[PFS PbP Gameday V] #8-02 Ward Asunder (tier 6-7) (Inactive)

Game Master FiddlersGreen

Pierre, seeing the serpentine threat, retreats in middle of the party.

Retreat, full round

Waiting for an action from Henrick.

Henrick will bring his urgrosh down on the snake next to him.

Power Attack, 2 handed: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Damage: 1d8 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Pierre moves away from the incoming snakes whilst Henrick takes a swipe, but misses entirely. Reavis fires an arrow at one of the snakes, but the snake moves aside in time to avoid the arrow. Meanwhile, Kujo splits the snake before him in two and continues up the steps towards the other two snakes, and Wayne puts a bullet into one of them, causing it to writhe and thresh in pain.

The wounded snake begins to slither away, but the other snake decides that Henrick might still make a tasty meal...
attack roll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24
grab roll: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
damage roll: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
constrict pain: 1d4 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
The snake manages to bite down on Henrick quite painfully, and quickly coils itself around the dwarf for a nice snuggly hug!

Round 2
Reavis
Wayne
Kujo -6
Snakes -15, -0 + grappled
Pierre
Henrick -14 + grappled

One snake is fighting, one snake is retreating.

All of you can act again.

Does the map reflect where people are? Kujo moved up the ramp after his attack.

Kujo advances on the snakes grappling Henrik and attacks. Assuming there is no way I'll hit Henrik.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22
Damage: 2d6 + 14 ⇒ (2, 3) + 14 = 19

Reavis releases another arrow, this one aimed at the snake grappling Henrick (or the wounded snake, if the other is already defeated).

Longbow: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23
Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Kujo and Reavis finish off the snake before it can do more damage to Henrick. The last snake scurries down the cliff for dear life.

Combat over.
Loot: three dead snakes, a few broken arrows and spent bullets.

The stairs lead up to a large stone courtyard. Three sets of stairs lead up to a ten-foot-high stone platform surrounding this courtyard on three sides. Several buildings stand upon the platform, some of built directly into the mountain face. The ground and walls bear signs of centuries of combat practice.

Current Status:
Reavis
Wayne
Kujo -6
Pierre
Henrick -14

Wow, I've been pretty useless.

Pierre draws a wand and gently tap Kujo and Henrick's wounds.

"Do any of you feel poison from these creatures running through your veins?"

Wand of CLW on Kujo: 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (3, 2) + 2 = 7

Wand of CLW on Henrick: 4d8 + 4 ⇒ (2, 3, 5, 7) + 4 = 21

I suggest everyone takes one charge off his own wand :)

Kujo nods a thank you to Pierre.

Perception (T10): 10 + 9 = 19

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Before progressing any further, Reavis drinks his extracts of False Life and Barkskin.

False Life Temp HP: 1d10 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17

Wayne reloads his pistol before holstering it. "I got a bad feelin' bout this partners. Arrow marks and no arrows anywhere."

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 26

Reavis looks over the area after Wayne points out the lack arrows, "Looks like someone used a fire spell here recently. One of those rays."

Henrick holds his hand up as Pierre starts to heal him, and hands him his own wand.

"Thank you Pierre. Save your magic for another time."

Henrick will reduce his wand 4 charges.

"So what was going on here?"

Survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Henrick, you are pretty sure that there was recent traffic here, though Reavis' observation reveals much the same.

After spending a few moments looking around the courtyard, with nothing jumping out at your from the shadows, you turn your attention to the temple you were sent to explore, investigate and document.

I have numbered the buildings on the map to facilitate exploration.

The temple consists of several buildings each standing about 10ft tall, with the exception of the central building (#3), which stands at a height of about 25ft. They are supported by several rows of columns (which provide cover and block diagonal movement), and both the columns and walls are made of stone.

From the courtyard, it is hard to see or determine whether there is anything of interest in the buildings. You're going to need to do this the old-fashioned way.

"Let's get to it."

Henrick moves into the temp areas.

Which way?
The buildings are numbered for your convenience. =)

1!

Pierre follows the others, wary of anymore sneaky snaky threats. He take a peek inside through one of the windows.

Looks like room 1 it is.

Rows of columns divide this spacious room. A pile of blankets lies in the southwest corner, but otherwise, the room is bare.

Hmm... You picked a boring room.

Next?

Survival: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Pierre enters and looks at the blankets.

"Interesting. Have you noticed that three of them seem to have been used recently? We might not be alone in here..."

[dice=Survival]1d20+3

Pierre enters and looks at the blankets.

"Interesting. Have you noticed that three of them seem to have been used recently? We might not be alone in here..."

Pick another room, Pierre! Or anyone, really.

6!

