GM Jhaeman's PFS1 Module: "Curse of the Riven Sky"

Game Master Jhaeman

Both of the ettin's heads smile with understanding and the female one speaks.

Meanwhile, the hill giant wrestling match reaches its zenith, as the female gets the male in a surprise headlock and holds on tight as he struggles to get free before giving up. She jumps up and claps her hands in joy.

Having beaten her fellow hill giant in the preliminary, now it's the main event as she launches herself at the ettin!

Berato keeps encouraging the contestants and offers ale to the recovering loser.

The hill giant and ettin wrestle and pummel each other until finally they fall down laughing, clearly admitting the stalemate. The male giant helps them up and says to you all:

After getting Xilt's translation Berato replies, "Sure boys and girls! But not too long: we need to tell your chief that you three are strong and that you fight well!"

Grinning, the female hill giant grabs Xilt by the wrist and starts pulling him along, none too gently. The other giant and the ettin caper about.

The giants lead you away from the Jurn camp and into the forest. At first the walking goes well as the group seem to see reasonably well even in twilight. But as an hour passes and night's darkness comes, they start bumping into trees and wandering around in circles--it's obvious they've gotten themselves (and probably you as well) rather lost.

"I think we'd better head back, as we've got some important business with the chief. After we've spoken to the chief we can have a rock lifting competition." suggests Farrokh (via Xilt's translation).

"We should have left a good set of tracks that we can use to help us get back if needed."

Xilt rubs his wrists after being savagely dragged around by the female giant. He smiles in good humour not wishing to offend anyone. Unlike some of the others he can see perfectly well in the darkness.

He speaks to Farrokh in the common tongue before consenting to translate his latest request.

"Perhaps we should try to slip away now. There is no need to slaughter these people and they are clearly lost. We should take advantage of this fact."

Tzleztor's elemental eyes do not miss a trick in the darkness either and he finds it incredibly amusing when his master is dragged around like a rag doll by the female giant.

"Xilt, it looks like you have a new girlfriend."

"I'm happy to go with whatever everyone else thinks." Farrokh replies. "Although I do wonder if they could be helpful in getting to speak to the chief? I certainly have no intention of using violence against them."

"I don't think they'll be more useful. They gave us the location of the chief and someone else called Ramma One-Eye. Can one of you gain more information on those two via divination? If not my vote is to go there directly and question them."

How easy would slipping away from the giants be? Are they paying us a lot of attention or are they easily distracted by other things?

I can just have Berato tell them to stay put while we have boring business with the elders... does that work for everyone?

The giants continue walking around, the three of them scratching their four heads, trying to remember where exactly their "secret hunting spot" is while bumping into one another in the dark.

@Farrokh: Right now the lighting condition is Darkness and the giants don't have darkvision, so they've effectively blind. Anyone who can see naturally in the dark would be able to slip away easily. Anyone who can't see in the dark and creates a light source, for example, would be easily spotted.

@Everyone: Sorry, I was away travelling the last couple of days. The sense I get is that, whether through stealth or bluffing, the idea is to slip away from the giants? If so, please go ahead and make the relevant check(s) and we'll go from there.

"Young giants! would you please wait for us here while we talk with your elders? We will put a good word in for you and tell them of your battle skills!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25

After hearing Berato's (translated) words, the giants looks sad and reluctant to stay behind. They begin speaking all at once!

I'm going to need Xilt to roll the Diplomacy check, since he's the one translating the words. (This module is kinda funny--much like with the farmers, you have to convince these giants *not* to "help" you.)

"Perhaps there is something they would want us to ask the chief when we speak to him?" suggests Farrokh.

diplomacy to aid + heroism: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 2 = 20

Please consider Berato's last post an aid as well then; thanks

Xilt tries to persuade the rambunctious giants to stay behind, but they either don't understand or don't care. There's obviously just too much fun to be had in hanging around the cool newcomers!

Botting Xilt's Diplomacy check by Taking 10. With no ranks in Diplomacy and a 7 Cha, this results in an 8 and will fail. (I don't think I can accept the Aid Another of people who can't communicate with the giants directly, but it probably wouldn't be enough to matter anyway). If you want to return to the camp, you can assume nothing dramatic happens on the way--but if you want to deal with the giants another way first, go for it.

