Labyrinth Souls (Inactive)

Game Master Mighty Glacier

The dark elf nods. "I've taken a profession of producing alchemical products and trading them for souls. Souls are a bizarre form of energy - surely you are familiar with them.
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She listens to Pahleg's answers and then replies: "Acknowledged. You are not the first group of newcomers to be attracted by the Explorers' Guild. Try your best not to keep your hopes up: the Guild is nothing marvelous." Felisse turns her back to you and moves to a nearby table and starts reading a small book. "Ineffectual sluggers were more interested in drawing ornamented maps than going out exploring. That's why I abandoned their cause and took on personal ambitions," she mutters while reading.

"...Hellfire is not much better either, I'm afraid. Militaristic fools who cling together in order to act tougher than their reality would allow. Besides, have you heard of their General? I don't understand how anyone would want to serve that tyrant."

She closes the book, grabs some test tubes and pours them into a cauldron. "If you buy something I can direct you to either organization, should you wish so. But keep in your minds that there are other covenants out there."

"Since our souls are pooled together, let's discuss our purchases. I would suggest buying each estus flask, an antiplague and the silver dagger. Perhaps even a crossbow for anyone likely to use one."

"What other covenants are there out there?"

"From what little I have heard from my customers, there are several. I get bulk orders from some Order of Sheep, so it is reasonable to assume that's a covenant," Felisse says with a disinterested tone while continuing her work. "I also have recollection of someone mentioning something about devils, hunters and shadows. If memory serves the topic was about covenants. Probably."

You decide to purchase a light crossbow with 20 bolts, a silver dagger, a flask of alchemist's fire, and two estus flasks: one a bit more radiant than the other.

Lost 30 souls.

Merchant list updated. New items available!

The alchemist flashes a friendly smile while accepting the payment. "Pleasure doing business," she says. "You can count on being always welcomed here to make more purchases. I also offer to buy ingredients and materials from my customers, should you come by any. Now, where do you want directions to? The Explorers' Guild, Hellfire, or both perchance?"

Estus flask shard! We must come back when we has more money...

"A pleasure indeed, you can definitely expect more of our business in the future. Can you give us directions to both?"

"Certainly, a promise is a promise," Felisse says. "Please commit the following to your memories."

"Explorers' Guild is located in the so-called capital of the Labyrinth, Castle Heaven, on B19F. My laboratory here is quite distant from it, so the travel there will be a lengthy one. First, head back down to B14F. Turn left and go straight forward in the long tunnel. Once you reach the ladders, turn right and you should eventually reach a religious place of worship. From there, just keep going down and you'll reach the Road of Bliss. Road of Bliss leads to the capital."
Sounds like you'll need to go to the fog wall.

"As for Hellfire there is a camp or a prison or an outpost, whatever they call it these days, not far from here. It is well-guarded, so I advice you proceed not with violence but with guile and words. If you can convince those nimrods to let you through, the journey to the Throne should be a simple one. Throne is what the headquarters of Hellfire is called. Follow their instructions and keep your guard up."
Sounds like she's referring to the place where you had a chat with the knight.

Are you ready to go?

"Since it's close, I think we pay the Hellfire outpost a visit first. From there we can see if we want to find the guild, or that Throne next."

Ready, if everyone agrees.

Pahleg nods in gratitude to Felisse, and gives her a handshake if she seems willing. "We truly appreciate the information. As long as we don't die, you can count on our return and continued business."

"I agree Elyna, on all your points."

Ulrich starts, looking around at everyone once more as if he's forgotten them before remembering.
"Ah, yes yes. Let us seek them out first. A capital to the Labyrinth, gods, the scale of this place..."

Felisse reluctantly and briefly shakes hands with the grateful cleric. The group signals desire to continue their journey, and she walks to the iron door and unlocks it with her key. Just as the group is about to exit, she speaks quietly with a melancholic tone: "Seek misery. If your heart's desire is to escape, you must seek misery. Comfort will not bring you souls, it will not make you stronger, it will not grant you freedom. Seek misery, and bring misery to others. For that shall be the key out."

