Sphen86's page

@Tarphrex: You do not locate any traps or hazards on the book.

@Estella: You find the remaining corpse to be plainly dressed in a loincloth and without possessions. If you stir through the ash piles left by the other two, it is the same. You can think back to the obvious wounds that went untreated on each of the bodies; one was stuck with multiple black-fletched arrows, another had their head cleaved in two, the last moved like all its bones had been broken.

@Tarphrex 2: I'd probably do it as a spell being cast. Maybe with a +5 to the DC since it has happened, but then lower it again since you're out of combat and not rushed. Regardless, that 7 will be insufficient.

Looking back on Mammy's post where she attacked, I realize that it was unclear. Mammy pulled the wand, but never used it. She cast the two spells from her spell list, and pulled the wand for future use. Not that it makes much of a difference, but I worded it poorly.

I'm listening to Find the Path (my favorite podcast) play through War for the Crown. They're on book 2 and I want them to finish it before I try to run/read it to avoid spoilers.

Missed this! Happy Birthday! I’ve never played War for the Crown. *whistles innocently*

This one will likely be done in person. As it stands, I don't see us finishing RotRL before my kids go to college.

I do hope everyone gets through the holidays with as little stress as possible. A reminder of the holiday break as well. I won't be on much starting the 20th of this month through Jan 2nd.

Got an awesome birthday present yesterday. The entire War for the Crown AP with the map folio and pawn collection. Thrilled.
It'll be years before I get to run it, but it's going on the list.

@Ceven: The front door is destroyed, knocked off its hinges and into the house. That's what triggered the traps.

@Ceven 2: You fly up and start ripping off boards. You reveal a room cramped with large, filthy beds. (More description if/when you rip more boards or otherwise enter the room.)

@Tarphrex: (A wonderful way of putting it.)
Also, you find no traps.

@Elisani: You step onto the porch, noticing no additional traps.
Also, what stairs? The steps leading onto the porch? Or are you entering the building and looking for an interior staircase?

Rickety steps crawl up to a porch covered by a huge eave held aloft by thick pillars of pine. These timbers are decorated with crude carvings of manticores impaling children with their tail spikes and women being ripped apart by wolves. The carvings look like a child's work, but the subject matter grows more gruesome and depraved from one depiction to the next. An unsettlingly large rocking chair of lashed wood and bone sways erratically in the breeze at the far end of the porch under a vast menagerie of wind chimes composed of decidedly humanoid bones. The house's windows have all been boarded up with thick timbers, although it's unclear whether this was done to keep intruders out or imprison whatever things make their home within.

Estella puts her back to the door, spear held against her body, ready to quickly bring it to bear on anyone who rushes out the door without seeing her.
Ceven stands back, the rest of the group behind him to witness what will happen. He charges his energy into his hand and sends it hurtling into the door, that opens with a loud crash, blown off its hinges and collapsing to the floor inside....

...which causes large, circular saw blades to spring up between the floor boards of the porch while a heavy scythe blade snaps down to impale anyone standing in the doorway.
Trap Attack vs Estella: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29
Damage: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (2, 1) + 7 = 10
(Great hit, bad damage)

The saw blades come up, cutting into Estella's shins, then retract back beneath the porch. The scythe blade stays where it is, quivering slightly from the sudden stop against the door frame.
No sound comes from the house. No shouts of alarm, or questions of 'what was that noise?'.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving and an early MERRY CHRISTMAS. It is my favorite holiday and I am stoked to be back in the season.

I hope you all had a relaxing time and are ready and refreshed for Pathfinder.

Just to make sure that it is said, I will not be posting on Thursday or Friday of this week due to the holiday.

Known entrances for the farmhouse:
There is a front door on the porch, this is on the southern facing wall.
There is a side door on the eastern side, this faces the barn. Both are similiar size (a medium creature would fit in normally).

Not to overly-complicate things, but there are also several windows/boarded up holes where windows used to be.

The farmhouse is two stories tall, the second floor is smaller than the first, suggesting an attic of some sort.

