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Well it was hidden behind a secret door, it just seems so.. 'deliberate'
she shrugs
Well, traps are loathsome, but missing out on valuables is even more so!
After making sure the rest of the party is outside the room, she moves towards the chest, pulling out her sword and using it to flip the lid of the box open.
The lock pops off with surprising ease despite its well made look.
Once that is done Valya easily pops the lid off with her sword, when the solid stone slab that is the ceiling comes crashing down.
Those of you still in the room...
Fortunately the slab stops at the 2foot plinth that the chest was resting upon, instead of going all the way to the floor.
No sign of the chest, or its contents though.
Those of you outside the room can now see the area above the ceiling slab.
In this space, chain pulleys from which the false ceiling is suspended and the trigger rods that free the ceiling to fall are in plain sight.
You think the real ceiling is about 6 feet above the false ceiling and there is nothing of value in the above space.
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Sensing rather than seeing the ceiling come crashing down, Valya throws herself to the floor and rolls next to the plinth for cover. As the trap judders to a halt a couple of feet off the floor, she breathes a sigh of relief. Then hides a smirk at Sabi's self-deprecating humor.
Thankfully we're all ok, knew that thing was too good to be true!
she sands up and dusts herself off
Well I think that's the last area to explore, we should gather up the things we've discovered and make a move back to the Fort
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"For the weight of Ra! What was that?", says a surprised Tico, who was there helping Valya, when the ceiling falls over them.
"As Sabi said, 'I'm not dead yet', thanks to Ra", the cleric was looking terrible, feeling weakened and now very wounded. He was pleased to assist Sabi with his wounds, and Tico uses his wand on himself too.
After Valya's suggestion (get back to town), Tico asks everybody: "and what about the noqual that Royst asked us to bring to him? Will we get back with empty hands?"
Leaving the trap in place and the chest assumingly obliterated, the Pathfinders check out the final room.
Wisps of decayed and sagging spider webs droop from the walls of this room, which appears to be empty except for the long-dead, dismembered corpse of a giant spider and a stout, freestanding wooden closet in the southwestern corner. The ceiling is covered with dusty spider webs bulging down from a grid of wooden beams and plaster fifteen feet above the floor. Faint moans and plaintive sobbing come from the closet.
As the party moves forward to investigate, Tico is caught in a net that drops from the ceiling as the 4 wardrobe walls fall away to reveal a zombie.
Despite the zombie's supernatural quickness and immense strength, the party is able to dispose of it quickly.
With that the party heads back upstairs and back towards Fort Inevitable!
Our heroes return victorious once again from the Emerald Spire.
After perhaps a bath and a nice meal at the inn you are able to gleam some more info regarding pieces of town.
The Stalwart Priory
Three years ago, a master of the order named Sister Khedra established a small priory in the Crusader Road region to aid and support pilgrims and Stalwart Fist members on their way to Mendev.
From your understanding the Stalwart Fist is a Taldan monk order and that Sister Khedra maintains a firm policy of non-involvement with politics and civic affairs.
At some point Tico will find a note tucked under his mug.
Greetings freedom seeker. Know that you are not alone. Should you need to contact us, leave a message at Victory Fountain for Esmeralda.
Victory Fountain
This fountain consists of a stone plinth within a pool, crowned by a statue of the half-elf heroine Tarwynna, leader of the army that crushed the goblin kingdom of Zog. The fountain and its statue date back to before the Mendevian Crusades brought a plague of bandits down on Southwood.
The Fountain Square is a common meeting place in town, and notices are tacked up on a message board nearby.
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Tico was hungry and was eating like there was no tomorrow, until he realized the note sent to him.
His eyes lit up at that moment, "for Ra, I'm not alone!", he thought.
The cleric's excitement was apparent, if before he was delighted with the food, now he just wanted to finish it soon to go to the Victory Fountain.
When he finish the meal, Tico takes leave of his companions and goes to the specified location and begins his search for Esmeralda.
The fountain is reasonably busy, with a few kids running about playing tag, and plenty of people walking by, some of them stopping to read the bulletin board. A dwarven woman even stops and posts a notice.
Mary's Chickens are back! Fresh Eggs for sale! 1 copper each, or a silver gets you a dozen!
The board seems to contain domestic notes, offers to buy and sell, there's even a wedding coming up.
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Sabi needs to reconsider his gear. Part of this will be negotiating purchase of some of the found loot back from the Hellknights.
One of the things Masao knows he needs to do is get a reference for Ancient Azlanti. If these are Azlanti ruins, he's sure knowing that language will come in handy some time.
Boons and other reference material in Fort Inevitable is best found at Nolm's Bindery.
Trading in papermaking, bookbinding, inks, and books of all kinds, Falandra’s Bindery is a cluttered and friendly place that is part workshop and part used bookstore. The owner is Falandra Nolm, a woman still in her twenties.
She inherited the store from her father, Presdar Nolm, who was one of the accused conspirators arrested and executed after Lord Varden’s death. Falandra has no love for the Hellknights or the lady commander, but she has several younger siblings to support.
Trading in various coins, leads you to meet Gertrand Yeldun, the Moneychanger.
He runs his business out of an office at the front of his comfortable townhouse
He appears to run a fair and efficient business and isn't one for chatter but will exchange your coins at fair rates.
It is well known that he is a member of the Council of Prosperty, a civil advisory board for Fort Inevitable.
