GM Crucible |
Wulessa sighs. "I cannot make a horse, but I can guess that the archive will try to manifest here in the mindscape and attack you."
"Yes, I would very much like to return home," she says, "But if you cannot accomplish that, I understand. It is my fault, not yours, for not understanding the Archive fully."
Wulessa conjures another potion of magic weapon for you. It appears inside the teapot with a little 'pop' noise and a puff of smoke.
There is little other useful information you can pry from Wulessa. As you speak, you can hear her consciousness being pulled away.
After brief—but fruitless—conversation, she grabs hold of either side of the wall hanging she inhabits and pulls. The hanging opens like a door, opening back to the corridors of the primal layer.
The passage opens upon a tunnel to oblivion. The smooth glass walls stretch fifty or sixty feet, ending abruptly in a maw open to the void. The crystalline structure floating in the void’s heart somehow hovers mere feet away from the tunnel’s end. From this close, it resembles a torus of jagged crystals, slowly revolving around a core of flashing light and mist.
As the you make your way down the tunnel, a figure breaks away from the core of the crystalline ring and strides across the void, positioning itself at the end of the hallway. It looks familiar. Each of you see a partial reflection of your self, but with two differences: the copy possesses four arms, with two limbs splitting from each elbow, and the copy’s head is a crystalline torus hovering above the shoulders.
Knowledge(planes) or Knowledge(arcana) to identify
Meredith Une |
Will Save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
"My arms don't work like that, your illusion is terrible." Meredith glares at her double. "But I do appreciate the plant arms."
"These are really some kind of crystal toruses with eight limbs, does that ring a bell to anyone?"
Prisim |
will: 1d20 ⇒ 14
"It's not really me!" she says.
"You can attack it. The real me has only two arms."
She directs a jet of acid at the fake copy of herself.
ranged touch: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22
damage: 1d3 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Apollyanna Lapin Sukino |
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Will save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
"Know this Archive, I am Apollyanna Sukino, champion of justice! On behalf of the Eternal Maiden, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil, and tonight that means you!"
Pau |
Will save 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
Pau applies the magic weapon oil to his right fist yet again. He smiles as he sees through the illusion and sprints to attack the monster.
Is the creature within charge range, DM? If so, Pau will charge. If not, please subtract two from the attack roll.
Charging attack 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 22
Damage 1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 4 + 1 = 6
Lannior Llarm |
Will: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20
As he sees through the illusion, Lannior says ' Ha! , before firing an arrow.
Bow + PBS: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Meredith Une |
Meredith shrugs. "You guys are charging in before me? I must be getting rusty."
Meredith scans the carnage to see what survives.
GM Crucible |
Apollyanna: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Gailen: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15
Lannior: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
Meredith: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
Pau: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Prisim: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21
Eidolon: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
The avatar of the archive shimmers slightly, its image shifting between each of you. It shifts to Prisim, and its true form becomes shinier. As it shifts to Pau, and Apollyanna its arms see to grow slightly longer and meatier, and its body expands in bulk. The pattern continues as the true shape adapts in response to each of you.
Prisim decides to start things off with a spell. The conjured ball of acid lands on the creature, and burns its skin.
Lannior fires an arrow that strikes the core crystals, shattering more than a few.
Pau applies the magic oil. (I'll be nice and say you did it earlier, but this will decrease its effective duration, as some time has elapsed since then...) He then charges at the avatar, bringing his magical fist down on the creature.
The creature has taken a good bit of damage. It looks hurt, but certainly not out of the fight.
—COMBAT!—
Prisim
Lannior
Meredith
Gailen
Pau
Apollyanna
* BBEG
Those in bold may act!
Meredith Une |
Meredith begins to call upon the world and bring an animal to her aid.
Casting Summon Monster I
Apollyanna Lapin Sukino |
Apollyanna seeing it's position near the fractured edge of the dark nothingness bends her shoulders low and charges.
"YEEARGH!!"
unimproved bull rush (charge): 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 2 = 21
Gailen Windbreak |
Gailen steps forward and swings her glaive at it.
glaive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
GM Crucible |
Meredith begins her casting.
Gailen swings her glaive, but misses.
