Taking a 5ft step back from the big creature, Bernard gives it a wicked glance. swift action Demoralize
Still has the stare in place, -3 Will, SR, and to it's DC's. +2 Will if normally immune
Demoralize on green:1d20 + 33 ⇒ (12) + 33 = 45
Demoralize:
You can use this skill to cause an opponent to become shaken for a number of rounds. The DC of this check is equal to 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + the target’s Wisdom modifier. If you are successful, the target is shaken for 1 round. This duration increases by 1 round for every 5 by which you beat the DC. You can only threaten an opponent in this way if they are within 30 feet and can clearly see and hear you. Using demoralize on the same creature only extends the duration; it does not create a stronger fear condition.
Shaken:
A shaken character takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks. Shaken is a less severe state of fear than frightened or panicked.
He then tries blasting it with a wave of colors.
Spell Penetration:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14
Color Spray:
11 HD or less: The creature is unconscious, blinded, and stunned for 2d4 rounds, then blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, and then stunned for 1 round. (Only living creatures are knocked unconscious.)
12 or 13 HD: The creature is blinded and stunned for 1d4 rounds, then stunned for 1 round.
14 or more HD: The creature is stunned for 1 round.
Sightless creatures are not affected by color spray.
believe you said SR21 on the identify. even with the penalty, looks like my spell will fail. dang...
The guardian will swing at Rose as it approaches. The dagger cuts through the phantom. 13 damage. It does count as magic
AOO:1d20 ⇒ 141d8 ⇒ 1
Bernard stares down the golem and then sprays him with color. Only leaving him shaken, not stunned.
The red tinged guardian swings its dagger at Gilgrim. It manages to connect only once. He can feel evil seeping in through the wound. 15 physical damage and 4 evildamage
red vs gilgrim:1d20 ⇒ 61d8 ⇒ 61d6 ⇒ 3 rev vs gilgrim; hasted:1d20 ⇒ 161d8 ⇒ 31d6 ⇒ 4 red vs gilgrim; iterative:1d20 ⇒ 71d8 ⇒ 41d6 ⇒ 5
@Trokkus, if i activate my shadow splinter trick, would you be willing to potentially take some of Gilgrims damage? if i activate it, it'll remove 11 damage from Grilgrim, and send it your way. pass a DC22 Will save and it would negate the damage. would that be ok with you?
Shadow Splinter:
The mesmerist protects the subject against an attack and redirects the harm to someone else. The mesmerist can trigger this trick when the subject takes damage from an attack. The damage the subject takes is reduced by an amount equal to 3 + the mesmerist’s Charisma modifier (to a maximum of the total amount of damage the attack deals). Another creature within range of the original attack, other than the attacker, is affected by a shadow illusion that makes it appear as if the attacker is attacking that creature instead of the attacker’s actual target. This second creature takes an amount of damage equal to the amount by which the attack’s damage was reduced. This shadow doesn’t require a roll to hit and ignores cover and concealment, but the target can attempt a Will save to disbelieve the effect. If it succeeds at this save, it neither takes the damage nor believes the attacker targeted it. This trick can’t be triggered if there’s no eligible second creature within range to take the redirected damage. This is an illusion (shadow) effect.
Gilgrim lands two hits shattering more of the construct.
Kitajo moves up and finishes off the creature with a flurry.
green mental block, low bad:1d100 ⇒ 1
Green, seeing only Zaarah in front of him, it attacks. It makes two broad swipes at Zaarah, pushing her blade aside and making contact on the first. The second goes overhead. 14 damage
green vs Zaarah:1d20 ⇒ 151d8 ⇒ 2 mirror image, 1 is Zaarah:1d2 ⇒ 1
@GM as a free action after Gilgrim took Damage last round, I would have actives Shadow Splinter, redirecting 11 points of damage towards Trokkus, who passed the Will save to negate. :)
Moving over to stand by Gilgrim, ”Keep up the good work my dwarven friend.”
