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“I’ve got Summer’s key right here, Packet.”
Keats holds out his palm to show his team mates the golden key.
His movements are measured and slow, like a recent riser trying to shake off the cobwebs of slee … It’s Hot!"
“You know, I can’t quite remember how I came to find the Summerland key …” Keats’ foggy monologue continues.
“But the demiplane itself was cool … uh … hot. And I had the starring role! Wanna hear my thoughts and observations?”
The actor studies the others’ faces. *Hmph* Maybe their brains are still addled? Their expressions say ‘Hells No’.
“Pip, were you about to expound a theory regarding keys and opposite seasons?” Keats settles into a silent snit to listen.
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And just like that, the flames in Pip's outfit go out. She gathers with the others in the center. "We all disappeared into Demiplanes. It felt like I was gone for hours in that frozen wasteland, when suddenly fire spouted at me. Fortunately, I was kind of expecting it, and leapt away, and all it got was a tiny bit of my dress, and then I was back here... holding this key."
Pip then looks grim. "But... I think it's possible that it could have hurt me pretty badly. Look at these poor servants, all dead. The King said these traps are deadly for Bhopanese of non-royal lineage, and I think that this was the kingdom my grandmother hailed from. She always had animal people in her stories, which I thought was a metaphor."
Then she gathers herself. "Back to the theory. In Bhopanese culture, each season is the key to its opposite. In the case of the vault, I think that's literal. We have four seasons, four keys. I think that each key needs to go to its opposite season. I don't know if they all need to be turned at once, or if we can do it one at a time, but... if you could do it one at a time, only one person would be needed to rob the place."
She hands her icy key to Zarindlara. "With my suspected ancestral ties to Bhopan, I'd better not be the one twisting it into Summer's lock."
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“I good at handling hot things, Keats.” Gurmire replies to the poet.
He is then confused when the man doesn’t tell his thoughts. Humans are weird! Normally he liked to talk and talk and talk. I wonder why he decided to let Pip do the talking now?
After listening to Pip, Gurmire says “I saw picture of Packet in mural. There also signs of trap there, but you come out quickly no time to investigate proper.”
Looking to Zarindlara, he asks “You see same?”
Looking to the rest of the group, he then says “Could each go over what they see? I not want rush assumption unless needed,”
You took half damage here, beating a DC 24 by less than 10. 4 Cold damage.
As a GM I always signal when a save is of the "Basic" type as it might help the player make better use of their hero points (e.g. "Oh snap! I rolled a natural 1 and Doug said it's a Basic Save. This will be a good time to use a Hero Point because taking double damage is bad!"
Keats moves out of the way of the worst of it but still takes a little cold damage! He shivers a little as he listens as Pip explains her theory. He hands the hot key to Gurmire.
Gurmire tries to show his friends the image of Packet in the mural cannot find the halfling anymore. Since Packet isn't trapped in there anymore, perhaps he's not artwork in the mural anymore, either.
But it looks like the trap is still active so everyone stays 10 feet away as you discuss what you saw…
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"I came out quickly? I thought I was in there for hours. It was just me and a wintry wasteland. There was no key hole, no alcove, no body..."
Then Pip pauses. "Four servants wouldn't try and steal something on their own. Not here, with the stakes so high." She pauses, feeling really unhappy. "Wait. The last vault heist was Selmius, Adolphus and Ganjay. The story does not mention a fourth, but there must have been one, right? Did our founders kill a servant just to get into that vault?"
"If you can deactivate the trap, that sounds like a great idea."
Looking closer at the traps, Gurmire and Packet come to the conclusion that you can disable them with Expert-level Crafting or Thievery to rig up a dummy or other object to distract one of the trap’s sensors, or Nature to temporarily befuddle one of the sensors with knowledge of primal magic.
The last vault heist was Selmius, Adolphus and Ganjay. The story does not mention a fourth, but there must have been one, right? Did our founders kill a servant just to get into that vault?"
