Digizel

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

Saur

As Saur held out the ichor toward the first beetle in his reach, his eyes glanced to the side and beyond him. He could see the other beetle approaching and gritted his teeth. Here it comes. Ugh, dammit, this first one wasn't going to finish in time for him to have a chance to raise his shield. It was far too late. By the time this one was leaving him and crawling back up the wall, the second was taking its place. He reached for his shield as quickly as he could, but before he could do that-

"GAH!" he exclaimed as the bright light flashed around the beetle! He tried to close his eyes and look away; he knew it was coming. But it was a fruitless endeavor. The blinding light pierced his every attempt, and his eyes were forced shut! He stopped reaching for his shield, instinctively reaching up to his eyes, as though rubbing them would somehow help him restore his vision faster.... He had known it was coming, but still hadn't been able to properly prepare for it. And now, he knew what was coming next. And as expected, blind to the creature as he was, he could not possibly defend against it.

A pair of mandibles came down on his body, snapping and piercing into his arm! The Kobold grunted in pain, but...it was fine. This was the reason he'd done this in the first place. He could feel his draconic scales blunting some of the pain. He was drawing the attention of the creatures so that his companions would be able to pacify the others before they could-

Saur's eyes suddenly widened as he suddenly felt a pain dig into the back of his neck. He let out another grunt of pain, completely blindsided by the second beetle's coordinated attack. His body trembled for a moment after taking the second, painful bite, feeling those mandibles dig into his scales. He grunted in frustration and spun around; he had been too preoccupied with the flash that he had forgotten to keep track of the one behind him. Gah, what an amateur mistake...! And there was no way that was going to be the only attack.

Saur's vision was still clouded by spots and he couldn't quite see his attacker very well. Luckily, he had experienced these attacks twice by now and was starting to pick up on the patterns of sounds. He couldn't see where the beetle was going to try to bite next....

The Kobold heard the familiar clicking that indicated the beetle's mandibles were poised to strike again, and he sprang into action. Using his small size to his advantage, he was able to pull himself around the side of the chair, using it like cover in order to avoid the second attack. Then, he grabbed the chair, pulling its legs in order to use it like an impromptu shield as the third wild attack came at him, and used the chair to shove the creature back a bit to give him more breathing space.

Saur was under attack from all sides, and he was doing everything he could to avoid getting mauled. This was what he was built for, but even still.... If this third beetle advanced on him too, there was no way he could guarantee his well-being. But there was no point in worrying about what-ifs. He had put himself in this situation knowing the danger, and now he needed to trust in his companions to help him out of it....

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

@Digizel LOL at "BEDAZZLED" :D I'm just picturing Saur covered in fake plastic diamonds. Just for reference: 2e.aonprd.com/Conditions.aspx?ID=65

Yes, P2e is huge on the attack bonuses for creatures. In P2e, AC for a tank is not about "not getting hit." It's about "not getting crit." Those hits would definitely have crit some of your other party members. You should be able to rely on your party for healing mid-fight, even if you're taking all the hits.

And yes, it's totally fine for you to post Saur's reaction to these events, even if it's not really a "Reaction" action.

@wanderingwolf

Yeah, I'm getting more and more glad that I am in this now, learning so much more about PF2e in an environment where I can take my time to think, understand the rules and put it into practice at more of my own pace than I could at an actual table~ I'm kinda liking this combat system. I can already see how it emphasizes more on teamwork than 5e really does. xD And now I'm pretty curious how it goes at higher levels compared to 5e....

And now I'm suddenly glad I made sure Saur could repair his own shield with the tools he's got because I'm pretty confident it's gonna get broken a lot~

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

Oh dang, for some reason, I thought Avert Gaze was a reaction not an action. Not that it would matter, he would've failed regardless. Oh well, figured this was gonna happen anyway; Fortitude is his weakest save. But it's what Saur would do~ Drawing fire and taking the hits for his allies while trusting them to get the job done~ xD

EDIT: Whoops realized I didn't actually post this, so Fortitude is a 12 so Saur is officially BEDAZZLED, not having enough time to shield his eyes.

Also dang, creatures in Pathfinder have a much larger attack bonus than I'm used to in 5e, good to know xD Probably because of the MAP I suppose? Still, was not expecting to get hit by 25's. That was just ONE away from critting him xD

EDIT 2: Oh actually @wanderingwolf I was curious. Is it fine to make a reaction post to what happened as long as it doesn't actually effect the action economy/combat situation or interrupt the flow or anything? Just, like...reacting to the hits, guarding against the attacks that missed, etc.

