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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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Tomcost said:
[X] How do you not get lost up here with no walls to mark passage on?

This is a swamp, and the protagonist has no survival skill. I am getting vietnam flashbacks involving floating lights in Braavos
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The first Wisp we see is getting a Fire Elemental right up the ass.
 
[X] In Nar Voth the more life is present the worst the predators get. What... what's the worst thing up here?

The surface is gonna take some getting used to for sure, but at least learning about monsters will be a nice first step to getting it.
 
[x] In Nar Voth the more life is present the worst the predators get. What... what's the worst thing up here?

Safety first.
 
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Arc 3 Post 10: Wailing on the Wind
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    • Wailing on the Wind ​

    Season of Rushing Waters

    "In Nar Voth the more life is present the worse the predators. What is the worst we can expect up here?" you ask, shading your eyes from the light peering through slender branches. Everywhere you look something is moving, be it winged beast or scampering thing, and the waters ripple with the movement of the air, or at least you hope it is only that.

    "The worst thing in the world?" Mina asks, though whether she is more bemused by the question or just trying to get words around Pepper's tail after the cat had decided that the best place to be is around her shoulders you cannot say. "There's a lot of things..."

    "Froghemoth," Gorok cuts her off and explains just what a 'froghemoth' is. "Frog Queen, big enough to eat dragons. I only know of one, many leagues to the northeast of here at Snakesink Mire. One too many. Good thing they do not leave their spawning grounds often."

    The idea of a fifteen foot tall frog-beast with razor teeth and an eel bright tongue is bad enough, until you hear Cob call it a 'lightning' tongue. When you ask just what that is you get another unpleasant answer. The sky is filled with more horrors than light and emptiness it seems.

    "So just to make sure I understand how this works, forked eel-strikes come through the air every time the sun is veiled and it weeps water. And you do not think this is the work of gods or demons because...?"

    "I do," Cob shrugs. "Maybe gods just bored and want to see people go blrgghth." The goblin does a remarkably good impression of someone who had just gotten struck by a thousand eels at once.

    Even though she is fighting back a smile Mina shakes her head. "Mighty is Ioz'om, the Sky Father, but he cares not where the lightning falls."

    "So he's to be appeased then, so that he might start caring..."

    The conversation carries you on for many bells as the light above starts to dim to a more bearable level as the sun slips to one side of the false bowl of the sky, though in the end you 'agree to disagree' on the character of the being who would hurl such calamities upon the world uncaring.

    Water drips slowly from sagging branches, over gnarled trucks like twisted faces, some seemingly bearded like dwarfs in ragged moss green while their limbs are strangled by vines as thick as your wrist... and some things that are not vines. Snakes, the place is filled with snakes from ones little bigger than your forearms to enormous beasts far too heavy for any tree to bear, which even Warty casts a weary eye on. The others think you are afraid of the beasts for their own sake, but in truth you are expecting a serpentfolk ambush. The idea that so many of their beasts would be loose with nary a sight of them sets your teeth on edge.

    So it is hardly a surprise when you are the one to pick up the buzzing before any of the others, though you are not alone for long. It grows louder and louder, coming from the direction of the vanishing sun, until against its blood red face you see it: four-winged and many-legged, about as large as Cob, its distended abdomen filled with blood.

    "Get down!" you shout, the last thing you want to do is deal with whatever in the Nine Hells that is.


    "Stirge," Gorok answers as though you have any reason to know what that is. Personally you would say that this thing is worse than a frog of any given size. At least a frog has to hop after you. How is one meant to get away from this thing in the open?

    As all of you rush to the dubious protection of a nearby tree you realize that there is more than one of them, in fact three flying clumped together. Fortunately they do not seem to be paying much attention to the ground. Their last 'hunt' must have gone well, strangely well perhaps, for as the cacophonous trio draws nearer Gorok ears catch another sound under the buzzing of their many wings, a wail.

