Pathfinder Actual Play Post 01.26.2014
GM: Wayne
Players: Stephen, Joel, David, Lee, Hunter.
System: Pathfinder RPG
Description: Magnimar; Known as the City of Monuments for its jaw-dropping skyline of ancient ruins, magnificent towers, and stunning sculptures, Magnimar embodies the spirit of the frontier realm of Varisia more than any other city. But life in the City of Monuments can be an adventure all its own. With strange monsters lurking amid the city’s ancient foundations, bands of thieves battling for control over the city’s alleys, and the decadent attitudes of its oldest families, Magnimar lies at a crossroads. Will it succeed despite the obstacles thrown in its path, or is the City of Monuments doomed to crumble under the pressure of its own runaway success?
A group of adventurers have come together to delve deep into the bowels under a non descriptor Inn within the city proper. From under the Inn, crawled and gnarled, a hideous group of twisted goblins, that wrecked havoc on the patrons on the Inn, only to retreat back into the moist, dank dungeon they entered from.
As some quick background this is the third game in a campaign I began playing two weeks ago. I met a group of guys via a ‘meet up’ site and was invited to come game with them, and Im glad that I did. I started off at the very beginning of the second adventure of the group, as they began their first foray into the deeps under an Inn I can only remember as ‘The Horny Goat’, I swear that’s not the name though. (Wayne Forgive Me!)
After battling our way through 5 hours of tunnels, traps, goblins, zombies, a rather nasty gelatinous cube, and what Im pretty certain was a barrow wight last adventure, we racked up on some gold, treasure, and made our way back to the surface to rest a recuperate.
That’s where this game started. I knew coming in that we had more of the subterranean depths of the city to explore beneath then Inn. I wasn’t honestly thrilled about the idea of spending another 5 hours battling our way through further dusty, web filled lairs. But I would not be disappointed by this game in the least bit!!
We returned to the bottom of a poorly erected stair case that led its way from the Inn’s basement, deep into the old underside of the city, and were not the least bit shocked when we found that what ever remnants of the goblins that still remained down here, had set up a few nice devised traps in order to thwart our plans of making our way back, down into the under city. With some lucky Perception Checks, and cunning we made our way quickly by the traps and through the areas of the ‘dungeon’ already explored in the previous adventure.
And then we came to the webbed room. A long room perhaps 30ft x 60ft, entirely caked by thick, dusty spider webs. At first we all discussed the idea of burning them down, but came to the conclusion that the fire would not burn quick enough, or strong enough to entire destroy anything hiding above. I imagined the floor a grey flagstone placed under a barreled ceiling ages ago, and we were described that certain stones in a zig-zag diagonal pattern were set in the floor. I imagined them as great jeweled rocks that reflected glints of light, even in the darkness underneath the city. We came to the conclusion that our Halfling Sorcerer ‘Sparky’ would telekinetically lift some alchemist’s fire high into the web tangled rafters, to start them all ablaze, while I, the sly nimble Elf Bard, Fidhean would run into the the depths of the room and the Dwarven Barbarian, Human Fighter, and Varisian Cleric brought up the tail end.
It would have worked perfectly, and yes I said would have, if a NATURAL 1 had not been rolled for the alchemist’s fire. As Fidhean ran into the room, leaping an bouncing along the jeweled rocks, there fell the grenade of liquid fire, straight into this path! The fire engulfed him as three doberman sized spiders sunk down from the ceiling attacking the others. Swords, and Pole-arms drawn, a ferocious battle began, with Fidhean bolstering his allies with the mystical playings of his flute. With a well positioned color spray, ‘Sparky’ had the spiders taken care of. But what we then did not notice, was that two clever goblins had cunningly snuck into the the back of the room, hoping to dig their retched blade into Fidhean’s back! It was the dwarf that alerted their presence to him. The burly dwarf dug his chin into his chest, gripped his axe in both hands, and charged. The hatred of centuries boiled in his blood as he ran down the goblin, and with one fell swoop, cleaved his head in two with his might axe. This gave time for Fidhean to turn, drawing his rapier, and with a twirl of his wrist, run the goblin through.
As the smoke from the burnt cobwebs subsided the group could make out a stair case leading down out of the room and deeper beneath the city. An old wooden door stood between them, and the rest of the dungeon. With several mighty swings, the dwarf was at it again, hacking at the wooden door, causing huge chunks to fly from it each time. There was even a reference to ‘This Shining’ with a ‘Heressss Johnny!’ as he peered at the goblins in the next room. With a kick of his foot, we were in.