With those words still echoing in your minds, the drow apothecary shoves you out of the room and locks the door behind. You see that all your weapons are still innocently laying where you left them. You pick them up, take a breath, and head back down. As you descend the stairs you take a look back and remember the other iron door, opposite to Felisse's lab. You cannot help but wonder what lies beyond it, but perhaps that mystery should be left for another time.

Seeking the outpost Felisse spoke of, you return to the large chamber where you met the knight who had declared himself a member of Hellfire. The chamber is still illuminated by multiple torch sconces on the walls, and the floor is still soaked in bloodstains.

The knight and his greatsword are on their usual spot, leaning against the backside wall. "You again," the knight says. "Stay where you are. Did you speak with Corporal Matt? What did he say?"

"Hello again, sir knight. We're just passing through is all. I think?"

"We just had a pleasant conversation with an alchemist and now we are seeking out your organization's outpost."
Elyna's eyes trail across the floor, "I hadn't really taken much notice of it before, but, mind telling us where all this blood comes from?"

Ulrich remains quiet, studying the blood on the floor as if noticing it for the first time.

"There are no other Hellfire outposts on this floor, so this must be what you're looking for then," the Hellfire knight scoffs. At the mentioning of the bloodstains on the floor, he raises his voice. "Mind your own business. I am not authorized to talk about it. Take a walk and go bother my superior down below."

The bloodstains on the floor are mostly dried, with one small but wet puddle in the corner. You estimate that whatever bleeding occurred here must have been some time ago. As for the puddle in the corner, you hazard a guess that either someone bled massive amounts or that the bleeding occurred recently.

Pahleg's optimistic disposition doesn't even waver. "Is there any chance you could give us some directions to your superior? It would be a great help."

"He said it's down this tunnel here, we turn right and go down. Then he's just straight ahead. Come on, no reason to stick around."

Ulrich proceeds toward the tunnel Ysmus (the knight) had indicated earlier.

Ysmus wasn't the name of the knight, but sure.

You leave the unpolite knight and the bloodstained chamber and continue to the tunnel on the left.

Not far have you walked into the tunnel when you notice that there are holes on the floor. These pits are 20 feet wide and 10 feet long. As Ulrich brings his torch closer to the pit, he sees the pit is about 20 feet deep. Jumping down might be achievable and non-fatal, if a bit painful.

You also notice writing on the floor you are standing on. It seems that someone has written down "TRY JUMPING, BE WARY OF DANGER" with some kind of glowing ink.

Would you like to jump across the pits (make three Acrobatics checks), jump down into a pit (make one check to reduce fall damage) or surprise me and do something else?

Map of the area

Hey, I tried.

"If anyone is holding onto a rope or something similar, now would be a good time to mention it...", Ulrich says, looking dubiously into the pit.

Are there any passages secured by doors, besides the ones that were up on Felisse's level? If we could get a door or two off of their hinges, maybe we could lay one across a corner and cross that way? Or have one person jump across so that a door could be held like a platform by two other party members? Or we could try to get a ladder off the wall and use them.

You recall seeing some doors in the hall where you met the crestfallen man (I didn't mention this earlier, but that was because your group got preoccupied with some falling fetchlings), though they were made of metal and could be difficult to carry up even if you did succeed in taking them off. The ladders you climbed earlier were more than 30 feet tall, moving them is realistically speaking impossible.

The wooden shelves in the bookshelf room could substitute as planks for crossing the gaps, with a little effort of craftsmanship.

"I'm afraid that I'm a bit too clumsy to make these jumps. Perhaps we should drag some bookshelves over or rip out some shelves to create a makeshift walkway. Securing them to each other may be difficult, but perhaps some of you have a better idea to do that than I do."

"Perhaps we grab the longest bookshelves and overlap each end... then we grab that broken pickaxe the half-orc had and use the pick head to pin the edges together and make a makeshift bridge."

