[Outpost VIII]Redelia's Unleashing the Untouchable (Inactive)

Game Master Redelia

After teleporting, you find yourselves in a series of caverns that are about 40 ft tall. You start out in the area indicated by the yellow box, but find nothing in the areas that are revealed on the map.

This is strange, but the areas on the map that appear to be water are actually magma.

(since PbP can stall horribly in this sort of dungeon crawl, please indicate if you wish to explore as indicated by the pink arrow, the blue arrow, the green arrow, or the orange arrow. (if these colors create a problem for anyone, please let me know, either in discussion or PM, and we'll find a fix)

"Good work everyone." rumbles Thargash glancing around the party's new location.

Spotting no immediate danger, he quickly reloads a couple of wands into their wrist sheaths, before magically enhancing his mental sharpness (casts heightened awareness) and (if nothing else specifically draws his attention) pointing down one of the corridors (the one with the pink arrow) "Once everyone is ready shall we start with that one and then work our way around the others in order?".

Once we start exploring Thargash is happy to take the lead in the marching order.

Aquana has no problems being wet. Sorry Gurkagh. Didn't mean to. Here, this is how it works. Yes. That's excellent. Just like that next time

Once teleported.

Okay ... see no reason why not. Lead on big guy.

Garam looks around as well, That was a close one, dragons can be annoying. One route seems as good as any other he says, quietly activating his own wand of heightened awareness just in case.

Tsrvk waves goodbye to the dragon as they teleport away. He looks around at their new surroundings, notes the pools of magma as a hazard to avoid, and taps himself with a wand. Heightened Awareness in effect for 10 minutes; he'll dismiss it if rolling initiative.

He also uses pearls of power to recover his Intensified Shocking Grasp and Chill Touch spells.

Not wanting to spend ten minutes to polish his singing armor, he uses his tail to retrieve a small tuning fork and carries it with him, along with his drawn scimitar.

Then he follows behind Thargash.

Seeing no objections to his plan Thargash leads the party along the corridor he had pointed towards.

Once everyone has completed any preparations, Thargash will head along the corridor indicated with the pink arrow, keeping his eyes peeled for trouble.

A shimmering cube of force ten feet on each side hovers inches off of the ground at the back of this ancient chamber. Seated cross-legged inside the cube is a horned, crimson-skinned creature covered in golden runic tattoos. Deep, jagged scars mar some of the creature’s tattoos, and its wrists are bound by a thick pair of cold iron shackles covered in blazing blue sigils.

The creature tries to start a conversation as you enter the room. "“What a fortunate discovery you’ve made. It is not every day outsiders such as you stumble upon a literal genie, such as myself, in need of freedom. Surely you’re aware how those stories go, yes? Freedom for a wish or three? Today is a day like those stories, if you would have it be so.”

Aquana looks very skeptical at the entity. She mutters something about bridges.

k planes: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (14) + 23 = 37

Thargash considers the creature in the cube with an intrigued look "You certainly seem to have found yourself in an interesting situation. Who are you and how did you find yourself in these circumstances?".

"Gurkagh say Gurkagh not know where Gurkagh is or what Gurkagh doing. But Gurkagh like to meet genie! Why magic keep genie in?"

Knowing that sometimes evil spirits try to trick him, Gurkagh tries to listen carefully to the creature's words, though it's easy to get distracted in a place like this.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

“I am Isah the Golden, First Flame of the Secret Fire. I am enemy to those who claim this place as their own and potentially your greatest ally, if you free me. The Secret Fire is an organization opposed to Ymeri’s rule of the Plane of Fire. Ymeri pushes my people to war with the shaitans—a selfish and ignoble conflict that destabilizes the planes. I trusted overmuch in the strength of some humans. The creatures that guard this place ambushed us, and now I reap the rewards of such misplaced trust. These were mortals from the Material Plane—agents of an organization called the Aspis Consortium. They paid for my services and knowledge. They heard other mortals—Pathfinders—were looking for this place. They knew not why, and that infuriated them. So they sought out someone knowledgeable about this place, paid well for that knowledge, and secured my expertise to lead them here past its guardians. Unfortunately for us all, they were neither as strong nor as confident as they boasted.”

This is indeed an efreeti genie. They are genies from the plane of fire. They are usually lawful evil, so can usually be trusted to keep their bargains. They can grant wishes.

"Gurkagh know Aspis bad guys. So you good guy? How we set you free?"

Garam listens carefully to the Genie.

