Buckshot no, it only launches single items, that is what the base spell is for. You could design a canister for canister shot though.
Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Fantasy
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- Tags
- pathfinder
Buckshot no, it only launches single items, that is what the base spell is for. You could design a canister for canister shot though.
- Location
- Germany
Let's not overdo it on the Launcher.
It's a useful tool, but it was always primarily a weapon for low-level characters.
A fighter with iterative attacks has better things to do than use it, a caster certainly has better things to do than use it.
We are at a point where we can get some utility out of it by shooting alchemicals further than normal, or deal some ranged damage while saving spellslots, but we are already beyond the point where it's a gamechanger and in a few levels it will be almost completely irrelevant.
It's a useful tool, but it was always primarily a weapon for low-level characters.
A fighter with iterative attacks has better things to do than use it, a caster certainly has better things to do than use it.
We are at a point where we can get some utility out of it by shooting alchemicals further than normal, or deal some ranged damage while saving spellslots, but we are already beyond the point where it's a gamechanger and in a few levels it will be almost completely irrelevant.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Pretty much. It's a useful tool, but nothing to plan a build around.
Not a lot of votes, but it is unanimous so...
Arc 8 Post 21: Hidden Voices
Hidden Voices
3rd of Neth 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
You've seen your employer commanding and cordial, you've seen him buttressed behind the armor of his will in the midst of battle, and you've seen him waspish at the thought of wasted time. But you have never, you now realize, seen him genuinely shocked as when he takes the weapon gingerly from Cob.
"Where did you get this? And in such pristine condition? Why would there be weapons here. Unless..." He stops abruptly, eyes closed as though to center himself, then he gives Cob the widest smile you think you've seen out of him. "Good work, master Cob. Once more you show that those who underestimate your kindred have only themselves to blame when they lose out of the bargain."
He then looks past all of you signaling, Urgor and Leontas to approach, and the leads wagon to stop its cautious plodding under the trees. "This changes everything. There's only one people in all of Golarion's long history to which this weapon can belong to, the High Realm of Imperial Azlant. This weapon has endured more than ten thousand years and yet it is mere steel and wood as you see it, invested with a minor enchantment, though unknown in these days." He offers a nod to Mina that takes you a moment to interpret as graciously allowing her to study it if she pleases. "This should not have survived the passage of ages unless conditions favored preservation. Likely the air inside of the capsules was breached, sensing it whistling into the void of the Black Heavens."
"Wait a moment, are you saying those chunks of adamantine were hollow?" Urgor's exclamation is both louder than you'd like among the whispering trees and less pleased than you'd expected.
Ah... he'll have worked out the volume and thus the weight of metal for the structures he had spotted. The thought of them being hollow is likely bitter on the tongue. Chin up good dwarf, we're not sharing. You just don't know it yet.
"Yes, that is what I'm saying, but worry not. The wonders contained in such caches are worth far more than any weight of metal... any weight of mental you might be familiar with at least." You can only assume that last part was pedantry triumphing over good sense, though you wonder what the mage would think if he knew you recovered mind-glass shards from the remains of the Hydra's Fang's pirate crew. "It would be a tremendous waste to let the heritage of mankind's first and greatest empire pass into the hands of the fickle fey, who care nothing for history and see only one more toy for their collection."
"As opposed to one more tally mark on their ledger," Sirim proves unable, or perhaps unwilling, to keep from sharing the thought, not that your patron seems to be paying attention for unexpected mind voices.
Instead he's looking over the hand-drawn map of the way forward. "We make for the grove master Gorok marked here. I shall require an hour's solitude to consider our way forward, after which, of course, I will seek your council. Be prepared."
***
"We aren't the only ones with some means of communication, it's the only thing that makes sense," Mina argues-by proxy as the five of you are standing, sitting, or, in Cob's case, lounging under the shade of an old walnut tree that's holding court to one side of the clearing that not even the grass dares to grow under it. "If he were just checking references he'd bring them up for us to see them, especially Leontas. You saw how annoyed the sellswords were already, and ordering them to wait around while Gavhaul does some secret wizard work alone isn't likely to endear him to them any more."
