GM Bret's PFS #10-14 Debt to the Quah (Inactive)

Game Master BretI

"Nice. Not enough people include conference rooms in their sepulchers."

”Seems a good place for a séance, if anyone were so inclined.”

She tests a chair and sits on it a moment if solid enough, knowing she can fix it if needed.

If nothing happens, Gina suggests heading back out towards the middle room where there’s supposedly a skeleton down a well in need of replacement and a ring.

“That would make for a spirited meeting!” Truddig notes.

The group heads back past the hall of statues, through the area with the pool, and up the other northern hallway.

Sadaf detects no magic or hazards.

As you enter the room, Gina recites “Be Welcome, My Cousin!” even though she doesn’t see anyone in the room.

Truddig says "Why do bees hum? They don’t remember the lyrics!"

The room is empty with no distinguishing features.

The group continues north.

Sadaf detects no magic or hazards beyond the obvious open pit in the room. Really should put a guard rail around it!

In the center of this circular room is a platform overlooking a shallow pit. Inside the pit is a heavily damaged sarcophagus and a broken skeleton.

As you enter the room, Gina recites “Be Welcome, My Cousin!” The broken skeleton makes no reply.

Truddig says "What did the skeleton say before dinner? BONE appetit. His whole family found that HUMERUS."

”We probably have to repair this heavily damaged sarcophagus and the broken skeleton!!“ Sadaf says.

He directs the others so they can together get it out.

”Well, at least the pit isn’t as bad as Lumketul’s notes. I was thinking this might have been like that last dungeon with the all the climbing.”

It is easy to climb down into the pit.

The scavengers stone will be able to repair the sarcophagus lid and the skeleton. Getting them out of the pit and back to their proper location will take some work.

Creative solutions welcome.
The obvious solution would be to lift it via Strength Check, one person leading and others doing Aid Another checks.

"I have prayed on my spells and none seem to be of use here. I have rope and block and tackle (pully). They could help with the heavier pieces."

Rope with Block & Tackle would certainly assist. Kn: Engineering or profession that uses them a lot (such as sailor) to make best use of them. Even without those skills, I would give a circumstance bonus to the Strength check.

Sadaf makes his hands dirty and helps to get everything out of the pit.

strength aid : 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (16) - 2 = 14

Block and tackle actually has RAW; it provides a +5 circumstance bonus to Strength checks to lift heavy items when properly secured.

Truddig helps Awkin get the block and tackle set up, then assists with the rope to get the sarcophagus out of the pit.

Strength, aid another: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (9) + 0 = 9

Thanks for the rules reference. Was doing a quick late night update and didn’t look it up. I should have, sorry about that.

Str Cat: 1d20 + 2 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 2 + 5 + 1 = 27 using the block and tackle with a little guidance.

Awkin sets up the rig and ties the rope to Cat's harness creating a makeshift crane. Then has the res to the team guide and set pieces in place.

Good thing Cat has the work trick. I'm surprised how low your Handle Animal skill is.

Having trained Cat to help pull loads and similar tasks, Awkin has no problems hooking them up to harness and getting them to pull the sarcophagus out of the pit.

Shortly after that, the group is able to get the sarcophagus, lid, and skeleton repaired and in the proper place.

Something still seems slightly off.

You might want to check the excellent notes that Gina has put on Slide 5.

Gina digs out the ring for the skeleton and replaces it. If the unease continues, she tries different fingers of the skeleton, as the cultural significance of ring fingers was not clear in any notes so far.

Gina puts the ring in place, trying different fingers until her sense of style is satisfied. Everyone agrees that should take care of it.

I added some smileys to the map for things that I think we've completed. We need to figure out where to go next; can someone take a look and see if I'm accurate? If so, we should probably head west out of this center room next.

The marks on the map matches my notes.
Yes, where would you like to go next?

Gina looks at maps and notes. ”Not to set up Truddig for another terrible joke, but this way hits a dead end. I’m not sure it was previously explored, so no clue what’s in it, but still worth exploring.”

Gina is indicating north, or up on the map.

Sadaf detects neither magical auras nor traps.

As you enter the room, Gina recites “Be Welcome, My Cousin!” to the statues.

Truddig says “Have you heard about the coffin scavenger hunt?

Remains to be found."

This large, mostly empty room features two statues and an incomplete staircase to the north. A door exits south.

Does someone want to try the Knowledge check or should we just move on? If you want to move on, let me know where you want to go.

"Does anyone know anything about these statues?"

No local here.

Bard will always try. She has enough time to consult a book and a Wayfinder to help clear her head.

Bardic Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 7 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 7 + 2 + 1 = 26

"Oh my! These are like the bone constructs mentioned. Inactive though. Not sure there is anything more to do."

There is nothing disturbed here, it was just informational.
If you want to move on give me a destination.

"Then let's head forward."

Gina pulls out the map. ”back through the pit room, last doorway out of there. Stay straight at the first split, Lumketul spent some time in a maze there, but I think we should go through it last. Instead, I suggest a small side room here, then on to smashed pottery, and the last room with stolen items.”

Gina does a double-take at her notes. ”Honestly, who goes around smashing pots like there’s some sort of treasure inside?”

You follow Gina’s directions.

Sadaf detects no magic or traps.

As you enter the room, Gina recites “Be Welcome, My Cousin!” even though she doesn’t see anyone in the room.

