Zero's #4-16: Dacilane Academy's First Great Prank War (Inactive)

Game Master Super Zero

Looking at the dead possum, We gots a bad kid here..."

He then turns around, a smile on his face and follows Kirana, "Yes, see what wild childs are doing elsewhere!"

"See you in a bit, Cass." Swayaah waves goodbye and lets her teammates lead. She likes to take notes and observe. Maybe she can find out who got a little too feisty with the opossums.

But where would they check next? Around the back? Through the door (being careful to avoid Cass's trap)?

Somewhere else?

Swayaah heads around the back... stealthily if possible.

Bangy follows...

Freerat follows...

thinking that stealth against a bunch of children intent on mischief was a waste of time, Grog boldly goes around the back of the building...

Seeing the group is being stealthy, Griphook follows suit. "Shhh..."

Kirana goes with Grok.

She doesn't have Stealth

Alice, the doll will pretend to be a harmless doll in Alice, the little girl's arms. The little girl will try to move quietly.

Dexterity for Stealth: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

A small, chalk-marked track runs around most of this open yard. Statues on opposite sides of the track stand posed in unnatural stances, the better to display the garish paint splashed across their edifices. A magnificent maple tree sits in the corner of the schoolyard, bedecked in thrown spools of ribbon.

A group of older students, led by a goblin and a half-elf, are hard at working making some kind of humanoid figure--a scarecrow?

"Hmmmm...."
He changes his expression to a big loopy looking grin and walks right up to the group.
"Hello! What you doing? Looks fun!"

"Nice ribbon... I can recommend a few tailors around here if you want." She feels some of the ribbon through her hands. Not as smooth as mom's old dresses. "Anyway, whatcha' doin'?"

The goblin introduces herself as Vim Moneymaker. The half-elf introduces themself as Hari.

"We're making a scarecrow, of sorts!" says Vim, "It's Student #19, from an old school story about a ghostly halfling boy who grants wishes and steals foolhardy students away in the night."

"I am confident," says Hari, "that school nostalgia combined with a strong execution will make this a winning prank."

"...I just like scary stories."

"We're gonna rig it up to 'fly!'"

"Are you gonna help us set up our ropes and pulleys?"

"Or the scarecrow design. If we had more help with that, Vim and I would have more time to perfect and implement the contraption."

PCs can spend 10 minutes and attempt a DC 24 Disguise, Crafting, or Thievery check to assemble, dress, or rig pulleys.

Crafting: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (13) + 11 = 24

The doll takes cloth and sews clothing together for the 'scarecrow'.

"Oh yeah. Let's see what we can do here." So moves around.

I assume Disguise is done via Deception. Eh, My crafting is still better.

Crafting: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

"Uh... did I miss something?"

Grog looks down at the 'Doll." "Hey, that looking great! Maybe me can help!"
He starts looking for extra things he can acquire to help...

Thievery: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15

"Well, maybe not.."

Kirana just watches as she does not think she can contribute anything helpful.

Thievery (Expert): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23

Inspecting the job done, Bangy has nothing to add.

”Should work fine!”

In consideration of their role as mentors, the Pathfinder allow Vim and Hari to take the lead in their project. Their scarecrow figure is looking good, but they haven't quite mastered making it "fly."

Cass Farsight interrupts the work, running up to the Pathfinder team. "Urgent missive! Mr. Dacilane requests your assistance. He's in Ms. Hirasara's classroom."

She points at the back door of the academy. "First classroom on the left, but I can show you. Come with me!"

"We're coming!" Swayaah follows.

Urgent!"
Grog jogs to the classroom.

Hoping she can help this time, Kirana heads to the classroom.

This room is full of small baubles and minor magical knick-knacks floating in the air under numerous minor levitation tricks. Illusory sounds emanate from a few places around this classroom. Large windows, covered in dripping egg, show a sizable knot of students clustered around the solitary tree standing on the school grounds--the group working on the Scarecrow of Sorts.

J is alone in the classroom, except for a pan of pie splattered upon the floor. As the Pathfinders watch, the pie reassembles itself and flies off the ground to hit J squarely in the face. He sighs audibly and wipes the pie from his face.

“I truly detest meringue.” J says wearily. The topping flits off Dacilane’s face in flakes and drops, reconstituting into the pie pan and quickly reforming into an intact pie again. “As talented as I believe our students to be, I would think such weapons of mischief to be beyond their practical capabilities. Can you see about…” With a sudden splat, he’s struck again by the ambushing regenerating pie. “Can you see about undoing this particular prank? It was funny the first few times, but it’s hard to supervise the students when—” J gestures toward the pie, which is already on a collision course with his face once again.

After another hit from the regenerating pie, J suggests the team start their investigation in the lunchroom and see if Grenda, the cooking teacher and school chef, knows anything about the matter.

"Regenerating pie..." Swayaah scribbles more notes. "I did see some fairies before we started looking around. But the lunch room seems like a good idea."

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29
Before leaving, Swayaah does scan the room for clues, possibly the nature of the magic. Maybe she can disable the pie?

