GM Fuzzfoot's S01-41 The Devil We Know, Part III - Crypt of Fools (Standard PFS) Tier 1-7/Subtier 1-2 (Inactive)

Game Master PJP

"No, but I can't imagine finding one should be too hard in Cassomir," Nikolai says, asking around about where to find musical instruments and purchasing a wooden flute.

Looks like a portable musical instrument is 5gp, so I'll mark that off my list.

"I can sing. I hope that's good enough."

Perform(Sing): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Sheela adds melody to a tale of four adventurers lost in a neverending forest and their attempts to get through. Eventually one of them summons a fire elemental and burns his way through the glade.

As Sheela sings, Masa feels invigorated and ready to strike down the foes of the Society.

"That is a brilliant melody, Sheela. If it doesn't work, perhaps try singing the notes on the painting?" he says reticently, unwilling to critique something so beautiful.

Alaneo mumbles in a corner, enjoying the music as well.

"Fire is overrated."

The singing is lovely, but appears to have no effect. You may buy a flute, of course, but as you head outside, you do notice a musician or two nearby.

"Hmpf. I haven't felt this rejected since that beauty pageant a few weeks ago. Then again I wasn't trying to charm a statue."

Sheela notices the musicians nearby.

"Goodness me, do any of you play the flute? I need you to play your finest performance in front of this statue. I'll pay, of course."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

You get a volunteer who is happy to play for a couple of silver. "Do you have a favorite ballad in mind?"

"Play something about the history of Taldan. Maybe an old anthem?"

"Yes, that one", Bernard show him the song that must be reproduced with the flute.

Masa sighs. "Try the notes on this painting." he says as he holds up the Crazed Painter's illustration.

Alaneo shows the painting to the flute player, designating the notes written on it.

"Can you play THESE notes? Or is there a popular song to play about Aroden soothing children during a punishment made by Derros on Taldan? I know it sounds crazy. Still. You know such a song?"

The musician plays the notes shown in the painting, and a secret compartment below the "I" pops open. The musician looks at you quizzically.

Inside, a piece of parchment awaits with a symbol drawn on it.
Parchment

Sheela claps along with the flute, and hums in unison.

Perform(Sing): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
"Well, that was lovely!" She hands the musician five silver pieces. "I'd love to hear from you again someday. Visit the Kolphan estate in a few days- Grandmama would love to hear from you. And me as well!" She winks at him.

"Maybe this is one of the documents we need to find the Crypt of Fools." Sheela looks at the page.

"Well, unless anyone has other ideas, let's look for that door in Quickfall Abbey. Maybe we can push it down and see what's behind it."

"If all we have to do is brandish a holy symbol, I can buy one and raise it in front of the statue."

Whichever one is closer, GM!

I think we just heard this sound after successfully solving the puzzle :D

"Maybe we have to find others documents and superpose them. The entire thing will make sense."

"Both of you are right", Bernard nods to Alaneo and Sheela.

"We need to gather the clues to solve this puzzle. Let's follow the suggestion of the lady Sheela and buy a holy symbol. Then we go to the Quickfall Abbey", the halfling says to the others, as he starts to walk fast.

I'm back, guys. :)

You are able to buy a holy symbol easy enough, and make your way to the Quickfall Abbey.

Masa investigates the Quickfall Abbey for anything that resembles the third painting. "Spread out and try to find the door with the urns nearby." he tells the Pathfinders.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 2
"Oh, I think I found it. Kind of stinks."

"Oh, it's the lavatory. Excuse me, ma'am!" Sheela slams the door shut.

Sheela will take 20 for a 20 total

Alaneo tries to help Masa the best he can to find the door represented in the painting.

Perception (aid): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

As the group waits for a local tour guide to appear, Masa turns to Sheela and Alaneo. "Hmm... I wonder if they have any tapestries. A good tapestry is very appealing on rough hewn stone walls." Masa comments as he runs his hands over the exterior of the building.

Sorry - got delayed...

You find that the northeastern retaining wall that shores up some of the ruined towers of the ancient Quickfall Abbey seems to be the location that the painting depicts. You find another letter “I” symbol in the middle of uninterrupted smooth stone wall where the door in the painting should have been.

"Is this the wall? Let's push it! I bet there's a door!"

Str Check (Assist): 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3

"Well, one of you strong, burly men handle it."
Sheela double checks the wall to look for a hidden door.
Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 18

You do not see a secret door.

Masa looks at the painting and shows it to the group. "Perhaps we should do what they are doing in the picture to the door?" he remarks to the collected Pathfinders.

"Oh. Guess I'm misremembering the painting. I'll look for some vases to smash. Someone else find that door."

@Sheela, we already found it:

You find another letter “I” symbol in the middle of uninterrupted smooth stone wall where the door in the painting should have been.

"You're right, Masa."

Bernard begins to throw punches with his cestus where they found the letter "I" marked on the wall, until destroys the "I" area.

SUPER dmg: 1d3 ⇒ 3
AMAZING dmg: 1d3 ⇒ 3
INCREDIBLE dmg: 1d3 ⇒ 3
POWERFUL dmg: 1d3 ⇒ 1
DEVASTATING dmg: 1d3 ⇒ 2

"Make some room, Bernard," Nikolai says, cracking his knuckles. "Let me show you how it's done." Nikolai starts kicking the wall around the area they suspect the door is at, sending kick after devastating kick into the wall.

