[GM Zin] The Emerald Spire Superdungeon (Inactive)

Game Master Zin Z'arin

Please fill in the following information:

Chronicle #:
Player:
Character:
PFS #:
Faction:
Slow/Normal:
Starting XP:
Initial Fame/PP:
Starting GP:
Day Job roll:

Please also note any purchases or other items (spells scribed, animal tricks trained, etc.) that you need noted on your next chronicle sheet.

Chronicle #: 11
Player: X Hums
Character: Mika
PFS #: 295369-7
Faction: Grand Lodge
Slow/Normal: Slow for this one (everybody else should go full track if I recall correctly)
Starting XP: 16
Initial Fame/PP: 24/26
Starting GP: 2169
Day Job roll: None.

Purchased for this level was a Plume of Panache with specified hat ("at hat worth at least 10gp") and a belt of dex +2. But that's already factored into the starting gp.

@GM, if you'd like a bit of financial help to cover the pricey module, I can spare an easy $10 through any major electronic transfer.

I'd also like to say that I'm using a replay for this floor, so Mika will be a bit more passive than a swashbuckler typically is when out of combat.

I should be good; thanks. I have a $15 voucher that I thought was expired, but Paizo CS just told me it's still good.

I’ll be replaying for no credit, but given how little I remember of the last run, it shouldn’t be a problem playing crazy as normal.

I will likewise be replaying for no credit, and given Yroh's commentary above it's about the same for me.

Important points:

-- I'm an 'essential' retail worker and my schedule is all the frak over the place. If it looks like work is going to eat me, I'll give reasonably detailed 'botting' instructions to move things along.

-- 'Raga' is an Empiricist Investigator that has basically tripled down on Feats to use her Inspiration on skills without costing Inspiration, so most rolls will have an additional 1d6 tacked onto them due to that.

-- While Ragathiel is a bit more... bloodthirsty, Raga represents a far more *moderate* take on his beliefs. As long as folks treat with the party well, she probably won't get pissy at opponents.

-- Player is a *severe* arachnophobe.

Other points and thoughts to be posted as I remember them.

Wei Ji The Learner AKA Modesta Reynard AKA 'Raga' Ragathiel's Hand

Finishing the level up from the last run, does anyone have a particular 3rd level spell that would be useful for them?

Since we've already got another divine caster in the group, do we want to swap Tseghet out for someone else? I do realize that this would mean an entirely different party with no holdover from the previous campaign, but I want to make sure folks are happy and we feel like we're not teetering on the edge of a knife all the time. XD

I have the following characters in range (listed in order of level):
- Bloodrager 4
- Skald 5
- Cleric 5 (Tseghet)
- Barbarian 5
- Occultist 6

I also could have a Kineticist 6, though they're still involved in another scenario that seems to be moving fairly slowly and might not be available for quite some time so I wouldn't want to wait for them unless everyone feel very strongly about bringing them.

Out of the options, my first thought would be the Skald. And entertainingly, his first adventure was the top floor of the Spire a while back. XD

Thoughts?

I'm down for whomever you want to bring. I don't want to force anyone out of a dedicated Spire delver just to make things happen. Yroh can grab the staples and let Tseghet fill in with other spells that he can't take. I have pretty good confidence in Mika as the main melee from what I've seen of swashbucklers. I will admit that I passed on some pervious Spire offerings due to the perceived power level of kineticists. :P

Skald isn't really going to be of use for Mika, so I'd avoid that. Mika is all dex. Having another front liner wouldn't be the worst idea, though depending on the type of occultist, that could be an interesting addition.

To clarify: the skald is a spell warrior - so replacing rage with weapon enhancements.

Oh. That changes things. I'd love for the skald to be able to sing the song of Keen for my rapier! I was just shy of affording it for this floor!

My vote is now definitely for the Skald. Does that make three supports, though?

Okay, the slides are up; please add your token and quick-roll info to the block spoilers on slide 2. I'm going to read the level over the weekend; are we ready to kick off this level on Monday?

