The healing light of Grunjar closes the wounds on the caretakers as they wake up. They thanks the team profusely for saving their life, and they report that TWO teams of enemy agents have entered the Mausoleum. They open the gate and walk you through the Dissection Room, where local Pathfinder conduct autopsies, to the corner of the building. Among the barrels of supposedly wash water, one of the barrel is revealed to contain supplies for emergency situation.
The team received two potion of Lesser Restoration, and two dose of a special variate of Silversheen(weapon count as Adamantine vs DR instead of silver)
You did not encounter any hostile forces in the Dissection Room, but the custodial caretakers suspect that enemies have already at deeper section of the Mausoleum, and plead you to neutualize the threats.
They point North(Up in terms of Google Slide), and explains that there're artifacts that are stored in the Mausoleum, which could potentially be the target of the intruders.
The Lady expresses her thanks to Grunjar for being so thoughtful and keeping her safe. He is such a dear, after all.
One thing she notes as the caretakers lead them through the Dissection Room is that the they haven't described the intruders at all. So she asks them for any details they have about what they saw. How many intruders in each group. What kinds of beings - humanoids, undead, monstrous types, Pathfinder / Aspis / adventurers, or simple thug/gang/mercenary types. She makes it clear that she will accept nothing less than a complete and thorough report, and she's certain these two fine, hard-working gentlemen don't want to disappoint Her.
Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin’s voice booms over the grounds of the Grand Lodge, cutting through the sounds of the fighting. ”Pathfinders have defeated many of the attackers in the South Campus! Keep pushing!”
Table GMs, the South Campus Threat Level is now Yellow.
The caretakers say that the intruders knock them out so quick that they didn't get to take a good look on them, but they think the intruders are the professional adventurers type.
Rani did not spot any traps. You know that there won't be any trap set by the Pathfinders, since this is a work area for the agents, and it wouldn't make sense to put traps in people's office.
The team walk pass the Ossuarium where pathfinders clean up the skeletons. You did not find any sign of hostiles in this room. At the end of the hallway, you guys find two doors:
The door on the left leads to The Slabs. It's a magically cooled chamber to safely preserve bodies from decay. It's walls are lined with stone cubicles with iron doors and bronze nameplates.
The door to the right leads to the Incinerators. This room is used as a crematorium and for Pathfinder researchers to safely rid themselves of necromantic specimens upon completion of their experiments. The Library lies beyond the incinerator chamber.
Which room would you like to visit, or visit first?
Rani pauses for a bit outside the door to the slabs, remembering a time when her brother was in here waiting for his resurrection. She says a quick prayer for the Pathfinders inside, opens the door a bit, and peeks into the room.
Rani pushes the door to open just a little bit, and peek from the gap. She only sees the vestibule/anteroom that keeps the cold airs in, as well as the door that actually leads to the Slabs.
Let's try that again.
Rani pushes the door to open just slightly, and takes a peek inside. The room is dark, as only a minute amount of light enters from three tiny windows near the ceiling. Rani can barely makes out that the room is left in disarray. On a closer/magical illumination assisted inspection, you think the room has been ransacked by the intruders. Coffins are broken, with many of their content dumped to the ground. Looks like someone went through here looking for something.
Male Undine Psychic 10 | AC (21)17/17/14| HP 72/72 + __20_____ temp HP| F+9, R+9, W+12 | Darkvision 60' | Cold Resistance 5 | Init+3, Perc +15 | CMD 18 | Phrenic Pool 7/7 |
Ashwell uses his dark vision to get a quick peek as the halfling begins exploring. The undone doesn’t move from the doorway however, not wanting to set off some trap the baddies might have left to slow pursuers.
"Rani, have a look around if you vant, but if zhere's notsing here, I guess ve move on."
She gives Rani a little guidance courtesy of Zon-Kuthon. Lucky for Rani that such assistance from the Shadow Lord doesn't also require a little pain or blood.
Rani and Ashwell did not find any traps inthe Slabs. Unfortunately, they did not find any track as well. Whoever that break into this place must be some sort of professionals.
By the process of eliminaiton, any potential threat would be hiding or waiting beyond the Incinerators. Ashwell recalls that a certain artifact called Cage of Soul Echoes are stored in one of the room beyond the Incinerator room. The artifact went haywire many years ago during the Shadow Lodge's attack of the Grand Lodge, and has been seal off since.
The group gathers behind the door to the Incinerators room. Do you plan to go door kicking gun blazing, or do you plan to be quiet?
The heavy fireproof door creaks as Rani pushes it open. It didn't went as quiet as Rani would hope, but nothing seems to happen after she open the door. There is no one in the incinerator room that she can see. However, you think you can hear some activity from the room across the incinerator room......human(oid) activities...
