when you say 'opens normally' does that mean it's not even locked?... in which case...
Kenji flips open the lid on the fourth chest.
"That's three... shall we open the other two for him if we can just to be nice?"
For the third chest he goes through his own knowledge of birds which is pretty poor... and finally says "To open this one, you have to name a specific white bird... but all I can think of are crane, swan, and dove." If the chest doesn't open at the mention of one of those three, he looks to the others.. "Anyone know of more white birds?"
Sky druid 6 | HP 45/45 AC 21 T 14 FF 18 | F +8 R +6 W +10 | Init +3; Darkvision 60 ft, Perception +16 Sylph Sobrino HP 22/22 AC 26 T 15 FF 22 | F +4 R +9 W +2 | Init +5; Low light vision, Perception +5
Well done guys. You´re good with puzzles and riddles!
Bringing back the opened chests, Grandmaster Torch looks pleased.
"You sure are far more competent than the last guy. As such, i hold up my end of the deal. Nessian has set up base at the old Pyramid of the Dog, a structure slightly outside of Absalom. As a token of appreciation, each of you have this." Each of you is thrown a small pouch containing 50gp. "Now if Nessian discovers i've disclosed this information, i would consider that highly unprofessional, and i would spread the word of reliability. Now, may you have a good day."
Yargos makes a bow. "Thank you Grandmaster Torch, we shall be on our way." He turns to you. "We must make haste, the gods know how much damage Nessian has caused so far."
-----------------Somewhat later---------------
Act 4: The Hymnes of Oathday.
Asami, Kenji & Lynthara spot more lantern signals. Green and orange lights come from the cliffs. Yargos turns a shade paler.
"By the gods, no! That is the signal to silence the organ, the final sabotage, they plan to silence the Oathday hymnes, after which the ghost armada comes upon the city. Quickly my friends, run!!!" It becomes apparant the church to Abadar, residing within the puddles even after an earthquake, has some issues with the morning hymn. It is a magnificent musical performance at first, but the closer you get, the more broken and horrible it becomes until things go silent when you near the door.
Opening the double door to the cathedral reveals a grizzly scene.
The clergy lie dead, cut down and Black Echelon operatives have climbed upon the organ's massive keys and even up the pipes, blocking the sound of several organ mouths. Their grim skulls turn to you, seeing the new intruders.
Here's time to shine by playing music on a giant organ.
The keys are 15ft above the ground, meaning a bull rush off =1d6 dmg. Playing the white keys requires a DC5 acrobatics or perform keyboard check, you can do more keys in the same turn, but DC scales with +2 for every extra key. The black keys require a DC10 climb check. The echelon up the pipes are 10ft out of a total of 30ft. If the organ is not played for 15 consecutive rounds, the ghost armada will come.
A frightened woman's scream is heard from the far right back, a side room.
Female Human Oracle 2 | HP x/x | AC 15 T 15 FF 12 | Saves: F: +4 R: +5 W: +2 | CMD: 18 | Init: +4 Percep: +7 SM: +6
Lynn hurries inside towards the scream.
Double move along back wall, should get me to one square west of the SE corner if my first is diagonal. If I can get on a PC I will move my token, otherwise please help.
F Kitsune Swashbuckler 2 | HP(22/22) Panache(4/4) | AC 16 / T 14 / FF 12 | F +2 / R +7 / W -1 | Perc +3 / Init +4 | BAB +2 / CMB +2 / CMD 16
"What was that?! A damsel in distress?" Asami looks about, and sees the oversized keyboard. "Who plays organs nowadays? Don't they know it's all about the strings?"
Male Tiefling (Grimspawn) Alchemist(Grenadier)/2: HP (12/17): AC (18/touch=15/flat=15): Saves (Fort=4/Ref=6/Will=-1): Initiative +5: Perception +1: Sense Motive -1
Baru moves twice, ending behind the alter, hopefully hidden from enemies.
stealth:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
"Living dead playing music. Doesn't sound like my idea of a fun concert. Let's get this done."
Face meet palm. followed with a loud, Homer Simpson-ish "Doh!"
Sky druid 6 | HP 45/45 AC 21 T 14 FF 18 | F +8 R +6 W +10 | Init +3; Darkvision 60 ft, Perception +16 Sylph Sobrino HP 22/22 AC 26 T 15 FF 22 | F +4 R +9 W +2 | Init +5; Low light vision, Perception +5
Keera rush foward as she shouts.
