Defah IV Godspeaker's page

I wasn't so much saying that I didn't want to do a module as that I just haven't been feeling up to regular participation on the boards in general the last few weeks. I don't know if it's fair of me to slow down the games for everyone else with my laggy posting

As for the series instead of modules, I've either already played, or am playing in each of those series already. For those who started at 0 XP (like Defah), we'd need a regular scenario (Confirmation? It's still fun even after doing it a half-dozen times) and then a module (The only ones that I've already done are the first level of Thornkeep and WBG) to get to level three.

boon roll: 1d20 ⇒ 12

If there's going to be a module, it may be best to play it without me; I've not been very focused on my games this month, and probably would be similarly distracted if we do a module.

Defah would definitely want to rest up in character; I used up all my spells preparing to fight those wussy northerners.

No reason not to contact the sage right away though.

Well, that was convenient timing, wasn't it? You treasure hunters going to help out with this?

As suggested, Defah will use the ghostbane dirge on the Allip.

These lot seem rather suspicious. Awfully big coincidence for them to happen to show up at the same time as those we were trying to beat to this place when no one but Pathfinders have been here in decades.

Defah watches the trio quietly; especially the two who aren't doing all the talking. If they're lying, those two might be the ones who give it away.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

I'd forgotten about the dirge actually. Whatever's approaching seems rather noisy for ghosts, but if it turns out that they are, then I'll use it on them.

I'll have a quick look Borax, but then I think we ought to prepare for a battle.

Defah will cast detect magic, first looking at the gem. If it isn't magical, then he'll stop worrying about it for the moment.

After that, as time allows before whomever is approaching arrives, he'll cast ironbeard on Darvik and then shield on himself before taking up a position near the entrance, spear at the ready.

It seems sensible that they all need to be flipped to the right to fully deactivate all the traps. Assuming the note isn't some manner of ruse.

I'll have a look at them Teric. I agree that it's very odd how many Pathfinders have been killed in this place; especially by what seem to have been unsophisticated traps.

Spellcraft (Wand): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Spellcraft (Gem): 1d20 ⇒ 8
Spellcraft (Ring): 1d20 ⇒ 17

Agreed Darvik, but let's be careful about this bridge; it would be unfortunate to find out the hard way that part of it is illusory or otherwise cleverly trapped.

Defah will poke the bridge with his spear as he crosses it.

Defah has a look into the chasm ;can he see more with his darkvision than the humans?

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

It is rather alarming that you saw more than the rest of us Darvik. If there are ghosts in this place, I do hope they're not the sort that take control of the living.

Did any part of that remind me of any historical or religious end-times stories?

Know(History): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Know(Religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Defah will do as Prothero asks. detect magic on the room.

I wonder if this was a trap, or a battle?

I'm home again, thankfully. Trying to post on my phone is always frustrating when I spot the random words that swype decided to chose to put in my sentences when it's too late to edit them.

It might be useful to know when he died. Perhaps he can trek us the date of his death?

I'll be unable to access the boards from first thing tomorrow morning until at least midday Wednesday (Mountain Time).

Those seem like the best place to start. If you are able to question him beyond that, the answers to initial questions will likely suggest their own follow-ups. Hopefully he has not been dead too long to have relevant information for us.

I certainly agree that it really looks like a ghost-mugging is likely. Also that I should use ghostbane dirge. Maybe Teric should cast the magic weapon (probably on Darvik) though? Or the two of us could switch those around. Just so we don't have the risk of you getting a one on the UMD roll.

I agree that Borax should do the questioning as well. And since we don't know how powerful the effect is, we don't know how many questions he'll be able to ask, we should determine the most important questions to ask first.

I thought it was the Emerald sage that we were trying to track down?

I don't know about Sior, but Defah certainly wants to mess about with the sarcophagus; we have reason to believe it's magical, and not using available magic is practically sacrilegious to Nethys.

I'm just assuming there's a current occupant. To some extent it'd be better for us if it were currently empty as we'd skip directly to questioning one of the people in the last couple of rooms. Whoever is in there now may well have been dead too long to know anything useful to us about the sages.

These notes would seem to be very relevant to our mission. We should ask whomever is in the sarcophagus about the Diamond Sage or the jewels. We won't get to ask many questions though - best to sort out what exactly we'll ask it first.

And if need be, we could always put one of the dead Pathfinders we've found in the other rooms in it to ask questions of them as well over the next day or two. Whoever is in interred in there won't mind if he was a devotee of Nethys; no point in having a magic sarcophagus and then not using it.

Anything interesting Borax? I've never had the chance to learn the ancient language.

Prominent golden sarcophagi are always something to be careful of.

Defah will take a moment to say a minor prayer at the altar before going to look at the sarcophagus.

Are there any markings on or near it to give some idea of who is interred in it?

Content to let Borax communicate with the elemental, Defah is much more interested in the dead man's magical gear.

[ooc]Does identifying an item w/ detect magic and spellcraft require touching the items? Because Defah would prefer not to touch the man's gear until we determine how he became trapped in here.[/ooc

Spellcraft belt: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
Spellcraft wand: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19
Spellcraft scimitar: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

"Drowned in a desert"? Did this man convince the elemental to kill him to avoid the slow death of starvation?

