GL's Shattered Star.

Game Master Grandlounge

Von if you are into grave robbing and what pathfinder is not. The clone wears a necklace of lapis lazuli worth 325 gp, a pair of emerald-studded earrings worth 1,500 gp as a pair, seven rings worth 500 gp each, and a silver and pink pearl anklet worth 400 gp.

Currently, more information about the nature of the spell is beyond Von but he can investigate it further any day.

K3

The hallway ends at an immense panel of reddish metal is nearly twenty feet tall and ten feet wide. Dozens of scenes have been carved into individual one-foot-square frames on the panel. These scenes chronicle a beautiful woman engaged in a magical incantation involving some sort of winged creatures.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

"Well that's an odd door. "

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

”A door, you say? Then that gives me more context for these images. Each one depicts a powerful Wizard infusing objects and locations within the Lady’s Light with succubi. The purpose is most likely to power traps and guardians - or perhaps as punishment. This central panel, in particular, depicts Sorshen binding what looks like a particularly powerful succubus into what I think is the torch of the Lady’s Light. In fact...” Vin-Dai reaches out and gently pushes the central panel, which glows softly as Thassilonian writing appears along the panel’s upper edge. ” Ayandamahla is bound to the Light for all ages,” Von-Dai reads as the door swings open.

I included the bit about the door swinging open from the spoiler, GM. Hope you don’t mind.

Zeltyieli says, "I can't imagine the succubi are terribly happy about that."

"Aren't succubi dangerous? They suck out your life or something I've heard. "

Knowledge (planes) about Succubi: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18

Succubi are Evil demons and as such possess many supernatural defenses.

DR 10/cold iron or good; Immune electricity, fire, poison; Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 18

Beyond the doors is a sloping sandy beach that extends down from the cave walls here to the edge of a slowly flowing underground river. Two wooden skiffs are moored to four-foot-tall stone posts protruding from the sand near the river’s edge. Each boat is relatively narrow and has room to seat three, and each contains a long wooden pole.

@GM - can we see how far underground the river runs?

Beyond the dark vision of the group so at least 60ft in either direction.

Where to next?

"I guess we take a boat to our next destination. Left or right?"

"Uh, right?"

"Yeah right seems a logical choice."

Zeltyieli nods, "Let's go!"

This immense cavern is a breathtaking sight. Dozens of tiny colored motes of light flit and dance in the air, illuminating a vast, cathedral-like cavern. A forest of delicate stalactites hangs down from the ceiling 30 feet above a dark pool of water. To the east, the water foams as it cascades down into a lower cavern, while to the southwest, a low beach of white sand slopes up from the shore to a single stone door set in the wall. A seven-sided stone platform sits in the middle of the lake—an artificial island whose surface sits a mere six inches above the water level. A three-foot-tall stone mooring post protrudes from each of this island’s seven points. A single glass statue of a beautiful woman stands atop this platform, one leg poised before the other as if she were preparing a running leap into the water.

Sevrus will look to see if she can see anything unusual about the statue.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 10 + 4 = 20

Using Ruin raider on the roll if appropriate (+4 to distinguish statue like creatures)

Von-Dai also studies the statue.

Does this one look like Sorshen, too?

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 +4 if Ruin Raider applies

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19 since all the cool kids are doing it

Zeltyeili breathes, "Well, that's just one more hidden wonder...", then casts Detect Magic, and then joins the others in their study of the statue.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27

You realize two things. First, the water near the status is very dangerous and fast-moving, though it seems still. It would take considerable skill to navigate. Second, that statue is made of glass, it is slightly damaged and it is animated.

"Let's skip that island, and head for the beach. "

"I concur. No doubt that statue is some sort of golem that would resist my magic."

Yaron holds for a moment, watching, then wonders, "Something made of glass... could be shattered, no?" Finally, he shakes his heads, "I'll leave the knowledge of golems to the wizard."

