[Gameday XIV] GM Chadius 4-06: Signal from the Electric Laboratory

Game Master chadius

30 minutes later...
Argoni (13 damage, Chakram acid Damage: 9, 5, 7)
BakBat (2 damage)
Jakoby (11 damage, Immune to Battle Medicine)
- Ro (2 damage)
Doc Bloodshanks (4 acid damage on armor, Immune to Battle Medicine)
Itka (12 acid damage on armor)

If you took any acid damage during the fight, or you threw wooden or metal weapons, please apply the acid damage to your equipment as well as yourself. This may have damaged or destroyed them.

The team spends time to regroup and search the laboratory, finding a cloak, some valuable metals and research notes.

The rest of the first floor seems clear of any danger or interesting items. The basement still has the locked door, but there seems to be a password and manual override that need to be dealt with first.

When the team is ready, they can try to go upstairs.

Argoni should only be down 1 after Itka's healing on him. Argoni also has Crafting if anyone needs an item repaired.

The halfling goes to pick up the sharp metal disks he was flinging at the oozes. A couple are pitted from the acid, but still seem usable. He touches his bandolier and the chakri zip back inside, safely tucked away.

Jakoby looks down at her warm winter clothing - lucky not to sustain acid damage to them. She looks at Ro, whose feathers all seem intact.

Scanning GM posts for "acid", I see no damage to either

Arrows are cheap and lightweight, and our hunting duo are not regularly in the habit of retieving them. Instead, she stuffs her pipe once more, and blazes.

10 minutes (to 30 total spent)
~) Refocus (□☑)
~) ♥️ 137/148 and ♥️ 94/96

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (11) + 12 = 23

Doc realizes some acid damage got on his scale mail and pulls out his repair kit, replacing any damaged pieces of leather or metal while the exploration of the lower level is being completed.

Crafting (Repair): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (19) + 18 = 37

It is not exaggerating to say that the scale mail looks better than new when he is finished.

Retcon: Itka would've repaired her Explorer's Clothing during our rest.

Crafting T to repair Explorer's clothing, DC 14: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (7) + 14 = 21
Success for 20 points; clothing is fully repaired.

"Hmp." Itka announces her readiness to leave with her customary grunt, then begins hobbling toward the stairs, looking for traps or ambushes along the way.

Perception +12 to Seek until the others overtake her, then Detect Magic for her Exploration mode.

Noticing that some people still have wounds, Doc begins using Quick Alchemy to generate versatile vials and pass them out. "Swallow up. These don't stay potent long."

If I understand how these work now, I can create 2 and throw one on someone to heal them ... and then next round create another one and throw 2. So every 12 seconds I can heal 2d6 hit points 4 times, and that's assuming no one takes them out of my hand and drinks them. If the injured people take them out of my hand, I can create 3 per 6 seconds.

With a bit of healing, the team feels ready to continue. The ground floor is done, so the team heads upstairs.

The room is littered with scattered papers and dried bloodstains. A blackboard with a few notations covers most of the western wall, but little else remains on the few workstations pushed against the wall. The bookshelves are barren, filled only with a couple of tomes damaged beyond repair. In the corner, a large and unusual device emits a hum almost too low to properly hear. A large trail of blood leads out of the room and into the opposing bedroom.

Arcana: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35

"Hey, that's a spirit-singer. It responds to the presence of haunts and spirits. It's probably reacting to the presence of an incorporeal ghost."

Argoni feels key starting to hum and you all hear a masculine voice emit from the device. "Who are these people? More attackers? I wonder if I can trust- wait, I hear my thoughts. They can hear it too? I may as well say hello."

>A human masculine ghost appears, well dressed and still wearing his spectacles.< He bows to you all. "I am called Vilo. State your purpose. I need to know if I can trust you all." The device continues to hum with his voice. "Dammit. Well, you can hear my thoughts so know that I am not lying."

That ghost is quite ... masculine... Doc observes to himself.

Out loud, he says, "My name is Doctor Grime Percival Bloodshanks, and we are with the Pathfinder Society. You may call me Doc. We are here to try to help with the ... issues taking place in this manor. Know that, if you mean us no harm, then we mean you no harm, either. Can you tell us, Vilo, how you arrived in your current ... er... state?" He waves his hand vaguely toward the incorporeal figure.

Argoni waves to the ghost. "Hi, I'm Argoni." He turns to the scene of empty shelves, bloodstained papers, and missing notations. "What happened here? This looks like it would have been a lab or at least somewhere to work out experiments. But something ransacked it?"

Jakoby stays back and signals for Ro to do the same, and keeps an eye out, and more importantly, a bowl packed, lit.

~) Refocus (10 min) to (□□) if time

"Hmp. I'm Ikta Biklest. Lumna's been sending out distress signals. She's concerned about the safety of Dr. Treju and the others who worked with her. Hmp. There were sounds of fighting several months ago, and she hasn't seen anyone since. Do you know anything about that?" It's rather ironic that grouchy Itka is dwelling so much on concern for others in her description, but it seems likely that this ghost will be more helpful than hurtful if he knows this.

"Yes. There was a horrible assault upon our manor. Much worse than the intrusions by harpies. Marauders teleported in without warning. I lost my voice during the attack." Vilo continues to wave a ghostly baton in the air, and the spirit-singer reverberates, causing the key Argoni has to sound out Vilo's words.

