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I linked my usual Loot Tracker at the top margin as well. Tab 1 will be for items you find that have not been identified, sold, or distributed. Tab 2 will be for tracking cash on hand. Please let me know your cash on hand if I haven't already loaded it. Tab 3 is distribution of goods with approx value so you can see who has been assigned what and how equal the distribution is. I may add more tabs, like a calendar, if it becomes necessary. You should be able to view but not edit this worksheet.
Thorn River Bandit Camp - Round 2
24 Graham (24/30hp remaining)
Thorn River Bandit Camp - Round 1 - concluded Faen drops her hiding, rushes up the path getting near the bandits, then throws a dagger at Mikey (Red Bandit). The tossed blade flies true, sticking hilt deep in the bandits chest, but not doing enough damage to kill the fellow outright. From the woods to the east, more bandits appear on the ground. They are also armed with shortbow and dagger. Both stop and fire after rushing into line of sight of the intruders. The Blue Bandit's shot flies waaaayyy over the head of Teela and Caramel missing everything. The other shoots at Velas, scoring a minor hit as a grey-fletched arrow scrapes the warrior. End of Round 1
miss
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 6 30 Kurshkin
Standing its ground now at first Kurshkin fires two more arrows from its shortbow. The first shot bursts through Iovia's magical shield, winging the cleric for mild damage. The second shot misses M'Baba by a wide margin. The pugwampi then moves towards the far end of the platform, saying "I'll take you down with my bow eventually. It's only right!"
hit
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 5 - concluded Grabbing a loose stone, M'baba chucks it at the pugwampi, but the small gremlin is quite agile, and dodges the throw impromptu weapon without taking any damage. End of Round 5
Bethana says in her best bossy voice, "Yon we babes an' their dam'll stay right here while you lot go an' rid us of whatever ails them. Go on now! I'll see them fed an' kept safe!" The sheriff lopes along as the team leaves the Rusty Dragon for Bishop Street following Ari's keen directions. The early morning is almost cold, a chill in the autumn air, and the sky is overcast. It's not far to the Barett house which appears to be a modestly small cottage. One front door seems the only real entry point though the house does windows with glass in them in at least two places. The door is left ajar slightly, so Tot and Ari enter first, being as stealthy as they possible can. Listening and looking while they creep, the house seems eerily quiet. There is a faint scent of baked bread. The house is semi-dark inside, as there are no lamps lit, and while it is morning, the overcast sky along with few windows leaves illumination dim at best. The first room from the front door seems to be a kitchen with a fireplace and dining table. Loaves of bread rise near the hearth, but the fire is not lit at present. There is a long hallway on the south side of the house. Nothing seems to be stirring in the front room. Tot can see two interior doors down the hallway, one at the far west end, and other closer set in the north wall about 15' from the kitchen. Both seem to be slightly open. Bloody foot prints lead down the hall from the nearer door towards the front exit.
Thorn River Bandit Camp - Round 1 - continued 24 Graham
Teela stays atop Caramel and plays a tune on her harp. The tune adds prowess to her allies within 60', which is currently everyone. Then Teela magically manipulates some rocks from the stream, sending theme hurtling into Orange Bandit, almost like shotgun pellets. The rocks do their work, braining the unfortunate bandit, who falls face-down in the stream. Quintessa moves ahead also sending a projectile spell, this time metal shards instead of rocks, at Mikey, the Red Bandit. The barrage of needles misses the other bandit however, and no damage is dealt. From up in the treetops across the Thorn River, Yellow Bandit fires his shortbow at Graham twice, shouting about intruders in the camp at the top of his lungs. The first arrow misses, landing in the stream, but the second finds the range, sticking Graham in the left arm. Appearing from the east flank comes a woman dressed in black leathers, carrying a pair of hand axes. "Who in the Nine Hells do you think you are? You really want to all die today?" she shouts with a controlled fury. From what you recall, this seems to be the woman who almost chopped off Oleg's hand on the day of the first raid. She does not get close enough to make a Strike.
