[Outpost V] PFS2 #1-25 Grim Symphony (Inactive)

Game Master cmlobue

Othello will look in the south.

Olnik does not drink the sludge. He stands roughly in the center of the area, glancing both north and south to alert the other members of the group should there be any call to action.

Sticking with my Scout exploration activity

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Siddhartha won't drink the fluid either.

He also moves North to back up Krakazh.

I wonder what that foul smelling fluid is? And isn't it strange to trap a fake door?

You folks are no fun...

To the north, you find... a mostly empty room!

To the south, you find... a mostly empty room!

Othello continues to scout out the rooms to the south.

Krakazh also declines to drink the delicious looking sludge and sneakily follows Othello south.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

The last room to the southeast is also empty.

However, I assume A7 is also on your itinerary...

This room is filled with dead bodies. Most of these corpses are humanoid, but a few giant corpses, all are missing their hands, are also laying in
the pile. The corpses have been neatly embalmed; the organs have been removed, encrusted in salt, and placed in a separate pile on top of a burlap tarp against the far eastern wall.

Tree roots have begun crumbling a number of the walls in this section of the keep.

After looking: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13 through the embalmed bodies and salt-encrusted organs for anything of interest, Othello will scout out the room to the far north.

"That's just nasty," says the goblin unironically. She searches through her memory for anything this might relate to, like cults, religious ceremonies, odd recipes, etc.

Occultism?: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

Assuming nothing jumps out at us, she'll return to the north and see what can be discovered up there.

Siddhartha will see if his Medicine skills tells him anything about how these creatures dies and/or anything else of interest about what is going on.

Medicine check, fishing for information: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

In each room, Olnik casts detect magic to see if he can find any magic or remnants of mystical energy.

Othello, your Perception on Slide 2 is not the same as your character sheet. Is +7 or +8 correct?

There is nothing magical in any of the rooms visited so far that has not been mentioned previously.

The bodies in this room seem to have died in multiple ways, including various violent ends and natural causes. The only commonality is how they were preserved and that the hands are gone.

There is, however, one hand in the pile, which is not attached to any of the bodies. It is mummified and has gemstones embedded in the knuckles. Treasure bundle - no practical use.

You also spot a noble crest decorating the far southeastern wall. The crest clearly reads “Oborov” and squares of colors scattered throughout the design: one red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Olnik remembers that the rainbow squares are not normally part of the Oborov noble crest.

Perception is supposed to be +8. This is totally my goof-up. I'll have to fix some stuff.

Siddhartha sees Othello moving North, and will follow.

Olnik frowns. He points at the errant stones. "The Oborov family crest shouldn't have those. Wonder if it's a message of some kind, or a clue..." He tries to observe any sort of meaning to the pattern.

The squares are arrayed in the order of the spectrum. Do you want to do anything other than look at them?

Krakazh will happily poke the rocks.

The rocks are quite pokable. In fact, they operate as buttons. You can push them in any sequence you want. Perhaps red, yellow, green, brown, scarlet, black... wait, there are not that many buttons. But you can pick from the seven choices that are actually there.

Or oyu can just try to Thievery your way past them.

"Maybe try them in the order of the rainbow?" Olnik reaches up and presses them: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

It does not appear that Roy G. Biv was a member of House Oborov.

"Perhaps the Oborov name *is* the clue? Try Orange, Blue, Orange, Red, Orange, and then Violet."

Otherllo types in "Oborov" in color language, and the crest swings aside, revealing a stash of hidden rubies and snowflake onyx.

Assuming that's a treasure bundle

Krakazh cackles at the clever wordplay and after collecting the stash, moves back to the areas we haven't yet searched.

If I may suggest that deserves a hero point for Othello.

Olnik nods approvingly. "Excellent work. Only works in Common, of course. The dwarven names of the colors don't start with the same letters." He points toward the stash, pulling out a bag. "Best to keep these for safe keeping, eh? Whatever weirdo is in charge of this place doesn't need to have access to these."

Seconded HP for Othello

The room in the far northeast is empty.

To the west of it, you find a circular steel portal 10 feet across. There is a 15 foot drop into a narrow stone chamber, but you can see little else of interest from here.

Othello will search the room to the west (A3), and look down the portal.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

Siddhartha moves up and looks down through the portal.

I am not inclined to proceed until we have cleared the rest of this level. This would be a very odd library entrance.

"Too much light for darkvision, and not enough light to make anything out otherwise..." Olnik activates the light effect on his wayfinder and then ties a loop in his rope around the necklace's cord. As he does so, he chants faintly, causing his pendant of the occult to glow.

Survival w/ guidance: 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 11 + 1 = 15
He checks the loop to make sure it's well tied and that he won't lose his wayfinder, then lowers it down into the portal to illuminate the chamber below.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33

"I'm inclined to agree. The last thing we want is something to *close* the portal behind us."

She takes a brief look down the hole before continuing on to the unexplored areas.

The room below has papers, writing tools and wrenches scattered around the floor.

Olnik sees something furry dash from one side of the room to the other.

Leaving the portal for later, Othello scouts out an area to the west.

The two northern rooms have nothing of interest.

This hallway and the identical hallway to the south have stone slits that look out into the main entry hall.

At this point, you have seen everything on this floor. Down the hole? Or try the delicious, candy-like liquid in A2?

Olnik pulls the wayfinder back out, removes it from the rope, and then puts it back around his neck. "There's a critter down there, but it didn't seem particularly hostile ..." He begins tying knots in the rope every few feet for ease of use and then secures it to some support nearby. "Who wants to go first, then?"

I can go first. I don't have a weapon to stow and ready again if there is trouble.

