[PFS_CORE_Aerondor] 05-07 Port Godless (5-9) HIGH TIER (Inactive)

Game Master Aerondor

This is a CORE game, so please make sure your character is CORE compliant.

We will be playing this at high tier. I may be able to take one or two lower level characters, depending on the makeup of the higher level ones. Pre-gens are also an option.

If you are currently in a game or expect to apply a GM chronicle before play, hold off putting in the information.

To make my life easier when it comes to filling in chronicles, if you could each put in a single post with:

Chronicle: What chronicle number this is for the character
History: What scenarios has the character completed? (or been credited with); any other chronicles (special boons etc)
Name:(the player) real name (as you have it appear on your chronicle sheets)
AKA: Character name
Faction: Your faction
PFS: # for the character
XP: starting XP, Note if Slow track!
Prestige: Starting prestige
Fame: Starting Fame
Gold: Starting wealth you bring into the adventure. This should be the total on your previous chronicle. If you want to buy any new stuff... see further on.
Day job: include the roll or that you don't have one. If you want to use a reroll at the end just note here you may want to use a reroll. If you don't include a roll I'll be assuming you take ten. Add the actual gold amount if you want to save me looking it up...
Spend: If you want to buy anything before the scenario starts (apart from your initial 150gp if you are a new character) include it here. This will appear in the "items bought" and/or "items sold" part of the chronicle.

Try to hold off actual discussion here until we have one post per character with those details (makes life easy for me to make the chronicles for you all at the end).

Please add an Icon for your character to the map. If you don't know how, let me know and I'll help. Also dot into the gameplay thread, or just hang around and RP there if you like.

Chronicle: 11! (He's spent nearly all of his life in modules.)
History: Wounded Wisp, Master of the Fallen Fortress, Thornkeep (all chapters), Tome of Righteous Repose, Cradle of Night (chapters I and II)
Name: Great Green God
AKA: Pietro Slaszal the Boisterous
Faction: Silver Crusade
PFS: 139009-45
XP: 24
Prestige: 22
Fame: 34
Gold: 11,112.46 gp
Day job: profession (brewer): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21
Notes: He's purchased non-CORE items off his chronicle sheets. Example: bookmark of deception from Cradle of Night, Chapter II.

Chronicle: #22
History: Will list below.
Name:(the player) real name (as you have it appear on your chronicle sheets)
AKA: Irizati Grunyar
Faction: The Exchange
PFS: #: 145373-13
XP: 25
Prestige: 23
Fame: 44
Gold: 565.6
Day job: Take 10 on profession merchant for 37. Irizati grants others a +3 circumstance bonus on their Day Job Check. A roll of 45+ earns 200 gold.
Spend: Spending 2,000 gold for a Handy Haversack after the adventure unless I want to buy something on the chronicle instead. (I can purchuce chronicle items for 10% or maybe 15% discount.)

Oh. I missed the name. Edward Paul McGee.

Irizati is a fairly typical animal companion druid.
Tiger companion who is chonky because Narrow Frame isn't in Core.
I just bought an AoMF (Ghost Touch and will have Baloo (2.0. RIP 1.0) wear it.

Spells are mostly buff and utility spells but I have Augment Summons and like using it if there is room.

With only 3 Beast Shapes per day I'll often stay in animal form. Dire Tiger if there is room. Leopard if not.

"AND HERE I THOUGHT I WOULD STAND OUT IN TOWN! HAH!!" XD

Pietro is going to be unhappy in Rahadoum since at the bare minimum they will want to take your holy symbol.

I don't know how we are entering the city but in theory Irizati could hold any contraband and sneak in as an air elemental or something.

I'm not sure how Baloo would get in though. I can convince him to not eat party members but he won't obey specific orders without one of you having Handle Animal.

I could enter with the part as an animal but my disguise roll is just +8 even with the Polymorph bonus.

You are coming in via ship.

The guards are not known to have a sense of humour with respect to religious symbols. However Pietro is in luck with Cayden having a tankard as a holy symbol. He can either acquire one in town or try to keep his lucky tankard with him. It's not like it is some weird two-toned mask.

Chronicle: 21
History: See list in this spreadheet or at the bottom of the character sheet. Actual images of the chronicles are located here
Name: miteke
AKA: Silgil
Faction: Grand Lodge
PFS: 141936-5
XP: 20
Prestige: 32
Fame: 40
Gold: 9,925.00
Day job: Craft(Jewelry): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (4) + 14 = 18
Day job reroll if reroll not used: Craft(Jewelry): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33
Spend: 9,475.00 on a bonded Staff of Fire at the end of the adventure provided he gets the XP and gets to level 8.

