Moist moves and magically flies something solid but goes overhead his target. Zepth heals the fighter before moving to a nice spot to attack later. Hanu also moves and brings forth another tree to protect their ally!
Party Conditions: +1 circumstance bonus to Will saves; COURAGEOUS ANTHEM [Rd 1 to 4] (+1 status bonus to attack rolls, damage rolls, and saves against fear effects)
Terrain Features: Area is dark without a light source! The radius of all light from light sources and the areas of light spells are halved.
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Other Notes: ☘️ - Hero Points. OG means off-guard.
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT!
Hanu, Friend of the Wood
Zepth
Tattered and Rotted Nobility (Red) |
➤ Olegaro
➤ Rybar Gannon | Sickened 1
➤ Ōtani Yoshitsugu | Moderate Curse (-1 to AC and Saving Throws with Strike)
Elite One (Blue)
Elite Two (White)
Moist Definitely
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"Great stuff Zepth, thanks! So, one down two to go..." Olegaro will say as he strides to the remaining undead and sweeps his flail between them.
◆ stride
◆ with his flail on blue for bludgeoning damage
◆ with his flail on white for bludgeoning damage
________
↺ Shield Block with the steel shield to reduce damage by 5 and then Olegaro and the shield both take the remaining damage.
Olegaro bludgeons Blue with his flail, almost crushing it to pieces, while the other takes some nice damage too!
Rybar is sure they have no weakness to exploit but he can create one, anyway and manages to bring to an end of Blue by poking his sword into its eye socket!
Otani takes care of White and manages to connect with it, cutting its porous bones into half!
Zepth (18/18 HP)
Olegaro (20/21 HP)
Rybar Gannon (9/17 HP) | Sickened 1
Ōtani Yoshitsugu (7/15 HP) | Moderate Curse (-1 to AC and Saving Throws with Strike)
Moist Definitely (12/12 HP)
The chamber is quiet once more. The field of negative energy emanating from the cursed chamber bursts with an audible pop. The horde pounding at the wards falls to the ground, silent again, and the unnatural pressure in the air dissipates.
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Rybar says "Thank you Hanu. I love these bananas." He takes the banana, eats it, and promptly vomits it out. "Oops. It seems, I cannot eat or drink anything at the moment."
Realizing that melee isn't good for him at the moment, Rybar stows his shortsword and instead retrieves his crossbow. He arms it.
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Olegaro will check on the sarcophagus in the centre of the room. He will pull out the bundle of pages, skim over them and pass them around. "I guess we know how he died and became undead then."
Then he will lay out his healing kit and start treating Rybar and Otani.
sigh "Sorry I'm not doing too well with the medicine at the moment."
Seeing Hanu starting off towards the corridor, Olegaro will quickly pack up his tools, ready his shield and flail, and hurry to catch up.
Hanu follows whatever he is seeing at the moment for them to follow after giving others bananas to eat. It looks like this is the room where the skeletons came from. This room bears the signs of a burial chamber, the family crest of a dagger across a lush and growing field adorning each of the 6 plots. The caskets have been pulled from their slots in the walls and tossed haphazardly to the ground.
The group, led by Olegaro, continues to go further and not return back. They arrive in another chamber. In this chamber, the north wall has entirely collapsed. This might be the blockage they encountered when they first entered the place. Covered in dust, the room looks to have seen little use, unlike the rest of the citadel, however, the way back from the Netherworld is gleaming like a bright tear in space.
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"Hey where did Hanu go to?" Olegaro will cry in alarm in the split second before disappearing himself and appearing back in the Universe. Then seeing the rest of the party there, he will look confused saying "Oh, um, this looks familiar. Are we back home now?" while look about blinking. "You ok Hanu? Anyone know what just happened though?"
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"Well, I was hoping on staying a bit longer here and try to find something more about the place, but I guess this is a good time as ever to go back." says Zepth as everyone steps into the portal.
"Well, that's not important. At least I have so much more to write about now!. Goodbye strange shadow place!" he says to no one as he crosses the portal as well.
Once they are all back to their Universe, the tear is nowhere to be found, but they can explore the citadel ruins in this Universe, and it’s now as safe—as originally anticipated. In fact, the path inward actually feels inviting. They can take whatever rubbings from within that they wish. As they return to the Pathfinder Society with the rubbings and the tales of their encounter with Alystair Caskwater, Ambrus Valsin takes their report and looks upon them with pride. He is almost beside himself with joy with all their Netherworld rubbings, some Universe rubbings, and the three journal fragments they found.
