Ember's Council of Thieves PbP

[Kyras]

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

[DM Ember]

Janiven replies to Marcellius' comments about the skeleton.

"It is very strange indeed. It's very unusual that skeletons would be down here in the sewers. Skeletons and necromancy... no doubt there's evil afoot down here in the sewers that no one knows about."

1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26 - Perception check for Malcom

Sevegny, Patrum, Marcellius and Malcom:

You manage to spot a small pouch that is well concealed underneath one of the planks. It is fairly dirty having been concealed underneath the plank and soaked in sewage water. Inside the bag (if you decide to look inside is 18 gold pieces and 2 finely adorned rings.

[Sevegny]

Sevegny looks upon the small treasure in amazement.

"What luck! This is truly Calistria's work."

She murmurs a quick prayer of thanks to her goddess.

[Malcom Lenthaven]

Malcom simply follows the others and lets out a short sign of relief when coming to a marked intersection. Still holding his cane like a club, Malcom will say, "Well, I am glad we have found the way, and now that we have, let us move on before whatever was animating those skeletons decides to come after us.That and I really must get out of this sewer, the smell is unbearable.

Again, sorry for the lack of posting, things are becoming stable once more, so should be regular posting from now on.

[DM Ember]

Apologies for the late post. I was assuming that the party was planning to divvy up the treasure but it seems like this wasn’t the case, hence my delayed post.

Janiven looks back towards the group, eyeing the bag containing the adorned rings and gold pieces.

“We better make haste. It’s nice that we have some additional gold, but it’s worthless down here. Let’s continue on our way down this corridor.”

I’ve assumed that the party has followed Janiven. Again, feel free to post actions before and after this scene if you wish to.

The stench of the sewers, whilst awful moments ago felt like a fresh of breath air compared to the smells the party are enduring now. The sewage smell down this section of the sewers intensifies and the water, if at all possible seems murkier here.

Morosino, looking sick to the stomach drags his shirt around his face in an attempt to cover the awful stench that floats around here, whilst Janiven puts her free hand around the bottom half of her face, covering both mouth and nose to prevent herself from breathing in the sewage.

Janiven suddenly stops as the group is about to turn a corner. Holding her free hand up she whispers in a hushed tone.

“Shhh… wait… do any of you hear that?”

A loud shriek can be heard as Janiven finishes her sentence, the voice not quite human.

“Otoud! Koss' drud... od'k so'. u'! Koss' u'!!!”

A loud thump can be heard around the bend, as if something, or someone had just smashed into a wall.

[Marcellius]

Marcellius holds the torch in front of his face, hoping the flames will burn away most of the noxious vapors.

"What is it now? Some other foul undead? Something that should be dead and rotting by the scent of it."

[Ankara]

Ankara grips his greatsword tightly. Whatever is ahead, it sounds large and dangerous...

[Sevegny]

Sevegny summons one of her divine powers, creating a life-like illusion of herself standing next to her.

I use the Copycat power

[Kyras]

Kyras grips the handle of his falchion, gritting his teeth, readying for another combat.

[DM Ember]

Janiven risks peeking out of the corner to see what the commotion is about. Looking out, she whispers what she sees to the party.

“Goblins… two of them. We should be able to take them out without a problem. Both of them are holding dogslicers, two of them. They’re fighting with each other over something and seem distracted. I think one of them might’ve injured themselves running into the wall… attacking the other goblin.”

As she says this the sound of a door slamming open can be heard and more high-pitched shrieks can be heard as goblins scream over the top of each other.

“'rud dr' r'mm ok kuok u? K'd pug o r'n'... u'!”

Janiven frowns as she hears the voices.

“Another three!?… well that shouldn’t make things that much tougher should it?”

Her lips curl into a smile as she looks towards Morosino.

“Morosino, hand me that dagger. You hang back here. Is everyone else ready to take them out?”

Morosino nervously hands the dagger to Janiven. Wielding it expertly, she gets ready to strike the goblins at a moment’s notice.

Pardon the odd grid like structure here. From what I’ve heard each square on the map is supposed to be 10 ft x 10 ft hence it looks a little awkward (especially the door). Roll initiative, state actions… it’s a surprise round.

Surprise Round map

[Sevegny]

I'll pass this round. I think some of us still has their Bit of Luck unused, right?

Init 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

[Ankara]

Init 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11

Just goblins, Ankara thinks with relief, loosening his white-knuckled grip on his sword and pushing past Janiven to put his back in the top left corner, while taking a single swing at the goblin in front of him.

Attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Damage 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 3) + 3 = 7

[Marcellius]

Initiative 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

Unfamiliar with the goblin language, Marcellius hesitates as he moves forward to an open space where he can see the goblins better.

Using detect evil on the goblins.

