[ACO] PFS2e 02-11: The Pathfinder Trials (P1) (Inactive)

Game Master UncleFroggy

Please dot (add a post) in here and then delete your post to add yourself to this campaign.

1) I am based in Southeast Asia (UTC +8) so my posting hours may be unusual (especially for those in North America). I usually update at least one or twice per day. Just to keep the game moving, please post at least once every day and at least once during the weekend. If you disappear for more than 24 hours, especially during combat, I will simply place your character on infinite delay just to keep things moving.

2) Please label all three of your actions. Even if you think what you are doing is obvious.

3) If I am unavailable for longer than 24 hours, I will let you know in the Discussion Tab. Out of respect for your fellow players and myself, I ask that you do the same. Real life happens, and real life will always take priority over the game, but out of fairness for your fellow players, please let us know if you will be unavailable for an extended period of time.

4) Please complete the Macros and the Slides linked at the top of the page.

5) Questions, concerns? Feel free to share them in the Discussion tab.

6) Let's have some fun and tell a great story together! After all, that's what we are here for.

Dot!

Heh. Slow forum wouldn't let me delete the dot. :)

Your adventure begins during a meeting in a briefing room in Skyreach, the primary fortress of the Pathfinder Society’s Grand Lodge in the city of Absalom.

Banners adorn the walls of this impressive meeting room. Symbols of dozens of groups emblazon the banners, but overshadowing them all is an enormous tapestry at the hall’s front depicting the Pathfinder Society emblem: the Glyph of the Open Road.

Feel free to RP and introduce your characters while waiting for the others to fill in the slides/macros

Sindrailla and Grallen Frostbane, please complete the Macros and slides so we can get started.

"Feels good to be back." The orange-haired human stands in Skyreach. "I remember when the Society was trying to secure this location- one heck of a fight. Er, pardon my language."

"Salera, come on. Let's go chat for a bit." He reaches up and taps her arm.

Salera surfs her clawed fingers through Jiggo's hair until he stops her. "Hmm? Oh, right. Sure."

Stealing the salve of Stone to Flesh was the best decision she had made. The punishment was worth getting her love back from his petrified prison. Forced to stay at his side was nothing compared to the physical scars and stitches across her body. It still aches a bit.

"I think I did hear of that. So far, I have seen nothing to suggest it was worth the effort." Salonviel looks around at the non-elven construction and aesthetic with disapproval.

Trying to find his worth, Charlies heeds the call of Pathfinder Society. He is just as ordinary as you can think of. Nothing is peculiar for his small stature of almost five feet except for the spear he is wielding and a steel shield stowed on his back, awkwardly paired with a backpack and a healer's tools.

He walks inside the hall while wandering his eyes to the different banners he is seeing. As he does so, he gestures with his hand to manifest Estes, Charlies' angel (pun intended) eidolon, an almost six-foot tall winged celestial being towering next to him. A wing sigil each to both of them also becomes visible with a yellow glow on the left side of their chest near the heart.

Maybe this is my moment to prove my worth, he thinks to himself, or our worth, he corrects himself.

Estes, Charlies' angel (pun intended again) eidolon, is already used to being frequently summoned from Heaven to Material Plane and vice versa. Once, he is manifested and unmanifested many times when they discover one another, out of Charlies' excitement.

He is almost humanoid in nature, except for a pair of huge white wings. He wears nothing but a loincloth that covers malice and guilt. His toned body glistens not because of sweat but of the angelic essence that emanates from him.

You are worthy to your own self, Estes vaguely assures Charlies.

Sindrailla and Grallen Frostbane, please complete the Macros and slides so we can get started.

Hm. Apologies, thought I had already done that..

A Tall female elf enters the room. She stands over 6'5", much of that looking like muscle. Her green eyes, almost matching the spring leaf color of an elm tree dart about nervously. She's obviously not at home inside a large structure. Her long brown hair trails down her back in a braid. She wears studded leather armor with a shield strapped onto her back. Various weapons are festooned about her, sword, bow, a small axe and a dagger or two.
Upon seeing the group she nods, only slightly taken back by an angel being in the room.
"Greetings. I am Sindraillia, friends call me Sindy or just Sin for short. I understand we will be working together on a mission."

"Seems like it." He offers hand shake. "I'm Jiggo Maelerant...i. Long story, but I'm glad to be back. And this is Salera." He points to his eidolon.

