GM BPC TK2's Excellent PFS Adventure

Game Master Black Powder Chocobo

Artemus provides said magical illumination by the now familiar pattern of 4 dancing lights at the corners of a 10' square. He sweeps the lights about examine the way as the group approaches. Before entering the ruins he uses a newly acquired wand to cast Mage Armor on himself and offers the spell to anyone who might need it.

@Kristoff: I am not a fan of your avatar change... Aram Zey's eyes staring at me, always looking... always judging...*shudder*

It's called Studied Target.

So where do you go or what do you investigate? :)

I do not really recall we had options. We do down, right?

Of course there are options! There are two doors, one slightly open, the other closed. There's also the mysterious extinguished torch in a nearby alcove.

Nilfyr heads to the extinguished torch and investigates.

Perception (Take 10): 10 + 11 = 21

Nilfyr, granted extra illumination from Artemus' dancing lights looks over the torch. It seems like an ordinary burnt out torch, but as he investigates the surrounding area, he realizes... that it's actually a false wall behind it: a secret door! It appears unlocked to him.

Door marked with an S on the map!

Cue Legend of Zelda puzzle solved tune.

"Thunderstealer looks if door recent opened!"
Looking for any tracks, possibily in the direction of the secret door.
Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Nilfyr smiles at the luck Desna has brought him and his companions, then, after Thunderstealer is done with his examination, opens the secret door.

@Thunderstealer: You find no tracks on the floor leading to the door.

Nilfyr, heaing Thunderstealer's analysis looking forward to that dialogue!, opens the door.

A short, yet wide passage reveals another matching secret door that simply needs to be pushed open.

Assuming another perception and survival check

The door appears unlocked and untrapped; again no footprints line the floor, although the upper part of the chamber bears several large (6-8 inches) dusty cobwebs.

Map updated, minimally :)!

"I not see tracks! Spiderwebs seem like noone has been here."

Artemus moves into the room to have a commanding view and to move his lights as needed.

Nilfyr opens the newly-discovered secret door.

The brave and squishiest party member Artemus opens the next door.

A curving wall of glowing green crystal bulges out into this chamber from one corner, providing the brightest illumination yet found in this floor. A stout wooden table stands along the wall opposite of your position. On it lie three rotting human corpses and the remnants of a large spider.

One of the human corpses has had all of its extremities severed, and its torso has been opened to reveal the internal organs. Another dismembered corpse has spider legs sewn onto stumps in place of the removed limbs, all of which are neatly stacked under the rest of the spider carcass.

A bucket full of reeking, old blood sits on the floor under the table, and needles with lengths of silken thread attached are stuck in a hand-sized block of bloodstained wax on top the table.

Map updated!

Nilfyr gags briefly, then steadies himself and begins clinically examining the scene.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28

I was about to say clutch roll! But then I realized that the trap only has a DC 15 Perception check... <_<

Nilfyr looks around and, noting a large spider looks up. Instead of bugs, though, he sees the frame of a large cage, ready to drop down. Inside the catch is a leather pouch, where a skeleton lays idly.

Map updated; the squares inside of the red lined area is directly below the hanging cage.

EDIT: Your clutch roll, even with distance included, did find something!

Nilfyr also spots similar outline to the door they just entered from in the opposite corner of the chamber.

Kn:Arcana: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

What an interesting spider husk. I must look it up when I get back to a library I have not seen this type of spider before. I wonder if its native.

Anything else you wish to do in the chamber? Otherwise, there's a door to the northeast and the secret door to the northwest.

Staying clear of the trapped area Artemus casts Detect Magic and scans the room before he moves to examine the green crystals on the wall. He will then make his way over to the dead and carefully prod them as he tries to assign some method to the madness he sees. What was the point of this? And I wonder if anything is in this blood?

Sorry, just a little confused - is the leather pouch something that was intended to be bait for the trap, or is it on someone that was caught by the trap before (i.e., is it something we should try to recover, or leave well enough alone)?

@Nilfyr: The pouch is hanging inside the cage and it seems to be cradling the skeleton inside.

@Artemus: The entire area radiates faint magic, although it seems to emanates from the Spire core. On the core is an Azlanti rune.

Since I know your T10 on Spellcraft will pass, here are the magical goodies.

On the table:
Two potions of cure moderate wounds

In a scroll tube on the table:
scroll of fireball
scroll of fly
Parchment with Azlanti writing on it.

And going to look in the bucket of blood? :)

That is a big pouch…

Linguistics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 Finally!

This entire room seems to radiate magic. But it all seems to be a reflection from this green stone. Any info on the school of magic and strength from the spire? This rune is the Azlanti symbol for our number 2. Is every level of this place numbered or something? The wizard moves to retrieve the magic items, jumping slight when the arm twitches. These will certainly come in handy. Quite a find actually. He continues to ponder the bodies for a moment. Any roll to figure out their purpose? I do wonder what might happen if we poor blood on them. But not enough to try it. The bucket of blood remains untouched for now...

Linguistics on the Parchment: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Interesting. The number 4. I think each of you should memorize these 4 symbols we have found so far.

@Artemus: It's actually hard to tell; it seems to bear an aura to all of the schools, although conjuration seems to be the strongest. It is moderate aura, but of consistent strength and reach.

As far as the bodies go, it seems like someone was playing a macabre version of building blocks, trying to assemble parts of one creature into another. You can tell that this was done post mortem for all creatures involved.

Anything else you wish to do in the room? And if not, where to? Another secret door in here, a regular door, and of course the two doors from the entrance room.