    Akorian: 1d20+7 = 11 (Failure)
    Cob: 1d20+8 = 17 (Failure)
    Gorok: 1d20+9 = 27 (Success)

    "There!" the saurian warrior points and following along you spot it, strapped to the belly of the middle 'stirge' is a bundle in red blankets that is making its displeasure at the means of transportation very clear.

    "Is that a baby?!" Mina asks horrified. "We have to get it down!"

    Cob does not need to be told twice, as he is already getting the stone-bow out, while Gorok looks confused at the line of reasoning and you...

    [] Would rather not fight flying blood-drinking things. For all you know those are the family pets of the infant's family, it is hardly the strangest thing you had seen since coming out onto the Burnlands

    [] Agree that you have to take those things down and rescue the infant

    [] Write in

    OOC: Well that was an interesting encounter roll.
     
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    • DragonParadox said:
    The idea of a fifteen foot tall frog-beast with razor teeth and an eel bright tongue is bad enough, until you hear Cob call it a 'lightning' tongue. The sky is filled with more horrors than light and emptiness it seems. "So just to make sure I understand how this works, forked eel-strikes come though the air everytime the sun is veiled and it weeps water. And you do not think this is the work of gods or demons because...?"

    "I do," Cob shrugs. "Maybe gods just bored want to see people go blrgghth." The goblin does a remarkably good impression of someone who had just gotten struck by a thousand eels at once.
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    Cob might not be the best instructor when it comes to surface life, Kori. :lol::rofl::lol::rofl:
     
    Okay, so we've got a bit of a conundrum here. Giant Stirges are not in the business of kidnapping infants. They're not smart enough for it, to begin with, nor are they capable of securing a stolen infant in this manner. That means these things are trained or controlled by someone else, and that someone appears to be in the business of kidnapping. I mean, yes, it's possible someone is using their pet Stirge swarm to carry their kid to grandmas house for babysitting or something, but I really, really doubt it.

    I don't feel that Kori would want to leave an infant to such a fate, and I know for sure Mina wouldn't. The problem with this, however, is that once we down the Stirges, we're going to be left with an infant whose origin we don't know. Where will we take it? How will people react if we show up in the nearest settlement with it?

    What if the infant isn't Human, Elf, or something else that may at least be somewhat friendly, but rather an Orc, Gnoll, or worse? Hell, given the location and the Stirges, I wouldn't be surprised if a Hag is involved.

    Thankfully, Stirges are not Vermin despite their appearance. As Magical Beasts, they are not immune to Mind-Affecting effects, and their Will save bonuses are pretty low. That'll make them quite susceptible to Mina's magic.

    @DragonParadox, they're called Stirges, not Stringes. Not that one is any better of a name than the other, IMO. I've always wished they were called something like Monster Mosquitos or Bloodwings, not Stirges.

    How far away are the Stirges? How high up are they? My plan is just in the preliminary stage for now, since I'm assuming we can even attack them. If they're too high up, we might need to follow them instead.

    [X] Agree that you have to take those things down and rescue the infant
    -[X] Cob, Gorok, and Kori will target the nearest Stirge not carrying the infant using their stonebow and heavy crossbow. Perhaps with a bit of luck their concentrated fire will bring one down before they can draw near.
    -[X] Mina will target the Stirge carrying the infant with her Slumber Hex as soon as it comes within range.
     
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    Goldfish said:
    Okay, so we've got a bit of a conundrum here. Giant Stirges are not in the business of kidnapping infants. They're not smart enough for it, to begin with, nor are they capable of securing a stolen infant in this manner. That means these things are trained or controlled by someone else, and that someone appears to be in the business of kidnapping. I mean, yes, it's possible someone is using their pet Stirge swarm to carry their kid to grandmas house for babysitting or something, but I really, really doubt it.

    I don't feel that Kori would want to leave an infant to such a fate, and I know for sure Mina wouldn't. The problem with this, however, is that once we down the Stirges, we're going to be left with an infant whose origin we don't know. Where will we take it? How will people react if we show up in the nearest settlement with it?