I´ll try to play the organ. You´re better than I killing skeletons.
Alacorta, bite them until no one moves.
Alacorta´s turn:
As they are up, he can charge unmolested. Ad with 80 ft of movement, I asume he can go
1) Here's something the L aligned will like. As long as music is played, horribly if even, L aligned who can hear it are under the effect of Bless.
2) ===> Clarification on playing: if multiple keys are 'played' on a turn, you can make a free DC10 perform check, passing it keeps the music going. You get a +2 to that roll for every key you 'played'. Getting up the keys is a DC10 climb check. <== !!
The Cathedral, round 1
Lynthara runs off to investigate the scream.
Baru makes another epic stealth roll to head towards the altar.
Keera takes the west side approach.
Sele heads straight forward.
*Black Echelon
Yellow exhales its smoke, creating another thick fog. 20% ranged miss. Melee no penalty.
3 new enemies come from a side chamber. (purple, sand & dark green)
2 of them head up to Sele and slash at him with ancient sickles.
Sickle:1d20 ⇒ 131d6 ⇒ 5Sickle:1d20 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 5
Sele's shiny armor proves too much for them to hit him.
The roc soars swiftly through the air into the cloud and manages to bite Yellow for 2 damage.
Asami & Kenji
F Kitsune Swashbuckler 2 | HP(22/22) Panache(4/4) | AC 16 / T 14 / FF 12 | F +2 / R +7 / W -1 | Perc +3 / Init +4 | BAB +2 / CMB +2 / CMD 16
Asami starts to make a move toward the altar when a strange smoke fills her intended landing area. "Way to ruin my grand leap unto the keyboard, boneheads! Ooh I'm mad now." The swashbuckler veers to the right as she draws her rapier, ready to poke her way through the skeletons on her way up the organ where she can see.
It'd be a big acrobatics jump, if you aim to jump 15 ft up.
With Kenji and Asami moving up closer, the round ends.
Round 1 recap:
Lynthara runs off to investigate the scream.
Baru makes another epic stealth roll to head towards the altar.
Keera takes the west side approach.
Sele heads straight forward.
*Black Echelon
Yellow exhales its smoke, creating another thick fog. 20% ranged miss. Melee no penalty.
3 new enemies come from a side chamber. (purple, sand & dark green)
2 of them head up to Sele and slash at him with ancient sickles.
Sickle: 1d20 ⇒ 131d6 ⇒ 5Sickle: 1d20 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 5
Sele's shiny armor proves too much for them to hit him.
The roc soars swiftly through the air into the cloud and manages to bite Yellow for 2 damage.
Asami & Kenji, both move closer.
The Cathedral, round 2 Lynthara
Baru & Keera
Sele
*Black Echelon
Roc, Asami & Kenji
Lynthara quickly moves along the wall, preparing a fiery spell?
Keera makes a move to the western keys. Climb:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
She climbs 5ft up, she'll get on top next round with another check.
Baru
Sele will chop down an echelon.
*Black Echelon
Roc, Asami & Kenji
Male Tiefling (Grimspawn) Alchemist(Grenadier)/2: HP (12/17): AC (18/touch=15/flat=15): Saves (Fort=4/Ref=6/Will=-1): Initiative +5: Perception +1: Sense Motive -1
Baru hops up onto the alter for a better vantage point. He spots a cluster of undead just inside the obscuring cloud and can't resist the possibility to hit 3 at once. Through the shifting cloud he takes aim at the olive enemy (1 up, 1 right of Sele), and throws a bomb.
Baru throws a well placed bomb into olive, and with a nice display of flying bones, the echelon is no more.
Reflex sand:1d20 ⇒ 17 Pass for 2 dmg.
The Cathedral, round 2
Lynthara quickly moves along the wall, preparing a fiery spell?
Keera makes a move to the western keys. Climb: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
She climbs 5ft up, she'll get on top next round with another check.
Baru destroys operative Olive., sand passes the save.
Sele will chop down operative Sand.
*Black Echelon
1d3 ⇒ 1> Asami. Pink heads for Asami and slashes.
Sickle:1d20 ⇒ 13, it is parried and the favor returned. But Asami finds her rapier insufficient to kill the skeletal menace.
Orange moves a key step closer to Kera's approach. Acro:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12 A sudden *FUUUUU* as the key is pressed.
The other echelon up the pipes wiggle themselves firm to gain additional protection. AC 17
Roc attacks yellow some more.
