Clebsch GM Wrath of the Righteous Adventure Path

Game Master Clebsch73

Avelina's attention immediately moved to the portraits. She dashed over to the one of her aunt the queen and knelt down below it. She smiled like a child would at their parent.

"Auntie...a part of me worried I would see you again. I mean, it's not actually you, but still."

She suddenly remembered the others were watching, and she jumped up and cleared her throat. She spoke louder, as if she could simply drown out her moment of vulnerability with volume.

"And I of course ultimately knew everything would work out well. We have the Inheritor on our side, after all!"

She hugged the painting with a play at regal restraint, keeping her face turned away from the others. She whispered to herself as she tried to hold back a tear.

"Please forgive me. I just worry sometimes. Please be okay."

If you want to know what your character thinks is the value of any particular non-magical item, I will narrate that. But assuming you agree these should be kept and appraised back at the Defender's Heart, you can move on to explore the basement level of the manor. I will put you all down on the stairs or in the first room the stairs lead to and we can continue. If anyone wants to do any healing, do so before Monday morning.

The group moves back down to the first floor landing. The Raiju tags along behind a bit, curious now about the people with master Karas. The stairs leading down open into a room that is about 15' by 35'. A pallet contains a pile of wood and stone building materials, leftover from a repair job that was done a few weeks ago. There are closed doors at the north, south, and NE side of the room. Karas knows that the north door leads to a storage room, the NE room to a small work room, and the south door to a large room Terendelev used for meditation and rituals, as well as another storage room and another workroom.

No one sees any signs of traps or any active threats or hazards, nor can any sounds be heard.

"Two things. First, could anyone spare a healing spell? Second, I say we head to the leaves room first. That sounds like a place the interlopers might make a last stand in," she nods.

She also looks at the paintings of the dragon. "She had wonderful taste in art, Karas. Both the Inheritor and the Queen looks quite splendid," she says smiling at Avelina.

"Of course I can," Anarya smiled as she laid a hand gently on Ellena's wound. For a few seconds, light flows from her fingertips as the wound gently closes.

Healer's Way: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 1) = 6
Healer's Way: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 1) = 7

Using two uses of my new Healer's Way/Lay on Hands ability.

Letting her light spread across the pile of recovered items (casting detect magic), she notices the telltale glimmer of magic on the gemstone and the mirror fragment. "Its eye and this mirror have a magical aura," she mentions to Tauni. "Can you tell what enchantments are upon them?"

Karas looked at the room full of gathered belongings. He responded to Franti first. "Is it a hoard if it is full of gifts and not takings?"

He looked over the gathered things and sighed. "Many memories. Tossed about like ransacked loot is... its awful."

He stepped in and the holy symbol of Apsu caught his eye, he picked it up and held it close. "She always did, Ellena, she enjoyed music and art and all the fineries we mortals had to offer above all. All of creation she adored."

He took a moment and examined the symbol closely before securing its chain around his neck and turning to the others.

"Noone is up here. Let's finish clearing out my home."

He lead the group downstairs and looked about the leftover construction and doors. "Check the two doors to the north first. they should each be a single room.'

Tauni knows that guardian dolls are constructs that have had a fragment of a living person infused into it. The gemstone probably is the place where this fragment is stored. It is not dangerous but it could be used to make another guardian doll if it is not properly dispelled.

Nothing else is found in the other rooms on the second floor.

"Think it's a hoard when it's gathered, not necessarily the how's or why's." Franti grinned, "but then again, you're the closest thing to a dragon expert, now aren't you?"

Franti followed closely behind Karas, hopping with glee that the house may contain more wonders. "Your home is so much more interesting than mine, Silver. Much, much larger for starters. With a manor like this, shall I call you Master Silver?" he jested. "Though, y'know, Lord Silver actually has a nice ring to it... Noble and mysterious, isn't it? Just gotta put you in a nice Chelish suit and clean the blood neath your claws."

