[PaizoCon 2022] PFS1 2-11: The Penumbral Accords (Inactive)

Game Master cmlobue

"Maybe there isn't anything important in this room. Let's try the one at the end of the hall, first."

The group decides not to enter the freezing room, and instead head to the end of the hall.

Harsh, cold light floods this room from the ceiling, gleaming off the marble walls and shining across the polished granite floor. Myriad pedestals display stuffed creatures suffering from unspeakable deformities, and liquid-filled glass tanks hold the shrivelled bodies of even stranger anomalies. In the room’s center, a wide ebony pyramid rises ten feet off the ground; darkness seems to flow out from its top into the air like ink in clear water. Indistinct rune circles, candelabras, and idols cover what can only be the site of barbaric sanguinary rites, occupying the same space in the Shadow Plane.

The implements of unspeakable rituals lie scattered about, including bloody sacrificial knives, vats of unidentifiable liquids, rune-etched stone idols, and a massive summoning circle surrounding the central dais.

Standing before the dais is the thin gray form of a fetchling. Kneeling before him, the Blakros daughters, Eleanir and Michellia, sway in a sort of trance as the fetchling prepares for a ritual by coating a thin knife in a strange black liquid.

Round 1 - bolded may go!

Fossorius
Jon
Oliver
Syco
Tarragon
Fetchling
Xivio

Oliver rushes forth to the fetchling swinging his hammer.

Warhammer: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9 for Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

"Tarragon we have to save the Blakros daughters. Come on!"

Tarragon follows Oliver and swipes at the fetchling with a claw.

Claw: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 for Slashing: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Fossorius strides forward to attack the fetchling.
shovel: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 241d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Botting Jon and Syco

Tarragon Concealment >20=hit: 1d100 ⇒ 64
Fossorius Concealment >20=hit: 1d100 ⇒ 94

Oliver enters the room, but can't make contact with his hammer. Tarragon catches the fetchling off guard and rakes him with a claw.

Fossorius follows up with a shovel to the face.

Jon and Syco fire bows.

mwk hand crossbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 piercing: 1d4 ⇒ 2
Concealment >20=hit: 1d100 ⇒ 99

shortbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 piercing: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Concealment >20=hit: 1d100 ⇒ 11

Neither hits.

The fetchling drops the ritual knife and starts punching everything in sight.

Unarmed Strike vs. Oliver: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Unarmed Strike vs. Fossorius: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Unarmed Strike vs. Tarragon: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

He strikes only the cat. He then steps around the dais.

Round 1-2 - bolded may go!

Fossorius
Jon
Oliver
Syco
Tarragon (-9 HP)
Fetchling (-9 HP)
Xivio

Oliver moves north around the Fetchling to get behind them, and calls Tarragon to move into a flank and strike.

Oliver:

Concealment >20: 1d100 ⇒ 40
Warhammer: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13 for Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Tarragon:

Concealment >20: 1d100 ⇒ 44
Bite: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 for Piercing: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Fossorius will step up and try to beat him with a shovel again.
shovel: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 71d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
concealment >20: 1d100 ⇒ 46

Xivio hurries in to the room and fires at the fetchling with his wand of magic missile.

force: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Botting Jon and Syco

Jon and Syco fire bows.

mwk hand crossbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14 piercing: 1d4 ⇒ 3
Concealment >20=hit: 1d100 ⇒ 97

shortbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22 piercing: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Concealment >20=hit: 1d100 ⇒ 77

Only Syco's arrow makes contact.

Xivio hits the fetchling with magic.

Fossorius overbalances while trying to swing his shovel.

Oliver and Tarragon work perfectly together to deliver a combo to the enemy.

The fetchling takes a step and attmepts to strike Oliver twice.

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Bludgeoning Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

But is off target.

Round 2-3 - bolded may go!

Fossorius
Jon
Oliver
Syco
Tarragon (-9 HP)
Fetchling (-29 HP)
Xivio

"Yeah! Just like that, Tarragon!"

