[PFS] Grotto of the Deluged God (Inactive)

Game Master Gummy Bear

"Hey, its rider-friend is still alive! Maybe we can get them into the boat," Willow calls out just as Souja lunges forward to try and catch said rider. "Whoa, hold on!" she cries as she holds tight to the rope and braces herself as best as she can.

Str: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

"Augh! Too heavy!"

"Maybe tying off the saddle will help hold them in place. Then someone could just hit them with a healing wand. Use mine if you need to."

Chhat loops her fine, lightweight silk rope around the deck railing for support, once, then twice. Satisfied that it'll hold the weight, she leans over the side between the stakes of the railing, laying on her belly if needed. She strains to reach so she can tie the other end to the rider's saddle.

”I’ve got a wand too, if someone can get them close enough to us to heal properly!”. Perrine didn’t say it, but she couldn’t help but wonder what could have caused such an injury to these aquatic creatures. She pulled her CLWwand and moved to the side of the ship closest to the injured couple as she thought.

Souja manages to get a firm grip on the rider and coax the healing liquid down his throat. Many of his visible wounds begin to fade, or at the very least stop clouding the water with his blood. Sensing their rider's safety and stable condition, the Hippocampus begins to calm and even become reasonably compliant.

After the joint effort of lashing the Hippocampus' saddle against the boat, anyone who wishes to is easily able to apply some form of healing to the rider. Between the potion and wand, the rider begins to stir!

"Urgh... ooohh my head..." he groans as his hands hold his skull. "WHOA! Who are you?" he asks urgently as he gains awareness of his surroundings, wincing in pain at his own sudden movement. Noticing his Hippocampus is at ease, though, he quickly calms down as well. "Well this is awkward... Uh, can I go or am I your prisoner?" he asks hesitantly.
________
Souja, tbh I don't know what I'd call the roll to do that, but an 18 would be good enough for me regardless at this level (especially with the mount trusting you)! Perrine, let's call it a single charge on whichever wand you're using. None of you have any idea what exactly he is.

"We're Pathfinders and we're here to help," Willow answers promptly. "Sort of. See we came looking for a ship that was carrying some of our agents and we found it wrecked outside and we poked around and it seemed like there was a mutiny or something and then we got attacked by dead bodies and so we had to re-dead them and then we decided to come look out here too in case there were any survivors and they wound up in here."

She pauses and stares curiously at the rider and his mount. "My name's Willow Grove. What's yours? What about your critter friend? Is this your home? Have you seen any people splashing around lately?"

Diplomacy (Aid?): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Perrine was overjoyed to see everyone was all right after all. She put her wand back in her pouch, glad it contributed in some small way to a successful resolution.

”No, you aren’t our prisoner,” Perrine adds with a grin. ”Willow is right, though. We are just glad we were able to help you two. What’s your friend’s name? Could I pet her,” Perrine blurts out, knowing she’d never forgive herself if she passed on the chance to pet a hippocampus in the wild.

Diplomacy aid 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

Still laying on her tummy hanging over the edge of the ship, Chhat starts to untie her rope from the saddle and smiles self-consciously at what she was doing.

"Oh, no, sorry about this. I just thought it might keep her from swimming away before we could help you. Umm, do you want to come aboard?"

"Well, If you can...," Souja starts to say before noting that the Hippocampus has calmed. "Never mind, she calmed on her own..." Then she looks squarely at the rider. "What happened to you anyway?"

The hesitation in his voice and the concern on his face release as the Pathfinders make themselves known.

“My name is Nalu.” He pats the hippocampus on the flank. “This is Kelp,” he says proudly. "Of course you may pet her! I even have something here..." he says as he rummages through some of his saddlebags. "He loves these," he says as he hands Perrine several dripping strands of seaweed.

"I'll be fine in the water, but thank you. The current caught us and pulled us in," he begins as feels the side of his head. “I fear I was dashed against the rock, but I don’t entirely remember. If you are looking for things in here, I doubt there is much more than wreckage and debris. Based on the current, it wouldn't surprise me if there was a corpse or two at the end of the cave though...!”