Estha Walthomar
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After the usual check with the Hellknights over the gear recovered from the Spire, Valya immediately heads for a long soak in a hot bath, near desperate to scrape away the last of the cobwebs from her hair.
Her mind insists on concentrating on leveraging her contacts rather than the history of the fort, and she fails to gain any insight from the buildings and people she sees.
Finally she is able to source a wand to cure her future wounds, after stowing it in her pack she returns to the inn to see what the others have discovered.
The Lady Commander will allow Nar to train with the Hellknights at the Bailey
They have a nice set up with archery targets, sparing dummies and plenty of supplies.
Local agriculture consists primarily of various grains such as barley, wheat and oats. Farms also tend to have a few animals such as sheep or goats.
There is a vineyard and winery just north of town known as Caerlin's. He's said to be a half-elf getting on in his years, leaving more and more of the business to his daughter to run.
To the east of town is Naldred's Farm, you've passed by the north edge several times on your way to and from the Spire by now. It's got expansive fields of golden wheat, and a fine stone farmhouse.
It is run by Naldred Tillman and the fields stretch over a mile both east and south and are always tended by large numbers of slaves.
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As she walks around the Fort, Valya realises how much she has come to know the tiny community despite the small amount of time she's spent here. She feels the shape of the ground beneath her boots, the noise of the market flows over her like a wave as she unhurriedly weaves her way effortlessly through the throngs of people there.
Waiting until the others are back, Valya dispenses with small talk and simply begins
Naldred Tillman, his slaves appear to be suffering higher fatalities than usual. Has anyone heard about anything that could shed any light on this?
She pauses for a sec, and thinks before answering "Ya'll the new adventurers exploring the Spire I bet. Nothing but troubles gonna come from that I tell ya, why don't you settle down, get married."
Having gotten distracted she pauses for a moment to compose her thoughts "Oh... maybe that's are what'cha doing. I don't know no Esmeralda though, is she pretty?"
Tico, you're beginning to get the sense that you may have misunderstood the message.
Without any more obvious leads to the resistance and with everybody's supply needs taken care of, eventually a letter arrives from Zarta complimenting you on your job so far. makes allusions towards your pain/pleasure tolerance and urging you to continue your expedition deeper into the spire.
Heading back out is mostly peaceful, the goblins that previously inhabited the top level of the spire have not returned and the few remaining spiders on the second level leave you alone.
A large hole, filled with webs descends into the 3rd level.
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Tico, you're beginning to get the sense that you may have misunderstood the message.
Feeling a bit stupid, Tico politely answer the woman: "my apologies, milady. I really don't know how she is, when I meet her, I'll come back here and tell you", he smiles to the dwarven female and leaves her there. The cleric goes to the board and searches for any note that can attract his attention, especially that about the wedding.
The shaft descends at least 30 feet, and probably closer to 50 feet down before reaching a landing.
Here the stone walls are covered in long decaying plaster murals.
To the north a pair of short stairs gain a bit of elevation. Past them you can see iron bars, illuminated by small oil lamps, providing dim lighting.
Getting down to the bottom of the shaft is no trouble. Taking the short flight of stairs up reveals an irregularly shaped passageway to the east where a short flight of steps leads up to a sturdy door set in the middle of a wall and flanked by arrow slits.
No traps, however as you guys approach the door a pair of crossbow bolts come flying out of the arrow slits on each side of the door.
One of them thunks into Nar's right thigh while the other flies harmlessly over the party's head.
A pair of voices shouts from behind the door "Nice shot!" and "There's more where that came from!"
Initiative:
Tico
Nar
Sabi
B2
B1
Valya
Tico, Nar and Sabi are up!
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"Let me see if I can do something..."
Tico starts to look around for any hidden mechanisms, even the magical, with Detect Magic".
While Shatter would ignore the hardness, you've still got 30hp to get through to break the lock.
If the lock was made of "crystal, glass, ceramic, or porcelain" it would easily shatter of course.
Please let me know if I've missed something, and feel free to do something else.
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** spoiler omitted **
Shatter creates a loud, ringing noise that breaks brittle, nonmagical objects; sunders a single solid, nonmagical object; or damages a crystalline creature.
So, 3 options.
First option (breaks brittle, nonmagical objects): Used as an area attack, shatter destroys nonmagical objects of crystal, glass, ceramic, or porcelain. All such unattended objects within a 5-foot radius of the point of origin are smashed into dozens of pieces by the spell. Objects weighing more than 1 pound per your level are not affected, but all other objects of the appropriate composition are shattered.
Second option (sunders a single solid, nonmagical object): Alternatively, you can target shatter against a single solid nonmagical object, regardless of composition, weighing up to 10 pounds per caster level.
Third option (damages a crystalline creature): Targeted against a crystalline creature (of any weight), shatter deals 1d6 points of sonic damage per caster level (maximum 10d6), with a Fortitude save for half damage.
In this case, if the lock's weight is 30 pounds or less, no matter how much is its hardeness or hp, it is just destroyed, since it will be affect d by the second option - " sunders a single solid, nonmagical object".
The lock on the door shatters, followed by some panicked noises from the other side.
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Her feelings changing from concern to exultation in mere moments as Tico's spell destroys the barrier between Valya and her prey, the tiefling pounces on the unfortunate creatures behind the door, drawing her sword as she moves and bringing it down in an overhand chop on top of the blue bandanna-wearing humanoid's head.