__________

While you look at the farmhouse to size up your options, you turn back to see the fire-pelt cougar licking Jarkardros cheeks while he pets it.

I know some of us are feeling not so great lately, but I would humbly suggest we lose ourselves in the game. Also, to keep the game going.

Yeah, I'm not going to be able to agree with you Ain. I know Kamala wasn't perfect, I personally didn't agree with her on Gaza, but she had the knowledge and exp to do the job. And she was tough enough to do it.

Don is a bigger piece of trash than the Pacific Garbage Patch.

Ceven has the cacoon, and Estella has begun to inspire her allies.

Ain's action (which I will totally forget by the time it falls into Init) is set.

Elisani and Tarphex are still up.

Ain Initiative: 7
Ceven Initiative: 21
Elisani Initiative: 13
Estella Initiative: 13
Sherman Initiative: 21
Tarphrex Initiative: 8
Spider Initiative: 22
Shalelu Initiative: Last in the round

As soon as Sherman has acted, Cev is going to fly up, going along the northern wall, and back to where the trapped person is, pick them up telekinetically (I am assuming the coccoon counts as an unattended object, correct if wrong), and then out through the broken roof and back around to the door they came in through.

You'll have to blast an opening through the webs to go out through any of the holes in the roof. Maybe better to go back through the door.

___________

@Sherman: Not theater of the mind. Let's use the map.

I added the cacooned bodies to the map. The yellow one is the one that moved. The spider is only visible to Elisani, but you've been told it is behind the bodies.

Short update. My oldest is feeling better. She's chipper and upbeat again, back to school tomorrow.

(We're on map page 4 at the moment folks.)
Tarphrex Perception: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 2 = 8
Elisani Perception: 1d20 + 9652 ⇒ (10) + 9652 = 9662
Sneaking around to the front, you detect no traps. The door appears unlocked, but it is a literal barn door. So it will likely make noise to open no matter how careful you are.

Who's going in first?

Well, the strike is tentatively over. The union members are voting on a proposed contract over the next few days. So I'm back to work for now at least, and it seems likely the contract will pass.

Ceven absolutely wants to hear Shalelu's thoughts; she's done this type of work to protect Sandpoint for a really really long time.

Shalelu says, "This cat lead us here for a reason. It's obviously not wild. I would presume the it's master is on this farm, which means it is in danger. We should not rush foolishly in, but we should act quickly."

@Ceven: It's a game con, 3 days, food, mostly Pathfinder 2E, mix in Starfinder, Pathfinder 1E, and D&D 5E. This year we're thinking of trying some Blades in the Dark and the new Monty Python ttrpg.
The workers are all volunteers, mostly my Saturday night gaming group and spouses/families. Some from Hope Lives Youth Ranch (our primary beneficiary, run by some friends of mine, really awesome place check it out as well). Some years we get vendors in, some years we don't.

2025 will be our 3rd year for the Gauntlet and our 12th year over-all. We techincally do have a board of directors. Illinois Sate Law requires us to have at least 3. But we make (amazingly under) $50,000 annualy, so we have few other requirements. Mostly, we just talk to each other about what we're doing year over year, with some people put in charge of specific things.

Kurt runs the kitchen and some of the sponsor work.
Brent runs the website, the final Gauntlet chamber, some sponsor work, and registration during the event.
I run the rest of the Gauntlet, event scheduling, Paizo's outreach, and the money.
We're the main three, as it were, and consitute the board. It's a full 501 c3 charity searchable under the name Knights of the Octagon.

If any of you happen to be in the area around April, I'll pay your registration fees for you. We get players from 4 different states on the regular (not including IL).

Lastly, I hate the name Farmageddon.

Thank you all for your patience for my random break. It was a great time, but now I'm back at work and back at the game.

