GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

Going for it. Someone could still stop her, or he could always get another check vs. Shrike taking 10 Stealth and make this one, but a quick note on the math if this goes through: a coup de grace auto-crits, of course, and an elven branch-spear is a 1d8 x3 reach weapon, which is why I've placed her where I have. Like other sources of precision damage, Hidden Strike doesn't multiply on a crit. Elephant in the Room means she's using Power Attack here, on a two-handed weapon, for an extra +3 damage multiplied by 3. If the coup de grace succeeds and the target survives the initial damage, it still must make a Fortitude save with a DC of 10 + damage dealt or die. That's all, I think.

@Audria: She'd like to stick him on a sharpened horizontal spar of his own flagship, I think, but it's not practical while there are guards about. So no, probably not.

Brutal! Very Shrike.

I vote we haul his body up to the throne room and dump it down the trapdoor. Let him feed his own spiders.

By the way, Shrike and Elric fighting shoulder to shoulder is going to be a nightmare for the enemies. With two reach weapons and Elric’s pushback ability, any melee opponent would have to eat two AoO’s before they can close.

I like that idea and would not be sorry to make "feeds crimelords to their own murder-pets" our party Thing.

Looking forward to seeing what Elric and Shrike can do together if enemies have to come to them. The branched spear doesn't have the best base damage or the 18-20 critical threat range that makes the curve blade so good, but it is a finesse reach weapon, which basically doesn't exist otherwise (the 1d3 whip doesn't count), and it gives a flat untyped +2 to attack of opportunity rolls provoked by movement. Shrike has also been sitting on Combat Reflexes since L1. It's never once been relevant. Then again, I guess we haven't actually had that many fights, and I like that. It's nice to feel that many things are solvable with roleplay. Just... not in this instance.

I think Shane is now a bit in awe of Shrike, as in a 'remind me to never ever piss this person off' kind of way. He'll be frustrated if they can't/don't find evidence related to who paid our Lord of Spiders to frame his mom, because they just lost the witness, but as Shane WANTED the guy very dead he can't complain too much. :)

I was intending for Audria to get up close and personal, which is why I didn't give her a glaive (well that and I can't seem to remember the feat that lets her choke up on a reach weapon or use it like a quarterstaff.) I think she'll be sticking with the halberd for now.

As for how she's going to react to Barvasi's death, I think she's going to just accept it, not without some fear for Shrike, especially if she insists on dumping him into his pet ettercap's lair. She did vow to help her take care of him, but she was really hoping that they could just find evidence that could put him away for a long time. Naive of her, but part of Audria's growth in this is growing up and learning that as cruel as she knows the world can be, it can be much, much worse, and sometimes you can't do anything to change that other than to take out the ones causing the misery. It's sure to be a hard lesson for her.

That said, I also keep entertaining the idea that she'd wind up ruling Korvosa, but that's a long, long way off, if ever.

Audria, are you thinking of Spear Dancing Style (choke up on a reach weapon as a swift action) into Spear Dancing Spiral (use it as a quarterstaff), or maybe Bladed Brush (glaive-only, switch between reach and close as a move action)?

It's pretty thematic and probably worth taking Two-Weapon Fighting to take just Spear Dancing Style on Shrike and be able to switch between reach and close with a swift action. I should have taken TWF at L3 instead of going for Dazzling Display when Shatter Defenses is still so far away. Never used it, so I'll retrain that if I ever get a chance. Meanwhile, a Dex-based virtuous bravo paladin of Shelyn could be a monster with that Bladed Brush feat that lets you use all the swashbuckler abilities like Precise Strike.

Tell me about the plan for ruling Korvosa. Is that a thing that can just happen in this AP? One of the party can just assume the throne? Shrike being a courtier by day and potential Queen Audria's spymaster/fixer by night would be a pretty cool outcome in my book.

I haven't read through the AE version of this AP and a lot of it depends on the GM, but yeah, that was a possibility in the original one. I can't really say more without spoiling stuff, though. As I said, that's a long way off, though some things that are coming up are definitely going to reinforce the budding idea that Korvosa is broken in Audria's mind. I haven't brought it up before now mainly because I was worried about falling into the whole "I'm the main character" syndrome. I didn't want to feel like I was stepping on other people's toes, but I also think her taking charge and becoming the queen of Korvosa would be a nice capstone to her arc, growing up from an orphan who's unsure of herself and even if she's worth the trouble into a young woman that's proven herself to be a capable and stalwart guardian.

