In order to uncover key information in a library or other collection,
you must succeed at several Research checks. There are several terms to
know.
Complexity: This represents how complex the library is, and it
is the DC for any Research checks.
Knowledge Bonus: Many libraries grant a bonus on certain
Knowledge checks. While researching there, add this bonus on any
Knowledge skill checks made as Research checks.
Knowledge Points (kp): These act as the library’s hit point
total. As you reduce the library’s kp, you will uncover more of its
secrets. Once the kp reaches 0, you have learned all that collection
has to offer during this adventure.
Primary Researcher: One PC must act as the primary researcher,
and it is her skill check that determines if the group succeeds or fail
at researching during that 8-hour period. A high Intelligence score,
multiple ranks in Knowledge skills (or other writing-related skills),
or Skill Focus in one of those skills all make for an excellent primary
researcher.
Secondary Researcher: Up to two PCs can use the aid another
action to assist the primary researcher. Attempting a Research check
requires 8 hours of uninterrupted work, and any spells or other tools
you use to augment their Research checks must last at least 8 hours;
the GM might make an exception for particularly clever use of spells
and abilities.
While Insidion creates a mirror-me Merisiel checks the secret door for traps. The rogue does not find any traps so she opens the door. With a soft click the bookcase swings out quietly. An ancient spiral staircase — just barely wide enough for a person to traverse — lies behind the hidden door and ascends at a steep, unlit incline. Scratched into the stone walls is graffiti in dozens of languages. At the top of the staircase, a stone archway opens into a cramped vault with four-and-a-half-foot high ceilings held up by squat, stone columns. Dozens of small nooks line the walls of this confined space, filled with musty old pillows, dust-covered books, and ancient cobwebs. Old candles, long unlit, sit in pools of congealed wax alongside empty lanterns. Two low-ceiling corridors lead off in opposite directions. The entire secret space gives the impression of being a refuge from the rest of the library, a quiet place to study or socialize that has long since been forgotten.
Most pieces of the graffiti each lists a different single name and a date, indicating generations of students that at one time slipped away from their studies into this hidden chamber. The most recent date engraved is 4606 ar, over 100 years ago.
A single pair of footprints in the dust leads down one winding corridor.
After being told it is safe to enter Galandaro enters the room and looks around. He checks out the wall graffiti to see if he can read any of the languages (he knows scholarly languages). He checks out the dusty books to see if any are worth keeping or maybe he even read a few of them if they deal with Alchemy, Arcana, Planes, or Nature. The elf then says aloud to no one in particular..."How interesting....I wonder what these students ended up doing with all their knowledge..." then he snaps back to the task at hand and follows the female elf but at a distance...
You follow the trail of foot steps through the tiny rooms. Near the back of the network of tiny rooms, somebody cleared the area of cobwebs recently, created a chalk diagram on the floor, and assembled a ring of candles that still burn with heatless flame. An enormous tome — the Libram of Forgotten Dreams — lies open atop the diagram.
Whoever created this diagram left behind some items: one scroll, a cloak, a headband, an amulet of polished obsidian beads, and two pinches of dust.
Insidion identifies some of the magic objects: a scroll of breath of life, a headband of alluring charisma +2, and two pinches of dust of darkness.
If somebody reads in the tome and notes:
The candlelight gradually grows to an unnatural intensity. Soon, a shimmering form of golden light blossoms into being, taking the form of a Garundi woman in regal robes and with the symbol of a winged eye hanging around her neck. The apparition first takes on a stern, chastising countenance, raising one hand in the air as if to castigate everyone in the room. Then, as her luminous eyes register her many guests, she adopts a less aggressive posture. "Heavens blessed," she whispers. "You’re not the same guests at all, are you?" While clearly some form of spirit, there is no visible malevolence in this phantasmal woman’s eyes. Rather, she overflows with a palpable aura of compassion and concern. "My name is Aliyas Ardenvaugh, I am — I was — curator of this wing of the Forae Logos. It... It’d been so long since I’ve seen another soul. Now so many guests in just a short time! How unusual. Are you peers of the woman who was here? Three-twentytwo?" She wrinkles her nose at the name.