So the party is heading down to the basement. See the basement map for the way I arranged everyone on the steps. Make any changes to the order that you like and post what you are doing once you get into the room at the bottom of the stairs. There is nothing in this room but some building supplies on a pallet.

Are we meant to see the whole basement map yet? Because that room to the east looks mighty interesting!

Aware of the previous use of a magic mouth spell, Tauni carefully scanned the room and pallet with her detection cantrip, looking for any other messages that may have been left for them.

I don't think we said it specifically, so Tauni will have collected the doll's gemstone for later examination and perhaps dispelling.

We can see the whole map because Karas knows the layout of his own house.

Karas sighed, "Please don't call me anything like that Franti. Also never really had a liking of Chelish things."

He waited for Franti to check the door for any recent tampering.

Ellena fell into her usual spot at the front of the group, ready to protect the others from whatever foes were still remaining in Karas's home. While the group had been in discussions, she realized she hadn't thanked Anarya for the healing. "Much obliged, Anarya. I feel great now. Ready to help Karas take out all the evil trash from his home."

Franti knew his role, smirking as he sped up, ready to check the door and excited about what may be behind it. "Don't be quick to judge, friend. Like Ustalav, Cheliax has some of the best clowns." The fool curled his gloved fingers, and his eyes flit around the room as he searched. "They've a noble house of fools, after all, can't be a terrible place..."

Perception Traps +8, Disable Device +15

Avelina beamed. "Certainly, once this whole mess with the demon invasion is over, I shall have Auntie offer all of you peerages, knighthoods, and whatever else your hearts desire!"

Avelina grasped Ellena's arm and smiled as the conversation turned to Cheliax. She guffawed at Franti's jab at the House of Thrune.

"I have not yet heard such a quality characterization of the usurpers that stole Iomedae's Homeland and took it down the Path of Wickedness. Some day, when the Worldwound is closed up, Her Church shall return to free the people from their oppressors. I swear that to you."

She winked at Ellena.

"We shall help Her take out all the evil trash from Her home."

Are we meant to see the whole basement map yet? Because that room to the east looks mighty interesting!

Aware of the previous use of a magic mouth spell, Tauni carefully scanned the room and pallet with her detection cantrip, looking for any other messages that may have been left for them.

I don't think we said it specifically, so Tauni will have collected the doll's gemstone for later examination and perhaps dispelling.

You can see the map because Karas knows what is in each room (normally) and can describe the general contents. You, of course, don't know what might have entered into these places recently. All doors are closed when you arrive.

Avelina beamed. "Certainly, once this whole mess with the demon invasion is over, I shall have Auntie offer all of you peerages, knighthoods, and whatever else your hearts desire!"

Avelina grasped Ellena's arm and smiled as the conversation turned to Cheliax. She guffawed at Franti's jab at the House of Thrune.

"I have not yet heard such a quality characterization of the usurpers that stole Iomedae's Homeland and took it down the Path of Wickedness. Some day, when the Worldwound is closed up, Her Church shall return to free the people from their oppressors. I swear that to you."

She winked at Ellena.

"We shall help Her take out all the evil trash from Her home."

Could be an adventure seed if people want to keep playing after the AP is concluded. You'll all be close to epic level by then.

I am assuming the group wants to enter the room on the south side, with the symbol of Iomedae on the floor.

Is Franti medium sized or small? It was mentioned earlier that he gets small but I wasn't sure if that meant he was altering his shape to small size.

Franti detects no hazards on the door into the south room. The door is not locked. When Franit opens it, there is a seven foot tall humanoid apparently made of ice standing ten feet from the door. It starts to react in an unfriendly way.

Round 1
Tauni
Raiju
Avelina
Ice man
Franti
Anarya
Ellena
Karas

Tauni and Avelin are up. I will post the Raiju's action once I've seen what Tauni does. This is not a surprise round so take a normal full round set of action options.

