GM Thrawn's PBP Gameday VI - Tome of Righteous Repose Table 2 (Inactive)

Game Master Thrawn007

High Tier. Dot and delete. Kickoff post will be coming at end of day.

Loud and raucous conversation filters through the door from the common room of the Uscalin Lodge, which doubles as the
Ace of Dreams gambling house. “I know it’s here. I had it just a moment ago.” Venture-Captain Shevar Besnik lifts piles of papers and numerous boxes off of his desk, stacking them on various side tables and chairs in his clean but overly cluttered office. The tall, Varisian man’s face parts in a toothy grin as he lifts up a solid oak box. “Found it!” As if to punctuate his discovery, a crowd of players in the gambling hall erupts in cheers. Distracted for a moment, Besnik stares at the closed office door that leads to the common room. “Desna laughs. Well, she laughs at me, but she smiles on them.” The venturecaptain shrugs. “All they have is gold; what I have in here is far more valuable.”

Besnik opens the box’s lid painstakingly slowly, careful to keep the contents out of sight. With reverence, he lifts a large tome from the box and gently sets it on the table. “Careful, the binding hasn’t held up well. This is one of the few Tomes of Righteous Repose left in the world. I’m pretty sure there’s one in the library of the Sancta Iomedaea in Vigil, but I’m—well, let’s just say I’m no longer welcome there. That’s a story for another time."

“Up until today, I’ve only skimmed the pages. I didn’t want to damage it, but now that you’re here, I can’t wait any longer. Care to plumb the depths of this most ancient and wonderful storybook? Oh, the marvelous adventures we will soon read! This tome is a collection of tales describing how various crusaders died gloriously and honorably. I’m hoping to find some clues in the text that will lead us to an as-of-yet undiscovered site or relic. Maybe we can trade a bit of what we find with the Knights of Ozem and earn ourselves some goodwill. After what happened last time, we need it.

“Care to peruse the pages with me?”

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 Is Fustbickle the author of the tome in question? Apparently I don't know who that is OOC or IC.

Knowledge(religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

"What did you do to offend the Crusaders of Lastwall, Besnik-sama?" the short, sturdy tien man asks. "As a humble samurai in the service of the church of Shizuru, I have heard of them, but never had the chance to visit that nation."

linguistics: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26
Ellismus shares all the linguistics info

"Harumph! It is... interesting to note here, that the author may have been in the presence of the Iomedae goddess before she ascended to divinity. I would qualify his stories as historically accurate based on what I have been able to cross-reference in the past. It's overly stylish to my taste, but not untrue.."

“Have you heard of the Boartusk Twins? Garl and Shrade saved the lives of one of my teams a few years back, so I offered them field commissions. Then they got us in trouble by using wayfinders like badges of authority. I shipped them down to Old Mutton Chops for some training, but gaining the knights’ trust again is taking time.”

Kasei scratches his head. "I cannot say I have heard of them."

Jaan listens carefully, his pitch black Hellknight plate gleaming in the dim setting while his stonelike grey hair sways mildly as though there were a breeze.

"Interesting" remarks Jaan in response to The Blue's explanation.

"some interesting reading you have there. What do you think we can use to help things along?

"If you have no further questions, I suggest we dig in. I simply need your eyes and your minds for now. Let us see what mysteries this will reveal to us." Venture Captain Besnik opens the tome, and then carefully begins to page through it. Some of the tome is no longer readable, but other portions seem to be in much better condition. About twenty pages in, there is a bold colored image of three samurai, in a Minkai styled drawing. The Venture-Captain jolts upright. “Minkai art! Let’s see, the Minkai Empire was founded in 3619, and the empire’s first explorers didn’t reach the west coast of the continent until at least 3691 ar, which leaves only sixty years before the beginning of the Shining Crusade itself. These women could have been among the first Minkai citizens to reach the Inner Sea! Let’s see, what secrets does the poem on this page hold?”

You are able to make out the poem that accompanies the art:
Stranglegut are legion, forces of death,
Soldiers of the lich who were promised might.
A bold samurai struck forth; in a breath
A thousand orcs struck down before her sight.
From tow’ring giant green, a challenge thrown;
The chieftain Slarg upon the bloody field
That she would stand in front of him alone
And not for less than death would either yield.
With cries of faith cast to the rising sun
The brave samurai charged and met his steel
Her blade she shoved beneath his ribs, she spun
A scratch from poisoned blade forced her to keel
In Torag’s house the elf was last interred.
With view of Kala’s Tears, her peace insured.

Kasei is from Shokuro, rather than Minkai, but speaks Minakian and is moderately familiar with Minkaian culture and history if that helps in any way.

Jaan listens to the poem "So the old elf was burried in Dwarven ruins after routing the orcs. Can't bee too many appropriate locations."

"An orc using poison to fell a great elf, not much surprise there"

"What are the Kala's Tears? and are we sure that the chieftain was orc and not, say, a towering green-skinned giant? are there such giants in this world?"

