"Screech!" Silence let out a piercing battle cry and attacks.
extra damage on the first hit.
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The party teams up on Blue and manages to put it down, leaving Betel still prone but healed.
Dran’Thul moves to attack the one chewing on Betel, and though his first swing misses, his second strikes true.
Big Kitties
Conditions: none.
BOLD May Act
Meadow
Shayla
Kaz
Dran’Thul
Betel
6-legged Green Cat
Armor-plated Blue Cat , Dazzled, 22 < AC <= 27[/s]
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Betel hunkers down and casts a quick shielding spell. The tiger continues chewing on the fishy treat.
The fishy treat avoids getting bitten, but the tiger is undettered and tries again, getting a nice hunk of flesh and a good grip that time.
Big Kitties
Conditions: none.
BOLD May Act
Meadow
Shayla
Kaz
Dran’Thul
Betel
6-legged Green Cat
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The combined assault of Zak and Shayla cuts the tiger to shreds, freeing Betel from its jaws as it flops to the ground beside her.
Meadow
Shayla
Kaz
Dran’Thul
Betel
As you search around in the bushes for any further threats or signs of teleportation magic, you find several small shards of ancient Azlanti coins in the undergrowth. Zinthyra oohs and aahs over them and tells you that the right collector should be willing to pay about 110 gp for them.
Silence turns his head upside down and stares at the bizarre cat corpses. He hoots softly.
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Leaving the beach and moving inland, you come to a clearing that contains the remnants of building foundations scattered about. Zinthyra hums and studies the area. “I’m certain a teleportation circle leading to the laboratory has to be around here somewhere. Here, shovel-jockeys; start digging! So sayeth the great runelord!”
Options for how to help “the great runelord” include:
Clearing foliage from the site: DC 23 Athletics check to Force Open OR Thievery Check to Disable a Device
Noting and redirecting lost magical essence into the ancient and corroded teleportation circle: DC 25 Arcana OR Occultism check to Identify Magic.
Scout the undergrowth to find areas where magic is denser: DC 23 Nature OR Survival check to Recall Knowledge
Decipher the worn and weathered etchings on the surrounding ruins: DC 25 Society or DC 23 Azlanti Lore
Each of you may attempt TWO checks or other aid attempts (such as a creative solution involving casting a non-cantrip spell).
There is no penalty for the same person doing the same thing twice, nor is there any penalty for multiple people doing the same thing, nor is there a requirement to cover all four sections.
I am open to suggestions of other skills you may wish to use instead, as well as other creative solutions.
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Leaving the beach and moving inland, you come to a clearing that contains the remnants of building foundations scattered about. Zinthyra hums and studies the area. “I’m certain a teleportation circle leading to the laboratory has to be around here somewhere. Here, shovel-jockeys; start digging! So sayeth the great runelord!”
Meadow frowns at the sprite's imperious attitude. "Are you suuuurre you don't know Lily with the Blonde Hair?"
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Meadow gives the Venture-Captain-Trainee/Runelord-Lite some side-eye before heading into the woods to scout about. She and Dran’Thul work together to finds some signs of the circle.
Betel waves a forked stick around to pinpoint the arcane energies.
Shayla carefully clears away foliage from the intricate parts.
Your spritely “leader” flits eagerly through the air, positively buzzing with excitement as the teleportation circle glows brightly with arcane power.
“I hope you’re ready to step through, my worthy assistants. But I warn you: there are doubtless many dangers within. Terrible dangers. You could materialize inside out for all I know. But worry not, for I’ll use my exceptional powers to protect you! Are you ready?”
Eras gives a sigh. “Zinthyra, please remember, you’re being assessed as a potential venture-captain. Your role is to guide, not interfere, powers or not.”
The sprite gives a huff and folds her arms. “Fine, fine. Okay, well… I’ll be waiting back at the ship with Eras,” she says, a little dejectedly. “But here, take this.”
”I don’t think I know any Lily’s with Blonde Hair. But I do know a Lily who has a tendency to change her hair color on a whim. So maybe this century she’s blonde. I don’t know,” Zinthyra says apparently chastened as she hands Meadow a small gem and explains that it’s an aeon stone she’s adapted to allow for communication within Azlanti sites. “It’s powered by magical currents unique to Azlanti regions and still very experimental,” she adds, “but it shouldn’t explode. This time. I definitely fixed the exploding problem.”
You step into the teleportation circle and instantly appear within a tunnel. It’s dimly lit by glowing luminous orbs along the ceiling, and the walls are engraved stonework. Close examination of the walls show them to be carved in a style reminiscent of the early Azlanti empire. The ceilings throughout this dungeon are 25 feet tall.
The gemstone glows warm, and an image of Zinthyra appears within its glistening facts. “Wow!” exclaims the sprite, glancing you over. “You all arrived intact. And nobody’s inside out this time. We’ll count that a definite success. Well, get going, my trusty minions!” A soft cough can be heard from somewhere behind the sprite. She turns, nods, and says, “Sorry. Okay, we’ve got a lot of work to do. And if you happen to see any aeon stones you like, make sure to pick ‘em up now. No telling when the Society will be able to get back down here.”
