GM Otha's Tomb of the Iron Medusa (Inactive)

Game Master Otha

Rokgurn gives the place a once over to see if there is anything of interest.

(Take 10 on Perception is 39)

Does anyone have Know. Religion?

”Remember, it stinks but we need to investigate everywhere to try to find those other three keys. We don’t know where they may be hidden.” Alie casts her eyes at the brackish nasty water as she speaks.

Jack detects magic emanating from the fountain...and a bit later, something magic emanating from within the fountain...

As Rokgurn gives the room a once over, he notices the mosaic symbol in the center of the floor has a single word written in dried blood: “Abandoned.”

The western curtain has been slashed and partially burned; beyond it is a begrimed altar, the ritual objects atop it shattered. The statue behind the altar has also been smashed to pieces.

Rokgurn also detects something odd, perhaps dangerous, about the fountain...

Current Status:
Daathiel (-4)
Jack (-6)
Jack's Griffon (-11)

Crematorium (Slide 14)

Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

When Alie asks about religion, Yuri begins to pontificate about all sorts of theological and doctrinal points, as if he has just come from the library.

He is actually trained in all the knowledges - don't judge - he was my very first character! Also, I had a GM who - wrongly - told me he wouldn't let me use Spell Sunder unless I first used Spellcraft to identify the spell (never mind that you can't use Spellcraft when raging...). Oh, the skill ranks I've burned. Good thing Yuri's SMART!

Daathiel will attempt to use Prestidigitation to clean the place.

Although Aroden is perhaps dead (or vanished, or reincarnated, or entombed in a golden throne), it still seems crude and disrespectful to treat the shrine like this.

He will at least clean off the grime.

Though he lacks Make Whole and cannot fix the shattered objects or statue.

”By the stories I’ve heard, Aroden was a good sort. I agree with Daatheil. No reason to leave this altar in such a nasty state. We should clean things up just a bit.” Alie follows course, using her gnomish magic to help wipe some of the filth away.

Yuri joins the efforts to clean up the Aroden shrine, using it as an opportunity to educate his comrades about the finer points of Arodenite ritual practice. "Though personally - " he takes a swig from his flask and belches - "I'm more partial to the rites o' Cayden."

Jack mentally ran through his list of magics available to see if there was anything extra he could contribute before finally putting in some manual labor along with mending in instances where it could be used. "Aroden had good PR. God of humanity, so it is in the best interest of humans to downplay some of the more malevolent things he did. Anyways..." He gestured to the fountain. "That's magical. As is something inside the fountain. Not that it's saying much, but I can't tell what type of magic."

"It seems that I hear constantly how awful Aroden was. I think it unfair to his legacy. Obviously his PR team has long since disbanded.
He truly was the God of Humanity - flawed, ambitious, brave, and sometimes arrogant. Like humanity as a species. But not malevolent on the whole.
Gods are not perfect."

Daathiel casts Detect Magic and examines the fountain and whatever is inside it.
Spellcraft, Take 10, Heroism: 10 + 28 + 2 = 40

The ever pragmatic Rokgurn grimaces slightly at the raw sentimentality of this group.

"Not to be disrespectful but can we not do this clean up after the mission is over? We are Pathfinders on a mission here and not the janitorial staff of an ancient museum."

@GM Otha - How long will it take the party to clean up this mess?

Many of our buffs are timed and I do not want to waste too much time needless de-buffing our party.

Rogarch keeps a keen eye on the fountain as Daathiel examines it magically.

@Rokgurn: Cleaning magically, would only take a few minutes as the chamber is not that large...

With Daathiel and Alie using magic to clean up, along with Yuri's muscle, you have the area looking at least respectable in a matter of minutes...

That done, Daathiel turns his magical attention and concentration to the foul fountain and its red-tinged water...

The archivist detects that the fountain is tainted with a destructive spell from the necromantic school of magic, probably triggered by touch...and he detects a small magical item that lies somewhere in the fountains bloody waters...

Current Status:
Daathiel (-4)
Jack (-6)
Jack's Griffon (-11)

Crematorium (Slide 14)

As the work progresses quickly Rokgurn does not object again but waits patiently whilst the group restores the sanctity of the temple.

"Daathiel, do you think that you will be able to disarm the magical ward in order to retrieve the item?"

@GM Otha - Is it a magical trap that can be disarmed or a spell that needs to be triggered or dispelled?

Daathiel will attempt to disable the trap, if that is what it is.
Disable Device, Heroism: 1d20 + 27 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 27 + 2 = 44

It was a magical trap, with a pretty nasty Harm spell if it had been triggered...