As Ba'hahk and Chime rush through the room, the sirens sound again, and the door opposite begins to close, but the druid and his companion slide through just as the door shuts. Soon enough the sounds of the electrical discharge is easily audible from inside... Scouting ahead once everyone is safely in the next hallway, Zaria peeks around the corner. She spies a corridor there, made from the same seamless metal, that stretches northward about 30-40' before ending in another sliding door. There is another door on the east wall about 20' from where Zaria stands now. Nothing else of note is in the hallway here.
Let me know how you want to handle Knowledge checks. I would usually spoiler that knowledge to whoever made the check, but if you will just automatically relate it to the rest of the group, I can just post the results for everyone to read. Some prefer to narrate in character, while others don't care. Also, since this is PF1, and not PF2, which has Secret Checks for most Knowledge and Diplomacy skills (among other things), you can roll those checks for yourself instead of just providing the modifier. I just have Izzy's player well trained from our other game...
Ari:
Ari immediately recognizes the woman as Amele Barett, she and her husband Alergast are members of the Desnan faith, and he sees them at chapel regularly along with the their two children. Alergast is a clerk at the Sandpoint Mercantile League, a bookish sort of fellow, but mild-mannered and personable in their interactions. Ari even remembers the children's names - Aeren is the youngster and Verah is the infant. They live in a small cottage a few blocks from the Dragon on Bishop Street, across from the Sandpoint Theater. You know exactly where that is. Tot moves to try to calm the panicked citizen but her fearsome features don't do much to help slow down the woman. The youngster beside her actually looks at the tiefling in fear, eyes growing wide. Izzy, however, has more success. She pats the mother on the arm, and talks soothingly to her, and you can see the frightened woman visibly relax. She manages to get hold of herself and tries to speak, though it is rather halting and somewhat incoherent. "That thing...it's hurt Alergast...he's hurt real bad! And poor Petal, I think she's dead! And look at what it did to Aeren!" She shows the arms of the older child, and they are covered in fresh goblin bites, still seeping blood, which drips onto the floor boards of the tavern room. She is panting, but tells you more, "Aeren saw a goblin burn a cat alive the day of the festival, and has been telling us, Alergast mostly, about a goblin living in his closet, not sleeping, waking us at night, you know. Well Alergast had enough of that and said Aeren could sleep in the woodshed if couldn't be a man. So early this morning, when Aeren cried out, we didn't go check. Not until we heard Petal bark and then scream. We rushed to the Aeren's room, and there was a goblin, trying to eat him!" She breaks out in fresh hysterics, sobbing incoherently once again.
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 5 - continued 30 Kurshkin
Za Minyahil discards his broken shield for now, then casts an electrical spell but it misses the quick moving pugwampi. Finally the ghoran conjures a magical shield to help deflect any future arrows. Without the ability to attack from distance, M'Baba searches through the corpse of the fallen gremlin for a bow or other distance weapon, but the only weapon it possessed is the heavy maul, which is no good from distance. Iovia also magically shields herself, then tries to daze Kurshkin with a divine cantrip but the magically inclined gremlin shakes it mostly off, suffering mild mental damage akin to a mild headache. Ikto moves closer (but not too close) to the fleeing pugwampi and launches a sling bullet., but the attack misses. Ikto raises his shield also just in case arrows fly his way.
saved
Regarding Shield Block - I understood and have always run this how ZM thinks in their OOC post, but apparently that was incorrect. From AoN(emphasis mine): You snap your shield in place to ward off a blow. Your shield prevents you from taking an amount of damage up to the shield’s Hardness. You and the shield each take any remaining damage, possibly breaking or destroying the shield. I will run it differently from now on, and thanks for the lesson...though I kind of like my way better...
With the machine resetting, its quite easy for Karina to enter the room with the nozzles and electrical surprise, open the door from the inside (it slides open easily) and get safely to the other side. This leaves just Ba'hahk on the other side of the electrical hazard.
