Into the Blue: Spellgard II

Game Master Rev Rosey

Gratitude smiles at Perigia's vehemence. "Volkanth won't have done the damage himself, but whatever he was doing, he wasn't taking proper care of Avant. Avant's a member of this group, just like us."

This is the point we either need to start risking our cover to ask more serious questions or take action and just question him now that we have the upper-hand. Any suggestions?

We can take him, if we need to. I say risk it. We don't appear to be next to a barracks and EVERYONE whose ANYONE appears to be getting ready for the ritual. We found his horse, which led us to this guy, who knows where we need to go. Better to go now and get the heart before the entire assembly is there. (sounds like it could be a big group) Break cover. That's my opinion.

There is a time limit on this charade. We are going to be found out eventually. Someone will roll a insight or perception high enough to see thru our disguises or spot me and that would be the end of it. Let's push this guy and his "yada,yada" I almost stabbed him when he said that.

He's utterly failed all his Insight and Perception rolls so far, that's for sure. But you've given him no real reason to suspect you're not exactly what you say you are so far.

I am just hanging back until you guys either gain what we need or blow our cover. I say risk it. Just ladle on the circumstance modifier with sufficient plausible explanation. At least that is what I would do in your position....

We can take him, if we need to. I say risk it. We don't appear to be next to a barracks and EVERYONE whose ANYONE appears to be getting ready for the ritual. We found his horse, which led us to this guy, who knows where we need to go. Better to go now and get the heart before the entire assembly is there. (sounds like it could be a big group) Break cover. That's my opinion.

There is a time limit on this charade. We are going to be found out eventually. Someone will roll a insight or perception high enough to see thru our disguises or spot me and that would be the end of it. Let's push this guy and his "yada,yada" I almost stabbed him when he said that.

+1

Perigia smiles at Gratitude even more warmly. "My friends and I are new here and my brother back there," she says point at Caine, "his memory isn't so good. Maybe you could walk us through the steps to get to the site of the ritual. We don't want the boss to be mad at us."

Diplomacy 1d20+8=27 Come on guys, my luck can't hold out much longer.

just a little more. I hope this guy remains clueless. I kinda like him and I would hate to have to disembowl him.

"Just shrug, Caine." Snaggletooth whispers to Caine's back, so quietly Caine is the only one who can hear him. "Act stupid."

discussion pow-wow, please.

"Ah, yes, now for that password. I believe it was something like "Aidan" or some other elven nonsense, right? That should get us straight there."

1d20+12=24 Bluff

Gratitude laughs. "Ha! I've never heard that one. I think you're mixing it up with something else. "The heart bleeds and the Dreamer will wake"."

He's still smiling as he looks at you all. "I know most of you haven't been touched by the fire yet, but when you've been blessed, you won't forget those words. Look, I really can't leave Avant, but I'll take you to the statue, at least."

"Ah, damn. You're right. 'Aidan' was the password for a boyhood fort I shared with my friend Devon. Funny how that works. Much appreciation for the correction. Gods know what would have happened if I'd let that slip."

"You'd have been strangled," says Gratitude seriously.

"I'll be right back, Avant," he continues, standing up and moving to the door and pausing to give the hippogriff a final caress.

Gratitude looks slightly surprised at the size of the group, and gazes hard at Snaggletooth, but makes no comment. "Let's go."

Leading the way around the mosaics, he takes you through door B. Here you are confronted with a four large statues of a hooded being, each holding a chain linked to a central wooden disk. Moving swiftly from one to another, Gratitude holds up his medallion and places it in the hand cavities on the statues. With each insertion, you hear a rumbling clank as the arms swing upright, loosening the chains and allowing the platform to shift. You realise that this is a form of lifting device, designed to transport you down a floor.

"On you get. Remember the sequence and put the medallion into the hands, press it down and take it out again. It's pretty simple. Careful on the eyeballs. If you've not blessed, they may turn a bit. You'll be fine," he adds to Brujo.