Xilt shrugs for those who can see in the dark.

"Well, I never said I was much of a diplomat."

"If it is important than I know just the spell to allow Berato to speak and understand any language."

Sorry for the delay but the result would have probably have been a failure even if Xilt rolled.

Retracing the massive footsteps to the giant camp is easy for those who can see at night, and soon the camp's cooking fires are visible in the distance.

Okay, over to you guys: what happens next?

H2 please

As the party draw near to the camp Farrokh takes the opportunity to reapply magical enhancements that will have lapsed during the pathfinder's excursion into the forest (shield, and heightened awareness (from wand)).

He then turns to their new giant friends "Here's a trick you might like." he says with a smile (via Xilt's translation). He retrieves something from a pouch and rubs it between his hands while muttering an incantation causing him to shoot up in height and size (casting monstrous physique III to change into a gegenees again).

While Farrokh distracts the younglings, Berato casts eagle's splendor on himself and bless upon the party.

The giants clap their hands in enthusiastic delight at Farrokh's magic trick!

As you make your way into the camp, several massive, fearsome-looking dire wolves approach! But seeing you escorted by the giants, the otherwise-bloodthirsty beasts simply growl softly and continue their nocturnal patrol.

As you push into the midst of the tents, the smell of offal, dung, rancid meat, and old iron grows stronger. Soon the tents give way to the side of the barren hill, where a cave entrance is guarded by three identical male giants. They wear banded armor and tote massive two-handed axes, so they are clearly not typical members of their kind! Their gear is well-maintained and their stoop is less pronounced, which makes them even more different than their fellows. They seem relatively alert and ready for action, and the youthful giants you've made (intentionally or not) into friends seem scared of them and tarry behind.

One of the intimidating guards speaks.

"We are no sneaks! we are here to meet Chief Grunf. WE DEMAND TO SEE HIM NOW!" announces Berato, using giant diplomacy.

Diplo, ES: 1d20 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 17 + 2 = 30

The giants, unable to understand what the puny man is shouting about, raise their weapons threateningly.

@Berato: Only someone who can speak Giant (the guards' only language) is going to be able to make Diplomacy checks here.

Xilt sighs. He attempts to speak to the giants himself in their native tongue.

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (16) - 2 = 14

Tzleztor simply shakes his head. His master is good at many things but his bland and straight up personality is unlikely to win over many people.

Berato nods to Xilt and the giant guards pretending to understand, and thumps his fist on his breastplate in agreement! he produces a few gold pieces to tip the giants.

The giant triplets look at each other and laugh, though there's more menace than humor in their expressions. One of them leans over you imposingly and says:

The Diplomacy check failed (but not by enough it caused them to immediately attack). On the plus side, Xilt did not their threat overly frightening (they failed an Intimidate (demoralize) check.

Xilt puts up his hands and nods at the giants indicating that he knows it is time to leave.

"We should go for now unless you want to fight them. I can cast a spell to allow Berato to communicate with them but it will require a bit of study time."

"This might be handy if we actually want to communicate with their chief who might not understand Taldane."

Berato holds up a finger, puts his bag of holding on the ground, and with great effort, pulls out a chest from it. Breathing hard, he tells Xilt, "Tell them we brought a gift to the Chief. For his eyes only. If they don't let us meet him, we go back home with the gift."

Berato's showy display of a magic bag and an intriguing chest have certainly gotten the giants' attention!

@Xilt: If you want to try Berato's plan, you can try a Bluff check.

Xilt does not want to push his luck especially if there is gear on the line. He walks away hoping to pull the rest of the party with him to regroup.

"I really think it worthwhile for Xilt to prepare the spell to allow Berato to speak to the giants. This translation approach seems to have certain limitations."

"If the plan is to leave and come back later, what sort of timescale would we be thinking? If it's more than a few minutes, we may as well find somewhere to camp and then come back tomorrow. It's already dark and from a personal perspective if we return much later today all of my current preparations will have worn off."

