Out of the Abyss (Pathfinder Conversion)

Game Master EmEss

The group starts to head off down the Western Passage. Harro remains near the water's edge until he spots Shuushar emerging from the water with an unconscious Buppido. Both are heavily scarred from the acid and the normally serene kuo-toa appears shaken by the experience. Buppido is clearly in need of urgent medical attention but contrary to Jimjar's assertion is not yet dead.

Harro will rush to help the two away form the water, but keeping an eye out for tentacles following them.

"You fish-faced buffoonery! Shoulda' let the crazy drown and get et'!"

Once they are safe and nothing follows them out, Harrow will grab the chest lift it to his shoulder. He will then move to the tunnel the others fled down and gesture to the two survivors with his dagger.

"Ladies first!"

Shuushar and Buppido are able to catch up to the rest of the group, with a little help from Harro. As you hustle down the tunnel, which shows frequent signs of use, Jimjar turns towards Vinexa and hands her a small pouch.

"Well we're free. For now anyway. I hardly thought that it could be possible. Never let it be said that I'm not a man of my word, there's the thirty gold I owe you, a small price to pay for freedom, although I must admit the consolation prize would have been very agreeable. I wonder how long before those long-eared bastards stop playing with the demons and come and chase us?"

After approximately 20 minutes have passed Shuushar and Buppido are beginning to lag behind the rest of the group and clearly cannot continue for much longer. Feel free to describe anything said or done during this time. I've assumed you've continued to move at a hustle during this period and are about 2 miles from Velkenvelve.

After a short while longer you come across a small side passage (one of several seen so far). It would be easy to shake off pursuit (at least temporarily) in the maze of tertiary tunnels but doing so would risk getting lost yourselves, as well as running into horrors far worse than drow.

From this point on I'll be secretly tracking the pursuit level of the party of drow chasing you. Various actions will increase or decrease this pursuit level, such as your pace of travel, whether you make a survival check to cover your tracks, the route you take, and how you deal with encounters while travelling. You can choose to move at a fast, medium, or slow pace each day. At a fast pace you will make 8 miles of progress in a day and will gain ground on your pursuers but take a -2 penalty to perception checks and are unable to forage. At a medium pace you will make 6 miles of progress a day and are able to forage for food with a DC15 survival check. At a slow pace you will make 4 miles of progress and are able to gather twice as much food. You gain a +2 bonus to survival and perception checks and are able to move stealthily but the drow will gain ground on you. As previously stated Sloobludop is approximately 8 days away at a medium pace.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

While he doesn't care about the the duo lagging behind really, Harro tries not to let them fall too much behind since Harro would prefer to be the last in line...to avoid any 'accidental stabs in the back' from his new 'friends.'

"Not today boyos! KEEP moving! One foot..or flipper...in front of t'other! I'm not about to carry the like of you."

Intimidate (Inspiration): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Shaking his head in annoyance, HArro will call ahead to the others.

"YO! These boys are done. We need a quick respite for them and a gathering of thoughts on the here and the later."

Micar comes to a stop at Harro's words.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

"At some point we're all going to need to rest, but I'm not sure if now is the time. With the two injured folks here we're not going to outrun them, so we've got to lose these guys some how. Tanic, you've got a good sense of direction in these caves, right?"

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

"I do, and a fair amount of skill at tracking. I say we send these two off alone. Out pursuers are closing in on us, I can hear them. We can make our tracks obvious for a while and cover theirs to give them a sporting chance. Then it will be time to cover our tracks. I'll need you all to pay close attention to what I'm telling you as there are some fairly unexpected ways to give yourself away in a cave."

Take 10 for a 20 in Survival for the lecture. Note: This is entirely BS from my own imagination. It makes sense but I could be entirely wrong.

"First off you always have to remember that when you are travelling through unused passages even the slightest disturbance is obvious. If you travel in used passages then you run the risk of running into unwelcome company. Those side passages look tempting, and they are, but they are a great risk too. I recommend we go that way and send the wounded along the main way since they have no hope of covering their tracks. We do. At least I do."

"First of all walk on flat areas as much as possible. It is very easy break things with tiny points. A firm footfall is very likely to break things that have never seen wind or wave to weather them down before you come along. Avoid moss or fungus by any means. Try to place your feet where the person ahead of you did and adjust your gait to the stride of the person with the smallest legs. In fact that person should go first. I will be coming up the rear and attemtping to wipe away any traces."

blah, blah, blah.

