PFS1e 7-16 - Faithless and Forgotten #2: Lost Colony of Taldor (KS) (Inactive)

Game Master phaeton_nz

I'm applying the 'Rule of Cool' - instead of arguing the mechanics of the Floating Disk spell, I'm going to wave hand it and rule that Ferdrin can figure out a way to make it work.

Of course Fedrin has to make the Acrobatic rolls to get into position :)

...Of course Fedrin has to make the Acrobatic rolls to get into position :)

Or he can ride it halfway and send it back (total distance is 40-45' across) :) Thank you for the ruling of cool :)

Ferdrin conjures up a disc that grows from the size of a coin to several feet across. First he rides it over to the platform in the middle and then sends it back to it's origin to start ferrying party-mates across.

Once the rest of the party is over, he draws it back to the middle platform and hops on and joins them.

There's two ways to go at the other end, right? I'll assume we're investigating south first, and as long as it doesn't take more than 3h we can sustain/re-use the same disc when we cross around the corner to head West.

South is basically the statue of Mammon, so yes, you can use the same disk to go west

This hallway has staircases leading down to the north and west. The wide staircase to the west leads to a room illuminated by the warm glow of a small, fuel-less forge next to an eight-foot tall statue. The statue depicts a handsome, winged humanoid, though one side of his body is notably angelic and the other half fiendish. Skeletal remains in a red uniform lie in the middle of the room.

This forge is dedicated to the archdevil Belial, whose sculpted likeness stands proudly in the room. The corpse of the Chelish soldier has a gaping but cleanly cut hole through its rib cage.

Ferdrin eyes the half Celestial, half Demonic statue.

Another planes check that Ferdrin can't miss with +11

Fun fact about Belial! Desire and adultery are the areas of concern for the ruler of the molten layer of Hell’s fourth circle, called Phlegethon. His followers considered goats sacred.

He approaches the corpse of the soldier to inspect it.

Heal, DC15: 1d20 ⇒ 19

Looks like this guy got the business end of a hot poker!

acrobatics dc 15: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
acrobatics dc 20 : 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
acrobatics dc 10: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Suussmaar jumps from one collapsed section to another.

“I will wait here!“

"Yikes. That's one way to go I guess. What about this amulet? Anything special about it?"

"Well, it's Jistkan as well..." Jahz offers. "Maybe it's part of a set? It could go with that rod Uaine found above, maybe some boots and a cloak to finish off the set? Oh, and a crown!"

Jahz is just pulling things out of thin air here, so no need to pay too much attention.

Holan-Ji follows Jahz and Ferdrin around the forge, but doesn't see much of interest to him. But hearing that this guy is the patron devil-saint of desire and adultery, now that's germane to his interests!

"My kinda guy. Fourth circle you said, huh? Guess that's where I'm headin' when fate finally catches up to me."

Having seen enough of the dead-end forge room, he pokes his head down the short stairs into the room to the north.....

Perception, darkvision: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

"I never remember where Asmodeus fits into this ennead," Uaine muses as she slowly follows along. "It's just as well, any room devoted to him will prove worse than these and all else I have seen."

”Doesn’t he rule the ninth circle?” Jahz answers distractedly. ”Or maybe he owns all the circles and the archdevils are just renting from him.”

Speaking of the forge, when you go near it, that broken ivory baton begins to vibrate. Maybe it is possible to use that forge to fix it.

Any PC attempting to do so must take ten minutes and succeed at a DC 20 for a relevant craft skill or Spellcraft can restore partial functionality. If you exceed by 5 or more, you do a really good job.

The amulet isn't magical but the bracelet is - with slight abjuration magic

((Slide adjusted for Holan-Ji's darkvision. He can see a collapsed stairwell on the other side of the eastern end of a hallway.))

"Oh yes, they'd radiate outward in power, I suppose? Or downward, whichever. Devil's aren't my strong suit." Uaine hands over the rod to Ferdrin. "Can you make sense of this?"

Ferdrin accepts the rod from Uaine. Maybe, let me see...

Detect magic

Afterward he approaches the forge, noting the vibrating baton.

Interesting... can this be used to partially restore the forge?

He holds it up in front of the forge, imagining where it goes in relation. After several moments of analyzing the forge, he steps forward and tries to apply the baton.

