[GPT] ULTRA PLUS City of Golden Death (Inactive)

Game Master Will Huston

The potions and the armor sets detect as magical.

Eventually Drusan will lead you to his cave. Inside the cave are a pair of moldy backpacks, a wooden shield that's missing the upper half, a broken and useless short sword, and a rotted blanket. Also, a pretty decent waterskin. There's also a barrel filled with wild tubers and meat of indeterminate origin. He stuffs both backpacks up with supplies.

"Lets get you to your golden deaths, yes?" Drusan says in a broken smile.

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (20) + 8 + (5) = 33 Welp there's a place to get a nat 20

Angela takes a moment to stop and pause before snapping her fingers and pulling a bound bundle of papers out of her pack. "I forgot about this because I thought it wouldn't be important, but one of our colleagues, uh, some how 'acquired' the results of a Razmiran consensus. I grabbed most of the Razmiran related documents in our archives on the way out just in case. It's a few years out of date but..." She scans through the document for a second. "Hrmm, seems that 8 percent of the population is teifling. Slightly higher than the Inner Sea average, but not worryingly so."

Putting the document back, she nods to Drusan. "Right, uh, golden deaths, and why would that be?"

Angela picks up one of the masks. "I think with this group we have enough people who can pull off a lie that it wouldn't be too hard to act like Razmirians... assuming there's nothing wrong with tieflings and halflings being in their ranks."

"My dear, of course I can pull a ruse over those witless Razmirans. After all, I am Golthwur Strath, Maestro of Mimicry and Duke of Disguises." declares the old man.

"A moment please," he demands as he disappears behind a nearby wall and casts prestigidation.

"A moment please," he demands as he disappears behind a nearby wall and casts prestigidation.

Then, emerging from behind the wall is a wiry, old man--but with one with no hat and no beard.

"Greetings, I am a Razmiran of great reknown," declares the man, adorned in wizardly robes.

Eventually Drusan will lead you to his cave.

The clean-shaven man follows the others to the cave, stopping once every hour to duck behind a wall or some other form of cover, before emerging to reveal his face once again.

Nisha will don one of the masks and robes and follow along towards the front.

"Oh, tiefling? That's perfect! Nisha, you can lead." Dawn is thoroughly impressed with her impersonation and her mannerisms. Plus Angela said it would be OK.

"Wow, new friends. Come on, sir." Dawn offers to take Golgolgoldenheim's hand and carefully lead him. "Remember, we totally like Razmir, and we think he's really cool."

"Wow, new friends. Come on, sir." Dawn offers to take Golgolgoldenheim's hand and carefully lead him. "Remember, we totally like Razmir, and we think he's really cool."

The old man leans towards the elf's pointed ear and slowly whispers, "Pssst, do not be alarmed. I am no 'new friend'. But, instead, is is in fact actually I, Golthwur Strath, that you now see before you."

The wizard moves with the confidence of one who believes he has successfully pulled off such a disguise in the past.

Alright, so the map on the inside page of the book doesn't have a legend, it just says "1 inch=6 miles" but since I own an electronic copy, I don't really have a way to measure 1 inch. I'm gonna say its gonna take at least a whole 8 hours to follow Drusan to where you need to go. But, uh, do you guys have rations and food?

Hayden simply shakes his head and sighs. "I suppose I should hide my holy symbol. Perhaps I can just be a mercenary for hire. I doubt Razmirians would employ a Sarenite."

Hayden has a week's worth of rations always. He would have bought more to go to on an expedition, especially to a place where foraging for food would probably be a bad idea. He also had a goblet of quenching, so that takes care of his water needs.

Angela avoids grabbing one of the masks and instead just grabs a robe. "We can all try to look like a faithful follower, but I don't think we have enough masks for everyone."

Angela has 5 days worth of rations on her character sheet, and an iron pot for cooking if that helps.

The old man leans towards the elf's pointed ear and slowly whispers, "Pssst, do not be alarmed. I am no 'new friend'. But, instead, is is in fact actually I, Golthwur Strath, that you now see before you."

The wizard moves with the confidence of one who believes he has successfully pulled off such a disguise in the past.

"Wha-? Where did Golthwur go? Oh, you must be his brother." Dawn nods to herself. "Okay, okay. I have about... 5 days of rations. I hope you brought food, too, Mister Somundane. Anyway, right this way."

