GM Silbeg's PFS: Eyes of the Ten (Inactive)

Game Master GM..Silbeg

Searching the entry hut, Ralph can read the scrawls on the walls. The biggest and most obvious ones appear to be depictions of the holy symbol of Anghazan, and some of the are surrounded by glyphs meaning “The Change,” “The Blessing,” and “His Bride.”

Ralph detects no magic on the monkey’s paw statue, although his detect magic is not able to penetrate the outside of the monkey’s paw. Between understanding Abyssal and his study of other languages, he can get a sense of what the glyphs say. The giant statue seems to be split into two halves. The top half contains an enumerated list of all the ways in which monkeys are physically superior to humans. The bottom half just seems to contain random symbols in a grid, much like you would find in a word search. In fact, if you treat it like a word search, you can find many words in it.

Koraq meanwhile searches the library. The south wall of the library looks like it has been knocked down with tremendous force, and it has appeared to let in water that has dowsed most of the hut. The table is turned on its side and cracked, while most of the books have fallen off of their shelves open in the mud. Among the books that do remain, Koraq is easily able to find a journal, which contains a relatively recent entry that looks promising.

The Monkey’s Paw rises 60 feet up in the air.

As for a show of power swaying the cultists, you definitely get the feeling that if these cultists are similar to the ones that you found in the maze, that may work. However, if the information in that note that Koraq just found is true, there’s something weirder going on, and you’ll need to find a bit more information to be sure about anything.

"Well, this confirms it then. Angazhan cultists are involved, and Kayalla picked the worst possible consultant. These scrawls. 'The Change.' 'His Bride.' I don't like this. Is Hestram attempting to change Kayalla or someone else from this camp into an ape-woman and then take her for his bride? Or perhaps she is to be given to some tribal savage chief. A fate worse than death twice over in either case."

"The cultists we are dealing with here should be similar to the ones we found in the maze, Scotty. They may even have come from here, so we should probably expect our interactions with them to be much the same. Expect initial hostility, but feel free to speak with the survivors afterwards if you wish. However, if we want to forestall this 'change' into a 'bride', we probably do not have the luxury of time."

"I surmise that we need to investigate the secret chamber inside this edifice that the note describes. Fortunately, I have the means to quickly discover both the secret door and the means to open it. I have already ascertained that there is no magic affecting the outer surface of the edifice, but there may be mechanical traps. I ask that one of you check the edifice for traps whilst I discern the location of the secret door and how to open it. If I discover that the mechanism has been damaged to prevent pursuit, however, I hope one of you has an adamantine weapon."

Ralph will use spell study to cast detect secret doors, using the magical energy from the enlarge person and raiment of command prepared spells to fuel the casting.

The second round of concentration reveals the location and the third round of concentration reveals the mechanism or trigger to open it. With 120 rounds available to me, and with flight, I should be able to cover even this statue quite comprehensively.

While I do this, can one of you search for traps?

Scotty does his best to help with the search for traps.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (14) + 17 = 31
If someone has trapfinding consider that an aid roll.

Does Scotty's understanding of Polyglot help Ralph get any more info from the runes?

Indicating the heads on the monolith: "How many of those do you think we could carry as a show of power. I imagine that bringing those to the feet of these cultists could put us in a position of strength.

"I understand if you are concerned about my approach. Obviously, my preference is diplomacy and minimizing the loss of life on all sides. However, know that my first duty is to you (meaning the party] and to the Pathfinder Society. If we determine our best option is an all out assault, I will support you and protect you with all of the strength that I have been gifted. My first oath as Sword Arm of the Dawnflower is 'I will protect my allies with my life. They are my light and my srenghth, as I am their light and their strength. We rise together.'. If you ever doubt the truth of those words, I beg you let me know before we find ourselves in conflict."

"You misunderstand me, Scotty. I do not begrudge you your predilection for redemption in the name of your goddess. I was simply noting that if there we are pressed into a violent altercation from which some of the cultists emerge alive but unconscious, we may need to leave them as they are and press on till we find this 'bride', and leave the talking till later. I have full confidence that you will be judicious as to when to talk and when to act," Ralph replies with no hint of his usual faint sarcasm.

