GM Brayden's PFS First Steps: "In Service to Lore" (Group 2)

Game Master Brayden Green

Lore trots into the room, looking around eagerly for what they are seeking - the map. Something tells me she is gonna be disappointed - its not just lying there or up on the wall or something, is it?

Confident that the Society wouldn't send a batch of new recruits to see a lunatic intent on locking them in a basement forever, Thaddaeus swaggers into the room.

that's a pretty good call. Every time I run this, the PCs act like they are going to be shackled and put in a room with Hanibal Lecter. I think it is the way it is written, lol. I've literally had to tell one group "Hey, this is a venture captain, and you were sent here by a venture captain to help him out. He's not going to kill you the first time he sees you..." lolz.

Ahzrin stands towards the back as Shilyn and Thaddaeus appraise the room. He gently caresses one of his bombs, as if to reassure himself that it was still there.

Well played, Shilyn or Lore will tell you what she sees, I am sure. Bander, you probably emoted to your cat to hang back, right? So I would normally require a bluff check for this shenanigan, but with a +10 bonus, for the "tangible evidence" of your cat physically staying behind. For the sake of moving on, I'm not going to make you do that, because the servant really doesn't care one way or the other. He has his orders, and isn't really concerned at what pace you enter in.

The servant waits by the door, holding it expectantly, and motions for the rest of you to move in.

Stopping a bit inside, Shilyn surveys the room as carefully as she can. Not seeing anything amiss, she turns to the others, "Looks clear. Nothing but some chests and a table," she says. Stepping farther inside, she walks over to the table and glances at the vials of potions. "C'mon in. Ahzrin, you may be interested in some of this.. not that we're supposed to take it mind you," she says with a giggle.

My guess is, upon hearing Shilyn move into the room and give the all clear, you all follow her in?

As you move in, you see a plain stone room contains three chests:
a copper-banded chest of smooth, dark wood; a red lacquered chest; and what looks to be a cube of solid steel. Behind the chests sits a low table holding a clear glass jar half full of liquid and a covered wicker basket.

The room looks Something LIKE THIS.

Once all of you enter the room, the servant shuts
the door and locks it behind them. Written on the back
of the door is the message: “Within these cases lies your
quest and your way out.”

Ahz steps into the room at Shilyn's call. He nods to the half-elf and glances at the chests, then moves to the table, peering at the liquid in the jar.

Am I able to identify the liquid?

"Obviously no map is readily visible." He says, tapping at his chin. "My assumption would be that it is contained within one of these chests. I expect it is our task to determine which chest contains the proper map."

Not automatically, it doesn't seem to be a potion.

Right, a puzzle then. I'm fairly certain everyone else in this room is better suited for this task than I am. Does it make sense to make sure they're not, you know, trapped or anything?

"It's not immediately clear what this liquid is. Perhaps..."

On impulse, Ahz reaches out and flips the lid off the wicker basket.

"It's not immediately clear what this liquid is. Perhaps..."

On impulse, Ahz reaches out and flips the lid off the wicker basket.

The lid comes off.

Inside, a blue stone key rests atop a pile of crumpled linens.

Hearing the door close behind them, Shilyn looks around for Hanibal Lecter turns to the others, "Well.. damn. Room was clear.. servant wasn't." With a shrug, she walks over to the chests and begins examining them as Thaddeus suggested. "This may take a while if I want to be thorough," she warns as she squats down to take a peek..

Red: Perception: take 20 = 20 + 10 = 30
Copper: Perception: take 20 = 20 + 10 = 30
Cube: Perception: take 20 = 20 + 10 = 30

"Papa always said.. take your time.. do it right.. and hopefully you don't miss anything," she mutters as both eyes and fingers go over the chests with slow, deliberate movements.

As you go over the solid Copper chest, you need you to make a will save. As an aside, I really need you to put those stats above your character, so that I can just roll stuff like this for you without having to delay the game. I don't want to go digging for stuff.

Sorry.. fixed

Will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

With a grin, Shilyn runs her hand through the copper banded chest then goes one to examine the others. "Sneaky gits"

No problem.

The solid metal plate surrounding the gaping keyhole pulses
with glowing amber runes. It doesn't appear to be trapped.

This steel cube has only the faintest crack where its lid
meets the base, and would be completely featureless save
for its narrow keyhole. It is trapped.

