GM Ietsuna's Storming the Diamond Gate (Inactive)

Game Master Ietsuna

roll for Perrine

Power Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25
damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

crit confirm: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Survival DC 25: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (2) - 2 = 0

Kolris moves up to the entrance, drawing his rapier as he goes, and tries to slip it inbetween the ribs of the man in blue.

Ivan whispers to his pistol, "Now, remember, quiet-like..." Then he aims at Blue (or Red if Blue is already down), fires, and reloads.

Swift action to spend 1 grit to add CHA to dmg

ranged touch, pbs: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17 Precise Strike, so no penalty for shooting into melee, but possibly penalty for cover
dmg, pbs: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6 If that drops him, recover 1 grit

The gun goes off with a loud retort and Ivan glances at the pistol impatiently. "Shhh, this is a stealth operation!"

Perrine stabs her starknife into Blue's ribs.

Kolris lunges with his rapier but skims off the side of Blue, not doing any damage.

Ivan takes aim and sends a bullet hurtling at between Kolris and Perrine and into Blue.

Combat Round 1 - Bold May Act

Blue -11
Brun
Ivan
Bartolomey -7
Kolris
Mika
Reginald
Perrine
Red

Mika moves to Red while drawing her rapier, and sneakily aims for blue instead.

I believe that provokes from blue, so she'll parry and riposte.

Attack on blue: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Damage (but I think that missed): 1d6 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 + 4 = 14 (that second four is precision damage, if they happen to be immune)

"You think you were being sneaky? Let me teach you something, it's hard to sneak when you throw out arrows."

Blue AoO: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

Mika flicks blue's attack aside and stabs her rapier into it. Blue's knees buckle and it falls to the ground.

Red turns and flees back into the sphinx Provoking from Mika

Combat over. Either Mika's AoO will kill Red or it will disappear into the sphinx

Each of the two enemies wears a crude talisman tied around her neck. On one side, a faceless
woman wearing a bloody Pharaoh’s headdress is displayed, surrounded by Abyssal runes.

On the opposite side of the amulet is the demonic rune for Areshkagal identical to that depicted on the chests of the pair of guardian statues outside the sphinx. Several small square holes have been punched out of the amulets in seemingly random patterns, though the pattern is the same for all three amulets.

”I wonder if these talismans might hold a way to get us by those guardian statues near the Sphinx. These have the same pattern as on their chests.”

"That Red one might be rousing its allies - we'd probably best head in there before they have time to set an ambush for us."

You venture inside the stone sphinx. The dusty stairs from the desert outside open into a large antechamber filled with all manner of crates, boxes, and other storage containers. A large mahogany desk rests in front of two bookshelves that hold several thick, black leather ledgers. Three pegs jut out from the wall near the double door that leads from this chamber to the south. From the peg hang 9 amulets identical to the two you found on the people outside.

AOO: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 4 = 12

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Probably didn't kill him. Moving on.

Mika walks up and moves an amulet with her rapier. "Think these do anything special?" she says, picking one off and spinning it around her blade.

Ivan detects evil around the room. Looking at the amulets with Mika, he nods. "I wonder if the people here wear them when they go outside for some reason. Maybe it protects them?"

If the amulets don't reveal their secrets, Ivan turns his attention to the desk and the ledgers, while also noting that the escaped guard may be bringing reinforcements before long.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Bartolomey enters the room holding his weapon and looks around.

perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

He then tries to detect magic on amulets.

spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Brun follows his master.

"I think we might need to wear these, perhaps to access something deeper inside the sphinx." He studies the amulets himself, curious to see what the other Pathfinders discover about them as well.

Knowledge: 1d20 ⇒ 12
+10 arcana, dungeoneering, local, nature, planes, religion with Inspiration: 1d6 ⇒ 6
+6 with no inspiration for all others
situational bonuses may apply; see character sheet

"Do I HAVE to wear this gaudy amulet? Its blues don't go well with my reds."

Mika, still swinging an amulet around her rapier, moves to look in other places.

"Well, how often do you get to wear something like this?" Reginald chortles. "Or perhaps it's a riddle? Areshkagal is a demon lord of riddles after all. Do you think she would consider a good pun as a riddle?"

GM, for simplicity's sake we can assume Casovir is riding on Reginald's hat until combat breaks out, at which point he'll fly to a safe location (such as outside the room). I've left his token outside the map since it shouldn't see much use.

The crates, boxes, and other storage containers hold all manner of equipment needed to explore an untamed wilderness. The gear consists of simple camping equipment, surveying supplies, and cartographic tools. The desk is empty, but a large hand-drawn map of the regions the Aspis Consortium has already located sprawls across its broad top. The bookshelves hold several leather-bound ledgers that catalog the items taken out on missions, as well as pages upon pages of what appears to be gibberish.

Ivan detects an aura of evil, but cannot seem to see exactly what it is coming from.

The amulets do not give off any auras, not does anything else in the room.

"I will not put Aspis amulet on myself. We are Pathfinders, we will figure out something!"

"Hmmm.... I think I'll hedge my bets, either way." Kolris pockets one of the amulets. He moves over to the desk and studies the map and ledgers, and makes sure that there's nothing hidden amongst the drawers.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

He pays particular attention to the sheets of what appears to be gibberish, and tries to determine if there's some order to the words that he can make out.

Linguistics, inspiration: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 10 + (4) = 22

Mika wraps the amulet around her off hand, but still refuses to put it on. It's pretty secure, but it's definitely not "equipped' either.