Planes, Heroism: 1d20 + 31 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 31 + 2 = 50
Sense Motive, Heroism: 1d20 + 28 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 28 + 2 = 44

Genies do have something of a reputation for...duplicity. How can we trust what you say is true?

"It is nice to meet you Isah the Golden." nods Thargash in reply to the genie.

Noting Gurkagh's question concerning how Isah could be freed, the big druid glances around to see if he can glean any more information about the nature of the genie's imprisonment.

Thargash will have a bit of a look around for any useful information or clues, including using detect magic to get a good idea of what is magical in the area.

perception + hunter's blessing: 1d20 + 28 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 28 + 2 = 50

Wishes are tricky things ... so I shall pass thank you. But if you are indeed the enemy of our enemy then, your assistance would be appreciated.

Tsrvk and Froo Froo look at Isah the Golden with interest, never having met a genie before.

Tsrvk Planes, HA: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (4) + 16 = 20
Froo Froo Planes, HA: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (10) + 24 = 34

"What sorts of creatures ambushed you? They must have been powerful indeed to capture one so mighty as yourself... And what of your Aspis employers? Where are they?"

While they converse, Tsrvk takes out a cloth and buffs his armor, trying to get it nice and shiny once again.

None of you know anything else relevant out of combat about this creature. (If this goes to combat, I will use those rolls)

Isah points to some glowing runes on the wall as the way to set him free. The runes do indeed detect as magic, as does the force cage around him and his restraints.

(no skill checks needed; you can set him free by tracing the runes.)

" I would certainly be grateful to anyone who sets me free, and provide assistance. What sort of assistance would you want?"

(a diplomacy check will influence how much help he is willing to provide)

"Are there any areas where you think you could be of particular assistance to us?" enquires Thargash...

diplomacy: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (19) + 23 = 42

I'm happy to ask for any other specific assistance anyone in the party wants to request as well.

"I know what has been done to disable the truflame machinery here, and can tell one who releases me how to fix it. As I said, I can offer wishes, and for one who has released me from a captivity sure to lead to torment and death, I would be likely to suggest rephrasing of an unfortunately worded wish. I am also not without abilities in combat."

(no further diplomacy checks needed)

Any further questions? If not, what do you do?

Aquana steps forward. Give me the word and I shall deal to these runes. Although, I would suggest that we all learn how to fix the mechanisms

"Sounds good from my point of view." nods Thargash regarding Aquana's suggestion about tracing the runes.

Gurkagh looks lost in thought. "Gurkagh say so truflame burn bad pearl and then we go home?"

Aquana shrugs and begins chasing the rune while listening for anyone to say 'Stop!'

Tsrvk doesn't stop Aquana but he looks suspiciously at Isah. "And about the ambush? I don't think you explained who or what captured one so mighty as yourself? Might be useful for us to know..."

"The truflame will help us shatter the pearl, but it sounds like we need to fix the machinery which produces the truflame first." Thargash replies to Gurkagh's question, before seeing if he can assist Aquana with the runes.

Garam keeps quiet but retains a careful watch on the efreeti, expecting it to betray them at any moment.

After the runes are traced, Isa is free. He bows to you in a courtly way in thanks, and then asks what you would like to know.

(I'll make some assumptions as to what you ask now based on the above posts)

He explains that there are four areas where the delicate machinery that controls the truflame forge were damaged by Ymeri's agents. He explains that if you wish to use the forge, you will need to repair the damage in each of these locations.

He also explains that he and the group of humans were caught by surprise, which is why he was captured. He also had been misled by the humans as to their strength and capabilites.

To keep things moving, I'll provide the info for the four truflame repair rooms, and you can roll the checks.

D4: this area contains the distillation capacitor. It stores and processes the bursts of truflame to provide a more steady stream of fire at the forge. You know that craft:alchemy is the best skill to use here.

d5: this area has the eldritch calculus. It assesses dangerous fluctuations in truflame flares and uses magic to direct the fires. Knowledge:arcana is the best way to fix this.

d6: the pyroclastic aperture. It controls the valves and pipe widths to control the amount of truflame that enters the system. craft(clockwork), knowledge(engineering), and profession(engineer) all would be ideal here.

d7: the metaplanar engine. This device warps the esoteric boundaries between the Planes of Earth and Fire, using the energy of excess truflame to fuel the processes that provoke sustained bursts of truflame. Knowledge(planes) would be the best skill.

