Protectors of Golarion (Wrath of the Righteous AP)

Game Master Sensen

My profile is mostly updated (I just need to add all the new deeds). I did notice in updating it that I made a mistake when I posted changes here previously: my hp went up by 8, not 6 (I get 6 from the d10 but forgot to add +2 from Con). Also, thanks to precise strike, my damage output should finally be in the ballpark of a Str-based paladin!

Yes, I will be moving us forwards today, Verene. Just give me a moment. :P

EDIT: Hurricane rules are as follows:

Hurricane: Hurricanes are incredibly massive storms featuring heavy rain and a wind strength greater than that of the most powerful windstorm. With winds of 75–174 miles per hour, a hurricane renders ranged attacks impossible, and siege weapons take a –8 penalty on attack rolls. Large or smaller creatures must succeed at a DC 15 Strength check or they are unable to move forward against the strength of the wind. Medium or smaller creatures on the ground must succeed at a DC 15 Strength check or they are knocked prone and roll 1d6×10 feet, taking 1d6 points of nonlethal damage per 10 feet. Flying creatures must succeed at a DC 25 Fly check or they are blown back 2d8×10 feet and take 4d6 points of nonlethal damage due to battering and buffeting. Hurricanes also usually cause flooding. It’s nearly impossible to journey out into a hurricane unscathed.

This may cause a delay. :P

Uhh… I don’t know why the hurricane rules have been posted here, but I’m sure it’s bad news. I suppose, on the upside, that it will make life just as difficult for the demons/cultists as it does for us?

Looks like we’re in one based on the updated weather section. I’ll be pisting later. Just checking in.

Yeah, we might have to wait until the hurricane dies down enough to get to the Kite without being brained by a flying tree. Merixia can take care of the temperature problem with communal endure elements, but she can't do anything about high winds.

HP +7 (now 31: 5 from half 1d8+1, 2 Con)
BAB +1 (now +3)
Will Save +1 (now +4)
Fort Save +1 (now +4)
Ref Save +0

Caster Level +1 (now 4)
Concentration +2 (now +8 - 4 caster level, 4 ability score)
Orisons no change
1st-level spells prepared per day +1 (now 5: base 3, ability score bonus spell, and domain spell)
2nd-level spells prepared per day +1 (now 4: base 2, ability score bonus spell, and school bonus spell)
Spells that will be prepared:
0 - create water, stabilize, guidance, resistance
1 - protection from evil (D), protection from evil, bless, bless, divine favor
2 - shatter (D), bull's strength, bull's strength, communal endure elements

+1 Ability Score Increase (Wisdom, now 18)
+0 Feats

Skill Upgrades: 6 (2 class, 1 Int, 2 background, 1 favored class)
+1 Craft (Weapons)
+1 Heal
+1 Knowledge (History)
+1 Knowledge (Religion)
+1 Perception
+1 Sense Motive

Let's see if there's a wand of endure elements available!
Percentage Chance, low is good: 1d100 ⇒ 89

Do I need to roll for scrolls of corebook spells?

And since we're bartering for everything, would it be possible to just swap her +1 light shield for a +1 buckler?

What a nice tasty big post to dig into! I didn't mean to pressure you, GM. I asked because while I know we're going to be infiltrating/assaulting the Gray Garrison ASAP, Verene still doesn't quite believe that, and if Irabeth made it clear that she wanted us to do so that same day, it could affect what spells Verene chooses to try to learn for the rest of her 'free' time that day in which the level-up takes place.

Two things I missed in the initial level-up post: Verene's uses of Prescience go up by 1 as a result of the Intelligence ability score increase (now 8/day), and her initiative goes up by 1 (now +8) as a result of the Forewarned divination school power, which adds half your level to your initiative.

