GM Sior's Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment (PFS #3-21, Table 2) (Inactive)

Game Master Sior

Dotting time!

Please post character introductions as you await your summons in the Grand Lodge in Absalom.

dot dot dot

Dot

Dot. I hope it works this time

Dot.

Tall even by the standards of his large race, the seven-foot serpent warrior towers over most others. His armor, made of interlocking metal plates, resembles a manufactured version of his own tough scales. He carries no shield, and the only weapons visible are the bow slung across his back and a well-made sword on his belt. A holy symbol made of iron clinks softly against his armor, displayed proudly on his chest so as to leave no doubt in anyone's mind about who his patron is and in whose name he acts. The medallion bears the sword-and-sunburst of Iomedae.

Thank the Lady this isn't in another tavern, Silas thinks to himself as he waits in the Grand Lodge with the others. His last two missions both had him report to a tavern to await further instructions. Silas hates taverns.

Soran walks into the waiting room, looking like he just came from the woods. His boots are still splattered with mud, and his blackened leather tunic has several stains that could be blood, though it's hard to tell crimson against black.

He takes a quick look around, and then nonchalantly leans against the wall, taking a piece of dried meat out of a belt pouch.

As he chews silently, it's easy to see he's comfortable and relaxed in waiting situations like this, though his eyes never seem to relax. They remain sharp, attentive, like he's expecting an attack to jump out from behind a vase, or from the drapes.

His features are sharp, his black hair and goatee well trimmed. He looks Chelaxian, but perhaps there is some Varisian in the mix. He stands about 6'1", and looks to weigh about 225 lbs, though there isn't an inch of fat on him.

By the gods, can't I catch a damn break? I just got done hunting down that fugitive for the town guard, and now the pathfinders need me for an assignment?

He looks around at those gathered in the waiting room with him, and mentally shakes his head.

Eh...money's money, and this group looks like they'll need my kind of help... Though it appears they have plenty of fighting power already if we run into any hostile inhabitants.

He pushes himself off of the wall, chewing and swallowing the last bit of his snack before speaking.
Soran Fletcher, at your service. Fugitive tracker and bowman for the town guard, and fellow Pathfinder. I assume we're all here because of the summons for the new assignment?

Dario wanders into the room, reading a book from the library in one hand. He glances up and his eyes widen at the sight of Silas. "Oh my." His eyes slide down to the symbol of Iomedae and the half-elf breathes as sigh of relief. He notices Soran now too.

"Oh, you startled me there. I was just reading the latest research from Dr. Hopwell on the religious songs of Melani. Pleased to met both of you. I'm Dr. Dario Westone, a religious scholar and Pathfinder. I suppose you received a summons too?"

The Professor has gray hair though you believe he has quite the energy about him, standing about 5’8” and 135 pounds. He Is dressed in brown breeches and a leather jacket with a sandy colored shirt. He moves with a natural grace and his smile is easily disarming. You see a rapier hanging from his hip.

The dwarf, despite his heavy-looking armor and gigantic hammer, has not made a sound since he sat down and assumed a meditative position. His eyes flutter open at the voices, and when they settle he introduces himself. "Name's Golthune. I'm also a religious man, an' a Pathfinder, or I suppose I wouldn't be here. I'm also a militant priest of the Lord of Peace, doesn't that seem strange to ye?" Golthune smiles to himself and closes his eyes again, but he's still listening. "I reckon I'll know a lot 'bout where we're goin', worshipper o' Korada an' all that."

Yep - A Warpriest of Korada. Pretty strange. Just out of curiosity, how does this scenario go about worshippers of Korada, anyway?

Soran speaks to the dwarf as he eyes the armor meditative stance.
Do you know something of our mission? All I received was a missive to report here for a new assignment. Can't say that I've ever heard of Korada. I'm not exactly the religious type, if I'm being honest.

"Well, it's like Iomedae said in Act Ten." Silas's forked tongue puts a slight emphasis on every 's'. "'If there is to be peace in this city, someone must keep it.' Nothing wrong with that. I'm Silas, by the way."

Yea, I like using those kinds of builds too-- the kind that make people go 'Huh. That's interesting.' Silas's build is pretty straightforward, so hopefully his personality will make him distinctive.

