Rune forge dilemma

So the party got to Runeforge and have already figured out the 7 status. So they started with Karzoug and we're dking good until the room with the mithral transmuter. He disintegrated the monk. They did do defeat him as he dimension doored away. In the next room the doemon asked to be freed and they said they had to rest first. So they waited and the next day they freed the demon. They then continued into the next room and encountered the transmuter again.
This time they were ready. The cleric readied an action if he cast a spell. He hit him for 22hitpoints from magic missle. The DC was 39. I rolled a 20, and his concentration was +19. So he succeeded. They he was casting defensively and rolled 19 on the die. He cast Prismatic Spray.
The cleric was hit with flesh to stone. He failed his save.
So now the character who was disintegrated their ashes the cleric was carrying so they are also stone.
The remaining members of the party think they can just portal back and turn the cleric back and raise the monk. But they can't.

What shall I do?
No one has a scroll to turn cleric back to flesh.
How do I play this out?
Any advice?

I don't understand, the player was a monk and, then, a cleric? Or are they two players?

I don't remember that part of the AP (my party still play the 1st adventure), but if they want new PCs maybe you can give them Azlants

So the party got to Runeforge and have already figured out the 7 status. So they started with Karzoug and we're dking good until the room with the mithral transmuter. He disintegrated the monk. They did do defeat him as he dimension doored away. In the next room the doemon asked to be freed and they said they had to rest first. So they waited and the next day they freed the demon. They then continued into the next room and encountered the transmuter again.

This time they were ready. The cleric readied an action if he cast a spell. He hit him for 22hitpoints from magic missle. The DC was 39. I rolled a 20, and his concentration was +19. So he succeeded. They he was casting defensively and rolled 19 on the die. He cast Prismatic Spray.
The cleric was hit with flesh to stone. He failed his save.
So now the character who was disintegrated their ashes the cleric was carrying so they are also stone.
The remaining members of the party think they can just portal back and turn the cleric back and raise the monk. But they can't.

What shall I do?
No one has a scroll to turn cleric back to flesh.
How do I play this out?
Any advice?

The resurrection spell description suggests there are enough remains left after disintegrate to be the target of that spell. So it seems a reasonable interpretation that such "dust" could be gathered and held until a later casting (duration 10 years per caster level.) We'll assume your pc's plan to get it taken care of sooner :)

A failed save on Flesh to Stone leaves the target and his gear as stone. But if/when restored, the gear should revert back to it's previous state. So the monk dust, currently stone, will return to its "resurrectionable state" when the stone condition is ameliorated. A strict interpretation would be that the monk's 10 years per caster level clock is still running while stone.

You suggest the group "can't" but it's not clear what you think they can't do - stone to flesh the cleric and resurrect the monk or get back to Golarion to do so?

Yes, if they get can get the cleric back to flesh, the cleric can then cast Resurrection on the monk (assuming the cleric can cast 7th level spells and if they're in Runeforge I assume the answer is Yes.) How do they get him back to flesh? Break Enchantment can work - may take multiple tries. And that can be cast by multiple classes. Flesh to Stone will work - if this is viable for your group (you have an arcane caster with access to 6th level spells) you can put that spell in the Mithral Mage's spellbooks - seems highly likely he would have it. More convoluted methods would also be available - you could place scrolls of one or more needed spells in the possession of a nearby creature (limited wish works too.) More troublesome for campaign balance you could place items - rings of spell storing or wishes, etc. somewhere in the vicinity. This isn't that much of a stretch - the entire place is dripping with high level magic.

No, they cannot return to Golarion via the same method they used for access. There are other methods available to exit Runeforge - I don't have them memorized but if you need it, I or more likely some other smart person here can list them.

Can you clarify what your challenge is?

I don't understand, the player was a monk and, then, a cleric? Or are they two players?

