Current time: 12:01 (the level was entered at 12:00) === Out of Initiative === Dolgar Ironfist - dmg; See Invis (15:00); Resist Energy Fire 20 (15:00); Heroism (15:00); Magic Circle vs Evil (13:30);
Uhvat Balanos - dmg; False Life (11 temp hp); Heroism (13:30); Resist Energy Fire 10 (12:30); Shield (12:09);
Shiva - dmg;
Guy du Loc - dmg; mage armor (13:00); Heroism (15:00); DR 10 vs fire;
The group moves in to the Magma Vault and finds that the temperature is quite warm (around 100 F) but fortunately Endure Elements helps them to function normally.
Moving through the opening into the next chamber, the pathfinders find heavily armored bodies lie strewn across this cavern, their black armor sundered. The armor is easily recognizable as Hellknight armor - it appears you have found at least some of Chaid's expedition.
DC 15 Knowledge (Local):
From their armor, it appears that these Hellknights belonged to the Order of the Nail (common at Fort Inevitable).
Brilliantly colored crystals jut out among the corpses.
DC 15 Knowledge (Local):
You recognize that the crystals are crysmals, not natural formations. A crysmal is an animated cluster of translucent crystals shaped disturbingly like a gemstone scorpion. Scorpion-like crysmals originate in the deepest caverns of the Plane of Earth. On rare occasions, these strange creatures wind up on the Material Plane, usually in subterranean areas rich with natural gem and crystal formations. The crystalline planes of their bodies absorb and refract natural light.
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Know. Local:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16+4 to identify the weaknesses of creatures.
Know. Local:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20+4 to identify the weaknesses of creatures.
Order of the Nail it seems. But the crystal are creatures, Crysmal, elemental from the plane of Earth. I imagine if they speak, they speak Terran, language I don't fuc*ing know.
Says Dolgar, taking his shield but waiting for the more talkative or knowledgable comrade to do something.
Male N/G Human Cleric (Ecclesitheurge)/11 | HP: 117/117, ER 10 fire | AC/FF/Tch: 13/13/9 | CMD: 15 | F/R/W: +14/5/16 +14/5/16 | Init: +1 +1 | Speed 30 ft | Init:+1 | Diplo+21, Heal+11, Kn Arc/His/Nat/Nob/Pln+6, KnRel+16, Ling+6, Perc+12, SMot+21, SCft+7 | Active Conditions: mage armor, hunters blessing (?;?), ant haul
"Earth Elementals, hmmm. Gather round for a blessing."
When all are gathered, including any companions/eidolans/mounts, Guy casts Hunter's blessing on everyone, granting bonuses for Underground and Outsider (earth).
Current time: 12:03 (the level was entered at 12:00) === Out of Initiative === Dolgar Ironfist - dmg; See Invis (15:00); Resist Energy Fire 20 (15:00); Heroism (15:00); Magic Circle vs Evil (13:30);
Uhvat Balanos - dmg; False Life (11 temp hp); Heroism (13:30); Resist Energy Fire 10 (12:30); Shield (12:09);
Shiva - dmg;
Guy du Loc - dmg; mage armor (13:00); Heroism (15:00); DR 10 vs fire;
The crystals appear to be the remnants of dead crysmals, rather than currently living creatures. However, as the group investigates, they see a living crysmal enter the chamber from the north, pursued by a tiny floating sphere bristling with quivering blades and staring with a solitary eyeball.
