Rene Duquesnoy |
You make your way to the Wise Quarter in Absalom. As you approach the rich estate of Grand Councilmember Dremdhet Salhar, you are greeted by a guard. You are expected...Pathfinders the guard says while eyeing you up and down. You walk to the front door, and are met by a servant. The servant informs you that Salhar is not around. He is on business that is actually important, but you may speak with his most trusted adviser. The servant leads you down a corridor of fancy rooms and expansive areas. Sitting in a room at the end of the hall is an old man. He looks up from the scraps of paper he was working with and begins speaking.
Since Osirion was reopened to exploration a decade ago, adventurers, historians, and treasure-seekers flock to my country by the hundreds, perhaps thousands. While most families with ancestral burial vaults maintain guards and keep their sites out of the hands of casual thieves, not all families have the wealth or power to restrict everyone, and as we all know, not every defense is perfectly secure. Unscrupulous tomb robbers and maligned merchant organizations cause Osirion to bleed relics into the Inner Sea—something the descendents of Ancient Osirion cannot afford. We Osiriani have thousands of years of rich history coursing through our veins, and while that power has been out of focus in recent years, we are content to wait, knowing our enemies will wear themselves down. As they fall into arrogance, folly, or greed, we wait for our return to power, knowing we bear the riches of our ancestors at our feet.
Master Salhar remains impressed by the Pathfinder Society, orating in their favor a handful of times in front of Absalom’s Grand Council, in fact. Due to previous relationships between him and the Society, Master Salhar has agreed to grant permission to the Pathfinder Society to explore his family’s vaults below Sothis. The only thing he requires is that you retrieve the map of the vaults from his own vault here. The servant will lead you to the basement and show you the room.
The Sapphire Sage’s eyes twinkle as he smirks knowingly, then he turns back to reading his book as though he had never been disturbed.
The servant returns and leads you through the large estate, down a hallway, through a cool basement. He opens the door, and ushers you inside. Once you are all inside, he shuts the door, and you hear it lock.
A plain stone room contains three chests: a copper-banded chest of smooth, dark wood; a red lacquered chest; and what looks to be a cube of solid steel. Behind the chests sits a low table holding a clear glass jar half full of liquid and a covered wicker basket.
For easy times:
* Wicker basket - closed
* Glass jar - closed
* Copper-banded chest - closed
* Red lacquered chest - closed
* Steel chest - closed
Rene Duquesnoy |
Sgt Hobbes inspects the glass jar. It appears there is a clear liquid inside it, about half full.
Chusynd looks at the red lacquered chest. There is a keyhole, and a red light pulses from within. Chusynd tries to open it, but it doesn't open.
Rene Duquesnoy |
Thujone inspects the copper-banded chest.
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Thujone sees the chest fade in and out, as it was an illusion. Only Thujone sees this.
* Wicker basket - closed
* Glass jar - closed
* Copper-banded chest - Thujone sees illusion
* Red lacquered chest - closed
* Steel chest - closed
Chusynd Karkota |
It seems the only thing we can open here is this basket. Looks to be at about the height of our esteemed Gristle. Take a look, then, little one, and let us know what we are to have for our picnic supper, hmm?
Thujone |
Peers sternly at the copper-banded chest
"There are powerful magicks binding this. I'll see what I can do."
Thujone gestures vaguely, pulling some dust from his spell pouch and blowing it in Blunttusk's face. He mumbles to himself in Elven, then flips open the lid to the chest
"You all should attend to the rest of these. I must regather my energy."
Thujone sits down and drinks from his flask
Rene Duquesnoy |
So Thisle is opening the basket and Thujone is pretending to open the copper-banded chest?
Blunttusk |
The Half-Orc, still perturbed by the encounter at the Orphanage, paid little attention to his compatriots who were happily loot...examining the tomb.
"Perhaps we should consider more caution," He said softly. "I haven't even had an opportunity to properly get a feel for the room."
DETECT EVIL. I'm not sure if you treat it as an always on thing, but if not there we go.
Rene Duquesnoy |
Somewhere, off in the distance, a bird flies over the head of a gnome tinkerer and drops a little poo. The poo hits the gnome, just as he completes his Absalom domination device. The poo slides between some gears, making it too slick to control. As the gears begin spinning out of control, the friction ignites the saltpeter causing an explosion in the laboratory. The device is destroyed, and the crazy gnome was killed. Absalom owes their safety to a bird they will never notice.
Also.. please move :P
Rene Duquesnoy |
Sgt Hobbes removes the lid of the basket, and sees a blue stone key sitting atop a pile of crumpled linens. How ominous!
Thujone |
Looking up from the jar, Thujone takes pity on the simpering sergeant
Oh, very well. Hold this.
He hands the jar to Hobbes and gestures vaguely, pulling some dust from his spell pouch and blowing it in Hobbes' face. He mumbles to himself in Elven, then casts Mage Hand to retrieve the key
Rene Duquesnoy |
Thujone believes the liquid to be water.
