The scorpion #2 is torn to shreds by DAI's magic.

The pool of nearly translucent blue fluid around the huge scorpion spreads along the ground.

Round 4:
22: SILI
16: JAGA
17: swarm #3 - location hidden by grass, though it's partly all over Garus
 9: MILO     - Readied Action
 9: ZEIG
 7: Garus    - Swarmed (DC 16), Combat Expertise (5)
 7: DAI      - Manafont
 7: Gurlop   - Total Defense (+4), 60' in the air nearly straight above MILO
 6: #1       - Dia (-1 AC)

, = fine gravel
. = dirt/very short grass
\ = tall grass, 1-3'
| = very tall grass, 3-4½', +2 to Tumble DC
☼ = magical difficult terrain, +5 to Tumble DC

,,,.....\\\\\\\\\\\\||
,,,.S...\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,,..M...\\\||||\\\\\\
,,......\\\\|||||\\\\\
,,......\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,,.D...\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
,,,Z.....\J\\\\\\\||\\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\\||||\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\||||||
,,,.....\G\\\\\\\|||||
,,......\\\111\\||||||
,,......\\\111\\\\||||
,,.....\\\\111\\\.\.\|
,,......\\\\\\\\|\.\.|
,,,.....\\\\\\\\\|...|
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:26, Mon 11 June 2012.

Sili holds his action, unable to assist the swarmed fighter.

16: JAGA

Acting as per JAGA's instructions sent from his phone.
JAGA moves out of the grass and onto the packed dirt path, unable to contribute anything to help with the horde of insects. He then looks out over the fields to see if he can spot any more signs of other incoming scorpions. He sees no traces currently.
15:19, Today: teslas, on behalf of JAGA, rolled 21 using 1d20+10. Spot.

The swarm continues to bite, sting, and claw at Garus, though only an ineffectual one or two of are able to crawl underneath his armor.
15:20, Today: teslas rolled 2 using 2d6. #3 swarm damage vs. Garus.

ZEIG is at work, Garus is not poisoned, and ZEIG has no ability to help with swarms apart from blasting you with his staff, so we're going to skip him for now. Delaying until after DAI.

Round 4:
22: SILI     - Holding action
16: JAGA
17: swarm #3 - location hidden by grass, though it's partly all over Garus
 9: MILO     - Readied Action
 7: Garus    - Swarmed (DC 16)
 7: DAI      - Manafont
 7: ZEIG
 7: Gurlop   - Total Defense (+4), 60' in the air nearly straight above MILO
 6: #1       - Dia (-1 AC)

, = fine gravel
. = dirt/very short grass
\ = tall grass, 1-3'
| = very tall grass, 3-4½', +2 to Tumble DC
☼ = magical difficult terrain, +5 to Tumble DC

,,,.....\\\\\\\\\\\\||
,,,.S...\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,,..M...\\\||||\\\\\\
,,......\\\\|||||\\\\\
,,......\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,,.D...\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
,,,ZJ....\\\\\\\\\||\\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\\||||\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\||||||
,,,.....\G\\\\\\\|||||
,,......\\\111\\||||||
,,......\\\111\\\\||||
,,.....\\\\111\\\.\.\|
,,......\\\\\\\\|\.\.|
,,,.....\\\\\\\\\|...|
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:26, Mon 11 June 2012.

Garus forces his way out of the swarm looking very sick from its existence.

Moving out of the swarm as quickly as possible.

19:01, Today: Garus rolled 14 using 1d20+10. For Save versus swarm.

Normally, since you didn't specify a direction, I'd roll one at random. In this case you'd have to be a silly-moron-face to run anywhere but out of the tall grass, so I'll roll a d3.
18:59, Today: teslas rolled 3 using 1d3. 1 = NW, 2 = W, 3 = SW.
Southwest it is! Moving 20' southwest, SW, SW, SW.

Round 4:
22: SILI     - Holding action
16: JAGA
17: swarm #3 - location hidden by grass, though it's partly all over Garus
 9: MILO     - Readied Action
 7: Garus
 7: DAI      - Manafont
 7: ZEIG
 7: Gurlop   - Total Defense (+4), 60' in the air nearly straight above MILO
 6: #1       - Dia (-1 AC)

, = fine gravel
. = dirt/very short grass
\ = tall grass, 1-3'
| = very tall grass, 3-4½', +2 to Tumble DC
☼ = magical difficult terrain, +5 to Tumble DC

,,,.....\\\\\\\\\\\\||
,,,.S...\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,,..M...\\\||||\\\\\\
,,......\\\\|||||\\\\\
,,......\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,,.D...\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
,,,ZJ....\\\\\\\\\||\\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\\||||\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\||||||
,,,.....\\\\\\\\|||||
,,......\\\111\\||||||
,,......\\\111\\\\||||
,,....G\\\\111\\\.\.\|
,,......\\\\\\\\|\.\.|
,,,.....\\\\\\\\\|...|
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:12, Tue 12 June 2012.

