GM Brunoreturns' Shattered Star (Inactive)

Game Master brunoreturns

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

"He'll give it back to you once we figure this out." says Kylee soothingly. "Jasper, your friends care about you, but they're upset and you're upset and this place is too dangerous for us to be fighting amongst ourselves. Would it be so bad just to wait outside for the next day or so while we investigate this place? There are all sorts of other ways you can help us still."

Giving a healthy bonus for saying an attractive course of action (to him at least)

Jasper looks up, wiping his face with a grimy sleeve. "Leave? Yes, let us leave. There is nothing down here. No Door, nothing of value to us."

He looks at Deric with hate and distrust but says nothing, then favors Squint with additional suspicion, wary of additional abuse. Getting to his feet, he begins shuffling toward the entrance. "Come. Let's go before the demons come back.", he adds, still glaring at Deric and Squint.

Jasper’s gonna be worse now, we should’ve just waited till he dropped off or was paying no attention…I could’ve picked that mace from him clean…

Paëral looks to Barkot. ”We need to rest and replenish, Bark; it’d allow you, Squint, and Kyle to restore some spells. We can bar the two doors in the incubus room and stand watch…what d’ya think?”

"Sorry about that Demonslayer. Seems your plan might have been better. He may still have freaked on us, though. I will take whatever shift the party decides on."

"But... aren't we getting Jasper out of here?" asks Kylee.

"I'm not for that, Lady Dumaren. I feel we are responsible for his safety. We cannot get past the waterfall without oars and then we would have to go all the way back to town to ensure his safety. Maybe we could lock him in a room. Maybe this one. Or, he could stay with us and retreat a distance during battle. The best answer eludes me now. I am not the brightest candle. Reckon you figured that out by now."

"Oh. Well... all right... if you think it's best." she says, looking worriedly at Jasper. She thinks for a moment, chewing at a thumbnail, then straightens up. "I'll talk to him some more. Maybe I can find out why these fits are happening to him. I'm sure it's the madness of Groetus afflicting him, but perhaps there's something I can do to help him stay in control."

Though she's trying to sound hopeful, it rings a little hollow.

She looks toward the open doorway to the Hot & Humid Room. "Is there anyone in there?" she asks her companions curiously.

"You want to sleep? Here?! What good will locking doors do when we have already seen the demons can teleport wherever they want? Barkot said those constructs we passed were an alarm system as well.

No. We should leave. We can sleep above ground, not in this demon infested dungeon."

”Not all of us will be sleeping at the same time, my friend…we’ll stand watch in pairs. And do you not think these demons can teleport outside as well? If our casters can’t replenish their spells occasionally, t’will do us no good either inside or out…”

Sorry, busy day yesterday.

Barkot rubs the back of his neck, uncomfortable with the argument. "Gotta tell you, I'd be happier sleeping outside tonight too. This place gives me the creeps. Inside, we got demons, dhampirs, deathtraps, and a buncha lady soldiers from Korvosa -" he spits again "- and maybe outside we got the same, but at least we won't get stuck in a narrow hallway. We can row back using my traveler's any-thingamajig, but we might have to use one boat in two trips instead of both at once."

Deric picks up the scimitar. "Can someone detect magic on this and see if it is special? It is of masterwork quality."

Barkot rubs the back of his neck, uncomfortable with the argument. "Gotta tell you, I'd be happier sleeping outside tonight too. This place gives me the creeps. Inside, we got demons, dhampirs, deathtraps, and a buncha lady soldiers from Korvosa -" he spits again "- and maybe outside we got the same, but at least we won't get stuck in a narrow hallway. We can row back using my traveler's any-thingamajig, but we might have to use one boat in two trips instead of both at once."

Paëral frowns as he unconsciously shakes his head. ”I dunno Bark…I’ll follow your lead…but you do remember how we got here? We came down a 50+’ shaft that most of you feather-fell down via your ring…now the rope’s still there, hopefully, but, unless you can reverse that ring to float up, how do you suggest we get outside to sleep? Climbing that rope up won’t be easy for any of us and might prove dangerous for most of us…and then, what do we do tomorrow night if we should still be here?

“Personally, I’d rather move on with no rest as opposed to going all the way back outside…but that’s just my two cents. I’ll abide with whatever you decide…”

Deric picks up the scimitar. "Can someone detect magic on this and see if it is special? It is of masterwork quality."

Kylee nods and comes over to cast Detect Magic on the scimitar.

As she listens to the debate over where to camp, she listens closely, nodding occasionally when she agrees with someone's point, but otherwise not interfering.

