There are only two shadows. Each has two hands which is why I described their “escape” the way I did. (Also because it was more dramatic that way.)
Thinking about my play here.
I need Magic Fang to hit, but Mage Armour ensures I don't die instantly to 2 bad Strength hits.
Let me get something up after Spider-verse.
FYI I peeked at Marcus’ other campaigns and he’s out camping and won’t be back until sometime tomorrow. Ordinarily in combat I might bot someone if they can’t post within a day or two, but I’d rather not bot the very first action of the very first combat.
Which means Ussaile you’ve got at least one more day to decide which spell to cast :)
Sorry, I think I missed this game, I went on an adventure trip this past weekend. I survived and will post shortly.
Sorry, I think I missed this game, I went on an adventure trip this past weekend. I survived and will post shortly.
You miss the game, you buy us all dinner. 8)
Mountain oysters and mead all around.
Mountain oysters and mead all around.
Eww.
Xanther (Round 1 actions) and Jassminder (Round 2 actions) are both up.
Ussaile, I went ahead and moved you on the map since your post indicated you were taking a five-foot-step backwards.
Oh I thought I did that.
I basically just want to keep moving back while covering the other 2 as best as I can.
And now Xanther is now ineffective in Melee.
Well done! Some good rolls on the damage for Burst of Radiance, some equally good rolls for Ussaile's magic hair, and a well-timed smite all combined to finish off the shadows before they could get a second turn. (And Noctifer was there. Holy water was a good call, but the dice gods giveth and the dice gods taketh away.)
Jassminder, since the second arrow had nothing to hit you can recover it and still have 9 ghost salt arrows remaining.
Xanther, sorry you took the brunt of the attack, but at least it's nothing lesser restoration can't fix. If your own spells aren't enough to cure the damage Miklos probably has one or two 2nd level spells remaining.
And Noctifer was there. Holy water was a good call, but the dice gods giveth and the dice gods taketh away.)
At L4 there's very little to do after you get a #2...
(Pun intended ;) )
Moving to Discussion. With my arm still bothering me I'm trying to limit searching, mouse use, etc. Have any NPCs told us they were with Tallowthroat victims when they died? I can't remember. :(
And Xanther is out of L2 spells.
I don't recall any NPC saying they witnessed a Tallowthroat death firsthand. Only the Baroness mentioned their throat explodes, but that can be known by examining the corpse left behind.
And Xanther is out of L2 spells.
I don't recall any NPC saying they witnessed a Tallowthroat death firsthand. Only the Baroness mentioned their throat explodes, but that can be known by examining the corpse left behind.
Can't really help you. Lesser Restoration isn't on the Witch list at all... and it wouldn't really fit her spellbook anyway.
Xanther is correct. No one has stated that they were with a victim when they died, but no one's stated the opposite either. It's not a question that's come up yet.
Once everyone's done in the alley, (and assuming people agree with the plan), I'll move us on to Kayalhi. The Town Watch thing can happen seamlessly along the way; I just wanted to answer the "what to do with the body" question in advance.
To prevent an unintentional red herring I must admit that I screwed up. Detect Fiendish Presence reveals "outsiders with the evil subtype, as well as the lingering effects caused by their gifts, presence, and spells."
My brain skipped over the "evil SUBTYPE" part and thought it would ping due to the involvement of an outsider with an evil ALIGNMENT. Upon rereading the spell I don't think Detect Fiendish Presence should have found anything. There is an evil outsider involved in all this, but they're not a devil, demon, or anything else with an evil subtype.
(You would think the "Fiendish" part of the spell name would have clued me in, but no.)
My apologies for the confusion.
No problems, this sort of thing happens :)
Unfortunately I've had to do some traveling due to a family emergency. I'll do my best to post to avoid holding things up but I can't guaranteed to get back to regular posting until Sunday.
Back now, sorry about the disappearing act. I'll catch up and post in a couple of minutes.
I'm really sick and can't seem to focus. I'll try to get something up soon but no promises.
I'm really sick and can't seem to focus. I'll try to get something up soon but no promises.
Get better soon!
No worries Ussaile, I hope you get feeling better soon.
Get well soon.
Sounds like the consensus is to go to Catalina's after dinner. I'll give it a few hours, then if there are no objections move you all forward to the chandlery.
Sounds good to me!
Well Suppress Charms and Compulsions is not on the Witch list... and Dispel is 3rd level so how are we tackling this?
I do have the ability to nonlethal with Grapple damage as an option... but its not great.
Well Suppress Charms and Compulsions is not on the Witch list... and Dispel is 3rd level so how are we tackling this?
I do have the ability to nonlethal with Grapple damage as an option... but its not great.
My go-to solution in these cases is a sap; I don't know if Jassminder has one but Noctifer does. And Marcus, being a Brawler, can do nonlethal damage. I don't know that we have an alternative way inside; we didn't scout the outside of the house.
There are a couple things you would have noticed on your way in. The house doesn't look large enough to have both living quarters and a workshop in the back. For Catalina to have enough room to work there would almost have to be a basement.
There are also plenty of windows in the shop. It seems unlikely that there would be none at all in the other room.
There are a couple things you would have noticed on your way in. The house doesn't look large enough to have both living quarters and a workshop in the back. For Catalina to have enough room to work there would almost have to be a basement.
There are also plenty of windows in the shop. It seems unlikely that there would be none at all in the other room.
