Hi, I decided to post here after this saturday's debacle on our table. I suspect our GM didn't understood the adventure 100% (we are all spanish), because we ran already into some "bugs", so I ask, trying not to get spoilers, for some guidance in the situation we are in, and advice on how to save our bacon.
We are all true neutral and lv 8...:
- 2 handed wakizashi half-orc warrior currently carrying the Mantis Blade (none of us had any argument against him wielding it... yeah)
- Blaster (fire sorcerer ifrit of fire bloodline. Useless because he spends his time a) grappled or b) focused. Not to mention SR and Energy Resistances)
- Gnome alchemist, a CN mad bomber
- Aasimar cleric of Abadar 7/ Holy Vindicator with crafting magic items (armor/weapons and wonderous item, due to gear needs).
We've been going on non-stop, clearing a path in days because the Sargava government is on our heels claiming treasure (they offered us to swore allegiance to the Sargavan government, but the party refused to pay Taxes).
We have killed big bads in all zones but the humans, charau-ka and lizardfolks. We left our Pathfinder Society buddy with the humans with masterwork gear and a pet Lilendra, never engaged the lizardfolk, and we are currently trying to wipe the monkeys.
Yes, we killed the Frogemoth (we were VERY lucky), we got the help of the undead cleric called Vrykolakas (or something like that) to wipe some frogmen, we killed the Troglodytes leader (after one of our floating players, a catfolk ninja, stole his mantis scythe), found the demon jar (the alchemist is carrying him), and visited all the zones, killing lots of enemies and looting tons of crap we were allowed to start "melting" into new magic items only the last game.
So here is the current situation: we went to the monkey zone (the D's in the map) and stumbled, again, into the big bad monkey (15x15 foot, reach 15, AC 26, SR 21+, resistance to fire 10 but not acid, and DR 10 effective against the alchemist's bombs but not the warrior's magical wakizashis -even the one with Greater Magic Weapon, so I think it's either 10/S or P-).
Problem is we had to withdraw because our mage casted Firefall and only I avoided the Blind effect, then the strange Dire Ape casted Darkness and used Scent to compensate, so I took the alchemist and the warrior (we were close enough) and casted Dimension Door, retreating.
We used the scepter that casts Tiny Hut (that one that allows to cast Sleep 3/day and all that stuff) to rest, and we got ready to track and kill the bastard. Problem is, when we did we found that:
- The thing casted Blasphemy, popping two effects (I passed my roll, so I know the spell and that the thing must be between 9 and 14 HD) and before we were able to react a four-armed albino monkey dropped out of invisibility, did 6 attacks against me and in the next turn casted an order of some sort on the warrior, making him stop (I rolled 22 in my Spellcraft skill... still not enough to know what it was. I bet on Charm Person, more likely Charm Monster since I didn't roll enough) and we are like:
I'm at 25 HP (out of 82), without Dimension Door (we used it to ambush the thing, it was waiting for us with its friend), very tired of spending almost ALL my turns turning spells into healings throughough the adventure and quite fed up with the impossibility of selling or buying any kind of gear (specially cure light wounds wands) and waiting for 3-4 gaming sessions for my Leadership feat to kick something in. And I'm very dissapointed that the dire ape has reach 15' with its bite attack, despite the warrior in its path.
Our Warrior is out of combat, I'm planning on use my lv 8 Travel domain power to move him to where I can cast Protection Against Evil and pray we can do something (run or kill the white ape fast enough), and he is as buffed as we can make it (double size, +5 AC -for a total of 32-, +4 DEX, +6 STR, and some more stuff).
The alchemist is able to fend off by himself, and the sorcerer is flying (I bet he's going to become a pincushion soon...) and proving again that he is useful only against rabble, and I don't know if I can salvage the warrior (he has to be willing to be moved with my spell-like power).
I find very hard to understand how is it the "starting" zone of the city has those two monsters deciding they have to join forces against a rag-tag foursome that fleed from one of them the day before, specially since a week or so before they scared away those adventurers...
Anyway, thoughts on the idea of taking the warrior out? I can't survive another salvo from any monster, nor an attack of oportunity, and if the warrior remains where he is, I cannot cast without provoking one from the dire ape.
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Why is it you think this is the "starting zone"?
To be honest it sounds like your GM is just using good tactics after someone came in, and attacked. They're now on alert, waiting for another attack. If they're aware of what's going on in the city, which is reasonable considering you attacked them a week ago, then they realize you've rolled through the other districts. If they realize you aren't having trouble with them, then they realize you're not just a "rag-tag" bunch of adventurers, and realize that you're probably going to come back. You ran away one DAY ago. It would be unreasonable to expect them to just stand down and ignore the fact that they were just attacked, and in fact attacked twice in the span of a week if I'm reading things right.
