PFS1e #5-11 Library of the Lion (GM Deussu) (Inactive)

Game Master Deussu

perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31
Making his was along the passage, Tinker looked towards the desk and then pointed towards the lion. "There is another door behind it that the lever under the desk seems to operate. Let's see if there are any books of interest in these rooms before we check out the other area. It should not take too long with an organized search. Lets keep the same teams as we tried before, and hope that there are no more creatures here."

"Please make sure to use any resources that we have." he added

I would still suggest scanning the rest of the rooms before diving into a prolonged investigation of a single room. We can come back to search the rooms later once we determine the number and general contents of each one.

perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18

Darven initially misses the lever under the desk, but spots it after Tinker shows the discoloration in the wood. Once revealed, Darven immediately pulls the lever to reveal the passage.

Assuming nothing immediately stops him, he joins the skimming of the collection. He references one of the clues found other so as not to let it go to waste.

profession librarian using bibliographic references: 1d20 + 12 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 12 + 5 = 29

Makras pulls out some books at random.

Joining Tinker in the secret room. I'm not trained in Linguistics , Knowledge (history), or a relevant Profession skill, so I guess this is an untrained Craft check.

Untrained Craft (bookbinding): 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (4) + 0 = 4

Bocke will use one of the +3s with his Linguistics check (I rolled above).

Tinker, during his search of the room, does find the lever and the secret door, and also a miniscule trap laid for the opening mechanism. If one would foolishly rush to open the door, one would be subjected to a nasty poison dart! If Darven still wishes to pull the lever...

I'm rather unsure where everyone is at the moment, so I'll just go how it'd be most favorable for you.

Administrator's room The one where you fought the lions.

The pathfinders look through the rummaged room. Gillie aids by climbing on the shelves and picking the hardest-to-reach books. Henrikuaxian meanwhile helps scavenge all the books that have been kicked under the bookshelves. All while Darven is focused on the piles and piles of books and scripts, and finds all relevant information the room has to offer. Two clues included in Google Slides. After the thorough search, they've concluded there isn't anything left to search for.

The Vault of Knowledge aka The Secret Room

Tinker searches the room, Bocke refers to docments found earlier, and Makras is just consumed by a book called Exit Mundi and just can't be bothered to help the rest of the team. While their search is successful and thorough, most of the extensive texts are niche information about some historical details of some unknown person of influence. One clue found, updated to Google Slides, and no further clues to be found.

----

Darven, Henrikuaxian, and Gillie searched a small room, so they have 12 minutes before the rest have searched the medium secret room. Do you wish to find another small room to search, or aid the rest to finish sooner? There'd still be 12 minutes to wait, but with help, that could be reduced to 7 minutes. One PC would still have time to do something else.

"Would you like me to fix the trap? I like fixing traps! Though when I say fix I suppose I actually mean UN-fix..."
Gillie gets out a bomb and grins impishly.

Disable device: 1d20 + 14 + 1d6 ⇒ (18) + 14 + (4) = 36
"Please, no bombs, we are trying to cover our presence here as best a possible so no one is the wiser." Tinker said.

With word that there was a surprise awaiting them, Tinker pulled out a small piece of wood as he walked to the desk and stuck it on the needle. Now able to safely pull the lever to open the door, he carefully removed the wood so that no one was the wiser that it had been bypassed.

Sorry, I realize I wasn't super clear. I thought I was searching the secret room since I was going to pull the lever in it before searching it.

To be honest, I thought Bocke was searching the administrator's room, since I posted my Linguistics check before we had decided to move into the secret room. I was just going to whistle innocently since the GM said he picked the more favorable configuration. :D So he and Darven could switch to keep the number of characters the same in each place.

To make things simpler, I make Darven, Henrikuaxian, and Gillie help the rest of the team in the Vault of Knowledge. This saves you time and ends all this split team stuff. It is, after all, harder

Tinker, with now new knowledge about how traps are laid in this library, has no trouble disarming the trap completely. Since it's now safe to activate, he pulls the lever to open the door.