You may try each room only once (once per team, not once per person), and will not know if you succeeded or failed. If no one in your team has the best skill listed above, you can try to use craft(clockwork), disable device, knowledge(arcana), knowledge(engineering), knowledge(planes), profession(engineer), or use magic device for any of them, but it will be more difficult.

Please use discussion to pick who will make each of these skill checks, and then as a group provide me with one roll per room. Others can try to aid, following the usual rolls.

Also let me know if any of you have a fire affinity boon, know Ignan, or if there are any other things that you think should give a circumstance bonus on these checks.

It is an option to use one of the wished from Isah to fix a machine, if you choose. (also, Aquana and Garam get a bonus from the briefing skill checks)

Thargash furrows his brow as Isah explains the broken equipment and what would be required to fix it. ”Sounds like a job for the more knowledgeable members of our group.” he rumbles ”Although I’m happy to help if anything needs lifting.”

The only one of those skills that Thargash is any good at is UMD which isn’t one of the preferred skills and there are definitely more skilled members of the party than him for the skills needed.

”I guess we also have the option of using the wishes you offered, am I correct in thinking it was three of them?” he asks the genie. ”Although perhaps we want to use them for something else?”.

Garam will get to work on the Eldritch Calculus and Metaplanar Engine.

Well, these machines are really very complex. I do wonder just who first made them, they have very advanced magic and technology. Really quite remarkable. It would be invaluable to be able to spend more time here studying them but alas I suspect that is not likely.

As he works he mutters a spell to assist him.

Casting investigative mind so I can roll twice and take the better.

Eldritch Calculus, heroism: 2d20 ⇒ (11, 6) = 17, take better +31 base +2 heroism +2 pathfinder chronicle for 46

Metaplanar Engine, heroism: 2d20 ⇒ (4, 20) = 24, take better +31 base +2 heroism +2 pathfinder chronicle for 55

Well, hopefully that should be them sorted.

OK, that's two of the checks made. As I said earlier, unfortunately you don't know if you were successful. What about the other two? Are you going to use two of your three wishes, or roll skills?

Thargash watches Garam work on the Eldritch Calculus and tries to make the occasional useful comment (i.e. tries to aid on Garam's roll)...

knowledge (arcana) + heightened awareness to aid Garam : 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 = 13

"Shall I ask Isah to use his powers to fix remaining two devices?" he suggests.

If no one objects he will speak to Isah and make use of the offered wishes to fix the remaining two machines without the need for a skill roll.

”I guess we also have the option of using the wishes you offered, am I correct in thinking it was three of them?” he asks the genie. ”Although perhaps we want to use them for something else?”.

Garam looks over to Thargash. I think I can handle the other two while I have my magical enhancements running. Let's save our wishes. Stand back, just in case this goes wrong...

Distillation Capacitor, heroism: 2d20 ⇒ (8, 6) = 14, take better +31 base +2 heroism +2 pathfinder chronicle for 43

Pyroclasmic Aperture, heroism: 2d20 ⇒ (17, 13) = 30, take better +31 base +2 heroism +2 pathfinder chronicle for 52

"Sounds good to me." replies Thargash. He stands back out of the way, but looks to provide any assistance where he can...

knowledge (arcana) + heightened awareness to aid Garam (Distillation Capacitor): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 2 = 15
knowledge (arcana) + heightened awareness to aid Garam (Pyroclasmic Aperture): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 2 = 8

Gurkagh maintains a wide, friendly smile. It's clear he doesn't really know what's happening, but, he doesn't really seem to mind, either.

Aquana will also provide assistance to Garam
Eldritch Calculus: k planes: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (13) + 23 = 36
Metaplanar Engine: k planes: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (1) + 23 = 24
Distillation Capacitor: k arcana: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (1) + 23 = 24
Pyroclasmic Aperture: k arcana: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (9) + 23 = 32

Once Garam has completed his repairs to the machinery Thargash turns to Isah "Now that the machinery has been repaired is there anything else we need to do before we use the forge? If not, are you able to show us the forge itself and how to operate it so that we can complete what we came here to do?".

From a timing perspective how long has it been since we teleported here from the circle at the top of the ziggurat?

Tsrvk, are you assisting on any of those checks?

Sorry for the posting delay - been a hectic few days.

Tsrvk and Froo Froo offer what assistance they can.

