Phantom Phenomena (Inactive)

Game Master Shadow Dragon

Victor bows politely to the reflection on the table. "Apologies for our intrusion Lady Illirigarde, I am Victor." he says "We have been sent here by our colleague Dr. Quolorum to see if we could find out about your research into the psychic phenomena affecting this area of the Hungry Mountains. He believed you were close to a breakthrough and mentioned something about 'etheric compasses'. Would you be able to aid us at all?"

Then noticing that the spirit seams weaker than previously he adds "Are you ok Lady Illirigarde, your spirit appears to be weakening? Can we assist you in any way?"

Daegon bows his head.

As my colleague has stated...we were sent by Dr. Quolorum to see what can be gleaned from your research and notes. Any thing you can tell us that isn't in your papers would be of great benefit.

"Greetings Wictor and Daegon. I was...unwise in how I conducted my research and work. My arrogance caused suffering for people and my creation Andolf. She gestures to what little remains of the homunculus. He was my first attempt to make something that could track the source of the disturbance but, as you see, that did not work. In the end he used my distraction and fatigue to create what you call 'etheric compasses' to end my life. A fitting punishment I suppose."

The spirit of Lady Illirigarde reaches down to the table on her side, picks up the two silver disks, and holds them up to the surface.

"I beg of you, even though I have no right to ask, please use these to locate the source of this strangeness so that it may end."

In response to Victor's last question she replies, "It is the normal course of life and death Wictor. I am long overdue for my journey to The Boneyard and the Judgement from the Lady of Graves. I was hoping I could hold here long enough to find someone to finish my work."

Quinn watches on, a solemn look on his face. As strange as the past few days have been, he feels sympathy for a woman whose life ended before she could achieve her purpose.

Guardian sluggishly approaches the surface that holds Lady Illirigarde, promising

We will do our best to execute this task swiftly so that you may have peace and undertake your transition to the next world.

He lets others already closer take the offered compasses.

"Of course. We will do all we can to get to the bottom of these strange phenomena." promises Victor, who reaches down to take the silver disks.

Cannoli nods knowingly, ”Cool cool, so we track this thing down and then what? And how do we free your soul? Bash up your table?”

"Of course. We will do all we can to get to the bottom of these strange phenomena." promises Victor, who reaches down to take the silver disks.

Victor realizes the spirit is unable to reach through the surface of the table into the living world meaning he will have to reach into the spirit realm...

Cannoli nods knowingly, ”Cool cool, so we track this thing down and then what? And how do we free your soul? Bash up your table?”

"I hope you can end, cleanse, whatever is needed to stop the madness. As for me, no need to smash anything; my spirit is fading as we speak. Perhaps this Dr. of yours would be interested in my notes; they are in my Laboratory."

Victor tries to push his hands through the table to take the disks.

Cannoli readies to grab Victor when he inevitably gets pulled in.

Victor tries to push his hands through the table to take the disks.

Victor's hands easily pass through the boundary. Lady Illirigarde readily hands the disks to Victor and then lowers her hands and smiles as she rapidly dissipates.

When Victor pulls his hands back he notices the disks feel almost slimy but everyone notices they have a wispy, shadowy appearance and that they appear to be slowly evaporating.

Cannoli readies to grab Victor when he inevitably gets pulled in.

Nah that's too obvious. Victor is going to be possessed by all manner of evil spirits bent on world domination starting with murdering everyone around him just fine! :)

Cannoli rips out a box they were given and yells, ”Put one in here quickly, who has the other cage thingy?!?”

The Varisian places one of the disks in the box being held by Cannoli, and then places the other disk in the second box once it is available.

The Varisian places one of the disks in the box being held by Cannoli, and then places the other disk in the second box once it is available.

We'll assume it's being held by someone who isn't playing 'keep away' from you. ;)

After Cannoli and Victor places the disks in the crystal storage containers, they stop dissipating and slowly solidify.
As a bonus it appears Dr. Quolorum was correct - nothing negative happens when using the crystal containers.

What does the group wish to do next?

The catfolk snaps her claws together to get everyone’s attention, ”Alright then. Easy job there, other than the stabbity mites. Let’s head out and grab the doc’s vial in his office next. Nothing could go wrong on that job.”

Harrow Card!: 1d6 ⇒ 2

She pulls another card out of her pack, then shivers, ”Oooh, I feel all… twitchy! More than usual even.”