Oliver steps in front of the fetchling and strikes.

concealment >20: 1d100 ⇒ 68
Warhammer: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21 for Bludgeoning: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

He calls Tarragon to move into flank again and strike as well.

concealment >20: 1d100 ⇒ 20
Bite: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 for Piercing: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Xivio fires another bolt of force from his wand.

magic missile: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Step and swing at the fetchling.
shovel: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 141d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
concealment>20: 1d100 ⇒ 35

Under the continued assault, the fetchling falls to the ground.

Combat over!

You can get a potion of cure serious wounds, ceremonial dagger, belt of giant strength +2, bracers of armor +1, and cloak of resistance +1 from the creature.

The 10-foot-tall black stone pyramid exudes an eerie black essence from its apex, which seeps into the air and slowly dims the illumination of the room, but not enough to change the mechanical light level. Surrounding the relic’s apex are a dozen bloodstones set into the rock face, from which a strong aura of conjuration and illusion emanates.

The ceremonial dagger the fetchling was preparing for the ritual is long and dark, with a sinister curved blade. Runes along the length of the blade in Infernal speak of the Midnight Lord, and a sacrifice that will bring shadow to the multiverse.

Knowledge Arcana DC 20: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Knowledge Religion DC 12: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

"I don't know much about this pyramid but from the markings on this dagger our fetchling friend here appears to be a worshipper of Zon-Kuthon. Nasty business, that."

Arcana: 1d20 + 9 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 9 + (3) = 21
Religion: 1d20 + 9 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 9 + (6) = 19

"That is correct. The pyramid is the device we were told of, but if we disable it we will be shunted back to the Material Plane. We should explore and free the others before we do that."

The scenario lists it in a weird place far from the stat block, but this fetchling does have a key on him.

"Let's see if this key can free those prisoners; we can't trap them here when we destroy the magic!"

Jon returns to the southern room, where he finds that the key does open each set of manacles.

The cold room and the dais remain. Or you can just take all your rescuees and leave. What now?

"Well, I think we've met our objective, though there's still at least one area we didn't explore--there may be more prisoners there! We've got the Blakros sisters, but I'd hate to leave anyone else behind if we can help it."

Jon shrugs with chagrin. "Unfortunately, I won't be of much help against that ice monster. The best things I can do affect the mind, and that thing doesn't have one. I'm afraid I'd just be popping off these little bolts at it, and they don't seem like they'd do much."

Happy to aid in completing all the rooms, if that's what the party wants to do, but okay with calling it here as well; it doesn't sound like anybody was too confident of getting past the ice thing.

If I can do sneak attack vs the ice thing I'll add 2d6 sneak dmg (but it does have SR so it might do nothing at all).

You almost certainly can do sneak attack damage; there's nothing inherent to a construct that makes them immune to precision damage.

I'm okay with that plan; the problem was not that we can't beat the encounter but that it would waste a bunch of time chipping away at it, ~1-3 hp at a time, before the IRL cut off. As long the GM thinks we will have time to go back and disable the dais after, lets do it.

You can always just run off and disable the dais during combat, though someone might be stuck fighting a delaying action.

The Pathfinders escort the captives to the entrance and ask them to wait while they finish things up. Including going into the freezer for another fight. As soon as they enter the room, the creature begins to move!

Round 1 - bolded may go!

Xivio
Jon
Fossorius
Oliver
Tarragon
Chilly Willy
Syco

The PCs can move at full speed with a DC 5 Acrobatics check, or at half speed with no skill check. Any PC who fails this Acrobatics check cannot move that round. Any PC who fails the Acrobatics check by 5 or more falls prone.

Before heading into the icy room, Jon conferences briefly with Xivio. "It sounds like you're our best chance of getting damage through this creature's defenses, so I'm going to implant a little extra defense into you. Just stare into my eyes and listen to the soothing sounds of my voice. There; that was it!" He grasps the rogue stiffly by the shoulders and then follows the group into the room.

Implanting the mesmeric mirror trick, which will trigger a single mirror image the first time Xivio is attacked.

