GM Tyranius (PF2) Flooded Kings Court (Tier 1-4) (Inactive)

Game Master Tyranius

Arfsnarf bellows out to the performers as they try to muddle through their script.

C'mon longshanks! Put some life into it! It's like you don't want to be here at all. Goblins not very impressed.

Deception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Martin held his tongue. It wasn't as if any of them wanted to be be here putting on this ridiculous show. They had come to fight, or investigate, not dress like bunnies and act in a degrading manner.

"Azu is playing Grenek," he says, "The role of Ulthun, the knight, remains, unless that is a problem. Then I could relinquish the role of Siathorn to Azu, you could be Grenek, and then I would be Ulthun."

Azu waives his hand in the negative, "If there is any role I might be suited to play, it is that of the rabbit."

Arfsnarf is the only to try and heckle but it falls on deaf ears as he isn't heard over the sound of the booing goblins.

Meanwhile, the older toothless goblin patrols the sides of the stage with her bucket, making sure that none of the burning pieces of junk that fly at the hapless mercenaries set fire to her theater. There is a short intermission where one of Zusgut's troop juggles fire while the rest of you get ready for your amazing performance.

Once the pyromancer is done with intermission, the rest of the goblins shout, "PLAY! PLAY! PLAY!"

TIME TO START THE PLAY

Please post all your lines (a separate post per line of the play) complete with your description of your applicable roleplay, interior monologue, props, special effects or your own improvised dialogue additions to this masterpiece. These posts can happen in any order. You don't need to wait for the players who have lines before you to post. On your last line, be sure to include your performance roll (yes, you may use hero points to reroll this.)

I will then weave all your posts together into a single summary of the play. This will let us get through the play in a day or two, and then move on to the rest of the adventure!

Chulyin braids a lock of his hair and affixes one of the pink bows. He then gently ties the other around the jaguar who gives him a withering look. He follows the others onto stage in order as indicated on his copy of the play.

"But we helped them to escape!" he says cheerfully and conjures a fistful of flame in one hand, tossing it onto stage, and then another. "The longshanks. Not the undead," he corrects with rapid and pressured speech.

The jaguar produces a fierce, feline growl.

He clears his throat and says in a monotone, "I meant, 'Woof!'"

Martin stood there in his way-too-small bycocket hat, gripping his toy crossbow, and shaking his head as he tried to memorize his lines. Reading wasn't his strong suit in any case, with the words sometimes appearing backwards or as blurs. The cramped goblin handwriting didn't help matters.

He was muttering to himself, "MY catapult. No, my CATAPULT. We NEED my catapult."

Eventually it was time to go on.

After Chulyn said his woof, Martin stepped forward. If he was going to do this, he was going to go all out. In a loud voice, he shouted enthusiastically, "I helped collapse the tunnel behind us, it was great!" On the last word he threw his arms up, and the toy crossbow flew up and out of his hand. In the darkness fo the theater, he lost sight of it, but winced as he heard am "Ouch!" from somewhere in the crowd.

Martin was so focused on his loss of the crossbow that he almost missed his cue. Okay, he did miss it. Someone hissed his name and he looked up, startled. He started patting himself down, looking for the crossbow before remembering that he had lost it.

"Umm..my catapult. No! We need my catapult!"

Lords of the Green, he was so embarrassed.

performance: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (9) + 0 = 9

"Yes," he says, raising his hand and pulling it down swiftly into a fist. "Mitzi will tear them apart with wolfish fierceness!" He cuts through the air with his hand for emphasis.

The jaguar gives another fierce if definitively feline and not wolfish growl.

"Err, Bark!" he says.

After Pizzaz' comment on composing a song, he buries his face in his hand.

"Hurrah!" he cheers with the others and sends arcs of electricity into the air--hopefully not burning anything down. "We be heroes! We be heroes! We be heroes!"