"As for the heads on the fingers of the monolith, how about I first discover what I can about this hidden door and how to open it. This might take awhile, so if you wish to break some of those heads off whilst I employ my spell, by all means."

GM, how big are the monkey-heads on the fingertips of the statue anyway?

"Oh gosh. This situation is too complicated from someone who live a simple life like me. Here what I am understanding and you will fill it ok?

That bring a second question. Why field agent never use it? We could save so much time!"

"How 'bout I just punch that thing enough times til a door shows up?", Koraq offers as he cracks his knuckles.

Depending on what the hardness is for my Exploit Weakness, fair chance I can punch a fair sized hole through it given a bit of time.

Taking 10 on knowledge engineering or architecture, can I tell whether having Koraq just punch through the edifice is likely to cause it to crumble in on itself?

If there is no danger, Ralph will indeed let Koraq cast "conjure door" on the edifice.

Detect secret doors will reveal a door in the base of the monkey's paw. The opening mechanism appears to be tracing a hand over the line of runes that spells out "TRANSFORMATION."

Scotty does not find the trap on the door.

No, since Ralph got a high enough linguistics check to make up for not knowing Polyglot.

The monkey-heads are about 8 feet tall each and about 4 feet in diameter.

That bring a second question. Why field agent never use it? We could save so much time!"

Yeah, remember when I said that there was a plot hole in Eyes of the Ten…

I'm pretty sure that the Hao Jin Tapestry (and particularly the scenario Fabric of Reality) were created so that they could use the Maze of the Open Road without spoiling it.

Using Koraq to punch a hole in the side won't cause it to collapse or anything like that, but you also don't need to.

GM, has anything pinged from detect evil? Still actively scanning.

No pinging from detect evil, but again, not penetrating the outside of the monkey's paw, so you don't know what's on the other side of the door.

"Well, shall we open this door the easy way or the hard way?"

"My vote is for the fun way. But first; Ralph, are your detection spells being blocked by something in the statue? What do you think about masking a hole in that protection and seeing what's inside?"

"An interesting choice of a word to trigger the opening mechanism. Transformation... I do believe I can guess what the purpose of the hidden chamber inside is for, and it is certainly something we should investigate."

"Scotty, I am only using a basic magic detection spell, which has only a limited capacity to bypass physical barriers. That may be all there is to it. In any event, if there is a trap on the other side, forcing our way through is just as likely to trigger it as opening the door that they have taken such pains to conceal."

"I think it should suffice if you all ready yourselves to attack anything that jumps out at us once I trigger the opening mechanism."

Ralph waits till the rest of the party is ready with readied attacks, then traces a hand over the line of runes that spells out "TRANSFORMATION".

What creature size does this door appear to be built for? The answer may change my readied actions.

Scotty up front, 20 feet from the door on the horse. Horse and I both take total defense. Readied actions to charge and attack if Scotty doesn't like what's inside.

The door is sized for a medium creature.

A gust of stale air escapes from the long-sealed chamber as the door sinks into the wall and slides to the side, revealing a low stone altar against the small room’s back wall. A rose stone gorilla idol with yellow jade tusks and garnet-red eyes sits atop the altar amid a pile of small gems and ancient gold coins.

Still actively scanning for evil. Anything?

You know... I have the picture of a thief trying to take those jewels.

"Hmm....judging by the air here, my speculation about this edifice's association with the transformation might have been mistaken. We can come back for the treasure later, and I have no doubt that the Society will still want to study this edifice and its hidden contents. But just in case there is something useful here that we can use..."

Ralph scans the altar and the items on it with detect magic.

Take 10 for knowledge arcana and spellcraft to identify magic items if any.

"If the intended victim of the transformation is not here, then perhaps there is a trail we can follow to whereever they have been taken. Are any of us skilled at tracking, or will I need to come up with a more creative solution?"

"I believe the note we found mentioned something about caves to the West. That should aid our tracking efforts."

"I'll just take the stuff; that won't be a burden with muscles like mine!", Koraq boasting his physique with a leaning arm flex.

Scotty finds that the entire tiny room detects as a strong evil. Ralph spots a magic aura on the idol on the altar. With his spellcraft, he can detect that the idol itself is not magical, but it is trapped with a feeblemind trap, set to go off on the first person to touch it.

