Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
Earlier
Frustrated at their futile attempts to rest, thwarted somehow by the very Realm itself, the party puts their heads together in continued investigation of the Pilgrim's Path beyond the Wall of Ghosts!
RK Tracker (Open):
Lan @ 14 (F)
Auntie Wu @ 30 (CS)
Vekka @ 13- (CF)
Kazuki @ 29 (S)
Sigurd @ 23 (S)
= 3 Successes = 3 Followup questions
Q) Why couldn't we Long Rest on Day Three? (Open):
You are in a second Mindscape.
To recap, there is Willowshore, surrounded by the Wall of Ghosts. With Yami's help, you discovered a ritual that let you pass through. And you would have landed in this Mindscape initially, except a Nightmare (also a Mindscape) of Kugaptee's "hijacked" you as you crossed the threshold, which you subsequently defeated, collapsing that Mindscape and ejecting you into where you are now: The Pilgrim's Path Mindscape within the Wall of Ghosts.
The reason you can't rest here is because of the "rules" of this Mindscape: The Journey is supposed to be taken in Three Days, one shrine at a time, for spiritual enlightenement. This "rule" is being forced upon you by the Mindscape!
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
To understand why the party is unable to rest, they put their heads together to understand what foul magic prevents them from acting according to their own will!
Everyone can make a DC 20 Tradition check to understand why a Long Rest seems impossible!
Her party asleep around her, Auntie Wu spots it coming over the peaceful lake they have chosen to rest beside!
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
BONES ON WINGS
Monster ID: Religion (20)
Rest?: Full HP / FP, but not Full Rested since bedding down
Wake Up Ally (◆) You can kick your adjacent ally who gets a Pereption vs DC 20 to wake up - and may immediately act if their initiaitve has already passed (to speed it up, you may roll for them)
Round Two (◇) If you are still asleep at the start of your round two turn, you may attempt to wake up as a free action at the start of your turn (DC 20, same)
Shriek [two-actions] (auditory, concentrate, emotion, fear, mental) The harpy skeleton emits an unearthly, bone-chilling scream that deals 4d10 mental damage to all creatures in a 30-foot cone (DC 28 basic Will save). A creature that fails its save is frightened 1 (or frightened 2 on a critical failure). The harpy skeleton can't Shriek again for 1d4 rounds.
You believe it is far ahead, perhaps a several minute walk!
Vekka:
You believe it is very far ahead, perhaps a several minute run!
To Do:
1) Who is carrying/invetorying the healing vapor flowers?
2) If you haven't rolled your Fortitude, do so (just don't CF else Kazuki's help won't help you)
3) Place your Token on the New Map in the Red Circle!
4) Exploration Mode if you haven't already
5) Daily Preparations if you haven't already
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
Afternoon begins to fade into evening as the party travels the path.
Ahead, the sound of a woman sobbing coming from a large hollow at the base of a dead tree at the edge of the road ahead. The mournful sounds are interrupted by hiccupping sobs and cries of “Big sister! Where are you? Big sister, help me!”
To Do:
0) Finish any rest from last encounter
1) Exploration Mode?
2) You may attempt a single skill check to investigate!
3) Token on the new Map (I placed them, feel free to move it)!
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
Garden Shrine
The first half of the day’s walk is along the shore of Mirror Lake and then along the northern bank of the West Sugi River. By the second half of the day, the path begins to wind upward in elevation but doesn’t quite enter truly mountainous terrain. The surrounding forest grows more and more overgrown. An uneventful trip leaves the party on the approach to the Garden Shrine!
A pair of twisted, broken burls of wood resting on the forest side of the path greets them - they come alive and attack!
To Do:
1) Exploration Mode
2) Token on the new Map (inside pink circle)
3) Roll initiative!
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
After [redacted] time resting and sorting through the gifts, the party presses on.
