[PFS1] GM Pudding's The House on Hook Street (Inactive)

Game Master Tom G

"Yes of course, I'll have to close the shop up for a while anyway as I sort things out with my aunt. I'd be honoured to have have some heroes get some use out of it!"

She gives you a quick tour of the place, including a back room where her father kept the "dangerous" volumes, ones he wouldn't sell unless satisfied that the buyer had no ill intent. The store takes up the whole of the ground floor, featuring several uneven rooms full of books of every conceivable occult type. Upstairs is a modest apartment with two bedrooms and a small kitchen.

Settling in for your first day of research, you start with a first pass of the book, trying to read only those pages which form a coherent history, rather than delving too much at this stage into anything that looks like a spell or a ritual. The book is very loosely bound allowing pages to easily be passed around and everyone to participate. What you find is a complete and detailed history of an artifact known as the dreamstone, authored by the Desnan church.

In -5293 AR the Starstone fell to Golarion, creating the inner sea and resulting in the destruction of the empires of Thassilon and Azlant. The Azlanti deity Acavna pulled Golarion's moon from its orbit to intercept the asteroid heading to destroy the planet. The resulting impact smashed it into thousands of pieces, but Acavna herself was slain. The Azlanti god of magic Amaznen also sacrificed himself to weaken the deadly shards, sending many of them into distant planes of existence.

Some of the shards ripped through the dimension of dreams, where Desna herself was able to intervene in ways not possible in the realms ruled by more rigid metaphysics. Yet one shard, silent and slow, plunged into an ephemeral demiscape, where it tore through one reality and into another, coming to rest not in the realm of dreams, but in the waking world.

Desna's emissaries on Golarion clandestinely collected this fragment from a deep crater in the Mindspin Mountains. This dreamstone passed secretly among her clergy for thousands of years, their actions and learnings recorded collectively in these pages of the Paginarum Lethargica.

The stone itself is formidable, as it radiates a vision of terror and destruction out to 50 feet, a dream of the end of Golarion it was destined to cause before the intervention of the gods. There is a ritual included to "awaken" the stone, and Huxwren recognises it as the one they saw Nahum performing that was interrupted. Once awakened, it is surrounded by a constant bubble of stabilized dreamscape that overlaps both the material plane and the dimension of dreams. Dreamers who fall asleep within this radius do not visit their own ephemeral dreamscape as usual, but instead appear randomly within the the dreamstone's realm.

Lucid dreamers who die in the dreamscape die in real life, and non-lucid dreamers wake up exhausted. Worse, for every such death the radius of the dreamstone grows. This dream bubble is blocked by bodies of water (perhaps that's why the cult were hiding in the undersea bubble), but the book speculates that once the bubble reaches a certain size, it would overcome bodies of water, and all within will be consumed in a fiery cataclysm as the stone's dream of death is finally realised.

In each documented experiment in the Paginarum Lethargica, the Desnan's experiments ended because the taint of nightmares always crept in, regardless of the clerics attempts to avoid them. Eventually it was locked away in a shrine in Korvosa two centuries ago.

In amongst the pages are scrolls of cloak of dreams, lullaby, restful sleep, sleep, sleepwalk and symbol of sleep. In addition there are two things of interest, the details of a ritual known as "Breach the Veil of Dreams", as well as instructions for destroying the dreamstone. The book itself provides a +5 bonus on the reader's next Knowledge (planes) check within an hour if it is related to the dimension of dreams or the ethereal plane.

The ritual is highly complex, and studying it well enough to conduct it would take several days, perhaps a week or more. Its effect is easy enough to gather, it opens a portal to the dimension of dreams through which your physical bodies could pass.

The fail-safe destruction method of the dreamstone requires that the ritual Breach the Veil of Dreams be performed on the dimension of dreams itself, and the dreamstone put through the resulting portal into a dream within a dream. Once the portal is closed, the artifact is destroyed forever.

That's a lot to take in! Please ask any questions you might have. The mechanics of the ritual itself I can get into if you manage to decipher it (it requires a DC 16 intelligence check made to represent 6 days of effort), but there are mitigating factors to make it easier. Reading the book to gather that much information takes a day, so you can rest and decide how you want to proceed. For resting please let me know where you rest, the details of your watches, and especially what you do with the book and key.

Thanks for the work, GM Pudding. This is a lot to take in. Can we perform the ritual without the stone that is needed to enter the dreamscape awake? Is the book useful with any of those spells/scrolls for doing the same thing? I don't know what any of those spells do or what class you have to be to cast them.

"We should study here. But not sure about sleep. Do we set up a twenty four hour schedule? 3 guards each with an 8 hour shift. 2 studiers with a 12 hour shift. The off duty guards can help for 4 hours as studiers." "That way two people will be up at any given time possibly 3 if the off duty guard is still up." Grunyak rubs is head while explaining his idea for shifts.