"A samurai elf, odd... most minakaians are human."

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Knowledge about Belkzen...

Sonnet of the Shattered Sword Knowledge...

Details on Kala's Tears since that has been called out...

survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Jaan takes a moment to explain a bit of geography. "So, there's a large waterwall, named Kala's Rage. Eventually downriver it becomes a trickle and that smaller waterfall is Kala's Tears. The large waterfall is about 40 miles east of Urgrir."

Besnik responds to the comment about elves, "Yes, elven samurai are not something I'd expect to find often in Minkai. This would be quite the find if we were able to locate the remains of this ancient hero."

"I don't think I can help much here."

Belkzen:
knowledge:local:untrained: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 1 = 21

Sonnet of the Shattered Sword:
knowledge:local:untrained: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

A disheveled tiefling has been sitting on the floor in the corner, trying not to touch anything important. "Valuable and fragile, you say? Then I'll stay away. I break things. It's a talent."

Despite her words she stands and moves closer to see, though she touches nothing.

She glances around at her companions, and relaxes at the sight of the Hellknight. "It's always nice seeing proper authorities about," she smiles at him, teeth flashing. "Reminds me of home. Love the armor. I was going to be a Hellknight, you know. Uphold nobility and propriety. Very important, then...

She trails off, and the scaleless left side of her face darkens. "You're not here about that, are you? That was a long time ago, and an accident, and the Paracountess said she took care of it." The tiefling raises her claws defensively and backs slowly up against the wall. "I'm not going back with you. You can't make me. Don't touch me -- Groetus will strike you down if you touch me, he's not done tormenting me yet -- I'M NOT GOING BACK. STAY AWAY!"

Kala's Tears survival: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Two heartbeats later, the tiefling rejoins the group as though the fit had never happened.

"Kala's Tears, you say? Doesn't sound familiar."

Jann nods to Desiree "Hellknight Armiger to be specific. I am fully authorized to dispense justice where needed and expect to be fully recognized soon."

Waiting on that 40 fame for the next vanity.

Survival: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23

"The large waterfalls are no longer large actually. They are now a trickle. And by the sounds of this poem there's an ancient shrine or temple of Torag where this elf samurai has been entombed. Sounds like something the Society should check out. What say you Venture Captain Besnik?"

Taking 10 on both Knowledge (local) checks.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Excellent, excellent. Looks like you all have a journey ahead of you. Please get prepared for a journey to Belzkin leaving first thing in the morning. I want you to find Kala's Tears, and with it, the tomb of this Elven Samurai from Minkai. Ensure her remains have been properly buried, preferably handing them over to the Knights of Ozem. Oh, before you ask, I have some things that I can send to help with your journey." He hands you a wand of cure serious wounds (5 charges), a wand of protection from evil (7 charges), and a traveler’s any-tool. He then begins digging through another box. "I had expected to need to hire more experts to identify a location, but since you came up with the location yourselves, I saved some money. In return, I'll send this as well." Besnik provides you with two potions of bear’s endurance and two potions of resist energy (fire).

"I am ready to go when everyone else is."

I would like to buy 4 vials of anti-toxin before we leave.

No problems procuring that in Lastwall.

I'm headed back to California first thing tomorrow morning. Going to be our of contact for about 36 hours from this post. Please feel free to bot Jaan if needed.

Thanks for the heads up.

"I'm ready to go any time. I've already got everything I need."

"Who should carry these wands? I already have one that can cast protection from evil," Kasei says. "I would also like one of the Bear's Endurance potions, if no one minds."

Presumably we would discuss tactics during our journey. Kasei is a front-line fighter by strong preference, though he can use a bow when necessary. He won't use wands or spells to heal during combat, except in emergencies.

"I can carry the healing wand, although I must warn that I am usually busy providing some artillery for the front line warriors..."

"I can use the wands, but my companions usually prefer that I don't. I'd also like one of the Bear potions. Unless someone else needs it."

Because of the Wrecker curse, everything I use gains the broken condition. For wands, that means every use takes 2 charges. But I can use them. I'm a natural weapon using frontline fighter, so lots of little hits. This will be my first adventure since sundering came on line, so we'll see if this works.

I'm built to break things. Between brittle portal and my curse I can ignore 15 points of hardness on objects. If we want to break through walls, it would be totally possible.

Feel free to continue the RP interactions. I want to make sure I get us to the dungeon on time to finish before slot 2.

After a couple weeks of searching (with rations and supplies provided by the venture captain), you have located Kala's Tears. Climbing halfway up a rocky mountain to a wide ledge, the you reach an obvious entrance carved into the rock. Hot winds blow ash through the air; it collects against the rocky wall of this ancient structure. Four stone columns mark the entrance, where a fifteen-foot-wide stair descends into darkness. What was likely once fine dwarven statuary has been destroyed over the years by weathering and vandalism. You can still make out vague shapes of dwarves, although they are now unrecognizable.