The path leads up to a river’s edge, where a twenty-foot-wide rope bridge hangs a half-dozen feet over the slowly flowing river surface below. A hexagonal wooden shrine stands in the center of the river, its roof providing shelter from the elements while also offering a viewing portal in the center Arms of the Drowned to allow those in the shrine to contemplate the flow of water below. Several long-handled dippers for bringing up draughts of river water for drinking lean against the central hole’s railing, along with a half-dozen delicate-looking clay vials. A total of six wicker mats lie around this central hole, affording places to sleep above the river.
The river here is 10 feet deep and relatively calm - a character can Swim in the river with a DC 15 Athletics check.
Expert in Religion (no check) else Religion (Trained) DC 18:
You recall that the founder of the Tan Sugi Monastery felt that time spent along the shore of Mirror Lake provided an opportunity for self-observation and reflection. She hoped that pilgrims, when stripped of the distractions of others and the mundane problems of daily life, might see in their reflections a true vision of who they are when unburdened.
This founder's name was Zhi Hui.
To aid in this contemplation, each pilgrim would chant a repetitive prayer meant to invoke the cycle of reincarnation, then retire to sleep above the gently flowing waters in the center of this Bridge Shrine.
Willowshore Lore (DC 15) or Society (DC 17):
Contrary to what your eyes see, you seem to recall that the shrine washed away a decade ago during a flood, yet here it stands, looking well-cared for yet still abandoned...
SERPENTINE AMBUSH
Creature ID: Nature (DC 19)
Terrain: Path is regular, trees can provide Cover and are Difficult Terrain
Water: Lake is deep water, you must Swim through any square
Lan Sigurd Kazuki
Black Two-headed Snake
White Two-headed Snake
Auntie Wu
Vekka
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Nature to ID (DC 19) Success:
These creatures are called Amphisbaena.
They have a spit attack that can blind you, and a poisonous bite.
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
Minor retcon: You are not yet at Mirror Lake (which is half-a-days travel away), instead in a lightly forested area along the way - and the Kappa tried to run directly into the forest.
On the first day of travel (since exiting Kugaptee's Good-Dream-Turned-Nightmare), as the PCs make their way toward the Bridge Shrine, the weather along the Pilgrim’s Path is crisp and cloudy.
Legends told that the journey along the Pilgrim’s Path was intended to be taken slowly - indeed, beyond parting somewhat to keep the Monastery always just within distant view (about 5 miles away), the dense fogs - seemingly composed of the same stuffs as the Wall of Ghosts itself - keeps only just half-a-day's trek directly in view from it's outset, as if constraining it to conform with legend.
For the first half of the day spent traveling, the path winds through dense forest, while the route traveled in the afternoon (mostly shrouded by the Ghostly Fog) curves along the eastern shore of Mirror Lake. Here, as the PCs look out over the lake, a strange figure attempts to hide itself from their presence...
Stealth vs Party Perceptions:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14
Unsuccessfully.
It's appearance seems to resemble a tortoise with a concave indent making up the crown of it's head, where ordinary bipedal creatures would house their brain.
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
But before the fiend can finish it's sentence, the dreamscape collapses around the party and it's inhabitants!
Trees fold into a cylynder, the sky parts it's fog to reveal the sun shining through, the slab shrinks back down to it's original size, and a powerful vortex sucks everyone (including a Dying Lan!) into another portal.
And the party finds themselves falling through an infinite wormhole - tumbling and spiraling through the air - joined now by a familiar cat who clumsily smacks into 1d10 ⇒ 5 Lan - digging her claws into his unconscious chest to pin herself to him! - and with a bright flash of light, now, they land gently onto a hiking path, landing besides a lake clearing in the forest, alive, tired, and mostly awake (except Lan - but who is stable).
Ahead, a great mountain stretches up across the other side of the lake, and visible about half way up, a multi-day distance path leads to the Tan Sugi Monastery!
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
Does Kazuki possess the fortitude to struggle on? Will Lan die? Which way will Sigurd run? Will Vekka's and Auntie Wu's prayers be answered?
Does the party have any hope, or will they perish in the Nightmare!?