Rani crosses the floor of the incinerator room and heads over to the other door to get a better idea what is going on. She also gets her weapon out and ready.
Rani look around the door to the library and sees a few Pathfinder agents standing silently at the entrance to the Library. They do not notice Rani's presence.
The room Rani is in right now is the incinerator room, you can kind of make out the furnance on the left. Library is on the right of Rani, as you may tell from the bookshelves.
Huh. Paizo ate my post from yesterday. I hope it was yummy, stupid server.
The Lady stows her parasol into her bespoke handbag and withdraws a slender rod. She follows Rani and the others through the various rooms until they arrive at the Library. As Rani motions to stop, Vanessa moves up the line and peeks into the room.
These are Pathfinders, she thinks. But that doesn't make sense, they're just standing around not hunting for the intruders. So maybe they're not really who they appear to be. Well, two can play that game.
She sees Ash prepping a buff spell, and though she doesn't recognize it, she gives him the nod to proceed. Once he's done casting, she...
Planning to have her step into the room and demand to know why these guys are just loafing around. She'll try to play it off that she's "one of them" in an effort to get them to betray who it is they are. But will wait until folks have buffed (Ashwell's haste plus any others.)
Or am open to other options, of course. I don't want y'all to think I'm trying to Bogart this.
Move some people up so everyone is in '30ft within each other' for Haste
The "Pathfinders" turns to the real Pathfinders at the door. You can see their face is emotionless as a corpses and their mouth hang open in a silent scream. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that they are NOT FRIENDLY.
Initiative Tracker
~~~~~~~~~~
Orange
----
Grunjar, hasted
----
Blue
----
Rani, hasted
Bon Jon, hasted
Lady Vanessa, hasted
Ashwell, hasted
----
Yellow
----
Ellismus, hasted
----
Green
Red
A pathfinder walks up to Rani and swing his 'fist' at her, but missed. illusion fades in Rani's eye, and she sees a walking corpse made of withered flesh instead.
"Grunjar, dahling, did you hear zhat?" Vanessa asks the cleric excitedly. "Somevon got me a present."
She has used command undead to great effect in previous scenarios with Grunjar. Nonintelligent undead get no save, and she will command them to attack her enemies. Then they can be cannon fodder for the next fight or trap. Just don't attack her pet(s) or it breaks the spell.
Medium Male LG Suli Unchained Monk 8 | HP 68/68 | AC 20 T 20 FF 16 (w/ Mage Armor & Barkskin: 27/20/23) | CMB +13, CMD 33 | F +11, R +12 (evasion), W +6 (+2 vs stunning, fear, +6 vs mind-affecting, +4 vs paralysis & sleep, +1 vs fire) | Init +3 | Perc +10 SM +2 | Speed 50' | +2 Str/atk/CMB check | +2 Dex check unused | Lucky Number: 3 | Active Conditions: Mage Armor, Barkskin
Bon Jon glares at the walking corpses blocking the way forward before turning to Lady Vanessa, "Hope you can command 'em to back up!"
We've got a classic PFS logjam here. If Lady Vanessa can command Orange to backup when it attacks then hopefully we can get through and spread out the battlefield. When Bon Jon's turn comes around he'll wait to see if that's successful.
Medium Male LG Suli Unchained Monk 8 | HP 68/68 | AC 20 T 20 FF 16 (w/ Mage Armor & Barkskin: 27/20/23) | CMB +13, CMD 33 | F +11, R +12 (evasion), W +6 (+2 vs stunning, fear, +6 vs mind-affecting, +4 vs paralysis & sleep, +1 vs fire) | Init +3 | Perc +10 SM +2 | Speed 50' | +2 Str/atk/CMB check | +2 Dex check unused | Lucky Number: 3 | Active Conditions: Mage Armor, Barkskin
As noted above, Bon Jon will wait to see if Lady Vanessa succeeds at commanding any of the undead, and if that makes it possible to move through their square(s) unhindered.
Vanessa squeezes between the buff Monk and the diminutive rogue. Dirty thoughts race through her head as she imagines this same configuration in other circumstances. Reluctantly she pries her attention back to the situation at hand.
"You," she points at the monster in the Orange tabard. "Stand still. Do notsing," she commands it.
Move to reposition, Standard to cast command undead. That makes Orange our new blocker ally, and we can move through allies' squares. I'm not sure how specific GM will allow instructions to be. Generally, a necromancer should be able to tell even zombies to attack enemies and not his own allies (or they'd just fall upon each other).