With that he leaves you, as the platform starts to descend slowly.

so he beat my stealth check? because I was hiding in Caine's shadow. so if he just gave us bad intel because he spotted me, I would like to point that out. Perigia is using her light spell, which since Caine is behind her, would create shadows I could hide in. at least that was the idea.

stealth=26 Snaggletooth stays hidden behind his larger companions, fearing his height and hansome kobold looks will give them away.

so he beat my stealth check? because I was hiding in Caine's shadow. so if he just gave us bad intel because he spotted me, I would like to point that out. Perigia is using her light spell, which since Caine is behind her, would create shadows I could hide in. at least that was the idea.

Ah, OK. That's my fault. I just took a guess that you'd all be following along behind him, fairly openly. He did not roll to beat your stealth check, so if Snaggle is still lurking, he hasn't been seen yet.

If I haven't missed the editing window, I'll deal with it. If not, just ignore the bit about Snaggletooth and he's still not visible. The info stays the same by the way. He's really go no reason to doubt any of you.

EDIT - bum. I have missed the editing window. I'll do a repost and delete the first version.

Can't delete the old version. This is the active version.

"You'd have been strangled," says Gratitude seriously.

"I'll be right back, Avant," he continues, standing up and moving to the door and pausing to give the hippogriff a final caress.

Gratitude looks slightly surprised at the size of the group, but makes no comment. "Let's go."

Snaggletooth remains unseen in the shadows cast by Caine's large form. Although your eyes are growing accustomed to the faint blue light, it is still dim enough to hide a kobold determined not to be seen.

Leading the way around the mosaics, he takes you through door B. Here you are confronted with a four large statues of a hooded being, each holding a chain linked to a central wooden disk. Moving swiftly from one to another, Gratitude holds up his medallion and places it in the hand cavities on the statues. With each insertion, you hear a rumbling clank as the arms swing upright, loosening the chains and allowing the platform to shift. You realise that this is a form of lifting device, designed to transport you down a floor.

"On you get. Remember the sequence and put the medallion into the hands, press it down and take it out again. It's pretty simple. Careful on the eyeballs. If you've not blessed, they may turn a bit. You'll be fine," he adds to Brujo.

With that he leaves you, as the platform starts to descend slowly.

thanks, Rev. I have my roguish reputation to maintain. "let" him see me? no way! so do each of us need to do the ritual or can we pile in after someone does it?

Snaggletooth slowly emerges from the shadows after Gratitude leaves. "Whew! That close call. Pretty Man, you and Fire Lady did great job tricking stable boy into helping us." He looks in the direction of the stables. "I liked him. He not as bad as others. I hope we not need to kill him before this done." Snaggletooth looks surprisingly pensive for a few moments. "I know he not like us if he find out that we hurt his horse-beast friend." He stands there for a few awkward seconds in silence. "Well, artifact not rescue itself. We should go."

You can all fit on the contraption. If you do so, I'll provide a map of what you see on the floor below.

Apologies Snaggletooth - I don't usually make assumptions about pc actions. I can't think what came over me.

Leo - is all well with you?

"Quit fidgeting, Snaggletooth," whispers Caine.

The group step cautiously onto the platform as it starts its slow descent. You would judge that you are dropping about 30 or so feet, deep into the cliff face. Light greets you, suddenly bright after the darkness of the vertical tunnel and the contraption clunks gently as it comes to rest in yet another blue-lit chamber.

The chamber is lined with the translucent blue stone, making your slightly distorted reflections appear to be surrounded by a blue, flickering aura. The floor is made of the same stone and is eerily inset with stone eyes. As the contraption lands, all the stone eyes swivel to look at you, sending up small clouds of dust.

Two doors stand on the eastern wall, but the main foci of interest are a sculpture draped in a majestic blue robe top white blob and a table, in the likeness of a flaming eye, on which lie an amulet and a long wooden box lower white blob.

