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

Game Master chadius

Sorry for the copy-paste mess up there. Luckily there are no remaining threats.

A surge of electricity sparks into Doc Bloodshanks. The coils redirect their energy and the orb of energy representing Lumna flows into the robot's tank. "Transferring complete. Accepting new host. Voice transcription active..." The robot's voice drones on for a bit before its speech matches Lumna's.

"The coils kept it safe enough for me to transfer... Sorry about the shock! I can help you with that once we leave the manor. There is so much electricity here."

You hear Gleam meowing and purring as he is reunited with an old friend. "Yeah boy, I'm here. I'm doing OK." Revecka opens the door with one hand while petting Gleam with the other. "I got everything I need. What happened down here?"

"Hmp. Lumna is now in possession of the robot." Itka assumes Revecka knows exactly what she's talking about.

Doc nods in agreement with Itka. "Some darker entity was inhabiting it upon our arrival, but we dispatched it. That Gleam of yours was extremely vigilant and alerted us to the threat."

Jakoby sits still and packs several bowls into her pipe while the team patches her extensive injuries.

She takes the Moderate Elixir of Life and offers to share.

"Thank you, all. Hopefully we're over the worst of it"

"I wonder what it was, coming in from the Shadow Plane? You all are planar scholars, right? Was something tracking you and decided to attack?" Argoni munches on some shortbread and idly offers half to Gleam.

"It may have been part of the attack." Vilo's voice reverberates through the key as he hovers near Revecka like an overprotective chaperone. "But if your work here is complete..."

You leave the manor and return to the Lodestar Inn without any trouble. Lumna is like a wide eyed child, asking about the houses, the fact that people turn off their lights as the group passes them, and the large bird feathers that dot the countryside.

Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss can barely contain herself. "Well, what's your report? Who are these visitors? Did you find out where the psychic messages were coming from? The clockwork automaton is possessed. Also there's a ghost. Also there's a woman with a metal device sticking out of her chest!"

"Yes, exactly. You seem to have grasped the fundamentals of the situation. You will find in the report that we've cross-referenced to various other Pathfinder incidents, related to siblings and this threat. There may be more related to this to investigate."

"Hmp. Asylnn and the Shadowplane are involved. We are fortunate that Lumna--" Itka gestures to the possessed robot. "--was able to make that call for help, even though it caused trouble with the neighbors."

"Not Aslynn per se, but we now have a chance for a key asset against her." Argoni motions for Evni to kneel down. "Her daughter, Narcela, wishes to help us thwart her mother's plans. I believe she and Revecka have a bit of a thing."

"Well, Revecka. The Pathfinder Society will provide the alchemical reagents needed to keep that ticker of yours up and running!" Evni's enthusiasm is only matched by her altruism. "We have many researchers in the society who would like to work with you in one or another. And we'll keep an eye out for Narcela." Upon hearing that name, Narcela seems to slightly relax.

Ziri has many questions for Lumna about their homeland, and Kamenya muses about their experience in this universe. Lumna assures them they will have lots of time to answer, but their concern lies with the whereabouts of the remaining Ardis Scholars.

And you can help them in 4-11: Prisoners of the Electric Castle!

The End

4-11: Prisoners of the Electric Castle

Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss asked you to remain near Ardis, former capital of Ustalav. She has been busy repairing the Ardis Scholars' manor, calling agents to help with minor repairs and securing the village of Ilev from harpy thieves. Now Pathfinders are repairing and cleaning the site while she manages the operation.

Revecka has been collaborating with Society researchers to refine her self-made artificial heart, and that her health has been improving. She is the only Ardis' Scholar you've seen since investigating the manor. She's glad to be alive but she worries about her other teammates. She also worries about Narcela, a daughter of the Night Hag Aslynn, who is helping her and the Society keep track of the Night Hag's recent activities.

Today you return to Ilev. Most of the villagers are thankful for the Pathfinder Society and their assistance in protecting the region from thieves, as well as rebuilding some of the dilapidated homes. They hope to increase trade. The hermit Kitsur keeps to himself, but he decided fighting the Evil Entity directly wasn't worth the hassle. The Desnan priest Saban is helping to smooth relations between the locals and the Pathfinders.

