[PFS1] GM Pudding's The House on Hook Street (Inactive)

Game Master Tom G

But first we need to check out the secret door in the closet! #SoManySecretDoors

Had trouble getting to log in. It was very frustrating. But have it figured out now. I totally missed the guards.

Darn - we were so close too! XD Can’t use Spirit Surge on this roll unfortunately since it’s not Dex-based. Oh well.

Interesting use of Spirit Surge Taariik!

Note that in combat you'd have to take the free action to do the marshal dance on your turn, meaning you couldn't help with the skill check of an ally on their turn without having already done the dance. In this instance as we're not in initiative I think it's OK, since you could have entered the dance on her turn in anticipation of Huxwren's response.

It's also slightly unclear to me whether your allies should count as having participated in your seance for the purposes of the Marshal's lesser power given that you don't need to do one, but I think the intention is probably that they do.

I will update the gameplay, you're not quite out of the woods...

Interesting use of Spirit Surge Taariik!

Note that in combat you'd have to take the free action to do the marshal dance on your turn, meaning you couldn't help with the skill check of an ally on their turn without having already done the dance. In this instance as we're not in initiative I think it's OK, since you could have entered the dance on her turn in anticipation of Huxwren's response.

It's also slightly unclear to me whether your allies should count as having participated in your seance for the purposes of the Marshal's lesser power given that you don't need to do one, but I think the intention is probably that they do.

I will update the gameplay, you're not quite out of the woods...

Thanks GM!

I forgot to mention Taariik's impression of the 24 cultists. They seemed weak, sickly, tired malnourished etc. Perhaps working together as some sort of 'troop' they might be able to threaten you, but individually they are no threat. In addition in case it wasn't clear: the huge spider is petrified. They are worshipping it, but it does not appear to be a threat.

Finally hiding is going to be difficult as there is just a straight tunnel from the elevator to the dome. There are a few steps up so you are hidden from the dome while in the tunnel, but as soon as someone moves to the elevator you'll be seen. You could go back up the elevator however.

As this is an important decision I'll wait a bit for more opinions. Right now we've got 2 for charging in and 1 for regrouping and a lengthier campaign.

Well, if you think we can take them, I will fight. Let's do it. Grunyak swallows hard and grips his axe tight.

i got the spider was petrified, but i missed the cultist were weak. Sorry for the confusion.

No worries, you didn't miss it, I just forgot to mention it!

Pre-fight spell-swap is fine Eldrin

An 18 is better than a 19 as it doesn't threaten a crit! Also I'm not sure if I addressed re-rolls in this home-game-thats-like-pfs table though I certainly should have done. You can each have one per part of the module (we're not far off done with part 1 (assuming you survive this encounter!)), and you can add your GM stars too just like PFS

so we have one re roll so far, minimum?

Good to know!

Oops, sorry! I forgot that we do not play under PFS and just rerolled. :-(

Thanks that we have rerolls. :-D

Yes sorry I thought of it when I was first setting up the rules, and then it slipped my mind until now. I did wonder why no-one had used one :)

Yes that's right Drusilla everyone (except Taariik) has one reroll, and they'll refresh when you level up and we begin part 2.

Turns out, Eldrin can't consume a wand containing a level one spell. Oops, no Arcane Reservoir point for Eldrin. It's too late for me to edit the post. So we'll have to pretend it didn't happen.

Nah, Huxwren was way back by the altar in the first room and only has 20 ft movement speed. XD Even with long arms, there's no way they can reach that door this round - or even get into the spider room.

@Grunyak

Right, I did the mental maths wrong because you're only losing 1 from your flat-footed AC for the penalty.

There isn't an amulet of natural armor on your sheet though, and you gave the one you found to Taariik, do you have one unaccounted for on there? Magic vestments doesn't do anything for you I don't think as it gives a +1 enhancement bonus at your level which won't stack with your already +1 armour, but if you've got an amulet I agree your FF entangled AC is 21 and you shouldn't have been hit.

GM Pudding, you are absolutely correct. Grunyak doesn't have an amulet of natural armor. I was confusing him with my paladin.

I was under the impression magic vestment did stack though. I thought it an enhancement bonus of +1 similar to when you add the enhancement for a paladin's bonded weapon. But after reading magic weapon just below it, it is also an enhancement bonus of +1. Therefore, I think I was mistaken.

