Wydroe's Core Run of PFS Scenario 3-19, The Icebound Outpost (Inactive)

Game Master Wydroe

Aram Zey is looking for experienced agents in the area to help with the developing situation that is the fighter for control of the Hoa Jin Tapestry. You have been summoned to the lower vaults in the middle of the night. The note said to “dress warmly”.

3-19, The Icebound Outpost, starts in the center of Civilization, Absalom beneath the Grand Lodge, but takes place almost entirely within the pocket demiplane that is accessed through the Hoa Jin tapestry.

This scenario is designed for characters levels 1-5. This will be a core campaign credit game. Looking for low tier level 1-2 core characters but will consider higher tier characters should that be the current demand. I expect participants to be able to check the game posts everyday and to post most days.

You all are waiting at the top of the stairs that lead down to the vaults below. A flustered, sleep gnome stand waiting. "Hello pathfinders, I am Cornelius Floogwig, nighttime officer in charge. Aram Zey has asked me to gather you all and we will go below together." Cornelius waves his arms above his head to draw attention. "Sit down, get to know one another in the meantime. Hope you all brought warm clothes. Anyway, I'll let you know when we can go down."

Please introduce your characters and describe what they look like.

A young man enters the room. Posture slightly slouched. He is wearing a brand new cold weather outfit. Fur trimming all the edges and maybe a little fluffier than need be. This is worn over a brightly gleaming chain shirt, which the boy periodically runs his hand over, as if to put it back in place? Quiet it? Who knows, but it seems to almost be a tic. His features and demeanor are rather bland. Not a single distinguishing detail can be picked out from his messy brown hair, brown eyes, medium complexion. The only thing really of note is his slightly sour facial expression. After getting himself comfortable, which takes some time, as his coat seems too bulky to relax comfortably and his chair shirt seems to pinch. Finally, after removing his coat, he seems settled.

"huh. Oh, hi. I'm Nate. Nate of Green Bottom. Not sure how many Nate's you know, but I'm the only one I know of from Green Bottom, so there you go."

Nate's stomach gives a rumble which causes him to blush a bit.

"Huh. Sorry. I seemed to have forgotten to eat today. At least I'll be warm, eh?'

You also notice a slightly tarnished shortsword hanging from his belt.

A tall imposing half-orc stalks into the room and gives it a once-over before settling down in the first chair she comes to. Even though she is wrapped up in a cloak that has clearly seen better days and her boots speak of long wear, the greataxe she carries across her back is spotless and razor sharp.

"Kuikka, paladin of Erastil, at your service. I did not think we would need the warm clothes yet, but I have them in my bag. I also have this, which I hope someone can use on me," she says, brandishing a tightly rolled up scroll. (endure elements)

"Oh, hey. I I could probably read that for you if no one else could. I mean, it might take me a couple of tries but I could do it."

The double I in the first sentence was an accidental, but I decided to leave it. Character building itself.

She looks him up and down and blinks slowly. "If no one else can, that would be acceptable."

”I bet I can help with that scroll. I tend to be pretty good with scrolls and magical fiddly bits,” the slender male elf pipes up from the corner of the room. He had no armor and not much in the line of weapons. His large spell book was readily visible however.

He had the typical elven robes but did have some cold weather gear on underneath, clearly having read the missive.

"Oh good. A wizard."

You're pretty sure he means it.

Spending the 8g for a Cold Weather outfit.

A hulking brute of a human enters. Where Kuikka may be quite fit and muscular, and Nate trim and agile, Leon is just thick. Thick arms, legs, waist, neck, head, everything.

His armor jangles under a brown winter coat. A long handled scythe with a polished walnut stock is slung over his back along with a well filled pack. He drops down into a chair with the furniture obviously not happy about it.

”How yous alls doin? Lee-awn is heah. I gotta coat, blankut an fancy majick stick ifn it gets cold. Where we goin?”

Leon bought a wand of Endure Elements with Prestige two scenarios ago and hasn’t even needed it yet. He will probably share some uses if it isn’t too many.

A slender, bearded human man in robes absently wanders in behind the elf. He isn't really looking where he's going, though, and bumps into the wizard. "Oh! Excuse me...is this where...." His voice trails off as he mutters to himself, "...one hundred thirty-five steps from the eastern stair, two rights, one left, through the doorway remodeled late in Daynce's primarchy...got it! I'm supposed to meet Night Officer Floogwig, bring warm clothing!" He hefts his pack. "Remembered that, good. What else am I forgetting? Oh! Introductions! Sorry! I'm Salvio Perovsky, student, sage, and something of a spellcaster." He looks around at the rest of the party and smiles, his gaze suddenly intense in a way that suggests he's memorizing everyone's faces.