A few days later, Eando Kline, faction leader of the Vigilant Seal, summon you into the Vaults.
A massive dollhouse, nearly eight feet tall, stands on top of a short but ornately carved table. The legs and base of the table have crows, dogs, cats, and other similar symbols carved into every available surface. The dollhouse itself appears to be an extravagant representation of a house in the land of endless winter. Fake snow covers its roof, and sculpted icicles hang down, glistening.
Despite its formerly rich appearance, it is clear the dollhouse has seen better days. The fake snow and ice have yellowed with age. The paint, once bright blue and white, is dull and peeling. The wooden base has darkened with time, except in a few places where it has chipped and revealed fresh wood.
The most obvious feature, though, is the missing wall. Typical of a dollhouse, it would allow access to the interior of the house for play or observation. While the rooms and several dolls can be seen inside, it looks hazy and somehow off, as if something is interfering with the transition from inside to out.
"This toy was given to the Pathfinder Society by Queen Anastasia of Irrisen, and what we all know is that it was a relic from former Queen Elvanna, a less than scrupulous ruler." Eando begins.
"It is magical in nature, but it is unclear what its purpose is. It has been here in the Pathfinder Society Vaults for some time, but we were unable to look into it until recently due to other pressing matters. After an incident with the night hag Aslynn, a steward noticed that the house was affected, and I decided it was time to investigate it."
"You are the first group to look the dollhouse over properly since it was stored here. Make whatever preparations you needed to examine and catalogue the dollhouse. The dollhouse’s magic has been completely
dormant, though I warn you that any good Pathfinder should still be prepared for trouble, just in case." Eando advises them before he quickly leaves for an urgent meeting.
The dollhouse is quite sizable and extravagant but has become worn down over time with faded paint and loose pieces. Several small dolls can be seen in various positions inside. The party has time to look at the house through the open wall, but little can be learned from doing so.
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Olegaro will reply to Moist's musing "I guess that's one way to explore it, can't say I'm keen on being shrunk down though, so hopefully not that. Have to say though this is quite a different challenge than anything I expected."
and will have a close look at the dollhouse trying to get an idea of the layout of the floors and also the general condition.
As soon as Hanu touches the dollhouse, the entire party at one moment is standing outside, and the next they find themselves standing somewhere else that makes them disoriented at the moment.
A tumbleweed trundles along the vast hall. A second look reveals this is not a tumbleweed but an oversized dust ball. This grand foyer is not as majestic as it once was. Large flakes of bright paint peel off the walls. Dust covers wooden carvings and ornaments that are all just slightly too large for the cabinets they sit on. A dry staleness fills the air. The most notable feature is the lack of an eastern wall. Beyond it, the Pathfinder Society Vaults are visible, albeit appearing much larger than they were a few seconds ago.
It looks like Moist's gut feelis right about the dollhouse.
They are quickly approached by a stuffed poppet in the form of a sloth. A stuffed sloth holding a broom smiles warmly as she approaches. “Hello, visitors. Guests. Friends. It’s been so long since we’ve seen anyone else. My fellow workers have become hopeless over our lack of purpose, but not me. I knew someone would come eventually. You can help renew our reasons for being here.” A frown flashes across her face for the briefest second before she softens, her voice bubbling with enthusiasm. “Or maybe you could even help us finally leave this place! The Warden wouldn’t listen to me, but maybe she’ll listen to you. Or better yet, you can help gather everyone, and show them there’s a world outside. We’ll need to enlist as many as possible to our cause to even have a chance of gaining an audience with The Warden, but I think it might work. That is, if you’re willing to help.” Her button eyes stare longingly at the open wall. “Forgive me. I am Sweeper, a janitor of sorts around here, not of much importance, but I know everyone and everything. Pleased to meet you.”
"You are asking a hard question. Anyway, you are in a place where we take care of prisoners, well, originally." Sweeper answers Hanu. "Some time ago, we all woke up to find the prisoners missing. With nothing else to do, we continued to do our jobs, but I have long dreamed of leaving this place." she adds.
