PF2E Stolen Fate

Game Master andreww

Sorry, forgot to add that my hasted action was to Stride into position.

Pine flies into Blue run and stabs away, hitting with two solid blows.

Crit for 64 and a hit for 29. They are constructs and so dont take spirit damage.

Billy tries to terrify red and green. Both seem mildly perturbed but it is difficult to tell. He then brings a bit of relief to Sigourney.

Slick steps up to Blue and delivers three swift chops. It promptly falls apart.

Sigourney freezes Green and then blasts Green and Red with deadly harmonics!

Red slithers along and up the cliff face. It pulses and a pale green ray of magical light stabs out at Sigourney. Sigourney recognises it as Disintegrate and promptly wraps herself in mist.

I assumed you would Cloud Dragons Cloak for that

Green slithers along the face of the cliff to get out of the dangerous harmonics and does the same to Billy! Everyone's a critic.

Sigourney, knowledgeable of the danger that a Disintegrate could pose to her structural integrity, reflexively throws up a Cloud Dragon's Cloak.

"Ha ha ha! Nice try, but you're no match for a magician like myself!" She laughs mockingly as the distraction causes the black tracer bolt to miss.

She hastily runs towards Slick, waving her arms and tentacle towards him to get his attention.

"Hey, before you get those runes, let me cast this on you first."
She calls out to him before she casts Air Walk on him. "Now go get them!"

With but a thought, she forces the Phantom Orchestra onto the Red Rune in retaliation.

Sonic, DC 36 Fort Save, CA: 8d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 3, 5, 2, 6, 2, 4, 5) + 1 = 30

◆Stride, ◆◆ Air Walk, ◆ Sustain Phantom Orchestra

While Sigourney was prepared for the enemy's spell, recognized it, and reacted appropriately, Billy was ... the opposite. In his defense, he was pre-occupied with some new lyrics.

When a pale green ray whizzes by his golden locks, the bard grins, "Better to be lucky than good ... and I am a halfling!" Billy considers his options and decides to wait for Slick and Pinebrush to finish them off.

Hoping to save spell slots, Billy delays in the hope that the runes will be gone. If not, he'll likely send a few magic missiles at whichever is left.

Slick sees Sigourney signaling to him and waits for her to come over and cast a spell on him. He immediately feels himself getting lighter on his feet. "Thanks, Sigourney. That should save me some climbing."

He then turns and eyeballs the remaining runes to see which he should go for next. He notices Sigourney targeting the less damaged one, so decides to pile in and try to finish the job. He leaves the more damaged one to the south for Billy and Pinebrush to deal with.

Pretty sure Slick is within 9 squares of movement of both runes, but I'll use Sudden Charge anyway to be on the safe side. I've put him 20' up to match the runes.

Actions 1 & 2 (◆◆): Sudden Charge
- Action: Stride with Air Walk (45 feet)
- Action: Stride with Air Walk (45 feet)
- Action: Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem vs Red Rune.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 28 + 2 + 1 = 48
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (3, 2, 7) + 13 + 1 = 26 slashing damage

Pretty sure that's a crit. Will assume that Red is now off-guard to Slick.

Actions 3 (◆): Exacting Strike - On a miss, next Strike uses same MAP
- Action: Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem and MAP1 vs Off-Guard Red Rune.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (19) + 28 + 2 + 1 - 5 = 45 vs Off-Guard
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (5, 7, 11) + 13 + 1 = 37 slashing damage

CRIT! due to nat-19 (Keen). The next Strike is at MAP2.

If Red is still alive, then Strike again (see below). If Red is down, then Slick will instead Stride down to the square immediately north of Green

Action 4 (◆): Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem, Haste and MAP2 vs Off-Guard Red Rune.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 - 10 ⇒ (16) + 28 + 2 + 1 - 10 = 37 vs Off-Guard
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (10, 6, 7) + 13 + 1 = 37 slashing damage

Now that Red is likely down, guess I'll post Billy's turn now -- still delaying on Pine.
Billy looks on as Slick (hopefully) dismantles another of the runes. He waits for Pinebrush to take out the other in the hopes of conserving resources, but if the rune is still alive ...

After running away to a strategic position where he can take proper aim on the remaining rune, Billy sings,
♫"To write good songs like me. It takes a lot of work.
Some missiles aimed at thee. Your boss is quite a jerk."♫

Force Barrage (5th rank) + Dangerous Sorcery: 9d4 + 9 + 5 ⇒ (2, 4, 4, 4, 3, 4, 2, 4, 2) + 9 + 5 = 43

◇ Delay for Pinebrush, ◆ Stride (hasted), ◆◆◆ Force Barrage

If Red is down, only so much I can do about Green this turn--it's too far away. I have to use three actions getting there, so without flanking I can't make it Off-Guard.

"Hm."
Pinebrush flies towards the last rune. Thanks to Billy's magic, he's able to get in a quick jab, but it's a much more obvious frontal assault than his usual style. With a few more seconds he'll be able to do it properly!

◆ Fly
◆ Fly
◆ Fly. I moved Pine into Green's space, but if Red is still up he'll move into their space instead.
◆ Strike Rapier: 1d20 + 28 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 28 + 1 = 34 for piercing damage: 3d6 + 6 ⇒ (3, 1, 2) + 6 = 12. If the target is Red, also precision damage: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 1) = 7. On crit, double damage and add deadly damage: 2d8 ⇒ (8, 3) = 11 and target is Off-Guard for a round.

Sigourney gets Slick into the air and blasts red, it withers under her damaging sonics. Slick charges into Red and dispatches it with two swift blows and promptly rushes down to Green.

I have effectively delayed Pine until the next round to make my turn bookkeeping easier. It also allows him to benefit from Off Guard as Slick is there then.

Pine flies into Green and pokes it.

It takes 19 damage

Billy then blasts it with Magic Missiles and somehow it is still holding on.

Green slithers away from Slick, along the wall and shifts form, spelling out Trexmia will devour your soul!. It then casts another spell. A massive cone of multicoloured light, you could perhaps describe it as prismatic, engulfs Slick and Pine!

Sigourney strolls down and double taps the rune with a Frostbite and a Phantom Orchestra.

"We'll see about that. I'd prefer to take his though...his spellbook. I'm not interested in old man souls." Sigourney quips.

Cold, DC 36 Fort Save, CA: 9d4 + 1 ⇒ (2, 2, 4, 1, 4, 2, 4, 3, 2) + 1 = 25

Sonic, DC 36 Fort Save, CA: 8d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 4, 6, 2, 6, 1, 2, 3) + 1 = 29

◆ Stride (hasted), ◆◆Frostbite, ◆ Sustain Phantom Orchestra

The last remaining rune crumbles into pieces under Sigoruneys assault. In a necropolis far away a shriek of rage echoes into the darkness.

I am keeping you in initiative for reasons. Everyone else can take a round of actions.

As the last of the runes shatters and dies under the impact of Sigourney's cold music, Slick's ears can't help but catch the shriek from the necropolis in the distance. "Seems we've managed to get Trexima's attention. I guess that last rune was the one with his soul cage. How very sad that must be for him." Slick does not appear to be particularly distraught about it. "I hope the old fellow is mad enough to stick around and try to exact revenge. We better get prepare ourselves for whatever the lich is about to throw at us"

I presume that given their respective durations, Slick is still Hasted and Air Walking 20' up.

Slick air walks down to Sigourney and with a quick prayer to Gorum, infuses her with health. He then moves away from her to make them less of a concentrated target for whatever Trexima is planning to throw against them. With his back against the outcropping, Slick says "defend," and the space around him shimmers for a moment as he deploys a magical Shield.

Action 1 (◆): Stride with Haste (45 feet)

Action 2 (◆): Cast a Spell: Lay on Hands [L8] on Sigourney

Sigourney recovers 48 hit points and gains a +2 status bonus to AC for 1 round.

