Pathfinder Society GM. Starfinder Society GM. 5,694 posts (13,441 including aliases). 4 reviews. No lists. 1 wishlist. 36 Organized Play characters. 44 aliases.
The Pathinders are asked to investigate different areas in the theater to find clues and learn more about the nature of the pranksters.
Each PC has time to make a total of 6 checks divided among the following areas as they see fit, though the DC increases by 1 for a given PC for each time they have succeeded in earning Investigation Points for that specific check.
Lobby and Mezzanine:
The theater’s front doors give way to a grand lobby that seems to be a combination of an art museum and a sitting room. The centerpiece, situated over the entrance to the main theater, is a sculpture of two of Shelyn’s songbirds, beaks and rainbow tails touching so they form a heart with a red rose in the center. Tables, chairs, and couches fill the first floor, as well as artwork on the walls that depicts past performances the theater has hosted over the years. Statuary of Shelyn is prominently displayed throughout. Stairs to the left and right of the entrances ascend to the mezzanine, where even more art can be found, including images of Shelyn, prominent historical figures, local heroes, and others. Some artwork on both floors is covered in crude graffiti—simple, colorful moustaches and beards, black eyes, blackened teeth, arrows drawn through heads, etc.
Once everyone has entered the lobby, J explains, “These acts of vandalism haven’t been uncommon. They’re nothing permanent, but they do require extra cleaning. Though the students have cleaned the artwork each day, the same pieces keep getting vandalized overnight. In light of your assistance, I’ve instructed them not to clean the graffiti from last night, so you can better investigate fully.” J looks towards the door. “I’ll leave you to it; I need to go check in with the academy. You have the run of the place, and the students know you’re here to help. I’ll be back in time for the show. I hope you can figure out what’s going on by then. Start wherever you’d like, but I’d stick together, as there’s no telling how much these mischief makers— whoever they are—will escalate things.”
Skills (in order of difficulty): Fey Lore, Nature, Absalom Lore, Society, Survival, Perception
Balcony:
The balcony provides an excellent view of the stage. Private boxes, three on each side, are clearly visible from the lobby entrance to this area, though to get from the left balcony to the right balcony, one needs to exit through the lobby. Paintings hang on the walls at the ends of both hallways. The door to the last box on the right side is slightly ajar. Malicious giggling emanates from somewhere nearby.
Skills: Perception (does not count as one of your six checks) before you can do anything else
Stage:
The main part of the theater is decorated with dark wood that makes the painted red roses carved in it stand out. The rows of seats are a little worn from use but are made of the same dark wood. Roses of different colors mark the sections. The stage is set up with an elegantly painted backdrop that looks like that of a Chelaxian ballroom. Wooden folding chairs arranged in the small pit before the stage await the live orchestra that will accompany the play, and small sets of stairs flank each side of the stage.
Skills: Perception
Backstage:
The backstage area would normally be bustling with students getting ready for the play. Right now, it is deserted. Racks full of costumes, sets, and props wait to be used for the performance, and a faint glow can be seen from the direction of the dressing rooms in the back. Various voices murmur in low tones.
Skills: nothing immediately, but anyone character with a Chronicle from 3-18 or 4-16 is immediately recognized unless they are hiding.
Normally I would let everyone roll all six checks at once if they wanted, but you may trigger some events as you go, so please, one check per person per area at the start. I will let you know when an area can be searched freely.
"Let us go, then," J says as the Pathfinders depart for the theater, "Please do not damage the theater, the props, or hurt the actors." The last item is said with a laugh, as he doesn’t expect you to do anything harmful to students who also happen to be the children of their peers. "In case anything gets out of hand," he continues as he gives each of the Pathfinders a small pin with the crest of Dacilane Academy. "We have performed a ritual to make the theater a safe space, and these will ensure that you needn't worry about hurting anyone, even if you bring your considerable talents to bear. Please put them on."
As long as you wear the pin, all damage you do, mundane or magical, within the theater is nonlethal. Does anyone have questions or refuse to don their pin?
J adds, “In the lobby, artwork had been vandalized. That doesn't seem to be directed at our students. Since it’s an active theater, we’ve had to clean them, but we left the most recent vandalism alone, so you can investigate.”