"With that said, this house used to be a prison, but The Warden has stayed in charge ever since. She thinks we should stay here and do our job as usual. She’s not the nicest person, but I think she’s just sad because she has no purpose anymore. She makes sure we keep working, but she mostly stays locked away in her office. She controls all the magic in here. If anyone could open the wall, that’s who it would be, but it would be pretty hard to convince her to do it. As long as we are all doing our jobs, it gives her some reason for maintaining her control of the prison."
"Are you going to help me?" she beams them a smile.
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Moist sighs and looks around at their new surroundings.
I hate being right...
He listens to the Sweeper. Their wishes are very clear, but this "Warden"'s motivations are very much not.
Well, we're here, aren't we? Do you think this Warden would listen to us? Please show us to her office and we'll give it our best!
There is a glimmer of hope in Sweeper's eyes when she hears Rybar's offer to help.
"No, no, we can't just go there like that. The warden will listen if we convince everyone to join us!" she insists to Moist. "We must first persuade the others to leave this place with us. Once we have everyone's support, we can show the Warden that everyone wants to leave," she explains.
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"I hate that you were right on this one too Moist!" Olegaro will say looking at the dollhouse now from a more true-to-scale perspective.
After Rybar responds, Olegaro will agree "Yes, I'll also assist - we are all in this pickle now and need to get out."
And in response to Sweeper he will ask gently "Who are the others we have to convince? And where might we find them?"
One by one, they agree to help Sweeper, in which the poppet leaps with joy. "That's lovely! I can finally get out of here!"
He does vocalize one question "Her purpose, how did she lose it?"
"You are asking a really difficult question, honestly. I am not certain. There have been no prisoners since, that might be the reason and things have been routine here. I am quite sure we have all been here for more weeks than there are bristles on my broom. I would guess a hundred years, give or take. On the other hand, things were much more routine for a long time, and I barely remember that period. Something changed maybe a year ago. I feel more er— free, I guess. I mean, I’m still trapped in a prison meant for someone else, but I feel freer. More alive, I guess." her thoughts are free as she is.
"But I can tell you that none of them are happy here. Most of them liked their old jobs, but with no prisoners to take care of, we’ve all become a bit lost; forlorn, even. Still, everyone is afraid of The Warden. They keep pretending to do their work, just to keep her from lashing out at us."
"Who are the others we have to convince? And where might we find them?"
"I'll guide you along when we meet them. Come, everyone! Follow me!" she tells them with enthusiasm.
---
Sweeper leads the Pathfinders in a certain room. The wooden chairs and sofas that line this room are all slightly bigger than they should be. A heavy layer of dust coats everything except for a well-worn circle around the perimeter. A figure appearing to be a stylized wooden Ulfen warrior with a large wind-up key in his back paces through this circle.
"That's Tartan. He is a former guard who mostly paces this room out of boredom since the prisoners left." she waves her hand when the guard sees her.
Rybar - Fail
Hanu - Success
Otani - Success
Olegaro - Success
Zepth - ???
Moist - ???
[b]Total Cooperation Points: 3
Rybar fails to convince Tartan with his words but he is impressed and entertained by Hanu's cartwheeling. Looking at the tengu, he is convinced that Otani is well-trained, and Olegaro shares the opportunity for Tartan to guard something else.
Rybar - Fail
Hanu - Success
Otani - Success
Olegaro - Success
Zepth - ???
Moist - Success
Total Cooperation Points: 4
Tartan is more convinced, even Moist giving the guard idea that he can do more than guarding.
Sweeper, happy that Tartan is convinced to join her cause, leads the group again, Tartan included, to their next destination. "Let's look for Chef Basil in the recreation room. I think I saw her enter the room."
This room was formerly used to give prisoners limited time out of cells when suddenly...
Moist and Hanu easily notice some mice, which in their current state appear several times larger than they should be. It seems they are also trapped, and confused, in the dollhouse but not affected by the shrinking. "Ack! Big monsters that looks like rats!" both Sweeper and Tartan exclaim together. They both run out and hide!
Party Conditions: ---
Terrain Features: ---
Map Link: ENCOUNTER MAP
Other Notes: ☘️ - Hero Points. OG means off-guard.
CHARACTER IN ➤ BOLD TYPEFACE CAN ACT!
➤ Moist Definitely
➤ Hanu, Friend of the Wood
Yellow Giant Mouse
Zepth
Black Giant Mouse
Rybar Gannon
Olegaro
Ōtani Yoshitsugu | Minor Curse
Red Giant Mouse