Action 3 (◆): Stride (45 feet)

Action 4 (◆): Cast a Spell: Shield [L8] - AC 38 (Hardness 20)

Upon hearing the shriek in the distance, Billy asks, "Do we think our friend Trexima will be coming for us here?" He quickly slaps a battle dressing on himself.
Battle Medicine DC 20: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (11) + 23 = 34
Damage Healed +Medic: 2d8 + 10 + 5 ⇒ (2, 8) + 10 + 5 = 25
Crit Damage Healed: 2d8 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7
Billy heals 32hp

The halfling was about to offer some healing to Sigourney, but when Slick handles it, Billy decides to make himself hidden, just in case.
♫"The lich is on his way? We'll fight him here outside.
We think he'll be irate. It might be best to hide."♫
Billy casts Invisibility (2nd rank) on himself.
Duration: 10min

◆ Battle Med, ◆◆ Invis

"I dunno why he'd be upset," says Pine as he alights near the others, "We did everything he asked for. We overcame the guardian, we used the passcode to tell the runes he'd sent us, we recovered them from where they were trapped--those were all the things he asked for! If there was something else he thought was important, he really should have specified."

Slick smiles at Pinebrush's sophistry. "Well; to be fair; he did mention wishing them recovered and wanting them back, but it's true that he didn't explicitly mention in what state he wanted them returned to him."

He then briefly looks around to see if there are any remains of the runes that they could recover to prove to Trexima that they had recovered them from the obelisk. Shrugging, he gives up. "I doubt Trexima is going to be open to hair-splitting arguments of this variety."

"Recovered from ruined building," says Pine, sticking out his tongue, "Check. Wanting them back, well... um... well, we also said we wanted things, but they weren't part of the deal we agreed on. All terms met, as far as I can see. He didn't really convince me to care about what he wants, you know?"

"Ah, thanks for the heal, Slick!" Sigourney gratefully says.

"I'll be honest, if I were an evil skeletal lich and four adventurers lied to my face and destroyed what was left of my soul, I wouldn't be too pleased either. He isn't a Devil so throwing legalese isn't going to work either...Well if we get turned into undead shambling horrors bound to his will, I will say it was nice working with you all, at least."

As the group are gathering themselves together in the aftermath of the battle there are multiple flashes of light and suddenly you are surrounded by demons! A large, horned, monstrosity stood on nearby cliff calls out, The Prince of Wolves sends his regards. I shall now collect your Harrow Cards!

Initiative
Slick : 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (5) + 25 = 30
Billy : 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (10) + 25 = 35, +2 item visual/hearing, +2 circ scout
Pinebrush, Stealth: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (2) + 28 = 30, Perception +24, +1 circ if visual, +2 circ scout
Sigourney: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (11) + 23 = 34, +2 circ scout, +2 item visual

I havent rolled Slicks Battle Cry as I was unsure who you would target. Please decide your target and roll it now then I will start us on init.

Slick is about to put some distance between him and Sigourney when a multitude of large demons surround them. The one who calls out to them has a familiar looks about it and he assumes it is the leader of this pack. Slick makes a show of looking around at all the fiends, then with a sneer, he yells back. "Good luck with that, but I don't think you brought enough friends with you."

Action (◇): Battle Cry
- Action: Demoralize with Mask of the Banshee and Intimidating Prowess vs Large Horned Monstrosity

Intimidation (Demoralize): 1d20 + 27 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 27 + 2 + 2 = 40 vs Large Horned Monstrosity Will DC

The large, pig like demon, seems mildly perturbed.

Pass on Battle Cry

The large, horned monstrosity, swoops down and unleashes a gout of burning acid over everyone! Most of the group avoid the blast but Billy is badly burned and his hair and clothing are decidedly messed up.

Let me know if you have any relevant resists. I am not allowing reactions before you have acted in this fight as its an ambush.

The monster growls at Slick, trying to force its way into his mind but he shrugs it off.

The large pig demon grins evilly, beams of light shoot from its eyes at Slick and Pines armour and weapons. Both manage to twist out of the way just in time. It then closes in on Billy.

At this point it becomes apparent to the group that the toad like demons are all very smelly. Billy gags which adds to the aroma of burnt and scorched hair and flesh.

Its an aura so technically at the start of your turn but I decided to just get the saves out of the way now. Once you pass you are immune to all. Billy, you can reroll your save if you want to and have a way to.

Sigh, a 2 and a 3 on Billy's saves ... I respectfully request that my GM try a little harder when he rolls for me. :).
When fire and acid rain down, Billy uses a (Keys +4) harrow reroll to try to avoid it.
Reflex via Harrow - Keys(crit): 1d20 + 25 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 25 + 4 = 48
Presumably this happened before being sickened, yes?
If any gets through, Greater Ring of Fire Resistance provides 10 Resistance.

Gagging and coughing, Billy tries retching, as gracefully as possible.
Fortitude to Retch: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (14) + 24 = 38

Then, after exiting stage left, the bard grips his staff and hurls a vial of holy water into the air to cast Holy Cascade aiming at three of the demons in the distance.
Bludgeoning/Water Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 2) = 8
Good Damage +CA: 6d6 + 1 ⇒ (3, 6, 5, 4, 5, 1) + 1 = 25
Range: 500'. 20' Burst to hit Yellow/Red/Purple (see outline on roll20). Basic Reflex Save DC 36 (or 35 if still Sickened).
Cost: 4 charges from staff.

◆ Retch, ◆ Stride (hasted), ◆◆ Holy Cascade

Bending fate Billy manages to avoid the entirety of the blast!

No damage, I have added back 63hp.

Billy retches and ducks away. He drops a massive ball of holy water on the enemy! All three scream in agony!

The large toad like demon on the cliff glares down at Billy and projects all the horrific things it will do to him telepathically. It then casts a spell. The whole area is blanketed in vile green energy. Sigourney recognises it as a powerful divine wrath spell (rank 6). Billy, Reginald and Sigourney all find themselves weakened by the abyssal energies.

The pig demon to the north repeats the trick its ally used, shooting beams of purple light at Slick and Pine. Both easily avoid them. It then lumbers ponderously into the air.

Pine is about to turn invisible, when he realizes they can see Billy. So it probably won't work. Being able to see invisible people is just rude.
Hmph.

So he dives towards the big demon in front of him and tries to throw it off by darting around, before striking.

"Okay, so we got past the guardian and recovered the runes and we led the runes out to safety, but these demons attacked us while we were on our way back to him and the runes were destroyed. Is he sure he has no interest in the Prince of Wolves?"

And then he stabs it.

◆ Fly. This definitely provokes RS from N2 if it has it.
◆ Feint Deception: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (5) + 28 = 33
◆ Feint, assuming the first one failed Deception: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (18) + 28 = 46. Oh, that should do it. If that's a success, it's Off-Guard to all of Pine's melee attacks until the end of his next turn due to Scoundrel racket. It also takes a -2 circumstance penalty to Perception and Reflex during that time. If that's a critical success, it's Off-Guard to everyone's melee Strikes for that duration.
◆ Strike Rapier: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (19) + 28 = 47 for piercing: 3d6 + 6 ⇒ (2, 4, 3) + 6 = 15, precision: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 5) = 12, and spirit damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5. On crit, double damage and add deadly damage: 2d8 ⇒ (1, 8) = 9. Total of 32 if hit, or 73 if crit.
◇ Debilitating Strikes if that hit, inflicting Enfeebled 1 and 3d6 persistent bleed

"How did you manage to say all that while fighting a giant pig demon at the same time?" Sigourney calls out to Pine out loud.

She effortlessly tries to identify what these toad like demons are.

Using Assured Knowledge to, as a free action, Recall Knowledge with Assurance on Toad Demons if I can do so with my Academia Lore (33), Arcana (33), Society (31), Nature (31), Crafting (31), Lore (Loremaster) (29) - which applies to everything, Occultism (27), Religion (27). I want their lowest save.

With Slick conveniently next to her raising his sword at the demons, she takes the opportunity to apply the Holy aligned Oil in her tentacle. With her free hand, she pops the cork on the bottle of oil and then dips her tentacle into it. She then proceeds to give Slick's sword the weirdest ethereal rub-down it's ever received.

"Get used to this Slick, this is not going to be the last time I have to do this. Make up for your past performance and kill them all." She chides Slick.

Holy Aligned Oil gives you the effects of the Holy rune, which I'm interpreting as not adding to your property rune limit as it's just the effects and not an actual rune. This means your strikes gain the Holy trait and deal an extra 1d4 spirit damage, or an extra 2d4 against an unholy target. There's also some cool reaction you get if you get a critical hit against an unholy target where you gain HP double that of the creature's level, but I doubt you'll actually use it.

She then turns to the demons and addresses all of them in Abyssal.

