GM Jhaeman's PFS Module: "Masks of the Living God" (Inactive)

Game Master Jhaeman

Maybe we could convince him without violence... We are convincing and beautiful enough to want to share money with us. - it seems Alecto does not fully understand the seriousness of the situation, but she firmly believes in her charm and pleasant aroma.

When they are out of ear's reach

I find it harder everyday to work with that den of thievery and false holyness. Now we are supposed to extort money? What's next, murder? Where do we put our foot down, and draw the line?

Relgar nods and responds once they are out of earshot.

"Perhaps all we need to do is fool Krant with fake treasure that is."

"He gave us all bags full of coppers and a few silver and even some gold. I say we see how many coppers we have and we use a little bit of magic to appear a nice gold color. If we do not have enough copper then we can exchange our good silvers for actual copper pieces and color the whole lot of them."

"It might not pass a thorough inspection but a quick glance at all the gold in a bag it might pass."

Admittedly a crude forgery but Krant is not a genius and we are providing the results he expects so a quick flash of gold might be enough.

"Here. I put my foot down right here.", Anibal responds to Mallycorn. "No, that would put us under suspicion by the cult.", he counters Relgar's plan. "I will give Krant the real thing. From my own pocket. I have no need for money, anyway. Let's get in and get rid of any customers inside. I have no need for witnesses here. Everyone onboard with the plan? My gold on the line."

He looks around for opinions.

Drukpa marvels at the brilliance of Anibal's plan. "Wow. How'dya think o' somethin like that? There's like layers inside layers. I gotta sit down and rest me head fer a minute."

Mallycorn nods to the Beekeeper

Our gold on the line, Anibal. We'll share the hundred golds, you and me. You can't get your money in the tomb, anyway. Better to give them real gold, Relgar, because we won't be the ones who pay the price when the deception is revealed.

"ALSO ... we get to buy some pretzels, Drukpa. Something to cheer you up?"

"Pretzels!?!"

Relgar shrugs seeing the opportunity for some karmic payback and a little fun as well. He is a bit surprised about this strange human notion of having no need for money. It is a good thing there is no dwarf in the party or a cleric of Abadar for goodness sake.

"I don't know. I think that Krant is going to be very quiet when he discovers that he has been duped. Weakness is not well tolerated by this church and he can be whipped as easily as we can."

"He is more likely to blame it on enemies of the church and theft to shift the blame after the fact then admit that he was duped by us or by the merchant."

"However if you two want to foot the bill then so be it. I will not argue with you. You clearly value your gold much less than I do."

Alecto shrugs her shoulders. We rested. We will return with success. We can do something else tonight.

"Agreed, we will pull this one off today, and we will check the temple overnight. One of the things that comes to mind being arson, probably, but I will try to keep that urge in check. For now, at least."

Fire isn't a pretty way to die, believe me, Beekeeper.

Relgar frowns and then smiles at all this silly talk from these humans. First they claim that they don't value gold and now they say that they are against the use of fire as well.

"Alright, if you say that you don't value your money I can accept that ... I guess, but what in all that is holy do you have against a good blaze?"

It is pretty clear from Relgar's expression that he thinks that this must be some sort of bizarre form of humour. It is not possible in his mind that anyone could object to the utter majesty of fire.

The little gnome starts to smile and point his finger knowingly at the two men to indicate that he knows that they are trying to pull one over on him.

If burning down his own house with himself in it did not convince this pyromaniac gnome that fire can be bad then nothing will. :)

Hatching a plan, the Pathfinders soon return to Krant with the gold from their own pockets that he thinks has been extorted from the shopkeeper. He grins and nods, though he also looks a bit surprised. "That was fast work! Say, I hope ya roughed him up a bit or broke some stuff so he repays more prompt-like next time! Ya gotta put the fear o' Razmir in these townies or they forget who's lookin' out for 'em."

A Bluff check would be good here.

Clever plan! I'll mark down that Anibal and Mallycorn have each contributed 50 gp.

Relgar grins.

"He got a look at us and knew we meant business. He could not pay up fast enough."