Those feats are exactly what I was thinking about, and I think that settles some stuff that I was mulling over as far a where to go with her. Unfortunately, Virtuous Bravo is out since it's not compatible with the Chosen One archetype. I'll be playing around to see what I can come up with, and I think that with some stuff that's coming up that I could even tie in some of the mechanical choices with what's going to be going in with Audria.

I think it was Steven King that said make a character likeable and put them through hell. I did my best to make Audria likeable, and there are some things that I did with malice aforethought. Hopefully it's going to be a fun story for all of us to tell and read.

She'd have to rearrange her ability scores anyway to take advantage of it, so I wasn't thinking virtuous bravo would necessarily be the way to go for Audria. Just mulling out loud.

Next time I play a paladin of Shelyn, I think I'll be building around that archetype and the Spear Dancing feats, though. Thanks for point them out to me.

I did mess around a bit and I can get all of the feats I need for the Spear Dancing Style feat with a couple levels of fighter. I was considering doing that anyway since Fighter 3 gets you armor training and that means if I could get my hands on a set of mithral full plate, I'd have one very well protected, mobile, and sneaky paladin. Since bravery is pretty much a waste on a paladin, I decided to go with Mobile Fighter since that gives Audria a minor boost to her saves against being paralyzed, slowed, or entangled.

Normally when I do this fighter dip thing, I use the Unbreakable archetype, but that replaces the first level bonus feat and this time I wanted that, so I had to look around for something else that fit. Problem is, just about everything modifies Armor Training and I think it's a bit underrated for what it does. I mean, I can move full speed in medium armor and that's huge when you're someone that is supposed to be on the mobile side.

Shrike, with a reach weapon and combat reflexes, you should be looking at Combat Patrol, especially since the Elephant in the Room rules merge Mobility and Dodge.

Unrelated, if you want to end up as ruler of Korvosa, having a noble-born consort from one of the city’s founding families isn’t going to hurt. Just sayin’

Unrelated, if you want to end up as ruler of Korvosa, having a noble-born consort from one of the city’s founding families isn’t going to hurt. Just sayin’

Well, I guess you'd better get to it lover boy. :P

I kid! I kid! Though, I think after this mission's over would be a great time to comfort our pint-sized paladin. She's definitely going have some doubts and disillusionment after this.

I'll definitely look at that feat chain, Elric, although it couldn't happen sooner than L7. Have you used it in PbP and been pleased with it?

Once combat is properly joined, the stalker vigilante loves to either be flanking like a rogue for d4 Hidden Strike, or (as of L4) to be moving through opponents' space with Up Close and Personal to apply d8 Hidden Strike. So I'm generally skeptical of the idea of giving up regular attacks on a character's turn in hopes of getting them back as AoOs where one might not be flanking. However, maybe with the help of enlarge person or something you could functionally cover a whole room, perhaps including spellcasters, and I can definitely see the utility of that.

More importantly, to my mind, in this PbP format Combat Patrol would be a lot of work for the GM because it's interrupting enemy turns. Either the GM has to use a lot of judgement about how and when a PC would move and attack, or the enemy turns grind to a halt to wait for a player response, maybe even more than once.

@Everyone: I updated the loot list with what we've found so far in the Eel's End. I've also made tabs for Elric, Pava and Shane where things listed as Carried By them will show up alone, so you can easily look at what your character is carrying that we've found. Reminder to Audria and Abella that the reward for the Cow Hammer Boys was already split out as of that morning, so you could add 250 gp to your personal inventory if you haven't yet.

Answering here the question about WWtED (What Would the Ettercap Do?).

This creature is used to an easy life where food is given to it without much (if any) effort. It will very likely not be persuaded to move to a location where food is scarce. You could board up the trapdoor and the actual door and let it starve to death, hoping it won't be able to escape on its own. Although there is the danger that opportunists that hear of Barvasi's death will come sniffing around for scraps of his treasure and might inadvertently free the ettercap.

Or you could tell the guard what happened and let them deal with it. :)

As noted IC, Elric's thinking here is:

1. Barvasi gets dumped and the trapdoor left open.
2. Barvasi's thugs discover their boss is missing and the trapdoor open.
3. Searching for Barvasi, the thugs enter the spider-marked door and confront the ettercaps + spiders.
4. Thugs kill ettercap + spiders, possibly thinning their own ranks in the process.
5. Problem solved.