Checking on one more spell availability -
locate object, 30% low good: 1d100 ⇒ 37
locate object scroll, 75% low good: 1d100 ⇒ 8

Okay, that means instead of cat's grace, which Elliot now has and she can hopefully copy from his spellbook for free later, she'll grab locate object as one of her free level-up spells; in-character this is because she was thinking about how to find Irabeth's sword, and how she wished to be able to just know if it was there despite all the rubble. The spell has a much bigger range than detect magic and isn't blocked by any amount of anything, except for a sheet of lead. Out of character, I think see invisibility might be redundant with all the glitterdust we have available now, and so would like something else in that 2nd-level school slot.

I'll get Thesius' profile updated tomorrow, but the updates should be as follows:

HP +7 (5 die, 2 con)
Ref and Will +1
BAB +1

Cha +1 (+1 round per day Archeaologist's Luck, +1 to spell DC, and +1 to Cha based skills)

Bardic Knowledge +2 (+1 to Knowledge skills)
Clever Explorer +2 (+1 to Disable Device and Perception)

+1 to any full ranks skills and any Knowledge skill that was at 1 rank prior so all are at 2 ranks now.

Rogue Talent - Trap Spotter (You can now simply roll for me if he comes within 10 feet of a trap)

+1 Caster Level
Learns 2 2nd-level spells - Still trying to decide which two between Aram Zey's Focus, Cure Moderate Wounds, and Heroism.
Gains 2 2nd-level spell slots

I'm perusing to see what he might buy. Would it be possible to have someone enchant his mithral chain shirt to +1 overnight?

Merixia: No need to roll for corebook spell scrolls - or indeed, most spell scrolls (that aren't too expensive). It's mostly just the racial/deity ones that I'd ask for rolling.

You can, indeed, swap the shield for a buckler if one is available.
+1 Buckler 75%, low is good: 1d100 ⇒ 56
So, yes.

You also get +1 use of Touch of Good and Destructive Smite per day. Also, I can't tell if you've added the additional +1 to your Perception from your new Wis bonus - the bonus I had before the level up had you at +10, which means you should be at +12 (1 from Wis bonus increasing and 1 from the rank you put into it), but I could have done my math incorrectly before.

Verene: You don't have to head out immediately - Irabeth will speak more on her plans in my next post - so you can take a couple days to learn spells and such.

Thesius: Yes, he can get it enchanted overnight for the 1000 gp that would cost.

Noted HP only went up by 6 (5 die, 1 con).

Rounds per day for Archaeologist's Luck went up 2. 1 for Charisma increase and 1 for Favored Class Bonus.

I'm putting down Aram Zey's Focus and Heroism as 2nd level spells currently.

I believe Aram Zey's Focus would give Thesius an extra +1 Perception o locate traps and Disable Device along with the ability to disable magical traps. Seeing as he is unable to disable magical traps until around level 7, I think this is worth grabbing.

Heroism is just great for many reasons.

I'll figure out how much gold he has left later and get up a post, but his sheet should be pretty up to date including the enhancement to his armor.

Wait, was he at 15 Charisma? I didn't realize that.

Merixia: No need to roll for corebook spell scrolls - or indeed, most spell scrolls (that aren't too expensive). It's mostly just the racial/deity ones that I'd ask for rolling.

You can, indeed, swap the shield for a buckler if one is available.
[dice=+1 Buckler 75%, low is good]1d100
So, yes.

You also get +1 use of Touch of Good and Destructive Smite per day. Also, I can't tell if you've added the additional +1 to your Perception from your new Wis bonus - the bonus I had before the level up had you at +10, which means you should be at +12 (1 from Wis bonus increasing and 1 from the rank you put into it), but I could have done my math incorrectly before.

Yay! Spellcasting in combat just got a lot easier.

I added the +1 for her domain abilities, but forgot about the Wis bonus to Perception. Thanks for catching that!

How long would it take to get her banded mail fitted properly, and how much would it cost? Since we're not going out today, can I retroactively say that Merixia prepared masterwork transformation? Have to have that done before she can get her armor enchanted.

