything else ended up the same.

Clover hits the ground with her mace, splattering several. However, she hits the ground so hard that a spare wheel that had been resting against one of the wagons falls over and onto the rat swarm, crushing many of them and dispersing the rest (critical hit, not resistant to bludgeoning).

With no immediate threat, Snowball remains by his trainer's side.

Encounter! Round 2. Bold may act.

Effects: Inspire Courage

Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
Song-of-Air
Nemmia (-11 hp)
Rulean (15/17 hp; -2 Perc/Mental Saves x 10 minutes [no penalty to mental saves x 10 rounds])
Nabi (13/17 hp)

As the rats disperse Leaf-On-Wind makes his way closer to the halfling.

"What have you seen, and how are you so sure that the townies are responsible for it and not someone else?" he inquires as he sends an arrow at the ratty short person.

Longbow(Inspire, Volley 30'): 1d20 + 7 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 7 + 1 - 2 = 24

Damage(Inspire): 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Stride, Talk, Attack

Song continues her inspire courage, strides, and attacks Nemmia. 'I'm done with you."

Shortsword+I.C.: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 7 + 1 = 20
Piercing / Slashing) damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 = 6

Sorry. I know the icons covered it up but I had created a 10x10 box to represent the wagon she never got to escape from. I moved Leaf and Song to valid squares for their actions. They both had enough movement/actions to get to the new spots.

"You are blind," Nemmia retorts to Leaf-on-Wind's question. "The signs are everywhere to see: dwindling fish, fallow fields, barren branches. Even our so-called leader couldn't see and tried to silence me and lock me away."

The halfling's eyes widen with the kind of wild panic one would expect to see in a cornered and injured racoon or squirrel as Song-of-Air pins her in. "It doesn't matter if you kill me! The traps are set in town! The cruel, wasteful people will die or flee!"

"Toradh teine!" she says and makes a sign in the air. Her hand is engulfed in flame. She lashes out and strikes Nabi square in the chest. The flames flare as she strikes and the Keleshite is engulfed in flame as she falls to the floor (Critical Hit, 18 Fire + Burning). The rat mistress drops her staff and pulls a sickle from her belt. The gold along the outer edge of the blade gleams with the light of Nabi's burning clothes.

Encounter! Round 2/3. Bold may act.

Effects: Inspire Courage

Nemmia (-23 hp)
Rulean (15/17 hp; -2 Perc/Mental Saves x 10 minutes [no penalty to mental saves x 10 rounds])
Nabi (0/16 hp; dying 2, persistent fire damage)
--3--
Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
Song-of-Air

Quick Dying & Persistent Damage Tutorial

I'm going to preface this by saying that it is not my intention to play anyone's character for them, and I hope nobody feels this way. However, at the end of this spiel are some suggested actions. I'm suggesting these because 1) this is our first PC to fall in battle and it's a doozy, 2) it involves some tricky mechanic interactions and 3) PC near death moments can be high stress and make our brains fritz out.

OK. Dying and persistent damage can be lethal very quickly, but you have enough actions between everyone to deal with it barring cursed dice.

First: because Nabi went down to a critical hit, she went to Dying 2 instead of Dying 1. At Dying 4, you're dead.
Second: Every time you take damage while Dying, your Dying level increases by 1 (or 2 if the damage came from a critical hit).
Third: A recovery DC 10 flat check occurs at the beginning of your turn. If you fail, your Dying level increases by one.
Fourth: Persistent damage occurs at the end of your turn.
Fifth: You make a DC 15 flat check after you take the persistent damage to see if it ends.
Sixth: Assisted recovery can be performed as a 2-action activity (e.g. patting out the flames, dousing with water, etc) to give an immediate extra flat check to end the persistent condition, sometimes at a reduced DC. This help can only happen once per round.
Seventh: You can spend a Hero Point to stabilize to Wounded 1 automatically.