As far as I know, Hux still has the key and they can hide it somewhere, swallow it, or whatever they think best. The book should remain in use.

Drusilla isn't that good with books, and offers to stay vigil as a guard while the more litterate of you peruse the various books and tomes

That could work. Anyway, I'm not sure I would be of much help with these books, so I will protect you while you peruse these old, dusty tomes..

Taariik shrugs.

"Just tell me what to do!" he says anda then starts singing.

"I don't know much about history, I don't know much about biology ... "

“So what it looks like is that we’ll first need to figure out this ritual, then be ready to perform it twice - once on this plane to get into the Dreamworld, and then again once we’ve gotten the Dreamstone to get rid of the poor thing.” Huxwren frowns at the tome. “And then maybe a third time to us back to the Material Plane. Let’s hope it doesn’t need anything expensive. And yes, we need as many eyes watching as possible. Something happened to that poor bookkeep, and we don’t want the same to happen to us!”

I think I understand Grunyak’s logic for shifts, and it sounds like a plan. Sounds like we might want the Archmage back for studying.

You can perform the ritual without the stone, all you need is the book and the key (and whatever other components you learn about while studying). It's clear from what you've read so far that the ritual doesn't help with getting back to the material plane, it's not clear yet how you would do that

You settle in to the Winding Way to begin the task of teasing out a most complicated and in-depth ritual. It seems it's not just the precise nature of the preparations that are important, but the intent of the practitioners too. Belief and desire are as vital as the burning of the right herbs and the speaking of the right words, and getting the belief right can be harder than falling to sleep when your mind is racing.

Much of the text about the ritual is references to other occult works, dropped in like they should be obvious. Luckily being in one of the best occult reference libraries in Korvosa helps there, the following day Avigail and her Aunt stop in see if you need anything, and Avigail insists on fetching books for you and making you tea.

I tried to make a spreadsheet but I got confused, instead I rolled randomly for who was on watch and who was awake at a critical moment

Later that evening When Taariik is on watch and Eldrin is burning the midnight oil, something strange happens!

I don't quite have enough time to finish this, and Wednesday is game night so it will be a couple of days before I can kick us off, sorry. For the sleepers, I'm assuming you'd use bedrolls on the floor rather than use the girl and her recently deceased father's bed? Have a think about what you're wearing (do you keep a light-armour for sleeping in?), where your gear is etc. Choose your spirits and spells for the wizards and you can find out what happens in a few days!

Thanks a lot GM! As Taariik is usually worthless during the day I assume, is it possible to sleep during the day and keep watch during the night for the party?

Taariik is trying to help as best as he can.

When he sleeps he takes off his armor.

Grunyak would sleep without armor in a corner. He would have his axe nearby and wear anything that can be slept in like headband, cloak and such.

During discussions of sleeping, "We should all stay in the room or at least close. The dream nightmares can somehow be made real. And thse watching should check the others from time to time."

Huxwren snores loudly in the corner, small body curled tightly around their haversack - and the key within.

Given that we had a day of studying (and that Eldrin probably doesn't want to have to deal with a coworker who can't tell the truth), Huxwren would have channeled the Archmage again this morning to sharpen their mind. @Eldrin, @Grunyak - don't forget that this means your spells will benefit from the seance boon (+2 damage)!

@Taariik for the sake of my sanity I've abstracted away the exact shift cycles and just rolled for who's on watch at a crucial time, and it's you!

As Eldrin sits at a small curved desk in the middle of the main room of the shop, Taariik stands between him and the front door, keeping an eye out for any danger. Drusilla, Grunyak and Huxwren sleep peacefully on their bedrolls, each dreaming of an Madame Carrington's overcrowded Dream Sanctuary, presided over by a benevolent Baku.

Suddenly, the door slams open as if blown by the wind, even though Taariik is certain that it was locked and bolted the last time he checked. He can see out onto the porch of the shop, lit by street lamps outside, yet no-one is there.

I'm rolling initiative because round-by-round actions are important, but there are no enemies at present. Shouting to wake the sleepers is a free action if you'd like to do that. I'm assuming that Taariik has weapon drawn and is ready to defend, should a threat present itself

Round 1

Active Effects:
Seance Boon: +2 spell damage

Taariik
?
Huxwren asleep, prone
Eldrin
Drusilla asleep, prone
Grunyak asleep, prone

Taariik is up!

Taariik immediately shouts, “WAKE UP! Something is wrong!!“

He activates his shadow clones and 5 ft steps to the door.

mirror images : 1d4 ⇒ 4

Then he concentrates to check for threats.

perception : 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Taariik conjures some more defensive images and wakes the sleepers, so that everyone can look around in anxious fear. He tries to pierce the gloom of the street and see what might have caused the door to open, but there is nothing.

Suddenly, from a few feet outside the door, he hears a shrill voice.

