[PFS/DMK] 6-10 The Wounded Wisp - Table V (Inactive)

Game Master Kludde

"Maybe it's just me, but for a memorial wall, for a Society based on the whole idea of *sharing* information that has been gathered the one that notably *kept her mouth shut* kind of feels 'off' to me? Explore, Report... Cooperate... Right?"

Going directly to the Wall of Names has her scratching her head a bit as she's trying to figure out if she missed a discussion inside while she was out talking to Guntir. Weren't they going to go to the stonemason Arkath's resting place?

Still, seems party headed to the Wall, so she's not going to split the group over that.

Guntir hmmmmms to himself as he considers the wall, a deep rumbling sound--a thrumming. "Perhaps Hollis is the important one... hmmmmmm... perhaps the treasure hidden away was a blade? I wonder what the stonemason's tomb will show us."

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Hmmm it does seem like there is something to either the names, or perhaps the phrases under them. I do remember some archeological digs I was on where clues were hidden within seemingly meaningless phrases.

Zar moves about the the wall, checking the different names and the bi-lines under them of the ones that they have notes for, trying to piece together some meaning.

Callan realises that the epitaphs do not seem to correspond to these people (if they ever existed at all), but rather to aspirants that failed the test of the starstone, the sacred test that allow one to ascend into godhood.

The Shrine of the failed pays homage to the failed. It is a place next to the Starstone cathedral, with shrines dedicated to each of the failed aspirant.

Any place you want to go next? You also still have the lead to the tomb.

Let's be visiting the stonemason's tomb now.

Yes lets head tot he tomb, there may be something else there.

Yeah, the tomb next, but I wonder about that shrine... What does it have to do with Eylysia? And why put the names here?

"Well, let's check on the other lead, and then if that doesn't pan out, we have somewhere else to look after?"

Andrietta will start heading to where the stonemason's tomb is indicated!

Details left by Selmius Foster indicate the location of Arkath’s burial site: a plot of land in Eastgate operated by priests of Pharasma.

A fence surrounds the grounds of the necropolis, but the gates are open to those paying their respects. The doors to Arkath's mausoleum, however, are sealed with sturdy stone slabs. A cleric roams the grounds.

K(religion) untrained vs. DC 10: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

Hennet approaches the cleric.
Hail, man of Abadar! We are pathfinders seeking answers to an old mystery surrounding one of our own. Our trail has led us to the tomb of Arkath there... Do you have any knowledge of him or his tomb that may aid us? I believe we may even have to enter it.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

My knowledge of the tomb is this: the man buried here paid his dues, and his reward is eternal peace. His book is balanced, the cleric speaks, pacing around and stroking his chin, agitated by Hennet's words, I will not be held liable for your entry, so I must deny.

"What say you look the other way, lest you find your own book ballanced!?"
Intimidate: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

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Knowledge(Religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

The tengu straightens up a bit as she follows the party along, then lowers her head briefly, placing a hand over her beak before lowering it at Callan's bold declaration.

"Your dedication to the Master of the First Vault is sound. I follow Grandmother Crow, myself, and Andoletta would have her children follow in a lawful fashion all laws about them. But if there was doubt, that perhaps some manner of business was perhaps not completed upon this fellow's demise, then would it not be in the interest of balance, law, and good to ensure that the matter is resolved in a forthright and fair fashion?"

She pauses momentarily, giving Callan a meaningful glance before returning her attention to the caretaker.

"Please forgive my traveling companion, it has been a long frustrating day and we are all a bit tired."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

"Aye. We are here to break no laws." Diplomacy, aid: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

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As the others occupy the guard, Zar takes a moment to wander around the tomb looking for anything out of the ordinary.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Yes, Sir Cleric. I think you mistook my words. This mission may mean that the poor soul inside died without completing something, and it may pertain to a friend of his. If it's true, then his book isn't balanced, and that's what we are trying to help with!