Jon then readies his hand crossbow, and lets a bolt loose at the construct.

Oliver puts down his warhammer, and draws his longsword. "If I'm doing any damage at all against that thing, it will be with this," he mutters to himself.

He then pats Tarragon on the back, casting Magic Fang. "Here's a little help for you, too."

Xivio feels himself being hypnotized by Jon Rooi. For a moment he is so entranced that he completely forgets about their mission. But he soon recovers and begins to move into the icy room, nimbly enough that the ice doesn't appear to slow him down. He clutches a vial of acid in one hand.

Acrobatics DC 5: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 Glad it wasn't DC 10!

When he gets close enough, he holds the vial aloft as a reminder to himself not.to.drop.the.acid and then he conjures up more acid out of thin air and hurls it at poor Willy.

ranged touch attack vs flat-footed touch AC, daggermark trait: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 4 + 1 = 15
Acid Splash, acid focus component: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 + sneak attack acid dmg due to flat-footed: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 2) = 6
Acid Splash has no Save nor is it susceptible to spell resistance (due to being conjuration)

Fossorius double moves in to provide a flank for those who are stronger.

Fossorius Acrobatics DC 5: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Xivio moves in carefully and dissolves part of the creature.

Jon fires a shot, but the bolt does not penetrate its shell.

Fossorius moves into position with little care for his balance, but makes it.

Oliver and Tarragon prepare for battle.

The creature attacks Fossorius.

Bite: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

And misses badly.

Round 1-2 - bolded may go!

Xivio
Jon
Fossorius
Oliver
Tarragon (magic fang)
Ice Ice Baby (-10 HP)
Syco

GM, the stealth rules have always been a little unclear to me. (In order to get my sneak attack bonus) can I use a move action to Stealth behind the bookcase and then a standard action to fire another acid splash? Or do I need to be already stealthed away at the start of my turn? (in which case I could presumably cast another spell - without sneak attack bonus, and *then* use a move action to stealth behind the bookshelf?)

You would need to move to cover before you stealth which would likely prevent you from shooting this round. You would probably want the distraction method to do that in this case.

If people are observing you using any of their senses (but typically sight), you can’t use Stealth. Against most creatures, finding cover or concealment allows you to use Stealth. If your observers are momentarily distracted (such as by a Bluff check), you can attempt to use Stealth. While the others turn their attention from you, you can attempt a Stealth check if you can get to an unobserved place of some kind. This check, however, is made at a –10 penalty because you have to move fast.

The mesmerist might be able to help with that? Fossorius doesn't have a good bluff.

Fossorius will Aid Another whoever (likely either Oliver or Tarragon) comes into flank (or otherwise attacks it; don't know if either can reach and attack)
Aid Another, DC10: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Oliver attempts to move closer. Acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

And sends Tarragon in to flank with Fossorius.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Bite: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 17 for Piercing: 1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8

Jon catches something in Xivio's motion, out of the corner of his eye, and he quickly loads a bolt and fires across the face of the construct. Flavor only, this is a Bluff check to distract, not an attack with the crossbow.

Fossorius distracts the enemy long enough for Tarragon to take a bite. Hopefully the cat does not have sensitive teeth, because it is cold!

Jon tries to create a distraction, but the creature doesn't even notice his errant shot.

Round 1-2 - bolded may go!

Xivio
Jon
Fossorius
Oliver
Tarragon (magic fang)
Ice Ice Baby (-13 HP)
Syco

Xivio ducks behind the bookcase and attempts to hide from the creature's view.

Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26

Botting Syco

Xivio ducks out of sight.

Syco fires again.

shortbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 piercing: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Round 2-3 - bolded may go!

Xivio
Jon
Fossorius
Oliver
Tarragon (magic fang)
Snowbro (-13 HP)
Syco

Oliver and Tarragon move to surround the creature.

Tarragon Acrobatics: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Oliver Acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

Tarragon struggles on the icy floor before regaining control.