The giant lion's head carving moves out of the way to reveal yet another secret room.

Hidden Vault

Chests of expert craftsmanship line the walls, and on the far side of the room stand two bookshelves burdened with yellow-paged tomes and sundry ancient trinkets. Banners and tapestries cover nearly every inch of the walls, each representing long-dead nations or depicting conflicts left not chronicled.

With a cursory glance at the books seem to deal with a lot of primary, unmodified accounts of events from millennia ago, original versions of laws since replaced, records of foreign policy debacles quickly silenced in the interest of decorum, and remarkably objective biographies of enemies of the state.

[ooc]The Hidden Vault is a medium room (takes 60 minutes to search by one PC, 12 minutes at minimum by 5 PCs), and only normal skills apply (Knowledge (history), linguistics, or any text-based craft or profession skill).

Darven looks around, "Now this is a room worth searching. A secret room behind a secret room." he says as he delicately examines some of the aged documents, "And look at these old records. These could be exactly what we are looking for."

perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

Should we dive into this collection? How much time do we have remaining in our original 2 hours?

Sorry for the quietness on my part, work has been insane.
Henrikuaxian takes in the secret secret room with much excitement. "Fantastic! Absolutely wonderful! I think you might be right!"

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
So close!

The little gnome starts speed-reading through all the books that he can.

I don't have know(history), linguistics, or any craft or profession skill trained at all, and all of those are normally trained-only. Unsure if it is better to do an untrained know(history) check if allowed (which would be +4 untrained) or a know(arcane) check (at a +11 bonus but a penalty as mentioned in the rules for this scenario). Do I have to choose which one of the two I do, not knowing the penalty? Or can the GM go with the most favorable?

Going to use the bonus to roll twice and take the better result. Add either +4 or +11 -? as appropriate.
Some knowledge up in here, skim: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Some knowledge up in here, skim, attempt 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

So 25 or 31-penalty?

Makras' constant pronouncements of doom are irritating, but keep his companions from nodding off as they peruse the dry, dusty tomes.

I think the best way for Makras to help would be to Take 10 on an untrained Craft check to Aid Another on the first person making a check in the relevant room.

profession librarian, take 10: 10 + 12 = 22

Darven begins carefully examining the material in the room with Henrikuaxian.

Henrikuaxian, a character may use any other skill for searching as long as its explained HOW the skill is used. Any knowledge skill I allow, but since it's not what is asked for, I give the smallest penalty of -2. Thus using Knowledge (arcane) yields a bonus of +9.

The team decides to start plowing through the books in the secret secret room. It takes yet another 12 minutes for the whole team to look through the room. They do find all the relevant information inside. See slide for clues.

In addition to the clues, during their search the pathfinders find a stash of items in the desk drawers, most notable of them being two magic potions. Do you take them?

Darven and Tinker realize how the orchestra's music patterns have started to change. Maybe it's their innate musical abilities or something they've studied, but it appears the music is hitting some kind of a climax (not end) in a few minutes. The music should be loud enough to make any other noise made in the library unheard. They deduce it will start almost immediately after they conclude their search of the room.

knowledge religion: 10 + 13 = 23

Darven ignores the potions; while he may justify the discovery of hidden information from a prohibited library, taking the potions would certainly be stealing. Instead, he focuses his attention on the small journal. "This journal contains a lot of information about the magic of the Whispering Tyrant; necromancy, becoming a lich, and controlling undead...interesting to find this here."

Darven passes the text around but secures it safely on his person once everyone looks at the text.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29
Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

"A potion of gaseous form and an elixir of vision - will anyone miss them if we take them?"

Regarding the music, Bocke tries to think of anything loud they've wanted to do, but can't think of anything.

DC 20 perception: 1d20 + 11 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + 11 + (5) = 23
Tinker watched as the group made its way into the hidden vault.
"Hey, that looks like a shield, kind of like the lion's head in the other room. I am not a shield person but one of you might find it of use. he said, handing it to the party to take before continuing to check the place out.

