GM Frost's B18 From Family Lost

Game Master Frozen Frost

Dot in and delete.

The adventure begins in Nerosyan, the capital of Mendev and once–central command for the war against the demonic hordes that spilled out of the Worldwound. The adventurers meet with Castor at his architectural firm office.

"Thank you for answering my bounty. I am Castor Lebris." the male half-elf builder introduces himself.

Kindly introduce yourselves.

So far you have gold to spend you’re welcome, eh eh.

Carrying no weapon except his clan dagger the dwarf with a yellow brown beard smiles to his new employer.

My name’s Benkost. Can you tell what do you expect more precisely please?

Banterknell (or BK to his friends) is dressed up in wildly colorful clothing, perhaps to compensate for a very slight bleaching that has begun in his hair, though he keeps that mostly hidden under a jester's cap. His mouth is stretched into a wild grin, perhaps a bit too wide. He eyes show desperation and everything he says seems like it ends with an exclamation point.

"Greetings, fellow adventurers! I do hope, as I am sure you do, that this mission will be fraught with peril and opportunities for heroism at the expense of the demonic forces of the abyss!"

He says this while wildly waving his flute in the air like he is doing battle with an actual demon.

"Banterknell, adventurer par excel lance, at your service!"

"Mr. Lebris, do you think you could send us to the front lines? We are not afraid of a little peril!"

He looks almost desperate. Scary in his determination to get into the thick of things.

Ramona appears to be a dwarf. She wears the symbol of a musical instrument on her clothes."I am Ramona Stonesplitter." She gets out a puppet. "I am a cleric of the God Banjo."

If you look on the slides, I have put Banjo's picture below Ramona's.

"I am Grazga," says a tall half-orc woman dressed in archaic Kellid furs and leathers. She sports a mix of scars and tattoos drawn from both Sarkorian and Belkzen traditions, and her clothing is decorated with a number of feathers dyed to match the colorful plumage of the feathered dinosaur standing at her side. The pair bear matching runes glowing upon their foreheads, which resemble a stylized talon very much like the wickedly curved ones on the raptor's feet. Grazga places a hand upon the flank of the beast and gives the others gathered here a grin that seems friendly enough despite her prominent tusks. "And this is my god, Dontorex."

The dinosaur nods his head and softly growls, "Greetings, Pathfinders," with a somewhat thicker accent than his companion's.

A dwarf made of stone wearing armor and wielding a shield nods to all of you. "Ghardak. Turned to stone after a mining accident. I hope this mission can make use of my services."

A little sprite hops up to sit at the edge of the desk, as she'd be too low sitting on a chair. Her jump is aided by a pair of wings made of light that manifest briefly, then break apart into sparks as she alights. She has a large pistol at her hip (well, a very very small one, but proportionally fairly large for its wielder).

"Shimmer," she says with a bow of her head to the others, "It sounds intriguing!"

She is prepared to take notes.

Can you tell what do you expect more precisely please?

“Have you heard of the settlement of Bulviss? It was a small hamlet near the border with the old Worldwound.” Castor sighs. “No, you probably haven’t. It was wiped off the map by demons during the Fifth Mendevian Crusade, when the crusaders fought the demons."

"Mr. Lebris, do you think you could send us to the front lines? We are not afraid of a little peril!"

"Well, I already asked the crusaders to investigate, but they only confirmed that the area was free of demons before being advised to hire adventurers. So not even a little peril for you, I'm sorry. But I have asked for your help with something else."

"I was hoping you could travel to Bulviss and retrieve a deed that should be among the rubble. Mendevian law says you’re entitled to whatever else you find, as the only others who may claim it are the villagers’ next of kin. And since I’m the only next of kin that survived the town…”

Castor trails off as his gaze drops to his desk. His expression is full of barely repressed grief. “My brother, Pellas, and I grew up in Bulviss. I’d acquired a valuable tract of land after settling here in the capital, but I sent the deed to him for safekeeping. Now he’s missing, and I don’t know what happened to him."

“My hope is that by scouring the town, you’ll find clues about my brother’s fate. You can’t be less helpful than the crusaders, at least. Help me recover my deed and bring back information about my brother. Whatever else you find at Bulviss is yours to keep.”

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Ramona is oblivious, and completely accepting what Castor says at face value.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13 Nope, me neither.

