[PFS/DMK] 6-10 The Wounded Wisp - Table IV (Inactive)

Game Master Kludde

There is no response, and the gnome just stays where he is.

Few of us live to such an advanced age due to overly developed curiosity enhanced by fear of The Bleaching. Perhaps, he lost his hearing in a failed experiment.

Lini opens the door.

Abaal strokes his chin in thought and goes back to the window to observe.

Does anything seem to be amiss with the gnome--aside from the obvious fact that he is one?

Sense Motive?: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Perhaps, Lini. Another thought is that maybe he doesn't want to be bothered. If that is the case, however, why would he be in such a plainly visible place? Surely there is somewhere he could hide more effectively.

Strange, indeed. How long has this wizard been shutting himself in? Wait... WIZARD?

One moment, folks. Gustav wiggles his fingers into a strange ball with his first and middle fingers extended and joined and places them to his temple. Detect magic

Kn Arcana (just in case): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Though it's slightly hard to penetrate the walls of the house with a detection spell, Gustav does get a reading through the windows. He locates traces of illusion, particularly on the gnome. Who'd have thought?

The door is locked (Can I have a disable check?)

Fimbrik is not what he appears. It would seem this gnome enjoys illusion.

Typical

"Illusions? Shouldn't really be surprised." he states as he looks to the group and remains behind to observe the situation.

The door is locked (Can I have a disable check?)

*Shhhhink* Abaal offers his falchion as lock pick. But will wait for a reply before using it. However if someone wants to cast ghost sound on the other side of the door making it sound as if someone is in immediate danger, well....

Getting the feeling that things could go badly, especially in the house of an illusionist, Gustav casts message on the Pathfinders.

I have no way through a locked door. Does anyone have a less violent method than Abaal?

Abaal looks ready to hack his way through the lock on the door, while the gnome still sits there, quietly reading his newspaper.

Abaal pulls a silver coin out. "The door, or the window?"

"Abaal, I would just break the lock. Let us try to minimize the damage to this fellows house. We can afford to replace a lock... doors are a bit more expensive."

Samuel turns to Soft-Paw and chirps out a short sharp whistle. SEEK

Within a second Soft-Paw is off around the perimeter of the house to look for any other threats that may be awaiting the party.

"Abaal, I would just break the lock. Let us try to minimize the damage to this fellows house. We can afford to replace a lock... doors are a bit more expensive."

coin flip: 1d2 ⇒ 2 tails!

"Right. A two pronged attack." Abaal steps aside to let the much smaller fox man do what he said he would provided Abaal were not in the way. The swordsman goes over to the window raises his blade and crashes through it (assuming it's not invisible stone, wall of force, etc...).

Falchion (power attack, inanimate object): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 2 = 17
Smash!: 2d4 + 9 ⇒ (4, 2) + 9 = 15
Acrobatics to jump the sill (assuming it's clear): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

"You there! Illusion or spirit!" He addresses the supposed figment. "Abaal, Sword of Katapesh seeks the master of this house!"

Nikolai hops through the window, landing on the balls of his feet. "Better show yourself quick. Be a shame if anything else happened to it." He notes a cheap vase sitting on a nearby dresser and knocks it on the floor. "Whoops. Clumsy me."

Samuel lowers his head in exasperation...

"Obviously Common is not your first language. I meant for YOU to smash the lock... not smash through the window."

Seeing the damage is done Samuel will ready an arrow to fire through the window if there is anything hostile.

He will also wait for Soft-Paw to return (or call out) from the perimeter check of the building.

Nikolai hops through the window, landing on the balls of his feet. "Better show yourself quick. Be a shame if anything else happened to it." He notes a cheap vase sitting on a nearby dresser and knocks it on the floor. "Whoops. Clumsy me."

And they call me 'barbarian.'

Hey, this is subtle for a Vancaskerkin.

Anything but subtle, Abaal forces his entry into the gnome's study. The gregarious gnome tip his hat, while smiling at the keleshite.

In the southern end of the room, on a desk, lies a neatly written note (See handout), with a name penned on the back: "Hollis 'Evil Grin' Thorne".

Anything but subtle, Abaal forces his entry into the gnome's study. The gregarious gnome tip his hat, while smiling at the keleshite.

In the southern end of the room, on a desk, lies a neatly written note (See handout), with a name penned on the back: "Hollis 'Evil Grin' Thorne".

If Frank Gorshin ever wonders who stole his bowler, I'll let him know it was Fembrik.

Which is closer, the tomb or the Lodge?

The lodge is closest, though still halfway across the city. The tomb is at pretty much the other end, near the eastern gate. (I've included a map with all sites marked. Note that you've already visited the wall of names.)

"I suppose since we have already broken his window, we might as well check over the rest of the house for any oddities"

"Agreed," Nikolai says as he looks around. "We're already on the hook for B&E, might as well add some misdemeanors to that."