”Hi, Kelp! I’m Perrine. It is so nice to meet you. You are quite the handsome fella, You know that,” she coos as she takes a handful of the seaweed and feeds it to her new friend.

Chhat also takes the once-in-a-lifetime chance to pet a hippocampus before standing up from the deck and rewinding her rope.

"Aren't you used to the currents here? Or are these not normal?"

She suddenly covers her mouth and her eyes fly open wide as she realizes how that sounded.

"Sorry-sorry-sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude. Of course you're used to the currents. I mean, you live in them. Sorry," she stammers in embarrassment as she scoots over behind Souja trying to make herself look small.

Kelp gently takes the seaweed from her new bestest friend before giving the Gnome a playful nip on the arm and a watery neigh.

"It only makes sense for you to believe such things," Nalu says. "It is true that most of my life, and that of any Triton, is spent below the water. However I have never seen currents like this before. My people do speak of times in the past when events on the Planes of Air or Water have affected our seas; whether or not that is what this is, it is the first of its kind that I have seen.” Here Nalu pauses for a moment before suddenly jerking upright.

"I was on a diplomatic visit to another undersea community! I am sorry Pathfinders, but I must return to my people and tell them of this phenomenon, in addition to completing my journey," he says quickly. "But here!" Releasing some of his saddlebags, he hands them to you. "If you hadn't saved us, this would be yours anyways. Please, take them as a gift. Be safe."

Eager to get on his way, Nalu pushes off with Kelp from the Swan Boat, releasing the vessel to the power of the current once more. Diving under the surface, the pair race gracefully fight the current before racing off into the ocean beyond.
________

"Wooo...don't get to meet water-folk and their friends very often," Willow remarks gleefully, also giving Kelp a gentle pet while her rider regains his bearings. "Even though we're nature spirits we're still basically land-lubbers like fleshy peoples."

She listens carefully as Nalu explains how he and Kelp wound up in the cave and the strangeness of the currents in the area. "Huh. So this is strange even to you! Well, since you've got your own mission to be doing we'll just have to try and investigate it ourselves," she says with a resolute nod. "Maybe our people can get in touch with your people and share what we learn!"

Willow waves goodbye when the pair bid them farewell and disappear under the water and then turns back to her sisters. "That was nice! I'm glad we could help them out. I know he said we probably wouldn't find much of anything back here but I still think we should try and finish looking around as look as the water doesn't get too rough."

”I agree. We are already here and we’ve done a good deed, so let’s finish looking in this cave. After that, I think we’ve run out of things to investigate for this mission!”

Determined to complete your task, you set forth once more into the depths of the dim cave. Even though the wind from the outside has long since abated, the churning of the water grows even more intense as the current pushes through a natural choke point. Water frequently throws itself against the hull, spraying a fine mist of brine across your face, gently stinging your eyes and nose. While focusing on your balance is enough to compensate for the turbulence, the Swan Boat starts careening towards the Western wall!
________
Time for a Strength, Dexterity, or Sailor check! Only one can be the lead, but everyone else will be aiding. You can roll whichever works best for you to do so.

Strength Aid 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"Whoa, Nelly!"

Seeing that they're heading right for the western wall Willow grabs one of the oars and quickly attempts to pivot it about so the boat will turn or at least slow down...

Dexterity (Aid): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18
______________

Looks like Chhat and Souja have the best modifiers (+4) to their Dex and Str, respectively~

Chhat launches herself off the railing onto the neck of the swan which towers far above the rest of the boat. She tries to use her momentum from the amazing leap to tip the swan's head, thus rolling the boat to the side and steering it away from the wall.

Dexterity: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Seeing Chhat's leap, Souja attempts to throw her weight against the boat side in order to assist in the attempt as well.

Strength check, Aid: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

With an impressive display of athleticism, the Pathfinders do their best to correct the Swan Boat's course. Using an intuitive understanding of nautical physics, they are able to carve a tight, but fluid, turn away from the unrelenting cavern wall. Course now set for a beach made of gravely sand, the boat handily beaches itself.

