Outpost VII - GM Valen's PFS 1-12 The Burden of Envy (Author's Table)(12 Challenge Points) (Inactive)

Game Master Lysle

Noggin looks up at Archurius with big, wet, expectant eyes "You can do something for her though, right?" The furry goblin scratches his head and looks around the room, all thoughts of pickled fish thrown from his mind. When Norbwald finishes revealing the party's intentions, a sudden thought strikes "Oh, I saw a wagon in the stable! If you can get Vurna in a good enough shape to travel, we can hide her in there. Just roll up to our ship with our wagon full of 'merchantly' wares!!! Hmm, we just need to think of a way to get past Ellvard and we're home free. Luckily, he's my new best friend! I could distract by talking about his hobbies and how great a painter he is." His growing excitement dwindles again at the sight of the poorly girl "That is if... If you can help her, Archurius..."

Drakmak smiles and considers their options after the fish. "We can maybe check the stables in the time remaining to make sure the wagon is in good repair. We have a couple of hours to get that done before we move on.
Anyone can join me whilst Archurius looks after the girl."

"We also here to help with your other problem, we just had to be sure it was you first. I'm sure you understand why we're cautious. I know you were expecting a certain cousin K, but after his face showed up on a few posters, he decided some unfamiliar faces would increase your odds of getting out. It'll be a few days until we're ready to go, but I'm certain we can help her condition out a bit and get her ready to travel, so we can get out of this country and get some real help. A safe place to rest, and some fish for my companions at least I'm certain would increase our chances of getting everybody out of here alive."

"I must admit that you are not what I was expecting," Yuleg concedes, though being careful to choose his words. Whether this is due to a particular lack of trust or habits developed during his life in Xin-Edasseril is not immediately evident. "If you are able to do all that I believe you are offering and my precious Vurna is sufficient well, then you are welcome to anything wihtin my inn that you wish, including the mules and wagon."

It appears that the party plans to remain at the Rockfish Inn until curfew.

Those who wish to tend to Vurna may attempt a Medicine check, which will take you into the night. Likewise, the barrels of pickled fish may be drained and used for something more useful with a successful Crafting check (let me know what you wish to make). There are six barrels.

Feel free to post any of the above or other activities you choose to do during curfew/night and then let me know where the party wishes to head the next morning after first bell. Rule of Two decides where to go next.

"I must admit that you are not what I was expecting,"

"Excellent! That means we're doing a good job of being discreet." The young goblin puffs up, proud of their work so far. Hoping that Archurius has things under control up here, Noggin looks up to Drakmak "Good idea! I'll help drain the fish out the barrels..." he licks his lips "Maybe we can smuggle people out of the city in them! Just need some air holes!"

Noggin might get carried away and attempt to make a false floor to the wagon :)

Craft false floor: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Craft false floor, hero point reroll: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Noggin definitely gets carried away! :)

Forgot to mention, my vote is to see Flitch in the morning

"Well, then, let us see what a little common medicine can do for the girl. I dare say, a little alchemical aid might make the difference between life and death if someone would try to purchase some. But I will start aiding right now."

medicine: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Achurius does a serviceable job, making her comfortable, applying poultices, but it seems he is getting a bit frustrated as he watches the girl starts to cycle further into sickness.

"Mutter, mutter. I just wish I had a little rotbane."

Noggin manages only to break apart one of the barrels, ruining it for any further use.

Archurius' initial efforts are unsuccessful.

Hero Point?

Leaving the girl and Archurius, Drakmak calmly states, "Archurius, good luck, medicine is a mystery to me, much like the magics of materials and crafts are a mystery to many. May the gods be with you."

Drakmak moves to help Noggin, he carefully removes the sparkly rings from his fingers and brings out various heavy duty tools, not normally associated with his skilled artistry crafting. "Noggin, if I may be so bold, you appear to have made a right pigs ear of that barrel, perhaps this isn't using the best of your abilities. Let me see if I can produce better results."

Craft false floor 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

Hero Point Craft 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

After a shaky start working with wood, Drakmak manages to improve his craftmanship on the false floor.

"What do you mean?" Noggin asks innocently, surrounded by the remains of one of the barrels, hammer in hand "No one else could have made that many pieces out of a single barrel. I'm very good at taking things apart! Feel free to use any of these splinters... Wait!!! How did you do that?" The enthusiastic goblin watches in awe as the artisan gets to work.

Since I have two, I will burn a hero point to see if he can find a more useful medicine in his kit.

medicine: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Well, a little better, but is it enough? I'm pretty sure it would be if someone takes his hint and gets some antiplague from an alchemist out there.

