[PaizoCon Online 2023] Bounty #20 - Burden in Bloodcove (Inactive)

Game Master Lady Ladile

Lets keep the 8 damage. I got so lost in the minutia of if the Feints hit I forgot to check for damage.

With an unlady like huff of frustration Iskra chases after the rat about to slip into the buildings before she can lose sight of it.

Three Strides

"Squeak, squeeeeeak! Come back here, you stupid rats!" Zekki tries to call the creatures back to her Note: Zekki does not speak rat. She tries to take out the rat with the orange tail.

Devise a Strategem: 1d20 ⇒ 7

But with the cover, she doesn't think she can hit it. Aiming for the green one, she tries again.

dart nonlethal: 1d20 + 8 - 2 ⇒ (5) + 8 - 2 = 11 for piercing: 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

This time she pulls out her sling instead, for the greater range.

sling nonlethal: 1d20 + 8 - 2 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 8 - 2 - 5 = 4 for piercing: 1d6 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

And is largely ineffective.

◇ Devise a Strategem
◆ Dart
◆ Draw
◆ Sling

Trying desperately to keep track of the rats, Wysteria urges the Mephit to soak the blue one, but quickly realizes that despite its wings, the watery creature is just not fast enough to reach it in time.

The mephit double-moves north towards Blue, trying to encourage it to run nearer Iskra and Clarence.

In an attempt to slow the blue rat down, possibly for good, she quickly pulls out her scythe and hurls it at the rodent, aiming for the direction it seems poised to run. As added insurance, she nudges Rivulet to refresh the True Strike she had expended earlier...

The toss!: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
The backup toss!: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22
The slice?: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Possibly Deadly?: 1d10 ⇒ 5

Rickle chases after Red and, having mostly cornered it, takes another swing with his weapon that leaves the rat bleeding profusely and on the verge of death! Clarence does much the same, charging after Yellow. He delivers two blows to the creature with his longsword that cuts it in two! With Yellow taken care of, Iskra moves after Orange but isn't able to close the distance entirely.

Zekki tries for a moment to get Green to come back but remembers that she can't speak rat and isn't sure how well she can target it. She instead shifts her focus to Orange as well, trying and failing to bean it with sling bullets.

Hedging her bets, Wysteria urges her mephit to go after Blue but also takes aim at it herself with her scythe. She flings it at the rat, slicing cleanly through it!

Unlike the giant chameleons, these guys are easier to hit and have way fewer HPs :)

Green and Orange idle near some of the buildings, apparently doing what they were trained to do. Red, facing down a persistent Rickle, attempts to defend itself and snaps back. Though Rickle is able to deflect most of the rat's attempts to bite him, one bite does get through. (Rickle takes 8 piercing damage.)
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Round 3

Orange Rat (-12 NL)
Red Rat (-14)
==============
Iskra (-5)
Rickle (-8)
Clarence
Zekki
Wysteria
>Water Mephit
==============
Green Rat (-4; Explosive Disabled)

Active Conditions: *tick tick tick*

Everyone may act!

Combat Map - Warehouse Row

Rickle uses his shield to push the rat away so it doesn't do as much damage.
Reaction: Shield Block. Damage to Rickle reduced to 3, but his shield also takes it.

He then continues attacking with his dogslicer.
[As the rat falls, he grabs it and drags it off the edge of the dock to douse the bomb.]
OR
[After a decisive attack, he presses his advantage!]

* Strike Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28 for slashing damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9; that looks like a crit? Rickle has Crit Specialization with his Divine Ally, so if so it's flat-footed until the start of his next turn--assuming that it survives the damage, anyway.
** If it's down, push it off the dock, dropping his shield if he has to.
OR
* Strike Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22 for slashing damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
* Raise Shield

Clarence charges at the other Rat and swings twice.

+1 Longsword vs Orange Rat: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
+1 Longsword vs Orange Rat, MAP: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Slash: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Of course I had to roll minimum damage...

◆◆ Sudden Charge ◆ Strike

Propelled by her frustration and annoyance for this trap, Iskra comes up alongside the rat. With Clarence she has got the wretch trapped. She doesn't remember or care if Aspis had some intention for these rats. They are RATS and its got to go before that ticking stops.
Haste makes waste and as much as she wants to just clobber the critter she cannot let this frustration become a distraction. She holds back a blind lunge from her stride to take a breath, fix her posture, and get into form before a quick feint and thrust. Though with more passion behind the flick of the blade through the air.

•Stride

•Goading Feint
Deception vs Perception DC: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

•Strike
+1 Shortsword vs Orange Rat: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Piercing Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

If there are any ticking things nearby, Zekki will toss them into the water. Otherwise, attacking green and hoping to bring it down.

Zekki aims at green, hoping to bring it down and remove the ticking thing.

Devise a Strategem: 1d20 ⇒ 16
Sling Batter Batter, Int bonus, nonlethal: 16 + 8 + 1 - 2 = 23 for smack: 1d4 - 1 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) - 1 + (4) = 7

Assuming that takes it down...

She moves closer to remove the time bomb or disarm it, next turn.

