GM Suede's PFS Salvation of the Sages (Inactive)

Game Master Suede

I think that Qil can't fail those checks but I'll roll anyway.

Craft Alchemy: 1d20 + 27 ⇒ (9) + 27 = 36

Perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (5) + 20 = 25

Voros stops and walks carefully. "Beware, companions. The pool in the center of the room is full of inert acid. Well, I'd be more precise by saying that it's only the surface of the acid that's inert, and beneath this film it's still very caustic. I think that anyone going inside will suffer severe burns, and breaking the surface tension will cause acid vapor to leak into the air, which is bad for the constitution."

Roland looks around.

What is zhis now?

perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (15) + 19 = 34

perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (9) + 19 = 28

Aye, as Voros said...Beware!.. zhe surface of the acid is not zhe problem, its below zhe film it's still very caustic! Very bad for zhe breathing I zhink.

perception: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (16) + 19 = 35

And zhere appears to be a hidden area over here. Take a look.

"Well, I can protect someone from the acid. But I can't do anything about the vapor."

Brutus's savage features twist into a frown as his companions describe the hidden hazards. "Is there anything that can be done to keep the surface of the acid from breaking?"

Can anything be done with the likes of disable device to make the room safer?

It's not a trap, it's just an environmental hazard so no standard disable device check. There are a few spells that would directly bypass it, but if you have any creative use of class abilities, spells or items you can give a decent reasoning on why it would work I'll allow those too.

Well I'll put protection from energy(Acid) on Brutus. I think he will be able to shake off the fumes off the gas.

The acid I don't think is your concern at this point, it's the vapor that acid pools put up within 5ft of them, which would force everyone entering the room to mave fort saves against them. If you don't have a way around that, you might want to consider playing with the pool after you're certain you're done going through this area.

Do we have any reason to believe we can burn/ignite the fumes away? Like with a fireball?

Well, the core book doesn't say you CAN'T. It won't be a permanent fix, but it should accomplish what you want.

Assuming no one is in the room, Liam throws a gold piece into the pool to break the surface. Once the fumes rise, he lets loose with a blast of holy fire to ignite them. "Hurry and get the thing before the fumes rise again." Liam states once the explosion subsides.

Roland watches as Liam tries the fire method. If it appears to work, he will rush through with the others, otherwise...

Zhis is a good plan, Liam. If zhis does not work, maybe wind or wall spells could displace or contain zhe fumes.

I do have a life bubble spell active, so the fumes aren't an issue for me. A resist energy (acid) spell should then do the trick, and I can cast that my self.

Well I have protection from energy which I think would be better.I can do that instead and you can retrieve it.

Can we dim door ourselves on the other side?

Liam decides the best manner of dealing with the issue is an explosive one and lights up the room with a cascade of flames. Horrid, acrid smoke gushes out of the room into the party's faces but beyond the stink it seems to pose no threat to anyone. When the air clears the room appears slightly singed and the pool of acid now has flames licking up from the surface, burning away the fumes that attempt to rise from the disturbed surface.

You no longer need to, Qilfobber is immune thanks to life bubble, and Liam has effectively neutralized the hazard for the immediate future. The room seems as safe as it's going to get. However, if anyone wanted to go IN the pool, yes some form of protection or resistance is advised.

Well done Liam.

Satisfied with Liam's fiery precautions, Brutus skirts the pool of acid to explore the hidden alcove pointed out by Roland.

Roland was about to cast resistance to acid on himself, but sees the effect of the fireball is sufficient.

Let's advance quickly before zhe gasses return.

He stays a close step behind Brutus with his bow ready in hand.

Qilfobber gives a dispassionate shrug at the unfolding events and searches the door on the far side far traps.

Perception: 1d20 + 30 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 30 - 2 = 30 +5 v traps

Qilfobber's practiced eye doesn't seem to detect any traps on this next door, and he deems it safe to open. The next room appears rather familiar, as Tahari collected bones here in the same manner as in the previous archive you entered. A short review indicates each bone is from a separate victim of her research, this time chronicling her studies in memory extraction.