Spellcraft, fix forge, DC20: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28

Fedrin soon relises that he's supposed to be using the forge to fix the baton - not the other way round. When he concludes, after doing a very good job - that the resulting repairs become sufficiently comprehensive that a PC can activate the baton without using Use Magic Device. In any event, the rod can only be used once before breaking forever. When pointed at a Jistkan construct and activated as a standard action, it disrupts the construct and causes it to take no actions for one round.

Holan-Ji steps all the way into the room at the bottom of the stairs and makes room for the rest of his team to follow.

On the east end of this dim hallway, two staircases lead to the north and south but the one to the north has collapsed. A painting on the eastern wall depicts four figures guided along a path by a rat, a goat, a raven, and a hound. A rounded tunnel extends to the west, and glowing runes on the floor divide the floor into four areas. Stairs at the far end of the hall descend into a larger room, and a decrepit corpse wearing a silver amulet is splayed precariously across the upper steps.

I remind you that you are carrying a raven dagger, a hound token and a goat bracelet

Ferdrin stuffs the baton into his belt for later.

heal, DC15: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Hmm, that fellow must've tripped on the stairs or something.

He gives a half-hearted shrug, not really so sure. The mage turns back and inspects the depictions on the Eastern wall.

know planes, DC15: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

Guess what everybody! More Hell! Four layers of it.

I have played this before (I"m using a replay), and honestly hadn't remembered anything about the scenario until GM described this room and reminded us about the items we're carrying. I'm gonna let someone else take the lead on this room.

Ferdrin approaches the body and, if it's safe, removes the silver amulet to inspect it. detect magic

Don't think i'd call this the lead, as I truly have no idea why those items would be significant in this room (yet?).

Ah .. Fedrin, Fedrin, Fedrin. To do that .. you have to pass through all four sets of glowing runes. Are you sure you wish to do that?

Heal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

"No, his neck was snapped. By something or someone," Uaine says, craning her own to see from a safer distance. She shifts into a combat stance. "Be ready."

The tiefling also muses over the party's various collected keepsakes, but waits until Ferdrin can get a sense of what the runes do.

I've updated the slides to reflect the situation, adding a corpse at the west end stairway - hope that makes it clearer

Suussmaar looks at the corpse.

heal: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

[ooc]I do not have kn planes.[/dice]

-

Suussmaar looks at the rings and is cautious.

He inspects the rings to find traps.

Perception : 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Ah .. Fedrin, Fedrin, Fedrin. To do that .. you have to pass through all four sets of glowing runes. Are you sure you wish to do that?

OOooooookay. Markers on the map. That helps *quite* a bit. Before it seemed like things you could just walk around.

Ferdrin steps up to the first rune barrier and surveys it, to see if it corresponds to a particular layer of hell, or it's local overlord.

Is there a roll to recognize specific rune? Planes again? Otherwise I imagine they proceed in the order stated in your post, or the reverse since we don't have a rat item.

Planes or Arcana

Planes, what rune comes first: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19

They are in order of descending level being: Avernus(Raven); Dis(Hound); Erebus(Rat) and Phlegethon(Goat).

I don't have any of those skills so Gorrig will just do his best to contribute here, heh.

"So there's a raven, a hound, an rat, and a goat. I'm sure those three things we found correspond in some way. Ferdrin, didn't you say Belie-o-whatsit thinks goats are sacred? Maybe that other one has to do with him."

Yes, they all matter and correspond to the levels of hell, but the order matters.

The mage nods at Gorrig and continues.

Okay, so I think we need those items to cross through these glowing rune barriers. It appears in order they are: the raven, the hound, the rat, and the goat. The problem is we don't have a rat item. Here's hoping it's that amulet on the body over there.

Ferdrin lights up and puts his finger in the air, having just had an idea.

I have just the thing to get get it and see!

He retrieves his spellbook and plops right down on the ground where he is, and starts flipping through it.

Ferdrin will quick study and swap one of his cantrips for mage hand. He then casts it and sends it over to try to lift it from the splayed corpse and return it across the rune boundaries.

Any particular difficulties there? I figure at worst the boundaries snuff out the spell.

((The module does actually say what happens if you try that))

The Mage Hand is able to get over there but there's something about that amulet that prevents the Mage Hand from grabbing it.

If allowed, Ferdrin will take the items that they have and proceed past the raven and hound barriers to get a closer look at the amulet.

We have the tokens for the first two barriers, not the rat token (and also the last). Is that close enough to see what's up with the amulet?

