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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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DragonParadox said:
They say there's an endless jug of quicksilver at the bottom, though what else you might find if you're able to swim in metal I can't say.
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An uranium crowbar?

There is an old meme born out of an argument ("A crowbar would sink, as a rule." "But it would float in quicksilver." "But it would sink if made of uranium." "Go drown an uranium crowbar in quicksilver yourself.") which is invoked when referring to a completely pointless yet dangerous endeavour.

Which is probably in the same ballpark as using a mimic for a garbage bin. Sometimes Archmages do things just to prove they can.
 
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Updated my vote, with Kori performing a Divination about what we might encounter in the tunnels, and Mina and Sirim changing their spell loadouts.

[X] Through the tunnels, you did clear a way though after all
-[X] Kori performs a Divination before bedding down for the evening to discern potential threats in the tunnels.
-[X] Gorok, Mina, and Sirim update their prepared spells to better deal with fighting in Refuge.

Mina's Spells Prepared:
Level 0 (4): Daze, Detect Magic, Guidance, Resistance [At-Will]
Level 1 (6): Ear Piercing Scream (x2), Hermean Potential (x2), Mage Armor, Reduce Person
Level 2 (5): Ashen Path, See Invisibility (x2), Web (x2)
Level 3 (3): Delay Poison: Communal, Heroism(x2)
Level 4 (2): Black Tentacles, Summon Monster IV

Sirim's Spells Prepared:
Level 0 (4): Detect Magic, Jolt, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation (At Will)
Level 1 (5+I): Color Spray, Mage Armor (2 slots), Magic Weapon, Shield, Sure Casting
Level 2 (4+I): Ashen Path (x3), Carry Companion, Mirror Image
Level 3 (3+I): Clay Skin, Haste, Magic Circle Against Evil, Marionette Possession
Level 4 (2+I): Shadow Conjuration (x3)

Gorok's Spells Prepared:
Level 1: Heightened Awareness, Lead Blades
Level 2: Lay of the Land
 
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Nevill said:
An uranium crowbar?

There is an old meme born out of an argument ("A crowbar would sink, as a rule." "But it would float in quicksilver." "But it would sink if made of uranium." "Go drown an uranium crowbar in quicksilver yourself.") which is invoked when referring to a completely pointless yet dangerous endeavour.

Which is probably in the same ballpark as using a mimic for a garbage bin. Sometimes Archmages do things just to prove they can.
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There are entities out there on the Planes for which a lake of quicksilver (or more like a large pond given that you are hearing all this from a sprite) would be hospitable
 
More than 16M total, of which the third was ours.

There were possibily-maybe-probably some mistakes in the formula though.
 
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Goldfish said:
Oops, that's what I get for doing that while riding my bike and listening to an audio book at the same time.
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I think that you should remove the Mage armour entirely from Sirim's prepared spells and have Pepper cast it on Sirim, and slot in another sure casting and something else.

Even a 1 round stun from another colour spray might be useful.
 
BeepSmile said:
I think that you should remove the Mage armour entirely from Sirim's prepared spells and have Pepper cast it on Sirim, and slot in another sure casting and something else.

Even a 1 round stun from another colour spray might be useful.
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I would normally agree with you, but Sirim's spell list is fairly limited when it comes to dealing with Constructs, Oozes, and Undead. It's better to have him use two slots to cast Mage Armor on himself so that Pepper will have his slots available for Grease and Snowball spells.

These aren't meant to be standard loadouts, but are rather tailored to enemies we are most likely to encounter here. And tactics we might employ. That's why I have Mina and Sirim preparing so many Ashen Path spells. I want everyone to have that buff up for as long as possible, so we can use Ash Storm or Sleet Storm at a moment's notice.
 
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Arc 10: Post 80: Toil and Trouble New
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    • Toil and Trouble ​

    20th of Abadius 4708 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

    The first sign that something might have been amiss while you slept was the sudden shift in the wind. It had been blowing gently from the north, but changed to a sharp slatternly wind that unsettled the coals in your small fire not spark and sputtering. You pay it no mind as Mina and Sirim go through their arcane ablutions and Sirim amuses himself with the latest incarnation of campfire cookery. Having learned the skill to better stretch out limited food through seasons cold and lean he now turns his hand to it for something to do while on sentry duty... and also to keep Cob from inflicting one of his 'experiments' on the lot of you. You never quite know what you'll get with Cob, but it will never be boring.

