Ruins of Azlant IC

[u-b]

The walking corn makes some quick slashing motions directed at Marius. Its leaves seem considerably sharper and stiffer than those of a regular well-known corn. Fortunately, the man has the armor to protect him.

Spoiler

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Corn slash: (1d20+3)[13] for (1d4+1)[4] bleed (1d6)[5]
Corn slash: (1d20+3)[15] for (1d4+1)[2] bleed (1d6)[2]
Corn slash: (1d20+3)[10] for (1d4+1)[2] bleed (1d6)[5]

I don't see "crouching" condition in SRD, so let's say it has no mechanical effect (in particular, no AC penalty and no need to spend an action to stand up). Marius has no shield or weapon ready.

=> Party (everyone, any order)

[farothel]

"What is going on here," Laurelata shouted as she tried to get to the back of the thing, or at least what she thought was the back, before she made a lunge with her rapier to the 'corn'. She didn't know what this was again, but it wasn't the first strange thing they encountered here.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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move action: move into flanking position (in case this is important)
attack the corn berserker (no it's not that kind of Korn): (1d20+5)[23] (incl. flanking bonus. If that doesn't count, take 2 off the result)
damage: (1d6)[5]
sneak attack due to flanking (if it's allowed, which is why I roll it seperately): (1d6)[4]

[SanguinePenguin]

Tazmara's jaw drops yet again as a stalk of corn attacks Marius. She screams moments later, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE?!" as her wits return. Channeling that rage, she strafes to a beneficial point and blasts a jet of water at the creature.

Spoiler: Actions

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Know (...nature?): (1d20+4)[23]

Taz is firing into melee, so -4 (counted below), then +1 to hit if this corn is an abberation.
Move into position so not firing over / through allies.
Standard: Kinetic blast the corn: (1d20-1)[4] Damage: (1d6+6)[7]

Spoiler: Character Details

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Tazmara Stonesong
F NG Dwarf Kineticist (Aquakineticist), Level 1, Init 2, HP 13/13, Speed 20
AC 15, Touch 12, Flat-footed 13, CMD 13, Fort 6, Ref 5, Will 1, CMB +1, Base Attack Bonus 0
PBS Water Blast +3 (1d6+6, x2)
Heavy Pick +1 (1d6+1, x4)
Studded Leather (+3 Armor, +2 Dex)
Burn 0/7

[Farmerbink]

"I don't know, but it isn't very nice!" Jessica swipes at the animate vegetable stalk with her glaive, slowly circling the creature.

Spoiler: Jessica, Round 1

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Jessica Cooper
F NG Aasimar (Angel-blooded) Cleric, Level 1, Init 2, HP 9/9, DR Acid, Cold, Elec resist 5, Speed
AC 11, Touch 11, Flat-footed 10, CMD 13, Fort 3, Ref 1, Will 4, CMB +2, Base Attack Bonus 0
Glaive +2 (1d10+3, x3)
Dagger +2/+1 (1d4+1, 19-20,x2)
Abilities Str 14, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 15, Cha 16
Condition +2 CL for divination spells
Augery 2/2 (weekly)
Inner beauty: 1/1
Alter self: 1/1
Channel energy: 6/8, 1d6
Touch of good: 4/5
Bit of Luck: 3/5
Talisman of good fortune: reroll natural 1 (once, then it crumbles))

move to flank?