We can search the windows and see what we can see. Noctifer does have exactly one scroll of Protection from Evil but I'd like to use that as a last resort. In my gaming experience I have a feeling if we try to force past Julia for the door the wax golem will activate.
Noctifer does have exactly one scroll of Protection from Evil but I'd like to use that as a last resort.
Xanther does have Prot from Evil as a Page of Spell Knowledge, so he could cast that from his slots.
Provided someone tells him what is going on.
Someone should also detect magic to see how strong an enchantment we're dealing with.
Well Suppress Charms and Compulsions is not on the Witch list... and Dispel is 3rd level so how are we tackling this?
There are rules for having 2 mind control effects in place.
Multiple Mental Control Effects: Sometimes magical effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as spells that remove the subject’s ability to act. Mental controls that don’t remove the recipient’s ability to act usually do not interfere with each other. If a creature is under the mental control of two or more creatures, it tends to obey each to the best of its ability, and to the extent of the control each effect allows. If the controlled creature receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.
So Ussaile could try to Charm her and hope she wins the opposed Cha check.
If you want to try this, it should be done BEFORE Xanther casts Prot from Evil.
I don't have any Charm spells.
Noctifer does have exactly one scroll of Protection from Evil but I'd like to use that as a last resort.Xanther does have Prot from Evil as a Page of Spell Knowledge, so he could cast that from his slots.
Provided someone tells him what is going on.
Someone should also detect magic to see how strong an enchantment we're dealing with.
Noctifer can cast Detect Magic but make sure you're ready in case it triggers the encounter.
@Jassminder. Very good idea. While it didn't work, I think the majority of the group would recognize that most enchantment spells do have similar limitations. Judy probably isn't going to allow herself to starve, die of dehydration, or urinate on herself just because she's not supposed to leave the shop. Waiting for her to leave for one of those reasons might be another way to get past her...although you have no idea what orders the golem may or may not have.
OK, at this point my suggestion is to move to plan B: wait for Judy to close up the shop and come back then.
Xanther - to be clear, I like the idea of distracting Judy by talking to her and creating a bit of background noise to cover anything we're doing. If nothing else it should bump her Perception DC up a bit to hear that something is wrong. I just don't think Jassminder is the person to do that, it doesn't fall in her skill set.
Judy has been dominated to sell candles, which means she should always answer your candle questions, no matter how stupid and time wasting they are. "What kind of candles do you have? What are they made of? Do you have any in pine green? How about rose red? Are there any vegan friendly candles?"
I don't think social skills would be necessary to ask the most inane candle questions imaginable.
So the plan was for 2 sneaky folks to distract her, while the less sneaky folk (namely Ussaile) get in. Once that is done, the sneaky folks should be able to enter without her noticing.
My browsing through sheets indicate Jassminder had 10 stealth, but apparently I missed the ACP bit. In that case, the best team for this is Marcus and Xanther.
We can but I don't think it is necessary.
Because the Investigator is Int based, and not Wis based, it wouldn't be the worst idea to have someone with a high Perception to aid Noctifer in locating traps/secret doors in the future. His take 10 is 23 (24 if he casts Guidance first) and I'm not sure how PF 'arranges' DCs but 25 would be in the range I'd expect for an APL 4 adventure.
Pausing here in case anyone wants to do anything before moving to the next room.
Canada Day weekend here so I'll be mostly out.
Please move forward if I'm slowing you down! Thanks!
To be clear, you absolutely can start combat instead of talking if you prefer. I’ll roll initiative as soon as anyone does something obviously threatening.
Even in Nidal, what this thing is doing is probably not accepted. One option would be leaving and coming back with some backup - not torches and pitchforks and peasants, but the guards and the priest might be some help.
Even in Nidal, what this thing is doing is probably not accepted. One option would be leaving and coming back with some backup - not torches and pitchforks and peasants, but the guards and the priest might be some help.
If we leave they wouldn't be here when we come back.
Out of character we need to deal with this issue now.
In character Ussaile will more or less shrug, if they're working for the Baron, then so be it. She is more than happy to kill if we have to, and more especially if she knows she's in danger.
I do have See Invisibility prepared but I did not prepare Faerie Fire.
Out of character we need to deal with this issue now.
In character Ussaile will more or less shrug, if they're working for the Baron, then so be it. She is more than happy to kill if we have to, and more especially if she knows she's in danger.
I do have See Invisibility prepared but I did not prepare Faerie Fire.
I agree, I don't think this is a situation we can leave, return, and expect things to go well for us. Evidence cleaned up, etc. and then we're no closer to any answers. Noctifer has Glitterdust and, thanks to Xanther's warning, will lead with it if he beats the fey on inits.
If you can't, I will do my best to hold it in place so you can land a Dust.
Might be tough but it's worth a shot.
The good part of Marcus will kick in. There is no way he would leave children in a vat of whatever it is. He'll talk them out or fight them out but he ain't leaving.
I can have Noctifer try another Diplomacy check but it's likely going to take higher than a 23 to get the fey to stop whatever it's doing. Maybe try to convince it to go with us back to the manor? And see if the kids are still alive or not and whose kids they are; I suspect one is the Captain's which is where we might send for help.
Apologies if anyone wanted to try anything else, but after Jassminder's threat I don't think Ilquis would give you any more information so we might as well move into initiative. No surprise round for anyone; you were all very aware of each other.
Map is linked at the top. Currently Ilquis is invisible and none of you know where he is.