GM Badblood's The Dragon's Demand

Game Master Lance K

Items to sell: platinum ruby wedding band 1,250 gp and gold and green agate circlet 2,500 gp.
Looking on Irlana's CS I have 2945 GP.
I'd like to have both of the wands. A second level wand is 90 GP/charge, so 3870 for the restoration wand and 3510 for the Moderate Wounds?
Total cost: 6642 (7380 -738 for 10%) Minus Irlana's gold, is still 3697, which just about completely wipes out the jewelry.
Does the party accept that?

Sir Falcon straps the Abadaran banner to his pack, then helps the Shelyin followers mount their banner, high for anyone to see.

He steps back and nods to them. "Yes. That looks good as a banner for the town, and all of us!"

He then adjusts his equipment and calls out to the party, "Are we ready to depart? and KILL THAT DRAGON!!?!"

I am good with the wands. Andwise doesn't need much and only has 600ish gp prior to this. There isn't enough else to sell- and the vestments are valuable as it is. I'll need to do a quick scroll purchase to make the most of it though

Andwise slowly stalks over to his newfound found flying mount, and laces up it's saddle. Shining lance in hand, he climbs on Tanssi and leaps into the air.

Fly, Tanssi: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
Ride, Andwise: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Maffei's blurred form shifts, as she hefts her weapon and steps up alongside Sir Falcon.

"It appears that it is time... Let us go"

The party finishes their preparations and head out to the Monastery. They are able to take the Old Quarry Road the whole way there and the journey only takes a couple of hours. On the way they encounter a patrol of grioths but the seasoned adventurer's are able to dispatch them quickly.

The monastery is a large stone building with a bell tower sitting on top of a hill. The entire property is surrounded by a 12-foot tall, black iron fence. There are two smaller outbuildings: stout stone building in the northeastern corner and a guard house just north of the only gate. There is a tiled courtyard filled with statues in from of the gate.

A new map is in the slides! I put a red circle on the map to show where the gate is, but the party may have other ideas on how to approach the building.

As they sight the Monastery Sir Falcom calls a halt to the group. "Stealth isn't an option for me in this armor, but I think we should wait until dark to try and enter. Does anyone want to try and scout around the area to see if there is any other way in?"

Irlana smiles at Sir Falcon's admission. The new plate armor looked great, but it wasn't remotely quiet. "I can't match Maffei, but I'm pretty good at moving without being seen. I'm fine with using the daylight hours to scout around the building. There might be some other entrance. Plus we can scout for lookout towers and stuff like that to avoid. No need to alert the dragon before we see if it has allies."

"Tanssi and I can scout a bit... these walls are not any barrier to them now." The halfling nods towards the unfurled wings on the cat like creature.

"I suppose someone more stealthy than myself could make use of this saddle as well. I will say, Tanssi will be a more effective companion in the evening... As I think is also the case with Maffei"

Tanssi is only stealth +8, but has a shadowy form. Maffei is +28 in areas of low-light or darkness. We could use Tanssi to move Maffei over the wall/around and allow Maffei to do the bulk of the sneaking under the cover of dusk.

"I like theese plans. If Tanssi would bear me, I may easily access the compound and report back."

GM. What would be the easiest/most efficient way to handle a consistent/steady search? I am happy to make several different rolls and allow you to apply them as they happen. I just don't want to drag out a lengthy "explore" scene if that is not necessary.

The party scans the monastery from a distance and it feels eerily silent. There is no smoke rising out of any of its chimneys and no sign of anyone roaming around the perimeter.

The belfry tower rises about fifty feet above the monastery and would give anyone inside it a clear line of sight to the surrounding countryside. The party can safely make their plans from the edge of the woods with the assumption that they can't be seen but once they leave the forest they could be spotted. There is enough long grass and trees in the surrounding countryside for someone to sneak up to the compound.

