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Updated list:
(Skill Check: Nothing left to do here)
2. Pile of treasure. We probably shouldn't leave everything in a pile like that, but we've been short-staffed. See
what's in there! (Major Discovery remaining; Crit Success)
(Skill Check: Nothing left to do here)
3. Assorted items. There's all kinds of stuff up in the raised storage areas on the west wall and in the northeast
corner. Did we find any magic potions in the vault? Alchemical items? Talismans? You bet we did! I know a healing
potion when I see one, but some of this stuff is beyond my experience. See what you can find!
(Skill Check: Arcana, Crafting, or Perception)
4. Pile of empty chests. I already looked through these. If you find more empty chests, just pile them in the
southwest corner of the vault.
5. Danger! These shelves are way up high and piled high with dangerous poisons and possibly cursed items. I
think Zarta felt it would be safer if they were out of reach, but we should make sure there's nothing too dangerous
up there.
(Skill Check: Acrobatics, Athletics, Medicine, Thievery, or Underworld Lore)
6. Weapons. There are lots of magic weapons lying around. See if you can find the most powerful ones. Our field
agents sure could use them!
(Skill Check: Arcana, Crafting, Gladiatorial Lore, or Warfare Lore)
7. Scrolls and such. We sure did find lots of scrolls! Thought I saw some wands in there, too. Might be something
useful for the Society's spellcasters in there.
(Skill Check: Arcana, Nature, Occultism, or Religion)
Thanks for your help!
—Rain in Cloudy Day
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Erlam checks the miscellaneous pile, hoping to find another magical trinket. He finds a strange looking staff -- plain-looking save for an orb at the top held by a dragon's claw. Engraved on the staff are the words, "Master of the Past and Present". Excited, he is about to present it to the group when he sees another inscription on the staff that reads "Raist's Magic Props - Grand Bazaar" on it.
Haohji searches again in the miscellaneous items corner. He finds a vial with the words "Oil of Mending" on it.
Wands - Heal, Manifold Missiles (1st)
Weapons - +1 Spear, +1 Striking Dagger
Wearables - Brooch of Shielding, Demon Mask
Scrolls -
Consumables - Oil of Mending
Misc Items -
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Niccolo heads over to the weapons and has a look. He finds a beautifully crafted quarterstaff in a corner. Dwarven runes run down the wood, marking it as a +1 Staff.
Wands - Heal, Manifold Missiles (1st)
Weapons - +1 Spear, +1 Striking Dagger, +1 Staff
Wearables - Brooch of Shielding, Demon Mask
Scrolls -
Consumables - Oil of Mending
Misc Items -
A cry from Rain in Cloudy Day pierces the vault. "Oh, no! She's back!" Moments later, an imposing figure steps into the vault, striding straight past the cowering Pathfinder. With her wild hair, wicked curved horns, sharp teeth, and glowing eyes, she's a fearful sight. The bones of her enormous, clawed hands make hideous cracking sounds as she heaves on a chain wrapped around her torso, dragging an iron cauldron across the stone floor. It nearly tips, spilling a glob of vile black ooze filled with vibrant constellations.
She casts her gaze around the vault and rises to her full height. She speaks, her voice like a dying goat by a crackling fire. "What is this? Ah yes, I see. Precious treasures, all for me! A dagger, its twin my child wields. I command you, Star: break cities! Burn fields!"
"A key, its message yet unclear. Why does it hide? What does it fear? Pathfinders! You'll seek boundless wonder across the land... and find Aslynn's nightmares, hand in hand!"
Aslynn stoops to grasp the chain once more and proceeds with her cauldron into the vault, still ignoring Rain and anyone else around her. Suddenly, a new voice—a harsh whisper—carries through the air. "Psst! Hey, you! Pathfinders! She's not real. Well, not too real. Just a bit. No time to explain! You've got to distract her! Don't let her find what she's looking for! Distract her, then find a way to get rid of her!"
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Macondi startles a bit at the voice, not entirely sure where it is coming from. "Huh, are you a new Pathfinder recruit? I found some neat stuff over here." He grabs two handfuls of the junk scrolls he was sorting through and heads towards the apparition. "Here, try this one - it is a pretty good read if you don't mind a missing ending." He throws the incomplete scroll at the shade. "Or this one." He throws another scroll. "I haven't read that one yet, but it should be what you are looking for."