Performance (U): 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (17) + 0 = 17

Erevan clears his throat before saying his lines. Here goes nothing

"I see the great heroes have returned! But who is this with you?! Speak brave knight!" Erevan tries to give a lively character to the king punctuating every sentence with an exclamation.

Performance: 1d20 ⇒ 8

"Of course, of course! Crookedtoes, my people, hearken to me! Now is the time foretold, the time when the longshanks would come before us in desperate need!"

After Pizzaz' line on composing a song Erevan gives off a loud [b]"Urgh!["/b]

Performance: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Looks like Erevan's not fit to be a king. XD

"I think we need to hurry;" Erevan's voice now shaky because of not being able to deliver his lines well. "No time for catapult or songs. Prepare for the journey south and into our destiny!. Now, WE be heroes! We be heroes! We be heroes! We be heroes!"

Performance: 1d20 ⇒ 2

Darn it! Using my reroll now!

Hero Point reroll: 1d20 ⇒ 19

Much better

Grenek enters as if riding Mitzi - "Fly Mitzi, like sewer during plague!". Azu flops his head around as if to suggest he is galloping at full speed. When Mitzi stops for Zusgut. Greneck falls down and rolls around.

"Oof!"

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

---

Grenek hops forward, "Tis true, rotten carrots everywhere!"

--

"Quiet, The wise Chief is chiefing!"

---

"We help too. We know how to fight fight bad carrot longshanks!"

---

"We be heroes, we be heroes, we be heroes!"

Performance: 1d20 ⇒ 2

Hero Point reroll: 1d20 ⇒ 10

Arfsnarf excitedly suits-up after the mercenaries leave the stage, once again practicing his slide whistle. He takes out his kazoo for good measure.

*Cough*, ahem! I found people who appreciate my singing! Here, let me show you.

Clears throat.

After Grenek quiets him, he grumbles audibly, adding a low roar and baring his razorteeth for all (including the King, to impress him) to see.

And I will compose a war song to life our hearts.

Arfsnarf makes a point to look indignant as a goblin can when all of the others groan.

Performance: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Performance, hero-point re-roll: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Wow, many of us needed hero points, and they didn't always help :/

Mal swings her legs out to mimic a longer-legged stride as she walks forward to make her obeisances to Zusgut/Erevan, her normal contralto pitched more gruffly.

"Oh mighty chief of the goblins, whose wit and skill are unsurprassed, I am called Ulthun, Wathcer-Lord of Lastwall. Alas, that land has been overrun by undead and is no more!"

"Tis true, rotten carrots everywhere!"

With quick prestidigitations Mal creates misshapen looking carrots to underscore Grenek's observations while the rest of the 'goblins' elaborate.

Mal keeps her gruff human voice going, but pitches it so that it nearly breaks as she comes to the pleas. "Please my lord, we beseech you and ask the help of your mighty tribe. We are but mere humans and lack the cleverness and skill needed to escape the clutches of the undead. Will you aid us?"

Her final line is in unison with the others, so she lets the uncomfortable scratchy voice go as she gives a loud honest groan at Arfsnarf's offer to sing!

Perform: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14 Might not hit the DC, but it's high enough to keep...

Arfsnarf: I gave you my glyph Hero Point, so you should still have one left for later.

Rise of the Goblin Heroes!

There is a momentary silence, which is rare among goblins, as the play begins!

Act 5; Scene 1

Erevan clears his throat before saying his lines. Here goes nothing

"I see the great heroes have returned! But who is this with you?! Speak brave knight!" Erevan tries to give a lively character to the king punctuating every sentence with an exclamation.

Mal swings her legs out to mimic a longer-legged stride as she walks forward to make her obeisances to Zusgut/Erevan, her normal contralto pitched more gruffly.

"Oh mighty chief of the goblins, whose wit and skill are unsurprassed, I am called Ulthun, Wathcer-Lord of Lastwall. Alas, that land has been overrun by undead and is no more!"

