#55: The Infernal Vault (PFS) (Inactive)

Game Master Yiroep

Argazhon makes Tchucko conscious!

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Tchucko: You can get up, but if you do you'd have to get away from being in that square unless you want to have the squeezing condition.

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Initiative Order - Bolded characters may post their turn.

Tchucko (-6) - Unconscious, Stable
Blue (-9) - Grappled
Hellany (-14) - Unconscious, Unsummoned
Red (-18) - Unconscious, Stable
Smiley - Shadow Splinter
Jadger
Argazhon
Faellynn
Seren

Group Buffs: +2 bonus damage to all non-spell damage within 30 ft. of Seren.

Tchucko lets out a gasp as the energy from the wand suddenly revives him. Seeing himself in the midst of a large melee, he quickly crawls out of the way of the fighters. After checking his feathers quickly to see how badly he had been hurt, he turns to get a better view of what happened while he was unconscious.

"Thank you to whoever brought me back! I guess fortune didn't favor the bold this time after all."

Used withdraw as a full-round action, crawled 10 ft. into the other room.

Blue's Turn
He again attempts to stab Seren.
Short Sword Attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
Short Sword Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
But yet again misses!

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Initiative Order - Bolded characters may post their turn.

Tchucko (-6)
Blue (-9) - Grappled
Hellany (-14) - Unconscious, Unsummoned
Red (-18) - Unconscious, Stable
Smiley - Shadow Splinter
Jadger
Argazhon
Faellynn
Seren

Group Buffs: +2 bonus damage to all non-spell damage within 30 ft. of Seren.

Smiley guffaws and twists the man's arm painfully.

Har! Stay right here, I wanna cuddle.

Improved Grapple: 1d20 + 4 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 2 + 5 = 17 Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Smiley gives him a friendly hug, and crushes some of the life out of him. He still persists!

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Initiative Order - Bolded characters may post their turn.

Tchucko (-6)
Blue (-16) - Grappled
Hellany (-14) - Unconscious, Unsummoned
Red (-18) - Unconscious, Stable
Smiley - Shadow Splinter
Jadger
Argazhon
Faellynn
Seren

Group Buffs: +2 bonus damage to all non-spell damage within 30 ft. of Seren.

I see that my name is bolded, but I'm not sure if I get another move this turn, or if my crawling away after being revived counts as my action. I'm posting a move here because I don't want to hold things up, but feel free to postpone it till next turn if that's when it's supposed to happen.

Tchucko drops his sword and draws his crossbow from his back. Without standing up, he lets a bolt fly at the remaining thug.

Crossbow: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 3 - 4 = 13
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

I assume that the enemy counts as being under cover because there's someone in between my space and theirs.

I see that my name is bolded, but I'm not sure if I get another move this turn, or if my crawling away after being revived counts as my action. I'm posting a move here because I don't want to hold things up, but feel free to postpone it till next turn if that's when it's supposed to happen.

Yeah, I usually bold all the PCs before the next NPC's turn, so that's for your next turn. It does narrowly miss him though, even grappled.

Group Buffs: +2 bonus damage to all non-spell damage within 30 ft. of Seren.

I forgot that, so my huggy-bear damage this round should be 9, not 7.

Ah, that changes this to out of combat. XD

The room on the left appears to be a mixed kitchen and living room space. Right now, the table and chairs are flipped over (but don't really impede movement), and there are cards scattered everywhere from around where the table was flipped. They were surprised and flipped the table when they heard intruders.

The room on the right appears to be a bedroom, but seems to be mostly used for storage at this time.

You see a trap door in the bed/storage room that is currently open and has a ladder leading downwards (15 ft. long).

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Status Wrap-up

Tchucko (-6)
Blue (-18) - Unconscious, Stable
Hellany (-14) - Unconscious, Unsummoned
Red (-18) - Unconscious, Stable
Smiley - Shadow Splinter
Jadger
Argazhon
Faellynn
Seren

With the second thug knocked out, Tchucko stands up and straightens his feathers. He picks up his sword, walks back to the entrance, retrieves his pack and his cane, and stows the blade back in his walking stick.

Walking back to the group, he asks, "What should we do with these two? Do we want to question them before we tie them up? I'd be happy to try and get some information out of them."

Tchucko, you look a little bruised & battered. Ole Smiley thought ahead and bought a few extra of these if you want one.

Smiley offers one of his potions of Cure Light Wounds.

Interrogate if you want to. Smiley's a man of Action!

He looks down the ladder. 60ft Darkvisiom

"Thanks, Smiley! I really appreciate it. I'll be sure to make it up to you."

Tchucko drinks the potion down.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

"Good as new! I must have forgotten that I'm not quite the bird of prey that I sometimes think I am. Next time I'm going to let them come to me."

"Aha! Excellent work you little dwarf Hoji is -quite-..." Seren stiffens suddenly slumps as if exhausted, the wind going out of her proverbial sails. "Hoji is quite done for now, thank you." Her voice has returned to the natural one she was using before the fight.