Thorn River Bandit Camp - Round 1 - continued 24 Graham
Velas rushes into the melee area, past the lumbering Alvis, but not quite far enough to get a Strike in. Instead, he conjures a psychic shield that shimmers in three layers in front of him, intending to protect him from the inevitable counterattacks from the bandits. The greasy-haired bandit sputters and curses as he finds himself knee-deep in the ice-cold river water. He clambers back up onto the low bank, and already with knife in hand, swings on Graham, who shoved him before. "Time to die, lover boy," he shouts, still a bit oblivious to the ruse being played. Both knife strokes are clumsy and off the mark, and Graham avoids any cuts so far.
Tot glances around, but the Rusty Dragon's common room is much less crowded at breakfast than it is in the more raucous evening hours. There is space aplenty and the group has a good distance between themselves and any others, especially since Hemlock sat with them -- the shadier sort of characters who frequent this inn found another corner to sit in. The sheriff looks at Tot and his mouth is just about move to reply when the front door of the Dragon bursts open with slam. "HELP ME! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME!" As you all whip around to look, you see a young mother clutching a small infant to her and holding another youngster by the back of his pajamas. A blood-stained nightgown is all the poor woman is wearing. Her eyes seem frantic and pleading. "Is Sheriff Hemlock here? I heard he was here? Someone HELP!!!" She is nearly incoherent in her panic.
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 5 30 Kurshkin
The pugwampi with the bow looks worried with the death of its minion. He still aims his shortbow and fires once at Ikto and once at Za Minyahil. Both are hits, but raised shields help both the targets avoid any damage. The small gremlin then starts to beat a retreat towards the far end of the stage, which also removes the unluck aura from all the initiates.
hit
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 4 - concluded M'Baba, though still mired in the unluck aura, is able to land two strikes from behind the vexgit gremlin. The second of which actually lops the head of the insect-like creature to the ground, killing it instantly. Rising from his death, Ikto raises his shield for protection from the rain of deadly arrows, and then draws his sling. Finally, he shouts for help from someone, anyone. End of Round 4
Thorn River Bandit Camp - Round 1 - continued 24 Graham
Acting quickly, Graham drops off the side of Horse, and shoves the nearest bandit forcefully propelling him off the bank and into the quickly rushing stream. The bandits slips and wavers for a moment but is able to keep his footing even as he gets in the knee-deep water. Alvis raises his shield and starts the painfully slow journey from where the reminder of the party was hiding out. The dwarf's slow progress gets him within 30' of where Teela stands, but also draws the attention of the bandits who see the inevitable juggernaut headed their way. Green Bandit was unseen by Graham and Teela and seems to be up in a tree platform off to the right somewhere. You hear a shout, "We got trouble!". A poorly aimed arrow from off in that direction lands well short of Graham's feet, but does let him know someone with ill-intent is in that direction.
Please note the Sheriff's exposition here is to get you new information and retcon (to some extent) things that prior GMs started with that are possibly outside what the text has in mind. This is as gentle a way to get them back on track as I could come up with. Sorry for any confusion or loss of verisimilitude that comes along with corrections.
4 Rova, The Rusty Dragon, Sandpoint, The Lost Coast, Varisia The sun comes early to those at rest in the Rusty Dragon. The smell of bacon frying and other breakfast repast being prepared is evident as you rise and go about your morning routines. Ari makes his way back to the inn to see what the day has in store, and he sits in the common room as the rest of the group straggles in. The food, cooked by Bethana this time, is good wholesome fare: eggs, bacon, flapjacks, and the like. Nothing too fancy, but filling just the same. As you are just finishing the meal, the outer door opens and, to your surprise, Sheriff Belor Hemlock enters. He looks around the room for a bit his eyes alighting on your group, then saunters over.
Thanks, I just mean your cash on hand, but I can get that from what you posted I think. I will get a tracker for loot and other things up tomorrow most likely.