"I'm not agile either. I say we apply engineering here, if possible."

Knowledge (engineering) check maybe?

Elyna examines the pit before the group for a moment. "If we have the muscle necessary to move a few of those book shelves in one piece, we could possibly lower them down there and then use the sides of some other shelves to bridge to the standing shelf and then to the other side."

"I'm more agile than not, I could probably make a jump across and help people up at the other side." Kekkle adds.

"Though these signs warn of something, perhaps some beast lurks in the pit?"

"I can try to make it, and if not..."
Ushio without another word backs up to the back wall and runs forward prepared to cross the gap.
Acrobatics 1st: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Acrobatics 2nd: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Acrobatics 3rd: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
CRIT! CRIT! CRIT!!!!!!!!!!
On the last jump across the third gap, Ushio twists his back towards the pit and backflips over, landing perfectly a foot from the edge.
Ushio looks back towards the party, and sticks out his hand with one finger out, as if gesturing "one moment please".
He looks down the hallway, seeing if anything is amok within.
Do you usually roll perception for us in instances such as these or should we?

While the others are discussing possible ways of using bookshelves to cross the gaps, Ushio goes ahead and performs a stunning triple jump over the gaps, effortlessly bringing him to the other side. (nice crit!)

The acrobatic fetchling looks round the corner, seeing what looks like to be another chamber. The chamber is dark, lacking any illumination.

On the backside of the chamber there is something the size of a troll towering in the shadows! Ushio's heart skips a beat, but when he looks at the large thing more carefully he sees it's nothing more than a statue made of stone. Closer examination requires a bit more proximity

A wooden chest, not unlike the one the party saw earlier, lies in the middle of the chamber. On top of the chest is a humanoid skull, presumably that of a human, and a candle that has completely burnt out.

The chamber's stone floor has traces of some kind of grey powder. Left to the large statue is a wooden door.

Ushio sees no movement in the chamber.

Map of the area

Pahleg: I dunno, making something simple out of a few planks seems pretty instinctively to me, engineering might be a bit overkill. A single Craft (carpentry) DC 5 check should do, can take 10. If anyone has ranks in Knowledge (engineering) then sure, makes the crafting easier or something.

Ushio: I roll Perception unless you're actively looking for something. And maybe even then if its slugging game progress. Then again this rule is not absolute, and I'm not a rules-nazi type GM anyway. This time it's you looking at something, not for, and thus I roll.

Ushio would like to look for a rock and stealth.
Perc: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh--Nineteen.

"Right, let's get some planks down. Don't have all day!"

"Technically it could be night, no way to tell really"

Kekkle will do his best to help, but he has no real skill with carpentry or construction.

Pahleg busts out in laughter. "Oh Kekkle, it's good to have somebody along with your sense of humor!"

"Very impressive, Mr. Takei... but didn't going off on your own have dire consequences last time? Please do be careful."

Ulrich turns to the rest.
"Let's all stay here for the time being until Ushio makes it back across- we don't want to leave him out to dry, now do we?"

Despite Ulrich's warnings, Ushio sneaks into the dark room and examines the statue more closely. The stone statue is roughly 9 feet tall and depicts a woman in robes sitting on top of an hourglass. The woman has long straight hair and a sorrowful look. She's holding a scythe on her right hand and a rose on her left hand. Overall the statue is in good shape: clearly it is well-preserved. I had trouble understanding what Ushio wanted to do. I assumed by looking for a rock you meant examining the statue. Sorry if the outcome was not desired.

GMPCing a little to keep this smooth.

Goramar and Moritat got tired of waiting and went back to the bookshelf room. The two strong half-orcs carry a bookshelf, 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall, back to the others. Ushio is called back, and effortlessly hops to join the others. The group gathers its collective skills and manages to craft a 13 feet, 3 feet wide long wooden bridge. The bridge is placed on the first gap. It supports the weight of at least one person - maybe more but who would risk it?

Eventually the others arrive in the room Ushio investigated earlier. The wooden chest, and the skull and candle on top of it, remains untouched.