Yea. I might regret this but…

Too curious about he bucket of blood, artemus picks the vessel up by the handle and, moving to a corner away from the dead, decants the contents slowly onto the floor. After he examines the bucket and the puddle for anything us usual.

After all this he asks Could we lower that cage down here and inspect the bag and skeleton?

Artemus Fort save vs DC 12: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Artemus Dex check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

The arcanist manages to hold onto his breakfast as he sees the crusty blood spill to the floor and expertly aims the spilling to not ruin his clothing. Other than some discarded bits of bone, chitin, and shriveled organs, nothing of value is in the bucket. However, UNDER the bucket's original location is a solid steel key!

I'll need a Disable Device check to safely trigger the cage trap, unless you have another clever method of doing so!

Having found the key, Artemus looks to the others in his group to get the cage down. He stands out of the way.

Is it suspended by a rope that might be able to be cut by Nilfyr's fauchard (reach weapon)?

@Nilfyr: Looking at it, it appears to be a chain. However, if you can get yourself high enough, you can still sunder it. The ceiling is 15', so you'd somehow have to get 10' more up in the air to have enough horizontal reach to get a fair shot at the chain.

Seems to me that, even if we trigger the trap, we have a key (assuming the key fits the cage lock). Rather than waste the scroll of fly, how about we just have someone trigger it, perhaps with a reflex save to leap out of the way, since we know it's there?

If you wish to manually trigger it, I'll grant a +4 bonus on the Reflex save and AC

So...who's got the best Reflex save? Surely not Nilfyr...

Kristoff sighs audibly, reaches out and grabs the key.

1d20 + 5 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 5 + 4 + 1 = 30

Amatuers. and tosses it nonchalantly to Nilfyr

What's that roll Kristoff? Artemus has the key.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Triggering the trap

Cage fall: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29
Damage on hit: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 2) = 7

The cage falls down faster than anyone can expect, clipping the slayer in the shoulder as he rolls outside of its grasp.

7 damage to you still Kristoff

The leather pouch of the skeleton is still suspended on the metal frame. The bones begin to move and immediately rip the pouch free and move towards Kristoff.

Init Order (bold = up)
Thunderstealer/Belcher
Artemus
Skeleton
Kristoff
Nilfyr

Map updated! And -2 to attack through the cage with non-piercing weapons.

Thunderstealer moves to flank with Artemus and readies to strike when he does.

To Hit (Horsechopper): 1d20 + 7 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 7 + 2 - 2 = 10
Damage: 1d10 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 7 + 1 = 18

Belcher moves and tries to munch some bones

To Hit (Bite): 1d20 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 4 - 2 = 10
Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Confused. Isn't the skeleton in the cage? So this "pouch" holding the skeleton, was stuck to the outside of the cage? I think the word pouch is throwing me some too.

Artimus attempts to conjure a splash of acid to harm the undead.

Acid Splash, Touch attack: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 101d3 ⇒ 1

Pouch was inside cage holding skeleton. On its surprise round, it ripped it apart while inside the cage. Now it's looking to swipe at the party through the cage.

And a pair of misses so far!

-Posted with Wayfinder

The skeleton, next to Kristoff, tries to claw at him twice.

Skeleton claw @ Kristoff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Damage on hit: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Skeleton claw @ Kristoff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Damage on hit: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

The bony claws rattle off of Kristoff's armor!

Init Order (bold = up)
Thunderstealer/Belcher
Artemus
Skeleton
Kristoff
Nilfyr

Back away from the cage and I believe I can finish him from a distance. Artemus recommends.

"Hit first then move!"

To Hit (Horsechopper): 1d20 + 7 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 7 + 2 - 2 = 19
Damage: 1d10 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 1 = 17

Belcher also attacks

To Hit (Bite): 1d20 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 4 - 2 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Both Belcher and Thunderstealer move away from the cage.

"Good?" Thunderstealer asks Artemus

Kristoff will hack at one of the arms sticking through the cage then back off as ordered.

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 191d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Current HP 10/17

Kristoff smashes the skeleton with hits sword, shattering it into several pieces.

The bones then begin to rattle, glowing green briefly, and reform itself into a skeleton again OUTSIDE of the cage!

However, Thunderstealer once again turns the undead into another pile of bones, which Belcher starts gnawing on. The bones do not reform.

Combat over!

A review of the cage and the bones reveals no items, runes, or other useful information.

Artemus tries the key in the cage. Strangely, we might have been better off to leave the skeleton trapped in the cage.

@Artemus You do not see an door for the cage.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Nilfyr nods, "I can see how you might think so. However, we now have an enemy that we will no longer fear for being behind us." With that, he pulls out his wand and taps Kristoff with it.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

So where to gumshoes? There's a normal door here as well as a secret door. There's also two more doors back in the first chamber.

Nilfyr points to the corner of the room. "Let's try the less obvious doors first, shall we?" He steps over to it and listens.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

If he hears nothing, he will open the door

Nilfyr checks, and not noticing anything, opens the door. Another passage is now accessible. It goes around the corner to another matching secret door. Nilfyr also checks this once and, once again, finds nothing audible on the other side or unusual around the door.

The next chamber is made of stone, containing two clusters of four stone caskets each. In the center, between the two groupings, stands an empty, unlit brazier that is covered with soot and smells faintly of past files. Drapes of dust-covered spider webs cling to the ceiling.

Map updated!

EDIT: There is also a single door to the northeast.