Gameday IX GM Tyranius Scenario #1-05 Trailblazer's Bounty (Tier 1-4) (Inactive)

Game Master Tyranius

Turning towards his companions, "We should still set watch though... just in case they decide to not leave empty handed?"

Bina shrugs amicably. "I understand having something to prove, believe me. This doesn't have to be the end, just let it be a lesson. Read up on a region before you go trekking, ask an expert about appropriate gear and how to use it. Then maybe start out with something not quite so dangerous as such an untamed pass. Small steps, ya know? You'll get there before you know it!"

She elects not to mention this is her first mission for the Pathfinder Society. But not the first time you've had to rough it in dangerous territory, she reminds herself. The Mwangi Expanse is not a forgiving place, even in its cities.

She rolls out her bedroll and lies on her back, staring up at the sky. Weird to be sleeping outside by choice, she thinks bemusedly, her little feet wiggling absently under her blanket to a rhythm only she can hear. Berk's voice rings distantly in her ears, telling her to hear the music even when nobody else can. That's how a warrior dances, he'd say, to a tune no one else can hear, until you find the one warrior who hears the same song. That's when you've met a true challenger.

Bina wonders who her challenger will be as she drifts off to sleep.

I hope it's a bear. That would be wild...

You each set a watch in case any wildlife or bandits try to make their way into the camp. The remainder of the night is uneventful outside of a bit of drinking and merry song with the Chelaxian nobles.

Next morning, before the you set off, with little they can do to pay back, the nobles gift the research they have so far: purchased maps and charts that, though incomplete, cover much of the territory and indicate likely passes for a sustainable route. (You earn 3 Discovery Points!)

Although also packed, the five of them stay at the campsite as they bid the you farewell. Even when you have traveled quite some distance, the group remains and you soon realize that they are taking one last look at the mountains. The next time you look back though, you see them trudging back the way you had come.

What are your exploration activities?

"Muzzo think smart decision to turn back. But, do not be dismayed. Learn from this, come back stronger next time. No let setback define you."

Muzzo thought it was nice of the group to give them their maps and such. He thanked them graciously before they gathered their things and headed off. Muzzo didn't range out in front of the team, but stayed with the pack, chatting merrily. He kept his eyes out for danger, but was relaxed for the most part.

Searching

Searching
We turning back, why?

"Not us, them! Muzzo supposed to be the one with speech problems."

Bina chuckles at Muzzo and Mandower, humming quietly to herself as she ranges off to the side and forward to keep an eye out for upcoming danger, occasionally falling back to check their rear so as not to be snuck upon.

Using the Scout activity. We'll have to move at half speed but that +1 to initiative rolls could be handy.

"It's sad they turned back. They seemed so disappointed. I hope they can get some more training and try another adventure. Oh! We should have suggested they join the Society! I can't believe I didn't think of that." As they walk, she scans the area for the best path forward as well as potential danger.

She will Scout. Do we need to be making rolls for our exploration activities?

Not for Scouting I don't think, but I don't believe the bonus to initiative stacks so there's not really a point to two people Scouting. I guess I can do Avoid Notice instead, but my Stealth isn't great.

Sorry, I meant Search.

@Kya- No need for any rolls atm.

Athmar will avoid notice.

"Athmar says remember da orcs in the area. Be sneaky."

With Bina scouting, Azu decides to search for tracks.

Survival: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Muzzo will look for food." Muzzo keeps his eyes open, though he is more interested in talking with the others about their experiences. Despite his looks, the little barbarian loved to learn things.

@Athmar- do you have a link to your character sheet. Otherwise I need a stealth modifier if you are going to avoid notice

After passing through the foothills, the Pathfinders arrive at the feet of the mountains. The lower reaches are covered in dense pine forest and traversing the steep terrain becomes increasingly difficult. Your journey is unremarkable until a few days later, you come across a swift‑flowing mountain stream. The dense forest opens up to a gently sloping clearing, cut across by a brook.