MAP

Couple of points. Your eyes have adjusted to the lighting by now - it's just a slightly different type of light source rather than particularly dim. Erik - your glib limerick has now worn off. If you want to recast it, that's fine. Perigia - you still look like a tiefling. You have around another 45 minutes of disguise left to you. I'm going to make the rash assumption that Erik probably picked up a spare cloak and and medallion combo for you to slip into when the effect wears off.

o.k. according to Gratitude, we need to walk on the eyes to get to the far door. they might slip a bit because we are not blessed by being spellscarred, so prepare to do a balance check (acrobatics, or dexterity if untrained). At least that is what I heard. I would go first, but we are still in disguise and so, I will continue to hide behind Caine.

stealth= 22

I won't bother casting the ritual. I'll take my chances at this point as +12 Bluff is still pretty good.

Erik follows the young tiefling and repeats the necessary steps, bracing himself as he does so after the boy's prior warnings.

Assuming you want to take Gratitude's word for it (and you have no reason at all to doubt him), walking across the eyes requires a DC20 Acrobatics check for each square. Failure lands you on the floor, prone. Brujo can cross on a DC10 per square. If you wish to work out some way of reducing the DC, run it past me.

Snaggletooth lurks in the folds of Caine's cloak, unobtrusive and poised to respond to any threat.

"I suggest we either form a rope line or simply try to crawl across. It's a bit demeaning but trying to walk would probably just result in the same thing."

Perigia, do you happen to have Tenser's Floating Disc as a ritual?

Crawling knocks 4 off the DC. The things are still very wobbly. So crawling will be DC6 for Brujo, DC16 for the rest of you. Rope will help too. Once you've made a concrete plan, I'll give you the final DCs.

Assuming you want to take Gratitude's word for it (and you have no reason at all to doubt him), walking across the eyes requires a DC20 Acrobatics check for each square. Failure lands you on the floor, prone. Brujo can cross on a DC10 per square. If you wish to work out some way of reducing the DC, run it past me.

Snaggletooth lurks in the folds of Caine's cloak, unobtrusive and poised to respond to any threat.

Do I have the option to fling Snaggletooth like a fastball special?

Do I have the option to fling Snaggletooth like a fastball special?

That's between Caine and Snaggletooth. Mine but to set the DCs and adjudicate accordingly :)

Commander Caine wrote:

Do I have the option to fling Snaggletooth like a fastball special?

That's between Caine and Snaggletooth. Mine but to set the DCs and adjudicate accordingly :)

Snaggs, you wanna be The Wolverine of this campaign setting?

"I suggest we either form a rope line or simply try to crawl across. It's a bit demeaning but trying to walk would probably just result in the same thing."

Perigia, do you happen to have Tenser's Floating Disc as a ritual?

Sorry I never learned that one. "Crawling seems to be the best shot to me," Perigia says. "Unless anyone has a better idea."

Erik Annadar wrote:

"I suggest we either form a rope line or simply try to crawl across. It's a bit demeaning but trying to walk would probably just result in the same thing."

Perigia, do you happen to have Tenser's Floating Disc as a ritual?

Sorry I never learned that one. "Crawling seems to be the best shot to me," Perigia says. "Unless anyone has a better idea."

"I'd have to agree with you, I'm not even that agile,"Leo grimaces.

OK. Let's see what Brujo's contribution to all this is, as he's the one most likely to make it across without mishap and you can tell me what the plan is.

"Crawling sounds like a plan, but I think I'll take my chances walking."

Brujo steps out and as soon as placing his foot on the floor slips on his back.

"Ok so maybe the crawling is better than I thought"

Acrobatics 1d20+4=6

Brujo hits the floor and slides off the swiveling eyeballs. As he lands, the blue stone beneath him sparks in protest, sending burst of arcing blue flame into his body.

Floor trap. Delivers 1d4+2 damage for each square touched. In this case, Damage to Brujo (1d4+2=3) - 3hp lightning.