Daathiel studies the fountain...and finds the necromantic magic is tied to the water, not the fountain itself...he carefully and skillfully skims the red taint upon the water's surface...and he's quite confident that he has defused the magical trap upon it...

He also notices a dagger lying at the bottom of the pool, the source of the magic he'd detected earlier coming from within the fountain...

With the cleaning up of the temple and the disarming of the fouled fountain, you notice a glow coming from the ceiling of the chamber and descending gently upon each of you...those of you whom were injured are now fully healed...you all feel blessed...

Crematorium (Slide 14)

”Welp, I’d bet there is our dagger befouled. We still need two more keys before we can enter than main room, though. Let’s try another door.”

Rokgurn nods.

"Well done Daathiel. Have you determined the magical properties of the dagger to determine if it is indeed the key?"

A Spellcraft roll of 40 should do it I imagine.

"I guess you were right to clean up this temple after all."

Rokgurn's tone suggests that he does not fully trust the providence of the gods trusting instead to natural forces.

Once the dagger is retrieved from the bottom of the fountain, he should be able to tell its magical properties...

@GM Otha - How deep in the fountain? Also can I assume that the fountain is made out of earth or stone of some type so it is earth glidable for a summoned Earth Elemental?

Aye, it’s stone...and not deep, about an arm’s length. One could reach in and grab it...

Rokgurn pulls out a scroll from his Handy Haversack. After several seconds of reading he summons a small Earth Elemental which he commands (in Terran) to retrieve the dagger from the fountain and to leave it near the bard to study.

"It might be cursed and it is better for a summons to touch it first. Or not but why take a chance?"

The elemental summoned by Rokgurn has no problem retrieving the dagger...upon closer examination, Daathiel reckons it to be a +1 mithral dagger...other than tiny bits of gore from the fountain, which is easily wiped off, it seems none the worse for wear...

Crematorium (Slide 14)

Jack shook his head at the mention of it possibly being cursed. "That would be our luck, needing to deal with a cursed item on top of trying to deal with the ego of the sword at the same time. Where next to find the other items? The multiple smaller tombs or the larger buildings in the back?"

"I do not say I am perfect, Jack, but I am very good at identifying items. If it had a curse, I probably would have noticed. I will hold onto it if you like... me going berserk and trying to kill my allies would be, well, not very threatening."
Cursed items have a higher DC to identify, but a 40 should do it.

"We now have the Iron Key and the Dagger Befouled. We need Thrasillus’s voice, and a sister’s keepsake. Let us keep searching. Perhaps start with one of the smaller tombs. The one west of here?"

Daathiel will re-cast Acute Senses for another 13 minutes, and use another charge of Find Traps (wand at 46).

Rokgurn snickers quietly at the interplay between Jack and Daathiel.

"I think the dagger is in good hands with you Daathiel and it would appear now that the weapon was not magically befouled but only soiled in the mundane sense."

Ok, west is good. Lead on. :)

I assume by this point Yuri's Enlarge Person has expired. However, if we are heading into the smaller tombs it may be too crowded, so I won't ask Vladek to recast it at this time but will once it seems we are entering into larger spaces.

Aye, Yuri, enlarge person has expired...

It appears to Daathiel that the dagger is as it appears; a +1 mithral dagger with no signs of a curse whatsoever. Perhaps the befouled dagger referenced by Bebulec referred more to the fountain in which resided...

Having done all you can surmise in the Crematorium, you head west. (Assuming the first structure west of the crematory, marked ‘E’)

From the outside, this structure appears to be a small mausoleum from an earlier age. You notice two other structures nearby, one to the west and one to the northwest that look identical save for their orientation; the doorway to each always faces the center of the necropolis. Rough, black iron gates bar the arched entryway to each, including the one that stands before you...

What do you do?

Adellas Necropolis (Slide 3)

Once his comrades have checked for any traps, Yuri opens the door and enters the chamber.

Alie follows Yuri down the path towards the next chamber.

As Yuri tries to open the black iron gate, he finds it locked...and the gate looks very sturdy to boot...

What do you do?

Adellas Necropolis (Slide 3)

Daathiel get the automatic check from the Find Traps spell of course.

He tries the key the party found, and if that doesn't work he picks the lock.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 27 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 27 + 2 = 34
If that fails, he will try again. Should remember to Take 10.

Rokgurn floats in the air keeping a lookout while Daathiel works on the lock.

Could we fly over the gate if we wanted to?

Sorry was at a wedding over a long weekend and didn’t have as much time to post as I thought...and looks like the site/internet ate my post yesterday...

@Rokgurn: the way it’s written, the gate is the entry/door, so you couldn’t fly over it...

Daathiel detects no traps and finds the lock a bit tough but manages to pick it all the same...

What do you do?