"I have no further spells of note to offer for the day," Squint points out, "but I can dismiss Ulyi and re-summon him after climbing up that shaft and getting outside to rest. Anything that allows us to rid ourselves of dead, doomsaying-weight is my vote."

You don't need to look at Squint to see him staring at Jasper with those last words.

The scimitar is not magical.

Jasper interjects. "If the lot of you want to sleep in this blood drenched room, you are welcome to. Just give me my flail and I will be gone. I was apparently mistaken that any of you were special."

We can row back using my traveler's any-thingamajig,

"Your doomaflitchy can become a full sized oar?"

Deric gives the flail to Jasper. If he has less than three days of rations, those are given as well. "May Groetus keep you safe."

Jasper grabs the Flail and stows it on his back with a grunt. Not looking back, he turns and stalks down the hallway, casting a spell.

When he reaches the mural, he pauses, remembering the spike pit that is now reset. He dashes across it, allowing it to fall open behind him, and continues on out of sight.

Paëral shrugs. ”Can’t have him attacking us…but I doubt we find this place without him…

“So, we OK to rest here now?”

Kylee watches Jasper go with sadness evident in her face, but she says nothing. The whole episode seems to have depressed her and has left her subdued. She picks a relatively unbloodied portion of the room, sets down her pack and gets out her bedroll and blanket, but for the moment she just sits on it crosslegged. She allows her hand to rest palm upward on her knees and closes her eyes and sits quietly, breathing slowly.

Squint relaxes visibly as Jasper leaves.

"You've got to be able to rely on your crew members in a storm," he quotes to no one in particular.

"You're still a bit of an asshat," Ulyi offers, raising a hush from the halfling.

Surprisingly enough, the party is able to rest without incident. Either the alarm constructs were linked to someone long dead or that person is distracted by other things.

Kylee rises to take last watch, waking precisely 2 hours before what would be dawn outside. She quickly washes her face and neck, pulling a pot from her pack and magically creating water inside the pot for the purpose. She then stands and does some slow, elaborate stretching exercises -- she turns out to be quite limber and obviously has good balance. After 15 minutes or so of this, she settles down into a sitting position again and begins brushing her hair -- she does this briskly and without flourish but does it for nearly 10 minutes. These tasks out of the way, she places her holy symbol in her lap and looks up at the ceiling and begins to silently pray to the unseen heavens, occasionally bringing her hands together in a gesture of respect and devotion, or raising them above her head in a gesture of supplication.

Once it is time for the others to rise, she goes about the room gently waking people, offering them a smiling face and a cool damp towel and a soothing 'good morning'.

"What the....Oh, good morning, Sunshine." Deric slowly rises and is not in a good mood like his cleric appears to be. He does not look forward to this day. It weighs on him. He has some rations and water before donning his armor.

Squint gets up, a bit quieter than usual. He appears to have slept poorly. He summons Ulyi to his side immediately upon waking - something he doesn't normally do unless absolutely needed. He then spends a good deal of time re-packing Ulyi's saddle bags.

"Hoo boy. Someone has gone full 'guilt suppression through menial task' mode," the eidolon laughs. A harsh hush from Squint follows, though the strange eidolon makes a repetitive clucking noise that might be a chortle in response.

Paëral rouses and yawns. Nodding to Kylee, he says, ”Thanks…and good morning…”

He nibbles a bit of his rations, washes it down with some water, finds a corner to clean his teeth…

Turning back to the others, he queries. ”That chamber next door appears to have several exits…which shall we take?”

"Let's have a look around in there." suggests Kylee.

Deric chuckles at Ulyi's comment. He approaches the snoring orc. He draws his bill and reverses the weapon. From a safe distance he pokes the orc with the butt of the bill. "Barkot....Backalley..."

Years of sleeping on the streets have left the oracle with trust issues and quick reflexes. As Deric starts to poke him, the half-orc sits bolt upright, eyes wide, and presses a dagger against the gladiator's thigh. After a tense moment, he blinks, grunts in recognition, and lowers the knife.

"Yeah, mornin'. Gimme a few minutes to get my head together. Any hot water left for coffee?"

Kylee squats beside Barkot and offers him a damp towel.

There's water in the pot over there which you're welcome to, but I didn't make a fire. Enclosed space and all that." she says brightly. "Did you sleep well?"

Kylee squats beside Barkot and offers him a damp towel.

There's water in the pot over there which you're welcome to, but I didn't make a fire. Enclosed space and all that." she says brightly. "Did you sleep well?"

“Hrmmm. Knew we should’ve slept outside.” Barkot scratches his ear and crawls out of his bedroll, shifting around uncomfortably after sleeping in his armor again.