So this could go: everyone ignores the Nabi-bonfire and she rolls a recovery flat check. If she fails her flat check, she is at Dying 3, takes persistent damage, advances to Dying 4 and is dead.
Or: she either makes her flat check to recover or spends a Hero Point and immediately stabilizes at Wounded 1. Takes persistent damage and is back at Dying 2 (Wounded level + 1) and rolls a flat check to end the burning.
Or: If she is healed, she becomes Wounded 1, has some HP, can perform her own assisted action, rolls a flat check to end the burning, and if she fails takes persistent damage and rolls a flat check to end the burning.
Because we have a split round, she can be assisted during round 2 by Rulean (or herself if Rulean were to heal her) and by anyone in the round 3 block.
I think it would be most efficient for Rulean to 2-action Font heal Nabi (those +8 HP will help a lot), Nabi assist herself to put out the fire, and then see where the chips land.

Seeing Nabi fall and burning, Rulean uses his last Heal from Kurgess to try and save the human's life. Then he tries to knock the troublesome halfling on her butt.

2 action heal: 1d8 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Athletics to Trip: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Nabi is brought back to consciousness, though she may regret it. Although Kurgess' disciple has restored much of her flesh, her clothes are still on fire.

Having bought his fellow performer some time and a second chance, he turns his attention to their foe. Rulean sweeps at the halfling's legs. For a moment, it looks as though she is going to leap out of the way, but he whips his tail around and catches her mid-leap, knocking her on her butt.

Encounter! Round 2/3. Bold may act.

Effects: Inspire Courage

Nemmia (-23 hp; prone)
Rulean (15/17 hp; -2 Perc/Mental Saves x 10 minutes [no penalty to mental saves x 10 rounds])
Nabi (14/16 hp; wounded 1, prone, sword dropped, persistent fire damage)
--3--
Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
Song-of-Air

Everyone else still has their actions before Nabi has to act. When you go down your position in initiative moves to just before whatever caused you to go down so that everyone has a chance to react before you die.

Continuing to Inspire Courage, Song swipes madly at Nemmia. "You claim to be for the land. All well and good. But you have attempted to slay those who did no harm to you, including a dear friend. BE GONE!"

Shortsword+I.C.: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 1 = 12
SWISH!

Shortsword+I.C.: 1d20 + 7 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 7 + 1 - 4 = 22
Piercing / Slashing) damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

Rulean is correct. AND I left off the bolds. Leaf and Clover are also up to act.

put out the fire, DC 10: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Doomed

Clover hears the continued commotion from inside the wagon and hurries around the corner...but finds herself blocked as she sees that there's no space left inside. It's especially worrisome since she can see that Nabi appears to be on fire.

Unable to get any closer all she can do is drop her mace and pull out her longspear as she attempts to skewer Nemmia.

Strike vs. Nemmia (Longspear; Hunted Prey, IC): 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 1 = 23
Damage (Piercing): 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 = 11
______________

Stride, Drop Weapon as a Free Action (I think this is still a thing), Draw Weapon, Strike~

Song-of-Air furiously stabs at Nemmia who desperately tries to parry the blows with her sickle. The halfling manages to deflect the first strike, but the second cuts her across the arm, deeply.

Clover drops her mace and taker her spear to plunge it past Song-of-Air and into the other halfling's side. The villain hisses in pain and rasps, her strength failing but not yet gone, "You can't stop what I started in Abberton."

Encounter! Round 3. Bold may act.

Effects: Inspire Courage

Nemmia (-42 hp; prone)
Rulean (15/17 hp; -2 Perc/Mental Saves x 10 minutes [no penalty to mental saves x 10 rounds])
--3--
Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
Song-of-Air
Nabi (14/16 hp; wounded 1, prone, sword dropped, persistent fire damage)

@ Nabi: You still get a DC 15 flat check at the end of your turn even if you get an assisted recovery, so please roll that for me.

"Nabi don't move, I'ma gonna splash you." Leaf-On-Wind shouts as he pulls out a waterskin, gouges it with his beak to try and weaken it before tossing it in Nabi's general area.