◇ Devise a Strategem
◆ Sling
◆ Stride
◆ Stride

Wysteria orders the mephit to soak the remains of the rat thoroughly with its Drench ability, which seemed to ruin the green rat's explosive.

Looking around the area, she picks a surviving rat and, using her last Focus Point, hurls her scythe at it one more time, hoping to finish it off.

Not sure who's left, so I'll try to clean up whatever's left. If none of them remain, I'll try to move over to a bomb and try to disarm with whatever skill I have that would work the best.

Maybe a Throw!: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Maybe a Slice!: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Probably not Deadly!: 1d10 ⇒ 9

A Skill Check?: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Adjusted Rickle's damage accordingly!

Not inclined to play around, Rickle brings his dogslicer down in a powerful arc that finishes off the Red Rat. He then quickly grabs the body and heaves it as far as he can out towards the water, where it lands with a small splash and a *bzzt*.

Clarence once again charges, this time towards Orange, and swings furiously at the battered rat. While the first strike misses, the second connects and finishes the creature off. The harness attached to it still ticks away, however...

Orange is down, so Iskra may do something else - attempt to disarm one of the explosives, grab a dead rat and throw it in the drink, etc.

With only Green left standing, Zekki and Wysteria turn their attention to it. Zekki pinpoints a weak spot and cracks the rat in the ribs with a sling bullet before moving closer. Wysteria manages to finish it off with a fling of her scythe, cutting it down where it stands. She then moves towards the fallen Blue, ready to try and disarm the explosive attached to its harness.

Wysteria's first attack is enough to finish it, so I moved her towards Blue's position. Green was already disabled by the water mephit's Drench ability so I shifted Zekki toward Yellow's position.

At this point, all of the rats have been exterminated but there are still three active explosive harnesses left to contend with: Blue, Yellow, and Orange.

Re-added Yellow and Blue to the map so people can see where they are for movement purposes.
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Round 3

Blue Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)
Orange Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)
==============
Iskra (-5)
Rickle (-5)
Clarence
Zekki
Wysteria
>Water Mephit
==============
Yellow Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)

Active Conditions: *tick tick tick*

Iskra may act!

Combat Map - Warehouse Row

Just to clarify, was the Mephit able to Drench Blue successfully, or did that just make it wet?

RETCON!

Propelled by her frustration and annoyance for this trap, Iskra comes up alongside Clarence lashing out at a cornered rat. Watching the vermin slump lifelessly after being struck by one of Clarence's blows she doesn't much care anymore if Aspis wanted these rats for some reason. They are RATS and she has no intentions of holding back either.

The satisfaction of the rodent's demise is sweet and she shortens her step to a decisive and controlled pace. As Clarence is pulling back from his last fatal blow Iskra can still hear the tick of the device.

"Go find another of these wretched things, Clarence. I'll handle the rest of this." she promises him with a respectful nod of her head.

She leans over the thing as fidgets with it's device.

•Stride
••Interact with device
Thievery: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Whoops, I somehow missed the part about Mephit vs. Blue - yes, Blue is Drenched and the explosive is now inert; given that you can move towards Orange or Yellow instead. Apologies!

Iskra assures Clarence that she's got this before moving a little closer to Orange and kneeling down to fiddle with the explosive device strapped to it. While she's seen more complicated mechanisms, fiddling with explosives is never an easy task and she struggles to disarm the device.
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Round 4

Orange Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)
==============
Iskra (-5)
Rickle (-5)
Clarence
Zekki
Wysteria
>Water Mephit
==============
Yellow Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)

Active Conditions: *tick tick tick*

Everyone may act!

Combat Map - Warehouse Row

Wysteria gestures the winged puddle towards the Orange rat as she hurries towards the Yellow one. The airborne liquid flaps slowly towards the gathered crowd, taking its leisurely time, despite the urgency.

That will require a double move, so no Drenching this round.

Completing her own hurried jog towards the Yellow rodent, Wysteria frowns at the bisected creature, wondering what she can do to help... Shrugging, she attempts to extricate the explosive from the creature's remains, hoping that makes Zekki's job easier.

Nature check!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

and I'll use a hero point if that's a crit fail

Possible backup Nature check!: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Devices aren't really her forte at all. Such things are better left to machinists, or random goblins if you are looking a little fun. Though somewhat beneath her station to be fidgeting with a bomb on a rat's corpse, she made a promise and that meant something. The experience would at least be noteworthy.

As instinct as her guide she makes work of dexterous fingers not used to this kind of manipulation to stop that grating ticking.

••Interact with Device
Thievery: 1d10 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

If not the above ^ I'll pass on my third action.

Rickle looks around and sees that he's successfully prevented any of the rats from escaping in this direction. That's good, but it means he's no longer anywhere near the action!

He hurries over.

**** StrideStrideStride

Can Clarence just pick up a rat and chuck it into the water?

Zekki kneels down and tries to find the right piece of clockwork to pull out of the mechanism.

Thievery: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 Hero Point!
Thievery: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 SIGH

@Clarence - Yep, chucking them into the water is also an option!