“Sure. Thanks, Kylee.” He takes the offered towel and wipes his face, then looks around, trying to figure out what to do with it, finally tying the damp towel to the side of his pack to let it dry.

Sighing, Barkot pours cold water on a mug of coffee grounds, swirls them around, and takes a gulp. He makes a face and drinks down the rest of the “coffee” as quickly as he can. “Gods, that’s awful. Hey, Squint! Could you learn that prestidigitwhatsis spell that Reillana used to cast all the time? I bet that would do the trick.” He starts packing up his gear.

When the party is ready to start moving, Barkot casts magic circle against evil on Paëral to let the archer scout ahead safely.

(+2 deflection bonus to AC and +2 resistance bonus to saves vs. evil creatures, plus other benefits, for 60 minutes.)

"Yeah, nah," Squint replies in a helplessly unhelpful fashion. "No can do, chum."

Squint produces a wand from his pack and activates it as he touches Ulyi. He frowns when the wand goes *poof* in his hand and dissolves into a pile of ash on the ground.

"That's the last of that wand," Squint announces.

Cast mage armor on Ulyi. I think it was a CL 3rd item, so that gives Ulyi 3hrs of the spell.

Paëral nods in appreciation to Barkot and looks over the next chamber before moving on…

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21

After seeing to Barkot, Kylee makes her way over to Squint and Ulyi.

"Good morning Ulyi. And good morning to you too Squint. Does anyone here need some healing before we set out?"

*****

More quietly she lays a gentle hand on Squint's shoulder. "How are you holding up?" she asks. "You seem distracted this morning. But perhaps that's understandable given our situation."

@Paeral You have already scanned the room from the entrance. Anything more Perception-wise is going to require a more detailed explanation of what you are attempting to examine

My bad GM…then he’ll quietly scope out to the west…

Adding Stealth to my earlier perception roll

Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 20 = 37

Skirting around the side of the chamber, Paeral sees a small octagonal chamber and a set of double door leading west.

Deric stows the bill and begins his morning stretch routine.

”Eh?” Squint grunts in response to Kylee. ”Oh, yes. I mean, no, good morning, yes.” He seems confused.

Paëral checks the double doors…

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30

…and if nothing’s hinky, will crack it open and take a peek…

Feel free to keep the morning RP going

Cracking the doors open, Paeral sees a total of ten wooden and iron doors lining the walls of this long hall—five doors to a side. Each door bears an inscription on its face, as does the blank wall at the western end. The easternmost door to the north is caked with a sheen of frost.

Kylee steps into the sauna room and examines the torch in the sconce.

Does this appear to be the only one? Or are there other sconces with torches around the room? Is the torch lit?

She then makes her way, moving cautiously on the slippery floor, to the central gray flame atop the dais.

Any markings or inscriptions by the flame? Looking around the room from this higher central point, can she see anything new? Casting detect magic, is the gray flame magical?

As are all of the chambers you have seen so far, this chamber is lit by glass spheres hanging from the ceiling. Those spheres appear to have flickering flames within them, though none have extinguished.

This is the first torch that the party has seen. The torch is not lit, though Paeral previously detected that it was sooty as if it had been lit and Barkot previously detected that the torch was magical.

There are no markings or inscriptions either around the torch or the central flame. The grey flame is unsurprisingly magical in nature.

Deric stays close to the cleric ready to protect her at a moment's notice.

"This magical fire obviously has a purpose." says Kylee to Deric, since he's standing nearby. "And I think it involves that torch in the sconce over there. I think the torch is meant to be lit here and then used somehow. But I'm not sure what it's meant to be used on. Perhaps something in one of those octagonal alcoves."

She notices that Paëral has already opened the double doors to the west. She makes her way carefully down off the dais to see what he's uncovered.

The original post describing the "sauna room"

Understandable confusion, since that description was before all of the drama with Jasper. The red 'you are here' dot on the main map remains accurate

"Agree Kylee. You may be onto something. I believe we should investigate that. Paëral, can you make sure there are no traps over there? See if it is a trigger of some sort and maybe what it does."

Wrong link, GM. I think you meant to link to this.

Bringing up the rear, Barkot pauses at the torch again with Kylee and Deric, shaking his head.

Transmutation... What the heck is this supposed to do?

He looks at the torch, the gray wall it hangs on, and across the room to the gray flame in the fire pit at the center, then back to the torch.

"Hold up a sec. Kylee, what if we try lighting the torch in the fire they already got going here - is that what you mean? 'Cause I think we oughtta give it a try. Might be if we do that and put it back in the sconce here, we see something different on this wall, ya know?"