Grenek enters as if riding Mitzi - "Fly Mitzi, like sewer during plague!" Azu flops his head around as if to suggest he is galloping at full speed. When Mitzi stops for Zusgut. Greneck falls down and rolls around.

"Oof!"

Grenek hops forward, "Tis true, rotten carrots everywhere!"

Chulyin braids a lock of his hair and affixes one of the pink bows. He then gently ties the other around the jaguar who gives him a withering look. He follows the others onto stage in order as indicated on his copy of the play.

"But we helped them to escape!" he says cheerfully and conjures a fistful of flame in one hand, tossing it onto stage, and then another. "The longshanks. Not the undead," he corrects with rapid and pressured speech.

The jaguar produces a fierce, feline growl.

He clears his throat and says in a monotone, "I meant, 'Woof!'"

Martin stepped forward. If he was going to do this, he was going to go all out. In a loud voice, he shouted enthusiastically, "I helped collapse the tunnel behind us, it was great!" On the last word he threw his arms up, and the toy crossbow flew up and out of his hand. In the darkness of the theater, he lost sight of it, but winced as he heard an "Ouch!" from somewhere in the crowd.

Pizzazz coughs *Cough*, "ahem! I found people who appreciate my singing! Here, let me show you."

Clears throat.

"Quiet, The wise Chief is chiefing!" Grenek yells.

After Grenek quiets him, Pizzazz grumbles audibly, adding a low roar and baring his razorteeth for all (including the King, to impress him) to see.

Mal keeps her gruff human voice of Ulthun going, but pitches it so that it nearly breaks as she comes to the pleas. "Please my lord, we beseech you and ask the help of your mighty tribe. We are but mere humans and lack the cleverness and skill needed to escape the clutches of the undead. Will you aid us?"

King Zusgut eagerly accepts. "Of course, of course! Crookedtoes, my people, hearken to me! Now is the time foretold, the time when the longshanks would come before us in desperate need!"

Grenek speaks back up interrupting the king. "We help too. We know how to fight fight bad carrot longshanks!"

"Yes," Siathorn says, raising his hand and pulling it down swiftly into a fist. "Mitzi will tear them apart with wolfish fierceness!" He cuts through the air with his hand for emphasis.

The jaguar gives another fierce if definitively feline and not wolfish growl.

"Err, Bark!" he says.

"And I will compose a war song to life our hearts." Pizzazz begins to belt out an off key tune.

After Pizzaz' comment on composing a song, Siathorn buries his face in his hand. Everyone but Pizzaz groans loudly.

Martin was so focused on his loss of the crossbow that he almost missed his cue. Okay, he did miss it. Someone hissed his name and he looked up, startled. He started patting himself down, looking for the crossbow before remembering that he had lost it.

"Umm..my catapult. No! We need my catapult!"

"I think we need to hurry;" Erevan's voice now shaky because of not being able to deliver his lines well. "No time for catapult or songs. Prepare for the journey south and into our destiny!. Now, WE be heroes! We be heroes! We be heroes! We be heroes!"

All of the goblins together begin to cheer. "We be Heroes!, We be Heroes!, We be Heroes!"

Only have of you manage to get the goblins excited with your performance, but it seems to be enough. It's not like they have a good performance to base it off of after all. Unfortunately as the play went on Azu ends up covered in rotten vegetables and garbage.

Zusgut raises his hands for silence, and most of the goblins quiet down or wander off. “Well that was exciting,” he says. “But now it’s time for the tough decision.” The king pauses dramatically, and from somewhere nearby a goblin beats a drum in a rhythm reminiscent of a heartbeat.

“It’s a difficult choice,” Zusgut continues, drawing out the moment. “But I have to say that one performance…” he pauses as the drum continues to beat. “Rose above the other.” Another pause. “Today, the winner is…” He stops again, and now the goblins are all paying close attention. “The Pathfinders!” A cheer rises up at his words.

The goblins rush to the stage to congratulate each of you, even azu as they giggle. "You worst Grenek ever!" The children roll on their backs laughing.