"Ha ha ha! Gr'thklath F'gun!"

A strange patter of feet in the room is punctuated by an utterly inhuman snarl and Eldrin finds himself getting bitten as books and piles of notes are strewn everywhere

Bite, invisible vs. FF: 1d20 + 15 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 15 + 2 = 19
P/B/S: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (2, 5) + 3 = 10

Claw vs. FF: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17
Slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Claw vs. FF: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32
Slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
22 damage to Eldrin

As Eldrin is bitten, the bizarre creature doing the biting is revealed. It is vaguely dog-like, but with gaunt, long limbs and huge soulless eyes. The eyes are deeply upsetting, and physically painful to look upon. Immediately after attacking, it seems to shrink to a tiny point in a most disconcerting manner, appearing to grow again from the corner of a nearby table. The new position allows everyone except Taariik to see the beast.

It has a gaze attack:

Amongst the ghostly laughter to the north, Taariik and Eldrin see a horrifying figure appear while holding a holy symbol that looks like a spider, and they feel the same greasy darkness wash over them that they've felt before while facing the cultists of Mog-Lathar. This time though, the cultist seems to be twisted nightmare version of the ones you have already faced, and there are several copies of her much like Taariik.

images: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Negative Energy: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 6) = 10
Eldrin Will: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Taariik Will: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
5 damage to Taariik and Eldrin

In addition the terrifying visage shakes all who can see her to their core.
Eldrin Will vs. Fear: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 8 + 1 = 10
Taariik Will vs. Fear: 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 11 + 1 = 16
Eldrin is shaken!

Please note that the bookshelves are tall and function as walls, giving total cover to the things on the other side

Research Ambush

Round 1

Active Effects:
Seance Boon: +2 spell damage

...
Canine Monster
Nightmare Cultist
Huxwren prone, <gaze>
Eldrin -27, shaken, <gaze>
Drusilla prone, <gaze>
Grunyak prone, <gaze>

Round 2

Taariik -5

Everyone is up!

Averted Gaze: 1d100 ⇒ 72

Knowledge (planes) vs DC 17: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Huxwren opens his eyes, then immediately wishes he hadn't and looks anywhere else but the monstrosity standing over him. He spots Grunyak and Dru still on their cots, and Eldrin bleeding. Oh dear, this simply will not do.

"I'll have you know it's very rude to interrupt someone while they're sleeping," he declares peevishly to his unfriendly neighbor, repeating each magical phrase several times in his mind to avoid any distraction or misstep during the conjuration. "You should feel ashamed of yourself. Now scram!"

Concentration vs DC 19: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16 + Spirit Boost: 1d6 ⇒ 6 = 22

A burst of glitter erupts from the air where Huxwren is shaking his finger towards, coating the creature with sparkling motes. The halfling wastes no time in jumping to his feet and sliding along the bookshelves towards Drusilla.

Swift action to activate Arcane Armor Training, standard action to defensively cast glitterdust (Will 15) in yellow spread, move action to stand and 5 ft step.

Will: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

The strange hound manages to avoid getting the glitter in its eyes, though the way it moves to do so it unnatural and disturbing, perhaps even more so now that it's so sparkley. It bites at Huxwren as he stands up.

Bite vs. Prone: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22
P/B/S: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 3) + 3 = 11

11 damage to Huxwren

Grunyak will look around normally. fort save vs gaze: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
He then grabs his axe and channels to heal his friends.
channel: 4d6 ⇒ (2, 5, 4, 5) = 16 "Torag, heal us with your energy"
Grunyak failed the save I believe. Hopefully that does not prevent him from channeling or getting his axe.

know planes: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Taariik channels Irori’s martial wisdom!

Free action: spirit dance champion spirit 8/11 remaining. @all allies: +2 to weapon damage rolls!!

“You are attacking the wrong people lady!!!“ he says and 5 ft steps forward.

Taariik attacks with his greatsword!

Adamantine +1 Greatsword +11, champion +1, pa -2 : 1d20 + 11 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 11 + 1 - 2 = 23
Damage Str +5, 2H Half Str +2, Enhancement +1, champion +1, spirit aura seance boon +2, 2H power attack +6: 2d6 + 17 ⇒ (5, 4) + 17 = 26

Using Cornugon Smash feat: When you damage an opponent with a Power Attack, you may make an immediate Intimidate check as a free action to attempt to demoralize your opponent.

intimidate demoralize free action vs 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + the target’s Wisdom modifier: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (4) + 17 = 21

Move action to detect evil as if 3 rounds analysis was done on the woman.

Overt Gaze: 1d100 ⇒ 21
Will Save DC: ?: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Eldrin grips the edge of the desk to steady himself as a large amount of blood soaks into his robes.

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

Coughing, he manages to say "It's a Hound of Tindalos, don't bother trying any mind effecting magics, they wont work."

