GM Aeon's The Wounded Wisp (Table 2)

Game Master d'Eon

Crixus lets the others do the talking as him talking it regard to anything other then acknowledging orders, delivering a report or relaying combat information tends to result in the other person getting angry.

Crixus's hand will reach instinctively for his blade when the priests shoves Aquavius but when that's all she does his hands returns to his chest and resumes his guarded but neutral stance.

If is taps the undone on the shoulder.

"I detect a magical aura. But, I don't know its function."

Gribbl, Abdul, either of you want to give identifying the coin a shot? DC 18 Spellcraft to do so.

Gribbl casts detect magic as well... and tries to spellcraft the coin.

spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

"This coin is a pathfinder's coin. When used in combination with a wayfinder, this ancient Azlanti coin can record and replay messages. I guess we need a wayfinder... who has one?"

still waiting for my chronicle sheet from Gribbl's first game... it was supposed to be here by now (coming via email), so was unable to spend money on stuff like a wayfinder, so i hope someone has one.

If no one here does, Janira back at the Wisp has one. Onyeka won't let you leave with the coin, but Janira can be brought here without much delay

I do not have a wayfinder.
"Hehe, life of the Pathfinder. We're always poking our nose in someone's mess. Hey Crixus, can you head back to the Wisp and talk to Janira? Ask her if she can bring her wayfinder here. Then we can get out of this tomb."

Doesn't matter who goes, Janira will show up with no convincing needed.

Janira shows up slightly out of breath as if she'd ran all the way here. "Hi again everybody! Guess Drang's errand spiraled into a mystery. That happens a lot. So what do you need from me?"

It appears we have found a Pathfinder's Coin and need to use your wayfinder to see if it still holds a message.

"Alright. This should be cool. I haven't seen one of these in action before." Janira pulls out her wayfinder and hands it to you. Once you set the coin in the wayfinder's socket, it begins hovering an inch above the wayfinder and starts spinning rapidly. A dead man's voice issues from the coin, "The path and chamber are complete, hidden behind the nameplate of the requested aspirant and guarded by the word you requested. Fimbrik will add more." Once the message plays, the coin settles back onto the wayfinder.

What did it say?

Aquavius turns to Ignia and repeats.

"The path and chamber are complete, hidden behind the nameplate of the requested aspirant and guarded by the word you requested. Fimbrik will add more."

Aquavius waits for Ignia's acknowledgement.

"Alright. I guess we're done here, yeah? We know the word, I bet. Fimbrik's left us a magic word. Now, we need to know about the aspirant. It sounds like we need to check out the Wall of Names."

"Thanks, Janira. And thanks for your patience, Onyeka. We'll be on our way..."

"So we have to go find the nameplate of Karina Clamp on the wall of names, look behind it, and use the word 'Wiffle' at the appropriate time, which hopefully will become clear when it's necessary. That was way interesting to see in action, thank you Janira."

Gribbl takes the coin when it's clear they've received the full message and replaces it in the deceased's mouth where he took it from, trying to put it back the exact way he found it.

Steward mounts Banshee again as they prepare to move forward.

"Let's get going, then," he says. "To the Wall of Names?"

Crixus does not have one either

"Agreed Steward, that seems next place we need to go to unravel this mystery."

The Wall of Names is a polished black glass wall winding about near the Grand Lodge. The name of every Pathfinder who has fallen in the field is carved on it, and most of them have a line or two that summarises their career. It takes a bit of looking to find the name Fimbrik mentioned, but you eventually come upon it.

Karina Clamp - Deceased 4330 AR
Respectfully resigned after losing a friend.
Lost to a life among the fish and bountiful sea.

Gribbl tries to look behind the nameplate if he can reach it...

Gribbl, there isn't actually a nameplate on the wall, it's carved directly into the surface.

ok... well then, Gribbl will climb over the top and down the other side and look behind where her name is... just in case that's what 'behind her nameplate' meant, after all, the voice did say: "The path and chamber are complete, hidden behind the nameplate of the requested aspirant and guarded by the word you requested." If there's nothing on the other side, he'll climb back over and stand atop the wall, and shrug, looking around the area...

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

Ignia pauses to pay respect to the Wall of Names before examining the inscription.

"Is there anything special about her name in relation to other names on the wall? And does anyone know what her inscription means?"

After a pause to think, "You don't hear many Pathfinders referred to as 'aspirant' do you?"

The Wall of Names. A shrine to those who fell in their duty. While Aquavius wasn't big on the whole duty thing, she did know the pain of losing friends. Losing crew. The normally chatty Skald stays quiet for once. I should have died that day...

Ignia's question and Gribbl's investigation snap her out of it. "Huh? Yeah, you don't hear that so often. Hey, remember Adolphus' add on? He mentioned some false names that would be on the wall."

~ Doulgonlir Caskmail
~ Hollis 'Evil Grin' Thorne
~ Karina Clamp

"Let's look for the other two. Maybe they form a sentence or something."

Steward shrugs. "Is there anything else? Do you see anything, Banshee?"

