Azeban Guitou's page

Awesome. Thanks for taking over for us, DM. Your break is well-deserved! I can only hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. =]

That boon is pretty swell. Never would have thought you could use it like that until you pointed it out. :D

Azeban takes a moment in silence to gather himself and drink a stashed Alchemist's Kindness before heading to the office to make it in time, changing his clothes to something more presentable with a command word.

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Sweet. Just reached it.

"I think I recognize it, but barely. I can tell you it is immune to all weapons but I can assume energy damage hurts it and it is especially vulnerable to electricity. It can only be hurt outside a host as well!"

Azeban stops concentrating on the image of the shadow demon after the robot attacks it, its job in distraction already done.

He begins casting another spell.

Might be a longshot, but I'm trying Sleep on the boy. It will go off next round on my turn at Will DC 16. Spellcraft DC to identify the spell is 17, failure by 5 or more means believing that Azeban is casting Enlarge Person.

rashly5, Azeban Guitou, 66406-1, The Exchange

Day Job = 10
No Boon.

"What do we do about the boy? Even if we attack his form, which I do not advise considering he may still be alive in there, the ooze will simply switch to another body."

When he finishes speaking, Azeban, starts casting a spell.

Casting Silent Image. Spellcraft DC to identify is 17, failure by 5 or more means believing that Azeban casted Summon Monster VI. Illusion is a Shadow Demon. Will DC 15 to disbelieve when interacted with. I'm placing it on the square SE of robot 2.

A figure in shadow explodes into being from the ground near the second construct, the darkness covering its form deep but silken at the same time. It does not move, watching its enemies with a hunter's patience.

That's only for certain skills. Other skill checks can be done untrained, like Diplomacy and Bluff, and Heal is one of them.

Pearl of Power doesn't do anything for me as I'm not a preparation caster.

Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 11

"My apologies for hitting you with the liquid," Azeban says to Faustus and Gerdur.

Azeban throws his flask at the creature in front of him, doing his best despite the chaos of combat and Karos blocking his view. He takes out a flask of acid immediately after, preparing to throw it as well.

Throwing it at NE square of #3 and taking out an Acid Flask. Double damage against oozes! Splash is 1 normally, which means 2 splash damage. Not much but better than nothing.

Alkali Flask (ranged touch): 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 3 - 4 = 1 -4 for firing into melee
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2

...ow. GM, should you or I roll for misdirection?

"Undead? Or perhaps the ooze itself? I do not know, I'm unfamiliar with these creatures," Azeban says, but movse away from said creatures as he retrieves a flask from his pouch.

Standard action to retrieve an Alkali Flask and moving back a bit.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

I don't have Religion either.

"Nothing of relevance," Azeban reports. "We should go see to the Salons and the Halls."

I have a Wand of Comprehend Languages. Azeban does want to know and if anything just raises my curiosity.

Azeban takes out a wand and taps himself with it before skimming through the letters.

Inquisitors have Remove Disease on their spell list and Azeban can attempt it with Use Magic Device. Do we know many charges the wands have?

Azeban winces as he watches them try to break down the door. He hopes they won't be expected to pay for damages.

Niiiice. I know how rare it is to get a chance to use social abilities. :P

"We're pathfinders sent to investigate the situation," Azeban adds. "Do you know anything of the situation?"

Azeban follows behind from a distance, but speaks up before they go further. "I think we should search the offices first. Perhaps someone may have hid themselves there for protection."

"I've never heard of anything like that. But yes, we'll investigate... cautiously."

Azeban bows to Gerva. "Then I thank you for your aid."

He gestures towards the doors on the left side of the room. "Our first priority should be finding survivors and information on what we face. We should search each room before heading up the stairs."

Did we ever search the rightmost room? I kind of assumed we took a look, and it's kind of open, but there might be something we missed.

"I would rather leave the matter to our superiors," Azeban says. "I'd also like her on hand to help us inspect the crate. Other than that, I have no strong opinion."

"We should not be so hasty with our conclusions," Azeban says. "But since you say it seems to be digging deeper, then we should assume its purpose to not be benign. That said, I am still hesitant to cut it out without knowing what it does and it is delicate work to remove it from such a vital area as the neck."

He kneels over the body and carefully takes the rock, having seen it burst into light when dropped, and then picks up the wand to inspect it.

Detect Magic for identifying the wand.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Azeban proves unable to identify it and passes it on to someone else. "Can anyone else identify this wand?"

Finished with seeing what is of interest to him, he says, "Perhaps we should wake her so we may ask questions. I would not recommend restraining her, but simply take away her weapons and be ready to hold her down if she attempts to attack or run. She may also be more comfortable if we move away from her place of trauma."

Sleep (DC 16 Will Negates)

Azeban releases the spell he's been casting on the air around the woman and waits to see if it takes effect.

I'm around. =]

Casting Sleep (DC 16 Will Negates) on the woman. Takes 1 round to cast so it'll finish at the start of his next turn.

Azeban takes a pinch of fine sand from a pouch and begins a droning chant, sprinkling the sand in the air in a ritualized movement.

