Prey for Death

Game Master andreww

I meant to add that everyone except Sassarra can now take a second infiltration action.

Once again, the group meets to exchange information. Thanks for the tip, Jax, I actually tried that. But these Gorumites are not only dumb, but dumb loyal. I did not find a way to break one and press for information.
Skarn carefully listens to Tomas endeavor and nods in agreement. I'll get those keys!

steal keys, Thievery (??) +25

Tomas, after relating the information, will assist Skarn in stealing the keys.

Aid to Thievery +25

Don't worry team, I'll continue to keep them busy. Assuming we haven't maxed it out ORCHESTRATE TIMELY DISTRACTION (Deception 20)

Skarn and Tomas team up to raid the warehouse. Its a small building, with a single watchman on duty who spends most of his time in a small office out of the cold with his hands wrapped around a mug of hot coffee. The small lock on the back door is trivial for the two of you to pick and Tomas keeps watch on the office while Skarn searches the various boxes and barrels. Opening the barrels it is apparent that the place is used mostly to store frozen, salted, fish. Digging through cupboards and crates however, you finally locate the key and are able to slip out without being noticed, relocking the door behind you.

Mechanically, you have located a spare key which works for one door in Crownhold. You can decide at any point which door it works for.

Jax spends some time organising a distraction. You wont know until it goes off whether or not it has been successful.

Jax, you need to describe the nature of the distraction you want to organise.

OK, at this point the caravan you arrived in is about to depart. This makes it much more difficult for you to continue to operate secretly. You can continue with infiltration preparations if you want but you will begin to attract attention. The scenario operates with something called Awareness, the more Awareness you generate the harder things will become. Some level of Awareness is almost inevitable. The longer you spend preparing now the more Awareness you will generate. If you decide to do this then you have maxxed out what you can learn by Observing Crownhold. Alternatively, you can move into the actual infiltration of Crownhold. Let me know what you want to do and I will move you on.

Our base of operations is moving out. I don't want to work in the open and think it's best to get rolin'. Let's burn the castle down. ... Just kidding, I say we move in tonight!
Flying in invisible by Sassarra's abilities seems the most comfortable and obvious way.

"Yes, I agree. This is getting tedious. There are no parties here, no social life, and no chances to enhance my social stature. I believe we should move in now."

Our base of operations is moving out. I don't want to work in the open and think it's best to get rolin'. Let's burn the castle down. ... Just kidding, I say we move in tonight!

Flying in invisible by Sassarra's abilities seems the most comfortable and obvious way.

Sassarra can help everybody fly at their land speed +10' status bonus, but she can't turn other people invisible. Only herself.

We should head out of town and deal with the fortress tonight to take advantage of the darkness. she says.

Jax will purpose make a mess near their areas when they aren't looking. Trash everywhere, wooden sticks all over the place, spilt items and such. The distraction is they are cleaning it up long enough to take their eyes off of us.

OK, I assume that you are going to approach the Fortress now, heading in at night. The module works on the basis of Awareness and Infiltration points. You could just try to hunt Ordulf down straight away and kill him but that would be very out of character for the Mantis. It would also mean potentially facing a far more difficult fight. In general, you want to try and disrupt Ordulf, cause problems in the Fortress and quietly eliminate some of his guards and others in order to generate Infiltration points. Once you reach 14 points you have caused enough disruption to draw him out.

As you cause disruptions you will also generate Awareness. The more Awareness the harder things become for you. You currently have 2 Awareness. At times you will also face complications, wandering guard patrols, inconvenient bodies that need to be hidden and the like. When you face one of these complications I will ask one or more of you to make checks to resolve it. You have a number of leverage points that you can use to upgrade a critical failure or failure on such a roll to a pass. You start with 5 leverage points.

One such point can be used with Skarns makeshift disguises. One relates to Tomas' drinking and entertainment. One relates to the anti gorumite propaganda. The other two are generic, decide how you want them to apply when you use them.

As you make your way to the Fortress you face your first complication. I assume you are not approaching Crownhold openly. Reaching Crownhold means crossing a lengthy area of tundra which is largely devoid of cover. One PC needs to take the lead and give me a Perception, Scouting Lore or Stealth check. The rest of you can aid. Please describe how you are approaching the fortress and your plan for getting inside.

You know there are two massive gates at the ground level, the first floor balcony has three large sets of double doors and the second floor has two wings of room, each side has a pair of regular doors. However, the frost roc is on the roof and the battlements are patrolled by soldiers who man a pair of siege engines. It is clear that the inside of the fortress is brightly lit. If you are approaching at night can I also just check that you all do have Darkvision.