I'm currently having flashbacks of the Drizzt books when he still lived in Menzoberranzan and hunted through the caves. How they were all talking about tracking echoes and things like that.

"Right, obviously," Akri said, not really looking at anybody in particular. "Grandda talked about critters in the cave tunnels, blinder than blind, that could find you no matter what you did."

Having successfully fished their companions out of the drink and deciding on a direction to go the half-succubus began to follow, at least until Jimjar pulled out a pouch and handed it to her. She smiled in contentment as he gave her the money he owed and stowed it away. As he expressed the fact he was going to miss out on the consolation prize she looked at him and simply replied, "Oh, I think giving you my wager as a consolation prize is quite possible, I have needs and hungers that must be met after all. Between you and Talindra it might even be possible to keep them sated." With that she walked ahead and heard Harro state "ladies first". As she walked before him she looked back over her shoulder at him and said, "You just want to enjoy the view don't you?" She returned her focus ahead of herself but added an extra little sway to her hips and tail to give him a very good view as they began their travels.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

"Can you hear that? Listen, it's the drow, they're in pursuit and getting closer. We're not going to get away if we keep this dead weight." Talindra glares at Shuushar as she says this. Talindra would've preferred that Shuushar had left Buppido behind. He was severely injured and undoubtedly a drain on resources. On the other hand, it seemed like some of the others were feeling sympathetic. If they started splitting up, there was a much greater chance that they would all die.

The drow lets out a long sigh. "Fine, I guess if we're going to keep moving, we need to get Buppido back on his feet again. Hold him still." Can't believe I'm caring for a freaking Derro thinks Talindra, but she keeps that though to herself. Instead, Talindra begins to chant archaic words in Abyssal. And then, perhaps, strength returns to Buppido.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6;
Cure Light Wounds: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3;

"You just want to enjoy the view don't you?"

Harro will snort at the woman, trying not look twice at the too-tall and buxom figure.

"Lady...I already know the carpet matches d'drapes, and that's already more'n what I wanna know!"

"Can we please put the libido back into you pants, people?" Akri said in disgust. "We already got enough problems as it is. Let's just find some place to hole up for a little while and get some rest."

Is anyone still injured?

Hearing everyone is healed up, Micar nods at Tanic, "Lead the way, but lets make haste before we start trying anything fancy. Hopefully we can outrun them."

Micar will be right next to or right behind Tanic depending on the width of the tunnels.

@Tanic Shuushar is still fairly injured, but well enough to continue. None of the other NPCs with the party have significant injuries. I believe Harro and Talindra have a couple of hit points damage. Also nice lecture earlier

The group heads off down the side passage with Tanic at the rear covering up tracks. Several hours pass as you hurry through the twisting tunnels. Numerous other passages intersect with yours at various points but Tanic always picks one after a few moments contemplation using know direction where necessary . You haven't heard any sounds of pursuit for over an hour now.

DM Roll: 1d100 ⇒ 72
DM Roll: 1d20 ⇒ 6
Stream Width: 1d4 ⇒ 3

After about another hour of travel you reach a cavern with a 15 foot wide stream flowing through the middle. The stream is shallow and easily crossed and the cavern appears uninhabited, with the exception of strange bioluminescent fish swimming in the stream.

Pointing at the fish, Harro queries the druid ahead.

"Hummph. Those look edible. What d'think Tanic? Food source? Or would they light us up? Hehehehe."

Harro seems to think he's funnier than he really is.

When Tanic gets up to the stream, he gives the critters a look. Also, as he travels he will keep an eye out for edibles.

Survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (18) + 10 = 28

And, just in case any of these skills come in handy...
Kn Dungeoneering: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Kn Nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

The fast pace you were travelling at made it difficult to really forage but Tanic did spot a patch of Bluecap, the spores of which can be ground into a nutritious, if somewhat bland, flour. You gather enough to maybe produce a pound of flour.

The fish, which you recognise as Gloriamaris, have rounded, compressed bodies covered in thick plate-like scales. They are toxic if eaten raw, but descaled and cooked are considered something of a delicacy.

You also spot a clump of 4 Waterorbs growing in the shallows of the stream. This bulbous fungus holds about a gallon of drinkable water and provides a pound of chewy and tasteless food.

