[Gameday XII] PFS1e #9-09: Beyond the Halflight Path (Core) (Inactive)

Game Master roll4initiative

Campaign Coin to the Rescue!

5 Star Campaign Coin Reroll for Seelah's Escape Grapple, grease: 1d20 + 7 + 10 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 7 + 10 + 5 = 27

Damiar gives Seelah a pep-talk. "Paladin, it's time to be a bad ass hero!"

Markus flings his stick at the creature, or rather what's left of it while waving his hands in a distracting manner to aid Seelah.

Aid another +2 AC

Oops. Sorry, Farlen. Yep, you hit. Ooze is still alive (-48 hp).

Farlen's bolt sinks into the squishy creature, tearing away some of the jelly-like substance.

Iovo casts a spell on Seelah, coating the paladin in magical bacon grease. The cavern no longer has that dank, musty odor. Instead, it smells like breakfast at home for the moment.

With Damiar's inspiring pep talk and the magical grease, Seelah shakes a leg and an arm loose from the pseudopods, then pulls the one away from around her neck. The paladin holds her neck as she catches her breath.

Farlen turns the ooze into a puddle of goo with two direct hits of a magic missile. The ooze quickly dissolves and evaporates into a fine, white powder.

No need to toss your twig, Markus...

Combat finished! Pathfinders are victorious once again!!!

Seelah is down 16 hp.

Since you're coming up on the final fight and there's no time crunch, you are all welcome to rest & recuperate for 8 hours to regain spells and whatnot. Those of you that had 1 hour long duration spells going, those are now inactive.

"Thank you, Damiar!"

Since you're coming up on the final fight and there's no time crunch, you are all welcome to rest & recuperate for 8 hours to regain spells and whatnot. Those of you that had 1 hour long duration spells going, those are now inactive.

"Shall we set up camp here? I could use some rest..."

Seelah is down 16 hp.

Lay on Hands: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4

Not anymore! ;-)

Seelah heals herself and offers to heal others as well.

"Shall we set up camp here? I could use some rest..."

Iovo thinks a moment as she looks around. “I suppose this should work. Seems safe enough for the moment.”

The next morning once people are ready to resume exploration, Iovo casts her spell and uses her wand on herself and Markus.
False Life: 1d10 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

"I haven't used any spells today...probably means that I didn't prepare the right ones. I'll have to think about that." Salvio dries off a patch of floor with a quick prestidigitation cantrip, then unrolls his bedroll and settles down.

Farlen thinks for a bit. "Most of the stuff I used has been from wands. We could push on. But if we rest, I would like to use magic to set up an alarm. I will put it centered on our light source. If you leave the light, just say 'bingo' prior to reentering. If you hear a hand bell that means something cat sized or larger has entered our camp. These small frogs should not trigger it." If the group rests here, Farlen will use his bonded necklace to cast alarm on a torch/fire in the center of the camp.
"I need first or last watch, first is preferred." "Standard 3 watchs, 4 hour each, then?"

"I need first or last watch, first is preferred." "Standard 3 watchs, 4 hour each, then?"

Iovo quickly pipes up “I will take last watch.”

Then you see her get a very mischievous look as she says “So last watch is the last one of the day while first watch is the first one of the new day, right? It goes last, first, middle? Or should it be last, middle, first? Maybe we should just roll for it?” Although she manages to maintain a serious voice while saying this, the smile on her face makes it clear she is jesting.

I can take whichever watch, but the spell sounds like a good idea for the night. the dwarf says, unrolling his bedroll and laying down on it..

Seelah sighs, seemingly not in the mood for jesting after getting squeezed by the ooze.

"I'll take the second watch, then. Should be clear which one that is..."

After a long day of investigation, exploration, and battles, the group decides to get a good night of rest. With the alarm spell set, Farlen takes first watch while the others bundle up in their bedrolls on the cold, stone floor...

Then the next takes second watch, and third, and so on...

Throughout the night, those on watch notice their teammates toss and turn fitfully as they moan in their sleep. When awoken for their turn to keep watch, the companion mentions the bad dreams they had of strange, tentacled creatures.

During the night, Damiar, Iovo, and Salvio scream themselves awake from horrible nightmares. They speak of alien horrors, tentacles moving with calculated precision, extracting their comrades' minds while they lay strapped down upon cold, metallic slabs, leaving a palpable sense of dread lingering in the chamber.

