GM Badblood's Scions of the Sky Key - Part III - The Golden Guardian (Inactive)

Game Master Lance K

Jang is clearly amazed to have the remnants of a dwarven relic in his hands and glad that the grippli are safe.

”My dear companions! This has been an adventure with a lot of historical relevance! I wish my brother Toral was here! It was an honor to spread connections and relationships with you all!“

Jang immediately tries to prepare for the next journey. Shelyn has blessed him with more powers!

The party finds themselves back in Fort Bandu after several weeks of travel. The guards let the party in and it is quickly apparent that the mood is considerably cooler than the last time the Pathfinders were here. Most of the guards and merchants here appear to be indifferent, although there some who still seem hostile and a few who are grateful for the rescued miners that the party was able to return with the last time they ventured forth into the jungle.

The guards inform the party that the Praetor is away on urgent business, but has left a letter for them in the event that they come back. A functionary presents the group with a sealed letter.

In the slides.

While filling up waterskins, replenishing their rations and getting their gear mended, they party is able to talk with the locals about any news that has happened since the last time they were in the Fort. With the right knowledge they happen to pick out information that will be useful on their journey, while those who are gifted in conversation may be able to ferret out the important details.

The PCs may ask the locals about the Aspis Consortium’s latest movements.
Diplomacy (gather information) or Knowledge (nobility)

The PCs may ask around Fort Bandu for rumors about the Golden Guardian.
Knowledge (arcana), Knowledge (local), or Knowledge (religion)

The PCs may ask the local miners about the kobolds of Mount Nakyuk.
Diplomacy (gather information), Knowledge (history), or Knowledge (local)

While handling her other business, Sinaryn also kept her ears open to any useful information going around. She shares with the group after they reconvene but is a bit grumpy with how scarce any real tidbits were.

Knowledge (Nobility): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

"The Aspis around here are more overbearing than the heat...they have been moving towards Bloodcove."

Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

She does share a little bit more about this supposed guardian, "Mostly rumors and campfire tales but no one thinks the creature is living. That or it is immortal."

Knowledge (Local): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Bocke aids someone as they walks around asking about Aspis.

Aid Diplomacy: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (18) + 0 = 18

Bocke thinks about the Golden Guardian.

Knowledge (arcana): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

"Some people believe it is a gold dragon, while others say it is probably a living statue, a golden machine, or a god-like entity. The only thing the locals are unanimous about is that only a special weapon lost to antiquity can defeat the Golden Guardian."

Bocke aids someone as they ask about the kobolds.

Aid Diplomacy: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7

Knowledge religion: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Bask doesn't know much, but he will try to help by accompanying the others to ask around. Perhaps translation to Osirion will be useful, or maybe someone will open up if they pet Salim.

Diplomacy to aid Aspis: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (10) - 1 = 9
Diplomacy to aid Kobolds: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

Salim doesn't take kindly to being petted.

"I wonder if it might be a creation of the dwarves, dwarves have made many wondrous things. A mighty golem perhaps?"

Taking a deep breath, Laafdahni puts on her most charming face and sets out to talk to the locals. It totally didn't work last time, but who knows? This time may be different.

Diplomacy (re: Apsis): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 2 = 25
That +2 is from Bocke's aid.

Diplomacy (re: kobolds): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Giddy with relief at her success, she almost grabs Bocke's hand and skips as they head back to the others and share what they've learned. (Feel free to open all applicable spoilers.)

Looks like we've got all the spoilers except the 25+ kobold one. Two successful aids will take care of it.

Guy spends some time with the merchants, going through their wares. In addition to the silk rope and grappling arrows, he buys a new belt.
Belt Dex +2

He listens to Bocke talk about the Golden Guardian and adds his own insights.
Aid Kn: Arcana: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21 ...and I just realized that one didn't go to 25. Oops!

He also helps Laafdahni with talking to the miners. Gets a few more to open up about what they know.
Auto-Aid on Diplomacy, now at 24. Just need one more Aid to unlock the last bit.
Looks like Jangafzaar can also Auto-Aid on Diplomacy if they want.

In his spare time, he tries to entertain the people around Fort Bandu with his songs.
Day Job: Perform Sing: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18 Part 3 Day Job

Guy is able to make a little extra money busking and Laafdahni finds a merchant willing to buy the fish she caught on the boat ride back to Fort Bandu. Sinaryn conspires with a group of miners and convinces them that they have nothing to lose but their chains. The mining company representatives eye them suspiciously as the miners start enthusiastically talking about pooling their resources and forming their own anarcho-syndicalist mining commune free from the influence of their capitalist exploiters.

