Shattered Star

Game Master Zesdead

"There are mystics in Vudrani who gain mastery over a specific element, or occasionally multiple elements, in a manner very similar to..." Teldon begins explaining before realizing that this was likely not an appropriate time for such a lesson.

Turning his attention to Jo's stated intention he apprehensively answers, "If combat does ensue that would probably be our best tactical option... but when we find other people please act as though combat is not even a consideration for as long as possible, and please remember to call me Mr. Crispin."

"Well, there is an open platform up there that you could reach...but it would take the rest of us awhile to walk all the way up the stairs to the top," Briana replies to Shadlah. "If you got into trouble up there, we wouldn't be able to help you."

"Letting Joanna go first also makes sense if she's supposed to be one of your bodyguards," she points out. "And we'll all do our best Mr. Crispin." Once again, though the situation is somewhat serious she can't help but crack a smile as she uses Teldon's assumed name.

Arsith breaks out from her daydreaming

Could you remind me of all our false identities... I' m sorry I totally forgot about them, and I don't want to ruin our ruse.

"You, my dear Eudomia, may call me Pelius," Teldon teases, kissing Briana's forehead, "and Alika, my seer, they'll remember... Shadlah they've never met, and you two look quite a bit different than the one time anyone from the Consortium met you... I think you could pick any name you want. We just have to master using them quickly."

Zee bows slightly at Teldon's indication of her assumed identity.

Looking into the entrance to the Crow, she says, "Regardless, we should expect company."

Zee opens her satchel and takes out a wand made of metal. She waves it, utters an arcane word, and touches it to her own shoulder. For a brief instant, the air around her shimmers a moment.

Uses one charge from her wand of mage armor, giving her a +4 armor bonus for the next hour.

With no obvious clues as to who else may be here in the huge edifice and with a long climb ahead of them, the friends move through the dock level chambers of the Crow and, rehearsing their assumed identities, ascend the staircase...

...up and up... turning back on itself again and again... until a smear of daylight tells the friends that they are near the summit of their climb.

Recalling how the rooms at the top of the Crow were well-defended on their last visit, Teldon and Ziomarra caution the others... But their fears prove ill-founded - the rooms are empty, cold and desolate...

Returned to the top of the Crow, Ziomarra finds herself at the ledge overlooking the shaft that drops down to the docks... some two hundred feet below. Halfway down, a slightly damaged statue - metal rods rusting where they have been exposed, provokes unwanted memories...

As before, a large coil of rope sits on the ground near the shaft, one end anchored to a large piton driven into a crack near the wall. The ceiling is a mere ten feet above, and crisscrossed by a complex tangle of stone arches that support the roof. Between the two ledges, a five-foot-square wooden platform hangs from four thick ropes that hang from the stone arches; the platform is further anchored by two thick ropes to spikes hammered into the walls near the edge of the ledge, whilst another pair of ropes hang from the ceiling above - an open trapdoor in the ceiling above the platform leads into darkness...

"A beautiful view," Briana murmurs once they finally reach the top. "I'd like to get a chance to make a sketch from here. Maybe once we're finished here and all the dangers have been taken care of."

Though thankful that they'd not run into any trouble on the way back to the platform, she suspects that their luck will likely change sooner rather than later. As they make preparations to make the climb to the platform, she murmurs an incantation to sharpen her senses and memory and to allow her to react more quickly in times of danger if need be.

Casting Heightened Awareness, duration 10 min/level so 40 minutes.

Zee sighs deeply and scowls as the party approaches the scaffolding over the precipice. She seems a bit upset at the sight.

"This place again. I still have nightmares of the last time we were here."

Teldon shakes his head, clearly upset about something. "How did I not realize this sooner," he snaps in frustration. "It was Nalathi's magic that allowed us to pass the ring from person to person so we could all use it to get through the trapdoor..."

"Shadlah, does your climbing technique work on ceilings and overhangs, or just on walls?"

Are people going to pick their own cover names or should I just pass them out again?

Shadlah glances at Teldon curiously, tilting her head when he stops talking. "I wish to hear of these mystics another time," she says, a hint of wonder in her voice. "On your other note, names are earned, not chosen. I did not choose my own birth name; it feels wrong to choose that of an assumed identity."

As the group climbs, Shadlah keeps one hand on the stone wall, her fingers running through it like the surface of a lake. A serene smile crosses her face from time to time, and her footfalls are soft and reverent. "This is wonderful," she murmurs to herself from time to time.

When the group reaches the top, and Teldon questions her, she frowns. "I have... never tried," she admits, looking apprehensively at the setup. "What is it you propose?"

