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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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I don't see any reason for people to jump directly down from the Abductor into the chimney. It's a solid brick or stone structure, so it can hold a bit of additional weight for a minute or two, if necessary. The Abductor can deposit Cob, who is Small-sized and very light. He secures the rope and waits until the Abductor returns with Gorok, then they both descend using the rope while Kori (with Mina in the satchel) follows right after them.

Will this work, @DragonParadox?

[X] Mission Improbable
-[X] Air drop by invisible Abductor Beast
--[X] Mina casts Invisibility on the Abductor, Sirim casts it on Cob, and Kori casts it on himself and Gorok.
--[X] The first party member carried over will be Cob, who carefully secures a rope to the mouth of the chimney so that everyone can swiftly and safely descend into the building without injury or loud noise. He then waits for Gorok's delivery by Abductor Air, before they both descend the chimney into the building proper, with Sirim preceding them as a scout and for spellcasting support. They don't toss the rope in until the last moment, and if a fire is burning they first extinguish it with prepared water bladders. The Abductor next delivers Kori, with Mina safely stored in the Satchel, who follows the rest of the party down. As the last to descend, Kori will return the Abductor to figurine form and store it in the satchel.
--[X] Sirim uses Greater Detect Magic to inspect the rooftop and chimney, and continues to use it to check his surroundings until forced to break concentration for whatever reason.
-[X] Right before the air drop:
--[X] Mina casts Heroism and Hermean Potential on Cob and Gorok, uses her Pass Without Trace SLA on everyone, uses her Disguise Self SLA to take on a different appearance, and casts Mage Armor on herself. Sirim casts Mage Armor, Shield, and Lesser Angelic Aspect on himself. Kori casts Protection from Evil on Gorok, Cob, Mina, and himself, and does not use his cloak to appear Human.
 
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OK, down we go

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBZ6GPCJcxM
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 8, 2024 at 5:16 AM, finished with 13 posts and 5 votes.
  • [X] Mission Improbable
    [X] Mission Improbable
    -[X] Air drop by invisible Abductor Beast
    --[X] Mina casts Invisibility on the Abductor, Sirim casts it on Cob, and Kori casts it on himself and Gorok.
    --[X] The first party member carried over will be Cob, who carefully secures a rope to the mouth of the chimney so that everyone can swiftly and safely descend into the building without injury or loud noise. He then waits for Gorok's delivery by Abductor Air, before they both descend the chimney into the building proper, with Sirim preceding them as a scout and for spellcasting support. They don't toss the rope in until the last moment, and if a fire is burning they first extinguish it with prepared water bladders. The Abductor next delivers Kori, with Mina safely stored in the Satchel, who follows the rest of the party down. As the last to descend, Kori will return the Abductor to figurine form and store it in the satchel.
    --[X] Sirim uses Greater Detect Magic to inspect the rooftop and chimney, and continues to use it to check his surroundings until forced to break concentration for whatever reason.
    -[X] Right before the air drop:
    --[X] Mina casts Heroism and Hermean Potential on Cob and Gorok, uses her Pass Without Trace SLA on everyone, uses her Disguise Self SLA to take on a different appearance, and casts Mage Armor on herself. Sirim casts Mage Armor, Shield, and Lesser Angelic Aspect on himself. Kori casts Protection from Evil on Gorok, Cob, Mina, and himself, and does not use his cloak to appear Human.
Click to expand...
 
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Arc 7 Post 27: Of Those Made Silent
  • Threadmarks
    • Of Those Made Silent​

    21st of Lamashan 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

    Magic swirls in the air, the subtle potential of more than a half a dozen spells whispered one after another, glamors yes, but also courage and strength for the task ahead the Mina holds a hand onto the grotesque figurine as Cob calls forth its name and, before it can grow so large as to draw eyes it too is unseen. Its breath is still too loud in your ears. Why did you agree to this?

    Too late to wonder now, Cob vanishes under the first veil and in a whistle of displaced air he is carried away, the sharp-toothed smile vanishes last. All you have left to do now is count the seconds, looking at where you think the creature would be aloft. Not twelve breaths later it comes back for Gorok who, as far as you can hear allows himself to be enveloped by the tendrils with admirable calm.

    Then nothing for twice as long. They have to tie off the rope and put out the fire, you remind yourself. Finally you can hear and smell the thing above you, like squid left too long in the sun

    "Well, in I go," Mina whispers as she steps into the satchel

    You do your best at an encouraging look before drawing the shadows of the alley into a veil. Come what may she needs to get back out of there in about sixty heartbeats, more if she rations her air, but you know enough about cave-ins to know that's a lot easier said than done.