Dangling those shinies only to not be able to use them. How cruel!

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Azeban stops in place and raises his hands in the air to show he's unarmed. "We're pathfinders sent from the lodge," he explains in a soothing tone, taking care to speak loud enough to be clear but not so loud that it would cause someone to startle. "Nigel managed to call us for help. We've cleared the constructs outside so it's safe to exit. I know it's difficult but I need you to focus right now. Can you tell us what happened?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Oh, I meant plaques and the like. Azeban is talking about individual exhibits, such as the sarcophagus, but the latter would still be similarly useful! Even if only to have a general idea of what the things are. For example, we know (or can assume) that the sarcophagus is part of the Osirian exhibit, but if there was a plaque or something that explained what the sarcophagus contained, that would be nice.

Woooooah. That was quick work. Do the exhibits have any descriptions or explanations on them?

Azeban enters the room after the others. Wary of the smoke, he quickly changes his clothes to include a veil to filter the air. He also takes care not to disturb any of the strange objects, not knowing their origins or purposes.

On the sarcophagus, he says, "Perhaps we should be wary of whatever was inside then."

On the bodies, he remarks, "I don't recognize any of them. I hope none of them are Pendleton, but there should be more workers inside. The ones in robes should be the one started all this, but they seem similarly wounded."

"I don't think there's anything more here. We should hurry upstairs."

Did anyone hand me tanglefoot bags? In any case, I'll delay my turn to act with Karos and Jory.

Azeban waits to act, holding vigil in the entrance.

"There will hopefully be no deaths for us tonight. Are you prepared to move in?" Azeban inclines his head towards the doors of the museum. "I've told you what I can but I'm afraid I am of little help in this particular fight."

Azeban bows his head slightly to the newcomers. "Greetings, my name is Azeban. What we face is robots from Numeria. I can inform you of what I know if you are not familiar with them."

Quick link here if you haven't read it yet.

Roger that.

All the best, Asami.

Azeban would like to continue. Heading in with Kyra is fine.

Oh, and darkvision doesn't work in supernatural darkness which Deeper Darkness can cause.

Either of those would certainly help even the odds! I like the idea of recruitment so other people can suffer take the risk with us.

You are welcome. The Exchange sort of is the successor to both Qadira and the Sczarni. But I think there is a lot of push back with most of the Factions, but in that they just don't fit and also things like the new symbols. I know for Taldor -> Sovereign Court to some extent Cheliax -> Darkive/Andoran -> Liberty's Edge, a lot of people that where really into the national flavor side are just having a lot of RP isssues, and I have a character that is in the same boat. Started out Osirion, then Shadow Lodge then forced to change, so went to Taldor, then forced to Sovereign Court, (but didn't care for it) so went to Liberty's Edge, despite Maj Coulson being the biggest hypocrite and corrupt leader of all.

That's a lot of switching! But yes, I think it's really one big RP issue. Faction can define a character and it's jarring to adjust them to a new faction with different motivations and ideals.

Well, my purchases are conditional on 3 to continue.

I'm good to continue so we're waiting for 2 more.

If we're doing combat, I don't think I can contribute much aside from using one or two castings of silent image to distract or mislead them. I could use more, but then I'd be out of castings for other encounters.

I could also do support by using wands or scrolls, but all the ones I have are for utility and not combat.

See you, Kyroden, and take care.

I have no other plans to offer, really. It's stated that there are no other entrances we can take advantage of, so this means we have to go through the golems.

Our only two options is to destroy them or to bypass them in some way.

If we fight them, one option is we can take advantage of tanglefoot bags and range (if we shoot at them from beyond the door, will they go outside?). We'll also need adamantine weapons to get through their hardness, and it will still be very difficult.

Bypassing, our only apparent option is to run through the room before they can attack. If there's some other way, we'll have to speak to an NPC to figure it out. Azeban would like to speak to Nigel, for example, to figure out how he got through the robots.

His wound wasn't from a robot, meaning he passed them in some way. He was shot in the back so we can expect an opponent with a ranged attack through the northern doors, since that's where he moved from.

Also, I didn't realize that Scarnzi had been retired due to the fact that there was no successor faction. Since Azeban can't receive credit until he changes factions, I'll switch him over to The Exchange.

It doesn't really quite fit him, but it's the closest. That's the way it goes when retiring factions, I guess. This is Azeban's third faction now and I would like to thank DM Beckett for making that possible. :P

As Jory has taken care of his own wounds, and Karos has opted to use his wand of CLW, I'll be using charges on my wand of infernal healing to heal the party:

Karos (-34) - 1
Azeban (-8) - 1
Kyroden (-25) - 3
Leil (-13) - 2 (including the one I used in battle)
Asami (-13) - 2

A total of 9 charges.

Yes, it is very much appreciated.

I'd still like to continue the scenario but understand if everyone else wants to call it quits.

The quickest and best option is to just dash through into the main entrance hall. That might cause problems later, but making sure of the situation and that the workers and co. are alive is important too.

I'm willing to spend or give my potion of invisibility to scout if that helps.