Quinn furrows his brow slightly and sighs. "I'm happy to lend Dr Quolorum a hand, but I have to say sending half a dozen Pathfinders to pick up a vial from his office seems like overkill!"

This letter is on Slide # 12 for everyone's reference.

"Lady Illirigarde mentioned she had some research notes in her Laboratory." notes Victor "Before we leave the manor we should probably retrieve those for Dr Quolorum as well."

"It may also be worth checking that other door we found with the light coming from it."

Looks like 2 votes to leave, 1 to search the Laboratory; we'll see what the others think.

I completely forgot about the notes already, my bad.

”Oh yeah, the notes. Right. Definitely didn’t forget about that. Let’s go get them.”

Hopefully the research is kept together in one place. She seemed like the type to do so...not a mad bumbling sage with things tossed around randomly. Daegon moves to the lab. He looks for any scrolls, tomes and folders.

I swear I thought I had posted this hours ago! But obviously, I didn't... :-/

”Let's go to the laboratory to get the notes. Lady Illirigarde, is there anything we should know about that room? Any traps or, uh, other dangers we should be aware of? We heard scratching down the corridor...”

Vreekka seems eager to get her hands on the notes of Lady Illirigarde, but also behaves untypically cautiously.

Maybe witnessing that most of her teammates cannot hit a mere mite on the first try if their life depended on it has something to do with it? :-P ;-)

I swear I thought I had posted this hours ago! But obviously, I didn't... :-/

”Let's go to the laboratory to get the notes. Lady Illirigarde, is there anything we should know about that room? Any traps or, uh, other dangers we should be aware of? We heard scratching down the corridor...”

Vreekka seems eager to get her hands on the notes of Lady Illirigarde, but also behaves untypically cautiously.

Maybe witnessing that most of her teammates cannot hit a mere mite on the first try if their life depended on it has something to do with it? :-P ;-)

The system gets hungry and eats messages and posts. 8)

"None that I placed. As for dangers none that I'm aware of now that Andolf is destroyed."

"Lady Illirigarde mentioned she had some research notes in her Laboratory." notes Victor "Before we leave the manor we should probably retrieve those for Dr Quolorum as well."

"It may also be worth checking that other door we found with the light coming from it."

Victor remembers the way to the room with the light and notices the light has gone out. There's also no more scratching sounds.

Everyone in the group, thanks to Vreekka's insight into homunculus, suspects Andolf was the source of both the light and the scratching sound.

I've added a map of the entire Manor on Slide 2 and a closeup of the Laboratory on Slide 3.

This room’s walls are polished steel, and it contains several workbenches littered with broken glassware and alchemical apparatuses. Four tall mirrors hang from the walls. The bare floor suffers blast scars, as if some great explosion had taken place here.

The light is coming from an alembic stand.

Spellcraft checks please!

Cannoli, Vreekka, Victor, and Quinn find two intact vials of alchemical acid among the shattered laboratory supplies. Although scattered, damaged, and some burned badly, the group manages to collect what's left of Lady Illirigarde's work.

Make sure someone writes down the 2 acid vials and perhaps decides who is carrying those and the 2 vials of holy water. While the group can RP this is the end of the 'Manor' chapter. What would the group like to do next?

Spellcraft + harrow + guidance: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Back!

Guardian seems fascinated by the disks' shadowy, wispy appearance. Perhaps it is familiar or comforting to him.

--------------------

Unfortunately, Guardian is not trained in the ways of spellcraft.

I guess we need to keep looking to find those notes.

[dice=Spellcraft + harrow + guidance]1d20+7

Victor recognizes someone, likely Andolf, cast Light on the alembic.

"It looks like that light was just a simple light spell rather than anything more sinister." suggests Victor as he examines the alembic stand.

My carrying capacity is maxed out, so I won't take those acid flasks or holy waters.

Cannoli hands the documents and journals over to Guardian, "We found it all. Probably. Here you go."

The GM stated we found all of her work.

___________________

She turns to Quinn, "Great idea earlier! I'll go alone to pick up that vial thingy the professor wants and you all head to the final note location thingy. Splitting up is genius. I don't know why pathfinder groups don't ever do it."

Her unwise ways are definitely back to being even more unwise after losing that +2 Wisdom Harrow bonus.