The wind has grown fierce in the flooded tunnel, which terminates at a peninsula of sand and rock where the waves lash at the ground with stinging force. At the center of the underground island, a blue-green dragon with seahorse-like fronds and frills stands defiantly beside a rip in reality that hovers half-submerged next to the island. The water churns to a feverish cone-shaped tempest, drawing into its chaotic dance anything that floats, swims or flies. Debris creates a pile of flotsam at the back of the cave similar to the mounds of broken ships outside the cave mouth.

“Ah,” the dragon says nonchalantly and without turning around, “you’ve passed the Trial of the Tempest, and so you’ve been judged fit to serve me. Welcome, dear mortals. You may set down your arms and kneel before your new master.”
________
I know it is late, but I put the picture of Nalu up on slide 5. Sorry y'all >_< You may arrange yourself as you wish within 10ft of the boat. The ceiling has risen to about 60ft in this area. A picture of the dragon is to the right of slide 8.

"Whut?"

Willow looks around, incredibly confused by this new development, her puzzled tone comically at odds with the cheerful expression carved onto her face.

"Um...no offense Mister...Miss?...Dragon, you're very magnificent and all and that tear in reality there really spruces up the place too but we just came in here to look around," she responds, now staring curiously at the dragon. "But that doesn't mean we can't still be friendly friends, right? I'm Willow Grove! What's your name?"

Diplomacy (Aid): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Diplomacy aid 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Perrine wouldn’t have went for the diplomatic option here, but she followed Willow’s lead. ”Right! We can all tell you are super powerful and intimidating and strong, but we mean no threat. We’d just like to be friends and see if you have any clue to what might have happened to some sailors. Easy peasy.”

Souja backs off just a little bit. There's nothing I can say or do in this situation that'll help, unless it attacks, she thinks as she readies to begin a counter assault if the dragon attacks.

"Ha ha haaaa! Your simple-minded quaintness amuses me. My tiny servants, friendship requires equality. As my servants, we are inherently unequal," the dragon lectures.

"I am the Tempest Monarch, Ruler of Air and Sea. You may call me ‘monarch,’ or ‘my ruler.’ Neither of your offered prefixes are appropriate, Servant Weed," they say condescendingly to Willow.

"HA! You are far from the first to pass my test, Servant Insect," now looking at Perrine. "Others with a nautical inclination have earned the privilege of serving me, yet many more have succumbed to the trials. Now, I will say again: You may set down your arms and kneel before your new master. I abhor repeating myself, you would be wise to acquiesce my request forthwith," they continue tersely.

"Servants Monkey and Blowfish," looking at Chhat and Souja respectively, "you may show the other two how it is to be done, perhaps gaining valuable initial favor..."
________
If you decide to drop your weapons and kneel: roll diplomacy if you are sincerely entering their service or bluff if you are being insincere.

Chhat looks up at Souja’s strong back and sees her broad tattooed muscles tense in readiness. She then resolutely sets her hand on the butt of her pistol, preparing for a fight at her sisters’ signal. But she can’t help giggling a little at the pompous dragon’s speech.

”He’s kinda small to be the ‘Ruler of Air and Sea’ isn’t he?” she whispers to her sisters.

”Ummm, ‘Monarch’? Where did the ‘others with a nautical inclination’ go?”

"Oh, um...hmm."

For a moment, Willow is actually reduced to a thoughtful silence.

Don't dragons live a long time?

Yeah, I think they do. I don't think I'd like having to stay down here in this wet cave for years and years and years!

Still...I wonder what a dragon like this one would need servants for?

"They are! But maybe we should play along for now?"

She hesitates, to see how the 'Monarch' answers her sister's question and what the others think, before acting.

"Ha ha haaaa! Your simple-minded quaintness amuses me. My tiny servants, friendship requires equality. As my servants, we are inherently unequal," the dragon lectures.

"I am the Tempest Monarch, Ruler of Air and Sea. You may call me ‘monarch,’ or ‘my ruler.’ Neither of your offered prefixes are appropriate, Servant Weed," they say condescendingly to Willow.

The automatic arrogance and supposed superiority almost immediately sets Souja twitching a little. Need to keep temper.... she scolds herself as her hands tighten about the shaft of her earth-breaker.