Adellas Necropolis (Slide 3)

Yuri opens the door and looks inside, giving his comrade a chance to check for traps, and then moving inside if there are no obvious threats.

In the interests of moving things along faster, I will point out that Daathiel bought a Wand of Find Traps specifically so that we wouldn't have to stop and specify that we are actively checking every 5' square. And his Perception should be high enough to catch just about anything.
It does seem like there are a lot of "What do you do now?" posts so maybe we should just specify a standard operating procedure.
Yuri walks up to doors, with Daathiel right behind (for Find Traps). If there is a trap, Daathiel automatically gets a Perception check at +40. If there is not, but it is locked, Daathiel uses Disable Device (Take 10) for a 39. And if it is open, Yuri goes ahead - I know he has played this before, but he is the sturdiest.
I am open to any other suggestions but that is what I would suggest.

Sounds good to me.

@Daathiel - When you get tired of burning 2nd level slots for Acute Senses let me know. My character's Take 10 on Perception is 39. That should probably be enough at this level. My character's fly speed is 70' so he can be checking in transit and not slow the party down at all.

It's more about the OOC aspect. I think IC, we are moving fast enough that 13 minutes of Acute Senses should last for several encounters.

To move and then use a move action search each 10' square is moving at a rate of 10' per round; having a high movement speed doesn't actually help because the area you can search with an active check is the limiting factor. At least, as best as I understand it.

If it's a trap that's more out in the open and within your purview (aka trap door/trigger plate, rigged doors/handles, etc), if you don't specify, I use your passive Perception (aka take 10)...if it's one where you might be under stress or more hidden from view, I usually await a check...but if you prefer to have an SOP, I have no objection to that...

Yuri opens the door and takes a peek inside, seeing...

...a mausoleum; each internal wall has nine stacked interment vaults, a total of twenty-seven in all...

From their location just outside the mausoleum, neither Daathiel nor Rokgurn detect any traps inside...

What do you do?

Adellas Necropolis (Slide 3)

@GM, that is why I paid 4,500 for a wand of Find Traps and am spending charges to keep it active - to make things move faster both IC and OOC. It's also why I consider Trap Spotter the single best rogue talent (since Daathiel does not have rogue talents, I got the wand). Feel free to use my Take 10 or roll for me, but with Find Traps up, Daathiel is always checking.

Daathiel casts Detect Magic and scans the room.

Rokgurn will scan the room as well with his Spirit Sense ability.

Spirit Sense (60' Cone - Detects Undead,Incorporeal,Ethereal, Astral,Outsiders or Fey creatures).

@Daathiel - In PFS I would consider Trap Spotter to be a trap option for a Rogue (pun intended). You either have no traps to find or the dungeon is known to be full of traps and you can slow down and search for them. You might over the lifetime of your career catch a couple of traps that you might have missed otherwise but you are better served with an Improved Initiative or a Weapon Focus that can be used in every combat.

I think the nice thing about Trap Spotter is that when you have a party that is paranoid about traps the ooc flow of play can really get bogged down as everyone constantly investigates every square. It can really get tedious.

In any case, I don't want to direct our movement since I've played this before, but I'm fine with assuming that Yuri is leading the way into each room, and also assuming that the people with high Perceptions and Find Traps are looking ahead of him before he enters. So, other players, feel free to direct Yuri into places and assume he goes.

@Rokgurn - I very much disagree. It saves you a ton of IRL table time, saves IC buff durations, and makes the games run more smoothly.

@Daathiel - It might be a medium issue as well. When you get one post/day any slow-downs are a big deal but telling your GM what you are doing live might take 10 seconds. I find the reverse true for summoning monsters. In play-by-post I can summon all that I want to but when I play live I really limit it so as not to slow the game down to a crawl. Anyways this should all be in the discussion thread so apologies for that. :)

Daathiel detects no magic whatsoever within nor does Rokgurn sense any spiritual creatures...

What do you do?

Adellas Necropolis (Slide 3)

Jack peeked around the mausoleum and shrugged. "If we're not detecting anything, there are other ones to check out. No reason to resort to opening each vault in the hopes of finding something unless we're unable to find what we're looking for elsewhere. Make our way clockwise or check one of the larger buildings?"

"I agree, Jack. It would take a long time to go through all these vaults, and we have no indication that we would need to."

Rokgurn nods agreeing with the two men.

Yuri proceeds as directed by the others, confident that they will never lead him astray.

Are you entering the mausoleum or heading to one of the other buildings?

”Are we sure the other two keys to open the final vault will be magical? If they aren’t, we will miss them without a thorough search,” Alie objects, but doesn’t argue too much if the others want to skip the mausoleum for now.