Open for dotting!
Hello friends
INTRODUCTION
The trip through the Mindspin Mountains has been an arduous one, but your party is determined to see this thing through (it doesn’t hurt that the pay is obscene). If your crew manages to make it through this thing alive somehow, the riches, titles, and untold glory will have you set for life. The offer of patents of nobility alone has your mind reeling. Thoughts of your future take you away from the inhospitable terrain around you. You never thought you’d say this, but why couldn’t we have stayed in Freedom Town another night?
When your guides told you the route took you through the Bloodsworn Vale, you were sure you misheard him. Having been ambushed no less than six times by brigands and orcs, you’ve now lost five of your initial eight guides. You wonder when the giants will appear and finish the task and end this hellish trek. It doesn't help that you must reach your destination by a certain day and time either; the pace has been grueling these last weeks.
As you wonder why in the heavens you’re marching toward certain death, your hand passes over the crumbled note in your pocket. You've reviewed the rather succinct message from your benefactor a handful of times these last few weeks, wondering how he could simplify your objective so easily. "Get the Fang, get out first, get to the next trial!". Piece of cake, right?
Scoffing, you know it's not as simple as he's written it. For starters, the note should have read "Assemble your best team. Meet your contact in the Brimstone Springs at the southern end of the range of the Mindspin Mountains. Make the deadly and nigh impossible trip through the Bloodsworn Vale up to Hanging Monastery, Sech Nevali. Find some ancient deadly undead warrior guardians of the gauntlet called Graveknights and show them the strange metallic amulet you were given. Hopefully they take you to and let you enter the Gauntlet before murdering you. Somehow traverse some long forgotten dungeon with untold deadly treasures and challenges to retrieve a piece of an all powerful artifact called Saevox's Fang. Oh, right, there are three other groups also entering the dungeon AT THE SAME TIME."
That’s the one that kills you. Three other groups are also vying for a piece of the glory just like you. Something about three ancient trials that need to be completed to take ownership of this artifact known as the Trimerix. Apparently the Thassilonians enjoyed difficult contests before a bunch of rocks fell on their head and killed them all.
Anyway, where were you? Ah right, other parties in the dungeon. While running for your lives, getting and protecting one of the three artifact pieces before the three other treasure hunter groups, also somehow obtain information identifying the time AND location of the second trial! HA! While doing everything above, all that is left is to escape the trial from one of the three exits. Four groups, three exits. Oh, and probably you should add "Stay alive" to the list of objectives.
See, piece of cake.
It's probably best to think of it as "Get the Fang, get out first, get to the next trial" after all.
Keydas sighed. As a Pathfinder, he was fairly experienced in dangerous explorations and entering underground tombs. This, however...this was absurd. Travel through the Bloodsworn Vale was never simple, and then the Gauntlet itself...
He wasn't worried about getting to the gauntlet and then facing whatever lay in the gauntlet - it was the fact that three other groups were going to be in there, and that there were only three exits. If each exit sealed after one group used it...well, being trapped in there certainly wasn't how he intended to die.
Looking to Ghyrryn, he said, "Who do you think sent these other groups? How good do you think they'll be as competition?"
ARRIVAL AT SECH NEVALI
With only a single guide remaining, you finally arrive at the outskirts of your destination, the Hanging Monastery known as Sech Nevali. You provide payment to the sole remaining guide who makes a hasty retreat back the way you came as you take stock of the amazing sight before your eyes. You did plenty of research before you got here, so fortunately you have some rudimentary knowledge of what this place was.
Sechi Nevali is a vast stone temple complex built upon a very thick metal platform suspended over a mile-deep chasm by three immense chains attached to three nearby mountain peaks. A fourth chain failed centuries ago, making the monastery sway disconcertingly in strong winds. The fortress was built over 10,000 years ago by the Therassic Order, a Thassilonian society of wizard-monks dedicated to a deity of magic known as the Peacock Spirit. Members of the order were protected by a group of mysterious knights, the Order of the Green Feather, that was devoted to the same deity. The god’s followers all perished during Earthfall, leaving details of its faith a mystery and the monastery abandoned for thousands of years.
