GM Nine-Tuiles's page

Starwing ruffles her feathers and caws up at Belladonna.

Starwing winks up at her master.

---

"There's some dried fruit in this one," offers the halfling, "and this one is supposed to taste like a hearty jalapeno-potato-bacon stew." They hold up two packs; the fruit-bearing one seems tinned, while the "soup" comes in a sealed pouch. "If you want the soup, I'd toss it against the logs for a few minutes and fish it out with this!"

They lean their head toward a pair of campfire tongs resting against the log they're sitting on.

---

Sanga clears her throat.

"OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--"

The lyrics are bad and the singing is worse. Thankfully, the strings on her axe aren't loud enough to sound bad.

But hey, she puts her heart into it, and that's something, right? Even if her party members wince whenever she goes for high notes.

---

"Hunter," says the archer.

He glances over, then sniffs the air.

"Should you be adventuring in your current state?"

Klyto does his best impression of an RPG character customization's weapon selection screen as Keeyan discusses a foreign concept.

The halfling grins wide. "I'm a connoisseur," she explains. "I'm still hoping to get my hands on some chili from the old 60's Cold War stuff, but the real fun is foreign ones."

She reaches into a bulging pack behind her seat on the log, and rummages around a minute. "Any requests? I'm not holding onto anything I haven't eaten at least once before, at this point."

Concern melts from both of their faces.

"I'm Ruby," says the firey one, "and this is Thyste."

Thyste offers a quick smile, while Ruby's lasts longer. "I wouldn't mind giving her more attention," admits Thyste, "but my touch is a little cool and I don't know if creatures-I-thought-were-injured like that."

"I... have a similar problem," adds Ruby, raising her fingers.

I didn't have anything specific in mind, but with a K.Nature that high? Whatever it was, it's venison now!

The halfling speaks up. "Rations? What kind ya got?" they ask. "I'd be happy to trade!"

-------

Starwing flaps over to the duo and begins to roll in the dirt.

Bella's melancholy is interrupted a moment later when the raven, cradled in the ice woman's hands, is presented to her.

"Is your bird okay?" she asks in a soft voice. "It looked like it was trying to take off and then it just kind of went sideways..."

Her girlfriend is crouched beside her with a hand on her shoulder; a very slow, gentle sizzle rises from where her fingers meet the frigid woman's body.

The icy woman is broad-shouldered, with an angular face and skin that shimmers like frost; the firey woman is well into the plus-sizes, and looking directly at her, one can see a heat in the air around her. Their hairstyles mark opposite sides of the spectrum as much as their elements do; Cold has a long, femme hairstyle, while Hot is rocking a short, hard futch undercut.

Starwing tilts her head juuuust a little bit so that only Bella can see, and winks. It's not exactly how she was intending to get attention, but she improvised.

Sanga is thrilled to find Edie's ability to stand up to her bone-crushing, and immediately scoops the tiefling into a bear hug that is, honestly, not really any more safe. Edie, for what it's worth, manages to avoid having her spine crushed, though her ribs do feel a little sore.

"I do!" she grins, bouncing a fist off of her eight-pack.

[b]"Cooking?" she asks, bewildered. "Well, we have leftovers!"

She looks to the archer, who silently rises and moves to one of the tents; it takes him a moment, but he returns with a slab of meat still hanging off of a bone.

It is, admittedly, hard to identify, but it does look thoroughly cooked.

There is a very audible, though admittedly dull, crunch as Klyto's spindly hand collapses in on itself.

The half-orc, for what it's worth, looks pleased.

"SANGA WINS AT FRIENDSHIP!"

Klyto, you'll be prevented from wielding anything with that hand until it's fixed. A Lesser Restoration is probably the best way to fix it, but theoretically you could use more mundane means as well.

It's the sort of damage that'll heal itself, but that hand's gonna be sore and throbbing for a few minutes. As long as you don't plan on getting into a fight before then, you should be fine ;)

The half-orc bard(?) gives Keeyan a confused look. "But I was bein' real gentle! Look, this is what an energetic handshake is like!"

She offers her hand once more.

Anyone who wants to try her "energetic" handshake, please make a DC15 Strength check.

Regardless of whether anyone accepts her handshake, she grins at Klyto.

"We're adventurers, and adventurers like LUTE!"

She gestures toward a log bench for our heroes to sit at, and at the promise of ale, the halfling and the human both produce cups.

Having recently partied with a tribe of orcs, maybe the singing didn't sound toooooo terrible!

The GM appreciates your optimism!

But, alas...

Even her friends wince when she sings, but she doesn't seem to notice-- or care. As Keeyan approaches, she offers a hand, and nearly crushes his if he shakes it.