I admit, I'm having a bit of trouble making sense of how this is all arranged. Sorry!

Apologies Shadlah... It is a little confusing - check the map to see where you are and where the platform is...

The wooden platform suspended beneath a trapdoor in the ceiling is the way onwards... However, the platform is some twenty feet from the ledge where you are and a fall from this height, a distance of 180 feet, is enough to kill most low-level characters (the fall deals 2d3 + 14d6 points of damage). A deliberate dive from this height would require a successful DC 30 Acrobatics or Swim check to negate the falling damage.

Crossing to the platform suspended in the middle of the room may look harrowing, but it’s actually not all that dangerous—the rig the Tower Girls set up looks rickety but is actually quite stable. The two coils of rope can be lowered all the way down to the dock to aid those climbing up the shaft, while the ropes hanging from the ceiling allow someone to swing out and onto the platform with a successful DC 5 Acrobatics check. Alternatively, the PCs could jump or tightrope walk across to the platform. The ropes that suspend it are well anchored to the stone beams (themselves marvelous feats of Thassilonian engineering).

Looking at Climb / with Climb Speed, the DC for climbing along the ceiling will be DC30!!! Might be a bit of a challenge - although you may find the GM applies Rule of Cool ;)

Yes, the place is beautiful, Briana...
She looks around, then stops on Sheldon's face.

Teldon, I want first to apologise to you for my outburst earlier. I wasn't in my best mood, I was terrified, in fact. But finally, I found some inner peace by worshipping Shelyn now. I was very surprised when the clergy of Pharasma relieved me easily of my holy vow.

She smiles
Unexpectedly, the hardest part was to find a priest or shrine of Shelyn.I found none. I sought in place of natural beauty, in artists lairs, in the most beautifully construted buildings, I asked to the prettiest people I could met, to the bards, to the painters, to the poet.. Never found a shrine.I was a little sad...then I realised that my journey was all I needed. Everything I saw, everyone I talked to, every work of art, every couple kissing opened my heart to love, to Shelyn. My own heart was all the shrine I needed.

So, again, I'm sorry for my misbehavior, and I hope you won't be too angry, teldon.

"I did not mean to make light of your journey," Teldon answers. Reaching into his pouch he pulls out a folded piece of silk and opens it up; inside there is a silver medallion emblazoned with the songbird of Shelyn and adorned with semi-precious stones of every color. "I didn't want to force this on you before you were ready but I think you'll find that you need this for your spells to work now."

"Now, for names... Shadlah, Lenhah should be a common enough Shoanti name to be quickly forgotten; Jo, Korva's a pretty popular Chelaxian name; and Arsith... I know you didn't like have a northern name last time but I'm not sure how else to minimize the memorability of your hair... let's call you Jayn, there shouldn't be too many questions any way."

"And we got you these," Joanna says, pulling the neatly folded outfit from her pack.

"Korva means 'crow' doesn't it," she asks Teldon when he gives her a new alias, "my hair isn't dark enough for that," she adds, pointing out her the admittedly dark, but very much burnette color of her braid.

"Your hair is too light to be fully Chelaxian, but your skin is too light to be fully Varisian. Korva is a common enough name that it's easily forgotten, it's Chelaxian but sounds enough like a Varisian name that it would be appealing to both members of a mixed couple, and..." Teldon trails off during his explanation. His expression softens and he concludes, "and, it probably won't matter at all so feel free to pick another one if you like."

"I... didn't know that," Joanna says, obviously embarrassed about her ignorance. "Korva's fine, then."

"That's right, we thought maybe you could use a new outfit and a new holy symbol...in honor of a new beginning," Briana smiles as Teldon and Joanna present Arsith with the gifts.

"And if the names may not matter...then why not let Shadlah use her own if she wants? There's little to nothing that links her back with our real names right now," she suggests hesitantly.

"Now that we've decided what to call ourselves if we do meet up with Aspis agents, I think we should continue into The Crow."

Stepping away from the window, Zee examines the alcove to the south in the room.

"If memory serves me correctly, on the other side of this alcove should be that hallway of crypts. Rather than relying on swinging across to that platform, would it be more prudent to mine into the wall to create our own passage? We have a pickaxe with us, don't we?"

Bluff: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

Teldon considers Zee's nervousness, then looks at Briana in her weighty armor and frowns. "We didn't exactly scour this area last time... perhaps there's a secret passage. From an engineering perspective, it would make a great deal of sense for there to be a way through that doesn't require flight, or the Tower Girls' platform." Without really waiting for any feedback he begins to thoroughly search the alcove...
perception (take 20): 20 + 11 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ 20 + 11 + 2 + (6) = 39

Teldon takes his time examing the walls to the south - paying particular attention to the alcove that is inset within the wall... but, despite his careful examination and his supposition that there must be another way into the Crow, he finds nothing... Reviewing his journal - and his maps - for further inspiration, he realises that the southern wall of the alcove is separated from the corridor that he needs access to... by at least five feet of rock.