The dinner rush is over, and the night crowd is slowing down in the common room of the Rusty Dragon. Conversations buzz and the noise of people relaxing from a stressful week is in full swing. Zorlen, Garen, Izzy, Ari and Grod sit together sharing the news of tracking goblins, and some larger humanoid, as far as they could. Surprisingly, the side door of the Dragon opens, and Ameiko enters and heads for the stage. She is dressed in a blue silk kimono with cranes on it, and carries an unusual stringed instrument. Her face is painted with exaggerated expressive makeup, pale white skin, large dark eyes, a full mouth. Her hair is swept up and pinned with a beautifully sparkling silver and mother-of-pearl hairpin. As she takes the stage the buzz of the room drops immediately, and no sound his heard save the soft clomp of her sandaled feet. She sits with the strange instrument, using a bow to play and soon music fills the common room. Not the high energy music of most barrooms, but a strange, exotic, and extraordinarily evocative sound, filled with sorrow and loss. The costumed innkeeper then begins to sing along with the resonant music, her voice low at first, bur rising and falling along dramatically. The lyrics are in a language none of you understand, but the meaning of the ballad is quite clear -- loss and sorrow. Eyes of old tars on shore leave and woodcutters with loads for the Sandpoint Mill fill with tears, and the whole room, including the Heroes of Sandpoint, are fully captivated. It is a rare but masterful performance by a highly trained and experienced bardic performer, and it is exquisite.
The caravan that brought most of you to Sandpoint, home of Ari and former home of Zorlen, arrived on the day of the Swallowtail Festival, and also a celebration of the town's new cathedral. Goblins attacked the festival surprising many, but they were soon beaten back by your group. You rescued, among others, a wealthy dandy named Aldern Foxglove. The next day was filled with more Foxglove. He rewarded you with coin and some fine mounts, and joined you for a pleasant ride in the Lost Coast countryside. You have not seen Master Foxglove since the evening you returned from the ride. Today there was meeting Shalelu Androsana, an elven ranger, and Sheriff Belor Hemlock, the Shoanti lawman who took over that office after the Late Unpleasantness took the life of the former sheriff. They informed you about goblin trouble and an unknown force that might have unified and drove the goblins to attack the town. Additionally, they explained that outsiders entered the cathedral boneyard and made off with the remains of the old priest, Father Tobyn, and his aasimar foster daughter, Nualia -- both of whom were close to Zorlen. Just who took them, and why remains a mystery. Somewhere along the way, the father of your friend, innkeeper, and boss, Ameiko Kaijitsu, showed up berating his daughter in front of the common room of the Rusty Dragon. Longjiku Kaijitsu is a town nobleman and the founder of the Sandpoint Glassworks. What they were arguing about is not clear. Now the group rests, winding down for the evening in the Rusty Dragon with no idea what comes next...
Thorn River Bandit Camp - Round 1 24 Graham
The greasy-haired fellow stands mouth agape as Teela casts a spell to summon her musical instrument into her hand. The other one, Mikey, shouts, "Hey, what gives? I said get down from there, NOW! This ain't no actin'" And he reaches for Teela to pull her from the mount. The sounds is likely loud enough to alert others who may be nearby.
Initiative:
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 4 - continued 30 Kurshkin
Using her last bit of healing magic, Iovia is able to get the mortally stricken Ikto back to full health. What will happen with no healing left is hard to predict... Za Minyahil tries to burn the insectile gremlin with a spell that produces flames, but their attack with the fire is not successful. They do raise their shield once again, trying to stave off the heavy hammer. Ikto comes to consciousness prone on the ground, realizing the cleric saved him.
Secret Checks: success fail
I think 2 days is right. Is that a problem? Not a problem, just trying to make sure my sense of it is correct. One last thing, if you please, can you tell me what your current wealth is now? After starting cash, any equipment purchases, and whatever money you have made/spent, can you just bottom line it for me each? It will get the new Loot Tracker started.
I forgot to consider ZM's raised shield on the last hit, so he will get back 4hp more...This is a Severe rating fight, so don't feel bad if you are struggling. It's the end of a chapter also, and you will all earn more Hero Points at the end, so don't be afraid to pull out the stops if needed.