The sound of hammering reverberates through the great hall of the manor as Pathfinder agents move in and out, arms full of construction supplies, paperwork, and strange technological items. Their work is overseen by a gnome tapping a finger on her pursed lips in concentration. Her messy brown hair peeks out from a blue turban patterned with a butterfly-shaped constellation of stars, which she distractedly pushes back from her eyes as she watches the comings and goings.

Once Evni notices you, she smiles and loudly invites you out to her carriage, where they can find some peace and quiet to discuss your mission.

What have you been doing since the end of 4-06?

Most of Itka's time since her last mission was spent studying the Shadow Plane, also known as the Netherworld. Membership in the Pathfinder Society comes with certain advantages, especially when one's work has been admired by their faction leaders. The requisitioning of books of lore went smoothly, allowing Itka to spend most of her time hunched over a book. It's the closest to happy she ever is, though the deeply furrowed brows and perpetual frown would seem to indicate otherwise.

Argoni busies himself with helping the Ardis Scholars and poking around the various contraptions and machinery. He sets up his alchemy lab near one of the electrical points and he successfully manages to capture some of the charge into his alchemical compounds, though twice, he's seen a bit bewildered with his hair standing on end and smoke drifting away from his alchemist's goggles.

On another day he's experimenting with some chemicals and mixing in shavings from the Ardis machinery when a powerful noxious smell is emitted and nearly the whole manor has to be evacuated for the stench. The halfling excitedly comments, "I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I can make a lot more of that!"

Crafted 4 moderate bottled lightning, bought skunk bomb formula, bought a scroll of resist energy

A familiar figure joins the group once more.

"Well met, friends!" Isaku greets his old traveling companions. He looks ... wiser, almost. The state of his equipment appears to be a bit newer (or at least, shinier).

Isaku pulls a vial out of his pouch and chugs down its contents. Greater Darkvision Elixir

New Feat: Advanced Alchemy (4 consumables per day - Greater DV elixir, greater mistform elixir, 2 life shot rounds); he drinks the DV Elixir in the morning

* I still need to update his botting spoiler/statblock
* Fun Fact: I learned the DV Elixir trick from Watery Soup

Doc nods to the others as they gather. "Yes, well met. Nice to see you again." He looks generally unchanged from the last time you saw him.

Didn't level up but bought some formulas:
* Thunderstone
* Deadweight mutagen
* Drakeheart mutagen
* Sanguine mutagen
* Serene mutagen
* Glow rod
* Cold iron blanche
* Silver salve

An ornate carriage sits in front of the manor. Blue curtains with silver stars and golden moons hide the interior, but it appears too small to contain more than its owner, Venture-Captain Evni Zongnoss, and perhaps one or two guests. However, when she opens the door, a wide-open wooden chamber awaits. Mismatched plush chairs sit around a gnarled wooden table on a lurid purple carpet. The table holds a strange metal-and-crystal key, a box full of unusual technological items, and a satchel. A strange creature that looks like >a feathered octopus made entirely of energy< hovers between two chairs.

Evni sighs with relief as she takes her seat. "That's better," she says. "The work is important, but it's noisy repairing all the damage from Aslynn's attack on the manor." Her smile fades as a hint of steel enters her voice. "That's why I asked you all to come today. As you may know, Aslynn captured a number of Ardis Scholars here. We're ready to rescue them!" She gestures to the figure made of energy and the key on the table. "With Lumna's help and the crystal key, we've been able to speak with one of Aslynn's children, Narcela, who's pretending she's loyal to her mother. Narcela told us the Scholars are being held in a floating fortress on the Shadow Plane, where they're being forced to develop technology for Aslynn. Not only is getting them home the right thing to do, but it could give us the upper hand against Aslynn!"

Lumna suddenly dives into the key, their energy absorbed like a sponge soaking up water. A quick series of telepathic images shows them using a device they call an "engine" from the Ardis Scholars' manor to focus their energy to transport the key, with their essence inside, and several people to a castle, then back. "So that's your mission," Evni concludes. "Go to this castle, find as many Scholars as you can and bring them home. Narcela will be waiting there to help you. She's risking everything, so bring her back when you return. Remember, your safety takes priority! If you run into anything you can't handle, come home, and we can figure out another way to get the Scholars and Narcela back."