K:History: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (12) + 8 + (4) = 24

I placed a star in the rooms which you've thoroughly searched. Those being The Administrator's Room, The Vault of Knowledge, and the Hidden Vault. The largest library has more clues left, if you still wish to use your time on it.

Henrikuaxian shakes his little head fiercely. "We were explicitly told not to take anything from the library, so we should probably listen. Taking either the potions or the shield seems like a bad idea to me!"

Darven nods, "Agreed. We are here for knowledge, not petty thievery. Leave the potions and shield, they are not ours and would only serve as future evidence of our time spent here while painting us in a much more negative light."

While the others flip through long-forgotten texts, Makras heads out into the hallway, where he remembered there was a closed door. Eager to meet his doom face-to-face, he opens the door.

While the rest ponder about whether or not pocket the potions, Makras wanders off to meet his untimely demise. He opens the first set of double doors he sees, hoping probably to see the gaping maw of an extradimensional horror.

But lo and behold, the door is locked!

And since the fighting had already subsided a while ago, the blind caretaker had left her quarters in search for the pathfinders. She stumbles upon the dwarf, who is desperately trying to open the locked door with sheer strength or ill will.

"You must be one of those who visited me," she interrupts Makras, leaning against the wall, "I was just about to talk with your librarian friend, but a sudden roar of a lion happened and he fled. I'm beginning to suspect you are all just mere intruders in this library. I didn't alert the guards here, because I wanted to hear your reasoning as to why I shouldn't."

The other pathfinders can hear this discussion faintly, before the music upstairs starts to boom loudly.

I will give this caretaker literally my last 38 gold pieces plus whatever else she needs off my chronicle sheet to move her to my library in Absalom.

"Oh! That shield looks cool! I know we can't take it but I still want to have a look!"

If I just hang on to the pretty shield people might forget its not my normal shield! Then I could keep it!

"...so... What are we looking for again?"

"Intruders? Aye--intruders trespassing on the domain called life, soon to be swept away in the utter cataclysm of apocalyptic destruction that surely looms behind this very door! Now begone, wench, and let me witness impending doom full-eyed and frothing!"

Makras' insulting words have the tendency to anger even the most placid listeners.

Using Antagonize feat to perhaps get the blind caretaker to fly into a rage and attack me. This starts with a DC 20 Sense Motive check to get a bonus to an Intimidate roll vs DC 10+HD+Wis modifier.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Intimidate (Antagonize): 1d20 + 10 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 10 + 2 = 32

Henrikuaxian pauses in his study of the old books just briefly when he thinks he hears talking, but shrugs it off and returns to his books. When Makras goes full frothing mad, though, the gnome's eyes widen and looks quickly about the room. "Where's Makras? Did we let him wander off ALONE?" He quickly drops the book he was holding and takes off at a run, looking for whatever trouble Makras had got himself in to now.

Not sure how far I can get from the secret secret room to where Makras is after he makes his insulting display, so I'll leave my token positioning up to the GM.

That's an amazing use of antagonize that I have never even considered. The intimidate effect is almost like a non-magical suggestion/dominate.

Bocke will try to determine whether the blind woman really does want to know reasons, or whether she's stalling.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

If she does, Bocke will try to get through as much of his lie before Makras antagonizes her.

"Thank you for your service, caretaker, but we've been hired by the director of the library. Confidentially, ma'am, there's a traitor in your ranks, and our secrecy is of utmost importance. Someone pretending to be a friend is going to try and walk in here and steal Taldor's secrets. We are trying to find a good spot to hide and ambush them. Do these doors here lead to someplace that a traitor might want to access?"

Bluff: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

The caretaker is taken aback by the multitude of different approaches. She doesn't seem convinced, hearing so many different stories.