Once the rope is secure, Siddhartha will climb down.

Othello will follow.

This room appears to be a makeshift office of sorts. It contains a few scattered and crumpled note papers, blank parchment, writing tools, a series of wrenches in different sizes, and a half-full mug of lukewarm beer.

As you enter the room, there is a crash from the desk!

Slide 5

Round 1 - bolded may go

Olnik
Othello
Creature
Siddhartha
Krakazh

Secret Nature check to identify.

Othello strides in, and attacks: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24 the creature.

Damage: 2d10 + 2 ⇒ (4, 2) + 2 = 8

Othello attacks again: 1d20 + 12 - 5 ⇒ (1) + 12 - 5 = 8

Othello reacts to the sound by leaping into action! A single slice of the halberd cuts down the dangerous house cat that had knocked an ink bottle off the table.

Seeing what he has done, he slams the halberd into the wall.

Combat over!

You hear the skittering of claws and mewling as four kittens emerge from under the desk, scrabbling to escape from the giants who entered their room.

Olnik follows them down, eyes wide at the sight. "Oh, Torag's beard ..." He shakes his head, looking at the kittens. "Well, ya saved us from that menace, that's for sure." He chuckles awkwardly, giving the frightened kittens a wide berth as he begins looking through the papers. He lights his wayfinder if he needs more light to make out the writing.

Krakazh immediately kneels down on the floor and tries to coax the kittens to her. "Did you really have to do that?"

Examining the notes reveals them to be a series of thoughts about the musical traditions of nocturnes, except that the note-writer evidently quit and started over anytime they made a mistake while writing.

The four kittens attempt to flee but are too uncoordinated and small to cause any harm or effectively run. You can do anything to/with them and they cannot resist. Investigating the area underneath the table where the kittens are reveals a small cat bed made out of ragged clothing, a dish of clean water, a box filled with dirt, and a plate that appears to contain delicate slices of human liver for the cats to eat.

The stairs in the western part of this chamber lead 15 feet down and stop abruptly at a wall.

"Great. Man-eating cats. Least they haven't developed a taste for dwarves yet ..." Olnik mutters. He looks over the content of the notes.

Not sure if any of these would apply to discern anything about the author, or what they're writing about. Performance +15, Scribing Lore +9, Society +11. Does this guy seem to actually know what he's talking about in the notes?

Olnik's leshy friend, a fungus whose torso is made up of an orc's skull, waddles over toward the kittens, clearly interested in playing with them.

Meanwhile, Olnik checks the alcove to the western side, just to be sure that there's no missed door in that section. "Looks like an area you'd use for storage or something." He casts a quick detect magic to be sure nothing unexpected is missed.

This is a weird place. I don't think I've ever heard of house cats in an abandoned site like this.

For the kittens, could I do a Survival or Medicine check to see if they are old enough to survive on their own? If not, we should take them with us.

Krakazh tucks the kittens (and the leshy if they want to come) in a pouch and fastens the top down. She will definitely want to take a look at the notes later, but it's not too important right now. She checks out the wall, since when do corridors just end.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Unless the leshy is made of catnip, the kittens will try to avoid it. They seem to be wary of anything that isn't their mother.

Siddhartha, the kittens are fine now, though very scared. They have what they need here for a couple of days but certainly won't survive on their own much past that.

Krakazh will need to carry them squirming through whatever else you find here. Maybe this is an "on the way out" problem?

Corridors just end when the building is not constructed by anyone sane.
From the bottom of the platform, you are on the same level as the large room to the south. The crumbling stone walls block passage but allow you to see into the room.

A cluster of electrical coils that are set above the floor on cylindrical bases are the most obvious feature of this room. As electricity shoots through the coils and blasts through the air in bolts of lightning, the current floods the room with a powerful, buzzing music that causes your muscles to clench and flex along with the tempo.

The northern platform in this area contains a thick metal lever.

Near the electrical equipment is what appears to be a mummified dwarf, moving around the room, alternating between calibrating the massive electric coil and hacking the flesh off of various body parts with a meat cleaver. There are two skeletons, humanoid in shape but much too large to be from any species you regularly associate with.

That is a plain wall at the end of the platform, but I marked it in red because it is hard to see any wall-colored markings I can make.

"Cats with a taste for human organs? Undead dwarves? I'd rather be proactive against possible threats than become prey for actual threats. We're all redeemable. If I have erred, it is on the side of caution."

With that statement, Othello, seeing there is no obvious way to the dwarf, scouts out an alternate route to the northeast.

Krakazh gives up on actually keeping the kittens contained in her pouch for now. "I think we should get them later. There isn't a way for them to get out of here at the moment, so they should be safe."

She joins Othello in scouting. "Oooh, a lever!" She pulls it gleefully. Assuming that it's actually available to us. If not, can you mark it on the map?

*makes notes about a catnip leshy concept*

To conform: the mummified dwarf is hacking flesh off its *own* body parts?

Olnik raises an eyebrow toward the champion. Under his breath, he mutters, "No redemption for that kitty, though, is there?"

He stands peering through the holes in the stone wall and casts detect magic to see if the large apparatus is emanating magical energy and, if so, of what school. He tries to get what information he can about the various enemies they are up against.

I'd also like to attempt a variety of Recall Knowledge checks ... Religion +11 for the undead. I've also got Arcana/Crafting +9 and Occultism +10, if either of these might be useful in identifying any properties of the device.

Once he's gotten as much information as he can, he regroups with the other. "There are a variety of ways I could use those holes in the wall to create a diversion. Summon fey on that side of the room, or maybe even try to enthrall them, if they're susceptible to it. The skeletons are probably immune, but not sure about the mummy."