[Outpost VIII] GM Jhaeman's PFS1 # 2-16: 'The Flesh Collector' (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

k planes: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 34

Spics takes the same tone she does when delivering a lecture in the classroom and proceeds to educate the entire party about the First World.

She also has a piece of chalk in her hand ready to throw at the poor unfortunate who dares to fall asleep in class.

Tull sheepishly admits that he was truant on the days that the First World was discussed at Pathfinder school. It's not hard to imagine that he might have been truant on all the days of Pathfinder school.

When Spica begins to remedy any gaps in his education his brow furrows with pain. "Desna's Dentist! I remember why I stayed as far as possible from those lecture halls!"

Lorian listened to the lecture on the First World. "So, it sounds like a trial run for the gods?" he asked.

K:Planes (untrained): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

As she delivers her general lecture on the First World, Spica realises something significant about what Jathyl said.

Spica points out that fact in her lecture ((so everyone can open that spoiler))

"Ohhhhhh. So she's crazy. That explains it. Well, did she possess these folks? Can we wake 'em up or something?" Pai remarks, gesturing to the four seated individuals. Rather than try to wake them herself, she pulls out her wand of Cure Light Wounds and starts trying to tap herself with it.

Use Magic Device DC 20: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
HP healed: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
Now at 52/120 HP. I'll only do one of these at a time, in case something happens. It would be a pain to retcon if I healed too much.

Pai taps herself with a wand and motions to the seated figures. Although malnourished and wearing dirty robes, they have no visible wounds. Yet, they don't seem to be reacting to any of the stimuli around them . . .

A Heal check will help you determine what's going on with them.

The Rock casts a small blessing on himself (Guidance) and examines the condition of the seated figures.

20 Heal check on a take 10.

The Rock offers to help Pai with her wand of cure light wounds.

"Wha--? OH! Thank you, The Rock!" She hands over the wand. "It's going to take a while. I'll probably have to buy a new one after this mission."

She has 14 charges left on her wand of CLW.

@GM Jhaeman: Do you advise for or against rolling all the wand uses in one batch? I don't know if there's a good chance that we'll get interrupted, and it would be a pain to retcon/recalculate how many HP she'd have at a particular point in that process.

The Rock examines the four seated figures.

@Pai: You can safely roll as many charges as you'd like.

@Everyone: If you have round-by-round or minute-based buffs currently active, please be conscious of time spent here.

Spica is still trying to get the magical stuff down before gravity decides to have it's way with her again.

Tull scratches his head, wondering where their foe went. He knows he won't be much use at healing the 4 statue-like monks, nor at flying up to retrieve the tchotchkes, but he is good at bashing things. Yet nothing seems to want to be bashed. It's a conundrum and one well beyond his limited understanding. He rubs his brow and tries to think where Jathyl might have got to.

"Yoohoo, weird plant lady! Where'd ya go? I thought we was gonna play!"

"Whew! Thanks, The Rock!" Pai throws her arms around his neck for a tight squeeze, then flies up to scratch behind Ginger's eye ridges, gazing thoughtfully up at the collection hanging from the pillar. "It does kinda look like a tree."

Not sure what to do next. Maybe once The Rock responds to their spoiler we'll get a better idea.

Flying around the pillar, Spica manages to retrieve several interesting-looking items: a small iron-bound book, a beautiful masterwork shortbow, a green scroll with arcane runes on it, and a tiny scroll with the holy symbol of Irori marked on it.

I better land before I plummet

Once Spica has those, she makes a two point landing on the ground, before examining the green scroll.

k arcana: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (14) + 19 = 33

Realizing that the mad druid may have disappeared for good, Tull shrugs his shoulders and sighs. "Desna's Dawg, I've never seen a villain as scaredy cat as that one! Oh well, I guess they can't all be dragons..."

Spica smiles.

Desna's Dawg? I've always thought of her as a cat person.

"What's a 'dawg'?" Pai cocks her head. "Does it look like a dog?"

Instead of waiting for an answer, she meanders over to the people on the floor and looks closely at them. "They're so...still. And silent. It's kinda creepy." She leans close to one of their ears, fully expecting to suddenly get grabbed by the throat, and shouts: "HelllooooOOOOOooooo! Yoo-hoo! Anybody in there?"

Not trained in Heal, but since The Rock is the only one who tried that check and they've not posted since Apr. 25, I'll give it a whirl.