"Hello madame. My name is Galandaro. I am just curious as to when it was the last time you saw someone down here. The date if you remember. I am trying to record all the facts for historical purposes. And the name of the woman who was here...322?"
male Sam 10/Ftr 1 HP 112| AC 26; Touch 15; FF 24| F +13; R +7; W +8 | CMB +16; CMD 30 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | Perc +2 | Stealth: -6 Samurai 10/Fighter 1
Rogue 7 - Init +11 - AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 17 - hp 25/59 - Fort +5, Ref +11, Will +4, +2 vs. enchantment - Speed 30 ft. - Senses: low-light vision, Perception +13
Ammo:
Daggers 12/12
Merisiel looked surprised when the ghost appeared. As soon as the ghost starts to talk in a harmless position, the rogue stays in the corner with a dagger in each hands, just listening the conversation.
Aliyas is in fact a prana ghost, a type of incorporeal, good-aligned outsider.
Kn. religion DC12:
The ornament around her neck is the holy symbol of Aroden, the dead god of innovation, history, and human culture.
Notes:
The Professor: Masked. Woman: Enigma. What does she want?
322. 322. 322. This isn’t my name anymore.
This passage is familiar from my last dream. Is she guiding me? I don’t know who she is, but she will help me be free of the Professor. She has to. I will make her.
I won’t let the Criers take me back. I WON’T LET THEM.
The old crone in my dreams wants the lantern in exchange for my freedom. Good. Better to be rid of this cursed thing.
The black stars beckon.
"Yes, that was just a few days ago. That poor girl. She came here, fleeing a fight she did not start, the Forae Logos were destroyed at the same time. I offered her comfort and compassion, but she refused both. I could tell she was troubled, but she preferred the company of the libram more than that of another wayward soul. I perished in an accident and my soul joined the great River of Souls winding its way through the Astral Plane. Although I can't remember much of that moment I was somehow dragged back to this place and bound to this book. I spent most of my childhood here in these rooms secretly reading and whiling away my time before becoming burdened with more adult responsibilities. I once served Aroden, no I still do, and I hope his memory lives on in me." the ghost answers.
On page 322 Merisiel finds a ritual about how to run a ritual to talk to the dead while sleeping.
"Oh my, the lantern, yes — a grim-looking thing! It flickered with such an unusual light, and she would talk to it, ask it questions. If it responded, I could not hear." the ghost answers.
There is nothing more in this room to discover, the only way out is the way you came in.
"When she was here she already had the lantern and she was not slain. She performed a powerful and complex ritual that shunted her sleeping mind into the Dimension of Dreams. It did not send her into any one particular person’s dream but rather into the raw psychic essence of that plane — into the untempered echoes of memory between dreams. If you wish to follow 322, I would be proud to offer assistance!"
male Sam 10/Ftr 1 HP 112| AC 26; Touch 15; FF 24| F +13; R +7; W +8 | CMB +16; CMD 30 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | Perc +2 | Stealth: -6 Samurai 10/Fighter 1
"Yes perhaps we should follow. If you could aid us, that would be of much assistance."
You agree to do the same ritual 322 did to follow her into the Dimension of Dreams. "What awaits you there, I do not know. But isn’t the
chance to find the answer exciting?" Aliyas says with a half smile.
"We have to perform the ritual called Reflection of the Memory Pool and you have to help me. The ritual will put you to sleep and send your minds into the Dimension of Dreams."
Performing the ritual takes 50 minutes.
Again, Knowledge skills are requested here. Three kn. arcana or perform sing checks are required, plus three kn. planes checks. One primary caster must perform five of the checkes, any number of secondary participants can perform the sixth check or use the aid another action to assist the primary caster. Aliyas does not travel to plane herself and can't act as primary caster, but she aids automatically.
As the checks were high enough and Aliyas automaically succeeds at the last check, I'm moving on with the story...
You gather around the Libram of Forgotten Dreams and while reading the pages a vibrant, billowing smoke streams forth from between them. These soporific clouds churn furiously like a tornado, swallowing up the entirety of the room. Between the wisps of clouds, the Archive Absentia begins to fade away, and with it Aliyas. What was once the Archive Absentia of Forae Logos is now a crumbling stone lodge with a sagging, dilapidated roof. Half of the lodge is simply gone, crumbling away into a barren gray rock. Beyond the lodge’s walls lies an infinite sea of muted rainbow-hued clouds that churn above and below. A brilliant red-orange sunset glow comes from one end of the flat horizon, though no sun is visible. In the opposite direction, the horizon is a curtain of impenetrable darkness. What remains of the world appears to be little more than an island of stone set adrift on a cushion of swirling clouds. Huge pieces of jagged stone float weightlessly in the sky beyond some of them studded with crumbling statues of elves in armor, others carrying mighty coiled serpents of carved stone that embrace the fragmented islands. Enormous mirrors rise at skewed angles, having ruptured through the nearby stone surface. These mirrors reflect the dreamscape around them, but curiously, not any creatures.
