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Game is played here.
Discussion here.
I've also hit the submit to HQ button so things should be reported within a few days.
If you're planning on GMing this or like peeking behind the curtain, I've got some potentially useful notes below, but if you just plan on playing this again and don't want any spoilers you might prefer to skip. Notes: The gremlin encounter was run on "Harder". I don't think it's a challenging encounter for virtually any party. I ran the Pillar encounter on Easier. They are super deadly on Normal, attacking everybody within their 10ft reach with no MAP with +11 1d8+4. (You had the easier stats) There's also a question about do you need to just just get to the Break threshold, or fully destroy them. If a hazard's Hit Points are reduced to its Broken Threshold (BT) or lower, the hazard becomes broken and can't be activated, though it can still be repaired A broken object can't be used for its normal function, nor does it grant bonuses However the Warp Pillar stat block says "Disable DC 18 Arcana, Crafting, Occultism, or Thievery; three
Does this override the normal rules about break threshold? Could easily rule either way. Last time I ran this, was on Normal, and I required the full threshold and nearly murdered the whole party, and would of if not for Retail Incentive boons. I decided to go with the friendlier ruling of only needing to hit the break threshold, but I'm not 100% convinced I was right and will think about my choices next time I run this.
Gojiro punches the remaining pillar until it breaks! With the pillars deactivated and no longer fighting back, it's easy enough to disable or destroy them at which point the dome disappears and Star groggily rises to their feet. You can see a shaft leading below where Star was but Star shakes their head. "Thank you for freeing me from that trap, I think exploring the lower levels should wait for another time, these pillars were dangerous enough." The statue to the south nods slowly and glides into the wall disappearing for now. It/they? are not present at either of the locations you encountered them before. Star gives their thanks again. "Lets go back to came, I'm sure Katydid must be worried sick." Even with some of you stuck walking, Star's presence likely keeps any predators or other dangers away as you make the several hour trek back to camp. There Katydid stammers and laughs with delight to see her friend again, and Wulessa thanks the you for recovering Star. Both commit to exploring the temple in more detail— and to discovering more about the strange statue you encountered within it— once they can commit appropriate resources to the task. - FIN
We're (hopefully) getting to the end of this soon. So please make sure your RPG chronicles sheet is properly filled in.
Nyzos slowly bashes a pillar and taunts it, getting some damage past hardness. while Demper heals Amarynthine and shields themself. The remaining pillar slides around to where it can reach everybody before lashing out with its temporal attack.
FRE and Gojiro are only minorly injured but are both slowed. Amarynthine retains some lingering slow from the initial blast. Initiative:
Amarynthine, FRE and Gojiro are up!
FRE's efforts are not quite good enough to make progress on the pillar. Amarynthine very slowly shields themself. Did Star's time bubble flicker? Hard to be sure. Initiative:
Nyzos & Demper are up! (Slowed 1)
Gojiro moves over and hits the pillar twice, the force of his 2 strikes cracking and breaking the pillar, causing it to stop moving.
Demper shares another guidance and improves their bless. The Blue pillar then lashes out with its attacks.
The pillar's Time Drain hits Nyzos and FRE, and crits Amarynthine.
Amarynthine continues to take the worst of it, getting slower and slower. Initiative:
Amarynthine, FRE and Gojiro are up!
Nyzos can't figure out the disable, but does manages a devastating shield bash. At least it would have been devastating if it didn't have hardness 6 and was immune to critical hits. The red pillar then slides around into position to attack as many of you as possible as it once again pulses with time rays.
Demper and Amarynthine are both hit and being to slow (doesn't get any worse for Amarynthine at least), but the party comes out relatively okay Initiative:
Demper is up!
Gojiro suddnly charges around and gets the red pillar twice. Amarynthine feels time slow down, or is it speed up?
FRE is extremely slowed and only manages a single strike against blue, but it does manage a bit of damage. Anarynthine works on the blue pillar, starting to disable it. FRE and Nyzos shake off their slows, but Amarynthine's lingers. ...Nothing else happens. Did Star's bubble flicker? Maybe just your imagination... Initiative:
Nyzos is up!
My apologies for the delay, need an extra day here to finish travelling to get my next big post up.
FRE punches the blue pillar in what should be a weak spot, barely bypassing its hardness and geting a bit of damage.
As a head's up, I'm on the road today and am unlikely to get in an update before late.
Thanks to a flank Gojiro hits both times, and even manages to squeak a bit of damage past its hardness
Demper provides a powerful blessing and guidance right before the blue pillar slides a step forward and catches the whole party in its Time Drain.
It misses Nyzos and Demper. Amarynthine's shield barely protects them while FRE gets critically smacked.
The Pillar critically hits FRE, who begins glitching and repeating their actions, as though they were being caught in some sort of temporal trap like Star.