Thujone casts mage hand on the key and it lifts up out of the box.
* Wicker basket - open - blue stone key retrieved
* Glass jar - closed
* Copper-banded chest - Thujone sees illusion
* Red lacquered chest - closed
* Steel chest - closed
Rene Duquesnoy |
Chusynd sticks the key in the red-lacquered chest...and it opens! Inside the chest is a key forged into the end of a jeweled scepter.
Perception checks DC 16
Blunttusk 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Loegnir 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Hobbes 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Thujone 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Chusynd 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Thistle 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
That is a big LOL right there!
Chusynd Karkota |
Wait, did the bard fall into the water again? Cos that's what our rolls look like...
Chusynd grabs the jeweled key and holds it up. Right! Now let us try this in the steel chest. Perhaps the elf has given us his drunken visions and we are seeing things — he claims the copper-banded chest is not real.
Rene Duquesnoy |
You stick the jeweled key in the steel chest and turn it. The chest does not open.
* Wicker basket - open - blue stone key retrieved
* Glass jar - closed
* Copper-banded chest - Thujone sees illusion
* Red lacquered chest - open - jeweled scepter key
* Steel chest - closed
Chusynd Karkota |
*cough* *sneeze* *cough*
Chusynd sighs, kicks the steel chest in frustration, hands Sarge the scepter key, and grabs the basket, dumping it out onto the gnome, if possible ;-).
Rene Duquesnoy |
Chusynd takes 1 point of non-lethal damage from stubbing his toe.
Chusynd picks up the basket and looks to the gnome. However, there is no gnome. There is a half-orc, human, halfling, and 2 elves. Chusynd thinks Damn. I wish there was a gnome. Seriously. So much gnome hate. There's no place like gnome..
After Chusynd's brief spaz out, Chusynd realizes he looks a tad silly. But, better to look silly than to drop a possibly trapped basket on a fellow Pathfinder.
Chusynd Karkota |
They're all gnomes to me. And evil; they're all evil too.
Hand me that jar, good sir. Chusynd opens the jar and pours its contents into the basket, cursing his luck that there is no evil gnome nearby.
Rene Duquesnoy |
Chusynd pours the jar into the basket. A little splashes out onto him, doing 1 point of acid damage to Chusynd.
The key falls out onto the bottom of the basket. The acid burns through the cloth, and you see a SNAKE! The snake gets burned, but it leashes out to escape, and snaps at Chusynd.
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
The snake misses Chusynd and falls over dead from the acid.
* Wicker basket - open - blue stone key retrieved
* Glass jar - open - jeweled brass key retrieved
* Copper-banded chest - Thujone sees illusion
* Red lacquered chest - open - jeweled scepter key
* Steel chest - closed
Chusynd Karkota |
It appears that Sarge was correct about the snake. Marvelous deductive reasoning! I can see why you were chosen for a life in the town guard, evicting people like our inebriated elf from sundry squalor.
"This is like trying to have sex with a golem."
I will take your word for that, rather than determining for myself.
Rene Duquesnoy |
The steel chest does have a small hole in it (like a golem virgin). When you stick the jeweled brass key in the chest and turn it, it breaks into dust. No other key fits.
Frustrated, Sgt Hobbes stares at the ceiling and notices a glimmer of metal hanging from it. It could be another key!
Chusynd Karkota |
Chusynd Karkota |
To be honest, I mixed up this PBP (which has a halfling) with another PBP (which has a gnome). It started out as an honest mistake and I turned it into a bit when Rob jumped on it and you responded. So yeah, I suppose the bit which resulted from serendipitous confusion was worth it. :-D
Chusynd kicks the copper-banded chest, misses cos it's an illusion, and falls on top of the halfling, who has been sputtering in protest at nearly drowning AND being mistaken for a gnome — an ignominious day indeed.
Thujone! Try that key in the steel chest and perhaps we can get out of here.
Rene Duquesnoy |
The box opens up, and a sprays the party with a nasty mist.
Will save:
Blunttusk 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Loegnir 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5
Hobbes 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 1 = 11
Thujone 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
Chusynd 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Thistle 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9
Loegnir, Chusynd, and Thistle's body turns blue. Ha on them!
There is a treasure map at the bottom of the chest. Huzzah.
Sgt. Hobbes |
It appears that Sarge was correct about the snake. Marvelous deductive reasoning! I can see why you were chosen for a life in the town guard, evicting people like our inebriated elf from sundry squalor.
"Nah...the captain says it's because of my 'dogged determination', or somethin' like that."
After the box is opened, and half of the party has been Smurfed...
"See what I mean? Wise-ass Osiriani. Looks like maybe we found what we're lookin' for, at least."
Edit: looks like I found a message-board Easter Egg.
Rene Duquesnoy |
You are able to open the door. Standing outside is Amenopheus' servant. He chuckles slightly at the dire smurfs, and says Please deliver the map to Ambrus with our regards. He leads you out, and after about a half an hour, everyone gets desmurfed.