[Gameday XIV] PFS2 #6-99 Under the Eye of the Mantis (tier 5-6)

Game Master cmlobue

Sign up >HERE< starting on August 23, 2025. Game will begin on September 4, 2025.

Thanks for taking us on, GM!

Two questions:

1) Doesn't it begin September 3rd for the Gameday?

2) And would you be willing to set us in a scene so that we can introduce ourselves in character before we begin?

All done.

Moderate Healing Potion as his provision
Friendly fire ok as long as it doesn't drop him
We all start with 2 hero points each (Jinglemane and I each have 5 glyphs)

Yes, Roark needs an updated statblock... and botting spoiler...

Thanks for taking us on, GM!

Two questions:

1) Doesn't it begin September 3rd for the Gameday?

2) And would you be willing to set us in a scene so that we can introduce ourselves in character before we begin?

The majority of players will start on September 3 because of times zones, but it is officially September 4.

Important dates:

Start of PBP Gameday XIV - September 04, 2025 - 00:01 GMT+0 (No text from the scenario until this date. Character introductions are fine)

I can tell you that you are on a huge boat with dozens of Pathfinders if you want to start chatting, but we also have three days scheduled for muster at the start of the event, which is specifically for getting to know people (and making one skill check).

Oh! Skill check! I have some skills!

——

I need to level my character (got in one more in-person game last night) and then update the profile here. Qitarah is now 6th level. Being a cleric, she still doesn’t have much for skills.

I can see Untrained Improvisation in her future. :)

Jinglemane is picking up a Heroism scroll as his provision and handing it to Kit. "My girl Kit is awesome with scrolls."

Profile updated.

I will probably change around the spells some and plan to do some shopping before the game, but the doctor has arrived.

Statblock updated as well.

What Doctor? Dr Croaker?

Kit is a back-alley doctor.

All of her skill and class feats have been making her a better healer.

Made purchases. Taking a scroll of Heroism for Pathfinder Provisions.

When I read Venture Gossip should the voice in my head by the narrator from Bridgerton? It kind of worked. :P

I think Jinglemane would be delighted that anyone would hear Julie Andrews' Lady Whistledown voice in his writing.

For myself, I'm trying to channel Shay's Venture-Gossip blog voice (as channelled and slightly warped by the Fashion-Obsessed Jinglemane.) It's a fun challenge!

Hehe. I'm embarrassed to say I always just assumed it was Lady Danbury's voice. It appears I have very bad voice recognition.

GM would it be okay for Voron to conduct some Learn a Spell before the team leaves for their mission?

My understanding is that one simply needs a good place to record the rolls before or after a scenario (or some folks don't record that at all, but that seems sketch).

Prior discussion

GM would it be okay for Voron to conduct some Learn a Spell before the team leaves for their mission?

My understanding is that one simply needs a good place to record the rolls before or after a scenario (or some folks don't record that at all, but that seems sketch).

Prior discussion

Yes, you are traveling long enough to learn spells.

Well, the idea is that it’s happening before the scenario timeline (at the Grand Lodge). The rolls simply happen here.

Well, the idea is that it’s happening before the scenario timeline (at the Grand Lodge). The rolls simply happen here.

As I understand the rules, Learn a Spell is an exploration activity so in the scale of Downtime it could happen at any point. You had Downtime from the previous game so plenty of locations it could have happened in that downtime. Anywhere along the path that took you from your previous adventure to boarding the boat we are evidently now all on. Most likely that could include the Grand Lodge.

GM, would you like a Blank Macros Template?

This one was created by Doug Hahn, and I've found it invaluable for PBP.

GM, would you like a Blank Macros Template?

This one was created by Doug Hahn, and I've found it invaluable for PBP.

Thank you, but I dislike filling out macros, so I don't make my players do it. I have a hard enough time getting just Perception and Initiative on my usual slides anyway.

Alrighty then!

Interesting. One of the knowledge results is a bit of a spoiler for the Prey for Death adventure.

Paizo likes doing Easter Eggs for their own products, so that makes sense.

At the GM's Request:

I am ranking the four missions on Slide 10 in order.

1) Aspis We Know - social
2) Tales of Woe - skill
3) Quite the Haul - skill
4) Dockside Brouhaha - combat

That looks great.

TBH, if GM chose first mission for us, I would be just as happy, if not more.

I want the special to keep moving, especially given the disparity in time zones and posting times.

Consider me to always vote for whatever has the most votes so that we don’t waste whole days trying to decide what to do. I much prefer to jump into something than sit idly waiting for the whole group to respond.

Roark will vote the same way as Kit and Jinglemane... so essentially that's 3 votes there... Roark is agility and charisma based. Anything else he's a bit rough...

I agree with the order too

That seems close enough to unanimous.

And I am not worried about this group stalling, since there are 8 unread messages every time I log in, but I will do my best to keep things moving.

Practicing "Step Up, Step Back" as a player.

And right now the former, because: Haven't played nor run this Scenario, got a maxed out skill check on deck, and my PC "would" (so to speak).

=)

I also have not played nor GMed this, but will be playing it live at the end of this month.

I editting my post having seen that you posted while I was composing.