Norbwald gets some early rest during the first 2 hours while everybody else us up and about, and will eventually sneak in another 2 hours to keep himself fresh and will otherwise keep watch, peeking out the windows and such, trying to get an idea, at least in this neighborhood what patrols are like after curfew.

As a skeleton Norbwald only needs 4 hours of rest.

The half-orc realises the goblin is watching his every move as he moves wooden slates in place. Every piece of wood, measured carefully before being cut and pieced together. With such an attentive audience, Drakmak cannot resist to exaggerate his work, with flamboyant sweeps of his arms as he carefully nails and screws pieces of wood together.

As he continues he speaks to Noggin as though telling a small child how to pile bricks on top of each other to create a wall. "So you see Noggin, watch very carefully that the string is the exact length, before I use it to place it carefully on the wood to provide an exact place to cut the perfect length. Now did you get that? I'm sure you'll pick it up and get the hang of it. I mean you've mastered the art of demolition, now with the aid of the gods of the oasis we might just get you to understand the art of creation."

Drakmak puts his hand on Noggin's, saying a few draconic words, which fill the goblin with a feeling that he can use his hands more easily in squeezing them into the nooks and crannies of the barrel and feel how it has changed.

Casts Physical Boost focus spell in a weird way, to make Noggin feel more dexterous in what he does, not exactly what the spell does as written, but just for a nice flavour.

After a shaky start working with wood, Drakmak manages to improve his craftmanship on the false floor.

Drakmak produces a convincing false floor for the wagon as well as a fan of his work.

Since I have two, I will burn a hero point to see if he can find a more useful medicine in his kit.

Archurius spends much of the night helping Vurna. By morning, the young woman begins showing signs of improvement.

Yuleg is visually pleased. "Thank you! Thank you!" The dwarven man pats Archurius on the back. At the insistance of giving Vurna more time to rest, Yuleg ushers the party out of her room.

"Why, she may even be well enough to travel." Yuleg continues in more hushed tones. "Which begs the question, when is departure set to take place? Will it be today? Or, do you still have business to attend to within the city?"

So what time of day is it after the 8 hours of tending to his patient?

I'm assuming early morning after a night's rest through curfew.

Proud of his short time as carpenters apprentice, well rested, and full of pickled fish, Noggin is in a particularly chipper mood this morning. He congratulates Archurius for helping Vurna so much and replies to Yuleg, with a big grin "That's wonderful! But we still have souls to save in this city... Not to mention some spiffy armour to collect, and learning all about my new best friend's talents." The enthusiastic goblin frowns, deep in thought "Oh, and I think we're also looking for Filch's slippers. Anyway, we may have to stay here for a couple more nights if you don't mind? We'll take you with us when we leave the City in four days."

Again, I vote we go to Filch and gather information about our friend, the artistic guard

Gather Information: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24 Just in case

So what time of day is it after the 8 hours of tending to his patient?

There are 24 hours in a Golarion day. The curfew for "outsiders"--at least at the time of the adventure--begins around 6 pm and ends at about 10 am (Perhaps, the Runelord of Envy really values her sleep? Or else she wants to give her loyal subjects, or those who are willing to pay for it, some extra time advantages over the others--sort of Disney World's "magic hours"?)

1 vote for either Flitch or Gather Information. 1 more vote for either or 2 votes for another activity/destination will move us to the next encounter after "first bell" on the party's second day in the city.

[ooc[Speaking of sleep, I'm sure Achurious is on the verge of being fatigued...[/ooc] Achurius turns a tired eye toward the others. "I'm bear. About the only thing I can think of at the moment is sweet sleep. I hate to slow the investigation down, but I'm not going to be dogging it a bit. But if we are going out, let's see if we can find an alchemist and buy some antiplague."

[ooc[Speaking of sleep, I'm sure Achurious is on the verge of being fatigued...[/ooc]

Archurius had the opportunity to get 8 hours of sleep. He started 2 hours before curfew. Curfew begins at 6 pm. If he worked for another 6 hours, then he completed the 8 hour task by midnight. As curfew is not lifted until 10 am the next morning, he had plenty of time to sleep.

Looks like 1 vote to shop, 1 vote to gather info, and 1 vote to see Flitch. 1 more vote for any of these or 2 votes for something else moves us to the next encounter, which takes place after first bell when the curfew lifts on Day 2.

Norbwald would like to visit Flitch.

Ditto. Let's visit Filtch.

