DM: Dave the Dwarf's Shattered Star

Game Master Gandrik Th-kar

Right in front of The leaders room there is a set of double doors that the Tower girls have not been able to go past.

B22.

A massive pair of double doors dominates the western end of this spear head shaped chamber. These doors are made of a silvery metal decorated with images of burning eyes that look inward toward two sets of runes carved on to the face of each door. The walls bear the remains of complex mosaics taht onece covered much of them, but which has crumbled and collapsed in heaps of colored tiles and debris around the edges of the room.

These double doors are stone sheathed in a layer of hot siccatite, one of the seven types of skymetal. The tiles on the doors bear Thassilonian runes in a pattern that you recognize-they resemble the paradox box's tiles

** spoiler omitted **

Listen and The Eyes, Well last time Cruel spelled Lucre so....lets get going!

Nalun is going to be furiously scribbling for awhile!

Yorn growls at the woman as she talks. "How many more rats and girls are in this place? I want a number!"

[dice=intimidate]1d20+8

None this is all of us!

** spoiler omitted **

Works for me. Just divey it up how you want.

Here is your randomly generated treasure Horde.

10,170 Gold Pieces. 29 PP

+1 Chain Mail,

RING OF ARCANE SIGNETS PRICE
1,000 GP
AURA faint universal CL 8th WEIGHT —
The approximately 1-inch-diameter
pentagon of emerald green crystal
that dominates this otherwise plain
silver ring forms itself into a specific
rune, sigil, or similar identifying
marker each time a person first puts
it on. If the wearer expects this to occur, she can cause the
crystal to adopt any shape she wishes. If the wearer does not
expect this to occur, the crystal instead molds itself into an
image that symbolizes the wearer or some dominant facet
of her personality.

Aegis of recovery 1,500 gp An aegis of recovery grants its wearer a +2 resistance bonus
on all saving throws made to recover from a continuing
effect, such as ongoing poison damage, daily saving throws
against a disease, a hold person spell, or lingering damage
from an attack. This bonus does not help against initial saving
throws against such effects. Should the wearer ever drop
below 0 hit points, the aegis heals the wearer for 2d8+3
points of damage and then crumbles to dust.

Scroll of Levitate.

Wand of Shield of Faith.

An Opal worth 550 gold

Muy bueno. I'll take the chain mail if nobody else wants it, but I've received a good share of loot already. The Aegis would also be sweet for the below 0 hp bonus.

I cannot use it. I'd love an armor and weapon upgrade but I can buy stuff later.

I think that armor makes more sense for Mark. Do you even have armor?

Loot log is updated. I'll post loot divisions once we have everything cleared up.

Not armor that's nearly that good, no.

I went with chain cus I thought it would get stuck in the rat girls body hair and they would not use it because of that lol!

Here is the stuff you find on the Rat Leader.

Combat Gear blood root (2), tanglefoot bags (3); Other Gear
masterwork studded leather, +1 bladed scarf, masterwork
composite shortbow with 20 arrows.

Let me know when you are ready to guess at the door. Or if you decide to go to town on a spending spree.

Kierra has been unnaturally quite the last few days. She barely eats moans in fear when she sleeps and barely speaks to even her own sister.

When you come to the doors it is Nalun who deciphers out the words 'LISTEN' and 'THE EYES'

Quietly Kierra murmurs the words spoken by Nalun and touches the starmetal door.

As her hand touches the door you hear the sizzling of flesh as Kierra falls to the ground with a pretty serious burn! It is far and away not the worst wound she has ever received its not even close to the wound inflicted by the Leader of the Rats and she barely seemed to notice it.

But now she remains laying on the floor writhing in pain a fever comes over her entire body almost immediately. And all she can say over and over is LISTEN THE EYES!

Might want to go find a healer with a 20 Cha now huh? =P

Mark'll carry Kierra out of the hideout.

Loot log is updated.

So are we leaving now?

Can we solve it?

Seems like that's the way it's going

I'm sorry you do want to add another player to this game right? But you don't want to run across them in the dungeon? But your not going to leave the dungeon to let me introduce that player in a way that will make the story flow?

I'm good to go to introduce the new person, definitely.

"Kierra! F&#%!" Shalee rushes to her sister's side. "We have to get out of here. She needs help."

Yorn scoops the young woman up and nods to Shalee. "Go! Lead the way."