I read the whole Gameplay thread, and have a good idea where you are and where we are headed. I will start looking at PC builds to get more acquainted, but may get a real post up in the thread before too long (likely tomorrow). I may have specific questions about PC builds that I will post here later. Quick question: if the Swallowtail Festival was 1 Rova, what day is it now? I get the sense that 1-2 days went by but not sure how that makes sense with the discovery of the looted crypt.
The voice from the trees ahead calls back, "Oy! Stay where you are an' keep yer hands where I can see 'em." The lookout then shouts something else, and a pair of rough-looking characters emerges from the trees nearby. They wear brown leathers that seem in ill-repair with a knife at their belt and a bow and quiver over their shoulders. One of the newcomers is a tall, lanky fellow with long greasy hair and unkempt beard. "Dese lovebirds is lost in de woods, Mikey. Whatever will they do?" He pulls his knife and motions towards the actors. "Git off them horses an' on yer knees" Mikey, the other bandit, has a large white scar on his pock-marked face. He unslings his bow and aims it at Graham. "No funny bidness, Romeo. You picked the wrong place t'wander into, didnya?" he laughs, a hoarse ugly sound. "Tressle ain't gonna believe these two just walked up on us,"
Secret Checks:
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 4 30 Kurshkin
"Stay dead, damnit!" shouts Kurshkin. "I'll just have to kill you again!" The pugwampi slips over the side, getting close enough to get Za Minyahil and Ikto inside the unluck aura. It then fires its shortbow twice at Ikto. The first shot only grazes Ikto again, but the second shot is deadly, dropping the druid this time, unconscious and dying on the floor of the platform. The insectile gremlin goes to smash at Za Minyahil with its heavy maul, biting at the ghoran as well. The bite hits nothing but thin air but the mauls strikes the lithe ghoran for a significant crushing injury.
hit
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 3 - concluded Getting up from prone, M'Baba grabs his weapon and tries to circle the armored gremlin to stab from behind. As he readies his weapon for a backstabbing thrust, the hilt of the rapier inexplicably slips from his grip and the attack is foiled before it begins. End of Round 3
Secret Checks: fail
As the sterilizer winds back up and tang of ionized oxygen hits the air again, Ba'hahk and Karina clear the room. Alpha-47 tries to press the hand panel, but he notices the light has gone from green to red, and the door does not open from that side. Unsurprisingly, a blast of electricity fills the room once again, seeming to fill the entire space for a second or two. Then, the machine begins to reset itself, whirring and clicking back into original position. The light on the outer door turns green again, and Alpha is able to open it with a slight touch.
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 3 - continued 30 Kurshkin
Ikto, after seeing his ally go down, is angered by the gremlins smugness. He moves forward and unleashes a buffeting storm upon the pugwampi leader. Lightning flashes from the storm, but the agile gremlin manages to avoid any damage. Iovia continues to heal wounded party members, this time restoring the fallen M'Baba almost as soon as he goes down. Her spell revives him to full health once again. The cleric then spins up another shield spell to protect herself from the sharpshooting gremlin. Za Minyahil uses his magical spellstrike to enchant a wire that he imbues with electrical energy. With a deft attack, he hits the armored gremlin with both the wire and the energy.
critical success
Drat, I’ve always found ABP an interesting option that I don’t get to play with enough. That may be part of why I was interested in this game in the first place. Oh well, too late now. Sorry Grod! You will find that I am very much a traditionalist if I get to choose. Hope you will stick it out with us anyway!
I did get control of the thread from Paizo today. Do you prefer to see maps like Sandpoint etc in the Discord chat (saw the pinned message) or here or both? I will also bring over a slightly different loot tracker to keep up with the gear you find, steal, and buy. Is the current one accurate?
I would prefer to stay away from ABP if its all the same to you. If it looks like you are struggling with the challenges, we will balance it out with magic items, NPCs or other means.
To be honest, I hadn't really looked at the build rules until now. They seem very generous which may mean the Challenge rating of encounters may have to go up, or the WBL may have to come down to offset. In fact, the text around Automatic Bonus Progression suggests reducing magical item frequency. Is that how you want to play it? I haven't looked at Hero Lab to know if the optional build rules are available for toggling on but will investigate tomorrow. Thanks for the character thumbnails, feel free to share more, or any deep dark secrets via spoiler or PM.