"HA! You are far from the first to pass my test, Servant Insect," now looking at Perrine. "Others with a nautical inclination have earned the privilege of serving me, yet many more have succumbed to the trials. Now, I will say again: You may set down your arms and kneel before your new master. I abhor repeating myself, you would be wise to acquiesce my request forthwith," they continue tersely.

And further insults make her temper flare hotter. This needs be worth it....he has to have something of worth....

"Servants Monkey and Blowfish," looking at Chhat and Souja respectively, "you may show the other two how it is to be done, perhaps gaining valuable initial favor..."

Hells take it, this little beast learns pain! And at that point, all thoughts of diplomacy are thrown out the window. With a gutteral war cry, Souja charges forward at the beast, earth breaker swinging.

"Pah, I have many tasks, plans, and machinations to attend to, not to mention valuable experiments to conduct, my innumerable servan- AH! WHAT IS THIS INSOLENT TREACHERY?!" the Monarch cries out in defiance as Souja's sudden attack shatters the ground by their side, an errant gust of wind shifting the warrior's aim. "SO BE IT! Pitiful servants shall be punished until they know their place! Lesser beings always serve the powerful!"

COMBAT ROUND 1

Yet before the Monarch can do anything to back up their assertion, Souja and Willow manage to...

Environmental Effects: None

Initiative:
Souja
Willow
Monarch
Chhat
Perrine

BOLD MAY GO!
________

Normally I'd say that Souja would need to bluff vs sense motive, but my interpretation of how the Monarch is written is that they are so arrogant that they would have assumed your impending submission (effectively forgoing the sense motive check).

Souja responds to the first inaccurate strike, with a second far more accurate strike. "Tshameks like you only show how not to be a leader!" she bellows as she connects with the dragon.

Attack vs. dragon.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27For: 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (1, 4) + 6 = 11
Crit confirm?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25For: 4d6 + 12 ⇒ (5, 6, 5, 1) + 12 = 29

Assuming Souja didn't just OHKO it.... :)

Even though Souja probably doesn't need her help at this point Willow darts along the sand, trying to circle around to the dragon's flank.

"Didn't anyone ever tell you that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar?" she remarks, brandishing her short sword.
______________

Double move~

@GM: Can we get a description of the cave walls immediately surrounding the beach zone? Height? Any protrusions to grip or ledges to sit/stand upon, especially in the space I marked with a target. Chhat is planning to use a cool Matrix-style move to get up onto the wall there, if there's somewhere she can end upon.

Before the Monarch even has a chance to dole out his displeasure in response to the insolence thrust upon him, Souja f++%s them up delivers a savage blow to their head. With a sickening CRACK! her mighty earthbreaker ends the impending tyranny. The Monarch's body launches pathetically to the side and crumples against the wall of the cave.

COMBAT OVER!

________
Sorry for the late post, my day turned into a scheduling nightmare (nothing bad happened, but a lot of free time got sucked away). I will update the thread again tomorrow morning, but I've reached my limit tonight :/

"Oh...well that was efficient," Willow remarks, lowering her blade. "And brutal!"

She looks around, eyeballing the strange rift in particular. "So...does anyone know what that is or where it might go? I think it might be what's causing the weird weather issues..."

Watching Souja take out a DRAGON! all by herself makes Chhat go a little weak in the knees. Thankfully, Willow asks the important questions before Chhat can open her mouth and say something silly. Again.

But since she knows exactly nothin' about magic and elemental forces, she sticks to what she does know. And checks around the beach for anything of interest. She even takes a quick climb up the walls to make sure there's no hidden caches in little caves up there.

Dragons can fly. I think. It's where I'd hide stuff from the water. And normal land-bound Pathfinders, she thinks as she searches, stiffing a giggle at the last thought.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

Is there actually a (treasure) chest or something as depicted at the back of the beach?

Souja snorts in righteous indignation, as she strides toward the dragon. "If it's still alive, we can take it to Benarry. I'm sure she can get some sort of answers from it," she says as she checks to see of the dragon is still breathing.

