[PFS CORE] GM Mjolbeard's "Between the Lines" (7-01) (Inactive)

Game Master Mjolbeard89

Cue wavy screen effect and Wayne's World "doodle-ooo sound

As you begin to actively resist the illusion of the room around them, Venture-Captain Yuul calls out to you, "Ah! It's working. Good! I'll see you again. Stay safe!"

The room shimmers and changes again. The shape remains the same, but the walls and floor resolve into a series of glass tiles that creates a checkerboard of luminescent blue and lightswallowing black. The door vanishes, revealing a passage filled with the same half-light. Opposite this, the room breaks away entirely. An entire wall is missing, leaving a jagged hole overlooking a void occupied by nothing more than deep purple mist, seemingly born out of and reabsorbed by the darkness. Somewhere in the depths, a tremendous crystalline shape flashes through the mist. The room is otherwise featureless, devoid of all angles. Even the floor has a slight curvature, melding smoothly into the walls.

The crystalline shape seems to coalesce into a more concentrated whole, and it emerges slightly from the mist of the void. Though there is no face, you can tell that it is regarding you, and you get the sense that is searching your intentions. Suddenly, the luminous tiles around you begin to glow more brightly, and the colors seem to rearrange to form shapes. First you see the image of an eye, then the image of a question mark.

You may refer to the map on Slide 1 for a visual.
If you want to understand the images, give me a Sense Motive check, please.

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 16

Addressing the 'eye' directly, "So, it seems we both have questions."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

Looking for what? Draga wonders what this is all about.

sense motive: 1d20 ⇒ 5

"Greetings to you. I am Hannar the Wild, and you are?"

knowledge(arcana/planes(both+5)): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Draga and Wraith both get the sense that the being is simply letting you all know that it sees you and is curious about you as well. When Hannar asks who the being is, the lights in the tiles rearrange once again to form the images of chains breaking and being reforged, over and over. At this point, the being is too shrouded in the mist of the void for Hannar to get a clear view of it, and so he is unable to determine exactly what it is.

Seeing the chains, Draga muses: "Liberty's Edge..." Then, more seriously: "It's been trapped and trying to get free?"
She calls out: "How can we help you get free?"

Unbelievable. Literally. This isn't real, and we wouldn't even be here if our boss had actually earned her position or listened to our warnings.

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Unsure what to do, Dale looks around and speaks. "Can we talk face to face?"

The lights seem to dim, then rearrange once again to form their normal checkerboard pattern of lit tiles and dark, light-sucking tiles, creating an eerie half-light. The presence has apparently lost interest for now. Behind you, a corridor winds around a bend, perhaps leading to some other part of this strange mental landscape.

"The thing doesn't have a face, Dale, don't get your hopes up too much in regards to that meeting..."

Draga heads to the bend in the corridor, to look around it.

"It's an expression..."

Dale follows behind.

Well, this is terrible.

"So, do you think this...entity controls the landscape? If so, we are at a great disadvantage tactically speaking."

You follow the corridor around the bend, and begin moving down at a slight angle toward a set of doors. As you approach the doors, however, the glass tiles suddenly give way to worked stone. Behind, the structure remains uniform, as though the glowing glass hallway were never there.

Draga moves to the door and checks it for traps before listening.

Perception traps then listening: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 161d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Drama neither detects any traps on the door, nor hears anything in the room beyond, except for a sound like wind.

Draga opens the door... without any drama.

The doors open onto a balcony overlooking a wide chamber. A winged statue formed out of the stone wall looms ominously from across the room. Catwalks wind around the edges and across the room, leading to a primitive altar in front of the statue. Above and below the suspended middle level of the room, gratings in the floor and ceiling produce a constant upward-moving breeze. While the statue seems crafted to represent a male human-avian hybrid, its face is unmistakably that of Wulessa Yuul.

"Well, this just got worse. My guess is we're never getting home if that bird finishes taking over the boss' body."

Dwozer tightens the grip on his greatsword, and scans the area for magical auras.

Draga moves into the room, to the corner to the right, and looks around, especially at her shoes: what slippers did I take this morning, my red ones? Why? she wonders.
Nat' 1

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Hannar moves into the room into the left corner, and looks around carefully.

My computer is down. I am using my tablet so I can't move on the map.

perception: 1d20 ⇒ 11

"Hrm, I don't like it."

Dale casts Detect Magic into the room and concentrates for a bit to see if he can pinpoint anything out of the ordinary.

Drama gets sucked into reflecting on the color of her footwear, while Hannar moves cautiously into the room and scans it for anything out of place. He doesn't notice anything at the moment, but he does confirm that the face of the statue is certainly that of the Venture Captain.