"First bell" tolls, noting the end of curfew and the once quiet city springs to life. Making your way through the bustling city is time consuming as you are forced to pause at times as the crowds halt before passing patrols. Your travel is held up further as you find yourselves waiting in lines at additional check points within the city or, in some cases, spending time looking for back alleys and ways to circumvent them.

After about two hours, you find yourself in a rundown, particularly impoverished, area of the city identified as Envy Row East. Following the directions provided in Guaril's note, you arrive at a rundown flat rather typical of the other residences of Envy Row East.

The front door facing the street stands shut. The windows of the flat have been boarded over, and fragments of a flowerpot lie beneath one of the windowsills.

What would you like to do?

Standing off to the side, and looking around in case someone is staking out the joint, Achurius suggests, "The place does not look occupied. Let's see if we can slip in from the back, assuming there is a back door and it is less busy than the front."

Norbwald looks dejected and sips from their bag and nods to Archurius "I think this might already be the back and this place doesn't have a front but that's still a good idea."

Norbwald works on examining the flower pot remains as he answers.

"Archurius, we are not thieves in the night, surely the front door is the way we should enter. We haven't even had time to knock, let me at least try the front door?"

If Archurius agrees, Drakmak will try to open the door, without knocking.

Noggin hasn't tried any breaking and entering since his his young and wilder days, and he's pretty excited by the prospect "And if it doesn't open, I can try out my new carpentry skills on the door!" He says, wild-eyed as he retrieves his little hammer from his backpack. "Discreetly, of course."

Achurius stands aside and 'allows' him to open the door.

"Noggin, May the desert dust never parch your throat, but if we are going to use discreet carpentry methods to gain entry, you might want to follow Archurius' idea and practice where people can't see you. That is, try around the back door. Let us try here first, then if the door does not open, we'll try the back as Achurius suggests." The half-orc's hand rests gently on Noggin's shoulder as he says this. A mellow fatherly voice issues the words.

Norbwald works on examining the flower pot remains as he answers.

Most of the remains of the flower pot are gathered around a central spot, just below a window sill, suggesting that the pot had been knocked off of the sill above. A few of the pieces lie strewn a few inches further away, suggesting that someone, days ago, may have pulled a small something out from beneath the remanants of the pot.

"Archurius, we are not thieves in the night, surely the front door is the way we should enter. We haven't even had time to knock, let me at least try the front door?"

Drakmak tries the door and finds that it is locked.

The windows are boarded over.
An Athletics check to Force Open would be a sufficient display of "new carpentry skills" to possibly gain entry through a window.

Norbwald takes another swig and notes "I think somebody took the key from the pot already, not sure what that tells us, but it sure tells us something."

"Hmm... Does it tell us... Carpentry is needed?" The furry goblin asks hopefully.

"The door seems a little stiff, let me hmmmmm!" The merchant ponders and looks over the state of the building, "This building doesn't look very solid, I mean there are holes all over the place. I have an alternative, should someone be willing? My magics, could perchance make someone a lot smaller, say with all the attributes of a rat. Sneak in through one of the holes, have a look around, before returning and opening the door from the inside. Or we let our apprentice carpenter enter through a window, it might be loud, but won't annoy the guard on magic watch."

He looks at Noggin and Norbwald to see if there are any takers...

Norbwald takes another swig and notes "I think somebody took the key from the pot already, not sure what that tells us, but it sure tells us something."

Guaril told you something about a pot.

"The door seems a little stiff, let me hmmmmm!" The merchant ponders and looks over the state of the building, "This building doesn't look very solid, I mean there are holes all over the place. I have an alternative, should someone be willing? My magics, could perchance make someone a lot smaller, say with all the attributes of a rat. Sneak in through one of the holes, have a look around, before returning and opening the door from the inside. Or we let our apprentice carpenter enter through a window, it might be loud, but won't annoy the guard on magic watch."

He looks at Noggin and Norbwald to see if there are any takers...

The GM's look follows...

"Hmm... Does it tell us... Carpentry is needed?" The furry goblin asks hopefully.

All thoughts of vandalism slip from the young goblin's mind at the mention of transformations "You can really do that? I've often wondered what it would be like to be small..." He looks up at the wizard with a big grin "Do it!"

Achurius has an offer.

"Look. I have a spell that destroys things, like this door. If I get lucky it will tear a decent sized hole in it. But if Noggin can slip in through a hole, that sounds like a better and less noisy solution."

Then again, we ARE talking about Noggin here. He will probably find a way to make it noisy.

Drakmak looks for a quiet spot, away from the crowds and out of sight, and motions to Noggin to follow him. "If I cast this spell on you, you have 10 minutes as a rat to get into the building, have a little scout around, before you return to your normal goblin self. My feathered friend can take you closer or I'll put you in my pocket til we get outside the house again."

