Fenna figures it's worth asking Aoinse what the room past the doors was used for before they go in, so she does so.
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Fenna sighs and flashes an unconvincing grin as she starts moving. "Yeah, nothing like time spent underwater. Very refreshing."
Actually I'll hold on a gameplay post until the party is moving again. I don't have any comments on the loot.
I'm so very dreadfully sorry I've been absent for so long. May was a very intense month, and not in a good way. I won't get into the boring details so I'll keep the situation very condensed. Work -> drastic budget cuts -> new statewide policies in light of said cuts -> severe damage to programs and capacity due to said policies. May was the last month to do anything under the old framework since the new one started June 1st, today. So, lots and lots of work and exhaustion last month. I'm still very tired, but I'll recover. I'd hoped I'd be able to catch up here last weekend since it was a long one. Of course the site was down so that didn't happen. I'm catching up here now over the next couple of days so I should have a post up tomorrow.
So, are we going to make the the character changes we've been talking about?
Fenna is content to leave the coins where they are as well. It's not like they spend easily. But, she not concerned about collecting them if someone wants to.
It occurs to Fenna that Aoinse is exactly the person to ask about a couple of lingering questions regarding the temple from before. Namely she'd like to know more about the room that they believe to provide power to the temple. Could there be a way of restoring power without being electrocuted and/or slaughtered by elementals. Even if Aoinse doesn't know anything herself, there may be manuals for construction and making repairs she knows of somewhere. There is also what is possibly a lower, flooded level of the temple. What is down there? Fenna decides to hold those questions for the present though. She does worry a little about Aoinse possibly becoming too determined to put the temple back to right, even at great risk. It's best to wait and feel out the construct more fully before bringing those subjects up. Fenna stays with Aoinse behind Sosche.
"Stay close to me Aoinse. With a spear, I'm not exactly at the front, but I also have a weapon in hand to keep anything dangerous from getting too close. Usually."
Fenna proceeds on with the others to the workshop. She is quite keen to watch the repairs take place, very interesting stuff.
Or scrolls and maybe a whole wizard's book of spells!
Fenna tells Aoinse essentially the same things as Sosche, but she takes a different tack, making her explanation more concise, perhaps more poetic, and ideally more hopeful. "Yes, rocks fell as you remember. Fiery and of all sizes from stones to great boulders. Azlant's lands were broken by it. This place is now on an island among many other islands in the ocean. Many died, but those who survived traveled to the lands east of here, where they settled and rebuilt. We are their descendants. We have come back to see the places where our ancestors came from so we may better understand them." Fenna figures everything she says is truthful in a metaphorical sense at the very least. Taldans often have a little Azlanti blood. But besides that, Taldor was founded through Aroden's civilizational efforts and initiatives. Andoran shares that same legacy as a place that was once part of Taldor. Azlanti, language, music, art, and so forth lives on as well. She dodges Aoinse's inquiry about Amazen. She's heard the name, but wouldn't be able to say anything more about the subject. And she remembers the single-mindedness of a couple of similar constructs fron their own island. Best to stay away from religion as long as possible lest they get stuck there for a long long time.
Well, I did quick mock up of what would change if I went with INT over CHA for Fenna. In the long term it does make her much better at knowledge skill checks, but I don't think it's worth it. I can raise INT anyway, it's just delayed by a few levels. The better choice would be to trade Arcane Strike for Cunning. It gets me the same amount of extra skill points in the short run. Right now Arcane Strike is only worth +2. I could save taking it until it's worth +3. Also I found a mistake. Fenna's current bardic knowledge bonus should be +5 rather than +4. I guess at some point I forgot about the trait she has that adds +1 to bardic knowledge checks. Those two things would get Fenna an immediate +2 on the knowledge checks that matter most, and a +1 on them all across the board. I've never had a party that coordinated on skills outside the really obvious ones. You know, the wizard does the K Arcana and Spellcraft checks, the Cleric does Religion, etc. Other than that whoever does whatever and it's not been a problem. Sometimes it falls apart some because classes that get almost no skill points have a hard time maxing anything. So at some point by Bard or Inquisitor will be better at Religion than the Cleric. But sure, I'm game to have everyone focusing on their couple of knowledge skills. Two per character is fine. Even one if a character doesn't have many skill points per level would help.
