Ephesian calls upon his minor Oracular gifts to try to turn White into a pin Cushion from afar.
♦♦
But misses terribly.
He then steps forward toward Red
♦Step
|
Ephesian tries to pin cushion White but the needles miss. Squeg pulls his pistol, shoots Red, reloads and shoots Red again. Red is left looking at a pair of neat holes in his arm.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-9; 17 < AC <= 21)
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 22/36
Red (-12; 17 < AC <= 21)
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
Poppy - AC 20 36/36
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Blue (-24; 17 < AC <= 21; OG)
|
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Tarta attempts to stick Red but misses both attacks.
Blue sees Tarta move. "I could use some new boots," he says to White. "You get around her other side"
Blue pulls out his war flail, steps up and attempts to clobber Tarta.
for
White replaces his longbow with his flail, moves into the flank with Blue and tries to clobber her as well.
for
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-9; 17 < AC <= 21)
**Ida Tappleby - AC 20 22/36
Red (-12; 17 < AC <= 21)
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
Poppy - AC 20 36/36
Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Blue (-24; 17 < AC <= 21)
|
"Here you go, this one is a little spicy."
Ida steps back, again mixing up something that begins to crackle with electricity as she hurls it. She then mixes up something a little more haphazardly. "No use in using my good ingredients here. This may burn a little, but if you tasted it properly you'd find it's quite tangy and burns you."
Her throws are more controlled this time, reducing splatter (and leaving Ephesian unharmed).
|
|
Ida hurls another bottled lightning and causes Red's beard to go all prickly again. The second vial, however, doesn't connect but some of the acid singes Red's hand. Howling in rage, Red closes with Ida and tries to bonk her with her flail.
for
for
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-9; 17 < AC <= 21)
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 9/36
Red (-26; 17 < AC <= 21; OG)
**Squeg - AC 21 46/46
**Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Blue (-24; 17 < AC <= 21)
Ephesian Looks over Red, sensing weakness within him
♦Exploit Vulnerability
Then he lets out a low growl, trying to intimidate Red.
♦Demoralize
Finally he lashes out at the enemy
♦
|
|
Ephesian tries to find a weakness in his enemy.
No particular weakness. So just PA.
However, he leaves himself open and Red takes advantage of this.
for
Ephesian growls and Red pauses, slightly shaken. Ephesian's attack hits Red in the chest and staggers him.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-9; 17 < AC <= 21)
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 9/36
Red (-52; 17 < AC <= 21; OG)
**Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 34/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Blue (-24; 17 < AC <= 21)
|
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Squeg distracts Red and reloads. He fires, hitting Red center-mass and dropping him. He then performs a speed reload and shoots Blue, the round drilling into the dwarf's head, though it had been slowed by the helmet (and probably his hard head!).
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-9; 17 < AC <= 21)
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 9/36
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 34/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Blue (-41; 17 < AC <= 21)
Poppy shoots Blue
Then targets blue with Frostbite
DC 18 Fort Save
|
|
Blue's arm suddenly sprouts an arrow and ice covers his legs.
But he manages to shrug it off.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-9; 17 < AC <= 21)
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 9/36
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 34/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
Poppy - AC 20 36/36
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Blue (-52; 17 < AC <= 21)
|
|
Tarta attempts to strike Blue twice but neither strike connects. As she backs away, both hostiles take advantage of this and strike out at her.
for
for
Blue steps up towards Ephesian and tries to sweep his legs out from under him.
He growls in annoyance and swings at Ephesian's head instead.
for
White moves up to Tarta and tries to trip her as well.
for
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 3
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-9; 17 < AC <= 21)
**Ida Tappleby - AC 20 9/36
**Squeg - AC 21 46/46
**Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 34/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Blue (-52; 17 < AC <= 21)
|
|
Ida chucks another alchemist's fire at Blue, which hits and drops him for good. She mixes up a healing potion and chugs it.
