I’ve got some good news and some bad news …
Hopefully the apparatus is constrained to the altar and is more good news than bad news.
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Fun fact: Autumn’s max bulk is 10. Her current bulk is 4.4, so she can’t carry anyone—she’d need to drag at 5’ per round. If someone removed the shield and staff that’s attached to her pack, she’d be down to 2.4 bulk, and could then carry Vildran and his pack (7 bulk). From San’s earlier notes, I think we’ll need to ditch the shield for San to carry everything else (Morga + her pack (less shield) + staff = 10 bulk?)--I'm sure there's a lesson about attachment to worldly possessions somewhere in here. :)
(Sorry I wasn't able to figure out how Autumn could carry Vildran earlier. I'm still pretty new to 2e and never looked into the bulk rules until San started going into some of the details.)
Better to get a new shield than a new PC. Do what you have to do.
That's why I included the bit about readjusting equipment. Vildran and all his gear should be 6+2 bulk. Morga and all her gear should be 6+4 bulk. San is already carrying 2 and with a max of 13, should be at 12 bulk while carrying her and her stuff. Autumn is carrying 2 then add Vildran's 8, she would be at 10, which is her max.
I suppose if we wanted to get to the most accurate answer, we should total all the L bulk items as well but I wasn't going to go that far because I'm lazy.... Agreed that if dropping a 1 bulk item makes us able to handwave stuff, lets do that for ease of use. And even though the staff is Vildran's arcane focus, he can technically change that during his next daily prep to one of the daggers or something. The staff is a pretty iconic Wizard tool though.
I’m lazy too—that’s why I didn’t bother reading about bulk or doing any calculations until now. But I don’t want our laziness to create an unfair advantage, so I finally took a deep dive into the rules. Here’s what I learned:
--Bulk is measured in whole numbers (round down fractions), so we don’t need to worry about Light items until there’s 10 of them. The rules support laziness! :)
--An adventurer’s pack is a backpack containing exactly 1 Bulk of items (no rounding required).
--However, the first 2 bulk in the backpack don’t count against your bulk limits!
So … Autumn (before worrying about carrying other people or their goods) is carrying effectively 0 Bulk, because she has just 2 Light items (2 daggers) outside her backpack; all of her other possessions (1.3 Bulk) are in her backpack.
Presumably Vildran’s gear is all inside his backpack (I count 1.2 Bulk), except for his staff (1 Bulk) and the backpack itself (which counts as a Light item if not worn). I suspect the ‘first 2 bulk in backpack doesn’t count’ shouldn’t apply for carrying someone else’s backpack—just doesn’t feel right to me—so that would mean Vildran (6 Bulk) and all his stuff together count as 8.3 Bulk.
So Autumn’s effective bulk (0.2 Bulk) + Vildran & his stuff (8.3 Bulk) + Morga’s shield (1 Bulk) = 9.5 bulk, which Autumn can carry!
All of this is subject to GM interpretation and ruling of course, but if the GM is okay with the above, I’d like to change Autumn’s last two actions (in the retching case) to grabbing Vildran and carrying him 15’ towards the stairs.
Presumably Vildran’s gear is all inside his backpack
That's right. Only the staff is loose.
It's just our luck that the ancient apparatus turned out to be an ancient mimic.
I'm also guilty of not tracking bulk carefully. Even simplified as it is for PF2E, it's a little fiddly to always remember. Those estimates sound good to me (and yes, you don't get to double up on bulk savings by carrying a second backpack), so it sounds like you'll be good to give piggy-back rides to your party members and move while encumbered. Since you'll be carrying them your hands will effectively be full unless you drop them.
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A near-death experience seemed like a good time to introduce some character growth. I anticipate this being a slow journey with periodic regression along the way, as old habits die hard.
Good idea! I'll throw in a little bit from Vildran's past as well (and his current fears).
I picked Elsie's because, on the off chance I crit fail the Treat Wounds check, I want a healing potion nearby.
Fair.
@GM Cellion: Thinking ahead to tonight (in game): The text of Treat Disease doesn't specifically say that you can only treat one target at a time, but I can imagine the rational of limiting it in that way. What is your ruling?
It states "a creature", so one creature at a time. The Ward Medic feat lets you treat multiple simultaneously.
Fair enough.
Second question: Has it been more than eight hours since we woke up this morning? If not, there are technically enough hours left in the day for Morga to spend two eight hour shifts treating San's and her disease.
If we don't end up having at least 16 hours at our disposal, Morga will treat San's Rust Creep tonight unless he declines strenuously.
It's probably been 5-6 hours since waking at this point by my estimation. More than enough time to get two 8 hour shifts in, though you would end up fatigued afterward.
I just noticed something on the slides pages. Is the cynthigot the thing attacking the fighter on the title page? That looks kinda like a were-wolf though. And I don't think there was a mention of a tail mouth thing either. I suppose that could be the "long fungal stalk". Nasty looking thing...
I'm debating about whether or not to treat Morga's disease and get fatigued or skip it. The way she's rolling, the risk seems higher than the benefit. :/
So just to clarify: are we going to Stonehome today, or tomorrow morning? If Morga treats her own disease it'll definitely be tomorrow, but if she doesn't, I'm not sure what our timeline is.
If we get into a fight, Morga's down to cantrips and one more casting of Heal. I have no idea what the odds of that are, though.
I posted this in gameplay, but Vildran figures they ought to rest overnight and not rush it. Gives the prepared casters a chance to allocate appropriately for the occasion.
@Morga: Ouch, I hate it when my posts get eaten.
@all: Fyi, I’m holding off on the Charm spell because she likely has a high Will DC to resist the Diplomacy roll. But if you think I should cast it, just let me know.
