[PFS] GM Mjolbeard's "Between the Lines" (#7-01) (Inactive)

Game Master Mjolbeard89

Eldeyr draws his magical blade as quickly as a paranoid elf can, which he is, takes a step towards the woman and swings it like a blood-crazed warrior, which he isn't.

Attack; Damage+Sneak Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 121d10 + 8 + 2d6 ⇒ (6) + 8 + (4, 6) = 24
Guessing that's a miss even vs Flat Footed xD

"What did you do to our captain?"

Crypt tries to hide his surprise as the voice suddenly appears out of the Venture- Captain. He does what he can; he slowly begins to fade, in and out, as his shape blurs.

Using the Full- Round Action to gain his Shadow Double

Eldeyr's attack goes wide as he attacks in surprise and horror at the appearance of the hag. "Your precious captain is gone, boy," she cackles, "Now don't get too worked up, or you'll make the flesh tough and stringy. Not that I won't eat it anyway! Eeehehehehehe!!!"

A short distance away, Crypt begins to apparently gain a double of himself.

@Eldeyr, please give me a will save

INITIATIVE
Entry - Round 1
Bold may go!
Eldeyr
Crypt
Seijiro
Green Hag
Fargrim
Alexander

Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

VC Yuul is gone, and now Crypt is growing doubles! This is NOT the Katapesh I remember!

[spoiler=Eldeyr]Though the hag certainly seemed real enough when you attacked her, she appears to be some kind of illusion.[/ooc]

Seijiro delays

The hag turns to Eldeyr as his swing goes wide. "Ah, you're a strong one, eh? Perhaps not for much longer..." She raises her claws and strikes at the elf.

Claw: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (2) + 13 = 15 Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Claw: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33 Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Confirm crit: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31 Damage: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Eldeyr, please make a fortitude save for me!

INITIATIVE
Entry - Round 1
Bold may go!
Eldeyr (-12 hp) (Fortitude save)
Crypt
Seijiro
Green Hag
Fargrim
Alexander

Fort Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9 Bad dice!

"Foul woman! What have you done to the Venture-Captain?"

Alexander takes a step back and attempts to lay a malevolent influence on the hag.

Evil eye to reduce her attack bonus by 2 for 8 rounds. A DC 18 will save reduces it to 1 round

Fargrim steps forward, hoping to at least provide a flank for Eldeyr. As she does so, she lashes out with her starknife, hoping to injure the creature.

attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

However she misses badly.

Eldeyr feels overcome by weakness and suffers 2 points of Strength damage!

Will save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

"Gaaaahhh! Another of witch-kind, I see," the hag screams as Alexander's hex takes hold of her, "Don't worry, my dear, I'll be with you soon as well!" Fargrim steps up behind the hag, hoping to take advantage of her distraction, but the wicked creature's hide is far too thick, and her blade bounces off ineffectively.

INITIATIVE
Entry - Round 2
Bold may go!
Eldeyr (-12 hp, -2 Str)
Crypt (-2 Att 8 rds)
Seijiro
Green Hag
Fargrim
Alexander

-2 Attack for 8 Rds? Did the witch use something special to bounce the hex onto me, that I missed? I'm confused.

As Crypt's double gains hold, he suddenly feels weakened. Like, his resolve to attack the creature holding VC Yuul just isn't there, and he really doesn't want to do it. I mean, he does, but not really. It's complicated.

As both he and his double take a step to the side to attack VC Yuul, they both attack, lazily swinging blades towards her.

melee attack: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (17) + 0 = 171d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Sorry. Put that in the wrong spot! Luckily, you hit anyway!

Crypt’s swing has a bit more force than he initially realized, and he manages to carve a long slash across the hag’s side.

Could everyone except Eldeyr please make a will save?

INITIATIVE
Entry - Round 2
Bold may go!
Eldeyr (-12 hp, -2 Str)
Crypt
Seijiro
Green Hag (-8 hp, -2 Att 8 rds)
Fargrim
Alexander

Will: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

"How do you plan to eat us, if you're not real?" But are my eyes real? xD

Feeling a bit drained, Eldeyr attacks once again, he doesn't rely on brute strength after all.

My position is not the best, but I'll make do.

Attack; Damage: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 271d10 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Will Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Before the hag gets another chance to attack, Eldeyr strikes her down with a mighty strike from his blade. The room falls to stillness again, except for the wind whipping through the open windows.

Crypt does a quick inspection of the room, uncertain of what to do next.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Eldeyr grabs the scroll that the VC was reading to start the ritual.

"This scroll wasn't blank before, there's something amiss here. And did anyone open that window? I think they were closed when we began the ritual."