Wysteria directs her mephit friend to head towards Orange while she moves towards Yellow. Once there, she manages to disentangle the device from what's left of the rat (no HP required) which should indeed make it a little easier for Zekki to try and disable the device. Unfortunately, Zekki has trouble deciding which wire to cut and which piece to remove.

Meanwhile Iskra tries to fiddle with the device strapped to Orange, but also finds the design to be rather unusual and difficult to work with. Rickle hurries over to see if he can do anything to help while Clarence contemplates a course of action...
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Round 4

Orange Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)
==============
Iskra (-5)
Rickle (-5)
Clarence
Zekki
Wysteria
>Water Mephit
==============
Yellow Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)

Active Conditions: *tick tick tick*

Clarence may act!

Combat Map - Warehouse Row

Clarence grabs the orange rat by the harness and runs towards the ocean to chuck it in.

◆ Pick up Orange
◆◆ Stride to the harbor

Not inclined to wait around for people to keep fiddling with the explosives Clarence grabs Orange's harness and dashes towards the end of the docks, clearly intending to throw the whole thing into the water much like Rickle did.
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Round 5

Orange Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)
==============
Iskra (-5)
Rickle (-5)
Clarence
Zekki
Wysteria
>Water Mephit
==============
Yellow Rat (Dead; Explosive Not Disabled)

Active Conditions: *tick tick tick*

Everyone may act!

Combat Map - Warehouse Row

Clarence strides out on one of the piers and drops the rat into the drink. He returns for Yellow Rat.

Clarence calmly chucks what's left of Orange and its harness out into the water...*bzzt*. With that done, he turns and moves towards Yellow...

And at this point I think we can call it good, as you've got enough time to either disable Yellow, Drence it with the mephit, or throw it in the water before the timer finishes.

...and after a several more tense seconds, the threat of Yellow's harness is eliminated as well.

Combat Over!
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Another post to follow, please stand by~

With the explosive threat eliminated, the dock workers cautiously make their way back out onto the docks. "That was some good work," one of them remarks with an appreciative whistle. "Could've ended up with a lot of fires to wrangle but thanks to you folks, there's nary a scorch or scratch on anything!"

And as things continue to calm down and you take a few moments to catch your breath, Aayah comes striding towards you. "Well! It looks like I was right to bring you on for this job. I heard there was a lot of noise and ruckus but it doesn't look like there's been any lasting harm done to the docks, buildings, or cargo."

Noticing the broken barrel where the rats were hidden, and the disable oil sprayer that had also been hidden within, Aayah carefully walks over and kneels down to take a look. "Still, mind giving me the scoop on what happened here?"

"*Someone* tried to kill a whole bunch of rats and set fire to the docks while they were at it. That was just *RUDE*!" says Zekki, quite indignantly. She takes a closer look at the barrel to see if there are any distinguishing marks or names.

"The box with lizards in it really does have lizards but they're really big and dangerous lizards that attacked us when we opened the box so we had to fight them off so they may be a little bruised but they're still alive in the box and the box with the incense has some broken sticks and they're all powdery and it gives off stinky fumes that make you feel sick so it's dangerous and you should wear a mask to open it but most of it is there and it's not sabotage and the other two boxes are yucky but it looks like that's what you wanted so they're okay but the barrel that was supposed to be ale was just rats and bombs," says Rickle, "We put 'em out. The bombs. And most of the rats but don't tell Zekki."

"Yes, I think you have some labelling issues, or perhaps your ale supplier has not been paid. What is left should be safe, but Rickle is right, the incense maybe does not travel well," Wysteria says, discreetly glancing at where the last of the rats' remains were dumped in the harbour.

"I see, I see..." Aayah nods as she gingerly examines what's left of the barrel and the oil mechanism. Zekki joins her and the two of them see it at roughly the same moment - emblazoned on the catapulting device is an insignia depicting shark jaws closing around a ship.

"Heh! How stupid can you be?" Aayah remarks as she gets to her feet. "That's the design flown by Jaw Lonnesen. Ulfen, mountain of a man. He had his junker of a ship stolen twice in the past year from Consortium harbors, and he blames us for it. He swore up a storm outside one of our offices, making declarations of revenge." She shrugs. "Honestly, I thought he was full of hot air but looks like he decided to do more than scream at a building until his voice gave out. I suppose we'll have to take future threats a bit more seriously."

Aayah reaches into a pouch on her hip and pulls out a coin purse, which she tosses to Iskra. "Here you go for a job well done - 10 gold pieces each, as promised. Don't worry about the missing ale or the lizards - we'll sort that out on our end. On the behalf of the Aspis Consortium, it's been a pleasure doing business with you." With that, and a small bow, Aayah takes her leave.

Happy to be done with your task, you too take your leave of the docks. Later that evening, at dinner, you happen to overhear that a subsequent investigation revealed that the chameleons were originally headed to a more appropriate receiving area but were rerouted by falsified documents. Hopefully this little incident will teach the Aspis to be stricter about their shipping documents and manifests...but knowing them, you doubt it.
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And that's it! Thank you for playing!