"The more, the MERRIER!" she yells, grinning wide.

The fire in the -and-ice combo offers a shy wave, while the ice lady pouts behind her, arms folded. The halfling, though, is quick to smile and wave, while the archer doesn't seem inclined to react much to anything.

It takes a little longer this time, but eventually, the ravens lead the group to a likely-enough group. Their leader is a tall, strong half-orc with a greataxe in her lap; it's got strings from one end to the other, and she herself is absolutely ripped.

Her group is fairly mixed; a human with an old compound bow at his feet, a gnc af halfling whittling something away by the unlit fireplace, and two elemental ladies-- one firey, one icy-- who stop making out when the PCs approach. The firey one takes a step to get her girlfriend behind her.

"NEW FRIENDS!" bellows the half-orc. It almost seems like a question.

She begins to strum her lute-axe; it's horrendously out of tune, but when accompanied by her voice, it's not that bad... by comparison.

"NEWWWW FRIENDS, THEY'RE HEEEERE, THEY'RE HERE TO SHAAAARE, A SOOOOONG~"

The skeleton gives a nervous little nod, then begins to lead the way.

I didn't even think of having the skeleton lead you. Y'all are gonna bypass the whole dungeon unless I think of something before my next post!

It sets a slow pace, clearly hesitant, but helping you despite its fear.

The catacombs are deep and complex; you pass other small family groups of skeletons, all of whom peer curiously at you and occasionally exchange a few signs with your guide.

As you progress deeper into the catacombs, the skeletons begin to bear makeshift weapons; some are made crudely out of coffin wood, others of bone.

Starwing flaps up, up, up into the sky.

It's the cleanest air she's breathed in a while. She soars high and as free as she wants, circling and swooping as she attends her duty.

She sees camps dotting the landscape for miles; there's a larger settlement-- a trading outpost?-- but it's a ways off the path that the party is headed. The ones that are along the route are largely small, and populated with humanoids of various stripes; some are intermingled, but others are single-race. It's hard to tell how intentional that is, though, given the small sizes of the groups-- it's possible these are family units, or parties not too dissimilar to your own, or polycules, or...

Well, it's hard to say without actually talking to them.

Each and every camp, however, has a few weapons stashed in easy grabbing range for its inhabitants. A few have what appear to be treasure stashes as well-- nothing enormous, but single chests or small heaps of goods.

Starwing also sees hunters out and about, folks gathering from nature, fletchers forming arrows.

She returns to Bella (assuming Klyto slows the van enough for her to fly back in through the window without risking missing and knocking herself senseless) and relays all this information after about twenty minutes.

The sun is nicely situated in the sky by the time Klyto puts her into Drive and gets Fecklin rolling.

Without the advantage of night, it's harder to see camps in the distance. Everyone rolls Perception:

Bella: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Klyto: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Edie: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21
Keeyan: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Is it just me, or does this party have really good Perception modifiers on average?

Bella's keen elven eyes see them all, however; the scrap metal lean-tos, the small, simple huts, the caves that show signs of humanoid habitation...

Each of them has efforts put in to hide them from strangers' eyes, but Bella's good at picking out signs of danger amidst harmless facades. She had to be, after all.

She's able to tell that each camp seems... small. There are no settlements here-- just small clusters; the biggest one she sees has room for maybe twelve people, at most.

What's the plan re:camps? Avoid, attack, investigate?

What do you think this party is? :3c

Gonna roll real quick for Doc G, because he's got the highest stat for this and I want to respond to Faith!

Doc G Knowledge: 1d20 ⇒ 19
And that's plenty enough to pass!

The skeleton survivor looks hesitant for a moment, but nods, holding a pair of bony hands to its chest.

"It'll be good to have a guide," says the priestess.

"I'm... not sure, honestly. It does not bode well for the peaceful dead..."

The priestess seems full of sorrow at this.

Anyone who wants to hazard a guess, give me an untyped Knowledge check! Since your characters don't know what it is, I'm not gonna let you know which Knowledge type is relevant.

The bag is tossed to follow its precursor. Assuming no one tries to pull a fast one, this situation is resolved.

The party gets 300gp to split! Solid!

"F***in-- whatever we could scrounge, man! We didn't sit there and count it out!"

It isn't very long before the halfling returns-- thankfully without a horde of his friends. He tosses a golden coin at Klyto's feet, and holds up a tied cloth bag presumably holding many more.

"Will this do?"

The halfling swears kind of a lot and unstraps his armor, which falls to either side of his dog (who is growling, but not much else). His lance hits the grass as well, and he and his dog are off up the hill shortly thereafter.

"Fine, fine!" barks the rider, "I've got cash back at camp! Let me go get it, and I'll throw a bunch of cash at you in return."