Feel free to ask Evni any questions about the mission.

In the interim - perhaps a day? - Jakoby, sick of castles, and her faithful avian companion, Ro, spent the night in the woods, to gather fresh herbs at dawn, and enjoy a nice, long, morning smoke...

It's bigger on the inside... Doc thinks as he enters. He nods to Lumna. "Hello, again."

He listens to the mission, and then asks, "What can you tell us about this Narcela? Or about the Scholars we are looking to rescue? How many of them, for example? Do we have any information about the state they're in? Is she torturing them?"

Netherworld/Shadowplane lore +15 for any applicable information about our mission.

"Hmp. Floating fortress in the Shadow Plane... Does the fortress have a name? What do we know about the fortifications? And yes, having names and descriptions of those we are to rescue is essential."

"Narcela is one of Aslynn's changeling children," Evni explains. "Her mother sent her to spy on the Ardis Scholars, but she ended up befriending one of them. Terrified of her upcoming transformation into a hag, she turned against her mother. Revecka was able to maintain some contact with her and confirmed we have a common enemy in Aslynn."

“Unfortunately, Narcela has been kept away from the castle cells—she fears she’s lost her mother’s trust—so she doesn’t know how many people were kidnapped. The fortress is home to many of Aslynn’s allies, though we are timing the raid for when the hag is out of the castle with Deimostride, her nightmare companion.”

Evni shudders. "They are valuable for their research and their ingenuity. Aslynn will keep them alive as long as they are willing to produce. I doubt she'll torture unless they refuse to help."

Evni explains, “It’s another plane of existence. In some places, its features are a muted mirror of the familiar world around us. In others, they take on new and fantastical forms, as likely to be wondrous as ominous. Space doesn’t always work the same there as it does here, with places that seem impossibly distant being surprisingly near, or what seems just around the corner taking an age to reach.” Itka confirms what she says is accurate.

"I'm not sure if it has an official name, although Narcela kept calling it the Lightning Fortress. I suppose you'll have to deal with electricity."

Evni hands you a satchel, which contains several torn and burnt scraps of paper. "Aslynn’s forces apparently took particular pleasure in destroying the Scholars’ research. Agents have pieced together various fragments, but think based on some recovered notes that one invention may have been taken with the Scholars. Several Horizon Hunters are eager to get their hands on it, even though they don’t know exactly what “it” is. If you can identify the item in Aslynn’s fortress and bring it back, they would be grateful."

Sitting with Ro, our rugged hero contemplates her recent quests.

"Been relying on Spiritbreaker in recent quests, boy, working as hard as you to keep up with the pack" she laments while examining the edge of her katana "Lot more running that just keeping an eye out from the back with Regicide" her bow, neatly stowed on her back.

"Should probably be exercising more than I do. These other experienced pathfinders are nearly as lazy and you and I" she chuckles. She resolves to begin adding sprints to her morning smoking routine. Surely, she could start tomorrow.

Picking up a +2 Potency Rune and the Heroic Hustle Boon!

"Hmm." Argoni reads through the notes and scribbles things into a notebook. "More electricity makes sense."

"Can Narcela tell us anything about her mother's allies who are still in the fortress? And how do we get back when we need to?"

He jots down a question in his notebook, Where in the fortress are the Ardis Scholars being held?

"Hmp. Electricity. Of course." Itka makes a mental note to pick up a scroll of Resist Energy before departing.

Buying one 2nd rank scroll of Resist Energy for 12 gp.

Evni presents you with the crystal key and several technological items from the manor. "Pathfinder Society experts figured out how the items work, and you can use them on your mission, though of course they’ll return them afterward. Mek Brinstone is in the manor, he can explain how they work and how to affix them, if you need it."

She hands you a box containing a greater chameleon suit and two electromuscular stimulators. It also has a shockguard coil.

