Skulk & Shackles with GM Apoc

Game Master Apoc Golem

With both of the most immediate threats engaged with one another, Oduim goes to the fallen form and ensures that she lives a moment more.

With both of the most immediate threats engaged with one another, Oduim goes to the fallen form and ensures that she lives a moment more.

Cry decides to not do anything stupid… yet.

In order to get things moving again, I will assume Oduim is taking the Total Defense action for now.

The botflies continue to ravage the tree-fiend for 1d6 ⇒ 5 damage as they bite viciously at its weird gray-green skin.

The ghoul(?) in the shack continues to struggle on the ground.

Draxxie can go ahead and attempt that Perception check again if she wishes.

[color=green]ROUND 5
Characters in BOLD may act.
Draxxie (13/18 hp)
Asami (9/20 hp)
Creature 1 (15 dmg, buggered off)
Creature 2 (10 dmg, bleeding)
Estelle (-9/17 hp, unconscious and stable)
Oduim (11/20 hp, Total Defense)
Botfly Swarm (0 dmg)
Arron Ivy (0 dmg, prone)
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Was it not clear I was taking the round to tend to Estelle? I don't have to roll for that do I? I just thought in Pathfinder I can just spend the round to stop her from bleeding out.

Bandaid?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

I made my Stabilization save and the GM indicated you could tell that without making any check. Also, it is a DC 15 Heal check to Stabilize a PC (unless you have and use the spell) and also the same DC 15 check to stop bleed. That said, the GM may reduce or remove said need for a roll, obviously.

perception DC12: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

"Over the seas, we shall ride
Searching for treasure, into the night
Over the seas, our quest has begun
And we will not stop with the dawn of the sun"

Alestorm - Over the Seas

climb, axe, rage, acp: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 6 + 2 + 1 - 2 = 11

Maaaaybe that makes it? It's only a 5' wall right?

Draxxie's eyes go wide as she sees the ghoul struggling. I could throw fire at it. But what if I just burn its bindings away? S&*&. As she desperately belts out her stirring song, she unhooks her axe from her belt and hacks it into the wooden palisade. Using the axe as leverage and her pike for a leg up, she tries to scramble over the barrier.

"Ghoul's bound up somehow. It's tryin' t' escape tho!"

Hey, GM; if possible, I'd like to run over and scoop up Estelle. Would I be able to move any after that, or is that pretty much it for my action economy?

@Draxxie:
It does have some pointy bits from its roughshod construction, but I'm just going to say yes.

----

@Asami:
Picking up Estelle would be a move action just like picking up any item, so you can move to Estelle and pick her up this round but that's it.

Asami hustles around and picks up Estelle.

"Let's go!" she snarls. "There's nothing here for us!"

The creature continues bleeding for 1d6 ⇒ 4 damage. Sensing its possible end, it scrambles through the branches away from the swarm with a shocking burst of speed--nonetheless, it can't get as far away as it probably would have liked.

[color=green]ROUND 5
Characters in BOLD may act.
Draxxie (13/18 hp)
Asami (9/20 hp)
Creature 1 (15 dmg, buggered off)
Creature 2 (14 dmg, bleeding)
Estelle (-9/17 hp, unconscious and stable)
Oduim (11/20 hp)
Botfly Swarm (0 dmg)
Arron Ivy (0 dmg, prone)
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Oduim sprints off away from the tree!

Withdraw toward wherever we are headed.

For now, it seems the damnable bugs are singularly focused on making a meal of that tree-monster, chasing after it to dine on its strange pinkish blood. They swarm over the creature's fleeing form (for 1d6 ⇒ 6 more damage). It opens its mouth to croak out in horror, but the botflies pour into its mouth, biting inside its throat, which immediately swells up in reaction and sends the thing toppling out of the tree (for another 2d6 ⇒ (2, 6) = 8) damage). It falls 20 feet to the ground below, landing on its head. There's a sickening CRACK as bone rips through the back of its neck, and it lies unmoving in the grass.

WELP.

The ghoul in the shed continues struggling. Whatever it's tangled in is really giving it the business.

Whether the bugs continue feasting on the fresh kill remains to be seen, but for the moment, no one appears to be in immediate danger of death. It seems as good a time as any to flee.