"Korada, Empyreal Lord of Peace and Forgiveness. Worshipers tend to sit in silence, contemplating existence and their role in life." The half-elf suddenly closes his book, finding this religious discussion far more interesting.

"Golthune, I've never met a militant priest of Korada, and certainly would not think of a dwarf taking that role. How interesting. Korada blesses you for destroying his enemies?" The Professor pulls out a journal from his pack and begins to scribble notes.

"Korada, as well as many of his wiser worshippers, in't no fool. He knows conflict is inevitable, but it is best to keep it to a minimum. Knowin' no other life, I chose to fight in his service, as little as possible. Unfortunately, I have no gifts of diplomacy or negotiation, so this is what I do." Golthune sighs. He stills doesn't remember the chain of events that drew him to the Empyreal Lord.

"This is why I am trained in several styles of nonlethal combat and spare the lives of living things whenever possible. Many fiends are, of course, exempt. If Korada was and wanted his loyal follower to be a pacifist, I'm sure we'd know by now."

To Soran, Golthune says without turning, "Don't you remember? The strange little man said a temple of Korada was involved in the mission."

Soran shrugs at the dwarf.
I had just stepped into the tavern after helping the guard hunt down a fugitive when the man came in. I missed everything but the tail end. The money for Pathfinder assignments is good, so I signed up.

He pulls out another piece of meat and takes a bite before speaking again.
I figured my bow would be of use and I could use a bit more coin.

Lol I just realized the closest thing we have to an arcane caster is a bard, and the closest we have to a divine caster is a warpriest. Not a lot of magic in this party.

Makes me glad I'm an archer. One less person to need regular healing.

A harried-looking Aasimar in a fine chain shirt with a Longspear on his back strides into the room. "Sorry I'm la--oh. I mean, uh, hi, I'm Arion." He looks around for a chair, moves to sit down, pauses, looks at everyone else, then stands up straight and walks to the edge of the room. "So uh, do you guys know anything about where we're going today?"

Haven't finished working out the crunch, but going for some kind of Reach combat Shaman at the moment. I passed on Channel Energy and went for a debuff instead. Should be able to tap everyone's CLW wands for them though.

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Heh, and my original thought for this game was my Oracle/Sorcerer. I think we'll be fine though. Lots of CLW users.

Oracle/sorcerer, huh? Going for the late-entry mystic theurge, or just dipping?

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Dipping Winter Oracle then going Marid Sorcerer for a Cold Mage. Looking forward to the Cold Fireballs that entangle and slow. Plus, he's a Sczarni swindler. But with lower levels and the theme of exploring a lost temple, it's right up the Professor's alley.

Oh nice. Yea I almost brought my warpriest of Norgorber, but he'd be an ill fit for this scenario. Plus we've already got one strange-choice-of-a-god warpriest in the party, no need for a second haha.

"Exploring an abandoned temple, I think. We're still waiting for the venture-captain though, haven't gotten any more details than that."

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"A temple! I wonder what kinds of spirits we might find hanging about..."

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None, hopefully... Soran pipes up. It'll be bad enough if we have to do battle with mortal enemies... Spirits would be a lot harder to put down. That is, if they are hostile anyway.

The man idly runs his fingers along the unstrung bow on his back while he ponders.
If it's an abandoned temple, then likely we'll only find wild beasts that have moved in.

"An abandoned temple? Ah, I see why I was called upon. I'm a religious scholar, you see. I'm hoping to compile my writings into a series of books about the religions of Golarion. I study their temples, practices, sacrifices, religious debates, even their clothing."

If everyone is okay, we can start early since everyone has checked in.

Victory in the Ruby Phoenix Tournament earned the Pathfinder Society a pick of the legendary treasures of the Tian sorceress Hao Jin, and the Decemvirate knew just what item to select: a frayed and dirty tapestry hidden deep in Hao Jin’s vault. This unassuming tapestry acts as a doorway to another dimension in which Hao Jin stored her most massive items, including entire buildings, battlefields, and the ruins of ancient civilizations. The Pathfinder Society is now methodically exploring and cataloging the diverse locales tucked within this extradimensional space.

