Academy of Secrets (Inactive)

Game Master Corsario

"Without an agreed way to split the price, what you are going to get is a fistfight, indeed, and I am not interested in one of those. So if that is the only thing you are proposing, I bid you good night, and good luck tomorrow."

Aizel considered that. "And if we were to make a decision - say, equal shares - what would that do for your interest?"

"Equal shares for the surviving participants. If I die I won't be needing any money, and if you do, I don't want to pay to have you back. Are you in?"

"Fair enough. If you die, you will find I placed a will in the place I am staying, detailing what of my personal effects to sell in order to pay for a resurrection. I'd expect anybody who is not quite willing to die to have a similar arrangement in case they become unlucky. But the winning pot will go exclusively to the surviving members, distributed in equal shares. Should we add in an exception that in case one of these survivors is, through action or inaction, directly responsible for the death of someone, paying to bring them back is out of their share? Just a suggestion to make you feel more comfortable about teaming up with us is all-"

"If it makes you fell more comfortable, yes, put it in. I have no plans in killing a partner, and I am sure anyone trying to kill me will find its chewing more than he can swallow."

She is here just waiting to go on to the next thing, well after the Ulfen. :)

Almost there...

Well, only the thieves guilds woman left. Since Fatmire kind of already warned us about her and I don't exactly expect an organized crime syndicate to play by the rules, I would be fine with skipping a visit to her. Leaving it up to Aizel if he wants to take a look-

Nah, we can skip that one.

When Sunday morning arrives, the Acadamae wakes to a single sharp ringing of the campus bells at the break of dawn. The Breaching Festival officially begins an hour after dawn, but eager spectators begin gathering on the surrounding walls and the campus’s southern quad even before sunrise. Hundreds of common folk sit or stand atop the Acadamae’s southern walls, while vendors of refreshments and souvenirs wander nosily and often through the mass. Important observers, such as aristocrats and other prominent locals and nobles, are allowed to gather at ground level among several large and colorful tents and pavilions erected overnight in the quad just south of the Hall of Summoning. It is in this area that the PCs and other contestants are expected to gather, waiting for Toff to begin the competition with his opening speech at precisely 7:00 a.m.
At 15 minutes before, a large group of nobles arrives to excessive fanfare—this is none other than Queen Ileosa and several royal attendants.
The Festival start, for you, first and foremost, with surprises.
Bendis Artemaris (Ash PC), Bendis Artemaris (Kyle Smith PC) and Fatmire (NPC Halfling Thief) are not present for the Breaching Festival Opening Ceremony.
Toff Ornelos, Headmaster of the Academae, tells you that the three of them leave the premises very early, before dawn, and that they did it voluntarily. He mentions that is normal for participants to get "cold feet" and retire before the start. He tells you that is normal, and nothing that should concern you.

Ganorok looks worriedly at Illia and Maganrad running away.
"Do we go together, or do each of us go to find his own key?"

Knur huffs.
"If we go together we will lose too much time!"
He starts running towards another building.

"Well, no one won this thing in the past 150 years. I doubt it's a matter of being faster than the others if no one managed to reach the goal line. If we split up, we lose the one big advantage we were granted, that of being allowed to work as a group. I say we stick together, so we can support each other."

Orion looks at the other participants questioningly.

Also, my choice of order would be, just from name:
Hall of Lies
Hall of Whispers
Hall of Seeing
Hall of Shaping
Hall of Charms
Hall of Summoning
Hall of Induction...since I have no idea about any of these locales, I don't feel strongly about this, though, and am quite open to suggestions.

"That sounds prudent... maybe too prudent... I love it!"
Ganorok smiles.

Know arcana to see if I know about these halls 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (3) + 24 = 27

Is somewhat of "public knowledge":
The Academae "specialization" is the Summoning school of magic, but it's not the only thing they teach here.

Perhaps we should start with something a little friendly, with the Hall of Charms? she suggests.

Aizel nodded. Hopefully Khatul would not require one of her own. "We go together." The big Bloodrager shrugged. "I don't mind which one we head to first."

As said, I have no real idea about the halls, so will just tag along. I stated my preferences OOC, but since I was going by the names, it would probably be identical in-character, with no strong opinion regarding the order. Just in case you've been waiting on more input from me. On a more interesting note, the other participants already went to 3 halls. We may want to pick another, so the question is where they've been heading.