Farlen, once awake and up for the day will prepare his spells keeping his spells the same as the previous day. He will eat some rations, clean, prepare, and stow his equipment so as to be ready.
Wondering about the weird dreams, Farlen detects magic on the torch making sure his alarm spell was not dispelled early. "This should have lasted up until two hours ago."
What kind of knowledge check would be necessary to tell if the alarm spell was tampered with or if it was dispelled earily?

“So did everyone have creepy dreams? If not, I wonder why?”

Did we get enough rest to replenish spells? If not, I will have to go back and update my profile. Sorry for assuming the night would go smoothly.

Sometimes sleeping underground can be challenging for folks unused to it, but this feels like something more, ugh the dwarf shakes his head awake groggily.

What kind of knowledge check would be necessary to tell if the alarm spell was tampered with or if it was dispelled early?

No knowledge check needed since it's a spell that you cast. You know that the spell wasn't tampered with or dispelled early.

Did we get enough rest to replenish spells? If not, I will have to go back and update my profile. Sorry for assuming the night would go smoothly.

Yep, you got enough rest. With the fitful sleep though, you needed 9-10 hours instead of just 8.

The dreams/nightmares thing isn't in the scenario. Just something I added for flavor. I'm sure you realized by now, but, the adventure's theme is Alien Infection/Invasion. ;)

“Well, I think the only way we are going to resolve this is to find that monster.”

"Are we ready to move? Which way from here."
Farlen hefts his pack and taps himself with his wand. "Protect." Mage armor from wand charge #2.
Nw is my suggestion.

The intrepid explorers pack up their gear and get ready to move on. A sets of natural steps ascends to the southeast and another leads southwest.

“So did everyone have creepy dreams? If not, I wonder why?”

“I did not. My faith in Sarenrae usually protects me from such things...”

Seelah gets herself ready to continue the exploration. She leads her teammates to the south, but stops before the first steps of the stairs to the left.
“Shall we go up these stairs here or those over there? Hm... Well, we might as well take these as we will search every corner of this vault anyway, right, Iovo?”

Shall we proceed up the (first) stairs leading southeast?

Salvio comes awake, screaming and clutching at his head. It takes him several minutes to calm down, whereupon he spends the next several minutes writing down the details of his dreams in a shaky hand. "...well, it might be, be useful to know."

Damiar wakes up, and says, "Sis, I dreamt of tentacles and they weren't the fun kind!"

“Hopefully there weren’t as bad as my dreams.”

The two sisters compare dreams and decide they both had bad dreams. Nothing fun about them.

The group decides to head up the southeastern steps. The cavern opens into a long but narrow chamber. Two clumps of crystals light this room with inner radiance, flickering like greenish torches. Green dots on map.

A small spring bubbles just to your right near the corner and glows slightly, shedding dim, bluish-green light.

Your light sources reveal a passage exiting to the south.

Pausing to look at the glowing rocks, Iovo says “Wonder if these would be useful to people as a light source? They aren’t burning, which at least makes them better than torches.”

She is quite willing to follow the rest of the group.

Iovo pauses to look at the glowing crystal.
Are you just making a cursory glance at the crystal or moving up to one to get a good look?

Iovo pauses to look at the glowing crystal.

Are you just making a cursory glance at the crystal or moving up to one to get a good look?

Iovo moves up to one of the crystals so she can get a good look and evaluate it.

Iovo moves closer to the glowing crystal against the east wall to get a better look.
Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (8) + 11 = 19
Upon closer inspection, she notices the skeleton of a small humanoid with an oversized head encased within.
The crystal's formation appears different from the formation of the crystals found elsewhere throughout the caverns.

Knowledge (planes) to identify crystal's origin. Knowledge (local) or Heal to identify skeleton of creature within.

"That's quite pretty. Give me a minute, I'm going to have a closer look..."

Seelah moves up to the other crystal and checks it out.

Take 20 (one minute) on Perception for a total of 21.

“Huh! There is a skeleton over here trapped in the crystal.”
Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Farlen moves up to see the crystal, "Hmm, I am not sure.."
Knowledge planes: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27
"Well, strange." Farlen passes on anything he knows about the crystal.
knowledge local: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26
"Strange skeleton, how did it get in there?" He will again in a know-it-all-tone, explain anything he knows about the skeleton. He will add at the end, "Or it's a bugbear."

The human wizard soon recovers from his nightmarish experience, perhaps aided in centering by writing down the details. He uses a charge from his mage armor wand before the party sets out.