Standard action to reimplant Shadow Splinter in Gilgrim
Male CG Dwarf Fighter (Foehammer) 7 / Stalwart Defender 4 | HP 107/107 | AC 34 T 18 FF 30 | CMB +17 (+24 BR, +19 OR, +19 sun., +19 trip), CMD 35 (41 vs. BR, 39 vs. trip) | F: +10, R: +7, W: +6(+2 v. fear); +2 v. poi/magic | Init: +3 | Perc: +9, SM: +1; Darkvision 60 ft. | Speed 20ft | Defensive Stance: 9/9 rds | Active conditions: None.
Sounds good to me! Handy little ability. :)
Gilgrim takes a moment to Renew himself through sheer force of will before releasing the trance he was in, finding himself suddenly getting really tired. Nodding in thanks to Bernard, he makes his way over to the last creature, to help, a little slower than usual.
Kindle casts the spell Cure Light Wounds, then takes a careful route behind the fighting to get near Gilgrim. "Alright, lets get you feeling a bit better." Cure Light Wounds @ Gilgrim:1d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6:(
Kitajo, wounded, makes it to the backside of the construct and delivers a strike and connects.
Zaarah lashes it out with three strikes. Finishing this guardian as well.
Out of Combat
Once the PCs defeat the idols, they may study the remains to make useful notes on serpentfolk artifice. Each group can attempt a single skill check using one of the following skills: Appraise, Craft (sculptures or stonemasonry), Disable Device, Knowledge (arcana or engineering), Perception, Profession (architect, engineer, or miner), Spellcraft, or Use Magic Device.
Take the time to heal up and then decide where to go. We could move into the Temple or bypass it and head straight to the Ophidian Rectory
"Well done, well done everyone. Gilgrim, Kitajo, I can assist with that if you'd like."
will tap myself with my own wand a few times if we have a few moments, then will try to check things out. to be clear, is it one check for each PC or just the overall group gets one check? if just one check, I will defer to whoever wants to go.
Some heavy presence within this massive, domed chamber claws at the chest and weighs the air itself down. Strange glows emanate from the cardinal points of this massive, circular chamber. In the center of the room, an elevated, spiraling staircase entwines a column of stone, atop which sits an altar.
The temple’s high priest, the ancient and twisted serpentfolk cleric Xassvissec, utters prayers over the chained form of the Azlanti general Krahnaliara Lac Suhn while preparing the sacrifice. Various serpentfolk and reptilian abominations touched by Ydersius’s divine nature stand by to witness the rite.
More serpentfolk, same things as before, immune to mind-affecting and have SR. The large creature will take a knowledge planes.
Male CG Dwarf Fighter (Foehammer) 7 / Stalwart Defender 4 | HP 107/107 | AC 34 T 18 FF 30 | CMB +17 (+24 BR, +19 OR, +19 sun., +19 trip), CMD 35 (41 vs. BR, 39 vs. trip) | F: +10, R: +7, W: +6(+2 v. fear); +2 v. poi/magic | Init: +3 | Perc: +9, SM: +1; Darkvision 60 ft. | Speed 20ft | Defensive Stance: 9/9 rds | Active conditions: None.
"This is not good," Gilgrim states obviously. He takes a brief moment to tighten the strap of his shield, then grips his hammer. "Let me know if I'm needin' ta smash anything, but I'm outta me depths here."
"Got me stumped." Kindle shrugs, having not a clue what the creature could be. "Stick with him." He calls to Rose, suggesting she follow up behind Trokkus.
Refreshing Mage Armor on Kitajo and Rose after previous combat.
Rose recalls that it is an evil COUATL. An evil outsider (native). Only thing special about these things are that it casts spells like a sorcerer, but can cast some cleric spells, and its bite comes with some poison.
A crack of thunder and the tang of ozone cut through the complex. The figures before you, and indeed the walls, the floor, even the air itself seem to crumble and fall away like glittering sands through an hourglass. Unfamiliar figures—their heavy, hooded robes embroidered with the symbol of a winged eye—stand about the field, their hands crackling with lightning. Dozens of Pathfinder spellcasters lie dead at their feet.