It seems like the party is in agreement with the "GTFO" plan. You all manage to escape before the ghoul can extract itself from its current predicament sooooo

COMBAT OVER!

As you rush down the hill, you are struck by the horrible realization you're going to have to come back here eventually for the fresh water. But for now, you feel strangely invigorated by surviving your harrowing experience, as you all reach

LEVEL 3!!!

Congratulations!
Where are you going and how are you planning to resuscitate your unconscious companion?

Draxxie's chakram is still lodged in the trees. Hopefully she might be able to recover it later.

"Alright" Draxxie addresses the bloodied pirates, "that was s+#~. How long we got before th' ship sails? Another day?

I say we leave New Girl behind. She can't fight fer s%+# an' she's gonna go ghoul. Let's go get Sandara and Barefoot. If'n we get th' two of 'em in fightin' shape, we c'n come back, kill th' trapped ghoul an' get th' water. As long as them bugs have flown off."

You know this is just Draxxie's reaction to Estelle falling down all the time, right? ;)

Oh boy, I think something cool happened! I feel stronger!

That's just the concussion talking, stupid. They probably left us behind as bait. Now just wait for the sweet release of death, accompanied by incredible pain. Oh what fun! For me, not for you, obviously.

If I live and wakeup this will matter, HP roll level 3, 2x attempts: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 6) = 12

Huh... well, let's hope I live. Nice rolls me! Get enough HP and the GM will have to actually TRY to murder me instead of just doing it with one hit.

Asami shrugs, and it looks damn easy considering she's carrying an entire not-quite-dead-or-undead-yet girl. "She's magic. We know where we're headed, if we can revive her she can cast her spells before we get there and maybe not die in the process. Or she will die, and waste a few of the little gremlins' time and resources in the process. Either way, shouldn't be a waste."

"...If we've got the healing on-hand ourselves, anyway."

"Huh."

Draxxie purses her lips, eyeing the fallen girl. "What's this?" She picks at what looks like a scroll strapped to Estelle's body. "Did she mention this? There's another!"

There are several scrolls on Estelle's character sheet noted as being strapped to her in various places. Two of them are healing scrolls that Draxxie can use to revive her. Despite Draxxie's complaints, she's perfectly willing to use Estelle's own stuff to patch the witch up :)

One, those are placed to be hidden under her clothes so SHAME ON DRAXXIE! :P However, still perfectly reasonable you would glance and see the edge of one. Two, per GM on discord, Estelle will be awake from the HP gain at leveling and she really doesn’t want to burn those scrolls unless she can do so to learn the spells on them. But sadly there is a three, can’t post now so you’ll have to wait to berate her for soaking all the damage every fight.

The witch stirs awake while being jostled about, ”…y-four hours, I’m not done yet. Besides it wasn’t my fau…”

She looks around at the pirates, ”Oh hey. We get the water?”

*Glares mentally*

Draxxie jumps as Estelle starts talking. "You're alive. Still."

She pouts for a moment, thinking.

"We didn't get the water. Yet. B'tween the pair of stranglers, the flies, and the ghoul tryin' t' get free an' eat us, it was all we could do t' escape wi' our lives. An' you.

C'n ya walk, New Girl? Mebbe ya should hide up somewhere."

”No s*!* I ain’t cut out for pirating, are you daft? I ain’t a pirate, just a survivor. And obviously you all ain’t worth much either since ya hide behind the little girl all the time.”

”Finda place to hide up to die later? Ya no. Now if their are no immediate dangers, my patron has new spells for me. A half an hour glass gets us two heals. Three times that gets two stronger heals, so do we have the time for either option?”

Hah yeah! Tell them a%$*!*@s off. But maybe be nicer to the one that carried us outta there?

Star pats Asami on the shoulder, ”Thank you for the ride, I can walk now.”

"If it weren't fer us, ye'd be dead three times over. Remember that, New Girl."

Draxxie glowers.

"Much as I'd like t' rest up, nowhere on this island is safe. An' we don' know what situation Sandara an' Barefoot are in, only it ain't a good one.

Fox. You an' Sandara got somethin' so, what do you wanna do?"

”Ya know what, you don’t get to talk to me again. Shut the f&!! up. Stand back and yell songs while I get killed. F+~+ off forever.”

