[PFS CORE] GM Zin's 6-06 Hall of the Flesh Eaters

[Shaggy - Riding Dog]

"Woof,woof..."

[Ledt]

"Why to work more than we are paid for?" Ledt weights the orb "We have what we came for"

Although it would be fun to play a little more with all of you, I have Ledt committed to another scenario, thus, I would prefer not to delay more than whatever is needed

[Sylvester Solstar]

Sylvester shrugs suspecting a Leprechaun with a pot of gold hiding behind every rainbow and right around the corner.

"All right if you wish to head back right away we can but there is gold out there. I can feel it."

Sure we can call it if you like pending the approval of the other players of course.

[Iladora Unfallen]

Even with my Strength damage, I have enough Climb to get up the rope.

"Let's head back. There may be more gold here, but our resources are spread thin and I don't want to spend the night." And I need stronger magic than we have, she thinks but doesn't say.

[B.A.B.S.]

I am happy to continue to explore, since not doing so likely means we will be losing some treasure and potentially a secondary objective, but I am happy to call it to let Ledt move on, and Bertha is easily convinced by either argument presented so far.

"Of course. Betsy, back to the boat!"

[Akter Phruse]

Were we presented with any secondary goals? I don't actually remember! It's hard already to remember in-person, but via forum is impossibly hard :) To be honest, I like getting these extra goals, and we can always assume that Ledt simply left to the boat. You might have participated already of the minimum encounters to get credit.

[Xusius]

Xusius pants from the exertion of climbing up the rope and drinks deeply from his wineskin to recover.

"I am open to whatever ze rest of zou weesh to do."

He drinks from the wineskin again.

[GM Zin]

The Player Handout is the only thing you were given. In these later seasons, secondary goals aren't spelled out as clearly as the Faction missions were in the earlier seasons; I think the expectation is that PCs will pick up on secondary story elements themselves, taking their own initiative to make sure they get them done.

That said, there are two firm votes to leave, and all other votes are of the "go along with the rest of the party" form, so we'll follow the direction of those with firm votes.

You follow your original route to get back to the edge of the Gloomspire, giving the idol a wide berth as you pass it. Returning down the narrow, winding steps gains you little time relative to the ascent, as every step you take needs to be watched with care. Still, you get to the bottom, finding Calisro Benarry's folding boat where you left it; navigating back to Benarry's ship presents little difficulty, though it takes two days.

These two days prove somewhat difficult for Iladora. While the damage already done to her abilities heals as expected, the disease festering in her erupts; she grows feverish as her body tries to fight it off.

If someone succeeds at a DC 15 Heal check to provide Long Term Care, Iladora will heal ability damage at twice the normal rate (2/day instead of 1/day for the first day, 4/day instead of 2/day for the second day).

If someone succeeds at a separate Heal check to Treat Disease vs. the ghoul fever, Iladora will gain a +4 bonus on her Fortitude save vs. the disease.

I'm going to bot these checks so they don't add a couple of days to our play time.

Heal checks, Long Term Care DC 15, Day 1:

Akter: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Bertha: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Ledt: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (19) - 2 = 17
Sylvester: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10
Xusius: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (6) + 0 = 6

Ledt--perhaps uncharacteristically--takes the lead on Iladora's long term care the first day, keeping her resting and watered on the floor of the ship with some aid from Akter and Sylvester. More color returns to the warrior's cheeks as she recovers well.

Heal checks, Treat Disease, Day 2:

Akter: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Bertha: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Ledt: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1
Sylvester: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2
Xusius: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (13) + 0 = 13

Akter steps up to treat the disease when he sees her body convulse with the effort of fighting it off; Xusius makes some good suggestions as to which herbs to wrap in the poultice around the wound.

Iladora Status, Day 1
Iladora (28/28 hp, -1/18 Str, -0/12 Con; ghoul fever Fort save pending, +4 from Heal checks)
Con damage, ghoul fever: 1d3 ⇒ 3
Dex damage, ghoul fever: 1d3 ⇒ 3

Ghoul fever requires two consecutive saves to cure, so it affects Iladora on the first day no matter what. The good news is that the long term care was effective, so Iladora has no penalties on her first save, and a +4 bonus taboot!

Heal checks, Long Term Care DC 15, Day 2:

Akter: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
Bertha: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17
Ledt: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (19) - 2 = 17
Sylvester: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10
Xusius: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10

Akter, bouyed by the efficacy of the poultice on the first day, takes over her long term care on the second, though everyone pitches in a little bit.

Heal checks, Treat Disease, Day 2:

Akter: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Bertha: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16
Ledt: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (20) - 2 = 18
Sylvester: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5
Xusius: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (1) + 0 = 1

Ledt makes the poultice on the second day, relying on Akter's guidance with some suggestions from Bertha.

Iladora Status, Day 2
Iladora (28/28 hp, -0/18 Str, -0/14 Dex, -0/12 Con; ghoul fever Fort save pending, +4 from Heal checks)

Due to the successful long term care and treat disease checks, Iladora again has no penalties and a +4 bonus on this saving throw. If she makes both saves, she is completely cured and has no ill effects. If she fails either save, we will address that in Discussion, as it will then count as a condition that needs to be cleared to issue the Chronicle sheet.

Calisro Bennary shows concern at Iladora's state when you reach the boat, immediately ordering deck hands to help her onto the Grinning Pixie. Once she seems confident that there's not much she can do directly, she gets back to business.

