[PFS] 02-02 Rescue at Azlant Ridge (Inactive)

Game Master Zizazat

If no one else is interested, Slachagok will also grab the shield and shortspear.

"Aha!" Seaching for the helmet he had thrown aside at sight of the ambush, Slachagok spies it underneath the wagon. Weighed down by the rest of his armor and with the battle's adrenaline wearing off, it takes him several seconds to kneel down, grab the item, and rise again to his feet.

He nods at Marcek's suggestion as he brushes a layer of dirt from the helm. "With that purse we took off their cap'n, I 'magine we'll be able t' find some accomodatin' soul."

Mark, WTF! That purse was massive. Is there some rhyme or reason to that?

Surely a printing error?

We still moving on to the camp??

"I'm with Batah. Let us move on to the camp," says Mareck.

Yep, Slach has been ready.

You climb ever higher out of the jungle, the series of thin switchback trails just large enough for Raimondo’s caravan wagons. Suddenly, from the canopy below comes an unearthly bellowing roar. Thousands of colorful birds take flight and wing off away from the noise, and a cacophony of screeching, chittering, and screaming follows the roar.

As you approach the top of the ridge, a dilapidated camp comes into view. The camp is surrounded by a hastily constructed palisade wall forming a semi-circle that both starts and ends at an imposing cliff face stretching hundreds feet up from the palisade. The bodies of hundreds of ape-like creatures lie outside the walls in various states of decay. The stench is overpowering, and a cloud of flies is thick above the carnage. A cry goes up from the tower built over the palisade’s gate as the lookouts spot you, and the gate itself rumbles aside on rickety wooden wheels. A tall woman with black hair pulled back against her head and a shortsword on her hip strides out from the camp to meet you.

At that moment, a horn sounds from down in the valley, closely followed by the screams of men and horses. Looking below, you see another group of Aspis Mercenaries, riding fast up the switchback trails, with hundreds—maybe even thousands—of ape-men hurling stones at them and running hard on their heels.

The woman who exits the gate to meet the approaching party is Juliet Dias, a noted Pathfinder and the leader of the Azlant Ridge expedition. Dias is visibly emaciated, she’s malnourished and starving. When she approaches, she smiles a thin, tired smile and says, “Welcome to Azlant Ridge. I see you’ve met the locals.” She gestures back at the ape-men chasing the Aspis mercenaries up the trail.

She ushers the party into to the camp, “Trust me, you don’t want to be out here when they get here.”

The fortified gate of the palisade wall is constructed from thick logs, lashed tightly together and sealed with pitch. A sturdy log stands above the gate, serving as both a lookout post and a brace to lash the gate to when it’s closed. To open the gate, the guards have to untie the ropes holding the gate in place, and then push it aside on two sets of enormous wooden wheels. The gate is covered in dents, scrapes, chips, and blood.

A precise and professional terraced dig site surrounds a half-sphere of a smooth, almost mirror-like white material. While it looks almost exactly like polished ivory, it glows with a soft, white light.

In the middle of the camp rests two large, but dirty and sagging tents—one is used for cooking, and the other as a mess hall. Between them are 10 canvas tents lined up in two neat rows, but suffering from rips and tears that seem to have been made by claws. Inside several of the tents rest camp workers, all tired, hungry, and sick.

On the east side of the tents is a much smaller terraced dig, but it doesn't look active like the larger, western dig site.

At the far end of the camp set into the cliff face is an impressive door fifteen feet high and ten feet wide. The door sits recessed several feet into the jagged rock of the ridge’s impressive cliff face, which stretches a hundred feet or more above the camp.

"It's an impressive place you have here, but it looks like you could use some of these much needed supplies. What are those ape-men we saw attacking the consortium, friend or foe?"

Alafair is also curious about the point of this expedition so far from civilization and the white ivory material unearthed so far, but will ask about that later.

Batah looks over the ragged men and mutters under his breath, "By the Dawnflower what has happened here?"
He quickly moves towards the wounded and sick, looking to help where he can.

Horatio glances back at the Aspis mercenaries being hounded by the ape-men and gulps. How could anything stand in the face of such ferocity. Before Dias even mentions entering the camp, Horatio is halfway to the gate. As he enters the encampment, he stops dead. The place looks like a warzone, certainly not the ordered dig site he had expected.

"I think they're foe," Horatio answers Alafair, pointing at the claw marks in the tents, "Gods, this place looks knackered."

Slachagok introduces himself to Dias. "We're the backup, if ye han't already figured that out."

He gestures to the massive glowing orb in the middle of the camp. "An' what's this thing? There a giant clam buried jus' beneath out feet?"

