Frantino's vision wavers again as he applies his occult abilities to the time stream, peeling back layer after layer, day after day, until he sees
The drow woman leading various experiments. Most of them are on new people, new faces. Horribly, he watches as she and her cultists take the unwilling patients and cut them open to find the horrific qlippoth eggs.
The bodies are removed and not seen again.
The new experiment subjects are implanted, infected, injected, stabbed, and given nearly every single terrible way a plague could be passed to a person. The cultists quickly stop implanting eggs and instead seem to perform some sort of necromantic rites upon them before dissolving them into a liquid jelly of some sort. Soon, even that is gone, replaced by a less viscous liquid derived from the eggs.
Over the year of time Frantino watches, he sees the plague experiments progress from failures to minor successes, to the nearly perfect success of the half-otyugh half-man. When he transforms, slowly, over the course of days, the drow cult leader is ecstatic. Frantino notices that the half-man half-otyugh abomination is incredibly, constantly, hungry. Whenever fed, he/it appears to regain composure and is able to answer questions from the cultists.
As the visions cease, Frantino realizes that he has not seen any of the people recovered from the water-filled pit.
Frantino slips into a calm trance-like state. The walls shimmer in the collapsed room where the body of Og-Zeugus lies, eventually disappearing.
Like flipping through the pages of a picture book, he sees the qlippoth confined to its engraved spell prison. A disfigured female drow, clearly in charge of a group of cultists surrounding her, speaks to the qlippoth, repeatedly over the course of weeks (months?). Eventually, she and her cultists begin bringing captives to the qlippoth, who impregnates them with eggs (one assumes). The living captives are taken away out of Frantino's sight. None of the captives look like the otyugh-hybrid monstrosity that the team encountered earlier.
The drow woman, wearing a holy symbol of Yamasoth, continues entering the room, speaking with the qlippoth repeatedly. They seem to be strategizing. She brings scrolls, maps, other items and they confer for hours (?) at a time. This goes on for months.
Only once or twice does Frantino see the necromancer, Erigantus, in the room with the drow woman. The final time, there are TWO Erigantuses with the drow woman.
After that, the room becomes boring. Nothing happens, except the qlipptoh moves around, close to the circle, then away from the circle. Nobody comes. Nobody is seen in Frantino's vision after that.
The walls shimmer again and Frantino's vision ends.
After many years of GMing Ayita, Doc, Ezranadir, Frantino, and Nasir through Roderic's Cove, Magnimar and other perils, I'd like to step aside and have somebody else run the game. Happy to join the squad as a player. Just can't devote the GM time necessary to do the story justice right now.
Anybody else game to pick up the GM torch? I can share content on Roll20, as well as a copy of Runeplague.
Am traveling on business for the next 8 days and will be offline for most of it. Happy to discuss once I'm back.
Frantino collects up his cloak and grabs a bunch of the other stuff that was here before, carrying them to the ledge outside the door where we've been entering. He's working off the assumption that the vampire won't go outside until dark.
I had to look back to confirm, but on Oct 24 I wrote that Frantino had already retrieved all of the gargoyle's stuff and put them on the outdoor ledge. He put his feathered cloak back on. Was the gargoyle able to go outside during the day to retrieve the other items?
The picture is not accurate to this adventure. No 2000yr old axe. :)
Mysteriously, the gargoyle's beloved possessions are gone. How or when they were taken is unknown, but it is a testament to the fact that Sumsarru remains at large.
The bodies in the water, if pulled from the pit, have a few items of value, including
- a masterwork mithral dagger;
- a +1 breastplate adorned with a carving of a whale being eaten by a living - ship crewed by skeletons;
- a silver-and-bronze hip flask carved with an image of a romantic couple being stalked by a werewolf (worth 100 gp);
- and a pair of gold-and horn-rimmed lenses of figment piercing.
Upon the death of the thing, Ezranadir is able to examine it and the magic circle more closely. It is obviously ancient. The summoning circle is of a type not seen in thousands of years. Elven research into Thassilonian magical practices suggests to Ezranadir that this is an actual Thassilonian summoning circle. The engraving style is ancient, familiar to Frantino from his own historical research. The runes use a particular calligraphic stylishness not in use by those currently practicing Thassilonian-style sin magic.
From that alone, Ezranadir imagines this thing was here for thousands of years, alone, trapped, waiting through Earthfall and the ages since, unable to be released by its long-dead captors.
