[PFS] Season 0 run, mixed with Dragon's Demand

Game Master Irish202

Gwen lets out a sad sigh of relief when the undead finally falls. "That was horrible... I hope we never have to face another of those..."

"The neglected soul of a desperate child? Yep...not on my list."

Fiona remains silent until she is sure she can't hear the sobbing anymore. She wipes a tear, then goes and tries to tidy up the area and put the minor trinkets that belonged to the undead soul together. Having finished, she collects the pieces of the shattered animal skull together on top of the tomb, mending them together with a simple spell as she smooths them with her hand, as if to depart from the place.

After a while, she adds with a sigh, "It shouldn't be on any of our lists."

Cast Mending.

"Poor child. No kid deserves that."

Locke inspects the coffin.
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

"Agreed."
Ery says as he makes sighs.
"Onward?"
Perc: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

Locke inspects the sarcophagus and draws the conclusion that it has probably not been opened before, except for the time the corpse of the child of Tula Belhaim was laid to rest in it. This means the undead child, depending on the point of time when it spawned, could've been trapped inside the sarcophagus for multiple centuries on end.

Eryzule looks for a way onward, but finds none.

But after taking 20 on Perception, something you'd undoubtedly do when stuck:

You notice there is a secret door in the western wall.

Ze far bigger question is: how did zis get here? Unless ze dragonslayer is a far different person zen we zought, a child would not have been abandoned or intentionally trapped down here.

We should search ze area for clues on what is going on.

She starts doing just that.
Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 17

Urbar helps Tereze search the space but finds nothing of interest. After a while he does notice a weird crack in the western wall.
"I think there is a secret door over here... Locke?"

Locke shakes head.

"Kid's ghost has potentially been here for centuries, poor thing."

Urbar asking for the door expert, Locke takes out the thieving tools.
"A secret door? On it."

Picking Lock: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25

"Ah-ha! A secret passage!"
Having utilized the combined greatness of a 'take 20 to find things' to find this door. Ery begins to pull on the door all the while locke tinkers with it.
"Surely something worth heading into is beyond this door!"

"And trying to force it with brute strength could set off whatever might be trapped about it. If you don't mind, i'd like to secure it properly, before pulling it open."

The only thing Tereze finds while searching the room is confirmation that the child was dead when placed in the sarcophagus. Her knowledge of undead tells her there was probably some kind of corrupting force present at a later time, which caused the undead to spawn inside the sarcophagus.

Locke's able to open the door, nothing explodes, and a circular room that's empty safe for a descending spiral staircase is revealed.

As the others finish opening up the door, Fiona brushes the dust off her robes and stands up, quietly following them into the staircase room. As she passes near Gwen, she touches her, imbuing her with some magical protection.

Cast Ward hex on Gwen, +2 to AC and saves until hit or fails a saving throw.

After the lock gave into Locke's tinkering, Locke stashes away the tools, and stands up.

"There we go. Now to see what lies beyond."

Inside, the sight of a mere spiral staircase was...disappointing.

"That's all? Somehow i expected to see something awe inspiring."

I do not know. All zis digging to make zis tomb seems pretty impressive to me.

"Yes, but i was thinking more of other material that would be in this room.
Like a statue, a memorial painting or the like."

"Where better to hide a secret lair than in a crypt? Either this place was meant to be a crypt with the later addition of a secret lair, or the other way round."
Urbar says as he peers down the spiral staircase.

Perception to see/hear if something's down there: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

If he deems it safe he will go on ahead and start the descend.

"Safe indeed..." Ery leers over Urbar's shoulder down the stairs.
"Human's beware! Our Human-Slayer will slay thee!"
The elf shouts down the hole.

Tereze says to Urbar
I hope you were not planning on sneaking up on anyone...

Fiona rolls her eyes at Eryzule's careless shouting. "I don't understand why you just did that," she says, with a glint of irritation in her eyes.

"If anyone was down there... You just now made sure they know we are here..."
Urbar says with a angry glare aimed at Ery.
"Maybe you should go first to meet any new friends..."
A few moments later he regrets what he just said, but too angry to admit it.

Not only threatening himself but also the whole group!

To make sure, now doubly so, Urbar keeps listening at the stairs.

"Historically, we run into things that are sealed...often not aimlessly in halls... Pools...Cavernous openings...Giant piano halls... But not hall ways." He offers a semi-apologetic shrug.

"if it eases you, I will venture forth!" The elf says, reading his tea in process. "I just need the right brew to numb the inevitable tentacle/claw/maw action against my otherwise, flawless complexion." He looks to the girls. "You understand. I'm sure."

There's not a single sound coming from below. You eventually venture forth, descending the ladder. A huge mosaic of a red dragon decorates the floor of this large chamber. There's an inscription in the mosaic's center. To the north lie three circular alcoves, each with a single pillar of black marble in its center. To the south, in a single large alcove, a spiral staircase descends to a deeper level of the crypt. Four stone sarcophagi sit on the floor on the south side of the main room, two on each side of the alcove entrance.