(1d20+4)[15] glaive assumes flanking
(1d20+4)[17] CC (24, x3)
(1d10+3)[10] damage
(2d10+6)[14] crit bonus

[Spore]

Marius Human Freebooter Ranger AC: 20 HP: 7/12 touch: 12, ff: 18, CMD: 16 Conditions: What in Calistria's formidable butt cheeks...? Marius shouts as he fails to stand up quick enough. The sharp leaves are no match for his well-crafted armor. He draws his sword, and looks for his shield. Now have at you. he challenges the corn. Spoiler Show Move: draw sword and board. Standard to attack: (1d20+4)[6] (1d8+3)[10] Spoiler: if crit Show (1d20+4)[8] (1d8+3)[11] Spoiler: AoO, if it moves away or Bodyguard if it decides to attack someone else to improve AC Show #1 (1d20+4)[5] (1d8+3)[4] #2 (1d20+4)[24] (1d8+3)[7] #3 (1d20+4)[22] (1d8+3)[7]

[DaOldeWolf]

"Frankly, I think this might be the most normal thing we have seen all day. At the very least, its appearance is way less disgusting that some of the creatures here." Hewitt decides to summon another creature since he still had energy left to do it. "Eagle, attack the corn!" Hewitt could barely believe he had to order such a thing and he felt embarrassed saying it.

Spoiler: OOC

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Using the summon monster ability to summon a celestial eagle. Assuming the eagle understands the command, here are its rolls:
Talon Attack: (1d20+2)[20]
Damage (1d4)[1]

[u-b]

Laurelata moves in position and attacks the corn. The attack hits and cuts some of the leaves (see below). Tazmara recognizes the walking corn as some sort of plant creature (shapechanger plant creature?) that does not seem to be native to Avistan. She also blasts a jet of water in its general direction, but very much misses the thin stalk. Jessica cuts the upper part of the stalk off very neatly for 10 damage. Marius gets himself armed. Hewitt summons the eagle, which promptly attacks the strange corn and...

Spoiler

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It seems you can flank and sneak attack plants in Pathfinder. The problem is, the thing is adjacent to a corn field, which would be a difficult terrain because of all that normal corn (concealment too, but that is, at the moment, not terribly relevant). You don't have enough movement to safely flank the thing on first round, so you can do it, but you'll eat an AoO. Please choose if you do so. You also would not be able to 5-foot-step into the corn field for much the same reasons.

I believe getting the shield on is a whole separate move action, so a second action to draw the sword, so no attack (not that it matters this time).

Spoiler: Please choose whether Laurelata takes the AoO to flank the corn before you open this spoiler - AoO taken

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Corn slash AoO: (1d20+3)[17] for (1d4+1)[2] bleed (1d6)[3] so a miss (and you deal enough damage for the eagle to finish it off)

Spoiler: Please choose whether Laurelata takes the AoO to flank the corn before you open this spoiler - AoO NOT taken

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Corn attacks Marius
Corn slash: (1d20+3)[9] for (1d4+1)[4] bleed (1d6)[5]
Corn slash: (1d20+3)[23] for (1d4+1)[2] bleed (1d6)[6]
Corn slash: (1d20+3)[21] for (1d4+1)[3] bleed (1d6)[4]

[farothel]

"What the hell is wrong with this place," Laurelata asked after the corn thing died, "there definately is something weird going on."
She had been Lucky that her dive had made the thing miss her, well, scrape against her armour without doing damage.
"So, anything under the tree," she asked as she looked around in case more things would try to attack them.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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perception: (1d20+7)[25]

[Farmerbink]

Jessica's breathing begins to regulate as the immediate threat is vanquished. "You can say that again," she mutters. "Everyone OK?" She takes a quick stock of her companions; satisfied of their health, she turns her attention to the tree along with Laurelata.

"Think that thing was some sort of guardian? I bet we'll actually learn something about what happened here! All we've found so far is more questions..." Her tone isn't quite frustration, but astonishingly close for the unerringly-optimistic young woman.

[SanguinePenguin]

While others search about for more danger, or dig under the tree for clues, Taz searches the cornstalk for some insight about what actually just attacked them

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt wonders about the nature of this peculiar corn. "If magic is involved, we can always search if there are traces left on it. Maybe uncover its true nature." Hewitt decides to suggest as he cast his a spell to analyze the defeated corn.