The destructive side of Nethys' personality is normally associated with the burnt side of his body, and the protective side of his personality with the whole side.

So the destruction cartouche belongs on the burnt side. The Prosperity, Rune, and Protection cartouches should all be on his whole side. I suppose that leaves the Knowledge cartouches on the burnt side as well.

I chose the "free masterwork weapon or shield" boon. Going to build an oracle around the glaive that it gives.

I am sorry Prothero. It seems that I can neither understand what is causing the effect, nor take it from you. Perhaps there will be a solution somewhere inside; maybe that's why she was here in the first place.

K (religion) to recognize my patron: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
K (religion) to decipher the cartouches: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

I strongly suspect that he was burned to death by getting the cartouche puzzle wrong. Nethys is god of all magic; and magic can be used
to defend or to attack those who would steal from you.

Defah is gawking at the architecture of the chamber when Prothero first picks up the stone.

Huh? Stone? Can't put it down? How interesting. I'm not nearly as much the theoretical magician as many of brethren, but let's see if I can discern anything about your new rock.

Defah casts detect magic and tries to identify the stone.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Should that not prove helpful, he retrieves the steel canister that the stone once occupied, to see if it provides any insight.

Prothero, try putting the stone back in this canister. Perhaps Asha here was able to safely transport it inside the container.

If all else fails, I'll try to take it from Prothero. It would be good to know if it's at least possible to transfer the stone to a willing recipient.

It certainly seems that this place is well-named. We should avoid touching anything else without careful consideration while we're here.

Defah's perfectly happy bringing up the rear. He's better suited to fixing up his teammates than to getting smacked around himself.

Salt is very important Darvik; especially in a hot climate like this. But I think that this is not the sort of salt you eat or pay soldiers with.

Defah's going to poke around in the chimney; it looks like a good place to hide things. Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

It certainly seems as if we've beaten the competition here. It would behoove us to be thorough in our examination of these outer areas before rushing into the main holding. Your approach seems wise to me Prothero.

This place could really use some maintenance.

Unfortunately, I cannot provide such assistance today Borax.

Seeing that the zombies were too smart to trigger any attack of opportunity, Defah decides to be more direct and circles around behind them, before attempting to stab #2.

longspear, flanking: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 4 + 2 = 22
piercing: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

I'm a dwarf who embraced his Charisma penalty by dumping it further, what can I say? Besides, Channel isn't exactly a strong offensive option even with a good Charisma, so I didn't think I was giving much up.

Don't let 'em touch you! They're contagious!

What's special about plague zombies as opposed to just plain zombies?

Defah shouts Plague Zombies! as he steps past the others, getting closer to the undead menace. Holding his holy symbol aloft, he shouts Nethys demands your destruction, undead filth! Channel Positive Energy to harm undead: 1d6 ⇒ 2 DC 8 Will for half. Sensing that that will not be sufficient to dissuade these horrors, Defah returns his grip to his spear, and waits for the monsters to approach. No readied action; just hoping to get an AoO when they close in.

Concealment, but not Total Concealment, yes? As in I can still see them to know that there's a threat and to identify them?

Know (religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Perhaps there's something we must do to demonstrate that we are honest travellers seeking shelter and the winds will stop?

Aid?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Perhaps a lower centre of mass would help?

Strength: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Someone should definitely take that antitoxin. There are plenty of poisonous beasts in the desert.

Defah moves over to get between the gnolls and their apparently preferred target.

That's enough of that, you scum!

And then he'll try to stab #2 with his spear.

longspear, bless: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 4 + 1 = 25
piercing, destructive smite: 1d8 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9

confirmation roll: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 4 + 1 = 23
crit bonus damage: 2d8 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (4, 8) + 8 + 2 = 22

IIRC, the secondary was to keep the hostage alive in the boss fight. And the boss kills the hostage on his first turn. Our group talked about it afterward and none of us could see any way that, given our characters, we could have stopped him doing so. (Actually, looking back, Sior was the GM for that game, so we might be remembering the same playthrough.)

Mostly the new secondaries seem to be along the lines of do even better than the explicitly stated requirements, so I haven't felt surprised by what it was yet. I'm expecting not to get one on Quest for Perfection because our goon squad of a team has blown so many skill checks at potentially interesting places that it's come down to walk from A to B, get the McGuffin and walk back to A, killing everything on the way.

I haven't even played very much and I've missed a secondary point. My group didn't get the second point for cyphermage dilemma, and I'm pretty sure that my group that's doing quest for perfection right now isn't getting a second point either since we failed every non-combat check throughout it.

Okay, repositioned myself further to the left then. Hopefully I'm threatening from here.

Know(local): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21 Untrained; but I'm assuming that these won't be more than DC 10 anyhow.

Defah casts bless on the party before moving toward the creature in the centre of the map. Everyone has +1 morale to attack and save vs. fear for ten rounds.

Is the rock difficult terrain, or is it providing total cover? If it's total cover, I'll want to change my positioning so that I threaten the enemy with my longspear.

Nethys, bless us with your mystical energy that we might smite these filthy beasts!

Oh. Good. I don't mind that there was no opportunity for a second PP then; I figure that you wouldn't always get both on a regular scenario anyhow. I can see it sucking to not get two for your first scenario though.

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

I didn't mind that we were over-cautious about it. A desert is a dangerous place.