Alexander scratches him chin thoughtfully.

"You do have a point, Eldeyr... Something is definitely amiss."

As Eldeyr retrieves the scroll, its nature changes in some way, as if reacting to his touch. Examining it again, he finds that it bears a magical aura, though he is unable to identify it only by sight.

Crypt notices, along with Eldeyr and Alexander, that the room has changed somewhat. He seems to remember that the curtains at the windows were lying still when the ritual began, but they now rustle and flap in a stiff breeze coming from outside. As this detail begins to assert itself as unusual, you begin to doubt your surroundings.

Everyone give me a will save please!

Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 +1 vs Enchantment and Conjuration

Fargrim looks suspiciously around the room.

"It certainly appears that that the ritual has had..unexpected.. consequences."

will: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Taking in all the discrepancies, Alexander focuses on the room.

Will: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Will Save: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18

Crypt tries to hold the curtains motionless, thinking that may help.

Alexander realize that the features of this room, though identical to the venture captain's office in Farseer Tower, are all slightly off. The biggest hint comes as Crypt attempts to still the curtains, yet feels no actual breeze to move them. As he and Alexander focus on these discrepancies, the stone walls of Farseer Tower melt away, replaced by warm blonde wooden wall paneling and a plush, lemon yellow carpet. A canopied bed sits between two windows, through which the spires of an grand city are visible. A small army of dolls is pushed over to a corner, its slumping forms indicating some level of neglect. Instead, the preferred playthings in this child’s room seem to be books. A row of titles line a shelf on one wall, and several opened ones lie on the bed. Opposite the bed are a closed door and an elaborate vanity table. A mirror on the vanity reflects some motion not apparent in the room itself.

Alexander looks around the new room in bewonderment.

"Fascinating! Are we in the archive, and in that case, where's the Venture-Captain?"

Eldeyr walks closer to the books on the bed, before examining the ones on the shelf.

"I don't think the VC is with us, unless... Is everyone else... themselves? I wouldn't like another witching surprise! Everyone, what race did we just collect an errand from? On three,

Gnolls!"

Fargrim enters the creepy room.

Carefully she approaches the bed and looks at the books, trying to work out what was being red.

"I'm pretty sure I am me. But this place... this is odd. Look at that mirror.."

After inspecting the books she approaches the mirror and tries to use it to see what else may be hiding or moving in the room.

As the others talk about the last mission, Crypt busies himself on finding a way out. He quickly moves to the door and listens for anything on the other side of it.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Crypt listens intently at the door, but hears nothing of note, despite his well-trained skill of observation.

Both Fargrim and Crypt pick up a few of the books and flip through the pages. Almost immediately, they are struck by something off about the books. The style of the books seems appropriate for a small child, with bright pictures and big lettering, but the texts are far more advanced than a child could read each is an issue of the Pathfinder Chronicles or a well-known arcane text.

Fargrim gravely sets the book down and moves to the mirror to check for any unseen images and is immediately met with success as she sees the face of Wulessa Yuul staring back out at her!

“You’re here!" the venture captain exclaims with a start. "I thought, with how things had gone wrong, that perhaps you weren’t trapped in here as well. I... am sorry. I think I erred in my assumptions.”

"We were on your office, defeated a witch of some sort, before the room around us changed into this. Do you know where we are? Is there something on the other side of the mirror with you?"

Fargrim looks around the room, and then into the mirror.

"Can you see us Wulessa? " she spins the mirror around slowly.

"Do you know where this place is?" she then reads some of the titles of the chronicles and the arcane texts. "None of this makes any sense to me. Do you recognize anything here? Things they have in common?"

“It is a mental landscape, as I had thought, yet it seems to be patterned off of my mind. Hence your current surroundings. This is my childhood bedroom in Quantium. I would lie in bed, reading adventure stories of brave explorers and warriors. Childish treacle, but still... I think that was what sparked my ambitions to be a Pathfinder.” She pauses for a moment and tries to get her bearings on her own state and location. After a moment of consideration, she sighs with dismay and answers, "Yes, I can see you, but I can't seem to get out of here. It's strange, I can feel the days of my life being transcribed. Pulled from my body and stored here. I don’t know if there will be anything left of me when it is done. I can’t even move around. I’m simply trapped inside my own memories.”

"When you were still a child, did you read books such as these? Apart from the bright covers and illustrations, these are Pathfinder Chronicles!" The elf moves over to bring a book closer to the mirror.

"Let us see if we can find a way out of here." says Fargrim.

She takes the mirror and heads to the window to look out it, and then carefully looks around the room for other exits.

