GM Tyranius The Devil We Know Part: 4 (Inactive)

Game Master Tyranius

Smoke and steam pour through many openings of this misshapen building. Gears and gizmos can be heard clicking against one another in a rhythmic cadence. A loud “chunkchunk” sounds as several pistons churn up and down, powering some unknown machine. A cacophonous symphony of grinding metal plays on. An enormous sign, nearly the entire width of the building, declares it to be the Hall of Wonders.

All hearing-based Perception checks inside and outside the hall suffer a –4 penalty due to the noisiness of the machinery.

perception: 1d20 + 8 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 8 - 4 = 5
"Wait do you hear that? Uh, no, must be my imagination."

Kazu lowers himself, hugging the walls and keeping to the shadows, thankful for the smoke and steam which help to mask his presence further. As soon as the party is ready, he leads the way into the building some distance ahead.
stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

Perception: 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 - 4 = 6

Oblivious to anything but the miasma of sound and steam around him, Senach allows Kazu to get a little ahead of him before he too follows. He tries to keep his head turning and take in the surroundings, but with all of the steam and the completely unknown machinery, he is completely out of his element.

Mardak looks about.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

As he does so he swears he can hear a scream from the inner hall. Moving in that direction he says This way

Perception: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 3 - 4 = 10

Vulpina quickly breaks into a trot behind Mardak. "What is it, boy? Is someone in danger?"

The group rushes up to the door and finds it unlocked. Mardak has seen a similar building in the city of Magnimar and thinks that there might be an entrance on the ceiling or he could try to open one of the various windows.

The walls of the hall are 20 feet tall and require a DC 10 Climb check to scale. The doors and windows are all unlocked, though the windows require a DC 12 Strength check to open and a DC 10 Climb check to climb through.

Senach turns to follow the others as they head into the smoke and mist, calling out. Cursing, he tries to keep up with the more nimble Lady Vulpina and the stronger Mardak while getting them to tell him what is going on. Finally, they reach the door, and he is able to hear the screaming for himself. Immediately, Senach assess the building and moves towards a window calling out "This way! We can get in through here!"

Str to open: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25

"I heard it too Mardak... come Fangtooth let us check this out." she turns to the others and says [b]"There was a scream and then silence... it happened this way."[b]

The wizard will see if there are magical auras in the area.

Kazu follows closely behind the paladin, still doing what he can to keep unseen in the shadows and mist.

take 10 to climb window

The front door opens with ease. Once inside the Hall of Wonders, you can see the outlines of three great structures piercing a thick mist (similar to obscuring mist) that chokes nearly the entire western half of the building.

As soon as you enter, the screaming stops as if someone put their hand over the person's mouth.

As soon as the door opens fogs rolls out the doors, quickly engulfing the Pathfinders, obscuring all vision except for your hand in front of your face.

Kazu- have you over at the second floor window, though need a str check to open it still.

Ah, sorry I think I misunderstood the terrain. Didn't realise the window was on the 2nd floor. I saw Senach opening a window (and presumably climbing through) so Kazu followed him. I think both he and I assumed the window was on the ground floor. So he is still with everyone on the ground floor. Please ignore the climb check then. That makes more sense. Was wondering we needed a climb check to climb through a window. :)

That's exactly what I thought, Kazu. I'm sorry for the misread there.

Senach wades into the miasma of fog, trying his hardest to peer through to the interior. He hesitates for a moment, before edging inside the door. He draws his mace, then keeps one hand on the wall, the other brushing against the table in the narrow confines. He stops as he feels the wall on his left drop away.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Vulpina stays with the party, squinting in the fog. She raises a hand near her ear and snaps her fingers, testing to see if she can hear it. If she can hear it, she says:

"It may be wise to get a higher view of the situation. Unless Kazu can fly..."[b] (she pauses for a moment, honestly uncertain), [b]"...then I could climb up and see what I can see."

I missed the edit window and now my post is doomed to look stupid forever! Curse you, unclosed tags!!

Mardak will head to the closed window and try to muscle it open.

Strength: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Senach barrels in and emerges from the fog to see the magnificence of the room. A brass planetarium rotates in the northeastern corner. Next to the celestial model, a clockwork contraption ticks and tocks as it turns on its axis. Finally, a giant metal crab sits with its claws extended on a southwestern platform. A hatch at one end of the crab provides an entrance into a barrel-like chamber; inside two levers rest near the front of a cockpit.

Marring the area are two men and one woman, roughly interrogating an elderly gnome who is tied to a chair near the doors to the south.