I now think Grunyak's AC is 20 and his flat-footed AC is 20 while entangled. I apologize for the mistake.

No worries! It's a shame really because this drug is very nasty (as you'll find out when the 4 minutes is up). It wasn't designed to be used offensively as it's way too strong with no save, and not normally PFS legal like most drugs. The adventure explicitly says these guys try to inject you with it though, so my hands are tied :)

I don't believe so, it's a drug not a poison, and they're intended for use on yourself normally which is why there's no save (as far as I can tell). The CON damage is supposed to be the price of the benefit they give, but shiver is a little unusual because one of its possible benefits is immediate unconsciousness! It's not something I would normally do, but the module explicitly lists it as their tactic in this case.

On the other hand she can be awoken with a standard action, so it's not as bad as it sounds. The effect after Grunyak's wears off is much worse.

Just saying - if Eldrin takes one of them out, then they can't flank. No flank, no sneak attack. No sneak attack, no profit (?)

Taarik, your HP seems wrong:
you seem to have 63 HP, and suffered 62 HP dmg..
how could you be dying?

But you made a mistake while calculating HP on your first two levels, I guess:
–– HIT POINTS ––
Lvl 1 - 14 Hit Points: 10 Paladin + 3 Con (thats 13, not 14)
Lvl 2 - 12 Hit Points: 6 Paladin + 3 Con + 2 Retraining (that's 11, not 12)

Lvl 3 - 10 Hit Points: 5 Ninja + 3 Con + 2 Retraining
Lvl 4 - 10 Hit Points: 5 Ninja + 3 Con + 2 Retraining
Lvl 5 - 9 Hit Points: 5 Medium + 3 Con + 1 Retraining
Lvl 6 - 8 Hit Points: 5 Medium + 3 Con

13+11+10+10+9+8=61 HP, not 63.

Ahh sorry!!

Yes, 61 hp is correct. But he has 2 con damage so his max hp are 55.

So he is at -7 hp now and still dying. The next channel could be his end. Glad we are playing in campaign mode. :-D

This module totally rocks!! :-D Thanks a lot GM!!

Great GMing too!
I'm really enjoying the thrills you put in that adventure!

Things are going good as we are still alive. But I would like to discuss if we should rest or not. I think looking at the map, we really don't have any good rooms to use to rest. The best is probably the one with the staircase. I don't suppose anyone has an alarm spell. Eldrin, you seem pretty low on stuff.

If we leave I think we should not run to the magistrate. We will loose any valuables remaining and probably some valuable clues to the situation.

My vote is rest in the stairway room, but heal up as much as possible prior. I can treat the ability damage to help recover and I can get lessor restoration if we make the rest stick.

The shiver is not going anywhere. I think we just leave that stuff for when we do get the magistrate involved.

So then it's a question of if we think the surviving cultist would try to round up some friends to recover the shiver while we rest. Which seems rather likely, all things considered - that's a lot of money to just write off as a loss.

Could we ask the magistrate to guard the site while we investigate? Station folks outside to keep people away, but not having them come inside to "take stock" or "investigate" anything until we've declared the site as safe?

I think that would be a reasonable request. Even though the magistrate doesn't trust the guard in general, I think you'd haven gotten the impression that they could get a few hand-picked trustworthy guards for something like this.

In terms of cultists, all 24 from the underwater presbytery fled, and there were three deacons that you encountered on the way in but only 2 downstairs, so at least one is also unaccounted for.

Eldrin is completely out of resources. He needs rest. If we go into another encounter all he has is a level 1 wand of Magic Missile. Happy to rest in one of these rooms or go back to the inn.

FYI folks I'm in the middle of selling my house and buying another, and it's taking up a lot of my time at the minute (we've just accepted an offer and need to find somewhere to buy ASAP).

I may let a few days go by between posts for a little while, don't be alarmed. I'll work on moving things along in gameplay now.

Please don’t worry GM!! We’re here for the long run so take all the time you need!! Good luck with the house!!

No problem! You've earned a few days off!

Edit Level 7
+6Hp+2 Con+1 FC=+9 HP (67/67)

+1 Bab (+7/+2)
No changes to saves

Armor training 2 (Acp reduces by 2, Max dex increases by 2)

In addition, a fighter can also move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor. At 7th level, a fighter can move at his normal speed while wearing heavy armor.