"Skarn. Why don't you lead the way?"

I will provide hooded cloaks for everyone that are white, like the snow around us. That should provide a benefit to our stealth. My Deception modifier is +27

Also, I will attempt to aid Skarn, but my Stealth modifier is only +20

What is the weather like? Perhaps we can fly higher and use clouds to cover our approach. White cloaks will still help. Though Sassarra will simply change the color of her clothes magically. She has +26 to aid Skarn's stealth

"If we can face the Roc away from the fortress, that would be best. Then we could come down from the roof. If not, we would need to kill the Roc quickly and quietly. No fireballs, but a disintegrate might help. I don't know if Rocs are diurnal - it may be asleep which might let us set up an ambush. We would need to hit it hard and quickly."

I have never seen or heard about a Frost Roc, nice catch btw, Jax, but there's a 50/50 chance they're nocturnal, isn't it? Best thing to approach far away. Otherwise, yeah, fire, but sadly nothing loud. Skarn smiled at first but that last part he sounded rather disappointed.

How's your night vision, Tomas? I've seen Jax' night goggles, but are you good, too? Maybe you can purchase a Darkvision potion or something, before the sun goes down?

Later at night:
Sure can do, you just stay back and follow silently. Skarn answered Tomas and took off into the sky moving around like if he was born with wings. Thanks Aerobatics Mastery feat :). Skarn was pretty fast while sneaking and will scout ahead and lead the group through the air trying to use blind spots of patrols and the roc. Landing on a second floor balcony. We'll go from top to bottom, I guess

Aid by Tomas: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (8) + 20 = 28
Aid by Sassarra: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (14) + 26 = 40
Aid by Jax: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (20) + 24 = 44 assuming he'll aid, too
Stealth: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (13) + 27 = 40 plus whatever aid check was successful

"I cannot see in total darkness, but, under low light conditions I should be fine."

The group make their way to the fortress roof. By flying high and using a mixture of cloud cover, occasional invisibility and hugging the shadows of the cliff sides you manage to avoid the notice of any patrols or dangerous local predators. You make it to the roof without being spotted and are currently crouched down behind the battlements at one end. Around the corner from where you are the roc is sat on its perch. Below you guards patrol the first floor battlement and man the siege engines. The doors into this level of the castle are only accessible in the roc's rookery.

OK, how do you plan to get in. Attacking the roc is totally an option but it does risk gaining awareness. In general, whenever you engage in a fight there is a chance of you gaining awareness. In some places it is more or less likely, depending on the circumstances. You do want to disrupt/remove Ordulfs allies so some combat is probably inevitable. You may have magic or other options available to you.

My FTF group I am running this for disintegrated the wall here to get into the buildings. I have added a map to roll20 so you can see the basic idea of the layout of the roof section.

I have placed a token representing the party on the roof so you can all see. I have created a character sheet for each of you. You do not need to use these, I have just created them so you have somewhere to upload an image for your character. You can do this by opening the sheet hitting edit and dropping a file on the Avatar section. If you need a hand let me know. I use Tactical Tokens as a quick and easy way to turn any image into a token.

I only see a black rectangle on Roll20. And it's Tomas that can't see in the dark.

Is the Roc awake?

second floor has two wings of room, each side has a pair of regular doors.

I was saying that we land on a second floor balcony. That's how I understood your description. Obviously I meant the balcony furthest away from the rock. A regular door seems like an easy access point

I only see a black rectangle on Roll20. And it's Tomas that can't see in the dark.

Is the Roc awake?

You should be able to see now. The Roc definitely seems to be awake.

GMAndrewW wrote:

second floor has two wings of room, each side has a pair of regular doors.

I was saying that we land on a second floor balcony. That's how I understood your description. Obviously I meant the balcony furthest away from the rock. A regular door seems like an easy access point

You are on the second floor balcony where the doors are. You cannot get to the doors without going past the Roc. Lets see if I can make things clearer.

The ground floor has two large sets of double doors giving access to the level.

The first floor has three sets of doors giving access to the interiror. The level has a balcony/parapet which has two siege weapons at either end. Each engine has three soldiers manning the battlements and guard patrols occasionally pass through the area.

The second floor has four doors allowing access to the interior but they open out from the rookery where the Roc is nesting. The level has a balcony/battlement where you are currently. Occasionally guard patrols also pass through this area. You are as far away from the Roc as you can be.