"The Prince of Wolves wants our cards? When I'm done with you, there won't be enough ashes left to fit on the face of a card." She boasts to the demons as a ball of lightning forms up in her free hand. "Out of my sight! Electric Sign - Thunder Drum Shot!" She releases the ball of lightning, which flies towards the closest enemy and spreads out into small, bouncing balls on impact, threatening to hit all the demons.

Targeting in this order: Green, Pink (thanks for the -2, Pine!), Yellow, Red, Orange, Purple, Blue.

7th rank Chain Lightning, DC 36 Reflex Save, CA, Electricity: 9d12 + 1 ⇒ (9, 9, 9, 10, 5, 8, 9, 1, 12) + 1 = 73

She then hastily and bravely runs away to the sound of the Phantom Orchestra petering out.

◇ Assured Knowledge on Toad demon, ◆ Interact to apply Oil to Slick's sword, ◆◆ Chain Lightning, ◆ Stride (hasted)

As Slick dodges burning acid, shooting beams of light, and mental attacks, he smiles to himself in amusement at being the bad guys' center of attention for once; wasn't it Billy that usually took the brunt of the demons' ire? He's about to make a quip about Billy losing his fiendish fans, but noticing that his friend was taking a fair bit of collateral damage from the initial attacks, thinks better of it.

I know they've already posted, but I want to make it official that Slick's actions come after those of Pinebrush and Sigourney.

Action (◇): Delay: Until end of Pinebrush and Sigourney's turn.

Instead, he turns his attentions to the nearest demons. As he surveys the situation, Sigourney sidles up and starts oiling his sword. Slick narrows his eyes in confusion, but allows it. "Careful there Sigourney. I keep my sword very sharp."

He charges forward and attacks the boss demon with everything he has.

Actions 1 & 2 (◆◆): Scout's Charge
- Action: Stride (45 feet)
- Action: Feint with Ventriloquist's Ring (Greater) vs Yellow
- Action: Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Holy Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem vs Yellow.

Deception (Feint): 1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 21 + 2 = 40 vs Yellow Perception DC

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 28 + 2 + 1 = 38 vs Yellow
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (8, 7, 11) + 13 + 1 = 40 slashing damage
Holy Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2 spirit damage vs fiends

Actions 3 (◆): Exacting Strike - On a miss, next Strike uses same MAP
- Action: Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Holy Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem vs Yellow.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 28 + 2 + 1 = 45 vs Off-Guard N2
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (3, 2, 11) + 13 + 1 = 30 slashing damage
Holy Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (1, 3) = 4 spirit damage vs fiends

Action 4 (◆): Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Holy Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem, Haste and MAP2 vs Off-Guard Yellow

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 - 10 ⇒ (19) + 28 + 2 + 1 - 10 = 40 vs Off-Guard Yellow
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (8, 9, 6) + 13 + 1 = 37 slashing damage
Holy Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2 spirit damage vs fiends

CRIT! due to nat-19 (Keen).

If Slick spent his reaction with Holy Healing, then ignore the following available reactions.

Pine flies into the large pig demon and stabs him in the nose.

That is a crit for 73

Sigourney recognises the toad like demons as Hezrou, they are large and clumsy (reflex is lowest). She then slathers Slicks sword with glowing oil using her tentacle, which is not at all disturbing. She then electrocutes everything! Sadly, none of them go down.

Slick charges into the lead demon, catching him off guard! Three quick blows leave the creature reeling!

Thats a successful feint, a hit, a hit and a crit for 202 damage!

Somehow though, he remains standing!

The three remaining Hezrous batter Billy and Sigourney with multiple powerful Divine Wrath spells. Then they begin closing in on the casters! Yellow, enraged, goes to cast a spell. It is the last action it will ever take as Slick stabs it in the throat!

Purple howls in glee as Yellow falls and telepathically projects, Finally I shall take my rightful place as the Masters right hand!. Pink seems oblivious, it obviously was not included in the message!

Purple tries to take out Pine. Unfortunately Pine is too nimble for him!

I believe Billy still needs a stench save at start of turn, yes?
Fortitude +Fright: 1d20 + 24 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 24 - 2 = 30

Uncomfortable being in the literal center of combat, Billy hastily strides away (provoking RS from Blue). From his new position, he sings out,

♫"The prince sent his minions to greet us.
Their orders to kill and to eat us.
.....Their leader's now dead.
.....Cuz Slick took his head.
They smell bad, but they won't defeat us!"♫

Lingering Performance +VirtPerf +Mask +Music -Fright, DC 34: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 2 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 28 + 2 + 2 + 1 - 2 = 34
Success: Courageous Anthem duration 3 rounds. Cost: 1 focus point.

The bard then plays his favorite new instrument, The Trumpet, sending a sonic blast across the battlefield.
Trumpet Blast (Sonic) +CA, vs all enemies: 18d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 3, 5, 1, 5, 4, 5, 2, 5, 3, 1, 4, 6, 6, 3, 3, 6, 4) + 1 = 68
Basic Fort Save DC 36 (-2 for Fright) => DC 34

◆ Stride (hasted), ◇ Ling Comp, ◆ CA, ◆◆ Trumpet
End of turn: Frightened 2 becomes Frightened 1.

Billy runs off, or strategically relocates himself, before inspiring his companions. He then unleashes a massive blast of sound. Several of the demons are badly damaged.

Green, furious with Billy, vanishes in a flash of light and reappears behind Billy. Green casts a spell at Slick (its Dispel Magic). Slick drops to the ground, landing on his feet. It then flies over towards Sigourney.

Sigourney hastily moves into a good position and yells across the field to Slick.

"That was Dispel Magic, Slick! Be careful if you re-apply flight to yourself - they can turn it off! Oh before I forget, take that!"

She fires off a Shadow Signet enhanced beam of Holy Light on the Orange Hezrou before it can act, and then bravely runs to behind a house.

6th rank Holy Light, CA, targeting Reflex DC: 1d20 + 26 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 26 + 1 = 31

Fire: 11d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 6, 3, 3, 1, 6, 3, 5, 4, 6, 4) + 1 = 48

Spirit, Holy: 11d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 6, 5, 1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 5, 6) = 48

◆ Stride (hasted), ◇ Activate Signet, ◆◆ 6th Rank Holy Light, ◆ Stride

Slick nods in approval at how easily his sword seems to be slicing through these demons. "I don't know what that oil was you rubbed on my sword, Sigourney, but it's going through these demons like a hot knife through butter."

Suddenly, he feels the "ground" fall away below him. "Whoops! He falls the 10' to the ground and lands solidly. "How inconvenient." Looking around, he sees that most of the bad guys are out of his reach unless he can get back into the air. Not wanting to waste any time activating his baldric, he rushes forward and attacks the nearest of the big boys, but not before he lets Sigourney cast her spells.

Action (◇): Delay: Until end of Sigourney's turn.

Actions 1 & 2 (◆◆): Scout's Charge
- Action: Stride (45 feet)
- Action: Feint with Ventriloquist's Ring (Greater) vs Purple
- Action: Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Holy Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem vs Purple.

Deception (Feint): 1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 21 + 2 = 31 vs Purple Perception DC

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 28 + 2 + 1 = 50 vs Purple
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (12, 11, 6) + 13 + 1 = 43 slashing damage
Holy Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6 spirit damage vs fiends

Ha! Another 50! If that's not a CRIT on its own merits, then it is one due to nat-19 (Keen). Purple now definitely Off-Guard until the end of Slick's next turn.

Actions 3 (◆): Exacting Strike - On a miss, next Strike uses same MAP
- Action: Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Holy Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem and MAP1 vs Off-Guard Purple.

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 28 + 2 + 1 - 5 = 29 vs Off-Guard

That's probably a miss. If so, then I'll use one of my +4 Harrow Ritual results for a reroll and try for another crit.

Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (10, 2, 7) + 13 + 1 = 33 slashing damage
Holy Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 spirit damage vs fiends

One way or another, that's probably a hit, so next Strike is at MAP2.

Action 4 (◆): Strike (+2 Greater Striking Grievous Keen Holy Greatsword) with Courageous Anthem, Haste and MAP2 vs Off-Guard Purple

Greatsword Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 1 - 10 ⇒ (11) + 28 + 2 + 1 - 10 = 32 vs Off-Guard
Greatsword Damage: 3d12 + 13 + 1 ⇒ (1, 3, 11) + 13 + 1 = 29 slashing damage
Holy Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 spirit damage vs fiends

Sigourney blasts the orange toad demon and it silently implodes, leaving nothing but a dusting of ash.