Oh. I'll get to my spell list tomorrow. Probably my default one unless there are requests. Each morning Irazati casts Greater Magic Fang on himself and Baloo and Longstrider on himself. All extended via a rod.

If you are having trouble logging in, clear the cache for Paizo, kill the browser, open the browser, and log in under My Organized Play.

Probably other ways, but that is what worked for me.

So what's the plan?

If we are using Pietro's hair-brained idea we'll need Pure Legion uniforms which means waylaying their laundry cart or them or magical disguises or some combination of all of that.

As for common city animals there's probably also the humble rodent.

I'll get to updating Pietro's spells as soon as we figure out if we are going to need to do things in night first (like the previously mentioned panty raid on the Pure Legion).

I don't have any problems with any real plan to get in and out just so long as it works. I only thought of impersonating the Pure Legion when Kline told us how scared of them the Adepts might be, but since then the idea has grown on me.

This (I think) is going to be one of those search-and-find missions in a building complex, controlled by arcane slaver summoners. There's the high wall, there are going to be locked doors, and alarm spells everywhere--its a magical prison after all. Being invisible only gets us in and doesn't help with any summoned outsiders who might be able to see us... although the the more I think about the latter that's more a devil-thing than a demon one, but still we have to open doors, search around, and do things that make noise, and while Pietro can certainly cut down on the noise-level with some silence spells that probably doesn't help our own spellcasting. So, as the PC with the -4 Stealth modifier I'm not yet convinced by the let's slip in invisibly plan.

Pietro's crazy inspection plan avoids a lot of the above (if it works!). In fact, if it works well enough, the bad guys have to give us a tour of the place.

To Silgil's earlier point, the Legion is already watching us. They said so. They are just as likely to see us breaking in (and then help the Blackfire Adepts--if the Adepts play their cards right) as they are to see us impersonating them. Either way we are in trouble.

It does rely on you finding some legion uniforms - and well. Osiriani would be the local default language... so while most people also speak Taldane well enough, having a team that didn't speak the local lingo might be a little odd..

On the other hand, stealing uniforms is probably a lot easier than searching the compound.

Note that with the ability to summon large Earth Elementals and possibly a use for Rock to mud depending on the ground, Destroying or tunneling under the wall/building might be an option.

That's an idea. You should suggest it IC as you are the one that can cast them. Also, being able to shape shift into huge flying animals gives you an impressive carrying capacity, particularly if combined with ant haul (a very cheap scroll or spell to buy).

Ant Haul isn't in Core. Nor are many of the animals. A Roc would stick out. Which animal do you suggest?

No idea. Never had to deal with shape shift and core. I would have picked one of the dinosaur bird forms and Silgil could cast invisibility on him. But without ant haul, I don't know that you could carry the tiger. Anyway, that would get us over the wall as long you could find an appropriate form. And if Silgil got the invis shell spell it could be done invisibly.

I think we are entering analysis paralysis. We should just make a decision and go with it. These scenarios are pretty forgiving.

Choices:
Go in as guards
Go in as delivery folk
Sneak in

Let's vote.

I vote for going in as guards as it seems the most fun.

I've played this before so am just tossing out simple options Irizati can provide. I'll go along with whatever the party chooses.

You can still have a vote. This party HAS to be enough different from whatever you ran before (Pietro, I'm talking about you) that having infiltrated in a previous game would not be much of an advantage.

Heck, even if your vote is along the lines of 'been there, done that' so lets do something different, this is an OOC thread and it is a valid reason.

You can still have a vote. This party HAS to be enough different from whatever you ran before (Pietro, I'm talking about you) that having infiltrated in a previous game would not be much of an advantage.

"SADLY CLERICS ARE A VERY UNDERUTILIZED CLASS IN THE MODERN D&D GAME." laments the big cleric.

I haven't seen what I feel is a better way to get in AND move around than the plan to go in as Pure Legion (or possibly city guardsmen) under some pretext. It has problems, no doubt (language being one--but we should have a spell or two for that, right?) but as a guy with a -4 modifier to sneaking around it is probably that, or leaving the cleric behind, if we actually want to sneak around. Delivery folk I think could get their foot in the door, but again locked doors, alarms, and sneaking around are still a problem. So my vote goes for go in as authorities.

Regardless of how we get in party casters are going to have to consider some sneaky magic regardless because at some point we'll have to slip away or incapacitate our guides to free people and those people might have to be hidden or moved. We are still going to have to fight our way out. Pietro is probably loading up on silence for us and against enemy casters.