Does this make sense?

Roll20 is working

We can communicate silently through whisper on the wind.

~~The roc will be tough, but it's only one creature. I suspect concentrated fire can silence it quicker than facing six humans on the level below. I expect if they fire a siege engine it will draw as much attention as the roc.~~

I love that plan. Surprise fire attacks. Hoping it doesn't survive the first round. I could silence it, but that doesn't stop it from just föyong away and it stops myself from casting Fire Ray.
Assuming nobody objects (really annoying in PbP :)) , Skarn urges everyone to ready their fire spells or other ranged attacks. In preparation of the attack, Skarn casts Heroism on himself. Unless, the GM says pre-buffing will alert the Roc. In this case I fly away 100ft,cadt and come back

the noise of our attack could be drowned out by one of our prepared distractions?!

important note for GM especially, but also the rest:
Skarn has the Oracular Warning feat. While technically optionally to use, I will always use it when Initiative is called. In game it manifests as Skarn bursting into flames about one second before Initiative is rolled. This gives everyone a +1 status bonus from the early warning. It also starts Skarn’s curse and he starts taking persistent fire damage.

The bonus from Oracular Warning is +2 and it also gives temp HP equal to half level. I will begin the encounter tomorrow to give others the chance to post. A bit of prebuffing is fine with longer duration spells. Shorter duration (1 minute or less) are not really viable given the need to avoid drawing the attention of the guards below.

The Roc would be really tough to kill, but not having it alive will make things easier so it can't warn everyone as it flies and attack us later. What do you think crew? Sneak past it or kill it? If fighting, Jax will have shortbow drawn.

Tomas will Mark the Roc for Death (That takes one round)

He will then get his blowgun ready.

Skarn buffed himself then went back into Avoid Notice mode.

The bonus from Oracular Warning is +2 and it also gives temp HP equal to half level.

yes. Remembered it wrong, need to better familiarize with my abilities.

Flashback:
While the party was travelling north, Skarn had finally some time, to investigate the powerful wand that he had gotten as a gift from the Mistress. It appears she is kinda fond of his party members and wants them to come back alive more than he does.
So guys, listen. I activate this wand once per day and then you can get some free healing just by touching me. But please keep it casual, ok? Works four times a day, but healing decreases every time. So first come first serve, k?

FYI: Wand of 6th level Vital beacon: 6d10 Hit Points to the first creature, 6d8 Hit Points to the second, 6d6 Hit Points to the third, and 6d4 to the fourth.

I have set up a google doc to track some of my common group rolls. Please check and make sure the numbers and notes are right. You should be able to edit it.

Stats Doc

The group sneak up to the corner and prepare to ambush the massive bird. Sassarra and Skarn manage to get the drop on it!

Initiative

Jax : 1d20 + 24 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 24 + 2 = 32, Stealth
Skarn : 1d20 + 27 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 27 + 2 = 40, Stealth
Tomas: 1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 20 + 2 = 34,Stealth, +23 Perception
Sassarra: 1d20 + 26 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 26 + 2 = 47, Stealth

Big Bird: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Ahhhh, there it is...the warmth!
The same moment the party reaches the corner and is about to step around, Skarn seemingly out of nowhere catches on fire. A warm heat radiates from the flames that reach out into the darkness from underneath his clothes. As everyone was already warned about this, they knew this was the moment to act!

The burning was still small, but not for long! He closes his eyes and opens his mind to the flames, telling him the enemies weaknesses: Whisper of Weakness ◆
waiting for an answer, before deciding on 2nd and 3rd action

It is weak to fire damage and its weakest defence is its rather simplistic mind.

Sassra glides into the rookery slashing with a blade of air and following up with a spear of ice.

Free half move as part of elemental blast, does not provoke reactions.
Roc is off-guard for my first turn
elemental blast, melee, agile, slashing, 2a: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (19) + 25 = 44 46 off guard
damage: 4d6 + 5 ⇒ (5, 5, 6, 4) + 5 = 25 or 50 on crit, no other effects
elemental blast, melee, agile, piercing, 1a: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (17) + 21 = 38 40 off guard
damage: 4d8 ⇒ (4, 2, 5, 5) = 16

Not bad for my first turn this game

The burning was still small, but not for long! He closes his eyes and opens his mind to the flames, telling him the enemies weaknesses: Whisper of Weakness ◆

waiting for an answer, before deciding on 2nd and 3rd action

Skarn opens his mouth and some sparks leave it and seem like glow worms. Immedieately after, a massive burnign ray of fire shoots at the roc.

spell attack vs. off-guard, Fire Ray, +2 status: 1d20 + 22 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 22 + 2 = 37
fire damage: 14d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 1, 4, 3, 1, 4, 6, 1, 5, 6, 5, 4, 4, 5) + 3 = 57 and
the ground beneath the rocs begins to burn doing 7d6 + 3 ⇒ (3, 4, 1, 5, 1, 2, 2) + 3 = 21 fire damage to each creature that ends its turn in one of the squares.