"I'll keep one for me, in case, but I don't plan on wearing this stupid thing unless I have to. Oh, and most riddles are stupid puns, I've noticed. So, yeah, maybe she'd count that."

Mika rolls her eyes as she joins Kolris in examining the documents. She can't really roll linguistics though, so she just kinda asks questions to bother him.

Bartolomey puts one amulet in pocket.

"Who will open that door on the south?"

Perrine grabs an amulet. She puts it on, suspecting that it might keep her safe from some trap deeper in the Sphinx.

”I think we need to grab this map. I’m sure the Society needs to know all this information. We might be able to form a strike against them, you know.”

You open teh southern doors and find yourself in a hallway. This long, blasted-out hallway displays several tablets depicting gruesome images of torture and mutilation. The blasted areas have destroyed several of the tablets, but thirteen of them still remain unscathed. Scorched stone and rubble contrast the otherwise pristine corridor.

The tablets are set into the walls at intervals

Each tablet depicts a man or woman self-inflicting savage wounds upon themselves as if they are etching a series of words into their flesh. Below each macabre illustration, a riddle is scrawled.

engineering: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19
arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

"The damage within this hall is a result of a concussive blast originating from a triggered explosive."

Ivan also grabs one of the amulets but does not - for now - put it on. "There's some evil hereabouts, though I ain't see what it is just yet."

When the group enters the hallway and spies the gruesome tablets, Ivan is struck uncharacteristically quiet. Finally, after some time, he whistles and shakes his head, muttering to himself, "Uh uh, no sir, this ain't a nice place, not a bit of it..."

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

”You’re quite right, Bartolomey - and from what remains, they were explosive runes. Do you think any are still active?” Reginald scans the area for traces of magic before anyone can reply.

"I'm a bit fire resistant if you'd like some help looking. We could easily trigger any that are left just by observing things, right? That's how that works?"

"I wonder if any of them are trapped?"

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

"No, I feel very confident that none of them are."

Reginald detects an aura of Abjuration from the southern wall about half way along.

Kolris slips his amulet on over his tunic. "If any of those runes could still be active, maybe this is what gets us past them."

Perrine pats her chest with the amulet already around her neck, smiling in an I told you do manner.

Ivan looks at the amulet in surprise and then also dons his.

Ok, just a recap to refresh. There are several tablets on the wall. Each seems to contain a riddle. You could read them if you liked and attempt to solve the riddles. This is a Sphinx after all and they are big on riddles. One tablet seems to be radiating Abjuration and the damage in the hallway seems be be from exploding runes.

Perrine walks forward and looks at the first tablet on the wall, wondering if she could read the language and riddle a try. ”So I’ll go first. Anyone want to work on a tablet with me?”

DM

Perrine stops mid stride. ”I get a bad feeling about those tablets. There’s too much evil in them for me. Maybe I’ll sit this one out. Let’s just get on last these, then.”

Kolris looks at Perrine with a wondering eye. "We're going to have to solve the riddles; how can we do that if we fear to even read them?" He approaches the riddle she won't read and studies it himself.

Ivan listens to Perrine's words with concern and then casts Detect Evil directly on the tablets in order to see which of them - if any - may be the source of her unease. "If these tablets are evil, we'd best be destroyin' 'em, not playing guessing games with 'em!"

"I agree with Ivan or we can just leave them!"

"Brun go to the end of that hallway and check if there is some trap!"

Brun walks to the end.

perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

"Hmmm..." Kolris pauses. "I see what disturbed you, now, Perrine. Still, not all knowledge comes without risk. I'm concerned that we simply may need to solve at least one of these." He proceeds to try to make out the text and determine the nature of the riddle.

Ivan looks over Kolris' shoulder with puzzled interest. "Solve the riddle? You mean besides jes' shooting some bullets in that thar tablet? Wow, you really do think outside the box, dontcha?!?"

GM Dice: 1d8 ⇒ 7

Those of you with aura detection abilities notice that Kolris' aura is radiating much less strongly in of Lawful Neutrality.

"OK I will try also!" Bartolomey starts to read next riddle.

"Okay, that's just madness," Kolris states. "There's no riddle there, just insanity. Though..." Kolris' voice trails off as he tries to make sense of what he read and what happened. "not all bad, per se. Still, with chaos like that, the benefit that touched me could easily be harm the next time..."

He shakes it off and looks ready to proceed.

"So, evil tablets with evil riddles? I feel we should read some. Evil is a part of life, just balance it back out with, like, saving innocent people from burning buildings or something come on guys!"

Mika begins to read a tablet as well.

Reginald has a sheet of parchment on a writing tablet, Casovir perched precariously on his shoulder with a small pot of ink held in his beak. "Fascinating, absolutely fascinating behavior! Now watch carefully Casovir - if we're lucky, we'll notice some physical symptoms to coincide with their stated mental effects. Do you think it could be Abyssal Fever? It's said to make those who suffer from it both incredibly cold and hot at the same time while sapping their strength. Dreadful stuff. Do you remember when I had it as a child? I was incredibly lucky to not have progressed to the third stage of the disease and thus avoided growing any horns in uncomfortable places." He peers eagerly at his companions, squinting and jotting down a note occasionally.

If/when Mika feels the evil, she puts on the amulet and tries again.

If she still feels evil weirdness, she'll just....continue reading.

Hopefully Mika doesn't just, die. Ya know?

Perrine clucks her tongue at the others ignoring her warning. She just knew she’d have to undo some evilness on them, sooner rather than later.