More images flash from the key as Argoni asks questions. [b]"We don't know too much about the jailers, but expect to see hags at some point. Lumna can use their power to bring you back to this Universe when you are done.

Everyone gets Hero Points. Go ahead and get your Pathfinder provisions and make all of your purchases.

Catch ya'll on the flip side after the site updates.

Looks like the site downtime was delayed by a week.

"Is there anything else you want to ask?" Evni pipes up. "Otherwise, I wish you the best of luck."

Pathfinder Provision: 5th rank scroll of Howling Blizzard

Note: None of this works without Lumna and working on fewer charges causes them great pain and distress!

Clarification about "working on fewer charges": Does this mean that the single charge options hurt but the five charge doesn't? If so, how much does the two charge option hurt? Or does it mean that Lumna will be in constant pain if we use some of the key's charges, but not all of them? If so, does that get better or worse if we use up all the charges? Is she only free of pain if the key stays fully charged? Is there a known threshold that keeps her pain-free?

She hands you a box containing a greater chameleon suit and two electromuscular stimulators. It also has a shockguard coil.

Anybody want these? Itka doesn't.

Lumna will not suffer as long as the key has 1 or more charges.

Pathfinder provisions: 3x moderate healing potion

I have one GM Glyph to give out

Provision: Scroll of Fly

She hands you a box containing a greater chameleon suit and two electromuscular stimulators. It also has a shockguard coil.

Linkified. Chameleon suit allows hide in plain sight, stims are haste-effect, but you need to make a crafting roll, and coil is affixed to a shield.

Argoni turns the key over in his hands. "Ok, so we need to keep 2 charges to get home. Or else, Lumna might need to help, but it'll be bad."

"Right, so this is a teleport raid. We get in, link up with Narcela, hope she doesn't betray us, find the Ardis Scholars, and get out. Oh, and keep and eye out for the weird cosmic toy. I mean, truth be told if we can libertate anything from Aslynn, that's not a horrible idea." The wiggles his fingers

Feel free to ask additional questions.

Evni takes you outside and bids you farewell with an overly enthusiastic wave. Lumna dives into the key and a moment later, your feel their bodies melt away, a process that seems like it should be painful or even terrifying, but somehow is neither. A moment later, you're racing through the sky, sun flickering to moon and stars, night fading to day, over and over, the passage of time somehow seeming to take both forever and only an instant. Then a rip in the sky appears, and you find themselves in blackness, the light of their own bodies the brightest thing in this umbral realm.

As you streak toward their destination, Lumna talks to you, sending telepathic messages that explain how they can help.

"I am a creature made of light, but this is a realm of darkness." Lumna mentions. "Save enough charges to get yourselves home. If you don't have enough I will send you home anyway, but I don't know if it will work as intended. I won't be able to recharge the key while in this shadowy realm."

Lumna cannot perceive you if you are more than 60 feet from the key.

Who is holding Lumna? They will act on your initiative.

"Hmp." Itka grunts as she realizes she's standing on solid ground. Glowering, she takes stock of their surroundings.

Perception +13: Are there any immediate threats? What can we see from here? Which way should we go?

After an uncertain amount of time, a massive castle materializes from the gloom. Purple lightning repeatedly strikes one of the many towers, and lights flicker in the windows. The base of the castle grows closer, revealing it sits on rock crystals, through which indistinct visions flit. A glance shows the contents are more nightmare than dream. A small figure waits at a ground-level doorway, her hand raised in apparent greeting.

But moments before reaching the doorway, Lumna suddenly screams, a mind-shattering telepathic sound, as a huge, purple-skinned claw reaches from a far wing of the edifice. A look of sudden shock and terror crosses the face of the woman in the doorway, and she turns and dashes away. With a violent wrenching grab in the claw’s grasp, the final destination at the castle suddenly changes!

The walls of the sealed chamber are made of black onyx, and the area is in darkness. Spectral hag claws reach out from the walls to grab your souls and pull them into the trap's onyx facets.

You immediately find yourselves in danger as your arrival triggers Aslynn's trap. As soon as the trap activates, Lumna sends a burst of mental energy to remind you what you can do with the key.