Flip the equation around. If your party was at your campsite, and the Charau-ka attacked twice in a week, you'd have spells, traps, alsarms etc set to make sure you were prepared for the next time. Seems to me that NPCs should be just as smart.
Also, if this is the ape that I'm thinking of, you may want to have your GM describe him again. He's a bit more than just another Dire Ape.
I hate to ask, but how is any of this "starter zone?" It sounds to me like you've taken care of a ton of this AP already. You killed the froghemoth, which makes you probably way scarier to an enemy faction than anything at all else in the city at all. Anyway, though...
I'm DMing this AP, so I can't say too much... But let me just give some general things, perhaps:
If you're feeling like it's odd that "those two monsters deciding they have to join forces against a rag-tag foursome that fleed from one of them the day before, specially since a week or so before they scared away those adventurers" it's always worth considering that you are right. Consider what you know about both creatures, their powers, and even their lore if you have someone with the knowledge on your team. Consider that there might be some way to deal with this outside of the numbers on your character sheet.
Can your warrior bluff? It's always worth attempting to convince your enemies that they're better off keeping him alive than dead. Hell, you do need a new faction, what with the Sargavan government not helping you...
Thanks for the replies (frankly I stopped looking the forum before the first answer was posted :S). We beated them... in a way. It was very fortunate I had Protection vs Evil prepared, because the encounters we had with them went as follow:
First, we ambushed and killed the big black monkey (and I got a little angry, since, well, I have Knowledge Religion, got a 30 or so the first time we clashed with it, and the GM told me it was not a creature I could roll knowledge against. And yeah, I had Arcana too...). The white, 4 arms one, casted Charm Monster on the warrior on the first round (showing up from nowhere, incidentally. I now know it was Dimension Door) and on the alchemist on the second. Fortunately, I can 'port around thanks to my Travel (Trade) domain and landed a Prot vs Evil on the warrior, who managed to kill the black one before we got blasted (the blaster-sorcerer did nothing, between SR and Energy resistances...). The white monkey managed to flee, and I had to use my Tenser's Disc to carry the warrior while casting fly on the alchemist's gecko so we could hide and recover. I managed to dispel the alchemist the next day, and he dispelled the warrior with his second dispelling bomb.
Second, we assaulted the monkey district with the help of the factions. They were heavily entrenched, and had just kidnapped the Radiant Muse (we found her killed). This time, the Prot. Vs Evil was on since the start, and we ambushed and killed the black monkey, thanks to a small change in the group setup: the alchemist's player switched to a Cavalier because our Ranger player had left the game due to personal reasons.
the cavalier is proving to be a "I charge, it dies" machine, btw...
The white monkey scaped, and we finished the monkey cleric, then throw the black moneky's body to the piranhas in the lake.
Now we are in the next book, we managed to win 2 of the 3 contests against the gorilla king (I got a 42 on my storytelling roll, since I got the RP bonus)but the cavalier lost against the king in a duel (unmounted, sadly).
We entered the tomb, and the warrior did not managed to get the Will roll, so I got 3 weeks for gearmaking while we waited for him (and some Commune and yes/no questions to the GM), then we went in, cleaned the place, found the 10.000 years old book, and got out. We went to the closest next dungeon (we knew there are 7 or so, thanks to my divinations), which was on the farming district, and ended the last game with only some piranhas between us and the crystals.
Right now, the team is:
Sorcerer efreet blaster with efreet bloodline (I'm trying to get him to pick the craft rod feat, because I can't keep making everything).
2 wakizashis critical half-orc
A giant Mantis mounted Cavalier of the Sword & Board type (usually one attack per turn, thanks to charges. Massive damage ensues). He is NG...
My Cleric 7/Holy Vindicator 4 aka buffer/sometimes hitter/magic gear factory... Seriously, substenance ring + craft magic items and craft magic weapons and armor... Also of notice is that she has wings (aasimar feat, 30' flying speed, plus 50' ground speed. We concluded that Travel only affects walking...)
Juliver (as a NPC controlled by the GM, she usually just sings...)
My next level will be a Cleric one, but I'm on two minds regarding my progress: my options once I get to lv 13 are:
- Retrain 2 cleric levels and get my hands into the Pathfinder Savant prestige class (PF Chronicles - Seekers of Secrets, also called Arcane Savant in d2pfsrd.com), leaving Holy Vindicator as it is and losing some BAB
- Keep leveling cleric 'till the end
- Keep leveling Holy Vindicator on lv 13+, getting a falcata so my dooms have a DC of 13+WIS bonus instead of 11.
- Something else...
Frankly, I'm getting sick and tired of being the magic item factory, but we are running out of money so more gear would be impossible to get. The most frustrating thing is that I wanted to make my cohort a generalist dwarf wizard to dump the gearmaking feats on him, but the GM banned the feat (at least he gave me a bonus feat for my Nobility subdomain).