"Or he could be sending the dog-things out?" you proposed
Mina looks scandalized at you calling Gavhaul's servants 'dogs', though Cob nods in approval.
"Foolish if he does. Pepper is smaller and more fitting to be near the dwellings of men, and yet he was marked and banished when he approached the great hall," Gorok points out.
"He doesn't know about cat," Cob jabs a thought in hard enough that Sirim freezes a moment in his coiling among the branches. "I'll go look-see what he's doing."
"What if he catches you?" Mina's worry is palpable, but Cob just shakes his head.
"Just goblin poking nose in things, last nose poke good for Gavhaul-wizard, he won't get too angry. My bet." The last has the meaning of 'I think', but much more personal and immediate, reflexive, that's the word. He's willing to bet himself.
"Be careful," Mina says.
"Cob is most careful goblin I know." The answer is probably not as reassuring as your friend had meant it to be even as he vanishes into the undergrowth, his new cloak taking on the color of dried moss.
The short distance to Gavhaul's tent means that Cob remains within the reach of the shade wizard's mind, a good thing it turns out since Gavhaul is 'talking weird' inside his tent. After a few moments of back and forth, Cob manages to reproduce the words to a rather surprised Sirm. "He is definitely not reporting back to anyone, unless his contact is a cyclops. That is the language of Gol-Ghan, which has vanished from the earth before even Azlant, given over to the worship of unspeakable things in the hopes of staying their doom. It was said all of them could see its shadow by grace and curse of prophecy residing in their one great eye. I do not speak Ghaani, the classical version of the tongue at least, but there are enough loan words in the phrases he was using to... yes, yes...
There is a pause as he tries to work out what is being said, then your companion continues as best he can:
"Gavhaul is asking about priests of Acavna, the lost Azlanti god of the moon, their ranks and orderings, what arms and armor they would bear, how they would deal with fey and... demons, or perform exorcisms. There is another voice in the tent, one that is not Gavhaul. It mocks him for being concerned with demons and fey, for trying to reach beyond the 'limits of his feeble mind'. Now it is answering, though not overly politely from the tone. The other is using too many Ghaani words... I can't make out the answer beyond fragments; doom, folly... a word that means both cannibalism and entropy. Gavhaul is quite angry with the other voice and is attempting to bend it to his will, but it will not... it expects to be free soon."
Cob considers trying to get closer, to see what's going on inside the tent, but that would risk falling afoul of any wards the mage may have placed on his tent. Instead he draws back as the rest of you pretend to be patiently waiting.
Gavhaul emerges from the tent looking tired, as though he had not slept a full night, but also with grim news. "We are not alone in these woods, and I do not speak of the fey or the Fusili. There are demons abroad wearing the guise of Azlanti soldiery. If any such should approach you, call for aid to slay or subdue the fiend, but do not heed its blandishments..."
The proclamation is interrupted by Lenontas bursting from his seat and demanding: "What the fuck do you mean demons?! Where from?!"
"They fell from the Black Heavens. The last owner of that weapon master Cob recovered was a demonic infiltrator, cambion they are called. Demons, unlike mortal things, do not need to draw breath and so they circled above Golarion amid the flotsam of Azlant, until at last they descended in a corona of fire to spread their poison to the gullible."
The memory of the message in the midst of the chaotic evacuation comes back to you... they had been overrun by demons. Was Gavhaul, for all his sins, speaking the truth, or are some of the survivors of the High Realm still alive under the sun? Have I saved some of my lost kin, or just doomed this town?
Do you send word of what you had just found out back to the Almas Lodge?
[] [PATHFINDERS] Yes, they should know the danger as much as the opportunity
[] [PATHFINDERS] No, you do not know enough and your source of Gavhaul, who is clearly far from forthright
[] [PATHFINDERS] Write in
What do you propose the expedition do?
[] [PLAN ] Send someone back to the village to discover what the villagers have and what they are planning to sell to the fey
[] [PLAN ] Continue on to the site of the Starfall
[] [PLAN ] Write in
OOC: Not all rolls are shown to avoid spoilers.
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Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
This is starting to get more complicated, and more and more like its a personal project of Gavhaul as a whole, especially since he has something bond and in his service, at least for a time.
