I'm going to close this table at the beginning on October. If you need to do anything before then, let me know.
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King is delighted to have his friend back, though saddened that the flute is no longer with him. For himself, Hamade Sora considers King to be a discerning, though unusual patron and is happy to stay. Escaping from the Sunken Valley is simpler than entering it—especially once the boggards discover that Lord Rybos is dead and begin to fight among themselves—and you set out on their long journey back to Kwanlai. Without the leadership of Lord Rybos, interest in the Sunken Valley wanes and the excavations cease. King gradually reestablishes himself as the custodian of the area, and he begins adopting runaway slaves as his disciples. Amara Li and Shiyo Takarak welcome the Pathfinders back to Kwanlai and listen intently to their report. The tengu is particularly excited when you deliver all three relics you recovered, and she handles each with care and respect before placing them in silk-lined boxes. Shiyo voices her appreciation of your actions and announces that you have the Way of the Kirin’s thanks.
Sora nods. "Yes, the squid was Lord Rybos. He was...dangerous. I am grateful that you removed his influence over this place." White Rose has absolutely no trouble extracting the flute from Sora's grasp, which is the final object you were asked to find.
Elena and White Rose help the man out of the room. As he leaves, he's very surprised to hear Pai's question. "Yes, yes I am. The Servants kidnapped me while King was out. Do you think you could find my flute for me? Lord Rybos took it " He is quite content to rest out in the hall, not looking at the water at all. Pai drops back into the water and looks around. The squid itself has a waterproof bag, a shiny staff, and a wand. The shelves are filled with books, though the submersion obviously hasn't done them any favors. They are less damaged than she would expect, probably some sort of magic on them, but there's very little of value left among them. She also finds a flute place carefully on one of the top shelves, probably for later study. She pops back up into the air and looks in the bag. It's full of scrolls, which she can take to one of the spell casters. The flute is also magical and bears a striking resemblance to the one Shiyo Takarak asked you to find.
Elena pulls out a scroll and mumbles a few words. As you do, the man's eyes well with tears as he is suddenly able to speak again. "Th-th-th-thank y-you. I thought I was going to d-d-die, s-s-s-s-sacrificed to Lord Ryb-b-bos-s-s." He sits up very shakily and wrapping his arms around his knees, bursts into quiet sobs.
As Elena looks down at the body, it doesn't move...except for the eyes. He looks up at you with a mute plea, seemingly unable to speak or move. But he doesn't seem to be injured in any way. DC 15:
You think he's been poisoned with some sort of ability damage. If you can heal that damage, he'll be fine.
Now that they have had practice with the displacement, Alani and Myth connect with several shots and the squid finally stops moving.
Most of the party is injured, some severely, but everyone is still breathing. There is still a body on the far side of the room, and for the moment, everything is quiet.
Lini casts cure mod on Pai, trying to avoid the squid tentacles. Pai wakes up, shouts thanks, and zzzorches the squid in return. White Rose darts into the room, getting swatted by the squid as she goes (-18 HP). She pulls out a wand and boops Elena, bringing her back to consciousness. Unfortunately, her sword is at the bottom of the pool. GM stuff:
for Round 4 (bold can go)
Unsure of what she can do, Linida delays. Elena comes under attack from both the staff and the bite this time, dropping her. . Pai gets the full brunt of the tentacles this time as they crit and squeeze , dropping her as well. GM stuff:
for for for for plus for for Round 4 (bold can go)
Myth manages to squirm free of the grappling tentacles while the croc continues to flail uselessly at the squid. White Rose readies to help her allies.
Round 4 (bold can go)
Alani clears her musket. Pai drops into the water, letting loose an electric blast. Without the displacement bonus, the squid shrieks as it takes full damage . The squid lashes out with its staff, smacking the gnome solidly . It looks badly injured, but still plenty of fight left. GM stuff:
for Round 4 (bold can go)
Elena slashes furiously at the squid, but only manages to hit with an extra bit of effort on her final attack (-23 HP). Round 4 (bold can go)
The croc flails around, but fails to connect with the squid. Lini casts a spell filling the air with ice and snow, bludgeoning the squid . Snow continues to fall even after Linida steps off the bookshelf into the water. The squid drops Elena before reaching out for Myth right at the edge of what it can grab. It gets a tentacle on him, then grabs and *squeezes* with the rest . The crocodile gets smacked twice and disappears , while Pai gets bitten . It then slithers a little closer to everyone. GM stuff:
for for for for plus for Round 4 (bold can go)
Alani's gun misfires in an unfortunate way, forcing her to spend valuable time clearing it. Pai attempts to zzzorch it, but misjudges the displacement from the water and her shot goes astray. Tentacles fly around her, but don't land a hit. Elena tries to subtly drink her potion, but the tentacles smack and grab her. However, now she can walk on water, making it much harder to pull her down. White Rose drops some acid on the squid's head.
