GM Suede's PFS Salvation of the Sages (Inactive)

Game Master Suede

Correct! You came in from the south and the central chamber.

Magor begins to cast a spell to investigate the dust. As you do so something feels wrong, starting as a subtlety off sensation that quickly builds into a wrenching pain tearing throughout your body. It's as if the magic you're trying to form is ripped from your fingertips.

As the spell finishes you are left drained, as if a bit of you is lost.

You take 2 negative levels after you cast Detect Magic. Do you still want to try and cast Detect Poison? Meta-gaming you rolled a 20 so you'll be fine, but Magos might not want to risk it in character.

Magor would definitely NOT try another spell! The more important question is, how exactly would this have played out live? It might have been something I would use a re-roll on.

What just happened? Roland looks at Magor just as he was about to pull out a couple wands of his own.

Turning to Torch...

Sage Torch, do your memories...or the other's memories explain zhis behavior?

Roland has his bow in hand and listens/looks down the passages east and north.

perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23

You'd start casting, I'd ask you to make a fort save as you did it, then if you failed you'd have a bad time. I'll let you try your re-roll if you like, since PbP is weird.

Torch looks at Roland a moment, the hums softly to himself and stares about. He seems completely unconcerned with what is happening to Magor, and maybe even rolled his eyes at the 'antics.'

"Not directly. This place is the entrance to a research lab, though. I see a lot of scared peasants in chains passing through this entryway. And based on what the pillar says, they were likely test subjects. It could have to do with that."

Much appreciated :-) Can we make any skill checks to research the problem?

Magor's hands begin to convulse and his arms shoot out as if someone were pulling hard on them. Thankfully, the pain stops as quickly as it started.

"Something is very wrong here. I fear my magic could be turned against me."

Fortitude (reroll @ +4): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (19) + 13 = 32

Yes, see the spoiler below, but note this will take you 5 minutes.

"We should be careful with our spellcasting until we're done with this place", Brutus warns.

"If Torch's memories don't hold any hints, one direction is as good as another. Let's start with the cleansing room", he adds before leading the party west.

Agreed. Roland nods at Brutus' suggestion.

Qilfobber's usually calm demeanor is shattered as Magor miscasts his spell.

"Could it be a feature of this room, or are we doomed to avoid casting spells in this entire blasted place?!"

He searches the entry chamber before the party moves on to the cleansing room.

Perception: 1d20 + 32 ⇒ (2) + 32 = 34 +5 vs traps

I'll of course also search for traps as we move around the complex.

"Yea, that sounds really bad if we can't cast spells here."

A soupy, viscous fluid covers the floor of this pillared chamber. Arcane runes form three distinct horizontal bands on each pillar, the first third glowing green, the second blue, and the top third red. Tattered, dusty remnants of clothing fill niches in the walls.

As Qilfobber kneels down to inspect the room he does find something similar to a trap. Based on the sign you found earlier this is likely the cleansing room as from what you can tell it runs through a decontamination sequence if anyone with a disease passes through. It casts increasingly drastic spells on them after magically closing the room off, but you can't determine what those spells are beyond the fact that if the earlier efforts fail it eventually becomes violent and simply attempts the clear the room. The entire effect takes approximately half a minute.

How long do I think it would take to rough up a 5-ft square of floor, such that it no longer counts as "worked stone"? Take 10 for 27 on Profession (mason).

"Just a moment while I examine the stone, then I'll go first to test out this cleansing process."

"Or we can try to disable it all together, Magor..."

Qilfobber tries to disable the magical cleansing processes.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 29 ⇒ (4) + 29 = 33
I can disable magical traps like a rogue.

Magor: I'm going to say that take at least 10 minutes. This place was build tough and to last, but all the shaking is weakening the stability so you can probably tear it up enough to count in that time.

Qil, you spend a little time tinkering with the enchantments on the room and think you've managed to shut down the safety protocols. Whenever someone decides test it out, maybe by shoving a friend in first, you don't immediately find yourselves being decontaminated.

You find on the other side of this chamber a split path with two options. I'm going to toss in the descriptions of both rooms, since you can see into either. Just let me know where you guys want to go as a party.

North Room:
Wall alcoves hold rust-covered stone pits into which the soupy liquid covering the floor spills. Along the north wall stands a complex gold and bone framework linking dozens of crystals set into the stone. Ancient, rusty blood covers bronze shackles bolted to plates in the floor near the mechanism.

