To Worlds Unrambled

Game Master Scribbling Rambler

"A think it's broke. There's a platfrm doon a bit. There's also a licht way up, an A cannae tell hoo high it goes. Which way?"

Slick leaps across to the cable, grabs it, and climbs down to the platform.

Acrobatics check: 10 + 9 = 19, with at least one ki point in his pool he counts as having a running jump, so that's good for up to 19 feet.
Climb check: 10 + 8 = 18

"Follow me"

The "cable" swings when Slick jumps across to it, but does not fall. It must not be attached at the bottom.

Will others wait for Slick to finish descending, or proceed now?

Thorthal shakes his head and mutters to himself.

"...Elves."

Thorthal will quickly gauge the difficulty of climbing the walls, and attempt to do so if he believes he would be successful with a 15 climb check. 16 acrobatics check if required to jump to the wall.

Edit: Quickly skimming the climb rules, this looks like it is probably a DC20 or DC25 wall, though if he were to attempt to climb in a corner it would lower the difficulty by 5. Also some uncertainty on whether he would need to put his shield away, linking the relevant line from the climb description in the spoiler. Thorthal has a light shield which allows the hand to hold an item but not swing a weapon with it. He will take the time to stow his shield and make a running jump at the opposite corner if required.

Edit2: Stowing his shield would increase Thorthals Acrobatics and Climb checks by 1.

"Indeed." Haer Kul harrumphs. "I cannot believe there are no stairs. It would not be safe if there were a fire. And fire is always possible, no?"

From the doorway, Haer Kul will look carefully at the cable and the area surrounding the door to see whether this is a control fault, or whether the cable was likely detached from the platform.
Perception: 10 + 10 = 20
Disable device: 10 + 7 = 17
Knowledge(engineering): 10 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ 10 + 6 + (6) = 22

He will also look to see if he can see any other exits in the shaft.

Thorthal is surprised that the vine-covered wall is much easier to cling to than he expected.

Haer Kul is unable to see other exits from the shaft, but it is impossible to see much without entering. The light above could come from an opening on the same side as the door he is standing at. Similarly, he would have to be closer to examine what happened, though it certainly seems likely that the cable has become detached at the bottom.

Slick descends to the "platform", and finds that it is actually the roof of some sort of box in the shaft. It is composed of the same leathery substance as the pods everyone awoke in. The cable is severed just above the box, and a large, irregular hole has been punched through the roof.

Morgrom stows his weapons and says, "Not a good climber, prolly gunna fall. Youz gots magic ta git us down?"

Petronicus shifts uncomfortably.

"Climbing eh? How hard could it be with all these vines?"

Takes 10, so Climb check of 10

Slick looks up quizzically at Morgrom and Petronicus.

"I don't have magic, but I can teach you how to climb."

"Let me see what is in here first."

He crouches down to look through the hole.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Bardos is able to carefully make his way down the vines.

Slick drops through the hole. The area below is unlit, but he can barely make out that he is within a 10' cube composed of the leathery pod material. A door is battered down on one side, with a pitch-black open area beyond. Some sort of control device was attached to one of the walls, but it has been smashed.

chchch ahahah

Actually my intent was to look through the hole, not go through the hole. To drop down I would have judged how hard it was to get back up and then likely attached my grappling hook and rope to the vine wall somewhere if the height was too great to jump back up to the hole in the roof. But if Slick isn't about to die, then...

Slick gets out his everburning torch to have a better look.

Sorry Andy, I misread that somehow.

Slick's torch is a solitary point of light in the darkness of the shaft and cube. As he looks past the broken in door, he sees an irregularly-shaped hallway. To his right is a workbench with an attached cabinet set into the far wall. To his left, a 10' wide door on the far wall is covered in red spiky runes.

Thorthal and Bardos reach the top of the cube.

Note that the translator is no longer with Slick.

"What do you see, gentlemen? Is it worth risking the climb down?"

"Sik eyam sukul sa umbelem sa impadra orgot"

Slick drops the torch, then jumps up to catch the lip of the hole and pull himself out of the box.

An Acrobatics check of 19 should be good enough for that, taking 10.

He yells up the shaft so Amretta can hear.

"If people cannot climb, we can tie rope in a loop under their armpits and lower them down like in eshalantir. *untranslatable* Except without the rocks on their feet or the water. The chances of death should be much lower"

"Remind me to forego a visit to your country should I ever have the opportunity. Let us proceed as Mr. Slick described."

Morgrom shrugs, "Here I goez," and he follows Bardos down the vines, knocking leaves and debris down onto the people below.

Morgrom also takes 10 which is 10 unless armour check penalty applies here then it is 4.

Thorthal will peek in the hole and survey the damage.

"A hae a bad feelin' aboot thes."

Thorthal will drink his Cure Light Wounds potion.

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Slick climbs back up the cable/vine to avoid Morgrom's potential fall, then swings back to the original entrance, in order to lower Haer Kul, Petronicus, then Amretta, in that order. Tying the rope around their chest under their armpits.