Her grip on her weapons falters, but she doesn't drop them as she takes a meek step back from the unconscious men. "I'm glad you're alright, Mr. Bird! You were hurt pretty badly." Seren herself looks fairly pale.

"I'm not much for questioning, but if they could tell us how many friends they have, that would help."

Seren is taking a -2 penalty to basically everything for the next minute as she recovers from her possession.

Smiley looks down the trap door and sees a 15x15 ft. room. Seems to be no creatures but to get a better idea of what's in the room you'd need to head down.

So no interrogation is happening?

So no interrogation is happening?

Yes, it will happen now. :)

Argazhon spent about a minute performing a ritual to bring Hellany back, then he heals her with his wand.

If can't take '10 on Use Magic Device check:

UMD: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
UMD: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

Wand of CLW #1: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Wand of CLW #2: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

"Please, don't do this again, my lady", the summoner murmurs to the eidolon.

"Oh, c'mon, it was just a slight scratch, huh?"

She seems to make little case of the wounds that nearly took her back to her home plane.

"So, it seems that all of you did a god job here in my absence. Congratulations, buddies!", she grins.

Once Hellany is up again, Argazhon will try to interact with the prisoners that are woken.

"We don't wanna more troubles, sir. Just give us the informations we need, and you could go away"

He bends down near the prisoner.

"Do you work for Celeena? Where is she? How many bodyguards she has? Are there any traps through that door? What are the danger beyond it?"

The aasimar lie his hand on the man's shoulder.

"Believe in me, help us and both of you are free men."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Sense Motive: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

"Hear him. His words are fulfilled with truth and goodness."

Hellany tries to aid her master.

Diplomacy Aid Another: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Crap just realised that this char hasn't a single pp to his name.....
Jadger looks around seeing his companions have dealt with the threats. Offering to help heal...........only to realise that he didn't have anythign of note to help.
"I......would help but.....I do not have any funds to obtain any of these glowly sticks." he finishes wringing his hands.

"Also", as he begins, "when things gets too stressful, i tend to babble in the language of fire."

That's okay, chum. When things get stressful, I tend to sing dirty limericks! Have I told you the one about the minotaur lass?

"When things get stressful I tend to turn into a whole other person! Or three! ...would you care to hold my healing wand? I'm not very consistent with using it myself, you see." She pulls out her wand of healing and offers it to Jadger. It's an awkward motion as she's trying to keep hold of both of her swords at the same time.

One of the men sighs heavily as he tries to catch his breath from the brutal beatdown. I suppose we can let you in on what we know, as we aren't getting paid now, and seeing as Janks was kind enough to just leave the trap door open for you guys to find. We're just mercenaries doing as we're told. As far as we know, Celeena is still here downstairs or something. We don't even know what's down there! She didn't want us to know, which honestly is pretty par for the course in this line of work. We are "the mooks" of the operation.

There's a trapped door in the room below but they didn't let us know how to bypass it. I think there's...3 or 4 more mercenaries down there? Plus Celeena of course.

So you said you were gonna let us go?

"Normally I'd say that we should tie them up and let them go on our way out of here. But I didn't bring any rope..."

Tchucko listens closely to what the mercenaries say and tries to judge their body language to see if they can be trusted.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

He doesn't get much of a clear indication one way or another.

"That said, I don't think these two are in any shape to do us much harm at this point. If they promise to get out of here and forget they were ever here, I don't see in any harm in letting them go."

Smiley listens to the exchange idly as he examines the ladder.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Assuming they're not lying, let's let them go as promised.

"It's Erastil's blessing that your still alive. Don't cross the Pathfinders again or you won't be so lucky," Faellynn says to the prisoners before heading to the trapdoor.

Perception down the trap door: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Don't really sense any lies there. They seem to be done with this job in general.

Hey, you guys aren't so bad! We're probably gonna get some rest though. We'll honor your wishes and leave. We'll remember that you Pathfinders were alright! They slowly walk out, making sure to not overextend themselves in their current state.

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I assume someone heads down the ladder. (DC 5 Climb, can take 10, so unless you have -6 or worse in climb should be good)

This small, stuffy square room was cut from the building’s stone foundation. The room’s east wall features a large stone mosaic of stone that shows several faceless people worshiping at the top, and others being condemned at the bottom, with no figures in the middle pattern. The mosaic contains a set of three identical circular indentations: one set within the top section, one in the empty center, and another set within the bottom section. Illuminating the room are two lit torches in sconces on the north and south walls.

You see three stone disks next to the door. They look about the correct size to fit into the three slots of the door. When examined, you see each has a depiction on it.

• A disk that depicts a grandiose city
• A disk that depicts a brooding devil
• A disk that depicts a happy looking female child

The map now includes the 15x15 room below at the top-right, and has an image of what the door looks like at the bottom-right. Place yourself down there (or let me know) if you are going down to that room.

Faellyn heads down the ladder then knocks an arrow as she takes aim on the door and waits for her fellow Pathfinders.