Deep beneath Absalom’s Grand Lodge, the Pathfinder Society’s Master of Spells, Aram Zey, enters the room and escorts you to another chamber. There, he gestures at the tapestry hung on the wall, surrounded by ladders and scaffolds. Scholars and diviners scurry around the tapestry, analyzing its abstract patterns and comparing insights.

Zey snaps his finger to quiet the room and speaks rapidly. “The aasimar nation of Tianjing contains a handful of temples to Korada, Empyreal Lord of forgiveness and foresight. The Pathfinder Society is interested in exploring these holy sites, but the aasimar disciples in Tianjing are reluctant to grant the Pathfinder Society full access to their faith’s secrets. Fortunately, the custodian council of Tianjing gifted one such temple to Hao Jin centuries ago. This temple — the Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment — now sits vacant within the museum demiplane of the Hao Jin Tapestry. We need well-trained explorers to survey the isolated and abandoned site.

“We will transport you to the Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment within the Hao Jin Tapestry and provide you with a small cache of supplies. We need a complete report on the temple with a focus on four key locations. First, locate the temple’s meditation room, find evidence of any meditative techniques described there, and record any effects of performing those techniques. Second, prepare a comprehensive catalog of all works in the temple library. Third, find the temple gardens and draft a detailed plan of the garden’s layout. Finally, enter the temple’s crypt and take rubbings of the carvings on each sarcophagus.

“You will enter the tapestry within the hour. Any questions?”

"Ah, once more into the tapestry, eh? Well, an ancient temple is enough to interest me. Are we sure it's abandoned? The last place in the tapestry I went was teeming with Aspis. Do you think they might be interested in this place too?"

"While we do believe the Aspis has some means of entering the Tapestry, the odds of them finding this particular place are slim even by the best projections."

A man wearing a large hat and a long thick leather coat stands from the corner. I believe I have all that I need The man says as he taps his double-barreled pistol hanging from a dark leather holster at his side. I am not keen on traveling to another plane as I am exploring crypts and tombs but I will make due.

Soran begins stringing his bow while he speaks.
What kind of supplies are you giving us? I believe I have all I need, personally.

With the question on supplies, Aram Zey gives you plenty of food, water, ink, charcoal, parchment, rice paper, and measuring twine. "This should be enough to do your findings. We don't presume to know what weapons, armours, or special tools you'd desire, so that is up to you."

"Aspis, wild animals, who knows what kinds of things may have moved into that temple. Me, I hope it's abandoned after all and this'll be quick and easy. But whatever might be in there, you can count on us. I'll make sure everyone gets through the tapestry. Where is it?"

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Soran finishes stringing his bow and gives it a couple of test pulls before speaking.
I am ready to leave. Please, take us to the tapestry when the others are as well, and we'll leave as soon as possible.

"I am ready whenever. I believe I have all the supplies I should need." Golthune says, rising and hanging his hammer over his back.

Dario ducks out quickly and returns in half an hour with a few more supplies. "Ok, I'm ready for whereever this tapestry will drop us."

Bought Holy Water and Alchemist Fire.

With the question posed as to where it is, Aram Zey points to some scaffolding before the tapestry. "The location is marked on the tapestry. All you have to do is touch the point with your finger of choice and I will do the rest."

Quint moves forward fistbumping the tapestry.

Soran tilts his head at the supply list, and then speaks to Aram.
How will we return when finished with our task? Is there anyone on the other side to return us?

Due to the nature of the quest, and probably not being able to return to a place and resupply if needed, I purchased another 40 arrows.

Aram Zey sighs and explains as a teacher would to a child who forgot his homework. “A creature entering the tapestry leaves a planar eddy in its wake. It looks like a ball of light about two feet across. The planar eddy is visible and usable only by that creature as long as it remains alive. Enter your planar eddy to return here.”

Sounds easy enough. In that case, I'm fully ready.

He touches the tapestry in the indicated spot with one index finger.

Dario nods. "Ready. Let's see this temple."

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You're only as strong as your weakest member. A wise leader shores up the weak end rather than rely on the strong. Silas waits for the others to touch the tapestry, and, if everything happens as expected, he too touches the indicated point.

With everyone expressing readiness, Aram Zay leads you one by one to the spot designated on the scaffold and instructs you to place your fingers upon a symbol of three linked circles the tapestry’s weave. The Master of Spells utters a trigger word and the one touching the tapestry disappears from the Material Plane, whisked into Hao Jin’s demiplane.

