[Outpost IV] PFS2 1-02: The Mosquito Witch (Inactive)

Game Master Andrew Harasty

Ulrich watches Mafalda when she speaks. His face expressed no emotions.

"Well, well, well. Madam Mafalda has no love for witch hunters, and why is that if I may ask?" says smiling

"I was simply wondering if they could have stirred something up enough to cause it to surface. Their well-being is of little concern to me as well. Yet I agree, the angle of missing tools is intriguing."

Ulrich will purse a lead of tool thief ;) So two leads, for now, Witch and tools.

Before leaving the Inn he throws a digression to fellow pathfinders

"Do you know the saying Mad as a Hatter? Hatters while making bowler hats as I had before using different substances while working on hat's brim. Some believe that those substances are poisonous when dealing with them for a long time. This poison may be a cause of serious antisocial behaviors. I heard of few doctors analyzing that topic, nothing is confirmed now, but it is odd for such coincidence to exist doesn't it? I wonder if we are not facing something similar here. Paranoia could be explained with some medical conditions."

The hatter story is actually true, once they used lead when making hats which is toxic.

While discussing the nuances of crazed haberdashery, you make your way to the old farmhouse.

Then breaking the monotonous background buzzing is loud whinning and the sounds of hoof beats.

Then barreling down the street a carriage pulled by six horses tears down the road near Shimmerford at dangerous speeds, the animals driven wild by the biting bloodseekers—the bloodseekers themselves were not fast enough to keep up with the carriage and are not present, though the horses are clearly bleeding from numerous tiny wounds.

Although the insects that spooked the horse are not in pursuit, they are very much out of control.

Everyone can take one round of actions to stop or slow the carriage and rescue the passengers before the horse and carriage crash

“…truly, that is absolutely preposterous. Stetson hats are sad excuses for head covering that no self-respecting gentleman should—” Mafalda stops mid-sentence, looks at the horses running towards her and shakes her head. “One would think that farmers would at least be able to keep their beasts under control.”

Ulrich turns around towards the cart and tries to figure out what to do. He stands on the road and yells, hoping to get the horse's attention.

Nature: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

But as he sees that it is clearly not working Ulrich gets out of the way.

Ulrich musters up all his 3-foot imposing stature towards the charging horses. And It Works!. Of course mostly because Mafalda critically succeeds. The horse slow down a bit for a few of the passengers to jump out. Though it is still going, and and there are a few more passengers left.

The Bird Boys can still take an action

Does either Korakai or Suzzavyan want to take any actions

I can take temporary control of Korakai if Suzzavyan doesn't show up and you're fine with it, GM, just to keep things moving.

go ahead to move things along

Korakai ruffles his feathers, takes a deep breath and lets out the biggest squawk he can muster -- the result is something between a raging storm and who knows how many ancry crows put together in a very small space.

Nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 the universe wants me to be a ranger.

Well Korakai also critically success and the horses are calmed down enough for the rest of the passengers to get off as well as stopping the horses in time before they cause damage to themselves.

As good as place as any till you, find the correct owners, you can take them to the farmhouse you were planning to investigate. The can at least be tied up there if not stabled for a bit. A quick message to Galia and she will get back to you with who the horse belong to later.

Approaching the farm house, from the distance all the buildings are in good repair. The farmhouse has been abandoned for some time. The house is empty but when you head to the barn you find a calf lying on the ground and breathing shallowly as if waiting to die. The calf is covered with the bloated bodies of a mundane mob of mosquitoes that are draining the calf’s remaining blood.

Ulrich breaths heavily when they stop the cart and nods to the others

"Good job!" he says before going to the abandoned farmhouse.

As they arrive there he looks around the place

Is 'That's odd' tingling here?

When entering the barn Ulrich looks at the calf

"Oh! Forsaken village! Leave it be, you bloodsuckers!" Ulrich comes closer and tries the chase off the mosquitos and check the health of the calf, trying to save it if he can.

Ulrich notices that much this place has been abandoned, the calf and equipment has been left here. Though some of the tools are missing. The calf is almost drained of blood and needs time to recover safely. But looking over this place, it is far from mosquito proof.

Ulrich covers the calf with a blanket leaving as little skin uncovered as he can.

"I don't like not needed suffering." says to no one in particular.

He begins to search through the farm

Is it all that we can find here? Meaning that tools are missing? Any interesting trails? Sheets of papers: 'Farmer Bob is responsible for all this!' etc.

Mafalda looks at the scene and shakes her head.