Can't we say we do it in that order if we find blanket rooms again? I'd say 6-5-4 then 2 and 2 ^^

Yeah we can do it that way. But this time you picked a very interesting room. XD

The walls and columns of this small building are covered in carvings of mythological scenes.

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On the northern wall, two inhuman creatures with hair burning like flames hold down a third creature with rough, chiseled features atop an anvil. The two fiery creatures have hammers raised as if shaping their victim in a blacksmith’s forge. Behind them, a towering monstrosity crushes an army beneath its elephantine feet.

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The east wall depicts muscular, horned humanoids—one holding a crystalline spike the size of a spear—clambering up a hill toward a fiery circle; the monstrous creature from the east wall storms after them.

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The south wall shows the horned humanoids driving the spike into the monster, pinning it against the wall of a cavern above a pool. Far in the background, a bearded giant with ram’s horns curling from his head howls in pain.

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The west wall’s carvings depict a mortal woman who carries a battered suit of armor and gazes up at a towering old man who stands before her. With one hand he points to the snowcapped mountains behind him. The other he uses to gesture palm-outward to the woman, as if instructing her to go no further.

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Finally, three sitting pillows of slightly different sizes lie on the floor.

Make one set of rolls for each wall. You may want to take some time to discuss the significance of your findings, if you discover anything at all.

I will move you to room 5 once you are done here.

Sooo...

Pierre enters the room and observes the carvings silently, almost meditating to search their meaning in his memory...

Knowledge Planes North DC 22: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Knowledge Planes East DC 18: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Knowledge Religion South DC 22: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Knowledge Nobility West DC 20: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23

Knowledge Religion West DC 20: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Survival West DC 18: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Survival Floor DC 16: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

The carvings on the walls elude him until he stops before the western walls. He says calmly:

"The woman is Ankilhi from local mythology. She is known for her 68 great deeds, which included slaying great beasts, acts of kindness, and unifying the people against a common enemy. And the old man is some sort of immensely powerful kami."

Meditating over his findings, he sits on the floor and looks at the pillows to sit on one of them. He says:

"The pillows look relatively new and were used recently as well..."

He then sits, waiting for one of his companion to take over the investigation.

Glory to Iomedae for these rolls ^^

Knowledge (planes) North: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16

Knowledge (planes) East: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17
Knowledge (history) East: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Knowledge (religion) South: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Knowledge (nature) South: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31

Knowledge (history) West: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Knowledge (planes) West 1: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Knowledge (planes) West 2: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Survival West: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Reavis doesn't recognize anything on the north wall, but at the east wall he points out that the horned humanoids are leading the large monster into a trap.

At the south wall, he points out that the scene doesn't take place inside a cave, but rather at the basin of a volcano.

Reavis adds to Pierre's analysis of the west wall to point out that the old man is a jinushigami, which is indeed powerful and guards natural features like forests and mountain ranges.

Will move on soon if no one else is going to try knowledge checks.

Sorry I lost my computer a few days ago (system crash) and this was too much to figure out on my phone...

Knowledge, Planes: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Knowledge, Planes: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Knowledge, History: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Knowledge, Religion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Knowledge, Nature: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20

Knowledge, History: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Knowledge, Religion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Knowledge, Religion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Survival: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

No problem. The next room has less going on in it, so you can roll your knowledge checks for the previous room and discuss it as you explore this next one. This would be room 5.

The smell of old paper fills this long building, whose walls are lined with drawers carved from the same stone. Between the shelves, three windows offer a majestic view over dozens of snowy peaks in the east. The shelves themselves hold an impressive collection of books and scrolls, all of which have preserved well. Most of the books and scrolls appear to be holy texts, though one of the shelves holds a pile of old guestbooks. At the top of one of the shelves is a long, narrow box.

Looking at the east wall, Henrick points out the monsters. "Efreeti - and a portal of some sort. Not sure what they are trying to do."

Then looking at the southern wall, he points out the creatures again. "Look here, in the base of this volcano, they have skewered Yamatsumi, the bearded giant. He is the god of mountains, volcanoes, and winter."

"On this west wall, I admit I don't know what you all speak of, but I do recognize the location. The mountains behind the old man are part of the Kullan Dei system and are located in the border region between Dtang Ma and Nagajor. In fact, this temple is in the foothills of those very mountains."

----- moving on -----

Knowledge, Geography: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Henrick looks for the most recent guestbook, and signs the guestbook. He also looks over the names of who has come before.

Henrick, just your own name or everyone in the party? Also, make a linguistics check and a perception check. Anyone else investigating the guest book can also make these checks.

The entries appear to be written in Tien or Tien dialects, so anyone who speaks Tien, Dtang or Nagaji may have an easier time with the records.

