From Shore To Sea (Inactive)

Game Master Baerlie

Totally fine with Etrigan taking the lead on this. Etrigan has proved his worth (plus you didn't build a mega-broken charge-pounce-dragon eidolon, which can be annoying. I played Eyes of the Ten with a summoner who totally stole the show, and he was the type of guy to not get the hint that the rest of us wanted to do things too...)

Same here. Send in the demon!

And also the GM waits for the demon :D

Part of your show is also the demon, though...so as long as we all have our time to shine, it's all good!

Okay, okay, twist my arm. ;) On phone, so pardon any errors.

"Very well," Iason says after a moment's thought. "Kiyomi, I suggest you cling to Etrigan's shoulder, or the like. Etrigan, leave off with the petty vandalism, thank you."

Okay, prepping as discussed with feather fall for everyone but Etrigan. Will throw shield on Etrigan as well, pretty sure his mage armor is still up from earlier. When the tower is close enough, Iason will mage hand the hook across and hook it over a suitable spot, then Etrigan will climb over and move inside, looking for a better spot to secure the hook as needed.

Aww man, I really wish we were 6th level so that I could pick up Monkey Style and Monkey Moves and just scale the wall myself, Physics-be-damned!

Kiyomi clings to Etrigan, using her teeth to hold on to a strap or some other non-painful spot, and clinging on with her legs as well as possible.

Etrigan flashes his teeth at the little fox, and gives her a mouthful of his cloak to bite, as he readies for the oncoming spire.

The tower's spire arrives and Iason lifts the hook with his magic hand and secures it at the edge. Etrigan climbs up first, with Kiyomi on his shoulder. While Iason prepares to rescue any falling party members Etrigan climbs up and makes sure the rope is safe.

Yes, mage armor is still up. You have now six rounds to use the rope and climb up before the spire is too far away from the stairs. I'd say the rope is strong enough to carry three persons at a time.

Clandelve swallows hard as he looks down.

"A dwarf ooght nae be thes far aff th' grin," he observes wryly.

Even so, he jumps and grabs the rope, seeing no other way forward.

climb: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Eshshah quickly scrambles up.
Climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Iason goes up after the dwarf and Eshshah, grimly clinging as the tower starts to float away. He usually leaves the physical stuff to Etrigan for a reason...

Iason climbing: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Climb): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Mollok awaits for his turn to not overload the rope and goes up.
Double moving at half speed and taking 10 for 16-5=11 on the climb check.

The rest of you is able to cling to the rope, one after the other climbs up to the orbiting spire, dragged away by the spire as it floats away and meeting up with Kiyomi and Etrigan at the top. Unfortunately the spire vibrates as it moves through the air, shaking erratically.

Traversing the tumbling spire without the luxury of flight requires a DC 10 Climb check each round to move at quarter speed, or DC 15 to move at half speed. Any failure of 5 or more results in getting knocked about within the spire and suffering 2d6 points of damage.

Kiyomi remains attached to Etrigan for now.

Clandelve loses his grip and hangs precariously for a moment, stalled in his progress. However, he finally manages to keep from falling.

"Thes is nae place fur man nur beest, an' especially nae fur a dwarf!" he bellows.

climb: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Luckly for Mollok the years he spend in Katapesh's deserts as a runaway slave taught him how to survive even a place like this. Taking 10 on climb for 16

I sense something in the middle of the spire, something different from the rest of this place.

Etrigan has no issue with the climb, and once up on 'solid ground' within the spire, the fiendish figure begins hauling on the rope to try and pull the others within range.

Etrigan STR check, if that can help the climb for others at all: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Iason grimly tries to scale a bit up the moving rope.

Taking 10 if allowed, for a 12, and climbing at quarter speed. If not allowed due to the movement, etc:

Climb: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10 (Phew!)

Iason does not attempt to cast a spell such as detect magic while he is trying to climb a rope, as his hands are busy with, well, the rope.

"Somehow I envisioned a smoother ride up here."

Eshshah will slowly make forward progress, keeping to small steps.
Climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Mollok senses something in the middle of the spire and while the rest of the group advances towards the middle the dwarf stumbles and falls. He's knocked around and hits the walls several times. Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (1, 3) = 4

Mollok finds something hovering in the center of the spire, cushioned from the movements of the spire by a stationary levitation effect. It looks like several lenses. Some of them are shattered, their shards still hanging in place, but three of them are still intact.

the lenses are bronze mounted and big, weigh about 50 lbs each

Didn't realize I could take 10 on this check...I'll just do that each time to get up.

Clandelve curses his precarious situation, but clenches his teeth and climbs the rest of the way.

(Ah, I misread the post about the spire and thought we were still climbing up to it. Anyway.)

Iason grits his teeth as he braces against the shaking walls, having learned from Clandelve's example not to try and move overly fast. (Will go with the taking 10 as well, no reason to try and move fast and take damage)

Etrigan scampers merrily through the tower, unbothered by the shaking. He tries to grab one of the lenses to see if it can be ripped from the stationary field.