Raising his hand, he points toward the nightmare cultist and chants familiar words. Despite speaking less precisely than normal a stream of magical projectiles burst from his hand and speed toward the cleric.

Force Damage: 5d4 + 5 + 3 ⇒ (3, 4, 1, 3, 2) + 5 + 3 = 21

Casting Magic Missile and spending an Arcane Reservoir point to raise the caster level to ninth.

Does each missile hit a different image? Or do they all hit hte same one?

Mirror image, 1=hit: 1d3 ⇒ 1
Taariik steps forward to attack the nightmare cultist, and Irori guides his blade because the image he hits is the correct one, and his sword pierces her armour and deliverers a nasty wound. Much like fighting the ettercap though a few days ago, he finds that her skin is strangely tough and resists some of the damage. The sheer power of the blow though seems to frighten her.

Grunyak meets the gaze of the alien monster and finds the reality-shaking revlations held in its visage physically painful as cuts appear across his body!

Slashing: 5d6 ⇒ (3, 2, 2, 1, 1) = 9
9 damage to Grunyak

He then grabs his axe and channels Torag's power, completely healing his wounds and those of Huxwren and Taariik, and greatly assisting Eldrin.

Eldrin finds that he can't resist meeting the creature's gaze, but what he finds there doesn't trouble his elven mind.
It's actually a fortitude save (and you were shaken so needed a -2) but a natural 20 will do! Also just +2 for the seance boon

He then shoots a barrage of missiles toward the nightmare cultist, all of which impact her and the very last one knocks her unconscious! Her wounds do appear to be slowly healing though...

Research Ambush

Active Effects:
Seance Boon: +2 spell damage
Spirit Dance: +2 weapon damage within 30 feet of Taariik

Round 1

...
Huxwren
Eldrin -11, shaken, immune to gaze
Drusilla prone, <gaze>
Grunyak prone

Round 2

Taariik
Hound of Tindalos glittered
Nightmare Cultist -41, shaken, unconscious, prone
...

Drusilla is up!

Knowldege (Planes) DC: 16: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

"Does anyone have a weapon made out of silver? Grunyak, Taariik, can you call upon your deities to enchant your weapons with the esence of good?"

"Aye, I have a spell to align my weapon to sing with Torag's plan for the world, but it will take a moment."

Grunyak has align weapon good as a domain spell prepared. I have never had anyone identify good as something useful. It will be another standard action to do though.

Dru seems to be a late riser, and takes her morningstar to bash the hound attacking Huxwen.

Know planes: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

She doesnt know what a Tindalos hound might be, and makes the mistake of looking at it

Bad puppy. Let go of Huxwen

Power Attackn, flanking: 1d20 + 14 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 14 + 2 - 2 = 15
dmg, PA, spirit dance: 1d8 + 7 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 4 + 2 = 18

Sorry for late (and short!) post, busy week end

@Dru No worries on the late post! You were prone and unarmed (and unarmoured) though, so the best you can do this round is stand and grab your morningstar, and five foot step if you wish. I've moved you back. I'll assume you averted your gaze

Dru avert gaze: 1d100 ⇒ 96

At Taariik's feat, some of the wounds on the nightmare cultist close, and her eyes snap open. She smiles a toothy grin and begins to cast a spell, taking care not to leave herself open to attack.

Concentration DC 19, shaken: 1d20 + 10 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 10 - 2 = 21

She disappears from view, and as soon as she does Eldrin feels the fear that was surrounding his heart vanish.

Eldrin is no longer shaken

The hound of Tindalos once again folds in on itself in a way that seems hard to follow. Only Taariik is able to see it unfold itself from one of the corners of the building outside. Magic surrounds it, and it bounds away from the building, suddenly very fast, but stops to look back at Taariik, seemingly asking him to give chase.

Only Taariik and Eldrin can see it for the gaze this round, but Eldrin is immune

Research Ambush

Active Effects:
Seance Boon: +2 spell damage
Spirit Dance: +2 weapon damage within 30 feet of Taariik

Round 2

...
Huxwren
Eldrin -11, immune to gaze
Drusilla
Grunyak prone

Round 3

Taariik <gaze>
Hound of Tindalos glittered, mystery magic
Nightmare Cultist -36, no longer visible
...

Everyone is up!

fort save : 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30

Taariik can resist the gaze attack and again channels Irori’s martial wisdom!

Free action: spirit dance champion spirit 7/11 remaining. @all allies: +2 to weapon damage rolls!!
Swift action to smite the monster.

“You are an evil
Monster!!!“ he says and moves forward.

Taariik attacks with his greatsword!