Folks, you can either do funky stuff getting through the wall to the south (I like the way Teldon was thinking... although I'm not sure you yet have the powers to manipulate that amount of rock?) or someone will have to brave the traverse out to the platform... you do still have the ring of feather falling?

we do... The issue is that we can't pass it back and forth like we did before because that plan relied on Nalathi's mage hand spell...

What about tying a bag to a rope and putting the ring in that?

"Don't worry about me," Briana finds herself saying "even if I fall, I won't be hurt. I'll just float down to the water like a leaf on the wind - like what the ring does." She wasn't really sure how or why she knew this, but she did. "But I think I can use magic to make things levitate briefly. Heavy things too, like people. It would be more useful if we were still needing to climb up, but maybe we could use it to help get everyone across somehow?"

Briana has the Flight hex, so she has at-will Feather Fall. Could we rig up some sort of rope to use to go hand over hand across and just let Briana cast Levitate on a designee for the others to hold on to?

per the errata/final line you can only use feather fall or levitate on yourself.

"I can make the swing," Teldon says confidently, "and we still have the climbing harness... If Briana and I go out to the platform, we could use the extra rope to tie onto the harness and help yank people over..."
...plus, that way if anyone misses they'll only fall the length of the rope instead of all the way to the bottom...

acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 2 = 5
He ties one of the extra ropes to the harness and swings out to the platform. Despite his confidence, he only just barely makes it. After taking off the harness he drags over more of the rope and, coordinating with the others, attaches the harness where it can be easily drawn to either side of the expanse ( and used to aid people in swinging). "Who's next?"

Oh well, that's what I get for trying to post and multitask - I miss vital information in descriptions!

"Normally I'd say that maybe whoever is carrying the lightest loads should go first since they'd be easier to pull up if they don't make the jump...but since I can float, maybe that will make it easier." Briana carefully secures herself into the hardness and takes a deep breath before swinging out over the gap...

Acrobatics (DC 5): 1d20 - 4 ⇒ (6) - 4 = 2

And as her feet hit the edge of the platform and slip, something within her reacts instinctively and instead of plummeting downward she instead begins to slowly float downward.

"Maybe I should wear lighter armor..."

Activating the Feather Fall aspect of the Flight hex, heh.

Teldon uses his end of the rope to try to help pull Briana across, but his effort isn't enough. I'm hoping to be able to give everyone an assist with the rope/harness system, though the +2 wouldn't be enough here.

He frowns looking over the edge of the platform to where she is dangling. Looking back to everyone else he says, "I'm not sure I can safely pull her up alone over here... I think you're going to have to pull her back up over there and have her try again."

Returning his attention to Briana he says more quietly, "I'm sorry, I just don't want to risk falling on you if something goes wrong..."

Arsith is beaming when Briana gives her a new holy symbol. She hugs the shaman lenghtly and kisses her cheecks

Oh, thank you, thank you all!That is a wonderful gift!

She then proceed to hug&kiss everyone else, even if it's probably not the time and place

but... but... I got the holy symbol...

*snerk* Poor Teldon. Also to save time I'll go ahead and assume that the others pull Briana back up on their side.

Briana looks up at Teldon, a rather embarrassed expression on her face. "No no, that's okay! Just be careful. I'll try again once they get me pulled back up."

Once the others manage to haul her back up onto the ledge, Briana rechecks the harness the make sure that it's still secured properly before taking another swing out towards the platform...

Acrobatics (DC 5): 1d20 - 4 ⇒ (9) - 4 = 5 Whew!

This time, she manages to just barely make the platform and pinwheels her arms comically for a moment before regaining her balance. "Okay..." she says, breathing a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's done. Who's next?"

Should I be rolling some kind of check to assist? Or is rope system enough?

I think, given that Teldon and Briana have already braved it – and there is no real peril, we can gloss over the crossing to the platform… time to push onwards.

It soon becomes clear to the friends that the only way of progressing into the Crow is to retrace their journey of several weeks ago… and to swing out into the void between the ledge and the platform. In truth, with the magical ring, there is little danger in the crossing… and, despite Teldon and Briana barely reaching the platform, in a few minutes the friends have made it across and clambered up through the trapdoor.