The party gathers information as they purchase supplies for the last leg of their journey. They learn that the Aspis Consortium has sent another group of their agents from their stronghold of Bloodcove and that this group is lead by a disgraced nobleman by the name of Zaril Namoth. Although they were not able to find anyone who has seen the Golden Guardian, the party discovers that tales of this creature go back centuries. Everyone in the market seems to have a different theory about what this creature could be but everyone agrees that it is large, with golden skin and wings. Finally, they find an old miner with tales of a hidden underground city guarded by all manner of diabolical traps. Those who are skilled in finding and disarming traps can tell that the traps he described seeing sound authentic and they walk away with a better understanding of how this particular tribe designs their snares.

Save for torrential rain alternating with scorching heat, the journey from Fort Bandu to Mount Nakyuk progresses smoothly. Ancient, crumbling stone buildings choked with vines and adorned with bone fetishes emerge from a patch of thick jungle underbrush. A scattering of bones and discarded tools hints that this location was recently inhabited. A gaping stairwell yawns behind a blood-spattered altar, descending to the mysterious depths where the Golden Guardian makes its home.

The air under the ground is musty but pleasantly cool. The halls are devoid of light and eerily quiet. The stairs lead down to a chamber filled with crumbling walls.

Kn. History DC 13: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Kn. History DC 18: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Here's hoping nothing caves in on us! Laafdahni must've been daydreaming during her grandmother's history lessons on the day this stuff was covered. Either that, or her grandmother didn't bother to teach her this.

Kn: Other: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

"Although the architecture is dwarven, the quality isn't what I would expect from their masons. They must have been in a hurry when they excavated this site."

Guy causes glowing spheres to appear, lighting the way underground.

Dancing Lights about 20' ahead of the group.

Two granite statues of dwarves in full armor stand guard in this entrance hall, flanking the entrance to a corridor to the south. Antelope skull patterns painted in red ochre cover each statue’s face. In the wall to the south are two rust-stained iron doors.

The doors don't appear to be locked but they have rusted stuck.

Guy frowns at the graffiti on the dwarves statues. “Someone doesn’t have any respect for the original builders.”

“These doors are likely to make a lot of noise if we try to open them. Shall we try going down the hall instead?”

One vote for down the hall, first door to the west

While he is waiting, Guy idly uses Prestidigitation to try to clean the red graffiti off the statues.

Outside, Bask prays to Sarenrae and casts a spell to enhance his speed.

Casting longstrider

Inside he nods at the wisdom of Guy's suggestion, and gives Salim the command to "Detect" which they've been working on, hoping that he might spot any threats before Bask.

That's another vote for the hall, with Bask volunteering to take the lead

Realizing he hasn’t done it yet, Guy uses his wand of Lucky Number on himself and offers it to others.

Lucky Number: 1d20 ⇒ 18

Sinaryn is still feeling sluggish after unwinding with a few flasks of powerful jungle juice on their travel back. The cold rain and cold air within the ruins stirs her to speaking again.

Knowledge (History): 10 + 8 = 18

"Unsurprisingly, around 3,000 years old. I will have to be careful where I am shooting lest I bring down the walls around us." she grunts, then accepts a charge from Guy.

Lucky Number: 1d20 ⇒ 5

She nods as they head down the hallway.

Guy begins cleaning off the paint on one of the statues, but realizes that properly cleaning and restoring the statues might be a job better left for after the site is secured.

Bask moves down the hall and can see that the end of the hallway is blocked by a closed porticullus. The tile that is twenty feet in front of the closed gate has been torn up, exposing the mechanics of pressure plates underneath.

Along the right side of the wall crack that is large enough for a human sized person to squeeze through and that could be enlarged by either pushing the stone apart or chiseling away some of the stone.

The sections of the wall with cracks are now marked. Small creatures treat these squares as difficult terrain and Medium creatures must spend a move action and make an Escape Artist check to move through them. These can be expanded with a difficult Strength check or by dealing damage to the section.

I'm confused by the map vs the description.
I was expecting the white rectangles in the walls to be doors. If they aren't doors, do we know what they represent?

Bocke will take a Lucky Number.

Lucky Number: 1d20 ⇒ 10

Bocke will also cast heightened awareness on himself, but not dismiss it for initiative.

I'm not seeing a map in the slides. I see one blank slide, one with three large yellow rectangles, and another with icons. Is the problem on my end?

Ditto to Bocke's observation.

With a warm smile, Laafdahni happily accepts a Lucky Number.

Lucky Number: 1d20 ⇒ 11

She then taps herself with her wand of Mage Armor and offers it to anyone in the party who may need it.

Look down, it is lower on slide 6. I need to pan down when I look at it.

Yes, I'm blocking off areas until you've explored them. So there is only a tiny section thats exposed. Also the white rectangles are doors. I added a couple of black kablam! symbols to mark where the walls have been cracked enough to move through.