His words are accentuated with the most charming halfling smile Hennet can muster.
Diplomacy, Aid Another: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15

The priest gets very nervous as the towering half-orc moves up to his, and looks seriously relieved when Andrietta calls him off. The vault of the dead is as the first vault, you must understand. If I am to allow you in, this must be under strict procedure. You are not allowed to touch, or remove anything. Any breach of these rules will be ground for compensation.

He then allows the pathfinders in. Arkath's tomb is empty, save for a single open sarcophagus containing his bones. The mouth of the corpse contains a single silver coin.

"I understand entirely. You must follow the procedure, or the deceased would be disturbed in their rest. I will not touch or remove anything, leaving it to your judgement as to how to appropriately proceed should we find the issue of our concern."

Does he follow us in?

He keeps watch at the entrance of the tomb

Callan peers (without touching) at the coin and for any other interesting information within the tomb.
Perception - coin/tomb: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Kn(history) - untrained: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

Perception, aid: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Guntir peers at the coin as well, careful not to touch anything.

Hennet tries to keep the cleric talking, in order to distract him from seeing what the group is doing.
I'd like to apologize for that misunderstanding earlier. I truly meant only to make sure this poor fellow didn't go the grave with work unfinished. That would be a cruel curse for a pathfinder, you know. So tell me, what do you think about this tomb and the clues we have found so far linking this man to the Shrine of the Failed near the StarStone? It seems his work had something to do with three other names besides the one we are looking for, and they all have small epitaphs revealing they had failed the Test. Is there any mention of such a thing here?
Diplomacy, Plus Halfling Luck: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Aid Another Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Valjoen looks to the coin and tries to discern any markings.

The tengu will head as well, and examine the coin to see what if anything is written upon it..

Aid Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Looking through the tomb with the others, Zar cast Detect Magic to see if anything appears out of the ordinary.

Bennet quizzes the priest on the clues the party has received so far. The priest thinks for a moment, then answers It would certainly explain he presence of that Pathfinder coin

He points to the coin in the skeleton's mouth, which Zarzuket finds to be magical.

I do not have Spellcraft trained.

Andrietta will come back to the entrance and bow to the fellow politely.

"The coin in the deceased's mouth appears to be the object of our inquiry. We are here investigating this issue on behalf of the Society. Would it be possible to provide compensation for the recovery of that item while ensuring the procedures that are in place?"

Essentially, the tengu is offering to provide a silver coin (or three, if necessary--eyes and mouth) to allow for the removal of the 'special' coin. If there is a 'Corpse Handling Fee' or such, or ritual, or whatnot, she's also willing to pay a little for it. She's not wealthy, but this has been exceptionally diplomatic so far...

I would consider a small tithe appropriate at this point, which would make me ameniable to a brief borrowing of the object in question. Provided that you return the object following your investigations, I see no harm.

Andrietta will tithe two gold for the brief borrowing of the object.

"Grandmother Crow insists we turn most of our wealth to good works. This is one-fourth of the coin I own, is this enough?"

A quarter of your personal wealth should suffice, yes.

The priest allows the borrowing of the coin. Now, what to do with it?

identify it, I should hope

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Indeed, try to identify it or discern the magic around it, and if we can't pull that off, take it back to wiser heads (the Lodge) for perusal unless that's been actively discouraged. (ie, does checking in on our investigation screw us? It'd seem unlikely, because this trail went cold twice because people either DIED or got busy with other things, but have been in other scenarios where even breathing a word to the Society before the mission is done is auto-completion/failure?)

I've seen boons and the like reference doing stuff in the Lodge, so I assume that's a thing that happens in missions in Absalom sometimes. But, uh... do you have Spellcraft trained? It shouldn't be necessary to go to the lodge if one of us can roll high enough or take 20 on it.

I've seen boons and the like reference doing stuff in the Lodge, so I assume that's a thing that happens in missions in Absalom sometimes. But, uh... do you have Spellcraft trained? It shouldn't be necessary to go to the lodge if one of us can roll high enough or take 20 on it.