Still waiting to hear from our other players if they would enjoy the skald.

I’m down for whichever. The skald would help Yroh not need to enhance his weapon as much while still being good backup melee.

Play what you think you'd like. :)

Okay, let's get the tokens and quick-roll information added to Slide 2. When all four players have added this, I'll take that as my prompt that we are ready for play.

I'll go ahead and get the first gameplay post up, as well. You can place your token and respond to that once your info is complete on the slides.

Haha! Jahz the Wanderer has wandered back to the Spire!

I realize I should make this known:

Mika will use Charmed Life when definitely against a spellcaster, trap, disease, or poison. She'll be sure to save one for scary encounters. It does take an immediate action, though, so I'll let you know if I hope to use Charmed Life or Riposte in my "after every post" spoiler. It will likely also contain a roll or two for Parrying and/or riposting.

I also will parry/riposte as many times as I can while still retaining one panache unless I say otherwise (I'll specify which direction too. There's likely to be some combats where I warrant it useless to spend a panache. Do operate on "I will parry" by default, though).

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll read up on Charmed Life to make sure I understand how it works. I play a (level 1) swashbuckler myself, so I understand Parry/Riposte well.

Edit: Okay, that's simple enough. So you want me to include Charmed Life whenever you save against one of those listed threats? Do you want to apply a die-roll threshhold? (I.e. no Charmed Life if below X or above Y on the die?)

Please include the associated parry/riposte rolls (spoilered) for ease of gameplay. The panache will obviously not be used if the parry/riposte doesn't get triggered.

Unfortunately, Charmed life is a "decide before the roll" type thing. Go ahead and apply it to any Fort or Will save made against a spell, trap, disease, or poison. (Mostly, not against environmental effects, alchemical things, or reflex saves of any kind) If I run out before the end of an adventure, it'll be the first time. I've got 4/day at level 6.

As for the spoilered parry/riposte, I planned to already, though do forgive me if I forget.

Wei Ji mentioned it before, but both Yroh and Raga are on the non-violent end of the adventurer spectrum. They are more than happy to resolve as many encounters as possible through peaceful means. There won’t be any hesitation against clear threats but sub-dual tactics will likely come into play. If we need to adjust play styles after some time, please make concerns known.

I will get stats updated by tonight and post in character afterwards. Last call for requests on his new 3rd level spell known!

Just a head's up, I'm going to be mostly away from computer for the next three days or so for much-needed essential decompression time. If you want to move things (and Raga) along the stats are either in her bar or her profile. See folks soon!

Sorry about the response speed this last week. Since almost a week ago, I've been unable to access my MMO of choice, so it's been much harder to fully unwind after work. (for clarity, RuneScape. Wanna know what's up, you can look it up. Scary stuff)

Due to this, I must warn I'm going to be inconsistent on posting until the problem is resolved. PbP isn't as enjoyable if I'm posting while stressed. Thanks for understanding.

Sorry for *my* response speed this past week, I've been getting a really weird schedule and it's been killing my sleep and creativity cycles. I *think* I'm getting the hang of it now, but it may cause odd fluctuations.

I just wanted to quickly point out that--since there's a chance you'd want to play with the levers more before leaving this room--I didn't bot you through the door. Absent that particular feature of this floor, I would have just botted your progress forward.

I'm not in the habit of making PCs wait until someone posts "we walk through the door." This is just a weird floor for that.

I'm gonna be honest, that's the first time that's worked in the entire life of this character! Haha!

But also...the thought of kissing Klarkosh...

At least you're hitting and critting. Congrats.

Given how often I post and immediately edit while GMing, I should also wait to jump on responses when playing. XD

As for Mika, she won't go headlong back up to the last level.

Characters who are panicked are shaken, and they run away from the source of their fear as quickly as they can, dropping whatever they are holding. Other than running away from the source, their paths are random. They flee from all other dangers that confront them rather than facing those dangers. Once they are out of sight (or hearing) of any source of danger, they can act as they want. Panicked characters cower if they are prevented from fleeing.

Source.

