#39: The Citadel of Flame: Monday 7th July 19.00 BST London Time (18.00 GMT)

[Skellan]

Yeah, i know I said i would do higher tier ones but I need some exp for a character for Paizo Con in a few so weeks, so there may be a few of these hehe (sorry!)

#39: The Citadel of Flame
A Pathfinder Society Scenario designed for 1st to 5th level characters (Tiers: 1–2 and 4–5).

Once the home to a cult preaching self-sacrifice by immolation in order to achieve paradise, the Citadel of Flame in Qadira's Meraz Desert was presumably wiped out decades ago after Sarenrae dervishes led a crusade to end its morbid message. An enormous sandstorm swallowed both the citadel and the army attacking it, burying both beneath hundreds of feet of sand. Thought lost forever, the citadel's rediscovery prompts the Pathfinder Society to send you deep in the unforgiving Meraz to finally close the book on Qadira's most mysterious cult.

To sign up, please post your character xml and previous chronicles to this thread and also sign up on the calendar. (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/calendar/index.xcp?id=1219)

Just let me know if you have any questions

Cheers

[Blackfoot]

I'm up for it.
I'll be bringing
Name: Garbunkle
PFS# 39241-4
Level: 4
XP: 11
Fame/PP: 22/22
GP: 814.9
Faction: Grand Lodge
This Chronicle# will be: 13
Inventory Tracking Sheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmXMIqPPKb2UdFB6cUJ4QWVPSHg5dFlvUE9VUUJpT lE&usp=sharing#gid=0)

[Syndrome]

im down to go with dante 5 or my oracle 1

[Syndrome]

Name: Dante
Level: 5
XP: 13
Fame/PP: 26/24
GP: 1193
Faction: Andoran

[cmdisc]

Katerine is on board for this as well. :) Will get XML up later today once I make sure she's updated as she's newly 4th. You have her last Chronicle, but I can repost it. :)

[xazil]

Im happy to come along if you have room for Haimel at level 1, 1 XP. If you have lots for 4-5 Ill wait for the next one along.

[Carog the Fat]

Hi,

I will be there with My fighter/Wizard lvl 2, i will send you my charecter.

Rich

[cmdisc]

I can always switch to Logus who is Lvl 1 as well (1XP). Reach cleric (not much of a healer, but can use people's wands for them). Either is fine depending on party make-up.

[Malkavian_Andi]

I'd like to play, but unfortunately I don't have time because of work. Maybe your next session will be good for me :)

[cmdisc]

I can send Kat's Chronicle if you haven't retained it. I'll have to double check, but I believe she still needs to purchase some plat rings as focus for her Shield Other spell. Unless anyone objects, she'll most likely be retaining that on the squishier of the two low lvls. (In fact, come to think of it, I might need to take a few before session start just to make sure I have her Actions Tab updated to 4th lvl).

With 5, 4, 4, 2, and 1 our APL is currently 3.2; so playing up...which makes the low lvls all the more squishy, so be careful. If you think this is too much and we need to play down, I'd rather bring Logus along. I'll post his XML and Chronicle if that's the call.

[Carog the Fat]

I am happy to play uo carog is ok played up last session love the bonus gold :)

[Blackfoot]

I could play Spirit Walker the Gnome Barbarian if need be... but Garby is 1 XP from level 5 so I'd really like to play him if I can.
(Spirit Walker is 1 XP from level 3... so he's a good option too for a lower tier game)

[Syndrome]

ive no problem playing down with sebastion my level 1 healing oracle

[cmdisc]

I'd prefer my 4th lvl; but if anyone thinks a 4-5 tier would be too risky for them, then I'm willing to swap out for my 1st lvl.

[Skellan]

I'd rather it was played at a higher tier. I want to see higher level characters on here. It will open up a lot more scenarios etc. Its up to you guys though. Building the party is the players business.
It is worth highlighting for thr lower levels there are things in here that can kill you in one hit, straight through con. And I dont fudge dice. So its up to you whether you want to take the risk for the extra reward of playing up.

[Skellan]

I am not trying to put you off playing up, the loot is awesome, I am just saying be careful :)

[cmdisc]

As mentioned earlier, I can keep a Shield Other on one toon. Probably the 1st lvl Barb. That will effectively double his Hpts. Carog has already voted to go with the 4-5, so I assume he either has decent Hpts, AC, or some means to stay out of the thick of it. We're just relying on Dante and Garby to keep the front line going. I see the scenario is listed as 3-5 players, but a 6th certainly wouldn't hurt if allowed as 2 of our 5 are below subtier.

Also something to think about: Is there any particular spell someone wants a 4th lvl Cleric tricking them out with? Think about it and let me know as we get set up. Bless, SoF, Bulls, etc are the standard otherwise.

[Skellan]

I put it as 5 players max as Carog had said he wanted to play and I wanted to save a spot for him - He needs exp for Paizocon too hehe.