Draxxie ignores the brat and looks to Asami. "Still think this child is worth carrying? She's a f#$~in' liability. If I heal you, you're gonna fight and fight hard. I heal her, she just falls over and complains when I get her back up again. What's the point in that?"

Asami lets Star back down to her feet.

"Grindylows grabbed her two days ago now. If she's still alive, she'll probably still be alive in a half hour, and we're less likely to die trying to save her. And Samms. An hour and a half is... longer," she says, grimacing at her own language gap. "Riskier for them, safer for us."

Her brow furrows.

"We're no use to them dead. Do your prayers or meditation or whatever you need. The rest of us will figure out our plan of attack; better to hit 'em hard and fast and ideally by surprise, before they can play their hostages against us."

GM, what all did we see through the spyglass? Generic beach and grindylows, or is it more complicated than that?

Estelle leans against a tree and begins working out two spells with Cry, trying to mimic the motions of the little plant until sure she has them memorized.

Preparing Bonefists in both her level 2 slots.

”Ready, let’s go save those pirates.”

My bad, I thought I had CLW on my list when I gave that 30m vs. 90m comment (would have prepared it in my level two slots). So bonefists it is and she has two healing scrolls if necessary.

Draxxie paces up and down while Estelle communes with Cry. Every so often she looks over at the scarred waif and purses her lips as if about to say something. S@&~ Draxxie, look at her. You wanna end up like Plugg or Harrigan? Poor kid probably ain't any older than Caulky.

When Estelle's finished working, Draxxie steps over to her. But not too close.

"Listen, kid. Estelle." Draxxie's voice is uncharacteristically soft and gentle. "I was born into this life. And it's a hard life. But it's a life I want.

Now. We got shipmates t' rescue."

The buzzing of mosquitos is quite loud in her ears, but eventually Star feels confident she can cast a couple spells.

@Asami:
The beach was relatively nondescript, though it looked slightly rockier than the sandy beaches you walked down on the east side of the island. Still, Draxxie should be able to point it out without too much effort. We'll say there were a couple unique rocky outcroppings she can spot.

----

@Everyone:
The trip to the shoreline where Draxxie spotted the grindylows should take about two hours, since you have to go a ways southeast and follow the shore around (there are no paths on the western side of the hill down, it's pretty sheer). If you take an hour to let Star prepare her spells (by the book, it never takes more than an hour to prepare all spell slots, so I'll assume you take the time to prep all the new spells), then you should get to the spot a little before sunset.

I'll hold off on continuing until we have everyone leveled and HP rolled.

Gotcha--so, terrain-wise, we've got a little bit of sturdy high ground but no reasonable chance of a surprise attack... aside from, perhaps, Oduim approaching getting in the water a ways down the shore and then approaching from the sea so we can catch them in a pincer attack. Theoretically, Asami could join him with an Alter Self, but it's slightly risky because we don't know what's in the water. Could be grindylow-infested, for all we know, but if we stay pretty close to the shore, we could bug out onto land if we spot any baddies and Draxxie and Estelle could join us right away. Wouldn't be splitting the party more than, say, 40-50 feet.

"Alright. How banged up are we now? We got a second wind, seems like. I'm hurtin' but not so much I can't fight grindylows.

An' who's been keepin' on t' their own holdouts? I know I have."

Draxxie fishes in her pack and pulls out a scroll tube. "Bought these off Grok, thinkin' they'd be good fer emergencies. Reckon this is an emergency. One's a healin' spell, th' other summons a swarm. That'd be right good ship-to-ship, but caster's got no control over whatever she summons. I c'n cast them scrolls, no problem."

"I got one healin' potion I bought, an' we still got one potion of invisibility from th' prizes, an' that's it far as I c'n tell."

"Reckon we should stick t' th' land if we can, Asami. Too much chance th' grindylows c'n surprise us underwater. Mebbe on land we c'n still surprise them."

"Charging and screaming, then," Asami snorts. "Usually more helpful if you've got a dozen men or more, but we can make due with less."

"It might be worth using invisibility to scout ahead, but I don't expect the grindylows have left our friends unguarded."

How many hp is everyone on? I don't think leveling up heals us for any more than we got from our new hit die, does it?

