[Gameday XII] PFS 2-19 Enter the Pallid Peak - author run (Inactive)

Game Master motteditor

"Looks like that's up on the peak," he says, pointing off to the northwest in the direction of the massive mountain, still barely visibly as night approaches. "We were in the woods, getting trees."

They're probably a few days' travel away. Still time to ask any questions, but I'll move us along later today.

"That's... interesting," says Jessa, as she Cusick the different pieces of information they have.

After making it past the logjam, you finish your journey without incident and soon reach Gold Falls Inn, a former dwarven ruin that has been transformed into a lodging with spectacular views of the waterfall. Mierson Berekland, a former Pathfinder, welcomes the PCs and supplies them for their trip up Droskar’s Crag. Leaving in the morning, Luna’s map leads to a cliff ledge where rocky debris hides a pair of shattered gates that open into the mountain. Please let me know what exploration activity you will be doing; I'll get a map up in the a.m. so you can also do a party order.

Hallow will probably be Scouting. He'd also probably try to be near the front, but I'll defer to anyone else if they'd rather be ahead.

Was going to ask if anyone had tracking to track the Duergar but oh well.

Exploration Activity of Search

From the ledge, you can see the crumpled remains of iron doors leave thie entryway open to the elements. Ash, dirt and other debris cover the floor. The bloodied bodies of a gnome and human lie near the entrance, arms outstretched toward the exit, away from the dwarf likenesses standing in each corner. Below the remains, a map carved into the stone floor spreads across this chamber. A wide hallway leads east out of the room, and to the south, a narrow set of stairs leads down.

Kosh has his crossbow loaded, and is chanting a spell in a military cadence. A faintly-glowing castle crenellation appears before him.

Exploration: Cast shield

"Looks like we already found the victims. But that means this is where they were attacked."

Jessa keeps her shield up and eyes the statues.

Defend

Brundar takes the lead and approaches the bodies keeping his great axe in hand ready for an ambush. He searches the bodies.

Perception(E): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Hallow steps into the room, looking around and equipping his heavier shield. He waits to draw his weapon, though.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Kosh keeps them covered. ”Poor bastards”, he mutters at the sight of the bodies.

Exploration is Detect magic, which more or less defaults to Perception.

Qarawyn sticks close to the north wall, but can't resist a closer look at the bodies. He gets closest to the gnome to take a look.

Perception (darkvision): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

As Qarawyn, Brundar and Hallow move into the room, two of the status suddenly start to move! Still, Jessa and Qarawyn were waiting for exactly that, and react first!

Jessa and Qarawyn are up!

Too far away to meaningfully engage, Jessa sells for trying to pin one of the statues down away from her allies. She approaches, shield first.

* Raise Shield
* Stride
* Stride

Qarawyn whips his head about, focusing on Red and launching a 30 ft line of acid at it. As he does so, he draws out his whip.
Kobold Breath ◈◈ (acid): 1d4 ⇒ 2
reset: 1d4 ⇒ 3

Kobold Breath ◈◈ (use again on Round 4), Interact to Draw.

As Jessa moves in, Qarawyn's breath catches the armor right in the breastplate -- but it doesn't seem to have any effect! The creature has some type of resistance It steps up to the kobold, and slams him with his hammer. It applies pressure, trying to force Qarawyn back, but he holds his position. 10 hp, it failed at an attempt to shove

Kosh and Brundar are up!

Brundar strides ◆ in for the flank and Strikes with a Powerful Attack ◆◆ at the statue.

Power Attack Great Axe Strike vs FF: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24
S Dmg: 2d12 + 4 ⇒ (1, 6) + 4 = 11

Kosh steps into the room proper, and sees the armor attacking them.

”Finders!”, he barks. ”Time to break some toys! Beat ‘em like a drum!”

Then he shoots at the one near Jessa.

Stride, Inspire Courage (+1 to attacks, damage, fear saves), Lingering Composition, Strike

Performance: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Brundar moves in and smashes the armor, putting a solid dent in it, though again he's sure he'd have done more damage if it had been flesh and blood.

Unfortunately, Kosh just misses, having to shoot around Jessa, though he's sure his inspiring words will stick with his fellow Pathfinders for a short time. She provides light cover, which unfortunately makes that a miss. The armor doesn't even seem aware of the near miss, and slams Jessa with its warhammer, nearly shoving her backward. She maintains her ground, but unfortunately is just enough off balance that a second swing of the hammer catches her again. 16 hp total; it hit on a Strike, failed to Shove, and managed to hit on the third attack

Hallow, Jessa and Qarawyn are up; don't forget the inspiration.

