GM_DBH's Curse Of The Crimson Throne

Game Master DBH

"Ooh! Found some notes here about some Varisians' immunity to the blood veil! I didn't even realize that was the case...." Kayleigh puts the documents into her backpack for future perusal, blissfully unaware that someone slipped past invisibly.

Kayleigh Fairwind Perception Check (guidance): 1d20 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 3 + 1 = 19

"Someone escaped..." she smells the air, her mutagen had given her a better nose. Kailyn manages to point her in a direction. "While we were fighting. We should follow." she wants to lead everyone to where the door opened and closed, but there are people needing attention here.

heal: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
alchemy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25
perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31

Brid looks at the people on the tables with a clenched fist. She forces herself to look past the desire to do violence on whoever did this and look at what is being done. "They are keeping them unconscious with drugs..." she taps the beakers, then thinks "They must be immune to the disease and these... doctors... are trying to figure out why."

"I hear Something." she explains what is in the spoiler above.

Kayleigh returns to the infirmary to help Brigita after nabbing the interesting notes. Looking to find the two patients who look the healthiest (relatively speaking), Kayleigh ask Brig (assuming the others chase after the invisible person) to carry one of the two to the doctor's office while she carries the second. There she burns one of her channels to use merciful healing to remove the diseased condition from them.

"Hopefully, this way they'll be able to recover while the drugs wear off without being re-infected by other patients."

@Kayeligh. Where are you getting a patient from? The patients in F7 are all Varisian's. None of them have the disease, in fact all are immune. That's why they're being examined. They are also all at -2 hp and stable. So channeling here will get them all back on their feet.

The elevator at F4 is gone, there is a wooden flap covering the shaft so you can't see down, but the actual carriage is gone. You'll have to find some other way of getting down.

I misunderstood. For some reason I thought there was a mix of sick and immune citizens used in whatever experiments have been going on here.

"Alright, so they're stable for now?" Ariadne confirms with Brig and Kayleigh. "We need to catch whoever is running, and see what other horrors lie below. Does anyone see a way to call the elevator back up?"

Good question Ariadne. There is a button panel by the side of the elevator, one button for the level above you. One for this. There is also a hole for a third button, the button is gone so you can't use it. I wonder where it goes?

You can just force the elevator doors open and jump down, hoping your weight will break the panel. :)

"Looks like they took the button that would let it go to the lower level." the magus says after a few moments of studying the mechanism. "We might have to jump or clomb down, Brig, think to can pry these doors open?"

"I'll bet Vedika can make the lift come back up with those little lockpick things she uses!" Kayleigh blurts out excitedly.

Vedika nods at Kayleigh's suggestion, glances down the shaft and says, "I could probably climb down and try to re-activate the lift. Just have to make sure nobody spots me."

Rereading the description I see what I got wrong.

F4 Warehouse Lift
Several cubbies and wooden lockers line the walls of this small workroom. Four rickety chairs surround a water-damaged table, and a well-used but solid-looking cargo lift rises up through the ceiling

Formerly a break and storage area for the warehouse’s workers, this room contains a powerful lift, allowing sizable cargo to be hauled to the floors above or hidden in the chambers below.

Any character who gets on the lift can plainly see controls that cause the contraption to operate. A successful DC20 Perception check reveals an additional control set within the slot of the operating lever, a simple hole that’s missing the button to operate it.

So it's not obvious that there's a third destination. My mistake. Obviously the warehouse has been used for smuggling and has a hidden basement.

Now you've found the hidden control it's a DC35 Disable device roll to get the lift working again and get access to the hidden level.

What are you doing now?

I mean it's in the module itself! If he sees you stomping his guards he goes invisible and uses the lift to sneak below. It's a low-tech cargo lift! It's going to be noisy, and freaking obvious!

"But how long you feel it will take? We are kind in a hurry here and our foes already know we are here."

"Yeah this looks... complex. Could take quite a while, and I don't have any way to do it magically."

Kayleigh can use guidance to give a +1 to the check of either Vedika or to whoever wants to try to break the doors, but that's about it.

We seem to be stalled. I know Zahur was busy for a few days. Who else is with us?

Here, but unable to do much.