GM stuff:
for plus for plus for Round 4 (bold can go)
: Round 3B (bold can go)
Red is turned into a pincushion and collapses.
White Rose moves up and casts glitterdust, outlining the squid in bright detail. Red appears to be both shiny *and* blind. Linida completes her summon for the crocodile who immediately smacks and chomps down on the hapless cultist, just missing the grab. Fujitora leaps around the pillar to attack, but the squid reaches out with it's tentacles, swatting him once (-16 HP), then grabbing him and pulling him into the water. He lashes at the creature with all the claws, slicing into it twice. There is a whirlwind of movement as the squid squeezes the cat with his tentacles (-22 HP), then lashes out at the rest of the party. He smacks Elena with a staff (-19 HP) and misses Pai with it, then bites the croc for a little bit of damage (-8 HP) as Red stabs it with their trident (-7 HP). GM stuff:
for plus
for
for
Round 3A (bold can go)
Pai points at the moving creature beneath the water and takes out Yellow. Elena takes out Green with her first attack and pulls out her potion of air bubble that she purchased back at the dawn of time.
Alani can see the shape of a creature in the water, one with a plethora of tentacles. She fires at it, trying to account for the image displacement...
...and her shot goes wide. It's not very far beneath the surface, but still a challenge to hit. Knowledge nature DC 19 to ID if you can see it:
That's definitely a giant squid down there. Myth's shots hit, except for one which bounces off a column. Yellow is still standing, but definitely not in good shape. Yellow and Red both take a step forward and glare at Myth and Alani. She is shaken by the intensity , though Myth completely ignores the effect. GM stuff:
: Round 2B (bold can go)
Linida begins summoning a creature to help while Fujitora guards her. Elena warns the group that there's something else in there! You can see a very vague dark shape in the deep water. Green turns around and stabs viciously at Elena, scratching her badly (-6 HP). Then a black ray of emerges from the water, striking Myth in the belly. He immediately feels light-headed and weak (2 negative levels) GM stuff:
for for Round 2A (bold can go)
White Rose casts haste on the party. Elena uses it to good advantage, skipping across the tops of the bookshelves on the way to Green. As she does, a flurry of long slimy tentacles reach out of the water and tries to grab her, but she slips past them as she heads to the far side of the room. She slashes across his arm, wounding him deeply though he still stands. GM stuff:
for plus Round 1B (bold can go)
Green shrieks as he is blasted from behind. He shakes his head from the thunderclap, but does not appear to be deafened.
: Round 1B (bold can go)
Alani's bullets miss the Yellow cultist. Green growls as they take an arrow shot from Myth. Red and Yellow both being foaming at the mouth before moving out onto the still water and waving their tentacles in esoteric ways. Rays of light reach out towards Myth and Elena, missing Myth, but hitting Elena squarely. She feels slightly weaker in the wake of it. GM stuff:
for for - Round 1B (bold can go)
All three shots zing past Yellow's face, missing face and tentacles by inches.
Through the door, water seeps through a thin, vertical crack that runs from the waterline of the north wall to the center of the ceiling in this tall flooded chamber. A stairway leads from the south door down into the dark waters that nearly fill this large library. Tall bookcases rise only inches above the waterline as they trace the edge of the room, and a second set of wider shelves spiral about the room’s interior. Four algae-covered pillars support the ceiling above. Several creatures, similar to the ones you defeated upstairs (not the boggarts), are standing over a body at the far side of the chamber, chanting softly in the cave-like quiet. They look up as the door opens, hands immediately reaching for knives.