"Does anyone speak their language? Perhaps we can find a diplomatic solution."

[Kyras]

Initiative:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Kyras holds back, waiting to see how Marcellius' idea pans out, but he's ready to spring forward to F6 and strike down the goblin in his reach.

(If no one responds that they know Goblin, he will attack)

Attack:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Damage:2d4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 1) + 4 = 7
Critical Confirmation:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Critical Damage:2d4 + 4 ⇒ (3, 3) + 4 = 10

[Marcellius]

It really doesn't matter that much. With that initiative roll (Marcellius's hesitation), the goblins will all be dead before he can act. :P

[DM Ember]

Sevegny wrote:

I'll pass this round. I think some of us still has their Bit of Luck unused, right?

Init 1d20+3

My understanding with Bit of Luck is that it only lasts for one round, so Bit of Luck can't be used now, considering six seconds would've passed by a little while ago.

Marcellius, using detect evil you find out that the goblins are of evil alignment. Their aura of evil is very dim.

I think I made it a little unclear for everyone here... It's a surprise round so you get the standard or move action before normal rounds of battle commence. If you wish to change your actions slightly because of this, feel free to do so and make any additional dice rolls if necessary (or changes).

Thought I would quickly make initiative rolls to assist in determining who moves when…

Goblin Initiative - 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
Janiven’s Initaitive – 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Morosino’s Initiative – 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

[Kyras]

I guess I'll just move to F6 then.

[Ankara]

Skip the attack then, but Ankara will still move to (assuming numbers going across from the left and letters going up) F7 and have sword in hand for attacking on the upcoming combat round. Init was 11.

[Malcom Lenthaven]

Malcom, still gripping his cane in his gloved hand, will simply move up to peek around the corner, ready to spring out to the offense, but not willing to be the first to do so.

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

[DM Ember]

Morosino moves back a little towards Sevegny, realising that he’ll only get in the way if he attempts anything.

Janiven looks towards Marcellius, wondering if he is joking about being diplomatic with the goblins. In a chuckling tone, she whispers to Marcellius.

“Diplomacy, with goblins!? Surely you know that goblins can’t keep any promises they make… they’ll do anything to get themselves out of trouble. That’s all they’ll do…”

As Ankara and Kyras charge towards the grey-skinned goblins, they turn around, startled to see a Barbarian and Fighter rushing to them. One of them, with a somewhat large bump on his forehead points towards Ankara and Kyras shouting,

“Uddug! Gomm dr's u'!”

I’ve moved tokens around slightly here and there to start the battle for round 1 based on what you’ve said. Hoping that where everyone stands is correct. If not, let me know and I’ll correct. State your actions for round 1. If you wish to keep your actions from the previous post, let me know.

Round 1 Initiative
Morosino - 25 (Currently delayed)
Janiven – 22 (Currently delayed)
Malcom – 21
Goblins – 19
Kyras – 18
Ankara – 11
Sevegny – 6 (+3 init mod)
Patrum - 6 (+2 init mod)
Marcellius - 0

Dice roll for Patrum's initiative 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Round 1 map

[Ankara]

If Kyras doesn't kill the one in front of him;

Ankara slashes at the goblin directly in front of him.

1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17
2d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 4) + 3 = 11

If Kyras *does* kill the one in front of him, Ankara steps forward and does that to the next goblin, cleaving the one to the left of it, if possible.

potential Cleave
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 2) + 3 = 7

[Kyras]

So if I keep my action from the last round, does that mean I keep the rolls to, or should I re-roll? Either way, I'm still chopping at that goblin

[Marcellius]

With a grim nod, Marcellius drops his torch into a nearby space, hoping it to be dry enough that the flame will not extinguish, and pulls out his sword.

"So it's to be combat then."

Marcellius steps out into the sewage again, marching up to the closest surviving goblin (if reachable) and swinging.

Fortitude save 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Attack 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13, 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

[Sevegny]

I'll delay this round, to cast a healing spell or power when necessary. If no one gets hurt, I'll pass this round.

[DM Ember]

Kyras wrote:

So if I keep my action from the last round, does that mean I keep the rolls to, or should I re-roll? Either way, I'm still chopping at that goblin

We’ll keep the rolls. What I meant was that if you had additional actions that might’ve required additional rolls, you could make rolls for those instead. So we’ll say that you’ve hit the goblin, but no critical.

Malcom steps behind Janiven, wary of his surroundings and ready to back up anyone who might need assistance.

Alarmed at the fact that Ankara and Kyras closed in quickly behind him, the goblin didn’t think twice about drawing his broken dogslicers, slashing one of them wildly at Ankara who manages to evade the attacks easily. The other goblins also draw out their dual dogslicers quite clumsily, waiting to get a piece of the action. Each of them wear a wide grin, as though they expect this battle to be easy for them.