Skarn takes 2 fire damage.

Sassarra glides forward and pierces the massive bird with a pair of blasts.

That's a crit and a hit

Skarn spews fire at it and the bird starts to hoot loudly as the flames burn its feathers.

Does the fire damage get through Skarns resist? I am unclear if its from your curse and therefore subject to resist.

The massive bird takes to the air and swoops out of the rookery. Landing on the battlements it spreads its wings and beats them furiously, hitting everyone with a mass of wind, flying debris, ice and snow.

I am going to pause to see if anyone wants to reroll. You all start with 1 hero point.

curse damage cannot be resisted. Would be pretty boring otherwise. Rogues basically can't fail Ref saves, no need for re-roll

◇ Debilitating strike

◆◆ Assassinate with Blowgun with Lethargy Poison on it: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (20) + 26 = 46 for 4 blowgun damage, Sneak Attack: 3d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 3) = 9 precision damage, Enfeebled 1, and Assassination: 6d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 3, 2, 5, 4) = 23 precision damage with a basic Fort Save DC 33. If they critically fail this fort save, they instantly die.

All of that damage is doubled because of the critical.

Because it is critical, it also gets 1d6+2 bleed damage from the critical specialization.

Lethargy Poison link

◆ Hide (Stealth +20 vs Perception DC)

Action 1, Cast Sure Strike
Action 2 and 3, DoubleShot the creature
And because I have TripleShot I can make them against the same creature even if I only use 2 shots.
hit sure strike, Doubleshot, first shot: 1d20 + 24 - 2 ⇒ (5) + 24 - 2 = 27 The higher of This roll
hit sure strike, Doubleshot, first shot: 1d20 + 24 - 2 ⇒ (15) + 24 - 2 = 37 Or that roll but not both dmg first shot: 3d6 + 4 ⇒ (6, 1, 5) + 4 = 16 piercing dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 6 fire
hit Doubleshot, 2nd shot: 1d20 + 24 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 24 - 2 = 39 dmg 2nd shot: 3d6 + 4 ⇒ (2, 2, 1) + 4 = 9 piercing dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 1 fire
If 37 or 39 is a crit then deadly: 1d10 ⇒ 5 persistent fire: 1d10 ⇒ 9

Tomas, how are you getting off guard on the Bird?

Tomas, how are you getting off guard on the Bird?

1. I initially thought that we had a round to prepare, where I would do the Marked for Death. Then, I would go before it. Apparently, I misunderstood.

2. Using Avoid Notice, I assumed I was still hidden.

Therefore, If necessary, use the Hide action to become hidden before the blowgun strike, rather than after.

The group are engulfed in the barrage of debris, ice, snow and assorted unpleasantness but most weather it well.

@Tomas, you certainly had time to use Marked for Death before starting the fight. You rolled stealth for initiative so if you had beaten him on init you would have off guard. If your stealth roll had beaten his perception DC you would have him off guard but it doesnt. Having moved he has a clear line of sight to you. Do you have a way to negate the need for cover or concealment in order to hide?

Jax pierces the bird with a pair of fiery arrows, both connect and it screeches angrily as the flames burn it badly.

That is 2 hits for 32 damage plus weakness twice.

Wow. I really misunderstood your post.

So, rather than Hide as the first action, it would be to Create a Diversion.

Tomas will point out the others attacking the Roc. Deception vs Perception DC: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (8) + 27 = 35

I have Heroism up, so my saves are at +1, just in case that changes anything. Sorry for that. I will properly display buffs in the future. It's been a while since I played here. Lots of things to remember and to do to make the game smoother.

Tomas manages to divert the Rocs attention just long enough to shoot a tiny blowgun dart into its throat! It begins making horrendous choking and hacking noises as it stomps its feet on the battlements.

It is very apparent that if you dont finish it off quickly the noise it is making will draw attention. Jax, noted on Heroism, it would not have made a difference.

