Gameplay thread, now open for dotting.
Ten miles from the Sellen River near the River Kingdoms, the ramshackle settlement of Thornkeep huddles on a low hill beneath the bramble-covered walls of the castle that gave the settlement its name. The current lord of the keep, Baron Tervin Blackshield, maintains a limited peace among the multiple factions in the town. However, none of that is of specific interest to you...the Pathfinder Society has sent you here on the strength of rumors concerning a dungeon complex below the keep--built, perhaps, by the renegade Azlanti wizard Nhur Athemon.
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Simon, a gangly kid in oversized, outdated Korvosan clothes, spends the time on the trip either with his nose buried in a book or trying to impress you all with whatever knowledge seems appropriate to any given situation. And, as their destination finally comes nearer, he begins trying to wrack his brain for anything useful for the task at hand.
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Muusa, a solidly built Tien girl with cheeks permanently ruddy from the sun and wind of the steppes, looks about the castle walls with delight. "This place is very interesting!" she says, apropos of very little.
She spends some time looking around at the walls and following Kerastes and Simon around, goggling at most things with the eyes of a complete newcomer to Avistan.
Kerastes gets the party an invitation to meet with Iliana Starfire, the head of the Goldenfire Order of wizards-for-hire. On learning that you're Pathfinders intending to investigate the ruins under Thornkeep, she lets you copy a scroll fragment recovered by Jharun, one of the other members of her order (prior to his disappearance, of course...). It shows a line drawing of the Door of Seven Stars, a sealed portal known to previous explorers of the ruin. The image shows a ring of small circles in the center of the door, with a scribbled note next to the highest circle that reads "Red star?" The handwriting, Iliana tells you, is Jharun's.
Simon, having studied the matter before coming here, recalls that Nhur Athemon was supposedly destroyed along with his followers and the tower he'd raised here. The area's goblins excavated the area, though, and their discoveries indicated that the vengeful Azlanti who'd slain Nhur Athemon had missed the lower levels of the wizard's tower.
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"I would get so-o, Simon, if they were excavating. Although I don't know who or what has been able to open this 'Door of Seven Stars'." Muusa is contemplative. " It sounds like Jharun went in, and didn't come out," she says a little mournfully. "And if it is still a sealed door, then that means magic or something mechanical that re-sets, or both."
Muusa is hardly aware that Varisia exists.
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"Yes, I was calling you a youngster." Kerastes replies to Simon's grumbling
Later the Oread stands at attention while Iliana Starfire explains. When they depart he seems almost eager to enter the dungeon "Let's get this over with, the sooner we get down there the sooner I can deliver you back to your venture-lieutenants"
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An elf with tawny skin and silver hair, and wearing a flowing overcoat the color of tarnished silver, looks at Simon with a raised eyebrow and a gentle smile. There is a slight chill in the air as he approaches the others.
"Be kind to him, Mr. Kerastes, humans only have so large a window of opportunity to explore their potential." He takes what appears to be a huge pearl out from under his coat, and holds it up to eye level, looking at Simon through it. "And potential this one indeed has, I think."
He then looks at the drawing, then at Iliana. "I don't suppose there's anything more to this, or that came with this?"
"Unfortunately not."
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Simon looks from Nectanebo to the less-than-helpful Iliana. Then he shrugs, "Well, then, we're not getting any younger." He flashes a joking grin over at Nectanebo and Kerastes, "Which is a bigger issue for some of us than others. Head down?"
The young man is practically bouncing on his toes at the chance to test the levels below.
The five of you leave the Goldenfire Order behind and make your way around Harley's Pond to the bramble-covered bluffs of Brokenhelm Hill. A wide crevice leads into the hillside; as you enter you see before you a pair of enormous stone columns built into the rock of the bluff. Between the columns is the entrance to the Accursed Halls.
The entry, belying the grandeur of the exterior, is only ten feet wide. A short hall leads some forty feet into the hill before opening out into a square chamber about fifty feet on a side; you've come in through the middle of the north wall. Across from you is an ornate archway now sealed with large stone blocks. In the center of the room, though, some of the flagstones have been pulled up to reveal a staircase leading downward . There is a stench as of rotting meat in the air. Nothing in the chamber is moving, as far as you can tell.
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Simon stands at the entrance, staring into the hall as he mutters a few strange syllables of power.
As he watches, he pulls a wayfinder with the name ZORAELIUS inscribed across the top. He idly flips it opened then closed a few times before checking that it's securely attached to a leather cord. The leather cord goes around his belt and the wayfinder goes into a deep coat pocket ... allowing for easy, quick extraction. Then he draws out a wand .
"Welp," he whispers cheerily, "down the rabbit hole, right?" And he skulks into the room, careful of any threats as he moves to peek down the stairs as well as get a closer look at the sealed archway.
The stairway leads down into the ground. As you descend, the stench gets stronger. At the bottom of the stairs the source of the odor becomes clear--the stairs end in a small antechamber, and in the middle of the chamber a half-eaten carcass of a pig is pinned to the flagstones with iron stakes.
Simon is concentrating on faint traces of magic and doesn't notice them, but the rest of the party spots a pair of giant centipedes in the rubble on the floor and in the corners of the room.
Surprise round:
Initiative order
Centipedes
Nectanebo
Aelin
Muunokhoi
Kerastes
The centipedes scuttle rapidly across the floor and bite at the pair in front. Aelin's armor keeps the jaws of the one from finding purchase, but Kerastes is not so fortunate.
Aelin smashes the centipede on her into a mash of broken chitin, twitching legs, and goo.
-Posted with Wayfinder
As the first centipede charges Kerastes, he reacts without thinking and kills it easily before it can attack him. The second one, though, is partially covered on its approach by Aelin, and the inquisitor is unable to hit it. However, Aelin then cuts it down.
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Simon whistles at the efficient dispatching of the centipedes, the smiles up at Aeilín and Kerastes. "You guys are good to have around."
He holds up a hand, and the sleeve falling away from his skinny wrist reveals an arm nearly covered in a myriad of tattoos. ”I vote you two lead off from here on out.”
Apart from the rotting pig carcass, some rubble, and the dead centipedes, there's nothing in the room. A hall leads south, though, and it appears that it opens up into a larger chamber.
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"They'll have other ways of sensing us anyhow, Aelin--scent, or maybe tremors in the earth, or just our own souls," says Muusa with a ghoulish wink.
"Simon," says the thoughtful Tian, "As we are currently useless in combat, what is your thinking about that pig being staked down? I think someone is keeping this dungeon stocked and ready for visitors."
Simon notices nothing more of interest in the room.
You cross the room and head south down the hall. As you approach the opening at the other end, you can start to see a pair of square columns flanking the opening, and it looks as though the ceiling is much higher than in the hall.
There are apparently a couple of statues next to the columns (the statues look like THIS).
The room is quiet as you enter...and then Kerastes hears a faint titter, followed by the sounds of goblin war cries as you are attacked from ambush!
Surprise round:
Initiative order
Goblins
Kerastes