DAI holds up one hand as the entire area Garus had been previously alights in flames, the sound of hundreds of tiny scorpions popping from the heat accompanying the instantaneous rise in heat.

17:14, Today: DAI rolled 2 using 1d4. dazzle(only if failed last save).
17:14, Today: DAI rolled 26 using 3d12+15. Fire II AoE, Ref 18 to halve.
17:14, Today: DAI rolled 3 using 1d20. 12-14 conserve MP.
MP 39/68

,,,.....☼\\\\\\\\||||\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\||||||
,,,.....\\\\\\\\|||||
,,......\\\111\\||||||
,,......\\\111\\\\||||
This message was last edited by the player at 00:19, Tue 12 June 2012.

DAI waves his hand in a circle and another patch of grass is turned to ash. An odd chorus crackling and popping noises can be heard as hundreds of the diminutive insects burn.

Now that some of the grass has been removed, portions of the swarm are visible around where Garus was standing.

I'm just going to go for ZEIG as he has two options: do nothing or use his staff.
ZEIG knocks his staff against the ground once as a wall of water surges across the ground over the swarm.
19:41, Today: teslas, on behalf of ZEIG, rolled 14 using 2d8+5. Water II AoE damage vs. #3.
He then moves away from it, having already seen enough people covered by masses of tiny insects this week. NW, N, N, N

The huge scorpion continues to hemorrhage fluid.

SILI and JAGA have already stated they are waiting for someone to do something about the swarm. SILI is going to continue holding his action, and JAGA is going to move up with the rest of the party.

The swarm continues its efforts to kill Garus slowly after it moves to envelop him again. Most of it is now visible on the ground around and below him.
19:48, Today: teslas rolled 7 using 2d6. #3 swarm damage vs. Garus.
Many of the insects find their way into his boots and through gaps in his armor around his ankles.
19:48, Today: teslas, on behalf of Garus, rolled 28 using 1d20+10. Fortitude vs. swarm poison.
His legs experience sharp pain but he suffers no immediate ill effects.

Round 4:
22: SILI     - Holding action
16: JAGA
17: swarm #3 - location hidden by grass, though it's partly all over Garus
 9: MILO     - Readied Action
 7: Garus    - Poisoned, Swarmed (DC 16)
 7: DAI      - Manafont
 7: ZEIG
 7: Gurlop   - Total Defense (+4), 60' in the air nearly straight above MILO
 6: #1       - Dia (-1 AC)

, = fine gravel
. = dirt/very short grass
\ = tall grass, 1-3'
| = very tall grass, 3-4½', +2 to Tumble DC
☼ = magical difficult terrain, +5 to Tumble DC

,,,.....\\\\\\\\\\\\||
,,,.S...\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,Z.JM...\\\||||\\\\\\
,,......\\\\|||||\\\\\
,,......\\\\\\||\\\\\\
,,,.D...\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
,,,......\\\\\\\\\||\\
,,,.....☼\\\\\\\\||||\
,,,.....☼..\\\\\||||||
,,,......\.\\\\\|||||
,,........\111\\||||||
,,....33\\\111\\\\||||
,,....G\\\\111\\\.\.\|
,,......\\\\\\\\|\.\.|
,,,.....\\\\\\\\\|...|
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:55, Tue 12 June 2012.

There's not much left to do in this fight.

DAI, you're the only one with an effective means of dealing damage to these things now. Go ahead and pick your spells and roll the damage for them until they're dead.

You need to deal 22 damage to it still (potentially a point or two more due to rounding), which you should be able to do unless they get lucky on their save.

Garus has DR 5/- and they do an average of 7 damage. ZEIG is already going to Basuna off the poison he has now, so we don't have to worry about further poisonings.

So yeah, in the interest of speeding this along since you already killed big momma, get to rolling.

17:56, Today: DAI rolled 4 using 1d4. dazzle duration.
17:56, Today: DAI rolled 26 using 3d12+15. Fire II AoE again.
17:56, Today: DAI rolled 7 using 1d20. 12-14 conserve MP.
MP 35/68

More of the insects pop and burn.
They passed their save. Roll again.

Able to keep his wits about him, Garus uses the Run action to escape further swarmings.
19:59, Today: teslas, on behalf of Garus, rolled 29 using 1d20+10. DC 16 Fort vs. Nausea.

ZEIG removes his poison.
Basuna to remove poison. MP: 56/67
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:04, Tue 12 June 2012.

DAI texted that he'd do another Fire II AoE for his last round of Manafont.
Surprised at the insects' vigor, DAI again scorches a swath of ground with fire. With over half of the insects burned to a crisp or drowned, the rest disperse into the tall grass.
20:17, Today: teslas, on behalf of DAI, rolled 16 using 1d20. Conserve MP.
MP: 31/68
You'd have to roll some negative numbers on the damage dice to not kill them with another Fire II, so no damage roll needed.