Indeed, his Charisma was at 15. I bumped it to get more immediate benefit out of the ability score boost.

Current Wealth Calculations
55.83 - Starting Wealth before the last two party shares
+1431.3 - Second from last party share
-200.5 - Buckler swapped for Darkwood Buckler
+200 - Last party share
-100 - Donation to the community
-1000 - +1 enchant to armor
Subtotal 386.63

I will get that updated on my sheet shortly.

So, is the inside of the Defender's Heart cold enough, even with the hearth/braziers/fireplaces/warm clothes/blankets/etc., that people who stay indoors and bundled up are at risk of starting to take nonlethal damage/hypothermia from cold exposure? That seems extreme, but if so, and we're not able to go anywhere, the spell Verene will learn first today is endure elements, from that scroll. Then she'll prepare it in her four available first-level slots. I see Merixia has the communal version on her prepared list, which should help too, although that one says you have to divide the duration between the spell's targets.

Also, earlier I forgot to charge the writing-a-new-spell-into-your-spellbook fee for the scroll of burst of radiance, so now I have done that, another -40 gp. I had vaguely had it in my head that because learning a spell from a scroll consumes the scroll, you don't also have to pay the additional cost of writing, but nope, I looked it up just now and there's no rule that says that. You definitely still do pay the writing cost.

No, the inside isn't that cold, though it's uncomfortably close. It's definitely not below freezing.

Could I ask, out of character, what we can still do now? Or do we have to just wait around and describe what we do in or around the inn for the days while this storm lasts? The impression I got from this weather event and the descriptions of it is that it's highly inadvisable if not downright impossible to leave and do anything else whatsoever. Is that correct?

According to the rules Verene quoted earlier, you need to make a DC 15 Str check every round to move in a hurricane… so I believe that we are stuck inside until the weather breaks, yes.

Don't shoot the messenger - I was just repeating what Worldwound GM posted! :) If it becomes really important, at GM discretion, maybe there are mundane item that could make it possible for us normal folks to walk (slowly) through a hurricane - like crampons on the boots, a grappling hook to help hang on to nearby heavy things, a tower shield to block flying debris, etc.

Otherwise, maybe we're just supposed to have a day or two of downtime until our allies show up? Verene has stuff to do in the form of learning spells, obviously, though it could be summarized in one post depending on how many days we get. And Elliot should consider her spellbook an open book to him as well. (Do you want mirror image?) Azira's ideas about keeping up morale seem good too.

As far as buying things, I saw Elliot has some spring-loaded wrist sheaths for wands. Those seem like a great idea for Verene too - a swift instead of move action to draw a wand could be important in the action economy. She'll get a masterwork backpack to try to eke out every last bit of carrying capacity without spending a ton of money or a daily spell slot. Dretches seem like a likely foe, so everyone except maybe Azira would benefit from getting at least one of those soothe syrup alchemical items for a +5 alchemical bonus on Fort saves against nausea that lasts an hour.

Sure, Elliot would like mirror image, and he could let Verene copy Cat's grace from him. What were the costs of such again? Was it like 10 x spell level x caster level or such?

That said though Elliot only has 125 g to spend after selling his old armor, if Verene borrows him the 300-ish he needed to get a +1 mythril chain shirt. So he's fairly short on cash, and it technically already belongs to Verene. My plan was to buy perhaps another 4 charge scroll of chill touch to have spellstrikes all the way through. He doesn't have the slots for mirror image atm and Cat's grace and Glitterdust are arguably his best choices to prepare.

The cost just to write a new spell, if you don't have to pay another wizard a fee or buy a scroll of it, is 10 x spell level squared gp. So only 40 gp for a 2nd-level spell. Any extra gold costs over what he has vs what you want him to buy, you can just assume Verene covers them and let me know how much it was. She has about 1200 gp remaining right now due to that pearl of power not being available when I thought it was, and not that much to spend it on but more spells and her friends' survivability. :)

@Worldwound GM: Masterwork transformation and getting Merixia's armor properly fitted, yea or nay? If yes, can I get it enchanted too before the next day?

