SFS 2-15 - The Infernal Gallery (KS) (Inactive)

Game Master phaeton_nz

((Yellow -19))

Velorum identifies them and Slithermaw larvae which are small vermin. They have blindsense and Darkvision.

Liftt, in an almost panic, continues to fire at the yellow worm...

attack vs KAC: 1d20 + 9 - 2 ⇒ (6) + 9 - 2 = 13
attack vs KAC: 1d20 + 9 - 2 ⇒ (15) + 9 - 2 = 22
P damage(silver): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
P damage(silver): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

"Keep them away..."

Schuka feels sort of battle rush as far as laser beams and spits flying wide.

Stellifera firing most visibly injured slithermaw, as liquid in a watertank slowly warms up...
Laser Pistol: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
DMG, fire: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Trick: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (2) + 15 = 17 dmg?=> Trick: 1d8 ⇒ 7

And that's Yellow disposed of.

((Waiting on Zemir))

Zemir takes another wild shot!

Static Arc Pistol vs Nearest Foe EAC (adding range inc penalty): 1d20 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (14) + 4 - 2 = 16
damage (E): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Actually that shot isn't as wild as Zemir thought
((Red -5))

Red crawls up to Altronus and lashes out with a tendril
tendril: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12

Everyone is up.

Worried about hitting his allies, Liftt slows down his shooting somewhat, trying to finish off the last worm with his silver bullets.

attack red KAC, cover: 1d20 + 9 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 9 - 4 = 10
damage (P,silver): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Alas the shot is still a long way off being effective.

Solar Weapon: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 7 - 4 = 181d6 + 1d3 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + (3) + 6 + 1 = 16 - photon mode: +1 dmg | vs KAC
Silver Curveblade: 1d20 + 7 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 7 - 4 = 171d10 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 6 + 1 = 17 - photon mode: +1 dmg | vs KAC

Altronus furiously cuts with all 4 hands with 2 blades in them!

Well, it worked before

Ranged Attack Roll for Telekinetic Projectile at Red: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11
Damage, Bludgeoning: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Probably a miss

Altronus makes like a four armed Jedi Master and slices the remaining larvae into something resembling diced meat. Which probably explains why Velorun missed.

Now that combat is over, you can catch a breather and look around. Perception checks please.

Zemir walks over to the dead insects and kicks a corpse over with the toe of his boot. "Definitely fiendish," he announces. "Maybe a rift to the nether planes has opened nearby?"

Traveling until Friday--please bot me as necessary.

Mysticism: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Mysticism: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

Still standing well away from the larva, Twila-5 contains her mild surprise. Fiendish? Huh. Now that he mentions it...maybe. I suppose anything's possible here. But that means... She pricks up her ears, her eyes darting around to pinpoint any additional threats.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Mysticism: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20
Life Science: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Unfortunately, these are larval forms of a much larger and more dangerous insect. I suspect we will run into a parent at some point and they will be bigger and badder.

He also looks around for other dangers.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (11) + 13 = 24

Liftt looks cautiously around the gross swamp.
"[b]I hope there are no more of them..[/]" he mutters, as he reloads his pistol.

perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

As Velorum gives the even worse news, the shirren pales even further.

Anyone who rolls over a 18 spot two large vases on the mud atop the nest. One is porcelain, with intricately detailed depictions of capering horned
humanoids painted in blue and white, while the other is a thick clay pot with an angular design.

Hmm, do we call the pots or artifacts? Either way, we should dig them out.

With a wary sigh, Liftt heads towards the pottery and starts to try and heave it from the swamp.

I bet something tries to eat me...

After Altronus finishes of awkward creature, Schuka hides hew pistol to consealed compartment of her watertank, and liquid tentacles disappear to become simple water.

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 = 18

The stellifera stays keen as she thinks here still may be dangers around

Inside the clay pot is a minor electron crystal.

"Crystal" mutters Liftt.

He glares at the pot worridely.

"Not sure if I want to put my hand in to get it. Whole thing looks like it wants to eat me.."

That doesn't stop him upending the jar to get the crystal out.