"Pathfinders, you have done a great service for me and the Society. The recovery of the Orb of Stars paves the way for future expeditions. Soon, perhaps, we’ll learn more about the Gloomspires' mysterious creators, unravel their arcane secrets, and perhaps even delve deeper into old Sevenfingers's tomb to liberate his ill-gotten wealth. Considering what you’ve seen, you’re all now among the foremost authorities on the Gloomspires. I hope that I may call upon all of you again should the Society decide to fund another expedition."

[Iladora Unfallen]

I hope we didn't lose out on too much by leaving. Iladora isn't committed to any other games (yet), I just figured that was going to be the consensus anyway.

Heal + aid, day 1: 1d20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 + 4 = 28
Heal + aid, day 2: 1d20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 4 = 16

Sweet! One definite success, one maybe.

[GM Zin]

Iladora, under the care of her fellow Pathfinders, successfully fights off the ghoul fever.

The DC was 13; the bonus from the Heal checks definitely made the difference!

[GM Zin]

You have an opportunity here to share anything you learned inside the Gloomspires with Venture-Captain Bennary. Otherwise, we are done! We'll finish in Discussion after you've posted here or there to conclude things.

[Sylvester Solstar]

Sylvester playfully winks at Calisro.

"Glad to be able to help. Even more glad that we all did not turn into Ghouls."

He pauses in thought for a moment.

"They really need to build a ramp into that place. It is really not pet friendly."

[Ledt]

"I know a poultice that might help Iladora. A rather bad smelling dwarf we partied with in one of my first expeditions contracted ghould fever, and our resident cleric of Sarenrae used it to combat the disease" Ledt presents a bunch of herbs with a sufficiency smile "It happens I collected those herbs just before we left the island"

The halfling seems specially interested in the woman, as he spends day and night with her until she recovers. Ledt rants and growls the full time but smiles widely when the woman starts gaining good health.

---

"Well, beyond the initial mists we found a group of human stone faces we think might be Ghol-Gan. So, the origin of the island is perhaps cyclops. Bad chills magic on them though. But it seems the main ruins are below, we had to descend a rather horrible pit with despicable idols, but be reassured we made a great job at disabling those falling statues" the halfling makes the signs of rocks falling over their heads and how he ran to cover himself "Of course we had to leave Shaggy Dog on top, because know what, the hopeless thing had no idea of how to descend a rope, not that I had an easier descend..." Ledt coughs at that moment "Know what, as always we small ones had to push all the doors open because the big ones were too lazy to do it themselves, and know what half of them were so stuck that you would consider The Wounded Wisp tables plainly smooth and lean"

"After the room with the ugly statue and the single-eyed hag" the halfling makes the sign of an eye on his front were his rune is and blows up his cheeks to appear being bigger "We found an ugly marsh. Be sure I cleaned the damned place out of leeches, with a bit of help of the gnome, while the others attempted to get themselves killed placing their big bodies in the middle of the corridor. The whole place reeked" Ledt covers his nostrils to show up completely skipping the moment where he get slept and Sylvester had to wake him up with a kick "At least the big man with the bow" he turns to Akter "Served as a mount so I did not have to soak my delicate toes in the reeking water. I thank you for including such utility in our exploration team"

"If you thought that was enough reeking, the next room reeked hundred times worse, as there were a lot of ghouls and festrogs feasting upon a mountain of rotten meat" Ledt makes a wide gesture with his arms "Of course I had a brilliant idea to trap them into webbings and the dumb things stumbled like a stupid dancing duck under Iledora's and BAB's blades wihout we having to convince them" the halfling negates unbelieving "From there on things got easier. We found an undead named Rajhan-Vol that offered the same trade as to Mazzer Thrennt, but it seems we rejected, because he and his minions finished dead in the dusty floor"

"Yet, we did not find there the Orb, we had to continue exploring in a side room full of rubble. Lucky you if you get back there, you will find the place cleared by our hard work. You should add that in your report. We deserve extra free days for we ended fatigued. And write down too that small ones we deserve twice as we made twice the effort" the halfling makes the gesture of writing down to the Venture Captain "Thankfully the Orb was there and we had not to look for more"

The halfling looks down and seems unwilling to say something, but after some stares he adds "Well, there was also a door we could not open, there is an abjuration aura which makes me think there is an arcane lock on there. Had you informed us about this kind of eventuality I of course could have prepared some device to force down that kind of magics, but well... the Orb was not there any way, you know. I am curious though of what might be in the place, cursed be whomever finds out and does not cite me as the one who found out the door and gave the lead on how to open it!" the halfling makes a sign then of writing down.

Then bringing his hands over the back of the neck he smiles adding "And well, if we have finished with the paperwork perhaps this is about the time we can go brag and enjoy a drink at the tavern to the health of the dead pirates and their rotten pile of flesh"

[B.A.B.S.]

"Perhaps we can return someday, little one. I will need to consider better ways to transport poor Betsy here, as well. Still, let's be satisfied that we did get what we came for, and have a good story to tell!"
\

[Xusius]

Xusius inquires about magical cleaning for his red silk robes and replenishes his Sangria stock.

"I would zay Ledt has given zou quite ze accurate azzezzment of our adventure, dear Captain. If zou had zome means of opening ze door at your deespozal, we could go back, but eef not, zen we must find a way for later."

[GM Zin]

Venture-Captain Bennary gives Ledt a few eyebrow-raises as he relates the Pathfinders' experience--and his relative role in it--but breaks into a wide grin. "Well done, and worry not. We always give credit where it's due, and you'll have yours." Her gaze shifts to take in everyone. "I've no doubt you'll be first in mind when the Society sends another expedition inside."

And that's all folks!