    Speaking of that which is interesting in a half-welcome way, when you return to the entrance to the tunnels it is to find the ground churned as if by the tread of giants and a large stone of the same color and grain with the ones along the path proper up in front of the entrance, bearing three marks you might have been able to read even without Mina or Anippe to translate: a man, a wheel, and an outstretched palm between them.

    'Passages Out of Order'

    Of course it might also be referring to the vision you had summoned before the mind's eye ere laying your head down beside the fire: the spike-toothed wheel.

    You find the passages eerily free of not just the vines but also what must have once been the living areas of the headsnappers. Tables that had once served as altars for the winged fey now pushed against walls while anything less permanents had been vanished as if by magic... No, not 'as if', magic was definitely involved, you can smell it and given it smells like burned wood and scorched leather it's not hard to guess what sort of magic.

    "T'was a scouring flame in the hands of long toiling servitors," Oriel says. "One hopes they can be reasoned with... or placated."

    "Psst..." Cob elbows Gorok and points out something to him along the tangle of spider webs in the back end of the chamber. At first you take it to be a spider uniquely altered by the magic of this place... but then you realize what you had taken for a common spider reveals itself to be a much odder contraption, a single clockwork eye peering down with... Curiosity? Anger?

    Cob Perception: 1d20+19 = 37
    vs
    ??? Stealth: 1d20+11 =     24​

    While you could certainty remove such a creature, and indeed have done so many times before, it's what might be peering through that eye that troubles you.

    What do the Ghosts do?

    [] Stand by and wait for some manner of battle to begin

    [] Pretend you did not notice at all

    [] Try to communicate with the spy
    -[] Write in how

    [] Write in

    OOC: Enjoy.
     
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    • Hmm, if we had decided to camp out here we probably would have had an interesting encounter with the Refuge maintenance crew. I'm assuming it would have ended in violence, but who knows, it could have been friendly, right? :whistle:

    Normally we wouldn't need to worry about these things broadcasting what they see or hear, but I would be surprised if they have non-standard capabilities.

    DragonParadox said:
    the spike-toothed wheel
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    Getting some Mechanicus vibes here.
     
    Okay, for now I'm leaning towards just pressing forward. Standing around waiting for something to happen cedes the initiative and invites ambushes from nearby Fey.

    If we descend into the tunnels, we'll probably be in for a fight, but it's more likely to be on our terms and from limited angles of attack. Gorok's Ley of the Land spell should give him a good idea of the tunnel network beneath the surface, plus he'll get additional bonuses to Knowledge (Geography) thanks to his Favored Terrain ability and Heightened Awareness spell.

    [X] Pretend you did not notice at all
    -[X] Gorok casts an Enlarged Ley of the Land spells to gain an enhanced understanding of the geography of Refuge within a radius of up to 4 miles, then casts Heightened Awareness. If the tunnels appear navigable for a creature of his size, Gorok brings Warty out of statuette form.
    -[X] Mina casts Extended Delay Poison: Communal on everyone, Extended Mythic Heroism on Cob and Gorok, and See Invisibility on Pepper. She casts Mage Armor and See Invisibility on herself.
    -[X] Sirim casts Ashen Path on everyone, and Mage Armor and Magic Circle Against Evil on himself.
    -[X] Kori activates his Cloak of Darkness and casts Defending Bone.
    -[X] Pepper and Anippe cast Mage Armor on themselves.
     
    DragonParadox said:
    Passage out of Order
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    Yet another sign, literally in this case, that makes me believe this whole demiplane was some kind of private getaway or something not unlike an amusement park or something if it had crew on hand to set up things like this.

    [X] Goldfish

    So long as no one stops or attempts to harm us, I'm willing to let them be while we focus on mission.
     
    Massgamer said:
    Yet another sign, literally in this case, that makes me believe this whole demiplane was some kind of private getaway or something not unlike an amusement park or something if it had crew on hand to set up things like this.