"Wait, oni," says Li Shuo. "Lenses might be the key to why tower is shaking."

He shrugs. "It could be so."

Better yet, this lenses might be the key why this tower is floating. And we are still inside it! Some of us may have a harder time reincarnating back to this plane, devil. Mollok says alarmed.

Kiyomi jumps down off of Etrigan's back once they're finally on (relatively) solid ground, and inspects the lenses. She growls at him when he starts trying to remove one without thought.

Percep: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (3) + 8 = 11

Etrigan's response to these various statements is, in no particular order, a sneer at Li, a counter-snarl at Kiyomi, and a verbal answer to Molluk:

"The half-pot calls the kettle black
"And speaks in terms of 'maybe, might'--
"Hypothesize at will, you hack
"Or bend your skill, and lend insight
"Beyond such whinging, fearful shi--"

Iason clears his throat, sharply. "Once again. You will keep a civil tongue in your head, Etrigan. Or you will be punished."

The devilish figure snarls again, but leaves off with the lenses just now.

Iason studies them a moment with the same cantrip that Molluk had used, trying to ascertain more of the enchantment in question.

Kn arcana to detect school: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Spellcraft to id spell?: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Iason shakes his head after a moment. "Master Molluk, you might know more of the theory than me-- can you tell the spells on them?"

Clandelve, a little battered, joins the others at the top.

Once there, he looks around, looking very much out of his element and trying not to look down.

"Aam nae a bird, aam a dwarf!"

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

When Etrigan tries to touch one of the lenses suddenly an arc of electricity hits him.
Damage: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 2, 5) = 16 DC 20 Reflex for half damage

The lenses are now free to take and the outsider takes a lense back to Iason. The summoner tries to figure out more about the lenses, but can't. What he knows is that the lens itself is not magic (only glass in a frame). It's the levitation field which radiates the magic. Clandelve looks around and turns up a selection of ancient Azlanti art objects in a chest.

what Mollok detected was the stationary levitation effect that keeps the lenses floating

Etrigan reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

ZZAAP. The beast snarls in pain; Iason merely arches a brow. "And that is why you don't touch or take things until I tell you."

Clandelve removes anything that looks valuable from the chest.

"Noo whit?" he asks the others.

Eshshah makes her way cautiously over to Clandelve Take 10

I suggest once we've gathered the stuff here to wait for the next loop, take it with us and examine it somewhere a bit flatter."

K. Planes: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
K. Arcane: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (1) + 20 = 21

Mollok examines the levitation field and the room before moving on.
Lets keep going then.

So is the spire just one room, with the floating discs? Are there multiple chambers, or have we literally seen everything there is to see in the spire with the chest of art objects and the lenses?

Iason frowns to himself at the revelation of the art objects. "This would make for an odd museum," he says drily. "Strange, to expend all this magical power in forcing a collection of stone to float, and yet for there to seem no great purpose in it. Perhaps this spire is... some sort of observation tool?"

Iason tries to look through the lenses, where they hang in their support field-- staying back farther than Etrigan had when he'd gotten zapped. His servant lurks sullenly, licking at the place where the electricity burned him.

"Healing, 'master'."

"In a bit. You can learn a valuable lesson from all this."

The bound devil hisses softly.

If there's nothing more to do with the lenses, then sure, let's move on. Taking 10 for any moving required.

Li wishes, and not for the first time, that he knew more about the esoteric realms of magic.

Only one room, with floating discs. You have seen everything. You need the lenses somewhere else ;)

Mollok identifies the effect which hold the lenses in place as a levitation spell. Iason looks through the lenses from a safe distance. All he can see are storm clouds coming from the north.

"We shoods git aff thes floatin' nightmare afair 'at gits haur," Clandelve says as he points at the clouds Iason showed them.

The dwarf turns back and begins the descent. taking 10

Kiyomi barks at the lenses until someone has taken all of them, then follows the party out of the spire.

Eshshah nods and descends the tower as well once it comes around.
take 10 for 14

Frowning to himself at the interesting problem of the lenses, Iason does decide they are worth taking, electric field or no field. "Very well. Etrigan, come here--"

(Casting Resist Energy (Electricity) on Etrigan; Etrigan will try again to wrench the lenses from the field.)

"Should this trigger any catastrophic fall, I can feather fall us as needed," Iason points out to the others, before gesturing the devil forward again.

Etrigan reflex save, if needed: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21 (if 21 is successful, evasion means no damage; either way he has resist 10 electricity right now)

Etrigan STR check, if needed?: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7 *Sigh.* Well, presumably he'll keep trying if there's nothing to stop him. Let me know if I need to make more rolls.

Ready to depart the tower once we have the lenses; is there anywhere else it looks like the tower passes within an interesting distance of? We could always jump with feather fall if necessary, if we think we can save ourselves some hiking.