Round 1
Quintillus
Lady Vulpina
Elowyn
Kazu
Senach
Mardak
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Thugs
Tashelia
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Would the areas marked by the clouds provide sufficient cover for Kazu to stealth? He rolled his stealth check earlier (rolled 30) although he will now be moving normal speed, so there's a -5 penalty.

Kazu moves in together with Senach, and sees the gnome being roughed up by the two thugs. He keeps to the wall, letting the steam mask his presence as races as quietly as possible to draw near the interrogation. double move

The woman is on the 2nd floor gangplank?

Yes, It acts just like Obscuring Mist. So concealment, which will also negate sneak attacks. Yup- The woman is indeed on the second floor gangplank.

Did his spell detect any magic

Mardak double moves into the room, taking advantage of the mist to cover some of his movement.

Vulpina jogs into the mist, a hand on her gun; before she finds any reason to draw it, however, she comes to a ladder instead. Squinting and looking back, she ponders if she might have left her group behind, but regardless, it would be advantageous to get above the fog.

Double move. For the sake of my next turn, how high up is the second floor?

Elowyn follows the others in and says "Come to her tiger for him to follow. She hugs the wall taking her time to find her way to the top of the lower room.

Quintillus detects magic within the fog. Conjuration magic.

@Lady Vulpina- 15 feet

lady Vulpina loses sight of the rest of her group as she bumps into a ladder on the nearby wall.

meanwhile Elowyn, Mardak, and Kazu circle about the mist.

Round 1
Quintillus
Lady Vulpina
Elowyn
Kazu
Senach
Mardak
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Thugs
Tashelia
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Seeing glimpses of the gnome through the heavy rolls of steam is enough for Senach to decide to end the confrontation. He hefts his shield and mace and steps boldly through the room, taking the most direct route to the poor creature. As he moves, he calls out a challenge to the gnomes captors. "By what right do you imprison and torture this gnome?! Cease this at once and explain yourselves!"
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Detect evil on all four of them as time permits.

There is magic here he says as he casts mage armor on him self.

Quintillus protects himself with magical armor as Senach tries a more diplomatic approach.

The woman calls down from the catwallk. "By the right of the Cult of Nature's Cataclysm fool. Now deal with him quickly." She commands. "You must be the same fools that took on my cousin aboard the Prancing Prince.: The boat from Part 1.

Senach senses great evil coming from all but the wounded gnome. the thugs drop the battered gnome and rush Senach and Mardak

Green Club vs Senach AC 21: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Confirm Crit: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Yellow Club vs Mardak AC 17; charge: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 2 = 7

Senach feels a crack of a club against his arm as Tashelia fills all in the room with fear and doubt.

DC 13 Will save against bane

Buffs and De-buff reminder
Bane- All but lady Vulpina

Round 2
Quintillus
Lady Vulpina
Elowyn
Kazu
Senach (12/18)
Mardak
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Thugs
Tashelia
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Vulpina scrambles up the ladder, drawing her gun as she steps onto the second floor. She gets the feeling that something must have happened while she was climbing the rungs; regardless, she aims at Tashelia and fires.

"Darling, I cannot help but feel that you would do well to leave the family business behind!" she exclaims.

Pistol Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Pistol Damage + Focused Aim: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Action economy:
Move action (climbing a ladder at twice the speed is a DC5 at most... I think I can take 10 on that?) + Draw as part of movement
Standard action (rooty-tooty-point-and-shooty)

Mardak swings his greatsword at yellow.

MW Greatsword: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 Damage: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (5, 6) + 6 = 17
Crit Confirm: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24 Extra Damage if Confirmed: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (3, 3) + 6 = 12

will: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
The unholy energy washes over Kazu, filling him with fear and doubt. He nonetheless pushes on with his attack, knowing that this interference is unnatural, but not able to dispel it.

Seeing the thugs moving up to engage his allies, Kazu swiftly but carefully moves up behind the one engaging Senach, hoping to catch him unaware! Still in stealth mode, so might catch green flat-footed

Bane, Enforcer, Bludgeoner, Flank, Sneak Attack, Frightening
claw vs green, flatfooted?: 1d20 + 9 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (7) + 9 + 2 - 1 = 17 nonlethal dmg: 1d3 + 6 + 2d6 ⇒ (1) + 6 + (6, 4) = 17
if hit, intimidate: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23 vs 10+HD+Wis to be shaken for 18 rounds

Elowyn moves out of the fog and seeing the head foe up on the catwalks she aims her arrow at that foe.