Slick charges purple, who totally sees him coming. It doesnt help much as Slick lands three powerful blows. Somehow the massive demon remains standing!

Thats a crit, miss turned into a crit with the reroll and a hit

"Hey, get back here!"
Would taunting a giant demon about fleeing from a bug be as effective as it was against the magi? Actually, it didn't really work all that well against them anyway.

Pine pursues the demon. Focusing on the magic of his Harrow hand, he gives it the lightest touch with his sword--and then follows it up with a real jab.

"Does poison work on demons? I don't expect you to answer, I'll figure it out in a second."

◆ Fly into Pink's space
◆◆ Cast purple worm sting from The Snakebite card. Fort DC 35 (includes item bonus from The Snakebite). It deals piercing damage: 3d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 1, 1) + 1 = 7, and on a success also deals poison damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 3) = 12 (and the same on a failure, plus other effects; needs an additional d6 on a critical failure).
◆ Strike Rapier: 1d20 + 28 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 28 + 1 = 34 for piercing damage: 3d6 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 4, 2) + 6 + 1 = 18, spirit: 1d6 ⇒ 3, and precision damage: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 2, 6) = 10. On crit add deadly damage: 2d8 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6
◇ Debilitating Strikes if that hit, maintaining Enfeebled 1 and bleed 3d6. If it's already Enfeebled from the poison, instead -10 penalty to Speeds and bleed.

Pine flies into the massive pig demon and pokes it. It flinches, but still seems to be affected. He then stabs it but it remains flying.

I dont think you need to extend the bleed condition from debilitation strikes. Its a bit of an odd situation but my general view is that if you impose a condition like that it will continue as normal. The bleed also doubles on a crit.

With their leader defeated and the Nalfeshnees badly injured the demons turn to flee. The vanish with popping noises.

Technically Billy gets to act before Green and pink flee so feel free to do something Billy. Otherwise this encounter is pretty much over.

Combat status

Slick 209/233
Billy 67/186, see invisibile
Pinebrush 174/174
Sigourney 95/173
Reginald 88/105

As the courageous demons start teleporting away, Billy calls out to Purple, "But what about being the Prince's right-hand ma...." {Purple vanishes} "...never mind. Your boss is probably very understanding. I'm sure it'll go well for you." Billy considers sending some Needle Darts at one of the remaining enemies, but it's not worth his trouble. With the demons gone, he feels less scared.
Frightened 1 goes away.

The halfling looks around. "No bodies to search?" He pauses and continues, "Should we collect the runes ... or, what's left of them?" He allows himself to take a breath and asks,"Who's ready for some healing?" He raises his hand excitedly and looks up in the air for Dr. Pinebrush.

Billy strums his lute and refocuses as he's being tended to.

Slick is surprised to find the big demon still standing after those brutal holy-infused blows he'd inflicted on the creature and is not surprised when it decides to return with its friends to whatever nasty corner of the abyss it came from. He calls out to the fleeing fiends. "Tell your mangy cur of a boss to send more of his minions next time. I hardly broke a sweat on you guys.".

I presume that we're out of encounter mode and have some time to reover before we move on. With 10 minutes to recover his focus points, Slick can lay on hands twice for 48 hit points at a time.

Slick refocuses while searching the fallen fiends for anything of interest. He then helps heal the wounded with short prayers to Gorum and the laying on of hands.

Searching the remaining bodies turns up nothing. You take some time to heal up and refocus. What do you do next?

Do you want to return to Trexima or go somewhere else?

Once everyone is all healed up and ready to go, Slick takes sword back in hand. "That was a bit of an unwelcome interruption, but a good workout nevertheless. Seems it was the work of the Prince of Wolves and not Trexima as we'd predicted. Speaking of Trexima, he's no doubt wondering what's been holding us up. We shouldn't keep him waiting an longer. He gets grumpy when kept waiting."

And with that, Slick begins his trek back through the jungle towards the arcane schools and the impatiently awaiting Trexima.

Assuming Pinebrush handles the healing...

After 30 mins of healing, lay on hands, refocusing, and occasional sips of honey mead from his jug, Billy stretches and smiles, "Well done, Pine. Feeling as good as new." Using his Staff of Final Rest as a walking stick, he follows trailblazer Slick back through the jungle.

Sigourney takes a twenty minute breather communing with her patron through Reginald and informing them of the demon threat. Once twenty minutes have passed, however, she takes out her crystal ball and begins casting the Scrying spell from it.

"Let's see how our friend Trexima is taking this news...through the eyes of one of his servants."

She activates her Clear Quartz Crystal Ball, which casts Scrying on the NPC Yezom. We have definitely met him in person, so its a DC 33 Will save. Sigourney sustains the spell until the duration (10 minutes) ends or until she gets an idea of what Trexima is doing, whichever comes first.

She spends a moment Recalling Knowledge on the pig like demons before moving on, while also placing a Potion of Swiftness in her tentacle and Knifewand of Heal in her free hand.

Along the way, Sigourney tries to sell the party on a magical plan to get in undetected. It's not easy to do so, especially since she has to stride as fast as possible to catch up with a good half of the party.

"Huff...huff...So...We need to create allies right? And the Hadi...If Trexima forces the Hadi to fight us, we can't bring them over to our side. What if... (she pauses to catch her breath) ...What if, once we get near Trexima's lair, I use my scroll of Invisibility Sphere to get us into the lair undetected. If we need to separate Trexima from the Hadi, I can cast Wall of Stone from our invisible position to block off the Hadi's access, letting us fight the lich unmolested!"

"What do you all think?"

Sounds like the GM doesn't need this rolled out, but just in case:

Pinebrush puts his medical tools away. "So you just wanna attack him? ...inevitable, I think. And probably a good idea anyway. So it makes sense."

At this level I m happy to hand wave out of combat healing unless you are under a particular time pressure.

Sigourney recognises the pig demons as Nalfeshne, dangerous and greedy monsters.

She employs her crystal ball, the image in the crystal shimmers before resolving into an view of complete blackness. It appears that, wherever Yezom is, there is no light at all.

As far as I can tell Sigourney does not have darkvision.

Making your way through the jungle you manage to get close to the Academy without incident. Something does seem to have changed, there are no guards outside this time and curls of thicker smoke rise out of some of the gaps in the roof. It doesnt look like cooking fires...

Slick looks over the changed Academy and purses his lips. "<Tsk, tsk!> Looks like Trexima has been making some changes since we last saw him. I can't help but think it has something to do with what we did at the Obelisk. I hope the hadis managed to avoid the worst of his rage." He sighs. "We better go in and see what the situation is. The sooner we get rid of the lich the better for everyone involved."

Slick is eager to get this over with, but will wait for Sigourney and Billy to cast whatever spells they feel like before heading into the Academy to face Trexima.

Sigourney holds up the crystal ball triumphantly as it activates. "Yes! Yes! It's working! I see...not a single thing. Can any one else perceive anything?" She passes around the Crystal Ball.

The effects of the scrying spell should be projected out of the ball itself, allowing others to see it. Also, do I hear anything from around Yezom?

Before going in, Sigourney asks someone else with Dark vision to activates the Crystal ball and cast Clairvoyance, telling them to set the invisible eye somewhere inside the Academy where she remembers meeting the Lich.

With the information she gains (or not), she extinguishes her Light and activates the Silent Hag card. Her eyes vanish into black pits which give her imprecise lifesense of up to 60 feet.

"This...is extremely freaky. I'm pretty certain I can sense the Lich if needed. I can also sense your animating energy, but I think I'll need you all to tell me if we're fighting the Hadi since I'm not sure if I can tell individual life forces apart. She comments as she leans on her staff like a stick.

She then gathers the party around before Casting Invisibility Sphere from her scroll.

The image from the crystal ball shows an ominous sight. Yezom is chained to a pillar in the middle of the main chamber. Most of the cooking fires are out and there are plenty of bones scattered across the floor that were not there before. Several hadi corpses lay sprawled around, their bodies stripped of most of their flesh.

Setting an eye inside the chamber where you met Trexima shows the room as empty.