To Do:
1) Decide if you would like to use a Hero Point for any of those saves
2) Assign conditions / damage as a result of outcomes
3) Declare your end-of-turn conditions / HPs
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) Both spoilers open > LINK
Disable Hazard (◆◆): Slow it by one action (Nature or Religion DC 23) from anywhere in mindscape
Disable Hazard (alternate): Return the Heart of Tan Sui-Jing to it's Owner (the corpse on the slab)
Progress: ??? / ???
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Mitigation of Kugaptee's Anger
End your Turn in a Clearing or on Pilgrim's Path: +1c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Raise Shield: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils; May Shield Block
Drop Prone: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Take Cover while Prone: +4c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Anticipate with Acrobatics to Tumble Through the Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ +2s to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils (1 round)
Anticipate with Stealth to Hide in Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ Improve outcome vs Lacerating Tendrils by one tier (1 round)
Be in Possession of Tan Sui-Jing's Heart: +4c to all saving throws incurred by the Haunt
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Climbing the Slab (◆)
Athletics, Will, or any Tradition Skill to Climb
If you use Athletics, you need two hands, as normal
Otherwise, you are "walking up" by bending the mindscape to your will, which is functionally identical to climbing, except you do not need free hands
The DC for Athletics is 15, but the DC for "walking up" is 20
Please report your Elevation for each Climb action!
Current Slab Height: 40 feet up!
Once you have reached the full Slab height:
Mantle (◆): No check needed - you pull (or step) yourself to standing (vertically) on the slab ledge. From there, you are now adjacent to the body of Tan Sui-Jing!
Reinsert Heart (◆): No check needed, but you must be adjacent to the body to do so!
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Kugaptee
Hand of Kugaptee
Auntie Wu @ 34/56, BM (Kazuki, Vekka)
Sigurd @ 17 damage total so far
Vekka @ HP 48/51, frightened 1
Kazuki @ ??? w/ Heart of Tan Sui-Jing (+4 to all saves!)
Lan @ 0/53 hp, prone, unconscious, Dying 1
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
With Lan out of sight, desperation begins to set in... perhaps one among the party falls prey to the morass of trees!
To Do:
1) Decide if you would like to use a Hero Point for any of those saves
2) Assign conditions / damage as a result of outcomes
3) Declare your end-of-turn conditions / HPs
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) Both spoilers open > LINK
Disable Hazard (◆◆): Slow it by one action (DC ??) from anywhere in mindscape
Disable Hazard (alternate): Return the Heart of Tan Sui-Jing to it's Owner (the corpse on the slab)
Progress: ??? / ???
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Mitigation of Hazard Damage
End your Turn in a Clearing or on Pilgrim's Path: +1c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Raise Shield: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils; May Shield Block
Drop Prone: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Take Cover while Prone: +4c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Anticipate with Acrobatics to Tumble Through the Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ +2s to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils (1 round)
Anticipate with Stealth to Hide in Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ Improve outcome vs Lacerating Tendrils by one tier (1 round)
Be in Possession of Tan Sui-Jing's Heart: +4c to all saving throws incurred by the Haunt
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Climbing the Slab (◆)
Athletics, Will, or any Tradition Skill to Climb
If you use Athletics, you need two hands, as normal
Otherwise, you are "walking up" by bending the mindscape to your will, which is functionally identical to climbing, except you do not need free hands
The DC for Athletics is 15, but the DC for "walking up" is 20
Please report your Elevation for each Climb action!
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
The party's health dwindles as they race to the slab...
To Do:
1) Decide if you would like to use a Hero Point for any of those saves
2) Assign conditions / damage as a result of outcomes
3) Declare your end-of-turn conditions / HPs
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) Both spoilers open > LINK
Disable Hazard (◆◆): Slow it by one action (DC ??)
Disable Hazard (alternate): Return the Heart of Tan Sui-Jing to it's Owner (the corpse on the slab)
Progress: ??? / ???
