"From under the Ice" PFS # 6-18 (Inactive)

Game Master lucklesshero

While waiting for the party to get started, Jawhar will check out the fresco of the throne room to see if the Sky Key is depicted.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

When the wolf howls and flees Torvald throws scathing curses at its back in Dwarven. As the healers patch up Craggark the dwarf moves over to stand by the halfling, whispering out of the corner of his mouth, "Turns out winter wolves don't like fire much, wonders never cease!" with an exaggerated knowing look and lightly tapping his temple.

Jamir nods appreciatively. "You, sir, are an artist of destruction. I would take my hat off to you, but for the fear that my ears would freeze instantly and drop from my head."

Upon entering the icy cavern, Jamir thinks,

So while I was twisting my arm to pat myself on the back for remembering to buy special shoes for the snow, it turns out that I should also have bought special shoes for ice? I HATE Irrisen.

Jamir focuses on looking for any signs that these ruins are inhabited.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Tusk has his gun in his hand down to his side, and he is trudging carefully perception: 6 + 1d20 ⇒ 6 + (18) = 24

Your party trudges carefully towards the end of the passage. The floor is slippery and slow going for those of you that don't have cleats. Faenethor's multi-colored lights look particularly strange as their reflection bonces off the abundance of mirror like surfaces. As you near the statues at the end of the hallway, several of you turn to peer down the passage leading south.

Uliyara, picks up her glowing shard of ice and slides it down the new passage. The southern passage is a 10ft wide corridor that opens into a larger chamber. The larger chamber appears to have an abundance of ruble and ice spread throughout the eastern half of the chamber while opening up a bit towards the west. It's funny though..it appears the chamber just ceases to exists at about 45ft as if there was a drop or a cliff.

Along the eastern end of the entry hallway that you are currently exploring several of you begin to examine the statues. The Dwarves instantly recognize these pieces as part of their kindred's heritage. The faces of each statue have been smashed in by some ancient enemy. A desecration of fine craftsmanship. As you in inspect the statues it's Tusk that first notices a crack in the ice covered northern wall. A moment later Torvald comes over to confirm. It appears that beneath a thin veneer of ice there's a secrete door in the north wall near the statues.

Knowing, you must leave no leaf un-turned, you begin to chip away at the ice and soon figure out how to open the door. Before you open it Uliyara whispers,be careful.

side note, for passages and walking around, I'll just include your normal perception checks for trap finding. However, while inspecting or manipulating an object (opening a door, checking out some paintings, going through, the desk, opening the chest, ect..) if you don't specifically call out "I search for traps", or "Dan looks through the pile of sacks, being careful to avoid traps"..something in this nature; If you don't call it out it won't be considered "searched for traps" The exception is just walking along (otherwise It would drag the game out far too long).That being said, I'll assume you've thoroughly checked out this secrete door..there are no traps. you may enter when ready.

"I say, I hope we don't...face the same fate!" Faenethor slaps Jamir on the shoulder and doubles over, tickled pink by his own impossibly clever pun. "Oh my, oh my..." he mumbles, wiping a tear from his eye as he glances to see who else got the joke. Seeing no one else laughing, he coughs and fumbles around with his spell component pouch, ensuring it's close to hand. He withdraws a soft black leather glove with spiked knuckles and squeezes his fingers into it. He squeezes his fist gently.

"Well, I'm not much with a weapon, unfortunately, but I suppose it never hurts to be prepared."

Equipping a spiked gauntlet so that Faenethor can make AoOs.

Craggark keeps his guard up and faces the apparent dead-end as the gang works on the secret door.

Ambushes could come from all directions. Prep for the blow, he intones to himself.

And then begins giggling at the off-colour second meaning to his remark.

"Hee-hee-hee....*ahem* sorry...ALL READY BACK HERE....*giggle*..."

Nervous about the apparent cliff and the icy floor, Jawhar is going to tie his rope to one of the statues. He will slide the other end toward the cliff, trying to make it easy to grab by anyone who slips and falls.

If there is time while the dwarves are working on the secret door, he will firmly grasp the rope and slowly edge toward the drop off, trying to see what happened.

If there is not time, he will leave the rope here, planning to grab it on the way back.

Torvald doesn't bother with a tool, simply using the sturdy spikes on his steel gauntlet to chip away at the icy sheets covering the door. Once the path is clear (and the door carefully checked for traps), he steps to the side and withdraws another vial, holding it at the ready and nodding to the others to open the door.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

Lacking an immediate task but aware of his uncertain footing on the icy floor, Jamir nods as Jawhar pulls a rope out of his pack and starts winding it around one of the statutes. As the cleric starts playing out the rope to let him get closer to the cliff's edge, Jamir puts a hand on the rope.