Entering the Academy you move through the outer doors and carefully open the inner ones. The sight here is, perhaps, worse. With a full view of the chamber you see that Yezoms mother and uncle are chained to two of the other pillars. The three of them have clearly been poorly treated. Hadi's cower in terror in the far corners of the room. Trexima stands in the middle of the columns.

As the door to the chamber opens he turns and smiles, Invisibility, a simple trick but it will not save you...TRAITORS!

Initiative
Slick : 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (13) + 25 = 38
Billy : 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (14) + 25 = 39, +2 item visual/hearing, +2 circ scout
Pinebrush, Stealth: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (20) + 28 = 48, Perception +24, +1 circ if visual, +2 circ scout
Sigourney: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (5) + 23 = 28, +2 circ scout, +2 item visual

While the sight of the tied up hadi is horrifying, Billy's relieved they're still alive. Gripping his staff, he sings out some inspiration.
No Musical Accompaniment given that we were trying to stealth with invisibility.

♫"Trexima's so filled with rage.
He seemed to misplace his soul cage.
.....He claims he's a Lord.
.....But frankly we're bored.
The good guys will now take the stage!"♫

Lingering Performance +VirtPerf +Mask, DC 34: 1d20 + 28 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 28 + 2 + 2 = 52
Crit Success: Courageous Anthem duration 4 rounds. Cost: 1 focus point.

He then sings a quick ditty.
♫"The hadi are in trouble -- let's help our newfound friends.
Let's do it on the double. Ensure this lich reign ends."♫
Cast Haste (7th rank) for the entire party. (Final 7th rank spell slot.)

◇ Ling Comp, ◆ CA, ◆◆ Haste

"You made it clear we weren't on the same side, but you've attacked your own people. Who's the traitor?"

Pine hesitates. If this is set up for them, there must be some kind of trap. But Trexima doesn't seem to be looking at him, and in a second he'll be casting spells. Can't waste the opportunity.

He darts around the pillar and towards the lich. It may well be the fastest way to free the hadis.

◆ Stride
◆ Stride
◆ Strike Rapier vs Off-Guard: 1d20 + 28 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 28 + 1 = 38 for piercing damage: 3d6 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 1, 5) + 6 + 1 = 18, precision damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 4) = 13, and spirit damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1. On crit, double and add deadly damage: 2d8 ⇒ (6, 2) = 8. Total of 32 on a hit, or 72 on a crit.
◇ If the Strike hits, Debilitating Strike to inflict a -10 penalty to his Speeds and make him unable to use Reactions
◆ Strike Shortsword vs Off-Guard (MAP): 1d20 + 28 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 28 + 1 - 4 = 44 for slashing damage: 3d6 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 2, 5) + 6 + 1 = 16, precision damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 5) = 10, and spirit damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1. On crit, double. Total of 27 on a hit, or 54 on a crit.
◇ If the Strike hits, Debilitating Strike to inflict a -10 penalty to his Speeds and make him unable to use Reactions
↺ Whichever trigger is met first.

Billy inspires his companions in the usual way.

Pine darts in and stabs Trexima twice. However, the hoary old Lich seems heavily resistant to his attacks.

Two hits for 29 damage

Trexmia moves away from Pine, heading towards one of the doors into the Ossuary. He pauses and looks over to you. If these pathetic hadi's mean so much to you then let us see how much you actually care.

He casts a spell and draws the lifeforce from dozens of the hadi's at once, as well as your own! Their corpses will serve well enough as my undead minions.

Sigourney recognises the spell as horrid wilting just in time to see dozens of hadis crumple to the ground, their bodies desiccated.

Pine attacking breaks the invisibility for everyone. I am pausing here to see if anyone wants to reroll.

I'll take the fail. Also, are Yezom and Teffera dead? Lifesense lets me detect if they are alive. This would affect my turn.

When Billy feels his life-force, that he values very highly, about to be drained, he grows concerned. But when he sees it affecting the poor hadi's, he is determined to step in. "Oh, we care...." He chants,

♫"Our lives you won't take. Your spell is half-fake."♫
Billy reacts by casting Shadow Siphon (triggered on spell/magic that deals damage).

Shadow Siphon (Rank 6): 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (18) + 26 = 44 (vs caster DC)
Shadow Siphon: Treat shadow siphon's counteract level as 2 higher (ie. 8th level).
If successful vs caster DC, SS will counteract up to an 9th level spell.
If failure vs caster DC, SS will counteract up to a 7th level spell.

Wait, this is familiar... Billy's warning!

Harrow Shields Reroll: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (1) + 25 = 26

Oh... at least that and shadow siphon probably cancel out?

This is the discussion thread.

Hello all,

A couple of points as we start to sort out characters about how I run 2E games and also PbP.

For 2E games:

1. I do use secret checks. I will probably make those off site and just post the outcome in Gameplay if necessary.

2. For critical damage we will just double what you roll unless you are using something like a fatal weapon.

3. When I roll dice for things I will show you the dice roll but I never include my own modifiers to reduce the potential for metagaminess.

4. If you are using something odd, unusual or rules unclear bear in mind that I tend towards the more conservative approach on most rulings.

For PbP I do the following:

1. I will make some rolls for you, this is generally initiative and saving throws, simply to speed things up. If making a crucial roll I will then pause to give you time to decide if you want to HP reroll something. If you have a reaction please indicate how/when you would normally use it so I can weave it in without having to go ahead and rewind things every time/

2. I will do initiative in blocks. So if we have an enemy and then three PCs I will take the enemy's turn then open it up to the PCs. I will generally resolve actions in the order they are posted. If there is a specific thing you want to wait for that is fine as long as you make it clear, e.g. I wait for inspire for the bard then sudden charge.

3. As previously mentioned I will use roll20 for maps, handouts etc. You can find the roll20 table HERE. Please log onto the table and add a character image to one of the blank PC sheets in the PC Sheet folder.

You will also need to decide who starts wit which of the initial Harrow Cards you receive. You can find details in the Players Guide and also on the roll20 table. Each of you begins with 1 of the cards. You will find many more as the game progresses.

If you have any questions please ask.

Howdy folks! Glad to be here!

I'd love to get the Empty Throne card, as I think I'm the knowledge monkey in the game, and I won't be in melee, ideally, ever. :D

My character sheet is still incomplete (that rhymes), but I will add the Harrower stuff manually, and I'm sure Pathbuilder will incorporate Stolen Fate stuff soon enough.

Greetings and thank you for the invitation! I will get Nubnonk's alias up and running ASAP, read through the guidelines posted here, and start to think through some finalized decisions!

"Nubnonk here! Hi, Longshanks!"

The little goblin looks up at the human and half-elf, but then down at the halfling. He stretches up, puffing out his chest.

"Wait, Billy not longshanks. Shortshanks? We the same height. Nubnonk might be taller. Sing Nubnonk good songs, okay?"

---

All right, an alias has been created!

We're a highly charismatic party so far, but I think that both Dramiil and Nubnonk will be contributing lots of the Recall Knowledge stuff. Esoteric Lore plus Diverse Lore plus Dubious Knowledge is going to be a fun little combination.

Your experience with the unknown, as well as the tales you've exchanged with other thaumaturges, has taught you about strange phenomena of every kind. You become trained in Esoteric Lore, a special lore skill that can be used to Recall Knowledge regarding haunts, curses, and creatures of any type, but that can't be used to Recall Knowledge of other topics. Unlike a normal Lore skill, you use Charisma as your modifier on Esoteric Lore checks. You also gain the Dubious Knowledge skill feat.

At 3rd level, you become an expert in Esoteric Lore; at 7th level, you become a master in Esoteric Lore; and at 15th level, you become legendary in Esoteric Lore.

That said, I don't mind Dramiil taking The Empty Throne. Nubnonk will almost certainly never carry a shield (because Thaumaturges need a hand for their implements and esoterica), so The Paladin will be useless for him. Although he has a melee weapon, I've specked him more for ranged combat, so The Rabbit Prince won't be quite as useful for him. So The Brass Dwarf probably fits him best.

---

Unless they will be completely incompatible with the rest of the party's build, I have selected the Regalia and Tome implements for Nubnonk. I love the synergy between these two implements. In addition to just making me much better at all things social and knowledge, it will make us as a party better at whatever we need to be better at. Everyday with Tome, I can gain temporary master proficiency in two skills. Then using Regalia, the rest of the party can Follow the Expert to gain a +4 circumstance bonus to the skill check. In addition, you'll get a souped-up Champion's Aura of Courage with baby attack damage bonuses. I also can use a feature like the Investigator's Devise a Stratagem with the Tome's Intensify Vulnerability.