"Griffin? WHERE?!" only to be plugged in the chest by Squeg. Squeg reloads but his second shot only results in a dull 'CLICK'.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 3
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
White (-46; 17 < AC <= 20)
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 10/36
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
**Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 34/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Seeing that white just attacked Tarta when she tried to move away he will take a longer route to get into a flank, avoiding his strikes.
♦Stride
♦
♦
Poppy yells out after Squeg
"Griffon? I think you mean pin cushion!"
She then enters a point blank stance since White is close by and then shoots him twice.
♦Enter Point Blank Stance
♦
♦
Next target to attack White this turn gets a +1 circumstance to hit (if he's alive)
|
|
Ephesian and Poppy easily take down the remaining enemy.
A closer look at the broken wall shows the outline of a hidden door.
As you examine the door, you hear, coming from behind it, a fearful plea and false bravado-laced order: "Go away!"
|
|
"Oh come now, we just fought off those Hellknights who were trying to break in here, and now we need a moment's rest before we all make our escape." At least, Ida herself could use one. The others seem mostly unscathed. "We're Pathfinders, dear. We're rescuing you."
Realizing she sounds irritable and not especially convincing, Ida fishes the letter from one of her pockets and shines the light of her wayfinder on it. "Right, right. We're here to 'shoot him the tines.' What on Golarian does that mean? I guess that's the point. Nobody's going to say that by chance."
|
|
At Ida's words, the voice quiets. You hear a bolt being thrown and the door is opened by a halfling wearing a formal uniform of sorts. Peering over his head, you see the interior of the room.
This small, L-shaped room is dirty and disheveled, strewn with the remnants of a week’s worth of food and other supplies. Three beds take up one wall in the stone room, and though no windows look out into the city beyond, the room is lit with natural light. Despite its lived-in appearance, no scent of waste or evidence of massing refuse—or even necessary supplies—permeates the austere dwelling save for the smell of unwashed bodies, a dog, and the lingering scent of finished meals.
The four occupants of the safe room are uninjured and in as good spirits as could be expected after enduring nearly a week of a protracted siege upon their home.
"Pathfinders?" the halfling asks, "What brings you here?"
|
|
At the mention of Varian, the halfling's face lights up.
"The Master's message got through! he says jubilantly, before ushering you all inside the room and locking the door behind you with a heavy bar. He then rifles through a small chapbook, exposing the moving pages to the closed door. This activates a hidden incantation on the door and walls of the small room.
"I am Benedet, head of His Excellency’s household. I have served the Count for — is it eight years now, Malla?" Benedet says, turning to a stout but genial-looking middleaged halfling, hiding in the corner dressed in a distressed and flour-covered apron, and wielding a well-seasoned cast iron pan. "Yes, eight years. I run His Excellency’s day-to-day affairs and keep the books for all his dealings."
Benedet casts a loving glance at a tall, muscular knight, Dame Sabina Malatesta, wearing dark armor emblazoned with gilded roses and acting as the last line of defense for the survivors. "Six days ago, when the dottari were first trying to ram down the front door, Sabina dragged Malla and I in here before I answered their rather demanding call. If she hadn’t, the four of us might not have survived what came next. Thankfully, the house is not without its own defenses, and even after the Rack Knights joined the dottari’s attempts, they had a hard time getting in."
"This, of course, is Arnisant" he concludes, referring to the wolfhound. Arnisant bounds from person to person, smelling their hands and encouraging pets despite his obvious age. "Do you have any questions for me?" he asks.
|
|
"Is this all?" "I was expecting more, though the count's letter did not specify a number. Let's see... in addition to rescuing the people trapped here, we are to look out for items that might 'cause trouble' should the enemy acquire them. We've been to the map room and collected items from there. There was also a record book mentioned, which I don't believe we've seen--do you have that, and if not can we get it? Or anything else dangerous you can think of."
Ida turns to Dame Sabina. "I think this question is mostly for you... Valais asked us to find any information we can about a Hellknight named Marius. The letter said you'd already provided information about another Hellknight, Petra. Do you know anything about Marius?"
