GM Chadius [PFS2 1-12]: The Burden of Envy - Table 1 (Inactive)

Game Master chadius

Thurk is happy to stay on shore and entertain the waiting clients with some prestidigitation.

I am thinking that Hammick could stay on the shore. He can protect those on land and if a threat comes from the shore. He might have a better chance to escape or fight that threat. Plus he can fire arrows if the row boat/raft gets attacked.

Great analysis, Elfino!

I agree with the idea of tying both boats together, to be quickly disengaged should one of them get swamped. No point both going down.

For each of the boats, we need at least one person good with Athletics which I'm assuming is needed for the rowing and also for swimming around should the boat capsize. Probably one person good with Survival for navigating through the water? And likely also one each good at crafting to make quick repairs on the go. And of course, strong combatants against the inevitable sea creatures.

Panarug is feeble with the first but has a decent survival (+7) and crafting (+8). Not particularly a strong fighter but a decent healer (medic).

Plus he can fire arrows if the row boat/raft gets attacked.

Longbow range is 100ft. After that you take a -2 penalty up to 200ft, then a -4 penalty to the boat. But as you take a -2 penalty within 30ft, and we're likely to be attacked at close range, then that probably works out in the long run.

One downside of no Hammick is that we lose his Athletics, Acrobatics, and Survival, all of which may come in handy. We are particularly low on Athletics, with only Ving and Hammick being trained. If Athletics is important, then we're going to need Hammick in one of the boats.

If Hammick insists on staying ashore, then so be it, but I think he'd be more useful in one of the boats.

For each of the boats, we need at least one person good with Athletics which I'm assuming is needed for the rowing and also for swimming around should the boat capsize. Probably one person good with Survival for navigating through the water? And likely also one each good at crafting to make quick repairs on the go. And of course, strong combatants against the inevitable sea creatures.

Panarug is feeble with the first but has a decent survival (+7) and crafting (+8). Not particularly a strong fighter but a decent healer (medic).

I picked Panarug mainly for the things you mentioned. Eomobu, Thurk, Ving and Elfino all have Acrobatics, so we're good there. We have Survival pretty well covered as well, even without Hammick.

Hammick is fine going on the raft/boat, most of his "bad experiences" have be onboard boats/ships. I think he is cursed that way. And with his skills being: Acrobatics: +6 [T], Athletics: +6 [T], Survival: +5 [T], and Perception +7 [T] to spot trouble. Could be a good fit on the boat. Down side is if he goes into the water, I think his dagger will be the only weapon useful to him since it is piercing.
I am not 100% with the rules, so I am just familiar that weapons with the piercing damage type were the only ones of any use for underwater combat. But I could be wrong, I will need to re-read the underwater combat rules.

Whom ever that gets left behind should be able to do damage from a far and able to run away if the guards show up and we are all at the ship.

I like Hammick's reasoning. He also would be decent if forced to fight alone on shore.

I would think that Thurk would also be a good idea to stay behind with Hammick to help protect the ones waiting for the 2nd trip.

Also, AofN lists pilot skills: Athletics; sailing lore for rowboat; Diplomacy; intimidation for larger vessels. It does not list specifics about rowing. Perhaps in the DM's book. Athletics does make sense for rowing, but the only DC=16 is listed.

Ving has a trained +5 mod so has a decent enough chance.

I like Hammick's reasoning. He also would be decent if forced to fight alone on shore.

I would think that Thurk would also be a good idea to stay behind with Hammick to help protect the ones waiting for the 2nd trip.

Also, AofN lists pilot skills: Athletics; sailing lore for rowboat; Diplomacy; intimidation for larger vessels. It does not list specifics about rowing. Perhaps in the DM's book. Athletics does make sense for rowing, but the only DC=16 is listed.

Ving has a trained +5 mod so has a decent enough chance.

If the two boats remain attached to one another, then perhaps one person trained in Athletics will do. I'm just worried about the possibility of the boats becoming separated. In that case, it would be very helpful to have someone trained in Athletics on each boat.

My guess is that we will be attacked by creatures that stay in the water (there not being any space on the boats anyway), while we remain on the boats. If things get rough, they might drag some of us overboard, so perhaps it would be wise to use some rope to keep us all tied together so that if one of us goes over, the rest of us can pull them back onto the boat.

