[PFS/DMK/YSK] 6-15 The overflow archives (Inactive)

Game Master Kludde

Bones ask Virml, "Does that mean there were four parts of the scroll?"

"We have four parts already, let us go catch a Fox"

Scarlet starts heading back to check what area the party has missed...

What is means is that there are at least two more parts of the scroll that the party hasn't collected yet. The big fish needed the fox, as well as all pieces of the scroll.

The party head back up, passing the flooded understacks, as well as Owl and Albatross

They they are again!

-Shh, you'll wake the big sleeper

Yes, shh!

and moving back into the lobby. From there, stairs head up to the scriptorium, the direction in which they saw 'Virml' leaving shortly after the briefing.

Bones heads up the stairs looking for the false Virml, fox or anyone else who looks suspicious.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Scarlet follows along behind the Dwarf.

As Bones heads up the stairs, followed by Scarlet, notices something of an intricate wire attached to the door. It is sure to trigger something if the door is opened.

Disable device DC 20 to disable

Disable 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15
GM Re-roll (on principle) 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 10 + 2 = 25

Scarlet neatly disables the trap, making the door safe to open.

In the scriptorium, poring over some tomes, is Master Kreighton Shane. There's a crocodile at his side.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

Seeing the old looking pair, Bones is suspicious since the fox is known to use disguises the dwarf tries a pun to see how he responds since the didn't like them before Master Shane we plumed the watery deeps of the library and discovered the leak."

sense motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Perception : 1d20 ⇒ 3

Skarn glances around, looking for the fox , but doesn't notice anything special.

-Posted with Wayfinder

Creighton turns around and says Very well, thank you very much. You're good to go, then.

Perception 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Scarlet challenges "Seems unlikely that a Master of Scrolls would lock and trap a door he knows his own Pathfinders would be coming through, and no Virml..." she looks about.

Scarlet stiudies him in detail....
Perception (against disguise) 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
(assuming thats NOT what the last roll was for)

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

The map hasn't been updated, but I'm hoping Shane is between us and the door...

Iskim makes his way across the floor. "Come on, let's go."

Bluff: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

However, when he reaches the far side of "Master Shane", he attacks! "That's not Master Shane! It's the fox!"

Attack (Greatsword (2H), Power Attack): 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (16) + 4 - 1 = 19
Damage (Greatsword (2H), Power Attack): 2d6 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (4, 5) + 4 + 3 = 16

Being a bit of a disguise hourneyman herself, Scarlet appreciates the handiwork...

"The Fox hasn't tricked the Cat..." she begins, grinning like her Cheshire cousin "Because...WHOA WHOA!" she is surprised at the sudden escalation of conflict.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12
normally quite observant, Adrianna is distracted by Iskim's sudden attack on the old man...

You solved the riddle, then. I am indeed who was imprisoned in the riddle. The riddle is me, though none shall catch me who can't catch my name. Kreighton says, returning to the guise of a fox. He seems not the least bit intimidated by the presence of the adventurers.

Riddle-solvers, are you not? Perhaps you can prove your worth and solve me the greatest riddle of all.

He reads the text of the last two scroll fragments, and asks Who is the last to dine?

Ok, so let me recap a bit.

There's a big fish flooding the archives (the 'sleeper' from part 1 of the poem, who ate the owl and the albatross at some point - the two managed to get out somehow). The fish wants to capture (re-capture, it seems) the 'fox' (actually a kitsune). The fish has explained that it needs all parts of the 'name of the fox' poem, as well as the fox himself, alive.

The fox has challenged the party to come up with the solution to the six-part riddle. There is - and this is a second riddle - also the question what the fox' name is (as per the title of the riddle 'the name of the fox').

You've encountered the bird and worm of the second scroll, Gormandelle and her daughters, the tooth faeries (fourth piece), and the fox seems to have summoned the sixth piece's crocodile.

Scroll pieces three and five function like a summoning scroll, and can be used to call forth some more trippy animals.

Thanks a lot for that clarification! Apparently I understood more than I thought. Here's a suggestion: perhaps we could use scrolls three and five to summon their respective critters, if that helps to solve the riddle?

"If we did catch your name you'd be Caught" Scarlet points to the riddle pieces.

Adrianna looks around at her companions after reading over the scrolls..."I've got nothing. It's all just meaningless gibberish..." she mutters.