Even as the door started to swing open, Tauni had a premonition of the foe behind it. The flash left too little time to warn the others, but just enough time to call to mind the syllables of a spell. She took a couple of strides forward to get where she could see behind the humanoid and set off her spell.

Casting Glitterdust, centered behind the raiju so that it does not encompass Franti. DC 16 will save or blinded.

I am guessing knowledge (planes) to know useful stuff? 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19. It is the same if it is religion, but she gets another +2 if it is arcana.

Avelina slid past Tauni and Karas and took up position outside the door. She held up her hands, clenching them into tense fists. A red-orange glow erupted from them.

"These hands of mine are burning red! Their loud roar tells me to grasp victory!"

She thrust forward her hands, fingers splayed, and a cone of flame burst forth.

"Red Roaring Hands of Victory!"

Red Roaring Hands of Victory Burning Hands: 5d4 ⇒ (3, 4, 1, 3, 4) = 15
Reflex save for half, DC 16

She should be able to start a cone from the bottom right corner of her square and fire it out so it doesn't hit anyone besides the icy looking thing

Even as the door started to swing open, Tauni had a premonition of the foe behind it. The flash left too little time to warn the others, but just enough time to call to mind the syllables of a spell. She took a couple of strides forward to get where she could see behind the humanoid and set off her spell.

Casting Glitterdust, centered behind the raiju so that it does not encompass Franti. DC 16 will save or blinded.

I am guessing knowledge (planes) to know useful stuff? 1d20+9. It is the same if it is religion, but she gets another +2 if it is arcana.

I'm assuming you mean to target the Ice Golem, not the Raiju, which is the creature that was a kind of house pet and is tagging along at the moment.

I already checked the relevant knowledge for monster lore. See spoiler above a few posts.

Zephyr, the Raiju, got agitated but remained corporeal and moved down the steps and into the main room at the bottom of the steps. It snarled at the ice guy.

Avelina stuck her fingers around the edge of the door jam and sent a blast of flames into the room and bathed the creature in fire. It melted in places and seemed to be damaged by flames, perhaps more than normal due to its cold nature. Damage = 17 But it was far from destroyed.

The creature breathed forth an icy cold rush of air that drove into the next room and covered everyone in the room with damaging cold. The cold caught everyone by surprise except Karas, who managed to hold his breath and turn his back on the air and escaped some of the damage. The raiju backed up and escaped some of the damage as well. 6 damage to Karas and Zephr, 12 to everyone else. After breathing, it stepped to block the door.

Round 1
Tauni (12 lethal)(moves, casts glitterdust)
Raiju (6 lethal)(moves)
Avelina (12 lethal)(moves, casts spell, 17 lethal to ice man)
Ice man (17 lethal)(cold breath attack, 5-foot step)
Franti (12 lethal)
Anarya (12 lethal)
Ellena (12 lethal)
Karas (6 lethal)

Round 2
Tauni (12 lethal)
Raiju (6 lethal)
Avelina (12 lethal)
Ice man (17 lethal)
Franti (12 lethal)
Anarya (12 lethal)
Ellena (12 lethal)
Karas (6 lethal)

Acrobatics (DC 5+Ice Man CMD): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24

Numb and somewhat frozen over, the fool pushed through the door, stumbling and tumbling around the golem to the best of his ability. Behind it, he waited for the opportune moment to strike, wincing in the golden dust. "Silver! Ellena! Say when!"

Acrobatics to move through Ice Golem's square and not provoke, ready action.

Elena took a 5' step forward, seeing the fool slip to the backside of the iced creature. She swings Radiance with all her might at the monster trapped between the two of them.

Flanking power attack with Radiance 1d20 + 10 - 2 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 10 - 2 + 2 = 23
Damage 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Franti slipped past the creature as it tried to block him. While he succeeded, he felt intense cold as he got close to the creature. He realized grappling this thing would not be a good idea. He is in flanking position as Ellena steps up to attack. The thing has a hard coating of ice but it is relatively slow. Her sword chips a big chunk of ice from it although she senses some magic that blunted some of the inertia of her sword. 5 damage.

