[OPVI] PF2e B12 - Somewhere Below (P7) (Inactive)

Game Master UncleFroggy

"Wha? Who's talking? Someone's trapped under all that? Hang on, let me help!" Sam rushes to help her newfound friends in clearing the chests.

You all work together to clear the chests from the table. A moment later the table stretches and shakes itself like a wet dog. Then it starts folding in on itself and then puffing itself out randomly until a new shape forms - that of a large, gaudy treasure chest with an enormous, shiny silver chain and padlock.

"Greetings, I'm Biglock! Thanks for the assist! Those chests were piled so high on me that I thought that I'd never get out." The chest hops forward. "Anyway, we have lots to talk about, and I'm sure you have questions for me."

Bee watches cautiously as the table comes alive and turns into a treasure chest. "So... it's like the chair, but I don't need to stab it."

"I guess the chair wasn't so bad of a ... whatever it was, either. Just doing a job and a favor for a friend."

Bee relaxes a bit. "OK, Biglock. If you know anything, I'd love to hear it. My big question at the moment is, 'why are we constantly getting attacked by strange shadow things?'"

Ahhhhhh ..... it's a Mimic Konbu exclaims as they skitter back into the pile of crates. An eyeball then peers out from under a box.

The halfling smiles to Biglock.

How long have you been here? Did you arrive with the rest of the treasures? How can we move away from here?

So there are already some questions to answer for the mimic.

"Fascinating."

Ashun analyzes carefully the scene, but then gets out of his curiousity stupor when Konbu runs back and the others start asking questions
"Indeed good questions, you two."

The changeling turns to Konbu and nods with a beckon to them, and tells them a bit quieter as to not disturb the talking between the chest and the others
"It is alright Konbu, they seem friendly. Come."

Sam jumps back, startled, "EEEP! A mimic?! Wh-what are you doing here? Shouldn't you ummm... be in dungeons and stuff?"

Biglock looks piteously at Samantha. "I dunno, this vault looks pretty dungeon-y to me. I mean, we're underground, and there's tons of loot and all of those shadowy minions of Aslynn..."

Mr. Glovely thumps Biglock impatiently.

"Hey! Hands off! Let me get to the questions in my own way!" Biglock grins. "Yeah, I'm not just a mimic, I'm one of the best mimics around! That means I can turn into all kinds of things. Tables, chairs, you name it! And this is Mr. Glovely. He… you know, I'm not sure. He showed up one day and lent me a hand. Or two! Ha! We have what you might call a mutually beneficial arrangement. I do the talking, and Mr. Glovely does everything else.”

Mr. Glovely's disembodied blue hands wave at the group, and offer a thumbs up.

The curious can find images of Biglock and Mr. Glovely on the first page of this slideshow.

"You wanted to know how I got here, short guy?" Biglock hops to face Nob. “Now that's a long story. To be honest, I've been in quite a few of the Society's vaults over the years. I'm good at going unnoticed. Last time I got noticed, it was by that night hag, Aslynn. She saw my potential, and… well, she owns a significant share of my soul. I can barely even remember how I lost it to her in the first place. A bad bet? A worse debt? Can't rightly say, as I don't rightly know. Well, for years now, I've had to do as she asks. Mostly spying, a bit of stealing. But when I wised up to some of her plans, I made a break for it. She's been looking for me ever since. I think she fed information to those Onyx Alliance rascals. They captured me, so when the Society got hold of their treasures, I came with!”

Then Biglock hops to face Bee. "So you were asking about why Aslynn's minions are constantly attacking you?" Biglock looks at Mr. Glovely. "Show the things you found while they were distracting Aslynn."

Mr. Glovely snaps his fingers, and a long dagger appears in his hand.

Biglock laughs appreciatively. "Heh! Mr. Glovely's a little 'sleight-of-hand' if you know what I mean!"

The gloves make a rude gesture at the chest.

Still chuckling, Biglock continues. “This dagger here looks like it's from the Jistka Imperium. Might be a powerful magic weapon, but I'm not sure how to unlock its potential!”

With a flourish, Mr. Glovely then snaps his fingers again and presents a crystal key to Ashun. and Biglock says, “I think Aslynn was looking for this, too. I don't recognize the crystal it's made of, and I don't think it's from this world at all! Anyway, I think that Aslynn wants these both bad. Real bad, and you shouldn't let her have them.”