As they go along, Tanic collects each of the items but says nothing. Any time anyone tries to talk he shushes them.

Tanic will cast CLW on Shuushar at the first sign of lagging.

Is that on gallon and one pound per waterorb, or 1/4 per waterorb?

Per Waterorb

Giving a sigh as they come across a place that might be a good resting spot, Akri walked over to the river and peered in. "These fish any good, Tanic?" he asked the druid. "Could really go for a bite to eat right now..."

Tanic shushes Akri and mimes being poisoned to death, then cooking it and eating it with pleasure.

A little obsessive about the 'being quiet' thing, I'd say.

Talindra shakes his head. "What are you saying? Is it poisonous or no?"

As tersely as possible, Tanic whispers, "Yes, unless cooked"

Talindra shrugs. At least she had gotten the druid talking again. The silence he was demanding was excessive, and interfered with reasonable communication. "If you want to talk without speaking, you should learn sign language. It comes naturally to the Drow, of course. But I'm sure you could be taught such things in time."

Having an opportunity for rest, she heads over to Harro and some of the others, speaking in a soft whisper. "We should inspect and distribute the magical items we took from the shrine. It may well come in handy should we run into trouble."

Sadly, I forgot to add a point in Spellcraft in creating this character. May rectify that someday, but in the meantime, can anyone else handle identifying the items we got?

If the group is resting for now...

Harro nods at Talindra's and Tanic's statements and immediately finds a dry spot near the stream and opens up the chest he brought along.

Pulling out the silk ladder and one of the cushions, he places the cushion on the chest, and sits on it.
Sighing a bit, Harro pulls out one of his daggers to start making adjustments to the ladder, pulling it
apart as best he can and fashioning it into something else...

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Craft(Weaponsmithing): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

...to fashion an ugly but 'possibly' functional fishing net made from silk.

He then moves to the stream, after putting the cushion away and starts fishing.

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
I should get a bonus because they glow in the dark right? =)

When we stop to rest, Micar gets out how spellbook and starts reading through it. He absentmidedly draws his wakizashi and twirls it in his right hand, regaining the familiar feeling of the weapon I his hand.

After resting and I can cast Detect Magic again, I can attempt to identify the magic items.

No spellcraft here. Tanic parcels out the waterorbs he has and casts create water a few times in a handy rock indentation. He begins the tedious process of grinding flour without making any noise.

Too bad there is no fire for the fish. Oh well, perhaps we will run into some fuel later.

Harro manages to fashion a very rough net. His fishing skills appear far greater than his netmaking skills however and he swiftly catches several of the Gloriamaris.

Micar inspects the items found in the chest and using detect magic determines that the basalt frog, the amber bead, and the robe are magically. The other items may be potentially be valuable but lack a discernible magic aura.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

The Basalt Frog appears to have once been a real frog and has been turned into a statue by a flesh to stone spell.

The amber bead is a Campfire Bead, very useful for travelers in areas without fuel. They require an activation word to function but these are often fairly simple to guess. Feel free to list random guesses in character. DC15 on any vaguely appropriate skill eg. UMD, Linguistics, Any Knowledge

The dark robe with the silver spider is a Robe of Needles .

I think UMD covers making a magic item work that requires a password activation. NOTE: I used one of the potions of healing earlier BTW and still have the other handy for now. The Robe looks like it was made for the 1/2 Succubus!

UMD in the core rule book sets a DC of 25 to blindly activate a password activation. You also have to make a new check (with +2 bonus) each time you want to activate it after the first try as you are not sure what you did when activating it. I will likely use this for more powerful magic items but for this item I figured a broader range of checks would be appropriate as the password is probably still the 'factory default' so to speak. Words such as fire or activate are likely to do the job here.
EDIT: I also generally like allowing players a choice of using different skills to achieve the same thing, perhaps reflecting an in-world different approach. For example when making the nets I'd have allowed a Survival, Craft (Weapons), Craft (Clothes/Fabric), Profession(Sailor), Profession (Tailor) etc. all to succeed, but with potentially different DCs.

Tanic has no gift for magical activations and does not like the idea of everyone talking at a bead, but then again a fire would be VERY nice.

He starts muttering words in undercommon, darkfolk, and common
Flame
Fire
Start
Camp
Campfire
Heat
Blaze
Burn
...