The so far party is:
Dante lvl 5 Thumb Wrestler
Katerine lvl 4 support cleric
Garbunkle lvl 4 two weapon fighter
haimel lvl 1 dwarf barbarian
Carog lvl 2 fighter/mage

I'll prep it for subtier 4-5

There is still one space left :)

[xazil]

I'm happy to come along if the rest of the people don't feel Ill hold them back too much. I can pretty much act as flanker/distraction/aid another and I should have HP about on par with Carog.

[Blackfoot]

Just keep in mind that you don't want to look like a target... leave that to me. :)

[Syndrome]

dont worry dante will wear his target outfit and be sure to drink his mage armor potion lol

[xazil]

I've heard taking ranks in Perform(Mime) is the best way to be the target when tanking. :D

[cmdisc]

I'd certainly shoot that. :P

Also, remember that my offer to Shield Other in no way implies an invitation to run around within enemy threatened zones playing havoc with my Hpts. Do that and I might just accidentally step out of range and end the spell. Doubling your hpts halves mine. ;)

[Blackfoot]

This game is starting now.

[Skellan]

wow, that was epic. Glad you all survived, there were some tough fights this evening.

You all got 2PP

Carog and Haimel get 1182 gp each

Garbunkle, Dante and katerine get 1810 gp each

The pre-chronicle is located here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/0mmwwf32aibz1qg/AADoIA-D5qBUtKdA1rLBDCU2a if you have any questions just let me know

thanks for the game - you earned your loot tonight :)

I will be running another (hopefully less epic) scenario next Monday

[Syndrome]

if you wouldnt have cut the extra fight for time we would've been there quite a bit longer and maybe not faced off with the bossman lol

[Skellan]

Oddly, the optional encounter is (probably) more of a roleplay one. Also you might be interested to know that the Margaav was on 1 hit when it withdrew...you were so close to killing him!

[cmdisc]

My understanding is that these adventures are really meant for a party of 5-6. As our party consisted of 3 within subtier and 2 beneath it (effectively 3.5 to 4 level equivalent characters), no wonder we felt the threat of failure breathing down our necks. It was that one encounter before the end that burned out pretty much all of Kat's healing. With our two front-liners within a hit of going down AND bleeding, her action economy allowed for nothing other than trying to keep them on their feet...which I know is always a loosing battle. Cleric action economy is bad enough, but it really stinks when the GM is rolling better than the party combined. heh

I'll have to track down a guide on how to be a more effective party support. Those fights left me scrambling feeling like I couldn't get the buffs out fast enough. Plus many are single target with touch range, so running around the field in medium armor takes forever. Need to move 25ft? Oops, can't cast this round. Have to wait until next round. Oh wait, someone needs healing, so will have to do that and wait on the buff next round. Oops, looks like that healing failed. Will have to do it again. Maybe I'll get to that buff the round after that... :P

Mithral armor and a Reach rod can't come fast enough. *sigh*

Edit: I should add that I'm not knocking the lower level guys at all. They contributed wonderfully to the fight. Looking forward to seeing them in action when they're 4th/5th. Watch out PFS Scenarios!

[kwarner1986]

Don't suppose I can bribe Skullan to run the next one on a Tuesday. :D

[Carog the Fat]

it was great fun i was tooo hasty with my spells at the end.... wait for start of fight to buff next time.

[Skellan]

Chronicles will be incoming soon folks. I was away yesterday watching the awesome Pearl Jam...

[Skellan]

This scenario was actually built for a party of 4. The 5-6 player assumption comes in at season 4. Some scenarios are just tougher than others - Katerine was particularly ham-stringed by the healing resistance thing. I thought you all did ace, you got in, did the job and no one died

[Syndrome]

aye all things went well considering lol... how was the concert?

[xazil]

Lack of a bow in the party also hurt in this instance too. something I used my PP to fix :)

[Skellan]

Archery for the win.

The concert was fantastic thanks.

[Carog the Fat]

I did ok with my ray of frost:) and force missiles

[xazil]

Better than ok, they did major damage over time. Its just those arrows we found that would've been useful too for a non spellcasting shlub :)

[cmdisc]

Regarding ranged weapons, Weapon Blanch isn't a bad investment. Since ammo is single use on a hit anyway, you get to blanch 10 different arrows with one dose's worth. That's the equivalent of an Adamantine Arrow for 10gps each, or even a Ghost Touch Arrow for 20gps each....which is WAY cheaper than you'd pay otherwise.

How would you like to have a quiver full of 10 Addy, 10 Silver, 10 Cold Iron, and 10 Ghost Touch arrows all for low price of 355gps? Granted, they're non-magical, but then that's what your bow is for... :)

[xazil]

Nice options. Haimel is bit of a slow learner as he is taking lessons on how to rage from his companion Brutus, going full ranger will take longer still. :)