Biglock pauses. "Any other questions?"

"Ummm... how do we get out of here to get help? Rain couldn't get out..."

Obviously very curious about the two items
"These look quite important. Might I give them a closer look?"

Read Aura + Recall Knowledge? Crafting?

"So here's the thing,"Biglock says. "I don't think we're getting out of here to get help. I think we -- and by 'we' I mean 'you' since Mr. Glovely and I cannot act against her directly -- need to solve this by ourselves. We're not gonna be able to escape until we tackle the source of Aslynn's interference."

Biglock turns to the disembodied hands. "Mr. Glovely, show them that thing you found.” Mr. Glovely snaps his fingers and produces a small gold spoon. “No, not that! The other thing!”

Mr. Glovely mimes a dope slap on himself. Then he snaps his fingers again and shows you a jagged shard of purple glass with constellations like those visible in the ooze of Aslynn's cauldron.

Biglock nods. “That's the one! I think it's a shard of Aslynn's mind. It's projecting all those creatures into this place. She's probably looking for it. I think you should destroy it, but first, you'll want to prepare for a fight. A piece of a night hag's mind isn't bound to go out without a struggle.”

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

Meanwhile, Ashun studies the Calamitous Dagger and the Crystal Key, and realizes that these are ancient magical artifacts. The sheer mystical power coming off these two items is near overwhelming.

They are significant magic items with multiple functions and powers that are beyond your current ability to access. For the purpose of the remainder of the scenario, the dagger functions as a +1 striking dagger, while someone with the key on their person gains a +2 item bonus to Will saving throws due to a strange alien voice drowning out other intrusions on their mind.

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

"Before you battle Aslynn," Biglock says, "it might be a good idea to do one more search of the area and see if you can find any more good stuff you can use to fight her off!"

Mr. Glovely does a mock salute, and starts digging the piles of loot. Where are the rest of you searching?

"Wonderful. Well, at least it is a plan. OK. If we are going to have to fight more shadow things, I'll see if I can find some more good weapons."

"Don't break the glass thingy until we all get back though, yeah?"

Bee heads over to the weapon pile and checks out some more of the weapons.

Lore (gladiatorial): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

"Fascinating..."
The half-hag seems quite impressed with the hag artifacts

"So, apparently this dagger can easily puncture and cause heavy damage. And the key helps its holder maintain a still mind if you ignore the extra voice"
He extends both of them to the rest of the party
"Anyone interested?"

And just before he leaves, he also grabs a demon mask from his backpack to show off to the others
"Ah, right. I also found this thing, might be useful to try to scare off intruders.", he shrugs.

He'll give the dagger, the key and the mask to whoever wants/needs it.
Either way, Ashun is once again back to the poisons he didn't have much time to study and analyze earlier.

Medicine: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
Medicine Hero Point: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
does alchemical lore work? if so, it's +8

Sam heads to one of the assorted shelves and has a look. She’s heard of story scrolls being tossed into the Vault and would love to read some. She remembers stories of Bitisururu Blue and her adventures with Bamidele the Dinosaur as her favorite.

Perception, 3b: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Bee finds another +1 weapon (name the one you want, so long as it is common.)

Ashun finds a moderate healing potion.

Sam opens up her favorite story and a wooden stick clatters to the floor. She finds a wand of Heal.

“Ummm Bee? I heard that you know some stories of Bitisururu Blue and her Dinosaur? I read about her while at the academy. I’ve read some but I heard a new book came out?”

Sam giggles a bit shyly, “In a way, it’s why I decided to drop out of the academy. She inspired me to try to become a Pathfinder Adventurer. Her stories are quite exciting.”

I dropped out myself as well. reacts the halfling. But it was simply because I thought I had grown enough to be able to find my way. The nature will help me.

Then he tries to find out an interesting scroll.

Arcana: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Konbu is coaxed out from in the upside down box and goes looking for any more useful scrolls.
arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

Sam's eyes widen in wonder at Nob's admission. "B-b-but how did you know that you felt that you'd grown enough?"

Sam looks at the wand she's holding. "Ummm. Can anyone use this? I can't cast this spell. I dropped out before I learned any proper spellcasting..."

“Ummm Bee? I heard that you know some stories of Bitisururu Blue and her Dinosaur? I read about her while at the academy. I’ve read some but I heard a new book came out?”