As for Mika, she won't go headlong back up to the last level.

I'll wait for you all back here, then! Go team!

I got the first Pfizer on Friday morning, mostly recovered by now. The main side effect was being really tired, so I went to bed pretty early both nights. Currently on track to be fully vaccinated by the time we fly to Disneyworld.

Gettin' my second shot this Saturday! I didn't have any side effects from the first one, but my wife seemed to be real tired like you did. But also, on that note, I likely won't be able to post this weekend (Friday to Sunday) because of the anticipated side effects and my "needle anxiety"

Tomorrow is Day Four (of Six) in a row with a roller-coaster of a schedule (in some cases getting less than ten hours off between shifts) plus inventory on Thursday.

On the bright side, once we're past that, I'll be off for three days, but it's going to make my posting sort of garbage for the next few days, just fyi.

Last week was hellish. Hopefully won't have to do that anytime again soon.

Do we have any way to communicate with Yroh?

You didn't establish any method in advance, no.

This is my first module run for PFS; since there's talk of moving on now, I'm going to have to research whether you've completed enough for full rewards. I know for a scenario it's 3 encounters, but I can't find anything about modules. Anybody have a pointer for me as to where to look?

Honestly, the only guidance is 'were they there for more than half the sessions? then full rewards'. The other consideration is that anything not discovered is marked off the chronicle sheet. Sometimes this matters, sometimes it does not. I tend not to mark things off when it is no fault of the players, but table variation applies. Yroh is up for continuing to explore or heading down to the lower level, which are both valid options. If the characters want to be thorough, the Explore part of the motto supports noting the exit and continuing to map the maze. I just know its a lot of time consuming work getting around.

When running this in-person (or, rather, over VTT), I’ve been looking more at if the group has made the majority of the floor safe for further exploration or at least noted the dangers. That’s completely story-driven and very subjective, so... XD

I wanted to give you some notice that I will be away this weekend. Pretty close to 24 hours after this post--around 1PM EDT on Friday in the US--I will be leaving for the weekend, returning sometime on Sunday. I probably won't resume posting until my usual time on Monday morning.

No worries, we will be here when you get back. I'll be headed to Disney in a couple weeks but the reduced hours and spousal permission to participate in online events while we're there should mean I don't miss any time.

Apologies for the delay in post, combination of 'horrible Fatiguing condition' from work combined with 'horrible Fatiguing condition' of getting vax has left me Exhausted. Finally had enough energy to post and hope it's enough to work off of.

Hi all, this is a heads-up that I'm in a wedding tomorrow, and will be leaving work soon to get ready for the rehearsal/dinner. Given that I'm never good at posting on weekends, that means I probably won't post again until Monday. If I'm holding things up, feel free to bot me.

Also, I probably should have made it more clear in my in-game post that Raga needs to amend her posted Round 2 actions; she posted early, and the game-state had changed, making her posted actions not possible. I need (at minimum) new targets, but she may want to declare entirely new actions.

Meanwhile, I'm dealing with the strange situation of having a lot more early-day shifts than expected and reading comprehension being at an all-time low. Sorry to drag this thing out.

Wish I'd be able to post more frequently, but work has been eating my soul.

While I'm not at 'quitting' this team (or work) the latter is becoming more and more likely as the days pass and the lack of support becomes more and more evident.

Hugs Raga. Take care of yourself.

Hi all, sorry for my disappearance. My mother has had a health emergency and things are not good; she’s now in Hospice care. I’ll be continuing to play on the boards, but I don’t know how this will affect my GMing. This game tends to move slower, so just bear with me as I adjust to things.

We have all the time in the world. Take what you need, I’ll still be here.

Always take care of the important things in life first.

Hi all, so my mom passed away last week Monday, and we buried her on Thursday. I'm getting back on the boards as a player now, but am going to take a little extra time before restarting this game as GM. Not much, mind you; I plan on kicking this one back off next week.

Thanks so much for giving me the space I needed during this time. I needed it, but am also ready to get back to normal; I look forward to getting back at it next week.