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Macondi steps in between the intruder and Nic and starts talking to distract and draw attention. "Oh, that old thing. Nah, what do you want a knife for? Now, check out this sword." He picks up Corabee's glamered practice sword and holds it out to show. "Now this would do a lot better for you. Someone certainly liked it a lot. Magical and all. Good stuff. Oh, hey Niccolo - you still have that talking skull, right? Maybe our new Pathfinder would be interested in seeing that too. I'm sure it knows all sorts of things." Macondi practically shoves the sword into an oversized, clawed hand. "Just put that in your chain belt for safe keeping. Or maybe put it in your cauldron. Oh, and check this out." He picks up a stick from the pile. "I'll bet this is a wand with some really awesome spell. One that might even need Grand Archivist Dralneen to identify in order to figure out what it casts."
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Macondi gets Aslynn's attention by waving a wooden sword in her direction and convincing her that it's what she's looking for. Aslynn's eyes glitter greedily as she moves in his direction. Aztryx utters some sort of gobbledygook which keeps Aslynn interested.
Aslynn shrieks with delight and rushes to the pile of treasure at the center of the vault. "It's here! I can taste it! Come to me, my dearest nightmares!" She rakes through the treasure with her claws, scattering coins and shredding pages. "Where is it?! Where?! I must have it! What have you done with it?!" With a final shriek, she curls in on herself, melding with the ooze from her cauldron. She and the cauldron melt into the floor, bubbling and hissing. The sounds turn to frantic chittering as dozens of rats begin pouring from the ground.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
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Those with ** may go
**Niccolo Nesa - AC 15 (16 w/shield), 11/15 (Mage Armor)
Swarm 2
Swarm 1
Haohji Umesaki - AC 17 (18 w/shield), 17/22
Red ROUS
Blue ROUS
Nic Blackwillow - AC 19, 27/28
Macondi - AC 17, 17/17
Erlam - AC 18, 14/14
Aztryx - AC 13, 15/15
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Niccolo sends lightning to both swarms. Swarm 2 manages to escape most of the damage but Swarm 1 gets caught flat-footed. Majority of the rats fry from the lightning strike.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
Before your Turn:
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Those with ** may go
**Niccolo Nesa - AC 15 (16 w/shield), 11/15 (Mage Armor; 1 action)
Swarm 2 (-2)
Swarm 1 (-10)
Haohji Umesaki - AC 17 (18 w/shield), 17/22
Red ROUS
Blue ROUS
Nic Blackwillow - AC 19, 27/28
Macondi - AC 17, 17/17
Erlam - AC 18, 14/14
Aztryx - AC 13, 15/15
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The two swarms split in 2 directions. One swarm covers Haohji, biting madly, while the other tries to overwhelm the two Nics.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
Before your Turn:
DC 17 Basic Reflex vs Swarming Bites (5 and 3 piercing): Haohji (x2)
DC 17 Basic Reflex vs Swarming Bites (5 and 4 piercing): Niccolo (x2), Nic (x2)
DC 14 Fortitude Save vs Filth Fever: Anyone who failed the Reflex save above
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Those with ** may go
Niccolo Nesa - AC 15 (16 w/shield), 11/15 (Mage Armor; AC 16)
Swarm 2 (-2)
Swarm 1 (-10)
**Haohji Umesaki - AC 17 (18 w/shield), 17/22
Red ROUS
Blue ROUS
Nic Blackwillow - AC 19, 27/28
Macondi - AC 17, 17/17
Erlam - AC 18, 14/14
Aztryx - AC 13, 15/15
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CONDITIONS AND EFFECTS REFERENCE
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Haohji curses, Why rats? Stupid hag!
Haohji stomps at the rats, wary of the the big ones very nearby!
◆ Stomp, ◆ Stomp, ◆ Shield!
You combine an attack with quick grappling moves to throw an enemy off balance as long as it stays in your reach. Make a Strike while keeping one hand free. If this Strike hits, the target is flat-footed until the start of your next turn or until it’s no longer within the reach of your hand, whichever comes first.
Cast ◆ verbal
Duration until start of next turn
You raise a magical shield of force. This counts as using the Raise a Shield action, giving you a +1 circumstance bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, but it doesn't require a hand to use.
While the spell is in effect, you can use the Shield Block ↺ with your magic shield. The shield has Hardness 5 (10 because vested). After you use Shield Block, the spell ends and you can't cast it again for 10 minutes. Unlike a normal Shield Block, you can use the spell's reaction against the magic missile spell.
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Haohji performs a Russian dance on the 2nd Swarm but only a few rats are flattened by his attack ().
A large Rat with a red streak in its tail runs to Erlam and attempts to bite him.
Another large Rat with Blue stripes in its tail attacks Haohji.