Your arrival at the base of Sech Nevali is met by a group of terrifying looking heavily armored humanoid creatures. They are clad in a suit of ornate jade-colored full plate armor with eerie green eyes glowing from within their visors. You jump to the logical conclusions that these are the undead Graveknights you had been seeking. These guardians prevent you from passing further and do not respond well to any form of questions or interaction, in fact they are beginning to tire of your repeated attempts to pass and now have drawn their weapons for what surely will be a slaughter.
You decide to try the amulet that you were told was “the key” to getting access to the trial. Holding up the amulet seems to trigger a response from the guardians that causes them to sheathe their weapons and relax their posture. A half dozen of the Graveknights encircle your group and begin to lead you towards a passage carved into the side of the mountain.
The Graveknights escort you along a treacherous twisting and narrow path that leads away from the Hanging Monastery and deeper into the mountainside. You half expect the deadly knights to turn and slaughter your group at any second, but ever since you showed them your amulet they haven’t been outwardly hostile to you. Despite that, shadows veil what lurks within the dark, imposing armor of these figures, their two glowing eyes gazing out from their closed visors.
ENTERING THE COURTYARD
The path gives way to an unlit underground passageway and after hours of nonstop marching through the corridors and endless stairs, you are completely lost. Your few attempts at conversation or to stop for a brief rest have not been well received by your undead hosts and so you continue to press onward, deeper into wherever it is you are.
The Graveknights finally stop before a set of closed marble double doors. Engraved in the floor directly before the doors is a ten foot circular rune covered in ancient markings. A Graveknight points to the member of your party wearing the amulet and then points to the center of the rune shaped circle on the floor. You cautiously step onto the rune and within seconds it begins emit a pulsing light blue light. The heavy marble doors begin to open on their own at a slow, even pace as sunlight streams into the dark corridor from beyond the doors.
Satisfied by whatever ritual you just completed, the Graveknights motion your party forward through the double doors. As you exit the corridor and move into a large square open air courtyard, the sunlight temporarily blinds you as your eyes adjust to the bright light once more. Another corridor directly opposite yours meet in the middle at a wide set of steps that rise up to a H shaped stone platform.
Well maintained hedges line the perimeter of the lush green grass courtyard. Four mechanical crane-like contraptions that hold large metallic ten foot cages with thick, heavy chains sit adjacent to the stone platform. At the each of the four corners of the stone platform where it meets the cage, a three foot tall circular stone pillar glows with a sky blue colored light.
Your party is directed up the platform towards one of the four corners with cages. As you pass through the center of the H, another circular rune flares to life beneath your feet on the stone platform. Three distinct runes sit inside the circle that begins to emit a pulsating, bright blue light. The Graveknights don’t give you time to study the symbols though and push you forward toward one of the corners of the platform. You come to a stop before a small circular stone pillar that is also emitting a faint blue light around the base of the pillar.
Keydas had found their time thus far from meeting the Graveknights to the courtyard they'd arrived in fascinating. The Graveknights seemed incapable of communication, but apparently had been commanded to cause no harm to those bearing the amulet. He wondered if the other groups would experience the same thing.
He allowed himself to be...herded...towards the pillar, and when they stopped, looked at their Graveknight escorts and quietly asked his fellow Pathfinders, "Er...are we supposed to do something?"
4/4 - RULES OF THE GAME
As you wait patiently for something to happen, three other parties follow the same routine as you, each led up to a different corner of the stone platform. One party consist of a hunting party of four gnolls, the second what looks like a band of three half-orcs accompanied by a female human. The third party is a two humans, a gnoll and a female halfling. Finally the last is a smattering of everything, containing a grippli, a duergar, a young human girl, a man of Tian descent, a velociraptor and a large cat. Once all four parties have arrived and are in place, the sounds of heavy footfalls each from each of the two corridors leading to the platform.