Heal skill check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Hah! Oh, well.

The Rock smirks at Pai's determination.

"I think that the problem is that their will has been literally drained out of them. We will need a dedicated healer to restore them to their previous state."

Druids are pretty lousy healers and we will need a Restoration spell or better to restore the drained Wisdom to above 0. :)

As The Rock pronounces his diagnosis, the old man appears in the doorway. He still refuses to step inside, but calls forth while holding a thick stack of paper. "I was preparing for ritual ablutions to help cleanse my shame, and I discovered this on my person. I have no memory of acquiring it. I remember you," he says, pointing at Spica, "said you came to the Monastery of the Unremitting Tide to investigate a theft. Is this yours?"

When you examine the stack of papers, you see it's another third of the Fleshforge Manuscript!

@Spica: It looks like you're going to need either read magic or a Spellcraft (Decipher a Scroll) check to examine the green scroll.

Spica hurries over. Certainly looks like it. And thank you.

She then goes back to the others and spellcrafts the scroll.
spellcraft: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (13) + 19 = 32

Nikita will politely bow to the local sensei and ask if we can explore those parts of the monastery where we haven't been before (gray areas on the map).

The master bows deeply, tears again welling in his eyes. His arms sweep wide to indicate his full permission for you to explore the entire monastery at will.

Well, this is a scroll of Commune with Nature

"Okay, so let's reconnoiter." Pai declares, mispronouncing the word as re-COIN-ih-ter, though whether that's accidental or intentional is unclear. If these folks aren't a threat, we'll look around for the rest of the manuscript. Maybe it's in pieces all over this place!"[/b]

Before leaving the room, she throws her arms around the old master and plants a kiss on the top of his head. "Thanks for your help! We'll help them as soon as we can!"

One vote for opening the door in the northeast corner of the courtyard. Pai's token is right in front of it. She's flying 10 feet up, so someone can stand beneath her. She'll even avoid tickling your ears with her toes (unless you linger long enough for her to get bored).

Spica wouldn't mind much

Do I need to tie a string to your leg so you can be a balloon? she jokes.

Tull isn't sure how to respond to his comrades' jokes. It's not a mode of communication he has much experience with. So he just huffs a bit, tightens his grip on his axe, looks sadly at the statue-like monks that he didn't get to bash, and follows along with the others.

Pai points the way to a new part of the monastery to explore.

This peaceful meditation chamber features a series of faded silk cushions, carefully arranged across the floor.

A polished brass gong hangs next to the northern wall reflecting every corner of the room.

A burbling fountain fills the room with a relaxing susurrus.

Incongruously, a sheet of parchment drifts lazily down from the ceiling and settles on the floor.

Tull picks up the parchment and stares at it intently.

50% chance that he is looking at it upside down: 1d100 ⇒ 70

"Wha?" Pai looks up at the ceiling, flying up there to search for more parchments.

Doesn't she remember what happened the last time she did that?

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16

She bonks her head on a rafter almost immediately, stars sparking across her vision. "OW! Gol ding it! That hurts like bloody O!"

Tull looks at the parchment--it looks to be a page ripped from diary, and features a drawing of Nikita that that presents him in a particularly flattering way . . .

Meanwhile, after recovering from an unfortunate collision with a rafter, Pai searches around but finds no others.

Just so no one thinks I'm being weird (or, weirder than normal), the scenario has an "if/then" sort of thing to determine which PC is singled out for the bust, etc.

Maybe you do need that tether Spica comments. You okay?

"Pai, you might want to come down a bit, so that you do not find the ceiling the hard way." Lorian said.

Joining Tull to look over the page he frowned. "Strange, how did a drawing of you get all the way over here?" he asked Nikita. "Looks like we might need the book or whatever that this came from. You might have an adversary".

Maybe you do need that tether Spica comments. You okay?

"Mmmaaayyybeeee?" Pai still has her eyes squeezed shut against the pain and her hands pressed over the bump on her head. "If that dryad saw this, she's prob'ly snickering right now."

"Pai, you might want to come down a bit, so that you do not find the ceiling the hard way." Lorian said.

"Tooo laaate." Pai moans woefully, rubbing the growing goose egg on her noggin and drifting down to fly at everyone else's head-height. Her eyes catch on the diary page. "Whoa! Nikita! Dang! You look good!" She blows a wolf whistle as she ogles the drawing. "Wow, they really can't decide if they love you or hate you, huh? The 'thief' statue and this, uh, fan pic? Like, make up your minds, folks! Geez!"