I haven't played a Thaumaturge at this level since the class debuted last year yet, but I think it'll all hang together pretty well!

I built a Thaumaturge for a game that stalled upon launch, but I really liked how they are good at a lot of things at once! Like a more charming Occultist.

The occultist was/is one of my favorite 1E classes, so I was very excited to see the Thaumaturge in the Dark Archive! I have only tooled around with the Thaumaturge's lower-level abilities in actual play so far, so I'm looking forward to trying more of the class out!

I dotted in Gameplay; hope that's ok!

Also, I figured out how to make 3rd party Feats in Pathbuilder. :)

If you see this in time, you can delete the dot post to avoid clutter and still have the campaign show up.

Ok, Rituals from Harrower Dedication kinda scare me. Planar Binding? Yipes! I think I'll take a different feat...

Scare in what way? I think they'll be useful and I'm considering taking one or two myself. They're basically just skill challenges.

Take Astral Projection for instance. You have a primary caster and two secondary casters. One secondary caster rolls Arcana (DC 27), another rolls Survival (DC 27), and then the primary caster rolls Occultism (DC 32). It costs (at the current level) 55 gp per target, so 220 gp total.

If we don't start play with some rituals known, we'll probably end up needing to learn some of them as the game progresses. This just means that we get them for free (or nearly so).

I only just checked the Recruiting thread to see if I was one of the lucky ones and it turns out I was! Yay. I just texted Billy Bardy to tell him the good news as I don't think he's checked yet.

I'm going to need a little time to tweak the current Fists of the Ruby Phoenix version of Slick for this AP, but I should have it ready by Friday. I will need some clarification from the GM to help direct me.

I found the Stolen Fate Player’s Guide which I've downloaded. I haven't looked at it yet in case the GM would prefer otherwise, so let me know if it's okay or even required that we read it.

Slick is currently using the Second Time Champion background from Fists of the Ruby Phoenix (uncommon), so if I'm not allowed to use it, I'll have to find a replacement. Are there any new (preferred) backgrounds listed in the AP Player’s Guide like with some of the others APs?

I also need to throw in the Free Archetype, which raises an interesting question. Slick currently takes Sorcerer dedication at 2nd level. Can he still do this along with taking the Free Archetype at Level 2? I've looked around and apparently there's nothing that says he can't. Most people leave it to the GM to decide, and it seems most GMs are good to let the two archetypes co-exist with no interference. If not, then that will require more substantial changes to Slick to de-Sorcerer him.

I'll also have to check that his equipment abides by the equipment rules listed for this adventure and make changes appropriately.

Apparently, I already have a Roll20 account despite never having used it. I must have created it when I was investigating such platforms way back when. My username is "Palandri".

You can absolutely use the Players Guide material, it is written for you as the players.

You can take a dedication even if you have Free Archetype as well. Just bear in mind that I am limiting your free archetype class feats to those available to that archetype. Ignore the free archetype for determining if you can take extra archetype feats from sorcerer.

Second Time Champion is fine.

The Player's Guide lists some new Backgrounds and an Archetype (even a new Sorcerer bloodline), but it doesn't appear that Pathbuilder 2e has been updated to include them. Unfortunately, the Backgrounds are non-standard (ie. no Lore; no Skill training; no skill feat; etc.) so I cannot build an accurate custom background to describe them. Ugh!

I was interested in switching out Slick's Second Time Champion for Shielded Fortune and perhaps going Harrower for the Free archetype, but without Pathbuilder support it will be more difficult. I've posted an action report on the Pathbuilder Gitlab site, but I suspect it won't be added for a while.

The Player's Guide lists some new Backgrounds and an Archetype (even a new Sorcerer bloodline), but it doesn't appear that Pathbuilder 2e has been updated to include them. Unfortunately, the Backgrounds are non-standard (ie. no Lore; no Skill training; no skill feat; etc.) so I cannot build an accurate custom background to describe them. Ugh!

I was interested in switching out Slick's Second Time Champion for Shielded Fortune and perhaps going Harrower for the Free archetype, but without Pathbuilder support it will be more difficult. I've posted an action report on the Pathbuilder Gitlab site, but I suspect it won't be added for a while.

The Backgrounds give the normal benefits. Shielded Fortune seems to be missing its skill benefits.

Pathbuilder is great, but it can take a bit for them to implement each new book with the release schedule. For Nubnonk, I just did a Custom Background as a stopgap and double-checked that I had the right feats and boosts manually after the fact.

---

A couple of minor changes on my end:

Dramiil is built to be mighty in Occultism, so if you want to pump Religion, that makes a good spread. As for rituals, I’ll consider it. We can certainly spam the Harrowing Ritual to keep people buffed a little.

Hey Slick! Seconding what Nubnonk said—you can build 3rd party feats fairly easily. I will update Dramiil soon.

Still waiting for our Bard to post. If I havent heard by Friday I will take a different player.

Also, you might want to start thinking about how you have come together as a group.

Still waiting for our Bard to post. If I havent heard by Friday I will take a different player.

The Bard is definitely in. I messaged him the good news and he messaged back that he's working on upgrading Billy Bardy to make him good for this AP. Not sure why he hasn't posted though. I'll tell him to do so.

Billy is on California time so probably won't be up for a few more hours. I am currently on European time, but will be back in California in about 10 days.

I am working diligently on getting Slick fixed up. He's taking the Shielded Fortune background: In Pathbuilder, I created a custom background with no-op custom lores for the Lore and trained Skill, then left the Skill Feat empty; I then added a custom General Feat for Level 1 to handle the Toughness. Seems to work.

So far he's taking Blessed One dedication at level 2 and then Scout dedication at level 8 for his Free Archetype. That's on top of the Sorcerer archetype that he was already taking at level 2.

I should have him finished up by the end of the day, at which point I can concentrate on updating his background (which will need to be completely different from what it is now) and start thinking about how we all come together as a group.

Thanks for the invite, GMAndrewW! Very excited to get a chance to play in a shiny new adventure with this exclusive group. I apologize for the delay -- just focused on getting things in order for Billy by Friday.

-------------
Billy, the golden-haired halfling, approaches, strumming his lute.

♫"Well met, good friends, let's have a beer.
It's time to rejoice. Billy is here."♫

Billy smiles at the goblin's greeting. "Indeed, good friend. On my last adventure I was the shortest. But now ..." He eyeballs the goblin, stands (a little too close) to compare heights, and declares,"...hooray, I'm still the shortest. But it's always nice to have company."
--------------------

As a Bard, Billy will (hopefully) provide solid support. He'll have good scores in all 4 magical skills. (Although it sounds like Occultism will be covered.)

And since groups typically need healing (especially with just 4 of us), I have Billy spending a lot of feats on Healing, including the Medic dedication. So he can be our resident doctor.

He can inspire, heal, recall knowledge, and I'll try to limit the annoying singing. But I make no promises.

I'm going through Slick's current equipment to see if it fits within the allowable starting equipment guidelines. So far so good, but I noticed that his existing +2 Armor Potency rune is a Level 11 item, so I guess that's out (taking a point of AC with it). His +2 Weapon Potency rune is Level 10, so I guess he can keep that.

I also notice that he's got about 800gp of stuff <= Level 6, which blows the 500gp budget. But, he currently isn't using all his available equipment slots in the Level 7-10 range. Is there a way to convert those unused slots into GP that we can use for items of <= Level 6?

@Nubnonk: I'm not a big fan of consumables so don't tend to buy many as a rule, but I usually give all my characters a Snapleaf Talisman for their armor. But if you're giving them away for free, then I'll think it over. Are your talismans only good for a single day if we don't use them on that day?

Quick questions for our GM:

When I created Billy for the Ruby Phoenix, I had him with Aphorite heritage, because he worshipped Hao Jin and her tapestry. I'll probably change that up, but:

Would you like us to stick to Common heritages, or can we go a little crazy, if we want?

For the Halfling's Cultural Adaptability feat, he can have Adopted Ancestry. Could he choose Elf to get Nimble Elf? Some GMs rule that as okay, while others say that is a physiological change and wouldn't be allowed.

I wanted to do a quick run-down of rituals in case we decide to lean into them, and here's the summary of what I found.

