| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"Roaaar?!"
◈ Stride
◈
Poor Egg feels that his thunder has been stolen...
|
Bitty charges into the flank set up by Bee and pokes Blue. Egg rushes in and tries to help but he doesn't quite get his jaws around the creature.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
Konbu - AC 17, 35/35
Bitty Blue - AC 19, 26/26 (+2 Damage); Egg AC 17, 14/14
**Galvaka Cail - AC 18, 27/27 (+2 Damage)
**Branch Barker - AC 17 (18 w/shield), 20/20
**Corabee - AC 19 (21 Dueling Parry), 25/30 (AC 21; AC 22 vs White)
Thull Ashun - AC 15, 20/20
White
Blue (-10)
|
Galvaka slams her magically strengthened dogslicer into Yellow. Yellow winces and almost falls but not quite.
"Oooh. Nice. Very fancy."
White moves and takes advantage of the flank with Yellow. He pulls out a dagger and attempts to add a hole into Bee.
"Hah, missed," Bee taunts.
Blue steps up and doesn't bother with pulling out a dagger. He just tries to punch Bee in the face instead.
Fist vs Bee AC 21: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Bee watches with amusement at the horribly aimed swing. "Come on. Is that seriously the best you can..."
Bee bobs and weaves like a prize fighter but fails to see Blue's second strike which catches him at the side of the head.
"Oww. OK. That was cheap. Two can do sneaky though."
Bee makes a quick jab at blue's face as Bitty comes around to help. Using the distraction, Bee takes a swing at the foe's knees. He takes a moment to watch his enemy's movements to not drop his own guard though. Getting punched is bad enough, but the other one is holding a knife, after all.
|
|
Branch sends sparks at both slayers. They both avoid the worst of the damage but Blue gets doused by the Holy water and starts to smoke. White also takes some splash damage from the water.
Bee fakes a kick at Blue's knees. Blue looks down only to allow Bee's sword to find his eye and sends him back to the Boneyard.
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 2
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
Konbu - AC 17, 35/35
Bitty Blue - AC 19, 26/26 (+2 Damage); Egg AC 17, 14/14
**Galvaka Cail - AC 18, 27/27 (+2 Damage)
Branch Barker - AC 17 (18 w/shield), 20/20
Corabee - AC 19 (21 Dueling Parry), 25/30 (AC 21; AC 22 vs White)
Thull Ashun - AC 15, 20/20
White (-4)
|
|
Galvaka looks and gives a cheer at the declaration and demonstration of Dinosaur energy. "I didn't even realize there was dinosaur energy! I want-"
Focusing her attention on the battle Galvaka nods with the conclusion, "I can maybe help convince them."
With a slice she cuts through the air and reappears right next to them with a series of rapid cuts.
|
|
Galvaka suddenly pops into being beside Bee and slashes at White thrice, only hitting with the second slash.
White stubbornly tries to poke Bee...
for
for
for
...but Bee is equally stubborn in dodging the knife...
------------------
COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 3
Tactical Map
------------------
Those with ** may go
**Konbu - AC 17, 35/35
**Bitty Blue - AC 19, 26/26 (+2 Damage); Egg AC 17, 14/14
**Galvaka Cail - AC 18, 27/27 (+2 Damage)
**Branch Barker - AC 17 (18 w/shield), 20/20
**Corabee - AC 19 (21 Dueling Parry), 25/30 (AC 21; AC 22 vs White)
**Thull Ashun - AC 15, 20/20
White (-12)
|
|
Dagger vs Bee AC 22, MAP, Agile: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Bee flinches as one of the knife swings nearly connects. But he also feels his sword almost guiding his hand as he parries the attack. "Thanks, Ashun" he calls out.
He looks at the strange creature. "You aren't nearly as convincing though." Bee does a quick dodge and spin and moves around to the other side opposite Galvaka, finishing the movement with a flourishing swing of his sword.
"Over here, big guy," he taunts, posing with his sword still held out to the side. "Let's see what you've still got."
|
|
"Thank you!" Galvaka responds to Bee. "But the Society has taught me it is even better to convince people with cooperation!"