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Pip sits down on the ground as the realization hits her. "No, not a servant. A familiar! I remember now when we were in the garden party that someone mentioned the Princess has a familiar named 'Yubdaghar' who must have sacrificed himself to help his mistress get into that vault!"
Pip pauses. "Four servants, Ganjay's familiar, and Selmius Foster all died because of this vault. Our handler, Steward Lelzeshin wanted us here, and is now missing. I really do not like this history. What could be worth the deaths of so many?"
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“If want questions, what royal blood mean? Outsiders probably anyone not changed by dance. What make royal blood different that magic able tell it apart?”
“Most of time, it not mean anything. Just fancy label. Here it seem be something magic can determine or it another lie.”
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”It was quite nice, actually. I was walking along a brook through rolling hills, and they were covered in spring flowers. But then some negative energy washed over me, which I wasn’t able to avoid.”
”Whatever is in that vault, for the princess herself to try to get it, it must be very powerful and important. Shall I get to work disarming these traps, so we can try the keys and get in there?”
Gurmire's tinkering gets him blasted with a cloud of poisonous spores!
As Gurmire tinkers with the trap, he imagines a picture inside the motif. It's a picture of a goblin getting blasted in the face with poisonous pollen because he was careless about a trap. Luckily, this imagined goblin serves as a reminder to be very careful, and he manages not to set off the trap. However, he fails to make any progress.
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Packet unrolls his thieves tools on the floor before the mural of spring. He thoughtfully selects the tool he'd like to use, and then with an eye on the trap, and an ear open for sounds from the summer mural, he disables spring.
"How's it going over there? I thought I heard something, and not a good something..."
Packet disables Spring and then saunters over to Winter and casually disables that one too. He's chatting all the while.
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Frowning, Gurmire decides that he must need a bigger effigy for these traps. He tries again.
Maybe I need a face on it?
About this time he hears Packet ask how it is going. “Almost have it...” He rearranges the stick arms, deciding that must be the problem.
Unfortunately the stick arm causes him to get poison in the face!
Coughing, he says “Just about have it!”
Gurmire inhales almost the maximum lungful of poison possible! He continues to work between coughing and sneezing fits, pretending everything is okay.
Gurmire disables the last traps after a couple more tries.
You look at each other, wondering whether to heal up now or after you turn the keys....
Traps disabled, you turn to healing and then following Pip’s and Gurmire’s plan.
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”I don’t believe we have gathered all the facts yet. It could be that these servants were acting on their own. Perhaps there is a reason they want to overthrow their king. And perhaps the princess wanted to end her own father’s rule. It could be that Bhopan is not a perfect wonderland for all.”
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While the others are getting in place, Gurmire decides he has time to look at the body in the area of the Winter mosaic.
“People who fell during dance probably not think it perfect.”
When others indicate it is time, he will stand with the key ready to insert and twist it.
The cause of death is just as Gurmire expected: elemental blast from the opposite season.
The body slouches against the floor, empty hand in its lap where it once, perhaps, held a key. The corpse wears the same dark livery you saw before, that helped the servants blend unobtrusively into the shadows during the garden party.
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"No, Bhopan isn't perfect. There's class distinctions, and a King who is capricious at best. But it's full of danger and interest, and..." Pip pauses. "It's the first place that I've been in my society travels that feels like home, but in a totally different way then Absalom. Still, we're here to find answers. Let's get that vault open."
Pip casts magic weapon on her bow as soon as her colleagues start turning those keys.
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“The King said these traps are deadly for Bhopanese of non-royal lineage.”
Hmm … She’s saying I could be Bhopanese royalty! Makes perfect sense when you think about it.
"With my suspected ancestral ties to Bhopan, I'd better not be the one twisting it into Summer's lock."
“Unless you’re Bhopan royalty yourself, Pip.” *bows*
"No, Bhopan isn't perfect. There's class distinctions, and a King who is capricious at best.”
Keats’ quest for evidence to support his latest self-delusion is suddenly abandoned, as a new thought strikes him.