Same thing goes if we hit some jagged rocks and one of us gets flung overboard. With the rope, we can get them back without too much trouble.

If indeed both Thurk and Hammick stay behind, then that's only 4 Pathfinders on board, which I think is cutting it fine on the safety front. If both do stay on shore, that leaves room for another client on the first trip, so there's that.

In the end, it is really up to each PC to decide if they go or if they stay behind. As soon as everyone decides, then we'll rearrange the crews on the boats accordingly.

Elfino for one will be going on the boats.

Emoubu should stay on the coast. He doesn't have the strength to be a great roller, and he's not horrible at talking if he has to.

Hammick is fine being on the boat or staying on the beach drinking a fruity drink with a little umbrella in it..lol

But joking aside, he is fine going on a boat if need be.
His plan is to 1: launch an arrow with a fish to see if anything is in the water near by.
2: If there is something in the water. He plans on hooking fish to his grapple hook and go fishing. If the big "Fish" takes the hook he tries to get it caught on the rocks and tying off on the shoreline so it can not reach the boat/raft.

Thurk is happy to stay on shore and entertain the waiting clients with some prestidigitation.

The cantrip Ray of Frost has a range of 120ft, so there's a chance he could still be involved in the inevitable battle. And Thurk has Spell Substition to prepare it?

I have a 7L wizard. The Reach feat is used alot by him. Reach+Shocking Grasp at multiple levels is very efficient single-target damage dealer.
Makes it 30' instead of touch. Look at how SG Heightens and you will see. Just a suggestion.

Reach was on my list of feats to eventually get but probably not before 3rd. Still, as an abjurer I envision Thurk as focused on protection/enabling others rather than blasting.
For now, happy to switch to Ray of Frost if GM says we have 10 minutes before starting the transportation.

You have all day to prepare the dropoff, so feel free to swap spells.

It is hard to calculate ranges over 20', so I make two "x",s to fit in 5' square each, then move them every 20' until I have the range down. Then I just delete them.

Oppsss....forgot to switch to Ving. Sorry.

Personally, I would use the Hero Point. Poison and Disease are very bad in 2nd ed.

Ving can stay on the shore if needed. His spells are pretty long ranged.

Just curious but my local group has a game Saturday. I need to assign a character in range. Will we be finished by Friday? If not, that's fine, I just would like to know so I can sign up for the game. I have until 6pm EST Friday night to sign up.

After you drop these passengers off, the only other goal is boarding the Merry Mayfly on Friday. There are some skill challenges involved, but I think we should be done by then.

Daffrid (Client)
Tellith, Daffrid's husband
Taffrit Daffrid's daughter
Maffree Daffrid's son
Seddothorum, Stone Giant

These are the remaining people who wish to travel with you on the Merry Mayfly on Friday. Daffrid herself is necessary, since Guaril expects her and she has provided payment. The other four are not needed.

You know everyone leaving the city will be inspected. You Pathfinders have travel documents giving you a legitimate reason to leave the city, but what of the others?

Elfino did Forge Travel documents so maybe that's all you need for the smaller folks. But what about the stone giant?

Once you've figured out who you will bring and what your plan is, we can move ahead with the finale.

After you drop these passengers off, the only other goal is boarding the Merry Mayfly on Friday. There are some skill challenges involved, but I think we should be done by then.

Elfino will do his best to make it happen.

The next thing we need to do is figure out who we're going to try and sneak onto the Merry Mayfly on Friday. We could do this in gameplay, but I think it will go a lot faster if we do it here.

The options seem to be:

1) Daffrid alone
2) Daffrid and family (husband a two children)
3) Daffrid and family and Seddothorum (stone giant)

Which option we pick will determine what we need to do to try and get them past the guards. I say we put it to a vote.

Elfino says: (1) Daffrid alone.

He's a rather hard-hearted LN with a shady criminal past and as long as he completes the mission as specified, he sees no reason to complicate his life, especially as there's no apparent benefit to himself from doing so.

I think we should take all. My reasoning is twofold:

(1) While Daffrid may be ok alone for a while, the opposite will probably not be. Several citizens going missing in a few days time might rise suspicion in a city so heavily regulated by a Runelord and their elite guards, especially when a certain someone, drunk or not, starts squealing to anyone that will listen.

....and...