Four yellow cloaked, man-shaped creatures stride up to the platform, splitting and turning to each of the four groups. These creatures appear to be part statue and part metallic machine with an exquisitely crafted bastard sword suspended on their backs. They move with practiced precision as they climb the platform and execute exact turns before stopping before each group and turning their back on you to face towards the center of the platform.
Once all four cloaked creatures are in place the sound of heavy steps reveals a fifth creature, this one in a deep red cloak. It moves methodically towards the three glowing blue runes in the center of the platform. After a cursory look at all four parties, it begins to speak in a deep and measured baritone voice. Unsure which language is to be used by such a diverse group, each of you are surprised to hear the voice spoken in your natural tongue.
“Welcome to the twelth running of the Trimerix trials, contestants. Though preordained, long has been the wait for the trial that resume today. Each of the four groups assembled here today will descend into the depths below and face a gauntlet of challenges that are designed to eliminate the unworthy.”
“Sealed below are the two items you have come here to claim. First, the fang of the dragon Saevox, one of the components of the Trimerix. Second, the tome Karazathak, the ancient volume which notates the location, date, time and other requirements for the second trial. Lay claim to one of each of these items and then find the exit from trial. I will be waiting on the other side to greet up to three groups of you who intend to advance to the second trial by meeting the criteria I’ve just outlined.”
The deep voice shifts from a neutral tone to one of caution as he turns to eye each one of the party members. “If you wish to exit the trial, your party must possess one and only one of each of the two items I just mentioned. The ancient rules of the trial must be strictly adhered to and so each of you will be accompanied down into the depths below.” The red cloaked figure spins in a slow circle and identifies each of the yellow cloaked figures before you. “These are your overseers. They will provide initial guidance to help you get started on the trial. Make no mistake however, they are not under your command nor are they present to assist you in completing the trials, that task is yours and yours alone. They are the enforcers of the ancient rules of the trial and will be watching closely.”
“The trial will begin after each of your activation stones have been attuned to your party. Place your hand on the stone pillar as you make your way into your cage. Once all four groups have entered their cage the trial will begin. Good luck to you all.”
The constructs were quite fascinating. He wished he could take the time to study them, but it appeared they were to be off quite quickly. Instead, he studied each of the other three groups.
Hmmm...the gnolls look rather fierce. Half-orcs tend to be pretty good in a scrap too. And the other group is quite eclectic. Still, best to avoid a fight if we can.
He listens to the red-cloaked figure, and then, when told what to do, turns to face their groups overseer and asks, "He said we could only take one of the fang and the tome of Karazathak. Does that mean there are multiples of each? If so, how many?"
From across the platform Ghyrryn can see the all-gnoll party looking at him and grinning like fools. One of them said something about eating, but they were too far away for Ghyrryn's ears to pick up. they continued the discussion in some form of hunter's sign that Ghyrryn didn't know.
Snótra's bag laden eyes flutter open with a start as her reptilian mount, Nod, comes to an abrupt stop.
"Vha-wazzit...ughh." She grumbles in frustration at the grand groups assembled within the magnificent courtyard. They appeared formidable. Even dangerous. But she was too irritable to look them over strategically. She had been restless the whole trip. Most journeys between expeditions were boring, lengthy, and the perfect opportunity for a little shut-eye. But this one had been a nightmare of ambushes, death, elements of danger on a whole level she had not been accustomed too, leaving her more exhausted than usual.
Taking a moment to pull from her satchel, hand pushing past her sleeping white feathered lizard friend, her smooth curled tadpole-style wood pipe and second to last bundle of kief.
"Zis is riticulous! Ve zeek to risk our fery liffes for an ancient trial through an apzurdly imbracdical und dangerous temple, put zey don't effen haffe zee decency to leaffe out a last meal or snack?"
The Halfling lights her stuffed pipe and inhales deeply, bracing herself for the effect to take hold.
"Ve haffe come a long vay. Chust pecauze zey don't abear to eat doesn't excuze rudeness...Anyone haffe any razions left?"
After listening to the strange figures monologue, she stands atop Nod's back to reach the stone pillar with her tiny hand, but she catches Ghyrryn's glance towards the group comprised of his kin.