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Mitigation of Hazard Damage
End your Turn in a Clearing or on Pilgrim's Path: +1c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Raise Shield: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils; May Shield Block
Drop Prone: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Take Cover while Prone: +4c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Anticipate with Acrobatics to Tumble Through the Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ +2s to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils (1 round)
Anticipate with Stealth to Hide in Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ Improve outcome vs Lacerating Tendrils by one tier (1 round)
Be in Possession of Tan Sui-Jing's Heart: +4c to all saving throws incurred by the Haunt
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
The terrifying dash continues as fear tears apart the party's coordinating efforts!
To Do:
1) Decide if you would like to use a Hero Point for any of those saves
2) Assign conditions / damage as a result of outcomes
3) Declare your end-of-turn conditions / HPs
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) Both spoilers open > LINK
Disable Hazard (◆◆): Slow it by one action (DC ??)
Disable Hazard (alternate): Return the Heart of Tan Sui-Jing to it's Owner (the corpse on the slab)
Progress: ??? / ???
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Mitigation of Hazard Damage
End your Turn in a Clearing or on Pilgrim's Path: +1c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Raise Shield: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils; May Shield Block
Drop Prone: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Take Cover while Prone: +4c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Anticipate with Acrobatics to Tumble Through the Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ +2s to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils (1 round)
Anticipate with Stealth to Hide in Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ Improve outcome vs Lacerating Tendrils by one tier (1 round)
Be in Possession of Tan Sui-Jing's Heart: +4c to all saving throws incurred by the Haunt
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
The party continues their progress through the Dark Forest...
To Do:
1) Decide if you would like to use a Hero Point for any of those saves
2) Assign conditions / damage as a result of outcomes
3) Declare your end-of-turn conditions / HPs
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) Both spoilers open > LINK
Disable Hazard (◆◆): Slow it by one action (DC ??)
Disable Hazard (alternate): Return the Heart of Tan Sui-Jing to it's Owner (the corpse on the slab)
Progress: ??? / ???
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Mitigation of Hazard Damage
End your Turn in a Clearing or on Pilgrim's Path: +1c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Raise Shield: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils; May Shield Block
Drop Prone: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Take Cover while Prone: +4c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Anticipate with Acrobatics to Tumble Through the Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ +2s to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils (1 round)
Anticipate with Stealth to Hide in Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ Improve outcome vs Lacerating Tendrils by one tier (1 round)
Be in Possession of Tan Sui-Jing's Heart: +4c to all saving throws incurred by the Haunt
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
As the trees lash out once more, Vekka's light shines bright, lighting the way forward!
To Do:
1) Declare your "before Lan's healing" HPs (First Post HERE)
2) Decide if you would like to use a Hero Point for any of those saves
3) Assign conditions / damage as a result of outcomes
4) Declare your current HPs
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) "How to Stop Kugaptee's Anger?" or other Questions: Arcana (Mind, Matter), Occultism (Mind, Spirit), Nature (Life, Matter), or Religion (Life, Spirit) all DC 21 (open ONE corresponding spoiler!): LINK
Disable Hazard (◆◆): ???
Disable Hazard (alternate): Return the Heart of Tan Sui-Jing to it's Owner (the corpse on the slab)
Progress: ??? / ???
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Mitigation of Hazard Damage
End your Turn in a Clearing or on Pilgrim's Path: +1c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Raise Shield: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils; May Shield Block
Drop Prone: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Take Cover while Prone: +4c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Anticipate with Acrobatics to Tumble Through the Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ +2s to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils (1 round)
Anticipate with Stealth to Hide in Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ Improve outcome vs Lacerating Tendrils by one tier (1 round)
Be in Possession of Tan Sui-Jing's Heart: +4c to all saving throws incurred by the Haunt
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
Sigurd begins to scratch the surface... crawling in the dark like a child, literally and metaphorically...
And Kugaptee speaks!
Suffering the full wrath of the dreaming fiend, the party reels from the horror of the nightmare...
To Do:
1) Decide if you would like to use a Hero Point for any of those saves
2) Then, assign the outcomes, by reporting your damage in your next post before your turn!