The group heads off, with the lovers in front, and the others trailing a decent distance behind. As the morning wears on, the fog that was very thick at dawn burns off and visibility is no longer affected. Moving north along the east bank of the river, a dilapidated looking wagon comes into view on the west bank. Not a moving cart, but something broken down looking and old, there seems to be a bit of an old path there as well that leads along the western bank. As you get a bit closer, the smell of a fire becomes evident, and you can just make out a flicker of flame and a plume of smoke off to the right (east) of where you ride along the river bank. Of the leading pair, Graham spots some kind of movement in a large tree about 60' to the north, which happens to be across the stream. There appears to be an occupied wooden platform about 20' off the ground there. Since the lovers aren't really trying to be stealthy, soon enough a voice calls out from the direction of the platform. "Oy! Stop there, you! Drop yer weapons, an' dismount. Slowly!"
Secret Checks:
Hey all! Thanks for giving me a chance to rescue your game. I have run RotRL several times before and was once upon a time a 4-star PFS GM for PF1, but moved all my game playing to PF2 some time back. Have run countless numbers of IRL games and more than a handful of PBP campaigns as well. So I have some experience, but will admit to be quite rusty around PF1 things -- I am sure it will come back quickly. Runelords is one of my favorite-ist stories and I look forward to making the world of Sandpoint (and beyond) come to life for you. I live in US Mountain time zone, and usually post nightly around 9PM or later, and will post on weekends if you want to. I will do my best to give advance notice if I am going to miss extended time (or even a day) but sometimes its not possible. I appreciate any feedback on my gameplay style or how we can make the game more enjoyable for you. Feel free to share here or via private message. My main role here is to make the game fun for you and tell a great story. I take both those responsibilities seriously. I will try to read up to speed and learn a bit about your characters and backstories. I usually make and keep an updated version of my games PCs on Hero Lab so I may be asking you some build questions etc. to make sure we start on the same page. Look forward to journeying together. Tell me things i should know!
Great! I will post in the game and discussion threads, and then send "the email" to customer service to get the thread moved under my control. will read up, and likely ask some questions and try to get things rolling soon!
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 3 30 Kurshkin
The pugwampi moves back to the center of the platform, closing the distance to Za Minyahil who falls within the unluck aura. It then fires its shortbow twice, targeting M'Baba with one shot and Ikto with the other. The first shot scores a direct hit in the throat of M'Baba and drops him like a stone with one hit. "That's what you get for messing with gremlins!" shouts Kurshkin. The arrow fired at Ikto hits, but only grazes the deft druid. The hammer-wielding gremlin makes a series of attacks against Za Minyahil who stands toe to toe with shield raised. One attack is with the maul and the other is with the razor sharp teeth of the gremlin. The jaw snaps shut without biting the ghoran, but the hammer stroke does mash Za Minyahil, though the magus does interpose their shield to reduce some of the damage.
critical
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 2 - concluded M'Baba takes advantage of this positioning to strike at the off-guard insectile gremlin. His strike, even with unluck, does hit the creature, but it cannot penetrate its hard exoskeleton and no damage is dealt. The rogue then shifts away from the any counterattack, and out of the unluck aura emanating from the pugwampi.
End of Round 2
Fooled at least one of you then...Ridge is a good player, and happy to have him in the Strength of Thousands game I run here.
Ambush at the Ceremony - Round 2 - continued 30 Kurshkin
Iovia uses her magic to good effect, first casting a shielding cantrip on herself just in case the combat heads her way, then using her healing font to restore M'Baba and close the rogue's wounds completely. Ikto ignores Iovia's tactical advice and uses his fire-creating cantrip on the insect-like gremlin, scalding that target for more damage while move up the ramp a bit. Za Minyahil also moves to attack the nearest foe, flanking the armored gremlin, but both his attacks against that foe miss. As part of the last strike, the magus raises his hide shield, trying to gain as much protection as he can, now that he is melee.
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