Knowledge Nature: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13, for words about natural fires and fire producing items like flint, heartwood, etc.
Linguistics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

But to no avail, or because someone beat him to it.

Regarding the campfire bead:

Know Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Know Local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Talindra also studies the bead. Linguistics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10.

Unsure of what it might be, she also makes some guesses. "Spark. Ignite. Shine. Warmth. Warm. Hot. Light. Flare. Signal..."

"I'm hungry," Akri told the bead, shrugging his shoulders as the others looked at him. "What? I am, and everybody else was talking to the magic bead."

One of the words Micar says seems to work and the bead glows and expands, forming a fire 2 feet in diameter.

Once he thinks he's gathered as many fish as he can, Harro will start gutting the fish, and prepping them to cook on the
magical fire the others found.

"Anybody got a spare long-drow-sticker handy? One of dem'fancy Rapiear's? It would make a good spit for the fire for right now.
Udder'wise grab a flat rock and scrape it clean and get it near the fire t'start heatin!"

Tanic adds his fish to the heap, after cleaning them.

"Nice meal! Probably a lot better than what we would've been given in the pen, no?"

Vinexa was at loose ends all of a sudden, they'd finally reached a safe enough place to stop for a while, rest, and eat. She watched with amusement as they tried to activate the bead so they'd have a surface to cook on. She focused on thoughts of being clean and the emotion that came with it, drawing upon her innate psychic abilities to clean her body of the day's exertions. When the fire finally sprang into life she was quite delighted, it had taken a bit but it wasn't like the cold of the cavern bothered her any being naturally resistant to the harm the elements could do. As the fish were laid out and prepared she moved forward and asked, "Yes, a much better meal than the pens. What can I do to help?"

Harro will grunt at the hlaf-demon and wave a half-gutted fish her way, although he seems to avoid looking at her directly.

"Grab some food and go keep watch on our backtrail! You got those demon senses going for you right?
Make sure we don't get stabb'd in our sleeps! We'll send sommn' to relieve you as soon as as all the
bodies here been fed."

The meal seems to ease something in Tanic, as does the chatting/normalcy of the meal, and soon he is back to his old self making you long for the hours of silence.

"You know there are many edibles in these caves. My absolute FAVORITE is the green back parasol. A nice little mushroom that grows in wild abandon near smokey lava shafts..."

By the time you leave you have heard of 10 different varieties of mushrooms and their uses, all in a quiet voice of course. He is about to start in on rodents when it becomes time to leave.

Vinexa found the duergar's refusal to look directly at her amusing for being so gruff the man seemed easily flustered. She reached out and placed one finger under his chin and tried to tilt his head in her direction so she could meet his eyes and said, "When giving such brusque instruction it's best to meet the eyes of the one you are giving it to." Having had her fun...for now, Vinexa grabbed a couple of fish and moved to a spot where she could remain fairly well concealed and watch for trouble.

Stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15
Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

This got quiet pretty quick.

Once everybody has been fed, Harro will suggest someone go relieve the succubus, but "...not in THAT way."

He will then proceed to pull some cushions out of the chest and make an improvised bed with his head resting against the chest itself, his precious 'escape' club held close and ready.

I've had a couple busy weeks in a row. I've been keeping track, but a bit quiet.

I can take a watch as well, I just need rest for studying spells. How long are we resting?

Sorry. I was busier than expected the first few days of my trip.

1st Watch: 1d20 ⇒ 7

The first watch is pretty uneventful although Vinexa does hear some strange sounds in the distance about halfway through the watch, a sort of slithering noise, so faint that it could almost have just been in her imagination.

Now might be a good time for a full 8-10 hour rest. If you post the watch order (feel free to assign NPCs as you wish). Two hour watches unless specified otherwise

Let's get a solid 8 hours but no more. We need to keep moving. Divide the group however needed, the weakest can just sleep it off, the rest of us taking turns. I'll do last watch.

Tanic will take middle watch as long as that allows him to regain his spells.

As I don't have any burn to get rid of yet, any watch is fine with me.

When she was relieved Vinesa mentioned to the individual she had heard a faint slithering noise far off in the distance, though she wasn't sure if it was really there or not it was so quiet. With that she went and found a spot to lay down for a while and rest.

After noting the direction from which the slithering came, Tanic says, "Let's head this way then!" as he points in the other direction, assuming there is an other direction.

I'm ready to press on when everyone else is, assuming it was a quiet rest period.