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

Okay, that is Saur's turn complete, which means it's @wanderingwolf's time with the beetles!

Time to see if Saur gets swarmed by beetles~ xD

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

Saur

The group allowed him to stop by the baker's home. A brief conversation led to Saur's apology and an exchange of goods in order to show their amends. Once this was finished, he turned to the group and bowed a bit, thanking them for allowing him the time, and pushed onward back to the Magaambya. As the group made their way through, he turned the soiled bread over in his claws. It was dirty to be sure, but did that mean it was inedible? He considered it for a moment. He'd eaten worse than a little bit of dirt back home, surely. Perhaps if he washed it off and toasted it across an open flame....

Saur's attention was brought back to his surroundings once more as the group arrived at the Heron Archives. Saur walked near the front of the group, allowing his eyes to wander the area...only to find himself stopping short a few steps after rounding a corner. The door that led to Teacher Ot's office was down the hall. He could see it. But that was strange in and of itself. He could clearly see the door sticking out from the wall.

The door was ajar.

It was a strange sight; surely the door should either be completely closed or held wide open, right? That's the kind of thing he would expect, at least. Something was off....

Saur picked up the pace, rushing up toward the door. As the group drew closer, he began to hear a strange sound...and finally noticed water seeping out from below the door. But worse yet, drawing ever nearer, his gaze picked up on a crimson hue that matched his own scales. Blood.

There was no longer any time to waste. Instinctively, he reached for the shortbow that was strung around his body. But no. They were going into an office, which was no doubt going to be very cramped in a moment with all five of them going in together. So his claw instead reached across his body, gripping at the hilt one of the two sheathed blades at his waist.

"On me," Saur ordered quickly and succinctly, doubting that he had to explain the urgency in his tone. Without hesitation, he stepped into the room, everybody filing in behind him...and took in the scene before him.

Saur's power of perception went into overtime, scanning the room for every little detail he could to try to piece together what he needed to know as soon as possible. A flooded office, all of the signs of a struggle...and four decently sized bugs, snapping at them, clearly rearing back to strike! Saur instinctively moved to step forward and put himself between the threats and his companions; it was a role he was often tasked with in his clutch in a tight spot, and he was ready to draw some ire if necessary.

However, he paused for a moment as he realized something. He studied the bugs and realized...he knew what these were. He'd seen these before. In fact, he recognized that these creatures made excellent portable lights for those who couldn't see in the caverns of the Maw. And he smiled. He knew exactly how to handle these.

"Halt, don't hurt them," Saur said, raising his arm to the party as they all filtered in behind him. "I think they're Teacher Ot's. They're not monsters, they're just scared pets or the like. That violet stuff on the desk will be enough to settle their nerves. I'll try to draw their attention. The rest of you follow my lead if this works and cover me if it doesn't." Saur barked at the others like he were commanding a military unit. He didn't look back to see if they acknowledged his words or even cared about what he had to say. He could only hope they would follow him in this instance.

"Oh, and watch your eyes. When frightened, they're known to disorient and blind with a flash of light."

Of course, he had only saying what he had with so much certainty hoping it would be good enough. He had seen them before, but he had never utilized one himself. He could only hope he was remembering this correctly....

Well, there was only one way to find out. Saur moved toward the desk...and dropped down, sliding beneath the center of it and out on the opposite side...right in the middle of the four bugs! But rather than attack the creatures, he turned back toward the desk, hopping up to stand on Teacher Ot's seat and reached his claws out...and gathered some of the ichor for himself. He glanced over his shoulder toward the nearest beetle on the north end of the room. He gritted his teeth, knowing that turning his back on this one may lead to a problem in a moment. But he did it anyway.

Saur turned away from the northern beetles and hopped back down off of the seat, and around to its back. He then knelt down toward the southern beetles...and offered the ichor in his claws out toward the bug. With any luck, it would keep him pacified and he could focus on trying to protect himself from the other three....

OOC

Saur's three actions:

1. Stride Action to position himself on the opposite side of the desk in the same square as the seat. He is intentionally keeping himself in plain view of the beetles to try to make himself an inviting target, hoping to draw fire away from his companions, even if it's at his own expense. From what he's observed of his companions, he believes his scales and speed make him the best suited to be the bait, even if he doesn't have time to ready his shield.
2. Interact Action to scoop some of the ichor off of the table
3. Another Interact to present the ichor toward the second beetle from the bottom.

And that would end his turn!

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

@Digizel Saur doesn't need to use his first action for this; this one's a freebie.