Initiative:
Initiative: Round 1A (Bold can go) Alani: 30
Green, having no one else to shield it from the onslaught, crumbles under the combined attacks of Myth and Pai. You now have some time to investigate the area properly. Aside from a ridiculous amount of gold and other metals melted onto the floor (it will take days to hack it into pieces and carry it out, let me know if you want to do that), you can get 1200 gp in loose coinage. It takes a moment to pry the magic items out of their enveloping gold, but they can all be removed safely. Gathering yourselves together, you climb the stairs to the north and open the heavy double doors at the top. There is a matching set of doors on the north wall and the room smells incredibly musty. Crates and barrels are piled against the wall, and a lone table sits in the southeastern corner. The containers all used to have food. You think. It's now just musty, crumbled remains. Listening at the northern door, you can hear the faint drip of water splashing into a pool and some muffled chanting. (Well, everyone except White Rose who can't hear anything over the echoing emptiness inside her head. ;) )
Perception:
Red disappears in a shower of sparks. Green takes the opportunity to slide into the same location and flails at White Rose one more time. for plus Initiative: Round 2C (bold can go)
Initiative: Round 3A (bold can go)
Linida moves away from the elemental with Fujitora moving into her spot. Alani takes a whack from Red who misses as she aims at Pink, then UNLOADS on her target, completely obliterating it before targeting another elemental with her final shot. White Rose steps up, casting resistance on the party members she can reach. Red then glides a step closer and tries to smack White Rose a bunch. It lands a critical blow on the vigilante (15 bludgeoning GM stuff:
for plus for plus for plus for plus Initiative: Round 2B (bold can go)
Red staggers as it's shot and nibbled, but is not quite down yet.
Initiative: Round 2A (bold can go)
Pai blasts the red one with a fire hose, damaging it severely, but it's still up (for the moment). Initiative: Round 2C (bold can go)
Elena calls for everyone to retreat and readies to smack as soon as it comes within reach. White Rose dodges back through her allies and casts haste on the group. Alani rains a hail of gunfire across the room at Yellow who takes a *lot* of damage but is still upright. The elementals rush forward to bash the intruders, some stopping at the group while others move past.
GM stuff:
for plus for plus for plus for plus Initiative: Round 1B (bold can go)
Elena and White Rose identify the creatures as Lightning Elementals. They have a little resistance to all physical damage (DR 5/-) and are immune to electricity (shocking, I know), plus all those annoying elemental things (like precision, flanking, and criticals). They have no other resistances.
As WhiteRose touches the crown, sizzling bolts of lightning emerge from the walls and form into four large humanoid balls of electricity. (Knowledge planes DC 15 to ID) Initiative:
Initiative: Round 1A (bold can go) Elena: 23
It's a wand of resist energy with 6 charges.
Elena identifies the item to the southeast as a +1 shock katana, but isn't sure about the other two.
Nothing leaps out at you as you cautiously enter the room and no fireballs appear either, though there is a slight buzzing sensation and everyone's hair stands on end, if it's not too long. Droogami looks particularly silly, puffed out like a plush toy.
Heal DC 15:
Looks fairly recent, compared to the age of the stronghold. Some of the treasure melted and covered its remains. if a success on Heal, Knowledge (local) DC 10: You think it might have been a boggard, like the creatures in the first room.
Nothing Myth sees is trap like, though it's definitely weird looking. The magic items are still magic and undentified. :)
Elena remembers that there was a crown, the second coronation crown of Shen Shu, on the list of things you were supposed to bring back.
With detect magic, you can make out a few spots where there is an item or two. (3 locations: northeast, southeast, and in the center) Against the far wall, you see an object which is not melted at all. It definitely looks like a crown, but is not pinging as magical.
It only takes a few minutes to clear out the debris in front of the doors and open them. Eerie blue light plays across murals on the north, south, and east walls, each portraying a kirin flying through a raging storm. Coins of many shapes, materials, and origins form low heaps throughout this treasury, though in many places the coins have fused together or melted slightly to form extensive sheets of precious metals. A golden skeleton lies sprawled near the room’s entrance. Pai and Linida:
The hair on the back of Pai's and Linida's necks stands on end. There's something off in the room, but you can't put your finger on it. Not a trap, you've seen that before, but something else.
Pai and Linida Knowledge arcana DC 21:
Right! This looks like damage done by elementals, either lightning or fire.
GM stuff:
King is visibly startled by the hug and kiss, but submits to Pai's affection. He nods shortly in response to her promise to find Hamade Sora, though she gets the feeling it is from a desire not to show emotion, rather than anger. "I appreciate your thought. I do not know what is happening down below and he has been gone since yesterday."