Sure, Merixia, I don't see why you couldn't do the first two (assuming you can pay for the spell). As for the enchantment, I can't see why not.

As for what you can do, well - ask any questions. Once everyone's prepared, I'll move us on to the next day.

Awesome, thanks! Once we're done discussing the wardstone attack, I'll have Merixia go shopping and spellcasting. I have more than enough gold to pay for the spell components.

When the current conversation is over I’ll get straight to work trying to improve morale and set up the things I mentioned previously, including participating with the music. If allowed, I’ll just take 10 on any necessary rolls (for 23 diplomacy, or perform:dance, or just 20 if I need to sing). If you want rolls instead let me know (or just roll them).

Thesius would work to keep busy during the day. This could be through playing games, running errands, helping Azira with maintaining morale, and more. He just won't want to sit for too long.

He would spend some time going through the vendor's wares some more. I'm considering a couple potions. Expeditious retreat and endure elements pop out currently, but I'm still deciding.

Thesius rolled fairly well on his Gray Garrison check. Any chance he might remember some extra details beyond what Verene did?

They'll act on the same initiative as their controlling player, for simplicity's sake.

Everyone, meet Varel. He enjoys long walks through the mushroom fields, knitting, and talking as little as possible.

Thinking about what we might encounter, I came up with four basic enemy types whose abilities should be thinking about countering, as we have seen them before.

Dretches can summon more dretches and create stinking clouds. If you don't like being nauseated (and who does), a 25 gp soothe syrup drunk right before we have a first encounter is a great investment. Lasts an hour, grants a +5 alchemical bonus on any save vs. nausea in that time. Verene will be doing drinking one, anyway. Also, ranged attackers (now not just Verene, but our Child friends, hurray) should often ready to shoot if dretches try to use spell-like abilities.

Quasits can turn invisible at will. Again, ranged attackers should often ready an action to shoot if they try to use spell-like abilities. But also two people have glitterdust, so we're probably fine otherwise.
Abrikandilus hate mirrors. If you show them a mirror, you have a chance to take away their turn as they try to destroy it. A mirror is only 10 gp and .5 pounds.

Tiefling (cultists) can summon darkness. Thesius and Verene should consider taking a form with the alter self scale that has darkvision, or else keeping their potions handy. Verene would be considering a Small humanoid that has darkvision and does not take a speed penalty for being small. That means only three choices: goblin, kobold, or grippli. Thesius has more options in the Medium field: changeling, dhampir, drow, gnoll, half-orc, hobgoblin, orc, strix.

Elliot and Azira would benefit from the alter self scale to become Small too, but Azira seemed earlier like she didn't want to use it? Meanwhile Verene has no issue with becoming a kobold or a grippli, so that may be in her future.

Verene's spells are ready to go for today, and her gear should be accurate too.
0 - daze, detect magic, detect fiendish presence, message (DC 15)
1 - color spray, floating disk, mudball, stone shield, heightened awareness (DC 16)
2 - burst of radiance, merge with familiar, web, locate object (DC 17)

Her purchases since last time:
Masterwork backpack (50 gp)
Mirror (10 gp)
Soothe syrup (25 gp)
Spring-loaded wrist sheath x2 (10 gp)
Durable cold iron bolt x10 (2 gp)
Scroll of floating disk (25 gp)
Scroll of create pit (150 gp)
Spell-writing fees, make whole (20 gp)
Spell-writing material costs, make whole/endure elements/mudball/stone shield/ear-piercing scream/floating disk: 40 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 (90 gp)
Previous cash: 1260.5
Total spent: 382 gp.
Current cash: 878.5 gp.

Couple things I was reminded of looking at the treausre list:
- We have not yet interred the remains of the gold dragon (armor) or tried find out more.
- We never found out the sale price of the marilith toy.
- I made a mistake ages ago and officially sold the banded mail instead of the breastplate because I thought that was what Merixia wanted to keep. It works out to 25 gp in our favor.