HERE! Just waiting on the disable

Here. Not really anything I can do. We're basically stalled by a skill challenge that requires a perfect roll to pass.

Still here, no idea what to do, since I can't hit that disable DC.

"How about we just break it." Zahur says, seeing Vedika's indecision, and soon kicks the covers.

Attack (unarmed strike), Power Attack: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (10) + 10 - 2 = 18
Damage, Power Attack: 1d8 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 4 = 17
Attack (unarmed strike), Power Attack: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (18) + 10 - 2 = 26
Damage, Power Attack: 1d8 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 4 = 17
Attack (unarmed strike), Power Attack: 1d20 + 5 - 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 - 2 = 19
Damage, Power Attack: 1d8 + 6 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 4 = 17

A simple wooden door has hardness 5 and 10 hp, so the first kick might have already done the trick, but rolled just in case. If the covers are obviously made of more resistant material, I could spend an use of martial flexibility to get the Smash feat, which allows me to ignore 5 hardness. With that, I'm confident Zahur could bring down even an iron door in 2-3 more rounds.

Kayleigh is about to hand her morningstar to Zahur when her comrade swiftly reduces the door to splinters. Not saying a word, she casually withdraws the offered weapon and tries to act like nothing happened. She does give Zahur a quick nod and smile, complimenting him of the thoroughness of his destructive work.

Zahur smashes the concealing cover, revealing a shaft that drops 30' down to the roof of the elevator.

Climb DC5. Shaft is 10' by 10' with stone walls, but you have the elevator cables so you can easily slide down to the roof.

You know that someone slipped past you and retreated down the elevator. They know you are coming!

What are you doing now?

Kayleigh replaces the morningstar back onto her hip so she'll have two hands available for the climb down. "I suppose I ought to go first, just in case I fall. Don't want to land on anyone else, right?" With a nervous chuckle, the young woman tries her luck and descends the lift shaft, after muttering a quick prayer to Milani.

Kayleigh Fairwind Climb Check (guidance): 1d20 + 0 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 0 + 1 = 11

Vedika slides down next.

Climb: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

With no trouble, Zahur follows.

Brid waits till last, letting the others figure out how to get into the elevator before sliding down after them.

I should add, there is a hatch in the roof of the elevator that you can use to get in, then it's just opening the elevator doors to access the secret floor.

As her companions open the hatch, enter the elevator from above, then open the doors to access the secret floor, Brig slides down the rope and joins them.

:)

climb: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Ariadne slips easily down the cables and joins on the roof of the elevator.

The roof hatch isn't locked or trapped and you open it to reveal the elevator. The doors are opened meaning the elevator is open to the room outside.

Looking down into the elevator and the room beyond shows it is dark, there is no light down here.

Use the secret level map up top for this.

What now?

Brig with her animal mutagen still active provides both darkvision and scent. While the others work at getting a light source active, she creeps into the other room.

stealth: 1d20 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 9 + 4 = 20

perception Red: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
perception Orange: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
perception Yellow: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
perception Green: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

Due to distance and lighting Green just misses spotting Brigita.

Brigita can make out 4 Grey maidens with longbows waiting for the party to step into view!

What are you doing now?

Vedika whispers as softly as she can, "If it were me, knowing people are coming down here, I'd set up an ambush. Wish I'd remembered to bring a smoke bomb."

Brig slips back into the elevator and informs her companions, then charges the nearest grey (red?).

+1 earth breaker, charge: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
damage, power attack: 2d6 + 14 + 4d6 ⇒ (5, 1) + 14 + (1, 1, 4, 5) = 31
she will also do 4 bleed damage due to bleeding attacks

Brigita smashes a very surprised Red to the ground with one powerful strike!

Next.

Zahur will not leave Brigita alone so follows along. Out of the elevator, he swings his hook at the maidens, taking advantage of his great reach.