…the passageway above the trapdoor is surprisingly cramped until it spills out into a grander corridor that runs to the east. Lined with alcoves that may once have held statuary or funereal monuments, the passageway has been heavily looted over the years and is now little more than a walkway through an ancient ruin – passing a fountain to their left, Teldon recalling and commenting that it provides an apparently endless supply of fresh water, the friends eventually arrive at the staircase that leads the friend downwards once more…

…to the third floor of the Crow, the previous home of the Tower Girls.

The flickering light of lanterns, another sign that the friends are not alone here, illuminates the stairs – cautiously descending to the room at the foot of the stairwell, the friends discover signs of a camp – bedrolls, food stores and several bags of clothing… whilst there doesn’t appear to be anyone here right now, it is clear – from the kettle of still warm water, that the camp is currently in use.

Briana falls silent and gives her companions a curious look when they stumble across the camp. "I guess whoever is here must have just recently finished preparing for their day. Should someone try to scout ahead or shall we just continue on?"

"Whoever we send to be the scout is going to be mighty exposed if things go south on us, and there's the matter of us managing to be stealthy. I'm not, even when I'm not clanking around in a breastplate," Joanna says with a shrug, "Teldon might be light enough on his feet, and I Zee is graceful enough to move quietly. I'm not sure about Shadlah, and then you and Arsith walk around in as much armor as I do."

"No, lets stay together," Teldon states while carefully poking through things (looking for clues to the identities of the campers, but trying not to leave signs of having done so), "if it is the Consortium I have a plan, and if it's not there's a very high likelihood that combat is unavoidable; in either case all of us being together is preferable."

perception (take 10): 10 + 11 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ 10 + 11 + 2 + (6) = 29

Whilst Teldon examines the campsite, the others scout this floor of the Crow - ensuring, at all times, that everyone stays in sight of each other... the entire level has been voraciously stripped of any treasures or relics that may once have been here... and is uninhabited...

Carefully examining the campsite - being cautious so as to conceal his tracks, Teldon is able to make a number of deductions:

• There are at least four individuals camping within the Crow,
  
• From the trinkets gathered, they are looting the Crow for Thassilonian relics... but haven't been particularly successful yet,
  
• From the food stores, they are self-sufficient for a few days yet and
  
• All four individuals are female.

"I guess staying together probably would be the best thing to do," Briana admits as they spread out and give the floor another good once-over. "I keep forgetting that none of us are quite as stealthy as Nalathi was. Well, except Rowenna but all she can do really is scout ahead for people or other creatures...not sure if she'd be able to tell me much about any traps or other hazards in the way."

Once they've made their investigations of the campsite and the rest of the floor, she looks mildly surprised at Teldon's findings. "More women? Maybe Consortium or maybe some of the Tower Girls decided to come back on their own?" She sighs. "At least we're got an advantage in numbers if things get ugly."

She looks in the direction of the stairs that lead further down into the Crow. "Nothing to do but keep moving on."

"It could still be the Consortium, but that no longer seems like the most likely scenario," Teldon reflects, "We let Terisha and those other two Tower Girls go at the shack where Natalya was hiding... I suspect they made their way back here, with someone else."

"Oh boy," Joanna mutters before looking to Teldon, "I think either way, I should still be point. If we run into Terisha, they'll probably attack us. If we run into the Consortium, they might give us a chance to explain ourselves first, even with an armored woman on point."

Zee whispers, "Let's expore this level again, both to make sure we didn't miss anything last time and to be sure this other group isn't here. I don't want to be ambushed from behind!"

I think we already did explore it again, per Zed's last post :)

"Ugh...I really hope it's not Terisha again," Briana agrees. "But you might be right. And plenty of time has passed since we ran into them for them to lay low and gather their strength and resupply." She glances at Joanna. "Letting Jo take point seems like the best idea."

I'm thinking we're ready to proceed to the next level? Sounds like we're largely forgoing being particularly stealthy since three of us are in medium or heavy armor...

The entire third level of the Crow proves to be devoid of life... however, upon making the assertion that Terisha - an old foe - may be here in the piling, certain other things start to make sense; the fact that yet more plundering has occurred, the ropes to the suspended platform remaining in good condition... and now, checking it, there are still a number of ropes secured aloung the northern wall of the structure...

Proceeding, as quietly as possible, down the stairs towards the chamber where the leadsr of the Tower Girls, Ayala, met her fate - the friends are ready... Female voices in the room on the other side of a closed door chatter to each other, apparently oblivious to the presence of the Pathfinders a few feet away...

"That's the third set we've destroyed... Shouldn't we try and get some alchemcial bombs?"

"Nah, Ayala tried that... didn't leave a scratch... There's another set of lockpicks over there... Let's go again... We'll get past it"

"You sure we shouldn't carry on with digging around it?"