Chhat's searching proves fruitful! After a thorough search of the barren walls, she notices that there is a treasure chest nestled in the sand. Better yet: the lock has been reduced to a mangle of rust! Popping it open, she finds a masterwork longsword, a potion of greater magic fang, 50 feet of spider’s silk rope, a sheaf of papers (notes/research on the planar anomaly), and 250 gold pieces in assorted coins. It occurs to her that Venture-Captain would probably be deeply interested in that little bundle of notes.

Meanwhile, Souja inspects the Monarch for signs of life. Despite the traumatic head injury she delivered, the Monarch is breathing regularly, if a little shallowly, and their pulse is strong.
________

In your next post, please include what you want to do with the Monarch. Y'all can chat/poke around here, but let me know when you are ready to up and leave!

”Well, I don’t know how many people in the whole world can say they met a dragon and knocked it out! I don’t know much about this little fella, but someone back at Absalom might. I wonder if we could eventually make him friendly? Could we tie him up and let me heal him? I’d hate for him to die, you know, when we could learn so much more about dragons!”

After continue to stare at the rift for a minute or two Willow suddenly laughs out loud.

"Never mind, I know what this is! The Planes of Air and Water got all tangled up here," she explains. "Sometimes biiiiig elemental events happen and it forms tangles like this one! They usually fade away on their own and good thing too, because it's not getting closed any other way right now."

Willow pauses and looks around at her companions. "Not unless one of you knows a really powerful wizard or maybe a druid? I don't. I wish I did, though. It'd be soooo nice to be able to just have someone teleport me everywhere."

"Anyway yeah, that's about the long and short of it. The rift shouldn't be anything to worry too much about; it won't suck anyone into it except maybe air and water elementals if any get too close!"

She's then distracted from the rift as the conversation shifts to the Monarch and what to do with them. "Um...they're awfully big, could we even get them back into the boat with us?" Willow asks, sounding doubtful. "If they're going to be out cold for a while maybe the Society could send more powerful agents back to take care of them!"

Chhat excitedly shares the finds of her search with her sisters. “Check out this rope! It's Soooo light! And strong like, well... , “ she shyly glances over at Souja. “And there's these notes about planar stuff, too “she quickly shows Willow and Amethyst.

“I know people pay a lot for dragon parts, but I can't stomach just carving him up that way. No matter how arrogant he is,“ she giggles. “Maybe we can just tie him up with my nice new rope... “

“EEP, I mean, if no one else wants it. “

Pausing self consciously at her slip of the tongue, she waits to make sure no one speaks up to claim the rope.

“But either way let's use some to tie his mouth closed. I reaaaly don't want to listen to him allllll the way back to the big ship. “

She takes her time to bind the Monarch with her old silk rope and the new rope, too. She makes sure to wrap some around his mouth to keep it clamped shut, too.

Take 20 on Escape Artist to tie up a helpless captive = 30.

Voting to bring him back to the VC in case that wasn't obvious.

"Okay, that works! Especially since we can't just leave them here to lord over anyone else that might happen to wander in here," Willow nods as Chhat gets busy wrapping the Monarch up like a package. In fact, as soon as the thought crosses her mind she can't help but giggle.

"Hey Chhat, you should tie a big pretty bow when you get done!"

”Aww, a bow would make it look so cute. Maybe they will give us a cool nickname, like....The Dragon Tamers. Well, the name needs work, but I think we’ve done really great work here, everyone!”

With all the grace and tenderness owed to one of the Monarch's temperament and prestige, they are gift wrapped and tossed into the boat (certainly to the immense satisfaction of someone). Thanks to the rift, the winds and current are still flowing strongly in the opposite direction you try to travel, but fortunately between the boat and teamwork you able to make it out of the cave.

Barely after you've begun to turn the Swan Boat in the direction of the Grinning Pixie, those of you with keen eyesight notice something moving far in the distance. A pinpoint on the horizon resolves into the sight of another small boat. As it nears, it brings with it the fragrant scents and bright colors of garlands of flowers. In the boat are several masked figures, unarmed and wearing ceremonial regalia. They seem shocked to see a vessel emerging from the cave, and stare openly. “What was your business in the sacred grotto of our god?” one of them calls. “No one, not even we, may enter!”
________

"Ooh, ooh! I know these guys," Willow whispers. "Not personally I mean, but they're from the Cult of the Eye! They worship the Eye of Abendego, thinking it's the birthing pains of a new god - the Deluged God," she continues to explain in a rushed whisper. "He's supposed to eventually pop out and cover all of Golarion in a huge flood!"

