{PFS} {PBP} {LVL 11 - 13} Tide of Honor (Jade Regent book 5, sanctioned portion) (Inactive)

Game Master FiddlersGreen

Soooo....what does the party decide to do?

"This room by room slog is really beginning to wear on us. Lets take stock of the items we have obtained and see if any of them might be useful to getting us through this maze any easier."

"If I am remembering correctly, we have an Inro with three compartments in it which have or had small items within, a poem, and a game piece. is there anything I have forgotten about?"

The poem:

I must discover
what lies inside of myself
to enter your place
through dark and shadowed gates, but
the reflection is not me.

The inro O-Sayumi left behind is a small ivory box with four segments, held closed with a silk cord, a sliding fastener, and a netsuke (decorative toggle) to hang it from a sash. The segments of the inro are engraved with a depiction of a geisha playing the samisen. The netsuke is carved into the likeness of strange turtle-like humanoid holding a vase in its webbed hands, and a six-petaled magnolia flower is carved on the bottom of the netsuke. O-Hakami thinks that the geisha on the inro represents O-Sayumi herself.
The turtle creature on the netsuke is a kappa. O-Hakami believes that the kappa might represent Numataro-sama, a figure O-Sayumi often joked about and referred to as her “uncle.”

The segments of the inro actually form three small compartments. Inside the compartments, the inro contains three odd items: an empty silkworm cocoon in the lower compartment; two interlocking stone rings, one of yellow calcite and one of blue lapis lazuli, in the middle compartment; and three camphorwood beads on a cord ring in the upper compartment.

"I would agree that resting would be for the best, but I fear for the safety of O-Sayumi."

Hrm, the Inro. I see. Thanks. ;)

"The inro had a silkworm cacoon, two stone rings, and three camphorwood beads. Perhaps this is the order we must proceed through this shadow plane. I would assume the silkworm cacoon means cloth curtain, the stone rings mean gates, and the camphorwood beads mean bead curtain. This is only my conjecture, of course, but feel free to chime in, and I may have the order wrong."

Now that you have paused to inspect the inro's contents again, you can make 3 perception checks. If you pass the first or third perception check, you can also attempt a corresponding knowledge local check. You automatically succeed if you are trained in a relevant trade.

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Regarding Rand's comment, since you can only regain per-day abilities once per 24 hours, you will need to rest about another 18 hours before you regain your abilities.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14
Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

Come to think of it, that wooden curtain did feel different

Itamar will take a bead and compare it to the curtain

I auto all 3 checks.

"I think there are clues here, but I'm not sure what." Stupid negative int!

Perception 1: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
Perception 2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Perception 3: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Will use Loremaster to take 20 on the Knowledge (Local)... for 20... (Yay, Jack of All Trades). That's my second use today so that resource is out for the day.

If any of you have the ability to smell really well, you can compare these beads by smell to another bead curtain to determine if it is the same. Its smell is pretty distinct.

Perception 1: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (10) + 21 = 31
Perception 2: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (14) + 21 = 35
Perception 3: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (17) + 21 = 38

"We may wish to return to where we entered this foul place and try to follow the clues we have from there."

If you want to follow Rhon's suggestion, you'll be starting with trying to find a silk curtain. You have passed through many cloth curtains thus far, but how are you going to try to identify the silk curtain? What you have is a silk cocoon, not an actual silk cloth sample, so it would be quite difficult to do a comparison by touch...

From where you are, the two passages that you have not explored are each marked by a gate. All colour here is muted into shades of grey, but you notice that each gate is a different shade of grey, and each gate is completely of only one shade of grey (meaning that if both gates were on the material plane, they would each be of a single colour, and that colour would be different from the colour of the other gate).

So... what will our ingenious Seeker-level pathfinders do?

"If it's silk we need, I be the mage probably has some lying around his house, this being Tien Xia and all." About the only thing I feel comfortable adding with an 8 int.

