M Ifrit CG Swashbuckler 6 | 52/52 HP| AC 26 Tch 15 Fl 21| CMB +7 CMD 21 | F +5 R +10 W +3 Resist Fire 5 | Init +5 | Perc +9 Darkvision | Speed 60, fly 90 | Panache 4/4 | CL 1/4 | Reroll 0/1 | Lucky Number 17 | Active Conditions: Longarm, Shield, Haste
Curious, Kegan inspects the fighting dummies.
Perception:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22 What sort of weapons were used against them? Just fists, or signs of other weapons?
Then he goes over to the obvious door and checks it out.
Perception:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23 Traps? Locked?
What sort of weapons were used against them? Just fists, or signs of other weapons?
It appears that the dummies were broken by blunt force, leading you to assume fists or another bludgeoning weapon.
Kegan wrote:
Then he goes over to the obvious door and checks it out.
The door does not appear trapped, nor locked after subtly trying the handle softly. The handle does appear relatively untarnished and clean, giving the door the appearance that it has been used with semi-recent past.
[HP: 63/63, AC 20/14/14, F+8/R+11/W+5, CMB +6, CMD 20, Perc. +12, Init +4, Bombs 12/12, Temp HP 0/0]
Melisande wrote:
I do so love discovering secrets. They are so often juicy and interesting
Ah?
"Try your hand at alchemy. Especially the alteration of the self.
Though be sure to be very specific to the supplier of reagents. I went for bird wings, but the man turned to have misunderstand my description and gave a different one."
Turning back to the topic of the door,
"Not locked. Though, it might be safest to stand aside when opening it. No knowing what is behind it."
I'm thinking like opening the door towards yourself, with the one doing so standing away from the doorway.
Melisande opens the secret door in the northwest wall. This secret door.
GM Irish202 wrote:
Three fifteen-foot-diameter platforms lie in this room, each rising three feet high. In the center of each platform, a globe-shaped container of murky liquid sits in the embrace of an octopus-shaped brass cradle. Each globe is about two feet across—the two westernmost globes are intact, and a dark, indistinct mass floats in the center of each. The eastern globe has been shattered, and a large stain has spread out around it on the floor. Along the wall near the eastern door sits a tiny wooden cabinet with a message scribbled on its front. A similar one sits beside the western door.
You feel some ominous presence touch your mind, and thrust its force of will at you with painful sharpness. You get an incredible headache, but you feel the ultimate effect fail to catch hold of your psyche; leaving you with an odd sense of confusion and frustration coming from this external presence as it slowly fades from your mind.
As the group tenses briefly in anticipation of something bad happening, the room sits still and silent before them. The chamber awaits their actions...
Melisande pulls out her wand of heightened awareness from her haversack, and taps herself with it. I feel like I'm being watched. Normally I don't mind that, but seeing their reactions is half the fun. Anyone see anything in this room?
You feel a hostile presence touch your mind and its force of will begins to overwhelm you.
You feel like you just failed a will save that charmed life wouldn't make a difference on. Would you like to drop a re-roll on this? If so, roll the will save with any appropriate bonuses/abilities you wish to use and read "Secret Spoiler A" below. If not, read "Secret Spoiler C" below.
Secret Spoiler A (Kegan):
Did you make a DC 18 Will Save? If yes, proceed to Secret Spoiler B. If no, proceed to Secret Spoiler C
Secret Spoiler B (Kegan):
You feel some ominous presence touch your mind, and thrust its force of will at you with painful sharpness. You get an incredible headache, but you feel the ultimate effect fail to catch hold of your psyche; leaving you with an odd sense of frustration coming from this external presence as it slowly fades from your mind.
You feel an ominous presence touch your mind, and thrust its force of will at you with painful sharpness. The pain subsides quickly, being replace with a pleasant feeling of numbness. The sense that absolutely nothing is wrong at the moment overwhelms your previous caution, as a voice in your mind gives you a command that your psyche seems unable to ignore:
"The way to stop any harm from coming to your allies is by smashing the globe in the center of the room. Move up to it and break it open."
You are compelled to comply with this command as per charm monster for your actions this turn.
Melisande wrote:
I feel like I'm being watched. Normally I don't mind that, but seeing their reactions is half the fun. Anyone see anything in this room?
Beyond the two cabinets and the two globes in the room, Melisande does not see anything else that seems to be hiding. Squinting at the western cabinet on the opposite side of the room, she is able to make out writing on the cabinet itself. Written in common is the following:
“Return what is no longer needed here, lest it weigh you down.”
She is unable to see details about the eastern cabinet well enough from her current vantage point at the door.
Botting Testudo
Testudo grimaces at the group enters the room, shaking his head slightly. He informs the group that he felt a presence of some kind attempt to touch his mind...painfully. He cautiously follows Kegan as the swashbuckler enters the room. Nothing immediately apparent happens as the pair enters.
Kegan accepts a casting of protection versus evil, and Testudo does as well to be available to back up the swashbuckler if needed.
Temporarily pausing Initiative
The pair venture cautiously into the room, both of them feeling odd tingling sensations in their minds as Tereze's spell blocks whatever force that is attempting to influence them. Giving the two globes a wide berth, they investigate the two closets quickly before the protection expires. In the eastern cabinet, there are three small beads that glimmer with an slight iridescence sitting in a bowl. On the door to that cabinet is a plaque that reads:
Take what is needed if help is desired, but to seek assistance is to fall from the Path.