Maffei goes off to scout the building's entire perimeter from a distance before deciding to move up to it. She comes back and reports that there is only one gate but that the fence looks pretty climbable.

The party can use Stealth to approach the compound because there is enough concealment/cover to hide behind, but Stealth generally doesn't work while flying as there usually isn't much concealment in the sky. If Tanssi does fly up to the compound they will be seen by anyone within line of sight.

During the day, the light conditions are bright. They will reduce to normal around dusk and then change to dim at nighttime (the moon and stars provide some light).

I assume that the party is moving cautiously and checking everything, ie "taking 10" on Perception checks at all times. Irlana has the highest bonus, so you're going to automatically spot anything that has a Perception DC of 26 or lower. You can always spend more time searching something if you'd like. And any opposed Stealth/Perception checks (such as a monster waiting to ambush the party) will be rolled.

Is there any 'high ground' that might give us any indication of the buildings inside of the wall? Can we see a guard in the belfry tower? I'm asking wondering if we see any reason for trying to go over the wall somewhere rather than trying to sneak through the gate.... I'm also assuming that the belfry tower is where the bell would be to sound the alert for the facility. ?? I don't have the silence spell. Not sure how else to stop it.

Most of us don't have darkvision, but I still think that trying to sneak in at night would be better than marching up in broad daylight. We don't have a cart full of anything looking like piles of gold.

I was more suggesting that Tanssi could get her easily over the wall, and back- not necessarily flying around above the tree line or drawing attention

"Let me look around tonight after dark. If things are clear, I say we go in later tonight, under the cover of darkness. I should at least have a clear way scouted for us..."

I vote Maffei spends a little time exploring in the dark, and then leads the team through the safest path to the tower. Secure the tower, and then move on from there.

Irlana scans the belfry, but from this distance she is not able to see any one in the belfry. But after about fifteen minutes of staring at the tower, she sees a figure stand up and briefly stretch before sitting back down and disappearing out of view. From this distance all she could really see is that they appear to be about human sized.

Perception checks do get a -1 penalty per 10 feet, so as long as the party approaches the monastery in a way that's reasonably stealthy, they won't have to worry about Stealth checks until they reach the edges of the map. That goes for Sir Falcon as well.

Irlana nods at Maffei's plan. "You're better at stealth than any of us, and I can't see in the dark. But there's somebody up in that tower. Doesn't seem to be very actively watching, but he'd probably spot anyone openly approaching. And then the alert would be sounded. I don't know where a dragon might be in there, but I don't want to find out that way!"

Maffei waits until night falls and sneaks up to the edge of the fence. She sees that the iron gate is open but that the building just north of the gate is some kind of guard house with arrow slits facing in all directions. The rogue hears two creatures speaking in Draconic, but she doesn't understand what they are saying. She makes it around the entire perimeter of the fence and doesn't see signs of any other guards. But when she gets to the squat stone building in the northern corner of the compound, she notices that there is a foul stench of rotting flesh coming from the structure.

Maffei doesn't see anyone in the tower anymore, but she does notice that there is now smoke coming from one of the monastery's chimneys now. Scouting the entire fence line of the compound takes Maffei about two hours.

Reports the wonderful GM write-up...

"I think we should either investigate the rotting stench, or seek to control the belfry. Once those are taken care of, perhaps we could surprise whoever is in the monastery's living corridors."

The belfry is on the eastern side of the monastery and is about 100 feet high. The party would need to get closer to the building to see if there is a door leading to its stairwell, but the rough stone walls could be tackled by a strong climber.

The metal fence is not intended to be a serious impediment to intruders and can be climbed pretty easily.

The fence has a Climb DC 12, so even the halfings can get over it by taking 20.

It sounds like the party doesn't want to go in through the front door, but you'll need to decide on a course of action.