Swift to activate Outslug Style, then flurry with lunge for 20 ft. reach

Flurry, Lunge, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 14 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (19) + 14 - 2 - 3 = 28 vs. Green
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 6 = 18

Disarm, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 22 - 2 - 4 - 3 ⇒ (9) + 22 - 2 - 4 - 3 = 22 vs. Green

Flurry, Lunge, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 14 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (3) + 14 - 2 - 3 = 12 vs. Yellow
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 6 = 20

Flurry, Lunge, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 9 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (6) + 9 - 2 - 3 = 10 vs. Yellow
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 7 + 6 = 23

Flurry, Lunge, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 9 - 2 - 3 ⇒ (11) + 9 - 2 - 3 = 15 vs. Yellow
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 6 = 18

AC 21.

Ariadne utters an arcane incantation, making a bief gesture as her cloak seems to come to life around her, her sword held at the ready as sigils flare to life on her armor.

Standard action: cast Allied Cloak +2 AC (AID 1/round), Swift action: spend 1 Arcane point (+2 armor enhancement)

Zahur rushes forward and wounds Green, disarming her with a nasty twist, his follow-up strikes on Yellow don't beat her defense.

Vedika slips into the room, keeping to the shadows.

stealth: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (11) + 15 = 26

The Grey maidens had longbows in their hands and were planning on firing at anyone coming down in the elevator, so this round they are scrambling to draw their swords.

The party can now act!

The bear of a blacksmith steps forward, the silver sheen of her hammer marred with the blood of one grey maiden. "What are you protecting?" she asks with rage at these 'Protectors' being part of what they saw upstairs. The question does not stop her from attempting to end her opponent.

+1 earth breaker: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20
damage, power attack: 2d6 + 14 ⇒ (2, 5) + 14 = 21

Ariadne simply charges forward, striking out with her blade at one of the Grey Maidens.

Cold Iron masterwork Longsword / Charge: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22
Slahing/Cold Iron: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Zahur keeps the pressure up, now switching to the other maiden and then back again.

Flurry, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 14 - 3 ⇒ (2) + 14 - 3 = 13 vs. Yellow
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 6 = 21

Flurry, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 14 - 3 ⇒ (15) + 14 - 3 = 26 vs. Yellow
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 6 = 17

Disarm, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 22 - 4 - 3 ⇒ (3) + 22 - 4 - 3 = 18 vs. Yellow

Flurry, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 9 - 3 ⇒ (4) + 9 - 3 = 10 vs. Green
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 7 + 6 = 15

Flurry, Risky Strike: 1d20 + 9 - 3 ⇒ (18) + 9 - 3 = 24 vs. Green
Damage, Risky Strike: 1d10 + 7 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 7 + 6 = 14

Brigia just misses her strike. Her opponent ignores her question.

Ariadne steps in and wounds Orange.

Zahur wounds and disarms Yellow, following up by finishing the bleeding Green.

Vedika & Kayleigh can act.

"'scuse me!" says Vedika as she sidesteps Zahur to get in close.

Punch dagger attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Punch dagger damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Botting Kayleigh

Morningstar: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Kayleigh hurries in but misses.

Vedika scratches Yellow.

Longsword Orange: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Longsword Yellow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

who?: 1d3 ⇒ 3

Both the remaining Maidens miss their attacks.

Outnumbered and wounded. I'm handwaving the rest of the fight. They're dead.

G1 Entry Hall
The scuffed stone walls of this chamber have been plastered over and then decorated with lurid murals of skeletons cavorting among the dead of a Korvosa that has completely succumbed to blood veil.

Simple wooden doors lead to the north, south, and west, each bearing a painting of a scythe wielding skeleton. A sizable double door stands on the east wall, appearing in the mural as a massive set of double doors opening into the pyramid foundation of Castle Korvosa.

Two more scythe-wielding skeletons decorate these large doors.

What are you doing now?

"This smells like a trap to me. Anyone able to sense if there's any animating magic in those scythe-wielding skeletons?"

Don't you have Detect magic Vedika?

I suppose I should use your Trap spotter ability more often.

perception Traps: 1d20 + 12 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 12 + 1 = 25 Exactly what was needed!.

Vedika spots the two traps on the Northern door and the eastern double doors. Both have magical wards set on them that will animate the Skeletons to attack if the doors are opened.

Use your disable device DC25 :)

Ariadne stands ready to defend Vedika as she moves to disable the trap.

