GM Hawthwile - Forged in Flame Series (Inactive)

Game Master Hawthwile

Then it is decided.

As Cirri opens the door to the south, she sees two immense staircases sweeping up each side of the entry hall, joining at a second floor twenty feet above. A well-furnished room extends to the west, which contains sofas and chairs upholstered in leather with a metallic sheen. A steel table is set with stone plates, crystalline cutlery, and gold-lined goblets. Doors to the north open onto a narrow terrace, and the portrait of a stern efreeti hangs along the west wall.

Small doors lead to both the north and south, two additional sets of double doors mark entrances on the south side of the estate, and massive bronze doors to the east mark the main entrance.

What do you do?

”Lead the way. You were successful until now. I would propose to go north!“ Crowe says.

Cirri nods and turns invisible. "Okay. North it is."

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Riddlywhipple Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

+14 Nobility; can't fail

Masayoshi scoffs.

"An entire room to display their wealth? These genies sure are something."

Masayoshi follows Cirri and Crowe's lead to the northern door.

You're entering this room from the northern door. If you would like to move your icon(s) next to a door on the map, perhaps that would help clarify where we will head next.

Masayoshi proceeds to head right out from the way he came.

"B*tch, I know what I said!"

In all seriousness, though, the box-text got everyone confused. I'll just follow where everyone else goes.

"Alright, let's try the southern door."

”Southern door it is, then. Who is leading us in?”

"I'll peek in first, since they can't see me."

Stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

Then it is decided.

Cirri finds another room with a glass table and high-backed glass chairs. Double doors exit the room to the northeast and southwest.

What do you do?

Fahd moves to the northeast doors. ”Any objections?”

Ninlil, (slightly flickering) pterosaur on her shoulder, steps up the first few stairs to get a view of the doors. Quietly, she says "I'm good."

As Fahd opens the double doors, Snaggletooth easily notices a familiar pane of pale blue air in the doorway. A welcoming pool, likely filled with hot water from the way steam rises off it, lies on the other side.

What do you do?

Hmmm, going to have to check manually for a while. My campaign RSS feeds stopped updating again. Whee~!

Intelligence: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Opening up the check for everyone:

What do you do?

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
Int!: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

"That's interesting. Another one! They must have some way of getting through these... a stone or charm perhaps? Hey, did we search the bodies?"

"I.... let's go search again, just to be sure!"

Snaggletooth flies back and starts rifling through their fallen foe.

Perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (4) + 20 = 24

"Let us go back and search all the rooms also with detect magic! We might have missed something." Crowe says a little concerned.

Are we in a hurry? I think we should check the library and the other adjacent rooms again.

Cirri follows and checks the effreti woman for any charms or keys she may have had.

The only time sensitive factor is my 9 minutes on invisibility.

Examination of the drake's corpse reveals little, but the efreeti carries a masterwork falchion taller than most of the Pathfinders and a large brass key decorated with the same motifs as the doors that open to what appears to be a library or archives to the east and an entrance hall to the southwest.

What do you do?

"Okay, we found a key. Is there a keyhole?" Cirri picks up the key. She eventually goes west up to another room.

"Is this door locked?"

The doors are not locked, but using the key to open them disables the traps.

Cirri opens the double doors to discover a room filled with stacked furniture, piles of random colorful knickknacks, and lavish room decorations.

What do you do?

Cirri peers in.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Riddywhipple, do you see anything? She thinks telepathically.

Riddywhipple's Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
You probably found more than I did. Riddywhipple responds.

With no apparent threats, Cirri casts Detect Magic and then begins looking for any particular items.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (5) + 17 = 22

Fahd stands by, menacingly, making sure nothing untowards happens while Cirri looks around the room.

Neither Cirri nor Riddywhipple see anything of value in this storeroom. (Optional encounter that we're skipping.)

Remember your mission objectives...

What do you do?

“There are a few details and addenda, of course. First, the estate in question is Emberhearth, which keeps most of its security on-call and off-site. Unless you relish drowning in armed guards the moment you make a mistake, you’ll need to neutralize them first. Second, the Cinderfurys maintain a pristine set of local records, and I would like you to secure any local security contracts you find in their library. Third, they keep an heirloom known as the Cinderfury gorget, which you should bring to me. Finally, I have plans for the estate; do keep the destruction to a minimum."

"Um, I guess we're done on this room?" Cirri turns around. "We still need to find the Cinderfury gorget, and add more evidence." Cirri grabs some of the evidence and places it here.

"Unless someone has another Dispel Magic spell for that blue room, I think we should head upstairs."

Ninlil asks, "Well, she got past the door somehow. Does the key work? Is there a keyhole or something?"