Further exploration of the Gecko reveals little. No vampire. No cultists. Just silence. And the drip drip of condensate into the water filled pit.
All that is left is the mutant creature blocked in the other room.
ROUND ONE
Ayita is confused. Attacks Frantino. No hits.
Frantino saves and is not confused. Frantino takes a 5' step to try to block her path to the qlippoth. He drops Fury (still on its weapon cord) and readies a grapple
Ezranadir sees no magic, other than the magic circle against evil on the floor. Casts force missile. No effect on the qlippoth.
Nasir - raises shield to block line of site
Doc - casts Unbreakable Heart on Ayita
THE MISTS OF TIME SPLIT OPEN... we are seeing Ayita and Frantino look at the horrible thing. Ayita succumbs to its terrible, gross, horrific visage.
ROUND ONE
Ayita is confused. Attacks Frantino. No hits.
Frantino saves and is not confused. Frantino takes a 5' step to try to block her path to the qlippoth. He drops Fury (still on its weapon cord) and readies a grapple
Ezranadir sees no magic, other than the magic circle against evil on the floor. He notes that the qlippoth is really disgusting to look at and doesn't really think he wants to look at it any closer. Perception DC10 Ayita is under the effect of something. She's confused. Her eyes spin with mental anguish and disgust. Maybe her Shoanti stomach can't handle how horrid the qlippoth is. What does Ezranadir want to do? Nasir - what do you want to do?
Doc - what do you want to do?
The qlippoth is supernaturally disgusting when looked at closely because it is a demon-like creature from the planes of the abyss. It is not casting a spell or a spell-like ability or any type of magic to look gross. Detect Magic does not see any aura of grossness.
One post per day. I'll wait for everybody to post before proceeding.
It's not what he wants to do. It's about 3 other PCs not even given the opportunity to act during those 4 rounds. His Detect Magic was still up so he should have been able to detect the spell or ability being done or counteract them. No perception checks given. He would have immediately gotten away from the affected confused PCs. Gotten off ranged spell attacks on the Qlippoth, etc. Let's just continue on. Are you going to implement the 1 post per day before moving on or just whatever/whenever like it currently is?
"Doc, can I please get some healing?"Ezranadir is down to almost half his HP from that 1 hit.
No. I think we should rewind everything. You've suffered HP damage and offer some good points. Let's do this again.
Geez, gone for a few days and all hell breaks loose. I did not see anything about rounds being posted. Multiple characters pulling off multiple rounds, attacks & moving around. Are we doing it like this now???? Sometimes it takes a week just to get through a door!
LOL. It seems better to do it this way, since I can't imagine we'll stay in rounds after the confusion wears off, which it now has.
Once Ayita backs away, her confusion seems to subside.
FRANTINO:
@FRANTINO Will Save DC20 vs Horrific Appearance:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16
Confused for:1d4 ⇒ 2 rounds
A few seconds later, Frantino glimpses the thing again and becomes confused. This is an ability where a save doesn't grant ongoing immunity. Save each round. It's bad.
For expedience's sake, why don't you roll two confused rolls and then roleplay it. After that, we'll assume you figure out how to move away from the thing (Ayita is far enough away that she is no longer affected). If you get too close you can see icky horrific stuff and become Confused again.
Frantino is surprised when Ayita attacks him. The second swing comes uncomfortably close, but both attacks miss.
"The creature used some kind of mental attack on us, making Ayita confused. Don't attack her, that'll force her to attack you back."
Frantino takes a 5' step to try to block her path to the qlippoth. He drops Fury (still on its weapon cord) and readies a grapple if she should start to move toward the summoning circle. He wants to make sure she isn't further controlled and might try to break the circle, freeing the creature.
Mental attack? Can I help it if mortals' minds are so weak that they cannot stomach gazing upon perfection?
Frantino is disgusted by this thing. Looking at it, this close, is just... BLECH. Was that an egg sac he just saw? Or maybe some wretched internal organ? He wants to avert his gaze, it is so horrible. Who knows what its shifting, horrific, qlippoth body will do next?