"Do you mind if I hold on while we take a look? I promise even if I slip, I won't add much weight."

Jawhar chuckles.

"Surely two sets of eyes would be better than one. Just keep your blades away from the rope. I'd not like to test how well halflings bounce.

Though, Faenethor might like to record those results."

If needed, Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Before Jamir and Jawhar venture into the next room; Torvald and Tusk manage to pry open the secrete door. As Decades of air flood the room, a light mist of frost kicks up off the stone floor of the room behind the secrete door. After pausing a moment, to give his eyesight adjustment needed to dark vision, Torvald can clearly see this room was some sort of secrete weapons cache.

From his vantage point, Torvald can see empty weapons racks and a discarded shield lying on the floor. There's a short 10ft hallway that opens up into the room proper. The room flows towards the west and it appears there may be more weapons racks that are not in your view.

Anyone who enters the room can give me a perception check that will cover all contingencies(including traps). The hallway leading into the room is only 5ft wide so let me know who is first, second, ect...Uliyara will stay out in the entry hall. The cliff I mentioned is actually in a separate chamber to the south. If Jawhar and Jamir go explore it they'll be 40ft feet away from the rest of the party but remain in view of anyone staying in the entry hallway.

"What have you discovered?" Craggark says in a clipped tone in response to the rush of ancient frosty air as the door opens. His eyes flick from Jawhar and Jamir positioned nearer to the edge of the cliff to the dwarves. "Something more than a closet?"

Once he learns of the need for further exploration, Craggark clomps over to the opening to back up the dwarves.

Fascinating. How old were the eyes that last looked upon this?

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

The party will stay together. Through the secret door first. As Jawhar is now both furthest and slowest, he will remain last.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Jamir follows, scooting ahead of the dwarves even on the slippery floor.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

You enter an apparent hidden armory of ages past. The western part of the wall is crumbling; a mixture of ice and masonry. The old weapon racks, are bare except for an ivory handled heavy crossbow. In addition a very nice looking heavy steel shield, lays discarded on the floor. Nothing else of interest appears to be in the room.

Craggark makes an appreciative noise and addresses Torvald.

"Dwarven treasures from ages long ago. It would seem only fitting to let you and Tusk bear the honour. That shield looks sweet!"

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

"I have no training with shields, but the crossbow could come in handy for anything not in bomb range." Giving the room a quick once-over the alchemist retrieves the weapon and then lifts the shield to take a look at it.

Are their any runes, writing, forge-marks, anything that could give us some information? Not sure what check would be appropriate/

Am I the only one who actually uses a shield?

Cast Detect Magic. If anything is magical:
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

If the shield is magic, I'll start using it. Otherwise, I'll just secure it to my pack so we can sell it later.

Seeing Jawhar handle the shield, Faenethor also scans it for magical properties.

Detect magic plus Spellcraft: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23

Am I the only one who actually uses a shield?

Cast Detect Magic. If anything is magical:
[dice=Spellcraft]1d20+5

If the shield is magic, I'll start using it. Otherwise, I'll just secure it to my pack so we can sell it later.

Craggark can use a shield but will indicate to Jawhar (as noted previously) that perhaps it would be more appropriate for the dwarves to carry the dwarven bits of history.

Also, in PFS rules, we can't sell treasure - it doesn't work like that. Everyone gets a share of gold at the end of the adventure. Any equipment found of note (i.e. magic or special) is made available on chronicle sheets for us to purchase, but liquidating loot isn't a thing in PFS.

True, but no reason that our share of the gold at adventure's end couldn't be compensation for relics like an old shield, right?

I know that it can't be sold out of game, but it could potentially be sold in game and the money used in game... Regardess, if neither Torvald nor Tusk wants it, it is silly to leave it sitting on the floor here.

Tusk also enter the room perception: 6 + 1d20 ⇒ 6 + (12) = 18 I wonder what all is in here
As far as gold goes and relics, we are assumed to pick it all up instead of leaving it there on the floor. Lets say the scenario gives you 500 gold no matter what. It is assumed that gold comes from what heroes find and the payments received. If you go through a scenario finding no gold, no sellable objects and having no payment whatsoever, you still get you 500 gold, but it would not make in character sense as to how you got that amount.

Sure it does! You just fill out your travel forms and the Society compensates you by the mile :p

I'll put this simple, Tusk is right if you hadn't found the secrete door or just decide to leave the treasure behind I mark "X" amount off your chronicle sheet at end of adventure. Can I assume you guys are visiting the next area now?

Both Jawhar and Faenethor cast spells and begin to concentrate on the items found in the old weapons cache. Neither is magical but both appear to have some value.

btw appraise is what tells if an item is MW; should I assume you guys head toward the southern chamber?