"Some of you have manners, some of you have not," she scoffs at Makras before turning her attention to Bocke, "and surely, my good sir, if you have been hired by the director, you must know a bit about the library and who the director might be. After all, this library is run by an administrator."

She appears to have been struck by the biggest migraine of her life, as she rubs her temples. "No one is a lion blade, that's for sure, and this library is permissible only for lion blades. Surely you look for knowledge and information from a library, like your more honest man told me, no doubt about that."

Her demeanor is stern, like an old teacher who has seen (or heard) too many unruly kids in her life. She folds her arms and continues to speak with a harsh, unforgiving tone.

"I would scream at the top of my lungs, but surely that only lead in my death. And then again, if you are trespassers, you don't want witnesses, which would result... in my death. Convince me of your reasons and maybe we'll be able to resort this without fatalities."

"I see that it's a fool's errand to continue lying. You're correct - we're here looking for knowledge and information, and we have been searching for a way around hurting you. We seek the truth - the true history of Taldor, unspoiled by the political winds of the moment. We believe learning from our successes and failures of the past is the only way to build a better empire for the future."

Bocke moves up and puts her hands on his rough calluses.

"I used to scour the pyramids of Osirion looking for lost treasure. I was enamored with the idea of finding something that would make me rich. In doing so, I can't imagine all the times I've passed by, or discarded, the history of the long-forgotten rulers and the wisdom that has been forgotten."

Bocke puts one hand on top of hers.

"Please don't let me continue down that path. Let this world be a better place for our intrusion."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

The caretaker pulls her hand out of Bocke's grasp and is visibly disgusted. "Don't touch me!" she manages to shriek, waving her hand in the air, "you certainly aren't the honest bunch, but I have little trust for my employer either way. I'll help you out how I can, and then you'll leave and never return with your b@%*$%&s stories!" Oh Paizo and "swear word" censoring... never change.

All rooms opened up, and unvisited have numbers on them.

#4: Ancient Books Room

She opens up the room Makras has been banging, which reveals a medium room. Bookcases cover nearly every inch of the walls in this room, which is only faintly illuminated by small lights set into the ceiling. A glass-paned door seals each panel of shelves, keeping the ancient tomes stored within free of dust.

Each cabinet is locked with a padlock, and each cabinet seems to hold a lot of ancient books.

"This is the ancient books room. Pretty self-explanatory, really. While I do check each cabinet weekly for maintenance reasons, I've been explicitly told not to touch the center cabinet on the eastern wall, and that was back when I could see and read. I have not been explained why that is, and I have no authority to ask. They must be really special and noteworthy," the caretaker explains.

This is a medium room, where you can also use Appraise to search for clues. In addition, all skill checks receive an additional +2 bonus when searching.

Rest of the room descriptions coming shortly.

#1 Classroom

This well-lit room holds many chairs aligned towards two giant chalkboards that hang on the north wall. A teacher's desk in front of the chalkboard has an quarter-hourglass sits on top of it. Along the opposite wall, several shelves hold books on sundry topics. Simple but colorful tapestries hang along the north wall, giving the room a bright appearance despite the lack of sunlight and the dour portrait of Grand Prince Stavian III affixed to the south wall. The brass plaque underneath the portrait reads "To serve Taldor, I must first learn the history of Taldor."

"This is a classroom, unsurprisingly. They train hand signals, ciphers, traditions, stuff like that," the caretaker explains.

This is a small room.

#2 Recital Hall

This room’s well-worn wooden floor sets it apart from the others. The west wall is lined with shelves that support books, a variety of instruments, and dozens of rectangular baskets that contain loose sheaves of paper. Several chairs are pushed against the wall, and a portrait of the Grand Prince hangs to east, surveying everything in the room with magisterial authority. A brass plaque underneath the portrait says "Persevere, persevere, persevere!"

"Agents in training practice their use of vocals and body language to better disguises."

This is a small room, and you can use Perform to search for clues.

#3 The Study Chamber

Five broad desks line the walls of this study room. Each work surface is covered with stacked volumes brimming with page markers as well as numerous open books.