FRANTINO ONLY:
FYI you saved against its horrific appearance. Its a gaze, mind-affecting thing. I rolled in the previous spoiler post for Ayita. She failed, so expect her to do some Confused thing in her next post. For this, I would argue that Frantino can/will realize what's happened to her, since he could almost feel/do the same thing as a result of looking at this disgusting thing. He gets where Ayita's comin' from. ;)
@AYITA Will Save DC20 vs Horrific Appearance:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 @FRANTINO Will Save DC20 vs Horrific Appearance:1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20
Ayita is confused for :1d4 ⇒ 4 rounds
CONFUSED TABLE
1-25 Act normally
26-50 Do nothing but babble incoherently
51-75 Deal 1d8+Str mod damage to self (or familiar) with item in hand
76-100 Attack nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of yourself)
@AYITA - I leave it to you to roll a d100 on the above table and then roleplay it.
The gongorinan is SO disgusting, so horrific-looking at it has addled your brain for a bit. The eyestalks ugh. The pinchers ugh. The idea of eggs BLECH. It is nightmarish thing from the Lower Planes, a disgusting monstrosity haunting your nightmares and now it is HERE, in real life, not in your dreams. You cannot wake up from it. Your brain is short circuiting!
What does Ezranadir know about Gongorinan Qlippoth's?
DR10/Lawful
Immune cold, acid, mind-affecting effects, polymorph effects
Resist acid 10, electricity 10, fire 10
SR 22
The gongorinans are the spawn of a nascent qlippoth lord, although one could be forgiven for thinking them of them less as offspring and more as parasites. Gongorinans are an industrious and intelligent breed of qlippoth, and where they find themselves, they invariably form hive-like complexes to live in. These gongorinan “cities” are labyrinthine affairs with plenty of chambers for their transformed children to live in. In the Abyss, gongorinan hives can grow truly immense, with populations in the thousands, but even the Material Plane is no stranger to gongorinan hive cities.
"Yer plan makes sense. Is there a less painful way ta send 'em back?"
Pain? says Og-Zeugus to Doc. What does pain mean, after thousands of years trapped here in isolation? Thrice-foolish Thassilonians. I understand they brought their doom upon themselves and left me here in this shattered place... forever.
Ayita quietly asks Ter, You know the lore of Arcana and the Planes well. Is it bound to do as it promises if we free it here? (Ayita sounds dubious to Ter.) Does killing it in the circle send it back, alive, to its home plane?
If it was called into a summoning circle turned inward to imprison it, Ter says into Ayita's brain, then, no, killing it won't send it back.
He calls the rest of the party forward, keeping his distance from Og-Zeugus.
"Looks like we found Og-Zeugus, turns out it's a qlippoth. The notes from the cult said they were harvesting eggs from it, didn't they? It's trapped in a summoning circle and is asking us to free it so it can leave. Can we just kill it in the circle, won't that send it back to its home plane with no risk of it getting loose here?" Frantino looks at Ezranadir and Doc to see if they can confirm if this plan makes sense. Does his knowledge check allow him to determine this?
No, killing me here will simply kill me, half-elf. I am no summoned ally, brought here temporarily to spend my blood in service. I was called here in ages past and trapped by these damned Thassilonian magics.
Nothing it has said seems untrue to you, although how well do you know the facial tells of crab-like qlippoth hellbeasts?
The passageway, actually a room that has collapsed over time, curves a bit around. Only the northeastern portion intact. The collapse has shattered and cracked the floor, breaking up several magical circles that had been carved into the floor. Only one circle, located in the room’s easternmost corner, remains intact, its runes still flickering and glowing.
Inside the circle stands a human-sized statue of a weird crab-like creature. It has a dozen eye stalks and four arms.
The statue turns towards Ayita and Frantino and walks to the edge of the magic circle. As it does, it becomes more fleshlike, abandoning its rocky statue-like appearance.
I am Og-Zeugus and I command you to free me, mortals. No harm shall come to you. I simply wish to be gone from this wretched plane of existence! it says directly inside Ayita and Frantino's head.
The earth elemental returns through the wall and tells Ter that beyond the wall is a small platform and then nothing. Open air.
The elemental has difficulty explaining something it has never encountered: it is high up in a tower, far far from the earth it is used to. It has exited the official entrance to the Gecko and looked down the pillar to the earth far below.
"I know wood shape but cannot cast stone shape. I wonder if this leads to another room or stairwell or if this is a way to restrict outside admittance to the tower? Ezranadir, you probably know more about construction than I do, what do you think? Given our observation of the size of the structure as we entered, do we think this would open to an outer wall or landing, or is it still reasonably within the size of the tower to lead to another room beyond? We entered from that direction," Frantino waves to the west "does anyone remember if there was anything on the southern side even higher up on the tower?"