"I am Sarkorian. I, too, have lost kinfolk to the demons," Grazga says with obvious sympathy. "Dontorex and I will do what we can to bring you news of your brother."

(Grazga is trained in both Demon Lore and Sarkorian History Lore [both +5], in case either one is relevant, either now or later on in the adventure.)

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

"I'd expect that a settlement so close to the Worldwound would have some kind of a watch system that should have given them at least a little warning. Nobody evacuated."

Shimmer looks down and fiddles with her pencil for a moment before spinning back to look directly at Castor. "There's something you aren't telling us. What else is bothering you?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
I suspect I don't really need it with that prompt, but Shimmer does have a relevant special ability here: Pointed Question. If her Diplomacy check succeeds against his Will DC, he must give a direct answer. He doesn't have to tell the truth, but if he Lies she gets a +2 circumstance bonus to her Perception DC against it.

"I don't want you to worry that much about me but I just wish you can also help me find my brother. I know too much time has passed to find either the deed or answers to my brother’s fate. Once the Worldwound closed, so are my calls for help went unanswered for months. The crusaders are equally uninterested in helping me too. I actually plan on selling the deed and leaving Mendev behind, but I need closure before I can move on that my brother is really gone." he says with a tersed smile but a tear in his eye. Castor then shares a physical description of his brother and marks the town’s location on a map.

I am not crying, you're crying. :'(

"As soon as you're ready, you can go."

Ghardak nods. "We will do our best to bring him or his remains back."

Perc: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Always optimistic, BK declares "We will find the deed and, perhaps, even your brother! Or die trying!"

"It won't help anyone if we join the dead, too, my friend," Grazga points out gently.

"I'll keep an eye on that one," Dontorex murmurs to the god-caller in Hallit.

Well I see why you hired a dwarf for the task.

The Fire Warden strokes his beard.

The trip to Bulviss takes a day and is uneventful, save for the sign of patrols of hired mercenaries who lazily watch out for demonic threats. The approach to the hamlet shows evidence of an attack. Farmhouses are destroyed and fields lay fallow. The town itself is little more than the shells of buildings and a ruined well. A survey of the area indicates three buildings with the least amount of damage, the most promising places to search for clues: an overgrown house, a central hall, and a residence.

Checking the overgrown house, its interior is largely intact and light filters through closed shutters that haven’t opened in years. The door is slightly ajar.

Using your default Exploration activity on Macros, Ramona detects nothing magical. Peeking through the gap of shutters, BK and Grazga notice a slight movement from what looks like a swarm of bats, probably resting inside.

What will you do?

Bats are messy, ugly things that make annoying noises. BK holds back and points them out to the others.

"BATS"

Note to GM: If they make a sonic attack that requires a save, BK will do a counter performance as a reaction.

If triggered: counter performance: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

Well, that was useless. I sure hope my guess is way off and I used up that nat 1 on a pointless roll. On the other hand it would be fun to RP that nat 1...

"Can we just... open a window, then bang on a wall to scare them out?"

Although if the house is full of bats, it's probably a mess.

I'll make the Lebris brothers my active leads, since they're the only two specific creatures we know anything about so far. Castor probably isn't a useful lead, but it doesn't hurt.

Does someone know to talk to the bats?

The dwarf is wondering how to make them out easily.

He also looks at the possibility to open the windows from outside, without entering the building.

You can calm the bat swarm with a DC 20 Survival check to stop its attack or shoo the bat swarm outside by opening the stuck windows with a DC 18 Athletics check. Creative solutions are welcome. I am looking for three successful checks in any combination.

I could ignite some flammable thing inside the room to force the bats out. Then I will suppress the fire of course.

Base kinesis

BK is not much of an idea man, unless it is a wild one. But since he does not like bats he makes a rather violent suggestion.

"I could just blast them all with a sonic boom!"

unlike my character, I like Benkost's idea better.

We will proceed if anyone agrees with Benkost's idea. Just remember that we are looking for a deed that might not be fireproof in case it is there.

"Let's try not to damage the house any more than it already is, in case the deed is in there," Grazga suggests. "We just need the bats out long enough to let us search, then they can keep using it after we're gone."

Dontorex moves forward to the window, and starts pulling at the shutters, to give the bats a way out without swarming the Pathfinders. He keeps his body well to the side to avoid any bats that fly out once he's done.