INITIATIVE!
Ain Initiative: 24
Ceven Initiative: 18
Elisani Initiative: 23
Estella Initiative: 4
Sherman Initiative: 5
Tarphrex Initiative: 4
Enemy Initiative: 11

So we'll have Ceven, Elisani, Estella, and Ain all act.
Then the enemy.
Then Tarphrex and Sherman, and Shalelu

So it's Tarphrex, Sherman, and Shalelu to go. I'll have Shalelu go after the other two.

(A reminder that I won't be back on until Tuesday (but not Wednesday) or Thursday (at the latest). I hope you all have a great weekend. Stay out of trees and don't eat dirt.)

Another day of travel. Shalelu doesn't talk much, even when she needs to give directions she points and expects you to understand.

You've reached the foothills of the mountains now, the going as much up and down as it is forward. Trails and roads have been left far behind, out here the best you can get is an occasional animal run for a short distance. Trees are clumbed into small copses and the grass doesn't reach past the horses' fetlocks.

As the sun begins to set and you start looking for a suitable campsite, when you hear a yowl nearby. Shalelu calls for an immediate halt, holding a fist up near her head, then points towards a large thicket of trees and brush roughly a hundred yards away.. "There." is all she says before dismounting and leading her horse that direction.

_________

(Presuming you all follow...)
Any method of advance for anyone? Mechanical or flavorful.
Preperatory spells or the like, just in case.
There isn't enough cover to hide with stealth, but you can obviously move quietly.
Not that there's going to be an encounter or anything.
I'm just asking.
For a friend.

I feel like cilantro is overused, but that it will die out as a fad. Like when there was Siracha flavored EVERYTHING for awhile. Here in the midwest we have a ton of hispanic/latin american resturants. We recently got a new one near-by called Hacienda Agave, and they have this seafood taco platter with all the different types of seafood all cooked together. Crab, shrimp, mussels, octopus.

It was delicious.

@Ceven: Ameiko does not respond to the cheek, she's still glaring at Shalelu.

@Ain: Your answer is the only one Shalelu responds to, locking eyes with you and nodding once at your words

@Tarphrex: Though you asked Shalelu, it is Ameiko who answers. Though still looking at the elf, the words are meant for you (and any else listening).
"It has to be Jakardros. You wouldn't do this for anyone else."
Shalelu just nods once. Ameiko sighs, finally letting go of some of her frustration. She explains for her reticent companion. "Jakardros Sovark is Shalelu's adoptive father. He's a well respected member of the Black Arrows and helped raise Shalelu before I met her."

Shalelu fills in the part that only she can. "I don't know exactly where to find him. I'm going to Fort Rannick."

Ameiko chimes back in, "I agree that there seems to be more going on. You should all spend the day getting as equipped as you can and you can leave in the morning." When Shalelu looks to protest, likely to say they should leave as soon as possible, Ameiko cuts her off. "We don't know what is behind all this, and you should be as prepared as possible."

______________-

For anyone wondering, Book 3 of Rise of the Runelords was published in Oct of 2007. Well before Game of Thrones became popular.

Sandpoint is as you remember, or heard it described for those who've never been here before, rustic leisure. The people here lead simple lives, but good ones, with few in need.

You pas the Goblin Squash Stables, the cantankerous owner (named Hosk) eyes the group suspicously. But Sherman and Tarprhex's presence is enough to stop him from saying anything.

The Rusty Dragon Inn is a landmark in town, a common spot for the villagers to stop for lunch or dinner. Made more so by the large, iron dragon on the roof. Two wooden stories, the top floor is rooms to rent, the bottom is the bar and the living space for Ameiko Kaijitsu and Bethana (a halfling woman).

Hitching your mounts outside, you enter to find the common room largely empty. A older couple sits in one corner playing checkers, and at the bar Ameiko is chatting with another man.

She brightens when she sees you, her smile still not as bright as it was before her entire family was brutually murdered. But she is happy to see welcome faces. "Sherman! Tarphrex! Come in, come in."
The smile drops some when the group enters, however. Those of you who've meet Ameiko know she was once an adventurer herself, and a storyteller of some talent. She knows what it likely means if heroic types are traveling with new companions. She gestures to a table, coming over solemnly to sit with you. "I see you have made new friends." She prompts Sherman and/or Tarphrex, steeling herself for bad news.