While the devil works on the lenses Mollok takes the opportunity to inspect the island and its surroundings from the floating tower higher, and moving, grounds.

Perc: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (15) + 20 = 35

Etrigan picks up the floating lenses, without being stressed this time.

No need to waste time with rolling strength checks, the trap triggered and does not reset, Etrigan gets the lenses out of the levitation field sooner or later. If you pick up all the lenses, maybe you want to split them up, because one of them weighs 50 pounds, three of them are available. And I put a red circle on the map where I think the spire orbits.

Once Etrigan collected the three lenses you are ready to leave the floating spire. Just tell me if you want to get off somewhere else, but remember, the spire orbits at a height of 80 feet.

Mollok enjoys the scenic view over the island. He sees the wedding rock, the archives and the graveyard from above. Other ruins look like remains of an observatory, a section of the island has plunged to sea level east of the observatory. South of this section looks like a pool filled with muddy water, the liquid moves in a continuous loop. Piles of white shale litter the ground to the east of the island.

Kiyomi nears the edge, barks, and waits for Etrigan to allow her to use him as a conveyance device again.

Etrigan's carrying very little (a cloak and an amulet) and he has a light encumbrance of 173 lbs, so he can actually carry all three of them without a problem, at least as regards to encumbrance issues. Are the lenses too large to fit in the mouth of a handy haversack?

Iason scans the grounds as well. "That appears to be an old observatory. I suggest we head for it next. If wish to save ourselves trying to maneuver the descent via rope, and dangling above the landscape and so forth-- as well as the hike-- I can simply cast feather fall on all of us, and we can leap from this tower when we are near the observatory. Any objections?"

As they decide, Iason draws his carved devil-tail stick and taps Etrigan twice with it. 2 charges of infernal healing to restore Etrigan to full HP

The devil hisses a little as the electric burns heal. He mock-snaps at Kiyomi when she climbs onto his shoulder again, smirking.

The module doesn't provide the diameter of the lenses, so let's say they fit ;)

"I'll tak' th' rope an' climb doon!" Clandelve protests.

"Eh'd much raither troost a rope than cest myself aff a cliff relyin' oan naethin' but magic!" the dwarf adds.

No arguments convince the dwarf otherwise, and he takes the long way down.

Just a little RP for Clandelve...hopefully it doesn't slow us down and we can just hand wave his descent to join the others. He can take 10 for a 15.

I hadn't thought of getting off other than where we got on, sounds good to me.

Eshshah nods in agreement.

Into the sacks they go, then. Iason can take one lens in his pack with some juggling around of gear; anyone else who wants one can take it, or Etrigan can just carry them. *shrug*

The Chelish man rolls his eyes at the dwarf's refusal. "I was wondering when you would obstinately insist on doing something the hard way," he drawls. "Very well, since we're to explore, report, cooperate, I suppose we'll stick together, and bruise ourselves up trying to drop from a moving, hanging rope to that tiny little landing. You'll go first, Master Clandelve: I have no desire to be landed on by you."

(All in good fun backatcha ;). Okay, so it sounds like we're waiting for the tower to do another circuit, and then we'll try and clamber down the rope and hang-and-drop, I presume. Let us know what rolls you want for that, Baerlie, or if we can handwave that.

While Etrigan's wounds begin to heal you wait for the orbin spine to reach the observatory. You watch Clandelve climb down a rope while the rest of you accepts Iason's offer for an easy descend to the observatory.

A cracked crystalline dome surrounded by overgrown, walled courtyards rests here in ruined splendor, precariously supported by intricately curved columns. Smashed doors of coral open into the pervasive gloom within. Inside, the crystal dome reveals a remarkably clear night sky.

Dozens of glowing metallic globes, spheres, glyphs, and crystal lenses circle in swirling orbits around the room, some held together in corroded metal mounts. Periodically, a lens pauses, briefly concentrating the light of some distant star upon one of the glowing glyphs circling the perimeter of the massive orrery.

Suddenly you see two strange lights blink on. In the middle of the observatory, between the swirling things, you see three giant crabs which prepare to attack.

Round 1
Mollok
Li
Etrigan
Clandelve
---------
Crab red
---------
Eshshah
Kiyomi
---------
Crab blue
---------
Iason
---------
Crab green

Etrigan doesn't wait for his ostensible master's orders: he grins at seeing more crabs like those he roasted on the trip into town. The beast lopes forward on his knuckles, like an ape, and sidles forward in a diagonal to bite once at a crab.

vs Blue, power attack: 1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 11 - 2 = 13
Damage: 1d6 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (4) + 6 + (4) = 14

Clandelve smiles and pounds his warhammer on his shield twice.

"Ah was wonderin' when things woods gie interestin'..." he bellows, then moves quickly to the group's left flank, where he prepares to attack the first crab that advances.

Readied +1 Warhammer (adamantine) attack (power attack): 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 281d8 + 10 ⇒ (5) + 10 = 15