Suddenly, loud racuous cawing tears through the air. Straight ahead of you, a swarm of raven break out from the tree tops, looking very agitated as they dive towards you!

Round 1
Azu
Muzzo
-----------------------------------
Raven Swarm
-----------------------------------
Kya
Mandower
Bina
Athmar

Muzzo's already greyish skin takes on a darker, rougher appearance as his head elongates and multiple rows of sharp teeth protrude from his mouth. With a howl, Muzzo transforms to resemble the shark that is his tribe's totem. He snarled at the flock of ravens, daring them to come within reach of his jaws.

A - rage
AA - ready attack if ravens come within reach

bite attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
P damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Azu designates the swarm as his prey. He draws his shortbow and fires a shot.

Shortbow: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

@Athmar- do you have a link to your character sheet. Otherwise I need a stealth modifier if you are going to avoid notice

Sorry, I went looking to see if the Fumbus sheet was posted anywhere to link to but didn't have any luck. Does anyone know if they're hosted online somewhere? If not I guess I can take the .pdf and put it on a Drive.

Azu designates his prey, though the ravens are difficult to hit as most of them are still coming out of the trees. Muzzo's stomach growls loudly as the swarm of birds flies into your group. Muzzo manages to eat a couple of the birds but overall doesn't seem to fair well. Resistance to Piercing

The ravens swoop, claw and peck at most of the group as they fly right into you.

Swarming Claws (Bina, Manower, Azu, Muzzo): 1d6 ⇒ 4 Basic DC 17 reflex save for the damage. If you fail you also gain 1 persistent Bleed.

Round 2
Azu
Muzzo
-----------------------------------
Raven Swarm (-2)
-----------------------------------
Round 1
Kya
Mandower
Bina
Athmar

"Oh, the poor things! They must be upset by something!

Kya casts Forbidding Ward on Bina and Guidance on Athmar.

"May Shelyn protect and guide you, my friends!"

Bina, you have +1 to AC and saving throws vs. the raven swarm. Athmar, you have +1 to one roll - attack, perception, saving throw or skill check.

Athmar will use the guidance to quick bomb the swarm after taking a step action, reducing splash damage to the primary target.

"Athmar says duck!" screams the wiry greenskin as his face twinges with excitement as he flings a crude vessel bound together by what appears to be brambles.

Targeting Azu's square... although does he get away unscathed from splash damage as well?

Alchemist's Fire, guidance: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 1 = 17
damage: 1d8 ⇒ 6

Reflex: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Of course.

Bina flails wildly at the mass of birds on her. Get it together, Bina! They're just birds! She draws a long, slender blade hidden within her gnarled oak cane, slashes wildly at the birds, and runs away. She stops after a couple feet then turns back. She can't just leave the others to get devoured by birds; she stays within striking distance of a few of the crazed featherbrains.

A1: Draw sword cane.

A2: Attack vs Swarm: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Piercing Dmg: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

A3: Stride.

Reflex: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

With the birds in his face, Azu drops his short bow, casts gravity weapon and draws his weapons Longsword in one hand, mace in the other and fires off a signature move.

Twin Takedown Lonsword: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21 Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Twin Takedown mace: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18 Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Enraged at the flying pests, and having only a mouth full of feathers for his trouble, Muzzo leaped and bit, leaped and bit. Black featheres scattered everywhere, and he enjoyed the crunch of bone and bursts of hot blood in his mouth as he attacked and was attacked in turn.

bite attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
P damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
bite attack: 1d20 + 8 - 5 ⇒ (12) + 8 - 5 = 15
P damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
bite attack: 1d20 + 8 - 10 ⇒ (14) + 8 - 10 = 12
P damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

@Athmar- Don't forget to add your splash damage into your damage rolls.

Kya wards those around her from harm as Bina draws her sword cane and begins stabbing at the birds wildly. It seems to take out a single bird, but overall not injure the swarm in the slightest. Resistance to Piercing

Bina Persistent Flat Roll DC 15: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Bina's scratches stop bleeding while Athmar tosses an alchemist's fire into the birds just above the group. A large number of the birds burn as they seem quite susceptible to the area of fire, but it too also rains down on the group burning a lot of them as well.