The Muse of the Rose was built by Cassandra Serio, a follower of Shelyn, to make the local art scene more accessible to artists who are not normally recognized by more well-known theaters. This has allowed schools, traveling troupes, and local performers to get exposure. The lobby features artwork of Shelyn by local artists as well as art concerning past performances and performers.
J is momentarily taken aback at the mention of slimes, but tells Nyak nyak, “We do have a few small clues: we found glittery powder around those who have forgotten their lines, and one of the students swore they heard a high-pitched giggle before one of the accidents happened.”
J chuckles at Issil. “The play is ‘The Songbird and the Raven.’ It’s all the rage in Ravounel, or so I’ve heard. It’s your standard star-crossed lovers fare — young paramours divided by family and by station. The students love it. We’ve toned down some of the romance, especially since our lead Morgan isn’t comfortable with the kissing scene at the end of the play. I understand they’ve worked out that there will be a hug instead. We have some very considerate and adaptable students.”
The boon for this one made me laugh; not sure how/when/where I’ll use it but sure I’ll take it
I've been waiting for this one since I ran A Frosty Mug. Though making it available to all your characters instead of just the one who played would be nice, since characters who played that will be out of tier for this.
“Ah, Pathfinders! I take it you’re the ones I’ve been told will help me out?” A slender man in his 20s dressed in the blues of an Eagle Knight approaches them with a smile. “J Dacilane, at your service. My academy teaches the children of many Pathfinder agents, and so we call upon the Society from time to time to help with certain matters. This is no different.” He sighs. “We might as well continue this discussion on the way. I’m worried for the students, so I don’t want to dally too much.”
J leads the way off the grounds of the Grand Lodge and into the streets of the Foreign Quarter. As he walks, he continues his explanation. “The Academy has been trying to put on this play for the last few weeks, and we have only barely made it happen due to the accidents. Nothing too threatening, yet, but ever since we started performing at the Muse of the Rose, it’s been nothing but problems.” Chuckling nervously, he continues, “At first, it was just missed cues or forgetting small lines, but during our last performance, one of our actors got hurt during the fight scene in the third act. Their dueling partner slipped on the floor, which had become covered in grease.” He shakes his head. “We had to take precautions after that so no one would be seriously hurt. What I need you to do is investigate the theater, then figure out the best way to make the show go on. Do you have any questions?”
The Dacilane Academy is looking for help from the Pathfinder Society once more - this time, to make sure their school play will go off without a hitch. Meet the headmaster in front of the Grand Lodge for instructions.
Sign-ups for 1st- to 4th-level agents can be found >HERE<.
This scenario has the Repeatable and All Ages tags.
The Dacilane Academy is looking for help from the Pathfinder Society once more - this time, to make sure their school play will go off without a hitch. Meet the headmaster in front of the Grand Lodge for instructions.
Sign-ups for 1st- to 4th-level agents can be found >HERE<.
This scenario has the Repeatable and All Ages tags.
Welcome to my run of PFS2 Q20 - The Dacilane Academy's Show Must Go On! Please sign up >HERE<, then add your token, perception and initiative to the slides >HERE<.
This quest will award 2 XP, 4 days of downtime and up to 5 treasure bundles.
The Dacilane Academy often calls upon the Pathfinder Society to get them out of trouble, or to aid their students. Considering that many Pathfinders enroll their children in the academy, the relationship is one of mutual benefit. It’s therefore no surprise when the academy calls upon the Pathfinders to help make sure nothing terrible happens during the play that the students will be performing at a nearby theater, the Muse of the Rose. Recently, performances there have seen unfortunate accidents. No one has been seriously injured, but the performances were all ultimately ruined. It's up to the PCs to ensure that the Dacilane Academy's performance doesn't suffer the same fate, even if the have to prevent disasters backstage during the show itself.
Thanks for playing my game of Betrayal in the Bones at PaizoCon. I'm usually a pretty laid-back GM, but there are special rules for the convention that require me to be a bit harsh.
Most importantly, the game must be complete and reported by July 22. That means we have exactly 8 weeks to complete it. If it is not finished by then, then you get whatever you earned up until that point and nothing more - no grace period. Because of this, I will be relatively aggressive about botting people. Please include detailed botting instructions on your character sheet, ideally in a form at that can be cut and pasted into a post. If I cannot quickly determine what your character would do, I will put them on delay.