Pathfinder Dias responds to Alafair's question about the ape-men. “They’re known as the charau-ka my camp workers call them ape-men. They’re minions of the demon lord Angazhan, and this lot serve the Gorilla King of Usaro, though why the Gorilla King has any interest in this expedition is beyond me.”

To Batah: “We've been here nearly a year. We’ve been attacked almost daily for 10 months by the charau-ka, and my camp is exhausted, hungry, and ready to fling me into the jungle and run for their lives. You couldn’t have come at a better time.”

Gesturing toward the ivory sphere: “I’m not sure. Every time the charau-ka approach the camp, the ivory sphere we’ve partially uncovered glows bright enough to blind anyone sensitive to light—it’s just uncomfortable to look at the rest of the time. But when that roar gets closer… the light is different. It’s like it knows something about the source of the roar - something we should be very afraid of, I think. Near as my Azlant scholars can tell, this site was a weapons cache for a planned colonization of the Mwangi Expanse by the Azlanti. As we’ve never found an Azlanti site anywhere in the Mwangi, this is a huge find — some would say an impossible find. The Azlanti were simply not supposed to have been here.”

Motioning toward the back of the camp, toward the massive doors, Dias says "Hopefully you've brought me good news?"

Before anyone can respond a commotion beings at the gates you've just passed through. The shouts of Aspis mercenaries and their horses begging to be let in. Dias surveys the situation as one of the guards looks to her for a tough call. Dias looks to you all saying "It’s your call. We could use extra swords against those things, but they’ve been chasing you and trying to kill you. I’ll back your decision."

Mareck surveys the situation, listening closely to words of Dias.

Look at the sphere, Mareck. I doubt it is an Azlanti weapons cache. The Azlanti never made it as far as the Mwangi. It is something related to the Demon Lord Angazhan, I'm sure of it.

Mareck stoops down at the ivory sphere's surface, stretching out his hand -- DON'T TOUCH, Mareck! --and jerks it back suddenly.

"I'd say we need 'em," responds Mareck to Dias' question about the commotion at the front gate. "Do you have any gold or payment we can offer these Aspis mercenaries? After all, they are mercenaries. They'll respond to money."

I'm curious about the secondary, smaller dig.

"By the way, what's that dig over there?" asks Mareck, scratching his chin and pointing towards the smaller dig on the east side of the tents.

Alafair nods her assent to Mareck's statement. "If you can let them in without risk, we should take every sword we can. We should be careful not to trust the Aspis agents or let them in our rear unguarded, but even they should know we need to stick together in a desperate fight."

"If we have to take them down once inside, well we've done that before," she says, anger glittering in her eye.

Mareck notices as his hand gets close to the sphere that he can feel heat radiating off it.

Looking over at the smaller dig site, Dias says, "It was a test dig, nothing more. Many of my crew, this was their first time on a live field assignment. Imagine it." She momentarily closes her eyes and shakes her head.

Dias says, "Honestly, all we have to offer them is their lives. Well, that an whatever you've brought with you. But you both have the right of it." Dias lets out a shrill whistle and waves her hand over her head in a circular motion. The gate is once again opened and a few surviving Aspis mercenaries surge in on horseback. A few unmounted horses follow as well. The men seem quite shaken and thank the Pathfinder's profusely.

Let em in. I say. The enemy of my enemy and all that! And like you said, we can use the swords! Say, didn't we recover a large sum of money from those other Aspis goons? Maybe that's their pay??

What are we carrying on this caravan, anyway?

An engraved wooden key, the holy symbol of Abadar, hangs around his neck. It thumps against the inquisitor's breastplate as they cross the camp.

"Payment? Pfah!" the half-orc scoffs. "They'll take their skins, an' owe the balance."

He drums his fingers along the hilt of his sword as the survivors rush in, trying to recognize any of the men who had ambushed them earlier.

"I'd sooner'a left 'em. They'd fight truer outside the wall than in, an' this looks a lean enough camp without more gullets t' cram. Though the horses might square us on that score."

Slachagok sniffs, and spits into the dirt.

"Wouldn't do t' hope ye've got some baths behind these great doors?"

Looking over at the smaller dig site, Dias says, "It was a test dig, nothing more."

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Pathfinder Dias laughs a hearty laugh at Slachagok's question. "Tell you what, Pathfinder: you dig a hole over there," she points to the test dig, "and get him to fill it with water," she points to Batah, "and I'll join you for a bath."

Intrigued by the description of the big white sphere, Alafair casts Detect Magic on the partially uncovered object, trying to determine an aura or properties.

Know Arcana: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

"Do you know the reason these Ape-Men attack you every day? Is this site somehow special to them? Have there been any discussions about it?"