Map updated.

Once down, The stillness in the air throws the elf off. Placing the cup of tea, he had readied earlier, to his lips, he slurps loudly. "Thrrrrrrrrrp" He pauses, looking to the mosaic. then to the sarcophagi.

"Huh."

Maybe it was just a crypt...

Urbar thinks to himself as he slowly approaches the sarcophagi.

Perception on the graves: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

If he deems it safe he slowly approaches them. If still nothing jumps out he moves past them towards the next chamber and starts listening at the staircasse again.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Knowing Draconic, Locke reads the inscription, if it is in draconic.
Otherwise plain reading.

"Let's have a look what it says."

What are ze pillars?. Tereze wonders softly. She looks hard at them but does not cross the room until she hears what the inscription says.

1d20 ⇒ 7

Urbar looks to see if it's safe to approach the sarcophagi, and spots that stepping onto the dragon mosaic will active some kind of magic fire trap. He quickly grabs Eryzule and Locke their arms, before they can step onto the mosaic to approach the things they want to inspect.

(Oi?!)

Locke gets pulled aside when about to observe the mosaic.

"You saw something dangerous, then?"

WH-" The elf gasps as he is easily yanked back, tea still to his lips.

"Look before you walk..."
Urbar says, releasing them again.
"There is a magic trap on the mosaic. Care to identify it before we get ourselves killed?"

If no one is able to identify it he will throw something on the mosaic from a safe distance.

Using detect magic
Ery's eyes light up a with a green glow as he scans the mosaic for its properties.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Know. Arcana: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

"If it's a magical trap, i can't take care of it.
I don't have the training for that."

Further inspection of the magical trap reveals that, after a short delay, spirals of fire will blast throughout the room once the mosaic would be threaded upon.

Gwen refrains from strangling Ery, reminding herself that he's just a flighty elf and may not know any better... Although she grins slightly at the notion of tossing him into one of those coffins... when suddenly an idea comes to her head. "What if we open one of those coffins and prop the lid just so that it can quickly be closed again? The rest of you step back out of the room, I set off the trap and then hide in the coffin. Ideally that would protect me from the flames, right?"

"But what if there's something inside those coffins Gwen? We might end up fighting and triggering traps."

Are there any large (~20 lbs or more) rocks either here or in the shaft room above we could throw onto the mosaic to try and trigger the trap?

Ery eyes Gwen, as if through some kind of magic, suspicious of the odd shift upon her face. Going from brief rage to humor filled twinkles in the eye. Something left him uneasy.
Her idea vocalized did little to ease the chills that danced up his spine.
"huh." He musters to say

Fiona, you were floating before. Can you do that to others? Is it possible for someone to float over the dragon and not step on it?

"It looks like she did it subconsciously. Flying over the mosaic would be nifty, indeed."

@Fiona: There aren't any inside the crypt, but you could go outside and find some.

"Floating? The only thing I remember is that I fell forever until you found me and woke me up," the witch shudders. "It wasn't a pleasant experience and I wouldn't like to try and remember even more details. And I'm quite sure I can't fly over this mosaic... The rocks might be a better idea."

Unless anyone objects, Fiona goes to look for rocks, or something else that's as heavy, to trigger the mosaic trap.

Urbar helps Fiona find a good sized rock and helps her getting it back down again. Once everyone is safe he will push the boulder in the general direction of the dragon mosaic and gets the hell out of there, hoping Ery will help him get out with the vines.

Ery uses Entangle to move folks up and down the shaft as needed.
"Yeah...lets not get used to this... I would prefer to use my powers for not dying...not a lift service." sighs, humored.

1d4 ⇒ 2

It takes a second or 12 before there's a reaction, but then you hear the sounds of multiple flames erupting from the room with the mosaic. The noise subsides after about six seconds.

Does someone try to cross now? How long would it take to reset a magic trap?

Fiona frowns, "I hadn't thought of that, and would rather not risk getting burned to ashes. There must be another way to avoid the trap."

Take 20 for Perception in the area outside the mosaic, or for a way across the mosaic that will not trigger the trap.

"It takes some time for the flames to start. It may be enough for all of us to run to the other side."
Urbar says as he sees Fiona inspect the surroundings.
"Thing is... Something may come out of those coffins..."

If everyone agrees Urbar will do a countdown to run for the stairs.

Fiona takes a good look and sees a way to get to the stairs without touching the mosaic. The only thing is that it requires you to move over two of the sarcophagi.

I drew a red line on the map to show the route.

Ery raises a brow, looking to the ranger.

Tereze focuses and droppers her connection with Ulfa and links her life force with Urbar.
Zere, Gwen and Urbar, I have you both protected. Zat way if you try Fiona's path, you will be safer if somezing comes out of ze coffin.

I suggest you two lead ze way.