Fly check, hover:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
The roc flies into the operative. Bump:1d3 ⇒ 1 Asami & Kenji
Male Tiefling (Grimspawn) Alchemist(Grenadier)/2: HP (12/17): AC (18/touch=15/flat=15): Saves (Fort=4/Ref=6/Will=-1): Initiative +5: Perception +1: Sense Motive -1
just checking.... doesn't aqua need a save also for 1/2 bomb damage, unless your same reflex roll is being used for both enemies.
With a charged punch, Kenji sends Pink to the ground.
Meanwhile, the organ has been silent for 2 rounds. :)
Round 2 recap:
Lynthara quickly moves along the wall, preparing a fiery spell?
Keera makes a move to the western keys. Climb: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
She climbs 5ft up, she'll get on top next round with another check.
Baru destroys operative Olive., sand passes the save.
Sele will chop down operative Sand.
*Black Echelon
1d3 ⇒ 1> Asami. Pink heads for Asami and slashes.
Sickle: 1d20 ⇒ 13, it is parried and the favor returned. But Asami finds her rapier insufficient to kill the skeletal menace.
Orange moves a key step closer to Kera's approach. Acro: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12 A sudden *FUUUUU* as the key is pressed.
The other echelon up the pipes wiggle themselves firm to gain additional protection. AC 17
Roc attacks yellow some more.
Fly check, hover: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12
The roc flies into the operative. Bump: 1d3 ⇒ 1
Asami jabs at Pink but misses
Kenji smacks down Pink.
Male Tiefling (Grimspawn) Alchemist(Grenadier)/2: HP (12/17): AC (18/touch=15/flat=15): Saves (Fort=4/Ref=6/Will=-1): Initiative +5: Perception +1: Sense Motive -1
Sky druid 6 | HP 45/45 AC 21 T 14 FF 18 | F +8 R +6 W +10 | Init +3; Darkvision 60 ft, Perception +16 Sylph Sobrino HP 22/22 AC 26 T 15 FF 22 | F +4 R +9 W +2 | Init +5; Low light vision, Perception +5
Keera continues her climb to the top
climb:1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
F***!!! Says as she hits the ground. The fog had made the keys slipperyOr whatever excuse you will believe
I think I´ve failed for more than 5 so Keera will fall, no damage due to constant feather fall
Alacorta:
Meanwhile Alacorta continues trying to bite the skeleton, and not crashing into it.
Lynthara has reached the keys bottom and starts climbing.
Baru takes a shot at Teal, but he hits an organ pipe instead.
Keera gracefully goes down instead of up.
Sele Hit?:1d100 ⇒ 23 successfully throws his chakram, teal comes falling down.
*Black Echelon
Alacorta hits Yellow for 3 more dmg, the operative still clinging to the pipe.
Asami & Kenji
all the rest of the echelon are up on the organ, right? That's what I understand, and going off of that info, Kenji's action will be as follows (if I'm wrong, correct me and I'll change my action):
Kenji runs to the organ and takes a running jump as high as he can and then starts climbing from there.
Male Tiefling (Grimspawn) Alchemist(Grenadier)/2: HP (12/17): AC (18/touch=15/flat=15): Saves (Fort=4/Ref=6/Will=-1): Initiative +5: Perception +1: Sense Motive -1
Baru catches a glimpse of green enemy through the fog and takes his best guess on placement of the shot.
I'll take Asami's turn.
Asami sheathes her rapier and tries to climb up the keys.
Suave climbing:1d20 ⇒ 12Suave climbing:1d20 ⇒ 7
She gets 5ft up, but at her 2nd move she loses grip but manages to remain hanging.
Round 2 recap:
Lynthara has reached the keys bottom and starts climbing.
Baru takes a shot at Teal, but he hits an organ pipe instead.
Keera gracefully goes down instead of up.
Sele Hit?: 1d100 ⇒ 23 successfully throws his chakram, teal comes falling down.
*Black Echelon
Alacorta hits Yellow for 3 more dmg, the operative still clinging to the pipe.
Kenji attempts a high jump, but he miscalculates a slight bit.
Asami makes 2 attempts at climbing, only the 1st succeeds.
The Cathedral, round 3. Lynthara
Baru takes a shot which hits, but deals no damage, it's stuck between cloth and ribs.
Keera
Sele throws with his chakram but the object comes bouncing back with hitting only the organ's pipe.
