Arriving at Maren's office you find the door locked. After knocking on it you hear a voice from inside.
I have no time to speak to the administrators of the Arcanamirium until much, much later this decade. Now go away please. I am busy.
Search Posts
Kaervek:
You know that these are called Beacons of Ralzeros.You learn that 1 of the remaining Beacons is in the office of a journeyman wizard Maren Fuln’s office right here on campus and the last beacon is on display in the Blakros Museum. While here you have the oportuninty to gather some further informaton also. DC 8+ Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (history):
The Dark Tapestry is the common term for the lifeless space between the stars. DC 13+ Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (history):
Most efforts to plumb the secrets of the Dark Tapestry drive researchers to madness. Whatever powers lurk in the void are hideously alien and, thankfully, pay little attention to life on Golarion. DC18+ Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (history):
One of the Pathfinder Society’s foremost scholars of the Dark Tapestry is Paucol the Gray, but the disturbing things he’s learned have left him unstable and distractible. He accepts visitors only by appointment. DC23+ Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (history):
The object in the fungal vault resembles one astronomer’s depiction of Aucturn, the planet farthest from the sun in Golarion’s solar system. Not much is known about the enigmatic planet, other than that reaching it via teleportation or portal is exceedingly difficult and that only vile creatures can thrive in its poisonous atmosphere. DC28+ Knowledge (arcana) or Knowledge (history): Another prominent scholar of the Dark Tapestry was a wizard called Ralzeros the Overwatched. Generations ago, he built laboratories designed to study extraterrestrial creatures and magic, before he mysteriously disappeared. Ralzeros’s laboratories eventually became the groundwork for the famous Blakros Museum, which was built upon the foundations of the wizard’s estate.
You move through to the Arcanamirium. It is the oldest and largest magical college in Absalom, as well as perhaps the most prestigious academy of arcane arts in the entire Inner Sea region. The campus is dotted with gothic-style stone structures and imposing marble towers, with apprentice wizards hurrying between buildings on their way to classes. You enter and are greeted cheerfully by the students who are currently manning, elfing and dwarfing the front desk. What can we assist you with today? says a bright eyed apprentice mage.
Oria's Distortions:
[dice= Another save[/ooc]
Oria continues to contort and their limbs snap and pop.
Zarta sighs and waves her hands over the orb and the glow fades. Zarta then approached Oria and casts a spell twice (lesser restoration). Zarta lithely slips the wand back into the folds of her dress, her eyes darting around the blasted vault. Nicely done. I’ll go to Ambrus and lift the lockdown. That being said, you still have work to do. Her gaze falls upon the dormant glass sphere, its fluid contents now black and flecked with pinpricks of light. I don’t know what caused this to happen, but I do recognize that item. The Society purchased it from the Arcanamirium a few weeks ago for further study when they told us they suspected its magic was somehow linked to the Dark Tapestry. It’s one of a set of three, and if this one malfunctioned, I anticipate the others won’t be far behind. Zarta digs through one of the wrecked crates and emerges with three small lead boxes etched with sigils. She places the sphere into one of the boxes and fastens it shut. At this point, our responsibility is to contain these devices before they cause any lasting damage. Get whatever supplies you need first. Once you are ready, head to the Arcanamirium, find the other two items, and place them inside these warding containers. Their magic is keyed to each other, so you shouldn’t need to disarm the other devices; just scoop them into the boxes and lock the lids. Once we have all three, we can figure out where to go from there. Do not delay, but tread carefully. The Society knows precious little about the forces of the Dark Tapestry, other than that those who deal with them haphazardly often find their sanity compromised. Searching the room you find five pieces of +1 aberration bane arrows, six masterwork daggers, and a +1 punching dagger. DC20 Craft (alchemy), Knowledge (nature), or Profession (herbalist) or DC16 Dexterity check: You harvest 4 doses of nitharitfrom the fungal growths here.
Oria reached out and touches the sphere. With a ZAP Oria begins to contort as their body folds.
DC 28 Knowledge Arcana to identify the spell that the becon emitted: This is a heightened version of Excruciating Deformation.
Zarta looks around at the group. Are any of you capable of disabling this? Would you like me to do it for you? There is a shade of disappointment as she looks at Xanac, Kaervek, Trixx and Oria.
Zarta continues to inspect the glowing object with a pinched look on her face.
Kaidynn goes all in and demolishes Blue. Likewise a collective effort takes Red out.
Zarta moves to the glowing beacon in the north east corner and begins to inspect it. The growths seem to be emanating from this glowing area. DC 29 Perception: This glowing beacon radiates magic and is a trap.