Map of the area

"He's right though, daylight doesn't matter and I don't think we have to hurry anywhere. Anyway, there's no use in lollygagging either."

I wanted to get a stone to pick up and throw at the door to one, see if any thing on the other side would open it and two, see if anything in the dark room would go to investigate, maybe thinking someone was knocking... But yeah, whatever :) That works too.

Ushio will move next to the door on either side and keep his stealth up.

Ulrich crouches, looking at the powder on the floor.
"What's all this?", he says, picking some of the grit up with a finger.

Kekkle makes a strap snapping sound as he shudders.

"Ohhh...they could be ashes of some other unfortunate adventurer, lured into the same spot we are now. That would be just awful. Awful!"

"To be expected. Our purgatory seems to be a brutal place, fit to punish our sins. But at the least, it would be a warning to the rest of us."

Where are the ashes concentrated in the room?

While Ushio puts his back against the wall next to the door, Ulrich crouches and sweeps some of the powder with his index finger. As expected, the grey powder is indeed ash. On a closer look, majority of the ash is located on front of the statue: even the statue's feet have traces of ash. The rest of the room's floor has minimal amounts of ash.

Ulrich paces over to the statue and takes a closer look at this skull candle.
Perception- statue: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (9) - 2 = 7
Perception- candle: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (7) - 2 = 5

"This statue seems to be the source of the ash- perhaps this candle has something to do with it?"

Ulrich lights the skull candle with the torch.
7 wisdom! No way this can go wrong!

Call me paranoid but I'm running for cover!

You're already half on fire, what's a little bit more?

The group investigates the statue closely (Taking 20). The stone statue is roughly 9 feet tall and depicts a woman in robes sitting on top of an hourglass. The woman has long straight hair and a sorrowful look. She's holding a scythe on her right hand and a rose on her left hand. Overall the statue is in good shape: clearly it is well-preserved. The statue's feet are have traces of ash. Although you suspect the statue has something to do with the ash, you are unable to find a connection. Nothing new here. You can roll knowledge skill of choice if you want.

On top of the wooden chest sits a human skull and a white candle next to it. The candle has completely burnt out: it has very little wax left. Ulrich uses his torch to light it up. The candle is lit, but most likely won't stay lit for very long.

You feel uneasy.

Pahleg looks over the things with interest, but at the end he shrugs. "Doesn't appear to be particularly interest. Let's move on."

Ulrich nervously scratches under his eyepatch.
"But shouldn't we at least examine the chest? There could be something of use within."

Pahleg shifts uneasily. "I suppose so..."

I will let others be the trapmonkey, since I'm the only competent healer :P

Ulrich blows out the skull candle and removes it from the chest. He'll then start carefully examining the chest itself.
If we have the time, I'll take 20 to examine the chest without touching it, giving me an 18 perception roll.

Cautiously coming back from where he had been hiding behind the statue, Kekkle helps Ulrich examine the chest

Aid Another: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

The group examines the chest as thoroughly as they can. Nothing in the chest shows any signs of danger. After carefully putting the skull and unlit candle aside, the chest is opened. It contains a white urn, a small-sized scythe and a large soul.

Holy Water Urn

An urn filled with crystal-clear water.

Flask of holy water. Worth 3 souls.

Priests of the Cruel Command sell holy water to ward off the undead, for they defile Her divine law.

Scythe (Small)

A farming tool used for mowing grass and reaping crops, it makes a surprisingly good weapon.

Standard scythe for small creatures. Worth 2 souls.

Scythes have always had symbolism for death. Grim Reaper is often pictured reaping souls. Pray that you never face Him here.

Large Soul of a Fallen Roamer

Large soul of a roamer who has long ago left the existence.

Use to acquire souls.

Souls are that which everyone and everything in the Labyrinth desire.

If you wish to expend soul items (like the large soul of fallen roamer here), you need to grasp it firmly. Last time you found a soul item it was expended immediately, as a tutorial of sorts.