[PFS/Shifty] Faithless & Forgotten (Table 2) (Inactive)

Game Master Nik B.

Ischell, you were brought back to consciousness with the rest of the party, but you need healing (1 hp). Krima was pretty keen on getting everyone back into play.

Vexin follows normal practice with the code, and as Desna would have it, he hears the satisfying click of the lock disengaging. After satisfying himself that it is safe to do so, he opens the door.

Dozens of carefully organized codices and scrolls fill the stone shelves carved into the walls, each labelled with names and sigils hammered into small brass placards over each niche. Two statues of humanoid fiends holding red-flamed torches monitor the room from the corners. Two open chests on either side of the door hold jumbles of unsorted documents, but a third chest in the far corner remains closed.

Mindartis stares at the halfling with amazement. "Amazing! You do have a way with puzzles and traps, my sure-footed friend." He then turns his attention to the vaults contents, examining it with traps before proceeding with caution.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

Rolled a 1? #seemssafe

Sigh! Anyone else wanna try before Mindartis nonchalantly walks inside the vault, possibly triggering a mechanism that will trap him in there? LOL

Malora peers inside the vault suspiciously. Vaults were sacred spaces... And now, to think she was about to let her companions steal from one.

Abadar, forgive me...

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

So far everything seems safe. Malora is neither struck by a trap nor Abadars wrath

Mindartis starts poring over the contents of the open chests, looking for any documents that Zarta is asking him to find. After going over the open chests, he walks towards the closed chest and inspects it for a moment. Might be rigged. I'm sure this won't be an easy task.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

"It very well could be. And having two different keys does not improve my confidence nor do those statues after our time in the desert."

Vexin too takes some time looking over all the documents for pieces relating to Zefiro, Zarta, or nobles that may help him in her personal business.

Then he tries checks the chest for traps with Mindartis before attempting to open it.

Perception (Chest): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Doran lumbers over and looks at the chest.

perc: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10Maybe it has magical wards?

I guess I'm a little slow today but I don't see how you generated the numbers you generated. Seems like magic. :-)

Elemenar glances around the vault to see if anything catches his eye. Archives such as this are a treasure trove of information and he would love to spend hours looking through the documents. Maybe there would be some new spells he could learn, or historical knowledge, or valuable family secrets. But today time is limited. Elemenar quickly casts detect magic around the room.

The number was in each line of the psalm. The misspelled word ixpressly is where I noticed the first number then backtracked. A few gave me trouble like the five. It also helps my forensics classes this semester have had a big focus on cryptography.

Sharp eye! I am going to remember this for my homebrew.

Satisfying themselves to the best of their abilities that there are no traps or wards, the Pathfinders explore the contents of the vault.

The shut corner chest stores the Nail’s monetary assets for covering basic expenditures, holding an assortment of Chelish-minted gold and silver coins.

The documents contain information on Cheliax’s numerous political targets extracted from the Nail’s interrogation sessions. Some of these documents provide blackmail material

Three documents stand out in particular.

The first two are interrogation reports filed in the section marked with the Aspis Consortium’s sigil (Player Handouts #3 and #4). The other is in a chest that stores a mound of Zefiro’s unaltered Chelish histories, including one annotated lineage amendment torn from its binding and left atop the pile (Player Handout #5).

The former two reveal that Ianareth Alazario collaborates with the Aspis Consortium, that an Aspis agent named Kitio Aspenthi is active in Thuvia, and that the Bell of Obedience stolen from the Society years back was recently sold to the Hellknight Order of the Rack

The third document reveals that, although she was raised a Dralneen, Zarta is in fact the last known blood descendant of House Davian, former rulers of the greater Hellcoast region and the most powerful noble house to oppose the rise of House Thrune (and thus be obliterated after Thrune signed its infernal pact).

These documents would probably be of interest to Dark Archive or Sov Court

Mindartis studies the documents and secures it in his pack. Lady Zarta will truly need these documents.

