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lodge. Our early experiments with teleporting in or flying to it
have met with no success, so I am gathering our forces to enter
through Arliss Hall, which has a permanent gateway to one of
the tower’s rooms.
“The gateway is finicky, though. Our Master of Spells Aram Zey
would be better able to explain it than I, but he is currently—”
The elf trails off as though searching for the right word before
continuing, “—indisposed due to the Consortium’s attack. Finish
your business and gather outside Arliss Hall for the final assault.
I shall guide you from there."
Kreighton Shaine finishes giving instructions to one team before sending them into Arliss Hall and turning to greet the new arrivals. “Ah, you received my message?” he asks eagerly while pulling out a small notepad and making a single tally mark.
“Excellent, I was uncertain whether recent events might block communication as well. We have a theory that the northwest tower’s new floating status may be the result of the Sky Key and Hao Jin Tapestry coming too close to one another, much like two extradimensional spaces placed inside one another. Thus far, all of our more conventional attempts to reach the tower have been repelled, and admittedly the whole thing could just rocket into the Irorium any minute.” He squints to the north before adding, “That would be unfortunate, as there’s a rather big match over there today. Best we take control of the tower before it misbehaves further.
“The good news is that we have a permanent portal to that section of the tower. Since the link is between two objects—a pair of full-length mirrors—it should be stable and safe to use.
The only catch is that one of the mirrors is inside Arliss Hall. The hall has several extradimensional properties, and with so many visitors, it’s been changing its internal layout constantly.
Rather than waste time sending you to figure out a puzzle, I’ll lead you to the portal myself. We venture-captains are fairly used to it.”
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Kreighton Shaine opens the door for you and follows you inside; however, when you turn around, the elf has disappeared.
“Of all the luck,” the Master of Scrolls voice echoes from thin air.
“We must have exceeded some capacity limit for this version of the hall and it moved me over to another… iteration of itself.
I’ll try to find my way over to you, but look for the mirror! It is in a private room that is reserved. We call it the Lost Room.
The chamber will be hidden in plain sight but there’s always some sort of trick to find it. Hurry and I’ll try to join you soon!
One last thing—rarely can anyone find the Lost Room alone, so work together!”
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As Pathfinders, you automatically know some basic information about Arliss Hall. Its passageways are known to shift in strange ways, and it often seems larger inside that it should from the outside. The majority of the rooms inside are modest but tasteful apartments that venture-captains (and maybe even the Decemvirate) use as personal apartments.
What do you want to do now? The map of the location is linked up top to give you some visual of your surroundings
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As you look around at the main entrance you notice;
There is a guest registry near the entrance, identifying which rooms are available. Currently the registry lists nine rooms, including both room 8 and “room 8A. Room 8 is currently registered to the Pathfinder agent Osprey, while Room 8A is marked “Reserved—do not use.” At the top of the page are words written in delicate penmanship and red ink. “Arliss Hall values your privacy. Simply lock your door and we will see to it that you are not disturbed.”
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Neither Kajar or Ulfgar find something that hasn't been seen yet while looking in the entrance lobby
(Where do you want to go now? If you want to search every room, just let me know now and I'll assume you guys take 10 everywhere..since there's like 15 room or something..and that would mean you guys would take like 2 weeks to search everything if you go room by room and state you use perception there)
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Quickly clearing the corridors and garden as being empty and not containing secret doors you move on to the bedrooms numbered 1 to 8. Starting with doors 1 to 5 you open all of them before splitting up and one of you enters each room to a look inside, leaving the door behind you open so that the rest of the party can rush in in case it's needed.
As you open the doors nothing jumps out to attack you. All the rooms have similar furnishing. A double sized bed, a nightstand/cupboard for storing things (all empty) and a mirror. Two of the rooms (as seen on the map - F1 and F5 are a bit bigger and also contain a place to sit, but that's irrelevant at this point).
Having found nothing you move on to the last 3 rooms doing the exact same thing and having the same results for all 8 rooms.
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Going into room 8 he looks around inside. Leaving the door open so that the others can come in to rescue him if needed. Searching around he just sees the bed, nightstand and mirror. He notices that the same as with the other 7 rooms there's a lock on the door and in this case there's also a key inside it.
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"Master Buri, it seems you have found the anomaly!"
Kajar pauses, trying to recall something.
"Master Shaine! Can you hear me? Master Buri found a key in the lock of Osprey's room."
“Arliss Hall values your privacy. Simply lock your door and we will see to it that you are not disturbed.”
"The guest registry says that if we lock the door we will not be disturbed, maybe this is the trick?"
Kajar turns to the others. "Perhaps the mirror in this room is the one we seek?"
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As everyone enters the room and you lock the door behind you and begin to take another close look around while searching the room.
You notice that when you touch the full length mirror now that the reflective surface is insubstantial.
Buri with the help of Ulfgar also notices that there is a secret door in the north wall, which he previously didn't see.
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As you exit through the secret door you end up in the room next to it (7)
As you exit room 7 and go back to the corridor you notice that the room leading to room 8 is open.