Disable Device, masterwork tools: 1d20 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 12 + 2 = 28

OK. North and south are single doors. East is the double door. Which way team?

North seems good. Double doors to the east seems too intimidating

Kayleigh tags along quietly. It's clear that she's horrified that the people in charge of fighting the spread of the blood veil are criminally shirking their duty.

Talk it over here.

SO IT BEGINS

"The Game Master has not yet connected the gameplay thread for this campaign."

For some reason it's not letting me link a gameplay thread to this campaign?

I'm working in it.

That did it. Stubborn bastard FTW!

Happy to be here.

Hi everyone.

In an effort to get to know a new bunch of PCs I've enjoyed reading everyone's background and character sheets. What those don't tell me, however, is how everyone sees their character in play.

As such, let's have a chat. How do you see your character acting in combat, or during exploration, or interpersonally with PCs and NPCs? What do you think your character brings to this very non-standard bunch?

For my part I see Nethen as an atypical frontliner - he's Dex based thanks to the Elephant in the Room rules, so he's probably not going to keep up with the AC or static damage that a more traditional fighter would, but he should be able to deal out and take some damage while hopefully providing some battlefield control with trips and disarms from his whip (again, thanks to Elephant in the Room).
He's not the most natural explorer in the group - I've had to work hard on his very limited skill selection, but he does have Survival and Perception so he's not totally useless.
When it comes to social interaction he's slow to trust, naturally suspicious, and is happy to use both the easy way and the hard way when it comes to getting information out of people. He's got more interpersonal skills than nearly every other martial character I've played, so hopefully he'll get to use some of them to help out the party.

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about Nethen, and I'd love to hear about the people he'll soon be adventuring alongside.

That did it. Stubborn bastard FTW!

Thanks, DBH!

let's have a chat

Session 0, LET'S GO!

I've never played a mesmerist before, but I think they have a role very similar to a bard, which is to say buffing/debuffing, limited spellcasting, and they can act as a party face. I have no issue sharing a party face role with Ionghil if that's something he's planning on emphasizing with his oracle. Current spell selection is centered around locking down enemies, but that can adapt as I see how the party advances. My one current trick is a buff to Will saves or Sense Motive checks or defense against Intimidate checks. Future tricks would be decided based on party need or whatever seems natural.

I generally tend to favor vague backgrounds for PCs, because I have to play them for a bit before I find their voice. (And some GMs find a vague background easier to work with, and other GMs don't care about a background, so I'm not motivated to get too in depth before play starts.) All I've established thus far is that despite many of the Mesmerist abilities, archetypes, and Paizo's iconc mesmerist leaning towards evil, Vazhimort is going to be a generally good guy who is inclined to help people. But he's also a gnome, which I strongly equate to being fey, which I have very specific ideas about, so his motivations might seem somewhat goofy or alien.

DBH, are you able to tell us how the party will be coming together? Will we meet in an inn; will we already know each other; are we part of the PFS; etc.?

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about Nethen, and I'd love to hear about the people he'll soon be adventuring alongside.

You put a rank into Handle Animal... is there a story reason for that? Normally I wouldn't even ask, except that you said you put some effort into Nethen's skill selection.

I love a Session Zero, my group had one when we started Ironfang Invasion four or so years ago where we all sat down around a table with drinks, snacks, books, and character sheets to hash out what we were playing and who they were. It was a lot of fun and made our party into a group of real people.

I’m looking forward to seeing Vazhimort in play. I’ve only ever encountered evil mesmerists so it’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Nethen Tesril wrote:

I'm happy to answer any questions you might have about Nethen, and I'd love to hear about the people he'll soon be adventuring alongside.

You put a rank into Handle Animal... is there a story reason for that? Normally I wouldn't even ask, except that you said you put some effort into Nethen's skill selection.

Fighters don’t come with a great selection of background skills as class skills, and Handle Animal seemed like the least useless. I see it as something of a natural affinity Nethen has for the strays and wild animals of The Shingles.

Fighters don’t come with a great selection of background skills as class skills, and Handle Animal seemed like the least useless. I see it as something of a natural affinity Nethen has for the strays and wild animals of The Shingles.

Makes sense. The skill could come in handy in case we need to drive a wagon or something.