Slick can lift up to 350 lbs, so hopefully none of them weigh more than that!

"I'm guessing we're underground since there are no windows. It would be best to go up to find a way out, but it seems easier to go down at this particular instance."

"A very astute observation, Mr. Slick. Well done!"
After being lowered and removing the rope, Haer Kul will focus on straightening his clothes and making sure everything is clean. (He will also quickly and unobtrusively inventory his possessions.)

Morgrom swings on to the vines, which begin peeling away from the wall.

Another Climb check from Morgrom, please. Taking 10 will not work in this case.

I'll continue with the rest once Morgrom is resolved. For now, Slick is still in the cube, Thorthal is looking through the hole, Bardos is standing beside Thorthal, everybody else is near the doors.

Climb = 1 - 6 = -5 (Stupid non paizo dice)

"This iz gunna be bad."

Based on potential area to strike, Thorthal is 1-4, Bardos is 5-6.

lucky winner: 1d6 ⇒ 1

The vines completely give way and Morgrom plummets down the shaft. Fortunately, Thorthal is there to soften the fall.

Morgrom falling damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Thorthal fallen on damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Slick climbs up and lowers the less athletic party members as planned. He is now alone with the green prisoner.

"It looks loch we shoo... Morgrom, can ye gie aff mah leg?"

"Mr. Slick, I thank you. Please lower the prisoner as well? Alive? I am still hopeful he is our transformed friend."

Slick lowers the prisoner, then follows himself.

Without a word, he picks up his everburning torch.

If someone else in the group has a light source, he will stow away his torch.

"..."

After a bunch of shouting back and forth up the central shaft of the complex (including translations), the group comes up with a plan and regroups at the bottom. The first few see the room below after they drop through the hole which had been created in the roof of the box.

A voice comes from the darkness above the floor the group entered from.

Thorthal pauses and shudders.

"This place maun be gettin tae me. A am hearin voices, an they ur whisperin terrible nightmares."

Haer Kul will send up a dancing lights to see if he can see where or who the voice is coming from. And whether there really are any turnips. (He thinks the voice is lying about the turnips.)

perception: 10 + 10 = 20

Slick jumps up through the hole to get a better look at whatever the lights are illuminating.

"Not the turnips again!" mutters Bardos.

"Ye heard it too Bardos? Hmm."

Thorthal will visually inspect the area the voice came from

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

"Thorthal my friend, if you knew how many voices I hear on an hourly basis I think you would be most disturbed."

At Haer Kul's wish, a small group of lights appear in the shaft above the doorway the group used to enter.

They reveal something horrifying: a black and green centipede-like creature with enormous mandibles and four swirling, rainbow-coloured eyes. It is the size of a plow-horse and blocks the way up the shaft.

Chrrrk??

"Hrhrm Vessa is that you my dear? You are looking lovely."

"Scuttles, not the mama! Vessa, how did you come to be here?" More quietly to the party, "whatever that is, it had Vessa's memories. I think there is faint chance that any townsfolk survived. "

Slick hisses down the hole:
"What is going on? Should we not kill this beast or make a retreat?"

"Whut tha hellz iz goin on?"

"If I believed in a Hell, Mr. Hellblade, I would assume we were there too, no?"
Quietly to the party and Slick: "We are not going up at present. If it follows us, then we kill it, yes?"

Slick slowly lowers himself down the hole again, without taking his eyes off the creature.

Whispers: "Yes, Mr. Free-Gnome, agreed. Kill it fast. But why do you appear to know this thing?".

Quietly, "Not this thing, but its voice belonged to Vessa. She was a human woman that ran the inn in the village from which we were taken. She was a good person, although I did not understand her obsession with turnips. This thing appears to mean us harm. It can not be Vessa."

The horrid monstrosity descends and then departs through the doorway on the level where the group awoke.

The party is able to see the room which Slick discovered on the sub-level, with its workbench and attached cabinet, and the rune-covered door on the far wall.

Petronicus will examine the runes on the door.

"Puir Vessa, it seems th Jagladine got er too. Let's fin em, an end their experiments."

Thorthal will enter the room (if he hadn't already), and search the workbench.

Perception: 10 + 8 = 18

Andretta says, "The runes on the door are written in Ultari. 'Danger. Hazardous Specimen.'"

On the workbench, Thorthal sees a variety of metal devices (most of which have sharp spikes coming out of them) and a bound book. The attached cabinet has a brass lock on it.

"Let me see about that lock..."

Ninja-Disable-Device!: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

The small metal cabinet contains two flasks made of fragile ceramic, 4 vials, and two silver rings.

Haer Kul is quickly able to identify the two flasks of alchemist's fire and two vials of anti-toxin. The other two vials contain clear, syrupy fluid that smells of cinnamon. One ring is engraved with a shield, the other with a pair of wings.

Petronicus detects magic, taking 10 to identify any items.

(Spellcraft 10+10=20)

The rings are both magical, and the two remaining vials are potions of lesser restoration.