I've linked the maps to the campaign page.

phosdlon is usually a ranged attacker. I am able to use all the wands.

knowledge:religion: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Phosdlon activates his Ioun Torch and gets ready to follow the rest of the party down.

Once the cave walls shield him from any outdoors viewer, Ellismus sets his ioun torch in orbit around his head for some light. He also drink a red extract from his potion belt, followed by a potion from his pouch, then spits back the potion into the potion vial. He repeats this again with another red extract and another potion.

[alchemical allocation, enhance potion, heroism; +2 morale saves, attacks, skills; 70 min]
[alchemical allocation, enhance potion, ablative barrier; first 5hp from each attack converts to nonlethal up to 35hp; 7 hours]

"There, now... that's better."

Jaan wears heavy armor, gets blurry and mad in combat and hits things quite hard with his Naginata at reach

Jaan looks at the statue and shakes his head at the disrepair.

"I have a particular dislike of Vandals" Jaan comments as he draws his naginata, getting an ominous feeling from this place.

Knowledge(religion): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

After reading the spoiler, I'd have been annoyed if Kasei hadn't gotten that one. Is this the method we are supposed to take to properly bury the samurai's remains, or is it what would have already happened?

While travelling, the Shizuran warrior remarks to Jaan and Desiree, "It seems that the best tactic, when we can focus on a single point, would be for Desiree and this warrior to take the foe head on, with Jaan behind us to strike with the naginata. What say you?"

After reading the spoiler, I'd have been annoyed if Kasei hadn't gotten that one. Is this the method we are supposed to take to properly bury the samurai's remains, or is it what would have already happened?

If you were by chance to find remains not properly buried, this gives you two options on what to do with them based on religious followings from Minkai (Shizuru) or from the crusaders.

The main hall is 15' wide, and leads to the southeast. The corridors are 10' tall, and there is almost no light anywhere, save for a faint flicker of light in the distance straight down the corridor. About 60 feet ahead, the passage widens out in that direction, where the source of the flickering light seems to be beyond your view. Two passages branch off to the left, and one to the right.

Map Updated

Jaan nods to Kuwambara "Sounds good, I'll take point, both to ward off enemies charging from the unknown and my Hellknight Plate seems better at deflecting arrows."

With my HP pool and better AC, I'm probably better off taking point. I arranged us in the stairs in what seemed like a sensible pattern, with myself in front, Kuwabara and Desiree half a step behind with our alchemist and archer in the back row. Feel free to make changes if desired.

Jaan motions his companions forward as he move up enough to peek down the first passageway to the left.

On the journey here, Desiree will have walked her irrascible crocodile around to each of her companions, and introduced them each as "Friend," with a command not to forget and eat any of them.

---------

Desiree is content to follow along in the second rank, touching nothing, and deferring to leadership. She has darkvision, and so isn't concerned with lighting.

"Vandalism...or maybe archaeology. I've done a lot of archaeology for the society, and as near as I can tell, smashing statues is one of its chief activities."

An accurate description of this characters playthrough of the Faithless and Forgotten scenarios, where every other character in the group was a barbarian that had dumped INT & CHA. I think the Pathfinder Society was trying to get us killed and out of their hair

You'll want to make a counter for the crocodile, LMSB. I'd prefer that she be in the front, next to Jann, and Desiree will follow right behind her.

EDIT: Know: Religion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Right, I had forgotten about the croc, adding that right in front of you looks great."

You have 2 left branches, 1 right branch, and straight ahead available to explore.

Jaan motions his companions forward as he moves up enough to peek down the first passageway to the left.

The room to the northeast has stonework suggesting a dwarven architect, but the floor and walls display carvings of Tien design. Carvings of a swimming carp cover the western wall, the eastern wall depicts a katana over the sun, and the northern wall shows a carved mural of two elven women in Minkai dress standing before a funerary pyre. The floor boasts carvings of some kind of long serpent-like reptilian beast.

knowledge(religion): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

"From what I remember: The carp is the sacred animal of Shizuru, and the katana over the sun is Shizuru's holy symbol."

"Like the one hanging around this warrior's neck?" Kasei says dryly, holding up his own, smaller copy of the symbol, in delicately painted wood.

He stares at the floor carvings curiously. "The shogun's palace in Mukinami has carvings of many such tiānlóng but I don't recall what their name is in Taldane."

Knowledge Arcana: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (5) + 15 = 20

"The serpent-like creature carved in the floor is actually an imperial sky dragon -- hmm... If I remember well they are benevolent and noble. Also known as tienlungs they are fearsome champions of good and protectors of those in need. They are often sought out for their wise council, which they grant only to the deserving and true. Some say they are birthed directly into the clouds, and thus they are immune to lightning..."

"Ah yes, sky dragon, thank you Ellismus-san."

"Carvings of gods and things. Very tomb appropriate. Go in, or continue on to the next room?"