"Revecka was ordered to put the laboratory on lockdown. It is where our most important research lay. She rejoined the fight afterwards but was left for dead. By the time I... awoke," Vilo stumbles over the right way to describe his undeath, "She was the only one I saw, and she was badly wounded. She had to resort to... extreme measures to stay alive, and she needs to stay in her room at all times."

"Lumna keeps telling me to turn the power off so they can speak to her, but without power she will certainly perish. And I am in no condition to lift or carry things."

"I would love for you to help Revecka. She is in the south room on this floor."

"Perhaps, we can carry it for you?"

Diplomacy is +20

"If you are able to help Revecka escape, I will do everything in my power to help you. Then I may be able to rest." Vilo lingers on that word.

"If you are ready to go, then I can guide you there." You hear the sounds of shouting from another room on the Southern side.

"She had to resort to... extreme measures to stay alive, and she needs to stay in her room at all times."

"Hmp. What sort of 'extreme measures'?" Itka's mind immediately goes to all the varieties of undeath, though Vilo does specifically state "stay alive". Hmmmp... "Hmp. What can you tell us about the marauders?"

We can walk and talk if others are amenable.

"Oh, we met Lumna! She was nice. I guess we can go help Revecka. But can you tell us what you were studying here? What was all this for?"

Works for me. Apologies for ghosting the table. ISP at home is getting unpredictable and cut out early last night.

"I am not completely sure of the details, but there is some kind of tool inside her chest right now. She told me it was necessary. But she has not been very talkative lately. The marauders looked like bugbears, and..." Vilo shudders. "One of them threw a doll at me. I didn't know what to think about it until it grasped my throat. I couldn't breathe, but I knew I had to help Revecka."

As he leads you down the hallway, you see a book thrown out of a room, smashed carelessly against the wall. "That is from Revecka's bedroom!"

This beautiful bedroom is adorned with deep greens accentuated by a few golden decorations. The only surviving painting adorning the wall is made in typical Ustalavic style with dark colors and just a hint of light. A blood trail ends next to an open metal case containing medical gear near the bed.

"Did you see anything yet?" One humanoid winged creature leans against the windowsil. "We've been waiting for the power to shut off, there must be something expensive in here!"

"Why do I have to do all the hard work?" A feminine winged humanoid throws a bedsheet aside before snapping at the man by the windowsil. "We steal, we split the goods. Together. I don't care if you do the scouting, a singer like me shouldn't have to do this hard work."

The two glare at each other before the man raises a clawed hand. "Look, we have company." He turns to you. "We were here first. Scram. Unless you can make it worth our while of course. There's gotta be some scrap metal in here that's worth it."

You have an opportunity to bribe them. Or fight them.

Doc pulls out two of his infused alchemical items. "I have here an elixir of life and an antidote. Worth far more than scrap metal, I think."

The harpies look at each other. "Scrap metal, right. I'm looking for gems, precious materials, that kind of stuff. Otherwise I'm keeping the box." The apparent leader looks at the box by the side of the bed. "Somebody bled for whatever was in here. Must be real powerful stuff."

The group does remember the stone chest full of rare and valuable metals they found after defeating the living magic and oozes.

Jakoby keeps her eyes sharp, her sword down, and lets the others do the talking.

◆) Hunt Prey w/ Monster Hunter w/ Outwit

Doc advances toward the open box with medical equipment and looks it over. "This is medical equipment, but likely requires a professional. The healing items I am offering you can use for yourselves." Doc tries to identify any of the equipment in the chest.

Recall Knowledge (Crafting): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (14) + 18 = 32

"Precious metals? Like some really shiny and glittery stuff? Hmm, I think we know where you can find some. If we tell, you can go find it and then leave forever. If we catch you in here again, you'll regret it."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29

Eyes narrowed, Itka glances around quickly to determine the best item to cast Spirit Object on. Hmp. The box'll do. She gives the harpies a moment to choose the better part of valor and leave, though.

The harpy leader puts a razor sharp talon lightly on the medicine chest. "Hey! No peeking, this is ours..."

Argoni makes a different suggestion. "Hmmm... okay, I'm listening little guy. Where is it?"

Argoni glances at the others, but figures it's a better bet than risking more injury. "Ok, it's downstairs in a stone chest. Look for the residue of some oozes, and watch out there might still be more. But you leave that box here for us, and you take your metals and leave."

"Alright, my man!" The leader claps Argoni's backside. "NOW we're talking. Come on, time to get paid and get out of here." The harpies descend downstairs and out of sight.

With the room clear, you can take a break and search around.

On the wall you see a painting consisting of many people in a study, posing for the artist during a cloudy summer day. Most are adults except for two daughters getting a hug from presumably their father. You also see a four-legged beast wearing a silver medallion sitting in front of the group. The signature of Silvu Cioraru lies in the corner of the painting, and you see “To Great Beginnings” engraved on a silver plaque.

One of the people in the picture looks like Vilo, back when he was alive.

Vilo hovers into the room, slightly impatient but he keeps quiet.

Doc puts the letters in his bag. "These will be excellent to include in our report." He eyes the clockwork goggles. "These allow you to see exceptionally well in darkness, as well as to see invisible creatures. The tool any-tool is quite useful." He looks disdainfully at the healing potions, concerned they might carry the taint of divine magic with them. "Seriously, you need to properly label these things with disclaimers."