Adamantine +1 Greatsword +11, champion +1, pa -2 : 1d20 + 11 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 11 + 1 - 2 = 17 +5 if evil
Damage Str +5, 2H Half Str +2, Enhancement +1, champion +1, spirit aura seance boon +2, 2H power attack +6: 2d6 + 17 ⇒ (4, 1) + 17 = 22 +4 if evil outsider / ignores DR

Using Cornugon Smash feat: When you damage an opponent with a Power Attack, you may make an immediate Intimidate check as a free action to attempt to demoralize your opponent.

intimidate demoralize free action vs 10 + the target’s Hit Dice + the target’s Wisdom modifier: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37

Still have 4 mirror images.

Grunyak mutters out a spell and his axe glows for a second. casts align weapon good.

He then stands up. "That wretched spider kisser is here to take ticket to dreamland."

gaze atk stuff need?

No gaze worries this round, only Taariik and Eldrin were within range and could see the creature, and Eldrin was already immune.

Taariik stares down the "hound" and finds his righteous fury more than enough to overpower its unnatural gaze. He strides up to it and strikes with his greatsword. The hound almost dodges away, but Irori guides his hand and he strikes true, cutting open its side and causing fizzing black ichor to steam away into the night.

17 would have been a miss, but 22 is a hit! It is immune to demoralize though as Eldrin mentioned

The alien look of incomprehension the hound gives Taariik after his attempt to scare it is most unsettling. At the same time, Grunyak blesses his axe to better fight nightmare creatures, and jumps to his feet.

I'm going to "delay" you all into round 3 to simplify the tracker

Research Ambush

Active Effects:
Seance Boon: +2 spell damage
Spirit Dance: +2 weapon damage within 30 feet of Taariik

Round 3

Taariik 4 images, immune to gaze
Grunyak good axe
Huxwren
Eldrin -11, immune to gaze
Drusilla
Hound of Tindalos -26, glittered, mystery magic
Nightmare Cultist -36, no longer visible
...

Huxwren, Eldrin and Drusilla are up!

Spellcraft DC: 19: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

Feeling the healing power of Torag wash over him, Eldrin gets to his feet and begins chanting. His voice back to its regular clear and precise cadence. Completing his incantation he gesturs toward the place the nightmare cultist was lying; causing a burst of shimmering motes to fill the space.

Glitterdust DC: 20

"Grunyak, quickly, get it!"

Standing as a move action and casting Glitterdust between where Eldrin and Taariik are standing. Expending an Arcane Reservoir point to raise the DC by two.

Will: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Eldrin conjures a burst of glitter near the doorway, and is rewarded with a shrill scream and the form of a cowering nightmare cultist, now outlined with glitter.

"My eyes!"

Research Ambush

Active Effects:
Seance Boon: +2 spell damage
Spirit Dance: +2 weapon damage within 30 feet of Taariik

Round 3

Taariik 4 images, immune to gaze
Grunyak good axe
Huxwren
Eldrin -11, immune to gaze
Drusilla
Hound of Tindalos -26, glittered, mystery magic
Nightmare Cultist -36, glittered, blinded
...

Huxwren and Drusilla are up!

“Come now, don’t dawdle.” Huxwren begins to walk towards the door and claps his little hands expectantly. “Quickly now, let’s go.”

Move and casting haste. This will affect everyone except Taariik, who is unfortunately too far away from everyone else.

“Drusilla, would you be so kind as to stop that incessant yelling outside? It’s disturbing my rest - though I do believe Master Grunyak as a plan for restoring the peace on a more permanent basis.”

With the greatest pleasure. Do you want him, or her, still alive, just in case?

With heightened speed, Drusilla dashes near the blinded foe.

Do you have a few moments to speak about our lord and savior Cayden Caillean? No? You stay blind to His -admittedly drunken-words? Your choice.

And near perfectly bashes his (or her!) cranium with her morningstar.

Our headaches are funnier, and slower, to get.

Pa, Haste, NL: 1d20 + 14 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 14 - 2 + 1 = 32
Dmg (NL): 1d8 + 7 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 7 + 4 + 2 = 16

Twice, if the first one isn't enough, althrough she tries to keep the cultist alive

Pa, Haste, NL: 1d20 + 14 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 14 - 2 + 1 = 20
PA Dmg (NL): 1d8 + 7 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 7 + 4 + 2 = 15

You'd only get the one attack even with haste, and I'd forgotten about her images! She still has 2 it looks like, and glitterdust doesn't seem to help with them...

Image, 1=hit: 1d3 ⇒ 3

Huxwren magically speeds (almost) everyone up, and Drusilla takes advantage to smash the blinded nightmare cultist, however she hits one of her images!

The cultist wounds seem to be slowly healing. She immediately casts a quick spell on herself, then floats ever so gracefully into the sky.

She's blinded so needs an acrobatics check to move at full speed, but her movement doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity.

Acrobatics DC 15: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28

When she gets 10 feet up, she concentrates and several more images pop up.

Images: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Will: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 6 + 2 = 21

Each image wipes the glitter from its eyes and laughs maniacally.