Franti slipped past the creature as it tried to block him. While he succeeded, he felt intense cold as he got close to it. He realized grappling this thing would not be a good idea. He was in flanking position as Ellena stepped up to attack. The thing had a hard coating of ice but it was relatively slow. Her sword hit it hard, knocking a chunk of ice from it although she sensed some magic that blunted some of the inertia of her sword. 5 damage.

Franti then took advantage of its split attention and hit it from behind. Like the guardian doll, however, his sap did not seem to harm him. Not subject to non-lethal damage, which is a construct trait.

note for the GM: I do have cold resist 5 so I should only have taken 1 lethal right?

A couple of ret-cons are in order.

Franti's damage was lethal, so it got through. There was some damage lost to DR, however. So Ellena did 5 and Franti did 12 lethal and the creature has the disoriented condition.

Second, the cold damage barely affected Karas, due to his tiefling resistance to cold. He took only 1 point of damage.

Also, I obviously duplicated my post when I meant to just edit it. Not sure how that happened.

Round 1
Tauni (12 lethal)(Casts glitterdust)
Raiju (6 lethal)(moves)
Avelina (12 lethal)(Casts spell, 17 lethal to ice man)
Ice man (34 lethal)(cold breath attack)
Anarya (12 lethal)
Franti (12 lethal)(move,ready action, attack, 12 to ice man)
Ellena (12 lethal)(move, attack, hit, 5 to ice man)
Karas (1 lethal)

Round 2
Tauni (12 lethal)
Raiju (6 lethal)
Avelina (12 lethal)
Ice man (34 lethal)
Franti (12 lethal)
Anarya (12 lethal)
Ellena (12 lethal)
Karas (1 lethal)

Anarya is up, but I suspect she may channel energy to heal damage caused by the breath attack. If she hasn't posted after Karas, Tauni, and Avelina, I'll 'bot her to channel energy.

Karas moved behind Elena's defense and took up position next to her. He laughed in the crates face, "It'll take a lot more to freeze me!"

He shook the rime from his features as they changed to match his temper. His claws lashed out at the construct even with the doorway impeding him.

Claw Attack 1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Claw Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

With bitterly cold frost covering half of her face, Tauni fell back and started a spell to help Ellena to get past the golem's arcane defenses.

Move (reflected on the map) and start casting as a one round action, targeting Ellena with Enlarge Person.

An astute prediction. Healing AoE damage? That's my specialty.

As the icy wind blasted across the chamber, Anarya shuddered from the sudden chill. She threw forth her arms, the light from her halo shedding a palpable warmth throughout the basement as it battled against the unearthly chill.

Channel Energy: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5 Everyone else heals 5, Anarya heals 9 due to her Fey Foundling feat.

Avelina gazed at the frost biting into her body with disbelief and horror.

"HOW DARE YOU?!"

She clenched her teeth and sneered with scorn at the ice creature.

"YOU WILL BURN IN RIGHTEOUS FIRE!"

She repeated the casting animations and invocations of her last spell once more. Not gonna write it out every time probably

Red Roaring Hands of Victory Burning Hands: 4d4 ⇒ (1, 1, 4, 2) = 8
DC 16 reflex save to halve damage

Anarya's healing energy warms everyone and heals some of the damage done by the cold breath of the creature. 5 to all, 9 to herself.

Karas advances on the creature, claws lengthening as his demeanor gets meaner, but he is at a disadvantage attacking from the side with the wall interfering with his attack options and his claws don't make contact. hard corner adds +4 to enemy AC.

Tauni begins casting a spell from a little further away than the ice man's breath weapon can reach.

Zephyr unleashes a bolt of lightning that strikes down on the ice man from the ceiling. The electricity does not do any damage to the man, but after it arcs and sparks around his body, it moves more slowly. Same effect as slow spell.