    Wrapped in the thing's many arms flight proves a dizzying, nauseating interlude helped only by its brevity. "Nice... abductor," you shudder pulling away and speaking the command word again. "Are you alright in there?" you shout at Mina as you toss the figurine inside.

    A 'yes' distorted by space somehow both too large and too small is your answer as you grab onto the rope and start climbing down.

    You do not expect to find to find Cob and Gorok standing over the corpses of three young women wearing laundress uniforms, one of them missing a head which had flown into a corner among the sodden clothes.

    "What the...?" you start as you quickly untie the satchel

    "Lesser dead, I did not recognize them at all, since they had been glamored to look and move as if alive," Sirim hisses, frustration boiling off of him in wisps of black smoke .

    [Sirim Knowledge (Religion) DC 17 = 16 (Failure)]

    "Didn't hurt that bad," Cob reassures him, despite the ugly red line along the side of his head where one of the dead laundresses had battered him with her arm.

    "Well let me fix that for you anyway," Mina reaches out to offer healing. Once she is satisfied that he's none the worse for wear she looks down at the bodies, trying to make some sense of their desecration. After a moment she shakes her head sadly. "I hope you find your way to the River and beyond to the Fields of Gold. We'll see you put into the earth."

    [Cob took 10 Damage in the Battle; Healed 17 from Healing Hex]

    Mina Knowledge (Religion) (DC 17) = 1d20+12 = 15 (Failure)

    Following her gaze you see a face ravaged by death and cruelty, eyelids torn open, cheeks rotted and ripped, lips sown shut and yet still bearing the remnants of lost beauty. The last of the perfumed steam hisses out like a whimper and for a moment you are elsewhere: The grand estate of Herot Three Herons last of his line, the feast-hall filled with the sounds of raucous merriment of the guests and beneath is murmur of sweet nothings, willing pliable, alluring... lies. Mouths sown ever shut to keep their master's secrets the hand-servants tear into the living. You step back...as the voices of your concerned friends reach you, hitting your shin against a pipe, again wholly Akorian.

    Akorian Knowledge (Azlanti) (DC 22): 1d20+9 = 24 (Success)

    "I know what these are," you say, disgust coloring every word. "Dead hands for those of 'discerning' tastes who find the standard rotting cadaver too unpleasant to look upon and a trap for those who would fall into their arms. What were they doing?"

    "They were attempting to stoke the fire after we had passed. Deceived by the illusion of life I attempted to render them unconscious. Two fought a third attempted to bang on the door, presumably a preset response to intruders." Sirim explains forthrightly. "Thankfully no one appears to have heard."

    [Sirim's Color Spray Cast]

    "No blood..." While Sirim had been speaking Gorok had walked to the severed head to pick it up and he is right, not a drop of red flows down. "Why? Dead-that-move have blood rotting in their veins. All young, but not hatchlings...children," he corrects himself. "A predator with a preference."

    Gorok Perception (DC 15/20) 1d20+11 = 21 (Full Success)

    Struck by a sudden unpleasant thought you take out the sketch of Elenora. Beneath the wreck of death and dismemberment none of them match. You breathe a sigh of relief.

    "So do you think this Breolia's a vampyr?" Mina asks quietly.

    "A blood lady able to walk in sunlight and see herself in mirrors would be a rare thing, but the gifts of hell are many," Sirim half-agrees. "Still no matter what enchantments they weave he dead find comfort under the black earth."

    "Unless she cares more for appearances than comfort,"     you point out.

    Which way do you go?

    [] Up to her bedroom

    [] Down into the basement

    [] Write in

    OOC: Man, those two failed religion rolls... If the Azlanti were not as into black magic and the defilement of the dead as they were no one would have recognized the zombies.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Glad that we've got solid confirmation Breolia is bad news. That makes things much less ambiguous.

    Might as well head down into the basement now. The bedroom is unlikely to be useful, and has probably been left unified since Cob's latest bout of arson. Some of our buffs are only going to persist for a few more minutes, so we should make the most of them while they last.

    @DragonParadox, I forgot to include having Sirim swap his Prestidigitation cantrip out for Disrupt Undead when we found out Vampires might be involved in this. Any chance it can be assumed he did so without prompting?

    [X] Down into the basement
     
    DragonParadox said:
    no one would have recognized the zombies.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Is this important somehow?

    I mean, they are obviously dead, and they have been preserved well... it's enough information to know how to kill them and what else to expect from the place, but not nearly enough to guess what else Breolia has up her sleeve.

    [x] Down into the basement
     
    Nevill said:
    Is this important somehow?

    I mean, they are obviously dead, and they have been preserved well... it's enough information to know how to kill them and what else to expect from the place, but not nearly enough to guess what else Breolia has up her sleeve.