Snótra asks a question of her large furry companion in a serious of short barks, yips and snarls.
The overseer simply looks you over, and then back at the activation stone to indicate impatience with your delay. "The trial will not wait for those to delay, place your hand on the stone pillar to begin."
Keydas sighs, then says, "Let's get started with this - we have a race to win, I think."
He places his hand on the activation stone.
Valeria had found the whole trip to be rather exciting. She'd never really left Magnimar before so it was certainly different. So many new things to see, people to meet, and places to go. The various monsters they fought on their way here had been trying, especially towards the end when they lost their second to last guide. She hoped they didn't have this much trouble with the trial.
When they finally reached the monastery Valeria was very impressed. To think this place had been here since Earthfall and survived. She wondered what the chains were made of that allowed them to remain in such good shape after all this time and kept finding her gaze drawn to one thing or another. It was all she could do to not wander off and look at this or that and provoke the graveknights. Fortunately for her they scared her more than her curiosity compelled her so she stayed close to her team mates.
When they were led into the starting area she looked at the other teams that had gathered. Thy were intimidating, some of them at least. The gnolls looked tough but she figured they were going to be hard pressed to get through some sections, all brawn and no brain she figured. The group with so many animals she thought could be interesting to meet sometime, when their lives and fortunes weren't on the line, and she resolved to do just that. The final group of half-orcs and a human did concern her, they seemed like, next to maybe the eclectic group, the biggest competition to her.
As their "hosts came out and spoke to them Valeria listened intently. She noted, as did others, that there were more than one copy of the items they sought and she tried to parse through the rules that were given to them looking for further clues. She noted the overseer's impatient with them and stepped forward to place her hand on the stone pillar as she looked at her companions, "I guess it's now or never."
In the southwest corner of the platform, the half-orc party continues to shown signs of frivolity in their approach to the trial. Apparently half of the group entered the cage without touching the stone as instructed. After a quick reprimand by the overseer, they quickly exit the cage and touch the stone before dashing back inside. The female human appears to attempt to kick the stone, but misses terribly and falls to the ground on the platform. A half-orc quickly reaches out and grabs her, pulling her back inside the cage.
Once all of your party has attuned to the stone and entered entered the cage, your overseer walks over to the door, closes it and then locks it. After locking it, the heavy metallic creature begins to climb up to the top of your cage. As he climbs you take note that even though he is roughly the size of a large human, he must weight three to four times it!
It finishes climbing to the top of your cage and stands astride it, looking down at your group. Satisfied by whatever it sees, it clutches the heavy chain in its left hand that connects your cage to the mechanical winch above. Holding tight it nods once to the red cloaked figure in what you assume is a signal that you are ready to proceed.
Looking around the platform you see the gnolls to the northwest and the half-orc party to the southwest follow the same pattern with their overseers climbing on top of the cage and signalling the red cloaked creature.
Ghyrryn steps forward, checking for the stone version of Kraath in the pouch around his neck. He draws his blade and stands ready on the platform.
Only +7 when further than 10 feet from a fallen ally)
INITIATIVE
WILL SAVES
Only +4 vs bardic performance, language-dependent, and sonic effects
FORT SAVES
REFLEX SAVES
[/spoiler
ROUND 1
[spoiler=Rounds]
In order to keep pacing equal among all teams, the entire game will take place during Tactical Combat/Initiative rounds. The current round will always be the same for all players and is used to keep all four teams synchronized.
The game will advance to the next round in one of two ways:
1) The round advances no later than every 48 hours (2 days) from the start of the previous round IF all players from all teams have completed their actions for the current round. If all players from all teams have completed their action for the round the game can advance sooner than 48 hours.
2) If a player hasn't completed their actions within 48 hours, a single 24 hour extension will be added to the current round. During extended round time, any player of the party whose character's actions are missing may submit actions for the missing character in their party for that round. Only 1 extension period of 24 hours will occur per round and no round will take longer than 72 hours to progress (unless the GM's announce it so for some special reason).