    [X] Goldfish

    So long as no one stops or attempts to harm us, I'm willing to let them be while we focus on mission.
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    And it's even crisscrossed with underground maintenance tunnels, just like Disney World... 🤓
     
    Arc 10: Post 81: By a Turn of the Gear New
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    • By a Turn of the Gear ​

    20th of Abadius 4708 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

    The tunnels are wide here, mostly smooth save for mysterious dents and grooves in the sides that might have held rope or wire, water or some other liquid. Cob's more than glad to speculate at length about what one might fit in there, but he makes it clear each is as likely as the other. Bare stone tells no secrets and this one bears no mark which to your mind is proof that these tunnels had never been meant for the eyes of visitors. It is such thoughts that distract you away from the faint click of brass on stone as you turn a corner to the sight of a many segmented construct, all clockwork and brass with eyes bright as lanterns of a size to put Warty to shame.


    Time seems to slow, hands on weapons, only a moment from violence... then the thing just flows around you like water on stone, about its mysterious business. The second time it happens it's less tense, the third outright predictable, and the fourth makes you wonder just what they are planning to do to the garden now that the Headsnappers had been displaced. Cob and Gorok both spot a few more of the eye things, though they seem far more... shy about their observations. At least that's what Mina calls them while Sirim is more of the opinion that these are mindless constructs, programed to do their tasks by the long-vanished Nex.

    That position takes something of a hit when at the next juncture you are greeted by a being halfway between spider and scarab wrought of bronze and turquoise, marks of power, prestige, or both marked proudly upon the shield shell under its eyes. The creature takes up the whole nine feet of the tunnel, and its splayed legs reach the edges on either side such that you think either it was made for the tunnel or the tunnel for it.


    In a voice that buzzes from one of the circles of brass atop its head, not a gear but something stranger, it speaks and again Mina translates: "Thaumic contamination detected, arcane, umbral, divine, error, error, celestial." A pause, then in a more questioning tone: "Place of origin?"

    Anippe opens her mouth to speak, but Sirim forestalls her with a twist of his coiling shadow-form.

    "Ordinarily I would assume that one who born of Nex's servants who speaks the tongue to the construct's making would be most fitting, but given what the winged fey thought of her I am less certain."

    From the still expectant look on the girl's face he did not share the suspicion with her. "Place," he continues, "could mean plane of origin, nation, or even more esoteric allegiance. That this entity didn't attack when we failed to identify ourselves is a sign that it functions based on a blacklist, not a whitelist. I might hazard a guess or three as to whom the arch-mage Nex wouldn't attack for wandering the guts of his refuge, but a guess it would be nonetheless."

    "Or we could fight it," Cob says in his mother tongue. It's a very short sentence in Goblin.

    What does the party do?

    [] Allow Anippe to step forward and converse with the construct

    [] Sirim tries to talk his way past

    [] Oriel flies forward fearlessly, an agent of Heaven's will no matter how minor

    [] Attack
    -[] Write in plan

    [] Write in

    OOC: Enjoy.
     
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    • This has gone surprisingly well so far. I was afraid we would be up to our thighs in broken Constructs and Ooze residue by now.

    I'm still afraid we're going to end up in a fight down here, but it hasn't happened yet and the natives, such that they are, have not yet shown any hostility. Anippe is technically a native of Refuge now, our ritual made sure of that, and she does have that special precocious protagonist child energy and backstory going on, so I think we should let her make the attempt.

    Sirim might be able to succeed, but he is an Outsider, literally and figuratively, and not one that is innately aligned with Good. Not that Nex would have cared overly much about alignment in that regard, but it's still worth considering. Same goes for Oriel. Although he is well-meaning, that probably doesn't amount to much with Constructs that may have innate programming directives they are following. If any among our group can navigate this encounter non-violently, it's probably Anippe.

    [X] Allow Anippe to step forward and converse with the construct
     
    Yet more signs that this place is mainly a place of pleasure and not a refuge in classic sense, what with the robotic servants serving as maintenance staff and such.

    [X] Allow Anippe to step forward and converse with the construct

    If this is an amusement park or something, Anippe has more right to be here than us, and maybe it will recognize her as a child and be open to her.
     
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