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Your adventure begins in Skyreach, the majestic, white, five-towered palace on the campus of the Grand Lodge in Absalom. You are led through the Great Hall of Skyreach past a large table with a shifting illusionary Inner Sea map on its massive surface. Standing around the Hall are dozens of pathfinders of various races exchanging stories of their exploits. You are directed towards a smaller meeting room, past an ornate fountain with crystal clear water. You can feel the chill from the cascading droplets as some splash you on their decent to the pool.
The placard before the room reads, “The Pipeweed Nook”. Opening the door you see a long table, chairs, and an imposing looking man sitting before a fireplace. He taps the ashes from his mahogany pipe into his palm and then throws them onto the flames. He smiles.
"Welcome initiates," he says in a friendly, laid-back manner. "I am pleased you could come so soon. I am Venture Captain Adril Hestram, and I have a task for you. Recently an earthquake struck the city, costing countless gold in damages as you can imagine. But it also caused a sealed siege tower from one of Absalom’s many, past, would-be-conquerors, to crack open like an egg. Word on the street is that no one has yet searched ‘the Fallen Fortress’, as the locals are calling it. However, against my commands, a young Pathfinder like yourselves, named Balenar Forsend, set off to explore the ruins alone. Now he is missing. I need you to go find him. During your explorations, keep your eyes peeled for anything that could be of interest to the society, especially historical or religious artifacts. Do you have any questions before you go?"
The venture captain nods in surprise at Egg Fu's respect. "We are not sure exactly, but we believe it was two or three days ago."
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Hayden nods to the Tien man and indicates his own longbow. It's much like the owner himself -- worn and battered, having seen a few too many years of rough handling. Still, the bow -- and the man -- seem strong and steady.
"Captain, pleased to meet you. I'm Sir Hayden Greyrun. What can you tell us about the tower? How old is it and who created it?" The Knight carries the symbols of the Dawnflower, and despite the bow, he also carries her signature scimitar on his belt.
It's one of many siege towers that litter the Cairnlands. No one has ever bothered to catalogue all of them. It's hundreds, maybe thousands of years old. It was build by one of many who wished to conquor Absalom. It was sealed until recently, but we've no idea who might have moved in since the earthquake opened it."
"As I said, we don't know who might have moved in. Forsend is human, with pale hair and a slight build."
You follow the map the venture captain gives you, and find yourself at the broken siege tower.
The ruined siege castle now being called the Fallen Fortress rises out of the churned earth of the Cairnlands. No doors or windows mar the otherwise smooth expanse of the tower’s walls. The tower is quatrefoil in plan; its eastern wing has largely collapsed, exposing the interior floors to the open air. Only the topmost level seems whole, though its eastern portion hangs precariously over the mountain of rubble left by the collapse. At ground level, the rubble frames a gaping hole in the side of the building that provides access to the tower’s darkened interior.
As you draw close, a pack of canine creatures attacks you.
bold may post:
Sythka
Egg Fu
Elianna
dogs
Faru
Hayden
Akitosh
Egg and Elianna both damage a dog, who starts to look like he doubts the wisdom of this attack.
Egg Fu's arrow brings down the first dog. The second (green) moves forward to attack Elianna. Elianna slashes at the dog, who whines but remains standing.
The remaining dog also lurches forward to bite at Elianna.
The entire party may now post. Green dog at -2, yellow at full health.
Hayden's arrow flies over the head of his target. Egg's arrows each find their way into the chest of a dog, leaving a sudden silence.
You move on and enter the tower through the caved in walls on the first floor. You find that much of the first floor is completely inaccessible due to rubble.
Akitosh, Egg Fu, and Faru all notice a spider getting ready to throw a web at Hayden.
bold may post (please note this is currently surprise round, so move or standard, not both):
surprise round:
Egg Fu
spider
Faru
Akitosh
round 1:
Sythka
Elianna
Egg Fu
spider
Hayden
Faru
Akitosh
Egg's arrow slams into the spider, who flails his legs about, but stays up in his web. The spider flings web at Hayden.
However, the web just falls at Hayden's feet.
Faru and Akitosh may take their surprise round action (so a standard or a move, not both); Sythka, Elliana, and Egg may take their first full round action. The spider is still up high in its web.
Splat!
You carefully explore the rest of the room, and find a little dog, dead in webs in the corner. It has a collar worth a few GP.
You find your way through the mostly rubble-filled western room and open a door to a staircase. The staircase clearly in the past went under the ground and up to the next floor, but the rubble completely blocks the stairs both up and down.
Having completely explored the floor, you go back out and look over the walls. They do not look difficult to climb up to get into the second floor.
Egg sees no dangers if he looks around without opening any doors.
There are two doorways once you get to the top, can you please discuss which you want to use now, while we are already waiting for climb checks? That way there's not another wait after you all get up there.
DC's of the climb checks with the rope are 5, so I'm handwaving the rest of them. Now we just need a consensus as to which door first.
Egg opens the door, to reveal an empty octagonal room with a layer of dust on the floor.
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"Careful! There's a trap on the far door! I can see the light glancing off something. It looks like some sort of spear set to fire at anyone." Hayden points to the trap.
-Posted with Wayfinder
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Hearing the warnings of his comrades, Akatosh begins to fiddle with the gauntlet on his right hand. A few seconds pass and a notable *click* resonates from the gauntlet.
"I've got a bad feeling about this..." A mere glance at Akatosh reveals sweat forming at the top of his brow, a telltale sign of nerves.
The group hears a satisfying 'click' as Egg disables the trap.
You move through the door, and find a room with weapon racks on the walls. Other armor and weapons hang on the walls above the racks. Most of the racks are empty, and most of the weapons look badly rusted. A horrible smell fills the room, reminding you of rotten eggs mixed with sewer gas.
The room contains two troglodytes, who move to attack you as you enter.
Akitosh and Elianna are immmune to trog stench for the next 24 hours. Egg, Faru, and Hayden are sickened for the next 10 rounds from the stench.
bold may post:
surprise round:
Faru (sickened)
Hayden (sickened)
Egg Fu (sickened)
Akitosh
round 1:
Faru (sickened)
Hayden (sickened)
trogs
Egg Fu
Akitosh
Elianna