“This is truly hideous. It seems that the unshakable bond between countryfolk and their animals has been greatly exaggerated. Here, let me take a look at this sad thing,” she says and kneels by the calf’s side, examining the creature. “It might be better if we kill it now and spare it from this torture.”

Medicine or Nature (same modifier): is there any chance the calf will survive?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24 this is ridiculous.

“No, Beatriu, you cannot take a bite from it.”

Looking over the calf, is just needs a safe place to rest from any more bloodsuckers. It will in time and with fluids replenish its own blood. However, this barn will not do.

One of the smaller abandoned homes would be much easier to secure from blood bitters. Of course the long term solution is to find the cause of the infestation.

Athletics checks and some time will secure a safe location for the calf

Mafalda gives the diagnostic to the others, including that moving the calf might ensure its survival, but makes no gesture towards actually thinking about doing it.

“Very well, what shall we do now? I see no signs of anything helpful here,” she says, scanning the area.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Ulrich looks at the Tengus

"Can you help me with this poor creature?" asks Gnome with no upper body strength.

Athletics: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5

"Oh, come on!" yells Gnome when he realizes that strength is not his strong suit, but intelligence is.

Mafalda does locate a suitable building. Ulrich is able to craft something to safely move the calf and secure the building well enough for at least a night or two.

There are few more minor places to investigate with town, But you are aware of the following locations outside of town

* Witchtop Hill -- from Mrs. Lyons
* Half-elf in Gold to the Northeast
* Hunter in White to the East

Ulrich breathes heavily after letting the horse do all of the work.

"Ok, this one is covered. So where now? Do we want to see the first Witchtop Hill? To look for any traces of the Witch? Or we want to check on what the other hunters have found?"

I like going to Witchtop first, but I can be easily persuaded.

You venture out to Witchtop Hill find a dimly lit grove of uncanny, bare-branched trees, with thousands of the townsfolks’ Mosquito Witch dolls nailed to the bark. Investigating the dolls reveals contradictory information as to who could have placed them or when they were placed, for a patina of grime suggests they have been there for a long time, but the dolls should not have survived in such pristine conditions if exposed to the elements. Attempting to pull out the nails results in a sticky, foul, blood-red sap oozing from the tree bark, accompanied by a sickly-sweet smell.

Ulrich immediately notices Odd tracks of small humanoids around the clearing. That's Odd

Mafalda looks around and frowns.

“There must be thousand of those,” she says, poking a doll without touching it. “Yet how may live in this town? 20 now? A hundred when it was ‘prosperous’? Korakai, please check the area for magic, yes?”

Whilst the tengu does as he is told, Mafalda tries to identify any signs of past rituals and oddities in the area.

Occult: recall information: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Ulrich stands at the hill and observes. Sometimes it is good to breathe it in before making a step and deciding to look in any direction. Plenty of dolls, means either they are replaced or protected in some way. Odd tracks, that is a second clue. Ulrich stands and looks...

After Korakai have checked the place for the magic he speaks

"There seem to be tracks of small humanoids around here." says pointing them out.

He goes and looks at the dolls. Can this red sap be analyzed using Crafting without alchemist tools? My new investigator was lacking 1 gp to buy it :D Crafting +7, Perception +6: if those are secret checks.

Poking around the tracks Mafalda does locate a tiny sword suitable for a small creature.

Korakai does not find any magical auras around, everything here is mundane in origin. The dolls are varying degrees of style and age. It looks like it has been a long custom (generations) to pin variation of the witch here for either luck or just warding her away.

Ulrich Crafting: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

The sap is like normal pine sap, just much redder. But it dose not show any magical or special alchemical properties.

I have not heard back from Suzzavyan so I will bot/NPC him for now

Suzzavyan looks at the tracks themselves.

Suzzavyan Survival: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Other than "small humanoid" he does not get any more information. The tacks lead out of the clearing to the northeast, but soon get lost or covered.

You seem to have gotten what you can out of this area.

Ulrich spends some time analyzing the sap. He touches the substance, analyzes its impact on other common substances, smells it, and checks its consistency with his fingers.

"Common Ulrich, it is not a book! The substance will not lead you towards your target."

Letting his allies analyze their leads Ulrich waits looking at the dolls

"I don't know much witches. But I doubt that one would spend its time making plenty of dolls and pinning them to things. The small footprints suggest someone else. Halflings maybe? Feys? Goblinoids?" wonders Ulrich.

Current leads were: Mosquito Witch, Tool Thief. Ulrich would replace Tool Thief for small feet folk (SFF :P).