He puts a finger to his chin. “Non-royal Bhopans are in peril here, and the King wants nothing to do with the place.”
“Doesn’t that suggest the King is a usurper and is using us for his own purposes? Perhaps the princess was the legitimate heir and discovered he was an imposter?”
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"I can't help but wonder if these Bhopans would still be alive if we had sneaked into the vault earlier. That for some reason, perhaps out of desperation, they tried to do what we should have done." Packet signs. "There's still so much that doesn't make sense here."
The four keys, brought to their opposite seasons, click. The vault's massive vault's door opens. Then six more doors groan aside. Each looks quite heavy and is lined with cold iron. The long hallway beyond has mirrored walls.
Past the seven vault doors, a breathtaking sight awaits: mossy green turf leads along the dimly-lit hall to an endless array of riches and gold piled on the floor; all this all surrounds a pedestal atop which a wooden circlet rests. The circlet sprouts flowers and leaves that flourish, wither, and die in an endless cycle.
After a moment of disorientation, you realize that the vault walls are magically mirrored, creating an array of refractions that extend toward endlessly reflected infinities in all directions.
Lelzeshin is in here, leaning over the crown on the pedestal. You see him reflected many times in the mirrors too.
My blood divinations told me that you were coming here, to follow in Selmius's footsteps… it seems it's true, after all — just not as I hoped. He dusts off his robe. The blood of my fellow Bhopanese is on your hands, outsiders. Your refusal forced my hand — forced my fellow citizens to give their lives for a better future.
I am sorry it has to be this way, but you you will help my cause to free Bhopan from the shackles of stagnation. Once the dust settles, which story will the king believe… the one from the Pathfinders who just arrived in Bhopan or the one where his trusted steward Lelzeshin caught on to the Pathfinder’s wily schemes to betray the Bhopanese once again, and put his own life at risk to stop their treachery?
I told you: I'm a student of history. I think you can appreciate that every hero needs a villain — and you, my friends, are my villains. You will follow in Selmius Foster's footsteps, as my divination foretold, and Bhopan will be reborn this day. As he speaks, he subtly draws a kukri…
★★★★★★
As you're watching Lelzeshin in profound horror and (perhaps) sadness, one of his reflections steps out of the mirror to your left and dashes at Keats with a shard of glass shaped like a kukri!
(While Keats has the Reactive Shield feat he doesn;t have a reaction to spend as he hasn't acted yet).
The sharp kukri draws blood from the glamorous warrior poet.
★★★★★★
An Inevitable, yet Disappointing Betrayal
Lelzeshin 1
Zarindlara
Varret
Lelzeshin
Pip
Packet
Gurmire
Keats
Zarindlara and Varret hit once each.
Another reflection of Lelzeshin leaps from the mirror and tries to stab Keats…
But only flails.
Lelzeshin chants arcane words in Mwangi and bright flames appear in his free hand, reflecting in the mirrors like a thousand small suns. He turns and throws the little ball of flame into the mirror behind him, where he can see Pip's reflection.
To her surprise, the ball of flame leaps out of the mirror to Pip's left and strikes her shoulder, singing her masquerade dress!
Lelzeshin then moves back towards the wall. This will all be over soon, my friends.
Finally, a third version of Lelzeshin leaps from another area in the back, moves twice, and tries to trip Packet with his kukri.
The clone knocks Packet prone.
★★★★★★
A Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal: Round 1
Lelzeshin Clone 1
Zarindlara
Varret
Lelzeshin Clone 2
Lelzeshin
Lelzeshin Clone 3
Pip
Packet
Gurmire
Keats
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“Besides, I think what’s important now is that we unmask the mole who’s been masquerading as our friend, while working against us this whole time!”
After a moment of disorientation, you realize that the vault walls are magically mirrored, creating an array of refractions that extend toward endlessly reflected infinities in all directions.
“It’s time to drop the act … ZARINDLARA AVIAR!”
Keats points a finger accusingly at the whisper elf. “I saw you attempt to sneak into Varret’s room with mischief on your mind, our first night here!”