For the sake of the game moving on, I am going to just assume that you tell them that they are not trapped, and then trapped, in turn.

It takes you 6 minutes to look over all the chests.

Shilyn also mentions to you that the copper chest is an illusion, and that your hand passes through it, but you all saw her handle it.

So, what now?

"Well, we have a key and three locks. Maybe we should start trying the key in the locks til we find out where it works?"

Standing up after examining the chests, Shilyn stretches a kink out of her back. "Ok, silver one is trapped. Red one is ok. Both need keys, although the red one has some strange amber runes on it.. and they glow."

Walking over to the table, she carefully picks up the key and sets it aside, turning her attention instead to the pile of cloth.

"Let's see.. there some liquid of some sort.. a key.. and some linen." Picking up a length of the cloth, she shakes it out to see if it's part of some article of clothing or such.

Standing up after examining the chests, Shilyn stretches a kink out of her back. "Ok, silver one is trapped. Red one is ok. Both need keys, although the red one has some strange amber runes on it.. and they glow."

Walking over to the table, she carefully picks up the key and sets it aside, turning her attention instead to the pile of cloth.

"Let's see.. there some liquid of some sort.. a key.. and some linen." Picking up a length of the cloth, she shakes it out to see if it's part of some article of clothing or such.

As you pick up the cloth, you see something small and green try to bite. 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 (It does 1 point of non-lethal, and you feel a little sick... )

Shelyn's FORT save 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

You are able to overcome the sickness, and it passes.

It goes back into the cloth...

Well dang the paizo site crashed and ate my previous post...sigh. Don't feel much like trying to recreat it now. The essence was Bander cursing about being locked in, telling everyone to take this slow, and then casting Detect Magic, examining the whole room, and then looking over the glowing runes on the lock.

Knowledge Arcana check for runes on lock: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
+

They seem to be dummy ones. Nothing really magic about them, besides the fact that they glow.

Shilyn lets out a yelp as something latches onto her finger briefly. Dropping the cloth and shaking her hand, she sees something small and green vanish into the folds. She closes her eyes and grips the table to steady herself as she shakes her head to drive away a sudden rush of nausea. "Something's in that cloth that bites. Be wary," she says once her head clears, "I think it may be poisonous."

She looks at her finger and sees twin drops of blood beginning to form. Wiping her hand on her leg, she stops to think a bit, then draws her rapier. Using the point and keeping her distance, she slowly lifts the cloth with the tip of the sword.

HP: 8 / 9 (1 NL)

There is a little green snake that wiggles in and out of the cloth.

Perhaps we should leave that little fellow alone. Thaddaeus offers as he peers in the basket.

As Thaddeus peers in, he sees a blue key is in the basket. The runes on the key match the runes on the red chest.

"If the runes match, maybe the key and lock match. How are we supposed to get the key if there's something in the basket that bites? Does anyone have a spell that can move the key? Or maybe pour it out of the basket? Or maybe if the key has a hole, maybe we could fish it out with a hook or something." Lore looks in curiously (if it's low enough for her to see in), but doesn't reach for the key, having seen Shilyn's results.

"Shi, let me take a quick look at your wound and see if there's anything I can do to help."

if Shi allows, heal check 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

The key has a large loop on either end of it. That might work. You might set the wicker basket on fire, lol. Lots of options.

ooooh fire... Lore likes that idea!

It appears to be a stone key. Ahz doesn't think that fire will consume that stone.

Let's try this...

Thaddaeus removes an arrow from his quiver and attempts to fish the key out.

Shilyn carefully lowers the tip of her rapier, trying not to disturb the key on top, and lets the cloth fall back into the basket. Turning to Lore, she lets her take a look at the bite mark. "Doesn't look too bad I don't think.. " she says with a shrug.

She turns her eyes to watch Thaddeus attempt to retrieve the key with one of his arrows.

Lore shrugs and smiles at Shilyn. "Ok, you let me know if it starts bothering you or anything." She readies herself to throw fire at the basket and contents if the creature tries to bite Thad. If the arrow fails to snag the key after a few attempts, she will simply wash it in nice cleansing fire. I hope Ahz is right about the fire not affecting the key.

I'll be out for the rest of the day - so posted an alternative action for lore if the arrow doesn't work, as well as a readied action if the critter in the basket tries to bite again. See you all later, hopefully I will have my computer back later too!