"I don't think that he will be giving the church any more problems in the future."

19 Bluff on a take 10.

I will be accepting aids of course if anyone else wants to chime in.

Bluff Aid: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (2) + 12 = 14

'What he said."

Yes. *fragrant fragrance for persuasiveness*

auto-aid

Krant shrugs. "Huh, okay. Well, next time smash some stuff up anyway! Ya done good, but we're on a whatcha call learnin' exercise." Krant leads you all back to the Temple, narrating a tale of how he once held a recalcitrant jeweller upside down by the ankles over a rooftop until she agreed that investing in the protection service offered would indeed be wise.

Once you're back, Krant gives you a couple of hours of free time before lunch while he takes another group of acolytes out on a similar mission.

Once Krant is ouf of the picture, Anibal looks around the group. "Who wants to do some exploring?"

We are. Lead!

Lead the way, Beekeeper.

With Krant elsewhere, Mallycorn smiles again. A little.

Relgar nods. It is time that they try to get the information they need so they be Pathfinders again.

"Alright, let's go.", Anibal stands up and dons his mask. "I suggest we scout out the places we didn't see yet."

I don't know if anyone else is in the room. Obviously, whispering if anyone is. As far as I understand, we did not see what is in the area behind T11, so that's my vote. Did we see any other robe colours except ours and the Egarthis' black?

Relgar eyes light up at the prospects of sneaking around. He is smaller than most but his limited adventuring experience has focused on fire magic and verbal deception. He feels that the party Bounty Hunter should take the lead here.

"Good plan. Where should we start?"

So far we have seen white, gray and black robes. The hierarchy that we have seen so far is clearly white-gray-black.

There is also T2 near the stables and that seems to lead into a big area as well. T11 is equally as good a choice so lead on. :)

"Well we have the top floor covered; mostly. I did see a wall-walk above the stables, but...", Anibal looks around. "If I had dirty secrets... Well, the basement or cellar is my best bet of digging up dirt. You guys want to do the colour trick?"

The Pathfinders decide to do some investigation, starting with the basement. At the end of one corridor is a locked door.

Okay, I've placed your tokens on the slide. The locked door is just to the left of Drukpa's token.

If the group will be using the color-changing magic, please let me know what color of robes you'll be taking on as I'll consider it a circumstance bonus to a Disguise check.

Do I understand correctly that we still have whites? Then probably in gray?

That would probably be GRAYT. And some stilts for Relgar? Anyone knows crafting?

Relgar nods and whispers back.

"Gray would probably be the best choice and elicit the least amount of questions."

I don't think that stilts would do it for Relgar. There are probably other small sized members coming and going into this temple. If we don't act suspiciously we should be fine. I hope. :)

As Relgar is no longer fatigued today I am adjusting his load-out to his normal mode of operations with less equipment being in Shaggy's saddle bags.

After all preparation is done, Anibal takes the lead. He walks towards the area with the holding cells, tapping walls with his knuckles every few feet. He stops suddenly, and knocks some more on a wall. He focuses on the floor for a moment, and notices steps in the dust ending in the wall.

"Well look at YOU! We have a hidden passage here.", he quietly tells the others while feeling the wall for any mechanism that could open it. IF the cost is clear and he finds anything, he would use it to get through the wall.

Disable Device?: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25

Not sure whether that will work, so I will wait for a result.

Anibal's startling announcement that he's found a secret door is followed by disappointment: although a tiny keyhole is visible, he can't quite figure out how to pick the lock.

The secret door is just above Anibal's token.

Okay then. If we are not in a hurry, I would take 20 for a total of 33.

A little frustrated that his 'quick' method failed, the man resorts to a more thorough, if a little slower, approach.

"Seems tricky. Keep and eye out, please - I'll need a moment."

With the other Pathfinders keeping watch, Anibal takes his time trying to pick the lock of the secret door. One lockpick breaks! Another bends! But then . . . CLICK! He's got it! The door slides open to reveal a staircase leading down to a dimly lit corridor that ends in another door.