Seeing Xilt leave, Berato shakes his head in dismay and re-packs the chest. He follows the party back to wherever Xilt is leading them.

Xilt finds a safe place to prepare his magics and after a short while he enchants Berato with the ability to speak and understand all languages.

Tongues spell is cast on Berato.

"Alright let us go back."

Just to check how long will that have taken? Will it just be a few minutes?

With Berato now magically gifted with the power to speak every known language, the Pathfinders return to the giant camp!

@Xilt: Did you need to prepare an empty spell slot? (I think Farrokh wants to know whether his buffs will have expired during the duration of that).

@GM Jhaeman/Farrokh - As Xilt cast Mnemonic Enhancer 10 minutes was needed to prepare the Tongues spell. If he would have filled an empty spell slot it would only take him 1 minute with Fast Study. :)

Determined to not completely waste all of the spells which he had previously cast, Farrokh makes use of his enhanced size to entertain the young giants with feats of strength during the wait.

"All of this backwards and forwards is rapidly burning its way through my arcane power." he notes. "If the diplomatic approach doesn't work out and we need to bring a more muscular strategy to the discussions today I'm certainly not going to be as effective as I could be, having already used some of my most powerful spells in preparation for the previous trips into the camp."

If it looks like the party are planning to head back to the chief's cave again, Farrokh will recast shield and heightened awareness (from wand) before entering the camp along with monstrous physique I (becoming a gargoyle) to replace the previous castings of similar spells which will have run out.

"Ok giant guards. Let's do this again. We're here to see the Chief. Tell him we have something for him and that we brought it here all the way from the southlands. Thanks."

Diplo: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (13) + 17 = 30

The triplet cave guards are well-armed and physically imposing, but obviously not very good judges of character. After pausing for several seconds, they shrug in unison and step aside to allow you passage into the cave. One of them speaks, as you go past:

@Berato: Sorry, I'm not trying to make this difficult, but as you're lying about your purpose in seeing the chief, I need a Bluff check. To speed things up, I'm going to take your roll and add your Bluff modifier instead of Diplomacy (for a total of 15). I'm going to say your lie is believable (bringing a powerful hill giant chieftain "gifts" to gain assistance), and add no other modifiers to it. I'll then Take 10 for the triplets on Sense Motive to see if they fall for it. Result: Their Sense Motive check fails.

Berato pauses, and turns to the lead bully.

Berato squares up in front of the lead bully and speaks harsh words in Giant. The middle of the armored triplets looks at the giant to his left, and then at the one to the right, and they simultaneously begin laughing uproariously at what must be a hilarious joke. At last, with tears in his eyes, the giant responds.

Past the giants, in the entrance to an unlit cave, six trolls stand around a large tarp of stained, crudely stitched hide. One holds a large spool of thick tread, and two others sharpen big bone needles with their teeth, while another attempts to thread a similar needle with little luck. They lick their lips and moan with excitement when they see you--obviously hoping they'll get a chance to fight instead of another moment of sewing!

Berato's Intimidate (demoralise) check fails (even without the -4 penalty for being of smaller size applied).

A map of the cave has been placed on the new Slide # 3. You can go ahead and place your tokens near the entrance (just inside "H3"). (I don't know how the writer/map designer thought fitting six large-sized creatures in this room plus the PCs would be workable!)

We are now in total darkness. If you don't have Darkvision, please speak up and act accordingly.

"It's darker than in Zarta's cold, calculating heart in here..." quips Berato, casting a light spell on his shield.

With eyes as well-adapted to the darkness as those of the trolls, Adeah sizes up the competition. She reaches out a hand and summons her musket. "Guess it's hard to threaten people who outsize and outnumber you," she says grimly, tensing for a fight.

Farrokh has darkvision in his current form, although it looks like we have light now.

"Hopefully at least one of these fine people can speak giant and we can ask them all to move aside so that we can get past to speak with their chief." suggests Farrok looking at the trolls.

Saliva drips from the trolls' fangs . . . they can almost taste the juicy flesh of adventurers, and only need an excuse!

It's up to you how you want to play this.