    [x] Down into the basement
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    It hints at the character and nature of their maker. Can't say more without spoilers.
     
    [X] Down into the basement
    Do you guys think this adventure is time sensitive? I'm worried about some weird ritual happening before we reach her.
     
    Arc 7 Post 28: Dungeon of Deceit
  • Threadmarks
    • Dungeon of Deceit​

    21st of Lamashan 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)

    Mayhap it would have been wise to be daunted, at the signs of death and cruelty and wonder now what devilry might be afoot down those stairs, but if you five were the sort to balk, you would have done so long since. There's quite a bit of searching, and cursing under your breaths, not a soul in sight, until at least you come upon a door, not fine nor polished, heavier than it aught to be a door locked and bound in iron. The sound of footsteps, soft as it had been stops, waiting for a watcher, but it is Cob that breaks the silence, with a word almost as unwelcome: "Trap!"

    He slinks up to the door as under his ministrations the wood seems to stain darker, revealing an angular glyph that before seemed to be just a natural pattern in the wood. Just on the edge of hearing even for ears that have been peeled you catch. "Warm and hot, bitter and sweet, we'll have pickles when we meet..." Whether pickles are part of the process a dagger surely is as he carves concentric rings around the mark, then a spiral connecting them and finally one long deep cut between the outermost circle and the ground. A moment later you hear him spit. Is that dirt...? You only have the briefest moment to contemplate the question as dark red flame sizzles to life in the heart of the spiral, then seems to get lost within it until if finally hits the floor popping in a cloud of noxious vapors that reminds you of the smell of Cauldron, though you doubt it's of any such wholesome source.

    Cob Perception (DC 31) = 1d20+17+2 (Heroism) = 32 (Success)
    Cob Disable Device (DC 31) = 1d20+14+5 (Heroism) = 33 (Success)

    You let out another breath of relief... too soon. As the door starts to slam open, propelled by some some unseen remnant of the spell, Cob has to jump to grab hold of it and use himself as a cushion, keeping the sound from alerting whatever might lie below.

    Cob Stealth (DC 31) = 1d20+25+2 (Heroism) = 31 (Success)
    Cob takes 6 Non-lethal damage -> Now at 36/42

    Below... the stairway revealed by your friend's skillful work is not a comforting sight, even to you, much less to Mina or Gorok, barely three feet wide the only way one can pass down it is strung out in single file, pressed against the wall and ripe for ambush. Or at least that is what you thought, not quite accounting for one last bit of goblin ingenuity, riding on Gorok's shoulders down the passage with Mina right after and Sirim bringing up the rear.

    "Walls are wet," Mina says after a little while, her voice a bit unsteady. "You don't think it's..."

    "It's water more likely then not," you reassure her, though you don't add the reason you think so is because it would be a waste of blood for any vampire to paint the walls with it

    The room at the bottom is long low and square, the last shards of old and ruined mosaics pealing to reveal pale uneven limestone walls like loose bones in the light of Mina's new-conjured witch-light. Why she had felt the need to call it is just as obvious. Along the walls are four cells, one of which at least is occupied.

    "Who's there? Please, in Abadar's name..." a young woman's voice, parched and reedy calls out. You recognize her, despite the ravages of her long captivity, Elenora. Then her eyes drop to the floor.

    Burning light! you had not thought to turn so that your shadow would not show. Her eyes widen, pupils almost black as you brace yourself for fear, or even worse a scream. But she does not react, she stops herself and stands just so. Despite the rags she wearing, despite the dreadful circumstances the woman in the cell seems entirely composed... all too familiar. The woman before you isn't the prisoner you had come to save, she is the monster at the heart of this web taking her place... and she doesn't know you know.

    ??? Wisdom to notice the Unnatural Shadow: 1d20+4 = 23 (Success)
    Sense Motive Akorian 1d20+12(Heroism) = 32 (Critical Success)
    vs
    Opposed Bluff: 1d20+18 = 19 (Critical Failure)

    As Mina rushes to open to door you put a hand on her shoulder as Cob and Gorok both come close.

    What do you do?

    [] Play along with Breolia for a moment. As soon as Cob and Gorok are in advantageous positions...
    -[] Try to capture her
    -[] Try to kill her

    [] Try to see what her plan is, maybe she will reveal clues as to where the real Elenora DeVerge is, alive or dead

    [] Attack now (Surprise round guaranteed, but you have a locked set of bars between her and you)

    [] Write in

    OOC: Boy am I glad those rolls are public. I would not blame anyone for calling bullshit with how spot on they were.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • @DragonParadox, Kori shouldn't have the Heroism buff on him. The plan was for Mina to cast it on Cob and Gorok. Thankfully, his Sense Motive roll was so high it won't matter in this case.
     
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