The combined efforts drop Yellow to the ground and it falls motionless. Shine's bolt strikes Red and takes some of the parts out of allignment. Triix identifes the spell that Zarta cast as Blight Seeing Yellow fall Red coalesces into a solid mass. Blue advances on the group. Combat Round 4 - Bold may act Kaervek
Not all went though because it is a swarm, not because of DR. They are immune to magic missile because it allows for spell resistance.
Kaidynn's arrow strikes a swirling part of the construct. Xanac fires and strikes as the construct is unready. Zarta zaps the fungus around her killing it off Yellow and Blue compact into walking humanoid shape. Combat Round 3 - Bold may act Kaervek
Kaidynn thumps two arrows into Red. They knock some junk around but are not entirely effective. Oria reaches into to swirl that is Yellow and ice crackles around their hand. Kaervek's acid sizzles and burns some of the swirling parts of Yellow. Combat Round 2 - Kaervek
The three golems move towards the group. Combat Round 2 - Bold may act Kaervek
Knowledge(Arcane) DC15:
These are Aucturn Shard Golems. They are masses of small pieces swirling about in a 10 foot by 10 foot square. Kaidynn and Kaervek let me know what additional info you want to know. Kaidynn fires twice at the Yellow tinted enemy. The first arrow bounces off but the second arrow flies into the swirling cloud and hits, although it seems to not take as much damage as expected. Kaervek's spear is also deflected by a a flying pieces of debris within the cloud. Zarta begins to emanate an aura filling you all with courage.
Combat Round 1 - Bold may act Kaervek
Go ahead and spend them.
Shine:
You sense three presences beyond the door that are neither alive nor dead. Zarta throws the door open. Sticky, humid air saturates this dome-shaped chamber, and veins of yellow-green tendrils form a web across its stone walls. A thin layer of slimy green pollen coats the hundreds of small curios scattered throughout the room, as well as the sundered crates that once stored them. Bulbous tubes of spiny fungus sprawl across the floor, connected to thick columns that reach up to the ceiling and dangle pods of prickly, putrid fruit. All of these growths are rooted to a glowing glass sphere filled with churning yellow protoplasm, which hovers six feet above the floor. Two bands of coalesced spores encircle the sphere like planetary rings. Initiative:
Combat Round 1 - Bold may act Kaervek
. Heavy undergrowth costs 4 squares of movement to move into and provides concealment with a 30% miss chance (instead of the usual 20%). It increases the DC of Acrobatics checks by 5. Heavy undergrowth is easy to hide in, granting a +5 circumstance bonus on Stealth checks. Running and charging are impossible.
Audible alarm spells fill the Grand Lodge with shrill chimes, as apprentice Pathfinders hustle through the ground floor locking doors and casting protective spells. Venture-Captain Ambrus Valsin rounds the corner in a visibly agitated state, with Paracountess Zarta Dralneen impatiently dogging at his heels. Ambrus, this kind of situation is exactly why I founded the Dark Archive in the first place. Give me and my agents a chance to… A chance to what, Zarta? Tinker around with unstudied artifacts while Pathfinders’ lives might be at risk? Valsin’s voice booms curtly over the alarms. As if startled by the harsh sound of his voice, Valsin flinches and quickly gains his composure. I’m sorry, Zarta. I understand your point; I just can’t think about it right now while something is happening inside our very walls. If you can marshal a team to put a lid on this debacle, I’m sure the Decemvirate will give you some more rope. Just be careful you don’t wind up hanging yourself with it. As Valsin stalks down the corridor checking to see if the doors are secured, Zarta turns, a sly smirk spreading across her face. That’s the closest I’ve gotten to a ‘yes’ in months. Of course, now we have to prove that we can handle emergencies like this in a pinch. Come along then. I’ll explain on the way. Zarta rushes down a flight of spiral stairs, drawing a crooked wand from the folds of her dress. As you may know, the Dark Archive has been gathering, cataloging, and reinforcing magical wards over all manner of dangerous or mysterious items, some of which we store in these underground vaults. Apparently one of the items has activated and malfunctioned. The good news is that our alarm system and lockdown procedure ran swimmingly; the bad news is that now we have a bizarre magical device wreaking havoc in our basement. That is where you come in. Zarta stops outside a stone door with sickly yellow roots lazily snaking between its edges. This is the vault. All we know is that whatever is inside is animating the other devices stored in here, and spewing plant-like matter throughout the room. The plants aren’t any sort I’ve seen before, so I would recommend caution. I’ve brought a wand that I should be able to use to repel the flora. You all take care of the animated items and disarm whatever’s causing this situation, preferably without damaging it until we can learn more. Understood?