"Here agents are given absolute peace to concentrate on certain books. I am not to clean any of the desks ever, lest I foil some important research by doing so."

This is a small room. Normal skills apply.

Bluff: 1d20 + 3 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 3 + (3) = 15
Joining the others, Tinkers shook his head as he pulled out his notebook once again. "That is the second error agents." Tinker said as he turned towards the caretaker.

"I am sorry, as I mentioned to one of the guards earlier, this group of agents are in training to be inserted into their homelands. Rather than trying to place members of the Lion Blades in foreign lands, it is easier to train foreigners here and have them return to their homes. They already know the specific mannerisms of their nation and just need to learn our tradecraft. A simple slip in spelling, pronunciation, or a hand gesture can be an agents undoing. Coming down here is part of their final test to see if they will be deployed back to their native countries and on what kind of missions.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 8 + (1) = 11
Expend a use of Inspiration

perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29
knowledge arcana: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Darven gestures to the cabinet, "That's an ancient book swarm. Not exactly the friendliest of creatures usually."

Are we able to search the Ancient Books room without (presumably) triggering the swarm? Or does that essentially remove the room from the list?

Now that you know of the swarm, searching the room won't trigger the "trap". You know not to touch that certain case.

The caretaker looks at Tinker for a bit, and nods. "Fair enough," she says with a sigh. She doesn't appear to even try and feign believing the story, she's heard too many contradictions thus far. The caretaker still obliges and helps you around the library.

Bocke will search the Ancient Books room, then. Bocke will use one of the +3 clues.

Linguistics, Clue: 1d20 + 7 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 7 + 3 = 20

I'm assuming all who are capable aid Bocke with searching the Ancient Books room. It will take 12 minutes of your time.

The pathfinder successfully search the room in dozen minutes, finding three clues more, two of which seem especially relevant to their mission. See slide for details. They have a cunning feeling something of interest would lie in the swarm filled case, but it might not be worth the risk.

Your hourglass has been turned over, and maybe a sixth of it has filled. The music had its dramatic midsection, and is now continuing as normal.

sense motive: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26

Darven rejoins the group to aid in the search and looks to the caretaker and then his party, "I know you wish to warn your supervisors of our presence. Even I am dismayed at some of their behavior and I am reaching the point where my tenets will no longer allow me to work alongside them, lest I lose my way on the path to improvement."

Darven pulls parchment from his pack and begins scribbling a note;

To Whom it May Concern,

Signed,
A seeker of truth

Darven hands the note to the caretaker, "I understand you will report our presence and actions here, but I ask you to wait until the performance above comes to its conclusion and we have left. You may not believe me, but we are stealing nothing" he says glaring around while remembering the shield and potions, "only making copies of some of the knowledge recorded here that should be available to everyone."

Realization dawning on him that the caretaker wears a blindfold, "Oh uh, you can see without the blindfold right? I can tell you what the note says if you desire or you can keep it a mystery from yourself to preserve your genuine reactions when delivering it to your superiors."

Tell you what, people are definitely going to know there were intruders at this point which is why I'm writing the note, but hopefully they won't tie it to the Society.

The caretaker stands mystified during Darven's elaborate explanations, doesn't look at the paper she is given, and gives out a tired chuckle when the librarian inquires about her blindfold. "No, this blindfold is real. I have blind as a mole. I read something I shouldn't, at least so the administrator viewed it that way, and as a punishment had my sight taken away. So I'm not that thrilled to help them either," she says, sighs, and continues, "you've made my life choices extremely hard. I don't want to help you, nor do I want to help my supervisors. If my involvement in your intrusion is found out, I'm sure me and my family will face punishment. And to scream help now, well, you'll kill me..."

Behind the apparent calm demeanor she is anxious, contemplating the choice between her family and her, running all kinds of different scenarios of the situation in her mind.

It appears Makras's intimidate's effect is drawing to a close, which will drop her attitude very low. An attempt to remedy her attitude will have the DC increased by 5.