After a cursory examination of this collecting you're confident you better understand how to interact with mindscapes, but don't waste any significant time exploring the space as nothing else jumps out at you.

If for some reason you want to play in the mindscape again, you will have a +5 to all saves while in there.

You press on down a hallway that turns to a new door, it again appears to have no signs of traps and you open it.

In the room beyond a bridge crosses a dark chasm containing mountains of bones. The skeletal remains of hundreds of humanoids who died from disease or cannibalism. Fearsome fiendish statues armed with serrated blades guard one side of the bridge, standing before a double door. An obsidian moon embosses the doors’ center.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

Brutus shakes his head at the sight of the skeletal remains. "It's a blessing that none of these poor souls returned in undeath after such a horrific end."

Wary of hidden surprises, he scans the area for evil auras.

Even with the 2 negative levels, I can't fail the Perception checks.

"The statues are holding a wand each, and the bridge is trapped. Not for long, though..."

Qilfobber goes to work on the trap with trained ease.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 29 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 29 - 2 = 46

Liam takes the two wands and tries to identify them.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31

"Zhese halls are filled with zhe death of so many. Very disconcerting ."

Roland keeps up with the others moving through the halls.

Qilfobber is easily able to disable the trapped bridge, locking the catch into place so it provides no risk to the party as you cross. There are several concerning sounds of groaning stone as Brutus brings his large size over to the far side of the pit, but everything holds firm.

Liam gets his hands on the wands and is able to easily identify them as a wand of levitate (6 charges) and a wand of calm emotions (15 charges).

After several moments of commiseration over the rather macabre monument to the crimes committed in this lab, with Grandmaster Torch looking utterly bored and disinterested, you continue on through the set of seemingly safe double doors at the north end of this room.

On the other side stone sarcophagi line the walls, held closed by straps and bindings. Arcane glyphs spark over the walls and tombs periodically. There is an open sarcophagus along the eastern wall that appears completely unused, a large sarcophagus sits upon a raised dais at the room’s center, and several latched closed sarcophagi can be found on the western edge of the room.

Before advancing into the room with the others, Roland will look into the room, especially at the unused sarcophagi.

Best to be prepared. Zhere are too many times zhose who should be dead, refuse to keep zheir part.

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

He will also try to call upon a holy blessing into his bow.

He is interested to see if this has a similar effect as the other casters.

Sorry guys. In this time of the year, RL hits hard ^^

Voros follows the others silently. He admires the gnome's art as he disables and spots every trap around the place. Once before the big room, he decides to drink an extract of heroism.

Let's see if Alchemy is also part of the curse. he thinks.

Roland, you can't see much from the doorway, except the unused sarcophagus is clearly empty with a thin layer of dust and sand over it suggesting it hasn't been touched in quite some time. Staring at the room for several moments does let you notice that the large sarcophagus in the center of the room, and one of the sarcophagus off to the side seem to have more glowing arcane ruins pulsing across them than the rest collected along the walls.

Roland attempts to project the divine power of Desna into his weapon, but something seems to at first block it and then begin to simply tear the power away from him as if ripping nerve endings out of his arm.

At the same moment Voros quaffs an extract, but it has a certain tang to the taste. Then it begins to burn like drinking acid, his entire neck feeling like someone is running broken glass through it.

Both of your actions take effect, but you each need to give me a DC 23 Fortitude save. If you fail you take a negative level. I will advise you not to use re-rolls on this, you might want them later and you currently have the means to remove negative levels in the party.

Fort save DC 23: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25 Yasss!

Voros seems to hold his guts together and doesn't throw up. He however is paler than ever.

"I never experienced this feeling and don't want to try it again." he states.

Roland shudders in the pain wracks his arm.

fort: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (4) + 13 = 17

Yeoouch! So much for zhat!

Roland would not mind using restoration to regain lost levels...on himself or others...provided we do not lose more energy in evoking the cure. :)

Perhaps zhose cures may be needed sooner rather zhan later.

Now's as good a time as any, I guess. We still have the (potion/wand?) from before, right?"