Initiative is rolled for all players each time your party enters a new location. Those initiative values will be used if your party encounters a new combat encounter in that location. If a combat encounter is already underway when your party arrives, your initiatives will be inserted into the existing initiative as new monsters joining combat normally would. If the game advances a round without before all actions have been submitted, those characters with missing actions will automatically be placed in delay and can come out of delay at any point in the next round.
Whenever your party is not engaged in combat, you are free to post your actions for the round in any order you wish. This is done to allow maximum flexibility through the play by post format. The GM will interpret your actions to take place when you post them unless you explicitly state you are doing it after another member of your party does something.
Once all four overseers have locked their cages and followed this process, the red robed creature walks to the center blue runed circle and takes his bastard sword from his back. With both hands he plunges his sword into the center of the circle while exclaiming a sharp command.
The world above disappears in a blink of an eye as the steel trap doors on the ground below you groan and suddenly swing open, sending your cage plummeting into the darkness below at high speed. The iron prison you are contained in descends at an alarming pace as it gains momentum during freefall in complete darkness.
Above you the deafening clang of the chain unfurling from its spool begins to fade away as the whooshing of accelerated air of your descent takes its place. After a few seconds of this, you aren't quite sure how far you have fallen and you begin to worry that your rate of descent is going to cause serious injury to your party at the bottom of whatever this is if this keeps up.
Sounds of the chain creaking and groaning are equally met with shudders and strain as a sudden jolt throws everyone to the floor of the cage when the slack runs out the chain and it suddenly goes taught. The chain screams loudly in protest, instantly stopping your descent as your cage bounces and spins back and forth between what sounds like a stone enclosure of some kind outside of the cage.
Two loud metallic clangs ring out from the surface, echoing down the shaft. Looking up the shaft past your overseer, you see the daylight disappear as the metal doors above are sealed and closed once more. Still standing on top of the cage, your overseer shakes your chain twice and then it shudders to life, resuming its descent at a controlled and measured pace this time.
Your overseer looks down at you and states “I will now answer three questions.”
Keydas repeats his question from earlier. ”He said we could grab only one fang of Saevox and one Tome of Karazathak. Does that mean there are multiples of each?”
Ghyrryn looks up, "One chain just broke." He bends his knees to be ready for a fall.
Valeria was more than a little frightened when they began to descend and even more so when the light went away. When she heard the chain she gasped and said, "I heard it too Ghyrryn." She knew she needed to to be able to do something and so she flipped open the locket at her throat. When the locket was open a light equivalent to a torch appeared from inside of it in cold dancing flames. "If this thing starts to fall I think I can can save us, just stay still and don't distract me if it happens."
The creature on top of the cage seemed unbothered by the possibility of the chain breaking. Instead, it calmly answered Keydas' question.
"Indeed, there are multiple copies of the Fang and Book in place for the contestants."
The answer was direct, without giving much more away than the question asked for.
Even as the Overseer spoke, the elevator cage and about 20 feet of shaft in both directions were lit up as Valeria opened her locket to reveal the tiny flame inside. The broken link is now clear to all, and even as you look at it, the "C" shape distends farther.
He looks up at the broken chain and the slowly stretching link before letting out a sigh. They hadn't even gotten into the gauntlet yet and they were in danger of dying. Still, they had two more questions, and Keydas was determined to ask them. "What actions would you consider cheating and violating the rules of the Gauntlet?"
The rapid descent causes Snótra to hug her steed like a vice and the sudden stop made her stomach do a somersault, threatening an imminent purge of it's contents. Swallowing her fear and most recent meal back down, Snótra does her best to consider potential life-saving questions to ask the overseer for the task ahead, but before she can finish reeling from the previous incident, her wide eyes locked on the broken chain.
Wheeling around to Keydas, who seemed to be keeping a far cooler head, she gives his side a poke with a wand, "As long as your interrokating, maype ask him for HELP? Cerdainly he has concern for his ovn vell being?!"