"I guess these may have some historic value too.. He adds, gesturing toward the jars themselves.

How much bulk are they?

Module doesn't say, but they are objects of art to be retrieved. Don't forget you have a Mrk 2 null-space chamber to put them in

Liftt carefully puts the jars into the null space chamber.

"Glad you remembered that. My mind was still on the Azata. And far, far from worms. And worms big brothers."

A short time later you arrive at the Palace of Delusion, the source of the art objects in the Drift Bog. You no longer suffer a penalty to Perception checks, as no creatures or insects willingly approach the manor.

The Palace of Delusion is subject to normal light. The wooden walls are soggy, but solid. The floor throughout the manor is coated in mud and flooded with water half a foot deep. This flooding increases the difficulty of Acrobatics checks by 1 but does not otherwise hamper movement.

Perched at the edge of the bog, crumbling where it falls away into the Drift, a dilapidated wooden manor sinks into the swamp. Tall wooden planks and decorative eaves reach up into the sky before ending in shards and splinters. Whatever once existed on the second floor of this building is nowhere to be seen, ripped away into the Drift upon the bog’s arrival. Three filthy windows dot the exterior, while a large hole, partly filled with the remains of a collapsed stairwell, is the only obvious entrance to the building’s interior. Not even the persistent insects of the bog draw near the shattered ruin.

Map on slides

One moment Twila-5 is wishing for windshield wipers to swipe the bugs off her visor, and the next they're gone. Her head whips around and, sure enough, they stop as if there's an invisible wall blocking them. "Huh. that's ominous. But I'll take it. So. The Palace of Delusion. I expect we will sense things that are not true." Perhaps the insects *are* still swarming me. She cautiously arcs around to approach the building from the side, ducking under the windows as she makes her way to the ruined entrance.

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

Isn't this a cheery place. Just the vacation home I always wanted. At least the bugs seem to be leaving us alone. Maybe that means we won't see the big bug.

Velorum will follow somewhat behind the rest of the party, 10-15 feet.

Liftt eyes Velorum suspiciously as he starts to talk about "bugs" but the shirren says nothing.

"Maybe we should go inside.." he says, keeping his pistol ready.

perc: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Assuming he sees nothing, and nobody warns him of a danger, Liftt cautiously advances toward the dilapidated building.

Altronus, holding both blades at the ready, approaches the entrance and looks around carefully.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

You enter the remains of the Great Hall.

This once-grand hall is a wreck. The upper half of a wide curving staircase has collapsed, partially blocking a hole in the southern exterior wall. The west wall is host to a grand mural, nearly twelve feet tall, that towers over the chamber. The winged, scaled humanoid it depicts leers down at the room, watching through life-like yellow eyes. Beneath the mural, an archway leads to a white hallway, while another arch in the north wall leads to a chamber open to the Drift. Two rows of stone pedestals topped by decorative busts line the room, running from west to east, where the building gives way to a broken stretch of wood and swamp water that trickles out into an endless expanse.

You also become aware that you are being watched by something ominous and powerful.

Creepy

Velorum looks around to see if he can see who is watching.

Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

The mural depicts a sinister-looking scaled humanoid dressed in regal robes, with a sharp-toothed grin and membranous wings.

You can collect four busts from the pedestals. Each is carved of fine marble and depicts malformed faces of various races, all twisted in terror. Two additional busts hover lazily just outside the hall, floating 15 feet away in the Drift. Another 10 feet distant are a dozen floating rocks, wooden planks, and globules of mud and swamp water.

The floor near the edge looks unstable and slopes towards the Drift.

The window in the south wall has shifting, shadowy, ghost-like forms trapped within the glass, howling in terror and banging on the windows as if attempting to escape.

"When I tell people about alternate realities, they think I'm weird. But this reality is weird enough as it is!" Zemir looks more closely at the painting. "Ah yes, Duke Crocell the Nightmare Collector. I can tell you, that's one devil I hope we never meet!"

Mysticism: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Now that Zemir has identified the fiend, those with Mysticism can make another check.