This scenario also has a hard mode option. This will make the game harder and possibly longer with no additional reward. I will only run hard mode if every player affirmatively indicates that they want to play it. Please DM me your answer rather than posting in the discussion thread. If anyone says "maybe" or "no" or does not answer, we will not play hard mode.
Using misdirection and misinformation, the Pathfinder Society has cornered a pair of its old enemies—a demoniac and an assassin—in the Five Kings Mountains. However, the two have taken refuge inside a sacred dwarven burial ground sacred to Magrim, and their desperate defenses have stymied the dwarves’ initial assaults. It falls to a team of the Society’s best agents to overcome these obstacles, avert impending blasphemies, and end these villains’ treachery forever.
Other than your decision on the train, that is all for Upon Wheels and Rime. Please check your information on the >Sign-In Sheet< and, if you want your downtime listed on your chronicle, post it here. Reporting is due on the 12th but I will send it as soon as everyone has confirmed their sign in and we know hoe the team feels about the train ideas.
Uh, no, that's a crit fail. Frightened 3 and fleeing for Hadrimos! Which will be embarrassing, but not matter for the combat.
Nikma hits Szvetneera as she casts her spell, but does not manage to distract her. Hadrimos' eyes go wide, and he runs into one of the side rooms and slams the door behind him.
Nikma's assault continues, but the matriarch gracefully avoids the other blows from the heavy sword.
Lan runs in and tries to grab Szvetneera, though it is too hard to get a grip in this crowd.
Gwen's magic words seem to be getting obscene as she hits the enemy with a small bolt of lighting.
Huang Tong follows up with a magical icicle, which puts the matriarch down.
Luckily for you, the ice was only fluff, or she would have resisted it.
With Matriarch Szvetneera defeated and her plot revealed by her own admission, the rest of witchguards she enlisted to attack the estate retreat. Anastasia, Calix, and the other representatives enter back into the room, each with some superficial injuries that Calix insists aren’t serious. Queen Anastasia thanks the Pathfinders for their help and asks if they have any suggestions as to which train proposal or proposals she should look at more closely. Since the demonstrations were cut short by the violence, it will take her time to reach a full decision. Finally, more to herself than the party, she asks what should be done with winter goblins. Calix jokingly suggests “winter goblin soup” for dinner, to which there is a clamoring from the goblins to expose their good traits and that they want to help. The dromaar gives a performative sigh and appoints them “consultants” to prevent others from sneaking into the estate.
You are free to pick a favorite train, but the questions for reporting are basically whether they should prefer the Trainsled or a different model, and whether the Yaga Express should be completely eliminated from consideration. Based on the previous discussion, it seemed like you preferred the Steam Dragonfly, but you are free to change your minds now.
Honestly, removing wounded 1 would be a poor use of a hero point unless something strange is going on. The condition just marks what your dying value starts at the next time you get to 0 HP. Save it for if and when your character is actually about to die.
Going to use Lan's recovery roll for clearing the persistent damage, since he would have been conscious by the time he had to make it. Which also means he gets a turn.
Gwen brings Lan back from the brink.
Nikma completely avoids the matriarch's spell. Unfortunately, Szvetneera also completely avoids his sword swings.
Hadrimos lands one more punch.
Fortitude Save:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
But she is able to keep her faculties.
Round 4 - bolded may go
Red Green
Hadrimos (-27 HP)
Lan (-12 HP, wounded 1, prone, weak cold 5, last round of 1d6 persistent acid)
Szvetneera (-38 HP)
Huang Tong (-4 HP, -5 speed, resist fire/cold 2)
Gwen (weak cold 5)
Nikma (weak cold 4)
Telirix pilots his mech onto the staircase and fires a shot into the pink-clad guard.
Flame Knight puts a massive scorch mark on the floor next to the enemy harassing Sefel.
Yargnod calls up an episode of Sanctuary Moon a cherished film on his B channel and takes the main character's advice. Somehow, the guard in green is still standing.
The guard in pink moves into a flank. It will probably be fine.
Then the beatings (or at least attempted beatings) continue.
☑ The Starfinders’ mission is to bring back knowledge from Gadrathar Fortress for the Coenocopi Foundation. They complete their primary objective if they perform at least three of the following tasks: interact non-violently with the Gadrath, succeed at the Threefold Trial, successfully catalog three or more of the five core chambers, retrieve an intact copi heartpearle from the garden, or retrieve the copaxinite helm.