"Hmpf." Salera crosses her arms and keeps her distance from Estes. He smells like... ugh. Goodness. She feels Jiggo's elbow and calms herself. "Yeah, hi. I guess we're all together."

Somewhat cowed by all the tall beings in the room, a Kobold hesitantly walks in.
Apologies, this is my first mission. I was told to report here, but nothing else. How does this work?

After admiring the grandeur of the place, Charlies and his angel joins the conversation.

”I think they will give us challenges, not exactly sure what would they be. Oh, I am Charlies, and this is Estes,” he answers the kobold's question and introduces himself and his eidolon.

The angel bows himself gracefully to the looking audience. His huge white wings are spread momentarily as he bows, almost knocking other recruits passing by in the crowded hall.

”Estes, Charlies' angel,” (pun intended again and again, yes I know, I keep saying it, I'll get through this or you'll get used to it, lol) he says would a low voice.

Pardon my rudeness. I should have introduced myself. I am Ember Redclaw, and I have a special relationship with Fire.

"Ember Redclaw? Pleased to meet you." Jiggo offers a handshake. "Fire keeps us warm, keeps up alive. It's life-reassuring. I can't wait to see how that will help us in the field."

Jiggo walks up to Charlies and ganders on his height. "I don't find many who I can speak to... on the level." He laughs. "Sorry, dad joke. I'm certain some Venture-Captain will come running down, challenging us to jump through some kind of hoop."

He turns and resumes looking up again. "And this is your friend? Hello Estes, Charlies' angel!" Jiggo goes for the full title and offers a hand to shake. "I'm glad you're here by our side. With two divine creatures watching over us, we'll have to stay humble. Overconfidence is a killer."

dot

A noble looking dwarf enters into the room. His black hair is well groomed as is his shorter beard. He wears a set of chain and on his back is a crossbow. In a sheathe is a beautiful looking dwarven war axe.

I am Grallen Frostbane. I am happy to make your acquittances.

Sin shakes any hand offered to her, careful to not press hard on anyone who doesn't look like they can handle it. She then moves to the back of the room.
"Anyone know why we are here?"

"With patience we will find out." answers Salonviel. "Though with two angels with us, I'm sure we won't fail at whatever it is."

Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin, steward of the Grand Lodge, saunters into the room from a door at the opposite end of a large table. He doesn’t bother taking a seat at the table, instead pacing around while he speaks.

"Welcome. I’ll keep this brief; I don’t have a field assignment for you, but I do have some requests from the three deans. Given that you’re all in-between missions, the deans have requested that you take part in some training upkeep trials. Nothing serious, mind you. We just want to make sure those skills of yours don’t get too dulled!" Valsin ends with a brief chuckle, as though joking to himself.

"You’ll want to go see each of the deans at your convenience. In case you’ve forgotten, that would be: Kreighton Shaine, the Master of Scrolls; Sorrina Westyr, the Master of Spells; and Marcos Farabellus, the Master of Swords. I place you in their capable hands, and may fortune be with you all." With his delivery complete, Valsin makes way for the exit. "Oh... yes, you’ll find the deans in their respective offices. If you don’t know where those are, then just ask around."

You can attempt the trials in any order.

"See? Right on time." Jiggo chuckles. "Now then, the three schools. Scrolls. Promotes academic mastery and the study of languages. Spells. Teaches eldritch skills and how to disrupt hostile magic. And Swords. Focuses on tactics and physical skills like disarming traps and vaulting obstacles." Jiggo counts three fingers. "That's the three schools of study, right?"

"Maybe we can start with Sorrina Westyr. She's the Master of Spells, so we could check out her office first."

Charlies nods in agreement eventhough he is not sure what is about to happen.

”So we're going as a group right?” he nervously asks.

"Cooperation is in the motto. We should work as a group. Sorrina will be fine."

The dwarf nods at Charlies suggestion.

"Agreed. Stick together. Starting with the master or spells sounds like a plan. Now, anyone know the way?"

Going to the Master of Spells sound good to me. I don't know the way, but we can ask.

If no one else volunteers to lead the group, Ember will walk out into the hall and look for someone to ask for directions.

Do we have any spell casters in the group?

I know a little magic, although it takes a toll on me.

Grallen, please complete the Macros and post your token so we can get started.