I gained 7, so I'm up to 16.

Estelle is characteristically quiet for the walk to the beach, but internally quite a bit is being said.

Soooo… I assume you heard Draxxie’s speech, even though you pretended to ignore it?

Of course. I’m mute, not deaf. Classic abuser tactics obviously. Once their victim fights back, they switch tactics and get all apologetic and sweet to draw you back in and then start ramping up the abuse until the cycle repeats.

Okay yeah. I mean that is true. But what if she is being honest? Maybe she is just over stressed about this s+*~. Didn’t she get kidnapped too? And maybe she has no friends?

Yeah that’s how they get you…

…ok, it’s a possibility. But actions speak louder than words. And actions that aren’t just one time. She gotta show some sort of continued effort before I’ll give any ground. Don’t get me wrong though, I’ll treat her like a teammate.

Fair enough. To be honest, I don’t trust any of these a%!~*#%s. Proud of you for telling her off though. Well done.

What? That wasn’t me. That was all you. I don’t talk.

Uhuh, sure. Keep telling yourself that. Sure sounded like you.

She pulls a scroll, hidden under her clothes, and casts it upon herself then gives a thumbs up that she is ready to go.

I wavered back and forth on this but I’ll just use this scroll now CMW: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (5, 4) + 3 = 12

15 HP, good as it’s gonna get.

"S%@#, if we can be invisible, why not make that part of the attack? Have someone slip in ahead of us while we approach, find Samms and Sandara and cut 'em loose if they're still alive? And then if it goes bad, we're all there punching grindies anyway and can just hustle over."

"Footprints might be a bit obvious in the sand, but if the rest of us are approaching, they'll have bigger spectacles to pay attention to."

Draxxie hands Asami the Invisibility potion. "I dunno how long it'll last, but I think not long. An' ye're probably best to take it if ye're thinkin' t' get th' drop on the tentacled bastards."

Asami nods, grabs the potion, and pockets it.

"Let's go, then."

Once we're close and ready to go, Asami will take the potion and move in--assuming everyone else is following along and ready to fight. Probably good to give her Bone Fists right about then, too ;P

This part, at least, doesn't require Oduim to be leveled up.

The party heads southeast down the hill, to the beach, and follows it clockwise around the island.

Almost two hours passes, as the sandy beach begins to turn pebbly and then rocky as you find yourself about a hundred yards from where you spotted the grindylow cavorting in Sandara's hat, complete with a distinctive rocky outcropping in the vague shape of a crow's beak. However, you see no grindylows now.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Tell them.

No.

Come on, maybe they don’t see it. They may be stinky gross pyromaniac pirates, but you need to get off this damned island and to do that, you need to work with them.

Estelle sighs then points at the rocks, ”Cave entrance. Maybe tracks going into it. I will make us light.”

Her eyes flash and a tall glowing vine appears next to her floating in the air, ready to lead the way in.

Dancing Lights. I’m also willing to do Bonefists now if we want to go with that plan.

Original plan I think was to wait 'til the grindies were just in sight, then get buffed and get going. Without them being in sight...

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Asami's eyes quickly adjust to the darkness... then blink, rapidly, as the light rises.

"Good call. Let's go in; could be trapped, so I'll go first," she snarls.

Back in the yakuza, we'd send in new recruits with torches and oil to scare 'em out, but between the water-goblins and the hostages, it's all complicated. Plus, we're all outta lamp oil... and fletchers, and dogs, and hostages of our own, fire ant hills, new recruits... I'm not sure how you'd even break a tentacle.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Oduim spent most of the time ignoring the others. All they do is b!tch and complain. I should just return to the sea and leave them all to die.

The party approaches the mouth of the cave, and notice that it bends around a corner before vanishing into darkness. The unhewn rock ceiling is barely ten feet tall here. The waves of low tide lap at the walls, flooding the floor with a little less than a foot of water. Based on the water lines, this whole cavern entrance would be flooded almost to the ceiling at high tide.

New map! You'll have to zoom out a bit before you spot the entrance. I have placed you in a general order but let me know if you want it to be different. Most of the "hallways" here will not be difficult terrain since it's low tide, but there may be rooms that are much deeper. I'll let you know if and when you reach such a location.