"It could be, but most golems are resistant to magic in some capacity, if not outright immune to it. That's why I dropped the one statue down a pit upstairs - they aren't immune to gravity. Were I to build a golem out of glass, I would also strengthen the glass beyond normal means. Still, the appearance of damage on it tells me that whoever was here first fought it."

"Whips don't shatter things particularly well. "

The team navigates the boat far away from the island opting for caution as opposed to blind heroics. They land the boat on a beach. The sand of this beach slopes up toward a door in the cave wall. To the south, two seven-foot-long mounds of sand break the otherwise smooth contours of the beach. A long oval shield painted with a strange symbol sits atop each mound.

"That looks like a grave to me- should we check them out?"

Knowledge (local) on the symbol: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28

"They look recent, too. I suspect that the people who entered previously did not face the golem without loss."

"Hope they haven't started to stink. " and he finds a spade to start digging.

Zeltyeli nods, then sighs, "So this suggests our shortcut did not, in fact, put us ahead of the others.... and that they likely have a better idea of the lay of things than we do. Anyone recognize that symbol?"

I only have religion and planes, so I'm thinking not the right sort of knowledge

Von it is a Grey Maidens funerary symbol.

"It is a funerary symbol of the Grey Maidens. They were Queen Ileosa's special guards during her brief reign of terror in Korvosa. I had thought they were all gone, but it appears that some of them have come here. They are well-armored warriors, so we should be cautious."

Zeltyieli whistles, "Well, that's... worrisome. I liked it better when we thought we were racing against a disorganized, rag-tag group."

"I think someone killed the queen in question, so I doubt it's that organized. Likely less organized than the Society."

Checking the next door it is clear of traps feeling safe you enter.

The walls of this room are covered by detailed murals depicting wanton acts involving otherworldly beings of every description. The murals cover every vertical surface, but stop abruptly after turning down the hallway to the south, as though abandoned by the artist.

"Even an ex-soldier still remembers their training. While the Grey Maidens themselves may no longer be that organized, we should not underestimate how organized a small group of them can be."

Von-Dai studies the murals with slight disgust. He understood that some people enjoyed this sort of thing, but this was a bit excessive. Still, authors usually left some sort of signature, so he tried to find that so he could tell who did it.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Marcus will ignore the garish murals and head for the south hallway, keeping his eyes open for trouble.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Sevrus will follow Marcus and head south

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

The artist was truly gifted, and careful observers, Marcu and Sevrus, note his signature—“Amivadeus Yasrin.” The keen observers also note the subtext of the work: subtle suggestions of deep spiritual rot and decadence are apparent throughout.

You find nothing else in this room.

k9.

The stone walls, floor, and ceiling of this hall are polished to an almost mirrorlike sheen. The arching ceiling is supported by twin rows of columns, all of which have been carved to resemble the same beautiful woman dressed in revealing robes.

Entry into this room is barred from the west by a wide, locked iron gate. The gate’s lock can seemingly be picked or it can be forced open.

A deathly pale man with long, bone-white hair woven into a long braid, dark eyes, and well-fitting and revealing clothes says, “Greetings, friends or foes,” he says with an almost otherworldly calm. “Which be you? I’ll open the gate for you myself if you be the former, but fear I must prevent your passage if you be the latter. Would you speak the passphrase for me?”

Sevrus will wait to see if any of the more diplomatic party members want to take the lead.

I guess it's a puzzle or something. In any case I'm not diplomatic either.

Is someone trying something. He is waiting on the other side of the gate.

"Friends of course. Is the passphrase lust?"

Von-Dai finds "lust" to be far too obvious a passphrase, but he waits to see what the man says in response.

Likely wrong, but I hate these puzzles.

Zeltyieli holds back, still trying to think on everything he's seen if there was a hint of a passphrase.

If it works, I'll be amazed. If it doesn't, I'm gonna try the name of the artist, Amivadeus Yasrin.

The guardian moves behind the pillar and vanishes.

The Bold may act.
Gnaeus
Zeltiyeli
Sevrus
Von-Dai
Marcus

Did he cast a spell to vanish, or is it just that he's standing behind the pillar?