Delve Action

So, how many people went to the delve?

Went twice survived twice first go three skum 2nd go a will.o.wisp and two winter wolves, we survived but only just.

Thanks for the Megadeth reference, Jenny! ;)

I did! Cosmo rolled the encounter die and earned us three encounters at once. Owen Stephens killed us in ten minutes.

I played a couple of times (far less than last year, where I played at least a dozen sessions, including a bunch of off-book ones on Saturday night, but this year I had banquet tickets). Managed to survive the basilisk, with only two of our party turned to stone, healed 'em up nice with a basilisk-blood sponge bath.

What is the delve?

It's a 20-minute demo that pits 4 players running Pathfinder iconcs vs. one of 20 different pre-designed encounters. We set a timer for 20 minutes, and if the party can stay alive they get a little certificate that makes it easier to win prizes after regular Pathfinder Society game play.

It's not a ticketed event, but rather something attendees can just walk up to and play. The main purpose is to give attendees lots of opportunities to play a short bit of Pathfinder with different staff members without having to deal with the randomness of the standard event lottery or the commitment of the 5-hour game "slot" system.

They even win the prize if they all die. So I could even hand them out to the team that had 3 deaths out of 4 on round 1, with only Valeros surviving as he dropped his weapons in panic and fled, slobbering and covered in unhealable burn scars to become a broken drunken beggar in the streets of Sandpoint, like that drunk in Diablo. (Bwahahahaha!)

I ate the Valeros character sheet in that game.

I ate the Valeros character sheet in that game.

You didn't even leave the poor guy with the attack line!

Ryan Macklin wrote:

I ate the Valeros character sheet in that game.

You didn't even leave the poor guy with the attack line!

He didn't need it anyway. Attacking rejects the inevitable, cold embrace of nothingness.

I did leave him with the speed line, though. :D

Thanks for the Megadeth reference, Jenny! ;)

'specially for you, Erik Mona. :)

j.

I'm the Valeros player Macklin was punishing during the delve. Allow me to reiterate events as I recall them:

A friend and I noticed a sign above a table, it read THE DELVE. There was a charming and bright eyed GM running short games, everyone was having fun, even laughing.

We waited patiently for our turn, then sat down- eager to have a wonderful time like the four people before us had. The GM welcomed us before checking his wrist-watch. "Oh- I'm done guys, someone else will have to run you through this. Good luck!"

A shadow crept across the table. We all looked up and seen a new GM had joined the event. His name tag read Ryan.

Early in combat, my friend rolled a 1 on attack. Ryan pilfered my friends d20 and said "you can have this back when you deserve to roll it." Then he turned my friend into a goblin, and said "now talk like a goblin for the rest of the encounter" Then he turned me into a ghoul.

I asked "Do I have to talk like a ghoul?" Ryan said "yes" I replied "But I don't know how to talk like Ryan Macklin!" About now Ryan rips the corner off of my character sheet and hands it to me, growling "Thats how much of a character you get to play now!" After another round of punishment the ghoulish GM advised me to eat the remnants of my sheet. I obliged, half-heartedly, barely putting the paper in my mouth. I didn't expect Macklin to fangoriously devour the larger portion of the sheet which he still held.

I have told this story about 6 times in the past week. See my memento here.

I played. I became "Ghoul Valeros" and followed my Night Demon master to victory! Only Ezren escaped our wrath by running away. Eh, old man was probably all stringy anyway.

Schmendrick: Actually, it was Jessica who turned you into a ghoul. :)

Man, thinking about character sheets is making me hungry.

(To be fair, I also didn't expect myself to eat the sheet. But it was there.)

Mark Seifter wrote:

Ryan Macklin wrote:

I ate the Valeros character sheet in that game.

You didn't even leave the poor guy with the attack line!

He didn't need it anyway. Attacking rejects the inevitable, cold embrace of nothingness.

I did leave him with the speed line, though. :D

Best co-GM ever. <3

Schmendrick: Actually, it was Jessica who turned you into a ghoul. :)

Man, thinking about character sheets is making me hungry.

(To be fair, I also didn't expect myself to eat the sheet. But it was there.)

Now, now, Ryan: it was actually his choice to get all up in the face of a nabasu--I mean "goblin"--that turned him into a ghoul. I was merely the instrument of fate in that regard.

I was the Ezren player in the delve with Schmendrick. I watched Ryan eat that character sheet. With Vigor, mind you. I believe it was a will save I failed, along with a failed attack roll (but really, wizards love failing attack rolls with their massively high BAB, especially ray wizards), and then another failed will save, and every other two minutes, a DC Ryan Macklin save.

The DC Ryan Macklin save. Well how can I explain the inherent fun of this type of save. Lets say you were playing Monopoly against yourself and executed a game winning Boardwalk trade, only realizing later that you gained nothing and also just f***ed yourself. A no win big lose situation.

Strictly speaking in game terms what would this save compare to you ask? Maybe a Rogue's save against a Phantasmal Killer would be somewhat close. Or a save against indefinite paralysis in the pre-Aniversary Runelords Skinsaw Man fight (and, coincidentally, in a secret underground cavern where no one would ever find your party to resurrect you). Or how about a save to actually not lose in one of James Jacobs' Cthulhu games? No mercy. You asked for the worst. So you get Ryan.

It feels good, like a solid slap from one of the hottest girls at your old high school (you know the one), where yes, she noticed you and touched your face, but yes she also devoured a large part of your ego. But you're getting some quick palm-to-face action, right? Like some quick delve action. Like that.

Or perhaps the sound of a car stereo system that is designed to be super cool and loud like the whole world knows you are coming, but loud enough that your ears bleed and you go deaf shortly thereafter but you're okay with that. Yep. Like you brought it on yourself when you sat down at that delve. The bleeding. The anticipation. The sweet embrace of insistent death. You want Ryan to eat your character sheet. You want to fail that save!

There is a small part of me that wanted to win that delve. At the same time, getting turned into a goblin was amazing. I don't think I would have enjoyed dying as much as if I was just a normal Ezren. Goblin Ezren knows how to drop it. I wanted the grizzly death of the Ryan Macklin save. Peace sells ... but who's buying? Not this Ezren.

There is a small part of me that wanted to win that delve. At the same time, getting turned into a goblin was amazing. I don't think I would have enjoyed dying as much as if I was just a normal Ezren. Goblin Ezren knows how to drop it. I wanted the grizzly death of the Ryan Macklin save. Peace sells ... but who's buying? Not this Ezren.

All hail the short glory that was goblin Ezren. You were the best goblin Ezren anyone could ask for. In fact, next time you play in a delve, you get a free mythic tier for being so awesome.* You know what, strike that. Next time you play in any Pathfinder game.**

- Ryan

*Only while you sound like a goblin, though.
**If you actually get anyone to buy into this, let me know!