ROUND 2
The cage continues to descend at a measured pace, the sound of your voices barely audible over the clank, clank, clank, clank, clank of the chain echoing down the shaft. In addition to the sounds of the cage descending, the unnatural metallic groan from the chain above grows louder as the apparent failure of the link that couples the chain to the cage becomes evident to everyone. The cage’s even-paced descent is momentarily interrupted when the several other chain links crack open, causing the cage suddenly to lurch several feet unexpectedly before catching once again.
As the cage descends, it passes through what appears to be a series of overlapping webbing. The webbing wraps over the bars of the cage in numerous places as the cage passes through it. The light colored web begins to turn darken and shift in the shadows. Squinting to get a closer look, you are alarmed when you realize that the shifting shadows are actually are hundreds if not thousands of diminutive spiders flooding into cage all around you! In no time at all the spiders are crawling on the bars, on the webbing and all over the solid metallic floor of the cage.
Ignoring the spiders and the resulting commotion, the Overseer spoke over the noise to answer Keydas' previous question, "There are no rules in the Gauntlet, other than what you can or cannot do. 'Cheating' as you put it is not possible, as per the Makers' design. Should you choose to interfere with your opponents, you may do so. Should you choose to try and gather more than one copy of the items, you will be prevented. Should you choose to kill all of your companions once the Fang and Book are in your control, there is nothing to prevent you."
As the spiders began to swarm and the overseer began to speak Valeria looked at the chains carefully and said, "Um, we've got about six seconds and this thing is going to start falling. Keep those spiders off of me and I think I can at least slow us enough we won't die at the bottom!"
"You zink?!"
The halfling caster asks guffawing at Valeria over the hectic cacophony. But once she started laughing, she didn't stop.
This had to be a bad joke. Was there even a monastery to explore or was it just a ploy to slaughter adventurers too stupid to know their limits?
The increasingly dire situation combined with the kief and the dark hilarity of dying trapped before they even got started was too much for Snótra. The giggle turns into a slightly inebriated cackle and with a snap of her fingers, she calls upon her patrons gifts, imbuing Valeria with a bit of luck.
Let's hope it's enough.
Then, with a nudge of her foot, she prompts Nod to begin feasting on the spiders on the metal floor.
swarm
poison
The gecko happily launches his sticky tongue into the mass of spiders, gobbling up a handful with relish. Unfortunately, it barely makes a dent into the seething mass of creepy crawlies. The spiders invade everywhere, crawling into clothing and under armor, biting at exposed and hidden flesh alike. Valeria felt the burn of the bites going deeper than mere flesh, and she knew that she'd been poisoned. Then it hit you, the knowledge that you were swarmed by thousands of spiders the size of a gold coin, crawling under your armor and clothes, in your hair. The nausea was almost too much to bear, and Snotra and Keydas each succumbed.
Everyone takes 2 damage
Snotra and Keydas are nauseated
Valeria is poisoned, but can use Snotra's Fortune to re-roll the Fort save if she wants.
R2: Snotra,Spider Swarm, Keydas,Valeria,Ghyrryn
current hit point status:
Ghyrryn -2
Keydas -2 (nauseated)
Snotra -2 (nauseated)
Valeria -2 (poisoned)
Valeria knew this was bad, the cursed spiders were swarming over her and she wanted to completely freak out but somehow she found the resolve to ignore them for the moment. She began to focus and drawn in her power making broad sweeping gestures as power began to flow from...somewhere...and wrap around the cage. Clear strands of invisible aether grasped the ancient metal and began to life the side where the chain was completely gone, alleviating the stress on the remaining chains such as they were, and evening out the decent. She managed to growl out, "Keep them off of me!" as she gasped in pain from the powers recoiling on her and a brief shimmer appeared around her body.
"Keep your focus, Valeria! We'll by you as much time as we can in order to allow you to control the fall. You can do it!"
Keydas then draws out his morningstar and shield, figuring that would work better than a bow or a sword.
HP 25/27
AC 17, T 13, FF 14
Conditions: None
Bardic Performance 11/12
Spells: 1st - 4/4
2nd - 2/2
Spellcasting or concentrating on spells within the area of a swarm requires a caster level check (DC 20 + spell level). Using skills that involve patience and concentration requires a DC 20 Will save.