DM Carbide's PFS Emerald Spire

Game Master John Woodford

The door is locked.

And by follow I meant wait for Kali to unlock the door.

"Hrm. This one looks to be locked. Can you do something about that Kali?"

Kali takes her sweet time unlocking the door, making sure she gets it just right.

Take 20 on Disable Device for a 33.

"Oh, careful with the pins now! A little more depression, yes..." Nuria volunteers.

Auto aid disable

Senja awaits the unlocking of the door, somewhat impatiently. "Do you have to be []quite[/i] so careful? I expect there are interesting things to see on the other side of this door, far more interesting than the door itself."

It takes a bit of work, but Kali and Nuria are able to get the door unlocked. The room revealed is subdivided by rows of iron bars into three cells. Two of the cells are empty, but there is an unconscious man on a straw pallet in the southern cell. He is gaunt, with unkempt black hair and tattered mage's robes.

Senja approaches the cell with the unconscious man in it, saying, "Hey, fella, wake up!" Reasoning that the enemy of their enemy can't be an entirely bad guy, the wayang reaches a slender arm through the bars and taps the prisoner with a wand. He then quickly backs away, while the spell takes effect.

Infernal healing on the sleepy guy.

Kali watches Senja start the healing process on the prisoner before suddenly remembering something potentially important, "Wait. Didn't he say there were two prisoners? Where's the other one?"

Senja nods thoughtfully, replying, "Yeah, I was wondering about that too, Kali, but I wasn't sure how much stock to put in a crazy wizard's ranting."

"Well, the guy may be completely nuts, but he still seemed pretty detail oriented." Kali replies with a minor shrug.

Nuria goes over to cradle the man on the floor. "Oh you poor dear! You look awful!"

She looks up to the others. "He said the Goldenfire Order? Isn't that the wizard's guild up in Fort Inevitable? I wonder what they were doing down here."

The gate secures from the outside, so you're easily able to get to him. As the foul magic takes hold, forcing tissue to knit together, the man moans and his eyes flutter open. "Wha--you're not Klarkosh. Did Tiawask send you?"

"Nope, definitely not Klarkosh," Senja replies. "And we don't know Tiawask either. You guys sure have some odd names. What's yours, Karkrash? And why does Klarkosh have you locked up in there?"

He shakes his head with a small smile, then winces in pain. "No, I'm Jharun. Tiawask and I are members of the Goldenfire Order, and we came here from Thornkeep a few weeks ago to explore the catacombs under the Spire. We were running low on supplies after we snuck past the undines, so we were easy prey for Klarkosh's brass minotaur. Klarkosh accused us of being spies for his enemies--I gather he has a lot of them--and threw us in here. Tiawask had managed to conceal a potion of gaseous form from him, though--unfortunately, it would only work on her. She said she'd try to get out and bring help. I guess that's not you, since you didn't recognize her name. I hope she made it."

Sneaking past the undines, now that would have been a grand idea.

"I'm sorry, I don't think we've seen your friend. It's your lucky day, though, since we're inclined to rescue you. First though, what can you tell us about Klarkosh? I mean, yeah he's crazy, but can you tell us anything else about him? Did you see any other areas before you got ambushed by the minotaur?" Kali inquires with interest.

Asvald sighs. "I really don't want to hear anything else about that guy."

"Then cover your ears." Kali retorts playfully, then looks expectantly at Jharun.

Asvald smirks and does just that.

Senja gestures to Kali, then at the cell door, clearly suggesting she free the prisoner. He then looks at the man in the cell and says, "Jarkhun, was it? What's the Goldenfire Order all about?"

"He said Jharun." Nuria quips, frowning "They're wizards, they do wizardly things, obviously. Summoning powers of the cosmos, trafficking with powerful and ancient entities. Probably how this place got built. I think we should stop pestering him! If Jharun followed the same route we did, the minotaur was the first thing he encountered. He probably hasn't seen all that much more of this this place then we have." She pauses and thinks. "Although, he probably has seen too much of Klarkosh. This makes me like that megalomaniac even less, if that was possible."

"We're wizards-for-hire, basically, and in Thornkeep we try to keep prices fair and spellcasters from being cheated. I'm afraid the only places I've seen down here were the room where the minotaur ambushed us and Klarkosh's workshop--his constructs blindfolded us when they were moving us around."