Passing biscuits around, Ida also takes out her medical tools. "I'm not the best medic we have, am I? Oh dear. Well, let's see how I can manage."
She sets to tending her wounds. And eating a biscuit.
"Ah, I feel better." Ida checks her alchemy ingredients, which she has somehow managed to partially replenish while stitching her wound, repurposing bits of ointment, cookie crumbs, and something she found under the cushion. "If I can take a bit more time, I think I can scrounge everything I need in here."
|
|
Ida manages to heal herself after passing around some snacks.
Benedet absently shoulders a leather rucksack from which the corner of a large book peeks out of the top. "I keep all of His Excellency’s records—even the ones that could cause trouble for all parties involved. We should make sure this doesn’t fall into Thrune hands."
Dame Sabina frowns. "I'm afraid I do not know about that particular one. Are you planning to relocate the Greensteeples staff?"
Poppy has been eyeing the new book and Dame Sabina's reaction with concern.
"We most certainly will do our best Benedet, but hard to know how best to protect something we know nothing about in a house that's on fire. I don't know too many folks that don't relocate after enemies take up residence in their home, but I suppose it could feel a bit like running a murdery fun house at the same time you're pretending to be a poltergeist... Poppy academic musings trail off indecipherably.
"Regardless, I think current siege and enemy activity make maintaining the Lodge's full operations untenable. To Squeg's point, can we walk and talk? As much as the reader in me wants to know what's so special about this book, I do also want to make sure we've recovered anything or anyone else that might still need urgent rescue... you know given the fires and ongoing siege...?"
|
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"We-eelll, there is a way out, even if the streets outside are dangerous, just as dangerous as staying here. Across the hall, under the bed, is a loose floorboard. It’s a latch that opens a passageway between the walls and leads into the old Azlanti watchtower this manor was built above. The center stairwell leads down to a hidden entrance into the sewers below Egorian. From there, we can skirt the patrols and get to the outlet near the South Gate. It’s not without risk, however. The tower hasn’t been used in years, and I believe something hells-born has been moving into the older portions of Greensteeples despite our attempts to keep it safe. It is Cheliax, after all." Benedet says. "So shall we try to use the secret exit?"
Dame Sabina draws herself up and says "That may be true but it is a knight's duty to protect her home and family. I will cover your retreat, should you decide to leave."
Ephesian draws himself up, looking Sabina in the eye.
"Madame Sabina, duty is what holds us together, but when it is blind it acts as the walls of Greensteeples themselves - binding us to fiery doom. True duty must always serve the people and your people are here with you, in need of your help. Come with us so that you may continue to serve your people."
|
|
Benedet's escape route twists through several levels and rooms within Greensteeples before finally winding down a circular stairwell and into the ruins of an ancient watchtower hidden beneath the city streets. Much of the proud tower had been cannibalized for building materials as Egorian was built around it, so only a couple of floors remain. That said, only the watchtower's ground floor still has an actual floor onto which to exit the twisting stone staircase.
The circular staircase lets out into a large, round room that may have once loomed above the countryside, but which is now is buried deep underground. The room is circular, its ancient granite floors and walls crumbling with age. A small altar made of the same granite presides over the southeastern side of the chamber but has worn away with age to be completely indistinguishable, even to the followers of whatever god it once represented.
Opposite the altar, on the other side of the stairway shaft, a pair of stone doors guard against whatever was once outside. Most pressingly, the entire side of the room is covered in paper pulp and honeycombed pupa cells from an enormous hive. The nest covers the entire northeast section of the room and stretches across the ceiling to begin encroaching on the opposite side. The smell of charred wood and sulfur mixes with the stale air of the neglected chamber.
The ground floor of the ruined watchtower is a 40-foot diameter circle with a 10- foot closed stone shaft in the center to contain the circular stairwell. A small doorway in the southern side of the shaft is the only open entrance to the circular stairwell and the floors above. In the southwest corner, a 10-foottall altar and statue of some long-forgotten hero or god climbs halfway up the 20-foot stone walls. Opposite the altar, there is a large stone double-door that used to lead out to a stairwell and the hills beyond, but which is now buried deep underground.