With the team back enough so they could speak quietly without risk Irlana considers the options. "'whoever is in the monastery's living corridors'.... That's an interesting thought, and valid I think. We believe that we are coming here to face a dragon. Obviously it isn't the original dragon since that carcass is still on the ground and rotting. But the drakes that it apparently sent, and the magic. I still think there is a dragon." She glances at the building again. "But I don't think the dragon is here. Dragons fly, and it seems to me that they'd want a lair where they could fly in and out. None of the buildings are suited for that. I think this is where the dragon's henchmen are. If we had the cart full of treasure that was demanded the henchmen would probably direct us to wherever the dragon is so it could kill us and take the treasure into its lair. Then it would probably go and destroy the town, or at least try to."

"If stealth were an option I'd agree with Maffei. That building in the back that stinks is odd, and shutting down the warning system in the belfry is important. But climbing that high without being spotted, or Sir Falcon trying to climb over the fence without being heard.... It isn't likely to work. I'm thinking that a mixed approach would suite us much better."

"That separate building at the gate looks like a guard house. Probably several guards in there with crossbows that they'll fire through the slits. But they'll listen first. Maffei is practically invisible in the dark like this. I think she should sneak in, either over the fence or maybe even through the front entrance. We can make some light and openly approach. When challenged we state that we are from the town and that there is a treasure wagon following, but that it was damaged and will be here once the wheel is fixed. We're here to explain, and perhaps even to lead them to it if they don't want to wait. If anybody opens the door to leave Maffei kills them at the door and we all charge in. If they don't open up.... Well, no plan ever survived contact with the enemy. We'll have to figure that out when we see what happens. I doubt that they can pull a rope in the guard house to ring the bell!"

If no one else pipes in, we'll start the next encounter with Irlana's plan!

Irlana forms a plan to try to lure any guards out in the open while Maffei looks for a place to sneak in. Since she can easily hop the fence, she will easily be able approach the guard house from the backside.

"I think Sir Falcon should lead our group carrying his banner. I'll be beside him slightly back so he can fight without worry of hitting me. Where does everyone else want to be in the formation?"

Irlana will cast Light on the banner before we start our approach to the gate.

The party approaches the open gate while the shae rogue slips over the wrought iron fence and sneaks along the back to the guard house. Together, everyone notices that the squat stone building has several arrow slits but only one door on the eastern side.

As the party approaches they hear a sharp, high pitched voice call out in accented Common, “You there! You here with the money? Where is it? Show us! Lord Aeteperax is impatient!”

You can roll a Bluff check if you're going with the broken wheel story. Maffei can also roll a Stealth check to see if the guards notice her. And I would allow a Knowledge (Local) or Linguistics check to tell what kind of creature is speaking to you.

Irlana steps to be right beside Sir Falcon. "We're here because we knew that Lord Aeteperax is impatient. We couldn't carry all that treasure so we loaded it on a wagon. It's coming but one of the wheels was damaged. We left the guards with it and sent the driver back to get another wheel while we can to explain. Just another day, or maybe two. But, if you want it sooner we can lead you back to the wagon. You could bring some of your people and we all could carry the bags full of treasure here for Lord Aeteperax. I think all of us plus.... maybe six strong men should be enough?"

Bluff?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

Sir Falcon waits for Irlana and add, "I'm a strong man. But that is way more treasure than what I can carry!"

Aid Bluff?: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

The creatures inside the guardhouse chatter amongst themselves in Draconic for a few moments before one of them barks out, "Lord Aeteperax won't tolerate no more excuses! Get the money and bring it here now! Or we will shoot arrows into your butts!" Irlana can clearly make out the sound of a bow being drawn.

"You kill us then Aeteperax gets nothing! I think he'll eat you for that."

"We can go back and see if the wagon is fixed. Or you can send some people with us to help carry the treasure. Or.... Maybe you can go get Aeteperax so he can carry the treasure? But there's too much carry for just us to carry!"