If Jawhar doesn't use the shield, and instead would...

...just secure it to my pack so we can sell it later...

then Craggark, who almost lost his leg in the last battle and might be thinking:

That shield looks sweet!

He might want to use it.

"Hey Jawhar - I can use that shield. May I have it?"

"Absolutely! I didn't realize you could use a shield with your hand to hand combat style."

If for some reason the weight of the steel shield is problematic, you can use my wooden one instead. The AC bonus is the same.

"Oh yeah! The wooden one would work better for me!"

Thanks!

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

Giving the room a quick check for markings--or even another secret door--the alchemist nods to himself. "Well I think that wraps things up here, shall we proceed? Jawhar what were you looking at before?"

Torvald inspects the hidden weapons cache room one more time and finds nothing more of interest. The group decides to explore the southern passage. Just like the hallway, the floors are slick with ice in here. Centuries of ice have pressed down on the remnants of Nadlak's Point, and what little is left, seems to be crumbling into the permafrost, that is Irrisen. When the group enters the southern chamber, they are greeted with an astonishing site.

It's as if an entire piece of the under-ground complex was simply cut out of the hill. A semi-circle of what must have once been part of a much larger complex, now just lies empty, except for scattered pieces of ice and granite that, lie at the floor of a 20ft drop. It's an amazing spectacle. Thousands of icicles cover the ceiling of this cylindrical chamber. The outside edge forms a perfect circular curve, cutting into stone without mark of chisel or tool, impossibly smooth. Only places where ice flows over the stone, or where the structures have collapsed, mar the perfect precision of the cylinder. The remains of workshops and living spaces, still furnished, peak through holes in the cylindrical void. At the southern and western edges of the cavern, large portions of the stone and ice have collapsed, cutting into the immense void with piles of rubble. you may try to make a DC 25 knowledge Arcana check to get a clue of what happened here.

There's a 7' or 8' wide ledge that leads to two more doors on the eastern area of this chamber. One door is set in the Northern wall the other in the Eastern wall.

Letting out a low whistle, "I take it back, Faenethor, this is some damned fine stonework. We put so much love and work into our homes, and again and again we've lost so much..." A trifle nervously, he attempts to peer down into the icy dark and fingers one of his bomb vials.

"Well now Mr. Stonecask I'm sure Janderhoff is an amazing city, but certainly you'd agree that this is a most significant achievement, even for dwarves!" Faenethor claps his hands like a giddy school-child as he takes in the site of the cylindrical chamber.

K(arcana): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

"I haven't a clue what's happened here! How exciting! Come on, let's go...woah!" In his excitement he nearly slides on the rime-coated floor, grasping at the wall near him to steady his balance. "Erm...which door?"

Sorry if I'm not understanding something simple, but if we reached this area through a corridor that led south from the room we started in, does that mean that the door on the north wall of this area is on the same wall as the entrance we used?

"Door? Why would we not take the most direct route to the bottom? We could simply knot our friend Jawhar's fine rope - you would not object, would you? I swear I will help you untie them all after our adventure is complete! - secure one end to any of these solid boulders or stalagmites, and rappel down the shaft!"

Jamir immediately begins testing the heavier rocks and thicker protrusions to determine whether they will support a climber's weight (at least if the climber is a halfling).

"That presupposes that the bottom is where we need to be. Do we have any knowledge that the bottom is a better place to start looking than the top?

Either way, I suppose we need the rope."

Jawhar will retrieve the rope from the statue and start looking for a place to tie off this end.

Sorry if I'm not understanding something simple, but if we reached this area through a corridor that led south from the room we started in, does that mean that the door on the north wall of this area is on the same wall as the entrance we used?

unless you have a pinton or climbers kit, it's going to difficult to find a place to tie the rope off

We could make a chain human rope. Someone grips someone's hand lowers that person, and another person grips that person's hand or foot and lowers that person. Person A holds person B, person B hold person C until we have someone that reaches the bottom. We get several people down that way, the rest of us jump while someone at the bottom catches us safely. If done right, no one gets hurt

After Craggark takes the heavy wooden shield from Jawhar, he rummages in his backpack, producing a number (10) of torches, which he unceremoniously dumps on the ground(thereby maintaining his light load encumbrance).

"I've got my handaxe," he offers. "I think I'd rather trust that we could hammer this tight into a crack somewhere than to trust a human chain of us. No offense, Fayneethor or Jamir, but I doubt you could hold up me or either of the dwarves. And I really don't know what Haltani really looks like, so I wouldn't be able to estimate what she could hold up." The half-orc smirks at his sly comment, looking at the pseudo-Varki woman out of the corner of his eye.