The hound erratically shrinks into a tiny ball, then appears inside from the corner of a bookcase next to Grunyak. It looks as if it's rapidly growing from an embryo to a fully formed creature in a fraction of a second, then it steps toward Eldrin who still guards the Paginarum Lethargica, and unleashes a barrage of attacks!

Bite, haste: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 15 + 1 = 28
P/B/S: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 4) + 3 = 8

Bite, haste: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 15 + 1 = 19
P/B/S: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (6, 3) + 3 = 12

Claw: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 15 + 1 = 34
Slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Eldrin falls as it attacks, but it hungrily tears into his unconscious form

Claw: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 15 + 1 = 17
Slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

In its haste its claw catches on the wooden desk instead of disembowelling Eldrin.

27 damage to Eldrin
Eldrin would have been dead had Grunyak not channeled!

Round 4

Taariik 4 images, immune to gaze, smoten hound
Grunyak haste, good axe, <gaze>
Huxwren haste, <gaze>
Eldrin -38, haste, unconscious, dying, <stabilisation check required>, immune to gaze
Drusilla haste, <gaze>
Hound of Tindalos -26, glittered, haste
Nightmare Cultist -31, 10 feet up, glittered, 1 image
...

Everyone is up!, Grunyak, Drusilla and Huxwren have the gaze to deal with, the same choice as in the previous post is available to all of you

EDIT: I forgot that she needed a fly check to go straight up:
Fly DC 20: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15
Oh for crying out loud. RETCON: She double moved instead of getting more images, everything is the same except she only has one image :(

Taariik activates his Ifrit blood and grows!!

Enlarge person. 7 minutes duration.

“You cannot escape!!“

Free action: spirit dance champion spirit 6/11 remaining. @all allies: +2 to weapon damage rolls!!

@Taariik - doesn’t that SLA still have a 1 round casting time? If so, perhaps you can come back inside and keep this hound from killing anyone else? You’ve got the bonuses from smiting, after all.

Fortitude: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Huxwren can’t help but meet the hound’s gaze as it tears into Eldrin. “Um... Drusilla, Taariik, would you be so kind as to exterminate this pest?” Doing his best to ignore the quiver in his voice, the halfling quickly strides outside and flings a handful of magical missiles at the flying cultist. “And that’s quite enough out of you, young lady!”

Force damage, Seance: 4d4 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (4, 4, 2, 1) + 4 + 4 = 19

Moving (drawing dagger as part of move), activating Arcane Armor Training as a swift action, and casting magic missile on the cultist cleric.

Oops. Yes. Has 1 round casting time! Sorry!! Then he’ll go in as requested!

Taariik again channels Irori’s martial wisdom!

Free action: spirit dance champion spirit 6/11 remaining. @all allies: +2 to weapon damage rolls!!
Swift action to smite the monster.

“I will get you monster! Let the wizard alone!!!!!“ he says and moves forward.

Taariik attacks the hound with his greatsword!

Adamantine +1 Greatsword +11, champion +1, pa -2 , smite +5: 1d20 + 11 + 1 - 2 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 11 + 1 - 2 + 5 = 35
Damage Str +5, 2H Half Str +2, Enhancement +1, champion +1, spirit aura seance boon +2, 2H power attack +6, smite +2: 2d6 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (3, 2) + 17 + 2 = 24 ignores DR

Crit?: 1d20 + 11 + 1 - 2 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 11 + 1 - 2 + 5 = 20
Damage Str +5, 2H Half Str +2, Enhancement +1, champion +1, spirit aura seance boon +2, 2H power attack +6, smite +2: 2d6 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (4, 4) + 17 + 2 = 27 ignores DR

Grunyak needing to see what he is aiming at must look at the thing.
fort save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
He then steps forward and swings away at the horrible dog thing.
axe blow 1 with pa: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 1 - 2 = 14; dmg s: 1d8 + 3 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 6 + 2 + 1 = 13
haste blow: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 8 + 1 - 2 = 19; dmg s: 1d8 + 3 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 3 + 6 + 2 + 1 = 16
Axe is aligned to be good

"I must get to Eldrin." "You horrible beast, DIE!"
This looked okay now it is starting to slip into folly with deadly consequences.

Huxwren runs outside and fires some arcane force bolts of his own. They slam into the laughing cultist, and despite only being able to see her glittered outline, the damage is clearly fatal; the last bolt slams into her neck and removes a large chunk of it. Her lifeless body crashes to the flagstones outside the shop.

Falling damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5

And yet despite being clearly dead, her body begins to stitch itself back together.