The pathfinders get ready to explore. The next room is a large living room, decorated with a strange taste. Dominating the room is a large sofa, sitting awkwardly near the entrance, facing toward the center of the room.

"If there was a magic box of clairvoyance, then I would sit on this couch and watch Pathfinder adventurers all day."

Lini will cast Detect Magic in both the living room and search for additional clues. Droogami approaches to test the strength of the couch's fabric with her claws before a warning is shouted across the room.

"Don't even think about it Droogami!"

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Nikolai gives the place the once-over, and moves towards the front door to loosen the latches. Never know when you might need to make a quick getaway, he thought.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Gustav joins the search.

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

That big sofa... Gustav has a close look, and it's not just bad taste that put it there. It looks to be a spell trigger, a trap of some sort, that is meant to snare anybody coming in through the main door and moving past the sofa. Better be careful.

The search of the house turns up little more than two more illusions of Fimbrik - one of him sleeping on the bed, the other reading in his study. The magic has gone out of sync, and at some point all three of the illusions are active at the same time!

There's a basement with worthless old newspapers, but otherwise little of value.

Gustav's face changes noticeably as he searches the worn cushions of the out-of-place sofa.

Hmmm... I'm no expert on traps, but I have a feeling that this couch is the boundary for a spell trap. Don't pass it, yet. Now what could be past this sofa worth trapping?

Detect magic

The sofa has a conjuration aura, in contrast to the lingering aura of illusion that permeates the place.

The sofa was intended as a trap for when somebody should enter through the front door, which you manages to avoid. There's nothing more to find here - do you want to move anywhere else?

I think we should leave the way we came in. Back to the Wall?

Realizing that he had drawn his kukri from its sheath, Gustav slides it back in place and gathers himself.

Nikolai kicks a stack of newspapers in disgust, and from the look on his face it's clear that the toppled stack does little to improve his mood. "Figures, we break into the only home owned by a wizard that has nothing good to steal. That's about how my life goes." He nods in agreement with Gustav. "Yeah, let's get out of here before the law comes around and we have to start explaining things. That never goes well for me."

The pathfinders make their way back to the wall of names, which is still in the same shape as it was before (It's still on the handout)

"Right, why did we come back here again? All we have is this 'Evil Grin' guy's name, plus a password. What was it, 'waffle'?"

To recap your options: There's still the tomb of Akroth to investigate, and the epitaphs on the wall of names seemed to point to aspirant in the shrine of the failed.

Ah, OK, thanks for the clarification, DM - I didn't even remember that they were Starstone aspirants, and I didn't make the connection to the Shrine of the Failed.

"So, where to? Tombs or shrines?"

"The tomb." Abaal says with a sense of finality (surreptitiously putting his coin away once more). "If you want to fathom a mystery quickly best to read its final passage. And there is no more final passage than the entrance to a tomb. That, and it may serve up a clue as to the strange engravings on the Wall."

"Sounds good to me," Nikolai says with a shrug. "Looking on the bright side, none of the people at either location are going anywhere."

Details left by Selmius Foster indicate the location of Arkath’s burial site: a plot of land in Eastgate operated by priests of Pharasma.

A fence surrounds the grounds of the necropolis, but the gates are open to those paying their respects. The doors to Arkath's mausoleum, however, are sealed with sturdy stone slabs. A cleric roams the grounds.

"So what's the play?", Nikolai asks quietly, once the priest is out of earshot. "We can't smash our way in here quite as easy as we did with Fembrik's place. Maybe there's a hidden way in?" Nikolai starts poking around, looking for a hidden entrance to the tomb.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

"A-HA!", he exclaims triumphantly, kneeling down next to the northwestern edge of the mausoleum. He pulls a knife and starts digging in the earth for a moment, finally withdrawing a small disc of metal. "Looks like someone lost an electrum piece. Don't see these all that often these days." He pockets the coin, oblivious of anything else the rest of the team may discover.

"The next round of ales is on you then!"

Lini examines doors to Arkath's mausoleum.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

"To answer your question Nikolai, the password was Wiffle."

"So we have a crypt and we have a password... but is that password even related to this crypt?"

Well, we could give it a shot at least. .. "wiffle."

The stone slabs that seal off the crypt remain closed, and uttering the password does not help. The priest moves over and asks Have you come to pay homage to dead, those whose books have been balanced for eternity?

Jan smiles to the good lady and bows.
"Greetings to you, dear priest. How are you this fine evening?" he asks with a small smile.

Greetings, Banker. Mmm, yes and no. This one may be balanced in Pharasma's books, but he left an account open on this side. We're here to help him settle.

This man rests here, and his accounts have been transferred. If this man is your debtor, you are advised to contact his heirs.

"Of which, he left none,", Nikolai replies, standing up and walking over to the conversation. "Hence our dilemma. We were going to cast a spell to talk with him and see if we could find any other relatives that could pay the debt in this world, but there's this massive stone door in the way."

Roll me a diplomacy check

Feel free to assist; Gustav lacks what they call the "social skills."

Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 11