Investigation of the western cabinet reveals nothing except an empty bowl identical to the one in the eastern cabinet. The door on the western wall leads down a short hallway that dead-ends on the non-secret/visible side of a hidden door; the door opening into the already explored room with the alcoves off the hallway next to the pit chamber. The pair return back to the globe chamber to regroup with their party members and share their scouting information.
This search took about 2 minutes for duration off the protection spell. Will leave further action or decisions up to group.
M Ifrit CG Swashbuckler 6 | 52/52 HP| AC 26 Tch 15 Fl 21| CMB +7 CMD 21 | F +5 R +10 W +3 Resist Fire 5 | Init +5 | Perc +9 Darkvision | Speed 60, fly 90 | Panache 4/4 | CL 1/4 | Reroll 0/1 | Lucky Number 17 | Active Conditions: Longarm, Shield, Haste
Perplexed, Kegan asks "So do you think we move the bead from one bowl to the other? I'm not sure what the stuff about falling from the path means, but it doesn't sound good."
"I would guess this is some sort of religious thing."
You recognize this as a test called "The Aspirant's Focus." Typically, this part of the Aspirant's Path represented a test of an acolyte's willpower and mental fortitude. While the means to do so varied from location to location, there was usually some obstacle placed that the acolyte had to pass by or touch without succumbing to a mental distraction or magical trap in order to pass the trial. The cabinets and beads that Kegan/Testudo mentioned are not something that traditionally were included, and must be something that the monks at the monastery placed here as a safety backup for some reason.
Remaining 4th: 4/5, 3rd: 7/7, 2nd: 6/7, 1st: 6/7, Channel Energy: 5/5, Master of Pentacles: 1/1, Energy Body 9/9, Boots 3/3
I zink we have gotten to "The Aspirant's Focus". Ze room is going to try to distract you while you try to pass some obstacle. But I have never heard of a stage like zis that includes Cabinets or beads.
It is almost like ze monks placed this to help zose who were failing.
Maybe because zis is more dangerous zen normal....
What does Melisande know about the Aspirant's Focus test?
Your check would make you aware of everything already posted in the above Religion spoiler I gave for Tereze.
Melisande wrote:
Melisande casts Detect Magic and looks into the room
Detect Magic (Melisande/Anyone with the spell and Spellcraft):
Looking into the room with the detection magic reveals little, only a faint evocation aura coming from the beads in the eastern cabinet. After cajoling Testudo or Kegan to bring them closer for inspection, you discover that the three beads are beads of force. Nothing happens when the beads are removed from the cabinet (e.g. no traps are sprung), leading you to believe that the beads can be taken if desired.
These are Beads of Force. When thrown, they explode, doing some damage, then enclosing the target within a resilient sphere. We should definitely take them regardless. What is through the door at the other end of the room?
What is through the door at the other end of the room?
GM Irish202 wrote:
The door on the western wall leads down a short hallway that dead-ends on the non-secret/visible side of a hidden door; the door opening into the already explored room with the alcoves off the hallway next to the pit chamber. The pair return back to the globe chamber to regroup with their party members and share their scouting information.
When ready to open the eastern door in the previous chamber (F33):
Opening the Door:
Opening the door reveals a tiled pool dominating this chamber, which has a fifteen-foot high barrel-vault ceiling. The waters are clear and three feet deep. Three marble platforms featuring the same mosaic design found in the monastery above rise along the pool’s center, protruding six inches above the water’s surface. Four octagonal, domed alcoves in the corners each hold a marble pillar. Near the southeast alcove, a large hole has been dug in the wall.
Two grioths are stationed flanking the opening to the hole in the wall.
Perception:2d20 + 10 ⇒ (20, 16) + 10 = 46
Map updated. If no stealthy preparations were taken, or a Stealth check was not sufficient to beat DC 30, proceed to Secret Spoiler A below.
The two grioths look up alertly as the group opens the door. One of them lets off a screech and lifts into the air; turning and darting down the passage through the hole next to it. The remaining grioth also lifts into the air, but rises to the ceiling's height at 15 feet and advances forward 30 feet to hover above the eastern edge of the pool; the creature appearing to be waiting for the group's next action.
This is going well. perhaps if you have a dance party down there.
Melisande steps into the room and to the side of the door, then casts Glitterdust. DC 19 Will or be blinded by the light. Wrapped up like a deuce, another runner in the night even.
Locke's arrow flies past the grioth, striking the wall behind. Meanwhile, the creature takes a full blast of the glitterdust to the face and becomes blinded. The creature literally is unable to see the power-train plowing into the room that is Testudo and Roshi, as the turtle-knight virtually splatters the poor unsuspecting grioth into giblets that now shower down below to stain the reflecting pool beneath it red.
The room now sits barren of enemies, the splashing sound of raining gore providing an echoing cacophony that is only interrupted occasionally by increasingly distant sounds of flapping wings moving further down the tunnel opening at the other side of the room.
Out of Initiative?
We can remain in initiative if desired, but there are now no enemies within immediate vicinity. What does everyone wish to do now?