The party moves into the chamber slowly, casting protective magics on themselves. They deliberate, unsure of whether to approach the porticullus or explore the rooms on the side of the hallway.

Ah, I see it now. Laahdahni, zoom out - the area we're in is below the default display area on my screen.

"We should check to make sure there are nothing in these side rooms that could appear behind us when we move forward."

Bocke probably shouldn't be first - he'll gladly be second, though. I think Bask expressed an interest in being first.

Okay, for a marching order, how about Baske/Salim, Bocke, Guy, Jang, Sinaryn, and Laafdahni at the rear?

Thanks, guys.
@GM Badblood: The marching order sounds good to me.

"I agree. Shall we start here?" Laafdahni eyes the area warily as she indicates the southeastern room, her luscious voice echoing in the tunnel like waves dancing along the shore.

Sounds good to me as well. Bocke's Perception is +10 for the next 30 minutes (+8 otherwise) and his Stealth is +10.

Works for me as well.

Bask will examine the door to make sure it looks safe; caution his allies to stand well clear in case of cunning Kobold traps, then attempt to open it, scimitar drawn and readied in one hand in case of enemies.

Salim is also looking around, sniffing the air and trying to find anything unusual.

Salim is "detecting", which is looking for anything unusual from potential dangers to secret passages. What's unusual to a lion is hard to say, but he does have scent so he might be able to alert us about nearby creatures at least. His perception bonus is +6

Reading the detect trick, it sounds like they are specifically trained to look for anything strange. The biggest limitation seems to be that animals are not good at determining what details are important.

STR Check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Bask pushes on the iron door, but it is rusted shut and does not budge. Judging from his push he thinks he might be able to push the door in on his own, but it would be much easier if he had a crowbar or someone to help assist him. Due to the crack in the wall, Bocke can see into room and sees that it appears to be empty except for some rubble laying scattered on the floor. Most of the southern wall has collapsed, leaving only a five foot section of the wall still standing.

The doors have a Break DC 18. Since we're not in combat, we can just assume that the party is able to knock down any door they want to.

"We can probably break down this door, but it would make noise. Are people okay with that?"

"Won't be any louder than when I have to fire my darling here, it is fine with me. Just stay aware of what it may stir." she warns, keeping watch as/if they work on the door.

You can also squeeze through the crack in the wall.

Bocke will go through the crack.

Escape Artist: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Its a tight fit, but Bocke is able to slip through the crack in the wall easily enough. The room does appear to be empty but he notices that the section of the wall next to him looks unstable enough for a person to push over. A closer examination shows that it appears someone has actually reassembled this wall and rigged it to fall over on anyone who steps next to it using a simple see-saw style trap.

The collapsed wall leads into the next room. Bocke can also see that doors appear to be just as rusted and stuck from the other side.

Is Guy's dancing lights the only source of light the party has? Also, just want to point out that I added a couple more crack symbols to the map.

Bocke will whisper his findings to the rest of the team.

"Someone is actively defending this area ... let's keep our eyes open and proceed carefully."

Bocke will cast light on an arrow.

He's going to wait for the others to join him (or call him back) before doing anything else. If he sets off a trap in a room all alone, it could be very bad.

Upon seeing the faint glimmer of light escaping the crack through which Bocke disappeared, Laafdahni remembers that not everyone in the group can see in the dark. Picking up a golf-ball sized rock, she casts Light on it and holds it up to help Guy see better. From the back of the group, her ears strain to hear Bocke's report. "Good eye, Bocke." She's grateful that he was able to spot the trap without setting it off.

Looking to Laafdahni, Guy mentions "If you did that on a crossbow bolt, you could shoot at the enemy so the space around them is lit up. Doesn't have to be accurate."

Eying the hole with suspicion, he says "We might need to break down the door. Not sure I can fit through the hole without help."

If I were to use Grease would that help slip through there? The spell only talks of it helping with Grapple attempts.

After the last mission ...

Shortly after your mission with the Grippli ended, Jang received a magical message that he was needed elsewhere. After wishing you all the best, he said his farewells and prayed for you to protect this great dwarven treasure and find the Venture-Captaion.

* * *

When you arrived at the Fort ...

To you surprise not only a letter awaited you when you arrived at the Fort but also another dwarven member of the Exchange Faction of the Pathfinder Society! And he obviously is Jang's brother!

"Aha! You have to be the team I am supposed to join! Jang' told me everything about you before I was transported here! Toral is my name!" the dwarf says with a grumpy attitude.

"We are to do this rescue mission together with this group that knows little about dwarven history!?? Ha! You surely only want to find the Venture Captain?! Hmm ... first I thought this is again one of these missions! I thought that the Exchange again forgot that I have a business to run! A business! The only reason for dragging my body to these Pathfinder events is the good pay ... and obviously the contacts and relationships ... but a possibility to gain influence in the Dwarven citadels is worth it I think!" he says with a stern but satisfied look on his face.