Of the voices talking, the final one is familiar... Terisha Skiloni! "It'll take forever... Ayala was worried about collapse as well... Too risky - we carry on the way we know best..."

Map updated with you folks on Level Two of the Crow now.

Teldon whispers as quietly as possible, "As I suspected. It seems unlikely that we'll be able to get through this without a fight... but if we all target Terisha and incapacitate her as fast as possible the others might surrender without her."

While he whispers, he draws an extract from one of the loops of his explorer's outfit and then downs it. His normally slender build seems to fill out a fair bit. drinking bull's strength extract

"Alright, I'll go first. Shadlah, watch my back and I'll watch yours. Teldon, you and Brianna keep an eye on each other. Zee, Arsith, you do the same. Nothing cute, we hit 'em hard and fast. Concentrate on Terisha, but don't let yourselves get flanked," she says in a firm, but quiet whisper. Once everyone nods that they understand their responsibilities, Joanna looks to the door.

"Teldon, could you be a dear and open this real quick? I'm going to knock Terisha on her backside, and maybe we can get her to give up without getting hurt," the paladin says with a polite smile.

I doubt she will though, she thinks as she gets ready to assault the room.

I'm assuming that Teldon will open the door, If not or it's locked, please ignore this next part.

As soon as the door is opened Joanna sees Terisha and charges the woman with her shield in front. It's not the most elegant or dignified way to start a fight, but it lets her use her momentum to push the woman back, hopefully tripping her in the process.

Bullrush: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Going to wait on the GM to say how that one went. I'm not sure Joanna succeeded or if Terisha just stopped her cold.

"No," Teldon whispers in reply, "I'm following you in; Zee or Briana should do it."

Assuming someone does open the door...
When the door swings open, he rushes in right behind Jo...

"Right," Briana whispers. "Hold on a second Jo, I have some magic that might help if you're going to charge in." She places a hand on the paladin's shoulder and whispers a few strange words, filling her friend with increased strength.

Casting Bull's Strength on Joanna; 4 minute duration and it should make her charge a little more effective too!

She then readies herself behind the door and on Joanna's signal, yanks it open with a flourish!

If it comes down to initiative, Briana will dismiss her Heightened Awareness to gain a bonus to her initiative roll.

Zee shakes her head. "We gave them a second chance and they didn't take it..."

She enters the room with her Harrow deck fanned in her left hand. She surveys the room, assessing the situation.

Move into the room. Will possibly take a standard action depending on what the Tower Girls do in reaction to Joanna's and Teldon's actions.

Arsith follows Joanna, taking care she won't be flanked and ready to attack one of the Tower Girls

Note to all for future reference / reminder... The Crow is Massive!!! Squares on the map are 10 feet - hence why your characters are all so teensy tiny...

A look of shock comes over Terisha's face as Joanna comes rushing in...

"You?"

...and when Joanna crashes into her, winding her and knocking her off-balance...

Bull-Rush doesn't normally result in someone being tripped... so have gone with knocking her backwards a bit (a higher roll might have unlocked Rule Of Cool) - and Teldon double-20'd so I think it all evens out!!!

"You dare to come back???"

...she is about to curse Joanna for a fool to return when Teldon, rushing in behind the paladin, drives his spear into her midriff... Bent over with pain, she spits an order to the other girls...

"Kill.... Them..."

Initiative for Party and Enemy

Shadlah, Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Arsith, Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Briana, Initiative: 1d20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 4 = 27
Ziomarra, Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
Teldon, Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Joanna, Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Terisha / Tower Girls, Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

Initiative Order
Briana, Joanna, Ziomarra then
Terisha / Tower Girls then
Arsith, Shadlah and Teldon

Briana, Joanna and Ziomarra may act now

Briana hustles into the room, stopping a few paces behind Arsith. Even though she's fairly certain that there's no avoiding a fight now, she calls out, "Drop your weapons, you're outnumbered!"

She then calls on the spirits to aid her and her friends in their fight.

Casting Bless; it should get everyone, even Shadlah and Zee out in the hallway.

Shield Bash (Bull's Strength, Bless): 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 8 + 2 + 1 = 24
Damage: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

Joanna just grins at Terisha over the top of her shield as she steps up to the staggering woman.

"Yup. it's me," she says in a cheerful voice, before smashing the woman's nose flat with the shield and all the strength she could muster. She tried to think of something witty and clever to say to add to Briana's call to surrender, but then again, she'd never been good at that sort of thing.

"Not to mention it's a lot less painful to do it now than to wait until we've smacked you a couple of times," was the best she could come up with.