Sior's PFS Traitor's Lodge (Inactive)

Game Master Sior

Valias strides around it, looking at the piece. "Well, there is a pit, but there's a spiral staircase within, if I remember, so try not to esik a segge, mint a tudatlan van. It was open when I came out, but..."

She bends down and suppresses a giggle as she realizes the bull is indeed anatomically correct.

Flinders continues with any small talk on the way down, handing the potion of CMW to whomever wants it.

At the bottom, he follows Sen's lead and searches the statue for clues. My dear Valais, did you ever see this altar "operated"? Did you happen to catch the word uttered? Looking around, Flinders ponders. Why am I reminded of minotuars....

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

Ninja'd

Valais shakes her head. "No, I came out and made for the maze quick as I could, ÖN FÉL ÉSZJÁRÁSÚ EGYÜGYŰ. And it was open when I approached from beneath."

Elsewise, neither Sen nor Flinders notice anything else of note.

Flinders looks at the party. What do you think? I assume we utter a name, but ours, Thurl's?, something else entirely...

"What? Who? I generally don't hesitate to offer my name, but in this instance it doesn't feel the right thing to do, what?"

Perception: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (10) + 0 = 10
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Sadly, no special epiphany enlightens Henry to the matter.

My dear, I must ask, what language are you mixing in words. I am afraid I don't recognize it.

Valais cocks her head at Flinders. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Wait, are we discussing lying to a rock? This is dumb. I'll tell him... it... whatever... my name, if it'll open this door."

Flinders shakes his head as if expecting the response. Hmm, oh nevermind dear, I think I misheard you a few times and mistook it for another language. My apologies.

Flinders takes a little more time examining the altar area for clues.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31

Apologies, forgot this bit in there.

Shew, at least the twenty wasn't wasted.

Flinders turns to the party, motioning them over. Look here! Though it looks like the dwarf is winning, if you note the stance, it's obvious the dwarf is off balance and open to attacks. Flinders says, excitement creeping into his voice, as he rubs his hands together then points. And look closely at the forehead of the bull, there is an inverted pentagram inscribed there.

KN: planes pertaining to the pentagram: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Flinders looks closer for a moment and says. Oh, look here, there appears to be tiny circular holes or vents in the floor around the statue. That makes me suspect a trap of some sort.

Religion is the same modifier, so if you want to use that roll.

"What? The bull taking down the dwarf? This Thurl is not just a traitor to the Society but to his own race then! Who? I wonder if he-" Henry breaks off, glancing at Valias.

Valias looks at Henry inquiringly. "Are you really going to leave us hanging? What? Spit it out, boy!"

Flinders scratches at his beard. The inverted pentagram seems to be the unholy symbol of Asmodeus, though it is more likely to be a sign of Baphomet, the demon lord of beasts, labyrinths, and....minotaurs.

"So, you're saying 'be ready for a minotaur' or something? 'Cause 2 out of 3 ain't bad."

Oh, as a side note, Sen walks around with no weapons drawn for maximum Maximum Star opportunities.

Henry looks sheepish as he finishes his thought. "Who? Well, I was just thinking that maybe Thurl was ashamed of being a dwarf and was trying to make himself into a demon, perhaps."

At Flinder's explanation, the halfling comments from astride his sauropod, "Who, what, what? Well, then. Minotaurs and traps. I say, then, can you take care of the trap boy? What? We'll deal with the minotaur if it comes to that."

Flinders sits down, cross-legged and appears lost in thought. Hrmmm. Baphomet is lord of the minotaurs and is said to be the very first minotaur created by Lamashtu herself. Though a creation himself, he is venerated by many, humans included, through rites of unbridled, animalistic strength. He says, more to himself. What bearing this has on the altar is unknown. Any suggestions? He finishes, looking around at the party.

"Maybe some kind of trick for 'who is winning this fight' kind of thing?" Sen says as he shrugs.

"Since this is tied to demons, I would guess it has something to do with the importance of knowing one's true name. Rumour is that some outsiders can be bound and compelled to perform actions from those that know their true name." Xenobia adds to the discussion.

Flinders ponders on what Xenobia says, then shrugs. Baphomet?

Knowledge (Planes) 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Knowledge (Religion) 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
To see if Xenobia knows anything else that may be relevant

Cairo will try to remember something he learned while he was at the temple.