Aww, Verene noticed that Merixia was struggling and decided to help. :) Thanks for the soothe syrup tip, I'll definitely pick up a couple bottles.

I'll probably spend whatever I've got left on scrolls, but I can't think well enough to do the math right now. Situational stuff like calm emotions or effortless armor (in case we need to run away!).

Worldwound GM, am I reading the Children's stat block right that they have the feats Point-Blank Shot and Weapon Focus (Longbow) but not Precise Shot, so will be taking a -4 into-melee penalty for shooting at anything threatened by one of us?

Yeah, I noticed that too. I don't suppose we could request precise shot instead?

Regardless, I'll do an in-character post somewhere tonight to catch up. The weekend has been busy.

I can swap Precise Shot in for Weapon Focus, sure. I'm pretty sure Point-Blank shot's a prerequisite for Precise Shot, but the Weapon Focus is less important, I'm sure.

Here's the adjusted stats:

It's shopping time!

1431.3 (loot + reward from Tower of Estrod) + 200 (Nyserian Manor) + 60.3 (gold before Estrod) = 1691.6 gp

1691.6
-150 masterwork transformation spell component
-1000 +1 armor enchantment
-125 endure elements scroll x5 (just in case)
-50 remove fear scroll x2
-50 remove sickness scroll x2
-50 soothe syrup x2
-50 antiplague
-45 twitch tonic
_____________________
21.6 gp

Merixia takes her job as healer seriously!

Oh cool, thanks GM. Just wanted everyone to be aware of and thinking about that if we're going to be controlling them in battle (within limits) but it's nice to have one less tactical thing to worry about.

Let's remember to pick them up some cold iron arrows, if they only start with regular, and we'll be good to go. In fact, I'm marking off -4 gp from her sheet now for 40 cold iron arrows.

Ah, and what the heck, one more scroll of color spray, -25 gp.

Ooh, good catch Verene!

21.6
-4 cold iron arrows x40
_________
17.6 gp

Hm, I didn't actually know about the soothe syrup or the twitch tonic either. Thanks for mentioning those, Verene!

I could forego buying another scroll of Chill touch CL 4 and then have 125 g left for consumables instead of 25g. Enough for an antitoxin, a soothe syrup, a twitch tonic and one casting of endure elements if I sell an acid flask. Probably worth the tradeoff? He'd have 8 Frostbites and 8 Chill touches in total for the entire dungeon unless we rest somewhere. Or he could forego one colour spray to have 4 more of either.

Also ninja'd by Merixia, it seems! My fault for making a post that long, I suppose. Hm... @Meri it seems we both wrote something about interacting with the other at a different point in time. Should we handle the interaction of the 21st first where Elliot asks about her feelings on what to do if any cultists would surrender during the assault? As it might affect the actions the next day. Or we could write both at once and not care; I don't mind either way :)

I think I'll forego the antitoxin for now, but it's a good thought. Elliot, if you want a cast of endure elements, Verene had one more non-school 1st-level spell slot from yesterday that was unassigned, so you could assume she used it on a fourth endure elements for him. I thought about offering it to him, but in-character, Verene thinks that he, Merixia and Azira are basically immune to the cold weather, unlike herself, Thesius and Thamyris. And really, they're pretty close? At least for temperatures above 0 F/-18 C, which is all we've seen. To experience any negative effects under those conditions, they not only have to fail the hourly Fort save against exposure to cold weather, but roll max damage on that 1d6 to take 1 nonlethal cold damage. Then again, with endure elements up he wouldn't have to wear cold-weather clothing, and maybe that would save him some encumbrance.

In any case, assume you have it if you want it, and any extra gold costs for consumables too. At the point where we have multiple days of downtime in a row, Verene will learn chill touch even though it's from one of her forbidden schools, and then she can create some scrolls of it for Elliot at cost (that is, only 50 gp instead of 100 for a CL 4 one, and so on.)