With the rest of the group apparently supportive of the man's release, Kali begins working on the lock, "You said you're wizards-for-hire, so who hired you guys to explore the Spire?"

Casting Detect Magic on the area.
Perception on cell door if no magical auras: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Disable Device: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

"We all have our little side projects, and this one is mine. It was purely curiosity. (Well, and some hope for lots of treasure.) It sounded like an interesting place to explore, and it's similar to Thornkeep in that both are associated with the ancient Azlanti wizard Nhur Athemon." He leans back against the pallet. "Say, do you have some food? Klarkosh isn't known for the quality of his catering."

Kali, it's easy enough to open the cell door, and you note no magical auras on it.

Nuria catches onto where Kali's questions are leading. She pulls out some rations and hands them to Jharun. "Hey, your sure you're your own person? You seem a little... chipper for someone who has been on deaths door." sensing of motives: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20

Nuria, he seems to be honest in his presentation. "Just relieved. You folks seem to be a lot more reasonable than Klarkosh."

Kali unlocks the cell door and opens it for Jharun, "Any chance you want to help us defeat Klarkosh?"

"Gladly. I'm not good for much right now, though--give me some food, more healing, and the chance to prepare some spells, and then I will."

"Sure, this might be a little weird though." Kali warns as she applies her wand of Infernal Healing to Jharun.

41 charges left on Infernal Healing wand.

That helps, but he's still fatigued from hunger.

"Here, have some food too." The kitsune offers as she pulls out a days worth of rations and hands it to him.

He gratefully accepts the rations and begins to wolf them down. Between bites, he asks, "Hey, have you seen a spell book around? Something else he took away."

Jharun burps contentedly. "Much better. Thank you!"

What now, folks?

"I don't think we found a spellbook, I guess you're a wizard or a magus?" Kali asks Jharun, then looks to her quiet companions for their input on the next step. "What next guys?"

"I don't recall a spell book either" Senja says with a shrug. He looks up the hallway past Nuria and continues, "I wonder what's up that way? Let's go take a look."

The hallway jogs to the west then turns north, with a door to the south.

Senja steps aside, gesturing to Kali and Asvald that he won't stand in their way as the explore the hallway ahead.

Kali nods and checks the north door for traps and/or sounds.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

Kali, you hear nothing at the door, nor do you note any traps.

"Come on, Kali, open it already!" Senja says impatiently. He might or might not be tapping his foot, but he is certainly standing well back from the door as he insists on it being opened.

Don't worry, Kali--the trap on the door collapses the ceiling twenty feet down the hall from the door.

Well, at least that will take care of the little tapping sound that's been irritating Kali so much.

perc: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

"Oh, I want to look." Nuria peers over Kali's shoulder and scrunches up her face as she concentrates.

Kali moves to open the door, but pauses to let Nuria examine it first. "You need to lay off the coffee, Senja."

Nuria, you see what might be a faint glimmer of green light from under the door.

"Well... it looks green underneath. But ifrit are famous for being colorblind, so I could be wrong. Maybe it's the spire?"

"It's probably the spire then." Kali says confidently as she opens the door and looks inside.

The door opens smoothly, revealing a luxuriously appointed chamber. A padded chair sits on a low dais at the eastern end of the room. On the wall behind it is a large emblem made of hammered brass, depicting an automaton's head between interlocking gears (which seems kind of odd. What is he trying to say here? That if you're a robot he'll crush your head?). The remaining walls are draped with blue-colored tapestries, except in the northeast corner where the Spire core protrudes into the chamber. On the northern wall opposite you is a black-handled lever set in its lowest position. There appears to be an alcove at the east end of the south wall, but before you can investigate it your attention is drawn to the pair of emerald automatons standing guard over the chair. They are armed with polearms, and eerie green light flickers in the joints of their armor.

"Ohhh, he does love his toys. So shiny! I wonder if they come with... errrrm, attachments." the ifrit giggles.

arcanagirlget some service around here?: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

They're emerald automatons, like the one you fought earlier in the Drowned Level only adapted for land. They are constructs, hard to damage without adamantine weapons, and they're dependent on magic for operation.

"So, um, do you guys want to destroy those things or check out another room?" Kali asks as she draws her adamantine weapon.