Either way, we should let the Lodge know about this and keep them up to date with information.
And speaking of information, we should send Cob back into town to get more, even if maybe alert has been raised after weapon was stolen.
[X] [PATHFINDERS] Yes, they should know the danger as much as the opportunity
-[X] Tell them we don't have all details yet, and the source shouldn't be totally trusted, but that we plan to keep them up to date on things as we learn about it.
[X] [PLAN ] Send someone back to the village to discover what the villagers have and what they are planning to sell to the fey
-[X] Send Cob and Sirim again to work together to infiltrate further and discover all they can.
@Goldfish any spells we can add to make Cob and Sirim extra sneaky? Beyond invisibility and such?
Either way, we should let the Lodge know about this and keep them up to date with information.
And speaking of information, we should send Cob back into town to get more, even if maybe alert has been raised after weapon was stolen.
[X] [PATHFINDERS] Yes, they should know the danger as much as the opportunity
-[X] Tell them we don't have all details yet, and the source shouldn't be totally trusted, but that we plan to keep them up to date on things as we learn about it.
[X] [PLAN ] Send someone back to the village to discover what the villagers have and what they are planning to sell to the fey
-[X] Send Cob and Sirim again to work together to infiltrate further and discover all they can.
@Goldfish any spells we can add to make Cob and Sirim extra sneaky? Beyond invisibility and such?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Hmm, so Gavhaul knew all along that there was more to the adamantine than it being a simple outcropping or meteorites. Makes sense if he has some sort of bound Outsider as a source of information.
That source of information being associated with the Gol-Ghani is probably really bad news. We didn't get enough of the conversation to say for sure, though. Given the tone of their communication and what we did hear, I worry that the Dark Tapestry is involved, possibly even Azatoth...
If it's any consolation, Gavhaul at least does seem to believe what he was claiming.
That source of information being associated with the Gol-Ghani is probably really bad news. We didn't get enough of the conversation to say for sure, though. Given the tone of their communication and what we did hear, I worry that the Dark Tapestry is involved, possibly even Azatoth...
If it's any consolation, Gavhaul at least does seem to believe what he was claiming.
If we go back to Fusil, I think we should consider sending the whole party. Between Pepper tripping a ward of some sort and being Dispelled or destroyed, and Cob snagging the Launcher from a guard, they should be on high alert for infiltrators. That doesn't mean Cob couldn't sneak back in, but it raises the risk significantly and lowers the possibility of learning anything helpful.
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Fair enough, so how should we go about it then?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I wonder if Gavhaul could be convinced to allow the entire expedition to reroute to Fusil? @DragonParadox?
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
I no longer wish to level out the party's stealth bonuses.
Maybe we should try a divination about the location of the escape pods next time one is available?
Edit: I think there really are demons about, and some might be pretending to be Azlanti, I think some Azlanti are gonna be on the up-and-up. Fortunatly, our sellswords are used to demonic nonsense, and will probably be willing to check before killing the person, provided said person is subdued, of course.
Demon checking: knock the person out so they can't teleport, then try to cut them (a tiny but) with a regular blade and if that doesn't cut them, try it with a blade that bypasses demonic resistance. Or hit them with Evil Eye + Detect Thoughts while they're unconscious.
I also think it's possible Gavhaul would find it convenient for the Azlanti in those pods to die, so he can claim their stuff.
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You have one for the day.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Sirim can prepare a Detect Fiendish Presence cantrip to check for Demons and other Evil Outsiders, so that will be an easy way to differentiate them from legit survivors. Not that legit survivors will be trustworthy or actual allies.
[X] [PATHFINDERS] Yes, they should know the danger as much as the opportunity
-[X] Tell them we don't have all details yet, and the source shouldn't be totally trusted, but that we plan to keep them up to date on things as we learn about it.
[X] [PLAN] Kori will perform a Divination to learn how the expedition will be received if we make a detour to visit Fusil in force. Allow Gavhaul to learn the results and get his interpretation of the Divination.
-[X] If the results seem promising, we'll argue that it's better to visit Fusil and check for Fiendish influence, as well as to learn more about the local Fey and what the villagers may have found.