    What if the infant isn't Human, Elf, or something else that may at least be somewhat friendly, but rather an Orc, Gnoll, or worse? Hell, given the location and the Stirges, I wouldn't be surprised if a Hag is involved.

    Thankfully, Stirges are not Vermin despite their appearance. As Magical Beasts, they are not immune to Mind-Affecting effects, and their Will save bonuses are pretty low. That'll make them quite susceptible to Mina's magic.

    @DragonParadox, they're called Stirges, not Stringes. Not that one is any better of a name than the other, IMO. I've always wished they were called something like Monster Mosquitos or Bloodwings, not Stirges.

    How far away are the Stirges? How high up are they? My plan is just in the preliminary stage for now, since I'm assuming we can even attack them. If they're too high up, we might need to follow them instead.

    [X] Agree that you have to take those things down and rescue the infant
    -[X] Cob, Gorok, and Kori will target the nearest Stirge not carrying the infant using their stonebow and heavy crossbow. Perhaps with a bit of luck their concentrated fire will bring one down before they can draw near.
    -[X] Mina will ready an action to cast her a spell, with her selection depending on how the Stirges react.
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    They are flying low to the ground, about 25 ft off the ground so Mina should be able to sleep hex the one with the baby as it comes close, though if it works or not the others are likely to attack.
     
    If we wa t to use more resources here Kori can Divine facor himseñf and shadow trap on the mosquitoes.

    I think that if we manage to focus in them one at a time we are pretty set
     
    Tomcost said:
    If we wa t to use more resources here Kori can Divine facor himseñf and shadow trap on the mosquitoes.

    I think that if we manage to focus in them one at a time we are pretty set
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    Yeah, we might end up doing that depending on how the first round of combat goes. We might be able to kill one with ranged attacks right away, then Mina's Hex could take another one out of action for a bit, so then we can focus on the remaining Stirge. If all three remain active after the first round, then it will be time to break out the spells.
     
    Goldfish said:
    Yeah, we might end up doing that depending on how the first round of combat goes. We might be able to kill one with ranged attacks right away, then Mina's Hex could take another one out of action for a bit, so then we can focus on the remaining Stirge. If all three remain active after the first round, then it will be time to break out the spells.
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    Not even Divine Favor before the ambush? Kori has 6 spells per day. We are not going to use that many
     
    Tomcost said:
    Not even Divine Favor before the ambush? Kori has 6 spells per day. We are not going to use that many
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    Not yet. The Stirges are nearby now, but they're going to fly past us fairly quickly. Waiting to cast Divine Favor might take them out of our range, especially Mina's Hex range.

    Using spell slots now also seems somewhat premature. I have a feeling this encounter is going to lead to more shenanigans today.
     
    Allright. We shall see. If we focus on killing one, and we have a surprise round, we might very well drop one dead and two asleep before they can react.

    [X] Goldfish
     
    [] Goldfish

    Will the baby not fall when the Stirge falls asleep?
     
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    [X] Goldfish

    As a rule I think there is something bad and fishy going on if a bunch of giant mosquitoes are carrying a baby of any kind.

    Either way most of the party don't want to abandon a child to whatever fate it might have.

    @Goldfish could a hag be controlling these things to kidnap a child? It would sound like them.
     
    Sib said:
    [X] Goldfish

    Will the baby not fall when the Stirge falls asleep?
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    They're not too high up, and they're flying over a swamp. And maybe the Strife won't completely fall out of the air but drift down slow-ishly?

    Also, babies are resilient plus we have healing magic...

    Everyone, cross your fingers!
    Massgamer said:
    @Goldfish could a hag be controlling these things to kidnap a child? It would sound like them.
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    That's my going theory at the moment.
     
    Hmmmm. I think we might be dealing with a Green or Annis Hag here. They are the kind to go around to eat babies.

    By the way, @DragonParadox , does Gorok know what is in the direction the bloodsuckers are flying to?
     
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