Sam giggles a bit shyly, “In a way, it’s why I decided to drop out of the academy. She inspired me to try to become a Pathfinder Adventurer. Her stories are quite exciting.”

"I have heard of them. I don't think I have read more than a couple. Definitely not all of them." Bee heads back towards the central treasure pile with a +1 Rapier and holds it out to Sam. "I found this. Want it? Not to trade for the wand though. I can't cast spells either."

Sam's eyes go wide as Bee hands her a magical rapier. "That's beautiful." she says in wonder. "Really? I can use it? But I pretty much use spells most of the time." She takes the rapier and replaces the one in her scabbard.

She tucks her old sword into one of the shelves for safekeeping.

"Do you know of any new stories from Bitisururu Blue, though? The ones I've read are pretty old. Sometimes I imagine that I'm on one of her adventures... like the time she saved a dinosaur baby from this furry monster, I think Glorzia was the name of the beast. Ooooh. I SO wanted to be there and stab it too!"

She giggles again, "I spent more time reading of her adventures than studying. Made my teachers sooo mad."

The halfling replies to Sam: Euh it was simply when I wanted more to feel the nature and to discover new things by myself than to learn lessons and listen to the teacher.

Nob finds more of those dinosaur stories that Sam has been reading. Konbu finds a scroll of Remove Fear.

Then Mr. Glovely taps both on the shoulder, handing each of them some paperwork and a pen to sign it with.

Biglock hops up to the rest of you. "Mr. Glovely wants to make sure you fill out your insurance paperwork before you tangle with Aslynn!"

Meanwhile, in another part of the vaults, Bitty is looking for her dinosaur.

"Egg! Egg! We're completely missing the inventory! Bamidele, come here now!"

Not very attentive to the administrative tasks the witch looks at Mr. Glovely, takes the pen and puts his signature on the paperwork. Then he asks: Oh, do you think that Aslynn will come here really?

Biglock nods. "Yeah, I do. Now Konbu, if you could sign..." Then a chill wind blows through the vaults, and the creepy-voiced crystal shard flies out of Ashun's hands towards the pile of treasures. The lights of the vault start flickering on and off in a strobe effect.

Biglock shouts, “It's too late! She's here! This is bad!”

The shard, hovering near the amassed treasures, twists and warps, taking on the familiar form of Aslynn and her cauldron.

“Your plan to kill me? So brave, so bold.
And yet, it matters not. Behold!”

She plunges an oozing claw into the pile and brandishes a jeweled chalice.

“Boundless wonder called to me.
And I respond with nightmares three!
Three children of my last thirteen
shall join me in an endless dream.
A realm where you shall vex me not
—a realm where you shall be forgot!
Destroy me here, but at what cost?
You fight in vain, for all is lost!”

Cackling with glee, Aslynn watches as the chalice brims with swirling magical liquid. She inhales deeply, then empties the chalice into her cauldron. A fuming creature boils forth, and Aslynn commands,

“Kill the Pathfinders! And should survive they dare,
Let this be the first of boundless nightmares!”

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

Sam Seed
White Skunk
Ashun
Nob
Shard of Aslynn
Blue Skunk
Purple Skunk
Corabee
Konbu

As Ashun walks back to the center of the library after organizing the poisons, he feels a chill in his spine and the crystal flying
"Oh that is just great..."
He runs to gets closer to the others
"I just wanted a peaceful evening with books and scrolls!"

just a bit of rp, no actions taken

Startled at seeing the skunks appear, Sam draws her new sword with a steely hiss. "Bamidele! Attack!" she calls. She then realizes what she just did and blushes furiously, hoping nobody heard her and retaining enough awareness to launch a goblet at the white skunk.

TKP; Bludgeoning: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 201d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Sneak: 1d6 ⇒ 2

◆ Interact to draw
◆◆ TKP vs White

"Yipe!" The white skunk gets buried under Sam's rock, and dies instantly!

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

Sam Seed
White Skunk (DEAD)
Ashun
Nob
Shard of Aslynn
Blue Skunk
Purple Skunk
Corabee
Konbu

Wow how do you do this? I mean to appear and disappear? It’s very interesting.

Nevertheless the halfling casts a spell on Aslynn and the blue one.

Scatter scree, wisp familiar: 1d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 4 + 1 = 9

Reflex DC 17

Then he moves away.