Martin and Chulyin get a hero point.

Zusgut nods. "It's best to make your way to the basement, where a gigantic monster has taken up residence!" Looking around to make certain he has an audience, Zusgut spreads his arms wide as he discusses the monster. "I don't know exactly what it is, but I have heard that it is very, very big, has a giant mouth, sharp teeth, and is green!” He seems quite proud of this, as everyone knows that green creatures are the fiercest of all.

The other goblins all say, "Oooooh!"

The mercenaries, for their part, sulkily move to a quiet corner. "Good luck," They sneer a bit.

Meanwhile, the older toothless goblin hauls her bucket over to talk to Azu. "The basement... it floods each day. You've got five, maybe six hours until it floods again. Rather not find you in my bucket someday." Message delivered, the old goblin wanders off.

"Thank you, King Zusgut," Chulyin says with a bow.

"We had best descend, then," he says and touches his wayfinder to summon its illumination.

Search
In case of haunts: Religion (T) +8

When Zusgut announces the winner, the ranger snorts under his breath, "As if there were any doubt."

Covered in rotten vegetables, Azu is glad to have the rabbit suit as a barrier.

As the party descends he draws his longsword and his light mace and looks for tracks if someone else decides to scout.

If Azu can pick up tracks, he will designate the creature as his prey

Of course, of course. The team with the goblin wins!

He curls his arms up in a faux flex.

Onward, to the beast!

Exploration activity: avoid notice

Mal ruffles Arfsnarf's cowl, "We sure did! Natural advantage and all that!"

She readies her shield but keeps her other hand free as they descend. Defending

"On the way, indeed. Big, green, and mouthy, in a flooded basement. I'll keep an open mind, but what are the odds it's not a gator or croc of some kind?"

Martin led off with Azu, keeping an eye out, along with his hatchets.

Recall Knowledge, Nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

"If it is by some chance--admittedly an amusing and perplexing given the history of this place chance--the beast they unleashed is indeed an alligator or crocodile, I may be able to calm it," Chulyin remarks to Martin. "My order prefers to not needlessly slaughter natural beasts. But if it is possessed by the spirits of this place, there may be no choice."

Twisted and bloated, the wooden stairs connecting the main floor and basement are slick and saturated with water. The walls are covered in algae and the ceiling is coated with black mold, while old furniture and props from the theater are piled in the corners in soggy, crumbling heaps. Small crustaceans and numerous insects occasionally peek from the detritus or scramble into cracks or the shallow pools on the floor. The smell of rot and salt water hangs damply in the air.

To the west, a section of the brick wall has crumbled into a heap, creating an opening into a larger area beyond.

The basement of the playhouse contains bits of waterlogged and rotten props, costumes, and tools, most of which are unusable and worthless, but an active search might offer something salvagable.

Azu immediately picks up some tracks, leading further into the room, but they quickly vanish into the darkness of the room.

It is pitch dark. What are you all using for light sources?

Erevan takes out a torch from his backpack and lights it. He takes his time to examine the different molds and algae growing along the walls. "Very interesting," he muses. He then tries to search among the tools to see if he can find something he can use.

Search exploration activity

Perception if needed: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

It is pitch dark. What are you all using for light sources?

This

Also Arfsnarf is probably using darkvision, as is Mal.

"We do need to scour this place for historical clues as well," he says. "We may as well start at the beginning."

:)Yup, mainly didn't know if the others were using something or going off of yours. But for now 2 light sources should be enough. Also assume you already had weapons drawn going into a basement with a dangerous monster.

Igniting a wayfinder and torch the light cuts through the pitch darkness. You become aware of some creatures moving around in the darkness with you. They're big, have lots of sharp teeth, and green! Martin recognizes them as Crocodiles, though one of them appears to be older and far stronger looking. Red Crocodile's are known to take a tight hold on their prey and violently twist them to the ground.