Athletics (Dontorex): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Dontorex removes shutters to give the bat swarm some space to fly out. A few of them are disturbed and fly out. Success, I will need two more successes.

Ghardak tries to help with the shutters.

"Let's see if we can just free them."

Ath: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16

No relevant skills above +0 here. Better chance at a crit failure than a success, so ho help here unless we plan to just destroy them.

"Okay," says Shimmer a little doubtfully, "I know something about animals."

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Including, much to her own surprise, bats!

The dwarf looks the others trying their own method.

Ghardak tries to remove more shutters to no avail. Fortunately, the bats seems to not care. Fail Shimmer, on the other hand, manages to attracts more bats with her distractions, to her surprise. But still, a handful needs to be shooed away lest they will be hostile. Success

I just need one more Successful check. Others can try again or use other skills than indicated as long as justifiable by the roleplay in the situation.

I just need one more Successful check. Others can try again or use other skills than indicated as long as justifiable by the roleplay in the situation.

Can the same character try twice?

Ghardak tries to use a howl that dwarves used to scare the bats out.

Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

"Guess it doesn't work on the surface..." Ghardak grumbles.

Seeing nothing else working (and not knowing how to get bats out of a belfry), Ramona casts Phantasmal Minion.

A translucent form of a man moves up to the bats and attempts to shoo them out, using sticks and other debris.

GM Frost wrote:

I just need one more Successful check. Others can try again or use other skills than indicated as long as justifiable by the roleplay in the situation.

Can the same character try twice?

Yes.

Ghardak's howling seems to be ineffective. Ramona summons a phantasmal minion, fetching rocks and whatever to throw at the remaining bats. The swarm flies out and leaves the house for good. Success!

With the threat handled well, the adventurers can safely enter the house.

Dontorex snorts softly in satisfaction as the bats are safely vacated.

Meanwhile, Grazga takes another look inside from the slightly ajar door, and holds up a hand to signal "halt." "Someone besides bats has been here. There are pincer traps under holes in the floorboards. A half dozen of them, I think? Are any of you good with traps? Or...can that trip them for us, maybe?" She gestures at the phantasmal minion.

Waggling his eyebrows, BK announces "Oooh. Now that is something I can do! BK to work!"

Pulling out a set of oddly shaped tools, he gets to work. His method of sticking his eyes right over the trap to better see it as he works seems a bit dangerous... but effective.

thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

"Sure," says Shimmer, getting out her tools, "I can... Oh okay you can do it."

There are actually six of them, so I need five more skill checks to disable the rest. The phantasmal minion could also be a nice touch in handling the traps.

"My hands aren't much help with those unfortunately..." Ghardak says.

"Let me handle a few."

Shimmer's tools are smaller, but a little extra precision never hurts in such matters.

Thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

The dwarf looks at the others removing the traps as he doesn’t have any skill for this task.

Concentrating, Ramona sends her phantasmal minion to set off some of the traps after allowing others to move a safe distance away.

BK keeps at it until he is either dead or the traps are disabled.

thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
thievery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

BK easily jams the first trap, and Shimmer disables two more. Ramona lets her minion move towards the remaining traps that set them off, slamming shut to something made of force. The rest are handled by BK.

With traps out of their way, they can freely search the house. Though most objects are just ruined accoutrement, a half-burned roll of parchment can be found in the fireplace. It shows detailed instructions for making foot traps and conceal them with rugs or debris, including a note that says if they have questions, ask Pellas for help.

Moving to the next area...

The large building next to the house at the center of Bulviss used to act as a catch-all gathering place. The signs of battle are obvious upon entering the hall. Battered and torn remnants of barricades litter the floor and dark stains have seeped into the stones. At the back of the main hall is a shrine to Iomedae that looks remarkably intact. Upon it lays a dusty but unharmed copy of a certain book.

What will you do?

Ghardak looks around for traps, and if he doesn't detect anything approaches the book.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

BK joins Ghardak and also hunts for traps (Thievery +8, Perception +7).

"I wonder who this Pella is? Does anyone remember if his name was mentioned in our briefing?"

BK keeps glancing at the book, knowing it is probably a trap, but driven by his innate curiosity to go pick it up anyway. For now he resists the urge, but the pressure builds.

Grazga and Dontorex slowly and carefully make their way through the shambles of the interior, staying alert for any traps, inhabitants, or other items of interest.

(Both have Perception +8.)