GM Tyranius (PF2) PaizoCon 2023 Prisoners of the Electric Castle (Inactive)

Game Master Tyranius

Ukh stalks an onyx gem as Dranald's longsword strikes the wall nearby. No longer grabbed the hands continue to claw frantically at Arrus and Ukh.

Spectral Claw (Arrus) Damage: 2d10 + 13 ⇒ (2, 8) + 13 = 23 DC 30 Basic Will; Failure you are also grabbed.

Spectral Claw (Ukh) Damage: 2d10 + 13 ⇒ (5, 1) + 13 = 19 DC 30 Basic Will; Failure you are also grabbed.

★★★
In the Witch's Clutches! Round 3/4

Terrain: Disable DC 28 (Thievery / Crafting) - Expert | Dispel Magic
Battlemap

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BEFORE YOUR TURN:
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Arrus: DC 30 vs Spectral Claw
Ukh: DC 30 vs Spectral Claw

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BOLD IS UP!:
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➤ Astrid (148/148 HP)
➤ Arrus (75/116 HP)
➤ Patrick (14/64 HP) │ Unconscious | Soul Ripped Free
Witches Clutch Facet 2 (-12 HP)
Witches Clutch Facet 6 (- HP)
➤ Dranald (86/106 HP)
➤ Jiki (86/86 HP)
➤ Ukh (79/109 HP)

Seeing that his magic is not proving effective, Jiki tries it the old-fashioned way.

◆ Stride

◆◆ Disable

Thievery: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20

The cleric strikes the Witches Clutch Facet 2.

+1 striking Longsword:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31

Damage:2d8 + 2 ⇒ (6, 5) + 2 = 13

Then he casts Battle prayer on the Witches Clutch Facet 2.

Religion:1d20 + 19 ⇒ (9) + 19 = 28 Against the Will DC

Then he casts shield.

Will: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34

The goblin tries to disable the facet.

Crafting:1d20 + 20 ⇒ (11) + 20 = 31

Astrid lashes out once more before moving towards the final facet.

bastard sword: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (19) + 23 = 42
slashing, electric: 2d12 + 1d6 + 8 ⇒ (11, 7) + (3) + 8 = 29

strike, bastard sword: 1d20 + 23 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 23 - 5 = 21
slashing, electric: 2d12 + 1d6 + 8 ⇒ (11, 8) + (2) + 8 = 29

◆ Strike, ◆ strike, ◆ stride

Will DC 30: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (17) + 17 = 34

Arrus avoids getting grabbed this time.

Looks like things are taken care of, will post again with action if we're still in combat.

@Dranald- These facets don't have a Will saving modifier to go against since it is an object.

Dranald takes a small chip out of the facet. Hardness 12. Jiki isn't able to disable the facet, though Ukh smashes it out with a nearby stone.

Astrid rushes teh final facet and cracks it from the wall as the spectral hands dissipate.

Out of Combat.

A door opens in one of the walls, revealing the woman you saw earlier. She’s out of breath after racing to find everyone. "I'm Narcela, follow me. I'll take you to a safe space from Aslynn."

Patrick's soul snaps back into his body and he gets up with a groan.

I remember you ... you were the one speaking to us through that device ... oh ... Revecka is doing fine .... recovering nicely

Arrus follows, hoping to get somewhere safe before treating wounds and the like.

The goblin draws his crossbow to have it in hands. Then he follows the others.

Astrid retrieves her shield and follows, keeping a close eye on Narcela.

"Is your mother nearby?"

"She is far from here at the moment on another Plane, but has ways of watching." A stone spiral staircase leads down to the floor of this spacious chamber. The multicolored glow of arcane runes fills the area, creating an eerie kaleidoscope of reds, purples, and greens.

Narcela leads you to a room deep under the castle that she prepared with arcane protections against Aslynn’s magic. "As long as Aslynn remains outside the castle, she won’t be able to find this area."

Now that the immediate emergency is over, Narcela returns to her calm, collected self. "I am glad to hear that Revecka is doing fine." She greets you warmly at the mention of this. "Though somehow Aslynn must have known you were coming, which means she must know I am helping you..." Narcela grows quite worried at this prospect. "I don't know exactly which Plane she is on but she could return in as little as 4 hours. If you are still here then she will unleash the castle's full defenses on us."

She grabs you by the elbow. "We must hurry." She cracks a door open and peeks around the corner. "I can lead you to where the Ardis Scholars are being imprisoned. Also Aslynn’s seneschal may have notes about how your trip was intercepted in his office."

Lumna sends you a vision of a strong power source within the castle recharging the key to full capacity.

