GM TOP #0-14: The Many Fortunes of Grandmaster Torch (Inactive)

Game Master Pete H.

"Well we are worried about ANYONE introducing ANY MAGIC near the statue. Giant centipedes is probably not a welcome sight around here."
Unfortunately, Shannon only speaks Tien besides Taldane.

Did Corba just cast a spell right next to Buri-Ban?

Did Corba just cast a spell right next to Buri-Ban?

That is correct, would Corba like to adjust her action?

Bobbie easily shrugs off one worker's attempt at grappling her, and pays him no more attention than she would to an annoying child practicing some wrestling moves.

"No magic then. Could you tell them that we're out?" she calls out to Jarlaxle.

She grabs a confused Buri-Ban by the shoulders. "Alright, sir, let's head out before we cause an even bigger mess." She pushes the guy towards the nearest exit - the one Tusk is currently standing in front of.

Combat Maneuver (Reposition): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Iladora moves to block one of Buri-Ban's possible escape routes, ready to help hold him if necessary.

Ready an action to Grapple if he tries to run. This will provoke an AoO if any of the enemies can make one unarmed (or if they become armed).

Readied Action (grapple): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

I really need to know if Corba cast that spell.

*facepalm* Sorry, I'm an idiot. Of course Corba did NOT cast an arcane spell! I'd like to change her action to try to understand what the workers want (as Jarlaxle told us after Corba already acted).

Perform: Oratory: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33 (+1 on Diplomacy, and Sense Motive)

Versatile Performance: Sense Motive

Tusk wisely moves to block the back exit and pleads his case to the workers who don't really seem to pay him any attention.

Jarlaxle moves just inside the door, casts a spell and takes a look at the signs on the vat. The words swim into focus and read NO OPEN FLAME.

Further comments from the guards (when they act) will be openly translated for Jarlaxle (and everyone) to read.

Corba tries to figure out what the guards are doing. It's pretty dang obvious (to her at least) that they are yelling warnings to the group and trying to motion everyone to leave the factory.

Shannon smacks the jerk who came towards her upside the side of his head, almost knocking him unconscious. She glares at him, daring him to even try to touch her or her friends!

The very holy and legally minded warrior then turns to Buri-Ban and drives her hilt into his solar plexus. It seems effectively painful as he recoils.

Bobbie shortucts this whole thing and repositions their target to the other side of her, closer to the entrance.

Iladora (moves) and readies to grab Buri-Ban if he tries to run.

The guards yell (clearly to Jarlaxle at least), "RUN THEY ARE CRAZY AND GONNA KILL US! GO GET GUARDS!!!"

They all withdraw from combat and head for the front doors cause some crazy big scary dude is blocking the back door. :D

Buri-Ban ducks down, trying to make himself harder to hit (Total Defense). Then tries again to blink out the glitter.

Will DC 15: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

He succeeds! And looks pretty hard to hit now. And peeved.

Round 3
Buri-Ban (-6 NL, Total D, NOT BLIND)
Tusk
Jarlaxle
Corba
Shannon
Bobbie
Iladora
Workers

Bold are up!

With a shrug, Jarlaxle charges Bui-Ban.

Gamin the Reforged: 1d20 + 12 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 12 + 2 = 18, for 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14 Magical Slashing damage.

Trip CMB: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Shannon will put Buri-ban on the ground, for real this time, and concentrate her Detect Evil on Buri-Ban as a move action
"Do you speak Taldane?"

Shannon finds it very hard to trip or talk to him as Buri Ban is now laying on ground with a large slash wound across his chest. He seems to be injured and unconscious, but not bleeding out or evil.

Combat Over!

Once assured that the man is not in imminent danger of dying, Jarlaxle checks for the missing statue.

Bobbie releases her grip on Buri-Ban, and turns around to glare at the half-elf. "Seriously?" she growls. "I thought that what happened with Viraj was enough of a lesson! We could have simply dragged the guy out of here!"

She shakes her head in disbelief. "Y'all need to stop treating thieves as if they're well-trained military units. He ran away. He posed no threats."

Jarlaxle shrugs.

"What we are doing is dodgy as hell to begin with. As it is, we are illegally pursuing / detaining, and yes, *stealing* (even if it is to recover stolen property). Dragging him out of here 5' at a time would have taken more time than we can afford. I have no desire to be here long enough for the town guards to catch-up with us.

Even if we do not hurt anyone, public nuisance is likely to get us jail time."

To be clear: I am not picking a fight with Bobbie's player. Jarlaxle just believes we have been given a pretty dirty job, and wants to get it done as quickly as possible.

This is definitely a very morally challenging mission. Later PFS missions seem to have a lot less of those issues.

Jarlaxle finds a package dropped on the ground next to Buri-Ban. He also has two sapphire rings, fifty gold pieces and some really finely crafted bracers.