Avelina's fiery fingertips reach around the corner and bath the creature in more fire, but this catches Franti uncharacteristically unprepared and he is scorched as well. 12 to ice man, 8 to Franti

The ice man breathes again into the next room. The freezing wind bypasses Avelina and Karas but hits Ellena full force and also sweeps over Anarya and Zephyr, who both avoid the worst of the cold. It doesn't quite reach Tauni. 15 to Ellena, 8 to Anarya and Zephyr.

Some of the melted ice refreezes as the creature heals some of the damage it has suffered. But it is looking close to its limit and only a little more damage will probably do it in.

Round 2
Tauni (7 lethal)(move, casts half of FR casting)
Raiju (1 lethal)(SLA,lighting slows ice man)
Avelina (7 lethal)(casts, 12 to ice man, 8 to Franti)
Ice man (41 lethal, disoriented, slowed)(fast heals 5, breath weapon, 15 to Ellena, 8 to Anarya, Raiju)
Franti (15 lethal)
Anarya (11 lethal)
Ellena (22 lethal)
Karas (raging)

Round 3
Tauni (7 lethal)
Raiju (9 lethal)
Avelina (7 lethal)
Ice man (41 lethal, slowed)
Franti (15 lethal)
Anarya (11 lethal)
Ellena (22 lethal)
Karas (raging)

Alternating between numbing chills and blistering burns, the fool continued his attacks, looking to shatter the flame-softened golem with vicious swipes of his saps.

Flanking, Lethal TWF Attack: 1d20 + 7 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (10) + 7 + 2 - 4 = 15 for Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 2d6 ⇒ (3) + 4 + (6, 3) = 16
Flanking, Lethal TWF Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 2 - 4 = 21 for Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 2d6 ⇒ (2) + 2 + (1, 2) = 7

Applying Bewildered on a successful sneak attack.

Franti got more oomph on his first swing but it glanced off the hard surface of the ice man. His second attack connected, but did not have as much force behind it and the strange loss of inertia upon making contact robbed the sap of most of its effect. 2 lethal.

The paladin kept up the assault, trying to shatter the icy sheen covering her enemy. She drove Radiance with all her might at the monster distracted by Franti's attack.

Flanking power attack with Radiance 1d20 + 10 - 2 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 10 - 2 + 2 = 15
Damage 1d8 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Ellena took good advantage as the ice man momentarily seemed confused as to what she is going to do next even though her glowing longsword was swinging right toward it. Another chunk of ice fell to the floor with a shower of frost. It fought on, but it couldn't take much more. 8 points

Round 2
Tauni (7 lethal)(move, casts half of FR casting)
Raiju (1 lethal)(SLA,lighting slows ice man)
Avelina (7 lethal)(casts, 12 to ice man, 8 to Franti)
Ice man (41 lethal, disoriented, slowed)(fast heals 5, breath weapon, 15 to Ellena, 8 to Anarya, Raiju)
Franti (15 lethal)(2 attacks, 1 hit, 2 to ice man)
Anarya (11 lethal)
Ellena (22 lethal)(attack, hit, 8 lethal to ice man)
Karas (raging)

Round 3
Tauni (7 lethal)
Raiju (9 lethal)
Avelina (7 lethal)
Ice man (51 lethal, slowed, bewildered)
Franti (15 lethal)
Anarya (11 lethal)
Ellena (22 lethal)
Karas (raging)

Karas continued the assault on the icy invader in his home.

Claw Attack 1: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20
Claw Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Claw Attack 2: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16
Claw Damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

I will wait for Anarya before indicating the results of Karas' attacks. Tauni and Avelina should wait until after that to post.

I realized that I made a mistake in the amount of damaged indicated for Franti; I added Anarya's previous healing instead of subtracting it from the total. Sorry about that.

It's been over a day, so I'm going to 'bot Anarya and assume she'll send out another dose of channeled energy.

Anarya keeps her thoughts on the Inheritor and her healing mercies and everyone feels another rush of warmth to counteract some of the freezing wind that just blew over them all. 5 points healing to all, 9 to Anarya. For most, all that remains of the damage are patches of frostbite on their extremities, except for Ellena whose injuries were more serious.