Swayaah thinks it should be possible for someone with a solid understanding of magic to unravel the enchantment (Arcana or Occultism), and there's no reason it couldn't be counteracted (as by dispel magic).

Though convincing the pranksters to stop could also be a solution if they could be identified (slightly harder Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation, though they won't help at the moment).

"Sorry, fairies? We don't have any fairies here that I know--"

As Dacilane is interrupted again, Swayaah does hear some giggling coming from the kitchen. Sounds like several voices...

The Alices move up and examine the arcane magicks. Arcana: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

Not noticing anything particular, the Alices look for occult mysteries. Occultism: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

Grog just stands there, enraptured by the concept of regenerating food. If it can be done to food, why not drink. He daydreams of a flask of regenerating whiskey with a smile on his face for a good 20 seconds and then snaps out of it..

Occultism: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16 +1 if the fairies are involved
Swayaah makes a mental note of the magic involved.

"Alright, we'll check out the kitchen then." Swayaah figures the noise of a splutting pie may be enough to help her quietly sneak in.

Avoid Notice. Stealth +9

I'm back, and I'm slowly catching up with things at work and games here.

"Wow, amazhing!" Griphook sees the pie smacking J back and again, amazed by the fact that it goes on and on. But sooner or later, the trick becomes somewhat repetitive. "Right, let'sh look for Grenda if they know shomething about this." Griphook follows Swayaah in a distance after seeing her sneaking to the kitchen.

Grog snaps out of it as Swayaah heads out of the room.

"Oh, sneakies again? OK."
He follows, stealthily...

Alice manages to pull away the threads of magic. The pie pan falls to the floor with a clatter.
"Ah, of course," says J through a face-full of pie, "without the regeneration I now need--excuse me."

He heads towards the washroom as the Pathfinders move towards the lunchroom.

Outside the door, the can hear the splats and clatters of pies being thrown around the room, among a chorus of giggling voices. Unfortunately the stealthy approach meets a potential nemesis: a closed door. Swayaah can try to open it quietly, but if anyone is watching it will be hard to miss...

She opens the door to a cry of "SUR-PIES!" and a cream pie hurtling directly into her face with surprsing force.
Pie: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32 ???: 1d4 ⇒ 2 nonlethal bludgeoning damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Swayaah may have some difficulty immediately assessing the situation due to the quantity of coconut cream in her eyes--though it does immediately start flowing away from her to refill the pie tin, as was happening to J--but the others see a chaotic scene. A gaggle of small creatures--some resembling tiny catfolk, others more similar to half-size gnomes--are gleefully assaulting the walls, each other, and the dwarven woman (Grenda?) who cowers beneath one of the tables. She seems more frightened than one might expect of this situation, but then they notice that she's bleeding from several small wounds.

All PCs' turns.
Initiative:
House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies (5 pies readied)
Swayaah (28/44)
Grog (66/66)
Kirana (67/67)
Bangy Piper (100/100)
Alice (71/71)
Griphook (47/47)

This isn't treated as a combat with distinct creatures. Instead, the House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies are treated as a single complex hazard.
As previously noted, you can Disable the hazard using Arcana or Occultism or something like dispel magic to counteract the magic of the pies, or (more difficult) Deception, Diplomacy, or Intimidation to talk the house spirits down. Disabling is a two-action activity that can be done from anywhere in the lunchroom.
As a quick note about tone, the adventure seems to treat nonlethal damage as fairly negligible harm. While you can respond violently, they would probably consider it escalation (especially if lethal damage is used) even though they dealt damage first.

"I'd eat the damn pie if you'd let me." Swayaah grunts as the pie slides off of her face. "Maybe we can eat our way through this."

Fae looks around the room and starts pointing at the occult oddities that power this prank.
Occultism: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Swayaah doesn't fully get it, but she goes about trying to dismantle the trap.

"You okay there?"

Bangy shuffles to under the table where (Grenda?) the dwarf hides, and shares his curative draught with her.

"Here drink this!"

◆) Stride
◆) Interact to Draw Lesser Healing Potion
◆) Interact to Administer to Grenda

Lesser Healing Potion to Grenda: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (4, 6) + 5 = 15

Fae manages to unravel one of the enchantments, and one of the pies drops out of the air mid-hurtle with a large splat, sending cream all over the floor. But it's still.
One Disabled.

"Th-thank you," chokes Grenda, "I told the students they weren't allowed to prank the kitchen if they want supper tonight, since I can't cook if I'm dealing with this chaos. They seemed to think it was reasonable and were respecting it. I let one student take one pie to throw at J, and then these little fey all ran in before I got the place locked back up. Some of the pie tins have nails in them! I didn't put those there. I don't think they even noticed, they aren't really paying attention after they hit something."