Jakoby, you tied with the trap for initiative. If you have an ability that lets you break ties you can go first.

Round 1
Argoni
Itka
Trap
Jakoby
BakBat
Isaku
Doc Bloodshanks

>Aslynn Strikes!<

Lumna sends a burst of mental energy to remind >you what you can do with the key.<

The trap has one facet for each of you. Disable them all to disable the trap. There are ways to disable each:
- Thievery or Crafting checks (Expert proficiency required) to disable a facet
- Counterspelling with Dispel Magic or a similar spell
- Damage (the facets have Hardness and are immune to precision damage and critical hits)

I don't particularly benefit from any of those, I'm afraid. Don't remember if any of us used a shield on the last outing. "I'll carry the electromuscular stimulators. If anyone decides they need it activated, I will make sure it is properly attached before activating it."

Following the briefing, of course, Doc completes his daily preparations. As usual, he quaffs his antiplague immediately after infusing it. "I've made an electrical energy mutagen and a darkvision elixir, but they have short durations."

"Itka, I think your knowledge of this realm makes you a good person to hold the key, unless you need your hands free to work your occult skills."

He hands Jakoby and Itka each a lesser elixir of life. "In case you take wounds and I'm not able to heal you quickly enough. BakBak, stay near the healers ... and be careful of where you aim those fireballs." Note: In addition to the 3d6+6 healing, since I infused these they also give 4 temp HP for 1 minute

Did it take 2 charges to get to the Netherworld? Are we actually at 8/10 charges already?

"That was fast"

Dropping her pipe, our rugged hero is miliseconds late to react.

No tiebreaker

After being blasted by it, she asks "Should I send an arrow through the center?"

Will piercing or slashing make a difference? Blunt?

Do we need to be in a specific place to break the facets, like up against a wall? Or can it be done at anytime? And how many actions does it take to do the check?

Argoni flinches away from the claw and works to find a weak point in the onyx facet.

Crafting: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (15) + 14 = 29

If there's spare actions, he'll probably just move away from the claw next to him.

The key is at 10/10 charges.

Argoni realizes gems this large have structural flaws, and he quickly shatters the claw before him. As he does so, he sees one of the black onyx crystal wall panels shatter.

The scenario is vague about this so I'll rule that you can either target the claw itself or a panel on a wall.

With his final action, Argoni then decides to get some space. The claw trying to attack you was destroyed, so you can retcon this if you wish.

"Hmp!" Itka's not terribly surprised at this turn of events; Aslynn has a reputation for sensing an attack and acting like she's being taken in until it's too late to turn back. She knows she'll need her spells more later; likely this is merely an attempt to get the party to expend resources and weaken them. Aslynn likes to play with her victims. Hmp. I'm wise enough to do better than that. She deftly uses a dagger to pry out an opening, jamming a sling bullet into the crystalline onyx in such a way that its structural integrity is compromised.

Crafting: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (15) + 15 = 30

Itka destroys the onyx shards before it can get started. She watches as the claw in front of her shatters.

The remaining four claws leap at Jakoby, BakBat, Isaku, and Doc Bloodshanks. The claws reach into their bodies, ignoring the physical shell and trying to grasp the souls within. Each teammate feels their minds melting away...

Jakoby: 2d10 + 13 ⇒ (1, 4) + 13 = 18
BakBat: 2d10 + 13 ⇒ (2, 7) + 13 = 22
Isaku: 2d10 + 13 ⇒ (6, 6) + 13 = 25
Doc Bloodshanks: 2d10 + 13 ⇒ (4, 3) + 13 = 20

Itka feels Lumna's thoughts in her mind. "I'll try to protect... uh..."
1d4 ⇒ 3
"Isaku!" The key lights up and a Isaku feels the claw slow down, lightly grazing his spirit. He gets resistance 10 to the attack. The key is down to 9 charges.