Everyone make sure you've purchased what you want to purchase. Sandpoint won't have the selection of Magnimar, so get it while you can.

The next few days pass in leaps and bounds for everyone. In some moments, hours seem to pass as you sit with your thoughts. Other drag on interminably. More funerals, more grieving, more sorrow. These times take the longest and leave you feeling wrung out.

As Sister Dunmorrow assured you, the trial for Xanesha (the lamia matriarch) is both quick and decisive. Her judgement carried out the same day. You are all invited to witness the proceedings, and a crowd gathers to witness the hanging. Which is followed by a beheading. The head is then burned, as is tradition for particularly dangerous criminals and/or those who have founded a cult.

Whether you attend or not, you are all also contacted by a person named Sabriyya Kalmeralm, known locally as the Princess of the Market. There is no explanation of how she knows what she knows, or why she cares, but each letter contains a promise of protection and discounts in the Bazaar of Sails (Magnimar's largest marketplace). (The discount equates to being able to buy adventuring gear for 10% off, and magical gear for 5% off in the city of Magnimar. This is retroactive and I know I should have said something sooner, but I just thought of it.)

The week passes, and life seems to be returning to normal. You all meet one evening, feeling the need to share in the expierence you had with each other. In the final hours of sunlight, the group gathers at Sherman Blake's chapel.

________________

@Alain: Obviously Quinn did a kill steal, so I presume instead of using your smite evil on a corpse, you'd prefer to move and extract your revenge upon the alchemist? Permission granted.

So Loth and Tarphrex continue up the stairs to the next floor, move as queitly as the wood beneath their feet will allow....
The floor of this room has a thick carpet of sawdust, penetrated by two large log splitters and saws set up over openings in the floor.
Another pair of openings is fitted with winches and ropes to raise and lower uncut lumber from below.
...4 more workers are in this room. The saws and splitters are shut off, at the moment, and the four move about the machinery with rags and oil, or buckets of grease with laddles. Whetstones lie to one side for later use.
Percpetion 1: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (10) + 10 - 5 = 15
Percpetion 2: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (1) + 10 - 5 = 6
Percpetion 3: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (4) + 10 - 5 = 9
Percpetion 4: 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (18) + 10 - 5 = 23
One of them stops what they're doing, and peers towards the staircase. They stare for a loooooooong moment, your hearts beating loudly in your ears, before one of the other workers chides them back to their job. But they still glance over on occasion.

What do you do?

Have the battlefield/map be the beast itself. Weak points on the body need to attacked, each one further weakening the creature. More normal sized enemies will directly oppose the PC's. Like fleas protecting their host/home.

A creature that has to be defeated from the inside. The dungeon crawl is its internal systems. Jumping islands (un-dissolved food) floating in stomach acid. The maze that is the cardiovascular system. Electrical damage from the nerves firing.

Let me make sure I'm very clear on something. This is you all. You wrote back stories that are rooted in the world and tied to the places you'll be. You gave me goals and motivations for your characters. You have been role-playing with these characters and each other for the past week with little to no input from me. You stuck around the game after a holiday break and then I had the month from hell. You are all excellent players that I am nothing but proud to be GMing for. All I did was paint a scene, you did the performance.

And for those who ares till waiting, I have the ideas. One of you is looking for information on their mentor and some relics. I read that and though, Book 4. Another had a fore-telling dream, Book 5 all the way. I have such plans for you all, so do me a favor and don't die.

@Zenaida: It's in the negatives, auto-crit with the coup de grace, I don't think we need to bother. Even if it failed, you could just try again.

______________

@Everyone: As Loth draws his blade to do this dark deed, he pauses for the briefest of moments, looking to his comrades for confirmations. He has truly come a long way from monitoring shipments for his merchant family. When everyone agrees, Zenaida takes the burden upon herself, severing the head from the body.
Black blood oozes sluggishly from the newly opened wound, staining the floor.