There are a total of 10 armed guards on the ship. They should be able to defeat whatever is in the hold. If not, we can let Commander Kroft know.

I'll definitely look at that feat chain, Elric, although it couldn't happen sooner than L7. Have you used it in PbP and been pleased with it?

Once combat is properly joined, the stalker vigilante loves to either be flanking like a rogue for d4 Hidden Strike, or (as of L4) to be moving through opponents' space with Up Close and Personal to apply d8 Hidden Strike. So I'm generally skeptical of the idea of giving up regular attacks on a character's turn in hopes of getting them back as AoOs where one might not be flanking. However, maybe with the help of enlarge person or something you could functionally cover a whole room, perhaps including spellcasters, and I can definitely see the utility of that.

More importantly, to my mind, in this PbP format Combat Patrol would be a lot of work for the GM because it's interrupting enemy turns. Either the GM has to use a lot of judgement about how and when a PC would move and attack, or the enemy turns grind to a halt to wait for a player response, maybe even more than once.

Friend of mine worked towards Combat Patrol with his half-orc ranger in a Kingmaker PbP, but he never unlocked the actual feat. He was pretty effective at battlefield control and punishing enemies, even without it, especially when enlarged.

Battlefield control is definitly the key here. We want to be able to dictate the flow of battle, set up flanks, create bottlenecks and lock down spellcasters.

You're right about it being an extra complication in a PbP-setting, which could be resolved by the player specifying some default asumptions
about when to use it.

I have a Swashbuckler in my Mummy's Mask game who has similar a similar situation with panaché and parrying riposte. It has not come up as an issue yet, but I expect I'll pause and ask for the first couple of uses and then settle on some kind of default.

Shrike: A house drake isn't a pet. It's a person. It doesn't belong to anyone. It has to fly free.

Also Shrike: ...

GM, I think Majenko just became the party's new mascot.

Shane's Arcane Bond is with his mother's ring rather than a familiar, but he still is going to offer Majenko a chance to stay at Zellara's place with him.

Because who wouldn't want THIS in their house?

I wouldn't mind a mini-dragon.

Majenko is absolutely intended to stick with the party and potentially become someone's familiar later. :)

He's actively supposed to stick around? Incredible. Flawless. Acquiring fun little guys is one of the most important parts of any RPG, in my experience.

Tally is still in charge, of course, but we might have to update the official party seal to be a thrush and a house drake.

New team name: The Korvosa Zookeepers Guild

I may have wasted that grease spell, but better safe than sorry, and it could be fun and comedic even if this goes a bit south :)

Since "the surface you just left" is underwater, you can save your Grease spell. :)

Since "the surface you just left" is underwater, you can save your Grease spell. :)

Doh

Sorry. Dry spots are probably not in line of sight now :o

Nope, the whole bilge is flooded. The rope, however is visible. You could grease that.

I have to say, I think that went rather smoothly. I plan on bringing this up in character, but it might not be a bad idea for us all to crash at Zellara's or the watchtower tonight. I just want to see if we get away clean first. :)

mmm not a bad idea on the rope, it would be HILARIOUS...

But I'll save it. In case we encounter trouble when we land.

And yes, so far *Knock on wood* so good!

Great work! You picked the least suicidal route for infiltration, planned well and also got very, very lucky with dice rolls.

I have the superstition of never saying anything while the dice are in our favor, but it's true. It was a good plan in the first place, but even so, that went better than it had any right to. Not only the dice we rolled, but the enemies had really poor luck at the same time. (Of course, taking 10 so much on our skill checks removed a lot of unnecessary opportunities for things to go wrong.) Shrike now definitely believes Barvasi had already angered the gods, or maybe Saint Alika.

I think this is the best planned and executed raid in my entire roleplaying career. Justice was served and we even managed to make a new friend. Excellent work, everyone.

Woot.

So watchtower then see the Field Marshal in the morning?

I kept waiting for one of us to fall through floor boards or something just to balance out all our other lucky breaks! ;)

I kept waiting for one of us to fall through floor boards or something just to balance out all our other lucky breaks! ;)

Right?!

Oh don't worry. I'm sure that the next time we get into a fight things will balance right out. Anyone up for placing bets on who goes down first?

By the way, Pava, I think you missed Audria's question about Dendren.

Oh I definitely did, lemme take another peek.