"Not much more to find here. Shall we follow Hunter in White?" asks for an opinion

@Mafalda I am fine with any other direction to be honest.

“Another indication there is no witch to be concerned with here after all…though I have no idea what sort of creature might conjure mosquitos and wield weapons. Probably not halflings. Sprites? But they were only added on the last paizo book, so that's unlikely, I guess.” Mafalda carefully picks up one of the swords and stows it away on her backpack.

She takes one last look around and shrugs.

“Sure. Hopefully we can gleam more information from his or her failings.”

You make your back towards the town to get the right path to pick up the trial of the hunter in White towards the east.

As you do so, A shaggy dog with cream-white fur bolts down the road, scattering the clouds of mosquitoes hovering above the ground. A woman’s voice follows after the dog: “Peaches! Peachy! Get back here!” A Tian woman in simple traveling clothes sprints into view a few moments later, stopping to stand by the dog. “Sorry about that,” the woman says, as the dog whines for attention. “I didn’t think there was anything out here but insects, or I would have kept a closer eye on him. My name’s Haru Kwon. What brings you to Shimmerford? It’s not exactly a popular destination right now.”

The hunter introduces herself.

“My name is Haru Kwon. I’m a bit of a traveling scholar, though I have a lot of work to do to make a name for myself in that field. I’ve been traveling around the River Kingdoms, recording the local legends and customs. For obvious reasons, Shimmerford was high on my list to visit. I may have gotten more than I bargained for.”

I think Sense Motive in PF2 is Perception check vs Deception DC.
Perception to sense motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Ulrich looks at the dog who is nearly as tall as he is. When the dog is called off the gnome eyes the hunter

"My name is Ulrich, and these are my travel companions Mafalda, Korakai and Suzzavyan. We are Pathfinders send her on a mission to end this preposterous situation. By that I mean discover who is responsible for the mosquitos and bloodsuckers and whole this Witch nonsense."

Diplomacy, make an impression: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Ulrich tries to make an impression by being bluntly honest with the hunter. Even that she is obviously hiding something from them.

"Do you know something that could make our work easier?"

“Good day to you, my dear. You most definitely ‘got more than you bargained for’ and I cannot stress how important it is that you return to safety. But first, as master Makaisson says, we must request your cooperation in sharing any information you have on what is happening in this village. The more we know, the earlier we can solve this whole situation and allow you to continue with your research.”

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

“I can offer just what I’ve heard from the townsfolk. It’s a little contradictory, isn’t it? Some people seem to think it’s a hag, others a demon, others a priest of Ghlaunder, and others a ghost. If you’re planning to go looking for it, I’d bring cold iron along—that would help you against demons and hags—and fire to help burn away swarms of insects. And if it turns out the witch is a ghost, run and hide! Your weapons won’t do a thing against spirits, and I doubt you’ll have enough holy water to chase it away.”

She is relaxed and please with the distraction of conversation. Peaches, the dog sniffs and wags its tail at the two quiet Tengu. Although pleasant, she does act a little distracted as she wants to continue with her own work.

"I've heard that Ghlaunder worshipper was burned by the townsfolk. Speaking of burning suspiciously acting individuals. You seemed a bit worried. What are you doing here? Maybe we can help you."
says Ulrich taking a step towards Haru Kwon

So we know that she hides something. But what? Investigator's targeted question allows Ulrich for easier detection of lies but we already established that. Do we want to walk after her?

“It certainly looks like something they’d do, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t say there aren’t, but Ghlaunder cultists like to pose as members of other religions in order to infiltrate towns. I’d be a little careful suggesting there might be a secret cultist among the villagers here, considering what they did to the last one.”

You press her about what is troubling her, she relents and opens up a bit.

“Fine, fine. I’m looking for a friend of mine, and I don’t care to tell you her name. She sent me a letter a month ago, claiming that she intended to go to Shimmerford to investigate what was going on here. I intended to meet up with her here, but when I arrived, she wasn’t anywhere to be found.”

"Was she one of the Witch hunters?" asks Ulrich. An idea of more Ghlaunder cultists surprised him. The most shocking was the fact that he did not think of it before.

"We are heading further that way, want to join us? We are following the trails of one of the hunters. Maybe they know something of your friend, but without a name, it might be hard."

Ulrich is fine going further East, The fried of hers sounds suspicious. Like everyone in and around the town.

Mafalda raises an eyebrow.

“Oh, really? My dear, as some like to say, I believe you ‘way over your head.’ If you refuse to turn back to safety, I am afraid we will have to accompany you. I hope you understand. Now, shall we move on?”