Spoiler: OOC

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Casting detect magic:

Knowledge arcana roll: (1d20+5)[13]

[Spore]

Marius Human Freebooter Ranger AC: 20 HP: 7/12 touch: 12, ff: 18, CMD: 16 Conditions: Marius pulls out a cob of corn, and bites into it, testing if it is really just produce. Marius waves his allies together for a little meeting. We should check the field then.

[u-b]

Laurelata sees corn. Lots of corn. Thankfully, it does not move to attack the party at the moment. To Tazmara, the cornstalk appears to be just a cornstalk - cut to size and uprooted, but nothing unusual. Something is unusual though - the parts you have cut off don't appear to be corn anymore. Hard and sharp elongated leaves. A thicker and harder stem. Definitely not corn, but you don't recognize it either. Hewitt tries to detect magic on it and, sure, there is magic! Specifically, a single faint aura. Marius pulls out a cob. It does not feel right. Marius looks at his hand and sees that he has in it some hard and very sharp leaves. Luckily, a breastplate comes with steel gauntlets, but Marius is highly hesitant to bite that.

[farothel]

"I only see normal corn for now," Laurelata said, "I think it's best if we grab what we came here for as quickly as possible and then go to a spot where we can't be ambushed, or at least not as well. One person digging, the rest standing watch."

[Farmerbink]

Jessica nods and grabs the shovel. "Makes sense to me," she agrees, while delicately digging into the base of the tree.

[SanguinePenguin]

"I think this... corn... is actually a... shapeshifting plant. It does seem to be a plant though," she says holding up one of the hard sharp leaves and shaking her head.

She reaches into the area where Marius had been digging and pulls up the leather pouch. "Moment of truth..." she mutters as she opens the pouch to explore the contents.

[u-b]

Inside the leather pouch is a handwritten note.

Spoiler

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http://roleplayer.narod.ru/img/RoA_017.png

[farothel]

"The only name I recognise immediately is Rayland," Laurelata said, "he had that cottage we found the watch, right? Maybe we should show this to Ramona. She might know the people."
She thought back to the conversations she had with the other people on the boat trip here, hoping one or more names would have been mentioned then.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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knowledge (local): (1d20+7)[9]

[SanguinePenguin]

"Taking it to Ramona makes sense... the main thing I gather from this is that there was a fair amount of discord in the first wave of colonists."

Taz then changes subjects abruptly, "we should continue securing the area for now." She holds up a hand and starts counting off tasks, "there is the poltergeist or whatever in the temple, but I don't think we have any idea what to do with that. There are the cockroaches. With the swarmsuit, I think I should be able to make short work of them. On the way out here, we passed a lot of houses, we should check them for more dangers or signs of the colonists. Over there," she swings her right hand in the general direction as she raises a fourth finger on her left, "there were some collasping tents that we should investigate. Then there were those insect burrows Marius found up north where that thing exploded - WHY DID SOMETHING EXPLODE?!" Taz reels in her sudden involuntary venting of frustration, she motions to the dead corn at their feet, holds up a sixth finger using her right hand and adds, "and clearly these fields could have more dangers, so we should probably explore them too. That is six things - only the temple seems insurmountable at the moment."

Spoiler: OOC

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@u-b: Are we at A15-17? From the descriptions, I think that is where we would be.

I looked through the thread to figure out what we had yet to do. I somehow missed this, but I think it is A2 on the map.

Seven canvas pavilion tents were set up to the right of it, large enough to shelter two to three people each. All but two tents have collapsed due to wind, rain, and lack of maintenance. The two that remain standing lean haphazardly and do not appear to have been entered for a long time. Grass has begun to grow around them. For now, you leave them be.

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt decides to bring up the other important part of the whole puzzle. "We might also try to research about all the pieces of the mystery lay upon us. Even after the "clean up", we should probably stay on our guard. We still dont really have a whole picture about what happened, who is responsible or how they did it." Hewitt adds before deciding to make a suggestion. "This might be a bit out of nowhere but how about we keep contact after we finish this mission? What do you all think?"