South Room:
Three tables laden with alchemical equipment, glassware, and other arcane tools occupy this chamber. A thick liquid drips from a broken glass jar that never empties. Numerous marked vials that appear intact are enclosed within glass-fronted cabinets along the southern wall. A sealed metal canister sits in the southwest corner.

You were on fire...

Voros follows the party and offers his own expertise on dealing with traps when he discovers that Qilfobber really knows his lesson.

"Oh." is the only word that he says.

He'll follow along. :)

" It is interesting all zhe glassware is not shattered to dust at zhis point."

Roland will take a quick look into the south room

Perception : 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (13) + 19 = 32

"Do you have any memories of this equipment?" Brutus asks of the untrustworthy sage. "If any of this is useful in stopping the necromancer we should take it with us."

The hulking paladin takes a moment to scan both rooms for evil auras.

Roland takes a quick glance into the southern room, but you don't see too much else without stepping inside to search through the clutter. You do note that all the vials along the southern wall are numbered from 1 to 40. And Brutus, you see no overt signs of evil coming from either room using your paladin gaze.

Grandmaster Torch spends some time considering each room from the doorway, looking vaguely lost as he digs into his own mind to see what he knows. He eventually frowns while staring to the south. "There is where Tahari would create new diseases before taking them somewhere else to test them. From what I recall this was her primary laboratory."

As for the north, he seems somewhat hesitant to even enter the room, though he hides it well. "Tahari performed tests on memory and personality preservation in here. It's not surprise she'd think of something that... melodramatic. Though I can see the pragmatism of it. She bound subjects near the device and drained their minds, and I see her pausing to take notes and record the changes in their personas with each lost piece. I can almost hear the whining of their sad little spirits trapped in there, such a waste of potential."

I do not like zhe looks of zhe vials and if Master Torch is correct, we do not need to catch new diseases.

Qilfobber peeks into the room from behind the taller agents legs.

"Like it or not, Roland, we're here to secure the facility. The entire facility...

He strokes his mustache for a moment before continuing.

"I could send in an Unseen Servant first, though. Have it mess about with any potentially contagious parts af the room to see what happens.."

"That sounds like a good plan", Brutus says after a long thoughtful pause. "Do it Qilfobber."

Voros nods "Right, good idea."

He seems concerned about Magor's condition.

"Does anyone knows what happens to the dwarf?" he asks to the party, worried.

Qilfobber shrugs.

"Dunno... Let's see if I'm afflicted in a similar manner."

He then attempts to conjure an Unseen Servant.

Qilfobber: I need a DC 27 fort save vs disease or take 2 negative levels. Your spell still complete.

Qilfobber begins to cast his spell and experiences the same gutwrenching pain Magor suffered earlier as something from the spell rips itself directly from his fingers. There is now a small presence in the room either way, and the unseen servant wanders into the laboratory shuffling through fallen papers, items, vials, and alchemical equipment.

It becomes obvious as it stirs up the room that there's enough supplies in here to work as an alchemy lab, and it used to be a very advanced one before equipment was damaged by time. Nothing jumps out or surprises the magical thing, nor are any unfortunate surprises triggered.

Qil, I will assume you direct it to search about, and there's no actual DC for this, so...

During its search you find notes written in Ancient Osiriani amongst all the dust.(Please see the Handout in the link),

Further searching reveals that in one of the cabinets the servant finds a vial containing a clear viscous fluid that spontaneously crystallizes into fractally complex formations before melting back to a liquid state. You also see that in addition to the vials being numbered #1-40, the metal cannister in the corner happens to be labeled #14.

I will add a reminder considering the situation, that you did find a wand with 4 charges of restoration on it earlier. You also have a scarred man with a bag of 3000 gold worth of items you haven't utilized yet.

Roland gasps as he sees the gnome subjected to the same fate as Magor.

I wonder if it only affects arcane or divine magics. he ponders while waiting.

Can anyone of you scholars read zhe notes?

Roland waits for the servant to finish moving around in the room, not wanting to disturb anything.

Fortitude (c'mon nat 20!): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

GM, I have the Deathless armor ability on my Bracers of Armor. Would that apply here?

Qilfobber recoils as the spell painfully completes, but his eagerness is quick to return when the servant turns up the fragmented notes.

"Of course I can read them, Roland. The crystalline fluid might cure what ails us. Can anyone determine its nature?"