"Um...they're prooooobably mostly harmless, but they do engage in animal sacrifices," she adds, realizing that might be important for her sisters to know as well. "Um, some people do whisper that they might be responsible for beggars and drunks going missing over in Drenchport but nothing's really been proven either way..."

Turning back to the other boat, Willow waves. "Hello! Oh my gosh, that was your god's grotto!? I'm SO sorry, we didn't know the Deluged God had a grotto out here! We were looking for some friends of ours; their ship went down close by and we thought that if there were any survivors they might've gotten swept into the cave there!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 2 + 5 = 26

Aid another diplomacy 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7

”Yep, we are real sorry about that. I guess we won’t find all of our friends after all, seems like. But we must be leaving now. Good luck and have fun worshipping that hurricane. Stay wet, maybe? That’d be good for you all, wouldn’t it? See you later!”

Perrine’s stammering did not help the situation. ‘Stay wet’ apparently isn’t a common greeting for the cult.

Souja smiles toward Willow. "We found a rat of sorts profaning your god," she adds, as she lifts a wing of the unconscious Monarch as proof, "and did our part in removing this threat. Hopefully, this will help to appease him, yes?"

Diplomacy(aiding Willow): 1d20 + 4 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 4 + 5 = 16

"Did you guys know there was a dragon in there messing with your mini-vortex? We've got him right here, all wrapped up with a pretty bow!" Chhat excitedly proclaims while pointing to the trussed up dragon who is indeed sporting a big pretty bow.

"We also have the dragon's notes about your little mini-vortex in there. You can look at them, but you can't keep them."

To her sisters she says as an aside, "I want to make sure Captain Bennary gets these notes. Finders Keepers, after all," she giggles.

Diplomacy to Aid: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (20) - 2 = 18

Your words of apology and ignorance seem to work well with most of the cultists, especially when Souja and Chhat point out the dragon they are hauling out of there. "A moment, we must confer among ourselves," their spokesperson says.

Huddling on their raft, the cultists speak in quick whispers. Agitated pointing of fingers at the dragon, rapid passing of the research notes, and the occasional outburst quickly silenced by peers commences. After what might have felt like an eternity, the spokesperson steps forth.

"While you have tread upon sacred ground, an act that is forbidden even to those of the faith, you have performed two greater acts of atonement. That beast must have resided in the Sacred Grotto for some time to have gathered these notes and you've excised the parasite for us. You have also shed light on the inner workings of this most holy of places. We shall pass both of these incidents to others of our faith for discussion. May the Deluged God bless your watery travels! We shall remain here to perform our holy rites" he says, positioning their vessel between yours and the grotto before anchoring it. Several cultists move a heavy bag of objects towards the edge of their boat and begin prostrating themselves, while others begin chanting prayers.
________
Y'all are killing it! The cultists have been moved to friendly at this point, so feel free to interact with them more if you wish (there are two explicit topics listed in the scenario that you can engage with them about, however neither are obvious). Otherwise, I will move us on to the Grinning Pixie tomorrow.

"Hey, happy to help," Willow calls back, feeling much more cheery now that the cultists have decided that the group is on the level. "Um, not to be nosy but how long have you been coming out to this grotto? It might help if you put up a sign or something so other people don't just wander on in!"

"Actually,"Souja says slowly, with a faint grin on her face, "maybe a share of information may be in order. Would you be willing for that idea?"

Content that his compatriots of the faith can handle the sacred rites, the head cultist turns back to your boat. "The Faithful have journeyed here since the Eye's dawn! We provide offerings to the grotto so help coax the Deluged God ever forward into this world," he explains to Willow.

To Souja's question, he frowns a little. "Trading information? Of what sort? What more could you have to offer us? You have proven knowledgeable of our holy places, are you fellow adherents, perhaps from an offshoot of our faith?"