Their expression suddenly turns to fear as Kyras and Ankara both strike at the attacking goblin. That goblin lets out a bloodcurdling scream as it staggers to the ground, bleeding. The other goblins stare wide-eyed at their fallen comrade, realising the situation they've gotten themselves into.

Seeing her moment of opportunity, Janiven moves forward and strikes the next goblin. That blow however missed the goblin, who is now alert at the situation after seeing his friend fall so easily. Patrum hangs back from the rear, stepping behind Malcom to cast acid splash at the goblin with a bruise on its forehead (the one standing to the right of the goblin that Janiven attempted to hit). The dart hits and splashes into the goblin's face. It writhes in pain, cursing in Goblin at Patrum for firing an acid dart at it.

"Tus ouu kdubot 'owunt!

Having waded into the sewage, the water manages to seep into an open wound and Marcellius begins to feel slightly uneasy. The goblin manages to avoid Marcellius who attempted to swing at the goblin with some trouble.

Dice Rolls
Goblin attacking Ankara 1d20 - 6 ⇒ (8) - 6 = 2
Damage if hit 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

Janiven attacking goblin 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Damage if hit 1d4 ⇒ 2

Patrum casting acid splash 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
Damage if hit 1d3 ⇒ 2

Number of days for onset period of Filth Fever for Marcellius 1d3 ⇒ 3

Round 2 Initiative and stats
Morosino - 25 (Delayed)
Malcom – 21
Goblins – 19 (The one beside the goblin that Janiven has attacked has taken 2 points of damage).
Kyras – 18
Ankara – 11
Janiven - 10 (Taking action just after Ankara)
Sevegny – 6 (+3 init mod)
Patrum - 6 (+2 init mod)
Marcellius - 0

Round 2 map

State actions for round 2. Apologies for my late posting.

[Ankara]

As Janiven has jumped in front of him, Ankara delays his action, in case she ends up falling to the goblins, which will allow him to step forward to fight.

[Kyras]

Kyras will move diagonally down to G7 and over to G9 before moving back up diagonally to F10, avoiding any attacks of opportunity before slicing at the goblin at E9.

Attack:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Damage:2d4 + 4 ⇒ (1, 1) + 4 = 6

[Marcellius]

Marcellius hesitates as a wave of nausea washes over him. He could stand the smell; he was used to it, but this was something different. The sting at his side where the skeleton had sliced him with a rusting blade before flared again momentarily and Marcellius grows weasy.

"By the Gods, what is it now?"

Marcellius shakes off the momentary pain, stepping forward and drawing his blade up for an attack at a nearby goblin. 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

[Sevegny]

Delaying again, spontaneous casting if someone gets hit.

[DM Ember]

Round 2
The goblin that Janiven attacked earlier screams loudly, swinging both his dogslicers at Janiven in an attempt to slice her to pieces, although Janiven easily manages to avoid them. Several of the other goblins move backwards, retreating to the lair. The goblin attacking Janiven shouts frantically in goblin and panics as he realises several of his allies have moved back into the closure of their lair.

“R'o kuok, u moddm' r'mb!? 'rud un' ouu tuok?”

Having seen Kyras early, the other goblin was prepared to see the Falchion come hurtling down towards it, jumping to its left at the last second as the blade came down, which sliced nothing but air. Seeing the blade miss it, the goblin blows a raspberry at Kyras, taunting him for missing it.

Her first attack missing, Janiven focuses once again to attack the goblin who is now somewhat distracted between guarding himself against Janiven and looking at his friends who have disappeared back into the lair.

Seizing the moment, Janiven strikes and hits, managing to stab it into its flesh. Another scream echos through the sewer walls as Janiven withdraws the blood-stained dagger, and the goblin looks down at its mangy flesh where the dagger pierced it moments ago in horror. The blow from Marcellius follows soon after, knocking the goblin out.

Malcom, seeing the other goblin fall moves towards the one that Kyras attacked, throwing a punch at it whilst it is distracted. The punch connects and bruises the goblin, who grunts out in pain from the monk's punch.

Patrum runs around the corner of the pool in an attempt to find where the other goblins have retreated to. Spotting them, he withdraws his crossbow and loads up a bolt, getting ready to fire his crossbow.

Dice Rolls
Goblin attacking Janiven 1d20 - 6 ⇒ (11) - 6 = 5
Goblin attacking Janiven (Offhand) 1d20 - 6 ⇒ (14) - 6 = 8
Damage if hit 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1
Offhand damage if hit 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

Janiven attacking goblin 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
Confirm Critical 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
Damage if hit 1d4 ⇒ 1
Crit Damage if confirm 1d4 ⇒ 3

Malcom attackin goblin 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
Damage if hit 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Ankara and Sevegny, if you want to make any moves before the next round, feel free to do so.