If I had to be honest Pai, I'm sort of sniggering on the inside. But I'll see if I can whip up something cold for that lump

The Rock shakes his head at Pai's reaction.

"Imagine if you met this person in the flesh. All this from a drawing."

Ginger stays close to her master. She scans the area looking something interesting to chew on.

Dogs love chewing on things. I can only imagine the mess that a pet T-Rex would make. :)

Spica makes something cold and presses it against Pai's lump in the hope of easing the pain.

I guess all we can do is work our way down this passage, checking doors and see what happens. Unless anyone has better ideas

"Sounds good, Nikita and Tull will you lead the way?" Lorian asked.

Pai giggles. It's unclear why, but maybe the bump on her head knocked a screw loose. Regardless, she flies with the group to the next door, chuckling all the way.

A peek into the chambers along the northern wall of the monastery show them to be the monks' living quarters. Each of these spartan quarters contains a simple bed, a candle, and a robe hanging on a hook.

Tull follows along with the others, hoping that someone smarter than him is figuring out this mystery. He's no Sherlock Holmes, that's for sure! He makes sure his axe is sharp though, just in case.

The Pathfinders continue exploring the monastery in a counter-clockwise description. Pai opens the next door following this pattern to reveal a shadowy chamber dominated by a malachite statue. The statue depicts a serene woman with seven eyes, sitting cross-legged and reading a book. The statue's mouth suddenly moves and it whispers "I see thieves."

k religion: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

And I see the Silent Reader - one of the hundreds of Iroro's many Aspects

knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

"Huh? Silent Reader? But she *just talked.* I assumed it was that crazy dryad chick taking control of the statue. It's prob'ly gonna whack us or something." Pai trails off muttering as she flies just inside the door and peers around the room, being very careful not to hit her head.

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

Pai carefully looks around the room, but sees nothing else of interest. Meanwhile, the statue loudly whispers again: "I see thieves."

Check ze statue for mageec. I'll check eef zere's any yveel in it.
Detect Evil

Spica casts Detect magic

Pai cocks her head at the statue. She's so tempted to fly over and cover the statue's eyes with her hands and ask if it sees thieves *now*, but her noggin is still aching from that beam a few minutes ago, so she stays put near the door. "See the fact that it *assumes* we're thieves really makes me think the crazy dryad is controlling it. Unless it says that whenever *anyone* comes in here. --Say! Statue! Can you say anything else? Like, let's have a conversation. Why do you think we're thieves?"

Lorian watched the interaction between Pai and the statue. "Yes, and is it theft when one seeks to return that which was stolen?" he asked.

General Notes:

I try to post every day to keep things moving, and if you can keep a similar pace, that would be great. We all have real life interruptions of course, so if you can't post and we're in the middle of something like a combat, please give me bot instructions or I'll assume your PC does Total Defense.

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Finally, role-playing is good! Please give your PC some personality and engage with the other PCs and NPCs. I'll gently move us along if we're dwelling too much in one part of the scenario.

Any questions, ask away!

My posting is going to be spotty over the next few days--we have an inbound cyclone and I'm a member of the State Emergency Service.

Good luck! I hope all of you stay safe.

Good luck, we get to deal with hurricanes here. It does not help that Florida is a speed bump for them.

Is this the one aiming for Australia GM?

Hope you stay safe, GM!

I'm taking my kid on a short vacation (to Florida, actually) tomorrow and will have limited ability to post until Monday. Please bot me as needed though I'll try to post when I can.

Is this the one aiming for Australia GM?

Indeed! It's slowed down a bit, which might be a good sign that's it's not as powerful as thought. Or, might just mean it hangs out even longer when it makes landfall . . .

No! Lingering is not allowed.

The problem is not as much of the winds but the storm surge, and if it hits at high tide.

It might be better if it lingers before landfall. Near Florida the heat from the Gulf Stream can help boost them before they hit. Not sure what it is like off the coast, but visiting Australia is on my wish list.

Just a note to myself on APL:

Lorian: 10
Pai: 9
Spica: 10
Nikita: 9
Tull: 10
The (very quiet) Rock: 10

Average: 9.67, rounds to 10.

Playing subtier 10-11, with Pai and Nikita receiving out-of-subtier rewards.