Maybe the recent info about the sewers could be our way out? I would be hesitant to recon them though for the high probability of tipping our hand. No doubt slaves would have tried to escape that way before if it is even remotely possible.

Irizati, I haven't played this one before, but when I am in such a situation with a PC, I vote the way the character themselves would given the information currently available.

GM, So how do people recognize slaves here? I mean in some places (and sadly in the real world) it's usually based upon race or ethnicity like goblin slaves in a bugbear den, or vanquished foreign foes in the days of ancient Greece (i.e. people who stand out for one reason or another to the general populace), but in a mixed society there have to be ways to ID slaves within the population (so you don't end up selling them weapons, or alcohol). So how does one tell a slave from a non-slave in Rahadoum? This could be important if we want to free more people than just the Rift Wardens.

GM Aerondor did mention sewers...

GM Aerondor just went with the "spells to tunnel" and had your friendly NPC mention there maybe underground chambers or sewers could lead to.

How do folk recognise slaves. Subservient attitude? Lack of clothing? Bad smell? Some will have shackles or slave tatoos. Many will have shackle marks even if they no longer wear the shackles themselves.

So party thoughts.

I'm thinking of taking tongues to use to speak with at least once in exchange for either divine power or lesser planar ally. Pietro can take tongues twice, but then he has neither of those other spells. I have my own ideas about which spells to take, but what would folks like to see before I settle on his final list.

Second on the list of important spells is silence. It only lasts for 9 rounds per cast from Pietro and he isn't a cleric who casts offensive spells hence his relatively low (for a mid-level cleric) Wisdom score and low spell DCs. I'm thinking of taking it twice. Do we think that will be enough? Or do we want a cast or two more?

Silence is a good idea, and I think we got the front line covered so I don't think you will need to summon an ally, unless it has some utilitarian powers you are interested in. So you could swap out the planar ally for tongues. But typically, unless you have a language dependent spell or something, the scenarios offer ways to communicate if it is necessary so I don't think tongues is needed.

As for combat, While Druids suffer when it comes to action economy Baloo+Irizati are fairly effective for Core. Especilly since we can both grab.

And Irizati has Augment Summons + All of his spell slots can be used for Summon Nature's Ally. The main drawback being the good ones are Large+

Wall of Thorns can be pretty strong vs low AC creatures. Or weak creatures.

Silence is a good idea, and I think we got the front line covered so I don't think you will need to summon an ally, unless it has some utilitarian powers you are interested in. So you could swap out the planar ally for tongues. But typically, unless you have a language dependent spell or something, the scenarios offer ways to communicate if it is necessary so I don't think tongues is needed.

It does rely on you finding some legion uniforms - and well. Osiriani would be the local default language... so while most people also speak Taldane well enough, having a team that didn't speak the local lingo might be a little odd..

Meta-wise I'm gonna guess the module has the right to expect someone of middling-level in Rahadoum would have a way of speaking Osiriani, or a hat of disguise, or sewage-walking clogs. These siege modules usually just layout defenses, routines and common sense tactics of the people being laid siege to. I think any tactic a party could take could score them a win here (anything from total stealth to full-frontal assault) so long as the party have oomph enough to pull said tactic off.

Lesser planar ally is bad in most cases for non-neutral PC CORE clerics (and particularly bad for CG ones because you don't have access to all the newer CG outsiders added in later books), but it does allow you the chance of getting a half-celestial unicorn who if it lives in the area can net you access to greater teleportation. ;)

But again, we are dealing with arcane slavers, who rip holes in reality, in their home slave pen, and no-doubt enslave outsiders as well, and therefore are far more likely than most to have anti-dimensional hopping defenses.

Irizati, if you are going to do a flyover of the compound so that we can see where all the buildings are, and not just the battlements, it would probably be best to do that the evening before we go in. {{poke, poke, nudge, nudge}} ;)

The sewer entrances are probably guarded, but the sky (far enough out) probably isn't.

If Irizati wants to do a high level fly over using one of his wild-shapes, I'm happy to reveal the internals.

@Pietro
Well, doh! You are absolutely right. Local law enforcement would be fluent in the local lingo. Tongues just made it to #1 on the list. Though when dealing with outsiders, such as these nastoids, I suspect they would use common. So we MIGHT get away with just speaking common.

Sure. Her still has 2 wild shapes left that day. He would just copy the first bird he saw flying around in order to blend in.

Map updated.

Spells set.