Knowledge (Planes) DC 12:
This is an augur kyton. Gory sentinels with a lust for flesh and the myriad bodily fluids contained within, augurs number among the most common—as well as most despicable— kytons on the Plane of Shadow. Having given up their humanoid bodies in favor of the more stealthy and wretched guise of a singular large eye armored in bloodied metal plates, augurs act as spies and sycophants for more powerful kytons. Their miniscule size, sturdy exterior, and unnerving gazes make them ideally equipped for dangerous reconnaissance missions to the Material Plane, where the augurs are able to scout out potential raiding locations or spot vulnerable, lone travelers before their more powerful kyton brethren cross the planes to attack. While their usefulness in tasks of stealth and guile makes augurs deadly companions, their insatiable lust for blood often proves their ultimate downfall. Augurs, like most kytons, find themselves in a heightened state of arousal when witness to the destruction of flesh, but the extent to which these muscular orbs find pleasure in blood is far more treacherous than their more disciplined peers. Many augurs cannot help but indulge themselves when exposed to gore—rolling within and dipping their blades into freshly spilled pools—an unfortunate trait which has led many careless augurs to their capture or doom. An augur’s gruesome appearance is not always self-inflicted. They are sometimes constructed by other kytons who seek to impose an everlasting punishment upon a particularly unwilling mortal sacrifice; the defiant individual’s body is cast aside for scraps as its mind and soul are transferred into the monocular shell, producing an augur when the ritual is complete. Augurs are the least pragmatic type of all kytons, and thus the least respected among their peers. The condemnation of an individual’s spirit to the cage-like body of a kyton augur is the precedent for a truly agonizing and lonely existence. You also know that augur kytons sometimes serve as familiars for spellcasters. A typical augur kyton is 1 foot in diameter and weighs 30 pounds.
The sphere stops when it sees the group, backs up a bit, and hovers uncertainly in midair, allowing the crysmal it was chasing to escape into a crevice in the rock and disappear from view. The sphere trains its one eye upon the pathfinders.
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Know. Planes:1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 2 = 15+4 to identify the weaknesses of creatures.
Aye, those tiny sort of fellows can't be trusted but its behavior intrigued me... Wasn't the guy we're looking for, a spellcaster of some sort? From the Order of the Gate?
Dolgar tries to read the behavior of the creature.
Sense Motive:1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 20 + 2 = 40
Hey! You! Do you know Signifer Chaid DiViri? he asks in a gruff tone.
Dolgar senses that the augur kyton is not hostile to the group, and perhaps even wants something from them, though, as Guy has so succinctly pointed out, its ability to communicate is limited. It does noticeably quiver when Dolgar mentions the missing Hellknight commander.
Male N/G Human Cleric (Ecclesitheurge)/11 | HP: 117/117, ER 10 fire | AC/FF/Tch: 13/13/9 | CMD: 15 | F/R/W: +14/5/16 +14/5/16 | Init: +1 +1 | Speed 30 ft | Init:+1 | Diplo+21, Heal+11, Kn Arc/His/Nat/Nob/Pln+6, KnRel+16, Ling+6, Perc+12, SMot+21, SCft+7 | Active Conditions: mage armor, hunters blessing (?;?), ant haul
Guy scratches his head, and turns to the others (though keeping it within his peripheral vision).
"Well... We could follow it, though from your description, that would probably be dangerous and stupid. Still, we would inevitably end up wherever it goes anyway... I say we see if it wants us to follow it!"
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
You're right, but may be it can, like most outsider, talk through telepathy?
Anyway, I don' think it want to harm us and as it reacts to the name? I agree that we can follow it.
Current time: 12:13 (the level was entered at 12:00) === Out of Initiative === Dolgar Ironfist - dmg; See Invis (15:00); Resist Energy Fire 20 (15:00); Heroism (15:00); Magic Circle vs Evil (13:30);
Uhvat Balanos - dmg; False Life (11 temp hp); Heroism (13:30); Resist Energy Fire 10 (12:30); Shield (12:09); Shiva - dmg;
Guy du Loc - dmg; mage armor (13:00); Heroism (15:00); DR 10 vs fire;
Before following the floating sphere, the pathfinders take a few minutes to survey the fallen Hellknights. The scattered gear includes three +1 halberds and three suits of Hellknight plate. Scavenging characters can piece together one additional suit. Red gems are fused with the crystals— once the eyes and weird organs of crysmals. Breaking the crystals frees 2d8 chipped carnelians worth 25 gp each.