Truddig says “Peter Pan is a terrible boxer. Whenever he throws a punch, it Neverlands.”

This room has several empty crates. It looks like it has been that way for a long time.

Sadaf detects no traps or magic.

As you enter the room, Gina recites “Be Welcome, My Cousin!” even though she doesn’t see anyone in the room.

Truddig says “My puppy refused to be put back in his crate for bedtime.”

“He was charged with resisting a rest.”

Pottery shards in a variety of vibrant hues litter the room here. The staircase leading to the east leads to a dead end. Doors exit to north and west.

It looks like there were originally five pots, but the shards are now mixed together.

I will give you a little bit of time to come up with your own ideas for sorting it out before presenting their solutions.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33 By any chance are there exactly 5 colors among the shards?

Sadaf tries to sort the colored parts.

"What a mess! This Pathfinder was an idiot!"

perception to find the parts: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32

There are five different patterns to the shards. Although it is easy to figure out that there are different patterns, it isn't so easy to figure out which go with which.

It calls for an Appraise or relevant Craft or Profession check.
Using those rolls for Appraise (which can be done untrained).

Truddig and Sadaf find it isn't quite so easy to sort them, but eventually they manage to. They carefully sort them into five piles and both agree that the piles are correct.

You then use the scavenger stone to recreate the five pieces of pottery.

Success.
Where to now? I think the Maze is the only place left.

"We that was slow work but no ghost so I call that a win. To the maze-like room then?"

I have placed people on the map on slide 13. Most of your characters would be off the top of the map, I’ve just put you along the top edge to show order. Adjust the marching order as you see fit.

Sadaf is still in the hallway, too far back to see what is happening.

Gina is almost to the room. Truddig is trying to come up with a good quip for once he gets into the room.

Pillars of stone fill this space. Each is etched with some sort of writing, but the inscriptions are chipped, scorched, or otherwise damaged or obscured. They seem to have two columns of text all the way from floor to ceiling. There are various chips from the pillars on the floor.

What do you want to do at this point?

Awkin looks at the text and casts detect magic mostly out of habit.

Is the text recognizable as a language, runes etc.

”Out of place chips and scorch marks scream trap to me. If our magic checkers aren’t finding anything, my guess is mechanical, so someone with better eyes than me get looking. I can disarm them if we find some, especially if they have to do with the wording here. Maybe the Pathfinder I will refer to as Lunk-Kettle set them all off.”

Where you can read it, the text looks like it is written in Shoanti. It has the same general forms as all the other Shoanti text you have seen in here.

Akwin detects no magic.

There is much searching.

Awkin, Fifi, Sadaf and Truddig notice places where whatever happened here weakened the ceiling. They fear that someone entering those spaces are likely to cause a partial collapse.

The chunks of stone on the floor look like they would probably match up with the pillars.

Since you are now aware of the issue and some of you can detect it by taking 10 on perception, I've marked all the areas with ceiling that is about to collapse on Slide 13.

You haven't found all of these as a group, but by searching the way you have you would become aware of them.

What do you want to do?

Hi GM! Can we use the stone to reinforce the ceiling?

Craft (stonemasonry) or Knowledge (engineering) check would give best results, otherwise a Perception check.

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

Sadaf observes the scene.

Clarification: Yes, you can use the scavengers stone to repair the ceiling.
The skills would give additional information.
Crafts can be done untrained.

Sadaf sees broken stone all over the place. Should be able to repair the ceiling given what the stone was able to take care of in other locations.

While Pathfinders work over the stone and start on the repairs, Gina tries to help via knowledge from Chronicles regarding decaying dungeons.

Knowledge Engineering: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 6 + 2 = 12

Craft Untrained: 1d20 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 + 1 = 11

Neither Gina nor Awkin have any special insight about repairing the damage here. They do agree that the scavenger’s stone should fix it enough to prevent the ceiling from collapsing more.

craft stonemasonry untrained : 1d20 ⇒ 20

Sadaf sees the pieces and tries to puzzle them together to be able to use the stone.

When Gina pulls out the repair stone, she also notices the wolf statue still in the bag.

”Ah, one more room before we leave.”

Sadat realizes that the fallen pieces need to be placed back on the pillars before using the stone to repair them.

He carefully sorts through the fallen pieces, putting them in place and then asks someone to use the stone to repair them. It takes several charges from the stone, but you get all the pieces into the right spots and repair the pillars.

When Gina finds the wolf statue, she remembers what Hearth Keeper said about it.

Although you have the room marked on the overview, I don’t know that you ever went into it. I probably missed something, sorry.

With repairs to the maze done, Gina heads back towards the marked room for the wolf statue.

At the center of this room is a pit of flame, suffusing the area with a faint glow. A single passageway leads to the southeast.

Sadaf notices that the flame seems to have dimmed, it is giving off much weaker light than expected. Something is wrong about that.

As you enter the room, Gina recites “Be Welcome, My Cousin!” even though she doesn’t see anyone in the room.

Truddig says “I was going to try walking on hot burning coals but I got cold feet.”

Please just give quick reactions as Sadaf notices (and I presume points out) that the flames dimmed as you entered.

"Hey, look at the light. A creature does this maybe?" he says and then starts laughing because of Truddig's comment!

Gina pulls out the wolf statue, if the companion spirit is here, maybe that will cause a reaction.

"Hunts at Night...Silent Footsteps...Would you like to be reunited?"