And this is when things got interesting.
With the door opened we noticed a total of 5, maybe 6 goblins, and 2 hell hounds breathing down on us quick. I was actually surprised when we cut them down in just a few rounds. Fidhean took a decent wound, with a goblin arrow to the gut, but quick work was made of the rest including a goblin hexer. The most interesting thing, was Sparky’s clever use of an illusion spell to conjure up a gelatinous cube from the ceiling. He knew from the previous adventure that the goblins here feared the cube. So this worked just perfect to distract them enough.
In the back of the room then, actually in a room that led off from this one, we noticed a man in dark hood and cloak, that seemed to the one we were looking for, but before we could get to him, the door was closed, and he ran. By the time we got it open again, it was too late. The dark figure gone.
Remembering that in the previous adventure we had interrogated a prisoner and ext rated from him the name of their leader. Tross. Fidhean knew that it must be him.
By the time the group made it back to the surface they discovered they were too late. The man, and a goblin had busted through the basement of the Inn, quickly killed a patron, knocked out a guard, and fled into the grey, cloud covered streets of Magnimar. We did our best to clean up the mess in the Inn, and quiet the Innkeeper’s worried heart.
The group then headed back into the depths, as Fidhean, cleaning himself of the dirt and webs as best as possible, headed into the city proper, trying to find a lead on this, Tross character.
The group made their way through the depths, taking all the pieces of gold, jewels, weapons, books, goods, finery that they could carry back to the surface. They found the personal quarters of the leader Tross’ and ransacked the place, taking all as loot and booty to sell latter.
Fidhean wondered the city streets, trying in his mind to piece together the many portions of places the group found below, that seemed to be old boarded up wells, used for travel back and forth into the city beneath. It was here that he happened upon a corner alley of spice merchants selling their wares. Fidhean spent some time talking with one merchant in particular buying some spices, and getting information about the old well. There he learned that if there was a person that wanted to make his way up and down the well into the under city, he could probably be found in a shady bar near the sea called the Black Sail.
With the bottom portions of the dungeon delved and cleared, a small room full of ancient zombies destroyed, the group reconvened in a small shack they were now calling a ‘base of operations’ (Shack by Elven standards of course)
A discussion then was at hand. What to do next? The Cleric suggested that he had heard rumors that an old Temple of Sarenrae had been lost to the darkened area of the city only know as ‘Underbridge’ and that something needed to be done about it. That light could once again shine below the bridge, if only the temple were ‘cleared out’ and that the light of Sarenrae would then shine glorious again. Fidhean liked this idea. The others were not so sure, telling tales of old, speaking of unnatural deaths coming to those that entered unwelcome to Sarenraen temples, and tombs.
We decided to spend some of our gold, and buy a Wand of Curing (Light Wounds). We decided that the Temple of Death and Knowledge, that of the god Pharasma, would be the best place to find such an item. An eerie building stood in the misty rain. A steep, clawed and spike encrusted roof loomed over a haunting facade of this, cold grey building. There we met with an old sage who had much knowledge. We were able to buy the wand from her, and there she informed us of a plight that the Church of Pharasma was suffering. She advised us of the town of Galduria, which sat on the western shores of Ember Lake, a weeks journey from the city. There she told of a town, becoming more and more besieged by the dead, that pour from an old Temple of Pharasma. She offered a reward to any that could find the cause of the plight, and destroy it.
And then there was The Black Sail, a seedy dark, smokey tavern, with perhaps more information about this, Tross. It was here that we decided to take our next step to solving this puzzle. The party split here, with the Varisian Cleric and Halfling Sorcerer heading towards a make shift camp of Varisians, in order to find more information on the goings on in town, and perhaps learn more about his people here in the city.
Fidhean, (and I truly feel so horrible right now, because for the life of me, I cannot remember the other character’s names!!) the human, and the dwarf headed for the Black Sail. It was a lousy, run down tavern, in a bad side of town. The tavern was built on a outcropping of wooden planks that caused it to hover over the swelling tides of the ocean water. The coming waves beat against the back side of the tavern. And as the sun sat on the day, the rain began to fall even harder outside. The plan was for The Human, and Dwarf to arrive first, and make themselves at home, get a table, an ale, and scope out the place. Fidhean would arrive half an hour later, looking for information. The first too, would act as his cover.