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COMBAT TRACKER
Round: 1-2
Tactical Map
Active Conditions:
Before your Turn:
DC 17 Basic Reflex vs Swarming Bites (5 and 4 piercing): Niccolo (x2)
DC 14 Fortitude Save vs Filth Fever: Anyone who failed the Reflex save above, Erlam
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Those with ** may go
-2-
**Niccolo Nesa - AC 15 (16 w/shield), 11/15 (Mage Armor; AC 16)
Swarm 2 (-6; FF)
Swarm 1 (-10)
Haohji Umesaki - AC 17 (18 w/shield), 9/22 (AC 18)
Red ROUS
Blue ROUS
-1-
**Nic Blackwillow - AC 19, 20/28 (Stage 1 Filth Fever)
**Macondi - AC 17, 17/17
**Erlam - AC 18, 8/14
**Aztryx - AC 13, 15/15
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CONDITIONS AND EFFECTS REFERENCE
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Macondi's eyes unfocus and he is no longer looking at the room or the creatures in it, but at the water vapor in the air. "You know - I once met a scholar that said that water couldn't be compressed. Air could, but not water. I thought that was strange and likely incorrect. But I couldn't prove him wrong - at the time." He smiles a bit and magically collects a bunch of the water vapor together into a small pinpoint orb in front of him. With a quick gesture, he sends the orb sailing across the room. When it is in the right spot he lets the magic containing it dissipate and the compressed water explodes outward.
Macondi snaps his gaze back into focus and looks around at where everyone is. He calls on his divine magic again and, choosing seemingly at random, grants a bit of divine assistance to Nic.
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Electricity from Astryx and Niccolo make short work of the Rat Swarms and most of the rats cook before the remainder dissipates. The Blue rat also ends up smoking as it fails to get away in time from Aztryx's electric attack. Macondi's water jet finishes the job. Nic draws his rapier and, with one bound, skewers the Red rat, immobilizing it long enough for Erlam's lightning bomb to cook its brain.
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. The gloves make a "Stop right there!" gesture before signaling toward the table. They gently pat its surface, then indicate the boxes on top of it. The voice from earlier says, "I see you've met Mr. Glovely! He wants you to help clear those boxes. I'm, uh, underneath them. It's a bit embarrassing. Help a poor guy out? Many hands are better than two! No offense, Mr. Glovely." The gloves wave dismissively, as if to say, "None taken."
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Hearing this strange disembodied voice again, Macondi looks over. Now to add to the disembodied voice is a pair of disembodied animated gloves. "Most curious," he mumbles as he walks over to the table.
Macondi bends down and looks under the table. "Not under the table. No need to move the boxes. Very thin or one with the table." Still mumbling barely coherent sentence fragments, Macondi also grabs a box off the table and sets it aside.
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Aztryx, Erlam and Macondi all pitch in to help the "voice". Finally, when all the boxes are cleared from the tabletop, the table itself transforms into a large, gaudy treasure chest with an enormous, shiny silver chain and padlock. He grins and introduces himself.
"I'm Biglock, 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."
"Look, there's not much time so I'll be brief. 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! I don't know the details, but I know she's trying to brew some powerful magic in that weird cauldron. She needs a few of the magic items from your stash here."
"While you were distracting Aslynn, we found these! I think she was looking for them." Biglock has Mr Glovely produce two items, a dagger with magical runes and a key made of some sort of crystalline substance. "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! 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! You better take them and keep them for the Society."
"I can't take hostile actions against Aslynn. That goes for Mr. Glovely here, too, for his own reasons. But I can help you find some great equipment and make a plan! Mr Glovely, show these nice people that thing you found." Mr. Glovely produces a small gold spoon. "No, not that! The other thing!" Mr. Glovely shows you a jagged shard of purple glass with constellations like those visible in the ooze of Aslynn's cauldron. "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. We can help you find some good stuff, in fact, I've got something for you."
"Mr Glovely, get my new friends 'some of the good stuff'." Mr. Glovely rummages around the many discarded chests for a few minutes, then produces a wayfinder and proudly presents it to you. "No, no, I mean the really good stuff." Mr. Glovely smacks his nonexistent forehead. He produces a small key from thin air and unlocks some sort of invisible container. With an exaggerated display of effort, he lifts a +1 resilient breastplate from the container and presents it to you. Biglock grins. "That oughta do it. Have fun!"
"Take some time and search the vault again for anything you can use against Aslynn. Mr Glovely and I will help you."
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"It is the table. Was the table."
Macondi takes a look at the purple glass piece. "Constellation glass mind shard fight. Sounds like trouble. I'm about as prepared as I am going to be any time soon. Maybe I can find something else to help with though." He wanders over and continues searching through the scrolls and wands, or other random treasures.
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Macondi heads back to where the scrolls are kept. He again dives in and looks through the shelves. In one corner, he finds a polished wooden stick. He's about to throw it away when he realizes that there are runes on the shaft. He then realizes that it's a Wand of Comprehend Language.