I'm tempted to have Azeban continue trying plans while you stock up, but I don't feel like tempting fate again. He can try to catch Nigel to get more information from him on how he managed to get outside, which logically means he had to go through the entrance with those robots.

...Which reminds me that, from Nigel's perspective, it hasn't even been more than a few minutes since we arrived and things went spectacularly south before we got out in less than 30 seconds.

I'm not sure Storyteller can bypass the Technologist feat, but it's within the spirit of the trait so I'll take it!

That gives us more information on what we're facing and they definitely follow a strict set of rules. Also they're painful. And have healing 1/day 4d6. Plus hardness 10. That's more specific than DR and as constructs they halve energy damage. They're 'vulnerable' to electricity and critical hits at least.

...Yes, bypassing them entirely would be better.

I don't know what triggered them to attack in the first place, but perhaps running straight to the main exhibit hall is viable while hoping they can't follow. Dressing like a cultist or finding some other way to use those rules against them maybe, but we have little idea what those rules are.

Alternate entrances like a window even on the second floor, a backdoor, or straight-out going through a wall would be better than facing those things again. Except let's not go demolishing a building even if it would work. Also, it seems a lot of the areas intersect with the entrance anyway and we don't know if there's another way to them other than going through the entrance again.

We can also try some plans to not trigger their programming, like walking very slowly outside their range and readying an action to get back outside every time.

Relevant quotes for planning:

“We had everything set up in the Main Exhibit Hall, just straight past the entryway gallery. Everyone was there, preparing the displays.”

“I don't have a map, but as I said, the Main Exhibit Hall is just past the entryway gallery. The west wing holds the restoration room and access to the basement and second floor. The east wing contains our Historical Gallery, dedicated to historical curiosities.”

“The second floor's main attractions are the Halls of Mysteries and Incantations. The western wing is dedicated to offices and a lecture hall and the eastern wing contains the library, the Hall of Legendary Beasts, and the private gallery.”

"But now that I think about it, I've heard of these before," Azeban says slowly. "A traveller from Numeria shared stories and I can vaguely recall them. Also, we have been informed that the museum was holding a Numerian museum exhibit and Nigel himself called them robots. Here is what I heard: The Technic League has many strange things to call on to defend their rule, whether it is to guard their buildings or to put down resistance against them. Regardless, one such marvel is what they call Row-bahts, or robots as Nigel said, and they do not use magic...."

Assume Azeban will tell you the tale as he heard it and you can peek at the knowledge check.

Then move and drag is what I'll do! Avoiding the encounter entirely would be best, and that's a good idea, Jory. Would they follow deeper into the building or are they stuck in that room? I'll tap my wand of infernal healing on Kyroden and Karos to get them to full health if they wish it, as well as anyone else, and my smelling salts will get them awake.

Azeban taps himself with his wand and mutters the command word, starting to repair the injuries he suffered.

Also expending one use to heal myself. It gives fast healing 1, which is 10 hp a minute each use.

"Another entrance would be best, but I do not profess to be familiar with such constructs."

Even as he speaks, he thinks deeply on what he knows about such things.

Knowledge (engineering): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

I'll use my Storyteller trait to make any knowledge check with a bonus once per scenario on the constructs.

My thanks. =]

I have a wand of infernal healing and a bottle of smelling salts in my hands. Also, Kyroden, Jory, and me have Mage Armor active.

I'm not sure if I can, but is it possible to withdraw to outside, dragging Karos with me? He's dying and unconscious so he'll be dead within the next two rounds unless he receives healing or manages a stabilize roll. In case I can't, I have two separate plans for how to heal him with minimal risk, but getting everyone outside is really the thing to do.

Is there an encounter map? I can't quite see, but Azeban will be fully withdrawing out of the area anyway.

rashly5, Azeban Guitou, 66406-1, Sczarni
Day Job: Craft (cloth): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
No Boon.
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Is it alright if I PM my email? I would prefer not to post it in the open.

Hello! Thanks for taking over and I've no issues.

I also hope DM Kim is okay since she's always been reliable.

Azeban doesn't have enough PP/gold for a raise.

Also note that the guide states:

PCs can also sell off gear, including the dead character’s gear, at 50% of its listed value to raise money to purchase a spell that will return their slain ally from the dead, though they can only do so in a settlement and they cannot sell off any items found during the current scenario that they haven’t purchased.

So selling off most of my expensive stuff, I get about 2177 gold. If I really do sell off everything, then I get 2481 gold. Adding current gold, that's 2527 gp. Just about halfway towards raising dead!

If I even do get the required money, I would be hit with negative levels (since I'd need to pay PP to retrieve my body) and own next to nothing to my name. But I'd be alive!

I'd be happy to contribute all the gold for Kyroden to raise himself if he wants. There's probably a stipulation in Azeban's will that if everything he owns can't be used to raise himself, then it would go toward helping anyone else in his party (mostly because if he died he sure doesn't want his death to be in vain) before anything left going to his society.

I don't have enough PP for a raise dead so no need to bother with mine. :P Just get the heck out of dodge!

Ouch. That's what I get for trying to do good, I guess! Should've stuck to selfishness, Azeban....