When the others examine the crystal with the skeleton in it, Salvio hangs back a little ways. "Let me see what I can find out about that glow." One cantrip later, he examines the room for magical auras.

Seelah inspects the western clump of crystals and she also notices a small skeleton with an oversized head encased within. Upon closer inspection, it appears the skeleton has some sort of strap around its skull, covering its eyes. Goggles of some sort?

Iovo and Farlen both realize that they're goblin skeletons. Farlen also knows that the crystals are not native to Golarion but occur naturally on Eox, the sixth planet in Golarion’s solar system and home of countless undead.

Salvio, casting detect magic, finds auras emanating from the pool of water, the strap around the skeleton's head, and a tiny object in the eastern crystal near the skeleton's hip. The objects within the crystal glow faintly, perhaps due to the thickness of the crystal.

Very strange goblin skeletons encased in glowy crystal. I wonder how and why they got there? Perhaps we should try to bring a sample back to the Lodge? the dwarf asks.

Salvio nods excitedly, then stops. "I don't know. How did the skeletons get into the crystals? What if the crystals grow around people who touch them? Farlen, you recognized them...what can you tell us?"

"They are crystals from Eox, the 6th plant in our solar system. Eox is filled with undead. The skeleton could have come with the crystal when it was brought here or maybe, pure speculation, it absorbed the goblin skeleton. Be careful of it."

"The crystals themselves have no detectable magic aura, but there seem to be auras contained inside, on the skeletons."

“So there might be magic items in there? Does anyone have a good way to break away the crystal?”

"Well, I do have my longsword..." She pauses. "Undead from Eox, you say? Let me check these skeletons for evil..."

Seelah scans the crystals and the creatures with Detect Evil.

When Seelah offers her longsword, Iovo says “Isn’t that bad for the edge of the blade?” She gets out a silver light mace and says “This May work better. What we really could use is a pick or hammer.”

I know that in game rules it really doesn’t make a difference but I wince every time someone suggests using a blade like that…

I just always assume that whenever the party breaks camp or takes time to rest, a few minutes are spent sharpening weapons and taking care of gear and whatnot.

Farlen doesn't know much more about the crystals. He didn't pay enough attention in Planar Geology class.

Seelah detects for evil auras but doesn't find any radiating from the crystals or the skeletons.

The team considers smashing open the crystals to get to the goodies within.

The crystals have hardness, of course. They also have a break DC if you want to use brute strength.

What would you like to do?

Looking at the crystals, Iovo says “I’m probably not strong enough to bust up the crystals.”

Looking to Salvio, she asks “Did anywhere else radiate magic?”

This post assumes everyone relayed what they learned to everyone else.

“If someone can keep watch, breaking up the crystals is likely to cause a lot of noise. I would like to check that other source of magical auras in the water.”

She gives people time to react and as long as at least one person is keeping an eye out for dangers, she will go look in the water.

Just like the first room you entered at the beginning with the small pool that had the tiny mutated frogs, Salvio knows the water contains an unknown magical energy, which could also be causing the strange tingling sensation on your skin that you've been experiencing ever since you entered this cavern complex.

Anyone else want to do anything?

Iovo quickly loses interest in the pond once she realizes what is happening.

Iovo doesn’t have the strength to break the crystal. She is ready to move on once everyone else is.

Markus looks at the crystals, and punches it with his fist.... just to see what happens.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Looking at the crystals, Iovo says “I’m probably not strong enough to bust up the crystals.”

Seelah tries to break the crystal near her with brute strength.

STR: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

"It seems, neither am I. I’ll try the other one..."

STR: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

"What about using harmonics? I have heard of singers breaking glass with notes they sing. Hmm, probably not possible here."
knowledge nature for sound ideas: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20

"Let me give you a hand, Seelah. Perhaps if we lift it an drop it from a foot or so."

strength check aids for Seelah's above checks or next two: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2; aid #2: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13
"Ooh, I think I hurt my back."

Farlen realizes the crystal is too thick to be affected by sound. A strong sonic spell could work, though.

Markus throws a punch with a mighty fist, but is completely off target and strikes the wall next to it instead.
Nat 1 still misses AC 5. :(

Seelah and Farlen both grab onto the western crystal with their hands in an attempt to break it. They both suddenly feel a painful stinging sensation as hundreds of tiny barbs go through their gloves and pierce the skin of the palms of their hands. Instinctively, they both attempt to yank their hands away!

@Seelah & Farlen, please make a Reflex saving throw!

I moved everyone into assumed positions on the map.

Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Uh-oh...