[dice=Knowledge engineering]1d20 + 10 + 2 + 1d6
"If we assume that the deep pit is in the center of the tower, is this about equidistant from that as the other secret entrance is?"
This is possibly the primary entrance to the Gecko facility.
As you ascend the stairs, you see a pair of shallow alcoves to the east and west that contain what appear to be long-dried water fonts, each of which seems to have been scraped numerous times by sharp objects.
As you approach the end of the entryway, passing the last alcoves, you examine the wall at the end. The stone has a softly rippled surface, giving it the impression of a swiftly solidified wall of mud.
Knowledge (arcana) DC23:
The wall has been opened and closed several times with stone shape.
Ayita will spend more time searching for secret doors in all the rooms here. She uses Guidance. (Since GM Derek did a lot of rolls for her, maybe we can assume she finds nothing... just in case, here are a few more rolls - I count 12 doorways.)
Anita’s extensive intensive search reveals nothing more of interest. The rooms seem to be just sleeping quarters for the cult. Gross that they would sleep so close to the experimentation area. Ugh.
Neither Frantino, nor Ezranadir find any magic or traps.
Ayita, carefully searching the small room, spies several ledgers on the table. JACKPOT!
They appear to be journals filled with notes recounting numerous failed attempts to craft the polymorph plague.
All written in Abyssal, it looks like an hour of reading through could reveal some important details.
Something quickly stands out to Ayita: "... new doses will require more eggs harvested from the prisoner, Og-Zeugus.”
Knowledge (planes) DC15:
Og-Zeugus is a name in Abyssal. Not in Common. And not a name that anybody on Golarion would use. Unless they are a fan of the Abyss, maybe.
Skimming the notes suggests to Ayita that an expert in necromancy could, in theory, develop a cure for the polymorph plague.
Elsewhere in the room... amid the scattered notes on the polymorph plague are three other noteworthy pieces of information.
The first is a report from an unsigned investigator who confirms to Leptonia that Clegg Zincher did indeed purchase three scrolls of true resurrection in the year prior, and that said scrolls are believed to be kept under lock and key somewhere in his tenement in Riddleport.
The second is a parchment bearing a list of prices offered by ships for passage for 21 people north to Riddleport. Leptonia underlined the least expensive option—passage on a ship called Sea Moth, which, according to the notes, was scheduled to depart for Riddleport the day before the heroes first entered the Gecko. Leptonia also jotted a date on the sheet, circled it, and labeled it “ZINCHER’S AUCTION.”
The third is a copy of a report from Pathfinder Society agents ripped from a volume of the Pathfinder Chronicles that details the results of a dangerous mission undertaken to defeat the return of Runelord Krune. Near the section that details the death of a newly arisen Runelord Krune, Leptonia has penned a disturbing gloss: “Dead for now, but if we can return him to life, a thankful Runelord of Sloth may just give us the support needed to bring the polymorph plague to the breath of every city it touches!”
Ayita, after listening again, carefully opens the door. Inside, a simple table stands in this room next to a bedroll on the floor. The walls are painted with horrific images of distorted, tentacled shapes feasting on hapless humans, although a closer inspection makes it apparent that many of the feasters are themselves partially transformed humans. A campfire, its ashes cold, once burned near the southern wall.
Ezranadir comes over and casts Detect Magic first. "It may be a magical trap so do not read or look at it further. Let me detect its aura first. It could be Explosive Runes or some sort of Ward. I'd suggest stepping back a bit."
It is a faintly glowing line. No words.
Detect Magic suggests it is a moderate abjuration aura.
As Ayita opens each door, she finds more of the same. A pair of used boots, torn, lying on the ground. A comb. A small bit of trail rations, forgotten in a corner. The same corner, blank of dust, showing where a bedroll probably rested.
Continuing clockwise, while Frantino moves counterclockwise around the room, Ayita comes to the northwestern door. It opens on an empty hallway that ends in a collapsed roof, preventing passage.
On the northeastern door, Ayita is ABOUT TO OPEN IT and stops. A faint line, mostly obscured by the walls, glows around the edges of the door.
Ayita doesn't know what it is. Something magical.
Knowledge (arcana) with Read Magic DC13:
It is likely a Glyph of Warding set with a summoning spell of some sort.