DW Longbow+PBS: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23...DMG: 1d8 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 1 = 10

Fangtooth moves forward of the huntress and is content to let her deal with the threats to the group for once... he just stands guardian to her from the foes on the ground. no way for him to maneuver around at this moment

Don't forget your Will saves, guys!

Will DC13: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

The woman doesn't get another word off as a bulletpasses through her neck. Gurgling in her own blood she falls down to the first floor from the catwalk.

Elowyn places an arrow through the green thugs lung while Kazu bashes his head into the ground.

The fight is quickly over as Mardak's greatsword cleaves the final thug into two halves...splattering blood all over the gnome, floor, and walls.

Combat Over

Vulpina winces a bit as the woman hits the floor with something between a thud and a splat. ”For your sake, darling, I’m going to pretend that gurgle was a witty retort. There are a few rather biting ones I can think of, were I in your situation.” She ponders a moment, then decides against jumping down to the first floor. She soon rejoins the party after taking the ladder down.

Kazu barely glances at the woman, who is now a mess on the ground. He gestures at one of his teammates to free the gnome while he pulls outt some rope to tie up the thug he knocked unconscious. (I'm assuming he is unconscious and not dead from 17 nonlethal.)

He then starts rifling through their belongings, trying to find some clue to their identities.

The wizard will cast detect magic.

Senach shakes his head at the sudden and violent end of the encounter, but shrugs his heavy shoulders when he considers the great emanations of evil pouring from the lot of them. "Evil will always end such.. feasting upon itself until there is nothing left!" he declares as he ignores his own wounds for a moment and tends to the gnome. He quickly unbinds the creature, and inspects him for wounds. " Sir, how did you come to be in their clutches? What happened here?"
Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 8

@Kazu- Yes, he is unconscious. He is very close to death as he was staggered before you wacked him. Though 7 of that NL damage is lethal as it went over his threshold.

"Yes, yes!" squeaks the gnome as you free him. "They demanded we hand over any blueprints that detailed the Crypt of Fools. They said something about keeping the location of hidden tunnels a secret."

"They took six other engineers out of here before you came." he informs you.

Kazu searches through the belongings. he finds little more than:

chain shirt (3), Club (2), masterwork heavy flail, holy symbol of Groetus.

Senach finishes releasing the gnome, and looks at his companions worriedly. "We have to get those engineers back.. This cult must be stopped." Turning back to the gnome, he continues. "Did they get these blueprints? Do you think that we may look at them for direction?"

Yes, we must rescue the engineers and stop the cult, Groeteus' clerics plans should be foiled he remarks.

"They took off with the Blueprints, I am sure they are going to use them to keep their location secret." The gnome thinks for a second before responding. "I don't know where they went, but I overheard their leader telling the cultist who led the kidnapped engineers away that she was staying behind to find out if we knew anything else about the Crypt of Fools and the tunnels. She then said, ‘Tell Dalirio he can have these.’ What did she mean by that?"

Kazu points down at the unconscious thug. "Perhaps he would know where this Crypt of Fools is. The crazy painter mentioned it is deep beneath Old Cassomir so it looks like we might need to return underground where we rescued those kidnap victims earlier, but exactly is the question. And this Dalirio? When the painter said he was alive, I just brushed it off as his mad ramblings, but it seems that after we had put him down, someone has brought him back."

Dalirio was our first BBEG in this series, right?

Correct. Dilario was the BBEG from Part 1.

"You know where the Crypt of Fools is? The entrance lies under an ancient fountain hidden somewhere below Old Cassomir, though the knowledge of its exact location was lost some time ago and finding it presents a bit of a problem. A legend among engineers tells of a series of hidden clues within three Cassomir monuments. These clues yield three locations which, when triangulated, give the location of the surface entrance to the Crypt of Fools; they also show the combination required to unlock the entrance. Look for old buildings built by the Ismacco family, whom we’ve long suspected used the Crypt of Fools as the base of their heinous operations after it fell from use.” informs the head engineer to Mariel as he is disappointed that she isn't in the know.

"What led you to me? Maybe they or it have another clue for you?"

I've played this before, so will keep quiet first. :)

Shall I attempt to intimidate them? My tusks are pointy and perhaps scary.

"The crazed painter?" Glancing back at his allies, Kazu asks, "Did he give us any clues of the three monuments?"

"Kazu, didn't you tell us about a few monuments?" asks Vulpina. "A ruined abbey, the Hall of Records... and, I don't know, maybe the statue in the prison?"