Round 1
Chulyin
-------------------------------------------
Crocodile (Green)
-------------------------------------------
Martin
Mal
Erevan
Azu
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Elite Crocodile (Red)
-------------------------------------------
Arfsnarf

*eyes Martin* That does not look like the thing on the cover... but it is only the first room.

So, I'm going off this clause in wild empathy: "In most cases, wild animals will give you time to make your case" to insert this before combat.

Spotting the enormous crocodiles in the room, he crouches down, hissing and clicking at the crocodile, trying to convince the predators to let them pass.

Diplomacy (wild empathy): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Well, likely to do worse with a reroll. Fingers crossed.

Nice roll. @GM - which crocodile is Azu's prey?

Arfsnarf gulps audibly. Oooh. They big. Beginning to think my idea of using other team as snackrifice maybe wasn't such bad idea.

"Careful. Do not startle them," Chulyin says quietly to the others. "They might have a nest here. I am trying to calm them without getting my arm torn off."

@Azu- let's say red

The crocodile's are startled by Chulyin's snarling and apprehensively stand down. Unfortunately they are still in the room and pose a bit of danger to the goblins above. The hole to the sewers would need widened for the crocodiles to be able to escape back into the sewers.

Looking around you find some rusted tools including a sledgehammer hanging on a rack in the northeast corner.

Noticing that Azu seems to be watching the reddish croc closely, Martin turned his attention to the green one. His hatchets were in his hands, but he was willing to peaceably end this if possible.

"Okay, so if we widen the hole, we might be able to get them to leave? I can do that. Think you can convey to the beasts that we will help, not harm?"

Hunting the green croc

Chulyin eyes the hole in the floor and ponders, "How did they crawl in? Never mind. Can someone help me to widen this hole so they can get away?"

He slowly moves to get the rusted sledge and then heads toward the hole. With a careful eye on the crocodile in case they become agitated, he begins to break the edge of the hole.

1d20 ⇒ 11 +7 athletics, +2 crafting

EDIT: Ninja'd!

Mal looks to Orev for help as she joins Chulyin's conversation and construction projects. "Go on Orev, I'm not asking you to climb in their jaws, but lots of birds and crocodiles get along! That's right my big scaly beauties, let's find you somewhere bigger to live."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Crafting: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 -1 if Athletics instead

Keeping your distance Chulyin spends about 10 minutes demolishing a portion of the wall to make the larger opening with the rusty sledgehammer. The crocodiles on edge only snap as he draws near but don't seem to follow as Mal keeps them calm.

Stepping away the crocodile's dive into the sewage as they flee to freedom and the safety of the poo water.

Thrown away with the trash in one of the corners is a beaten up but fully functional hat of disguise currently in the shape of a wine‑red beret. Additionally, there is a small ivory jewelry box worth 4 gold pieces.

The strong scent of saltwater hints at the daily flooding that washes through these sewers from the nearby sea, as do the occasional stranded fish or crustacean. The walkways alongside the sewer are slick and damp, although relatively clear of the normal waste found in a sewer.

The water in the sewer channels (dark green on the map) is 2 feet deep and difficult terrain, running almost to the lip of the walkways

Hey, not bad Chulyin. I thought one of you would have to wrestle those crocks. To be honest... I kind of wanted to take bets. BUT, I'm sure there's still fun to be had. Just, uh, too bad it's too dirty to roll the clacky rock down here!

He palms his d20 protectively.

What next? More crocks down here?

He peers around the corner to see where the passageway leads.

Azu and Ako follow the goblin, looking for tracks.

"Perhaps," Chulyin says, carrying the light into the sewers. "There may be an even larger crocodile to which Zusgut was referring to. There is a pool out here to the right and an archway across the channel here."

Athletics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Once the others have gathered next to the channel, he leaps across to the other side.

Athletics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

The jaguar curiously and gently bats at a passing crab with his paw while the men back at one another. Glancing up, he notices that his companion man has crossed the water. With a graceful spring, he leaps to the opposite stairs.