"Koraq wait! The idol is trapped. It will subject you to a feeblemind spell if you touch it."

"I can attempt to dispel the trap, but I would rather make the attempt after we deal with the cultists. Alternatively, if one of us is to attempt to simply endure the spell, Scotty would be the best person for the job. But since we can simply deal with this trap later and none of this treasure is of immediate use to us, I say we should re-seal the chamber and leave it for now."

Can we just walk around this altar without touching it?

Anything stopping me from just using mage hand to pull it all out risk free? If not, I'll just do that.

There is nothing stopping you from using mage hand to move the idol. Where are you putting the idol?

Let's get everything else that isn't magic/evil out first. No preference on where we put the idol. Any thoughts?

We can leave it on the ground here and come back for it later. Alternatively, eitehr Scotty or Ralph could 'hold' it using mage hand and use it as a pseudo-weapon by dropping it on an enemy later.

I almost want to set off the trap because it will be REALLY fun to role play if I fail.

Scotty stands at the max range of his mage hand (30 ft) and pulls the items out bit by bit. Once it's verified that none of it is magic or evil, he'll pack it away in Merena's saddlebags unless someone else wants to carry it.

As Scotty pulls out the idol: "Hey Ralph, does this look like something we could smash up and turn some cultists?"

What is this thing anyway? Knowledge Religion get me anything?

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

Scotty can spend a couple minutes studying the religious iconography in the shrine as well as the other objects from the shrine. Gathering from the items, he can deduce that this seems to be a cult of Anghazan that seems to be dedicated to the idea that monkeys are inherently better than people, and seeks to turn all human-like creatures into monkeys. Your basic knowledge of all demon cults will tell you that this is a heretical splinter cult of Anghazan, and like all heretical splinter cults of a demon lord, probably has some very charismatic leader leading it.

I'll point out that you guys should also be figuring out how you're finding out where these cultists are now. It looks like it's been raining pretty heavily the past couple days, so tracking isn't going to be the easiest thing in the world.

Apologies, my focus has been a little more on running the pbp game day special lately. And work of course. Will try not to neglect this game.

"The note you found mentioned caves to the West. We should start by trying to find tracks leading in that direction. If that endeavor proves fruitless, then I shall cast a spell to locate Kyalla. My guess is that if anyone from this camp was captured alive, it would be her."

Spell study will allow me to cast Locate Creature. Since I saw Kyalla's portrait, I should be able to designate her as the subject of the spell. But I would prefer that we first attempt to track her.

"Yeah, findin' people ain't my specialty, but I some common sense in these things.", Koraq willing to lead the way unless someone with actual training decides to step in.

Survival to track: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

I have some training but not that much.

1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Those rolls aren't going to get you anywhere near Kyalla. You're not even sure how to start.

"Help me find something that belonged to a cultist or what's left of their tracks."

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (19) + 17 = 36

Scotty calls Merena over to whatever he is able to find with that.

"Merena, I need you to get a good whiff of whatever these guys smell like and follow that smell. We're counting on you."

Merena has scent and the track trick. Putting both to work. She takes 10 to aid Scotty with perception.

Scotty's Perception to follow tracks: 1d20 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 17 + 2 = 36

Side note, what are we doing with this idol? Did the magic trap follow it out of the shrine? Was anything we took out magic/evil?

"Sure, let the horse lead the way.", Koraq pouts.

I have a backup plan, but let's see if Scotty gets us there.

"I just hope that for some reason, we fight against a protean in particulary a Naunet. I really don't know why."

For what the letter said, the other fanatic are in the west.

With the help of Merena, Scotty is able to find enough tracks to get started on the trip.

As usual, the trip through the Mwangi Expanse is miserable. The weather is hot enough to be annoying, even if it isn't hot enough to cause problems. Everything is wet from recent rain, making many walking areas muddy. Those who use the ground will find their feet caked in mud by the end of the hike. This is not to mention the tons of bugs. They fly around, constantly nipping on the fresh blood that has made itself available. Fortunately, being experienced Pathfinders with some training in survival skills, you manage to avoid things that could seriously injure you or cause lasting damage. (I'd imagine Géatan is taking the lead here, since he is actually trained in Survival.)