Horatio watches the Aspis mercenaries as they enter the camp, his fingers idly drumming against the hilt of his rapier. He listens half-heartedly to the talk of magical clams and demon ape-men but his attention is drawn to the large double doors. As the others speak amongst themselves, he saunters over and inspects it closely.

Take 10 for a result of 18 for Perception.

Alafair spends some time studying the sphere, immediately she realizes that looking at it for too long is like staring at the sun. Her eyes quickly become overwhelmed with the energy it's putting off making it slightly more difficult to study it's detail. You are able to sense an overwhelming, though fluctuating abjuration as well as a strong underlying divination field from the sphere.

Dias shakes her head, "Honestly, at this point, if I knew what they wanted...I'd give it to them. Personally, I think they are stuck in some kind of feedback loop with this thing. They are reacting to it's presence, and it's reacting to theirs."

The massive doors are covered in symbols and pictographs which Horatio doesn't recognize. Dias follows Horatio to the door, and she becomes serious and professional. She says "One of you has the key still I hope?"

Horatio looks up at Dias and shrugs nonchalantly.

"Ask them, I only joined up a couple of days ago," he replies, "I take it that you've checked this thing for traps?" Horatio nods at the door.

The half-orc casts a sidelong glance at Batah.

"As the halflin' says," he shrugs. "Our fellows'll have the key if any of us do. This one's just for show." He taps the symbol around his neck.

Did I have it? I thought I had the money to buy the caravan supplies and the key was in an explosive box or something and Mareck had it. Need to call a lifeline to the GM on that one.

Yeah, lifeline! Key?

Flashback time...

He presents a sealed scrollcase and an ornate, golden key on a leather thong to Keladry.

Before Keladry became too ill to continue onward, he entrusted the key to 1d3 ⇒ 3...Mareck!

“Once you deal with that business, head northwest.” He presents a sealed scrollcase and an ornate, golden key on a leather thong to Keladry. “Guard these with your life. The key’s exact purpose eludes me, but the symbol it bears is repeated on a doorway at Azlant Ridge. The scrollcase contains a map to the dig site. My magics secure the case, though, and it will explode violently if opened within five miles of Bloodcove.

Oooohh, ninjaed...

Mareck, get your head on straight! The dig mistress just asked you for the key which your Venture-Captain gave Keladry.

"Key, key, key," mumbles Mareck. "Oh, right! The one Keladry gave me before his eldritch amoebic dysentery caused him to shrivel up and become a diarrhea wraith. Woof. That was tough to watch, lemme tell you. And smell."

Mareck pulls out the ornate golden key.

"Maybe this will open those doors."

Forgot this description when you walked up to the door...

Carved from a dull yet shimmering metal, every inch of its surface is covered in runes, glyphs, pictographs, and intricate patterns. A single rift, about an inch deep, splits the door in half from top to bottom, giving you the impression that it might open were it only to have handles. The door sits recessed several feet into the jagged rock of the ridge’s impressive cliff face, which stretches a hundred feet or more above the camp.

Diaz stands in front of the door and spends several minutes tracing her hands along various pictographs and symbols, constantly looking to the key and then back to door. Without warning, she slaps the key into a space that just moments before wouldn’t have fit it, and the door slowly, silently, opens outward to reveal a set of wide stairs descending into darkness.

She turns back to Mareck with a huge grin on her face, but as she’s about to speak, a horn sounds from the tower over the palisade gate and the camp suddenly leaps into action. Dias runs back up the terraced dig and says, "Explore the complex, find out what might be in there, and hope to the gods it’s something that will help us. I have to organize our defense. Go! GO!"

As she sprints off toward the camp’s defenses, a familiar roar thunders in the air, and a cacophony of screeching and screaming sounds echoes from all around the palisade wall.

The map has been updated and I've revealed what Slachagok can see with darkvision.

Time to explore, Mareck. You may need a torch though.

"Before we go in, we need light. Alafair, can you manage?"

Mark: so, give us some clue as to the urgency here. IS Dias about to be overrun in the next 60 seconds? 60 minutes? 24 hours? This will determine whether we dash through, ignoring everything until we get to something/sombody that appears as if it will be of help. Also, will we Take 20 on searchs, etc?

The best way I can put it probably is that the camp is still here after months of such attacks.

Alafair lights the end of her quarterstaff with arcane light and holds it aloft for all to see, probably spoiling the half-orc's darkvision.

"I think we have time to give this place a thorough exploration, though what we are looking for eludes me just now. Perhaps we'll know it when we see it."

If it looks safe, she'll stride into the doorway, descending the stairs to the edge of the first chamber, getting the lay of the land and looking for something, anything to help the Pathfinder's camp.

Horatio follows Alafair although he instinctively sticks to the shadows.