Meanwhile, both Dwozer and Dale scan for magical auras. Once again, the entire room lights up with magic, but Dwozer notices that there is a particularly strong aura around the altar below the statue.

PERCEPTION: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Yeah, this is not going well for us at the moment.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Dwozer points to the statue, then holds one hand up vertically and finger walks his other hand around behind it. Sword at the ready, he begins moving forward, still concentrating on his spell.

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9 Same modifier for Knowledge (arcana) and Spellcraft.

Her back to the wall, and falchion at the ready in both hands, Draga moves up to the first "corner", and then peers down into the vents on each side.
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Just want to say that I am really digging the maps. Nice work on these.

Wraith moves along, opposite Draga. Blade held out and low.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 +1 for traps

Nothing appears to be amiss to any of you at the moment, even the keen-eyed Wraith. When she eventually comes closer to the statue, it's eyes blink awake, and the face of Venture-Captain Yuul begins speaking to you again. “I remember this. It was my first expedition after joining the Pathfinder Society. We discovered a lost shrine to—I will not speak his name—The King of Wind Demons. We sought a golden icon hidden in the altar. The way down was easier than expected. There were traps, but we bypassed them. The way to the shrine was hidden, but we found the trigger to open it. And then... there were guardians. Here. Two of us died. They came from the air itself. I think you are in danger! Here, take this; it may aid you against the dangers here.”

Suddenly a length of rope falls from the ceiling and lands perfectly coiled at Wraith's feet. A moment passes, and another small vial appears in the midst of the rope--another potion to help you survive the trials ahead!

You can choose which potion you want from the following: blur, cure moderate wounds, enlarge person, or magic weapon.

When the rope falls from the ceiling, Dwozer immediately picks up on its magical aura. Spellcraft check please

As the venture-captain's gifts materialize, the sound of wind from the vents increases, blowing the loose ends of Draga's turban about as she peers down into the darkness below.

With the ends of her turban flittering around in wind, Draga gets ready for what will come from the air itself...

"The rope is magical, but its exact purpose escapes me today."

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Vote for potion of blur.

"Lemme see...""

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

If elemental are coming, Magic Weapon would be good as well. Just my 2 copper.

Thanks for your patience in my absence, folks. I'm back and ready to move us onward!
So that's one vote for potion of blur and one for magic weapon. Any other votes?

Dale picks up the end of the rope and is able to identify it as a rope of climbing.

I does not matter to me.

Between those two I'd vote for Blur. Dale has a Scroll of Magic Weapon he can use on someone if needed.

"This rope can snake itself into a climbable rope, even if there's no wall to brace it to."

@GM: Do you need anything else from us/me before moving forward?

Alright, potion of blur it is.

Dale picks up the rope and potion of blur just as the wind from the grates intensifies further. As he collects the venture captain's gifts, a vapor begins to pool in the area below the catwalks.

Sounds like there's some threats coming, any preparation you wanna do?

Has it been more than 2 hours? Need to know for Mage Armor

Draga has her back against the wall, her falchion in both hands, and an eye on both of the vents close to her...
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

Dwozer rolls a tiny archery target between his fingers, then quickly returns it to a pouch and grips his greatsword.

Casting true strike.

No prep for Dale unless he needs to use his Wand of Mage Armor again.

Mage Armor is still up for those of you who cast it before the ritual.

Ready then

Ready as I can be. My computer went down, so my posting may be intermittent, but I'm still here.

As the room had begun to fill will vapor just seconds before, it now begins to fill with a thick black smoke as the vapor coalesces to form two large creatures that seem to be made of the smoke itself! The creatures hover just inches from the ground below the catwalks upon which you now stand, look up at you, and howl in horrible hissing fury.

Knowledge (planes) to identify
The creatures are taking this first round to actually solidify into their forms

INITIATIVE
Echoes of Exploration - Round 1
Bold may go!
Elemental (red)
Hannar
Elemental (teal)
Draga
Wraith
Dwozer
Dale

Knowledge (planes): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

knowledge(planes): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Hannar shares any knowledge he may gain, but otherwise goes full defensive.

The second of the creatures finishes forming from the vapors and slowly drifts up to float in front of Draga.

Dwozer and Hannar are unable to identify the creatures at this point.

INITIATIVE
Echoes of Exploration - Round 1
Bold may go!
Elemental (red)
Hannar
Elemental (teal)
Draga
Wraith
Dwozer
Dale

Draga puts her might into the swing, and tries to slash at this being in front of her...

Cold Iron - Slashing: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 172d4 + 9 ⇒ (2, 3) + 9 = 14 Using Power Attack

Wraith moves up to aid the keleshite warrior.

Masterwork Cold Iron Elven Curve Blade: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 241d10 ⇒ 3
Confirm???: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 161d10 ⇒ 7