Lady Vanessa smirks as the Orange monster suddenly stand still, not reacting to Pathfinders' movement. You can move through its square as if moving throug ally's square now
Initiative Tracker, round 1
~~~~~~~~~~
Orange, under Vanessa command
Blue
----
Rani , hasted
Bon Jon
Lady Vanessa, hasted
Grunjar, hasted
Ashwell, hasted
----
Yellow
----
Ellismus, hasted
----
Green
Red
Rani tries to stab the white haired lady, but she dodge out of the way. The lady looks down upon Rani.
Initiative Tracker, round 1
~~~~~~~~~~
Orange, under Vanessa command
Blue
----
Rani , hasted
Bon Jon
Lady Vanessa, hasted
Grunjar, hasted
Ashwell, hasted
----
Yellow
----
Ellismus, hasted
----
Green
Red
Bold are up
Excerpt from my GM Profile:
Group Initiative: For efficiency, enemies of the same type may act as a group. Similarly, players with consecutive initiatives can act as a group, with their actions ordered to their advantage.
Medium Male LG Suli Unchained Monk 8 | HP 68/68 | AC 20 T 20 FF 16 (w/ Mage Armor & Barkskin: 27/20/23) | CMB +13, CMD 33 | F +11, R +12 (evasion), W +6 (+2 vs stunning, fear, +6 vs mind-affecting, +4 vs paralysis & sleep, +1 vs fire) | Init +3 | Perc +10 SM +2 | Speed 50' | +2 Str/atk/CMB check | +2 Dex check unused | Lucky Number: 3 | Active Conditions: Mage Armor, Barkskin
Combat Style Master: begin combat in Dragon Style
The monk calls forth elemental power into his limbs. Swift action to spend 1 ki (2/9 spent) to activate Draconic Fury Acid (round 1 of 4) Then Bon Jon darts through the now square of the now friendly Orange undead and attempts to tumble through Yellow's square.
Acrobatics vs Yellow CMD+5:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29Presuming that makes it, Bon Jon successfully moves through Yellow's square
Acrobatics to avoid an AoO from Blue vs Blue CMD +2:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16Presuming that fails, the movement will provoke from Blue. Bon Jon's current AC is 27
Then Bon Jon punches at the White Haired lady.
Using Stunning Fist (1 out of 8) unless it's obvious that she is undead too. Unarmed Strike vs Blue AC:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33 If this is a hit, DC 18 Fort save vs Stunning Fist Dragon Ferocity: If Stunning Fist is successful (or if the hit is a crit!), Blue is shaken for Shaken:1d4 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9 rounds Dmg, Dragon Style & Ferocity, Draconic Fury, Deliquescent, Frost:1d10 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14 + Acid dmg:2d6 ⇒ (6, 3) = 9 + Cold dmg:1d6 ⇒ 6 CRIT CONFIRM? Unarmed Strike vs Blue AC:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25 Extra crit dmg:1d10 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
No AoO from her
Bon Jon punches her so hard that she almost throw up her breakfast. She is visibliy in pain, and clearly shaken from that ONE PUNCH. While her inner Ki managed to resist the monk's attempt of stunning her, her physical body can't take a second punch like this.
Initiative Tracker, round 1
~~~~~~~~~~
Orange, under Vanessa command
Blue -48, shaken9
----
Rani , hasted
Bon Jon
Lady Vanessa, hasted
Grunjar, hasted
Ashwell, hasted
----
Yellow
----
Ellismus, hasted
----
Green
Red
A dull hum emanates from Skyreach as the ground trembles, trees sway, and glass shatters. A moment later, most of Skyreach’s northwest tower tears free from the keep; however, rather than crash to the ground, a visible aura holds the structure aloft and causes it to float above the Grand Lodge. Even the shower of stone blocks floats, swirling around the airborne tower in a nimbus of speeding debris.
#08-00 The Cosmic Captive Male CG Dwarf Cleric 9 | HP 66/66 | AC 25 T 11 FF 25 | CMB +7, CMD 18 | F: +10, R: +5, W: +16 (+2 vs. Poison/Spells/SLAs, +2 vs. charm/comp.) | Init +6 | Heal +12, Perc +18 darkv. 60' (Stonecunning: +2 extra), SM: +12 | Speed 30ft | Lucky Number: 9
Sorry for being absent in the last days. Will post more in the future!
Grunjar hustles forward to get a good look at the battlefield and quickly decides to cast a spell on the White Haired lady.
"I command thee: FLEE!"
Move to reposition, Standard to cast command (Will DC 19 negates).
Command wrote:
Flee: On its turn, the subject moves away from you as quickly as possible for 1 round. It may do nothing but move during its turn, and it provokes attacks of opportunity for this movement as normal.