A gargantuan image of a woman appears and shimmers like a desert mirage. She has a regal bearing, but her features are lined as if by years of endless duty. “Arrogant Pathfinders! Your ridiculous Society spends fortunes and lives to reassemble a treasure that turns time itself like the pages of a book—a key that could undo all the misery and suffering our world now knows—and you use it for this? Poking at snakes and playing at heroism? Golarion knew a true hero once! Our Lord Aroden—who raised the Starstone from the sea and imprisoned the undead tyrant Tar-Baphon—could already walk the world again were it not for your petty games and delays. Every death in your hours of playtime now hangs as a weight around your collective necks, you spoiled children.
“I am Lady Arodeth, and on behalf of the Harbingers of Fate and the God of Mankind himself, I have seized your Sky Key. Its defenders threw their lives away trying to stop compassion and destiny from returning to this world. I advise you not to throw your own lives away attempting to do the same.
“Behold the return of the Last Azlanti! Behold Aroden!”
The robed Heralds begin casting, and arcs of lightning leap to the rods made of skymetal. A deep thrum from somewhere below reverberates with chest-tightening force, then the earth begins to heave and quake. Emerald green miasma lashes out, snaking back along the arcs of arcane lightning and infecting hooded casters throughout the crowd. Your body—or perhaps the whole world—crumbles to dust and you hear a distant scream of “She’s overloaded it!”
And just as swiftly, the world is whole again, but in place of a flower-speckled field stands the sprawling marketplace of a small city. Ivory-white buildings and columns feature reliefs and endless statuary all depicting physically perfect human specimens in poses of glory over serpentfolk. A chiton-clad crowd of gawkers stares, both at you and at the roiling dome of green light that encompasses nearly a square mile of territory, beyond which this strange city stretches on.
Robed Heralds panic as they sprint beyond the edges of the glistening dome, only to collapse just beyond its border. There they scream and writhe, their bones cracking as flesh and sinew age to dust in mere moments. Meanwhile, those unfortunates consumed by the green miasma scream and stagger, their features warping and bloating as if the power seeking refuge within them were too big for mere flesh to contain.
And high overhead, a looming stone glows with a light visible even in the growing light of dawn.
GMs, please adjudicate the time-bubble collapsing and begin part 3.
Though the citizens of Azlant are more accustomed to everyday magic than even the cosmopolitan residents of Absalom, these humans of the past have never laid eyes upon dwarves, gnomes, or half-orcs. The sudden appearance of a massive crowd in their midst, combined with the long-standing war and chaos in the sky, proves too much. The crowd of onlookers grows angry, then defensive, yelling threats in Azlanti to order these strangers out of their city and summon the guards.
The PCs can attempt to calm the crowd (requiring Diplomacy check) or cow them (requiring an Intimidate check). Failing this check results in several citizens and guards resorting to force to drive off the PCs.
Zaarah manages to calm the ancient people in her own way.
Combat avoided
A familiar figure limps out from between two buildings. The weight of years seems to hang over Kreighton Shaine, the Pathfinder Society’s illustrious Master of Scrolls, his face more deeply lined than it was this morning.
“My apologies for not reaching you more quickly, but I have been quite distracted,” he pants. To the left and right across the ancient marketplace, other versions of Kreighton Shaine are speaking to other, equally bewildered Pathfinders. “It seems redundant to say so at this point, but the Harbingers of Fate have seized control of the Sky Key, and we all appear to be trapped in what the Isle of Kortos used to be eons ago. The same sort of temporal bubble that brought the serpentfolk city of Sessegishoss to us now keeps our forces pinned down here.
“We are attempting to uncover the Sky Key Vault now. While the vault itself seems to be here in this time period, our entrance to it wasn’t projected back, and we’ve lost our bearings relative to its location in this new landscape. What’s more, I worry simply reclaiming the Sky Key will not be enough to allow our escape—that green surge we all witnessed seems to have invested many of the Harbingers with enough of the Sky Key’s energy to maintain our chronological exile.”