I think Garam used Arcana for all the rolls?

distillation capacitor
Tsrvk Aid: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (7) + 24 = 31
Froo Froo Aid: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (6) + 28 = 34

eldritch calculus
Tsrvk Aid: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (4) + 24 = 28
Froo Froo Aid: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (20) + 28 = 48

pyroclastic aperture
Tsrvk Aid: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (13) + 24 = 37
Froo Froo Aid: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (7) + 28 = 35

metaplanar engine
Tsrvk Aid: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (9) + 24 = 33
Froo Froo Aid: 1d20 + 28 ⇒ (9) + 28 = 37

"I guess we're good to fire up the forge now?" Thargash asks the genie. "Are you able to show us what we need to do to use it?"

Isah assists at all of the calibrations/adjustments that are needed, and then leads you to the forge area.

A massive, twenty-foot-tall brass statue of a three-headed ibis nearly reaches the ceiling at the back of the chamber. Six curving wings extend from the statue’s back, resembling sculpted flames. Each of the ibis’s three avian heads stares down with an open mouth at a ten-foot-wide stone basin at the statue’s feet. An Ignan rune on the basin’s rim glows like hot metal. Flames light up the statue's wings.

(knowledge:planes check to learn more)

Please place your tokens in the room, near the stairs.

Tsrvk polishes his armor to get it nice and shiny and also taps himself again with his wand of Heightened Awareness.

Planes (Tsrvk): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (1) + 16 = 17
Planes (Froo Froo): 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (9) + 24 = 33

GM, how much time has passed (since we first landed on the plane, or since we passed through the ziggurat portal, or any other useful event)? Thx.

k planes: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (5) + 23 = 28

Well this is the Plane of Earth and Fire ... not her speciality

With it looking like the party are now almost ready to complete their task, Thargash casts a few more long running spells as a precaution before they get started.

Assuming we have not been here long enough that his 10 minute per level spells are at risk of running out soon, Thargash will cast the following: communal air walk on everyone in the party who is not currently able to fly, which I think is just Aquana and Gurkagh, but he will also include Isah if he doesn't have a flight option. barkskin on two members of the party who don't already have it. freedom of movement on himself. bull's strength on himself if it has run out since the fight at the ziggurat.

"So, how do we make this thing work?" he enquires looking over the statue and the basin at it's feet. "We should also get the other artifacts ready to begin the process." he adds retrieving Fossilblight, along with his wand of lead blades ready to cast it on himself once the Pathfinders are ready to start the task of shattering the opal.

Garam has a look over the strange statue as well. He takes out the Peal and examines it as he works.

Planes, Heroism: 1d20 + 31 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 31 + 2 = 46

Lets see if we can turn this thing on now hopefully the machines are all aligned. Be careful though, with stuff like this it may well explode.

Aquana and Garam know that the statue depicts the lost elemental lord of fire Atreia, the Lambant Prince.

Aquana, since she knows Ignan, can read the runes, which say 'fire'. It's clear to her that the runes constitute a button to turn on the forge.

The adventure does not specify how long each recalibratio/repair takes. If I say that it's been about an hour since you teleported, I believe that will mean that 1 minute per level spells have expired, but not 10 min per level spells. If there is anything that is right on the border of expired or not, let me know and I can try to be more specific.

Being the wise and knowledgeable agents that you all are, it is clear to you that you need to place the Untouchable Opal in the basin and then hold down the rune 'button' for several seconds to bathe it in truflame.

Please adjust your tokens on the map based on who is actually pushing the 'button.'

As we’ve been here an hour, I guess that puts us at 2.5 hours since the first encounter which would mean that Thargash would also have lost echolocation, but his other 10 minute per level spells would still be active due to having been extended or having been cast later. As he has a second casting of echolocation memorised he will recast it on himself.

”So we need to put the Opal in the basin and then press those runes?” rumbles Thargash. ”I’ll be ready with Fossilblight and Gurkagh you should get ready with the Breath of Lysianassa so we can do our bits. Who wants to use the runes to activate the forge?”

Once the party are ready to proceed Thargash uses his wand to cast lead blades in order to enhance Fossilblight’s effectiveness, puts the wand away, and then readies himself to use the weapon to shatter the Opal.

As Thargash has reach I assume he would be able to use Fossilblight on the Opal in the basin from his current location? If not then he’s happy to move closer (he’s 5 feet up so should be able to hover over people if necessary).

I'll push the button if no one else really wants to

Garam grins, Its good of you to offer but I'll do it. Get back everyone, who knows what might happen.

"Sounds like we've got a plan, shall we get started."

Aquana finds something to duck behind if there is an explosion.