EDIT

Mm... yeah that'll have to wait till Harrow fills me in, sorry.

Regarding the loot. The only things Shane would likely call "DIBS" on for certain would be the Scroll of Blur (Which he'd want to transcribe in his spellbook) and the money pouch with the Drake and Peacock, NOT, that's just the bag, not the moolah within ;)

Please don't misunderstand, he would LOVE coins too, a wizard has to eat, but the bag is evidence for the intrigue leading to his mother's demise.

He also wants use of the house, but that's covered it seems ;)

Among other things, that leaves the Elixir of Love, dust of appearance, and a Ring of Feather Falling, and lots of pretty trinkets of non magical nature.

I figure one of our folks who takes the highground a lot would like the ring.

I figure one of our folks who takes the highground a lot would like the ring.

Like the guy who’s eventually going to ride a hippogriff through the skies? Don’t get much more high ground than that.

Shane Driscoll wrote:

I figure one of our folks who takes the highground a lot would like the ring.

Like the guy who’s eventually going to ride a hippogriff through the skies? Don’t get much more high ground than that.

This is true. Eventually Elric will be the Ben Kenobi of our crew!

Hello there!

Yeah, Elric might need that ring the most, though Audria certainly wouldn't say no to it.

Elric definitely has the clearest case!

Should we discuss how to best keep the whole party togther?

Based purely on in-character motivation, it seems like both Shane and Pava are likely to drift off.

Well, Shane meant what he said about how he appreciates what happened. He is NG not LG, but he still feels gratitude and yes, even an obligation to the other PCs. In one night, they helped him avenge his dead mother. Those aren't the kind of people you shut the door on when they want help :)

Now, if you mean residence, yes, he'd prefer to stay at a house than the barracks. He's not so trusting of the authorities in that regard, but again the door would be open, and on the first night anyway he definitely sees why they'd want him to identify items (By taking 20 no doubt) and reporting so will stay with them at the Watch tower/barracks the first night.

Shane's mother had a rather nice set up before she was framed. The city authorities seized that house, and likely sold it. So a place to call his own is one of Shane's motivators. Despite his words about wizards being mysterious and reclusive, I'm sure he won't be a shut in. Particularly when allies who have done him such a good turn need him.

Pava's got a planned meet up with y'all to go over the spoils, and it'll be after you've talked to Cressida about possible next steps (and whatever new task or rumors come along with that).

I'm flagging their independence a bit by having them wander off, but they won't be extra work to keep involved.

Alrighty…see them soon, then :-)

In-character, Shrike doesn't know what the ring does yet, but she would definitely want it once she knew, as she had a somewhat scary fall less than a week ago and generally spends a lot of time climbing and jumping around in the Shingles. Her traversing the city that way and the fall itself happened 'offscreen' as flavor, though, and hasn't been during combat. If Elric wants to claim the ring for once Galewing can carry him as a rider (L8?), that's absolutely fine with me OOC. As a player, at some point I'd been planning to get Shrike just a lesser talisman of beneficial winds, as it's only 50 gp, and is a kind of set-and-forget fall insurance. A wing cloak would be so cool and thematic for its Batman vibe, and at 1,200 gp it's almost affordable by next level, maybe, but by its description, it only works for sylphs and "similar" light-bodied creatures.

As far as Pava and Shane wanting to stick around, I also was kind of assuming that that would be addressed as part of our next mission from Cressida Kroft and with Pava coming back to claim some loot. I think we'd make sure that Shane got a fair share too, and not just let him disappear into his wizardly mysteries at his new digs.

It's possible to take 10 as usual on Spellcraft checks to ID magic items, but I think taking 20 would require having 20 days of in-game time, since taking 20 requires 20 times as long as making one check, and the IDer gets one result per day and additional attempts on the same day reveal the same result.

No worries then. Nothing bad will happen to the city in the next month I'm sure!!
;)

EDIT: More seriously, yes, good catch that taking 20 would be out, but it looks like taking ten will do it for most. And Blur is an Illusion spell so it is good to be a specialist and get that bonus for that.

You can’t take 20 when you can’t retry freely without a penalty for failure, so you can’t take 20 on spellcraft anyways.

I can roll on Abella as well! I’m just still trying to track down a solution for my health issues at the moment still. Got my sleep study done finally and the results were inconclusive, so going back to the doctor next week to see what’s next

Hope you find that solution

Yikes, that is rough. Hope you do find out what's going on soon.