5 squares to the south. I can’t move my token. I’m on the phone

done

Raising his shield against the skunks, Ashun sends a mental jolt of bolstering courage to Sam, while focusing his attention on the hag, trying to discover or remember any weaknesses.

◈ Raise Shield
◈ Stoke the Heart on Samantha
◈ Recall Knowledge? for the Shard of Aslynn (hp if needed)

Ashun does not recall much about this shard of Aslynn except he knows it is a much weaker reflection of the real hag. Still, it can cast spells and do other haggish things. Ashun casts stoke the heart on Samantha to up Samantha's damage and then casts a protective shield on himself.

Zot! Nob casts electric arc on the shard of Aslynn and the Blue Skunk then moves away.

The little blue skunk squeaks, "Yipe!"

Reflex Blue Skunk: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Reflex Aslynn vs magic: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 1 = 8

Aslynn shrieks as she takes the full brunt of the electric arc spell, but the Blue Skunk evades some of it.

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

Aslynn did not like that electric arc.

"Ha! You think that's shocking?
Listen closely, grown ups are talking!
Your little heart will clench for days
And slow beneath my doom-filled gaze!"

Aslynn turns her gaze upon Nob, who feels an impending sense of Doom.

Aslynn she gestures to her skunky minions.

"Spray them, bite them, slay them!
Let all be murder and stinky mayhem!"

The blue skunk moves and sprays Bee. The purple skunk moves and sprays Konbu. It's stinky mayhem indeed!

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

Sam Seed (stoke the heart)
White Skunk (DEAD)
Ashun (shield)
Nob (DC 17 Will Save needed)
Shard of Aslynn (-18)
Blue Skunk (-4)
Purple Skunk
Corabee (DC 15 Fortitude needed)
Konbu (DC 15 Fortitude needed)

Everyone is up!

Ew. Get a breath mint.
fort: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Konbu moves away, supercharges their wand and fires cold at Purple.
cold: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6 DC 18 ref for half.

Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

A bit intimidated at first the halfling casts another spell towards the blue skunk.

Ray of frost, frightened:1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (11) + 7 - 1 = 17

Damage:1d4 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Fortitude: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

"I don't think a breath mint would cover this." Bee coughs a bit, but holds it together. For the most part at least. He pulls his sword and simply chops distractedly at the skunk.

+1 Short Sword Attack: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 8 + 1 = 24
+1 Short Sword Attack, MAP1: 1d20 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 8 + 1 - 4 = 23

Striking Short Sword Damage (s): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5) + 1 = 12
Striking Short Sword Damage (s): 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 3) + 1 = 9

Konbu becomes truly stinky.

Purple Reflex Save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

The purple skunk takes all of the cold damage. "Yipe!"

Nob kills the Blue skunk with a ray of frost. "Yi--" THUD.

Seeing the blue skunk go down, Bee redirects his attacks to Aslynnn. Although slightly sickened, he kills her DEAD.

★ ---- ★ ---- ★ ---- ★

As the remaining skunk has one hit point left, it runs away. Y'all can take parting shots at it if you like.

COMBAT OVER!

As you defeat the last of the enemies, Zarta Dralneen rushes into the vault along with Society leaders Ambrus Valsin, Eando Kline, Eliza Petulengro, Fola Barun, and Calisro Benarry. They look ready to fight, and they're quite impressed by your handling of the situation.

"Magical alarms that ran elsewhere in the complex tell us that Aslynn -- or a part of her, anyway, was here," Zarta says. "Are you alright? Can we get your reports on what happened?" Then she holds her nose. "Can someone get some soap for the leshy and the gnome? Please?"

Meanwhile, Bitty completely obliviously comes up from the lower vaults, carrying Egg. "Hey everyone, I found Egg. What can I do to help your inventory?"

As you defeat the last of the enemies, Zarta Dralneen rushes into the vault along with Society leaders Ambrus Valsin, Eando Kline, Eliza Petulengro, Fola Barun, and Calisro Benarry. They look ready to fight, and they're quite impressed by your handling of the situation.

"Magical alarms that ran elsewhere in the complex tell us that Aslynn -- or a part of her, anyway, was here," Zarta says. "Are you alright? Can we get your reports on what happened?" Then she holds her nose. "Can someone get some soap for the leshy and the gnome? Please?"

"Some soap would be great. Does this also mean that you will take over the killing of strange shadow things that keep popping up in here?"