With his cloaked hood pulled over his face, and the dripping rain water, rolling down it, he entered the crowded tavern. I imagined it smoke filled, and smelling of must, except for the every wafting of salt from the ocean water below. This was a dark place of ill repute, and before Fidhean could make it to the bar in the back, a man had already been stabbed.
Directly to the barkeep the elf went, keeping his hood cover over his eyes.
“What can I do for you tonight?” the barkeep asked.
Fidhean bought an ale, and as it was served he leaned in close and replied, “Im looking to procure a vessel and crew, north to the city of Riddleport.”
I explained my plan to Wayne the Gm, and the others then. WIth a Bluff check of 21 or 25 Fidhean, convinced the barkeep that he was looking for passage north, not on any merchant vessel but on a shadier vessel, because of a certain job that he needed performed in Riddleport. It was then Fidhean explained that he was looking for a man, with particular talents, and Bluffed his way into saying that he was looking for the talents of a man know only as Tross.
This is when Benny the Fish is introduced. The barkeep advised me of a man with a useful skill of tracking, and being able to find anyone in town, known as Benny the Fish. Benny, and his gang were sitting in a back corner table, disguised by the shadows on the walls. Fidhean, thanked the man handing him a coin, and made his way to the back table.
This is where the game, got the most interesting to me. Prior to the first adventure that I played with these guys, I spent a week on contemplating playing a Dwarf Fighter, or and Elven Bard. I wanted great social scenes in the game, and went with the bard, and this is finally when my decision proved to pay off for me.
I engaged in some of the best role-play I’ve been in with Wayne playing as Benny, as I tried to Bluff and Diplomacy check my way into sounding like I knew who Tross was, and why I needed him for a job. Each and every exchange was nerve racking for me. I knew that one false move, and I was likely to be toast in this place, even with my back up. Speaking of my back up, turns out that instead of watching Fidhean’s back, they consumed a little too much of the Sailor’s Brew, and became intoxicated, losing my position in the dark, smoke filled tavern.
Eventually Fidhean talked the Fish faced, Benny into setting up a meeting with Tross for the next night, at mid-night. I imagined that if this game had of been Burning Wheel, this would have been the point where we entered the all or nothing Duel of Wits. Anyways, even with Pathfinder, it was awesome! Especially after all the never racking rolls, Benny demanded 50 gp as payment for his services. Fidhean only had 11 on him!
Dratz!! I knew I should have gotten some from the fighter before coming in here. Joel, the figter’s player had been keeping track of the party’s fund, and thus had all the extra gold on him. I couldn’t come off to Benny the Fish, of all people, like I didn’t have the money.
And then we switched scenes.
The Varisian and the Halfling arrived at the Wagon Camp of the Varisians there in Magnimar. Very formal it seemed there people were, as Lee, who played the cleric interacted the most with Wayne’s NPC’s they talked just about the life of the Varisians mostly, until the Cleric and the Sorcerer were brought before a soothsayer, an oracle of sorts. I imagined a larger tent like structure there, with the Oracle seated on much larger pillows than the other two. As the Cleric began to ask his own questions about Tross, the soothsayer brought our a pack of cards, much like Tarot cards, and with a puff out of what I imagined to be a large hooka seated beside her, exhaled the smoke, and read the divines purpose in the cards. It was foretold that they would meet this man, for their paths were intertwined but it could not be told how.
When they left, a Varisian man was instructed to help the two find Tross, fore only he knew where he was.
Back at the Black Sail, Fidhean had one more Diplomacy Check; tell Benny the Fish that he would give 10 gold as a down payment, and the rest after the meeting with Tross. Our compromise, was that I also had to give my masterwork weapon up as collateral. Darn.
Fidhean gave up the sword and left, out into the rain storm of the night.
The Human, and the Dwarf got themselves into a drunken brawl which resulted in the death of two Gnolls,
And we called it a night.
Overall this was a great game. I finally got the role playing that I was looking for, it was intense and nearly made me sweat a little. There were three decent sized battles in the game as well, that I feel gave anyone else, who may have been looking for that, a good taste of what they were after. All together it felt very rounded, and finished. It felt as if it was a complete story in itself, and honestly I can’t wait for the next chapter, to see what happens when we meet Tross.
The World of Eleràth 