Also I've been having issues with the lighting on tokens (among other things; this map is the bane of my existence), so I just switched it to Daylight Mode which makes everything within line of sight visible. I'm trusting you all to bear in mind your actual range of vision, as this place is dark as heck. I'm not putting auras on Oduim or Asami to denote their darkvision, because frankly there won't be many places where 60 feet won't cover it. However, if anyone else wants to throw up a light spell or two on people, I will place auras on them to show the light radius.

How does the group want Estelle to handle the dancing lights? Move with us, ahead of us, behind a little? All of the above?

"Want more light? I c'n do that too." Draxxie nods in the direction of the hovering globes. "Or d'ya wanna go ahead in the dark a little, Asami? Light might give us away."

Enough lights from the casters to see ahead of us a ways, unless Asami wants to go stealth-mode yet in which case hold the light back I suppose.

"If our crew mates see the light, they may be able to shout for us so we know which direction to travel, or can possibly alert us to an ambush. Better than the three of you tripping over yourselves in the dark."

I am fine with the current order.

"I'll go on ahead," Asami says, "just far enough that the light doesn't give me away." She clutches the invisibility potion in one hand. "First sign of enemies and I'll drink this--hopefully before they spot me in turn--and head in."

She considers a moment, then picks up a small rock with her free hand.

"When I drink it, I'll drop this. When you hear it, move in."

I have placed an aura on Draxxie as the person the dancing lights are hovering around, but if you want it on someone else instead just let me know.

Asami leads the way, keeping to the dim light ahead of Draxxie's spell, hoping that whatever might be ahead won't spot her until she can drink her potion.

Unfortunately, that's not the case.

Rounding a bend, Asami finds herself at the mouth of a large cavernous room, with an exceptionally high ceiling that vanishes into darkness far above (so higher than sixty feet is all you know). The water in this room sinks deeper than the foot-high stuff you've all been sloshing through, and is murky enough that even Asami's darkvision can't penetrate further into its depths than about ten feet.

At the last second, Asami spots a pair of eyes glinting in the darkness just under the surface of the water before four slimy figures lurch out of their hiding spots as one screams something in a weird, flowy language reminiscent of waves crashing angrily against rocks in a storm.

Because they're outside the light radius, only Asami and Oduim had a chance to spot the ambush (yes, they ambushed you! CURIOUS) and only Asami rolled high enough Perception, Asami will get to act in the surprise round.

Unfortunately, three grindylow get the jump on Asami before her reflexes kick in. The one she spotted, #3, panics and dives below the murky surface. #4 and #2, however, rush her with spears.

While she manages to dodge both charging spears, the little beasts' writhing mass of tentacles they use in place of legs both whip out and take hold of one of each of her legs. Next thing she knows, Asami is on her back as her head raps against the rocky floor. Thankfully the water cushioned her fall so it doesn't do much more than bruise her ego.

[color=green]SURPRISE ROUND
Characters in BOLD may act.
Grindylow 3 (0 dmg)
Grindylow 4 (0 dmg)
Grindylow 2 (0 dmg)
Asami (16/27 hp, prone)
Grindylow 1 (0 dmg)
[/color]

Asami is still busy cracking her neck and knuckles when the grindylows topple her.

She drops the rock as she reaches for the nearest grindy...

Grapple vs. 2: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 9 - 4 = 23

Her voice comes out like waves crashing brutally against stone.

#2 looks less than enthused about being wrestled by a demon-blooded Strong Mom, and might even consider her threat, but his friends just laugh and bark something back in Aquan.

#1 swims up to join the fray, but can't get a good angle to charge so she simply sidles up into melee with the prone brawler.

#3 has yet to surface.

#4 also takes advantage of Asami's compromised situation to stab down at her, managing to gore her abdomen on the other side. (Another 5 piercing damage.)

[color=green]ROUND 1
Characters in BOLD may act.
Grindylow 3 (0 dmg, hiding underwater)
Grindylow 4 (0 dmg)
Draxxie (14/27 hp)
Grindylow 2 (0 dmg, grappled)
Asami (9/27 hp, prone, grappled)
Estelle (15/29 hp)
Grindylow 1 (0 dmg)
Oduim (17/26 hp)
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