Dawn continues to lead Mister Somundane across the trail, humoring Drusan whenever she can.

"But, I am actually Golthwur--" the man begins to protest, before saying, "Oh, I see, we shall maintain the ruse just in case anyone is listening."

The old man sighs and admits, "Alas, I have no food with me. Maybe it id for the best. For while those so-called 'rations' may be suitable for mundane beings, such as yourselves, they are rather disagreeable to those with a sophisticated palate, such as mine."

Surprise! Golthwur This PC is ill-prepared.

I have seven days of rations.

No rations at all. :-(

Angela looks at Eltran and Golthwur the man she has never met, and asks, "You seem to be traveling rather light there. You possibly need food and drink? I can share some."

It takes the better part of the day, but Drusan leads you across the island. "We stop and sleep now. Too dangerous to go further in the dark, because that's where they get ya."

Okay, so we got 19 days worth of food to cover 6 people. Down to 13 after resting.

Drusan wakes you all up with his off-key singing as the dawn approaches. He gets you going after you prepare and back on the road.

The entrance to Xin-Grafar stands ahead—two enormous stone doors, each thirty feet high and fifteen feet wide, covered in carved, vertical wavy lines. The left-hand door stands open, a complex internal mechanism of worked stone and metal clockwork gears visible along the door’s side about halfway up. The doors are recessed about ten feet into the side of a large, grass-covered hill and tilt slightly inward. A firepit smolders beside the right-hand door, tiny tendrils of smoke still curling skyward from its coals.

Angela grumbles slightly at sleeping out in the open, but ultimately settles into her blankets and falls asleep. The next morning she truly wishes she had some more innate magical ability as he clothes feel like they've been worn for longer than necessary.

She stretches, packs up her things and gets moving.

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
"There's less tracks here than at the landing. They've lost some of their number, as we expected from finding the masks... Also can't have gotten too far, these coals are still smoking. We might find them today."

"Nighty night everybody! Have good dreams for me!" Dawn takes watch until it's time to for her to trance.

Drusan's singing is... encouraging. Dawn even joins in.

Perform: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8 And it's just as in sync as he is.

Dawn looks at the tracks, listens to Angela (did she ever fill out those TPS reports?) and looks at their mask and robe collection. "How big is their crowd, anyway?"

"If we have time to move a little slower than I can also support to gather food for us so that we do not use our rations. I am usually always able to find food for myself so therefore I do not have any with me!" Eltran says apologetically.

Angela gives a small shrug at Dawn's question. "Can't be sure. Itwless but I don't think I can get a precise count. Im not a trained tracker."

She then looks over at Eltran. "I'm not sure scavenging for food here is a good nor safe idea. Given the state of those iruxi yesterday and the negative energy storms that rock this island. Most things here might not be good for positive energy powered creatures."

"If we catch up to the Razmirans, perhaps we can use some of their food," Hayden says with casual confidence.

He must mean that they would share with fellow priests, right? He can't mean to take or attack them for their food, right? Paladins don't suggest that type of thing?

Eltran points at the Pathfinder that survived her for ages.

"He seems to be physically fine but you might be right Angela ... the side effects of digesting food from this area are unknown! And Hayden is right ... there are many options."

"He seems to be physically fine but you might be right Angela ... the side effects of digesting food from this area are unknown! And Hayden is right ... there are many options."

"Well, then, we should pursue such options most quickly!" declares most-definitely Golthwur. "I do not know if I can endure another day of this wretched common food--if it can even be called such!"

With a sleeve of his robe, he wipes away the ample crumbs that dot his clean-shaven chin.

"Now, if you will excuse me," he says heading behind a large patch of high foliage. "I have a spell that I need to go cast."

The long, sloped tunnel leading down to the city suddenly opens into a large rectangular room. The floor here is sand and shows signs of recent foot traffic. The walls are all painted in enormous murals that depict a city in its prime. The south wall shows hundreds of men and women in a marketplace, trading everything from fruit and livestock to construction materials such as brick and wood. The north wall depicts row upon row of unarmed, uniformed men standing large in the foreground and growing smaller as their ranks disappear over the horizon toward the far right of the painting—a horizon over which an enormous golden sun rises. The east wall is a huge map that portrays a city constructed of three concentric circles and divided by canals of pure, crystal-clear water that flows from the city’s innermost ring. Below this map someone has scrawled numerous notes and mathematical calculations in charcoal. Finally, the west wall depicts a leader of some sort, crowned by a golden sun and speaking before a huge crowd of people wearing white shawls and golden togas.