Question?
Does the area of the "Drift" seem to be enough like "Space" for the activation of my "Walk in the Void" ability?

I thought it was creepy BEFORE I saw the creatures behind the glass. Something tells me this would be a very bad place to try to sleep.

Mysticism second check: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

And Duke Crocell makes his home in Stygia, the swampy fifth layer of Hell. Remind you of anyplace you have seen recently? Along with that, his domain is the Palace of Delusion, an infernal art gallery dedicated to his obsession with mortal fears.

It sounds like this place was not transported from the Materiel Plane, but out of Hell!

I'll allow it because another GM let me do it during 1-25

"Anyone got a rope, jump jets, or ... tekelenetic powers?" asks Liftt - his eyes on the floating statues.

"It would be good to get those busts."

His eyes widen as Velorum tells the story of the place.
"Wait... this place used to belong to an arch-fiend? And we are collecting his works of art?"

The bugs eyes go bug-eyed.

"I'm sure the rest of the Society will want to hear about this. No wonder there were Hellknights guarding the place!"

They are not Hellnights, Lifft. They are mercenaries who failed in the last exam - the fight with the devil. I'm not sure what exactly they were doing here - protecting or robbing.

"Really? That looked like a Hellknight ship to me. " says Liftt in surprise. "Maybe they stole it. That would explain why we managed to drive them off so easily." he adds after a moments thought.

Arch devil of nightmares. And we're being watched. *Lovely*. Suppressing a shudder, Twila-5 side-eyes the life-like yellow eyes in the mural before turning away to pull out her titanium alloy cable line. "If anyone wants to leap out there to get those busts, we can use this to haul them back in. Whatever we do, we should hurry." There's a slight pause before she hurriedly adds: "...because we don't know when or how quickly this area will dissolve into the Drift."

What sort of skill check would it be to try and get the floating statues while tethered?

Since it's a zero-gee environment out there, I'd say acrobatics - unless anyone can fly under their own power

"Right, hold onto that line.." says Liftt. Then, doing his best to judge the right angle, he tries to get the floating statues.

acrobatics: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

Shucka is impressed by a wooden art object building in the Srif bog so she remains silent for a while.

The stellifera is comfortable enough in the flooding and even plays some sneak and catch sometimes disappearing from vision tryin to drop off feeling of being watched.
generally stealthing in the area.

Schuka thinks about volunteer gathering additional worthy findings but Lifft appears to be good enough for this.

Schuka not really believes in Hell, but listens teammates with cautious.

"I'm not one to question a Venture-Captain, but do you folks ever feel that sometimes it'd be better to just leave creepy stuff like this where it is?"

Firmly grasping the cable with her feet planted wide so she can haul Liftt in quickly if need be, Twila-5 concurs. "Yes. But they won't want to believe us if we tell them why we left it here. They'd only send us on boring missions after that, if any at all."

I was waiting for your Star Shaman Mystic to fly out there and get them

With all the resources available to you, you are able to collect all the busts. Where to next?

The Star Shaman was so impressed by Liftt's 30 Acrobatics, he was waiting to see how well that succeeded.

It looks like we could go straight, left, or up the stairs. I vote left, but will follow the group if we go a different direction.

Twila-5 makes eye contact with the group and jerks her head to the left, then begins sneaking in that direction, the creepy feeling of being watched weighing heavily on her mind.

Stealth: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25

Heading left ...

This featureless white hall curls off in multiple directions, eerie in its stillness. Coming from deeper in the house are the distant sounds of weeping, laughter, and creaking wood.

Screams emerge from the walls, rising into a discordant symphony of anguished wails. The walls shudder, like ripples on water, and then bulge outward. Agonized faces and outstretched hands reach out of the walls, grasping for help.

This room has four alcoves.

Liftt sidles towards the middle of the group, unnerved by the room.

perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

He peers into the alcoves, wondering if there is more art within them.

Perception DC 18: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Recoiling at the appearance of the protruding faces, Twila-5 examines them from a safe distance before continuing. [b]"Keep to the middle. They only reach about a foot from the wall.

Mysticism DC 21: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10