"Sur-PIES!" calls a voice as another pie hurtles towards Swayaah, and another towards Bangy with another "Sur-PIES!"
Both Swayaah and Bangy trigger the House Spirits' with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies Continually Sur-PIEsed reaction. They can react as many times in a round as they have available pies. Swayaah triggers it by ending her turn in the room, Bangy by entering the room.
Pie vs Swayaah: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31 dang Nails???: 1d4 ⇒ 3 nonlethal bludgeoning damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Pie vs Bangy: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28 Nails???: 1d4 ⇒ 3 nonlethal bludgeoning damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Grog, Kirana, Alice, and Griphook's turns.
Initiative:
House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies (2/4 pies readied)
Swayaah (10/44)
Grog (66/66)
Kirana (67/67)
Bangy Piper (93/100)
Alice (71/71)
Griphook (47/47)

"Ohhh, it's a sur-PIES. Very funny." Swayaah's dry humor helps counteract the creamy from the lemon meringue pie. "I knew there were fairies in here."

"Getting a little tired..."

Grog runs into the middle of the room. He yells at the spirits.
"You waste PIES like this! Bad spirits! Naughty! You should be ashamed of yourselves!"
intimidation: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Grog's rage is only half-hearted. He is mainly upset at Swayaah getting hurt... also the waste of pies...

At least he a big screaming target in the middle of the room harassing spirits!

"Sur-PIES!" calls a giggling voice, cutting right through Grog's own words. The little bearded man doesn't even seem to have heard him, as he directs a pie towards the goblin.
That's a failure.
And Pie: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28 Nails?: 1d4 ⇒ 3 nonlethal bludgeoning damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Kirana, Alice, and Griphook's turns.
Initiative:
House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies (1/4 pies readied)
Swayaah (10/44)
Grog (66/66)
Kirana (67/67)
Bangy Piper (93/100)
Alice (71/71)
Griphook (47/47)

Occultism: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

"Sur-oh. Aw, no fun."
A pie bound for Alice never quite makes it. The magic holding it aloft fails and it flops to the floor.
Another disabled. Which means they're out of ammo for the round.

Kirana and Griphook's turns.
Initiative:
House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies (0/3 pies readied)
Swayaah (10/44)
Grog (66/66)
Kirana (67/67)
Bangy Piper (93/100)
Alice (71/71)
Griphook (47/47)

Kirana Channels Energy, with sparkling ice crystals, water droplets and snowflakes dancing in the area around her. She moves to Swayaah and uses the Ocean's Balm to soothe Ocean's Balm: 2d8 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5

As Kirana heals Swayaah, Griphook also enters the lunchroom. He attempts to talk down the house spirits, entreating them to pay more attention to the injury they've caused.
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
The giggling spirits don't seem to take any notice.

The emptied pie tins continue refilling themselves. The Pathfinders have broken some of the enchantments, but they still have some of their ammo.

All PCs' turns. Since they only have a few left, rather than picking on whoever happens to post first I've randomly determined whom they'll target. After posting your turn (assuming they haven't run out of ammo from having the hazard Disabled), click on the relevant spoiler please.
Initiative:
House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies (3/3 pies readied)
Swayaah (15/44)
Grog (66/66)
Kirana (67/67)
Bangy Piper (93/100)
Alice (71/71)
Griphook (47/47)

"Alright, I've been munched on by giant plants, and an invisible... ugh. Succubi invited me to a bath I could not get out of until my friends killed them."

"What I'm saying is, I'd like to not die from a pie to the face."

Swayaah tries to figure out how to disable this trap.
Devise A Stratagem: 1d20 ⇒ 7
Not a good idea to try now. Instead she'll try to aid Alice with her Occultism.

Then she will back out of the room to get some distance. Maybe this will spare her from the pies' wrath!

Occultism (not including Aid): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14

Ending your turn outside of the room would avoid one of the triggers... but Devise a Stratagem is a concentrate action, so that also triggers it. At least it's not a crit this time?

"Sur-PIES!" Another artfully directed pie (peanut butter!) proves sufficiently distracting that Swayaah isn't able to help Alice. This time, she is not able to disable the magic.

Grog, Kirana, Bangy, and Griphook's turns.
Initiative:
House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies (2/3 pies readied)
Swayaah (6/44)
Grog (66/66)
Kirana (67/67)
Bangy Piper (93/100)
Alice (71/71)
Griphook (47/47)

Not having any real chance with the skills, Grog smiles and acts physically.

He runs up to a filling pie tin and jumps on top of it, basically tackling it and holding it to his chest!

athletics: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26

Snort! Read the spoiler after I posted. Have fun with that one. :)

None of the pies was about to hit Grog, so he hits the pie instead! He pins one of the tins to the ground, taking it out of circulation to the sounds of whiny protest.

Kirana, Bangy, and Griphook's turns.
Initiative:
House Spirits with an Absurd Number of Regenerating Pies (1/2 pies readied)
Swayaah (6/44)
Grog (66/66)
Kirana (67/67)
Bangy Piper (93/100)
Alice (71/71)
Griphook (47/47)

Kirana continues to try and keep Swayaah going as she channels vitality into her (◆ Lay on Hands for 12 healing)

She then tries to Extract Element to remove all the moisture from the pies.

Unable to meaningfully assist, Bangy gets out of range of the pies.

◆, ◆◆, or ◆◆◆) Stride x1, x2, or x3