Wheat next, everyone? Search the room? Search any other part of the complex? Razkiv pulls out the surprise piñata he's been carrying and you have a surprise birthday party for Loth? Head back to Sandpoint?

Kib looks down at the new corpse at his scaly feet. He mutters to himself before shaking his head slowly. "Why does this always happen?"
He then (as respectfully as he can) starts going through the creatures' pockets.

Kib just says, "NOPE!" as he closes that door.

3rd action, move across the room to the other door while muttering.
"Why can't there ever just be treasure. Surely someone has to be dumb enough to leave an unlocked door that is easy to access to something useful." sigh "Someday."

Kib opens the door.

..... and enters a loading screen.

Picture if you will, a small bronze scaled kobold frozen in place and spinning ever so slowly while helpful hints appear periodically on the screen.

Did you know that stabbing creatures usually kills them?
Not dead yet? Try stabbing it some more!

Oh, you know how it is. First we got up and had breakfast, then walked, then took a break, then walked, so on and so forth. Then we found sentient, mobile statue people. Then we talked to them. They're really nice. And then we kind of blacked out a bit, I think. And then we talked to the statue ladies some more. They want to teach us stuff. Like, lots of stuff. I'm learning Azlanti. Listen. Kib points to the bonfire and says.

THE RABBITS LEAP TO THE ATTACK, SLAUGHTERING YOU ALL INDISCRIMINATELY!!! THESE VORPAL HARES SHOW NO MERCY AND YOU ARE ALL SLAIN WITHIN MOMENTS!! LAY YOUR CURSES UPON BUMBO FOR UNLEASHING THESE UNHOLY TERRORS UPON THIS POOR, UNSUSPECTING WORLD!!

@Mizzug: You didn't need to confirm. You cleave the goblins head from his scrawny neck in one swing. And the RED goblin is off the board.

@Aventail: Correct on the cover. Any creature that you can't share a space with (which I believe is more than 2 size categories difference) provides soft cover unless/until you take the phalanx formation feat.
Also, the blue goblin will take an attack of opportunity on you for leaving side down the stairs...
Sword Attack: 1d20 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 - 2 = 4
... another miss.

@Loth: Don't forget to update your HP from Dol's healing.

@Bumbo: We'll apply it to the one that Mizzug didn't chop the head off of...
Will Save: 1d20 - 1 - 2 ⇒ (12) - 1 - 2 = 9
... a failure. That one is dazed.

@Dol: I don't actually have anything to say about your turn. I just wanted you to feel included.

_______

I'll wait for Razkiv's actions this turn, seeing as how this fight is so down to the wire I don't want to make any assumptions (especially for a caster). Have a good weekend everyone.

I'm confused on the attack against the wolf. Is the basic damage 1d6+2? The wolf has an AC of 14, so only the one hit and a non-confirmed crit if I'm interpreting those rolls correctly?

WOLF
The wolf moves next to Sunyata, recognizing her as an enemy of its enemies and wanting something to watch its back. It bites out at the sailor in front of it (due south).
Bite Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 = 25
Bite Damage: 1d6 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 2 = 6 . & Trip Attempt: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 4 + 2 = 23

_____

Rush moves up to the railing and looks for the strongest, least afraid slave that's chained up.
Perception?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9 . or . Sense Motive?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Once he sights whichever one he thinks is best, he casts a spell on them.
It is not in our nature to be bound as such! And casts Liberating Command. That slave gets to make an Escape Artist check as an immediate action with a +10 bonus (on top of his regular score).

EDIT: I went back and added in Taps bonuses. Cause I remembered this one time.

Rush, from over by the wheel, sees Jack bravely leap into the fray in a counter-boarding action, a one man army, a man on a (suicide) mission, and decides he could use a little help. Taking a small step closer, Rush summons the spirit of a great hunter from the beyond, and a celestial wolf appears: Wolf

The wolf has but one command, kill the clones.... It attacks....
Bite Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
With a trip attempt on a hit: Trip: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
And Bite Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

... all on the pirate next to the wolf but not in front of Jack.