Hallow, upon seeing the statues start to move, takes a second to fiddle with the gizmos on his armor, which start to hum for a second but die down. He shrugs and turns to towards Jessa and the statue attacking her, crouches down, and rockets forward, and in one swift motion draws his hammer from the compartment in his head and swings it at the statue.

◆ Overdrive, DC 15: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
◆ Stride
◆ Draw + Warhammer, Inspire Courage: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 1 = 23, 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 = 11

Jessa blocks the blunt of the first strike with her shield, but the second one is still a problem.
Shield Block reaction.

Badly hurt after the first set of attacks, Jessa can't stand up to that again--all the more reason to press the attack, and put the statue on the ground so it can't hurt anyone!
...and hopefully it won't focus exclusively on her now that Hollow is also in reach.

* Strike Longsword (ic): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22 for slashing damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
* Strike Longsword (MAP, ic): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24 for slashing damage (ic): 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
* Raise Shield

Qarawyn's eyes go wide — what can resist the might of a dragon?!? — but he goes to work again almost at once, casting a spell while hoping to get lucky and trip the statue.

electric arc: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7 DC 18 basic Refl

Athletics to Trip vs Reflex DC: 1d20 ⇒ 12

Cast a Spell ◈◈, Athletics check to Trip.

Hallow, it normally requires a separate action to draw and Strike, but since you knew you were heading into a dangerous area, I'm fine with saying you had your weapon out.

Hallow rushes forward in a burst of first and slams the armor with his hammer, putting a good dent into it. Qarawyn tries magic, since dragon's breath didn't work and seems to catch both armors by surprise, shocking them as they barely try to evade it at all. Both armors seems to crack, pieces falling off of them both of them critically failed, and you think they're broken now, making them easier to deal with!

Unfortunately, they're still too sturdy for him to trip, but a couple good swings from Jessa dispatch the first of the armor, which crashes to the ground. The remaining one spins toward Qarawyn and slams its hammer into him, knocking him away before swinging back to Brundar, who's able to avoid its follow-up blow. 10 hp to Qarawyn, who's also pushed 10 feet back

Entire party is up.

Hallow, it normally requires a separate action to draw and Strike, but since you knew you were heading into a dangerous area, I'm fine with saying you had your weapon out.

Gourd leshy!

As soon as the first one crashes to the ground, Hallow turns around and runs to the next one, swinging his hammer a couple of times in practiced, precise movements.

◆ Stride to flank with Brundar
◆ Warhammer (assuming inspire courage is still up): 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 1 = 25, 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 = 8
◆ Warhammer, 2nd attack: 1d20 + 0 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 0 + 1 = 21, 1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 = 6

Ah, got it.

Hallow turns and rushes toward the remaining suit of armor, smashing it into a million pieces. Combat over!

As you collect yourselves, you can see the etched map on the floor shows southern Avistan, but with a different map than what you know: the borders of Tar Khadurrm stretch north into a unified Five Kings Mountains, with two cities marked in the mountains: Jernashall and Raseri Kanton. Cheliax, Andoran, Galt, and Isger exist, but as provinces of Taldor, rather than their own countries. Much of Darkmoon Vale is far less developed, with no sign of Olfden, among other towns.

Meanwhile, despite the cooling temperature from outside, you can already feel the heat in here that Elsitt told you about.

Ooh, my head, Qarawyn says, rubbing his noggin where the statue. clobbered him. He staggers to his feet, then notes the map on the floor for a few moments until he gets bored. Doesn't look very up-to-date to me.

"It might just be wrong. I'm sure you're right, because nobody would etch a map into stone without verifying it. But it might be."

"Those things were pretty formidable. I can see how a party of noncombatants didn't have a chance..." Jessa sheathes her sword and starts pulling out her healers' tools. "Do we have a medic, or am I it?"

Kosh stows his crossbow. ”I can take a crack at ‘im”, he says, as he tries to patch up Hallow.

Medicine: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Getting frustrated by trying to figure out how to heal a leshy, he grumbles, ”Bah, it ain’t as bad as it looks! Walk it off!”

Cast soothe

Healing: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

"Right then. Let's see. I've seen my brother do this, how hard could it be?"

Jessa takes a look at her own wound.
Medicine: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

"Ugh. This is why they make healing potions."