Sorry I haven't posted. As you are my dear PC's, and even if the other 3 contestants went first, you can have your pick of where to look for the key first. They will "happen" to look for theirs somewhere else.
I will post soon, don't despair.
BTW: I hope Knur doesn't owe you any money. ;)

Don't worry, when we find him Dwarf-skin boots are all the rage in Cheliax.

I think he explicitly stated he does not want us to pay for his resurrection. And that he has no need for the gold. I assume that would extend to having no need for his equipment when dead, either.

To reach the Hall of Charms to pass in front of the Hall of Whispers, where Knur (the dwarf that allied himself to you) went in to find his key being the closest smaller building there is (the Hall of summoning was closer, but is it a MUCH bigger place to check).
When you are about to leave it behind, you see Knur, or something resembling him, walking out of it.
As you see him his flesh wither and crack and crumbles to dust, first an arm, then a leg, and finally collapsing into a pile of dried dust blowing in the wind, surrounded by his armor and equipment.
The crowd nearer the place moves away, while all chatters ends.
You could go and check his stuff, but you would need to get near (and touch) the dust. Any takers?

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
"That was fast..."
Ganorok keeps going for the Hall of Charms...

know arcana 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (10) + 24 = 34

The elf will approach the ash. Does the roll tell her if they are ok to touch?

Should be, the spell has a instantaneous duration... but this was a particularly strong casting.
On the other hand... do you want to start messing up with his stuff? Roll spellcraft to identify the items? Now? Here in front of all the spectators?
Aren't you, like, hurrying?

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22

More importantly, Orion knows that if that was a Magical Trap, it will likely take some time to recharge before it can unleash another Wave of Whatever-that-was.
I assume at level 13 he knows THAT much about magical traps...
He rushes into the Hall of Whispers while Enothai takes a look at the Equipment, trusting his Stalwart Nature to keep him out of trouble if he is wrong.
"I'll take a look. Stay back for now, but I believe we have a time window in which it's save to go in there! We can continue to the Hall of charms after, but if I'm right, we might get our first key shortly-"

Orion hurries into the hall of Whispers. He follows the dust leave behind by Knur, which leads him to a storeroom filled with old grave-digging equipment and crates of loamy soil.
One earth filled crate is opened, and the key-light is there, in the middle of it.
Knowing that speed is of the essence, Orion jumps for the key, retrieves it and runs away from the room, out of the house, unharmed.
The crowd cheers when they see Orion out with the key-light.
One down, three more to go.
Good thinking Orion

She is fine with going to the Hall of Charms.

Enothai moves towards the Hall of Charms, wondering where Ganorok is, as he was supposed to be in front of her.
Just after entering the Hall she finds a reception room. A big door at the end is open, leading into a large lecture hall in the center of the building.
This hall’s blue key-light is floating in front of the mirror on the lecture hall stage, some 6' from the floor.
Enothai is about to step on the lecture hall when an invisible hand stops her.

"Wait! Look at the floor! There is some kind of effect there. A trap, no doubt. I haven't seen any way to enter without triggering it. But I think I should be able to Disable it, unsing a trick I learned some time ago."
Ganorok's voice comes from a seemingly empty spot next to Enothai.

On coming back out of the Hall of Whispers, Orion will take a Moment to look at Knur's remains, speaking a short prayer and taking a closer look at the remains(with Detect Magic).

If he had equipment for the following slots, Orion will take it, along with a handful of the ashes:

Body, Chest, Eyes, Feet, Hands, Wrists.

He will also pocket any magical Ring or Amulet.

If he found anything worth taking, he will shortly turn to the spectators, while showing his keylight, stating:"We knew each other only shortly, but I will try and have him restored to life after my victory...so I am certain he will want my chances to be as good as they can be!"

Perform(Oratory): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24(or Diplomacy +20)
to make it sound like a noble Deed that will make people go "Awwww" instead of "Is he robbing that dead guy?"

For what it's worth, he bought us a keylight, if he had any reasonable equipment it should be easy to fetch the money needed for a raise dead or better, so I was honest about that part. If he is unwilling to return, thats his Dwarven Ale, but I intend to give him a chance to do so despite what he said yesterday

Garnock, why don't you try to disarm it before I use a Dispel Magic?