"This means we need to act! Trust is the basis of my business relationships and I don't want anybody to just attack the Kobolds!!!" he says with determination in his voice.

"Well, I should complain less and work harder to get back to my enterprise ASAP!"

* * *

Diplomacy Diplomacy (gather information) about the Aspis Consortium’s latest movements: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (13) + 16 = 29

kn arcana : 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Diplomacy Diplomacy (gather information) about the kobolds of Mount Nakyuk.: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (17) + 16 = 33

Toral listens to your conversations and deductions.

"Listen, I also talked to the miners. Here is a fact that you are missing I think! Decades ago, a local boy went missing but returned weeks later with amazing stories about a hidden city protected by cruel traps that he only narrowly escaped. Learning this fact about the kobolds’ defenses grants the PCs a +1 bonus on all skill checks and saving throws to find, disable, bypass, and evade traps during this adventure."

* * *

Journey from Fort Bandu to Mount Nakyuk ...

kn history: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

"Unbelievable! These ruins are about 3,000 years old?!? Really?!?" Toral shouts at Sinaryn.

* * *

At the iron door ...

Toral watches the group and shakes his head!

"How do you expect me to get in there? Like Bocke?!" he asks incredulously.

Bask watches Bocke squeeze through and quietly listens to the party discuss their options.

Jang was quieter than this Toral that's for sure, but if his heart is as good he will be a strong ally

Nodding at Guys suggestion he puts his scimitar away and asks for a little space. "I'm going to open the door Bocke, hold on a sec" and takes out his traveller's any tool and configures it into a crowbar. Heaving and straining he takes his time and breaks through into the room, checking if his darkvision can make out anything new.

"Come on through folks, but be careful"

Guy puts away his bow to help Bask with the door.

With the assistance of his crowbar, Guy and Bask managed to pry the door open. The hinges shriek as the rusty hinges give way and the heavy iron door slides open. With a quick scan of the room, Bask sees the shaky looking wall and is able to find the snare that is rigged to cause the wall to collapse. Past the crumbled wall is another room with two more rust covered metal doors. Next to the door on the southern wall is a another crack big enough for a human to squeeze through.

"Ha! You are strong guys! That is what we need! Strong guys that help the fat and short guys ... and that is me! Ha ha ha .. " he says laughing and applauds Guy and Bask.

"Guy and Bask, the strong first? Let us go in?!" he shouts and walks in with the group.

“I’m not usually considered one of the strong people in a group...”

Looking at the simple mechanical traps, Guy says “Probably best we just leave them.”

Exasperated, Laafdahni leans down to whisper in Toral's ear: "Toral, please! We're trying to be as quiet as possible so they don't have time to set up an ambush! You shouting all our names like that is just giving the kobolds a head count. We really don't want them knowing how many of us there are." Shaking her head in disbelief, she turns to follow the others.

Toral looks up.

”Ohhh! You are right! I am quite! Ha, that rhymed!“ he says with a clap on Laafdahni‘s shoulder.

”Listen Laafdahni. They know that we’re here anyway. We are just playing the game. And we will win! We have a dwarven relic here!“

"Do you always start a game of poker by showing your opponents your hand?" Guy asks Toral. If so, I may have to learn how to gamble just to make some money off him.

Bocke will peek in to the last room.

Perception, heightened awareness: 1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 8 + 2 = 14
Stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

Bask and Salim ignore the discussion and follow Bocke, moving cautiously and scanning for more traps. He stands by the door ready to attempt another forced entry if Bocke finds the crack too small to enter.

"Be careful Salim, these Kobolds are tricky, there may be traps anywhere"

"Do you always start a game of poker by showing your opponents your hand?" Guy asks Toral. If so, I may have to learn how to gamble just to make some money off him.

“Guy! Of course not! I am a business man! I do not gamble away my money! I invest it!“ Toral say incredulously.

Sinaryn just shrugs, "Not often I meet someone that could drown out cannonfire and battle. We will soon find out how brave these Kobolds are." she says moving up to the next crack in the hallway, peering through.

Perception (Darkvision): 1d20 ⇒ 19

As the party banters, Sinaryn peeks into the crack on the other side of the wall and can see that the room has pile of rubble that is completely blocking the northern door. The southern wall has collapsed, opening the way to another smaller room.

Bask follows behind Bocke and they both peeks into the room. They both see that in the room there is a kobold soldier standing guard with a crossbow. The kobold doesn't seem to notice Bocke but locks eyes with the half orc as he raises his crossbow.

Combat begins! Bocke gets a surprise round, as the kobold does not notice him. Normal initiative for everyone else.

Surprise round
Laafdahni
Toral
Bocke
Bask
Guy
Sinaryn
Sniper