Well, that was rather easy...wait...I likely just jinxed us, didn't I... Daegon says with a sheepish grin.

i'll take one of the acid...and i'll roll the Harrow deck bonus now...in case it's needed for any research purposes for the next partharrow: 1d6 ⇒ 2

dex...nice...

"Ah, nice, alchemical weapons!”

Vreekka's face lights up.

Aid Spellcraft t: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Vreekka nods when hearing Victor's analysis.

"That makes sense.”

Vreekka adds her INT-modifier (+5) to the damage of splash weapons, so it would make sense that she takes at least 1 holy water.

Quinn raises an eyebrow at Cannoli. "I can tell you're being sarcastic, so we can all troop down there if you want. But you've gotta admit, it's a bit ridiculous."

I know Cannoli is kidding around but, to clarify, does the group want to skip the next note (Monolith - Slide 6) and proceed to the one after that (University - Slide 7)?

Lol, that’s what I get for not looking at the slides. We should do the monolith next. Keeping in order is working out so far, that’s my vote at least.

Cannoli is confused, ”Sarcasm? No my good sir, definitely not. It sounded like a genuinely good idea. But I will do as the group wishes. Now let’s look over our missions.”

She checks the notes and nods a few times, ”Well hey meow, this monolith thing is close by. Let’s swing past on our way to the university. Seems prudent, not a thing I am known for, but maybe just this once.”

It seems a simple choice to proceed as we already have.

Guardian reaches into the harrow deck again.

Harrow draw: 1d6 ⇒ 3 ⇒ CON

"A visit to the monolith seems sensible to me." says Victor.

He also draws another card from the harrow deck...

Harrow deck: 1d6 ⇒ 3

"i agree. You never split the party, especially when it's not necessary..."

Vreekka draws another card from the harrow deck.

Harrow draw: 1d6 ⇒ 2 ⇒ DEX

Since nothing horrible has happened to anyone drawing from the Harrow deck yet but it's coming MUAHAHA! will Quinn give it a go this time?

The group decides to see what they either know or can learn about the Monolith before venturing to the site.

Make Knowledge (Local) or Diplomacy (Gather Information) checks and Knowledge (History checks. All checks do have a minimum DC of 10 so even the untrained can give it a try!

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Knowledge (history) untrained: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

The verbose catfolk can’t help but talk to anybody they run across, nagging them very nicely until they share any known details.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28

Knowledge (local), untrained: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Knowledge (history), untrained: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9 haha

Guardian XI is bumfuggled and his struggles communicating effectively with people continue!

Lezarus tells Victor, "The people of Dunhob avoid the ancient Kellid ruins, believing them cursed and dangerous. Dunhob folk wisdom insists that sprinkling iron shavings near the edge of Kellid ruins protects you, since the creatures within are forced to stop and count the shavings before chasing you."

Teiso, one of the little boys who follows Cannoli around Dunhob, tells her, "Glyphs of great power are inscribed on the monolith, designed to keep a great evil within that would sweep across the land and lay waste to everything. At least that's what my mom says to keep me from wandering over there and finding the ancient treasure hoard hidden within!"

During Victor's training as a spiritualist he was taught that Kellid barbarians ruled this land before it was Ustalav, and, depending on the tribe, they both worshipped and warded against powerful ancient evils.

Knowledge: Local t: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Knowledge: History t: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

[dice=Knowledge: Local t]1d20+7

[dice=Knowledge: History t]1d20+7

Elder Weath lectures Vreekka, "The monolith is rumored to have a Kellid burial complex beneath it, though the few villagers brave or foolish enough to venture nearby haven’t seen anything more dangerous than a few bugs. I'd let Victor enter the complex first!"

Once more Marcella gives Victor the Evil Eye; or is it gas?

Waiting since I know Quinn has both Knowledge (Local) and (History).

Quinn puts on his thinking cap . . .

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Knowledge (history): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

Quinn remembers reading once that Kellid barbarians ruled this land before it was Ustalav, and, depending on the tribe, they both worshipped and warded against powerful ancient evils.

The PCs have learned all they can from Knowledge checks. On to the Monolith?

Cannoli borrows a bag of iron shavings from the blacksmith, then complements them on their awesome tools, then heads to the monolith.

”Just in case. Now let’s go find that treasure!”