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) "How to Stop Kugaptee's Anger?" or other Questions: Arcana (Mind, Matter), Occultism (Mind, Spirit), Nature (Life, Matter), or Religion (Life, Spirit) all DC 21 (open ONE corresponding spoiler!): LINK
Disable Hazard (◆◆): ???
Disable Hazard (alternate): Return the Heart of Tan Sui-Jing to it's Owner (the corpse on the slab)
Progress: ??? / ???
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Mitigation of Hazard Damage
End your Turn in a Clearing or on Pilgrim's Path: +1c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Raise Shield: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils; May Shield Block
Drop Prone: +2c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Take Cover while Prone: +4c to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils
Anticipate with Acrobatics to Tumble Through the Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ +2s to Reflex vs Lacerating Tendrils (1 round)
Anticipate with Stealth to Hide in Underbrush (◆, DC 22): Success @ Improve outcome vs Lacerating Tendrils by one tier (1 round)
Be in Possession of Tan Sui-Jing's Heart: +4c to all saving throws incurred by the Haunt
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
Kugaptee's Anger
You sense it, you feel it.
The sleeping fiend, Kugaptee, senses the disruption to his pleasant dream, and from behind the dreamscape's bounds itself, tries to kill the party before they can escape!
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
KUGAPTEE'S ANGER
Recall Knowledge (◆) "How to Stop Kugaptee's Anger?" or other Questions: Arcana (Mind, Matter), Occultism (Mind, Spirit), Nature (Life, Matter), or Religion (Life, Spirit) all DC 21 (open ONE corresponding spoiler!)
Disable Hazard (◆◆): ???
Progress: ??? / ???
How to Stop Kugaptee's Anger (Success w/ Mind or Spirit):
Simply return the Heart to it's Owner.
However, this "simple" task is currently confounded by the sheer distance to get there, the difficult terrain, and especially the darkness cast over the entire dreamscape!
For example, if you are Blinded, you treat all terrain as difficult terrain, and difficult terrain as greater difficult terrain!
How to Stop Kugaptee's Anger (Success w/ Matter or Life):
Religion or Nature to (◆◆) say a short prayer. This Slows, but does not permanently disable the Haunt. You can be anywhere in the dreamscape to use this action, and you only need to be able to detect Kugaptee with an imprecise sense or better (so, even if blinded by darkness, etc).
CS > Inflicts Slowed 2 upon the Haunt
S > Inflicts Slowed 1 upon the Haunt
CS > Immediately exposes the praying PC to one of the Haunt's aggressive actions (random)
☠☠☠ ☠☠☠ ☠☠☠
Sigurd (lowlight so blind in darkness) @ -11 HPs @ Frightened 1
Kugaptee
Auntie Wu (normal so blind in darkness) @ -5 HPs @ Frightened 0
Kazuki (normal so blind in darkness) @ full HPs @ Frightened 0
Lan (normal so blind in darkness) @ full HPs @ Frightened 0
Vekka (lowlight so blind in darkness) @ -11 HPs @ Frightened 2 (Minimum 1)
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
The moment Sigurd grasps the heart, the sky goes dark!
The mindscape shifts, plunging the foggy forest into darkness, and the feelings of doom and of being watched intensify, as if something from "beyond" can "see" through the fog.
All the hairs on the back of your neck stand.
Haunt Reaction
↺) Terrifying Roar
All PCs must make an immediate Will Save vs DC 22!
Critical Success:
The character is unaffected and is temporally immune to Terrifying Roar for 24 hours.
Failure:
Your Frightened condition increases by 1, or becomes 1.
Critical Failure:
Your Frightened condition increases by 2, or becomes 2.
Haunt Initiative:1d20 + 22 ⇒ (5) + 22 = 27
To Do:
1) State your PC's vision
2) Roll your Will Save
3) Roll a new Initiative!
It's beating is pained, slow, like the heart of an elderly person, well into the twilight of their life, but even more so, beating at such a pace as if the heart had "naturally" aged hundreds of years!