Splashes Azu, Manower and Muzzo

Avoiding the birds entirely Azu draws his weapons and swings them across the center mass. The longsword slashing across seems to have the best effect as the weapons strike in unison.

Muzzo takes one last bite, swallowing most of the birds as the remainder of the swarm disperses.

Just need a saving throw from Manower for the swarm strike to see if he is bleeding at all.

With the ravens defeated, you carefully investigate the area in case there more hidden. Thankfully, no more ravens swarm to attack, but you find that someone has disturbed the ravens' nests, destroying some and stealing the eggs.

Muzzo happily crunched down on the remnants of the bird swarm and smacked his lips as his head reverted to its normal shape. He spat out some feathers and bones. "Birds too much work to eat. Feathers and bones and not enough meat. What now?"

Muzzo sat to rest from his rage-induced weariness while the others looked around.

Azu examines the next. Survival: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

"Someone has disturbed the nest."

Azu begins tracking whoever left the footprints.

Bina puffs out a breath. "I am not built to fight flocks of birds, I tell ya what."

At Azu's words, Bina nods and ranges around the party again as they move, keeping an eye out for danger.

Using the Scout activity again while Azu follows the tracks.

RETCON before tracking, Azu will refocus.

reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 Hell no, I'm spending that hero point.
reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22 I still take half for 2?

@Athmar- Don't forget to add your splash damage into your damage rolls.

Splashes Azu, Manower and Muzzo

Fire Splash: 1 = 1

Doesn't Research Field (Bomber) reduce the splash to just the swarm, or in the case of shared spaces, the swarm and
Azu? (When throwing an alchemical bomb with the splash trait, you can deal splash damage to only your primary target instead of the
usual splash area.)

Kya gapes at Muzzo in shock. "I have never seen...how...oh, I am sorry! Forgive me! I've just never seen someone do that before!" She raises her voice. "Bina! Are you alright? It seems those ravens really lit into you. Would you like me to tend to your wounds? Anyone else?"

Muzzo happily crunched down on the remnants of the bird swarm and smacked his lips as his head reverted to its normal shape. He spat out some feathers and bones. "Birds too much work to eat. Feathers and bones and not enough meat. What now?"

Muzzo sat to rest from his rage-induced weariness while the others looked around.

"Muzzo needs to try raven pie. Tasty treats they are! Especially when they are tender, they are nice, yes they are!"

Athmar will continue to avoid notice when the party continues to push forward.

Bina blushes. "Oh, I'm okay. Just a few scratches. My pride was more wounded than I was. Not exactly a great first showing." Despite her words, she's covered in several shallow cuts, though the worst of the bleeding has stopped.

Bina will not say "no" to a Medicine check or a heal spell. Also I believe Athmar is correct that alchemists with the Bomber research field can choose for only their bomb target to be affected by splash damage.

Does someone need healing? Azu has Natural Medicine

Bina is pretty hurt. If you want to use medicine then Kya can save her spells. She can also assist, she's trained in medicine as well.

Indeed it does Athmar. Thank you.

@Mandower- Yes, half for 2

In addition, while searching through their nest, Azu's sharp eyes caught something sparkling. The ravens have collected several shiny items. Most are worthless, but some of the shiny stones the birds collected are actually raw gemstones! Treasure Bundle

Turning back to the task at hand, you scout about a bit and conclude that the river warrants investigation, as it would pose an obstacle to any trade caravan passing through. It flows swiftly but is not too broad.

The next section involves a series of checks to earn Discovery Points, which represents how well your team manages to investigate and prepare the trade route based on the terrain.