Attack on waterskin (Inspire Courage): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Damage(Inspire Courage): 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Attacking Nabi's square with waterskin (2nd attack, Inspire Courage): 1d20 + 7 - 5 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 7 - 5 + 1 = 16

Interact (get waterskin), Attack waterskin, Throw waterskin targeting Nabi's square -- it doesn't look possible to target Nabi directly between prone penalties and cover

Flat check: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Leaf-on-Wind tosses the ruptured waterskin into the wagon, spilling water along the way and splattering as it explodes upon impact. Some of the flames on Nabi are doused, and the rest burn out. The acrobat is left with several painful blisters and a ruined outfit, but she is alive.

Nemmia hisses in frustration as she rises from the floor. She tries without success to shove Song-of-Air out the doorway. Having failed that, she tries to cut the tengu down in order to escape, but the massive amounts of blood lost seem to have weakened her significantly. Song-of-Air parries the finely craft sickle with barely any effort.

Encounter! Round 3/4. Bold may act.

Effects: Inspire Courage

Nemmia (-42 hp; prone)
Rulean (15/17 hp; -2 Perc/Mental Saves x 10 minutes [no penalty to mental saves x 10 rounds])
--4--
Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
Song-of-Air
Nabi (11/16 hp; wounded 1, prone, sword dropped)

Nabi's end of round flat check is actually what stopped the persistent fire damage, the rest above was just narrative, since you can only benefit from one assisted recovery per turn (including your own self-assist).

“Stay down!” Rulean says as he attempts to trip the halfling again.

Athletics to Trip: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

He then follows that up with a strike from his claws. “We will stop whatever you did.”
Claws, MAP, IC: 1d20 + 6 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 6 - 4 + 1 = 17
Slashing, IC: 1d4 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 1 = 8 Agile, Finesse

No third action

The nearness of death seems to have sharpened the halfling's senses and reflexes. She avoids his trip and ducks out of the way of his claws. Sweat beads on her forehead, and her breathing is hard.

Encounter! Round 4. Bold may act.

Effects: Inspire Courage to -*-

Nemmia (-42 hp; prone)
Rulean (15/17 hp; -2 Perc/Mental Saves x 10 minutes [no penalty to mental saves x 8 rounds])
--4--
Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
-*-
Song-of-Air
Nabi (11/16 hp; wounded 1, prone, sword dropped)

Nabi picks her sword, stands, her clothes now in tatters, her flesh badly burned

With fury in her eyes and a primal roar in her throat, she plunges toward the fallen halfling, blade held in both hands.

Attack vs prone, IC: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 1 = 13
dmg, IC: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 + 1 = 7

It seems prone melee are vs FF AC, if that means I can add sneak attack dmg sneak: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

The attack, in is unexpected wild ferocity, lacks in precision

Action: pick weapon, stand, attack

Oh, apologies. I forgot to remove the prone tag on Nemmia.

"Did you ever try, oh, I dunno, TALKING THINGS OUT before you decided to resort to murder??" Clover can't help but sarcastically remark as she tries again to skewer the desperate halfling.

Strike vs. Nemmia (Longspear; IC): 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 1 = 13
Damage (Piercing): 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

Strike vs. Nemmia (Longspear; IC): 1d20 + 0 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 0 + 1 = 14
Damage (Piercing): 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 1 = 9

She quickly discovers that it's harder to hit an upright, moving target, and steps back in case Leaf has something more effective to try or in case someone in the wagon needs to make an exit.
______________

Strike x2, Step~

"One last chance to surrender... but it would mean telling us what you have done to Abberton."

Song waits a beat for the reply, then continues to inspire courage and strike.

Shortsword+I.C.: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 1 = 15
Piercing / Slashing) damage: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

Ninja'd!

"Talk? I watched. Long enough. Talk would be meaningless!" Nemmia shouts hoarsely as she deftly dodges Nabi's and Song-of-Air's blades and Clover's spear even as the blood staining her tunic spreads further. "Muggers. Hypocrite. Priest. Greedy. Miller. Cheats. Need to... cull. Too much... for the... land."

It is clear that the halfling is not long for this world as she pants and grows paler, but she seems to have the devil on her side for the moment.

Encounter! Round 4. Bold may act.