L7 feat Toughness (+7 HP, total HP 74/74)

Great summary post GM. :-)

Taariik levels to medium 3. Just one new ability:

I'll probably buy a mithral msw agile half plate if possible (850 Armor+150 Msw+9000 mithral=10 000 gP).

With Armor training 2, ACp is down to 0 and I git my full +2 Dex bonus to AC

ACP armor 7
Armor training -2
Mithral -3
Msw -1
Armor expert trait -1
Total ACP 0

Beside,I can move with no speed malus in heavy armor now.

Skills (4)
Profession bodyguard +1
Know local+1 (nc)
Know religion+1 (nc)
Perception+1

Do we have loot that we've been tracking? It certainly would be nice to get some new equipment, but I have no idea what our resources are.

As far as leveling up and new stuff, Huxwren's got some fun things:
- Connection Speciality! It's like Location Channel, which is like call spirit, but with some complications that I'm not entirely certain on their impact because it kinda looks like the relic channeler archetype gets the full ability for free even after giving up the base class's Location Channel ability. I think it means that Huxwren can channel someone's spirit from anywhere as long as we've heard of the person (so as to have some degree of familiarity with them). I'm happy to hash out the details with the GM should the ability come up during gameplay.

- Slashing Grace! Now Huxwren can do more than 2 damage on a hit. XD

- 2nd level spells! Who's ready for some haste and placebo effect?

Grunyak gets a little tougher, 9hp, but his saves are the same.
new feats: combat casting
new spells: divine favor (1st), remove magic vestment, add Prayer
Blessing of Fevor, freedom of movement, Holy Smite(d) (4th)
+1 BAB, +1d6 channel Energy
skills: rank diplomacy, rank sense motive
Grunyak would like a few items, but don't know our money total so may have to wait: pearl of power 1st level
2 potions of Barkskin

Highlights for Eldrin's level up are:

He took the Familiar arcane exploit, the Improved Familiar feat and gained the Darkvision communal, fly and Resist Energy communal spells.

Thanks for the info everyone

I'll throw everything you've found into a spreadsheet tomorrow if I can find a minute. The magistrate has also promised you a reward for putting a stop to the cult, once you've cleared the house out you'll be able to claim that too.

If you don’t want to fuss with making a spreadsheet from scratch, I’ve got a template I could make a copy of for this group. That way all you’d have to do would be to add items @GM. Just let me know!

I've made one using my usual template Huxwren, but I'm always open to improving it so I'd welcome a look at what you use!

Here's the sheet

I also forgot some loot in the last room, that of the Cult Deacon who fell, they had another amulet of natural armour and some gold so I assumed that would go to Grunyak (don't forget that you got the last one Taariik, I'm not sure if that's on your sheet).

I took a guess at which things you might want to sell and which might be taken by each character, but please have a look over and see if there's anything you want to keep. As it stands you would make 18471.5 total GP from selling off everything you've found, though that would take a few hours of haggling. I've also assumed you destroyed the shiver you found in Greeley's hideout rather than sold it, but let me know if that's wrong.

After everyone's had a chance to look it over and claim anything we can finalize the sales and get back to adventuring!

wow! Impressive work on that sheet!

Wow!! Thanks for everything GM!

Reflecting the amulet of natural armor in my tag line.

If everyone else already has a +2 cloak, Huxwren could swap that out out for their current +1 model (adding that to the loot pile to be sold instead).

I have a +1 cloak so far, but you could make good use of it, and I might have enough money to upgrade my own cloak

That looks good to me. Grunyak will take the amulet, the potions of lessor restoration, scrolls of cure moderate, and light wounds and delay poison. The cloak of resistance +2 might be good to keep. Does some one want it?

I do not need anything else from the list.

But the silversheen could be good for Drusilla?

But the silversheen could be good for Drusilla?

Depends.

Shaken or stirred?

If Drusilla doesn't have a +2 cloak already, she's welcome to claim the loot one. She makes saving throws more than Huxwren does, after all. XD

New and in proved Grunyak... level 7 version is in my aliases.

Had to separate it more or I might forget what is the orginal data.

I will add the equipment I listed above in bold to denote it being loot. Maybe we sell it all at the end, I don't know.

I am sorry but I will need until Monday to update the profile to level 7. :-(

No problem, we still need Eldrin to check over the items, then I imagine there might be some shopping and exploration before any stats are required