-[X] Sirim will prepare Detect Fiendish Presence in place of Prestidigitation. He'll use the spell and relay everything he learns to the party, allowing Mina to take credit for anything he sees which needs to be communicated to Gavhaul and the rest of the expedition.
[X] [PATHFINDERS] Yes, they should know the danger as much as the opportunity
-[X] Tell them we don't have all details yet, and the source shouldn't be totally trusted, but that we plan to keep them up to date on things as we learn about it.
[X] [PLAN] Kori will perform a Divination to learn how the expedition will be received if we make a detour to visit Fusil in force. Allow Gavhaul to learn the results and get his interpretation of the Divination.
-[X] If the results seem promising, we'll argue that it's better to visit Fusil and check for Fiendish influence, as well as to learn more about the local Fey and what the villagers may have found.
-[X] Sirim will prepare Detect Fiendish Presence in place of Prestidigitation. He'll use the spell and relay everything he learns to the party, allowing Mina to take credit for anything he sees which needs to be communicated to Gavhaul and the rest of the expedition.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
We know that much from what he let slip around Briolia. His brother is in a similar line of work, too.
He might not have known there was more than fey trickery to what Urgor claims to have seen, but he couldn't pass up the chance.
...We have the OOC knowledge from the interlude about how the survivors acted upon landing. A demonic infestation aligns with the last message we heard, but it sounds rather strange. What would be the point of infiltrating in the guise of Azlanti whom most people consider dead and gone? What could one achieve with it? I suppose one could get access to other sites or capsules by pretending to be an Azlanti, but it's not the people of Golarion that they would need to fool for it. There is always a possibility of an Imposter scenario where other crewmembers are the ones being fooled, but it implies there are, in fact, legit survivors.
I am biased, of course, because I dearly want for some of their people to survive to see what becomes of their return... but I am also inherently suspicious of instructions that amount to 'do not believe its lies'. Why? What is so dangerous that they don't want you to even consider listening?
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- Location
- Germany
[X] Goldfish
Vote closed.
Arc 8 Post 22: Quarry Round and Golden
Quarry Round and Golden
3rd of Neth 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
The mirror ripples like a pond in which a stone had been cast, the colors of the canopy above shifting into an approximation painted green of the brash Venture Captain Brackett. Perhaps the color flatters him, hiding the pallor that your news brings. His hand shakes ever so slightly as he holds up the note he's just written to the glass: "How certain are you that this has something to do with the cyclops? Do you speak the language, madam?"
You explain as best you can, Sirim's mastery of simple figments once more proving its worth as he can write in air with with but a thought, sparing you from having to write incriminating notes and then disposing of them.
After a brief account of the dangers of the demonic, from their weakness to cold iron to the ability of all but the least of demons to cross leagues in an instant, the Pathfinder 'says' something you had not expected: "If you must choose between the two, better that the fey of the Verduran keep the artifacts than to have them fall into Aspis hands. The Lodge is willing to offer you a consideration of thirty five hundred golden sails for the assurance that they remain so."
Almost as though you planned it, the five of you look up from the mirror at the same time, each checking in the face of the other what they think of the deal. The agreement is as unanimous as it is wordless: you did not come all this way through peril and treachery just to make some gnome-folk happy with their treasures.
"Of course. Loric Gavhaul is a dangerous man who would be made more dangerous with the weapons of the High Realm. We value the friendship of the Lodge far more than any mere material artifact," Sirim concludes in script of floating silver thread. Comforting lies suit him.
Once the mirror had cleared again and it was returned to the safety of the extra-dimensional bag, Cob checks: "That was dog-crap?"
"Utterly, master Cob, utterly. We are leaving this place with enough ancient arcana to help retake a fallen dwarfish city from the unquiet dead," Sirum states.
"You know, I always thought of adventurers as more heroic types," Mina shakes her head, though she does not sound particularly upset.
***
Finding a quiet place, you pick up a flat stone and Cob's clever little tool made chisel, your mind flowing naturally to the little you know of Fusil. "Would they welcome us with poison, or clear water?"