Initiative:
Amarynthine, Fre and Gojiro are up! (FRE is slowed 2)
Nyzos is slowed but still gets a great hit, although it's less than half as effective as one would hope. The slowing effect on them seems to quickly fade, unlike whatever temporal effect holds Star.
The red dashed pillar quickly zooms across the ground. It has trouble maneuvering around Nyzos and lets out a smaller burst of energy, targeting everybody within 10 feet.
Initiative:
Demper up!
This is pretty clearly Star, and they seem caught in some sort of temporal trap. Unfortunately as Amarynthine steps up to investigate the pillars animate pulse with energy and begin sliding towards you. Initiative+s:
Initiative:
Nyzos is up!
Fort Results:
CS: Nothing
S: Slowed 1 F: Slowed 1 CF: Slowed 2
GM Dice:
Heading north your passage opens up into a larger chamber. There you see that the The walls of this enormous round chamber are streaked with rust and grime of ages. The same statue with the amber eyes now stands at the south edge of the its gaze holding a faint, unblinking light. It holds its right hand slightly palm down, as though to indicate being silent or careful. Violet energy forms a shimmering dome in the room’s center, twenty feet across. A hulking automaton shaped like a snapping turtle is within the dome, performing a frantic, repeated motion: They reach out toward one of the pillars, grasping desperately with intense focus, only to be snapped back to repeat the motion, repeating the same few seconds of action over and over. Two pillars of obsidian and bronze stand just outside the dome, to the east and west. They hum and crackle with violet energy, appearing to be connected to the dome that has imprisoned the automaton.
Taking the scoop and pouring it slowly and carefully, F.R.E turns out to have a careful hand as the brass cylinder balances perfectly onto the wire stand. It then heats in a sudden flash and fuses the sand into an etched lense. In addition the gears blocking the passages ratchet aside opening up the way to the north as the statue rotates at its base to point at the now open passage.
Crafting would not help to carefully pour, but would potentially be useful for a different approach, say getting a precise measurement of both containers to fill correctly rather than doing the physical pour carefully.
There is magic here as well. Demper sees a bronze scoop mostly buried within the sand. Looking at the brass cylinder balanced on the wire stand you would guess that if you got just the right amount of weight in it you could balance it nicely.
I can at least reassure you that you aren't missing out on anything here. Here's the extent of the relevant text "The scratches indicate Star’s passage and lead directly to the stairs leading downward to the lower temple. Close examination of the metal inlay reveals tiny writing etched on the metal. The characters look like Jistkan but are in a complex code. Interpreting the text is a task for experts requiring many months."
It may take some effort but the party eventually gets Amarynthine to move on from the fascinating Jistkan text. Following the scratches to the west curves around a bit before having some stairs lead down leading to larger but still unlit chambers. The stairs open in a wide room. Part of the wall to the east has collapsed, opening to a natural cavern. A stone door near the collapse sits ajar, revealing an empty storage room. Two other passages lead out of this room to the north and west, but each is blocked by dozens of interlocking gears after only a few feet. A human-sized bronze statue inlaid with dark crystal stands in the northwest corner of the room, between the two gear-filled passages. The amber eyes in its obsidian mask gleam. A low hum emanates from the statue. Its left hand is palm out toward the blocked north passage while its right hand points to something on the floor. The statue here looks identical to the statue above and is pointing to a pit of sand about 2 feet across. A wire stand rises from the sand and supports a cylindrical brass container. The container is partially filled with sand and sits off kilter on the wire stand.
Not that it matters for this adventure, sorting out the text, even with Jistkan being understood is still weeks, if not months of higher level work. Thoughts: Note the lack of PFS icon next to Jistkan on AoN. I don't own the Bestiary 2 but based on the AoN listing I think it just shows up for a couple creatures but without any rules or rarity and AoN just arbitrarily chose to list it as Uncommon. I don't own the Bestiary 2 to confirm though. It looks like "Jistka" also shows up in Guns & Gears Remastered but as a Rare language. No objections to being fluent for Jistkan for this adventure but you may want to look into it further, I suspect you got an incorrect answer from the forums unfortunately :(
Being trained in Jistkan lore, Amarynthine can additionally tell that the writing doesn't line up with any Jistkan phrases they are familiar with. In addition to lengthy research needed to gather the writing, it's also likely in code.
A closer examination of the space reveals tiny writing etched on the metal inlay. Based on some of the larger carvings, you would assume it's Jistkan. Given its small size it's likely at least several weeks, if not months of study to learn anything from it. No further clues regarding your mission however.
Amarynthine suffers from Bane, but crushes the little Gremlin.
Nyzos continues to fly around and taunt, also suffers from bane. Gojiro actually manages to avoid suffering from bane
--
Despite only being minorly frightened The tiny gremlin turns their charge into a runby as they flee out of the temple and into the desert as the mitflits are slaughtered behind them. Other than a few coins, the only thing of value on the gremlins is a purse made of bloodstained hide that contains a single reasonably nice garnet. As mentioned before the gremlins attacked, the scratches head to the west and there seems to be some care made into not scratching the fancy inlay of the walls.