It doesn't state this is a negative energy effect... but it also doesn't state it's not. So go ahead and roll it.

You never know until you ask :D
1-25 = good: 1d100 ⇒ 99
1-25 = good: 1d100 ⇒ 42

As for the wand and Torch's goody bag, I say we wait and see for now, and then ration Restorations out when the negative levels pile up to high for comfort. Scrolls of Restoration are 700 gp a pop, so that's what, 8 in total, each of which removes all current temporary negative levels from the recipient.

Indeed, that's kind of handy. And reassuring. Since Voros uses extracts, it might not happen for him. Or maybe it applies on others class features as well...

Voros' worries become sounder as Qilfobber also suffers from an illness or curse he doesn't understand.

"I don't read Ancient Osiriani but I can use my drugs to understand and language if needed." he states.

Voros, if you'd like to examine it give me an alchemy roll.

Oh? ok, then Voros will take his time to examine this...

Craft Alchemy, take 10: 10 + 27 = 37

Voros, from what you can tell even without magical assistance these vials are filled with pure distilled magic in a shifting form. You wouldn't be surprised to find this stuff in the veins of Nethys himself, and it's quite likely the side effect of the disease. The magic being pulled out of people when they trigger the effect.

However, it's not a cure. You think with the lab here you might be able to make one, but you need more information about how to do it and how it works.

Brutus looks to Torch as the party ponders the scattered notes. "Can you read these?"

Voros scratches his head.

"I don't know, maybe I could... try alchemy's drugs to understand this ancient Language. Or maybe if I take enough time to study these writings..."

Linguistics check (just in case): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

I might have been unclear, but Qilfobber can speak Ancient Osirian, so he'll translate the whole lot.

Oh, indeed! Sorry!

Suddenly remembering Qilfobber's previous statement about him knowing this ancient tongue, Voros points at the lab.

"Sorry, I was too deep in my reflections and just remembered you can read without efforts these writings. With our combined efforts, we might make a cure, don't you think?" he states, albeit hesitant.

"I can help as well if you need it. I know a little something."

Torch looks about to speak up, but Qilfobber quickly covers the issue. Those of you paying attention to him may notice he's acting a bit more stiff then before, some of the over the top sly condescension being replaced with a stare of sheer arrogance as he eyes each of you in turn.

Before you can discuss much more there's a flicker of light in the corner of your eyes. A strange distortion appears at the center of the northern room.

"Um...guys. What is zhat flicker? ." Roland looks with interest at the strange disturbance unable to fathom its purpose

Knowledge Arcana DC 27: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (12) + 16 = 28

Voros has a nervous cough.

"This is the entrance to an immersive mindscape that can remove or retrieve memories. It’s currently set to removal. Maybe Liam, Qil, Torch and could work together on this... What are you looking at, Torch!" says coldly Voros.

"Don't mind if I do..."

Qilfobber starts tampering with the mindscape portal.

Disable Device, negative levels: 1d20 + 29 - 2 ⇒ (14) + 29 - 2 = 41

Voros can auto-succeed an aid if needed, even though I don't think so ^^

Quick eyes and quicker fingers on the parts of Qilfobber and Voros are easily able to figure out the mechanisms of the device. It reminds you both of several less menacing pieces of equipment in the Grand Lodge.

In less then a minute there's a subtle shift in the hum of the device and a ripple flutters across the distortion in the room. You think you could interact with it and try to view the memories trapped within, but you're confident there'd be some risk doing so just by the nature of what the machine does.

Torch rolls his eyes at Voros's comment, then stands surprisingly tall. The sage makes a point to look down his nose at the tiefling. "I am not sure, but I'm impressed it was capable of figuring out how doors work, let alone such a complex machine."

Roland is surprised at Torch's comments Of Voros.
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 vs D.C. 21

"My Taldan is a bit rusty but I think you meant him instead of it.
I am sure He is capable of much.."

Sense Motive DC 21: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

Voros doesn't pay attention ro Torch's remark.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Brutus regards the reconfigured machine. "I trust my strength to guard my mind against whatever trials this machine has for us but these memories are wasted on one as unlearned as myself."

Can't beat a DC 21 Sense Motive.

Qilfobber shrugs dispassionately.

"I'll volunteer to enter the mindscape unless someone else really wants to instead."

"I can do it if need be. Razmir will protect me."