Shaine looks worriedly up at the sky. “We will need to work together to uncover the vault and cut the tethers that anchor this time period to the Harbingers’ spellcasters. We must do both so we can use the Sky Key to escape.”[b] A crack of thunder sounds overhead as the dome of green light twists and arcs down to the surface with a thunderous crash, and strange, hairy beasts stride where it struck. [b]“And we would be wise to move quickly."
Shaine quickly hands each PC a potion of cure serious wounds. "Any Questions?"
Female N Kitsune, always in human form (auburn hair, freckles, dreamily observing and sometimes looking a little bit crazy) | Swashbuckler 1 / Magus 15 | Low-light vision | Speed 30ft, Fly 60ft | Boots of Speed 10/10 | Lucky Horses. 1/1 | HP 209/209 | Normal: AC 24 T 19 FF 16 | CMB +25 (Disarm, Trip, Sunder), CMD 28 | F +22, R +22, W +15 | Empower 1/1 | Quicken 1/1| FreeMove 4/4 | Panache 9/9 | Arcane Pool/Ring 11+4/13+4 | Black Blade Pool 4/4 | Concentr. reroll 2/2 | Chaldira reroll 1/1 | Reroll 1/1 | Flight 15/15 | Init +9 | Perc +26, SM +21, Bluff (Deceive) +28, Dipl. (Convince) +28 | Active cond: Ablative barrier, invisibility, fly, Defending bones
Zaarah looks at Shane with a bewildered look on her face.
"Why don't we just threaten to kill this Harbinger lady that held this speech and force her stand down! She surely knows how we can get back to our time?"
Male CG Dwarf Fighter (Foehammer) 7 / Stalwart Defender 4 | HP 107/107 | AC 34 T 18 FF 30 | CMB +17 (+24 BR, +19 OR, +19 sun., +19 trip), CMD 35 (41 vs. BR, 39 vs. trip) | F: +10, R: +7, W: +6(+2 v. fear); +2 v. poi/magic | Init: +3 | Perc: +9, SM: +1; Darkvision 60 ft. | Speed 20ft | Defensive Stance: 9/9 rds | Active conditions: None.
"Come on, lass," Gilgrim responds before the Master of Scrolls has a chance. "Even I know that's not likely ta work. As far as she's concerned, she's got us over a barrel."
He turns back to Kreighton Shaine, "Can ya give us some suggestions on where ta start? I'm a pretty straight forward dwarf, and all this finger waggin' doesn't make much sense ta me."
Been preoccupied with a weekend at the cabin fishing.
"Excellent work being friendly Zaarah!"
After hearing the briefing of what is going on, Kindle finds himself lost and not understanding the situation. "Uhhhh... Alright." He leans over to Rose. "What is going on again?"
"Harbingers are a threat to us, and if we do nothing we will remain trapped here forever, unless we take the sky key." She calmly informs her partner. "I think Zaarah is right, that we should deal with the Harbingers first."
Male LG Half-Orc Paladin 11 (Oath Against Fiends) | HP 56/74 | AC 24 T 12 FF 24 | CMD 25 (26 vs disarm/sunder) | F: +12, R: +8, W: +12| Init: +0 | Perc: +7, SM: +14 | Speed 30ft |Shirt Reroll: 1/1, Pin: 1/1, +1 on a d20: 1/1, +2 on a Sense Motive: 1/1|Lay on Hands: 7/7, Divine Bond 1/2, Smite Evil 3/4| Spells: 1st 3/3, 2nd 2/2, 3rd 1/1 | *Active: Extra +1 holy (11 min)
Trokkus cracks his knuckles and grunts. "Time travel gives me a headache. There's a thing or twenty I'd change about my own past, if I could. But let's do what's needed to set things right. Redemption's a long road, and I've barely started."