As Eldrin alluded to she seems to have regeneration

Alas Taariik you didn't get the haste, so with a 20 foot movement speed you can't get adjacent to the hound with one move action (I've restored your original position on the map). It's a shame to waste your nat 20, so I'd be ok if you wanted to use a mind arsenal to hit it instead with the same rolls. I think that would be +2 to hit (because you can't power attack with it), but 8 less on each damage roll? Alternatively you could double move, leap over the desk (which I'd say would be difficult terrain), and get into a flank with Grunyak, which might make one of his strikes hit.

Alas Taariik you didn't get the haste, so with a 20 foot movement speed you can't get adjacent to the hound with one move action (I've restored your original position on the map). It's a shame to waste your nat 20, so I'd be ok if you wanted to use a mind arsenal to hit it instead with the same rolls. I think that would be +2 to hit (because you can't power attack with it), but 8 less on each damage roll? Alternatively you could double move, leap over the desk (which I'd say would be difficult terrain), and get into a flank with Grunyak, which might make one of his strikes hit.

Thanks a lot GM! Then Mind Arsenal makes a lot of sense but the to hit is 4 less because he does not have precise shot and it looks like the hound has cover. So the crit will surely not confirm. And yes 8 less damage!

Stabilise DC: 10: 1d20 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 - 1 = 6

Eldrin falls to the floor his already blood soaked robes darkening with every moment that passes.

Go and heal Eldrin, Gruniak. Lucifer wants to talk to that dog. and send it back to whatever unholy kennel it comes from...

Dru moves toward the canine beast and rises her shield to protect her eyes until the last moment, running toward it to bash it away with her morningstar

PA attack, Haste: 1d20 + 14 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 14 - 2 + 1 = 28
Dmg: 1d8 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 4 = 19

PA attack, Haste second attack: 1d20 + 14 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 14 - 2 + 1 = 22
Dmg: 1d8 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 4 = 15

Taariik enters the room while Eldrin bleeds, and flings his sword using his psychic powers, skewering the alien hound before his sword returns to his hands.

If we resolved your action first you wouldn't have to worry about attacking into melee, but 20 wouldn't confirm even without cover

Avert Gaze, 1-50=need save: 1d100 ⇒ 67
Concealment 1-20=miss: 1d100 ⇒ 91

Both of Grunyak's attacks are easily avoided by the hound, but Drusilla approaches it with her enhanced speed and smashes it with a mighty blow of her morningstar. It's hard to tell with a creature of such alien biology, but it appears to be severely wounded.

Note that Haste only gives you a second attack as part of a full-attack action, which you can't do and move in the same turn. I'll just take the first attack.

In a furious response it tears into her with appendages that only seem vaguely similar to a hound.

Bite, haste: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 15 + 1 = 19
P/B/S: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (1, 1) + 3 = 5

Bite, haste: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 15 + 1 = 33
P/B/S: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 5) + 3 = 13

Claw: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 15 + 1 = 27
Slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Claw: 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 15 + 1 = 35
Slashing: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

I think you AC without armour or shield is 12, so they all hit. 31 damage to Drusilla

It then vanishes and reappears in the corner of the room, damaged but utterly unreadable. It is pointed at the Paginarum Lethargica, apparently unwilling to leave it. The severe wounds on the cultist begin to heal somewhat, though her image disappears.

Research Ambush

Round 5

Taariik 4 images, immune to gaze, smoten hound
Grunyak haste, good axe, immune to gaze
Huxwren haste, immune to gaze
Eldrin -39, haste, unconscious, dying, <stabilisation check required>, immune to gaze
Drusilla -31, haste, <gaze>
Hound of Tindalos -61, glittered, haste
Nightmare Cultist -50, unconscious, dying, regenerating

Everyone is up! Only Drusilla still needs to worry about the gaze

Huxwren leans back in the doorway and mutters a curse in a forgotten language under his breath. Twin rays of fire burn through the air towards the hound, one from each finger.

Ranged Touch, Haste: 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 11 + 1 = 25
Fire damage, Seance: 4d6 + 4 ⇒ (1, 1, 5, 5) + 4 = 16

Ranged Touch, Haste: 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 11 + 1 = 29
Fire damage: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 2, 6) = 15

"And that's enough out of you," he concludes with a nod of satisfaction. Turning his attention to the cultist in front of him, he frowns. "Grunyak, or someone with a silver weapon, could you..." His voice trails off, and his eyes narrow. "Silver." One hand plunges into the sack slung across his chest, emerging triumphantly with the mithral key. "Someone get out here and keep her unconscious," he orders excitedly. "Then I'll finish her for good."

Casting scorching ray at the hound, then 5 ft step and retrieve the Clavacus thingy from the handy haversack. Next round he can attack with it as an improvised weapon, and mithral counts as silver for most purposes. Grunyak could heal Eldrin this round as long as someone can come hit this cultist this round.

Taariik again channels Irori’s martial wisdom!

Free action: spirit dance champion spirit 5/11 remaining. @all allies: +2 to weapon damage rolls!!