(2) Seddothorum said: ”I want to leave.” Seddothrum falls to his knees, hands cupped. ”The clan. Captured, tasked with keeping city walls intact. I was weak, guards hurt me the most.” He looks to his left shoulder where you notice an unnatural crevice all the way down his arm. ”But the clan. They were worked to death. Runelady said she would protect all the people. But giants like me don’t count as people.” He pauses. ”If they find me, they will kill me.” He restrains from raising his voice.

”I… have no money, no jewels. But I work hard. Very hard. When people asleep, I clean up the building. I move rocks so they don’t block the way. And then I sleep during the day, no one notices me here. I am very good at hiding. But the longer I stay, they will find me.”
He bends his head even lower and gets on all fours. ”Please, I wish to leave. I am good at pretending to be statue. Or pile of rocks. Please!”

This is the testimony of a slave, one whose detailed servitude may be of interest to the Lodge, especially after 1K+ years of holding the city together.

Emoubu would be for taking everyone. It's in his nature to want to.

Hammick as well would like to try and get everyone out. Besides having a stone giant in debit to you could be useful.

That's three votes for taking everyone vs one for just Daffrid. In the almost certain event that the vote ends up with us taking everyone, then we need to come up with a plan to get 1500 lbs of Seddothrum and 4 humanoids past the guards and onto the Merry Mayfly.

The forged documents that Elfino produced earlier might be enough to get Daffrid and family through, but what about Seddothrum? No amount of forged paperwork is going to get him through as himself; we'll need to hide him somehow and smuggle him past the guards.

Since he can make himself look like a pile of rocks, then the obvious approach is to get our hands on a cart with a capacity for 1500 lbs and pretend that he is cargo of some kind (ballast, mined ore, etc.) destined for transport on the Merry Mayfly.

Yuleg has a wagon with two mules, and there are a couple of carts at the warehouse. I don't know if any of them are big or strong enough to carry Seddothrum. If not, then we'll have to rent a big enough cart; perhaps we can pay for the rental of the cart with the mules and whatever other items of value that Yuleg has at his place that he won't be needing anymore (including the Inn itself).

Another option is for Seddothrum to somehow travel underwater and climb up the back side of the "Merry Mayfly". Not sure how feasible this approach is.

Any other ideas?

Note that Yuleg's horse drawn carriage can handle Seddothorum's weight.

Note that Yuleg's horse drawn carriage can handle Seddothorum's weight.

Excellent! So that option appears to be available to us. On Friday, we take the cart to the Arcanium, pick everyone up, and then go to the docks.

But how do we get a cart full of rocks past the guards? I presume that it will take an official loading document of some sort. Maybe we can try to get such a document through official channels (Ministry of Export?), or in a pinch Elfino can try making a forgery. Perhaps on the way back to the Rockfish Inn we can drop into the appropriate ministry and ask about how to obtain official permission to export a pile of rocks.

We never did get an answer from Seddothrum as to whether he could swim or not. I suspect that having him slip into the water, walk along the bottom and climb onto the Merry Mayfly is probably not going to work anyway. If he can swim, then he'll be highly visible in the water from the docks.

A level 2 scroll of Shrink (duration 5 minutes) or Invisibility (duration 10 minutes) costs 12gp. Even assuming we can get our hands on such scrolls, I expect that those durations will not be long enough if we run into a crowd at the docks, so that probably won't work anyway.

It really looks to me like we'll be using the cart method.

Stone Giants are very athletic, and can swim at the same speed you can.

You suspect a forgery will be your best bet, or fast talking your way past the guards when it comes to exports. You may also be able to sweet talk the secretary at the Ministry of Tithes to set up some kind of appointment.

This finale is pretty free form until you reach the docs, so feel free to be creative.

Stone Giants are very athletic, and can swim at the same speed you can.

Ok, but can they hold their breaths for extended periods of time? Do they even need to breathe?

If he can hold his breath, walk along the bottom of the bay, and kick himself to the surface of the water on the hidden side of the Merry Mayfly, then maybe we can get him on board that way.

You suspect a forgery will be your best bet, or fast talking your way past the guards when it comes to exports. You may also be able to sweet talk the secretary at the Ministry of Tithes to set up some kind of appointment.

I think we'll go with the forgery. I don't think I can face another visit to the Ministry of Tithes.

