DM Voomer's Age of Ashes

Game Master Voomer

I'll edit my turn. I've been told that Yasami has a +1 Halberd in the bag of Holding

Then that's what you're wielding. You all had plenty of time in the hut to equip yourselves from the bag. That's why I retconned that you and Caiten are wearing the armor.

Oren, normally I don't like this back and forth about actions, but it seems like you're not aware that Oren is CURRENTLY holding the halberd. We're retconning that you equipped yourself as best as possible in the hut. I urged you all to inventory the bag of holding at the time, but I don't want to punish your characters because you all missed that the halberd was in there. If knowing that Oren is currently armed would change your action, feel free to edit. For example, Oren knows the charau-ka butchers are both likely to attack Caiten if Oren moves BEHIND Caiten.

In our defense, there are now at least 4 different locations that things might be at: Carried by the characters that survived the battle against the Vrock, left at the overnight camp some unspecified journey's distance away from the mine, in the bag of holding, or in the barracks.

We hadn't really been tracking specific details of where all of our gear was - carried or stored somewhere.

Fair enough. I’m not trying to express judgment. I just want to make sure that people are not making their actions based on misunderstandings, because that would just disadvantage you all.

Battle royales are fun but messy!

I know you're very worried, Caiten. But on the whole the fight is going ok for your team, although Caiten is certainly in the toughest spot and these two butchers are the toughest remaining enemies. There's nothing wrong with retreating and allowing the others to finish up the job, and seeing if there's something you can do to help from a distance after a round of retreat.

These two butchers are injured, but not about to fall over. The other butcher up near Yasami is very bloodied. The sabosan is just now suddenly very bloodied. The boggard swampseer is very weakened. And the scattered warriors pose no serious threat. A couple have retreated, and one is STILL stuck in the entangling grasses. Lisi thinks the spiders won't/can't come after you in the jungle and that they will eventually go back to the mudpile if they run out of targets. So I hope that gives some reassurance about the overall picture.

It occurs to Caiten in his quick calculations that the spiders can't help against the butchers while you all are so deep in the jungle, so one thing to consider is whether there is some way to get the butchers stuck in between you and the spiders. Caiten can't hear, but Oren can, so Caiten can articulate any plan aloud to Oren in the gameplay thread.

I'll check. I thought I was down to around 30ish from a hit last turn.

And yeah, a lot of that was RP flavor. Caiten is a lot more worried about this battle than I am after those hits from Catalina.

Ah. Also I misread that. I thought both of those attacks were at Caiten and that the damage was just over 50 damage in total.

Speaking of retreating - Mobility lets me move 10 feet without provoking. Is that allowed to be diagonal across the corner of an enemy's square? I am thinking of moving to Sulee's current location.

My other option is to spend more actions moving. Which I may end up doing anyway.

Got it about the RP flavor! I'm glad you as a player are not as concerned and I understand that things from Caiten's perspective still look grim. The butchers are TOUGH. Especially if two attack one PC.

I think that diagonal move is ok. Sulee's square is actually not difficult terrain, so I think it's actually only 5 feet to do that move. I don't understand why moving across the corner of the enemy's square makes a difference, but I may be missing something.

I can't think of a reason off-hand in PF2 either. I'm just checking first before doing mechanics that I am not sure on.

Yeah, I think just 5 feet. Caiten knows that, given his condition, it’s dangerous not to put some
distance between him and the charau-ka…

Didn't realize I had the halberd. Struck twice at the more wounded butcher

Could folks please update their hp in their status bars and/or put their current hp at the bottom of each of their posts? Thanks!

I have current HP at the bottom of my post.

Please let me know if I missed anything! I am keeping an eye on posts during the day since kids are mostly watching a movie still.

Catalina is worried, player feels fine for the moment. :)

Oren, when your turn comes up, remember you have reach with the halberd. I also don't know if you have feats or other abilities that might be helpful.

Yasami whirls around, to the confusion of the charau-ka around her. Then she REALLy confuses the butcher when she cuts open its torso, killing it. She then grabs the charau-ka warrior and dances away with it. You got a regular success. I assume you just want to move it one square down, which is what I have done on the map.

Actually I wanted to flank with Oren. I moved my token

Got it. The butcher then moved from that spot where it was flanked (that movement would have provoked but I don't think you or Oren have AoO). I was actually wondering where you moved the warrior, but it doesn't matter because it fled.

I'll post in the morning.

Will post sometime today. I spent all weekend sick as hell.

Catalina, I'm so sorry to hear you were sick this weekend -- that doesn't sound like the restful time you needed after all that's been happening at school!

I wanted to mention that it's clear to your character that if you stay in the area (rather than running into the jungle) you're spider food, but since you (the player) were sick all weekend and have so much going on, you might have missed that. If, in light of that understanding, you want to change your action, I'm totally fine with that. It's up to you.

If Catalina chooses to stick with the same action, it would be great to hear your character's thinking in the gameplay thread, because it seems pretty clear the spider is poised to finish off the boggard for you, unless you finish off the boggard first and then become the only available target for the spider...

I'm fine waiting to resolve the round. Unless you all end up engaging with the spiders in the open, we're getting very close to the end of the battle.

Gotcha, I did miss that. I can post an edit once my lunch is over!

I have it updated; let me know if I need to add anything else. It was definitely a rough weekend...and with it being the last week of school, we've got an uptick in fights happening. One broke out in the lunch line right next to me!