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Silk... Not too hard.

Despite 42's claim, he finds himself uncertain as to the relative textures of the cloth curtains you have encountered thus far.

Rand on the other hand (I'll give you guys this one since Rand with his +21 modifier can only fail on a 1) is able to ascertain that one of the curtains you passed through is more likely than the others to be made of silk. Conversely, he does not believe that any of the bead curtains you have passed through thus far are made of the same wood as the beads in the inro.

Int Check: DC 10: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

"Let me take a look at those rings. Perhaps there texture or composition will match the gate we need."

Perception Check: Unusual Stonework: 1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 21 + 2 = 38

The rings are of yellow calcite and blue lapis lazuli, whereas the two gates are made respectively of jade and jasper. To your knowledge, jasper is usually red, yellow, brown, green or blue in color; and jade is usually green or teal in colour.

"What do you see, Rhon? Any connection?"

"This gate is made of Jasper and it most closely matches the interlocked rings in color(s). I say we give this gate a try and see where it leads us."

It beats wandering around haphazardly

"Sounds good. We should be ready for a fight though."

1d4 ⇒ 4

With a half-consensus, you open the jasper gate, and almost immediately groan as you see yet another room with 4 more worms waiting within. You squash them easily enough, but partway through the battle, when Matamah enters the room, you hear the sound of breaking glass again, and suddenly the entire room and part of the corridor is suddenly flooded with great hailstones that appear from the ceiling and rain down upon you!

In lieu of skipping the worm fight, let's also just say this catches all of you.
bludgeoning damage: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 1) = 6
cold damage: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 6) = 8

After finishing off the worms, you investigate the passage at the other side of the room, you find yet another short passage with a broken mirror at the end. Perhaps there is a pattern...?

As you make your way back to the jade gate, it suddenly occurs to you that if you mix the colours blue and yellow together, you'd get the colour green... When/if you see O-Sayumi alive again, you can talk to her about how to leave less-subtle clues for her would-be rescuers next time. XD

Any preparations before you go through the jade gate? You'd be able to tell by now that something about Matamah is setting off those mirror when he gets too close to them...
Or just forge on ahead, what do I care? ;)

Will Save:DC 22: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23

"Nothing like looking right past the obvious when it came to the clue."

Will Save: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31 1 damage taken for me.

Edit: Retcon ;)

Will Save:DC 22: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Oops! I just checked the old posts, and realised that it should have been Alden, not Matamah, who triggered the ice storms, although the triggering effect was placed on him by Matamah. This might give it away a little, but I suppose I only have myself to blame. XD

Matamah - -1, freedom, echolocation, heightened awareness
Itamar -1, freedom,
42 -
Rand - -13 STR
Rhon /Earl - -3 (free, -2 STR) / -3
S2 -37
S4 -22
Alden /Naala - daylight

Your minute-per-level buffs have worn off whilst you discussed and investigated the clues.

Alden, Naala, Rand, Itamar and 42 can still make will saves.

will: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

42 brushes it off "Well, that wasn't too bad."

"Alden, I think shadow planes don't like bright light." Matamah smiles. "...although honestly I'd still feel more comfortable with the light on."

Matamah, the Daylight spell on Alden was cast by you earlier in the day. You can dismiss it if you wish.

The default lighting on the shadow plane is dim light, so anyone with darkvision or low-light vision (i.e. everyone except Rand and 42) will be unaffected by the change in lighting.

Will 22: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22 <- HAHA!
Naala Will 22: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

Naala takes the brunt of what seems like real hailstones, but Alden surprisingly recognizes them as not fully real.

"It is up to you, my friends. Myself and Naala will have difficulty with no light, and even in dim light I am not well-prepared."

Will Save: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32

"Stupid Worms. Stupid illusions. I swear that I am going to kick the wizard's teeth in when we find him."

I understand I can dismiss it, but considering this is a shadow plane, what are the chances of Deeper Darkness? I'd like to take my chances with the traps.