In addition, the group finds a journal, mostly blank. The only text is on the first page and reads:
Journal text wrote:
The Journal of Chaid DiViri, Hellknight Signifer of the Order of the Gate, leader of the expedition to tame the Emerald Spire. “What follows is Volume 3, the rest being enshrined safely
with my order on my expedition’s return trips to the surface. “The campaign continues, now into heat and boiling stone. Our troop has dwindled in size, but the gemstone vein that has provided our egress time and again is sure to be near. We will resupply, forge ahead, and discover what secret lies within these depths. I’ve come too far now to let something as flimsy as fire stand in my way. These pits’ secrets will be mine, even if it takes the bodies of all my knights to smother their flames.
Once the pathfinders have completed their investigations into the fallen Hellknights, the augur kyton leads them into the next chamber. Map updated
Pale white and gray crystals cover this room in tightly packed formations, clustering in corners and around a central pillar.
DC 24 Knowledge (Planes):
The crystals here are only the crysmals’ shiny waste—fragile and worthless.
The augur kyton hovers near the far end of the chamber, seemingly urging the pathfinders to continue further into the depths.
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Know. Planes:1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 2 = 10
If you say so. Lets continue says Dolgar not recognizing the crystal.
Male N/G Human Cleric (Ecclesitheurge)/11 | HP: 117/117, ER 10 fire | AC/FF/Tch: 13/13/9 | CMD: 15 | F/R/W: +14/5/16 +14/5/16 | Init: +1 +1 | Speed 30 ft | Init:+1 | Diplo+21, Heal+11, Kn Arc/His/Nat/Nob/Pln+6, KnRel+16, Ling+6, Perc+12, SMot+21, SCft+7 | Active Conditions: mage armor, hunters blessing (?;?), ant haul
kn planes:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19
"Looks pretty though. Moving on, I guess."
Guy keeps a detect magic going and scans around when possible, which is not all that often being at the back of the party and with the bewildering array of magic items carried by the leaders.
Current time: 12:18 (the level was entered at 12:00) === Out of Initiative === Dolgar Ironfist - dmg; See Invis (15:00); Resist Energy Fire 20 (15:00); Heroism (15:00); Magic Circle vs Evil (13:30);
Uhvat Balanos - dmg; False Life (11 temp hp); Heroism (13:30); Resist Energy Fire 10 (12:30); Shield (12:09); Shiva - dmg;
Guy du Loc - dmg; mage armor (13:00); Heroism (15:00); DR 10 vs fire;
The group follows the augur kyton into a much larger chamber. A rotten smell from deep within the earth fills this wide cavern, rumbling through fissures and bubbling up from a river of magma coursing through the cave. A stony formation at the cave’s center forms an arching bridge over the fiery current.
Male N/G Human Cleric (Ecclesitheurge)/11 | HP: 117/117, ER 10 fire | AC/FF/Tch: 13/13/9 | CMD: 15 | F/R/W: +14/5/16 +14/5/16 | Init: +1 +1 | Speed 30 ft | Init:+1 | Diplo+21, Heal+11, Kn Arc/His/Nat/Nob/Pln+6, KnRel+16, Ling+6, Perc+12, SMot+21, SCft+7 | Active Conditions: mage armor, hunters blessing (?;?), ant haul
Looking at the bridge, then pointing at the gas clouss, Guy makes a suggestion.
"I'm thinking that you will want to hold your breath when crossing that bridge, and hope that nothing blocks your way. Personally, I'm going to use an air crustal for this crossing unless someone has a better solution, like, say, a handy scroll of mass air bubble."
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
I prefer my feet on the ground. says Dolgar grumphily.
He moves cautiausly to the bridge, looking for any danger or trap.
I prefer my feet on the ground. says Dolgar grumphily.
That is certainly an option, but it would involve crossing a damaged, open air bridge above magma and below toxic gasses. Or you can take my hand and the four of us can skip all of that like walking through a door.
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Seeing the danger of walking on the bridge, Dolgar looks Shiva and grumpily agrees.