Iskim stares at the scroll fragments, then smiles and nods to Scarlet. "The first letters of each of the fragments. C-A-U-G-H-T."

Bones a bit confused scratches his head, "As for who eats last, that would always be the worms! We live, we die, and the worms feast on our remains. As for the fox's name, the riddle refers to the sword who is the chef of all fish could that be the fox?"

A faint with starts to blow in the room, and the pieces of the scroll starts flying about, and get sucked together, forming one piece of paper once more. The words on the paper form a sort of inky vortex.

Hah the fox says, you've got me Caught indeed, though there still is none greater riddle-solver than me. 'Worms' is the answer I gave to the great fey, and 'worms' is the answer he told me was wrong. He had me imprisoned, the price to pay to lose a challenge of wits and thought. A thousand years for me, Caught, the greatest bard in the world, to brood over the solution of the riddle. You've Caught me, I have to go back to my paper prison, but I can assure you I will flee again so day!

With that, he and the crocodile get sucked up in the Vortex.

Scarlet looks a bit saddened - "What a loss, we could use a few more dashing Bards and tricksters, I have a dream of a travelling carnival - he'd have been a great ringmaster" she muses.

"Back to the fish then I suppose - to tell the Sleeper how the story ended"

Owl and Albatross look up in annoyance as the adventurers pass through again

Scaring the fish again?

-We haven't caught a thing all day!

Not with you slumping about!

No, you slump about all day

When they see the adventurers move to the mezzanine level - where the big sleeper is - they shudder.

You don't want us to to talk to her again, now do you?

-We only just escaped from her belly, when that fox came out.

Simply taking the vortex near them will suck them up, but you probably still need the two to talk to the fish.

Up in the Mezzanine level, Misstress Koi, the big sleeper, says
OoooOOO()()oo()000()!

She asks who you are

-Yes, and why you are here.

Her memory isn't very good.

-And she looks at us with such hungry eyes!

"The Fox is in the box, and now its time for the lake to break"

"We have sadly put Caught back in the riddle, he said it was all about the worms - now its time for the Sleeper to do her part"

K(nature): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4 Bones rubs his brown and tries to think harder Domain power Recall {re-roll knowledge checks at +3}
K(nature): 1d20 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 + 3 = 26

Bones comments "You know know that I think about it, A grodair not only speaks Aquan, but also Sylvan. Luckily we found a common to Sylvan dictionary!"

The fish looks absent-mindedly at Scarlet Do I know you? Who are you?

After explaining - again - who they are, the party manages to convince the big fish to stop flooding the archives. Amazingly, the fish starts sucking up all the water in the rooms, and doesn't even seem to bloat that much when she does so.

Finally finished, she agrees to enter the inky vortex of the scroll, and return to the land of nursery rhymes and riddles. Albatross and Owl soon follow

Much better fish to catch there.

-Yes, I haven't caught a thing all day!

Fortunately, the same cannot be said to the adventurers.

----

As the party emerges from the archives, they run into Kreighton Shane - the real one.

Ah, here you are. Tell me, what did you find in the archives?

You still have the 'Darklands precepts' that Zarta wants. If you want to avoid Kreighton confiscating it, roll a DC 20 Sleight of Hand, or a DC 15 Bluff check

----

"That was mindspinning mission", started Rasamoro, while keeping elf from looking at others, "there were a nursery rhymes, that were written at magical scroll, so they summoned a whiskered riddler - the Fox - who than torn a scroll into parts and as he read the parts, he summoned an Owl and an Albatross, a half-rotten bird which tried to catch a worm and the fairies, that has taken all the Wirml tooth, so we have to fight some battles to won our parts of scroll back and then find a Sleeper - magical creature like fish of thousand eyes - to make it unsummon all the water and stop flooding the archive. I believe the damage done could still be repaired, but some books need to be taken care quick otherwise ink will flow and nothing could be read"
Man was talking quickly, in very excited voice as well, he was packing lots of facts in one sentence to confuse Master of Scrolls and distract him from others, carrying the book for Zartha.

Bluff: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (16) - 1 = 15 If he is in fact disguised goblin, than I have +2 to check :)

Fortunately, Master Shane is not a goblin in disguise - that would be strange, wouldn't it? He is so taken aback by the story of what has transpired that he doesn't give the wrapped cloth that Iskim is carrying a second thought. Zarta is most pleased.

And that's it for this mission. What a ride!