I'm not particularly bothered by a relatively simple ready to move into a flank. I'm generally fairly generous on interpreting pbp timing, especially when intent is clearly described. FRE will take the flank on blue and then you'll move to help out with the flank on yellow. Happy to resolve it nicely, no matter what order people actually in up posting in.
With the horrific murder of the remaining Pugwampi, the aura of unluck fades. FRE only manages to connect once on three attacks but does manage to avoid the effects of Bane. Nyzos repositions and taunts, flying over the enemies. The yellow Mitflit screams and expands their bane aura before scrambling into a flank on FRE.
Nyzos however looms over the Gremlin and absorbs the mighty 2 point crit. The tiny gremlin continues its assault against Gojiro starting with another feint.
Gojiro guesses wrong on the Zig vs the Zag and gets stabbed at from behind.
Gojiro gets stabbed, but certainly his rage will sustain him.
Frustrated at the lack of stabbing success back here, the tiny purple one charges towards Demper. Blue dots is distracted by Nyzos' taunt, but a blinding rage builds in their eyes as they retaliate against FRE.
The other gremlins cheer, as they finally land a decisive blow.
Blue dots blinded by rage just keeps stabbing.
But neither of those hits is successful. Initiative:
Party is up again!
Amarynthine Mercilessly slaughters the knocked out gremlin and then moves forward and past.
Here's some overly detailed answers with some extra candor to help dispel any confusion. As described and answered in Gameplay black is unconscious and helpless in the square south of FRE. Demper critically IDed the Pugwampis and knows all about their unluck aura. White is dead and thus turns off their aura. Black is unconscious because they were dropped by the non-lethal whip. Is just an amusing side effect that it happens to leave the aura on. We're not up to Infamy for murdering the unconscious Pugwampi but I wanted to double check before going forward with that plan.
Gojiro punches the annoying little gremlin once.
Purple gets chilled. Demper recognizes the small blue ones as Mitflits, another type of Gremlin. Their weakest save is Reflex as they can't get their big heads out of the way. Initiative:
FRE and Nyzos still up
Okay... funny story on the unluck aura. The aura is coming from black, but rather than be killed that I believe would shut off the aura, it happens to have been knocked out by the whip, which as far as I can tell doesn't turn off the aura, leaving you all to suffer for now. I was amused and thought you all might be too.
Nyzos is unlucky, but not unlucky enough to miss black. Taking down the gremlin, as it collapses into an unconscious pile. The dashed yellow little blue guy casts Bane and draws a shortsword. The Blue one draws a dart and tosses it at FRE before drawing their shortsword.
Finally the tiny one in back rushes forward, getting underfoot and trying to confuse Gojiro
Gojiro neither gets confused, nor stabbed. Initiative:
Party is up again!
FRE manages to not get unlucky. Closing with black FRE drops into their stance and hits twice Initiative:
Nyzos still up!
As a note for hero points and other fortune effects while under unlucky effects like this, I find the only way that makes sense, is to use the hero point before rolling to just roll once, since fortune and misfortune effects cancel out.
Amarynthine gets closer and fires a couple beams, managing to hit once, although feels quite unlucky. Gojiro gets mad and closes, hitting white once with greater force but it still isn't enough to drop the creature.
Demper recognizes the front creatures as a type of Gremlin, known as pugwampis. They famously have an aura of unluck, which seems to already be affecting Amarynthine. Their weakest save is fort, and they are weak to cold iron. Demper then fires off a divine lance which critically hits white and finishes them off. Initiative:
FRE and Nyzos still up! If/When you get within 20 feet of their front line: Will Save DC 16 (Roll this save twice and twice and take the worst). aura, mental, misfortune, primal. Results
Spoiler: On a failure (or worse), you must roll twice and take the worse result on all checks.
The effect has no stated duration... That's correct.
Yes, for the will save you need to roll twice and take the worse.
The twisting passages in this area are all smooth stone, covered with dust and inset with metal in repeated geometric patterns. Recent scratches mar some passage walls but avoid the inlay, as though whoever scratched the wall was careful to leave the patterns intact. Toward the end of the first hall a quartet of small colorful creatures being bullied by a tiny one with a short sword drawn look up in your direction in surprise as the stone door opens. The tiny one points his sword at y'all and yells in a gutteral tongue as the rest scramble for their weapons. Sakvroth(Undercommon):
"Kill them!"
Initiative+S:
Initiative:
If/When you get within 20 feet of their front line: Will Save DC 16 (Roll twice and take the worst).
Results
Spoiler: On a failure (or worse), you must roll twice and take the worse result on all checks.
The stonework here does not bring back any memories, but perhaps deeper into the temple will bear more fruit. The Star scarred passageway to the south leads to a heavy stone door. It's no so much stuck, as just really heavy.
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