GM Peachbottom's War for the Crown

Game Master Peachbottom

Sounds like we need a random encounter.

Were-capybaras

Glad to see some rerolls get used. Because then I can award more!

Poor Chauncy doomed to be a Scape Donkey.

Henrika, are we going to need a token for Jack Falchion?

If so, do you have one in mind or want me to pick something out?

Should I roll for Intimidate or Diplomacy? I'm not sure.

I guess Diplomacy.

Henrika, are we going to need a token for Jack Falchion?

If so, do you have one in mind or want me to pick something out?

I plan for Henrika to take the Coalition Leader feat at level 7, at which point Jack could accompany us on some of our adventures. I did a profile for him here: https://paizo.com/people/FalchionJack and we could use the same image I chose for the avatar. He is probably rounder than the half-orc Paizo illustrated, but it should work fine. :) Of course, I also trust your judgment if you have something better!

Got a 40? Just toss in "I am Papa Smurf" and every one will believe you. :)

Xallis’ rank in Charm increases to 5. He gains 2 more agents. And at Rank 5, he gains the bonus feat: Persuasive.

Persuasive: You get a +2 bonus on Diplomacy and Intimidate skill checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in one of these skills, the bonus increases to +4 for that skill.

Diplomacy to Influence: 1d20 + 16 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 16 - 2 = 26

First post after the fact and this feat is already paying off. Nice!

Trevor is in no position to do anything right now, but thinks this ABSOLUTELY DENSE Night Swan needs to go!

Simply fighting her is an option you can go with.

Based on the party's composition and outlook, she is probably not someone you want to try to work with.

I think the option to work with her is really only if a party is strongly leaning towards chaotic or even evil. But your group is definitely more on the lawful good side.

Ohhh don't worry. Xallis is leaning into Diplomacy because he was caught unaware. His opinion about Glt is about the same as the mad king that kicked this whole thing off.

Ideally, this rabid dog can be pointed at a mutual enemy and these two problems will sort eachother out.

....side note, getting a lot of subtle influence could see her gathering a little band made up mostly of our sleeper agents.

I purchased a new car yesterday and I'm a little overwhelmed today.

Plus I want to see is anyone else has anything else they want to say or do with the Night Swan.

I'll post again Monday.

I'm going out of town for a long weekend, and my internet access will be spotty on just my phone. I should be back to full posting strength on Sunday evening.

Ok. Thanks for letting us know.

@GM Peachbottom, Henrika also has shield of faith cast on her by Trevor the previous round.

Thanks for letting me know. I will update on my next post. It does not change the results of the last attack anyway.

I'd like to build a fortress of darkness and rule the land with an iron fist!

You receive a Hunter’s Cloak. Now I know none of you have the Favored Terrain class ability, so that would make this item rather useless, so I’m making a slight modification to it if anyone wants to keep it. It will treat your character as if you had Favored Terrain: Forests if equipped.

I think either Tychus or Icabhod gets the Worg Cloak.

My order of preference for upgrades is Civic Improvements, Advanced (4,000 gp), then Market, Advanced (2,000 gp), then Statue (1,000 gp).

The last few primary things to do before your final move on the Palace of Birdsong are: 1) there was a rumor about a large fish in Lake Pensaris, 2) dealing with the Night Swan, and 3) finishing the improvements to Stachys. I think you’ve covered everything else.

Trevor is not above hunting down the Night Swan. She needs to be dealt with, as she will unlikely be an ally against the Lotheed.

Which brings up back to Birdsong. Open war between nobles are absolutely frowned upon, which makes me wonder what legitimacy can Bestony Estates cling to as we seek to take out as rival house. We will likely be seen as power-hungry barbarians from the outside. I want more discussion about this, either in game or out.

The Advanced Temple could be interesting (and expensive).

It gives free education, food and shelter to the locals.

The Advanced Temple would be nice for the community. The cleric is just a little down that it would be going to the Abadaran Temple and not the Caydenite Public House. But that's his problem.

I imagine that once we remove the Lotheeds from the Palace of Birdsong for Eutropia, we will begin to focus less on Stachys, so Trevor's religious influence at that point will start to wane there anyway.

The Advanced Temple would be nice for the community. The cleric is just a little down that it would be going to the Abadaran Temple and not the Caydenite Public House. But that's his problem.

If you really want a Caydenite temple, it can be. Or, it can be a dual-Abadaran/Caydenite temple.

Which brings up back to Birdsong. Open war between nobles are absolutely frowned upon, which makes me wonder what legitimacy can Bestony Estates cling to as we seek to take out as rival house. We will likely be seen as power-hungry barbarians from the outside. I want more discussion about this, either in game or out.

Don't over think it. The Adventure Path assumes you go in with weapons drawn. But creative approaches are always welcome.

Trevor wrote:

The Advanced Temple would be nice for the community. The cleric is just a little down that it would be going to the Abadaran Temple and not the Caydenite Public House. But that's his problem.