"Of course. But if they aren't going to try talking, then neither will I."
Bee considers that for a second. "OK, I'm going to also keep talking. I just don't feel the need to limit myself like that."
|
|
"Of course. But if they aren't going to try talking, then neither will I."
Bee considers that for a second. "OK, I'm going to also keep talking. I just don't feel the need to limit myself like that."
"Oh! They like teaching the talking thing too. Very useful!" Swinging her knife she adds, "but I meant cooperating with you all to stop them!"
|
|
Bee dances into the flank set up by Galvaka and stabs the remaining slayer. He doesn't quite hit him but part of the shortsword's hilt nicks it. He also manages to fool White once more. Branch causes a water jet to spray from beneath White's feet and he doesn't quite get out of the way in time. Finally Galvaka removes the creature's head with one swipe of the dogslicer.
Moving forward, you enter a room that appears to have been the center of a battle royale...
Debris fills this area. The scars of a battle long past mar the walls, both from physical weapons and magical attacks.
DC 15 Society/PFS Lore
|
|
You move into a room with a very unpleasant smell.
The smell of rotting offal and blood fills this room. A spout of blood flows from the north wall into the pit below. The pit is half full, blood and offal making a viscous, stinking stew. A carving on the eastern wall depicts a giant figure raising a massive stone from the sea and an island with it. The carving also shows a reflection beneath that raised island of a shadowy land emerging as well, as if reflected in the sea, only the lack of the giant figure and the massive stone indicates this is more than a reflection being depicted.
DC 14 Arcana/Occultism or DC 8 Netherworld Lore
|
Konbu recoils from the smell in disgust. This is worse than being near the sewer outflows into Absalom Harbour.
But they do point out that the mural depicts the god Aroden raising the Starstone and the Isle of Kortos from beneath the sea.
They also point out the reflection as showing the creation of a place in the Netherworld: the birth of the Shadow Kortos that today holds the location of Shadow Absalom.
As well as mentioning that if Ambrus Valsun wants a rubbing of that he's going to have to come down here and do it himself.
|
After taking notes of the book and the wall writings, Ashun gags as he takes his first steps into the room and backs up a bit.
"Ugh... I do think we may need to find another way in. Or perhaps hold our breath and keep going."
But when Konbu mentions the mural, the witch doctor gets more curious than he should've.
"... Although I could try to cover my face with my clothing."
Hastily, Ashun takes out his healer's kit to puts a nice smelling salve on his upper lip and nose, covers half his face with his cape in a makeshift mask, takes a deep breath and goes in with ink and paper in hands.
He takes two steps in, slumps his shoulder and quickly turns around to dash out of the room to gag, borderline retching.
"No. Not worth it. I am sorry Ambrus, I do agree with Konbu-san on this one."
|
|
Bee watches curiously as Ashun comes staggering back. "Is it really that bad?" He grabs the rubbing kit and walks into the room himself.
"Well," he says while wrinkling his nose. "It is certainly a new experience." Barring any interruptions, Bee goes over to check the carving out and get the copy of the impression.
|
|
Halfway across the room, Bee pauses. "There is still magic here."
"Ashun, I think this is your department. Some occult or necromancy ritual happened here." He shakes his head trying to clear it of the oppressive magic. "And maybe stop the blood spouts. But that doesn't seem like something I can just stab. Stabbing things doesn't usually make them stop bleeding."
|
|
Sitting in the corridor to avoid the smell of the room, his curiosity flares up once again at the mention of magic.
"Fine, let me try again..."
Ashun proceeds to cover his face once more and walks deeper into the room.
And in a lightly muffled voice, "Oh, that is interesting. I would love to analyze this better, but I doubt this odor is going away anytime soon."
He then starts to mentally go through his notes, the same book he used to calm the ghosts from his first adventure as a pathfinder, but different chapters, while trying to decipher or at least understand part of the ritual.
|
|
Branch peeks in the room and quickly backs out. “Disgusting! I doubt it would help, but if you want water to wash some of that away…come to think of it that spell might make it worse!”
|
|
Summoning his courage and braving the smell, Ashun moves forward and consults his notes on how he dispersed the Dwarven ghosts half a lifetime ago. He finds the correct page and recites the incantations. The stench lessens considerably and you can now take a rubbing of the carvings on the wall at your leisure.