He then turns to his allies. "It would seem that Ianareth has made some connections with the Aspis Consortium. These documents should be delivered to Lady Zarta with haste." He moves towards the entrance of the vault to watch out for guards while his companions try to search the vault further.

Mindartis listens out in the corridor, but hears no movement and sees no guards.

I don't see the player handouts #3, #4, #5. Also, should I assume detect magic didn't find anything?

Ok...let's get going. We're running out of time, I think. Dud we get everything we need? Zarta must hear of this immediately.

"We have found a wealth of information! More than Zarta Davian will appreciate these documents."

Vexin stashes the documents taking special care with the blackmail documents to present to Lady Morilla with his fellow Sovereign Court members. Faction Goal.

He nods to Doran and prepares for their next step.

Ready to head towards the prison with the others.

Malora couldn't bring herself to step foot inside the vault. Instead, she waited in the hallway, keeping an eye out for trouble.

As soon as the others are done in the vault, she hurries off down the hall to the doors that lead deeper into the prison and--hopefully--to a still-breathing Zefiro.

Ready to move on.

Noted reloaded, sorry about that :p And no, nothing detected as magic in there. Obviously, the materials in the room are of significant interest to the Sov Court and to Dark Arch as Vexin has rightly identified :)

You move to the doors of the prison, it looks like one of the keys fits the lock here and once again satisfying yourselves that it is safe to do so, you open the doors.

The stink of unwashed bodies permeates this narrow corridor, illuminated by violet prisms set into sconces on the inner corners. Iron bars isolate the hall’s outer perimeter, where the walls are lined with manacles set into the stone. Dozens of filthy prisoners lie behind the bars, each one wearing a sign around his or her neck bearing an identification number, a crime, a red “X” next to the word “Interrogation,” and a release date. Two sets of iron double doors lead deeper into the building.

Malora reads the first few signs, checking for the names and crimes.

Saddened by the poor treatment of the prisoners, she hesitates, looking very solemn.

Cheliax has a long way to go before it even approaches Abadar's Perfect Form...

Then she hurries along the row, searching for Zefiro.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Malora notes there are a total of 36 prisoners in here. A quick glance at their identification cards reveals that many of them are serving time for minor infractions, and most are only a few days away from being released.

Elemenar steps into the malodorous prison area. His noses wrinkles in disgust. "I've visited a few prisons before but this seems worse than normal." Elemenar goes down the line of prisoners, in the opposite direction that Malora goes, looking for Zefiro.

I assume that we are in the outer ring corridor that the map shows. Is there any info on the doors at the north or south ends of the central chamber?

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Catching up. Wow there is a lot here

Cure, Fey Foundling: 1d8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 1 + 2 = 10
Cure, Fey Foundling: 1d8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 1 + 2 = 11
Cure, Fey Foundling: 1d8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 1 + 2 = 8

----

Ischell turns toward Zarta and the rest of the team, explaining his actions earlier. "They were going to beat the cook, for a crime he did not commit, man. I only responded in self defense, using my fists and not weapons. These dudes though, they are vicious."

"Thrick is going to have a wickedly awful time here- I think we should offer the dude a way out with us, when we make our final break"
----

"Vexin, are those documents what I think they are?

"Do not worry. I am just glad they weren't allowed to beat you further after the stew went awry...and yes! These documents cover multiple influential members of Cheliax." Vexin says in response to Ischell.

He then walks the lines of prisoners and reading their tags but also notices the prisms along the perimeter of the inner chamber. He pulls out the manual to make sense of them.

"Elemenar, you may be able to help me make sense of this soundproofing system. The less those guards up front hear the better...especially once we get into the fresh hell of that torture chamber."

You are presently in that outer ring. There are locked doors to the inner core, which have a lock that appears to match the second key you picked up with the documents in the office

3d20 ⇒ (9, 20, 10) = 39

As you wander the circuit, Malora notices that one of the prisoners is already dead.

Malora looks at the dead man with sadness. What was his crime?

"A prisoner dead in custody! Oh, this is..." Malora looks sad, then she clenches her fists in anger. "I will not stand for this."