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Walking down this first hall seems to take forever. Suspiciously so. After too many minutes of walking, you stop to consider what might be happening.
Anyone that wants to can attempt a DC 21 Arcana or Occultism check to Identify Magic.
Betel gets a +2 circumstance bonus to this check because she is doing Detect Magic.
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Betel easily realizes the nature of the teleportation effect and points out several options for everyone to get through the hallway:
Each PC must either succeed at one of these, or Follow the Expert without making a check themselves:
A PC who succeeds at a DC 25 Arcana or Occultism check to influence the magic in the hallway can get through it.
A PC who succeeds at a DC 28 Acrobatics or Stealth check can outrun the hallway by sheer force of effort or avoid whatever sensor is activating it.
A PC who succeeds at DC 23 Perception check can find a region of the tunnel that isn’t enchanted and slip past.
A PC can cast dispel magic. The hall’s ancient magic would have once been beyond the you to counteract, but it has weakened over millennia and is now merely equivalent to 5th rank with a counteract DC of 26.
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Kaz carefully studies the pattern to find any cracks or edges.
Zak just moves where he thinks feels right, quickly and gracefully and sometimes gliding briefly through the air.
Eidolons and summoners share a pool of actions. As a result, for Victory Point/success counting systems that allow each PC a limited number of chances to roll, either the summoner or the eidolon can attempt each check. The summoner's player chooses for each attempt which of the two rolls. Any direct consequences of failure apply to whichever creature rolled the check.
This rule does not mean that in general only one of the summoner or eidolon need to roll to deal with adverse situations. If everyone in a room needs to attempt a saving throw against a hazard, both the eidolon and the summoner need to attempt that saving throw. If every PC needs to overcome a particular obstacle in order to continue (such as crossing a chasm), the eidolon and summoner both need to get past the obstacle.
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This reminds me of what happened when Rain tried to leave the Vault
"Oh yeah! I read that chronicle. Silence and I are still banned from the library because of 'the incident' but I was able sneak in and read that one." Meadow makes finger quotes when she mentions 'the incident.'
"I bet if I look carefully I could find some spots where the enchantment is weak."
"Or maybe not."
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Zak and Kaz work together ( to the extent that the prickly sprite allows) and make it to an area of the hallway that seems unaffected by the magic. The blue illumination orbs in the ceiling above hum softly, and you notice the pitch and hue change just slightly in this area now.
The rest of the party guides Meadow who {pops} out into normal space last.
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The illumination orb in the next chamber is green. There’s a small hole in the east wall between two blocks of masonry. A glint of light reflects off something within. As you approach the hole, a faint hum fills the area, and arcs of electricity crackle within the fissure, threatening to shock anyone who reaches inside.
Someone quick or sneaky could quickly grab the item before getting shocked (DC 25 Acrobatics or Thievery check).
Someone careful and watchful can examine the dust beneath the energy field and find a safe place to insert their hand (DC 23 Perception or Survival check). Kaz would get a +1 circumstance bonus to this check for being the Scout.
Someone who casts a non-cantrip spell with the electricity trait around the fissure’s rim would short out the magical defenses and automatically succeed at obtaining the item.
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Betel looks oddly at Meadow. I actually work as a Librarian. What did you do?
Meadow bites her lower lip in embarrassment.
"It really was just a teeny tiny mix-up. Silence and I were still pretty new to being pathfinders. We hadn't even been on a mission yet and Silence still hadn't quite figured out about familiars. We were in the library reading chronicles and he saw a mouse so he flew over to catch it. Fortunately for that witch lady the mouse managed to get away but Silence kept chasing him. I tried to stop him but I bumped into that wizard that works with Valeros and Merisiel all the time. He was working on his spellbook and, well...we knocked over a bookcase. It wasn't that bad really."
Meadow blushes.
"Well except that bookcase knocked over another bookcase and that one knocked over another and before I knew it there were six bookcases on the floor and books everywhere and that wizard's ink spilled all over his spellbook and the witch lady was yelling at us and...yeah it was kinda bad. Anyway I totally offered to clean everything up but the head librarian kicked us out anyway and said that we can't come back. The witch lady threatened to put a curse on us and the wizard called Silence a menace and me a walking catastrophe."
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Betel is usually stoic and show little emotion. But after hearing Meadow's story, she started to smile. She put her hand over her mouth to hide it, then giggled. The giggle then turned into a chuckle, then full on laughter.
Once she recovered. I am SO sorry, I wasn't laughing at you, but at the absurdity of the situation. And I had been wondering how Master Ezrin had got so ink splattered that day.
Still. I am sure that Silence has learnt his lesson ... and I had mentioned before then that those free standing bookshelves could be unstable. Do you wish me to put in a good word to the Head Librarian to get that ban lifted?