Moving into the next room, you see more signs of another battle fought long ago are in abundance: scorch marks cover walls made of uneven stone, slashes from blades and arrows scar the walls further in, preserved in this collapsed extraplanar demesne. The fighting here seems to have been much more intense than in the earlier chamber.
|
|
Konbu finds another diary page and files it away.
Following the corridor, you enter a much larger chamber, its north wall filed with an enormous carved stone mural, this time of a great battle against a draconic foe. Depicted within the mural, a great many faces stand behind a singular individual, weapons raised as a dragon attacks. The hands raising weapons behind the hero are skeletal in nature, and their faces skulls. Stairs descend to the west, a sturdy door made of a black metal of some sort stands to the south, and a slim corridor exits to the east.
You find that it's locked.
|
|
After giving it a quick read, Ashun queries the others
"Does... Trapping an immortal creature capable of casting really powerful spells, under some rocks, really works?"
Arching an eyebrow, confused, he continues, "I mean, are not there teleportation, super strength, regeneration spells, and et cetera?"
Up ahead, he stencils and draws whatever he can to take notes of the battle.
Moving forward, at the door, when he notices that it is locked, he draws a small key onto the air, plopping it into existance using Prestidigitation and tries it at the door,
breaking the key.
"Well... Anyone else want to try?", the changeling lightly chuckles to himself as he dissipates the broken key.
|
|
"Does... Trapping an immortal creature capable of casting really powerful spells, under some rocks, really works?"
Arching an eyebrow, confused, he continues, "I mean, are not there teleportation, super strength, regeneration spells, and etecetera?"
Bee shrugs a bit. "Anything works in stories. Maybe they are magic rocks."
"This place still gives me the creepies. I don't know who was fighting what around here, but it wasn't a sparring match." Bee checks out the next mural to see about getting a rubbing of that one too.
When Ashun breaks the improvised lockpick, Bee chuckles, "Yeah, that is about how good at lockpicking I am too."
|
|
“Does it work is often a different question than will desparate people try it. As to how effective it is, really depends on the opponent.”
Branch looks about the room as he continues to speak. “Someone who could turn into an earth elemental would not be worried about being trapped beneath rocks. Someone who dealt more with magic that fools the senses or affects the mind are much less likely to have a way to effectively deal with it.”
“Given what was written, I would guess the mage they were chasing was mortal — arrows and normal weaponry were effective. Beyond that, we can only speculate.”
|
|
Galvaka nods to Bee's statement confirming, "could be magic rocks."
"I know I only can keep so much magic in my head. They might have not known the magic to get rid of rocks. Even with my teleport hops, a good deal of rocks will stop me from getting through. The people must have thought the mage was only sort of powerful."
Her thoughts wandering back she looks at the door, "I can try and get it open, but key would be easier." She waves a knife at the shadowy walls to add, "especially since I don't know shops here that sell more picks. With all these pages about, they might have left the key scattered somewhere too."
|
|
“There is the bag we didn’t pick up. The one that looked like a trap with the rock fall. We could go back and grab it, maybe it has a key in it.”
"Not a bad idea. Valuables come in all shapes and sizes. Keys qualify." Bee heads back. "If someone can check out the area for stability, I can do the grabbing."
|
|
"That is a good idea, Branch!
Back at the rocks and bag with shiny rocks, Ashun starts investigating for flaws and cracks that would make them collapse. Or any signs of traps or similar.
[dice=Crafting]1d20+8
[dice=Hero point]1d20+8
Ashun hurries back and determines that the collapse happened hundreds of years ago. The bag contains gems but no key...
|
|
Bee grabs the bag quickly from the pile of rubble and jumps back. When nothing happens, he looks slightly disappointed. He pulls open the bag and pokes through it. "Huh. No keys here." He tosses the bag of gems to Ashun and starts back.
"Well... down the stairs next?" Bee looks down the stairs and heads that direction.