Bee holds up the sword that he found. "I suppose you aren't going to let me just keep this, are you? Can I at least keep this one?" He pulls the glittery practice sword from his belt and holds it out.

"Oh, hey Bitty. We just dealt with the illusion of a hag, you ended up missing the fun." he says with a mix of jest and sarcasm, but ends with a smile, "Happy you found Egg though."

He turns to the leaders and starts explaining the situation.
"While helping with the to-do list, sorting and analyzing everything, First, physical manifestations of nightmares appeared, but with everyone, it was an easy fight."
The changeling points with his palm open to the rest of the party, as if proudly presenting his friends as heroes.
"Then, after working for a bit, Aslynn showed up searching for the sibling of her knife and a key that apparently holds secrets and fears something, she turned into an effervescing concotion into her cauldron and started spilling rats. After we dealt with the rats and went back to organizing, she showed up again, this time from the treasure pile over there after the mind crystal flew out from my hand."
Ashun produces a copy of the crystal using prestidigitation.
"But again, apparently she was just an illusion. So luckily we ended up mostly all right.", he gives a bow to the leaders.
"Of course, I left some details for the sake of brevity, since I suppose details of our work, such as scrolls colours and poison tastes are not needed."

The very dapper Ambrus Valsin grabs some soap from his pack, and from some distance away, tosses it and a canteen filled with water to Bee and Konbu. "Go wash up. Please."

Zarta nods as she listens to the details of Ashun's report. Then she turns the chalice over multiple times, trying to see if she can get any of the magic liquid to appear. When everyone has finally gathered for the debrief, she says, “Well, I'm still not sure what this is, but all your reports are consistent. It's obviously a central piece of Aslynn's plan. In a way, it's a good thing that shard of her mind infiltrated our vaults, as it's allowed us to understand a few things we might have otherwise missed! I wish we could've learned about this without putting your lives in danger, and for that, I apologize. I hope you're ready for more adventures. We've just scratched the surface of the vault's contents, and we need to act fast to learn more about some of these items. One thing is certain: we can't leave everything here and wait around for Aslynn to strike again.”

The faction leaders quickly fall into a heated discussion over the best approach to the items—it's clear that they don't see eye to eye, but they all agree that they'll need to work together for the sake of the Society's future!

While the Society's leaders argue, Biglock gives you a smug grin. “Nice work. Hey—Zarta is pretty great. She says Mr. Glovely and I don't have to stick around this dusty vault! Don't worry, though. We'll be in touch. I've got a few schemes in mind. When I'm done making arrangements, Mr. Glovely will come calling!”

Gomen nasai Zarta-sama ... and Ambrus-sama Konbu says Konbu-san will comply

One intense scrubbing later ....

As long as you are not in the mood for salad, Biglock-san.

"Indeed the items can be useful. But while I do not want to influence the opinions of others, I myself have no interest in them. Maybe perhaps the wand our dear Samantha found, but I would gladly accept a few scrolls to add to my familiar repertoire instead."
Trying to be as polite as possible, Ashun gives his thoughts to the leaders.

mlems hungrily

You have the option of buying all the interesting items found from this chronicle. It is quite the treasure trove.

That was quick

Sam shyly approaches Zarta. "Umm Grand Archivist, I was told you know lots about stories. Would you happen to know anywhere I can get books on the Adventures of Bitisururu Blue?"

Turning to the blue gnome that just came up, Sam giggles "Ummm, you missed all the excitement. This would have been a great adventure for Bitisururu Blue. She was my hero when I was at the academy. I don't think we were properly introduced. I'm Sam, by the way."

You have the option of buying all the interesting items found from this chronicle. It is quite the treasure trove.

I think you're limited to 3 at a discounted price

Bitty stops in her tracks, tail snapping in surprise. "A great adventure for whom? It almost sounded like you said, 'Bitisururu Blue.'"

Sam stops short. "Yes. Bitisururu Blue. I read most of her stories at the academy. My teachers were sooo mad at me because all I could remember were her adventures. Like the time she helped that baby dinosaur. I sooo wanted to be there to stab Glorzia too!" Sam giggles shyly before continuing, "My parents wanted to be a mage like them. But when I read Bitisururu's adventures, I thought I'd rather be an adventurer like her! Do you know where I can get her stories?"

Obi-Wan's "Of course I know […]" Quote incoming