GM TOP #10-14: Debt to the Quah (Core) (Inactive)

Game Master Pete H.

"Uh... let's have a look..."

Corba finds the bag contains a small stone statue of a wolf cub and a ring stylized as a scarab beetle. The ring fits just fine on the skeleton’s finger.

Where next?

Salvio once again consults his notes. "Only one more item to return, and it goes in the flame pit room. That doesn't sound ominous at all, does it?"

Only way to find out is to going there. So lets go Paffies.

"I'd be surprised to find even one room where nothing wants to attack us," Bobbie mumbles fatalistically, and leads the way to the flame pit.

Desynthia nudges Bobbie with her elbow.

So far, it wasn't so bad, no?

"Well, the ghosts that were attacking us did so quite fiercly. They hurt us a lot... don't you agree, Rocky?"

Corba reaches for another handful of treats for her brave riding dog.

"With any luck, the flame pit will be an obstacle to replacing the last item and not its resting place. Or maybe the flames will have died out by now. Not," Iladora adds, "that much else in here seems to have done the same."

Was that the stern swordswoman's idea of a joke?

The group quickly checks the room to the north and finds…

This large, mostly empty room features two statues and an incomplete staircase to the north. A door exits south.

And nothing of useful interest and nothing damaged.

Coming back through they check to the west, finding some winding hallways (which Bobbie has to really uncomfortably squeeze through). Working their way back towards the reported fire pit room, the encounter a boring empty storage room and a pottery display area. Unfortunately…

Pottery shards in a variety of vibrant hues litter the room here. The staircase leading to the east leads to a dead end. Doors exit to north and west.

The pottery requires being put back together before repair. Appraise or a relevant Craft/Profession check is the easier DC. A harder DC would be Sleight of Hand. Five pots to work on.

Salvio has +13 Appraise; does anyone else have any ranks in it?

Appraise+5 here!

So if Salvio takes 10, Desynthia has a good chance of a successful Aid Another for a total result of 25.

To use Appraise you do not have to be trained in it, so we all get the chance to try Aid Another (which has no consequences in PF1e when failed). More chances of success - even with Corba's Appraise +0! ;-)

Lini takes a look at the pottery with Droo at her side.

"I could make some nice jewellery from this I think if we were not putting it back together."

Appraise, aid to Salvio, DC 10: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

That is one aid so far. :)

Bobbie has all the skills to smash pottery, but putting them back together? Nah :')

Appraise (Aid Another): 1d20 ⇒ 5

"If you say so," Bobbie chimes in, looking at the broken pieces in a way that suggests she's never managed to finish a puzzle in her entire life. "I wouldn't know where to begin."

How hard is the reassembly process? Will the proposed plan work with Salvio taking 10 on his Appraisal rolls?

Yes, it’ll work as proposed. I’ll get a post up when I get a chance. No need for further aid rolls.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Salvio vanishes into his own little world as he carefully sorts and reassembles the potsherds.

Salvio unsurprisingly has the mental answer to the puzzle. The answer is basically 'take his time and sort the shards'. After a couple minutes he has the pieces to five pots seperated and a few minutes after that the pots are mostly back in shape. With a little mystical rock fixing, all five pots are repaired.

Five minutes pass The large size buff and strength buff on Iladora has expired.

Appraise: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Humming to herself, cross legged, Desynthia compares the pieces before setting to work.

And work she does, as her hair mimic the color and patterns of the shards

Bobbie can't do much else but patiently wait for the intellectuals of the group to be done with the puzzle.

Des dives unwisely into the sharp shards and pulls out an armful before getting to work sorting. It shaved off about a minute total from Salvio’s efforts, but otherwise the results are the same.

Through the next door?

The door to the north creeps open, beckoning the group to continue. Muahahaahaaaaa!

The very faint glow of firelight flickers from around the corner.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

"What next," Bobbie mutters to herself, keeping an eye for traps.

I'm expecting troubles, and you too, seeing how your body is tense

"Well, let's go. After this we only have the maze, and the notes don't say anything about breaking stuff in there." Salvio makes sure his crossbow is loaded.

The group moves forward. Always forward. Never backward. Except when they can't go forward. Then they obviously go backward. But then forward again.

Either way, Bobbie & Lini notice the fire darkening as they move into the next room.

Initiative
Bobbie: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Salvio: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Iladora: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Desynthia: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Corba: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Lini: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Haunt: 10 = 10

Surprise Round!
Bobbie
Salvio
Des
Haunt
Iladora
Corba & Rocky
Lini & Droogami

Bobbie is up, Single Action only!

The group moves forward. Always forward. Never backward. Except when they can't go forward. Then they obviously go backward. But then forward again.

Well, actually, going forward is usually better then (things) going sideways... ;-)

"Not again," Bobbie mutters to herself, and raises her shield, bracing herself for the chaos to come. "More ghosts!" she cries out as a warning.

Total Defense, AC boosted to 27 for the surprise round

Bobbie wisely protects herself from the expected attack.