Looking at Fenna's skills, I don't see much that could be changed. I have +4 in stealth, but stealth hasn't been getting used much, especially with Vexas in the party. I could take say 2 from that, maybe 3 so it's at least still trained. I have +5 in escape artist, which I wouldn't normally invest in nearly that much. But I figured aquatic adventure = tentacles + drowning rules so I probably should. Maybe a could shave from there, but drowning. I have +5 in perception, but it's perception so of course I do. I have +6 in spellcraft. Maybe I could take points from that and just consider it to be Vexas's domain. I have +4 in swim, but again this is an aquatic campaign. I have +7 in UMD. I suppose I could just give up on UMD and take all those points for elsewhere. But this game also seems pretty high magic and artifact so it seems a shame. I do have a bunch of points in performances, but those are all background points and also substitute for various other skills due to versatile performance. I've also been planning to take a masterpiece or two later on and those have minimum performance skill points requirements. Really this is all very efficient. If Brannart is going to have a high K engineering skill bonus, I could pull out 1 point from there. But having it at least trained seems good. On the other hand, bards can use knowledge skills untrained so Fenna could still aid on checks with no point in it. So I could probably round up about 10 points to reallocate. I could also delay taking the arcane strike feat until later and switch in cunning for +1 skill point per level. But again, I've never had to manage skill points like this before. If it's going to be critical to have Fenna making DC 25+ knowledge checks all the time, trying to mold her into a specialist in knowledge skills, which isn't really what bards are for, is a lot harder than just making her an investigator who can do it and still be able to do other things. It's also worth noting that the ABP rules aren't really showing their strong effects yet. Fenna will be picking up INT as her second mental stat so her INT will go up +2. That will help. In fact, there might be a sort of magic bullet change come to think of it. What if I changed Fenna's 1st mental stat to INT instead of CHA? This would lower her CHA to 16 and raise her INT to 14. This would gimp her as an offensive caster, but that's not really a problem for a bard. Her INT would going to 16 at 11th level. By 15th level I think she would have an 18 INT and 18 CHA because in this case her 2nd mental stat would be CHA of course. This would allow her both more points to use on Knowledge skills and also raise her INT bonus on knowledge checks. The cost is less effectiveness for social skills, and sticking to buff and utility spells.
Fenna takes a few steps back because it might explode.
What can I say, I play in the bard, investigator, inquisitor triad. That's what I do with only occasional detours outside the three classes. Do I always succeed at skill checks? Of course not. Do I have to approach every knowledge check considering how much I need to buff to succeed? I do not. At this point with years of play in, that's an awful lot of APs that I'm not having constant problems in versus this one. Specifically it's been this book. I don't have the APs so I can't read through to check the DCs on things. But I do know this one stands out. Could I have invested skill points differently in this case? Maybe a few around the edges. I probably have too many in stealth. But considering it's common for my character to take rogue duties because rogues hardly ever get played, I'm often spending on skills I'm not even touching here and still doing better than this. I have too much territory I have to cover to put much more into knowledge than I have already. Maybe I should have chosen investigator instead of bard. That would be a leg up on skills. But this isn't about whether DCs are are getting changed from RAW or not. I don't doubt they are done as written. Absent a bard or investigator how would a party manage in this campaign? Maybe the DCs are standard but there are so many big checks that need to be made all the time that there's little chance of making many of them. I don't know. But on the other hand, if an average check is DC 25 like you say Brannart, Fenna has roughly +10 as an average across all her knowledge skills. Depending on which skill, a little higher or a little lower. That means she has about an average 25% chance of making one without using loremaster or casting a buff. Bards don't get so many spells per day that I can use them that way if you want combat buffs reliably.