Or was that me?
“So call off your hench-reflections, and maybe – just maybe – we’ll put in a good word for you to the king about your sudden but inevitable betrayal!”
Keats draws his golden longsword and responds to the opening shots in the Clone Wars®
Another reflection of Lelzeshin leaps from the mirror and tries to stab Keats…
“Et tu, Lelzeshin?”
“The evil that dudes with aardvark heads do lives after them! The good is oft interred with their bones.”
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Shaking his head, Gurmire tells Lelzeshin “Not good student history if think lie good way to start revolution. You complain of King’s lies but say start over with own lie?”
Deciding he doesn’t like the choke point, Gurmire attempts to tumble past #3 Lelzeshin so he has more room to act.
He times it perfectly while the clone is busy defending itself from Keat’s attack.
He then creates a smoke thunderstone and tries to hit the real Lelzeshin with it!
30’
DC 17 Fort or deafened
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Keats slashes at Clone 1, doing some damage! He misses with the follow-up shield bash.
★★★★★★
A Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal: Round 1
Lelzeshin Clone 1
Zarindlara
Varret
Lelzeshin Clone 2
Lelzeshin
Lelzeshin Clone 3
Pip
Packet
Gurmire
Keats
Gurmire slips by the clones and lobs a bomb…
The bomb misses, but not by as much as Gurmire originally thought. Lelzeshin takes some splash damage and coughs in the smoke; he also clutches his ears!
★★★★★★
A Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal: Round 1
Lelzeshin Clone 1
Zarindlara
Varret
Lelzeshin Clone 2
Lelzeshin
Lelzeshin Clone 3
Pip
Packet
Gurmire
Keats
Packet's frenzy to defend the crown results in a stab into the clone's heart — cracks spiderweb out from the figure's chest as it freezes like an image trapped in a moment of time. It then breaks into thousands of pieces that fall into the piles of gold coins at your feet! A single eye, still wide with surprise, stares back up at Packet from one of the broken mirror-shards.
★★★★★★
A Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal: Round 1
Lelzeshin Clone 1
Zarindlara
Varret
Lelzeshin Clone 2
Lelzeshin
Pip
Packet
Gurmire
Keats
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♫ We’re gonna make some changes,
For once in our lives
Pathfinders’ll be understood
Gonna make a difference
Gonna make it right
As I delivered the key from
Winter’s desolate demi-plane
This vault is blowing my mind
I see bodies piled in the alcoves
And I start to loathe
The man who kept us blind
His greed revealed unclothed
A summer disregard,
And what does the mirror show?
One man’s wretched soul
Bhopanese politics blowing the wind ya' know
Reflections, nowhere to go
That's why I want you to know
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make Bhopan a better place
(If you want to make Bhopan a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself, and then make a change)
(Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah)
I’ve been an actor in someone else’s play
It’s time that I realize
How intricate your schemes have grown
Perhaps a battle for the throne
If we had helped you
For what dark deeds would we atone?
You planned to betray us
Planned it from the very start
Tell me, is it a worthy dream
(Worthy dream?)
Following Season patterns like the wind ya’ see
A fateful day in history
Meeting you was destiny
(Was destiny!)
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make Bhopan a better place
(If you want to make Bhopan a better place)
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change
(Take a look at yourself, and then make a change)
(Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah) ♫
Pip inspires courage, walks into the room through the hole in the clones and then shoots behind her at Clone Number 1.
Pip's arrow strikes the clone! She sees some spiderwebs of glass moving out from the point of impact, but it's still standing…
Clone one carefully steps toward the dangerous halfling and readies his glass kukri for a strike!
Reaction to Strike once when has a flank.
+ sneak attack. However, Deny Advantage prevents the clone from flanking or getting a sneak attack in!
If only this clone was better at metagaming, but alas…
★★★★★★
A Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal: Round 1
Lelzeshin Clone 1
Zarindlara
Varret
Lelzeshin Clone 2
Lelzeshin
Pip
Packet
Gurmire
Keats