Muzzo ranges about, looking for a way to ford the stream. It was all well and good for the humans in their party to wade in up to their chests in icy water, but Muzzo was a goblin, and that was head-high on him! He looked for rocks under the surface that might make decent stepping stones, jumping on one every now and then to see if it would be stable and if there were more about. His intent was to roll more stones together as needed to make a decent place for horses and maybe even wagons to cross.

acrobatics, ford stream: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

athletics, improve ford: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21 as he identifies local wildlife then local plant life.
nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Then maps out the area crafting: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
He then studies the terrain nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
And improving the ford is easy for him assuming he studied the terrain well enough athletics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
And where can he build a bridge? craft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
But can he actually build the bridge? craft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Azu gathers some herbs to try and heal Bina, "There is a chance this might not work, if you're willing to bear that risk, I will proceed."

Azu then proceeds to help map out the area.

Local wild life (Survival): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Local plant life (Nature): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Fording stream (Acrobatics): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Bina nods at Azu, and watches the ranger bind her wounds. Unfortunately the salves don't seem to be working and the bindings are a bit too loose, so they just quickly soak with Bina's blood.

She glances sheepishly at Mya. "I uh... I don't think it worked."

Welp, the only thing Bina is any good at is basically done. I guess I'll roll some untrained checks.

Bina is too busy getting healed up so the only task she might have been good at is basically done. She wanders down the riverbank, trying to figure out by common sense where a bridge might go.

Crafting (Bridge Location): 1d20 ⇒ 11

She shrugs. "Why did I pick this as my first mission?" she mutters, kicking a rock sullenly into the rushing water below.

After feeling sorry for herself for a minute, she wanders around the trail area looking for places pack animals might be able to take a break and graze.

Survival (Local Plant Life): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

She eventually returns to the campsite and sits down. "Stupid grass," she grumbles. "All looks the same."

Poor Bina. XD

After an hour has passed, Azu examines the wounds. "I believe you are correct. Perhaps the bindings are too loose. I can try again if you'd like."

I think the rolls are high enough to cover everything... can you assist in 2E?

Yes, you can assist, but the DC is 20 and if you critically fail, you provide a negative modifier. Also...the recipient of the aid has to be 'willing' to receive help. In PbP, that typically means you have to ask before you roll.

Bina frowns uncertainly, then nods again.

This time the bindings are tighter and the salves slightly more potent.

"Thanks! Much better." She returns to her spot on the log near their campfire, watching the others be useful while she wonders what she could be doing to help.

After a while, she decides sitting on her butt sulking is helping nobody, so she slips into the trees, ranging around the group as they work to keep an eye out for danger.

Might as well be useful! Bina will continue performing the Scouting activity while the others make checks.

Mandower picks out a great place for a caravan to rest. Well away from the local wildlife, especially the predators. Though the plants seem to perplex him. Luckily Azu recognizes the poisonous plants, While he feels it is safe there are numerous deadly and poisonous plants that will need avoided.

Grabbing one of the unfinished maps handed over by the nobles Mandower begins to fill in the blank areas as he maps out the region. Muzzo begins to ford the stream and disappears from view as he quickly finds all of the deep drop-offs. Azu tries to help the little goblin out and comically ends up getting dragged down with him. The groups spends a bit of time fishing the pair out of the ford.

Mandower and Bina try to find a decent location for a bridge and go way off mark. There doesn't seem to be a decent place around these parts.

Those who have not rolled can go ahead and do so if you wish.

1: Identify local wildlife: Success
2. Identify local plant life: Crit Success
3. Mapping the area: Success
4. Fording the stream: Failure
5. Improving the Ford:
6. Finding bridge location: Failure
7. Improvising a bridge:

Jumping in just long enough to roll a nature check to ford the river.

Nature: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Fording the stream:
acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Improving the Ford:
athletics: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

Finding the bridge:
craft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Improvising a bridge:
craft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Athmar treks along the stream, pulling on the odd rock or balancing precariously out on various limbs, lost in his own machinations. Oblivious to the rest of the group, he eventually sits down and begins scribbling in the crusty dirt with a knobby stick.

Wow, I really thought a 16 would do it! That's what I get for presuming the DC.

Seeing the others are actually having a tough time with fording the river, Bina shrugs and gives it a shot.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Yuck. Gonna use my hero point.

Acrobatics (reroll): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Woo!