GM Jhaeman's PFS1 Module: "Curse of the Riven Sky"

Game Master Jhaeman

I'm afraid I lost track long ago of how many traveling days we've spent. Does anyone have that amount? Also, Adeah has a +15 Survival; can I forage as we go to cut down on rations needed? Is there forage to be had up here?

It's been two days since you left the giant caves. (I put in regular reminders from the castle to the giant caves, so I assume you'll have marked off rations then)

You can try to forage/hunt as you go (Taking 10 with your Survival will succeed automatically), but means you move at half speed. Everything in Pathfinder is a trade-off :) Let me know how you'd like to proceed.

I think this is Day Eight, and we had one day of rations' avoided by the farmers' hospitality. So everyone has used up 7 days of rations, I think.
We may be asking Berato to prepare Create Food and Water from now on. I would say it is worth it just to avoid the hassle of tracking.

At the end of the first days travel Farrokh will again cast his standard bedtime spells.

----

"Hmmm, I wander what city that is." ponders the wizard upon spotting the settlement...

knowledge (geography): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

...Before casting a couple of spells on himself (mage armor and overland flight).

You can try to forage/hunt as you go (Taking 10 with your Survival will succeed automatically), but means you move at half speed. Everything in Pathfinder is a trade-off :) Let me know how you'd like to proceed.

I vote full speed. Got a bag of holding full of rations, cheese, beer, cake mix and meat. If we die from starvation, we'll be dying fat.

Edit: forgot the firewood, the bread, the honey and the coffee. I think we're good.

Xilt shrugs at the concept of foraging for food like an animal.

”I would be glad to Teleport anyone back to Absalom should we need any supplies.”

Farrokh tries to connect the features of the town he sees below with his knowledge of the Land of the Linnorm Kings . . .

@Everyone: Ok, so the majority seems to be in favour of moving at regular speed (someone may need to share rations with Adeah?). As it's sunset, it's up to you whether you want to camp where you are, enter the settlement, etc.

No need, I have enough, it was just a suggestion so we don't have to keep track. But I agree that full speed is better. I do like the create food and water idea though.

"Anybody know this area? What're we looking at?"

"Based on where we are and how spread out the different bits of the city look to be, I think that must be Jol." suggests Farrokh. "If we need any supplies we should be able to purchase them there."

The group camps for the night in the shelter of Xilt's mystical redoubt.

I can't tell what the plan is, so I'm just going to assume you set up camp. In the morning, do you want to go into the city or keep going toward the Storm Queen's castle?

Storm Queen

We have a reason to go to the Storm Queen, I'm not sure we have much need to go into the city, so that's my vote as well.

Bypassing the city, the group covers several miles through the intimidating, frozen landscape.

At about mid-afternoon on the third day of travel out from the hill giant camp, a bizarre storm manifests. Dark clouds gather rapidly and fill the sky, and with the aid of fierce winds and frequent lightning strikes it begins to rain--but what falls isn’t water! Instead of raindrops, strange, reddish, gelatinous goo starts coming down in fist-sized clumps!

Fortunately, after about 30 seconds or so, regular rain water starts to fall.

Each of you may attempt a Perception check.

"Eugh," Adeah says in disgust, wrinkling her nose. She folds her wings over her head, trying to keep the worst of the goo off her hair and face. The reddish stuff mixes with the bright red of her feathers; if they already couldn't support her weight, the gummed-up feathers certainly can't now.

Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (15) + 16 = 31

Assuming Anthys is next to Berato for Scion of the Lost Empire via Solo Tactics.

Perception, Scion: 1d20 + 11 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 11 + 3 = 27

"Anybody have any idea what this substance is? Is it dangerous to us, or corrosive to our equipment?"

Farrokh will continue to cast his usual overnight spells and part way into the afternoon he will also cast mage armor and overland flight.

---

perception: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (2) + 23 = 25

Farrokh squints at the goo trying to work out what it is.

Would a knowledge check be an option to get information about the goo?

Xilt puzzles out the strange rain.

perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 26

Tzleztor tries to show up his master as per usual.

perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27

Perception: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (8) + 25 = 33

After the gummy deluge, Berato closely peers into one of the largest clumps, detecting for magic as he does.