Fargrim pries the mirror from its stand on the vanity and carries it to the window. She peers out and sees the skyline of the city of Quantium, though she feels as if her vision doesn't stretch quite as far as it normally would in the full light of day. Turning to look throughout the rest of the room, she does see a door that she assumes would lead out of the bedroom into the rest of the venture captain's childhood home.

Eldeyr's question causes VC Yuul to turn to him with a confused expression. "Pathfinder Chronicles? No, those would have been far too advanced for a child, even one as bookish as myself. Wait, this place is all part of a mental landscape isn't it? Perhaps the books are a sort of tell. Focus on that!"

Everyone please give me a will save (vs illusion if that's pertinent for your character)!

Alexander gives the out of place chronicles a good, hard look.

Will: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Doodle-doo! Doodle-doo! Doodle-doo!

The room shimmers and changes again. The shape remains the same, but the walls and floor resolve into a series of glass tiles that creates a checkerboard of luminescent blue and light-swallowing black. The door vanishes, revealing a passage filled with the same half-light. Opposite this, the room breaks away entirely. An entire wall is missing, leaving a jagged hole overlooking a void occupied by nothing more than deep purple mist, seemingly born out of and reabsorbed by the darkness. Somewhere in the depths, a tremendous crystalline shape flashes through the mist. The room is otherwise featureless, devoid of all angles. Even the floor has a slight curvature, melding smoothly into the walls.

The crystalline shape seems to coalesce into a more concentrated whole, and it emerges slightly from the mist of the void. Though there is no face, you can tell that it is regarding you, and you get the sense that is searching your intentions. Suddenly, the luminous tiles around you begin to glow more brightly, and the colors seem to rearrange to form shapes. First you see the image of an eye, then the image of a question mark.

You may refer to the map on Slide 1 for a visual.
If you want to understand the images, give me a Sense Motive check, please.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Here's to hoping Crypt understands what's going on, because I'm totally lost!

Nope!

Alexander ponders the meaning of the flashing images.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

Fargrim tries to understand what she is seeing.
sense motive: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (14) + 23 = 37

"These seem to be trying to ..."

Fargrim instantly recognizes that the crystalline being is simply informing your group that it recognizes your presence and is curious of your intentions.

Fargrim calls out "We are looking for a way out, and for a friend of ours who we think is lost here.... and to understand where here is."

If the words don't make sense, she tries to make some mental images of the concepts.

An eye and a question mark? Is the wall trying to let us know, that it sees us and that it has questions?

After hearing Fargrim, the elf says, Ohh! That makes more sense than what I was thinking.

The tiles rearrange again into an image of a building with a book superimposed on it, then a chest that reminds you of the artifact you know as the Monadistic Archive. It would seem that "here" is the Archive, or at least a sort of manifestation of the Archive.

The being then displays a new series of images, showing each of your faces in succession, followed by a question mark, as if asking who each of you are.

Please give us a little bit of information about yourselves! Or you could refuse. I'm sure that would be fine too...

"I am Fargrim Arikfind. A dedicated unfetted priest of the dreaming butterfly." starts the inquisitor.

"I have travelled widely, including to ancient Anlanti ruins where I briefly guided an ancient guardian in combat with another ancient evil."

Eldeyr first tries to draw a long pointed ear and a question mark on the wall, they were shown an eye, but can they be heard as well?

But after Fargrim has introdued herself to the wall, because apparently that's what you do when trapped in a scroll...

"My expertise is in getting merchandise from one place to the other, most often than not in a discreet manner." The elf takes out a coin from his belt pouch, flips it in the air and catches it between two fingers, he flips his hand and the coin has vanished. He moves towards Alexander, and magically makes a coin drop from his ascot, and two, and three.

Sleight of Hand: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18

Crypt nods, understanding dawning on him.

"I'm new," he says. "I- I live in the shadows. Try not to be noticed. That is all." He quickly and quietly steps away.

Not to be out-shone by the others, Alexander bows elaborately at the expressive tiles.

"I am Alexander d'Louison, of the Westcrown d'Louisons. I'm a gentleman and a scholar, and I shall get to the bottom of this mystery we find ourselves in the midst of. Say, you wouldn't know where a certain Venture-Captain has gone off to, would you?"

Apparently satisfied to have learned some small amount about its guests, the being drifts back into the void without answering Alexander's question, and the tiles return to their original pattern. Behind you, however, some of the tiles in the center of the room seem to glow somewhat brighter, almost forming a sort of trail headed down the corridor behind you.

Fargrim shrugs and starts off down the trail of light.
"Let us see where it leads us.."