Round 1
Trap
Jakoby (18 mental damage, DC 30 basic Will Save)
BakBat (22 mental damage, DC 30 basic Will Save)
Isaku (25 mental damage, DC 30 basic Will Save, 10 resistance)
Doc Bloodshanks (20 mental damage, DC 30 basic Will Save)

Round 2
Argoni
Itka

>Aslynn Strikes!<

Lumna sends a burst of mental energy to remind >you what you can do with the key.<

The trap has one facet for each of you. Disable them all to disable the trap. There are ways to disable each:
- Thievery or Crafting checks (Expert proficiency required) to disable a facet
- Counterspelling with Dispel Magic or a similar spell
- Damage (the facets have Hardness and are immune to precision damage and critical hits)

Will(E): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (6) + 16 = 22
Will(E), HP, Vestments: 1d20 + 16 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 16 + 1 = 33

Isaku and the any allies who can see me get the healing below
Heroic Intervention: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 4) = 11

Isaku manages to keep the monster migraine at bay and tries to disable a facet.

Crafting(M): 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (15) + 20 = 35

I'll update my statblock/botting spoiler. Promise!!

Argoni backs away and pulls out some small tools. He tries to work them into the edges of the facet to create a weakness in it.

Thievery: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (4) + 16 = 20

Will Save vs 18 mental (DC 30): 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (12) + 19 = 31 @ 9 mental

Jakoby reels, but recovers. She looks to Ro ”You okay, boy?”

Will DC 30: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34

BakBat holds his head for a moment, then attempts to disarm the trap: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (4) + 17 = 21

With Lumna's protection and a heroic shout, Isaku ignores the claw entirely. With a quick flick of the wrist he flips the claw digging into him and hurls it at the onyx shard on the wall, destroying both objects.

Jakoby steels herself and Isaku's inspiration keeps her soul intact.

The Great BakBat is so focused on protecting his soul he is unable to affect the trap.

Argoni tries to dislodge the onyx shard from the wall, but it's too fortified.

Round 1
Tra[
- Claw for Jakoby
- Claw for BakBat
- Claw for Doc Bloodshanks
Jakoby
BakBat
Isaku
Doc Bloodshanks (20 mental damage, DC 30 basic Will Save, Heal 11)

Round 2
Argoni
Itka

>Aslynn Strikes!<

Lumna sends a burst of mental energy to remind >you what you can do with the key.<

The trap has one facet for each of you. Disable them all to disable the trap. There are ways to disable each:
- Thievery or Crafting checks (Expert proficiency required) to disable a facet
- Counterspelling with Dispel Magic or a similar spell
- Damage (the facets have Hardness and are immune to precision damage and critical hits)

Net 0 damage to Jakoby after the Heroic Intervention

Itka tries the same trick that worked before on another crystalline structure. She works the dagger and sling bullet into another crevice, hoping to shatter it.

Crafting: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (3) + 15 = 18

"Hmp." This one's tougher than the last one, unfortunately.

Will save DC 30: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (14) + 15 = 29
So close!
Unfortunately, since Heroic Intervention is a Radiant Oath boon, I imagine it is divine healing ... so I will forego it to remain consistent with my edicts (and not mess up my own healing skills).

Doc tries to break the hold the trap has on his soul.

◆ Escape
Athletics DC 28: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31

His devotion to the power of mortal reasoning allows him to keep his soul unfettered. He focuses that reason toward disabling the trap targeting him.

◆◆ Disable Device
Crafting: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (11) + 19 = 30

Doc Bloodshanks shoves the claw out of his chest. It hurts but he doesn't care. The last thing he needs is an excuse for a "holy" spirit to heal him. He shatters the claw and its panel with some alchemical knowhow.

Jakoby is left debating what to do before the remaining claws lunge at her and BakBat.

Round 1
Trap
- Claw for Jakoby
- Claw for BakBat
Jakoby
BakBat
Isaku
Doc Bloodshanks (20 damage)

Round 2
Argoni
Itka

>Aslynn Strikes!<

Lumna sends a burst of mental energy to remind >you what you can do with the key.<

The trap has one facet for each of you. Disable them all to disable the trap. There are ways to disable each:
- Thievery or Crafting checks (Expert proficiency required) to disable a facet
- Counterspelling with Dispel Magic or a similar spell
- Damage (the facets have Hardness and are immune to precision damage and critical hits)