When looking into a mirror you see swirling, indistinct shapes of events both real and unreal. Some of these ephemeral images depict blurry glimpses into 322’s battle with the Aspis operatives that pursued her.
The Dimension of Dreams is a plane with the highly morphic trait, which allows some visitors to perform incredible feats by sheer force of will. As a standard action a number of times during the dream equal to the creature’s Charisma bonus (minimum 1), the dreamer can attempt one impossible action, such as casting a spell, gaining an effect of a spell as if it were cast, or conjuring a magic item. This requires a successful Charisma check (DC = 10 + the level of the spell being cast or spell effect replicated or half of the caster level of the item conjured; nonmagical items are caster level 0). You know that you can 'wake up' unharmed as a full-round action. Dying in this plane does not harm your real body.
Kn. Planes DC15:
These mirrors are an expression of the Dimension of Dreams called "memory pools." These pools collect and contain memory fragments from lost dreamscapes that otherwise collapse and disappear when their dreamers awaken. The form they take is subjective and changes from dreamscape to dreamscape.
male Sam 10/Ftr 1 HP 112| AC 26; Touch 15; FF 24| F +13; R +7; W +8 | CMB +16; CMD 30 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | Perc +2 | Stealth: -6 Samurai 10/Fighter 1
Clair advances into the dimension and carefully looks around. Once she reaches the center of the room she sees two creatures approaching her obviously not friendly.
GM Screen:
Ini Merisiel:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18 Ini Clair:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12 Ini Galandaro:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25 Ini Insidion:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 Ini Toshiro:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16
male Sam 10/Ftr 1 HP 112| AC 26; Touch 15; FF 24| F +13; R +7; W +8 | CMB +16; CMD 30 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | Perc +2 | Stealth: -6 Samurai 10/Fighter 1
Toshiro issues a challenge to (green) his closest move and moves towards it. His katana hasn't appeared in his hands as of yet.
challenge and double move. I haven't drawn my weapon yet as an aside cause I want to use Iaijutsu
male Sam 10/Ftr 1 HP 112| AC 26; Touch 15; FF 24| F +13; R +7; W +8 | CMB +16; CMD 30 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | Perc +2 | Stealth: -6 Samurai 10/Fighter 1
As far as I remember you get the sneak damage also when attacking flat-footed foes.
Toshiro moves up tho the shapechnager in the green coat while Merisiel follows and pierces the dream eater in the back. The outsider disappears.
hopefully this is working out :P
The remaining shapechanger approaches Clair and tries to hit her.
Slam:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17Damage:1d4 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
DC14 will save or...:
You suddenly have a vision of yourself lying in a coffin. The coffin is lowered into the ground before somebody puts soil on it. She knows that she's alive inside the coffin but she can't move.
and dazzled for1d6 ⇒ 1rounds
male Sam 10/Ftr 1 HP 112| AC 26; Touch 15; FF 24| F +13; R +7; W +8 | CMB +16; CMD 30 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | Perc +2 | Stealth: -6 Samurai 10/Fighter 1
Clair swings at the shapechange which just touched her but misses before Insidion's attack finally sends the outsider back to its plane.
combat over
The mirrors do not show your reflections, but close enough to the mirror you see swirling, indistinct shapes of events both real and unreal. Some of these ephemeral images depict blurry glimpses into 322’s battle with the Aspis operatives that pursued her.
Research time again :)
Research in the Dimension of Dreams is not as straightforward and linear as it is on the Material Plane. Performing a Research check only requires 8 minutes of work, rather than the typical 8 hours.
Complexity: 20
Research check: Knowledge (local), Perception, or Sense Motive
Knowledge bonus +0
Rogue 7 - Init +11 - AC 23, touch 17, flat-footed 17 - hp 25/59 - Fort +5, Ref +11, Will +4, +2 vs. enchantment - Speed 30 ft. - Senses: low-light vision, Perception +13
Ammo:
Daggers 12/12
Hah! Perception here. Unless somebody has 5 ranks in Knowledge (local), Perception, or Sense Motive, Merisiel could be the "researcher". Otherwise, consider these checks as aid:
male Sam 10/Ftr 1 HP 112| AC 26; Touch 15; FF 24| F +13; R +7; W +8 | CMB +16; CMD 30 | Speed 20 ft | Init +2 | Perc +2 | Stealth: -6 Samurai 10/Fighter 1
Toshiro follows the party.
aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 aid perception:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