"Mebe lessatalkin' and moreahealin'," Tusk says as he points at the bleeding fellow. Having absolutely no experience in anything healing related (other than downing a potion), he does not move right away to help, though he does pull out his healing potion. He has no idea of whether the fellow is 'bleeding out' or not.

"Is he gonna be OK?"

LoH: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6 "This should at least stablize him. Let's grab the stuff and get out of here."

Buri-Ban shoots awake with a shock, ”Oh god, don’t hurt me! Take whatever you want!”

"So you do speak Taldane. Do you have the tendency of running away from pretty ladies?"

He shies away, ”Pretty ladies can hurt me just as much as ugly ones. Also, I just got word someone was coming for me so I bolted. At least they didn’t lie but… it certainly didn’t matter, did it? You gonna let me live?”

The last part was said hopefully.

"Killing you was always out of the question," Bobbie lowers her voice to a growl. "Give us the statue, and you can leave."

Don't mind Bobbie - her alignment is Lawful Grumpy :D

"WORD?! Word from who?"

Or is it whom? Like I give a damn.

"Of course we're going to let you live. We're just taking this stolen and, frankly, dangerous idol back to where it belongs."

Jarlaxle nods.

"Agreed. We have no interest in taking your life - we would not have healed you if we did. We just wanted to retrieve the 'hot property'."

He then turns to the others.

"Let's head back to the Lodge to drop-off the 3rd idol, so we can get the final one, and get this dirty mission over with."

After collecting the loot, he then does just that.

Corba sheathes her sword in order to look less threatening and grabs her bullhorn. Then she asks Buri-Ban a few questions.

"Yeah, who warned you? Also, who sold you the statue?"

Perform: Oratory, bullhorn: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 14 + 2 = 22 (+1 on Diplomacy, and Sense Motive)

Versatile Performance: Diplomacy

Jarlaxle has already left with the statue as the other pathfinders keep up their inquisition.

Buri replies out of fear, ”The waiter did I don’t know who told him. I bought the statue from Torch. But please don’t hurt more people because what I said. I just bought a thing, I didn’t know it was stolen!!!”

"Hellofa plot twistin' dere, Torch hiself sold it. Ha!"

Tusk contorts in a fit of laughter.

"Man, dat dere feller sure knows howta make some bucks."

Corba turns to the others.

"I think our VC needs to know about that asap."

Is that what you go do next?

We always drop off a statue by our VC everytime we get one

Right. And Jarlaxle is already headed to do that. But last time you didn’t bother the VC. Do you do that this time? I’m just trying to keep this moving along. Most of this is not related to the scenario mission so I am trying to keep things mission adjacent.

Jarlaxle has already left with the statue as the other pathfinders keep up their inquisition.

Buri replies out of fear, ”The waiter did I don’t know who told him. I bought the statue from Torch. But please don’t hurt more people because what I said. I just bought a thing, I didn’t know it was stolen!!!”

"That m#~%$~#!@@$*," Bobbie swears. Thankfully, Iomedae's grace protects everyone's ears from the sanguine temperament of her devout follower.

"I'm for telling the VC. The guy really can't be trusted. No wonder why he knew where all the statues had gone! And he had us pay for it!" With every realization, she looks closer to exploding.

Thank Gods Torch is not in the room right now, or the skill of his bodyguards would have truly been tested.

The group exits the area. Not too soon either, as guards start pouring in to investigate right after they slip down a side street. Fortunately no one chases.

They catch up to Jarlaxle a couple blocks later and head to the VC’s location. They drop off the idol with her assistant and then go to speak with the VC. She eyes them tiredly, ”Done? Or is it something else?”

Jarlaxle shrugs, and hands over the idol.

"Three down, one to go."

He then heads back out again.

Tusk is a little surprised at Bobbie's outburst. I mean, why not double dip? Seems like the only smart thing to do.

Tusk is right behind Jarl.

"Well, we now know that Grandmaster Torch sold the statues to at least three of the buyers, so we can make the safe assumption that he probably also sold the fourth one to the last buyer that we will visit now. However, he did tell us that Chaim - who unfortunately has been unalived by one of Torch's bodyguards due to a misunderstanding followed by an overreaction of one of them (we had nothing to do with that) - sold the statues to the buyers. Torch, of course, did not share the names of the buyers without us paying a price, and now we are not happy about being deceived. Bobbie was furious when we learned what actually transpired! We thought you'd like to know all that before we leave again for the last statue - we'll go now to retrieve it."

Corba pretty much blurts out all of that without even taking a breath in between.

She takes a deep breath and calmly replies, ”Okay. That will be an interesting report. Hopefully a little more detailed and less blurted out. Also, Grandmaster Torch will never give free information, so I don’t know what the issue there is. But that aside, it seems like you should be able to finish the mission so maybe you should just go do that before you can’t. We can deal with any other fallout once we have the statues.”

"YesMa'amwe'reonourwaynowkthanksbye!"

Blushing, Corba turns around and runs out to follow Jarlaxle and Tusk to Saldin Marafi's shop in the Secure Market.