Yorn and Shalee pick up the sick girl and leave the tower to find her help.

Mark and Nalun stay to try and open the door?

I guess Nalun will go with the party, no reason to split up.

Mark tells the others to go ahead and loots the final room, trusting there to not be any traps or enemies, before rushing to catch up with them when he can.

I will not lie guys, the lack of reaction in role playing to Kierra getting sick really bothered me. I am telling a story with you guys and I saw what I thought was a great opportunity to take one character out and put another character in. I will just push on, but I really had hoped this would be some fun role playing

Mark along with all the treasure you find a bag of holding type 1 to shove it all in. The time spent with the treasure means you end up taking a separate boat back to town than the others.

It is not hard for mark to catch up with the group. Yorn uses his skills to gather information on a well renowned healer in Magnimiar since Shalee is so upset about her sister.

This healer is located in Dockway at a small temple to Sarenrae. This healer is known less for the blessings or teaching of Sarenrae and more for the ability to cure almost any ailment and in return asks only for what the sick can give as donation.

You rush to this place and speak to some aids that address you when you enter the medium sized but rundown building. The inside looks like a triage center. You are rushed to a woman named Oolanna who asks you to lay Kierra down on a small cot.

Oolanna your up.

I didn't feel any reaction to it because it wasn't Kierra doing it. You all just wrote us performing actions, not necessarily the way we would have, and had a player whom we know merely had to leave due to RL concerns get "injured". Thing is, we all knew that it was a contrivance to give us a reason to move on to the replacement PC. We weren't given a chance to finish the dungeon on our own terms, we weren't given a chance to act in the way we chose, and an entire exploration event took place without us taking any participation at all. It felt like I was reading a play someone else wrote instead of acting in it myself.

Sorry Dave, I just don't care about the obviously fake reason that Kierra the character had to go. You know I love to roleplay, but I want my character to roleplay on his terms, and it's really jarring to just fast forward through an entire series of actions by DM fiat. I'd personally rather just introduce the new PC and go on to the next plot hook.

Don't get me wrong, I understand why you did what you did. You wanted us to get to the next part quickly so we could intro the new player. But think about it. Shalee the character would be completely devastated by her little sister being mentally injured in this way. We all would. We've been adventuring together for a long time now in-character. It's better now for gameplay reasons (IMO) if Kierra just bows out gracefully rather than having to fake a whole mourning scene for a character who actually left a long time ago.

I see what you're both saying. Maybe the best way is to just move past this moment and do things differently next time,yeah?

Yorn sets Kierra down gently and looks to the healer with huge, moist eyes. "Help her, please! Whatever it costs, we'll figure it out."

I was happy to have 'Kierra just bow out gracefully' and you could find the new player in the dungeon you are in for whatever reason. My players told me they wanted a story reason for the new character to enter the game. That requires me to write a contrived story to get the new player in the game that you all said you wanted. So it was wrong for me to think you wanted to roleplay introducing the new character into the game, after you told me that's what you wanted to do. Whatever lets just move past it.

Good call Yorn.

"Oh this poor child, what has happened to her?" Oolanna exclaims as she rushes to the side of the young lady.

As quickly as she can she lays her hand upon Kierra's forehead and prays. Oolanna's eyes go cloudy white and her body turns into pure light for a moment. When she is done Kierra looks more peaceful like she is resting yet she is still mumbling something. When Oolanna leans in to hear what the girl is mumbling she instantly becomes distant, as if she had seen a ghost.

"I MUST See where this happened! Oh Sarenrae, Our fates are sealed! Life and Death always one from the other and the other from one and yet she sleeps. Silent now my child of healing" Oolanna cryptically exclaims as she holds on to the face of Kierra as if she is talking directly to her. Kierra no longer mumbles but now looks as if she is truly peacfuly resting in a deep sleep.

"She is in a form of sleep put on her by her god to save her. There is nothing more I can do for her, Sarenae has answered my call. She will be cared for in the hands of these aspects until Sarenrae has healed her fully. But you are all exhausted and must rest. The acolytes will care for your things and show you to your rooms. Baths will be drawn up and food shall be prepared. It is meager, but it will suffice. I MUST know where she was. You must take me there. that is my price. We shall leave on the morning if it pleases you. I will meet you tonight at the evening meal. Please excuse me as I must prepare." Exclaims Oolanna as she leaves the room.