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

A wide set of stairs descends into an enormous room, measuring thirty-five feet wide by forty feet long, and more than thirty feet tall. The entire room smells sickly sweet, but the floors, wall, and ceiling are all smooth and clean—rather similar to the sphere in the ground outside. Four enormous monoliths, fifteen-foot-tall human-shaped metal statues, rest in the four corners of the room. They’re made of white metal, almost like a suit of full plate sized quite large, but without anything discernible as a face.

Slachagok draws his falchion, and stomps down the stairs to join Alafair and Horatio. He looks about the room, considering the faceless statues.

"This'll be Azlanti decor, then?" he grumbles.

Batah wanders down the stairs after the others, looking at the giant statues in the four corners of the room.
"Hmmm...think these Azlanti are compensating for something?"

He casts Light on his shield, to increase the illumination in the room.

Alafair examines the statues in great detail, looking for any differences, signs, symbols, or anything else that might be a clue. She also casts detect magic in the room, covering the statues in her range.

Horatio remains in the shadows but attempts to discern where and what the sickly sweet smell is.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

As Alafair examines the room and the scans for magical auras, she finds the presence of several overlapping, overwhelming energy fields. Focusing on one of the statues she finds 4 distinct auras on each of the statues. There is a lack of dust on the statues, though you do see dust on other surfaces as you would expect. You can give me a Knowledge (Arcana) check for each field if you'd like.

Horatio's nose tries to place that sickly sweet smell, he notices in the southern alcove some movement, which looks like something climbing out of a sarcophagus!

Horatio whistles sharply to the group and points at the alcove.

"We've got movement, look alive!" he calls.

Roll initiative?

Batah move over to here Horatio is pointing, shining his light over the area to better see.

As Batah moves in for a better look, he catches sight of a skeleton climbing out of a sarcophagus in the northern alcove as well!

Round 1:
Slachagok
Batah
Skeletons
Horatio
Mareck
Alafair

Slachagok and Batah may act!

Batah moves forward and once in the corridor, channels positive energy at the skeletons.

Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

The +1 is for Sun's Blessing (Domain Ability)

"By the cleansing light of Sarenrae, I return you to the dust from whence you came!"

From his vantage by the stairs, the inquisitor can just barely see one of the skeletons emerging from the corner of the adjacent room.

"Undead!" he shouts, warning the rest of the group.

Slachagok dashes after Batah, coming up behind the cleric just as he finishes his channel.

Slach will move up behind Batah. If he can see any skeletons that survived the channel, he'll cast Disrupt Undead on one. Say, the top one if both are still up. If both went down, he'll take another move of some sort.

Removing one hand from his weapon, the haf-orc invokes a quick prayer to Abadar, and a pulse of energy shoots toward one of the skeletons.

Ranged touch attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

Posting turn now so you aren't waiting on me later

Disappointed at being pulled away from such an interesting arcane discovery, Alafair steps 15' to teh right (West?) and launches an Acid Splash at any skeleton remaining.

Ranged Touch: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

That doesn't work out so well does it. If/when the combat is over, she will go back to studying the auras.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

Moving forward, Batah reveals 2 more skeletons in the second set of alcoves as he calls down the wrath of Sarenrae to banish the undead creatures! Three of the skeletons seem seriously damaged by the holy energy and one is completely obliterated! Slachagok invokes a pray to Abadar destroying his target! Batah's and Slachagok's holy displays however, makes them the target of the two remaining skeletons!

Skeleton #1: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Skeleton #2: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
Skeleton #3: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Skeleton #4: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Skeleton #2 attack vs. Slachagok: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (19) + 0 = 19 *hit, threat*
Skeleton #4 attack vs. Batah: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10 *miss*

Skeleton #2 confirm: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (16) + 0 = 16 *miss*
Skeleton #2 damage: 1d6 + 0 ⇒ (1) + 0 = 1

Skeleton #2 - 3 damage
Skeleton #4 - 3 damage

Alafair fires an acid bolt at the skeleton but it goes wide down the dark hallway!

Horatio, Mareck may act!

Get in there, Mareck!

"Right, just jump right in there amidst all the walking dead. Awesome," mutters the Varisian tough.

Despite his reticence, Mareck charges up next to Batah, with his bladed scarf out and ready to attack.

I can't see the map at work due to browser incompatibility. I'll have to move blind.

Horatio pulls out his bow and nocks an arrow against the string, firing it at the easiest skeleton to make a shot against.

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Attack (shortbow): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
Damage (shortbow): 1d4 ⇒ 1
Sneak Attack: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 if applicable

Horatio moves up and puts an arrow into the skeleton in front of Batah, reducing it to a pile of bones!

Round 2:
Slachagok
Batah
Skeletons
Horatio
Mareck
Alafair

Slachagok and Batah may act!