I'm only looking at the 50 Uncommon rituals, none of the Rare or Unique rituals.

All that to say, if Dramiil is boosting Occultism, then Nubnonk will boost Religion and focus on religion-exclusive rituals. I'm tentatively looking at Lucky Month, Planar Ally, and Resurrect, although Bacchanalia looks like a blast. Also the idea of a goblin performing a wedding with the Heartbond ritual just gave me a good laugh. TBD.

---

Coming Together
Since I'm taking the Pathfinder Agent Dedication, Nubnonk is officially a Pathfinder. He's also a Desnan lay-priest in Absalom, which is where he grew up. He's an adult by goblin standards, but goblins don't live very long, so the others would likely consider him a child.

---

Talismans
I'll quote the relevant text.

You know how to assemble the supernatural objects in your esoterica into a number of temporary talismans. Each day during your daily preparations, you can make two talismans with an item level no higher than half your level. You must know each talisman's formula. A talisman created this way is a temporary item and loses its magic the next time you make your daily preparations.

You know the formulas for all common talismans in the Core Rulebook of your level or lower.

The upgrade feat just boosts this to four per day.

So yes, they're only good for a single day, but I can make four new ones every single day.

Snapleaf is unfortunately not in the Core Rulebook, but if the GM rules that I can learn other Common talisman formulae, then that opens my options even more. (It's also the only common talisman in the Character Guide.

I see the following in the Player's Guide:

When you pick your items, you select the following permanent items from any of the common treasures from the Core Rulebook:
• One 10th-level item
• Two 9th-level items
• One 8th-level item
• Two 7th-level items
• 500 gp to spend on consumable items of 10th level or lower, or permanent items of 6th level or lower, as you see fit.

The GM's recruitment post does not mention being limited to the Core Rulebook and even states that You may start with up to three uncommon items... with rare items allowed at the GMs discretion.

Can I take it then that we are also not being limited by the "from the Core Rulebook" proviso listed in the Player's Handbook? I'm looking at getting certain weapon runes eg. (Crushing, Extending), as well as other items that are not in the Core Rulebook.

I'm also happy to go the 4500gp lump sum route if that's available.

Yes, you are fine with items from outside the CRB.

No complete lump sum, you have to make choices. You can take lower level items than those provided but there is no discount.

I consider Nimble Elf to be a physiological trait so it cannot be poached.

I am open to any heritage, let me know what you want and I will consider it.

Groovy.

"Slick! No buy snapleaf at market. This one work just fine. Trust Nubnonk."

You know, unless you want to.

Almost done with the equipment, but I have a couple of related questions for the GM.

Does a +2 Striking Greatsword count as a single Level 10 item, as per the Magic Weapon rules?

Or, does it count as a Level 10 +2 Greatsword with a Level 4 Striking rune added to it for two items?

Same goes for the +1 Resilient Full Plate. Is it a single Level 8 item as per the Magic Armor rules, or as a Level 8 Resilient Full Plate with a Level 5 +1 Armor Potency rune, for two items?

If I can treat those kinds of weapons and armor as a single item, that frees up some more of the 500gp <= Level 6 item budget for other things.

@Nubnonk: I removed the Snapleaf Talisman from my buy list.

@GM: Is there any particular format that you would like our PCs header line to be in? Is there specific information that you want to see there (other than the usual basic stuff)?

Hey all ... just wondering if anyone is planning on taking the Harrower Free Archetype, special for this AP.

I'm thinking about it for Billy, but it's a little daunting. Just trying to wrap my head around rituals -- something I've never had to learn about in PFS, of course.

In fact, in case we don't wanna double-up, would it make sense for everyone to post their Free Archetypes here? I've narrowed it down to: Harrower, Blessed One, or Archaeologist. (I realize that some may not consider that to be narrowing anything down.)

@GM -- I'm guessing it would be flavorful if one of us had the Harrower Archetype, or does it really not matter as far as you're concerned?

@GM -- Would you allow Billy to take the (uncommon) 6th level Teleport spell?

P.S. Thanks for the quick responses ... still looking at the heritage thing and will get back to you if I wanna choose something weird.

I was not planning to take the Harrower archetype, but I think it's an excellent idea for someone to do so. Dramiil and Slick both talked about taking Harrower above, but I don't know where they are in their process.

As far as archetypes are concerned, Nubnonk will be a Loremaster/Pathfinder Agent.

Here's a quick summary of the rituals available through the Harrower archetype:

If three people in the party have the Harrower archetype, it means that we can get all six not-harrowing rituals for free. Of course, one person can just take Harrow Ritualist three times and accomplish the same thing. It just depends on how you want to spend your feat resources.

Personally, Astral Projection seems cool but risky. Call Spirit, Commune, Commune with Nature, and Legend Lore all accomplish similar things but with different sources. Planar Binding is as inordinately powerful as it was in 1E, but now specifies the risks even more clearly.

Treat weapons and armour as only the highest level of their fundamental runes. Property runes count separately.

Having someone with the Harrower archetype would be thematic but is not required. I personally think its a pretty good one and am planning a Harrow Bloodline sorcerer with the Harrower archetype if I ever get to play this. Much like you I am waiting for Pathbuilder to be updated.

In terms of PC Header please make sure it contains your AC, HP, saves, Perception modifier (and training level) and default exploration activity. Beyond that I leave it to you. If this changes I will let you know.

Teleport is fine.

The Harrowing does look like an excellent ritual given it gives out a load of potential rerolls.

Just as a note, I am based in the UK so will generally post in the evening UK time. I mostly work from home so I may post during the day. However, I recognise that players might be from anywhere so I will generally give people the time to react to events. If people dont post I will generally put them on delay, absent clear botting instructions.

Okay. I think I'm done with picking Slicks's equipment. Here it is by levels:

10: +2 Striking Greatsword
9: Greater Crushing Rune, Greater Ventriloquist's Ring
8: +1 Resilient Full Plate
7: Boots of Bounding, Cloak of Elvenkind
---
5: Magic Wand (L2) - Longstrider (160gp)
4: Demon Mask (85gp)
4: Lifting Belt (80gp)
4: +1 Striking Handwraps of Mighty Blows (100gp)
3: Bracelet of Dashing (58gp)
2: Silversheen (6gp)
1: 5 Tindertwig (1gp)
1: Smokestick (Lesser) (3gp)
0: Adventurer's Pack (1.5gp)
0: Climbing Kit (0.5gp)
0: Clothing (Ordinary) (0.1gp)
0: Crowbar (0.5gp)
0: Thieves' Tools (3gp)
0: 4 Thieves' Tools (Replacement Picks) (1.2gp)
---
499.8gp

I've been looking over the starting 4 Harrow cards to see which one would make the most sense for Slick. Here they are in order of preference (the first being the most preferred):

The Brass Dwarf (LN) starts you off with a fire resistance of your level, which is nice for Slick given that he basically is the front line. The activation allows you to switch the element being resisted from whatever it is currently to something else, but for the following 1 minute you gain level/2 weakness to the previous element. Slick has a lot of hit points, but keeping him on his feet in an encounter is essential, and resistances are great for that.

The Paladin (LG) gives the Shield Block feat and an additional reaction to use just for Shield Block. Slick already has the Shield Block feat and regardless, doesn't use a shield. Only the Saving Throw fail reaction bumping up the degree of success would be of use to him, and is pretty good if he's basic saving against a lot of damage.

The Rabbit Prince (CN) at first glance looks like a good fit with the matching alignment and its reaction granting a +1 status to readied attack rolls. I don't often use Ready for attack rolls, but you never know. It also gives a reaction that is triggered by a missed melee weapon Strike, which allows you to reroll the Strike with a +1 status bonus, but with a very good chance that you will break your weapon in the process. Since Slick's +2 Striking Greater Crushing Greatsword is his most valuable possession, he is extremely unlikely to ever use this reaction, so the card is of very limited use to him.

The Empty Throne (LG) does some Society and Recall Knowledge stuff and an activation that limits the use of circumstance and status bonuses. Not really up Slick's alley. Looks more like Billy Bardy territory to me.

Does anyone have a problem with Slick claiming The Brass Dwarf?

I indicated a slight preference for the Brass Dwarf in one of my earliest posts above. Dramiil was looking at the Empty Throne, which would be my first choice.

Neither the Paladin nor the Rabbit Prince would be used in my build.