Saur recognizes that these beetles are known as Flash Beetles. Not only do they have the ability to shine brightly, but they can, when frightened, actually shine so bright that they dazzle those around themselves. More importantly, Saur remembers that these beetles subsist almost exclusively on a special ichor, which pacifies them. Saur realizes that Teacher Ot must have had such an ichor in his possession to keep these beetles to heel. With a quick glance across the room, and with his good sense of smell, he spends no time at all locating the broken bottle of ichor whose contents coat the top of Teacher Ot's desk in a pile of thick, viscous fluid.

The beetles seem surprised at the presence of the group, and do not appear to be aware of the presence of the ichor.

@wanderingwolf

Ah excellent. So then here's one more important question for you before I can get my post done: Would attempting to present it potentially pacify the whole group, or would I have to, like...present it to one. Related, if the latter, then what's the action economy at play here? I know I have to use a move action to get there, leaving me with 2 left. Would taking and offering some of the ichor count as one action or are they two separate actions? One action would mean pacifying two of them, but two means I can only pacify one. Either way, I know he'll be relaying his knowledge to the rest of the group as he figures this out.

EDIT: Oh, less important extra question: is the desk the kind that's completely hollow underneath, allowing you to pass under it? I presume it's more like what I usually expect to see in a school office setting and it's got a solid side to it facing the door. Do you know what I mean? Not actually important and entirely flavor since Saur would prefer to use his size to go under the desk rather than vault or climb over it during his movement. xD

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

@Digizel Give me his mature modifier and I'll roll a recall knowledge for Saur.

@wanderingwolf

Roger that! His Nature mod is +6

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

@wanderingwolf Okay, so before my first turn starts, I do have a question. This entire office is in disarray, there's blood in the water, Teacher Ot nowhere in sight, stuff is broken and this is a decent amount of enemies that had to have come from somewhere. There's a lot they have to look into and Saur is now in "end this as soon as possible" mode.

So, Saur is immediately going to jump forward to put himself as between the beetles and his companions as possible and get ready to draw his close quarters weaponry. But he'd rather not have to kill them if he doesn't have to; he is going to look at these creatures and see if he can recognize them enough to know if it's possible to pacify them, or if they're, like...feral hunter bugs or something.

tl;dr, I'm guessing Saur's first action is probably going to be to study these things and probably use Recall Knowledge (Nature) to see if he knows anything about these bugs, specifically if there's a way to pacify them when agitated like this.

He's a ranger trained in Nature, so maybe he might know something xD

I'd preemptively roll the check to get a result right away, but I'd like to ask to see if I can even possibly succeed the check before I commit to the action, if that makes sense?

P2e - Threshold of Knowledge

<Snipped quote by Digizel>
Also curious about that, because I also assumed we'd use Perception as that's how it was the one other time I played Pf2E, but then the sheet has a separate field for "Initiative", which has a different value (that's not based on Dex either, apparently...?)

If we do use Perception, it's a 6 instead of 1, so I doubt it matters either way in this case.

@Vertigo

I saw that on my CS too, but according to Initiative rules I read over, the DM can call for an initiative roll using one of many different skills (like I think one of the examples was if you're starting an encounter while sneaking, you could initiate with Stealth). So I am under the impression that that's an ongoing modifier to ALL initiative rolls you make. Like if you had a feat that gave you a +1 ongoing to Initiative or something, it would show a +1 there and you roll a Perception-based initiative, then it would be "1d20 + Perception + 1"

But ofc, I'm completely new to Pathfinder in general, let alone PF2e, so people more experienced than me, feel free to correct me if I am wrong!

Epyllion: Beyond Moonlight's Reach

Shieldwing

Shieldwing's head tilted to the side slightly as Rudrick added that last line about Garrock, but was unable to ask any more. The two had finally arrived at the exit of the Snouthold. And it suddenly jumped to his mind that he still had yet to actually ask the question he had originally wanted to ask in the first place. But as Rudrick continued, his question became buried once more as he saw the look on the older dragon's face.

"...Even if he had, would that be such a big deal?" Shieldwing asked, stepping forward. "We just need to catch up with him, that's all!~" He flashed the larger dragon a grin. "So then if we wanna catch him or beat 'im to it, then we better get going, right? We can't waste time standing around worrying about it!"

Shieldwing could barely contain his excitement. He knew that there really was nothing to this. In all likelihood, they were going to just go out there and meet with Garrock and then he was probably just going to stand off to the side by himself while they talked. But still, this felt like a second chance.... An opportunity to actually do something, to help somebody and feel useful. And he was NOT going to mess this one up!

"You said it was probably this way, right?" he asked, already starting to move in the leftward direction Rudrick had originally pointed.