Karas, in full rage, slashed and jabbed with his claws. Although attacking from an awkward position around the corner from the construct, the creature was slowed by the lightning and he got in a solid hit. Although some of the impact was blunted by some magic infused in the creature, enough got through to disable the creature. 6 points. A moment later, the ice rattled ominously as it collapsed and then exploded in a burst of jagged shards of ice and bitter cold. These blasted through the areas where Avelina, Ellena, Karas, and Franti stood, but everyone but Karas managed to minimize the damage through quick shifts in their positions.

5 slashing and 5 cold damage to Avelina and Ellena. 10 slashing and 4 cold to Karas, no damage to Franti (evasion).

End of melee. Tauni can abort her enlarge person spell if she wants without losing it.

All that remained of the creature were chunks of ice and a rime of forst. The room in which Franti stood had a large circle inscribed in the floor tiles with an elaborate and beautiful holy symbol of Iomedae. At both east and west ends of the room stood work desks where Terendelev apparently did various crafting projects, research, and kept miscellaneous knick knacks. All items that had been in the desk drawers had been dumped onto the table tops. Some of these items had since scattered to the floor and nothing of apparent value was left. Doors on the northeast and southwest sides of the rooms stood ajar. A quick peak into these rooms revealed a similar scene of ransacked contents of drawers and boxes. Nothing moved in the room and no traps were found.

Perhaps the most curious item in the room was a chess set, which was undisturbed. Unlike most chess sets, this was made of triangular tiles with three sets of pieces: one black, one white, and one grey. They were positioned as if a game were underway. Around the edges of the board were words in celestial. "እንግዲህ እኔ እሄዳለሁ," along the white pieces starting side of the board; white always gets to make the first move. "ወደ ስምየለሽ ሊገባ አይችልም," along grey side, which moves second. "የመፈወስ ጥንታዊ መቅደስ መንገድ ራስህን አምጡልኝ," was written along the side of the black pieces, which always move third.

Franti (2 lethal)
Anarya (2 lethal)
Ellena (27 lethal)
Karas (raging)(14 lethal)
Tauni (2 lethal)
Raiju (4 lethal)
Avelina (12 lethal)

Avelina refreshed her illusory outfit, ensuring it showed no signs of damage from the recent localized, targeted cold snaps.

She made her way over to the chess set. She catched a glimpse of the engravings my chance, and--recognizing the language--spoke them with poise.

"I then shall go.
The nameless cannot enter.
Bring yourself to the way of the ancient sanctuary of healing."

Looking at the words brought her memories of countless days spent devouring every text she could find on her Beloved Inheritor.

"This is Celestial, the language of Heaven and Angels. I have not yet received any Divine Inspiration as to what they may mean, though."

Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Avelina could not escape a cloying sense that she couldn't quite remember something.

Aid another Knowledge Religion 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

"I wonder if any clue could be gained from thinking about the 11 miracles of the Goddess? Maybe the 8th has some guidance?"

I don't think you can aid another with knowledge skills. If no one gets the DC for the Knowledge (Religion) check, I'll give a hint, however, since Avelina is so close.

I wasn't sure if that was cool or not, DM. I understand if you rule it isn't.

"That wasn't another pal picked up from another plane, was it?" Franti asked, kneeling down to put a hand on the ice. "Y'know, like another like little thunderbolt there?"

The fool approached the chess set. "Ugh, chess," he let out with disdain. "And three players means I need to wait twice as long before it's my turn. Count me out."

As the cold shards washed over him he roared in triumph as his features returned to normal.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 ⇒ 1

Karas huffed as he looked over at Franti, "This is definitely not. I don't know where this thing came from."

He looked over the room and mostly the chess set. He knew there was a meaning to the heavenly words but drew a complete blank.

"This was a room where she came to meditate. I didn't come down here often."