Most likely she is on the Demiplane of Dreams Patrick replies, not looking Nacela in the eye. I .... took the liberty of visiting her to discuss the research. Maybe I should have said the flowers were from you

Arrus looks to his allies "Even if we should hurry, we should at least spend a bit of time making sure we're not in too bad a shape."

U also would suggest to treat our wounds before to continue.

Jiki has Soothe as a signtaure spell, so he can unload some quicker healing. Of course, that could leave me with nothing to do in a fight but inspire and fire a bow (so, a 1st edition bard).

Is it necessary to roll the dice for care?

With you all being on a bit of a timer go ahead and roll Medicine checks out to see how much time it takes.

I have Continual recovery, Ward medic, assurance medicine, Magic hands.

The first 10 minutes :

Treat wounds. Patrick: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (7, 3) + 10 = 20

Treat wounds. Arrus: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (5, 4) + 10 = 19

Treat wounds. Ukh: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (3, 2) + 10 = 15

Treat wounds. Dranald: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (2, 6) + 10 = 18

The second 10 minutes :

Treat wounds. Patrick: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (1, 2) + 10 = 13

Treat wounds. Arrus: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (1, 4) + 10 = 15

Treat wounds. Ukh: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (1, 6) + 10 = 17

Treat wounds. Dranald: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (1, 7) + 10 = 18

The third 10 minutes :

Treat wounds. Patrick: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (8, 6) + 10 = 24

Treat wounds. Arrus: 2d8 + 10 ⇒ (5, 8) + 10 = 23

So after 30 minutes everyone is full hp.

Given we were given a time limit of 4 hours as presented, perhaps we should continue after the first 20 minutes. I'm happy to continue on with a bit of wounds or otherwise expend some healing resources, especially on Patrick.

Let me know if spending 20 or 30 minutes healing. I am going to press onward.

Once you are done healing for a few minutes Narcela leads you towards the cells. "We must be quiet to avoid the guards. It will take roughly 20 minutes to reach there."

You may be able to save a litte time by using the skill check below. You, as a group, must choose one of two approaches: through sealed areas of the castle (using Athletics or Thievery) or bluffing and sneaking past guards (using Deception or Stealth). All the PCs must use the same approach. DC is 26 for all the skills.

★ -- ★ -- ★ -- ★

A long hallway leads to a series of locked doors. Each cell contains a smattering of straw on the floor, a thin blanket and a bucket. The smell of filth and misery fills the air. Two Ardis Scholars are in cells here. One appears a bit startled as the stone wall opens for you to secretely enter the cell chamber. "Who are you?" One seems to back up against the wall as the man in the other cell yells at him "Shut up already, you know Dinetrie’s being punished, you want us to get punished too?"”

20 minutes please. Arrus is fine 104/116. Patrick is still down 17. A lower level soothe or heal spell is probably the way to go for him, or one of us can battle medicine if nobody else wants to.

Arrus looks over his companions "I think we're slightly better at the more physical approach, but it's close. "

thievery(E): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (5) + 18 = 23

Thievery:1d20 + 16 ⇒ (12) + 16 = 28

Let's try this.

"It'll take too long to unlock this gate. I bet I can bend the bars enough for us to slip through.

athletics: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (14) + 19 = 33

For those without training in thievery. Astrid is expert in athletics so you should be eligible to follow the expert allowing you to add your level+2 if untrained or your skill +2 if you are trained.

Patrick is actually relieved that Narcela didn't hit him or even yell at him so he stays quiet in the back and follows the expert.
athletics: 1d20 + 3 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 3 + 8 + 2 = 32

Jiki will toss a 1st level Soothe at each companion who is still injured at the end of 10 minutes.

Arrus healing: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Patrick healing: 1d10 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

He then follows the Pathfinders deeper into the castle.

Thievery: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

Athletics:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27

For transparency, as you travel around the castle here each room will have skill checks to decrease or even increase the time. The DC will be 26 for all of those skills. here are the results. Each travel will have a standard time of 20 minutes.

Critical Success You reduce the time it takes by 5 minutes (to a minimum of 15 minutes).
Success You do not increase the time it takes.
Failure You increase the time it takes by 5 minutes.
Critical Failure You increase the time it takes by 10 minutes (to a maximum of 1 hour).

As you travel to the Cells you run into a little problem with one of the sealed areas as it has not been opened in quite some time, eating up an additional 5 minutes. All successes except 1 failure which added 5 minutes.

The grouchy man watches as you have little difficulty opening the cell doors and freeing them. "Thanks, I'm Venruth and that sour one is Bremix. Have you found the the workshop yet? Where they have Cetezar working?"