”Bring ‘im along next time”, says Kosh, as he checks on Jessa next.

Medicine: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Shiny new Hero Point

Medicine: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

”Oof, dat ain’t pretty!”

As Qarawyn shakes off the effect of his near concussion, he works to patch up Jessa's wounds.

DC 15 Medicine: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 Nice!
healing: 4d8 ⇒ (1, 8, 6, 4) = 19

He then tends his own with a spell.

soothe: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 close enough

Hallow cocks his head as Kosh attempts to heal them. "I appreciate your concern, but I am largely uninjured after that altercation."
Hallow didn't get hit, from what I saw, I'm assuming you just got mixed up, lol

Then they turn to the map. Society +7

Brundar strides around the room searching for anything else that sticks out of place. He will take a peek through any other openings to see what is beyond.

Perception(E): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Hallow thinks the map is likely very, very old -- probably around 1,400 years -- from when these ruins were populated.

Once you finish binding your wounds, exits from this first chamber lead to the east and south. You'll need light for those of you who can't see in the dark.

Hallow cocks his head as Kosh attempts to heal them. "I appreciate your concern, but I am largely uninjured after that altercation."

Hallow didn't get hit, from what I saw, I'm assuming you just got mixed up, lol

Then they turn to the map. Society +7

Yikes! Thanks for clearing that up. I’ll take that spell slot back, and recover my Focus point

Kosh casts light on the underside of his crossbow, and loads another bolt.

1d2 ⇒ 2 Going to determine randomly which way you go to keep us moving. Also, sorry, Brundar, I realized I missed your action previously. Basically, you have to go in a direction to explore, it, though; nothing really to see from that first room.

With no indication that either direction is better than another, you eventually decide to head east. A short passageway opens into a small, empty room to the south, then to a larger room to the north. A steady drip of water from a crack in the northwestern corner falls into a small pool on the floor of the latter cavern. Phosphorescent blue moss glows slightly on the walls, spreading out from the trickle, though patches are missing in a series of vertical stripes where something appears to have carefully removed them. Mushrooms sprout along the pool’s edge.

What looks like a burly dwarf -- but on fire! -- sings softly in Dwarven to himself until he notices you. He spins around -- his skin looks like it's stone! -- and cries out in alarm, taking a step back. "No, get away! Leave us alone!" he yells, then calls more loudly, "Slayse! Yandrada! Help!"

You can act; note we are not in initiative and no need to make any skill checks at this point. Illustration is on the map.

"Oh, don't worry," says Jessa, quickly sheathing her sword, "We're ready for a fight because we were told to expect dangerous things in here, not because we're attacking you. We didn't know there were people here at all! We thought the place was abandoned."

She waves vaguely. "Do you need help with the.. that? That looks like it might be normal for you, but in my experience most people prefer not to be on fire."

Brundar steps forward holding his arms out trying to make his great axe less menacingly and speaking in

Kosh lowers his crossbow, but keeps an eye out for where the others might come from.

Hallow, who had put their shield into the gourd atop their head and has been holding their warhammer, sheathes it momentarily.

The figure seems to relax very slightly at the sound of Dwarven, though he does reply in Common -- and still seems very nervous.

"No, that's just for us to eat," he replies tremulously, but before he can say anything else, two more fiery dwarves show up.

The first -- Short and stocky, with red-colored skin, and flickering white fiery hair pulled back with a brass ring -- moves aggressively toward you. "This is our place!" she snarls. "Get out of here before we make you!"

The other has brass-colored skin, and coils of red flame hair that hang loose down to her waist. She hangs back slightly and looks you over, seeming to appraise you. "Slayse, don't overreact," she says to the other woman before looking back at you. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

More pics on the maps link.

”We’re ‘ere to see why some locals’re dead on yer doorstep”, Kosh replies. ”Are dem magical armors out front yours?”

I want to try to keep us moving, so:

You each have a couple of opportunities to calm and befriend the ifrits. You can can attempt up to two total skill checks to earn the favor of one of the ifrits. A successful check to earn an ifrit’s favor earns the PCs 1 Alliance Point toward befriending that ifrit. A PC who critically succeeds earns 2 Alliance Points, while a critical failure upsets the ifritin some way, losing 1 Alliance Point. If the PCs earn a number of Alliance Points with a given ifrit equal to or greater than half the number of PCs (rounded up), they win over that ifrit. You're able to easily tell what skills work.