I don't remember that part of the AP (my party still play the 1st adventure), but if they want new PCs maybe you can give them Azlants

So it's a party of 5 characters

They went to the section of Karzoug in Runeforge first.
They defeated all the Stone Golems and then went into the room with the Mithral Transmuter which disintegrated the monk. The monk had 2 rolls because of the halfling luck. Both failed.
Since the person who plays the monk was not present they decide to put her ashes into a can/jar and carried them instead of bringing her back to life with minimal hp and having her die again.
They then went into the room with the demon and instead of fighting him, he made a deal if they freed him.
The rested so the cleric could get the appropriate spell and then the next day freed the demon.
This allowed the party to go into the next room which again had the Mithral Transmuter that escaped the prior day. This time the party was prepared better and once the barbarian was next to the Trasnmuter he decide to cast defensively. The cleric readied his action when the transmuter would cast a spell.
Once I said my intentions he interrupted with the wand of magic missles and did 22hp of damage
The Transmuter need to concentrate to maintain the spell.
It was a 7th level.
So the DC was 10 + Damage + spell level = 39
His concentration check was +19.
Everyone knew I needed the 20 to succeed, so they were confided they would win.
I roll my roll in front of them, so I couldn't say I miss/hit to fudge things.
They saw the 20 I needed.
I then rolled to cast defensively, I rolled 19
The spell went off, hit 3 characters, Rogue, Cleric, Barbarian

I rolled the d8 to determine effect.
The cleric was hit the Flesh to Stone, and failed his save

He was carrying the ashes of the monk
Plus he had the scroll, stone to flesh

So now I've got this dilemma of what to do.
They think they can just find a portal to return. which they can't.
None of them have anything to turn him from stone to flesh.
Since their wizard is multi-class, he doesn't have high enough spells.

Plus the demon they freed is still roaming around lose.

The easy solution would be to add relevant scrolls to the treasure of the Vaults of Greed.

For slightly more challenge, add the scrolls to the Shimmering Veils of Pride. Vraxeris seems like the type who would collect scrolls. Leave a note in the Vaults of Greed about Ordikon trading with Vraxeris and passing up the scroll of Plane Shift because it was valueless to both of them.

However, in my campaign I had redesigned several sections of the Runeforge. I played the 3.5 version, so I don't know the Pathfinder anniversary version of the Festering Maze of Sloth. I replaced the maze with a set of luxury apartments and small labs served from a utilitarian basement run by primitive Alchemical Golems. The golems had the structural defect that they left a permanent Acid Fog whereever one was shattered, and most had been destroyed near the entrance while fighting to defend the section. The apartments had been all looted.

The others in the Runeforge say that the Harukans in the Festering Maze of Sloth had disappeared, probably just giving up and dying in the struggle for survival and their bodies disposed of by their golem slaves.

However, my key change is that the slothful researchers from Haruka had cheated. They had a hidden portal back to Haruka (southern Mindspin Mountains in Varisia). Of course, there has been a cave-in at the Varisian end, keeping it secret for millennia, but the barbarian should be strong enough to dig free.

I also added a pocket dimension with five Harukans just outside that passage back to Golarion. They had gone into suspended animation to wait for the effect that bound them to the Runeforge to wear off and whoever was supposed to awaken them never did. They view the present-day Runeforge with horror and will do anything for the party that isn't too strenuous or dangerous to escape along with them. They don't dare re-enter the Runeforge for longer than a few hours for fear of being bound to it again, but perhaps some know some spells.

Looks like we were posting at the same time. No matter, your second post provided more info.

Looks like we were posting at the same time. No matter, your second post provided more info.

** spoiler omitted **

Break Enchantment will not work. Flesh to Stone is 6th level and Break Enchantment only works on spells 5th level and lower

Character break down
Halfling Monk 12th level
Dwarf Barb 2/ Ftr 10
Elf Ranger 12th
Elf Rogue 3/ Ftr 1/ Wiz 3/ ArcT 5
His caster level is considered 10, but he can only do 4th level spells
Human Cleric 6/ Wiz 3/ Mystic Theurge 3

So the Cleric carried the scroll since he was mainly a back support person.

It will be very difficult for the 3 of them to tackle any other section within this module without there true healer.
The Rogue has a wand of cure light wounds.