Can I do any sort of check to see if Rush can read what (if any) maneuver they might be trying?

Either way.....
Profession (Sailor): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Rush wants to skirt their ram, just enough to shove them off to the side but let their ram sink into the wood.
Rowers! Pirates with rowers often means slaves!

Try 5-99 Paths We Choose.

This was it. Thanks for the help. Both here and GM Shared Prep.

@TwilightKnight and Nefreet: It's a new character with an old bonus. I played "The Paths We Choose" almost 6 years ago. I just never used that part of the chronicle until (apparently) I made this other character.

Also, it's a total my bad for not following the instructions and "providing a copy of this chronicle" as per the instructions.

Mawwige. Mawwige is what bwings us togewther, here, today. Let's do it.

Rush drops the rope he was working on, barely catching Tap's hat as he dives into the water. Rush looks after him with a confused expression, looks around the ship, notices nothing (with his +2 Perception), shrugs his shoulders, puts the captains hat on his head, picks up the rope and keeps weaving it into a net.

@Raz: Once you finally float near enough, you are able to gather all of the items easily.

@Raz/Dol: The wand and scroll both glow with magic. I don't remember if I've said this specifically yet or not, but here's hoping I'm repeating myself. To identify an item, you need to hold it. House rule, I know.
Also, I didn't mean what I said earlier. Not all dwarves look the same. You are both unique and beautiful butterflies in a field of amazing.

@Bumbo: The bird flies around, occasionally startled by the flashes of light that randomly wave across the walls.
I picture these lights like the transport sphere in the movie Contact, right before Ellie drops into the machine. Hope that helps someone....

@Loth: The bird does NOT turn into an undead sentinel violence bird, and seems somehow offended by the idea.

___

Presuming anybody does so, Razkiv is easily pulled back to the doorway. Once over the flat, stone floor, gravity reasserts itself and he thumps heavily back to his feet. The items shift in his arms as they too are now subject to the laws of physics. The celestial eagle gives one last cry as it returns to the realm from which it came (probably one of its more pleasant summonings). A small cache of new goodies is yours to peruse. Who would like to do what?

Jack doesn't know it yet, but Rush is there to try and save him.

I should have taken a -2 penalty to those attacks, but there isn't anything that stops you from making a full attack action. Even the "can take no actions that requires two hands" is a grey area in the rules. But the -2 still hits the crude out of the stirge.

Yeah, so much drier, in fact, that you get rampaging fires. Too much water in the south. Here in the middle of the country, we just get out of control winds.

Hope everyone is safe and sound, though, no matter what happens around you.

Just to be clear, Hosk was sent to get guards for Tsuto. He was not sent with Tsuto's body.

Either way, what is the party decision? The tunnel? Or Tsuto?

Or both? Dare you, brave adventurers, take the ultimate risk? Will you....... SPLIT THE PARTY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? insert dramatic music here

The light becomes a little brighter as a small being made entirely of lightning appears next to Tap. Rush yells at the creature in a language that sounds like a tempest.

It is difficult to tell if a face made of clouds and lightning is angry, but this one may be as the small figure turns its attention from Rush to the shark man next to it, bringing his fists down to try and smash into it.

Elemental Slam Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
That gets a +3 if the target is wearing metal armor or using a metal weapon. How 'bout it? Does a 9 hit?

Rush begins limping across the deck, the sound of his peg leg thumping against the wood lost in the sounds of battle. He cries out to the crew, Protect the Captain! If you're not fighting, get those hooks off!
Double move to where I'm at.

GM, is there any knowledge checks I can roll on these shark men? I presume they're Adaro, which Rush doesn't have that knowledge, but I want to double check.

Kar shifts the torch to his other side and reaches out a hand for Posh. Kar is indicating that he'll Master Yoda Posh through the water, if he wishes.