Bocke will let the caretaker know about the Ruined Book and insist he has the highest regard for libraries.

Seeing as there are three small rooms left, Bocke suggests they break into groups of 2. That should be another 15 min, and then we should probably go (the GM is hinting that over an hour has passed - it would be 1.5-ish by the time we finish, and we should probably get out before someone starts turning the proverbial lights on and off).

Bocke will use another +3.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 7 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 7 + 3 = 23

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 4 + (3) = 16
"I am sorry for the pain they caused you. I am not sure what your long term plans are but maybe it it time to go elsewhere. Maybe 100 gold will help your towards your retirement? The Lion Blades will miss your services but it sounds like what they whisper outside is not the reality in here if they took your sight. The funny thing is that what you saw, I would hazard to guess is etched in your mind. You have a valuable talent since they did not immediately kill you." Tinker said, pulling out some coins.

Expend another use of Inspiration

Darven stares back at the caretaker horrified, "THEY TOOK YOUR SIGHT AS A PUNISHMENT!?" his horror quickly shifts to utter rage at the injustice committed in this place.

It takes him a few moments of calming breathing to return to a more neutral state, "I can assure you, we would not kill you. You can ask the foo dogs and foo lion in the other room that we encountered. There was an altercation, but no one died and I offered to heal their wounds."

He thinks to himself while Tinker speaks, "Unfortunately, I am unable to restore your sight myself, but my offer still stands to join my library. I would be more than happy to add into Tinker's donation as well as offering you a position."

diplomacy to aid I guess: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (2) - 2 = 0
3 star GM reroll?: 1d20 - 2 + 3 ⇒ (11) - 2 + 3 = 12 I'll use this if I could actually make a roll here.

I definitely got too caught up in this to remember my low charisma or diplomacy bonus.

My last post crossed with the GM's.

Bocke would have made a bigger deal about the ruined book knowing that she was blinded as a punishment.

Specifically, Bocke formally has Profession (scribe) and informally is familiar with all sorts of ruined manuscripts. He will take a look at the Ruined Book and see if there is any way he can effect repairs.

Profession (scribe): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

If he can find anything he can do with the book, he would like to do what he can or teach the Caretaker how to do it; she can take credit for its repair, and hopefully curry some favor with her superiors.

The ruined book is ruined beyond repair. The beverage has smeared the ink into blotches of unintelligible scrawls.

The caretaker sighs again. "If it were just about me, I'd take your offer and escape. But it would certainly mean the death of my husband, Rinald, and my son. I've been put between a rock and a hard place."

She looks down for a moment before rising her head back up again. "I am sorry, I have to overcome my own fears and do what I can to hopefully help my family."

She screams for help. Her voice has tones indicating it's not what she wants to do, but feeling helpless, she doesn't know what else to do.

Almost immediately, you hear Tobias bang on the door upstairs. "No no no no please keep your voices down! No screams of excitement during the grand play! I'm not going to repeat myself a third time!"

I'm going to assume you gag the caretaker.

Bocke sighs and gags her.

I'm going to try to work out the cipher later today to see if we have enough clues to solve it, otherwise, should we discuss heading back before the guards arrive?

Darven shakes his head and pulls out some rope, "Well, I think it's best if we tie you up as well, so it looks more believable, right? We aren't going to hurt you; I just don't want this event to cause you harm or trouble later."

Assuming she goes along with it, Darven ties up the caretaker in a believable but hopefully not too uncomfortable position.

I'm not sure if we've got what we need or not. Makras is happy to keep wandering around, but if it's time to go, he'll follow along.

It looks like we uncovered all the rooms and searched the most secretive of them. We know that people are going to know that some group was down here searching everything, so maybe some of their deceitful among us can mislead future investigations by planting false evidence. Perhaps we can blame the Aspis Consortium? Depending on how much time we have left, some of us could search a room before we head out and replace our illusions.