If I keep picking at the scab, perhaps the sore will fester out.

"Nevertheless, I've got ice cleats. I'm happy to figure out how to make this work - just give me an idea."

"The metahuman chain is an excellent idea, but I don't think it would work well when several people in heavy armor and weapons were dangling from someone's hand while their other hand is grasping an icy ledge.

Well then, Craggark I guess one of the doors is the way to go. I vote for the North one. Take one end of the rope and head to the door. Maybe you'll find something to tie it off with once you get there."

Just a reminder that the question Jamir was responding to was which door we should take. It is possible that the halfling swashbuckler may occasionally make suggestions based on what he thinks would look cool rather than what is actually the best idea. If the rest of the party is persuaded to go along, he might be surprised, but not disappointed. His player, OTOH, thinks anyone actually considering climbing down the ice-slick sides of these frozen ruins into a potentially inhabited pit of god-knows-what must be a few dice short of a full bag.

"No offense, Fayneethor or Jamir, but I doubt you could hold up me or either of the dwarves..."

Jamir slaps the half-orc on the back. "Do not be ridiculous, my enormous friend. Are you ignorant of the power of simple machines, such as the pulley? I am certain that one of our well-equipped colleagues has brought along this uniquely useful item, and with it, why, even our mage could hold the rope while any three of us hang from it with the greatest of ease! So! Who has the pulley?"

guys I posted a poor cut and paste job of the area you are in in the shared Drive folder, the link is in the game description. I'll check and see if you guys have made a decision before I hit the sack..otherwise expect a post sometime tomorrow.

"Mayhaps I could burn away some of the ice on the western ledge, but it would require several bombs and I've only prepared a handful. I think Craggark's cleats are our best bet."

"Right," sighs Craggark, "the ledge." Peering down the corridor at the two doors, the half-orc pauses. "I'm gonna open the one on my left, OK?"

He clomps down the corridor toward the door on the north wall, not attempting to be stealthy at all, wooden shield held at the ready.

Haltani looks confused as to why no one else is following Craggark. She hurries to follow and catches up to him, just as he arrives at the door. Out breath she gasp, I'll back you up! Haltani, looks at the ancient metal door. Dwarven craftsmanship held it in place a millennia. that ledge is wide enough to fit a mule cart and a horse abreast across...what are the rest of them waiting for?

Haltani studies the door, turns to Craggark Who should go first?

OK, so I guess it isn't icy?

Jawhar will move the Light spell to his new shield, wrap up the rope, and follow along the ledge.

Jamir follows Craggark. As they reach the doorway, he drops his pack to one side where it will be out of the way if he needs to move quickly or fight but impossible to forget on the way into the room. He tightens his grip on the straps of his buckler and draws his rapier.

"Well, comrade, how should we play this? You open the door with a bang, perhaps Haltani, you toss Craggark's sunrod into the room, and I make ready to take anything that charges us out at the knees? If there is anything left, our spellcasters can melt it, Torvald can blow it up, or Tusk can turn it into that bland, pale cheese with holes in it!"

Eyes twinkling over the top of his scarf, Jamir stands en garde, ready for anything.

"Hit it, my oversized friend! Let us make some noise!

Let me know when you guys open the door.

"Pale cheese with holes...Ick!" Faenethor shakes his head trying to avoid such imagery as he approaches from the rear, his hands poised and tingling with arcane energy. "I'm ready....go!"

I think based on Craggark's and Jamir's posts, we're opening the door :)

From near the back of the group, Tovald jockeys for a position where he has a decent line of sight into the room as Craggark opens the door (behind Jamir seems appropriate). Holding a red glass vial in his gauntleted right hand, he rolls another of those small black pellets between the fingers of his right.

"Ready here...but have you at the front checked it for any traps? Big fancy door like that? A very likely candidate for traps, if you ask me!"

Craggark opens the northern door. It opens surprisingly easily, considering how long it must have been here, under the ground, inside it's frozen tomb. The door opens up into a short wide hallway. There's another metal door ajar at the end of the hallway. Craggark, inches forward to peak in the door.

He sees an empty room 3 Desks sit empty, a few scraps of meaningless paper littering the drawers. A weapon rack in the southeastern corner of the room contained what must of been, the town’s arsenal during their heyday. There's an iron cage in the northeastern corner of the room.The cage door is locked.

There's two other doors that lead out of the room. One of the door leads to the arrow-slit hallway the other to a small cell. Only the tattered remains of an old cot and manacles remain in the cell.

you guys search the room(s) carefully there's really nothing of interest. All the doors lead to dead ends and you discover no secrete doors.