Effects: Inspire Courage

Nemmia (-42 hp; prone)
Rulean (15/17 hp; -2 Perc/Mental Saves x 10 minutes [no penalty to mental saves x 8 rounds])
--4--
Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
Song-of-Air
Nabi (11/16 hp; wounded 1, prone, sword dropped) dropped)

"You know..." says Song-of-Air casually, trying to trick Nemmia into revealing details. "I'm not sure you've actually done anything to Abberton. You've given us no details. No proof. For all we know, you've made this whole thing up to make yourself look more important."

"You should go... pick apples... then," Nemmia pants while parrying blows.

Leaf-On-Wind moves to get a better shot on the halfling and draws two blunt arrows.

"Townies are horrible to us, too. Why attack us? We have to respect the trail or the trail won't be there for our circus!" The brightly-colored tengu is a bit peturbed, to say the least.

Blunt Arrow (NonLethal, Inspire Courage) Attack 1: 1d20 + 7 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 7 - 2 + 1 = 16

Damage if hits: 1d8 ⇒ 6 NonLethal

Blunt Arrow (NonLethal, Inspire Courage) Attack 2: 1d20 + 2 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 2 - 2 + 1 = 10

Unlikely that second attack hit.

Stride, Shoot, Shoot

"Poisoned apples? Really? Have you no shred of originality?"

Pre-posting my action so that I don't miss it.

Leaf-on-Wind tries to knock the halfling out with a pair of blunted arrows, unfortunately (for the halfling), Nemmia's sharpened senses and natural agility allow her to dodge the first arrow. The second arrow strikes the side of the wagon door. She tries to take advantage of the distraction from the sound of arrow right next to Song-of-Air to scramble around the other side of the tengu, but Song-of-Air is too sharp and quick to fall for that and blocks her way.

With a hoarse cry of rage, Nemmia slashes at Song-of-Air in a wicked flurry of cross-cuts. The blade strikes the tengu twice and rips deeply into her, the second strike frighteningly close to the neck.

I'm going to go ahead and use Song's pre-action, since it doesn't use consumables and it moves the story forward. I apologize to those who might have wanted to take her alive higher in the initiative.

Song-of-Air makes a quick quip insulting the halfling's originality and then strikes back at the raving zealot. Her first blow is parried at the last minute, caught by Nemmia's sickle blade. The two women who both hover inches from death's door struggle to gain the upper hand. "Poison?" Nemmia rasps the question. Song-of-Air releases, draws back for another strike, and slides her blade into the halfling just below the ribs.

"You lack... creativity," are the last words that Nemmia speaks in this world. Her gold inlaid sickle clatters to the floor, and then the woman follows.

End Encounter!

Status

Rulean (15/17 hp)
Leaf-on-Wind
Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball 11/16 hp)
Song-of-Air (1/14 hp)
Nabi (11/16 hp; wounded 1)

Seeing how badly hurt Song-of-Air is, Rulean asks "Think we have time to treat Song's wounds before going to warn the townsfolk?"

"Yes, please!" Song says, gasping. "I... feel awful."

Waiting for someone else to confirm we have time to do the healing.

You have time for healing and investigation of Nemmia (and the giant rat if you feel like it).

"G-geeze..." Clover gasps, all of the energy suddenly draining out of her as Nemmia finally succumbs to her injuries. She jabs the point of her longspear into the ground and leans against it, shaking slightly. Defending themselves against the drunken thugs and the animals was one thing, but actually having to kill - even in self defense - was another.

"Um, I'm okay, and Snowy is too, I think, at least for now. Take care of Song and I'll...um, l-look around and see if we can find some p-proof for the locals," she adds as she turns her attention first to the halfling and her giant rat companion.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

Nabi searches the clothes and bags of the fallen halfling for proofs of misdeeds (and who knows, precious baubles)

I'll give you my professionnal opinion in a minute, while you heal our friend's wounds. Don't worry, if I don't find proofs of her crimes, I'll make some.

With a growl, Rulean says “No cheating.”

He then goes back to treating Song’s injuries.