Bander walks over after having examined the chests and peers into the wicker basket as Thaddeus uses his arrow to get the key. “I’ve picked a little trick that might help here. Let’s see if this little bugger is feeling sleepy.” Bander then points at the small snake and makes a jaw creaking yawn.

Bander is using his sleep hex on the snake. Will saving throw DC 15. If the snake fails it goes into a magical sleep as per the sleep spell. If it makes the saving throw Bander will hit it with the hex again (and then he can’t use it on the snake again for 24 hours.) By the way the pointing and yawn is not necessary…Bander is just doing it for dramatic effect :o)

I will also be out the rest of the day until late late tonight. So if you need to bot me go ahead
+

The snake sleeps, and the arrow is retrieved with the arrow.

Thaddaeus is still a little spooked by the copper chest. Since the steel chest doesn't have anyplace to put a key, he shrugs and tries the key on the red one.

You're sure there's no traps? he looks to Shilyn for reassurance.

At Thaddeus' question, Shilyn looks over and states, "Well.. I didn't find any." She gives him a wink as she sheathes her rapier.

Bloody hell... Thaddaeus turns the key.

Shisa snickers softly at Thaddaeus' outburst and turns her attention to the silver cube. She takes off her pack and unslings her bow then sets them to the side before pulling out the set of tools she picked up at the warehouse.

"Hrm.. this one, I know, has a surprise for the unwary. Let's hope my skills are up to the task." With deft hands, she selects one of her tools, seemingly at random, as her eyes examine the mechanism.

"If I go up in a cloud of smoke.. Lore, you can have my coin.. but not until," she says jokingly as her fingers lift the tool toward the lock..

Disable Device(Class Trained + masterwork tools)

dicebot.. puuuleeeeze be good...

1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 7 + 1 = 20

As you insert the red key, it doesn't even need to be turned, clicks start happening inside of the box, and the runes start pulsating.

The red lacquered chest holds a key forged
into the end of a jeweled scepter. The jewels and
the scepter appear to be quite exquisite.

Gonna bot your Percep rolls to move the story along:

Shilyn 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Thadd1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

Bander 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Lore 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14

Ahz 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Shisa snickers softly at Thaddaeus' outburst and turns her attention to the silver cube. She takes off her pack and unslings her bow then sets them to the side before pulling out the set of tools she picked up at the warehouse.

"Hrm.. this one, I know, has a surprise for the unwary. Let's hope my skills are up to the task." With deft hands, she selects one of her tools, seemingly at random, as her eyes examine the mechanism.

"If I go up in a cloud of smoke.. Lore, you can have my coin.. but not until," she says jokingly as her fingers lift the tool toward the lock..

Disable Device(Class Trained + masterwork tools)

dicebot.. puuuleeeeze be good...

1d20 + 7 + 1

You hear a slight clicking, and ...... nothing happens. You do not detect any more traps on the cube.

"Oooh, it's pretty... wonder what this one opens," Lore says, looking at the key on the end of the jeweled scepter inside the box.

A key at the end of a scepter? Seems quite impractical. Perhaps this is the key to the privy and they don't want us running off with it?

With a laugh, she replies, Maybe it's the key to the ambassador's own privy secretly hidden away so the servants don't use it in his absense." She stops laughing suddenly as her ears pick up a very faint click from above.

Eyes widen as Shilyn looks up. "Hey! I wonder what that key goes to," she exclaims pointing to a small golden key hanging well out of reach.

"Or.. I guess the better question is.. how we get it down." She taps her fingertip against her lip as she stands there looking at the gold key thinking..

"Fascinating. Quite fascinating." Ahz directs his attention to the small key hanging above their heads. "It may be possible for one of us to stand on someone's shoulders. Perhaps Bander's feline companion may be able to assist in the effort by climbing us? I'm given to understand that cats enjoy climbing..."

The key is 15 feet in the air, minus 6 inches of descent.

I'm envisioning a bit of a human / orcish / gnomish pyramid here.

Thaddaeus looks thoughtful. If we can get one of us up high enough we should be able to cut it down with one of our weapons. Shilyn...I....um...how would you feel about getting up on my shoulders?

Toss the dwarf! Hrm.. no dwarf.. ok then.. toss the Gnome!!

"Well.. if the key popped open when the first chest was unlocked.. Will it drop when the next one is?"

She looks at the key in Thaddaeus' hand a moment before continuing, "Try the key in the silver box before we go climbing all over each other perhaps."