Seddothorum does need to breathe, and he can hold it for about 1 minute before he has to surface and breathe.

Thurk's priorities would be Daffrid first (obviously), then Seddothorum, and then Daffrid's family. The reason being that once Daffrid herself is out she can likely find the resources and opportunities to get her family out later. But nobody cares about a stone giant and if the Society does him this favor it will get an unusual and powerful ally. That said, if getting everyone out is possible, Thurk would be happy.

Seddothorum does need to breathe, and he can hold it for about 1 minute before he has to surface and breathe.

That's what I figured. 1 minute is not enough to get him into the water somewhere inconspicuous, then have him walk across the bottom of the harbor, and up the side of the Merry Mayfly. Having someone the size of Seddothorum splashing away trying to swim his way across the harbor to the Merry Mayfly probably won't work either.

To make sure we can finish this soon, I'll fast forward us to Friday. This is what the current plan looks like:

Elfino has forged travel documents for Daffrid and he has forged a commercial document to transport some iron ore, as well as live animals. Seddothorum and Daffrid's family are in those crates, respectively. Yuleg's mule drawn wagon and the wagons at Theomolin's warehouse will serve as transportation.

Emoubu has offered to keep the kids under control, or at least pretend to be a dragon if needed.

Okay, showtime.

Perhaps some of those rolls need a Hero Point.

Forgot I had those, thank you for the reminder

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Tell me if there are any corrections needed. My email is therealchadius AT gmail DOT com if you can't reach me on the forums.

Any comments or feedback for me? I'm always looking for chances to improve. You can post here or PM me if needed.

One thing I need to remember is to offer Hero Points after encounters. I was going to offer another right before the finale, but I was worried about asking too many questions at once.

Thank you all for an enjoyable experience. Turns out the adventure was somewhat tailor-made for Investigators and I had a good time trying out a few of Elfino's skills that don't often come into play (as well as getting a chance to refine his speech) . This is my second run with GM chadius, so I already knew everything would be great there; I was not disappointed. I hope to cross paths with you all again in a future adventure.

Chronicle looks good. I purchased the Evolving Destiny Boon to re-build Ving. Does it need to be listed on the Chronicle or just the downloaded copy be present/

I think the downloaded copy is good enough. I can add it if you want me to.

Downloaded copy is good. No extra trouble needed. A pleasure to game with you again.

Thank you GM Chadius! I thoroughly enjoyed the way you ran the game, though at the end I lost track of the relationship between different NPCs who somehow turned out to know each other... perhaps some who's who reference on the slides would be extra helpful.

Also I think as copying the spell cost me 2 GP, they should have been subtracted from the total, not added, so my end total should be 12.4 GP?

Thanks for the suggestions, Thurk. There's a lot of relationships to juggle and I've seen different approaches based on table. I will make the relationships more clear.

As for your gold, I have you starting at 4. Then you get 14. Then you earned 0.4, so you have a total of 18.4 before spending 2 on the magic. I think you should be at 16.4. Did I miss 4 gp somewhere?

Ah, no that's fine then, it's just most GMs I've seen ignore the starting gold and only write in the gold gained/spent within session. All clear now!

Wow, Paizo.com hates me so much right now. I had to purge cookies on every device I have to be able to get back into the site.

Thank you very much for running Chadius. I had fun, even if it turns out a chose my worst character to enter this adventure.

Actually, there might be a problem with my sheet. You gave me 14 GP plus Day Job of 2.4 Gp minus the 10 GP for the boat. I thought that 14 GP was for a 1L character. Ving is 3L. Or is 14 still applicable?

Hi Ving, you should get more money. I've updated the chronicle.

CLICK HERE to access the new chronicles.

Many thanks for the quick update. Sorry for the trouble.

No problem.

Sounds like the chronicles are good to go. I will report this table now and mark the thread inactive by Monday. If you have questions after then feel free to PM me.

Thanks for playing, everyone.

Weird, I just checked my summary tab and see that Elfino not only picked up the +4 reputation for Horizon Hunters from this adventure, but also seems to have picked up an additional +2 reputation for Radiant Oath. It appears that this was due to this adventure, but there is no mention of these extra reputation points on the chronicle sheet. Do you know anything about this GM chadius?

Right, you do get 2 points for Radiant Oath. I can update the chronicles to include them, if you want.