Yes as a GM I can fudge things and let them find a scroll.. But they also know I got lucky on my rolls, and sometimes bad things happen.

Latrecis wrote:

Looks like we were posting at the same time. No matter, your second post provided more info.

** spoiler omitted **

Break Enchantment will not work. Flesh to Stone is 6th level and Break Enchantment only works on spells 5th level and lower

Nope.

"If the spell is one that cannot be dispelled by dispel magic or stone to flesh, break enchantment works only if that spell is 5th level or lower."

So, in an unwritten converse: if the spell is one that CAN be dispelled by dispel magic or stone to flesh, break enchantment works on a spell of any level.

I don't want to be "that guy" but the AP calls for the pc's to have 14 character levels by the time they get to Runeforge. I know you've got 5 pc's but they only have 12. Your arcane caster can only do 4th level spells and unless my math fails even when not granite, the cleric onlyh has access to 5th level. 14th level characters could have access up to 7th level. That sort of deficiency can really hurt. And it's not going to get better. Book 5 and 6 invert the enemy pattern - in the first four books, the enemies are primarily combat power with magical support; in the last two it's primarily magic power with combat support. Trailing your enemy by 2 or 3 spell levels is very dangerous and an advantage in action economy may not be enough to overcome it. Not really helping with a solution but this is underpinning your current challenge and once you work through it, there's a good chance it will happen again. PC's fail saves, it's an inevitable part of the game. High level characters survive either because they can absorb the consequences or they have buddies that can fix it. If neither is true...

I think you're stuck fudging things no matter what happens (though if they make it through the Festering Maze, the Stone to Flesh scroll there is not technically fudging since its placement was written into the module...) Down to three, they probably can't survive any encounter if the demon joins in - so not having that happen is "fudging." And even if you get the cleric fixed - no Resurrection so the monk is down until they get home and they can't get home until they take out the Halls of Wrath - good luck doing that with 4 12th level characters (though maybe they'll be 13th by then...) Another common way out would be Plane Shift, but they need the cleric restored and a tuning fork for Golarion (did they bring one?) I suppose they might find one in Runeforge (more fudging...)

Jordimandus has a scroll of stone to flesh, but the PCs need to negotiate with him or defeat him to get it (in my campaign, Jordimandus was the only Warden the party negotiated with). Also, there's no reason why Ordikon's spellbook wouldnt include stone to flesh, since it's a standard transmutation spell. For that matter, other spell books in Runeforge might include it.

-Skeld

Jordimandus has a scroll of stone to flesh, but the PCs need to negotiate with him or defeat him to get it (in my campaign, Jordimandus was the only Warden the party negotiated with). Also, there's no reason why Ordikon's spellbook wouldnt include stone to flesh, since it's a standard transmutation spell. For that matter, other spell books in Runeforge might include it.

-Skeld

I believe they have spell book which probably does contain that spell. The unfortunate problem is there wizard can not cast it.

Stone to Flesh in a spellbook won't help if the PC wizard can't cast it, nor will Break Enchantment if the wizard's stuck with 4th level spells.

And given that the PCs can't know who has a Stone to Flesh scroll and may well get killed off trying to fight in some of the encounter areas, letting them wander around seems unwise.

I have two suggestions:
1. Have the demon they released meet up with Jordimandus. He cuts a deal with the demon: the demon wants out, and Jordimandus hates the Wrath people and knows about the PCs and their dilemma. If the demon acts as a go-between, Jordimandus can send the PCs at Athroxis to clear the way to the portal out. If the PCs die, no harm done to Jordimandus. If they succeed, maybe they'll leave him alone. If you're feeling really generous, have the demon support the attack (though he's perhaps not entirely trustworthy).

2. The waters of the runeforge pool or the pool of elemental arcana may have properties beyond those stated in the adventure. Perhaps the arcane trickster can "hack" one of them to reverse the Flesh to Stone effect. You can decide what side-effects that reversal may have, if any.

#3. Some of the goldfishes in the Greed region could be adventurers. Allow one to be a spellcaster who will help them in exchange for being led out. The Monk player can run this NPC until they are done with the Runeforge.