If you really want a Caydenite temple, it can be. Or, it can be a dual-Abadaran/Caydenite temple.

HAHAHAHA!

Trevor wrote:

Which brings up back to Birdsong. Open war between nobles are absolutely frowned upon, which makes me wonder what legitimacy can Bestony Estates cling to as we seek to take out as rival house. We will likely be seen as power-hungry barbarians from the outside. I want more discussion about this, either in game or out.

Don't over think it. The Adventure Path assumes you go in with weapons drawn. But creative approaches are always welcome.

Fine. But Trevor makes it clear to everyone that Lord Titus Lotheed-Casvana is HIS to take down!!

Alas, Lotheed trips over an imaginary deceased turtle and dies.

Do we also have another Persona phase to do?

And which lead should we tackle next, the Lake or the Nightswan?

You'll get one more persona phase at some point. I figured I'd probably give it to you right before you are ready to go to the palace in case you wanted to use any special operations. So not right now.

I think Henrika is holding out hope that we won't have to murder the Night Swan, but that's likely impractical. If we don't track her down and face her on our terms, she will ambush us again in much more unfavorable circumstances. But the lake is an easy thing to do in the meantime, and she already drafted a letter to send to Baron Okerra asking for his permission to investigate his lands. It might be good to re-open communication with him anyway, since it seemed kind of ominous to me that he didn't attend the last festival we hosted.

Great post, Xallis! Role-playing the ridiculousness of the charges is a great play!

There is no diplomatizing your way out this time. And I’m going to assume you don’t surrender.

Xallis will spend his turn talking, not wanting to be seen as making the first move.

Of Xallis talks smack and the guards piledrive him into the dirt immedietly after I am going to find it very funny.

Stick their heads on pikes, which will swim down the river.

"It seems unlikely to me that we will have much time to prepare for battle against the Lotheeds. Surely their lord is waiting for a report, having sent his seneschal and soldiers to arrest us? How long can we keep quiet what has happened here, do you think? I do not imagine it will be more than a few hours before word spreads. Possibly sooner, with the magic that he seemed to have at his disposal."

This encounter does not put you on a time limit. You can still finish up any remaining encounters before fighting the Lotheeds.

Well, that's nice. :)

Trevor, I think you can respond to the message spell. Technically only Henrika hears the answer, but I've always described her as relaying what everyone else says to the whole group. Unless there's someone else who Henrika can't cover with her spell, I don't think Trevor has to roll Bluff to communicate a secret. Though I guess there's also a chance that Gul will overhear if he has a good Perception and he rolls well...

Have the soldier carry Gul's head back.

I vote for the Advanced Markets.

I'm fine with the Advanced Markets, but didn't we need to have another Festival for some reason?

You need to hold 3 festivals to get the Loyalty Point. You've held 2 so far.

Whenever you are ready to attack the Lotheeds, I'll give you one more week for your last Persona Phase and you can do another improvement in that time too, so the improvement right now won't be the last one whatever you choose.

Trevor also sought out Icabhod several times to be there to talk with the Abadaren and provide any spiritual guidance.

I think Trevor may have had a few too many drinks, haha.

You need to hold 3 festivals to get the Loyalty Point. You've held 2 so far.

Whenever you are ready to attack the Lotheeds, I'll give you one more week for your last Persona Phase and you can do another improvement in that time too, so the improvement right now won't be the last one whatever you choose.

Well, that’s good. Seems kind of tasteless to have a party immediately after killing a bunch of people. :)

Advanced Markets could be seen as a means to make penance toward Abadar for killing one of his inquisitors.

Follower of Nethys.

I had a busy weekend. I'll do the next post tomorrow.

Xallis would certainly be supportive of advanced markets!

Tracking and Catching the General

Tracking the General requires a total of five successes using any combination of the following skills:

Handle Animal (DC 22), Knowledge (Local, DC 17), Knowledge (Nature, DC 15), Perception DC 25, Profession (Fisherman, DC 13), Survival (DC 20), or Swim (DC 20).

Looks at Character Sheet...

Touch of Good (Sp): You can touch a creature as a standard action, granting a sacred bonus on attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws equal to half your cleric level (minimum 1) for 1 round. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier. Total Sacred Bonus: +3

Tychus will acquire 2 Air Crystals.

We briefly talked about what to get for a potential water encounter a while ago, but I don't remember what we settled on. Maybe a scroll of free swim for the melee types? Water breathing, maybe? I would hope we don't have to fight it underwater, since swords aren't good there. We'd need piercing weapons. (Nice for those of us with rapiers!)

Fish just wants to swim free..

Hmmm, I suppose I should also grab an Underwater Light Crossbow... Just in case.

I guess I'll have Henrika buy a scroll of free swim (375 gp) and ask Trevor if he would be so kind as to cast it on her after we flush out the fish.