[Farmerbink]

Jessica shrugs. "Stick together's the easiest answer. I trust all of you. Ramona's honest enough, and the other cleric's a fine fellow.... To be honest, I don't know most of the crew all that well." She smiles a little ruefully at the admission.

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz smirks at Hewitt and says, "with us included, I think there were only about eighty people on that ship. We're going to be seeing a lot of everyone, present company included, whether we want to or not, over the next few weeks. But yeah... I do think facing this weird stuff," she motions again to the dead "corn," "forms strong bonds. Once things are a bit stable here, we should all definitely get together, tap a keg, and reminisce. Ramona will surely owe us at least a keg for this..."

With no one chiming in to voice a strong suggestion for what to do next, Taz points back to the collapsing tents, "since they are just over there, why don't we investigate those tents next? Maybe the vegetable fields after?"

[Spore]

Marius Human Freebooter Ranger AC: 20 HP: 7/12 touch: 12, ff: 18, CMD: 16 Conditions: There is safety in numbers, ye. However we cannot protect the sailors as well. Not unless we know what we are dealing with here. Open attacks are much easier to fend off than shape shifting corn leaf druid things. Marius scoffs. He takes his turn reading the dug-up note. Someone left this note for the supply ship. That is us, basically. I think they were attacked and we not sure what to do, so they split into two camps. One following an Eliza, and one under the assumed governor Rayland. Spoiler Show Survival to determine when the last 'quarter-moon' was. (1d20+6)[18] leaving Machete and compass bonus out of the equation since they don't add anything.

[farothel]

"Sounds like a plan," Laurelata said to Hewitt, "we best check everything anyway, so closest to furthest is ok for me. Do the things we can do, report back on the things we can't handle at the moment."

[Farmerbink]

Jessica frowns thoughtfully. "If they left it for us, they didn't leave us an awful lot of useful information... I think that, whoever wrote it, it didn't get to their intended recipient. After all, they were instructed to leave at least a couple days ago, but the letter's still here... They knew we were coming, but I think that's all it says about us...."

She pauses for a second, poring over the note. "There weren't any other big islands in this area, were there? If they took a canoe, they can't have gone far. Maybe we can go back to the ship and sail around the island looking for sign of a landing party?" She glances back at the original colony, now obviously abandoned and deteriorating rapidly and shakes her head.

"There's just too many questions. We need to find out what happened, and I don't know how to do that without finding whoever's left..."

[SanguinePenguin]

"I think Jessica's right. Common isn't my first language, but the wording here strikes me as a lot more," Taz searches for the right word for a moment before saying with a hint of disappointment, "sinister... than just being unsure what to do, and then splitting into two camps. It smells a bit more like conspiracy. Splitting up after an attack also seems strange - nothing unites people faster than an outside threat. At least... that's how the stories often go."

"There are several islands here, but taking a canoe on the open ocean seems pretty dangerous to me... you know, the note does say THE canoe. Its possible we dragged that out of the water when we first got here. Marius, you did say it looked like it had been deliberately sabotaged. Maaybe they didn't leave in the way they intended."

[Farmerbink]

At Taz' mention of the ruined canoe, Jessica groans. "Ugh, you're right. So much for that lead...

Anyone else have any ideas?"

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz shrugs, "well, as it says in the note, they can't all go in one trip. There still may be an encampment around the island as you suggest. More clues would help, so let's investigate the tents."

[farothel]

"Good idea, let's go," Laurelata said as she turned towards the tents and being very careful and watching out for other strange things, she moved towards the tents.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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stealth: (1d20+6)[22]
perception: (1d20+7)[19]

[u-b]

You go towards the tents. There are seven of them, large enough to shelter two to three people each. All but two tents have collapsed due to wind, rain, and lack of maintenance. The two that remain standing lean haphazardly and do not appear to have been entered for a long time. Grass has begun to grow around them. Despite this, there are assorted belongings still in the tents, if you are in the mood for rummaging.