The meekest of the ifrits, Rowsh wants to remain in Kazhlik until it’s safe, and to be left alone to provide for his companions. You can calm him with a DC 17 Diplomacy check, help him provide better food with a DC 13 Farming Lore check, or provide other tips for living off the land with a DC 15 Nature or Survival check.

Slayse sees herself as her group’s shield and hammer, and she’s full of loud, empty threats. You can cut through the bluster with a DC 17 Diplomacy check, help her fortify the ruins with a DC 13 Warfare Lore or Crafting check, or respond to her bluster in kind with a DC 15 Intimidation check.

Yandrada is the unofficial leader of the group. You can convince her that they’re worthy allies with a DC 17 Diplomacy check, provide a detailed plan for how the Pathfinder Society could help her group with a DC 13 Pathfinder Society Lore check, or provide other useful information for escaping safely with a DC 15 Society or Medicine check.

To move things along, I think it's best for everyone to just attempt two checks when you can. This would normally go in rounds, but because it's PBP, that could take a while.

Hallow offers to help fortify the ruins, but initially, spends their time observing them, making mental measurements on each section. Suddenly, in a burst, they get to work.

Crafting, Slayse: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Next, they go over to Yandrada, rifling through their mental notes to figure out what information would be useful.

Society, Yandrada: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24 So close to a crit!

Brundar offers to help Rowsh learn how to live off the land.

Survival(T) vs DC:15: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

And help Slayse with fortifying the ruins.

Warfare Lore(T) vs DC:13: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Jessa also helps with the fortification.
Warfare Lore (Slayse, DC 13): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

While she's doing that, she also talks about the Society, and her family's history of working with them.
Pathfinder Society Lore (Yandrada, DC 13): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Kosh peers at Slayse. ”You lot and us are gonna get along fine, just as soon as you get your $#!+ togevuh!”

Intimidation: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Then he puts in his two coppers with Brundar.

Survival: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Qarawyn tries to calm Rowsh. Safe is a relative term, don't you know. Who's to say Kazhlik is safer than elsewhere?
DC 17 Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

After, he speaks to Yandrada. We represent the Pathfinder Society, and the Society has connections all over Golarion. I'm sure we can help your group.
DC 13 Pathfinder Society Lore: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

You manage to calm and befriend all three of the ifrit dwarves, who tell their story: The trio are refugees from the dwarven city of Taggoret, which, thanks to its proximity to Droskar’s Crag, is home to many spontaneously born lavasoul ifrits. While most are welcomed by their parents, a few are cast out by families who fear Droskar has corrupted them. Such castaways are easy pickings for a thieves’ guild, The Hot Handle, that preys on their need for family. Recently, these three young guild members found themselves in trouble after a heist went wrong. They fled to the volcano, knowing most dwarves avoid the region, and found the ruins of Kazhlik. They have no plans to leave until they’re certain no one is hunting them. They heard the prospectors’ fatal battle but didn’t arrive in time to help, and they had no way past the guardians to recover the bodies.

They offer to answer any questions you have, and show you the small area of the ruins they've explored. They warn you that one room seems to have ghosts that tried to trample them (!), but say they haven't explored other areas because they're worried about anything else like that. They also offer food and a place to rest, if you need.

I've uncovered more of the map. Those areas are described below.
Northeast, with Slayse's token: An adventurer’s pack leans against a wall here like a makeshift seat. A pile of stone debris partially blocks an exit east into a rough stone passage. Slayse explains she piled rubble at the entrance to the eastward tunnel, from which the trio entered the ruins. She believes anyone hunting them from Taggoret will come from that direction and spends most of her waking time here keeping watch.

Center, with Yandrada's token: A flame flickers in a large stone brazier in the south of this room, casting light over three bedrolls spread out over the floor. A few household items—two packs leaning in a corner, a dented frying pan, a chamber pot—offer evidence of recent occupation. This area, which the ifrits call their “guild hall,” has normal light, thanks to the continual flame spell placed on the brazier that still burns from Kazhlik’s glory days. The three ifrits sleep here.

Western room with yellow dot: Painted stone rubble litters the floor below badly damaged wall murals. A stone box stands in the center of the chamber. Each side of the box has a set of two stone dials. One side has the carved image of a dwarf woman with a slight scowl above the dials, but the images on the other three sides are smashed beyond recognition. There are more details here if/when you want to explore it more.

Eastern room with the red dot: This chamber is where the ifrits warned you there were ghosts.

"Ghost room seems to have the most open questions," Jessa suggests, drawing her sword again and pointing it that way.