Empty Throne and Brass Dwarf are the only ones I could possibly use. Dramiil will stay way back behind the meat shields.

I wrote up a background where Dramiil and whomever (maybe you three? :D) tried, and failed, to stop the Return of the Runelords...and retreated to Nirmathas, kind of upset at the idea of New Thassilon after all that. That got Dramiil to 11th level and provided a bit of a decent dramatic background. If anyone wants to piggyback on that as our common background, cool; if someone has an alternative idea, lemme know.

My apologies for not jumping in as much to the convo as I have been suuuper busy being a Sandwich Generation person dealing with childcare and elder care both. Hoo boy! Resurfacing just now.

I haven't had a chance to review rituals but I gotta also check about whether the Harrow Ritualist feat is useful just yet, or isn't due to the fact that we aren't Master or Legendary in the required skill checks (or aren't rich enough)

Oh and Billy--(lol, that name), Dramiil is taking Harrower. Seems to make sense since Dramiil is Occultist to the max.

btw does anyone here use Discord? Might help with ooc discussions.

Glad you like the name, Dramiil! And since it sounds like more than one Harrower would be okay, I'm leaning that way as well.

Regarding the cards, the ones that "suit" Billy (Empty Throne and Brass Dwarf) are already spoken for, so I'll bow out from those.

Maybe Billy will volunteer for the Paladin, partly for comical reasons: 1) He doesn't own a shield, so yay for Shield Block, and 2) the suit is Hammers (Str), in which Billy is woefully deficient (10 Str). However, the Saving Throw thing might come in handy.

Discord is good with me. (Slick also uses Discord.)

BTW, I wouldn't mind the weekend to flesh out some things, learn more about the rituals, etc. But I'll have things close to ready by Friday's deadline.

btw does anyone here use Discord? Might help with ooc discussions.

I do. I have set up a server for people. Feel free to use it or not as you prefer.

https://discord.gg/CCfDAhT7

BTW, I wouldn't mind the weekend to flesh out some things, learn more about the rituals, etc. But I'll have things close to ready by Friday's deadline.

This is fine, we can start on Monday.

Let's see if I have this right. The following are the top two Harrow Card choices for each PC in order of preference.

Slick: Brass Dwarf, Paladin
Nubnonk: Empty Throne, Brass Dwarf
Dramiil: Empty Throne, Brass Dwarf
Billy: (Empty Throne, Brass Dwarf), Paladin

Clearly, Rabbit Prince is the dud card here, but someone is going to have to take it. Empty Throne is first choice for three of you, with Brass Dwarf being a favorite of all of us, and two of us willing to accept the Paladin as a consolation prize if they don't get their first choice.

How about the following for a suggestion.

1) We order the PCs in alphabetical order (1=Billy, 2=Dramiil, 3=Nubnonk, 4=Slick)
2) The GM rolls a 1d4 to decide who gets stuck with Rabbit Prince
3) Reorder the remaining PCs alphabetically except for Slick (if he's still in the running)
4) The GM rolls a 1d3 (or 1d2 w/o Slick) to decide who gets Empty Throne
5) Reorder the remaining 2 PCs alphabetically
6) The GM rolls a 1d2 to decide who gets Brass Dwarf
7) Last PC standing gets Paladin
8) PCs may exchange cards with each other if they like

Seems to me that this would be the fairest way to go about distributing the cards with a minimum of fuss and rancor while still making an effort to maximize overall happiness.

Works for me.

I've updated Dramiil to reflect Harrower feats. I took Reading The Signs so we can draw cards extremely favorably for any card ritual for my 8th level feat. I didn't take any of the 'attack/defend' feats for Harrower, nor the Ritualist feat. Dramiil does have the Stone Circle item, so any ritual will be boosted a bit. Er, any ritual under 6th level, once a week.

Those rolls seem fine. Although, honestly, I'd rather have a card I don't ever use (Rabbit Prince) than a card that grants a weakness to an energy type (Brass Dwarf). So, I'll go through the process, hoping for Empty Throne, and if I get Brass Dwarf, I'll trade with Rabbit Prince holder, as per #8. :)

Although, honestly, I'd rather have a card I don't ever use (Rabbit Prince) than a card that grants a weakness to an energy type (Brass Dwarf). So, I'll go through the process, hoping for Empty Throne, and if I get Brass Dwarf, I'll trade with Rabbit Prince holder, as per #8. :)

As far as I can tell, the weakness in question only lasts for 1 minute following the switching to a different resistance type. The resistance itself lasts indefinitely. Not much of a downside in my book.

That's a minute when a caster could die! :D

Here's the relevant text for Dram's and party's past exploits. Let me know if you'd wanna have that as your background as well, and base us in Nirmathas, or if you have some other idea.

"Dramiil investigated and found a call for would-be heroes to gather in Roderic's Cove. Once there, he joined with others and faced the threat of newly arisen Runelords and a Runeplague. Together, they were able to defeat the Runeplague, but only barely, and had to retreat, wounded and broken, as others continued on, to confront the Runelord Alaznist. While the other heroes defeated Alaznist, Dramiil was dismayed to learn that the other Runelords were granted the lands of New Thassilon, which felt uncomfortably close to Kaer Maga to him. Seeking a change, Dramiil and some companions went south, to Nirmathas."

If Billy is also happy with the method of card distribution I will make the rolls later today.

I just whipped up a draft background for Slick (which you can read in my profile). He's originally from Kaer Maga, but left to seek his fortune many years ago and hasn't been back since. I've included a bit where he and Billy meet up, but have yet to add anything about how they meet up with Nubnonk and Dramiil.

I'm fine with Slick and Billy answering the call for heroes in Roderic's Cove (as long as the possibility of loot was used as a carrot) and then ending up in Nirmathas with Nubnonk and Dramiil.

Holy smokes!

I just went to your profile and found Dramiil's backstory.

It's actually a little scary how similar Slick and Dramiil's beginnings are. Slick is the offspring of a shoanti father and an elf mother. He grew up in the The Warrens and fell in with the criminal underground for a while before skipping town. Not being magically inclined at the time, he wouldn't have had anything to do with any Runeguard cultists, but that doesn't mean that he and Dramiil wouldn't have run into each other in The Warrens. Perhaps Dramiil was one of Slick's bullies originally but buried the hatchet when Slick got big enough to turn him into a pretzel with one hand :)

Oh, Slick and Dramiil must know each other! However, Dramiil was never a bully--he was never a particularly big dude himself. More likely Slick helped Dramiil after his mind got broken, or even before then. And with adventuring always comes loot!

(I love Kaer Maga. Such a neat city.)

I have added a bunch of spoilers to the Campaign tab with common rolls I will make for you in order to save myself time. Please check them and make sure they are correct.

As a general point on spoilers, if I post something in a spoiler tag you are free to read it unless it says GM Only.

OK, I am now having a look through the character sheets which have been posted. I have a few comments/questions about them:

Dramiil
Your sheet is quite difficult to follow. Can you please restructure it a bit, put some line breaks in, bold the odd heading, that sort of thing. You dont need to go to the extent of Slick and his linking of everything but it would help if it was a bit tidier and easier to read.

I dont generally need you to provide the text of all of your abilities but if doing that try and stick them in a spoiler tag. Likewise with your notes/background, it just makes the whole thing easier to read.

It would help if you could set out your feats in their own section, preferably divided up between the different types. For things like skills and perception please add a little tag providing the level of training.

It doesnt look like you are wearing any armour, is that right?

Slick
Elf Atavism can only be taken at level 1, it cannot be taken at 3rd with Ancestral Paragon.

You have taken Scout's Warning which is fine but bear in mind neither you nor Nubnonk will benefit as you both already have a circumstance bonus to Initiative.

Billy
You have a few scrolls on there but bear in mind both spells require a counteract check so having base level spells is unlikely to be a great idea. Obviously there is always a chance but it might be a very low one.

Your stat block shows various spells having been used, I assume thats just from the last game.

Given your strength is 8 can I just check where you are with your Bulk limit.

Nubnonk
Ca you let me know when you are likely to want to use Roll With It so I can deal with the reaction without taking up a lot of time.

Can you break down your feats by type for me, it makes it easier for me to check stuff if I need to mid game. The Pathbuilder text output isnt very good.

There may be other stuff that crops up as we play but thats all from an initial check.