*Black ehcelon
Alacorta, Asami & Kenji
Sky druid 6 | HP 45/45 AC 21 T 14 FF 18 | F +8 R +6 W +10 | Init +3; Darkvision 60 ft, Perception +16 Sylph Sobrino HP 22/22 AC 26 T 15 FF 22 | F +4 R +9 W +2 | Init +5; Low light vision, Perception +5
Keera tries to climb again, hoping to not lose grip again.
Yes you can, since climbing goes at 1/4th of normal speed, you're using twice a movement to climb. Handwaving this to 10ft per successful check.
The Cathedral, round 3.
Lynthara tries twice, despite no progress she still holds on.
Baru takes a shot which hits, but deals no damage, it's stuck between cloth and ribs
Keera climbs up 10ft.
Sele gets his chakram back after it bounces off the organ pipe.
*Black Echelon:
Orange keeps his readied attack.
Alacorta, Asami & Kenji
F Kitsune Swashbuckler 2 | HP(22/22) Panache(4/4) | AC 16 / T 14 / FF 12 | F +2 / R +7 / W -1 | Perc +3 / Init +4 | BAB +2 / CMB +2 / CMD 16
Am I still suavely hanging on? How many more checks does Asami need?
"Huarrrggg..." Asami grunts most unladylike as she attempts to work her way up the organ. "Who builds oversized behemoth organs like this, anyway!?"
Climb:1d20 ⇒ 8
Hold on...something swashbucklery is about to happen
Derring-Do!:
Derring-Do (Ex) : At 1st level, a swashbuckler can spend 1 panache point when she makes an Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Fly, Ride, or Swim check to roll 1d6 and add the result to the check. She can do this after she makes the check but before the result is revealed. If the result of the d6 roll is a natural 6, she rolls another 1d6 and adds it to the check. She can continue to do this as long as she rolls natural 6s, up to a number of times equal to her Dexterity modifier (minimum 1).
Derring-Do:1d6 ⇒ 2
Drat! I'm too lazy to scroll up. Does a 10 make it? Ok, looks like Keera made it with a 10, so I will assume that JUST makes it.
The poor swashbuckler looks to be in quite a pickle as she hangs and struggles. But wait! With a most dashing twist and pull, Asami JUST manages to work her way over to the top of the keys!
Once up on the organ, the musically inclined kitsune draws her rapier while hopping on a key to pound out some awe-inspiringly beautiful music.
F Kitsune Swashbuckler 2 | HP(22/22) Panache(4/4) | AC 16 / T 14 / FF 12 | F +2 / R +7 / W -1 | Perc +3 / Init +4 | BAB +2 / CMB +2 / CMD 16
Acrobatics!:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Ok, so I decided to be uncharacteristically unlazy, and scrolled back to see what this organ thing is all about. It looks like DC5 acrobatics to play a white key, +2 DC for each additional key I want to play. So, at plus 9, I can comfortably play 3 keys each time (but why would I want to play more than one key again?). Black keys take some DC10 climbing. Asami will have none of that unless she has to.
With Asami starting her play and Kenji scaling the keys, Alacorta finishes off operative yellow.
Round 3 recap:
Lynthara tries twice, despite no progress she still holds on.
Baru takes a shot which hits, but deals no damage, it's stuck between cloth and ribs
Keera climbs up 10ft.
Sele gets his chakram back after it bounces off the organ pipe.
*Black Echelon:
Orange keeps his readied attack.
Alacorta finishes off yellow.
Kenji starts scaling the keys.
Asami has reached the keys and is starting to play.
The Cathedral, round 4.
The shades that are the Black Echelon notice the increasing threat at the keys.
Lynthara
Baru
Keera
Sele
Black Echelon
Alacorta, Asami & Kenji
F Kitsune Swashbuckler 2 | HP(22/22) Panache(4/4) | AC 16 / T 14 / FF 12 | F +2 / R +7 / W -1 | Perc +3 / Init +4 | BAB +2 / CMB +2 / CMD 16
A new check for every key. So, DC5, DC7 and DC9 to play three keys? Again, though, did I miss something? Why would I want to play multiple keys? I mean, other than showing off, and Asami would be all for that, too.
Then that's what she'd do right? To get the music, more than 1 key needs to be pressed. You press say 2 or 3 keys, you then get a DC10 perform check to play music, which resets the 15 rounds of silence needed for the armada to come onto Absalom's doorstep.