At this point, Jinglemane would like to point out two very important abilities that Jinglemane has as a Venture-Gossip.

Ability #1: Distracting Flattery [reaction]
Feat 4
Archetype Skill
Source Player Core 2 pg. 195 1.1
Archetypes Dandy, Venture-Gossip
Prerequisites Dandy Dedication; expert in Deception
Trigger You observe a target’s attitude toward yourself or your allies decrease as a result of an ally’s behavior.
You know how to maintain a good impression and manage your image, even while keeping uncouth company. Make a Deception check against the target’s Will DC. Regardless of your result, the target is temporarily immune to your Distracting Flattery for 10 minutes.

Success The target’s attitude doesn’t decrease as a result of your ally’s social blunder.
Failure The target’s attitude decreases as normal.
Critical Failure Your attempt makes matters worse, decreasing the target’s attitude toward you by one step, in addition to any changes from the behavior that triggered this reaction.

This means that I can step in if someone else flubs a social roll. Oddly enough, it's not a Fortune effect.

Ability #2: Tell Me More [two-actions] (fortune) Target one creature that shares a language you speak; Requirements You’re not in combat; Effect Just batting your eyes and giving someone a familiar nudge can get them talking, ready to spill the beans about everything and everyone around them. You roll twice on all rolls to influence the target and use the better result.

This one is a Fortune effect, but I can do it over and over throughout the day.

I'm pretty late to this thread, but I'm fine with this ordering.

I want the special to keep moving, especially given the disparity in time zones and posting times.

Consider me to always vote for whatever has the most votes so that we don’t waste whole days trying to decide what to do. I much prefer to jump into something than sit idly waiting for the whole group to respond.

Same.

FYI I will be away in nature and unable to post this coming weekend, Saturday 9/13-9/14. I will return and resume posting that Sunday evening (US/Pacific time).

better give your style advice interview to Jinglemane while you still can, then! ;)

I got my question, and we got two other good ones, so whatever for the 4th works for me.

Work all day.

I'm seeing the time needed for Diplomacy checks has passed?

15 bottles divided by 6 people equals 2 bottles each

And that is the end of act 1. You have one hour in character, and about 8 days in real life, to rest and get ready.

I am confused.

There are four tasks listed on Slide 10.

The Mantis We Know Completed
Tales of Woe
Quite the Haul Completed? Sounds like this was the crates we found
Dockside Brouhaha

We didn’t have a combat so unless that Diplomacy check allowed us to bypass it seems we would have at least one task left. I know we never went into initiative.

Was Tales of Woe the discussion/skill challenge with Tesparisad?

I’ve not played this before. I was surprised being told nothing more to do here and would just like to understand what happened.

I think we just crushed it!

This is my fastest game.

Multiple posts within 15 minutes per GM post is unusual to say the least.

The Mantis we Know was the conversation with Giovana.

Tales of Woe was the research with Zarta and prepping the ship.

Quite the Haul was the underwater crates.

You bypassed Dockside Brouhaha with Diplomacy.

I suppose if you want you can go pick a fight with some other dockworkers...

Thank you for explaining.

No, I don’t want to pick a fight. As I said, I was just surprised as normally it is really difficult to finish all the content in a section like that.

OMG I thought for some odd reason that only stuffed poppets were vulnerable to fire. Sorry Jinglemane.

GM, can we have a list of the next few missions so we can pick out what order we're doing them in?

Sure. Slide 11.

An Old Acquantance | Social
The Dead Streets | Combat
Lair 1: For the Right Price | Social
Lair 2: Contractual Obligations | Skill Challenge
Lair 3: The Downward Path | Combat

——
Since we skipped the combat in Part 1, I would not object if we started with The Dead Streets for the people that want a combat. Given the information we have, I expect this to be a ghoul or other undead fight.

Otherwise I would say start with An Old Acquantance. We have multiple people that have social skills.

Second task should probably be Lair 1. I am guessing we need to do the Lair missions in order.

GM: Could you confirm if we have to do the Lair missions in order?

Combats tend to take longer than the social or skill challenges. If we want a chance to do Lair 3 The Downward Path that would be a reason to wait on The Dead Streets until the end. We may not have time to finish both combats. We are likely to be able to do all the Skill and Social challenges.

Assuming we need to clear the Lair missions in order, my preferred order would be:
An Old Acquaintance
Lair 1
Lair 2
Lair 3
The Dead Streets

Lairs 1 and 2 can be in either order, but both must be completed before Lair 3.

Act 2 Missions

The PCs can attempt For the Right Price and Contractual Obligations in any order, but the Downward Path can only be accessed after succeeding at either of these missions. The type column provides a note about the mission's content, hinting at what skills and abilities are useful.

▫ An Old Acquaintance Social
▫ The Dead Streets Combat
▫ Lair Mission 1: For the Right Price Social
▫ Lair Mission 2: Contractual Obligations Skill Challenge
▫ Lair Mission 3: The Downward Path Combat

Social, then combat?

Alright, given above I don’t care which order we do Lair 1 and Lair 2. We still should probably pick the one guaranteed combat.

I got ninja'd by my girl!

I'm good with the order Kit proposed:

An Old Acquaintance
Lair 1
Lair 2
Lair 3
The Dead Streets