__ 5th—charm monster[D] (DC 18), righteous might

__ 4th—heroism[D], tongues (x2)
__ 3rd—dispel magic, magic circle against evil, prayer, searing light, suggestion[D] (DC 16)
__ 2nd—align weapon, bull's strength[D], resist energy, shield other, silence (DC 15, x2)
__ 1st—divine favor, enlarge person[D] (DC 14), protection from evil (x2), shield of faith (x2)
__ 0 (at will)—create water, guidance, light, stabilize
. . D Domain spell; Domains Charm, Strength

Looks good to me. Mine are in the spoiler below

Ahh, open spell slots. I don't usually indulge myself, because I don't want to have to take time to memorize a new spell in the middle of tense situation, but then I found brilliant spell preparation. The idea of your wizard's handy haversack handing them the right book, them thumbing the through the pages while the enemy lays into the party just around the corner, and coming up with just the right spell for the situation is priceless.

Alas it is not Core. I can see Sorcerers being a little upset by it - but it is only one slot, at well of max level.

Still, he could use it in a non-core game if not this one.

Alas it is not Core. I can see Sorcerers being a little upset by it....

Just because they never went to school and therefore never learned the power of flexibility.

How are your preparations going. Worked out what you are going to do yet?

You have my pretty much undivided attention until the weekend, but after that Outpost V kicks off....

The vote count is two for going in as pale legionairres and 0 for anything else. So that will be our approach.

Unless you post knowledge local results in gameplay that changes things.

The vote count is two for going in as pale legionairres and 0 for anything else. So that will be our approach.

Unless you post knowledge local results in gameplay that changes things.

"HEAR! HEAR!"

As for getting uniforms, Pietro assumes that the Legion have an laundry service and considers stealing clothes off the line or out of the cart transporting said clothes. Alternatively, the party could waylay a couple of actual Legionaries in the small hours before we go in, or pay a couple of good all-night seamstresses to make us dresses for the ball.

Thoughts?

Feeling kind of useless here. Did we decide if Irizati is going in as an animal or not?

Baloo could go in as a captured animal.

If there are no more events occurring today, I'm going to adjust Silgil's spell list now, otherwise I'm holding off. Any of you front-liners think a keen edge spell would serve better than a party haste? And any of you like having enlarge person cast on you, or should I replace that? Finally, he has to take a transmutation spell at second level and they are not all that useful. He will probably take cat's grace (for the AC boost) so who would benefit from that. Probably not someone using plate armor since the max dex bonus with plate is 1. If nobody would benefit, I'll probably do Bear's Endurance. Everyone likes that one. Or utilitarian like spider climb or knock. Thoughts?[/ooc]

Haste over Keen.

And any of you like having enlarge person cast on you, or should I replace that?

It's a domain spell for Pietro, so there's that.

Finally, he has to take a transmutation spell at second level and they are not all that useful. He will probably take cat's grace (for the AC boost) so who would benefit from that. Probably not someone using plate armor since the max dex bonus with plate is 1. If nobody would benefit, I'll probably do Bear's Endurance. Everyone likes that one. Or utilitarian like spider climb or knock. Thoughts?[/ooc]

Knock sounds good for a prison, with cells, and shackles and stuff.

Knock it is. And though Pietro could cast the spell, would he? Silgil would just to preserve resources. If he regularly does, I will replace it with expeditious retreat.

For Pietro it is a case of having to take it or calm emotion. They are domain spells. Neither is ideal for him, enlarge person because this is a stealth mission and space inside buildings is likely to be tight, and calm emotions because of it being a bit too niche. If we were fighting barbarians--sure, but here it's probably not that useful. I will say that he generally doesn't cast it because of the time required to do so, though I don't remember burning it more than once for healing.

Pietro will be taking it, so if Silgil wants retreat he can take it.

Once you are all prepped, you have uniforms, let me know how/when you approach the gates - in Gameplay.

So we halve three uniforms. I'm guessing Silgil will (like Gimli) have to take his in a bit. So that covers him, Grog, Pietro and our animal companion... um, err... giraffe? exotic tropical fish?--or whatever Irizati wants to go in as that seems best. Baloo I am not so sure about. We could take him as an emotional support service animal. ;)

As for spells, I'm praying for tongues on two of us (duration 90 min., Pietro because he's the team face, and either Silgil or Grog--you guys can fight over it) just before we go in, and possibly protection from evil and/or shield of faith both of which would last 9 minutes, if anyone thinks we need them. Pietro has two casts of each, and a wand of protection from evil for latter if needed.