East it is. And, yeah. At this rate I'm starting to think they are just a bunch of mosquitos wearing humanoid skins.

Huru nods and smiles. "Well I am heading in to town for bit, I should be alright there. Come Peaches" The hunter and dog head of towards the center of town while you make your way to the east.

It is fairly simple to follow what would be a game trail that the other hunters would have followed. In fact you eventually come to a clearing with another pond.

This large muddy pond looks nearly identical to many such ponds in the Shimmerford woods, except that it seems to be teeming with unseasonable life—the water is squirming with mosquito larvae. You spot a man with fine brown hair and white clothing lying supine on the ground. The man is on the shore of the pond with his head and torso floating in the water, and his clothes are inexplicably pristine despite the mud. As you approach to look closer, you can see mosquitoes crawling out of his mouth and from underneath his eyelids onto his blankly staring eyes.

Ulrich looks after Huru and says to Mafalda
"Isn't she an odd duck?" and he turns towards east

As they come up to the opening and Ulrich spots the body he reaches for his razor. A little blade in a 3 ft tall gnome hand looks like a child toy.

"Let me muster my all medicine knowledge and tell you that: he is dead!" chuckles gnome as he moves forwards to assess what have happened.

He begins by walking around the scene and looking for clues. After observing the surrounding he begins to look through the belongings of the fallen man.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Then he looks at the body. He searches for cuts, bruises and wounds to better assess why the man died.

Medicine: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Well the first thing is that he isn't dead yet! As you touch the body it coughs and spews up wet lungful of drowned insects and stirs. Although suffering from some blood loss, Ulrich recognizes that this person has a bizarre and potentially magical lung disease, which is likely to kill him sooner rather than later.

Suzzavyan attempts to aid the figure as well. Medicine: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

He coughs up some more. "Spare me!"

Both Ulrich and Mafalda can also attempt to stabilize the man with a medicine check, or you can use a potion

Ulrich almost jumps when the man begins to cough.

"On my mother hair! He is alive." Ulrich begins to reach for his healer tools and looks at the man from up close.

He tries to apply the kind of medicine that he belies should help him.

Medicine: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

"Madam Delacerda, this disease does not seem natural any idea what this can be?"

Medicine: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Mafalda examines the man and shakes her head.

“It is unclear. My good man, tell us what happened. Have some water,” she says as she gives him a sip from her own, mosquito-free water.

“Suzzavyan, make sure we are safe. For all we know someone or something might have struck this man down.”

Suzzavyan: Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Dealing with the immediate coughing fits, he is still in bad need and will need constant attention.

"I'm Andor, and thank you for finding me. Though what are you doing out here?" Then in pauses for a moment. "What am I doing out here? I really don't know how I got here. I was tracking some creature with red eyes. Or was it tracking me. I can't really recall.[b]" He looks around to get some barrings. "[b]I think I came from that way" you notice a break in the thicket on towards the north. "There was some golden statue up there. it lunged at me, or I ran in to it, one of us did something."

He is definitely confused and hazy on details. Given his condition, you will need to take Andor with you and constantly tend to him. Korakai can do this

Ulrich looks at Andor when he speaks. His two-colored eyes are trying to read the truth from the words of this odd man.

"Ok let us go and see what you found there. But why did you go there? Are you one of the Witch hunters? Do you think that Witch exists?" Asks Ulrich trying to aid the man to stand up.

I am fine with us going North to have a look. I would appreciate something that I can hit for a change :D

“I beg your pardon? A golden statue attacked you? Do you remember its shape? And what is your name, if I may ask?”

Turning to Ulrich, she says: “Who would put a golden statue in the middle of this gods-forsaken swamp? Terrible waste of material. But, yes, let us proceed. Suzzavyan!” Mafalda’s tone betrays that of someone who has been commanding servants for a lifetime. “You seem the hardiest of us. You lead. Korakai: you take care of this man. Prevent him from bringing harm onto us. Or himself.”

You take the trail as you make you way, you hear a dog barking madly and lots of buzzing. In the Clearing Ahead you see the dog peaches fending off three of the larger blood seekers. The dog is in a panic trying to keep the mosquitos off of itself.

Peaches wildly snaps at the bloodseekers, but they stay just outside the dogs reach.