Apollyanna, never one to think things through, charges directly at the creature. It thrusts a longspear as she approaches (AoO), pushing the head of the spear deep into her side.
longspear: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
CONFIRM longspear: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17 CONFIRMED
damage(x3): 1d8 + 3 + 1d8 + 3 + 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 + (6) + 3 + (5) + 3 = 22
The wound lays her open, and the beautiful paladin of Shelyn spills her lifeblood across the tiles.
Apollyanna is now at -10 hp ... DC 20 Stabilization check, please. (FYI, Apollyanna's Con is 14.)
The crystaline creature swings the spear at Gailen, then steps closer to allow its arms to claw at her face. The spear grazes her leg, and although the first claw misses, the second leaves a bleeding wound on her face. -6 total damage
longspear: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
dmg: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
claws1: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13 miss
claws2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
dmg: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
—COMBAT!—
Prisim
Lannior
Meredith (casting)
Gailen (-6)
Pau
Apollyanna (dying, @-10)
* BBEG
Those in bold may act!
-17
Lannior Llarm |
Seeing Apollyanna drop, Lannior's no healer, he does what he does best and steps over to the corner to find a better angle and fires another arrow at the strange creature. 5 foot step
Longbow + PBS - into Combat: 1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 5 - 4 = 4
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Meredith Une |
Meredith finishes her casting as the creature thrusts its spear into Apollyanna. She calls upon the earth itself (or at least imaginary earth) and the floor coalesces into a small Earth Elemental.
Flanking with Gallen, the pile of rocks tries to slam into the crystalline structure.
Slam, Earth Mastery, Flanking: 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 6 + 1 + 2 = 13
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 1 = 11
Meredith moves up to Apollyanna, pulling out her wand of cure light wounds. "I'll keep her alive. You guys handle that...thing."
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
"She's stable, but still unconscious."
Prisim |
"Polly!" screams Prisim, dashing forward. but Meredith is much faster, and if she was being honest with herself, more effective.
Prisim stops, waits for Lannior to take his shot and the steps in front of him to once again summon a globe of acid on the horrible creature.
"Holy wrath of Pink Unicorns!"
ranged touch into combat: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 3 - 4 = 6
The presence of her friends and the situation of Polly however put off her aim.
Unless it has a really bad dex, which I doubt is the case
Pau |
"She's goofy, but she's my friend," Pau screams at the golem type creature. He swings his magic fist at the beast, trying to pound it into dust.
attack 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 1 = 13
Damage 1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8
Apollyanna Lapin Sukino |
Apollyanna's head lolls dramatically.
Gailen Windbreak |
Gailen five-foot steps back and swings again, this time with flanking from the elemental.
giaive: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 7 + 2 = 16
damage: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
GM Crucible |
Sorry for missing yesterday. I was swamped with students all day (midterms) and then had to teach a late class.
Prisim, too worried about her friend, misses with her spell.
Lannior doesn't do much better with his arrow.
Meredith finishes her spell, and then moves forward to heal Apollyanna. The fallen paladin's wounds stabilize. She remains unconscious, but out of immediate danger.
Pau steps forward and swings his magic fist, but finds only hard crystal. (miss)
Gailen tries to take advantage of the flanking elemental, and manages to cut a deep gash across one of the figure's central crystals. Light breaks out, and the figure shakes, then shatters, its tiny shards dissipating into nothingness as pieces fly harmlessly across the room.
Out of combat.
Meredith Une |
Meredith breathes a sigh of relief as she uses the wand again.
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6 Apollyanna should be at 3 hp now.
"Honestly, charging in like that...Impulsive. Just like the captain.." The elemental stays for a few more seconds before melding into the ground, leaving no trace.
"Now that we've shattered its will, let's see if we can free the captain and get out of here."
GM Crucible |
With the defeat of the Archivist's avatar, the world shudders briefly. The walls fade in and out, then solidify and become blank.
As the last pieces of the crystalline body fade away, a simple wooden door appears at the edge of the void. It opens with a touch and offers a view of your bodies in the seance circle back in the material world.
As you step through the door your vision goes white and you disappear ...