Waiting for an answer. If it becomes obvious that they intend to shoot, they run up and around the side of the building so they aren't in front of the arrow slits.

sorry! On vacation with just a cell phone

"No talking, no trickery! Not our problem if the gold is too heavy for you to carry. Go get stupid villagers to help you carry it! Or let Lord Aeteperax burn down you village! Either way is fine with us!!"

Maffei sneaks up to an arrow slit on the north side of the guardhouse and peers in. She sees three kobolds in the building. They are wearing studded leather armor and have bows at the ready. She also sees that they have barricaded the only door from the inside by stacking tables and chairs up against it. The kobolds don't seem to have noticed her.

Maffei looks left and right, trying to determine a potential entrance through, into the chamber. She coalesces shadow around her and she moves it through the arrowslit and into the room before it explodes in a 10 ft flash of bright light, targeted to get as many kobolds as possible in it.

Each Kobold gets an initial DC 22 Will Save to disbelieve (Success = 20% total effect. Fail = 100% total effect) Then they get a DC 22 Reflex save for blinded vs dazzled for 1d4 Rounds: 1d4 ⇒ 1. If Evil, take additional Damage: 5d4 ⇒ (4, 2, 2, 3, 4) = 15

Immediately after the flash, Maffei will climb through the arrow slit Amorphous Body Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 34 + 10 if low light/dark in the room.

Sir Falcon considers trying to argue wit the creatures in the guardhouse. He isn't sure he could help, but since Irlana seemed to have failed....

Seeing the flash he activates the flames on his sword and quickly moves toward the end of the building where he assumes a door might be.

Seeing things go out of control Irlana follows Sir Falcon, watching the arrow slits on the wall.

Life Link on Sir Falcon

I think that Maffei's spell-like ability should be DC 17. You're not thinking 2nd edition numbers, are you? The 10 foot burst hits two of the kobolds.
 
Red Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Blue Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Red Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Blue Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Unfortunately, neither are blinded but Red still takes the full damage and is dazzled, while Blue still takes 3 damage.

Sir Falcon is moving up to the guard house when suddenly there is a blinding flash of light coming from inside the guardhouse, followed by cries of surprise and rage from inside the building. The knight sees the lean silhouette of the shae standing near the door of the building and realizes that the burst of light was probably her handy work.

Round 1 - Light Conditions: Dim
Irlana
Maffei
Eltran
Tanssi
Sir Falcon
Blue -3
Red -15, dazzled
Green

I moved everyone a little closer to the building. Bolded characters are up!

Knowing the battle will be quick if they can get the door open Irlana casts Guidance on Sir Falcon. She calls out, Not shouting. Normal volume hoping Maffai might hear her. "Maffei. We need the door open. If it's locked please open it?"

No intentional deceit, sorry! DC 22 is what herolabs gave me when I built her. I could go back and try to back-calculate the math on that though to confirm or deny. The difference between my HL and the slide for her appears to be CL 2 vs CL 6 on the spell-like ability.

Despite her planning, the flash seems to have significantly less impact than Maffei had hoped. Despite the hang-up, she moves into the space, sliding to the door and attempts to unlock or otherwise open the main entrance to the gate.

My initial intention was to cast and move (standard/move) but am now remembering that PF1 has a single surprise action, and that is why Maffei is still outside..

Disable Device: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (3) + 18 = 21

Andwise, on the back of Tanssi, rides along the back of the flying cat- rushing towards the potentially opened door.

Double move. Fly Speed 40ft. Distance to the front of the door (where Tanssi stopped, 60ft

Yeah, its easy to forget that you only get one standard or move action during a surprise round. It does really limit what you can do in a surprise round!

No worries! Hero Lab can be weird sometimes. CL affects the power of her spells, such as how many damage dice a shadow fireball would get but not the spell's DC. Those 2 "monster HD" aren't applied towards her CL either; on the stat sheet she has a CL 1 due to the 3 negative levels she starts with.