If anyone's got Knowledge Engineering, now would be a good time to roll it, while examining the east wall. If not, you can make a harder general Intelligence check. Or you can try examining other things as well. Or just walk on through.

Intelligence: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

After considering the layout of the architecture, the clean-shaven man casts detect magic.

I think we have two people with ranks in every knowledge skill.

Angela takes a look at the structure of the place for a moment.

Knowledge Engineering, w/ free inspiration: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (15) + 8 + (3) = 26

"I wonder how structurally sound this place is after so long."

but... but, Golgolgoldenheim is a commoner, how can he cast detect magic?

Angela inspects the map and the calculations. It uses some pre-taldan numeral system that Golgolgoldenheim is not fluent it. She realizes that the notes are about the Jewel of Everlasting Gold. The calculations are a bit more concerning. The first calculation is determining the volume of liquid molten gold that it would take to flood the entire city. The second is the amount of time it would take for flowing molten gold to flood the city, and the third is how often it happens.

After putting together the three numbers, Angela realizes that 72 hours after the gates to Xin-Grafar are opened, a 40-foot tall flood of molten gold pours through the first two rings of the perfectly circular city's walls. The notes also show once the countdown starts, nothing can stop it.

Angela shudders as she takes in the notes and problems. "We have a strict time schedule and need to move quickly. If we aren't either out of the city or in the third or higher rings, we're going to become golden statues of oursleves as we burn in molten gold."

Oh, the map would make it clear that there's three rings. Probably should have said that explicitly.

"I've heard of some rich lucky ducks who could swim through gold." Dawn chuckles. "Some of the Leprechauns back Home were so jealous they tried to learn how to surf on a pile of tin. Silly Leprechauns, surfing tricks are for kids!"

Perform Comedy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Yup, I'm good! I still got it.

"So we should explore the city and get to the high ground within 3 days, got it."

"Uh... which way do we go next?"

"Or get in and get out within 3 days. Or at least to the outer ring. Can we tell what the city is like in each ring?" Haydens looks at the map.

Are there certain districts that we can tell are in each ring? That might help us know where to go.

Angela also sits down and tries to read the map, looking for a good way into the most inner level of the city that hopefully won't take more than 48 hours, just in case there's delays. "Let's take a moment to plan out our actions. We have some time, and I'd rather ensure that we move efficiently than become warning statues."

Okay, I'd copy the map so you guys could see it, but since its older module, I can't copy it without giving you guys info about upcoming encounters. You're basically outside the southern edge of a big circular wall. The third ring is the very center of this city. The circle is a little less than a mile in diameter, a little less. Based on my math, its almost exactly 400 acres. I've made a map in the slides. Black are the walls of the rings, the red is the roads, and the blue are canals.

Just for my knowledge, does anyone have any special protections for traps or ambushes?

INT check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Angela has Trap Sense (+1 to Reflex and AC vs. traps) and Trapfinding (+2 at this level to Perception to notice and Disable Device to disable.) She also uses her Int mod for calculating Disable Device. Otherwise she just has her (amazing) perception.

"I'm afraid I'm of little use disarming traps or in the wilderness. My skills lay in combat and social interaction, and a bit into magic."

Hey guys, I'm still alive, just . . . y'know, not super useful right now.

Int: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

"Huh. So, we have less than 72 hours, right? I mean the Razmirans already entered before us, right?"

Dawn's only protection is casting Invisibility or Vanish, but she'd only have an hour to sneak around.

Int: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

This mundane commoner has no special protections for traps or ambushes. And neither, he would tell, does Golthwur Strath.

Hayden considers Dawn's assessment and then nods. "We assume they have, but I think that's a good assumption. So yes, we have less than 72 hours. I hope not a lot less."