... only to open your eyes and find yourselves back in your bodies in the room you left seemingly hours ago, still clasping hands with those next to you.
Against hope, Wulessa Yuul opens her eyes as well. She has tears in her eyes as she apologizes sincerely for her error in judgment. She returns the scroll to the chest, declaring that she intends further study of the Monadistic Archive, but first clearly more research is needed into proper safeguards.
She gives you her sincerest thanks and praise for your services and her release. She fields any last questions you might have about the nature of the Archivist. (Do you have any?)
——
Over the following months you hear little of the Archive. Stories are quick to give your party credit for obtaining it, but no one outside your party ever mentions what happened in the mindscape, as if that part of the adventure was kept out of the official record.
——
Adventure end! Congratulations!
Please make sure your information is correct in the Discussion tab, and that you've rolled your Down Time if needed. I'll get chronicles up this weekend.
Apollyanna Lapin Sukino |
"Whoa. Where am I? I had this dream that I was this total evil witch that I used to room with in training lodge's body--Natula and that she was here and tried to hydraulic push--a spell she was saving for just such an event--the crystal monster back over the ledge and there were dice they rolled like 23 on some sort of check and a mean man behind a wall or screen somewhere said: 'It doesn't say what happens if you push it into the void so I'm going to say it doesn't do anything.' And Natula screamed and screamed and nearly pulled out her blonde bob--Honestly now, do you think I would look good with that sort of cut?--and then I woke up here. What happened?"
GM Crucible |
As an aside, I wasn't sure how I would have handled the bull rush. Great idea, though, under more normal circumstances. After thinking about it for some time, I'd decided that because the Archive walked over the void to get to the floor you were on, that if it were pushed back over the edge it would treat it as if the floor continued (i.e., not fall). Don't ask what I would have done if you had tried to follow, because frankly, I don't know.
(Okay ... now I have to think about this and come up with a solution ... I probably would have had you fall for three or four rounds, then resolve back in the hallway before the final room. This is a mindscape without real-world physics, after all.)
GM Crucible |
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And an additional secret that amused me, since you all failed Sense Motive checks early on ...
Prisim |
Thanks for the game Cruible! I enjoyed that.
While the second bit is very linear, it at least had a very different feel to it from a regular scenario. Actually it felt oddly like the overflow archives - a kind of wacky off beat edgy kind of a 'feel'.
Meredith Une |
Haha! Oh, that spoiler is a nice touch.
"I'm just...glad to see you're alright, Captain. Take it easy, alright?" Meredith offers a hug.
As they leave, Meredith takes a moment to reflect. "It's...easy to get overzealous, swept up in the moment. My time as a servant ended recently, and I'm thankful for that. The uprising I lead got the best of me and became an uncontrollable mob before I knew it. If it weren't for the Pathfinder Society breaking it up it may have been worse than what my captors did to us."
"The Venture-Captain got caught in the moment and didn't think things through. She almost paid for it with her life. But hey, we were here to save her, right? That's what Pathfinders do."
GM Crucible |
The monsters are all several CR above what you can normally survive ... they do normal damage and have normal AC, until you saved, then only 20% dmg and low AC after saving ... would have been difficult to handle in a RL game. You guys got lucky and had people save early that were able to finish off the mindscape monsters.
Lannior Llarm |
Very cool! Thanks for the run GM Crucible -- job well done. I enjoyed this group lots of fun role play, well done all.
Love the spoiler!
Apollyanna Lapin Sukino |
Over the following months you hear little of the Archive. Stories are quick to give your party credit for obtaining it, but no one outside your party ever mentions what happened in the mindscape, as if that part of the adventure was kept out of the official record.
What happens in Katapesh, stays in Katapesh.
Please make sure your information is correct in the Discussion tab, and that you've rolled your Down Time if needed. I'll get chronicles up this weekend.
Can Apollyanna get credit for helping beat the evil roof monster? Silver Crusaders like herself get faction card goal points for defeating evil subtyped ro-beasts, monsters-of-the-week and outsiders.
And, bravo! An-chore! Author, author! And all that. ;)
GM Crucible |
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Of course, the whole party gets credit for defeating the evil outsider. Even its friend Pau.