Verene, do you have invisibility at all? If not, is that available? If Thesius is going to make a run for the shard while we're fighting its guards, it might be nice for him to be invisible when he does so...

I'd even chip in to help you learn it if that helps?

She does already know invisibility, and I guess I could have prepared it instead of web, maybe, and written a scroll of web (which doesn't depend on caster level for any of its effects) instead of learning one of the 1st-level spells she's learned over the past 1.5 days, like ear-piercing scream. Scrolls that cost under 250 gp take 2 hours to write, same as learning a 1st-level spell. I don't mind retconning that, if you think we should have a 4-minute invisibility ready to go. The difference between that and her current money would be 65 gp, which I do have to spend, and she would get the scroll of ear-piercing scream back.

However, we do also have access to 3-minute invisibility in the form of potions (one on Elliot, now three more from Anevia), which is why I didn't think about it as a big priority. What do we think? If one more person supports this, I'll make the change to have invisibility available.

3 minute potions should be plenty, thanks, I didn't realize we had those.

Also ninja'd by Merixia, it seems! My fault for making a post that long, I suppose. Hm... @Meri it seems we both wrote something about interacting with the other at a different point in time. Should we handle the interaction of the 21st first where Elliot asks about her feelings on what to do if any cultists would surrender during the assault? As it might affect the actions the next day. Or we could write both at once and not care; I don't mind either way :)

Whoops, sorry about that! I closed the tab right away and didn't see that you had posted. I opted to handle the conversation on the 21st by itself and give you a chance to respond.

Elliot: I have to accept an honorable surrender. :(
Merixia: Okay then, I'll make sure they don't have the chance! Easy peasy! :D

...somehow I don't think that's what he had in mind.

@Merixia- lol, I actually posted something to you too (possibly while you were writing your response to Elliot). Mine was nothing particularly important, but I wanted to make sure you saw it (don’t feel like you have to reply if you don’t have the time).

Azira, to answer your question from the gameplay thread, we each got 1431.3 from the split after the Topaz Solutions/Tower of Estrod mission and another 200 from the Nyserian Manor mission. So you can add a total of 1631.3 to whatever your existing gold total was after we got to the Defender's Heart and shopped for the first time. I think you said here it was 330 gp.

Elliot: I have to accept an honorable surrender. :(
Merixia: Okay then, I'll make sure they don't have the chance! Easy peasy! :D

...somehow I don't think that's what he had in mind.

I have this mental image of Elliot trudging along after Merixia during the assault. :')

Elliot: Okay, you cultist. By dictate of the merciful Dawnflower, you have the customary one chance to repent and-!

*A head rolls into view from the side*

Elliot: *Sigh*. Never mind . Damn it, Meri...

Thank you, Verene! Best wizard ever.

I updated the gold in my profile and deducted a couple extra for baths and wine. I think I might have some time this afternoon, so I might do a little bit more shopping, but it won’t be anything major.

When purchasing your arrows/bolts, remember also that the Riftwarden cache has some evil outsider bane ammunition, according to Aravashnial. Not that having any extra hurts, but it is something to consider.

Once we've all settled on how things are progressing, I'll move you forwards.

@Meri Shall I just assume Azira helped you with the armor as she noted in her post, or was that the next day? Slightly unsure. Could just move on regardless. :)

I'll take Hedge with me and buy him/her (can we tell?) the same loadout, 20 normal arrows and 40 coldiron arrows. Even if there's bane ammunition on the way there, the base ammo is cheap to buy for in case it becomes a slugfest. I'll also lend out the backup coldiron scimitar.

I was helping her in the morning of the next day (at least, that was my intention).

I'm going to double post here, otherwise I would have a MONSTER POST. :P @Azira, in the interests of expediency I'll just go along with having Azira help Merixia with her armor.

EDIT: If you're thinking battle fatigue is PTSD, you are correct!