"I vote to keep the light on in case we need it, and just let Alden pass through separate to minimize our damage. Agreed?"

Will: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (6) + 19 = 25...so 1 pt bludgeon

42 nods. "Light is better than darkness.. Let's leave him on for now."

"By all means keep the Daylight going. Torag knows we don't want to deal with whatever additional horrors that fear to breach the light."

"Next time, you should just put daylight or whatever on me. I'm at my best when I am surrounded by enemies anyway."

42 nods his head. "That's a bright idea."

*Facepalms*

I darn near took wisdom damage from that in real life. Well played!

42 nods his head. "That's a bright idea."

Ha! 42 gains 0.05xp for that. XD

You head through the jade gate and proceed down the maze. The first branching path you find has a cloth curtain of some sort, which you wisely ignore. As you turn the corner, you see a wooden beads curtain and 2 more branching paths.

As you approach the bead curtain, you hear the sounds of smashing glass again as the party advances past 2 other branching paths on the way to the wooden beads curtain.

2d4 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4
At each branch, the sound of breaking glass is accompanied by 3 streaks of fire that arc out from around a corner and fly towards Alden. Naala tries her best to help Alden avoid them, but...

attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11
damage: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 6, 5) = 18 DC22 will save to reduce it to 3

attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
damage: 4d6 + 4d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 3, 2) + (3, 2, 2, 5) = 21DC22 will save to reduce it to 4

Alden is struck by three of the arcs of fire.

As the halfling deals with the flames, you see that beyond the final beads curtain is a path leading West-wards. It branches to the North twice midway and once more at the end (see map).

Matamah - -1, freedom, echolocation, heightened awareness
Itamar -2, freedom,
42 -
Rand - -13 STR, -3hp
Rhon /Earl - -3 (free, -2 STR) / -3
Alden /Naala - 3 daylight/ -14

Alden has 2 will saves to make
Any healing? Still proceeding with the light on?

Will 1: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Will 2: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

OWW. Healing please?

Matamah uses his own wand on Alden.

Cure Light Wounds Wand (x7): 7d8 + 7 ⇒ (2, 7, 7, 1, 8, 3, 8) + 7 = 43

"All patched up."

I still vote for yes since there is only one more foreseeable obstacle. If that changes, then I may have a change of heart, but will also submit to majority if others disagree.

It seems to me that this is Matamah's decision to make, since only he can dismiss the spell, and he is picking up the healing tab himself.

2d4 ⇒ (4, 1) = 5

After patching up Alden, you proceed past the next two tunnels, and just like before, you hear the sound of smashing glass coming from them as Alden gets close. The first sound of smashing glass is accompanied by a storm of ice and hail, whilst the second sends 5 shadowy magical bolts flying out at Alden. A quick look reveals that they too are dead ends with shattered mirrors.

This affects all of you, DC22 will save to reduce the damage to 20%
bludgeoning damage: 3d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 2) = 9
cold damage: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3

This one is just Alden, DC22 will save to reduce damage to 20%
magical force damage: 5d4 + 5 ⇒ (1, 2, 4, 4, 4) + 5 = 20

Matamah - -1, freedom, echolocation, heightened awareness
Itamar -2, freedom,
42 -
Rand - -13 STR, -3hp
Rhon /Earl - -3 (free, -2 STR) / -3
Alden /Naala - daylight/ -14

Will: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (18) + 19 = 37...Cool I take two points

Will Save: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35 1 damage

Will heal when damage is known.

"New idea. Cover up the piece of whatever I cast Daylight on while we are walking through here."

Will Save: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24 I will also take 3 damage.

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

42 sees nothing.

Not making a will save, 42?

No one else wants to attempt the perception check?

Will Save:DC 22: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15
Perception: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (1) + 21 = 22

Wow! The dice are just not on my side for this series of checks.

Will Save: DC 22: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21