A trickle of water seeps through the closed door on the east side of this small, fifteen-foot-high antechamber. A moldering tapestry hangs from floor to ceiling along the south wall, while to the north a closed wooden door remains relatively dry despite the dampness. A heavy stone hatch rests open against the southwest wall, revealing a slick staircase carved from the bedrock that descends into the darkness below. The door to the north resists only for a moment before Myth opens it, revealing an office. A small pile of scrolls and maps show a busy excavation site as well as several old maps from before the valley was flooded. Inside a cabinet against the wall you find a wand. A series of short flights of stairs switchback downward along 10-foot-high corridors. Each landing bears a soggy tapestry whose designs are no longer discernible. At the bottom of the stairs is an unlocked wooden door. Beyond the door, a twenty-foot-tall hallway seems to have once been a major intersection with passageways to the north, south, east, and west. A heavy pile of wood and debris partially barricades a ceiling-high set of stone doors that lies to the east, and shattered chunks of rock and dried mud block the way south. A wide flight of stairs rises to the north, terminating in a set of double doors.
King is delighted with the range of abilities that you share with him and gives you the following bits of information:
The kappa also knows something of the three relics you are seeking. The flute of the fallen emperor was in the possession of his ward, Hamade Sora, before he disappeared—likely captured by the masked servants and taken below. He thinks he saw something like the coronation crown in the golden treasury below. However, when you mention Wise Zijao’s seal, his jovial mood disappears and he demands to know what you want to do with it. After White Rose easily explains that you were sent by a member of the Way of the Kirin and that his purposes are philanthropic, King is willing to part with it, even though it's part of his priceless home art collection. He opens one of the four corner doors, showing what looks like hundreds of carefully illuminated scrolls displayed to their best advantage. The kappa plucks a seal from the hands of a statue of a sage and offers it to the kitsune. He also points out the stairwell down.
King keeps a close eye on Pai as she sits in mid-air, but nods appreciatively at her close examination of the tapestries. Turning back to Elena, "They did not wish for peace, nor did they seek any knowledge I could have shared. As long as they remained above, I was content to study here." "Since you approach with words rather than weapons, perhaps you would be interested in an exchange of knowledge or demonstrations of skill? Is there something in particular that you seek? I have been here for some time and can give you information of places below. In return I would like to hear more about the outside world. What say you?"
The statues appear to be just beautifully made statues without any moving parts. Myth feels that King is being straightforward with them. The creature nods regally to Pai and White Rose, smiling again. "Indeed, I do not attempt to kill all who enter, only those which do not show the proper respect to the god and the learning." "Please come in, if you mean me no harm. Are you seeking knowledge or peace? I have both here."
"Not trouble, exactly. They don't try to roust me out of my home and I don't kill them as they go through." He smiles sourly. "We cordially ignore one another. I am known as King, here in Shen-Shu. What brings you to this temple of learning and wisdom? I gather you are not Servants of the Deep." The capital letters are definitely audible. Looking around the room in the dim light, the room appears to be exceptionally clean for something in the middle of the swamp. Artfully crafted, lifelike statues are carved of polished stone and the tapestries on the walls are spotless.
The being waits patiently, watching Myth watching them.
White Rose identifies 3 potions of cure moderate wounds, 1 potion of water walk, (2 unidentified potions), 2 oils of magic weapon, and 2 sets of studded leather armor +1. She fails to identify the amulets and rings.
details:
6 potions *
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 Y Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19 Y Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 N Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17 Y Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 Y Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9 N 2 oils *
2 studded leather armor *
2 amulets *
2 rings *
Myth creeps near silently down the open, winding stairway that encircles the fifteen-foot-tall statue of a staglike creature with backward-facing horns and fiery hooves, sculpted as though it was ascending skyward through the opening to the floor above. Rich tapestries adorn the walls, and a pair of statues depicting noble samurai flank each of the four doors found at each corner of the room. Against the south wall, a railed stairway heads down. Near the eastern wall, a large turtle-like creature crouches patiently, a large broadsword carried at his hip, his eyes fixed on the stairs. He blinks slowly in the dim light pouring down the stairwell. "Greetings, intrepid travelers, for I assume there is more than one of you. Welcome to Shen-Shu. I am the custodian of this marvelous place and I congratulate you on a battle well fought."
Searching the bodies, you find the following, some of which is magical *: 6 potions *
The room itself seems pretty bare; these people were obviously guarding the way down. Looking down the stairs, it's 30 feet down to the next level and looks like it opens up into a room there.
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