Ok, lets get going then. See you in Gameplay Thread
We can run with 4. I will give it a little longer to see if we get two more and we will make a start tomorrow (hopefully).
I will set up a thread and we can get rolling. The thread for recruitment is at Recruitment thread
Recruitment Thread
Discussion Thread
PBP Thread
If you are still looking, I will run Call of the Copper Gate.
Sorry for the delay. I have the physical chronicles in hand now and am going to take them to the store and scan them as soon as they are done. Can I please have the reporting info for Scaith, Galandir and Malon? Thanks
Spica sees the extra enemies and points them out to the party. Round 2 - Bold May Act Lady Vanessa
You look around and see that you have explored all of the rooms on this level. Time to return to town and reprovision.
You have indeed cleared level 1 of the Emerald Spire. I am packaging up your chronicles and should have them to you shortly.
Soon the tunnel heading West begins to narrow and you find yourselves having to crawl (except Phidoe). You make your way along the passage and soon find that it begins to lead slightly South-West. DC20 Perception: You see what you think is a pressure plate that would trigger a trap of some kind.
Spika fires a magic missile and takes out the blue gremlin as Dumm moves forward Round 1 - Bold May Act Blue
DC29 Perception: You notice 3 other gremlins secreted in shadows around the room with the anvil. The one behind the anvil looks to be different to the other two
You traipse on through the gloom as you follow the boot prints further on. The boot prints turn north as the tunnel does the same. You eventually arrive at another junction with a path leading east and a path leading further north. Survival DC15: The boot prints continue north
You withdraw teh scroll from the scroll tube and see a complicated magical sigil drawn in iridescent green ink. DC15 Knowledge (arcana) or Linguistics:
This is the Azlanti sigil for 6. This looks very similar to an Arcane Mark, but is not exactly the same. Investigating the golem arm you feel that if you took this and the other miscellaneous bits and pieces of Clanky back to town you could sell them for about 75 GP.
Tabar rides forth and slashes down at Green, taking it out in one swing. A flying frog zooms through as Lady Vanessa looks for an opening. Round 1 - Bold May Act Blue
The party swarms the slug and takes it down in a flurry of action. It has no treasure, but at least you are safe now.
Survival DC15: The boot prints continue off towards the east
Phidoe dodges the slug on his way in then attacks. The strike hits, but the squishy flesh of the slug seems to prevent some of the damage going through. The slug's tongue shoots out at Phidoe in retaliation.
Phidoe manages to dodge the tongue and avoid the damage. Combat round 1/2 - Bold May Act Phidoe
Checking over the door Galandir sees no traps on this one either.
A plush, human-sized bed stands in this chamber, along with a table holding a bone scroll tube and jars filled with eyeballs, claws, and teeth. Various automaton parts lie scattered around.
Tabar does not recognize either the creature from his vision or the creatures he sees in the side tunnel. Suddenly a bolt and nut floats past screwing and unscrewing. Spica identifies this as the spell Unseen Servant. Initiative:
The blue enemy draws back on its bow and fires at Tabar.
Round 1 - Bold May Act Blue
Hiirag fires, but the arrow bounces off the tough hide of the creature.
The door opens and you see that this chamber is a flight of stairs leading downward.
Tabar on the Elevator:
You see a hideous hunchbacked creature has three glowing blue eyes. Oily hair grows from its head and back, covering it like a cloak. It removes the fifth key from its keyhole and throws it into a flooded chamber. Rolls:
As Tabar and Aiden prepare to move forward a rope suddenly appears. It floats past as it knots and unknots in a steady, repeating pattern. Aiden sneaks forward as Tabar rides up. Tabar in the room: You spot two creatures lurking in the shadows to the left as you move forward.
There are no runes above each of the keyholes. Counting left to right though you see that the ones missing seem to be the third and fifth. All of the keys are the same size, although slightly different shapes. Turning the first on the left and the big wheel the floor begins to descend. After one minute the elevator stops and a new area appears though a door to the west. Whether due to partial collapse or by intention, the floor of this fifty-foot-square room slopes gently down from the western entryway. A second set of walls creates a smaller space within the room, and cracks riddle the inner chamber’s walls, obscuring what might have once been intricate carvings and offering glimpses of the corridor that rings the walls’ perimeter. A variety of tools lie scattered and abandoned about the room, and to the east a few of the heaviest implements are arrayed in a half circle around the base of a highly polished and unused anvil. Rolls:
Galandir checks the doors towards the centre of the spire and does not see any traps.
Ikari steps up and stabs his spear into the slimy enemy. Combat round 1 - Bold May Act Phidoe
|