Striding in, This half elf looks around with keen eyes to ensure she's in the right place.

"Greeting." she begins with one hand over her right chest and a slight bow.
"I am Cara Bloodstone. I understand we have being gathered for a mission?"

Cornelius waves is arms over his head again to get everyone's attention. "We are all gathered now, so please follow me."
Cornelius leads you down the stairs through the main laboritory to a Vault door. He knocks twice and opens it. "Well go on in, the masters of Scrolls is ready for you."

A five-by-seven-foot tapestry hangs on the wall, surrounded by a series of platforms and ladders to allow a close view of any spot upon it. The room is otherwise empty, save for the Pathfinder Society’s Master of Spells, Aram Zey, who paces impatiently before the Hao Jin Tapestry, glancing up as the door creaks open.
“Thank you for your quick arrival, Pathfinders,” Zey says curtly, speaking without making eye contact, as though his mind is moving faster than his mouth. As he continues his focused pacing, he gestures toward the tapestry.
“As I’m sure you know, we recently came into possession of this wonder behind me—the Hao Jin Tapestry—by winning the Ruby Phoenix Tournament in distant Goka. Within this piece of fabric lies an entire world in which one of Golarion’s greatest magicians placed treasures and mysteries beyond imagining. And it was supposed to be ours alone. This promise of exclusive access was made a lie, however, when the Aspis Consortium found a way into Hao Jin’s astral vault that bypassed the tapestry altogether, and Aspis agents are now busy stealing whatever they can move, hoping we will act too slowly to protect our winnings. Fortunately, a recent mission into the tapestry managed to uncover a clue about a possible Aspis base within the tapestry. That is your destination. “The camp, interestingly, is within a great stone temple complex uprooted from the Vudran jungle many centuries ago by the sorceress herself. Since her disappearance, that part of the tapestry has been encased in a massive glacier. This temple—dedicated to a Vudran monkey-god, we believe— could prove enlightening on its own, notwithstanding the Aspis presence there. It’s a grim thought imagining what the Consortium has done to the place, but apparently more than three-quarters of it is still protected by the glacier, so we can still salvage a great deal. “Vanaras—the simian humanoids responsible for constructing this temple—are great builders, and this temple is representative of the huge complexes that once graced the Vimada Forest before their wars with men and the rise of Khiben-Sald. It’s a representation of the cosmos, really, a series of nested squares with symbolic shrine-mountains all directed toward great Bahmenu, the mountain birthplace of the god Ragdya and, the vanaras believe, the center of the universe. This symmetry may serve you well, since it will help you predict the layout and functions of the temple as you make your way around it. Every corner of the temple will be fitted with a small shrine, all facing the symbolic mountain.”
“Even an abandoned temple is a holy place to the vanaras, as it is to most of us Vudrani as well, and we hope you respect that fact. If you can save the sanctuary from the insolence of the gods-damned Aspis, it may draw the mirthful and enlightened eye of Ragdya himself upon our Society.”

The master of scrolls pauses and looks intently at the group, ”What are your questions?”

"So There's an Aspis team there and do you want us to deal with them if they crop up? Also You said some Simian lives in this place. Anything else lives there?" Cara asks.
Blunt and not exactly in a very subtle tone about it.

It's clear that if she sees Aspis, she'll very likely deal with them.

Kuikka scratches her chin, confused. "How did a jungle temple end up entombed in a glacier? And who is this Hao Jin person anyway?"

"Oh! Do you have any recommendations for histories of Khiben-Said? No, wait, that's not important for the mission. Um, Cara already asked about other beings living there...oh! When we enter the Tapestry, is there any disorientation associated with the transition, and have any Society teams reported being attacked on arrival?"

Aram Zey seems slightly annoyed at the questions, although for him, annoyed is a default emotion.
"Hao Jin was a powerful Tian wizard who created a demiplane to collect whole areas of Golarion and preserve them. The tapestry is the key to accessing the locations within the plane. However Hao Jin disappeared about 400 years ago. After her disappearance areas within the demiplane changed. Areas that were weather controlled randomly shifted. That being said, we know the Aspis Agents have a camp in the temple. But for other inhabitance, is anything else living there? “Possibly, though the conditions have changed significantly since Hao Jin’s time. The wildlife in that part of the tapestry probably matched the jungle setting from which the temple was taken, and the advent of an ice age has no doubt killed or driven away the original inhabitants. There’s no telling, however, what has cropped up since then.”

Aram continues to pace and talk, "Attacks? We know it is possible with the camp near, but we have not had agents attacked near here. The camp is hopefully unaware of our knowledge of them." "Any more questions?"