I agree. Save it for when it's either likely to work or we're desperate enough that the risk is worth it.
I've made Vildran's post as carefully and as dodgy as I could think to, so that the guard will be alarmed but not have any idea of the extent of the cult we've found. Here goes nothing...
Sorry, maybe the Create a Diversion mechanics aren’t exactly what I have in mind, since that seems set up for combat, whereas I’d like to create an ongoing distraction that draws the guard’s attention. I’ll get a post up to that effect later, probably Wed afternoon.
Just to provide some framework for your decision making:
The tool for getting NPCs to do what you'd like is the Request task of Diplomacy. With Deception you can Lie to convince someone of something, but it doesn't obligate them to act in any particular way (and indeed if they have competing priorities they may not). This particular guard also knows you really want to get inside, so they're less likely to take their eyes off you, unless its something particularly dire. That is to say, you'll need a very compelling trick to draw them away with Deception, considering their current position.
Note that your earlier diplomacy to make an impression was successful (it raised their attitude to indifferent).
Of note: as soon as the guard turns back around in 1 round, she'll see we've disappeared. There's only one way we could've gone: inside. That's not going to end well.
I suggest we don't try to slip inside now. Maybe Autumn can offer to bring the guard a warm cup of tea to help them stay awake for the rest of their watch? Get on their good side so we can get more info. They've almost said more multiple times already, so it seems possible.
I can't remember if the group told Morga about the sneaky entrance via the well, but that's sounding better by the moment. (Sorry Autumn!)
@GM: Thanks for clarifying--that helps a lot. Can Autumn continue to improve the guard's attitude by making more diplomacy checks? I wasn't sure if that's allowed, but maybe I'm confusing it with 1st edition.
I can't remember if the group told Morga about the sneaky entrance via the well, but that's sounding better by the moment. (Sorry Autumn!)
Autumn won't like going back into the cold stream, but I'm starting to feel the same way!
The tunnel/well was a difficult climb for me before I was infected with a -1 to athletics. Wasn't the cliffs another option? We'll call it plan C but violence is an option as well... whack em with the hammer. What could go wrong? I'm holding off posting more in gameplay to give Autumn all the leeway needed for social skills to work. Unfortunate I swapped my intimidation for athletics now.
@GM: Thanks for clarifying--that helps a lot. Can Autumn continue to improve the guard's attitude by making more diplomacy checks? I wasn't sure if that's allowed, but maybe I'm confusing it with 1st edition.
I'm gonna go with no repeats (otherwise with just average diplomacy you could get any NPC to helpful!) If you want to shift attitude more you need either long term interactions to move the base line, a new interaction where you crit your Make an Impression check, or that charm spell to force your target up to friendly.
Sorry for holding everybody up--I just can't decide what to do. The options, as I see it, are:
a) Intimidation
b) cast Charm
c) violence
d) leave and try a different approach
Does anyone have any preferences? I can't decide.
Cast charm, if that fails, Intimidate, if that fails... no witnesses. So we do Non-lethal and knock them out. They're just doing their job after all.
Sounds good. Working on a post now ...
Autumn might not care about hiding/posing the body, but as a player I fully support Weekend at Bernie’s shenanigans. :)
It’s tactics like these that explain our performance at Rusthenge. :p
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I suggest extended thumb and pinky fingers, with the rest of the fingers curled under, held up so the thumb is near the ear and the pinky is near the mouth. ... No reason.
I kept seeing 18/20 for Morga, looking at AC rather than HP.... definitely wait for healing.
Consider San going up the wall after healing is done.
Good point. I fixed the notation so it's easier to distinguish the two.
Sorry about that. I was intending stealth to be Avoid Notice and the perception for a generic being aware in case you needed the value. Even then, I had listed my explore action as scout and completely forgotten... I'm just all over the place. I'll be more discreet for exploration activities.
Wouldn't Morga have had her weapon out if we were exploring? Did you have a reason to have an empty hand? If so, you could also stride away to minimize the number of attacks... There's still going to be a bunch but still.
She was opening doors and carrying a shield, so unfortunately no. She's not a fan of the group being flanked, so she's trying to open up an escape route. And failing miserably, but still. ;p
One of the hazards of sword and board unfortunately.
IIRC, we did not have time to refocus since Vildran last casted Protective Wards. If I'm remembering wrong, then he'll probably start casting it next round.
Did he cast Protective Wards during the fight with the floating heads? If not, we did rest for an hour just before that to try to get some extra Treat Wounds in.
Vildran cast Protective Wards when we fought the guard at the front gate, not when we fought the floating heads, so he should have refocused.
Right, ty.
Now here's hoping his illusory wall worked... (headed over to gameplay).
I did this in another game to completely resolve an encounter non-violently. That won't be the outcome here, but we can confuse RED and YELLOW long enough to take care of BLUE and maybe get a cleaner exit.
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Nice work Vildran! You rocked that battle!
I just noticed the grate in the room that Vanda is in. May we suppose that we ushered Vanda into the barracks and closed the door before talking, so that our voices don't carry down through the grate?
Nice work Vildran! You rocked that battle!
Having just the right spell prepared is always the best :D
This'll be my first time trying to counteract something, so I want to make sure to do it right. The rules text isn't clear to me. It looks like I roll a standard Medicine check vs. the disease, but based on how low the numbers in the chart are, I have doubts.
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Buddy of mine found this a while back.
It's not as bad as the 1e grapple flowchart, but having one was inevitable.
Nice find San. I'd been using a reddit post for a written reference for the last few years. This is a lot cleaner. I do love that Paizo managed to create another "grapple flowchart" experience though :)
So Morga, since you're counteracting with a spell it's your spellcasting proficiency + modifier vs. the Rust Creep's save DC.