"The box says mountain scrolls on it." Reavis reveals to the others, and looks through the box. If nothing of interest is found, he helps someone translate the records. Amused by the strangeness of everything, the tiefling also adds his name to the guestbook.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Wayne will sign his name as well.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Kujo, signs his name.

Reavis and Wayne notice that nearly all entries have been made in the fall and spring, around the time the mountain streams freeze and thaw, respectively. After the year 3945AR, the number of visits dropped to just a few visitors per year, then stopped altogether for several hundred years. The entries resume again from about 300 years ago, and all records from the last 300 years are written in Nagaji. According to the last entry, persons named Xuyan, Muita, and Ngon Le arrived 3 months ago.

Anything else you want to do here or in the previous room before moving on?

Pierre will consider whether or not he should sign up but he eventually signs.

Ready to move on :)

Yep.

Reavis half-heartedly takes some notes since probably they want to know all about this stuff back in Absalom.

Ready to move on otherwise.

You sign yourselves into the guestbook and take some notes about the room. The most valuable treasure is found, however, when Reavis looks through the box labelled mountain scrolls. Inside, he finds a collection of 10 scrolls, as well as an ancient text called Whispers in the Wood, written in an early dialect of Dtang, is also stored in the library. The beautifully illuminated manuscript describes kami of all kinds, and the rare piece of religious lore is worth 1,000 gp.

I might have missed it. Is anyone in this party able to cast read magic?

The next room is somewhat similar to the library, except that instead of holding books and scrolls, the shelves carved into the walls of this small building are lined with bottles and vials of many sizes. A faint scent of incense hangs in the air.

Kujo is under a perpetual anti-read magic spell.

Kujo examines the vials and bottles, careful not to touch them.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Amidst the bottles and vials are various items of religious significance that you collect and document. The vials and bottles themselves seem to hold various ointments that might be able to aid you if you knew what they did.

Who's got spellcraft? There are 10 bottles to identify.

You can use Perception to identify Potions. True story.

Reavis can cast Detect Magic with his Discerning Wayfinder, that also allows him to identify magical items with Spellcraft.

Can Craft (alchemy) be used instead of Spellcraft to identify the ointments?

Reavis uses his Wayfinder to try to identify any magical scrolls, then goes through the ointments.

Spellcraft 1: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (4) + 14 = 18
Spellcraft 2: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34
Spellcraft 3: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24
Spellcraft 4: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29
Spellcraft 5: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15
Spellcraft 6: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20
Spellcraft 7: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24
Spellcraft 8: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31
Spellcraft 9: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (10) + 14 = 24
Spellcraft 10: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34

Reavis is able to identify the following scrolls:
Three scrolls of cure critical wounds
two scrolls of expeditious retreat (CL 5th)
two scrolls of lesser restoration
one scroll of spider climb.

Spellcraft rolls for the oils? I'm not sure you can use perception for oils - these are specifically the ones you apply externally for their effects rather than the ones you drink. I'll check

"These can all come in handy..."

So there are two scrolls we could not identify?

How many more unidentified magical objects are there? Feel free to make the Spellcraft checks for me if you want to speed things up. If he fails to identify any potion/oils with Spellcraft, he'll try with Craft (alchemy) as per the Alchemist class (+14 modifier).

Also, I'm pretty sure magical oils can still be identified with Perception, since they are still just potions that are used outside of the body.

Two scrolls were not identified.

I will assume Reavis just takes 10.

Reavis looks over the oils with a well-trained eye, and easily works out what they are:

Oil of barkskin (CL 6th) - Smells like pine
Oil of bull’s strength - Strong musky smell
Five oils of cure light wounds - Smells like lady-scented bodywash
Oil of enlarge person (CL 5th) - Smells like Old Spice
Oil of jump (CL 5th) - Smells like...air?
Oil of resist energy (fire) - Smells like aloe vera
Oil of haste - Smells a little greasy
Oil of fly - There's a fly in the ointment

Decide who is carrying which oils, and then roll a perception check each when you are ready to proceed to the next room.

"Nice job, there, Reavis!" says Pierre.

He focuses on the oils and try to discern what they are.

Spellcraft 1: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Spellcraft 2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Spellcraft 3: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
Spellcraft 4: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Spellcraft 5: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Spellcraft 6: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Spellcraft 7: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Spellcraft 8: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Spellcraft 9: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8
Spellcraft 10: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

He tries to identify as well the two scrolls Reavis couldn't identify.

Spellcraft 1: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Spellcraft 2: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Psst Pierre, look above your post. ;)

Pierre is unfortunately also unable to identify the last 2 scrolls.