Everyone gains 480 EXP for defeating the scorpions.

The huge scorpion continues to bleed out. One of its legs continues to twitch even after what passes for scorpion blood stops dripping out of the thing's body.
20:40, Today: teslas, on behalf of Garus, rolled 17 using 1d20+2. Spot.
20:40, Today: teslas, on behalf of JAGA, rolled 19 using 1d20+10. Spot.
20:40, Today: teslas, on behalf of SILI, rolled 21 using 1d20+4. Spot.
20:40, Today: teslas, on behalf of ZEIG, rolled 13 using 1d20+4. Spot.
20:40, Today: teslas, on behalf of DAI, rolled 6 using 1d20+1. Spot.
Giving it one last look-over out of curiosity, SILI spots a small piece of metal sticking out from between two plates of its exoskeleton. Pulling it out reveals a somewhat tarnished shortsword sized for a medium humanoid.

The five of you spend a little while looking it over, wondering why such a thing would be stuck underneath a giant scorpion's carapace.
20:47, Today: teslas, on behalf of Garus, rolled 15 using 1d20+1.
20:46, Today: teslas, on behalf of JAGA, rolled 12 using 1d20+1.
20:46, Today: teslas, on behalf of SILI, rolled 20 using 1d20+6.
20:46, Today: teslas, on behalf of ZEIG, rolled 12 using 1d20+2.
20:46, Today: teslas, on behalf of DAI, rolled 23 using 1d20+4.
Final Result: 31
After some deliberation everyone is certain it's of elven make. The wrappings on the handle have long since rotted away, though it's still quite usable. The metal itself has discoloration of some kind, though it's obviously magical to have held up this long. One of the edges remains quite sharp. The weight of it is also just a tad bit lighter than normal. The party reaches a consensus that it isn't made of normal steel. Due to the bit of tarnish on it, DAI suggests it might be alchemical silver.

The chocobos in the distance are running at nearly full speed away from the party. The time it would take to catch the three yellow chocobos that ran north would likely cost as much time as would be saved by riding them instead of continuing on foot. The green chocobo runs a bit more slowly and headed south, so the party may be able to catch up to it once it calms down if it stays on the dirt path.

You guys have been traveling at a rate of 35' for half of the day. If you continued now you'd be traveling at 20'. If Garus removed his armor it would be 30'.

There's a 50% chance you catch up to your green chocobo in an hour's time, in which case the party would travel at 30' for the end of the day's travel.

We'll give either DAI or Garus a little while to say if they do anything to affect travel time, otherwise we'll assume you continue on foot.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:01, Tue 12 June 2012.

DAI takes the sword and moves along his way, if nothing else it can be sold later on, unless Garus thinks it is better then any of his weapons.

Garus will not remove his armor to sleep. He has no interest in removing it to travel.

The rate of travel for the rest of the day is slowed dramatically without chocobos. It seems as if the party will get to spend more than this last day in the serene setting, although it's slightly spoiled every other minute with the thought of humongous scorpions hiding in the grass.

At the end of the day in the distance the party can see an immense bay that will cause them to have to cut east for a ways before continuing south.

Same camp situation as before. Gravely shore/tall grass/in between on the makeshift path. Does DAI use one of his tents? ZEIG or DAI doing some alchemy? Identify the sword?

Gonna wait for at least two of you to say something.

Zeig will cast Identify on the sword and forego alchemy for the night.

ZEIG identifies the shortsword to be a

+1 Alchemical Silver Shortsword of Vermin and Elf Bane

Zeig will tell everyone about the properties of the shortsword, reminding them that drow are a subrace of elves.

Sili eyes the sword cautiously. "Elfbane?" He says. He steers clear of it from then on.

GM Edit-
Color Nazi'd
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:52, Tue 19 June 2012.

The weather is comfortable overnight, and the following morning is clear and cool.

DAI summons some chocobos and the party sets off for their next day of travel.

First person to roll the random encounter d100 and post it in the OOC wins.

"Can you tell me more about this staff the same way you did with the sword"

"Sure, I have plenty of time on my hands."

I thought Dai Identified the staff, but looking back I don't see it.

Zeig will cast Identify on Jaga's staff during the Earthsday night as well, relating any information discovered in the morning.

You essentially find out that you already know everything there is to know about it. There are no hidden bells and whistles. One more time, here's the item description:

Power Staff.

This masterwork quarterstaff has the peculiar property of enhancing the wielder's strength. It is magical in its own right, but is not a magical weapon.

Grants a +2 Enhancement bonus to your Strength ability score.
Grants a +2 Enhancement bonus to BAB-non-inclusive Strength-based checks.