A golden bird flies up from Drakmak's shoulder after Drakmak whispers to him, , "Racven, keep watch from above, look out for armed men, the city patrols."

Perception to find a safe spot for casting: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Cast Pest form on Noggin, Rat.

Noggin gets more and more excited about this plan as Drakmak explains the process. His eyes go especially wide at the mention of Racven "You mean... I can fly?" The thought of riding into danger on the back of a beautiful golden oriole is almost too exciting for the young knight to bare "And if I can't find a hole, I can climb down the chimney!" He beams at the wizard.

Ratty Stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27 Once inside, Noggin will scout for a bit, then dismiss the spell and open the door from the inside

"And if I can't find a hole, I can climb down the chimney!" He beams at the wizard.

The newly-ratted Noggin has no difficulty climbing through a small gap between the boards on one of the windows.

Inside, the rodentified Pathfinder finds a thin layer of dust covering the floors of the sparsely furnished wood-walled apartment.

The northern wall bears crude etchings, graffiti, and other odd markings.

The door to the outside is locked from the inside, but would require larger appendages to manipulate to open.

Noggin may attempt a DC 15 Perception check to Seek.

Noggin scurries happily around the dusty house...

Seek: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Squeaking merrily, he transforms back into a blue furry goblin and opens the door for the others "That. Was. So. Cool!!!" He glances back down the hallway and shrugs "The place is empty though."

Turning to Archurius and Norbwald, Drakmak asks, "We've done the right thing letting Noggin go in there haven't we?" a little concern in his voice.

Squeaking merrily, he transforms back into a blue furry goblin and opens the door for the others "That. Was. So. Cool!!!" He glances back down the hallway and shrugs "The place is empty though."

Any other PC that enters the flat through the door may now attempt a DC 15 Perception check to Seek.

What does the party wish to do? Look through the flat? Try to gather information on Flitch? Head to another location?

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Norbwald's chair brings him in and around the room to take a look.

perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

Achurius slips inside quickly to get out of sight.

The half-orc quickly follows Achurius into the building, shutting the door behind him, "Now let's see what do we have here..." He stops at some funny looking graffiti on the wall. His head moves from side to side as he tries to make out something in the myriad of writings. "Ahh, friends it seems that by the grace of the refreshing waters of the oasis, Flitch has left his name here and some other scribbling look like some sort of coded message? Here look." as a green bejeweled finger points out and follows the writing of Fitch's name and what looks like the coded message.

Perception 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

A successful Society check to Decipher Writing is required to decode these markings.

Society 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

"Here look." as a green bejeweled finger points out and follows the writing of Fitch's name and what looks like the coded message.

Drakmak easily deciphers the simple code. It indicates the location of a particular sewer grate along with a crude map of some tunnels. It further states that Flitch has gone into hiding within the sewers beneath the city.

There is nothing else of interest remaining within the flat.

Where to now, Pathfinders?

"Seems like the obvious thing to do is to go searching for him in the, and I can't believe I'm suggesting this, the sewers."

Achurius wipes his hands on his robe as if they have already been soiled.

"What's wrong with the sewers?" Noggin asks innocently, "Why, when I was a rat, I had a feeling that a sewer would feel very homey!" He looks over at Drakmak "I wonder if I can speak rat now... I remember it went something like; SQUEEEAK SQUEAK!!! Or something like that anyway. Maybe I'll make some new friends down there." He grins, ready to follow the trail towards adventure.

Norbwald takes another swig "Sewers it is I think"

It takes a good bit of time to make it through the streets, but you locate the grate indicated on the map. It is well-oiled grate and not too far from the flat. Below is another matter. The smelly sewers are poorly maintained and contain numerous twists and turns.

Graffiti covers the walls at every intersection of the labyrinth-like tunnels. Within a short time, you realize that the sewers must stretch for miles. Further, portions of the tunnels are dislocated or collapsed, undoubtedly the result of the same catastrophe that had befallen city and left parts of its skyline in ruin.

Please provide the Exploration Mode for your PC. From here, forward, I will assume that your PC is using the same Exploration Mode stated unless otherwise indicated.

Detect magic exploration mode

Achurius looks around for writing like what they found at the house.

Scouting for Noggin

Once down in the sewer, Noggin darts in front of the party looks around excitedly, waiting for everyone to catch up, then runs ahead again. The whole time he is squeaking merrily to himself. He does, however, draw his shield and sword, not wanting to be ambushed by bog monsters or rodents of unusual size.