Returned from your latest missions, your party of four sits in one of the numerous agent's lounges in the Grand Lodge in Absalom. As you sit, relaxing, paging through volumes of Pathfinder chronicles, and discussing tactics, past experiences, and the latest gossip, suddenly Venture Captain Ambrus Valsin peers into the room. He regards you with narrow eyes for a moment, then smiles. "You've heard the expression 'A rolling stone gathers no moss', no?"
Stepping into the room and crossing his arms, he stares down his nose at you before continuing. "Doubtless you have heard of the Red Redoubt of Karamoss up in the Cairnlands. The Society uses it from time to time as a training ground for younger agents. We've recently had a team in there resetting the training course." His eyes narrow again even as he smiles. "Today is your lucky day! Rather than sitting around here, getting soft and fat, you get to be one of the first teams to run the course! Now off with you!" Not waiting for an answer, he leaves, grabbing a passing page by the shoulder and issuing orders to the young man......
[spoiler=KN: local / Diplomacy DC 20]One band known to lair in the ruins there is the Blood-Red Raiders, a small gang of bandits that mostly robs lone travelers.
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Retrieving your gear, you head out before Ambrus has a chance to pass by again and catch you still in the Lodge. The noonday sun shines brightly in a cloudless sky, but the rugged landscape diffuses the light as if through a stained glass window composed entirely of crimson panes. Deep red metal walls, broken but mostly untouched by rust even a millennium, form an obstacle course through the landscape. Clearly, when the Red Redoubt of Karamoss was named, it was not done ironically.
The marked path through the siege castle’s ruins leads to a large central chamber open to the sky above. Aside from the metallic flooring, walls, and rubble, nothing remains of the so-called “machine mage” Karamoss or his lost armies. Refuse, old campfire rings, and other signs of life attest to the place being a haven for scavengers and vagabonds.
The chamber is filled with a large, circular shaft in the metal floor, with smoothly rolled edges that demonstrate superbly uniform craftsmanship. A rope ladder descends into the pit, anchored by pitons hammered into the floor panels. The shaft is 30 feet in diameter and perfectly circular......
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Rani nods at the officer, "I have heard that bandits and monsters occasionally make their home here, and that there is quite a bit of infighting among them. Perhaps if we encounter them we can use that to our advantage. And that Karamoss was known as the "Machine Mage" for his incredible knowledge of constructs. He himself was said to have been part construct, but he supposedly died a thousand years ago, so we're unlikely to meet him. Although if we did, imagine what stories he could tell!"
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Onix's attention was caught by Ambrus' use of his favorite saying. And he was definitely on edge at the thought of getting soft. So he was determined to run this course. As long as there is no actual running involved. "Okay." The short elemental responds to his teammate's banter before he starts climbing the rope ladder.
Onix easily climbs down the rope ladder, but Peperic has a little trouble, as his foot gets entangled. Eventually, by taking your time, everyone is able to descend the rope ladder.
The entrance shaft opens into the center of a red steel chamber. The floor beneath the shaft is canted at a slight angle; it seems to have originally been a circular platform that fit flush with the rest of the room but at some point unevenly sank a foot or so. The floors around the room’s perimeter are solid and even, with a textured surface to give better footing on the smooth metal. The walls are riveted metal plates, fallen or torn off in places to reveal solid rock behind. Recessed slabs of metal with adjacent panels, presumably exits, are centered on each wall. The northern panel glows dimly, illuminating scorch marks and glistening red stains around it.
The entrance chamber is 50 feet square. The platform was a large hydraulic lift used for troop deployment, but it broke down centuries ago. Five doors originally exited the chamber, but only the northern door readily opens and the other four exits are marked with the “do not enter” symbol.
Itra easily sees that the red stains are merely dye, probably simulating blood and the scorch marks suggest a less than lethal trap for the trial. This one has apparently been triggered.
The panels appear to activate the doors, though all have been disabled some time in the past.
Noticing the tracks, Peperic points them out while Rani searches for, but finds no traps. Heading deeper into the complex through the only accesible door the party travels down a short corridor.
Soon your come to an intersection as the corridor ahead branches in four directions. North and west, the tunnels continue unobstructed, but the eastern branch is blocked with a stout metal grating marked with three crimson circles within a triangle. A large, white “X” is scrawled in chalk on the floor in the center of the intersection. You can see that the boot prints head to the north.
Something naggin at his mind, Rani slows down and searches the area carefully. His caution is paid off as he finds a trap near the white "X" on the floor.
Rani fiddles with the trap for a moment, and almost has it neutralized when the trigger falls back into the trip pan.
Rani furrows his brow and concentrates on the trap, Itra coaching him along while standing off to the side. This time Rani finds success, locking the trigger into place!
Itra finds the grating fastened to the opening, and assumes the three red triangles indicates "Danger! Entry forbidden"
North and west, the tunnels continue unobstructed, with the boot tracks going to the north.
The party follows the western corridor for about ten minutes at which point it makes a right angle from the east to north. Just around the bend a dead half-orc sprawls on the ground. Above the corpse, a wooden sledgehammer dangles from a rope beneath an open ceiling panel. Though the head of the mallet is padded, the trap was apparently still lethal to the unfortunate half-orc. A few feet up the corridor another chalk “X” is scratched on the floor.
Looking around, the party notices no more traps, but an examination of the body reveals deep gashes across the half-orc’s torso in addition to the obvious head injury, and a face covered in lime-green marker dye.
[dice=Survival DC 15]You notice six sets of tracks of heading north, but only one set returning this way, and the person who made those tracks was running. The tracks end at the half-orc’s body.[/spoiler]
The half-orc has masterwork studded leather, daggers (2), quarterstaff, sap, manacles (2), and a masterwork adamantine dagger on his person.
Continuing forward to the next chamber, you see the dungeon’s red hue is dramatically accented here with a fresh coating of blood. Three corpses lie scattered around the room, all hacked apart with great force. The arterial spray from the last moments of their lives spatters the walls and ceiling and pools on the floor. A dim crimson glow spills from a wide archway to the north, casting a garish light upon the faces of the dead. An open chest sits against the eastern wall, with broken links of chain scattered on the floor around it. In the center of the room stands what appears to be some kind of automaton, constructed entirely of metal.