“I will kill you monster! !!!“ he says and moves forward.

Taariik attacks the hound (or the woman if the hound is dead) with his greatsword!

Adamantine +1 Greatsword +11, champion +1, pa -2 , smite +5: 1d20 + 11 + 1 - 2 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 11 + 1 - 2 + 5 = 28
Damage Str +5, 2H Half Str +2, Enhancement +1, champion +1, spirit aura seance boon +2, 2H power attack +6, smite +2: 2d6 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (4, 6) + 17 + 2 = 29 ignores DR

Grunyak hustles over to Eldrin.

He asks Torag, "I know I asked for a spell to remove blindness, but Eldrin needs healing power more. Please grant that power."

Casts cure serious wounds on Eldrin.

CSW healing: 3d8 + 7 ⇒ (8, 4, 2) + 7 = 21

Fort save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Dru has proven, time and time again, that she is ready to take one for the team.

This time isn't different.

As soon as Grunyak's healing prayer takes affect Eldrin's eyes snap open and he looks around slightly confused. "What... where... Ah Grunyak, thank you and thank Torag.". He reaches out an takes the dwarf's hand pulling himself to his feet.

Huxwren fires two fiery beams at the hound, a difficult shot as the bulging bookshelves mostly obscure it. He is rewarded with an intense cry of pain that sounds like stressed metal, and a disgusting pop as the hound is destroyed.

Grunyak heals Eldrin who is restored from death's door and wakens to consciousness, just in time to see one of the pathfinders dispatch the unnatural cultist.

Taariik could do it this round with his silver bardiche, or if he doesn't want to kill an unconscious foe (though she is clearly some sort of dream monster) Grunyak's axe or the key will do the job next round

In the cold aftermath of the attack, you find the cultist has a few magical items which Huxwren can identify.

3 scrolls of cure moderate wounds
+1 leather armor
masterwork spider-leg sickles
ring of protection +1

As Huxwren reads the items, he sees flashes of this woman's recent past. He sees her being given instructions by Nahum to use the hound and find the Paginarum Lethargica so that they might all use it to return to the material plane. He is being very firm with her that she must succeed, as she is the only ex-communicate with the ability to reach the material plane, and even then only once. The guardians of the book are protected by that spiteful witch Carrington and her Baku in the dream world, and the only way to reach them is on the material plane.

Another flash and he sees her and other nightmare cultists hunting down members of Barvasi's band and the Brotherhood of Spiders in the dreamscape, getting their revenge upon them for their betrayal. In these visions she is noticably more human and less the exaggerated nightmare version that you encountered.

Finally he sees her as one of the practitioners of the doomed ritual he has already seen, the one that was interrupted by Myra and sucked them all into the dreamscape without the Paginarum Lethargica, stranding them there with no way to return. Here she is a normal human with blond hair and no hint of the nightmare corruption of the dreamstone that would later twist her.

What would you like to do next? If you want to return to studying the ritual, all of you can make a DC 16 intelligence check (if you feel like you're mostly aiding rather than doing research yourself, you can treat your check as an aid attempt). It only requires one of you to succeed to learn the ritual. This check covers a period in total of around 6 days. Grunyak has more than enough healing over that period to bring everyone back to full

“Dreadful, absolutely dreadful.” Huxwren sniffs disdainfully as he pushes the woman’s corpse over into her back. “And incredibly rude. She could have asked to copy some pages from the book or for assistance with getting her equally-rude cohorts back to this plane of existence. Not that I would have given her even the time of day, but I am even less inclined to offer even that now.” Announcement complete, the halfling returns to his bed for the night.

While it would make more sense for Huxwren to Aid, his current spirit is a both a bit of an egomaniac and a knowledge-hoarder and would thus encourage him to roll on his own. Thankfully, Huxwren still has some uses of Spirit Boost left to help if needed.

Intelligence, Spirit vs DC 16: 1d20 + 0 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 0 + 2 = 16

Or not. Lol.

Int DC 16, aid: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13

Dru does her best to help out with the ritual, even if her knowledge of the arcane arts is sparse

Hux' ability is so awesome and thanks for giving us these background information GM! Makes the whole story much clearer! :-D

Taariik see the woman regenerate but does not want to kill a helpless woman.

But if he is convinced of her evil when he scans her and know that she is partly a dream being, he nods at the suggestion to destroy her.

"This is all so hard to grasp. Thank you Hux for bringing so much light of knowledge into the darkness!

He then claps Eldrin, Grunyak, Hux and Dru on the shoulder one by one.

"You all are really great!!"

int aid: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (9) - 2 = 7

Taariik tries to aid but it is obvious that his intellectual capacity is inversely proportional to his strength.

Intelligence: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Eldrin looks down at his ruined robes and shakes his head. Returning to the desk he puts the papers back in there proper places and bends his head over the material getting straight back to work on the ritual.