Irlana gives Sir Falcon some spiritual guidance as Andwise and Tanssi move into position. Maffei takes a look at the door and realizes that her skills will be of little use; this barricaded door can only be pushed open with brute strength.

Maffei can make a Strength check to force open the barricaded door.

Round 1 - Light Conditions: Dim
Irlana
Maffei
Eltran
Tanssi
Sir Falcon, guidance
Blue -3
Red -15, dazzled
Green

Strength: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Charge!

Seeing the flash Sir Falcon activates the flames on his sword and quickly moves toward the end of the building where he assumes a door might be.

Maffei pushes her shoulder against the door and shoves it open. Tables and chairs fly out of the way, clearing a path for the other adventures to get inside.

Sir Falcon charges toward the door, slowing/stopping as necessary for the people in the doorway.

Irlana follows. Using the wand to cast Bless if I can? Or is this still the surprise round?

Maffei got a surprise round because she was Stealth'n, everyone else is out in the open

Everyone moves up to the door and Maffei uses her wand to bless the adventurers grouped up together.

The kobolds all move into position and fire their bows at Maffei! Luckily only one of the arrows connects, grazing the shae's bicep before sticking into the frame of the door. The other two whelp in panic and their shots go wild.

Blue: 1d20 + 8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 8 - 1 + 1 = 9
Piercing: 1d4 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 2 = 7

Red: 1d20 + 8 - 1 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 8 - 1 + 1 - 1 = 26
Piercing: 1d4 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 2 = 6

Green: 1d20 + 8 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 8 - 1 + 1 = 9
Piercing: 1d4 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 2 = 4

Round 2 - Light Conditions: Dim Effects: Bless
Irlana
Maffei -6
Tanssi
Sir Falcon, guidance
Blue -3
Red -15, dazzled
Green

I like it when initiative goes this way! Everyone is up!

Irlana stays behind the others, adding Maffei to her Life Link. She switches wands to have the Cure Light Wounds wand in hand. Life link now on Sir Falcon and Maffei. Hit point transfer is at the start of my turn so Maffei will be healed 5 points next round.

Maffei Slides into the room, hugging the wall to the north and facing up with the red kobold.

Scimitar, +1: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25 Damage, Cold: 1d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 6 + (4) = 13

Space opening up- Tanssi leaps, pounces, and charges into the middle of the kobold line.

Bite, PA, Charge: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 2 = 23 Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9 + trip
Trip: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 2 = 21

Claw #1, PA, charge: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 7 + 2 = 21 Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Claw #2, PA, charge: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 7 + 2 = 25 Damage: 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Green -> Red -> blue if needed

Andwise stays along for the ride ride: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14, but manages to get off a small globule of acid at the green kobold.

Acid Splash, touch: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8 Acid: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Maffei and Tanssi rush into the room and take down two of the kobold archers quickly and efficiently.

Round 2 - Light Conditions: Dim Effects: Bless
Irlana -5
Maffei -1
Tanssi
Sir Falcon, guidance
Blue -3

Sir Falcon moves in to the room attacking the final enemy.

Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 28
damage if that hits?: 1d8 + 1d6 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + (1) + 4 + 2 = 11

Sir Falcon slashes the kobold with his blade. Overcome with fear, the kobold throws down her bow and shouts, "Don't kill me!"

Round 3 - Light Conditions: Dim Effects: Bless
Irlana -5
Maffei -1
Tanssi
Sir Falcon
Blue -3

Sensing/hoping that the battle is over Irlana uses the wand on herself for healing. CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"Quiet down. We didn't want to hurt anyone but you were being unreasonable. Did you seriously think anyone could carry the amount of treasure that the dragon demanded?" She glances around, "Now we don't want to disturb everyone here. No reason to interrupt the sleep of anyone important. Are there other guards that we should work with so an alarm isn't raised. We can discuss details tomorrow after everybody gets a good night of sleep."

Diplomacy?: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13