...a crackle of thunder cracks through the sky... the first "natural" sound the forest has made since their arrival here...
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
A3
A deadfall of trees lies in a rotting mound in this forest clearing. Blood spatters several of the decaying timbers, and an opening in the center emits a foul, rotten stink...
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
The dirt trail comes to an end at a fifty-foot-wide clearing. A smaller trail leads into the woods to the north, while at its center sits a large slab of cracked, crumbling stone, perhaps 25 feet up... ...no wait, as you approach, it seems to shrink to about 10 feet up... ...you rub your eyes as the perspective seems to change relative to your approach...
Auntie Wu:
A woman’s corpse lies atop the slab, her chest a gaping, gory hole and her left arm extended, as if pointing toward the northern path. Curling coils of fog writhe up from the hole in the corpse’s chest, slithering up and merging into the fog that surrounds it. Under the body, deep furrows on the upper surface of the stone seem to form a word, although it’s impossible to be sure what it says when viewed from the side...
Lan:
Can't see due to the mist... ...maybe if you move even closer...
Sigurd:
A woman’s corpse lies atop the slab, her chest a gaping, gory hole and her left arm extended, as if pointing toward the northern path. Curling coils of fog writhe up from the hole in the corpse’s chest, slithering up and merging into the fog that surrounds it. Under the body, deep furrows on the upper surface of the stone seem to form a word, although it’s impossible to be sure what it says when viewed from the side...
Kazuki:
A woman’s corpse lies atop the slab, her chest a gaping, gory hole and her left arm extended, as if pointing toward the northern path. Curling coils of fog writhe up from the hole in the corpse’s chest, slithering up and merging into the fog that surrounds it. Under the body, deep furrows on the upper surface of the stone seem to form a word, although it’s impossible to be sure what it says when viewed from the side...
Vekka:
A writhing corpse lies atop the slab... ...you feel your heart sink with fear...
The brave act of climbing the stone would be a DC 15 Climb check with hands empty...
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
The party steps through another world...
...another... ...something...
...and after what feels like an hour, or perhaps a year, or perhaps a minute of travel...
...emerge.
Into a vast grove, itself surrounded by it's own "wall" of "ghosts" who seem to lurk just beyond the mist... ...watching... ...Sigurd and Auntie Wu are the first to arrive...
Behind, just as the others push (or fall?) through, the "tunnel" closes, sealing behind them.
Ahead, what the party recognizes as the Pilgrim's Path unfolds here, but something is different: Less a formal "path" or "trail" and more a simple convenient lower density of foliage that seems to make a "path" relative to the surrounding trees that stand tall. This forest is old. (But how old?!?).
And yet further ahead, perhaps some 150+ feet "northwest", a tall stone juts into the sky, looking more like it was "placed" than part of the natural course, and reaching, up, up, up.
The players catch their breath - the air is cool, still - and press on the only direction forward...
To Do:
1) Exploration Mode
2) Choose two skills in which you are Trained, and please Roll them openly! Arcana, Nature, Occultism, Religion, Survival (against 5th Level DCs base 20)!
3) Move your Token on the Map to approach the Stone Slab within 60 feet - I will roll a Perception check for you - for every 10 feet closer than 60 feet out, I will grant a cumulative +1 to the Perception check!
Bones on Wings! | Just outside the Wall of Ghosts on the Pilgrim's Path? | Or another Dream?...
It opens.
Fogs part and mists dissipate to create what appears as a cylindrical "tunnel" that goes right through the wall, perhaps the height of two of you stacked high in diameter.
The soft night breeze slows to a halt, as if holding her breath. The ambient sounds of animals abruptly stop, and, a nagging, nary imperceptible sensation of being "watched" tugs at the hairs on the back of your necks...
Everyone - please make a Will Save vs the Wall of Ghosts once more, but this time, apply the result of one tier of success better (having opened it successfully with the ritual). Our primary caster also gains a +2 circumstance bonus to this save, and our secondary casters gain a +1 circumstance bonus!