Game: reported! I'm so used to trying to report during times the Paizo boards are broken, so it was nice to not have to redo it twice.

OH SHOOT I FORGOT TO REPORT

h-hold on let me just--

Aelia gives a quick, anxious nod and steps forward.

Aelia clearly hasn't used her signs in a while; the skeleton hasn't, either, and the motions often include pauses inbetween.

"I did not know that was possible!"

"Oh, what's the sign for 'Rovagug'..."

"That cannot be good!"

After some more signing, she turns back to the group.

"The skeleton says that, apparently, they've been rising whenever the consecration lapses for years now, and they usually try to get back in their coffins when they hear someone coming-- but they didn't notice us until we'd reached them, this time."

"If I'm reading the signs right, it sounds like they were not the only ones. Many Shelynites have been buried here, but something... else rises deep within, preying upon the skeletons when they rise."

"They've been staying up here just to keep away from it."

Aelia slowly raises a hand.

Aelia also has suddenly found a few more scrolls and wands in her robes, by the way, to compensate for our poor bathroom-ridden accountant!

The last survivor shivers, its bones clattering still. It turns its head slowly back toward Joe and the rest of the group; when death does not come, it cocks its head, clacks its teeth together a few times, and then makes a few motions: first, pointing to Joe; then, pointing to its own head; then, it points upward with both fingers and cycles them in a motion not unlike pedaling backwards on a bicycle.

"Whoa whoa whoa hold up!!" hollers the one covered in gunk.

"You need to ask a question for us to answer!" points out the other.

Joe isn't able to land a solid blow-- but it doesn't matter all that much as Docta G's verse hits; its skull bobs to the beat for a moment before it opens its jaw in a soundless scream, engulfed in flames.

It clatters to the floor, a pile of blackened bones.

The red skeleton reaches out toward the burning one, but there is little it can do. It cowers in the corner and turns its head away from Joe, bony fingers clasped together.

Docta G
Red (-1, Prone)
Faith
Joe

"That's the idea, yeah."

The halfling shrugs.

Hope everything goes nicely for you!

Whoops! Have a free point of extra healing!

Splat! Direct hit!

Seeing that he is, effectively, down two (or at least one and a half) allies, the halfling in red puts his hands up. He either forgets to drop his lance or pretends to.

"All right, all right! We'll f*** off!"

Party Status

Keeyan -9
Bella
Klyto
Edie -10

BONK! The rider takes a hammer blow to the shoulder and lets out a high-pitched yipe that sounds almost more like it could have come from their dog.

In retaliation, they rear back and fling another bullet!

But the GM is incapable of rolling well after the initial assault, and the sling bullet paffs into the dirt!

Round 3

Keeyan -13
Red Rider -11
Bella
Klyto
Green Rider (asleep)
Edie -10
Blue Rider -13

Keeyan is up!

That's because Google Translate doesn't have a translation, so it's translating "Skulk" into a loanword instead. So "Skulk" becomes "Sukaruku." ス (su) カ (ka) ル (ru) ク (ku)

We can keep that, though! Unless you know both languages, it's not going to be a dead giveaway, so it's got a layer of subterfuge. I think otherwise we're looking at:
Kitsunetachi 狐たち (although we could drop the "-tachi" if desired, leaving us with 狐)
Kyuubi 九尾 (from "kyuubi no kitsune," or "nine-tailed fox"; if we look at all the kitsune who have finished a module with us, there are nine kitsune in total, which probably has Hiiragi buzzing back home! How auspicious!!)

Or, if we want to be punny, we can just have a cube with a B in it. Cube B. Kyuubi.

So what's going on your flag Onna? Glyph of the Open Road is the obvious choice - could go for Daikitsu's nine tails though?

A tasteful pinup of a shrine maiden, I’m sure!

I stole it from another GM on the boards and have been doing it ever since!

Fine by me! Looks like ya nailed it!

Chronicles! I'll get to reporting before too long... hopefully.

The undead are returned to the earth from whence they once were once nourished (with Skullface's begrudging assistance), and the group makes their way down the mountain without further incident. As soon as they're considered to no longer be on the mountain, they find their way back to Oppara and in Muesello's tackle shop once more.

He raises both eyebrows as you bring in an exhausted-looking Quint, wearing only his smallclothes, a cloak, and as much rope as the group could manage. He waves you into the back quickly enough.

"All right, all right. Did you two learn an important lesson about working together?" he asks Kenta and Utara with a raised eyebrow. "At any rate, you have the scepter, yes?"

Klyto's hammer THRUMMMs into the red rider's chest! The GM realizes she forgot to take a note of Edie's damage earlier, also!