It appears that his crimes consisted of a number of relatively minor infractions, but he is the only one in here with more than a month left on his sentence.

Ischell will gladly use charges off of his wand to heal any of the more rough looking inmates
Perception, who needs healing: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

"After seeing how they treated the cook-dude, these conditions don't surprise me Lawmaster. This country uses their laws against the common dude, to keep their power and authority safe."

Ishcell administers some healing... the prisoners appear pretty thankful for the kindness.

Malora quickly hurries down the hallway.

If she doesn't find Zefiro on this southern hall, she'll quickly check the northern one.

He doesn't appear to be in this area... perhaps in the next area?

Elemenar looks at the prisms. "Vexin, you're right. These are probably those sound dampening devices." Elemenar notices that two of the prism stands are not lit. He examines those more carefully.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18

I noticed that two lights on the map are off. Is this something to notice or just a meaningless decoration?

It's a thing, the gem slots are empty - hence the prison soundproofing is off

The elfin wizard points to one of the empty stands. "Look, this one is missing a prism. We should search around and see if we can find the missing ones. If we don't find them out here then maybe we'll find them in the inner chamber."

Malora quickly checks the northern hallway. If she still doesn't find Zefiro she looks at the double doors leading deeper into the prison.

"If you're going to mess with the soundproofing, now's the time. We're going to have to head in there."

Malora loads her crossbow and holds it ready.

Oh, for some reason I thought we had two prisms for those. Haha. I think I was thinking of the keys that were with the papers about the prisms. Whoops!

Ready to move on when everyone else is.

Would those prisms be magical? Could one of you spell slingers search for it with ypur mystic abilities?

"Maybe if we are quiet they won't hear us since our contact sent them all to the entrance." Vexin says with a sigh and looks for wood to knock on knowing luck isn't always favorable.

Ready either way.

"I suppose," Malora replies, eager to get moving. Holding her crossbow in one hand she quickly prays to Abadar, then holds out her hand. She hurries around the perimeter one more time, aiming her hand this way and that, looking for any out of place magical auras.

"Abadar, grant me the wisdom to see."

Using detect magic and checking out this area, as per Doran's request. She doesn't have spellcraft, so she won't be able to understand the auras unless its source is obvious.

The prisms are indeed magical...

You don't find the missing ones.

"Ok. Since we can't find the missing prisms out here, I expect they are in the inner chamber. Let's go in." Elemenar joins Mindartis and Malora at the northern set of doors and waits for the rest to join them.

"No luck. Let's go."

Malora stops concentrating on her spell and readies her crossbow before before into the next room with the others.

Doran strides up to the door and nods at the rest of the group and opens the doot.

Doran opens the door to the prison.

Barbed chains hang like streamers from the pyramidal ceiling of this large chamber. Several chains wind around the room’s grooved, bloodstained central column. Each corner of the room bears an iron statue of a regal, four-horned devil standing over a network of winches wound with the wicked chains. Light pours in from a dirty pentagram-shaped skylight set in the roof’s highest point, casting a shadow of Asmodeus’s unholy symbol crisscrossed with chains over the stone floor.

You can see a number of people are gagged and secured onto the central column by the room’s spiked chains

Mindartis steps inside, noting the features of the room and trying to identify Zefiro from among the prisoners.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

1d4 ⇒ 2

The chains in the room begin stirring to life!

R1
Mindartis
Elemenar
Ischell
CHAINS
Then
Doran
Vexin
Malora

Did Mindartis notice anything else with the Perception check?

Even though he's on the other side of the pillar pretty much, that's a good roll. You identify which of the four prisoners he is (on the map) - Mindartis knows this is an enormous trap, but has not yet seen how it 'works'

"Watch out!" Elemenar states as soon as he sees the chains moving. "I'm not sure if these are magically enhanced or if this is some elaborate mechanical trap. He casts detect magic towards the chains.

If the chains are magical, here's a spellcraft roll to try to find out more.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 2 = 31 The +2 is to identify magical item properties, maybe it doesn't apply