After about an hour's worth of travel, Scotty successfully leads you to a cliff-face. Vines hang from a ledge 50 feet up the cliff face and hang down to the ground. From behind the vines, large amounts of whooping sounds are heard.

"Don't take it personally Koraq. Merena is actually smarter than several Pathfinders I've worked with. (I wish I was making that up...)"

Can you be more specific with the layout of this cliff? Is there a space between the vines and the cliff? Is that where the whooping is coming from?

There is a space between the vines and the cliff, but it doesn't look like much. It would be much more likely that there was some sort of cave entrance behind the vines.

I wouldn't overthink it too much - there's a curtain of vines blocking a cave entrance. The only reason why I'm not just saying you guys go through the caves is to give you a chance to scout/buff.

"Perhaps I should take a look first."

Ralph will activate his ring of invisibility again, then fly up to the cave entrance so he can see whether there is anything waiting for the party inside.

"I just hope that for some reason, we fight against a protean in particulary a Naunet. I really don't know why."

For what the letter said, the other fanatic are in the west.

Geatan, I need you to roll your healing in that other game.

Anything from detect evil? Might be easier to assume I'm always checking unless I'm in the middle of doing something else that requires my concentration.

Map is updated - I realize that right now some of you are not that close to the cave entrance - I just put you there so you would fit on the map.

Ralph peaks in and sees that the inside cave is covered with two things - vines and ape-men. Vines are growing all over the ceiling, and enough of them drop down that it looks like creatures could easily swing from them. The vines seem to be coming out of the ceiling at various different points. They do not appear to be obviously dangerous.

What does appear to be obviously dangerous, on the other hand, are the half-ape half-human creatures that are around. They stand hunched-over, with their hands dragging on the ground. Most of them are walking around, eating, drinking, and whooping loudly, and none seem to be focused in Ralph's direction. These ape-men do not have any gear besides the shortspear they're carrying, except for the one that seems to be wearing a strangely nice-looking green jeweled bracelet.

Ralph will fly back to the rest of the party to report his observations.

I don't recall us learning about any special green bracelet. Did the portrait of Kyalla show her with a similar jewelled bracelet?

"let's me drink some antiplague and antitoxin. This probably innocent victims of a curse."

-Posted with Wayfinder

Scotty, go talk to them. If they are attacking... they clusted toward you. They will in fireball formation.

I like how I've gone from holy warrior and diplomat to fireball bait. The glamorous life of a pathfinder...

GM, is any of their whooping recognizable as language? Do I get anything from detect evil? Ralph, will you please check for magic?

"Do we have any reason to disturb these creatures? Unless they possess something we need or stand in our way, I see no reason to bother with them. Let us just be on our way."

"I have no doubt that they will attack us once we intrude on their territory. These are, I presume, the droids cultists we're looking for. My only concern is whether or not I should be careful of harming the one with the green bracelet."

Ralph will cast a detect magic spell, then fly back to the cave whilst concentrating quietly on the spell, and scan the entrance and the cultists nearest to the entrance with the detect magic spell. He will especially try to note if the green bracelet is magical.

GM: Does the one wearing the green bracelet bear any resemblance to Kyalla? To begin with, is that ape-person male or female?

The one with the green bracelet does not bear any resemblance to the picture of Kyalla you've seen. She is female. While you have not seen the green bracelet before, it seems like it would fit with the other belongings she has.

Detect evil gives off a slight evil ping on the cultists, but also Ralph is the only one that has gone up all the way. The vines don't stop the detect evil, but this is assuming that you can only pierce about 20 ft into the chamber. You can get closer, but I'll need an invisibility or a stealth roll.

"It is hard to ascertain whether there is anything special about that ape-woman wearing the green bracelet, but I would advise against killing her just in case. I would hate to think of the paperwork required for reporting an accidental killing of a member of the Decemvirate."

"This will make it harder to fireball them collectively."

GM, I would like to identify the ape men with a knowledge roll. First of all, I am interested in whether they have any special senses.I am also interested in knowing whether any of the vines or anything else in the cave I saw appeared to be dangerous and have special senses. Taking 10 on those knowledge checks, 30 if arcana and 23 if anything else.

I would also like to know if it is possible to fly into the cave above the heads of the ape-men but below the vines so I don't disturb them.