Religion: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

Planes: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

"Hey I know that dwarf. It's Torag, the slightly crazy god of the forge. And I think that's just a bull he's fighting. Not some demon bull either."

Continuing on her tangent, and trying to explain the topic at hand to Flinders better, Xenobia continues. "No, that would be a common name. If Baphomet were its true name and this many people knew it, that would be very bad news for that demon."

"I believe it asked us to speak our name, what? Not the demon's name. But I vote for Flinders to disable it rather than speaking our name to some demon statue. Who, what, what?"

"If you can, feel free, Mr. Books. I've got some experience with locks, but nothing that runs on demons."

If the sigil on the bull's head represents Baphomet, and the the dwarf is Torag, it says speak your name. I would suppose it means Torag. Want to try that? Flinders eyes the party. My presumption is that if we are wrong, something "undesirable" will issue from the holes in the floor. I have one packet of air crystals, is anyone else able to deal with bad gas? Flinders says, chuckling.

I'll post a map for now, so we can get a marching order around the statue. Pretend the spiral staircase is the statue.

"What? Where? No, Master Flinders. Let me back up before you do anything. I still contend that it calls for naming yourself though, not the gods or demons depicted. Why don't you disable the gas before trying anything though, what?"

Flinders tells everyone to back out of the room, while removing his air crystal packet. Once everyone has gone, he'll try to disable the statue.

Take Ten for 25 on Disable

Flinders manages to do something, and with a grinding noise the altar slides to the side, revealing a cage-like spiral staircase heading down along a wall. It leads down into the room you are standing in on the map.

Dim but vibrant green light pulses from two large glass vats that stand from floor to ceiling in the far corners. Powdery rust coats much of the floor, though several lines of footprints crisscross the room. Metal doors lead to the east and west.

"It worked! You're good at that." Cairo will cast Heroism on himself before the group heads down. 70 minutes of Heroism.

After Flinders opens the statue, he turns to Sen. Now this makes my point in a poignant way. I have never seem a mechanism such as this....but, I have read about it. It was in a book...oh what was the name. Flinders scratches his beard as his digs out his ioun torch. I can't remember, something like Compendium of Mechanisms, Traps, and Locks, something..by a Osirion chap named Kalthet. Anyway, I realized this must be a Chaknerun's Tympanum Mechanism.

Flinders' face becomes more animated as he gets full swing into his lecture. You see, there a skin, likely calf skin, based on the sculpture, that is stretched on a frame. A needle is connected to the skin, so when you speak into the statue, your voice creates vibrations that move the needle into a locking mechanism.....

Flinders continues to drone on about the intricacies of the lock as he begins to descend the stairs, while keeping an eye out for traps.

He stops speaking as he sees the vats. What are these I wonder...

Sen remains unconvinced about the power of reading, but does not interrupt the speech. Upon reaching the bottom of the steps, Sen responds to the statement of questioning from Flinders with standard sarcasm. "What, you never read about this, Flanders? I thoughts books held all the knowledge we'd need! Gosh, where is the nearest library when we need it?"

"I have a few reference books in my pack, but I don't know if any of them would have information on these." Xenobia states as she readjusts her backpack.

Valais enters the room behind you and slows walking, her eyes wide as saucers. She mutters something about "... woke up in ... alone ... left ... unfinished ..."

She walks past you as if in a daze between the two vats, running her hand gently along the wall there, looking at the chalk markings there. Looking over her shoulder, they are nothing but a series of numbers and dashes and lone letters. It makes no sort of sense you can think of. Almost as if it were some sort of formula, but without a reference it's impossible to figure.

"Or she could possibly already know what they are." The pale woman says as she lets their new companion step by her on the stairwell.

If Valais heard you, she shows no sign of it.

"Well this is confusing. Maybe there's more through one of the doors."

"Sounds to me like it's more of Thurls experiments, what?" Henry whispers to Zenobia, not because he is afraid of being heard but because it seems appropriate in this somber place.

"Let's just make our way to that door to the right and hope they don't wake up while we're here." Henry suggests.

Is that west right or east right? My guess is west?

Since these nerds think they're so smart, Sen lets them decide where to go, do ho ho. Sen wants a front or second row spot for marching, in case you asked and I forgot to post.

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