Vedika functions like a stock rogue: find traps, open locks, sneak attack. At higher levels her fighting ability becomes garbage and she will rely on being invisible a lot.

The party will all receive individual invitations to get information on a matter of great importance to them.

This is where they will meet for the first time and find out about the common thread that joins them together.

Oh, this is probably a good time to mention that it's a DC 19 Perception check to spot that Vedika isn't human.

Ariadne will pretty much function like a fighter initially, with her armor proficiency, ability to enhance her armor, and using spells to supplement (shield).

As she levels, she'll add touch spells to her repertoire of melee attacks but will very much function as the party tank, likely with the highest AC and even harder to hit with things like blur, mirror image, displacement etc.

In terms of interaction, given her background Ariadne isn't the most trusting person, but she also has a weakness for protecting people

she also has a weakness for protecting people

Vazhimort is very happy to hear this!

Monday is coming. I hope everyone has finalized their characters and is ready to go?

Now is the time for any last minute questions.

Green two, standing by!

All set!

Ready to go!

Monday is coming. I hope everyone has finalized their characters and is ready to go?

I want to change the format of my character sheet, but otherwise I'm ready to go.

Now is the time for any last minute questions.

Where do babies come from?

GM_DBH wrote:

Monday is coming. I hope everyone has finalized their characters and is ready to go?

I want to change the format of my character sheet, but otherwise I'm ready to go.

Quote:

Now is the time for any last minute questions.

Where do babies come from?

Ask the Humans, they breed with anything.

I've PM'd the missing players. We need to wait for everyone to act on their message.

I've PM'd the missing players. We need to wait for everyone to act on their message.

I was constructing my opening post when you sent the PM!

GM_DBH wrote:

I've PM'd the missing players. We need to wait for everyone to act on their message.

I was constructing my opening post when you sent the PM!

Sure you were. ;)

Will post in a few minutes

Vazhimort Nachipi wrote:

GM_DBH wrote:

I've PM'd the missing players. We need to wait for everyone to act on their message.

I was constructing my opening post when you sent the PM!

Sure you were. ;)

You can't rush art.

No update tonight. May be a gap in posting as my Father is back in a hospice.

My Father passed away on Saturday. It was expected and he was in a hospice his last few days.

No updates for the coming week I'm afraid.

I'm not dropping out as these games are one of my great pleasures.

I'm truly sorry for your loss. I hope you have good memories of him to serve as some small comfort.

Sorry to hear that GM.

My condolences, DBH. Thanks for letting us know.

I'll be taking my family on a roadtrip over the next couple days. I'll be back on Wednesday.

I thought it best to ask now. How many of you will be around during the Christmas break? Should we start again after New year?

I'm fine either way. I will be home and can run the games, but if some of you are busy with families and travel it might be best to take a longer break.

I’ll be around.

I'll be away from the 23rd to the 26th. I'm on call on the 27th and 28th so should be able to post while working. I'm off the New Year weekend then back at work on the 4th so normal posting should resume then.

I'll be around

I'll be around. Family is coming here instead of us going to visit family.

OK. We will pick up the game on Monday. Thanks for all the kind wishes.

We haven't heard from our Oracle since well before Christmas, I've sent him a PM but this kind of gap doesn't look good.

If I don't get a response I'll look for a replacement, we do need some form of healing.

Ariadne, the link in your post with the text "taller athletically built woman, dressed in scalemail armor" doesn't work for me. I'd love to see the picture you intended, though.

Even though the avatar for this alias is of a human, Vazhimort looks pretty similar. Small humanoid with a big head in a hood. As he comes into his own, maybe he'll start to wear eye make up so that he looks more... mesmerizing.

Image from broken link

Sorry, I have to go out tonight and be social. No update.

Almost forgot until family reminded what day it is. No update as we're staying up to make sure this year is gone.

Happy New year to everyone. Hopefully things improve a touch in the coming year for everyone.

Happy New Year. May it be better for everybody.

Happy New Year!

Due to my advanced age and lack of energy there is no update tonight.

Get some rest.

Too ill to update sorry. Nothing serious but its knocked me on my back. Not Covid. :)