Smiley descends the ladder easily and peers at the door, intrigued by the artwork.

Tchucko descends slowly and examines what he assumes to be a locking mechanism of sort.

"So we've got a puzzle, it looks like. Worshippers on top, sufferers on the bottom. Normally I'd say to put the devil on the bottom and the heavenly city on top. But these folks are from Cheliax, right? So maybe they are worshipping the devil. And the little girl is either making a decision, or belongs on the bottom smiling at the folks being punished."

Tchucko pauses for a moment and touches his beak.

"Maybe I'm over thinking it."

Jadger accepts the wand, oddly comforted by his companions.

Listening to the men, he too speaks up for letting them free after which he joins his companions, looking a the strange design.

Did anyone want to try to identify those oils we found? Smiley don't know much about magic (or history, or biology, or a science book, or even much about personal hygiene for that matter), but they could be useful nonetheless. Maybe they're Oil of Dwarven De O'dorant. If so, everyone wins!

Seren watched the men go as several of the group went down the ladder, then fiddled with her blades and their sheaths to put the weapons away.
She patted herself down and started down the ladder descended the ladder with more vigor than she had during the little interrogation.

At the bottom she gives the gnome a little pat on the head.

"I think you're right about the devil being on top, considering the family. I'm not certain about the other two, but I feel like the child might be above the city.

You know... since Deckland was more worried about his daughter than Cheliax itself." She became quieter as she spoke, her uncertainty over the idea muting her words.

I can't spellcraft, unfortunately. I can just make sure we don't leave anything magic behind."

Did anyone want to try to identify those oils we found? Smiley don't know much about magic (or history, or biology, or a science book, or even much about personal hygiene for that matter), but they could be useful nonetheless. Maybe they're Oil of Dwarven De O'dorant. If so, everyone wins!

Unfortunately, I don't have skills for this. :(

Argazhon and Hellany leads down, following Faellynn and Smiley.

After a brief looking over the stone disks, the summoner opines:

"Certainly the devil have to be placed in the bottom - even a chelaxian knows where they came from. My doubt is where to put the girl and the city".

He watches the stone disks, thoughtfully.

"So..." - Hellany interrupts - "let's assume that the child is Celeena, right? Maybe this would be the message: those who worship her" - she points to the faceless people worshiping at the top - "are 'saved', but those who won't worship her, will be condemned" - Hellany pois to the condemned people at the bottom.

"With this, the city just can be placed at the center. Why? I don't know, It was only for lack of choice".

"Why not move the discs now and see if anything happens." Jadger questions.

"Why not move the discs now and see if anything happens." Jadger questions.

"Maybe because this is the trapped door mentioned by the defeated mercenaries. We don't know what expect from this puzzle."

Then, Argazhon tries to find any hidden trap there.

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 8

Tchucko nods at Argazhon's suggestion that they search for traps before trying to place the discs in the doorway.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

No traps seen as far as you know.

Faellynn sighs and, shaking her head, walks up to the door for a close inspection. Men!

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Smiley's not so good at puzzles. Don't look so shocked!

But it seems to me if the little girl is Celeena, she sees herself in the center of everything. A brooding devil belongs in the Hells, and the city is where all them worshippin' people live.

Stand back. I'm a-gonna try it.

If no one objects or stops him, Smiley places the girl disk in the center, then the devil disk in the bottom, followed by the city disk in the top.

He plugs his ears and closes his eyes, waiting for the explosion...

"Good luck, Smiley."

Faellynn, you STILL didn't see a trap. It's a hard one to spot.

Gonna go with Smiley then.

As you put the last disk in on the top, the disc settle into the door for a few seconds, and then pop out. Fire shoots from the doorway, engulfing the entire 15x15 room in flame.

Fire Damage: 2d4 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2 LOL 2 damage.

The flames sputter a little out of the door. Clearly, the trap didn't go off as intended.

The disks now lie on the ground once again, and the door is still closed.

NEEDED: Reflex Saves vs. the Fire for Half (DC 11)

Reflex: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Faellynn raises a singed eyebrow at the dwarf. "Excellent job! Well done!" she says with the most sarcastic tone she can muster.

Hey, guys. I found the trap!

Reflex DC11: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

"What a f...!", Argazhon barely had time to complain before the flames takes the room.

Ref: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Ref: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

Fortunately, both Argazhon and Hellany have feline reflexes and got just a little hurt with the trap.

"Ok, ok. Let's try my way now, right?"

Hellany places the girl disk in the top, then the devil disk in the bottom, and the city disk in the middle.

Smiley's done his part. He's gonna wait outside while y'all get this figured out.

Hellany places the disks in, and when the last one is in, the disks again sink into the door. They again spit out the disks, but no flames appear!

The door creaks open to reveal a spiral staircase heading down.

Will get the next area set up in a few hours when I can. Also thunderstorms here so keep that in mind too. :)

Hellany takes a look to Smiley just before leads down to the other level.