The disembodied voice makes a weird sound.
"I was afraid you would say that... better stand a little way back... just in case..."
You hear like if Ganorok is fumbling with some equipment, and then some knocking and hitting on the floor tiles.
"You know what? I think I have this under control... yes... I thought so... Yes!"
Enothai notices the magic Aura in the floor disappear.
"I guess they weren't expecting for someone like me! It is done... now for the key!"
The light keys starts flying around the room, away from something you can't see.
"I knew it couldn't be so easily! That thing flies as fast as I, and it's too high!"
You imagine Ganorok is inside the room chasing after the key-light, unsuccessfully.

Are we the only two in the room?

Until now, yes.

If he found anything worth taking, he will shortly turn to the spectators, while showing his keylight, stating:"We knew each other only shortly, but I will try and have him restored to life after my victory...so I am certain he will want my chances to be as good as they can be!"

to make it sound like a noble Deed that will make people go "Awwww" instead of "Is he robbing that dead guy?"

To tell you the truth, the module doesn't include a stat block for Knur, or his equipment. So I will say there is nothing useful. At least we know it wasn't useful to him, right? ;)

Aizel glanced around for a way to get into the room with Garnok. If it was tall enough to keep the keys out of his reach, it should be tall enough for Aizel.

Aizel arrives to the Lecture Hall. It is a tall room, around 20'. The key is flying rapidly from one place to the other, at 40' speed and 6' above the floor. You can hear Ganorok scurrying about (but not see him), trying to "catch" the key-light. The Lecture hall is some 50' a side.

"Can somebody help me?"
Ganorok voice seems to come from the middle of the room.
"This thing was not fooled by my invisibility..."

Arriving at the Lecture Hall and taking a glance at the situation there, Orion casually unfolds his Wings and takes to the air, towards the middle of the room.
I figure if the hall is 50x50x20, from the middle I should be able to reach pretty much any spot in the hall with a 30 feet move action, which still lets me pick it up. If it hides in a far corner, it will be trapped and Ganorok can fetch it from there.

Orion arrives and "casually" unfurls his wings and takes flight. He also chases the key-light but it is too fast (40') for them, moving erratically while escaping them both.

Actually, I intended to scare it into a corner...as in, hover in the middle of the room, then close in slowly to threaten to intercept it.(Mechanicswise put it into a position towards a corner so that going PAST me would allow me to catch it, since it may be faster but has to travel further to prevent me from reaching)...in other words, block it's path in a way that it needs to back into a corner...then it COULD escape if I approach it but as said, would leave it trapped there until Ganorok manages to fetch it, only going after it to intercept it if it decides to run. What I am, however, definitely not doing, is chasing after it like an oversized chicken crashing into an invisible ratfolk for comedy effect...

Also some fly checks to Hover/Turn/move slow.
Fly: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28
Fly: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (5) + 14 = 19
Fly: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23

Between the small size, the 40' speed and the perfect maneuverability it is easier said than done. Picture a Harry Potter reference here.
You can try a DC 20 intelligence check.

Intelligence: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10 Thanks for the aid, but thats far from what it should be :)

Oh, forgot to mention, the long-lasting buffs "See Invisibility" and "Heightened Awareness" are supposedly active since we began the breaching. Have not used their effects yet, but I'll assume I cast them as soon as possible.

Also, Persistence Inquisition has "Relentless Footing" that increases my land speed by 10 feet. I dislike the wording about only applying to land speed, since I have a natural fly speed. But purely from that, would I do better by running after it matching it's speed and jumping with acrobatics?

Int check: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15

Well, ready actions will do no good. At best, I can try to charge it and grapple. But I have a feeling it will auto-evade and have me crash into a wall, which doesn't have much more dignity then the above scenario...

Yes, you would do better on foot, as the key-light flies at around 6' (which is mora a problem for Ganorok than for Orion.
Ganorok reappears, seemingly tired, and calls. Orion.
"Please come, I have something that can be handy."
He gets a scroll from his Haversack and cast it on Orion.
Cast Expeditious Retreat from the scroll.

With the added speed Orion takes only a couple tries to grab the key.
Two down, two more to go!