Round 3 Initiative and other information
Morosino - 25 (Delayed)
Goblins – 19 (Kyras / Malcom's goblin has taken 5 points total)
Kyras – 18
Ankara – ?? (Might change depending on round 2 actions, if any)
Janiven - 10
Malcom – 9 (Taking action just after Janiven
Sevegny – ?? (Might change depending on round 2 actions, if any)
Patrum - 6 (+2 init mod)
Marcellius - 0

Round 3 Map

Has anyone heard from Patrum recently?

[Ankara]

Noting that any attempt to move through Janiven and Malcolm to step into the room to the north would just expose him to opportunistic attacks from multiple goblins, Ankara takes a double move action to run all the way around the pool (breezing through Patrum on the way) and ends up next to Kyras, stepping up to flank the Goblin facing Malcolm.

He glares at the small menace that he's just run up behind and says, 'Boo!'

Take 10 on an Acrobatics check (for an 11) to clear the stream of sewage, if it can't be 'take 10'd,' then use the roll. 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16

[Kyras]

Kyras steps five feet up to flank the goblin with Malcom (sorry Ankara, that was my plan all along), grinning widely as he knows this goblin's in trouble, a low sweeping strike aiming to almost cut the goblin in half at the waist.

Attack:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Damage:2d4 + 4 ⇒ (3, 2) + 4 = 9

If the goblin falls, then he calls into the room beyond "Give it up you little freaks, you haven't got a chance!"

[Ankara]

Ankara instead ends up in the square that Kyras just vacated, but otherwise adjusts to the rapidly evolving melee without comment.

[Marcellius]

Marcellius climbs up out of the sewage into the space to the left of the party, and does what he can to aid his companions without becoming involved in the melee.

[DM Ember]

The goblin looked like it almost jumped out of its skin, having been scared from behind. It turns around just in time to narrowly dodge Kyras’ Falchion. The goblin, realising that it cannot get out of this situation alive drops its dogslicers and gets on its knees looking as though he’s begging for mercy…

“S'no! Bm'uk'! O tu'd 'uu vokrd u sun'...”

Inside, the other goblins can be heard shouting something very similar. Moments later the sound of metal clanging to the ground can be heard and the other two goblins in the room kneel to the ground, pleading for mercy as well. Janiven looks towards Kyras and Ankara who are standing opposite her and asks

“Looks like they’ve given up – they probably realise we’re too much to handle. What should we do?”

The goblin at the front turns its head wildly between members of the party, realising that its fate would be decided in the next few seconds.

[Kyras]

Kyras presses the blade of his falchion against the kneeling goblin's neck. He grins mischievously as he says "Well, they're not exactly trustworthy individuals. If we just leave them, they're gonna cause havoc for someone else. Besides, they're just vermin. Smart vermin, but vermin none the less."

[Sevegny]

"I would advise mercy," intones the cleric. "But the sword, too, would be no less than what these creatures deserve."

[Ankara]

"Whatever, just do it swiftly, we need to move forward." Ankara says, shouldering his blade.

[DM Ember]

Hi guys,

I'm terribly sorry to have to do this. A lot of time has been taken up recently due to personal matters and whilst I have attempted to keep up with it over the past several weeks, I genuinely believe that I'm not able to continue posting to keep the game going at a somewhat reasonable pace. I've decided to stop this game for now so I can sort out these matters.

My sincere apologies to all of you. I wish you all the very best.

Regards

[Sevegny]

Just give the game a bump when things are better, and we'll all come running back. Thanks for a great game so far, DM Ember :)

[Ankara]

Hope everything works out for you, take care of life first! Thanks for running as much as you did, and for letting us know when things got too hairy to continue. It's nice to have a heads-up! :)

[Kyras]

Yeah, thanks for not just disappearing. Hope things settle down, and just let us know here or on the discussion thread if you ever decide to bring the game back.

[Marcellius]

Marcellius agrees with the cleric.

"I also advise mercy. Let the goblin return to its lair and let us move on. Perhaps they will rethink their evil ways."

Sorry to hear about your problems. I could go on about mine but they're not that exciting. lol. Just bump the board when you can come back.

[JZ]

(This is Sevegny's player)

Everyone who participated with me in this adventure is invited to play in a game I will soon be running, "Silent Tide", which is the first module in the Pathfinder Society series. You may use the characters you've been playing in this game without modifications.

Silent Tide is a very short module, and I'm a very regular Paizo pbp player, so we shouldn't have difficulty completing my game.

[Marcellius]

I would love to get this game started up again, if anyone is willing to DM. So far, all but one of my pbp games has died. :( Including two Council of Thieves campaigns. Arrrggghhh!