I'll use Power Attack to increase my damage to 1d6+5. Assuming it's a regular stone door with a hardness of 8, fully half of my kicks won't do any damage, but the other half will. I can roll, if you like, but I feel like that's just going through the motions. We don't seem to be pressed for time, so either the strikes will break through, or we're barking up the wrong tree.

Bernard keeps smacking it, but to no avail. Then Nik steps up and gives it a good, swift kick and a secret compartment pops open.

Another parchment is found.

"Alright. That's two. The first painting shows the man brandishing a holy symbol, right? Let's buy one and brandish it near the statue. Oh. Who's your favorite god?" She smiles and heads off to buy a holy symbol and brandish it near the statue.

"Chaldira, for sure", Bernard answered her.

"If it doesn't work... Maybe we should try to look any hidden passages inside the prison. I don't know...", he shrugs.

"Alright then. We'll describe your painting. And then we'd love to hear more about your master."

[Perception]1d20

"Huh. My magic didn't do much to him. Maybe the prison has some way to nullify that. Or, maybe his mind is already lost..."

Sheela inspects the statue. "Typical Taldan work. Beautiful, yet uncaring. If only her heart shone like her beauty...Hey, do you see that?" She points at the statue's left foot. "The letter I. Some kind of signature?"

---

Sheela describes the statue to the prisoner. "Gold, tall, beautiful. Long flowing dress with a moon motif. An uncaring look in her eye as she crushes some scales. Oh! And her left foot had an 'I' inscribed on it- some kind of signature."

Something tell me that we don't have to brandish a holy symbol near the statue... :D

"Hey!" - Bernard calls for Sheela's attention - "you found an 'I' at the left foot of this statue, remember? Maybe if we inspect it better..."

The halfling looks for any hidden compartments in the left foot of the statue.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Gives enough work be reading and rereading all posts, buddies... :P

Is it possible to examine the workings of these hidden compartments, DM?

@Nik - yes, once they are opened, you could spend some time examining how they worked.

@Bernard - You examine the status more carefully, but do not find any hidden compartments.

No reason why I can't take 20, so how does a Perception 23 sound?

Sheela purchases a symbol of Chaldira and then positions herself where the man was in the painting.

"By the powers vested in Chaldira, reveal your secrets to me, oh bizarre and arcane trickery!" She giggles.

Sheela waves her holy symbol, but nothing happens.

"Huh. The other two times we just did what the man in the painting did." Sheela returns to the statue, stumped. "You guys really like her foot, huh?" She raises one of her eyebrows, curious. "You didn't look like the type, frankly!" She bursts into laughter before getting a hold of herself.

"Oh yeah, that's where I found the I symbol. See anything else, there?"

"Oh wait. He was bursting with radiant energy, right? Maybe I can hire an acolyte of Chaldira and ask him to channel energy where the man stood in the painting."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20
Sheela runs off to find someone who can channel like the man did in the painting and hire him to do so.

That works, and upon doing so, a secret compartment pops open.

Parchment

Actually, touching the foot with the holy symbol would have done it.

:D Good Job, Sheela!

Happy with the group's deductive skills, Masa looks over the three parchments. "What do you think these symbols mean? Secret language made up of three characters?" he says as he scans them as the.

He sets them down next to the map as the group looks over them, letting the smarter ones like Sheela have a go.

Good job Sheela! I'm back and catching up!

Alaneo looks at the parchments and thinks about it. "I don't know Masa. Anyone is skilled in interpreting signs and codes?"

Looking longer at it provides the undine a headache, though. However, he vaguely suggests "Maybe it is a plan made in three parts. If we superpose the parchments, we may see something else?"

Hopefully that's all the puzzle solving we need...please say a band of bloodthirsty goblins erupt from the ground...

"Thank you kind sir! I'll make sure to tithe a little more next time!" She waves the priest away and heads back to the party.

"I'm no codebreaker, but yeah! Maybe we can stack them on top of each other and shine a bright light on them."

"Well done, buddies!", Bernard greets everybody.

The halfling starts to study the drawings they found.

@GM Fuzzfoot any check that we can make to help? Any hint? :P

"Uh...maybe they refer to properties the Ismaco Family worked on? Who has a map of the city?"

"That's got to be it, Sheela, look!", Nikolai exclaims when the map is unfurled. "That parchment we got from the statue just now - it's a match to the layout of Pharasma's Pulpit. Quickfall Abbey's parchment looks like how the Harbor Watch towers are placed, and the one from the Hall of Records mirrors the arrangement of towers around the Admiralty Citadel." His excitement is quite visible - his voice has raised as he starts piecing together the cryptic clues provided. "And that means that..."

Here he trails off. "Um...what does that mean, exactly?"

"I'm sure that you are on to something." Masa insists as he puts the clues next to the respective spaces on the map. "They form a triangle. Is there a place named after a triangle? The Triangle Alley? No, that's probably not it." he reasons.

It sounds like you have it, or are trying not to jump right to it, but then I just realized that the map of the city I posted actually labeled the entrance to the Crypt of Fools for you as well! Ooops....So, let's move forward.

After some time, you realize that the center of the triangle seems likely to be the spot to search for the entrance.

You travel to that section of the city and begin your search.

Nik discovers an old manor that has the telltale "I" embossed in a brick on an outer wall. After some inspection, Bernard discovers that there is a loose brick near that "I" that could be pushed in.

"Mm, good job everyone. Let's go down there! Nik? Would you be so kind?" asks Alaneo, ready to follow however wants to go first once the passage is opened.