Everyone can act before the bloodseekers

The Buggy Clearing

Group conditions:
Round 1

Mafalda - dmg;
Suzzavyan - dmg;
Ulrich - dmg;
Korakai - dmg;

Peaches

bloodseeker, red
bloodseeker, blue
bloodseeker, green

Ok, so... how do we want to bot Suzzavcyan and Korakai? Mafalda any preferences who do you want to bot? I prefer to not leave it on GM's head. I am fine with botting either of those. If you have a preference chose one and I will do the other. If you are indifferent roll d2. And let the fate decide

Ulrich looks at the opening and his eyes go wide with surprise

"What on Golarion do Peaches do here! Attack from range, let them come here." suggest Ulrich as he observes one of the bloodsuckers

Device a strategem@green: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Then he takes out his short bow puts an arrow on the bowstring and aims for a moment.

"The closest insect, seems to have damaged carapace on the left side, right .... here" he releases the arrow

Attack@green, using strategem with int: 17 + 7 = 24
Damage@green, piercing, strategic strike: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (5) = 8

Devise a strategem, take out bow, shoot using the strategem.

How don't we attack from the range and let Suzzavyan take out his swords. Maybe they will come to us

The well placed shot takes out the one bloodseeker. Seems to have gotten the attention of the others. More warm blood.

I was thinking about controlling Suzzavyan so each one of us has one martial to attack and one caster to support them.

“Yes, letting them come to us now that you got their attention is a good strategy. Suzzavvyan, if you don’t mind, please intercept them,” she commands.

Once the tengu is in position and with his weapons drawn, Mafalda observes the creature and prepares a hex to be cast on the first creature to come within range.

ID monster (nature?): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Mafalda: ◆ recall information, ◆◆ ready Evil Eye hex, first enemy within 30ft, will save DC 17
Suzzavyan: ◆ stride, ◆ draw weapon

So here comes the third Korakai :) Apparently everyone will have an alias for him after this game :D

The tengu spots the bloodsuckers, arcs backward, and makes an odd and loud sound. The moisture around him begins to whirl a bit more as electricity begins to show between tengus feathers.

Korakai waits for the animals to fly closer to him

Prepare an electric arc when the enemies fly within 30 ft. Ideally he would shoot it at both of them if they are close enough.

Electric arc, reflex save DC17: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Mafalda recognizes these as bloodseekrs or "stirges" and they do exactly that. They attach to you and then slow drain your blood.

Suuzzavyan strides forward and readies their sword.

Koraki waits till they bugs get close. And they oblige, slowing moving up towards Syzzavyan.

Reflex red: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Reflex blue: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

They take some damage but then attempt to latch on to Suzzavyan

Attach Red: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Attach Blue: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

One of them succeeds.

Peaches growls at the party while keeping you at bay.

Everyone can act again

The Buggy Clearing

Group conditions:
Round 1

Mafalda - dmg;
Suzzavyan - dmg;
Ulrich - dmg;
Korakai - dmg;

Peaches

bloodseeker, red -- 3 dmg
bloodseeker, blue -- 3 dmg. attached to Suz
bloodseeker, green -- Dead

Ulrich looks at the bloodseeker attacked to Suz and says

"Hold on! I will take it down" as he analyze its weaknesses

Devise a stragem@blue: 1d20 ⇒ 3

"You move to much! Stand still." yells gnome as he turns and shots the other bug

Shoot@red: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Damage, piercing: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Then he grabs a second arrow and takes another shot

Shoot@red: 1d20 + 5 - 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 - 5 = 2
Damage, piercing: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Devise a strategm + 2 x shots

Korakai moves to aid his fellow Tengu and attacks with his beak

Attack@blue: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

But he misses entirely, angry at himself Korakai reaches to the powers of Hei Feng and touches the bloodseeker

Damage, bludgeoning, cold: 1d4 + 1d4 ⇒ (4) + (4) = 8 Casting Tempest Touch Fortitude save DC17

As the masses of ice-cold water hit the bug around Korakai gathers a whirling storm.

Mafalda shakes her head upon seeing the bloodseeker attach itself to Sozzavyan.

“Move more quickly, Suzzavyan. Your life actually depends on it.” Casting Guidance on Sozzavyan.

With that, she motions with her cane and an old branch flies towards one the creatures.

Telekinetic Strike: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20 Spell attack vs blue stirge
B dmg: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

The swashbuckling tengu, meanwhile, hacks away at the bug attached to his body.
Strike, guidance: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 7 + 1 = 19 vs blue stirge
S dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Strike, MAP x1, agile: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (13) + 7 - 4 = 16 vs blue stirge
S dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Strike, MAP x2, agile: 1d20 + 7 - 8 ⇒ (17) + 7 - 8 = 16 vs blue stirge
S dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5