Except nothing happens. Well, something happens. It gets darker. And darker. And then completely dark. The darkest dark anyone has ever seen. Darkvision doesn't even penetrate the darkness! Rocky and Droo can't even smell the dusty room anymore.

Then your other senses pick up some... things. Odd things. You feel wind on your faces and hear the rustling of leaves and burbling of running water.

Suddenly, a loud bark rattles your ears. And even more than that, rattles the surroundings. Almost as if like sonar, you see a reflection of where you are. And where you are doesn't match where your brain thinks you might be.

Around and above you is a cave and before you is a large chasm. Seems to be about twenty feet across. A strong breeze gusts from behind and you feel an urge to just gallop down the path and jump the gap!

The skill given for this challenge is to jump with acrobatics. There is plenty of space to get a running start. You can try alternative options, but we are still in an initiative round, so time may be limited for trying other things. Y'all are in a haunt, fyi. It's also Immmune to Positive Energy, just like the last one. This is sorta like a skill challenge with harmful consequences.

Doesn't Salvio act before the haunt?

Re-reading the haunt stuff to make sure I handled things fine.

Retcon Time! We are moving back into the surprise round. Almost everything in my last post has not yet happened.

Maybe good news, you get slightly more actions. Definitely bad news as I noticed everyone has a save to make.

EVERYONE, PETS INCLUDED, Make a Will Save against an Emotion/Fear effect. A failed save will not prevent any actions.

Surprise Round
Lini

Round 1
Bobbie
Salvio
Des
Haunt
Iladora
Corba & Rocky
Lini & Droogami

Bold Are Up!

Conditions: Absolute Darkness aka Functionally everyone is blind (as of right now, the bark has not yet occurred).

Will save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

Will save, Fearless: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 2 = 15

Will save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

From the entrance of the room, Bobbie issues another warning: "Can't see!"

But this time (and even though she manages to keep her voice fairly controlled), there's an edge of panic to it.

Lini feels something but draws strength from Droo being nearby.

Will save, Animal Friend: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 8 + 1 = 19

Droogami is sick and tired of all these strange creatures. Why are there so many silly ghosts in this cave?

Will save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Will save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Some of you are a bit shaken. Some of you are stirred instead.

Surprise Round
Lini

Round 1
Bobbie (Shaken)
Salvio (Shaken)
Des
Haunt
Iladora (Will Save)
Corba & Rocky (Shaken)
Lini & Droogami (Shaken)

Bold Are Still Up!

Conditions: Absolute Darkness aka Functionally everyone is blind (as of right now, the bark has not yet occurred).

Will vs fear: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Also shaken.

"Anyone got any spells to jump across a massive gap?" Bobbie asks as calmly as possible.

Trembling with supernatural fear, Salvio nevertheless has the presence of mind to put a hand on the wall of the narrow passage and back up the way he came.

Resisting the wind, Bobbie starts backing away as well. Moving away from chasm

There is no chasm yet. That haunt action was retconned and hasn’t happened yet.

As Salvio squeezes past his allies in the hallway he feels he should be out of the room by now, yet everything is still dark. It seems the haunt isn’t letting anyone leave.

"Guess we have no chance but to go forward," Bobbie grimaces. Something is clearly preventing them from leaving.

Shall we move to the Acrobatics skill checks, if it's our only way out? By the way, do we get a bonus if we can take a run-up before jumping?

No bonus, you just don’t take a huge penalty. We can move forward.

Around and above you is a cave and before you is a large chasm. Seems to be about twenty feet across. A strong breeze gusts from behind and you feel an urge to just gallop down the path and jump the gap!

The skill given for this challenge is to jump with acrobatics. There is plenty of space to get a running start. You can try alternative options, but we are still in an initiative round, so time may be limited for trying other things. Y'all are in a haunt, fyi. It's also Immmune to Positive Energy, just like the last one. This is sorta like a skill challenge with harmful consequences.

Round 1
Haunt
Iladora (Shaken)
Corba (Ok) & Rocky (Shaken)
Lini (Ok) & Droogami (Shaken)

Round 2
Bobbie (Shaken)
Salvio (Shaken)
Des (Ok)

Bold Are Up!

Corba tries to inspire her teammates. standard action to start bardic performance (inspire competence)

"I have seen you overcome many obstacles and I know you can do this..."

She positions herself (by guiding Rocky) so she is within 30 feet of the space where the jump will start.

A bard of 3rd level or higher can use his performance to help an ally succeed at a task. That ally must be within 30 feet and be able to hear the bard. The ally gets a +2 competence bonus on skill checks with a particular skill as long as she continues to hear the bard's performance. This bonus increases by +1 for every four levels the bard has attained beyond 3rd (+3 at 7th, +4 at 11th, +5 at 15th, and +6 at 19th). Certain uses of this ability are infeasible, such as Stealth, and may be disallowed at the GM's discretion. A bard can't inspire competence in himself. Inspire competence relies on audible components.

@GM Top - Is there an actual distance to jump across or is this more of an abstracted skill check to defeat the haunt? Also will a riding check by required if my character wants to be astride Droogami for the jump across and if so what would the DC be?