Current time: 12:21 (the level was entered at 12:00) === Out of Initiative === Dolgar Ironfist - dmg; See Invis (15:00); Resist Energy Fire 20 (15:00); Heroism (15:00); Magic Circle vs Evil (13:30);
Uhvat Balanos - dmg; False Life (11 temp hp); Heroism (13:30); Resist Energy Fire 10 (12:30); Shield (12:09); Shiva - dmg;
Guy du Loc - dmg; mage armor (13:00); Heroism (15:00); DR 10 vs fire; Sanctuary;
The group teleports across the bridge without incident and the augur kyton hurriedly follows them and leads them to a small chamber to the West. Map updated
Rivulets of magma course down this cavern’s northern wall, melting plates of spiked black armor before draining into the rock. The corpses of four Hellknights are soldered to the walls, still standing upright, seemingly pinned to the wall by the drying of the magma that flows over them.
Portions of the Hellknights' flesh have not been consumed by the magma and the augur kyton now dips one of its blades into the blood of one of the bodies - the one with the most ornate regalia - and uses the blood to scrawl a single word on the wall in Common: "Help".
By the time all of this happens, Guy's Sanctuary spell has expired.
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Dolgar looks at the armor, trying to find a way to extract them from the magma and tries to asses how much time it will take.
Male N/G Human Cleric (Ecclesitheurge)/11 | HP: 117/117, ER 10 fire | AC/FF/Tch: 13/13/9 | CMD: 15 | F/R/W: +14/5/16 +14/5/16 | Init: +1 +1 | Speed 30 ft | Init:+1 | Diplo+21, Heal+11, Kn Arc/His/Nat/Nob/Pln+6, KnRel+16, Ling+6, Perc+12, SMot+21, SCft+7 | Active Conditions: mage armor, hunters blessing (?;?), ant haul
"I wonder what the kryton wants with the body. I suppose if we take it back they could do a resurrection. He seemed important enough to do that, I suppose."
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Dolgar stows away his hammer and takes his tools to extract the corpses.
That is up to you to decide. The augur kyton seems quite eager for you to retrieve the body (note that it only seems interested in the one body - the female one with the most ornate armor).
Male N/G Human Cleric (Ecclesitheurge)/11 | HP: 117/117, ER 10 fire | AC/FF/Tch: 13/13/9 | CMD: 15 | F/R/W: +14/5/16 +14/5/16 | Init: +1 +1 | Speed 30 ft | Init:+1 | Diplo+21, Heal+11, Kn Arc/His/Nat/Nob/Pln+6, KnRel+16, Ling+6, Perc+12, SMot+21, SCft+7 | Active Conditions: mage armor, hunters blessing (?;?), ant haul
"It could, but I imagine that if he was revived he could give us some well received advice about the dangers of this level. There is no hurry and we are going to have to cross that bridge one way or another."
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Agreed. We can go back. At least, the first part of our mission will have been done.
AC25 (FF24/T11); HP 112/112 (Darvision 60ft. Perception +18 (+2 vs unusal stonework) ; +6 Init; Fort +13, Ref +7, Will +14 (+5 vs Magic, +3 vs poison)| Spell: See Invisibility, Heroism|
Once Uhvat's mindsearching is done, Dolgar takes the corpse of the dead hellknight and starts getting back to the exit.
We will get you too lads! Just after our next trip to here. he says when living the dead hellknights.
Uhvat detects no particular psychic significance to the corpses though it is clear that they did not die of natural causes.
When the group attempts to pull the bodies away from the walls they find that Chaid's hellknight plate - the only set of armor that has remained in good working order - has a wand of shield (22 charges) tucked within it.
It takes a bit of work to wrestle the corpses free from the walls but eventually the pathfinders are able to do it and they turn back towards the bridge over the fiery magma, each carrying a heavy corpse.
The kyton augur bobs along, looking as happy as such a creature can.
I think you have another casting of Dimension Door? Are you using it now (and will it be sufficient to carry the group along with the 4 corpses?)?