Song looks down at her patched up injuries, and the blood soaking her feathers. "You do good work, Rulean." She glances down at her bloody, slashed clothes, and decides not to clean them yet. "It's evidence, right? I guess it's time to talk to the town. And check out those apples..."

HERE

Based on the position of the moon, it is well past midnight. You feel a faint chill, whether it is due to the cooling of night or the fading adrenaline or both, is difficult to say. A search through Nemmia's belongings provides with little overt evidence of her crimes at your circus. You might suspect that much of her mischief has been performed through primal magic: commanding animals to carry out her designs such as chewing through the Featherfall Five's nets and envenoming Myron to death.

The town is roughly an hour's walk from here. Even though you are circus-folk and used to being awake at odd hours, you might realize that the town is probably asleep.

Status

Clover (13/18 hp) (Snowball: 11/16 hp)
Nabi (11/16 hp; wounded 1)
Leaf-on-Wind
Rulean (15/17 hp)
Song-of-Air (11/14 hp)

Rulean picks up the dead halfling and brings it out where he can toss it on the ground.

"Let's see if we can find this halfling's camp. Bet the rat tracks lead us there. Doubt she stayed in town!"

Looking towards the Kanbali's, he says "Sorry for the mess, but the wagon should be safe now."

The golden pollens effects finally wear off from the iruxi's mind as the others search the halfling and the wagon. When he tosses Nemmia's corpse on the ground and turns to seek out the Kanbali family, he sees Aditya Kanbali and the Dwarven Throwers--Nivi, Nini, Rivi, and Rini--slowly approaching with sticks in their hands.

"Sangpotshi interrupted!" Aditya exclaims at the sight of the dead fanatic. "Nehali is not going to let us sleep in there until it has been cleaned and purified." He sighs. "I guess our help is unneeded?"

You can see that the rest of the circus is still huddled around the bonfire and likely could not see what has transpired.

Leaf fidgets a bit as Song is getting patched up, then gets some water and bandages to help. After she's bandaged, though, he attempts to give his sister a gentle hug, minding the hurt but not caring too much about getting blood on his own outfit.

"Try not to scare me like that again, okay, please?" he offers quietly.

While the group is debating the course of action and Aditya shows up, Leaf speaks up.

"We'll need to check on something, if you could kind of keep an eye on the camp while we're out doing that it'd be really helpful."

Rulean nods in agreement at both Aditya’s and Leaf’s statement.

“Please be careful. Evidently that crazy woman also enacted plans to hurt the town.”

I found nothing incriminating on her, and it's late anyway. Let's rest a while, we deserve it. I know I do.

Song hugs Leaf back. "You are the best brother!"

"We have a dead body here. We should check out the camp for evidence, and then we take care of the body by going to see the local sheriff or whomever else passes for law in this town. We don't need trouble with the locals, and they need warning about the crazy lady... and whatever else she did to the town and its apples."

Then Song yawns. "After that... yeah, let's rest. I'm beat."

"Yeah...Rulean's got a point, we should prolly see if we can find her camp," Clover nods, doing her best to ignore both her own weariness and the chill in the night air. "Might be more evidence or something there...and we'll need it if we're gonna knock on the sheriff's door with a dead body in the wee hours."

Something else occurs to Clover, too. "Hey...didn't she say she was member of uh, some order? Blessed Lightning or something? Maybe we should try to find them, too - like, not right now but tomorrow. Sounded like she was at loggerheads with whoever the leader is so they might wanna know about what she did here."

“Yeah, she did claim Blessed Lightning, but I thought that was just about that spell she used on me.” He pauses to think. “I suppose it could also be the name of a group.”

With a weary wave, he agrees “That can wait, I don’t think the camp nor the town can.”

In the distance, you hear one of the roustabouts shouting near the woods. As the shouting nears, you can make out that he is shouting, "Snakes!" over and over between panting as he runs.

This is really turning into a long night...

Rulean gives a sigh and starts running towards the sound of shouting. "Guess it isn't going to be that easy..."

"Man, I thought we were done with snakes!" Clover huffs as she races off after Rulean. "Come on Snowy, let's go!"