☑ The PCs complete their secondary objective if they defeat the Master in combat and earn their gift, becoming the inheritors of Gadrathar Fortress.
☑ Advocates: If the PCs succeed at all three of the Threefold Trials or earn the Master’s gift, they have helped improve relations between the Gadrath and the Coenocopi Foundation, and each PC earns 1 additional Reputation with the Advocates faction
The Starfinders emerge victorious from the fortress’s core. The Gadrath regard them with shock. They admit that the Starfinders must truly be worthy and state that they will permit the Coenocopi Foundation entry to Gadrathar Fortress if the agents vouch for them. The Gadrath keep their word, providing information about their history and traditions in keeping ancient copaxi practices alive, handing a small data drive to the Starfinders before they depart.
For reporting, you have to decide if you are going to vouch for the Coenocopi Foundation.
When the team reports to Zigvigix and the copaxis (who can fly the Nomad quite close if the fortress has stopped spinning), everyone aboard is extremely grateful for any information the Starfinders were able to obtain, no matter the full outcome of their exploration. With Gadrathar Fortress beginning its return to stability and old glories, Therseis and Daragonte are ecstatic beyond words.
Delea steps back, then casts another spell at the remaining elemental.
Mind Thrust I:2d10 ⇒ (3, 9) = 12 Will Save:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Between its own damage and what happened to its friend, the elemental decides it's had enough. It slowly moves away, looking for a better place to play.
Inside the training tower are a large number of copaxi remains which the air elementals have assembled into a mockery of armored statues frozen in embarrassing poses. The centerpiece of this grisly display is a pedestal containing two items of note—a copaxinite helm(on your Chronicle) and a mk 1 molting coat module.
The retail incentive program has been there since PF1. Paizo is kind enough to put all the rules online, but they still want to sell things, and for game stores to succeed.
The acronym... may be appropriate, considering how often it prevented a TPK.
Will the ACP earned be going into a different pool from that of Starfinder 1.0 and Pathfinder 2.0, or will ACP be combined into one giant pool (which I would prefer)?
Seconded. I'd like to know if all my SF1 AcP will be worth anything in SF2 or if I should send my SF1 characters on a shopping spree now. I know you're not going to want people coming in with hundreds of AcP for SF2, but either a conversion of AcP from SF1 to SF2 or maybe one-time purchases using SF1 AcP to but SF2 AcP or, say, backgrounds related to SF1 storyline would be awesome.
Danixki howls at the guards. Neither of them seems taken aback by the sound.
However, Hadrimos finds an opening to bash the one in red twice, the first causing him to stagger on his feet. Critical success to hit and critical fail for stun - care to fluff that?
Round 2 - bolded may go
Red (-20 HP, -2 Perc/Will, stunned 3)
Green (-27 HP)
Hadrimos (-26 HP)
Lan (-30 HP, prone, wounded 1, 1d6 persistent acid)
Szvetneera
Huang Tong
Gwen
Nikma
The guard in red ducks out of the way of the worst of it. However, he is put off by the implication that he may be doing anything with Szvetneera and begins to stammer out a denial. He keeps after Hadrimos.
If Hadrimos drops, he will substitute one Strike with a Stride to get toward the back row.
He does land a blow, but Hadrimos remains standing.
The guard in green steps forward and tries to hit Gwen hard enough to push her away.
Green Battle Axe:1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 11 + 1 = 15 Slashing Damage:1d8 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12 Shove:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13+1 if attack was success, +2 if it was critical success
Gwen gets out of the way of the axe.
Danixni rushes into the room. "I should have known you were behind this!" he growls at the matriarch.
You gain access to a new action for the duration of the encounter.
Any character may use it, but it can only be used once per round. ◆◆ Danixki lets out a vicious howl. Each enemy within 10 feet of the triggering PC must succeed a DC 19 Will save or be frightened 1, frightened 2 on a critical failure.
Round 2 - bolded may go
Red (-1 HP, -2 Perc/Will)
Green (-27 HP)
Hadrimos (-26 HP)
Lan (-30 HP, prone, wounded 1, 1d6 persistent acid)
Szvetneera
Huang Tong
Gwen
Nikma