Leon’s brain finally catches up and asks the important question, ”Godda killem? Da Aspus?”

Nate furrows his brow as he tries to take this all in. Not all of it makes sense. The most magical thing he has ever seen is the mating season of the wide mouth bull frogs in Green Bottom. You could feel the vibrations of their calls. Anyway...

"Cosmos. So the temple mimics the stars in the sky? Is there a map of the cosmos that would help up get around in the temple?"

"That's a good point, Leon. Do you want us to kill everyone or capture? Capture might give us some information on how they got there in the first place."

"Killing is not required. Though the agents we have encountered to this point in the tapestry are very motivated, and have not surrendered. They have fought to the death or escaped. We don't know if this is because they have to depend on good standing to return home. To be honest we don't know exactly how these agents are getting into the demiplane or how they are leaving."
"Hopefully documents you recover from this base will answer some of these questions." "Or at least give us clues."
Captured agents pose a problem too. We have no way to get them out of the demiplane. The blue balls that follow you everywhere you will go are only for you. They can't be used to bring others out." "But by all means if you can question an agent, especially one of the higher ranking ones, we would also benefit greatly from anything they tell us. Their testimony could be of great value and help us piece together what is happening in other locations."
Aram continues, "Maps probably won't help as the references are Vanaras based lore. The symmetry aspect is more useful. Plus only a small portion of the temple is accessable, the majority is still encased in ice."

The pacing continues, but Aram now pulls out a scroll and quill. He writes for a bit. Then hands each person a strip of paper with a word on it. "Just touch the tapestry here and say the word on the paper." "This will transport you to just outside the temple."

"Any more questions?" Aram seems to be heading towards the door.

The elf couldn’t stop staring at the tapestry. He’d heard plenty about it, but to be in the room with it, and being assigned a mission to enter it was simply beyond comprehension. He stayed silent as it appeared the salient information had been given.

"Just say the word and we're going in?" she eyes the paper doubtfully.

"Ok." she exhales.
"Shall we?" she asks her fellow pathfinders.

Salvio starts to nod excitedly, then stops. "Oh! I almost forgot!" He shrugs out of his pack, pulls out some new-looking cold weather gear, and puts it on. "All right, n-oh, wait!" He ties his pack shut and hitches it over one shoulder. "Ready!"

Nate frowns at his paper and frowns, but falls into line and is ready to go.

The big man steps up to the tapestry, ”Ahl go fahst.”

He has quite a bit of trouble pronouncing whatever word is on the paper, but eventually does so.

Before entering the Tapestry, the young sage casts a cantrip (detect magic) and focuses his attention on what happens during the process.

Once everyone ready, one by one the members of your group touch the tapestry and say the word on the paper. Instantaniously, each of you is transported to a wind swept, mountain road with a view looking at a mostly buried temple. Ice flows covering all but a quarter of the shine. The air temperature just above freezing.

Symmetrical and colossal, the brownish-red stones of the Temple of Ragdya emerge from the glacier, hinting broadly at the scope and immensity of the vanaran complex. Sinuous nymphs, mighty tigers, and trumpeting elephants—frozen in ruddy stone—encrust the temple’s outer friezes. Packed snow and ice clad depictions of vanaras in jungle scenes, creating an odd dissonance between the climate illustrated in the carvings and the frigid conditions of the temple. The wind howls, and muted voices drift from within the temple. Even more eerily, a strange hooting and shrieking issues from the temple’s cornices and spires, as if by some magical or artificial means the calls of thousands of monkeys echo the sound of the arctic storm. A wide doorway stands unobstructed, providing ingress to the columned courtyard within.

The 30' high walls look to have lots of foot and hand holds for climbing them or your group could just enter through the open doors. The open doors lead to a 20 by 25 foot porch-like area.

All that have cold weather clothes do not have to worry about penalties, I believe everyone has them. Please let me know if you do not have them. Also I will post a map link soon. Please once I do so, create your token and place yourself just inside the central, outer 20' X 25' porch area on the left side of the map.

Swathed in her fur coats, the elven warrior looks around.

"Empty place isn't it."

Dont have permissions for the slides. Do we each need to request it?

Leon shrugs and waits to see if anyone needs to prepare anything before heading in.

I am a phone poster so I have a terrible time with tokens and other fiddly bits. Could I get someone to copy my token and paste it over there? Many thanks.

Once we can edit the map, I'll put your token on if no one else has.

"It might just be me, but I never like going through the front door of a place that I'm not welcomed. If someone gives me a rope and grapple, I'll climb a wall and drop a line.". Nate scans the area for an inconspicuous place to climb.