Fenna renders her verdict. "A unusual variety of old mechanical junk. If you want to wind it up go ahead. It's missing a leg so at least it can't chase us if we need to run. I suppose it could explode though, there's that."
Fenna takes a look around...
Yikes! Very sorry about your computer GM Pauljathome!
I haven't done PSF is years. I don't need credit.
Fenna is perfectly happy to spend the night outside rather than where they're at presently.
Fenna is perfectly happy to spend the rest of the day in the library. She will keep working on the same section as before, including the Amaznen book.
What Fenna is sure of is that the properly completed task before them is much more time consuming than they can take on now. Everything that can be transported needs to go back to Talmandor's Bounty. Everything legible but not transportable must be copied before it is lost. Fenna wants to triage the collection as a wholeto prepare for the future task. "There's probably more here than we can carry with us right now. Besides, it's getting very wet as we keep going. We could ruin things through exposure to the water. Also, there are items that are too fragile to move, but we might be able to make copies before they're lost. That's slow work." "We can't do it all now. I think we should find some place to move the part of the collection we can carry away so it will be protected until we can fetch it later. Anything we can copy that will have to stay in this room should also be protected as best we can manage until I can come back, hopefully with some help like maybe Perrell Beys, to copy it.
Fenna goes to work combing through the cases to see what's there. Obviously it's far too much to go in deep on anything, so she treats the search as a salvage operation, locating the things that are legible and transportable as opposed things that might still be legible but are in too poor a condition to be carried away or the items that are simply ruined beyond any recovery.
Very sorry for the delay, last week was very busy at work and I also had some extra RL things pop up that I needed to deal with.
Fenna really, really wants access to the room. There may not be much that can be saved, but anything would be precious. "Absolutely Vexas." Fenna reviews the writing on the scroll with the aid of a cantrip to make sure she has all the details just right. She then reads the spell from the scroll, directing it to the fungus.
Having spent some time staring down into dark water full of mummy-chum, Fenna likes the upper level first. "No point in getting wet before he have to."
After casting the spell, Fenna hands the scroll back over to Vexas. She continues to wait where she's at. If there is something invisible in the room, she would just present it with another target.
Fenna doesn't say anything in case being quiet might be helpful. She shakes her head in the negative both about hearing anything or having any tricks that could reveal invisible things.
Sounds good to me Brannart.
Oh! Well then Fenna will take it. It will give me an extra use so I can do it twice per day. They are a little different, the mnemonic vestment is limited to the Bard spell list, while comparative arcane studies covers the Bard, Sorcerer/Wizard, and Witch spell lists. But since Paragon Surge isn't on the Bard spell list, I expect Fenna will be using the class ability to cast that a lot. I need to remember to use the next down time we have to scribe some scrolls. I don't have much of anything to use right now.
Fenna is a little embarrassed by all the praise being heaped on her. But, she accepts it with thanks and no other comment. If everyone was aware of how little she actually knows, and how much she uses what she what she knows to extrapolate into speculations, it might make them really nervous.
RE: Blue Silk Robe - mnemonic vestment. This is something either Sosche or Fenna can use as spontaneous casters. I think you should take it Sosche. Fenna already has pretty much the same ability from her archetype. If both Soche and Fenna can cast from scrolls without expending them, we'll get more mileage out of both arcane and divine scrolls.
Fenna explains it all to the others. "My opinion is I've lived my entire life without power. It's not so bad really. Certainly having to put down three very strong elementals doesn't seem worth what we're getting out of it now. If we decide differently after we've seen the rest of the place and what it has to offer, we can always come back."