You arrive in the Hao Jin Tapestry instantaneously, finding yourselves standing atop a forested hill in front of a large, wide building of burnished white stone. The sky above is bright and the air smells clean and fresh. Behind each of you floats a 2-foot-diameter sphere of pulsing blue light, each visible only to the one whose journey to the tapestry created it.

The Temple of Empyreal Enlightenment itself is a wide structure atop a forested hill. The graceful building has no sharp corners; the white marble walls are carved with soft, round edges. The edifice appears well-scrubbed, but despite this obvious care black flecks of mold cover its surface. A gravel path leads into an airy courtyard and up to a pair of large wooden double doors. The doors are carved with an image of four spheres resting inside an open lotus flower.

Map linked at the top of the page

Soren pulls an arrow from his quiver and aligns it with his bowstring, and then moves to inspect the door for any kind of traps or malicious intents. His movements are silent, and graceful.
Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
Percpetion: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

He looks around, taking account of the others. "Everyone here? Good."

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

"Guessing that's the place," he says, looking at the temple. "Let's go check it out."

Soran closes in on the main doors and finds nothing of ill intent about them. In the small courtyard preceeding them, he sees two other means of entry as well: a pair of double doors and a single door.

I will cover anything that comes from behind us. Quint says as he draws his double barreled pistol loading in two normal bullets with gunpowder.

Well, which door first?

As the other Pathfinders begin to move, Arion shakes himself out of some kind of reverie and rushes to catch up with them. He hesitantly pokes the tapestry when he reaches it.

--

What a delightful place! Let's go through the front door, shall we? He walks up to the main door, says Politely now! and raps on it with his knuckles.

Soren backs away, his bow trained on the door as he lets the other man open it.
Ready Action to fire at anything that comes out.

The Professor approaches the double doors at the front of the temple. He glances down for any sign of someone being here recently and then checks the door. "You never know with these temples. People don't like strangers coming in to disturb them or the dead if they are interred here too."

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Dot time!

How soon will we be starting up? Curious if I have time to respec first.

Go for it. We will start on the 26th.

dotting

Dot

For some reason paizo isn't letting me dot gameplay. It keeps giving me the "you've posted two posts as this alias, do you want to change your name" text. I'll keep trying.

For some reason paizo isn't letting me dot gameplay. It keeps giving me the "you've posted two posts as this alias, do you want to change your name" text. I'll keep trying.

I've had that experience to. The solution I've found is to use more characters in the message than just "."

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Dot!

I'm struggling to understand exactly what a shaman is supposed to *do* at level 1.

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Cool characters guys. Silas, did you get the race option as a boon?

I'm pretty sure Nagaji are legal this season

Yea nagaji are legal now. Aasimars and tieflings aren't-- any aasimar or tiefling character has to have had 1 xp by August 1 of last year to be legal, if I remember right.

I believe it was August 14, 2014. May be mistaken.

Incidentally, kitsune are now legal, too. Glad I have my lvl 10 one from before they were cool =P

I'll be out of pocket some this Thursday-Monday. I should be able to post 1/day still but probably not much more than that. We'll see. Shouldn't matter here since we're not starting until Monday anyway.

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GM-- Yea I kinda feel bad for anyone who might've had a kitsune, nagaji, or wayang race boon. Cause I'm sure those weren't easy to come by, and it's like "great now everyone has this" haha

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Ah, right. I'm a core race kinda guy, so I forget PFS allows other races during creation.

Heh, I almost never use core races if I don't have to. My warpriest is my only PFS character out of 5 that has a core race.

GM-- Yea I kinda feel bad for anyone who might've had a kitsune, nagaji, or wayang race boon. Cause I'm sure those weren't easy to come by, and it's like "great now everyone has this" haha

I don't actually think they were that rare. Hell, it seemed to me here that everyone was tripping over them everywhere.

I'm a core race kinda guy, as well, but I do like the Advanced Race Guide options. That said, I have one kitsune and one tiefling. The rest are all core races.

Here's a question for you guys.

Would a dip into zen archer monk be worth it for this guy? Or would it take too much away from the build to worry about?