Detect magic

You all notice that the globs of goo move slowly across the ground upon which they fell, and when two clumps meet, they join to form a larger one!

You all made the Perception DC to realise the information above. A Knowledge (dungeoneering) check may discern more. These clumps are forming very slowly at this point, and are easily avoided if you decide to keep moving.

@Berato: The goo does not detect as magical.

Tzleztor points out some details about the creature that his master may have overlooked.

Knowledge Dungeoneering Aid Dc 10: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Xilt suspects a looming conflict and casts Heightened Awareness to sharpen his mind and his reflexes. He then ponders the nature of the strange rain.

33 Knowledge Dungeoneering with the aid of his familiar and the Heightened Awareness spell on a take 10.

Knowledge (Dungeoneering): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Anthys knows nothing of the ooze-rain.

knowledge (dungeoneering): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

No Knowledge (dungeoneering) here.

Farrokh and Xilt apply their experience and knowledge to the bizarre scene.

"Hmmm, this goo looks a lot like the goo found in gelatinous cubes, except its red." observers Farrokh "I think it may be raining red gelatinous cubes!"

How big is the area that the gelatinous cube rain has covered? Also how fast are they moving, do they look to be slower than us?

The group are temporarily stunned by Farrokh's announcement!

@Farrokh: The rain is falling in the outdoors equivalent of several city blocks. They definitely look to be much slower than you.

Xilt and Tzleztor take to the air to avoid the strange blobs. They attempt to move to a safe distance.

”Moving away is best. No need to get into an unnecessary fight.”

The wizard muses.

”Strange that the rain does not have a paralyzing effect.”

His sidekick familiar quips with his usual level of sarcasm.

”Sure would you like me to whip out a quill and write a report on that discovery?”

Farrokh also takes advantage of his flight to keep away from the blobs.

"Sounds reasonable to me."

The Pathfinders take to the air (or move fleetly of foot!) to avoid the bizarre agglomeration of reddish goo and quickly vacate the area. Should the slowly creeping dangers ever make their way to a civilised area, it will be the fate of others to deal with them.

The rest of the third day's travel out from the hill giant camp is uneventful, and likewise passes most of the fourth. But near sunset on the fourth day of travel, a massive thunderhead rumbles in the otherwise-clear sky, with flares of lightning stabbing the darkness the storm brings.

Okay, I'll ask for a deduction of one more day's rations, restoration of spells, etc.

Knowledge (nature): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

"Oh man. I'm liking this region less and less." Adeah points to the giant thundercloud and gathering storm. "That storm shouldn't be there. It isn't natural. Could be a mage controlling the weather, could be something else entirely. But we're gonna have to find shelter."

At the end of the third day Farrokh casts his usual overnight spells.

Farrokh will take 10 to automatically make the knowledge (nature) DC.

"Based on her title it could well have something to do with the Storm Queen. Mighty Chief Grunf said her castle was four days travel from his camp." says Farrokh as he glances around seeing if he can spot anything that may help prove or disprove his hypothesis...

perception taking 10: 10 + 23 = 33

Farrokh peers intently at the storm clouds.

@Everyone: Posting will be a bit spotty over the next few days as I'm traveling.

"Huh... It looks like there may be more than just a magic storm up there..." observes Farrokh as he strains to see "There also appears to be giants flying around the storm on rocs."

"I recall Mighty Chief Grunf said the envoy he received was flying on a really big bird, so I'm guessing they could be followers of the Storm Queen."

"What does everyone want to do? If we are planning on going up there I could use a little time to memorise a few more spells before we do."

"We could lure them in, defeat them in battle, and then requisition their mounts for our own mission. By the size of these birds, we may need only two for our entire party."

”I guess one of the challenges with that would be getting the birds to cooperate. It may be more straightforward to use our own magic for aerial transportation.” Farrokh suggests.

If it looks like the plan is to head up to the storm or otherwise interact with the giants today, Farrokh will spend time to prepare some more spells.

"My communal air walk prayers will only last a short time... do you have long-term flying magics for the whole group?" replies Berato.