Fenna notices the silvery lines on the floor are not decorative. They seem to run in such a way to connect all the cylinders to each other as well as to, possibly through the walls. She's read a little about machines that use steam for energy, and gears for making parts move, pushed by the steam. It occurs to her all of this room might be something like those steam machines, but with electricity for energy instead of steam. But, there is a problem with the comparison because steam is water and can push because it has a form, even if it is mist. Water always has form, weight, even though it isn't solid. Fenna doesn't know if the same is true of electricity. Of course magic is involved as well, which could change things in unpredictable ways. Obviously the room itself wouldn't be what moves, maybe. But two of the silver lines run to the curved wall, and on the other side of that wall would be the room with the forge and clockwork stuff. The power switch in there didn't work. Maybe this is the power for that room and it's blocked somehow? She takes a very long time looking at everything in the room carefully. Partially this is because it's all very confusing, but also because the bronze cylinders are hella terrifying. "Everyone, please don't touch anything just yet. There is a lot of energy in this room. Give me a little time..."
Hey everyone. Sorry for the early disappearance and late return. 4th quarter 2025 was fairly awful, but things seem better now.
Fenna moves to the other side of the door so she and Sosche are flanking Vexas to support him if anything unfortunate comes from opening the door. She waits with her spear at the ready.
I may be slow to post for the next week or so. I work for the Oregon Department of Human Services and we're right on the edge of a catastrophe if SNAP benefits aren't issued for November. We've been all hands on deck and overtime trying to figure out contingencies to cover the potential losses however we can. Hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does there are some very rough days coming.
Fenna casts Detect Magic to see if that can help sort anything out.
Fenna maintains her performance and casts a spell that lays down a slippery coating on much of the floor occupied by their adversaries.
Fenna steps back to get more distance and starts Inspire Courage again. She then lowers her spear and thrusts it at the warrior in front of her.
Fenna's expectations for anything other than future violence are very low. After all, their primary foe can look like anyone and there really shouldn't be actual humans on the island who are aware of who they are and why they have come to the island. But! One's expectations aren't always correct. Also, perhaps it's possible to get some useful information from them before the inevitable violence. After all, they still know essentially nothing about what has been going on. "Well met friends! Who are you and how did you come to be here?"
Fenna fills the others in on what she knows of Amaznen. She wishes something she knew about the goddess from long ago could help her choose the better entrance, but she has to fall back on the general tradition held by many. "Right I think. Right is typically considered more auspicious than left. If I absolutely had to bet money on the preferred entrance I'd put it on right."
I'm fine with either.
Fenna casts, then begins a long diatribe listing out all the reasons why they all absolutely hate these guys by now.
Fenna doesn't see any particular reason to cost Sosche another spell used just yet. She stays on the ground and waits while the statue gets checked out.
I'm dreadfully sorry for disappearing without word for so long. We went to Mexico City on vacation. I didn't figure I needed to mention it because we were staying at an Airbnb with WiFi. The place did have WiFi, but the WiFi did not work. Just flat couldn't connect to it. I didn't try posting with my phone because it was on data and we were burning through so much already we kept having to purchase more at a price that was highway robbery. That hiccup aside though, Mexico City was lovely and fantastic. I can't recommend visiting it enough. Level 8: BAB +6/+1
+1 3rd level spell known: Confusion Critical Research Focus (Ex): At 8th level, the studious librarian threatens a critical hit on a Research check (Ultimate Intrigue 148) with a roll of 18, 19, or 20. He gains a +4 bonus on Research checks to confirm a critical hit.
Skills: +1 K Arcana, K Dungeoneering, K Planes, Spellcraft, Stealth, Swim, UMD.
Not really know what will-o-wisps might consider politeness or rudeness in conversation, Fenna decides to try to ease into getting to the point, starting with something that could be construed as casual. "Do you happen to know what these standing stones once were? What purpose they served?"
Fenna rolls her eyes helplessly at the absolute stupidity of the situation. "Anyone happen to speak Aklo? No? That's what I expected. Hardly anyone anywhere on the entire planet's surface speaks Aklo. They understand Azlanti but don't utter a word in that language or they'll hate you forever."
With a little magical help Fenna tries miming at the things without turning them murderous.
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