@Party: As there are no weapons allowed in the Secure Market, should we leave those here at the lodge? Or will one of us stay outside the market to watch our stuff?

Jarlaxle nods politely.

"I will wait outside. The only way Gamin and I will be separated is if I am dead."

Shannon will leave her weapon by Jarlaxle, but keep her armor on that comes with gauntlet

Tusk will pick up a quarterstaff. A staff is not necessarily a weapon, and is basically free, right? He will leave his weapons with Jarlaxle.

She takes a deep breath and calmly replies, ”Okay. That will be an interesting report. Hopefully a little more detailed and less blurted out. Also, Grandmaster Torch will never give free information, so I don’t know what the issue there is. But that aside, it seems like you should be able to finish the mission so maybe you should just go do that before you can’t. We can deal with any other fallout once we have the statues.”

"Your informant was the one who smuggled the stolen statues in the first place," Bobbie replies rather curtly. "He then blackmailed Pathfinders to tell us where the statues were. I'm sure that the Society's funds could go to better pockets than a fence's. Not to mention that every buyer we've talked to thus far seemed deathly afraid of retaliation if they denounced him."

Bobbie leaves her sword, and only takes her shield with her, on her dominant arm. It is a weapon in itself.

The Venture Captain seems confused, "Torch isn't my informant or associated with the society at all. All I know is what I gave you at the briefing, it's your job to complete the mission. That's how our missions work. A briefing with all the KNOWN information presented and then you all have AGENCY to complete it from there. If you can't handle that freedom, fine. I hear the Absalom Guard like people that follow orders and don't know how to think." She growls, "Dismissed."

__________________________

The pathfinders take the now well known path back to the markets and eventually find the entrance to the 'secure market'. Four guards are there, carefully watching anyone coming in and searching anyone that is suspicious. The group fits that bill 100%.

I'll allow the shield and gauntlet to pass, but the quarterstaff will not. Anyone else trying to get weapons past either roll Sleight of Hand checks or explain why the weapon isn't a weapon.

The guards call you all forward for your search (other than Jarlaxle who is staying outside), "Alright, single file line. No staffs bud, those are weapons. I don't care if your hip is bad, I've heard every excuse."

Map is up. No back entrance. Each circle is a stall. Your target is in the top left corner with three guards. It's far enough away from the entrance you think the guards there probably won't notice any shenanigans. But first ya gotta get in.

("I worship Gorum now. So this greatsword is my holy symbol.")

Iladora reluctantly hands over her two-handed sword. And her longbow and quiver. And her trident. And her warhammer. And her alchemical bombs. And her dagger, since she has no way of hiding it.

When the guards are satisfied that she's unarmed, Iladora continues through the checkpoint, her steps considerably lighter. "The eagle overhead is with me as well. Will that be a problem? He is well-trained."

Is Tusk still injured. I think he is. If so, he'll have someone use his LCW wand on him. clw: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Corba will gladly heal Tusk with his wand.

The halfling bard leaves her weapons (small versions of Light Crossbow, Longsword, Club and Spiked Gauntlet) outside. Her bullhorn, on the other hand, stays with her - except if the guards say otherwise.

"Here, that's all my weapons."

Everyone (except Jarlaxle who stays outside with a pile of weapons) makes it inside, though only Bobbie and Shannon with any sort of usable weapon.

They head over to the merchant they want. He greats them with a smile, it looks like he is selling spices with open piles of them on trays, ”Good evening! How can I help you all today.”

The Venture Captain seems confused, "Torch isn't my informant or associated with the society at all. All I know is what I gave you at the briefing, it's your job to complete the mission. That's how our missions work. A briefing with all the KNOWN information presented and then you all have AGENCY to complete it from there. If you can't handle that freedom, fine. I hear the Absalom Guard like people that follow orders and don't know how to think." She growls, "Dismissed."

I'll add that to my ever-growing list of 'Misremembering Things in a Pathfinder Game Because my Memory is Terrible'! :')

"We're here for a statue," Bobbie does her best to look affable, even if she's still in a terrible mood from her clash with the VC - solely her own fault. This day has definitely gone out for too long. "A statue from Sothis, specifically."

To be fair, Torch *eventually* becomes associated with the Society... but at this point in the timeline, he is still separate.

Corba smiles back. "You see, it's a very dangerous artifact! Keep it away from arcane magic. If someone near it casts a spell, well... let's say, there are unpleasant side effects. Also, it is stolen property - it would be wise to return it to the rightful owner immediately. We were tasked to find and retrieve that statue, and to make sure nobody triggers it until it is stored safely."

Perform: Oratory: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29 (add +1 trait bonus on Diplomacy and Sense Motive checks)

Using Versatile Performance to substitute for Diplomacy to convince the merchant to do the right thing. NOT using the +2 circumstance bonus from Bullhorn. Let's be discrete - for now...

Tusk grunts.