"Berato, I think Air Walk is a far better option for me than trying to ride a Roc. Infantry here."

Anthys lacks the Ride skill and the Handle Animal skill. My other Lastwall PC is a cavalier who would have no trouble with this, of course.

"Your spell would last a decently long while, would it not?"
100 minutes split among Berato, Adeah, and Anthys, correct? If Xilt or Farrokh prepare Teleport into an open slot then we will not need to Air Walk all that far.

"I do have a potion of Fly but that would not last nearly as long as your spell."

"Yes... without exploration first, I fear that a mere half hour of air walking wouldn't be sufficient to arrive to destination. Have you ever gone up five full flight of stairs? now imagine perhaps fifty times that amount. With all of our gear and armor. That's quite the climb. It may leave us exhausted on arrival. Do the mages have remote sensors or scrying capabilities which could find our arrival point first? I agree that we should teleport first, with air walk prayers active, and then finalize the gap with air walking. To do that, however, I would feel better if scouting is performed first, magical or otherwise. It would be quite the pickle if we teleport thousands of feet in the air only to bounce against some kind of antimagic shell..."

How high up is the storm? Could it be air walked up to from below in half an hour?

The Pathfinders discuss how to reach the storm . . .

@Farrokh: The bottom "edge" of the storm cloud is about 4,000 feet up in the air.

"Even without teleporting, I would be able to ascend that distance without tiring."
The "diagonal ascending at half speed" rule for 3-D movement means that a double move (for 30' move speed) is 30' up and 30' over. So we are looking at ~133 rounds, or 13 minutes. Hustling (double moving) for 13 minutes does not cause fatigue.

"I am not sure what sort of scrying would assuage Berato's concerns, but I have no problem waiting if the wizards have options that would do so."

"I'm not sure I can help much in that regard." replies Farrokh "Although I should be able to help if that lightning looks like it will be a problem for us."

Berato looks at Farrokh hovering above ground, and says "You appear enspelled with permanent flight. How about you do a reconnaissance for us? if we pool our collective treasures I'm sure we can find you a potion of invisibility somewhere... assuming you can't do that to yourself already, that is..."

Berato has an...

"I can go and have a look around if we don't have any options for doing something from down here. Given the lightning and flying giants I'd want to make sure I'm at least invisible and protected from electricity before I head up there. Would anyone be able to help with either of those? On top of that any other assistance with not being spotted would obviously be helpful."

"I believe we have two potions of invisibility from Zoarth. But it's going to take me longer than they last to get up there, maybe 8 or so minutes. So I think it would be best to do the invisibility with a cast spell, possibly with the help of extension meta-magic, to ensure I've got enough duration to get up there and take a decent look around. The potions could then be an emergency backup just in case I lose the invisibility."

"Just to check on the bigger picture. Am I correct in thinking that we are planning that I go up and take a closer look at what is going on with this storm, then if it seems like we all need to go up there we'll fly or airwalk back up to the storm fairly soon after I return?"

Farrokh appears lost in thought for a moment while he does some calculations. "If no one else is able to assist, I should be able to cast the spells myself, although I'd likely need to use space normally reserved for more powerful spells."

"Before I go, I'd also want to make sure we have confirmed the plan for what we anticipating doing once I return. As I'm going to be a good distance away from any aid if I run into trouble, I'm going to want to put up a reasonable number of medium term magical protections before I leave. I will only have enough power to properly do that once today, so I'd want to make sure that once I return everyone will be ready to head up to the storm fairly quickly afterwards, as I would not want my magical protections to expire. It would also be good to confirm my assumption that the plan to get up there would be a combination of flight and air walking."

"I know an invisibility spell myself, but I don't think it will last long enough. I can certainly go with you, for backup, but I'd need a way of getting there."

(My invisibility is only CL 5 and I don't have a way of extending the duration. Also only 3 of them per day.)

"With the help of my meta-magic rod I should be able to give myself enough invisibility to get up there and have a good amount of time to poke around, so I'd be happy to cast it on myself."

"Is everyone good with the plan which I outlined? If so I'll go ahead and start memorising the spells I need."