Looking inside you see what appears to be room 8 in every detail other then that the mirror isn't showing you a reflection anymore, but rather is a portal to somewhere else. The view is opaque so you can't see where it would lead.
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As Buri steps through the portal the others have no indication if he survived or not and having little other choice quickly follow..just in case he ended up in a fight in which he could use a hand...or 8.
On the other side of the portal you step into a small room;
The southeast corner of this room has broken off along with part of the floor. Rubble, loose bricks, and masonry litter the edges.
Beyond the opening, blue sky and the Absalom’s city skyline are plainly visible. A solitary door is closed to the south and a full length mirror is bolted to northwest wall.
The mirror has the same opaque surface that the mirror which brought you here had, so it's a good assumption that you could step back if you wanted too.
As you try the door you immediately notice that all though it's not locked, it's stuck. It's like there's something heavy on the other side. As you look around the edge of the hole you see a large fallen pillar which is indeed blocking the door from being opened. As well as a corridor to either side of the hole, which might be reachable if you make it across the edge of broken wall(s).
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"Well, let's try pushing the door first before we hang ourselves out over Absalom to get into the tower. I'll take the low position, Master Ulfgar or Master Buri could you lend your strength to help force it open? It's a tight spot, only two of us will fit."
Kajar drops into a low stance and leans his shoulder into the door, pumping his sizable legs to try and force it open.
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Kajar with Ulfgar besides him throw their combined weight and muscle against the door. With a lot of noise they manage to bash the pillar free and it rolls against the opposite wall, freeing up the door enough to be openend.
As you can see on the map, there's 4 doors you can try. Just place yourselves in front of one of them and open it and we'll go from there.
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As the tower tilts you all experience a sudden shift in your balance
You hear a loud grinding noise behind you and as you look you see that the stone pillar that was blocking the door is slowly rolling towards the edge of the wall...Finally,as you watch it the fallen column blocking the door to area G1 rolls out of the tower.
This floor is clear except where the walls are crumbled away. The north and west windows feature gargoyles just below them. Both gargoyles have a reservoir built into their backs so oil or other chemicals can be poured and sprayed down on would-be attackers. Numerous arrow slits are built into the walls.
Buri also doesn't detect any trap on the door and quickly discovers it's not locked and after opening it reveals stairs which wind upward past tight corners.
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None of the others door are trapped ..at least as far as Buri is able to tell
Behind the SE door is a staircase leading to open sky
Behind the other door is a room which contains ancient siege supplies stored here when Skyreach was considered a fortress in the traditional
sense. Barrels of oil and a decrepit wheelbarrow are here,as well as several crates of serviceable arrows. You can also find mundane versions of almost any weapon or ammunition
Behind the SW door;
Old cots and moth-eaten blankets smothered in a thick layer of dust confirm that no one has been posted atop this tower in years. The cots are nevertheless are sturdy and the door is functional.
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Kajar follows Buri and Myrayah's lead, alert to traps.
He grabs a morningstar and a case of crossbow bolts from the decrepit armory.
As the tower tilts, Kajar turns greener and sneers,"Gozreh's Guts! I HATE flying!"
"Master Buri, if you are offering magic tricks, I will defer to Master Ulfgar. His fighting style would best benefit from your gift."
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"I'm with you Kajar, nothing better than being safely 150ft underground not aboveground. If we were made for flying, the Gods would have given us wings."
Feeling a lot more secure when fighting enemies, instead of flying, Ulfgar eagerly goes first in each of the rooms. Especially when his skin hardens by Buri's spell.
"Lets not be here too long on this floor though, I don't know how long the tower still lasts."
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As Ulfgar kicks open the door..confidant that his though skin will protect him he sees:
The top floor of the tower is an open, undivided by interior walls but for the small space partitioning the stairwell. Windows large enough to step through line the exterior walls. Immense magical circles are permanently etched into the floor, their lines and curves inscribed and filled with several types of metallic powder.
Faint, multi-colored mist roils within the southern circle.
Two strange contraptions stand near the northwest and southwest windows. Each device is a large, red-tinted crystalline lens mounted in a frame so that they may be angled in all directions.
The northwest tower also has two stationary defenses
known as skylances, installed here after being recovered
from a Shory ruin. When a creature casts scorching ray
while adjacent to a skylance, the spell’s range increases
to long (400 ft. plus 40 ft./level). A creature adjacent to
a skylance can also spontaneously convert any spell with
the fire descriptor and that is 2nd-level or higher into
scorching ray. Finally, once per day a creature can use the
skylance to fire a single scorching ray (CL 3rd) without any
spellcasting required, though in Subtier 1–2, this ray only
deals 2d6 fire damage.
There are also 3 Aspis agents present..you can just make out one of them - a half-orc -downing a potion from a bottle before tossing it over his shoulder and it rolls down the floor over the edge as he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before getting a good grip on his great axe.
The other 2 are humans with short swords and daggers
init
Buri, Ulfgar
Human Aspis
Myrayah, Velinov, Kajar
Half-orc