Each door does indeed have a keyhole. Upon closing the doors to the pool room and turning the key, the cold blue pane dissipates as the doors are re-opened. Beyond them, a deep bath with stepped sides and filled with steaming water occupies most of the room.

What do you do?

”Anyone feel like taking a bath? Looks like this might just be a time waster, unless someone really wants to explore in there.”

Ninlil casts detect magic while Snaggletooth quickly takes a flap around the room and quick-searches Perception, maybe with a penalty for speed?: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (8) + 20 = 28

Not wanting to waste much time here, but we should take a quick look anyway.

The air smells quite mineraly, as if the water were heavily salted. There does not appear to be anything of interest in the room, magical or mundane.

What do you do?

"So, upstairs, then?" Cirri shrugs. "Mineral baths every day must be relaxing, though. But we don't have time."

"Enough idle speculation. Let's go upstairs!"

Ninlil wonders, "Do the efreet enjoy cool baths? It seems like they wouldn't enjoy hot ones, for obvious reasons."

Masayoshi shrugs. "For all you know a boiling bath would be considered 'cool' to them; they do live on the Plane of Fire, after all."

Then it is decided.

As the Pathfinders make their way up the grand staircase (struggling slightly with steps sized for creatures twice their size), they find themselves on a balcony overlooking the ground floor of the building. Two large windows give notable views of both the front and back of the estate, and a small bookshelf and chairs provide a cozy space for reading. Sets of double-doors mark exits to the northwest, northeast, southeast, and southwest.

What do you do?

Fahd examines the bookshelf for anything that might pique his interest.

Perception 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

Cirri and Riddywhipple help Fahd examine the bookshelf.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
Riddywhipple's Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30

Once the search completes, Cirri walks up to the first door they saw. "Let's check out this room." She tries to listen for anything suspicious before opening the door...

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26
Riddywhipple's Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

Ninlil checks out the bookshelf, too. Linguistics, maybe? (+heroism): 1d20 + 16 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 16 + 2 = 21

All of a sudden, she realizes everyone else has breezed it back to the stairs! She gets back behind Cirri.

In the meantime, Snaggletooth decides to help carefully listen at the door. Perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (14) + 20 = 34

The books, composed of thin brass sheets bound together with wire and written in Ignan, are mostly recollections and recountings of the glory of the Cinderfury family. Those who investigated the lineages section of the library might notice that these seem to be highly selective histories, as if aiming to present the best possible face of the family.

Neither Cirri nor the two reptilians with their ears pressed up against the uncomfortably-warm brass doors hear anything on the other side.

To clarify - everything is uncomfortably warm here. It is the Plane of Fire.

We have one vote to move inside. Two votes move the party.

What do you do?

Ninlil whispers, "We're ready."

Then it is decided.

Cirri unlocks the double doors and slowly pushes them open. Inside, the Pathfinders see exotic trophies, ancient relics, and glimmering weapons resting atop illuminated pedestals that encircle the room. Several pedestals are empty. Upon further examination, nothing in the room appears to be particularly notable or even magical. The only way in or out of this room is the doors Cirri just opened.

What do you do?

Ninlil and Snaggletooth would take some time searching the room and looking both at what was there, and what was missing--any clues there? But if it is devoid of interest, they'll make their way to the second set of doors on the south side of the second floor.

All of these trophies do interest Cirri, in terms of their historical significance. But are any the Cinderfury gorget? Or the Flamebinder's Jaw?

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
Riddywhipple's Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

Assuming neither of them are found here, Cirri follows Ninlil to the next room.

Cirri and Riddywhipple peer around the room, but they do not see any throat jewelry or jawbones. The two do discover a frost-forged steel breastplate inscribed with Shelynite iconography, but everything else seems to be of historical or sentimental value only.

Ninlil opens the double doors to the next room to discover what looks to be a bedroom. A wardrobe and small stand accompany the prominently-placed bed, and a large portrait of a stoic efreeti hangs on the wall.

A single door stands closed in the corner of the room, the only exit besides the doors the Pathfinders are peering through.

What do you do?

If the others give, the ready, Fahd downs his Mutagen and prepares to open the remaining door in the room.

Cirri knows and cares little about nobility. But she does see a good place to put some incriminating evidence (maybe plans to kill the sultana?) Once that's out of the way, she and Riddywhipple take a look around the room for either the Cinderfury gorget or the Flamebinder's Jaw.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
Riddywhipple's Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

Once that's done, she joins Fahd and prepares to enter the next room.

Knowledge (nobility), heroism: 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 10 + 2 = 30

"Xojject Cinderfury... must be the family patriarch. Lovely fellow, I'm sure."

She nods at Fahd. "I'm ready."