Snaggletooth looks across the platform to the doors, and doesn't like what he sees. "It too far. You strong, Caine, but not that strong. I can get around no problem, but the rest of you have trouble. Let me look at trap and see how it work." Snaggletooth reaches beneath the first floor tile, careful to not touch the floor to see how the stones are balanced and if there is a mechanism to manipulate.
thievery=28

Perigia

Snaggletooth's knowledge serves him well. His questing fingers find the tiny latch that activates not only the floor tiles on either side of the eye Brujo fell on, but the next two along as well.

MAP

Red dots indicate safe squares.

DC20 to disable it. For each check you make that is 5 over that, you will disable the next two along as well. If you hit 30, you disable the next four along.

"Well done, sir," compliments Erik in regard to Snaggletooth's detection. "I never would have even thought of that."

Snaggletooth's face breaks out in a big grin when he deactivates the trap. He looks at the others and says, very proudly, "You glad you have me around. I figure out how to stop eyes from spinning."

He moves down to the next active square and searches again. thievery =23 good for another square

He moves one square again and tries again. thievery=21 crap! this is going to take a while.

After deactivating that square, he moves again. thievery=31, four more squares! only four more to go.
This time he felt something give away and multiple squares deactivated. He moves forward and tries again, his goal is in sight. thievery=20, one square

He moves up and tries again. By this time, he is getting quite good at this. though you couldn't tell by my rolls. thievery=21

He slides up and deactivates another square, but he hand slips and touches the floor! thievery= 15, rolled a two

After enduring the shock of touching the floor, Snaggletooth goes about deactivating the rest of the squares. thievery= 28, and that should get me to the door, right?

"Well done, sir," compliments Erik in regard to Snaggletooth's detection. "I never would have even thought of that."

"That because you not kobold. Kobolds always look for traps, because kobolds very good at using traps. I afraid it might be magic. Kobolds not so good at that." Snaggletooth responds to Erik.

MAP - red dots mark safe squares

Brushing aside the minor effects of the lightning damage home rolled, you took 5hp., Snaggletooth works his way methodically over the floor, building a safe path to one of the doors for his companions. Wherever he moves, the eyes on the floor swivel to follow him.

Congratulations :) Is this the door you wanted Snaggletooth, if not, I'll mark the safe path to the other one. Note that what you have disabled is the lightning delivering floor plates, not the eyes themselves.

So we take no damage, but we still fall? well, let's get across, people.

"I stopped the lightning. I make a safe path. Now if you fall, you not get hurt. This way." Snaggletooth leads the others across.

no sense rolling now for acrobatic checks, you have to figure we will get across eventually, whether crawling or walking and falling and getting up and walking and falling. In theory, we should be able to to just walk on the floor next to the eyes to get to the door. And that door is fine.

Perigia

That's right. You may still fall over a lot, but you can get to one door quite easily now.

Erik is perfectly willing to crawl carefully across the room, following the path Snaggletooth made for us. Upon reaching the edge he dusts his hands and knees off and readjusts his disguise, making sure his songblade is still hidden well enough.

Perigia waves her hand slightly and uses her arcane ability to grab the amulet and bring it to her. Then she follows Erik and Brujah across the floor.

Snaggletooth stares at Perigia for a moment, then back to the table platform, then back to Perigia, his eyes wide. "How you do that, Fire-lady? You can grab things from far away? Your magic is amazing!! You make light, you change form, you freeze bad guys, and now you grab objects from other side of room! What you get? Some kind of amulet?"

The amulet hangs from a chain and it is easy to see that this is the original on which the medallions you all wear are based. Carved into the shape of an eye, the blue veined stone is highlighted in gold. Stylised blue flames drip tears over the golden eyelids. As Perigia holds it, the flaming eye blinks and turns to look at her.

Brujo follows crawling slowly behind the others...

Is it possible to take 10 on crossing the eyes

Brujo follows crawling slowly behind the others...

Is it possible to take 10 on crossing the eyes

Yes. Unless you tell me otherwise, or have plans to explore this room futher, you are all heading for the top door using Snaggletooth's carefully constructed path.

perception=28 Snaggletooth puts his ear to the door to check the next room for noises. He also checks for traps on the door.