Unfortunately, no. Cleric only gets 2+Int in skills, and had to load up on Wisdom, Charisma to be effective. Really really wish there was a cleric class that actually had skills without sacrificing being a cleric.

No worries. Zar has spellcraft, if we can take 10 that puts it at 22 with the bonus. If not, I'll roll below.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 8 + 4 = 24

Zar takes the coin gently and looks it over slowly.

Ah yes, Pathfinder Coin. It might have a message, but be ready the message only plays once.

Zar then pulls his Wayfinder from his pouch out and when everyone is ready places the coin on top of it.

Once the message is done, Zar will replace the coin and offer a few more gold to the Cleric.

A message play: The path and chamber are complete, hidden behind the nameplate of the requested aspirant and guarded by the word you requested. Fimbrik will add more.

"So it is clear that we must next travel to the Shrine of the Failed next to the Starstone cathedral. There we must locate the shrine dedicated to "Evil Grin" Thorne and investigate his nameplate. That must be where the phrase "wiffle" comes into play..."

After making this somewhat out of place deduction for a seemingly uneducated, wild half-orc barbarian, Callan approaches the priest at the entrance of the tomb and unceremoniously utters, "No hard feelings..." and claps his enormous hand on the shoulder of the holy-man, almost knocking him off balance.

At the centre of the Ascendant Court, the Starstone cathedral looms over the city. Next to it, the Shrine of the failed. As the party arrives, the place is completely empty, and it soon becomes clear why: Sir Reinhart has made it clear he will attempt the test of the Starstone. As the valiant— and utterly doomed—knight prepares to charge his steed across the chasm outside Starstone Cathedral, everybody has moved into position to look - giving the party free reign of the Shrine of the Failed.

Past the entry, a monumental chamber stretches eighty feet from end to end, with a ceiling suspended thirty feet from the floor by great pillars. Seven arched passages lead to humble rooms, each of which contains a polished stone altar dedicated to one of the failed aspirants who attempted the Test of the Starstone.

Each of the niches contains a small stone altar to one of the failed aspirants. Each altar stands upon a raised dais and bears a small brass nameplate identifying the aspirant and the would-be-god’s areas of interest.

There's Demuren, who would be the god of sacrifice, Gobru, who aspired to be the god of fish and bountiful sea, Mellag, acolyte of rot, Oggo of the sixteen poses, Plokkis of spoiled food and wastefulness, Silmor, of blades, and Spuchasta, who aspired to be the god of Hallucinatory incense and herbs.

The names from the Wall of Names are not present here, as this is a shrine to aspirants that failed the test of the starstone.

Didn't one of the nameplates on the wall of names mention a blade that broke at an inopportune moment? Perhaps those were clues to what we are supposed to be looking for...

"Damn it! I was sure that there would be a link to Hollis Thorne here! Where is the connection to this mystery?" the barbarian grumbles like an ill tempered, disappointed youngster. Callan looks to the wiser members of his troupe to see if they have any direction or idea.
Hearing Lucky's recollection, the half-orc's eyes open wide with understanding.

There is indeed. Silmor, the failed aspirant who aspired to be the god of blades. His story is one of fighting all the way of the Storval stairs, only to have his blade shatter just as he was surrounded. Apparently his body was recovered, but his head never was found.

"Are we to look behind Silmor's name plate then?"

Perception nameplate: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

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More than likely three of them. Silence and Serenity, Blade, Rot, those are all connections here, it seems.

Callan and Valjoen make a beeline for Silmor's nameplate. It can slide aside, and behind it is a small cache that contains a chalkboard, and a piece of chalk.

The tengu will move closer to dynamic Half-orc Duo and blink a bit as the chalkboard and chalk are pulled out.

"That's... kind of strange. Why would you put a chalkboard in the spot rather than..."

Then Andrietta thinks about everything uncovered so far. "Well, maybe you could make something out of that, Zar? Is it another illusion, or some sort of magic?"

Hennet checks behind the nameplate of Mellag, the one who aspired to to be the God of rot.
Take 20 on perception.