Sorry for the posting delay - got back from my trip and have been playing catchup. Should be back to normal now.

Folks, just an early FYI that I'm going to be away on a camping trip for a few days next week. I think we should be able to get this encounter done before then.

Have a good time!

My mom will be visiting from out of town Fri-Monday and I probably won't have much chance to post.

Sorry to go AWOL in the middle of an encounter, but I'm off camping until Thursday. Hopefully you all come to your senses and arrest Nikita as a book-thief and punish him severely while I'm away ;)

And give him noogies until he's bald! Oh wait...

Enjoy the vacation!

My kid starts her week-long spring break today and we are going to visit Grandma. I'll still be able to post but likely with reduced frequency until after April 13. I appreciate your understanding.

Enjoy your family time, and safe travels!

"We also have a set of boons for our PFS1 players. Each GM and Player of a PFS1 game has a 10% chance to win one of our lovely boons at random. Have everyone at your table roll a d20 and a roll of 19 or 20 wins."

(Please make sure your e-mail address is included on the convention sign-up sheet so a boon can be sent to you if you win one)

GM Boon Roll: 1d20 ⇒ 6

boon?: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Boon?: 1d20 ⇒ 7

boonieboonieboon!: 1d20 ⇒ 9

Back in 48 hours.

Boon: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Boon roll: 1d20 ⇒ 4

@GM Jhaeman: At what height did Pai notice the pine forest smell? At what height did she fall unconscious? At what height(s) is/are the Fleshforge Manuscript and the other items of note? Feel free to give vague answers if you feel it's justified.

@Pai: Sorry, I completely neglected to respond to your post. You felt the pine smell when you got within 20' of the ceiling, and that's the point where you fell unconscious. The manuscript section was 5' from the ceiling. The other items aren't given specific heights, but if it becomes relevant I can roll randomly to determine them.

@The Rock: It's been a couple of weeks since you've posted--are you still with us?

Thanks! Now for some clarification:

In this post, which occurs after Pai fell unconscious, you state that Spica is able to get to the manuscript without experiencing what Pai did. Is that correct?

That's all. I just want to know if it looks like it was a one-time trigger/trap or if everyone will set it off when they go up there until we disable/dispell it.

I am still here. I will post. :)

@Pai: Yes, Spica did not experience what you experienced.

@The Rock: Great, no worries.

Thanks!

Folks, just an early FYI that I'm going to be away on a training course from 9-25 May. I'm afraid we may not finish this one by the convention deadline, but I'll sort that out with the organiser as we get closer.

I got a few like that too.

Doesn't matter to me whether we finish by the deadline or not.

No problem at this end.

Ditto.

This works for me. Enjoy your trip. :)

Same for me .)

Ok folks, what happens next? I've got about 24 hours to respond :)

Ok, I'm off on that training course, back on the 25th. Thanks for the entertaining game so far, everyone! See you in a couple of weeks.

Have a good time GM!

Okay, I'm back everyone. Sorry for the delay and thanks for your patience. It looks like we left off in Gameplay with you looking into some of the monks' living quarters. What happens next?

Looks like we haven't received a room description for the room with four beds (Pai is at the door on the map). Though if there's nothing there, I'm okay if you move us along to the next room with something to do/see/RP. We're going counter-clockwise around the courtyard.

The rooms along the northern edge all have the same room description: 'Each of these spartan quarters contains a simple bed, a candle, and a robe hanging on a hook.' You're right thought that this doesn't match the actual map where there's clearly multiple beds in each room. Oh well--the important thing is that there's nothing of interest in them. I'll now move you counter-clockwise in Gameplay.

I might gently suggest we keep things moving and not dwell too much on the whispering statue. What would you like to do next?

Pai, do you have a reroll in your back pocket?

Looks like I have a tshirt reroll available, but I'd rather save it. This seems like a low-stakes nat 1, and I get the feeling that dryad's going to give a more fraught opportunity eventually.

Tull, need need you to move since there is a bottleneck.

Later on, this scenario has an optional encounter that can be skipped if time constraints are an issue. I'm conscious I've gone *way* over the expected run time, so I'm quite comfortable dispensing with it. On the other hand, I know some players really like to experience everything they can in a scenario, so if you'd rather I keep it, I'm happy with that too.

I have no issues either way unless it's underwater, then Spica will be right in.