I have access to the map now (thanks) but can’t edit it yet. I’d also suggest any buffs be cast now, if there are any to be cast.

Leon pulls out a rope with pre-attached grappling hook and hands it over, ”Check er out, hollah if trubbah.”

Map should be accessible now. My apologies.

Nate takes a look at the walls as he considers the climb. He thinks for the most of it, the recessed carvings seem to make the climb more manageable, but looking at the top 10', ice and sleet will make that portion much more difficult.

The wall doors still stand invitingly open...

Just a management note, the 20X25' area is just inside the temple doors. I am assuming you all enter the temple wall some how. It is still yet to be seen how though.

After looking over the wall, Nate becomes uncomfortable.

"Oh. Nevermind. I don't think that I can climb that wall."

Nate hands the rope back over sheepishly.

Forgot I didn't put ranks in climb, and he's not terribly strong.

The howling wind might or might not cover the sound of a hook attaching to the wall. The sound of the hook clanging around if it misses might be a more significant issue for letting folks know there are new people about.

The stairs lead up to the open double doors allowing admittance into the temple proper. The grappling hook option is still available.

What do you do?

I still can’t edit the slides. All I can do is select stuff and copy it, which I think means it is read only.

”Frunt doah den? Any traps?”

He looks the entrance over for dangers and traps.

Amazing Perception!: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (17) - 1 = 16

Nate slaps himself on the forehead.

"Wait, I can throw the grapple up there then climb up the rope. I don't have to climb the wall and then lower the rope."

grapple: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

assuming that catches. Taking 10 am option? If not...

climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (13) - 1 = 12
climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14
climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (19) - 1 = 18
climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (11) - 1 = 10
climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (5) - 1 = 4
climb: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (15) - 1 = 14

Malon decides that this would be a great time for his mage armor spell which will last for two hours.

Leon starts for the stairs and the open doors. Nate, then stops him and attempts the throw of the grappling hook to the south side of the double doors as the ice is less there. He hooks the top of the wall. 12 seconds later he is 20' up. However, there he slips on loose ice with an audible yelp and clatter of ice hitting the wall all the way down. He recovers and make it 5 more feet up. climb check for last 5': 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19
He recovers and continues to the top of the wall.

What do you all want to do? Malon mumbles a protection spell and surrrounds himself with blue energy that fades to invisible.

Seeing the blocked bridge, and the stairs leading up from the frozen moat, Nate decides that is the way to go. He tries to motion for the rest to either follow him up the wall or go around to the entrance to this spot of the wall on the other side.

Kuikka grabs the greataxe off her back, holding it ready in case anything jumps out at them. "I don't think I'm going to get up that rope. I'd rather keep my feet on the ground," she says softly before moving up the stairs.

Stealth, incl. ACP: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1
Perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

Salvio draws a wand and taps himself with it, invoking a field of energy similar to what Malon conjured up.

Using wand of mage armor; 49 charges remaining.

"Get yourself ready, I'll hoist you up as needed. Makes no sense for all us to be over the wall and you staying behind by yourself." Cara states, sounding close to a rebuke as impatient as she in, as she makes for the wall herself.

Climb vs DC 5 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (7) + 0 = 7
Scrambling up the wall in a not so agile way, she joins the ones who already made it up.

Kuikka moves up the stairs, enters the doors and on to the porch area but though trying to be quiet her armor squeaks as she moves.
GM roll: 3d20 ⇒ (1, 19, 7) = 27

Salvio protects himself with magic, another blue aura that fades to invisible.

Cara moves to the rope and advances up 7.5 feet. I need 3 more climb checks for the remaining 22.5 feet. If your movement is 40', I only need 2 more and you are ten feet up.

Nate waits at the wall top as the rope is used by his companions currently Cara to climb the outer wall. The iced over wall top on the inside looks just as bad as the outer side.

perc Nate: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15 Nate still does not see anything stirring in the temple.

What would Leon, Salvio, and Malon like to do to enter the outer wall, climb or walk in?

Kuikka looks around. perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 6 She does not see anything suspicious.

Leon heads in the open gate.

Leon joins Kuikka on the porch. perception: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (4) - 1 = 3 Leon does not see anything or any body around either.

Leon, you see the view Kuikka sees. Please access the spoiler above.

Malon and Salvio, please choose a path into the temple.

The elf knew climbing wasn’t his preferred option, so he headed into the doors onto the porch with the others.

Rubbernecking at the temple architecture, Salvio follows the elf in. He comments to the other wizard, "Hope you don't mind, but I looked you up in the Society files when I saw there was another wizard assigned to the team. I prepared a couple of spells outside your field of study, just in case. I also skipped preparing summoning spells, because I figured you had those covered."