She lashes out, hurling two blades of ice at it. She knows that the cold doesn't bother it any more, but the sharp edges still slice at it.

elemental blast, ranged, 2a[/dice: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (18) + 25 = 43
damage, slashing: 4d8 + 5 ⇒ (6, 6, 7, 8) + 5 = 32 maybe 64?
elemental blast, ranged, 1a[/dice: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (15) + 20 = 35
damage, slashing: 4d8 ⇒ (3, 8, 7, 7) = 25

Sassarra sends a pair of slicing ice bolts which pierce the massive bird in its chest. With a croak it collapses, landing partway over the battlements!

Combat Over

Sassarra [202]
Jax [177], 30 damage
Tomas [120], 27 damage
Skarn [174]

In the aftermath of the battle all goes quiet. It seems you have finished the creature off quickly enough to avoid drawing too much attention.

Do you have a way to remove the body? The massive dead bird will be discovered at some point unless you do something about it which will increase your awareness. It is too big to hide anywhere. Defeating the roc gives you 1 infiltration point. Checking the rookery, there is nothing of interest here except the remains of various meals. There are four doors, all of them are locked. Let me know what you want to do and how long you plan to spend healing up as things may happen if you take time.

Good shot, Sass! Now can someone please hide that roc corpse somehow - I need to quench a fire... Skarn said in a commanding and less friendly tone. He slowly moved in and around the rookery, but didn't take much notice of anything, except that all doors are locked, while concentrating on smothering the flames all over his body.

Exploration activity: Refocus

is someone strong enough to bring the bird back in the rookery? we can all still fly

Jax, could you please disintegrate that corpse?" she asks kindly. If he does so, she will then blow away the pile of dust from the roc.

If it's still in the process of dying, one spell should do it.

Sassarra will heal all of you with a wave of water, then individual splashes. You'll notice that all of the water is absorbed into your wounds, leaving you dry.

torrent in the blood: 7d8 ⇒ (1, 6, 4, 2, 1, 1, 6) = 21
medicine, dc 20: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (5) + 23 = 28
battle medicine, Jax: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (1, 5) + 10 = 16
medicine, dc 20: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (10) + 23 = 33
battle medicine, Skarn: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (6, 5) + 10 = 21
medicine, dc 20: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (9) + 23 = 32
battle medicine, Tomas: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (6, 4) + 10 = 20

Full healing in 2 rounds. We'll likely spend 10 minutes in exploring before combat.

After that she will listen at all of the doors. She has trap finder, so gets an automatic check for traps.
I'm not the best at perception, so another set of eyes and ears will be helpful.

Jax looks at Sassarra You know, great minds think alike. I was just going through my spell list to see if there is anything I can do about the body. I could disintegrate the body. Or I could spend a spell slot of a lower level. We could move the body to that corner. and I could cast wall of Stone to wall it off. The difference being I spend a level 5 spell slot instead of a level 6.
I know that is a tight fit, but can we move the Roc to that corner where I temporarily placed my character? And I cast wall of Stone in that corner to wall off that section to hide the body? It would probably at some point still be discovered, because a new wall would be there, but it won't look overly suspicious as they won't know who put the wall there. Everyone at best might be asking each other who built the new wall, and was it authorized. The immediate assumption won't be are enemy forces hiding something behind that wall? They would assume that it would be lack of communication within the company/castle. And they would have to tear down part of a wall just to see it. but it would take probably twice as long, or even days instead of hours.

If it is possible squeeze the Roc in the corner Jax will Wall it off spending a level 5 spell slot for wall of Stone, which doesn't have a duration. Otherwise if it ain't possible to stuff the body in that corner he will spend a level 6 spell slot for disintegrate.

Jax adds. Not to mention that is a safety hazard, the big bird is stuffed in that tight space. So he sends a few workers to tear down that wall. So because part of the big birds weight is pressing up against my newly built magical wall there is a chance part of that wall comes crashing down when it is weakened enough on his workers thus disabling them in a construction accident.

Wall of Stone will work for a bit but your awareness will go up eventually. Let me know which option you choose. It looks like you are taking 10 minutes for Skarn to refocus.

"I don't see any easy way to move the body unless you also have telekinetic abilities." she says, showing how slim her arms are. "Lifting is not my strong suit."

I have strength +0, as does Skarn. Tomas has +2. Jax is the strongest, but being tiny reduces what he can lift and carry.

Okay disintegrate it is And Jax does so. And probably my last post before my vacation. So he uses 1 level 6 spell slot out of 4, which means he can cast Elemental Form 3 more times at level 6