Bremix interrupts Venruth— “Of course they don’t know that! They just got here. Give them a few minutes you dolt. If you had half a brain you can certainly see they came to rescue us first.”

"Cetezar was taking to the workshop to help create weapons for Aslynn. And Dinetrie was taken away to be punished for trying to escape."

Bremix interrupts Venruth again. "Serves the idiot right for doing it right in front of them."

The pair look to you. "Where do we go?"

You now have 4 other locations you can visit. Where to next and what do you do with these two?

Well I think we should go to the Workshop quickly. So no more weapons for Aslynn. And you come with us as the venture-captain told me when I asked during the briefing.

I agree with you, Ukh!

I agree with you, Ukh!

Astrid frowns. "I'm not sure I do. More weapons for Aslynn and her minions don't concern me too much. Besides, it takes awhile to properly forge a good weapon.

Dinetrie was taken off to be punished. It's possible to do a lot of damage to a living body in a surprisingly short amount of time. Trust me on this. I'm something of an expert on the subject."

She pats the hilt of her sword for emphasis.

"Astrid isn't wrong. We need to help the person in danger first."

Arrus nods.

110/116, thanks Jiki.

Leaving the Cells for now you head off towards the Oneirium to assist Dinetrie as the matter seems very urgent.

You must avoid guards to get there. Perception or Stealth to save time (DC 26)

A large mirror hangs from a wall directly in front of a chair laden with heavy leather straps and a metal frame around the headrest. Playing out on the mirror is a scene of a fetchling couple trying futilely to hide behind a scarecrow as they’re stalked by a laughing woman with a shaved head and multiple piercings.

Aslynn uses the mirror to spy on mortals’ dreams, and torment them in their sleep. While she’s away, she set it to show horrible nightmares—usually a pleasant pastime for her—to torture one of the Ardis Scholars who tried to escape.

Dinetrie is tied to the chair and looks up as you enter. "Oh thank you..thank you..thank you. I knew someone would come. Quick get these straps."

Perception(M): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (8) + 18 = 26

Will get in a longer post in a few hours.

Oh I've had nightmares like that Patrick comments.
perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (10) + 17 = 27 Add 1 for checks using vision

Astrid examines the mirror then turns to the bound scholar. "So this is your punishment? Watching someone's scary dreams? Bah! Hardly seems worth the trouble. Still...it really seems to be giving those fetchlings a hard time. I wonder if there's a way to turn this off. Or even destroy it."

Arrus moves to cut Dinetrie from their bonds as quickly as possible.

Stealth: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

The goblin concludes seeing the guy that it was so urgent for them to intervene. But now it’s done. So next one.

The cleric tries to save time.

Perception:1d20 + 17 ⇒ (15) + 17 = 32

Stealth: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27

Jiki sneaks past the guards.

"Something isn't right about this..."

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18

Not that I know what it is.

"I know the normal way to break a mirror, but I suspect this is enchanted to not shatter that way, and it would likely alert the guards."

All successes so normal 20 minutes for time traveling here.

You are able to shatter the mirror with simple force and free Dinetrie from his bonds. "Thanks for that. I was hoping to steal Aslynn's airship, the Gale’s Claw, to escape. I ended up obstructing the planar net in the bell tower so the ship could leave but didn't know how to pilot the thing!"

More locations to choose to visit.
Workshop (Cetezar)
Oneirium (Dinetrie)
Seneschal's Study (Understand how your trip was intercepted)
Lightning Tower (Recharge the Hallajin Key)
Sky Dock (Possible secondary means of escape)
Bell Tower (Disable the Alarm Bells and Planar Netting)

So let's go to the bell tower!

I agree with Ukh.

Do we not have someone else to rescue?

It was said that could wait.

Quickly gathering another Scholar you make all due haste to the Bell Tower.

Three massive black metal bells hang from a yoke stretching across this open tower. The clappers are carved to look like screaming faces. A fine silk net hangs below the bells. Several rough-cut gems woven into the fabric glow softly.

To silence the bells you can dismantle with brute force Athletics, Crafting, Engineering Lore, or Thievery). In addition to the 20 minutes this takes a failure takes 1d10+7 sonic damage | Crit fail 2d10+13 sonic damage. (If noone succeeds then the bells are not disabled but you can spend another 20 minutes to try again.) Keep in mind each failure also adds 5 minutes to the tasks.

athletics: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (9) + 19 = 28

"Welp. Let's get to work." Astrid cracks her knuckles and begins to dismantle the bells. She occasionally glances at the net with the glowing gems. "What's the story on that net?"

Arrus flips out his tools and begins to carefully dismantle bits.

thievery: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (17) + 18 = 35