Thank you Oolanna. We can role play this as much or as little as you wish. Just let me know. This is the part that the AP really starts to pick up. I will not force any action on any of you from here on out. The game may slow down a tad as I push PbP along at a breakneck pace by making assumptions so people don't get bored.

Yorn startles at the woman's transformation but seems to calm when it becomes clear that Kierra looks more peaceful.

"Yes, ma'am. We can take you to where this happened. First thing in the morning, yes."

I am good for anything.. at this point we can roll on autopilot and just gloss over them getting to know eachother at the evening meal, discussing the current stuff and all that, or we can actually role play that. But guessing from current discussion you guys just want to get back to the doors. I am good with that as well

I have an extensive back story as well. I submitted it to Dave already. I will reveal more about her as we go, but she needs to remain a bit of a mystery for now. I will lay out a conversationalist friendly back story for her for you all to read today that you would have found out about her at dinner.

Dave, speaking personally, I'm not going to get bored of the campaign if you don't rush us. I'm really enjoying playing with you all and want to continue doing so for some time, until the campaign reaches its natural conclusion.

Mark rubs his face a bit and smiles down at Kierra. "Hang in there, tough girl," he mutters, before turning to Oolana. "I owe you big for that one. Thank you."

Over dinner and a bit the following morning, Mark tells Oolana all about Maggie and the adventures that Maggie was involved in over the course of their story so far, including the Crypt of the Everflame. He describes Maggie in completely over-the-top enthusiastic terms.

"This ...this is my sister. She possesses great healing abilities, but now it is her that needs the healing."

Oolanna hugs Shalee when she reveals her connection to Kierra hoping that the hug will provide some comfort. During the dinner Oolanna revealed her story and said they should feel free to address her as Lanna, a shortened form of her name.

She was greatly interested in the life of the tiger and can physically see the bond between Mark and Maggie.

Shalee stiffens and barely returns the embrace. "What's happening with my sister ...will she be OK?"

"I can not tell you why she is, I can only say she is protected until she can be fully restored. We must see where this happened to her so that I may find the answer to that mystery. Please take comfort in that she is protected."

You want to buy and sell? Do you want to go straight back to the dungeon? Anything else you want to do?

While chewing his food over the evening meal, Yorn asks the woman, "Have you seen this type of thing before?"

@GM Yes, I'm waiting on the party to take a look at the loot log and declare anything they want. Also, do you want an appraise roll for the statue of the woman with the Ranseur, and do the PAthfinders want the Thasilonian Artifacts? Like the statue and amphora and coins? But Nalun wants to make some magic items, and that takes a few days.

Oolanna I would love it if you respond to Yorn

As you gear up for a few days Kierra seems to get better as time passes. The exception is when Nalun comes near her she seems to get worse...

Nalun is gonna need at least 7 days just to make the 3 items, so we have a while.

This dilemma is most interesting, reminds me of the plague of Lovers in the book, Liscentious Love Lost in the Linnorm. A sickness tied to proximity, in the book the two lovers are.... Nalun trails off then blushes deep crimson

Not to imply...uhhh...you know...I have much to do

And he scurries off to his room to continue the enchantment of items.

Mark grins at Nalun, but it quickly fades whenever he looks back at Kierra's sickness.

To take his mind off things, Mark goes shopping. He buys:

Nightdrops, 5 doses (-250g)
Silversheen, 2 vials (-500g)
Whip feather token (-500g)
Elixir of Firebreath (-1100g)

I think I have enough gold for all of that, with some left over.

Let me know when you guys are ready to go back to the dungeon.

At least 7 days go by....Mark deduct 2000gp from your total and you have a +2 con belt. Yorn, deduct 2k and you have a +2 Dex belt. I have done the same for a +2 Int headband.

Nalun is itching to get back, he is very intrigued by the fact the Kierra won't get better and gets worse when he is around.

He figured it has something to do with the magic of Thassilon and perhaps if he figures out the code and unlocks the puzzle of the Crow he might shed light on her condition.

During those seven days, Mark will be wandering the richer districts of Magnimar, trying to get a better feel for the city.

Removed everythign but the nightdrops from what I bought earlier - didn't factor my purchase of a belt into my inventory when I bought the whip token, silversheen and elixir.

GM, is the Crow visible from shore of Magnimar? I ask because I see Yorn spending that week keeping an eye on the place from afar, watching the comings and goings.