The countenance of a smiling man, his beard and hair blond bleached almost white from the sun, flashes through your mind. He looks nothing like Gavis, and yet he reminds you of him. When you look down at your work you see what seems at first a riddle:
What has a head, a tail, is yellow, and has no legs?
But made in seemingly another hand, the answer:
A golden coin from any hand, a cup drained to the dregs
They'll welcome you, they'll welcome asp money more
Beware, there's others there who seek the secret lore
Automatic writing (DC 10): 1d100: 12 (Success)
For once the answer is straightforward. The people of Fusil would be more than happy to have another buyer for whatever they have stored away, more customers means they can try to have an auction, but 'others', these gnomish fey presumably, will not welcome you for much the same reasons.
Thus you argue for going back on the morrow, to give 'Mina' the time to prepare her spells to deal with demons. In truth, it is Sirim who knows a spell that can mark brash fiends at least, a needed skill in kyton-haunted Nidal. The fact that the spell also marks your cook is only faintly alarming.
***
4th of Neth 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
On that next morning, as you approach the town from the east, you are greeted at the gates by the man in your vision who introduces himself as Tyn Thrylson, Alderman of Fusil. After the usual questioning for Gavhaul and Leontas about where they're from and what they're doing in these parts he shows himself very concerned with your good health, staying out in the forest with spirits and beasts about. Indeed, he insists that you all seek lodgings within their walls, or at least pitch your tents on the village green... for a fee of course. By the end of that conversation Gavhaul seems to have some grudging admiration for the man... and the fact that he had been made to pay good silver for every head of man, dwarf, iruxi, horse, etc in the caravan.
Negotiations with the fey promptly break down as the villagers prepare to turn the auction into a impromptu feast.
What do you do in the few hours before the auction is set to begin that afternoon?
[] Try to meet with your fey 'rivals,' figure out why they are here beyond a love of strange contraptions
[] Speak to the local priest of Erastil. Has he seen any signs of demons?
[] The villagers are pretty tightlipped about the circumstances under which they got the artifacts they are trying to sell. Surely someone at the loal tavern will let things slip if you lubricate them a little
[] Fusil is not just a source of gems, but also of fey and druidic goods thanks to their good relations with the Keth, see what you can buy
[] Write in
OOC: Enjoy.
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Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
If nothing else these people are very crude and know how profit off the situation.
@Goldfish since we are in town now and people are preparing for an auction/feast, you think that gives Cob/Sirim an opening to check out what artifacts they have in storage? Better prepare ourselves for auction by knowing what they have ahead of time so we only buy what we need?
Other than that I think we are better off trying to get rumors out of locals rather than visiting fey.
@Goldfish since we are in town now and people are preparing for an auction/feast, you think that gives Cob/Sirim an opening to check out what artifacts they have in storage? Better prepare ourselves for auction by knowing what they have ahead of time so we only buy what we need?
Other than that I think we are better off trying to get rumors out of locals rather than visiting fey.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Aww, don't get disillusioned quite yet, Mina. Adventurers can be both heroic and motivated by spite, anger, or greed.
It's all about striking a balance.
I trust that Cob and Sirim are super sneaky, but with Fey and perhaps even Demons in the mix, it becomes much more difficult to pull off anything without being observed or possibly tripping alarms of some sort. There are so many possible threats that can turn Invisible, for example, that we could be under constant observation. We already got some really good info and nice loot from the first infiltration, enough to convince Gavhaul to detour to Fusil. If we push too hard right now, we might make things way more complicated than they already are.
I agree that meeting with the Fey isn't the best option. I don't think this is a great time to split up, either. I'm torn between meeting with the priest and trying to gather information from the locals. Gonna go with visiting the tavern for now, though. We might learn more than how they got the Azlanti artifacts, if we're lucky. There could be info about the local Fey, odd signs that could point to Demons, etc.
I hope we're able to find an Ears of the City spell scroll soon. Once Mina and Sirim learn that, it will help with with information gathering so much.
[X] The villagers are pretty tightlipped about the circumstances under which they got the artifacts they are trying to sell. Surely someone at the local tavern will let things slip if you lubricate them a little