The group sets out from the city of Xin-Grafar's gates. Inside the city's gates, it is a marvelous, disastrous scene. The city is in ruins. The city is literally paved with gold. Benches are covered in gold. Random stones or pieces of trash are gilded. There is a bridge directly ahead. The bridge is over a canal. The canal is filled with glowing molten gold.

In the center of the covered bridge, stands a motionless statue, covered in fine gold. You stand on one side of the bridge. Xin-Grafar stands on the other

Perception, wait do I need to roll for this?: 1d20 + 15 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 15 + (2) = 26
I don't think she could fail that roll there.

Angela's eyes narrow as she looks at the bridge. "Hold on, we might need to test this bridge out first. Everything else here is splashed and uneven with it's gold coating. This bridge isn't."

She picks up a stone from the ground and tries to roll it across the bridge to see what happens.

"Some leprechauns would kill for this kind of irony." Dawn squints as the golden glare flashes against her eyes.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

"Maybe the bridge is made out of gold?" She scratches her head. "Wait, gold is really malleable, a golden bridge would buckle under any kind of weight."

Okay, I don't handle enough gold to know what would happen, rolling a gold-plated stone over gold-plated stones. I imagine it come to a stop quickly?

As Angela rolls the stone, she notices that there are undersides on the bridge's railing that aren't gilded. The bridge was intentionally guilded, while everything else (literally everything that you can see on the ground is covered in gold plating) wasn't. The bridge must have some sort of protection against the molten gold in the canal beneath, and probably the oncoming gold tsunami.

The rock tumbles forward, and the statue starts moving.

Okay, I don't a have a map for this section, so I stole one from a different PFS scenario. Ignore all the black lines of the rooms. It's a bridge. Map is in the slides

Statue Initiative: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0
Golthwur Initiative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Eltran Initiative: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Sir Heydun Init: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Dawn Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Angela Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Nisha Initiaitve: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

The statue starts giving off heat and is moving. Everyone reacts before it can really get going though!

Round 1
Everyone

Nisha moves up, swift action stares at the golden deelybob (again, it affects things immune to mind effecting), and stabbs at it with her longspear.

Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
damage if hit: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
if it can take precision damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 2) + 3 = 10 extra damage.

If the attack misses Nisha will make the next attack that hits it deal +3 precision damage.

Angela strides forward a few steps as she whips the cover off her longspear. As she moves through the practiced movements, she takes in the statue and tries to find weak points on it while seeing if she doesn't recognize it at all.

Quick action: Studied Target, Free action: Knowledge check!
Knowledge (whichever they all the same): 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 8 + (2) = 18

She then brings her spear up and into a joint hoping the thing isn't hot enough to melt her spearhead.

“This type of enemy has weak points here, here, aannnd here!” +1 Longspear, Aid another, studied: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 2 = 23

"Hit it riiiigghtt here! That's a shoulder joint and if you break that it should have a harder time of swinging those arms around."

Dawn casts Blur on herself. She draws her warhammer and moves ahead. "That thing seems pretty hot. Not hot enough to melt gold I guess. But too hot for me."

Then man hides seeks cover behind the paladin before producing a wand. From it flies a bolt of force that strikes the statue.
MM: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3. Only, then does he consider the creature.

Knowledge (arcana) to ID?: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28

"What in the flameless night is that?" Hayden shifts into a more advantageous position, leaving the commoner without less cover. He nocks an arrow, draws, and fires at the statue.

Attack (PBS): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19
Damage (PBS): 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Nisha strides forward, staring directly at its human-like eyes. With a confident strike, her longspear thrusts against the construct. The adamantine spearhead slices into the machine's innards. Angela tries to remember what she knows about this thing, and what she knows is NOTHING.

Dawn uses her arcane training to defend herself and moves in on her opponent. It appears like the universe's graphics engine isn't quite rendering her right. Golgolgoldenheim Somundane's wand tries to activate its magical might against the machine, but there's a hesitancy there. I need a Caster Level check (of the wand) to see if you overcome spell resistance. Golgolgoldenheim then realizes this golden guardian must be part of Tar-Baphon's defenses. This medium construct would need the hardest metals to pierce its plating, and obviously resists spells.

Sir Hayden's arrow misses the Golden Guardian. Maybe if he had a better line on the target?

Round 1
Eltran
Guardian
Hayden
Golthwur
Angela
Dawn
Nisha.