The green rider, meanwhile, slumps right off the back of their doggo and hits the ground, fully asleep.

"Nunya!" hollers Red.

Round 3

Keeyan -13
Red Rider -11
Bella
Klyto
Green Rider (asleep)
Edie -10
Blue Rider -7

Oh, if anybody's got a spare reroll, now's the time to see if you can squeeze more cash out of your Day Job!

The lance-holding rider wheels around, rears back, and then comes down, the full force of his lance coming down toward Klyto!

Toward being the operative word; Klyto hops at just the right moment, and it goes between his side and his arm.

Round 3

Keeyan -13
Red Rider
Bella
Klyto
Green Rider
Edie (-10)
Blue Rider

How is a fallen skeleton's AC this high??

Neither Joe nor Faith are able to damage the cowering skeletons! Joe's hilt doesn't have quite the momentum to damage bone, while Faith's blade has much the same issue.

Joe feels a cold bone start to grab his ankle by the jeans, but with a quick jerk, he's able to free himself and can take an AoO if he wishes!

Blue (-1, Prone)
Docta G
Red (-1, Prone)
Faith
Joe AoO

The Good Docta can go, and Joe can take an AoO!

*BONK*

The halfling in blue takes a solid thwack, but manages to stay in the saddle! Figuring revenge is a dish best served piping hot, the rider directs their mount to leap back.

Another sling bullet takes to the air!

And embeds itself right in that nice armor! The punch knocks the wind out of Edie-- but not enough to knock her out of the fight!

Round 3

Keeyan -13
Red Rider
Bella
Klyto
Green Rider
Edie (-10)
Blue Rider

Keeyan can... cast from under the car, I guess?

The rider on the green doggo canters to the side! Is it still cantering if it's a dog, though?

Now unhindered by the mist, the halfling is able to hit... nothing, actually. A sling bullet sails harmlessly over Klyto's head.

Round 2

Keeyan -13
Red Rider
Bella
Klyto
Green Rider
Edie
Blue Rider

Edie is up!

Rad!

The mist dissipates as suddenly as it formed, and now Keeyan is gone!

Well, he's hard to spot, anyway.

Unless you follow the bloodstains...

Anyway. The rider in the thick of it turns on his dog, reaches out--

--and his lance slides off of Klyto's armor. Aside from maybe a sore shoulder tomorrow, the wayang is fine!

His doggo takes a Withdraw action and retreats back to the line!

Round 2

Keeyan -13
Red Rider
Bella
Klyto
Green Rider
Edie
Blue Rider

Bella and Klyto are up!

And all effective!

The one skeleton remaining on its feet is torn from the others, its scorched bones flying across the room and falling to the floor, bones rolling about in all directions.

Red, meanwhile, crawls over to cover behind some coffins!

Blue (-1, prone)
Docta G
Red (-1, prone)
Franklin
Faith
Joe

Everyone but Docta G is up!

I think you're right about the Mist; I've reordered it and scooted you to the nearest van space! Dropping prone is a free action, and I don't recall what you can and can't do with a crawl, but I'm gonna say you can do it with a move action and don't provoke due to the Obscuring Mist so it's not worth thinkin' too hard about anyway. :D

...And yes, if you'd like, you can dismiss the mist as a Standard, which you have time for this turn.

Kenta takes a few seconds to realize that he should probably remove Quint's helmet before trying to apply any aid; once he's finished, Quint'll prrrrrrobably be fine?

I'll start working on Chronicles. Unless someone decides to take the "fast route" down the mountain, you all managed to get through this entire scenario without taking a single hit!

I think I've ruled before that Phidoe moves with whoever he's climbing; I'm sticking with it. I meant to move Phidoe's marker too, but I ended up experimenting with different actions before settling on one and forgot about the itty-bitty marker :P

Toshiko takes a quick step back, and a starknife goes flying once more!

Toss: 1d20 + 11 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 11 - 4 = 19
Damage: 1d4 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

With a slice and a nasty splat, the ghoul's head hits the snow; its body follows a moment after.

Meanwhile, Quint carries a weird dog that's very good at kicking him in the head.

With one firm kick followed by two kicks that, combined, do as much damage as the first, Harvestmaster Quint shudders, falls to his knees, and collapses in the snow, unconscious.

COMBAT RESOLVED

The remaining rider, smelling blood in the water-- figuratively-- launches another bullet into the mist!

1d20 ⇒ 4

That one doesn't even make a noise; it probably lands in the grass, but no one can really tell.

Too bad he didn't notice Edie to his right...

Round 1
Keeyan -13
Red Rider
Bella
Klyto
Green Rider
Edie
Blue Rider

Keeyan is up!