The paper pulp occupies most of the northeast side of the room and grows 10-feet from the ceiling. The nest gives off a pale glow that casts the entire room in dim light.
You hear a loud buzzing sound and a pair of large wasps appear and attack!
|
|
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
**Squeg - AC 21 46/46
**Ida Tappleby - AC 20 36/36
Blue
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
Poppy - AC 20 36/36
Pink
Yellow
|
|
"Hm." Ida steps forward, mixing quickly. "Something Hells-born, you said?" They certainly aren't ordinary wasps, anyway. After almost forgetting to add the activating ingredient, she throws something that bursts and releases disorienting fumes.
And then something a little simpler. The paper nests make her think fire would be useful, but if they're devilish then perhaps not... she tries it anyway.
|
|
Squeg draws his gun and shoots Yellow, hitting it but doing little damage. Ida joins in and chucks a pair of alchemical bombs. Her first catches Pink right in the abdomen but the other misses.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 36/36
Blue (-3)
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
Poppy - AC 20 36/36
Pink (-11; F1; 10 < AC <= 19)
Yellow (-7; 10 < AC <= 19)
Tarta pulls her halberd off her back and swings twice at the closest wasp.
for
for
|
|
Tarta's attack easily finishes the Yellow Wasp off.
Blue waits for her moment (delay)
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
Tarta Atsal - AC 21 58/58
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 36/36
**Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
Blue (-3)
Pink (-11; F1; 10 < AC <= 16)
Poppy grimaces in concentration, twitching her fingers to amp the frozen orb that is now encapsulating the large-size enemy.
DC 18 Fort Save
◆◆ Amped Frostbite
The target takes 5d4 cold damage with a basic Fortitude save. On a critical failure, the target also gains weakness 1 to bludgeoning until the start of your next turn.
◆ Then Poppy Attacks pink with Composite Longbow
(deadly d10)
In case that's a crit
Ephesian pauses, trying to avoid rushing in headlong.
Instead he tries to demoralize the big pink bug and then fires needle darts at Pink.
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Poppy tries to encapsulate Pink in ice but the wasp easily overcomes it. "Bzz bzz bzz bzz bzz"
It stops laughing as Poppy's arrow and Ephesian's darts punch through its abdomen.
Blue focuses and directs Pink to attack.
Pink flies up to the party's front line and attacks.
for
for
for
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 54/58
**Squeg - AC 21 46/46
**Ida Tappleby - AC 20 36/36
**Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
Blue (-3)
Pink (-35; F1; 10 < AC <= 16)
|
|
Squeg tells off the Pink wasp and explodes its abdomen to punctuate his words.
He advances to get a clean shot at Blue and puts a round in its body.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 54/58
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
**Ida Tappleby - AC 20 36/36
**Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
Blue (-55)
Ephesian, confident that the bug person doesn't have any more bugs to command, charges forward to slap the little guy around!
♦Stride
♦Exploit Vulernability
♦Strike
|
|
Ida sticks Blue to the ground like a, well, bug. The acid flask, however, fall short and Blue doesn't seem to be harmed by the acid.
"You will be the first to bear my young, halfling! Oh they will EAT you for their first meal!"
Ephesian charges Blue but doesn't hit.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
**Tarta Atsal - AC 21 54/58
Squeg - AC 21 46/46
Ida Tappleby - AC 20 36/36
Ephesian - AC 21 (23 w/shield) 46/46 (Shield: H5, 20/20; OG)
**Poppy - AC 20 36/36
Blue (-55; 13 < AC <= 26; Speed -15)
Poppy buzzes back at blue in agitation.
Why don't you bugger off? Right after you unstick yourself?
DC 18 Fort Save
◆◆ Frostbite
The target takes 3d4 cold damage with a basic Fortitude save. On a critical failure, the target also gains weakness 1 to bludgeoning until the start of your next turn.
◆ Then Poppy Attacks blue with Composite Longbow