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 14

Once closer he restarts his mage hand and attempts to articulate the amulet and the body to see why it's stuck. I.e., moving any parts that are reasonable given the limits of mage hand.

There seems to be some disruption to the cohesion of the Mage Hand itself as it gets closer to the amulet causing the Hand to 'glitch'. It may be time for an alternate approach.

Ferdrin breaks the spell, gets up and walks back behind the barriers to rejoin his party.

My mage hand cannot move it. Does one of you have a pole-arm or something similar to try to retrieve it? Other ideas?

He offers the items to any of them who could go try to retrieve the amulet.

"Not short of washing it closer with conjured water, inch by inch," Uaine says doubtfully. "I wouldn't try that unless absolutely necessary."

"Sorry, I got nuthin'. Only weapons I use in a fight are these babies," Holan-Ji holds up his massive hands.

He ponders for a second before offering, "But I do have a couple javelins. I'd try to use 'em like giant chopsticks from back home, but I'm pretty sure they're not long enough."

What do you think GM? Would a javelin be long enough to reach it? Or grab it with two javelins wielded like chopsticks? Dex check?

"Fraid I don't. My bow has range, but no reach."

I would guess the amulet is probably magical, which is why mage hand won't work. Not that Gorrig would know that or have any way to tell.

The amulet is 12 ft away from you assuming you're as far forward as you can get without triggering the third set of runes - a javelin is roughly 3 to 4ft long.

Well, at the very least...

Ferdrin casts detect magic in the area of the amulet to try and figure out what's going on with it.

Maybe someone can summon something that can toss it to us?

Maybe. Pending the outcome of detect magic I could quick study into Summon I and try.

The magic is a bit weird ... it is some sort of suppression magic to suppress the runes it is tuned to. The glitching of the mage hand may well be an unfortunate side effect owing to some sort of thaumic interference.

I can try summon monster; but... clearly this would have to be solvable by a party without a wizard. So we're missing something else.

Ferdrin frowns, stands up again and turns back to the party, shrugging.

Does anybody have something like a grappling hook? Or some rope that we could affix another "catching" object to, like a sickle?

"I have rope," Uaine says, fishing a coil from her pack. "It seems like a solution too mundane to fool whatever this is, but as long as we're trying things..."

bump anybody else? The mage has been blocked out with magical suppressions :) I think it's going to take a physical means.

Holan-Ji finally gets bored waiting around. He politely takes the charms and makes his way down to the lowest level.

Taking a deep breath, he steps across the glowing runes, grabs the amulet and walks back up to the others.

"What? I got bored," he answer Uaine's glare with a shrug.

Could Holan-Ji make a Will Save please?

He is able to get to the amulet and bring it back. This allows the rest of the party to get down to the next area without any apparent effects.

The air in this chamber is strangely humid, and a thin layer of fog clings all across the floor. A staircase descends from the east and another staircase to the west is fully obstructed by rubble. Several statues with serpent motifs stand in the area. To the north, a large, green stained-glass window looms behind a twisted statue of three serpentine men conjoined at the hip. Vines snake across the floor from a central pool filled with luminescent green liquid. In several places, faintly glowing arcane script inscribed on the floor tiles shines through the mist.

This ancient Jistkan temple is dedicated to the archdevil Geryon, and the faintly glowing script provides dim illumination throughout the room. The ceiling of the chamber rises to a height of 40 feet. The vines that snake their way throughout the shrine are considered difficult terrain, and the green pool is 5 feet deep and full of mundane water. The stained-glass window behind the statue of Geryon is too opaque to see through.

Will Save: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Something tingles in Holan-Ji's head as he retrieves the amulet. But hey, at least he didn't burst into flames or turn into a chicken, so how bad can it be?

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

As soon as he enters the room, he scans the strange foliage and freaky statuary. But his keen eyes immediately pick out the outline of a hidden door on the north wall. (circled in orange)

"Hey, you all see that door up there, too, yeah'? And what do all the glowy words on the tiles say?"

@GM stated that "This allows the rest of the party to get down to the next area without any apparent effects." So presumably, we're all at the bottom of the ramp down near where I placed Holan-Ji's token.

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

Uaine continues following along, looking confused. "Probably some sort of magical script. Not that I understand it either."

"Now, what was this archdevil's concern...?"

Knowledge (religion): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7