Knowledge (relgion) 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

"Hmm. Yes. Perhaps if I had access to some books. Like the library we saved before." She glanced at Avelina. "I know what you mean. Its right there on the tip of my tongue, but I can't quite recall."

For his part, as Karas wracked his memory for something that would help, coming up blank, he noticed a bit of green showing through another pile of clutter pushed off a work table. It was a rare miniature tree, a gift from Sulunai, an Aasimar leader of faraway Tianjing. It was a graceful ginko tree, kept small with the technique of bonsai. It normally stood in the sunniest window of Terendelev's bedroom but was evidently lugged down here before being abandoned, perhaps because its base was made of cast iron and very heavy. The tree was somewhat damaged when it fell off the desk, but it is intact. Besides its intrinsic value as a rare work of nature and art, its origin made it very valuable. It was given to Terendelev after she journeyed to Tian Xia to ask for help in fighting the Worldwound. In the autumn, the leaves turned bright gold.

Finally Tauni noticed Cobblepaw wriggling his nose and twitching his ears at the circular symbol on the floor. She leaned close to the edge of the symbol and smelled a hint of cool air with the scent of the underground, similar to the smell she became all too familiar with during the journey back to the surface.

Closer inspection led Franti to conclude that the symbol was a door that could open, although all attempts at finding a way to open it failed.

I wish there was a way I could let this all unfold with players role playing the details, but there is a lot of information to convey and it would take a long time to work through all the layers. But you are left with a riddle. Speculate on the clues and see what you come up with. I'll give more hints if needed. You have been given a clue or two earlier amid the items found in the floors above.

The Well-Known Expert vigilante social talent gives bonuses on knowledge checks made to aid another, implying that one can indeed aid another on such checks.

Thank you for botting me. It's been a very busy few days - I've just recently determined that graduate school is a viable option for me (which I've wanted for a while but wasn't sure I could afford) so I've been in a flurry of activity as I start preparing to apply for schools! I'm excited - I'm going to grad school, baby! :)

In the aftermath of the combat, Anarya tends to her allies' wounds once more.

Channel: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 4) = 10
Lay on Hands (Ellena): 2d6 ⇒ (5, 6) = 11

I'll start thinking about that puzzle next!

Franti examined the holy symbol on the floor. The inkling of a feeling dawned as he dropped to his knees, and pressed his fingers against the large holy symbol of Iomedae. "Umm, hold a second?"

"Silver," he let out, removing his jester hat and coral wig, placing his ear to the ground. "Umm, I don't mean to imply Terendelev was hiding things from you, but..." He knocked on the floor, listening, "but you might have a secret, second basement."

The fool searched for a mechanism that could trigger the door, though found nothing.

Avelina spent several minutes in feverish contemplation.

"Aha! I remember reading of a similar puzzle in The Tresses of the Knight. You know, when Seraphina was trying to escape the Duke's castle."

She scanned the group expectently, looking for some sign that they understood the reference. At the tepid response, she placed her hands on her hips and frowned in disappointment.

"...anyways, some of the items we have found throughout the manor are the keys to the riddle! We know the riddle is based on the draconic creation myth. The creation legend speaks of salt water, fresh water, and the mixture of both creating life. The chessboards are white, grey, and black. You see, don't you? White corresponds to fresh water, black to salt water, and grey to their mixture! We are supposed to place those key items on the boards. We place Karas' cup on the white board, the miniature tree on the grey one, and the Azlanti coin on the black one."

She picked up each of the items and placed them as she suggested, then stood back with a self-satisfied look.

Karas looked to Franti as they began to piece through the riddle. "I know she would seem to disappear down here. I thought she was teleporting somewhere. Perhaps to see Halaseliax or something but its possible you're right."

He walked over to Avelina and offered some items to her as well, "This holy symbol and these genstones are some things she preferred over the gold and other gems. Do you think they could be used in this somehow? Maybe the hymn her voice sang upstairs lends to this as well?"