Right, I zhink so. Do you know how to use zhe wand?

Roland will accept any aid if one of the others can activate it.

Sorry, which wand was that?

"I can."

After the first combat you found a wand of Restoration with 4 charges on it. IC nothing significant is happening as you discuss this.

That said, Torch is continuing to look between a mixture of bored and arrogant. He stands tall and watches you all how to fix yourselves up and you hear soft whispers about how pathetic, weak, and worthless you all are as minions. None of these statements are ever quite loud enough to actually be directed at you, but by the faint sneer on his face and the way he's looking down his nose imperiously you can tell they are.

Liam ignores Torch as he uses the wand on Roland. 3 charges left on the wand.

Zhank you, Liam. If others need help, feel free.

Roland nods to the priest. He then eyes Torch, not sure what to make of the man's odd behavior.

Perhaps our Venture-Captain turned Sage has some suggestions or powerful abilities to navigate
zhese dreams or nightmares? Do you recognize the markings and glowing runes on the sarcophagus at least?

It looks like things are starting to get serious, so I wouldn't mind getting rid of Qilfobber's 2 negative levels as well.

Qilfobber completely ignores Torch's muttering and gives the ominous script a long, hard look.

"Perhaps we can make sense of them ourselves..."

Are there any checks we can make?

There isn't a specific one set in the scenario, but it's nothing super complicated so I'll set you an easy check for it.

Torch glances to Roland, then stares around the room in consideration, his eyes slowly narrowing as he thinks. "I remember that the sarcophagi contained creatures infected with my diseases and kept the trapped victims alive as if the occupants were each wearing a ring of sustenance. The runes may have to do with that. There's also... something about that unused sarcophagus that's been left open... I'm not certain what I did there."

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (9) + 16 = 25

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13 Grrr

"Hum indeed. The runes lining the room maintain a series of magical enchantments both meant to preserve specimens but also contain them. They're meant to keep sealed and living whatever is being incubated as well make sure the test subject doesn't manage to get loose from one of the sarcophagi." says Voros, nodding.

After a bit he turns to face Torch and asks genuinely: "Did you already come here?"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

"Are you still with us Torch?" Brutus asks the treacherous sage. "You're choosing some strange words."

Arcana: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

"Yea, he's acting strange even for Torch."

"No, I've never been here before. This place was buried until Tahonikepsu and Amenopheus tracked it down with the other jewels, obviously. Are you as blind as you are incompetent?" The emerald sage rolls his eyes the questions and motions to the room before everyone. "I'm quite present and breathing, I assure you. Though the sudden onset of lingering may get me killed. If not from boredom, then the threat of the ceiling collapsing on us as we were warned about if you keep wasting time."

Roland almost glares at Torch but turns back to the room before them.

Assuming he has been restored from the wand.

"Very well. Zhe time is wasting and zhe sooner we get zhis over and done zhe better ."

He will enter the room with bow in hand.

Liam follows the group in.

Voros shrugs and follows the group as well.

Much to the party's chagrin, very little happens as they step further into the room. Arcane runes pulse, open sarcophagi stay open, and rather pleasantly the closed ones remain equally inert. It's deathly silent save for the sounds coming from the cautiously shuffling party members. You have a clearer view of the central sarcophagus now and can tell there are designs of dragons carved across the sides and along the top that ripple with the same occasional glow of the arcane runes.

There also continue to be the myriad of sealed sarcophagi to one side and the solitary open one to the other side.

Roland steps closer to the sarcophagus - within 10'

"Zhese runes are strange to me."

Perception : 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (16) + 19 = 35

"And zhis looks like a false bottom ."

"Nicely spotted Roland!"

Qilfobber looks for traps down the no longer secret hallway.

Perception: 1d20 + 30 ⇒ (11) + 30 = 41 +5 vs traps

Roland's sharp eyes are barely able to catch the passage, and he makes the rest of the party aware, giving Qilfobber the chance to heavily examine the entryway down this dark tunnel for little surprises. With his experience he is certain there are no signs of switches, triggers, or false surfaces that might be hiding something from the group.