I think it kinda depends on where you're going with the character. If you're trying to make one that's really good at archery, a dip would probably be worth it. If you're trying to make one that can kill things effectively, you'd be better off sticking with slayer (dipping would delay your Studied Target progression and stuff).

My idea of the best way to represent a hits-every-time, multi-Attack guy like Legolas includes levels in Zen Archer. And probably Slayer too. 4 levels gets you up to 3 attacks with your main BAB by spending a Ki point. A Rapid Shot equivalent class feature and bonus feats out the wazoo are pretty great.

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I'll be out of pocket some this Thursday-Monday. I should be able to post 1/day still but probably not much more than that. We'll see. Shouldn't matter here since we're not starting until Monday anyway.

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As previously noted, I probably still will not be able to post until Monday.

No worries there. I figured we could get much of the questioning and such out of the way. If there are any questions unanswered before your return, feel free to ask them then. Don't worry, they won't go through the portal without ye =)

Today did not go as I expected. I will have a post up in the morning. My apologies.

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No worries.

Sior, I noticed we both signed up for the Master of the Fallen Fortress game by Shifty. I tentavely signed up with this character, but I'm not sure that we'll be done with this scenario by then. Do you think we'll have this wrapped up by the 11th?

If not, I'll just make another character. I'm just curious what you think, especially since your running this game.

:)

I'm signed up for that one also (with Fingalad). :-)

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I don't think so. It is possible, but it would require a lot of grinding. Thankfully, there's really only two combats, the rest if just roleplaying, skill checks, and saying "Okay, we spend x amount of time to do the thing". I'll try not o get too involved with the NPCs beyond the mealtime.

Don't speed it up or skimp on the roleplay!

If we aren't done then I'll either make a new character for that or drop out. I was actually going to sign up with my barbarian for it but he got into an emerald spire game.

I actually think I would like to make an abyssal bloodline sorcerer or bloodrager anyway, so it'll be ok.

Hmm... two combats... I wonder what the other one is.

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GM-- If Golthune doesn't come back, I don't think you should give him credit for it. Even if he came back tomorrow, I think it's debatable. I just finished GMing one in which one of the players left during the first fight and never came back, and I GMPC'd him for the rest of it but didn't give him the credit.

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I agree.

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Yeah GM, his player has been absent from two other scenarios I'm in, and it's been a pretty noticeable hit to the party. I second not giving him credit. What if he has a domain blessing or spell prepared that would help us with this (or the other!) encounter, but since he's absent, one of us loses a character? That would just be unfair/wrong if he gets credit and someone has to put their hard work in a paper shredder.

A close relative suddenly died today. Please bot me anytime I don't post within 12 hours. Pathfinder may be a good escape or it may feel worthless and disrespectful. Or it may switch between the two.

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Sorry to hear that. Best regards

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95737-11
Craft Alchemy : 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

# 137974-4
No day job

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PFS #: 1142-6
Faction: Scarab Sages

Perform, dance: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

PFS #: 89635-4
Day job: Diplomacy (Caravan vanity) : 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

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Did we complete the secondary success condition? If so, I can check off a box on by faction journal. Otherwise, I'll check the "adventure outside Absalom" box.

Sadly, no. The second Prestige point was specifically to destroy Dakang (which always sucks when tactics have the BBEG flee at 20% health...).

Will report as soon as I have Soran's PFS ##-#.

Ah, yea that sucks. Especially when said BBEG has an exit through which the party can't follow. I just ran a group through a different scenario where they wound up with the same problem at the end.

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# 174394-5
The Exchange
Soran Fletcher

Sorry guys, had a busy day. Sucks Dakang got away. Should've bought some cold iron arrows. Lesson learned.

For what it's worth, the fountain in the chapel could be filled with an obscenely high UMD roll. The water would imbue a blessing to make weapons dipped in it with a good alignment. But, as I said, it is a ridiculous DC for a low-tier scenario. DC 20 UMD??? Really?

UMD: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

hehe nope. But worth a try

UMD: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Oooh! At least it could have been possible. But we had to know too.

Yea, but we didn't see that it could do that.

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This scenario could have been a lot more brutal. Dakang was tough. We were lucky to make it out of there.

I'm ok with how it ended. We did alright in my book.

Game is reported, Sheets are sent. Check your inboxes!