The warpriest looks at the wall more carefully, trying to see a pattern.

perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Crixus will pause to pay his respect to those who have fallen before him. Then having done so Crixus will hear Aquavius's comment on looking for the other two names and begins to look for those as well.

"I'll look over here for those two names. Hopefully we can piece something together between them."

You find the remaining two names listed by Adolphus without much difficulty. The inscriptions for them are:
.
.
Doulgonlir Caskmail - Deceased 4332 AR
Fought up all but one step of the Storval Stairs.
Blade shattered at an inopportune moment.

Hollis “Evil Grin” Thorne - Deceased 4331 AR
Followed the last Linnorm King to Valenhall.
Lost at sea, last seen in a great tornado.

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Know(religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

You know you can always Take 10 on Knowledge checks.

Bardic Knowledge: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

"Huh. These inscriptions sound familiar..." Aquavius rubs her chin. "Oh! These are referring to the failed aspirants of the Starstone. You know there's a shrine dedicated to them near the cathedral, right?"

Crixus stares dumbly at the wall his mind not getting the connection and it isn't until Aquavius comments about the starstone and the cathedral, that he snaps out of his trance.

"Do we know where the cathedral is?"

"You mean the large building in the middle of the city surrounded by a bottomless moat? You can't miss it."

:D

Crixus seems geniunly surprised by Ignia reveal that the cathedral is that structure.

"Well thats good to know, thanks for letting me know Ignia I believe you just won me ten gold from my two brothers, they thought it was some kind of wizards tower."

"A shrine is likely to have a nameplate. Let's go see if we can find it."

Steward gently prods Banshee into motion and leads the way toward the shrine.

Gribbl heads to the cathedral with the others... surprisingly able to keep up despite his small size.

Crixus moves forward with the group his posture balanced between excited due to getting to see something new and respectful because the shrine represents those that have fallen before him.

The Shrine of the Failed is a dour complex located near the Starstone Cathedral. You arrive at the shrine just as Sir Reinhard himself arrives to attempt his ascension. Because of this, most of the city watch and the shrine's few caretakers are absent, watching to see a new god born, or at the very least see someone fall into a bottomless pit.

You enter one of the basement antechambers while the shrine is vacant with no trouble. This monumental chamber stretches eighty feet from end to end, with a ceiling suspended thirty feet from the floor by great pillars. Seven arched passages lead to humble rooms, each of which contains a polished stone altar dedicated to one of the failed aspirants who attempted the Test of the Starstone.

Each of these chambers contains a small stone altar to one of the failed aspirants. Each altar stands upon a raised dais and bears a small brass nameplate identifying the aspirant and the would-be-god’s areas of interest.

The reference to fish and the sea in Karina's fake inscription leads you to the altar of the aspirant Gobru, in the second alcove to your left as you enter.

Anyone searching the alcove may make a Will save or a Perception check.

Aquavius smirks as she sees the crowd form around Sir Reinard. A sucker is born every minute...

"Well, that was easy. Didn't even have to excuse our selves past the guards." <Joy>

"This is the one, right? All about fish in the sea... wasn't very specific about which fish, though." Aquavius frowns, clearly unimpressed.

She takes a careful look around...
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

perc: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Gribbl enters the room and searches it diligently.

Steward likes to take his steed everywhere he goes, and the first thing he does is check whether the horse can make it into the shrine. horses allowed?

"What do we have here?" he says.

Since everyone who watches the shrine is busy watching another horseman elsewhere, it doesn't really matter if horses are allowed or not. No one's going to stop you.

Gribbl walks up to the secret door and examines it, and when he finds no way to open it... shrugs and says quietly at the door, feeling a bit silly but trying it anyway: "Wiffle"

Gribbl, nothing happens when you speak the password. There is a nameplate on the altar to Gobru though.

"Behind the nameplate!" <Amusement>

Ignia laughs to herself at the image of Gribbl climbing around the Wall of Names, then looks closely at the nameplate and attempts to open it.

Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (17) - 1 = 16

"I forgot... I never was the brightest tadpole in the pond. .. go for it!"

Gobru's nameplate slides to one side easily, revealing a small chalkboard behind it.

Crixus follows in behind the group in silent wonder at the awesome sights in the starstone cathedral and his clanking that accompanies each step is slow and methodical as Crixus is lost to the world as he gazes at each of the sights.

Crixus finely honed danger senses as his younger years of being a scout scream at him as he stops mid step Reflex save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3 and pivots to avoid crashing into a motionless Ignia but loses his balance as a result and instead crashes into the space next to her.

"Urg, thats going to leave a bruise in the morning. Anyone know why we stopped here?"

"Ignia and Gribbl found this chalkboard here..." She looks at the board. "I guess we write it here?"

Aquavius writes "Wiffle" on the chalkboard.

"Heh, that's clever." Gribbl says as Aquavius finds the chalkboard and writes on it. "Makes more sense than just talking to it."

Abdul stands guard outside in case anyone happens to wander by.

"Neat," Steward says.