Yikes about the fights!!

Good luck wrapping things up at school. I hope your summer will be restful.

All looks fine in the gameplay. I totally understand why you missed that detail with everything going on for you -- as a GM I want to make sure a player's action is made with understanding of the character's knowledge about the situation. I mean, I let things slide where it's not important, but this is a very sensitive moment in the battle!

Catalina, note you did receive the 28 points of healing from Lisi's 3-action heal.

Thanks - misread it and thought it was just Caiten.

That was a healing BURST.

And we can have goodberries if anyone is still feeling down in the health bar.

Sorry everyone, supee busy week. I'll get to it but I want a longer post for this.

But can't make it today.

All good. I think we can handle waiting for excellence. :P

No problem.

From a narrative standpoint, what happened to Joran?

Also - level up? Should I make puppy eyes?

From a narrative standpoint, what happened to Joran?

My suggestion to him was to take the opportunity that I mentioned in game to go back to the elven city or even Breachill in order to escort Renali and to warn the people there about the threats we had found. I messaged him about it, and he seemed fine with the idea - but didn't want to post it because he had already been marked inactive from the game and didn't feel like rejoining for one exit post.

So yeah, my thought is that he took Renali to Akrivel, went through the portal to Breachill, eloped with Trinil and both of them disappeared for places unknown and hopefully safer - where there isn't a portal to a warzone within longbow distance.

Also - level up? Should I make puppy eyes?

I'll look into that. Certainly before you go to the fortress, but I need to figure out exactly where things are at. I'm looking for your jungle map showing the totems you already visited. I know I saw it somewhere but I'm having trouble finding it. Does anyone know where it is?

All the maps are on Roll20 as far as I know.

If you put back up the overworld map of the area, I can probably draw our path on it.

I think it was a separate page in roll20.

And yes, I will be that player. I will ask for level ups after every big encounter.

Yasami wrote:

Also - level up? Should I make puppy eyes?

I'll look into that. Certainly before you go to the fortress, but I need to figure out exactly where things are at.

I would also mention (again) that Age of Ashes is quite overtuned because it was one of the first APs created - before the AP writers had a full understanding of the encounter balance. And that adding a bonus level above what the AP is written for is one of the easier ways to compensate for that. (Also that entire thread is a pretty good read - especially for people who are used to PF1)

Caiten, thanks for the links. I will take a look and give it consideration. In general I do benchmark leveling rather than tracking experience, so I won't give a level up after a big encounter if it doesn't correspond to the benchmarks. But Caiten raises an interesting possibility about adding a bonus level due to the AP having encounter design flaws now and again, and also due to the fact that PF2e combat can be really demanding and tactics are trickier to execute in PbP. So, I do want to reflect on it, but all of you should definitely start designing your next level because it will either be now or very soon.

I did go ahead and put the jungle map on Roll20. I see that various pillars have been exposed -- am I correct those have been investigated and destroyed? What about the orange pillar West of the mine where the hex is only partially revealed?

I think it is only the blue and green pillars that we have destroyed. The blue one that Gerhard had captured (did petrification), and the Green one that was guarded by jungle drakes (did acid or maybe poison damage beam). I don't think we have found and destroyed any others. The ones that are revealed on the map were drawn there by NPCs rather than explored to.

Fern did benchmark leveling too. Tracking exp is a hassle. :P

Yeah, we only know of several of the pillars but have only destroyed the blue and green ones.

Also - level up?

And that adding a bonus level above what the AP is written for

Caiten raises an interesting possibility about adding a bonus level

Excuse me, all I heard was two level-ups and my serotonin levels are spiking.

Go ahead and level up. Just one level right now. Next morning in game you can all be 7th level.

I asked in gameplay, but I think it got overlooked. How much of Yasami's healing went to Oren/Caiten? Catalina needs a little more after the healing burst (24hp) but they need it more. Catalina can treat wounds on herself as well as long as it takes throughout the night of rest but I just need to know if I need to include it in a write-up. :P

I saw it, I just assumed that 1 hr would cover all ofnyou. I can do another if needed.

It probably does, I just don't know where everyone was at when it happened after all the healing/math/etc. Probably don't need to roll it when we have "all night" to do it unless DM isn't a fan of handwaving that.

Yes, it's fine to handwave the healing at this point. Hezle has said she doesn't think the cultists are coming back and they don't so you have all the healing you need. You're also not disturbed at the camp overnight, so you can just assume you'll start in the morning at level 7 and fully healed.

I'm attending graduation tonight and will likely be MIA until tomorrow. My schedule is blasted open after this point, though. :) (Which means I'll also be able to start the Kingmaker 2e game I tried to start in January and had no time for >.>)

I am updated.

Also... GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!

We can heal 3 people per 10 minutes now.

Correction. Make that FOUR.

I think she's all the way updated...Catalina has a HALO now. Her whole body glows with a light cantrip equal to heightened level 4, lol. 60ft radius. She can turn it on and off. It's one concentrate action in combat.

All sounds very cool! Catalina, a big congratulations to you for getting through the end of the year.

I loved RP folks did in the gameplay thread. Probably tomorrow I will post Hezle's answers to the questions posed so far, then we can have more back and forth to cover all the info you get from her, and then the group can proceed. As she'll explain, it is really necessary to tackle the rest of the pillars first, just so you know what is immediately before the party.