How to we find the Sky Key Vault? “Divine providence? I’m not sure, as it’s made of steel and sky metals, but also buried approximately 30 feet beneath the earth, which shields it from most of our available divinations. I remain open to suggestions.”
At Zaarah"To get to her, you must first go through the other anchors."
Male CG Dwarf Fighter (Foehammer) 7 / Stalwart Defender 4 | HP 107/107 | AC 34 T 18 FF 30 | CMB +17 (+24 BR, +19 OR, +19 sun., +19 trip), CMD 35 (41 vs. BR, 39 vs. trip) | F: +10, R: +7, W: +6(+2 v. fear); +2 v. poi/magic | Init: +3 | Perc: +9, SM: +1; Darkvision 60 ft. | Speed 20ft | Defensive Stance: 9/9 rds | Active conditions: None.
Gilgrim just shrugs, beats his hammer against his shield, causing it to ring out for a bring moment. "If that's what we're doin', then jus' point the way. Me hammer'll lead."
Luckily these anchors/harbingers are easy to find. They glow the same green radiance as the force shield covering the town.
breaking/releasing the temporal energy:
Each of the Anchors glows with an unearthly green radiance, similar to the dome overhead and the strange lightning that deposits monsters from the past. To escape before the Starstone collides with Golarion, the PCs must cleanse many of these figures of the Sky Key’s taint. The field automatically fades upon each spellcaster’s death. A PC can also disrupt the temporal energy by targeting an Anchor with dispel magic, lesser restoration, remove curse, or restoration and then succeeding at a caster level check.
The PCs can also attempt to calm a spellcaster, convincing him to release the temporal energy willingly. Doing so requires one or more successful skill checks specified in the Anchor’s encounter entry. By using emotion-manipulating magic (such as delusional pride or calm emotions), a PC can gain a +5 circumstance bonus on checks made to influence an Anchor—so long as the magic is appropriate to the skill check (for instance, cause fear would assist Intimidate checks, but not Diplomacy or Bluff checks).
The PC's come across a female figure, radiating a green light, surrounded by citizens of Lacsuhnollo. A bit weary, she looks over at the PC's and begins shouting, "These people showing up is a sign of the end times and brings star fall even close. We must band together and send them out."
knowledge history DC 33, taldor or sovereign court gain +2:
You recall her as Alrule Shahan. She was born into a family of exceptional breeding and pitifully little money in Taldor’s easternmost provinces. Her bloodline retains strong Azlanti features, for better or worse, but her family fortunes are so stricken that she took up mercantile work for one of her mother’s friends, learning to spin deals in distant Absalom. She fell in with the Harbingers of Fate
Sense motive DC 20:
You can tell that she is panicked and not acting as herself.
Male CG Dwarf Fighter (Foehammer) 7 / Stalwart Defender 4 | HP 107/107 | AC 34 T 18 FF 30 | CMB +17 (+24 BR, +19 OR, +19 sun., +19 trip), CMD 35 (41 vs. BR, 39 vs. trip) | F: +10, R: +7, W: +6(+2 v. fear); +2 v. poi/magic | Init: +3 | Perc: +9, SM: +1; Darkvision 60 ft. | Speed 20ft | Defensive Stance: 9/9 rds | Active conditions: None.
Sense Motive:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8Nope! Worth a shot.
Gilgrim approaches the green glowing lady with the others just behind him."Can't say as I be knowin' what yer talkin' 'bout, lass, but we're just here to set the world aright again. Starfall happens, sure as I'm a dwarf. Has nothin' ta do with us bein' here. My people be known this as much as any. How about ye stand down, afore someone get's hurt that don't need to."
Diplomacy:1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14Not bad, but probably not enough.
Pathfinders have found and uncovered the Sky Key Vault. It is there that the Sky Key—the Society’s ticket home—awaits. However, the dome of green energy remains strong, suggesting that too many Harbinger spellcasters are still anchoring the Society in this time period.
GMs, Area G is now open. However, more Anchor successes are still needed!