More of the map is revealed.

Relgar winks at Anibal clearly impressed with his worldly knowledge of mechanical locks.

He whispers to the Bounty Hunter.

"Alright, good job. I am going to see if there are any magical protections here."

The gnome looks around to make sure that they are unobserved and then casts Detect Magic facing the door, stairs and passageway to the next door.

"Be my guest, by all means.", Anibal gestures into the hallway. In the meantime, he would look for an opening and closing mechanism before actually trapping himself and other pathfinder in the hallway to starve to death... Or be eaten by Drukpa.

Alecto slowly casts a spell of magical armor on herself with a wand.

We smell violence. It's coming.

As Alecto prepares for violence and Anibal makes sure he knows how to open and close the secret door, Relgar looks for any magical signatures in the area.

Relgar shrugs.

"No traps that I can detect. That makes sense."

The gnome nods at Alecto's caution and takes his own scroll of Mage Armor out from his backpack. His reserve supply so to speak. He speaks a few words of power and he is surrounded by a field of magical protection.

"Okay get in. I'll close the door so that any passers by remain oblivious."

Once everyone is inside, he closes the entrance and performs a quick incantation on a piece of coin. She coin starts to emit light into the area.

With the coin in hand, he starts moving into the corridor.

I've taken the liberty of moving everyone into the corridor. If you want a "marching order", please feel free to rearrange your tokens accordingly, and let me know what brave soul will be opening the door.

I can go first. I can take the most hits if anything goes wrong.

Mallycorn readies a minor spell too, if they need some more light

Cast Light on the last member of the marching order (on a piece of equipment)

With everyone ready, Anibal slowly eases open the door.

A stale scent of perfume and incense wafts into the corridor as the door opens, revealing an opulent chamber of delight with pillows, carpets, and other fineries covering the floor. Silk curtains hang over the walls, and flickering light emanates from a hidden source on the ceiling, which is also draped in curtains. On the north side of the room, a gilded throne, bedecked with tiny gemstones, sits upon a raised dais.

Although certainly used the night before, no one is in the chamber presently.

Relgar scans the room for magical auras.

Detect Magic cast.

He whispers.

"Check out the room. Perhaps we will find something of interest here."

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Mallycorn looks around, but finds nothing unusual

Anibal's nose twists as they enter the room. "Smells like a whorehouse in here. I wonder which one of our stoic overlords sleeps in this room."

He looks around the room, trying to take in the positions of individual items, then starts going through the room systematically, and putting everything he touches back into the place it originally was, or at least attempts to do so.

I would take 20 on perception here. We are not really in a hurry, are we? For a total of 32

As Relgar extends his magical senses, Mallycorn and Anibal spend several minutes conducting an extensive search of the room. Half-empty bottles of various spirits lie about the room, and exotic water pipe is set up in the middle, filled with a rich, local tobacco. Golden censers, currently unlit, hang from the columns. Upon closer inspection, the throne is studded with various gemstones. But most interestingly, pulling back the curtains on the room's southern wall, Anibal finds a concealed door!

Map has been updated to show the concealed door; on our map, "south" is the righthand side.

The water pipe, golden censers, the silk curtains, and the throne gems all have monetary value if looted, but since this is PFS, we probably don't need to go into details.

Drukpa stretches, as if waking from a long nap, and hefts his bardiche in hand. He listens at the door before opening it.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

"I don't hear anything - I'm sure there's no one on the other side."

Unless anyone objects, or wants to do something else first, Drukpa will open the door.

Again, sorry for the long posting delay - real life has been a little hectic. Should be better now.

Drukpa tries to open the door concealed behind the curtains. But not only is it locked, it suddenly flashes with a surge of magical energy! Before anyone can react, the nagaji is suddenly surrounded by small, roughly humanoid creatures of dirt and stone, faceless except for two glowing gemstone-eyes!

INITIATIVE (Round 1)

Relgar
Anibal
Mallycorn
Alecto
Drukpa
Rock Creatures

Bold should go!

As a free action, on your turn, you can attempt to identify these rocky creatures.