”I can cast some spells. Would that count me as a spellcaster? Hehe,” he awkwardly replies Grallen's question.

"You too, Charlie? I learned a little bit when I was young. Shelyn works in mysterious ways, and granted me a little bit of magic." He winks at Salera, who grunts in response.

"I am initiated in the manipulation of magical energies. I'm sure that won't matter to the Venture-Captain."

Sin shrugs. "I don't know if you would call it true magic but I can manipulate nature a bit to help me slow down or trap someone. Not sure it would work in here..."

I filled out the macros earlier in the week

You find Sorrina Westyr in her office and she escorts you through Skyreach to a nearby training hall.

An odd array of magical fixtures fill this spacious chamber: a wooden platform floats in the air halfway down the hall, a fountain spewing violet water sits in one corner, a wooden scaffolding holding fake walls in place creates a miniature room within the larger chamber, and several doors leading out the sides of the hall have glowing runes upon their surfaces. "What I have here for you is essentially an obstacle course," says Sorrina, sounding rather proud. "Each part of the course represents a different sort of challenge you’d possibly encounter in an actual mission. I’ll only award your final scoring for this trial when everyone has overcome the challenges. So, think of this as a group assignment." Sorrina gestures to a long table holding several closed satchels. "You aren’t expected to take on all the tasks we have available here. I’ll be assigning you three of them. Your group can also pick one of the supply satchels. Each satchel contains a different set of tools, including some magical items you would otherwise be unable to access from our storerooms. There should be an item or two in each that can help overcome all of the possible challenges. Your task is to decide which of these tools suits your group in besting the challenges you’ve been given. Some tools might be more appropriate in certain challenges than others, and some might seem useless for your particular tasks, but there’s no ‘correct’ answer here. I’m observing and grading your creativity and success, not seeing if you’d do something the same way that I might in the same circumstances. Any questions?"

"Select a satchel, Sorrina points to three satchels on a nearby table.

Your satchel contains:

• 100 feet of rope
  
• four vials of lesser alchemist’s fire
  
• a standard-grade adamantine dagger
  
• two scrolls of sleep
  
• a decanter of endless water.
  
• two potions of water breathing
  
• scroll of gust of wind
  
• scroll of silence
  
• scroll of water walk,
  
• standard potion of flying
  
• wand of knock.
  

Sorrina identifies the items for you and explains some of their use to you.

Salonviel looks through his satchel. "What else are we allowed to use? Our own gear? Talents and abilities that come natural to us or that we learned? Also, you said that this was a group assignment. What if someone isn't capable of finishing due to injury or death?"

Sorrina looks at Salonviel.

"Oh worry not. You can use your own gear as well as what is provided. You will be given tasks to perform. Consider it some sort of "obstacle course". You are to work as a group to solve the problems. Something that you will also do in the field."

Salera's eyes light up. "Oh, an obstacle course?" Salera almost grabs one of the satchels. Jiggo's glance slows her down. "Oh right. I'll pick..."

1d3 ⇒ 1

"This one."

Venture Captain Sorrina, what are the tasks we need to perform?

Sin eyes the obstacles and waits to see which one they have to face.

Charlies agrees with the choice of Salera.

"Whatever items we will get in that satchel, I hope those would be very useful. But if not, maybe we can find a way to make things useful," Charlies says.

"For the first challenge: sooner or later, you’ll need to ascend somewhere you can’t climb, or battle a flying opponent. Test your skills on a tall platform. Your challenge is for all of you to make it on top of the platform, either using your skills and/or the tools you have drawn."

Sorrina leads you to a section of the room where a wooden platform sits overhead, suspended by four pillars of wood. The platform is 15 feet off the ground, 10 feet below the room’s ceiling, and no walls of the room are closer than 15 feet to any of its edges. It is surrounded by a railing on all sides.

Salera flexes the stubs on her shoulders. "I could fl- fly up there..." Shame pulls her back. "Don't we have a flying potion or something? Someone drink it, and take the rope with you. Everyone else can climb up the rope once you secure it to the railing."

"Hey, that's a great idea!" Jiggo nudges Salera and brings her forward a bit. "If the potion lasts for long enough, maybe the flier can just carry everyone up there."

Sin nods. "A good plan. now... In case it does not last long enough to ferry everyone up, perhaps Grallen and I should be the first up. We should be able to pull the rest."