The pair strike out in tandem.

Oliver Longsword vs FF: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 for Slashing: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Tarragon Bite: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5 for Piercing: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Jon moves forward to ensure that he's clearly visible to the icy construct. He keeps an eye on Xivio, waiting for a cue that the rogue needs aid to hide again; this time he'll just wave his arms and yell, instead of wasting a bolt.

Fossorius will try to break up some of the ice with his shovel.
shovel: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 2 = 261d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Fossorius' strong shovel blow is enough to shatter the creature.

Searching the room, the Pathfinders find masterwork parade armor in the samurai style, an orc double axe with blades shaped like strange dragons’ heads, and a masterwork composite shortbow. Also, a wand of endure elements with 28 charges hangs on a hook on the wall.

The door in the northwest is unlocked and there are no apparent traps. Xivio hears a female voice beyond mumbling "If anyone comes in here, I will have to fight them, but there is treasure in this room." and using some sort of metal object.

"Treasure, eh? Sounds interesting to me..." Xivio whispers to his comrades. Though some wizards are more interested in knowledge than wealth, Xivio has always been fond of gold, the more the better.

Xivio is ready to enter the room.

"This is probably a trap, but let's see what's in there."

"Not many traps announce themselves... curious to see this one." Jon readies by the door with the others.

The dialogue was blue because it was out of character; just a warning about what you can do with your last week of PaizoCon.

A few desks, three locked chests, and a locked standing cabinet are here along a wall facing the West Exhibit Hall made of smoky glass. Fading in and out of vision, the shadowy form of a slablike table holding an unconscious, vivisected human man, his chest rising slowly with each breath, is superimposed over the southernmost desk. Medical implements and alchemical devices are spread across nearly every surface, some more substantial in form than others.

But also, trap.

Currently, a fetchling is in the process of conducting an experiment on a human specimen on the verge of death. The man, drugged and unconscious, lays splayed on the operating table, his lower torso dissected and his skin held open and taught with large clamps. His forehead sports a dark rune tattoo that seems to suck light toward it.

Having heard the commotion in the other room, the fetchling is ready for you.

Round 1 - bolded may go!

Xivio
Jon
Oliver
Bad Guy
Fossorius
Tarragon
Syco

Jon steps into the room to get a good eye on the situation. Ahhh, someone I can sink my mind into.... he thinks, grateful for an intellect to twist and warp. He stares at the fetchling, hypnotizing him and leaving him open to more pain as the expected attacks follow. He follows this with a psychic bane, hoping to dampen the fetchling's capabilities.

Xivio casts Vanish on himself and enters the room as quietly as possible.

Stealth, invis bonus: 1d20 + 13 + 20 ⇒ (18) + 13 + 20 = 51

Oliver rushes in to strike the fetchling, and calls to Tarragon to get into position.

Longsword: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21 for Slashing: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Xivio vanishes from sight, possibly even his own.

Jon stares at the fetchling and casts a spell.

Will Save: 1d20 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 1 - 2 = 5

The spell melts through the target's mind.

Something else going through her is Oliver's sword.

Concealment >20=hit: 1d100 ⇒ 7

At least, he thought it would.

The fetchling lashes out with non-standard natural weapons.

Bite: 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 6 - 1 = 11
Damage: 1d8 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 3 - 1 = 6

Claws: 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (13) + 6 - 1 = 18
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 - 1 = 8

Claws: 1d20 + 6 - 1 ⇒ (3) + 6 - 1 = 8
Slashing Damage: 1d6 + 3 - 1 ⇒ (4) + 3 - 1 = 6

One hand manages to find a weak point in his armor.

Round 1-2 - bolded may go!

Xivio
Jon
Oliver (-8 HP)
Bad Guy (bane, brain pain)
Fossorius
Tarragon
Syco

Jon steps forward, making sure that the fetchling stays within range of his stare, then loads and fires his crossbow, more confident it will do damage against a soft fetchling than some strange ice construct.

Fossorius will double move in to provide flank.