[Day 105 – Book 3 Wrap-up]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E role-playing game. Game sessions happen once a week. These sessions happened February 19, February 26, and March 4, 2024, respectively.]

[SPOILERS! If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 10^th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 10^th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 10^th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 10^th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 10^th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 10^th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 8^th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 8^th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 8^th level Rogue

Mel Sharples – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)

Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Winter

Day ???

Morning

Somewhere on a road to Riddleport with several dead companions (Gridik and Ariphi) and a need for coin, the Ratpack hunkered down and went over the loot in their possession and discussed next steps.

The consensus was to split the group, with Templeton optimizing his eidolon for flying speed and taking Gridik and Ariphi back to Kaer Maga to be raised by the wizards of the Therassic Spire, who clearly owed the group, plus to grab one of the constructs from the Ardoc family and take back to Morgamer Pugg in Magnimar. Riding along will be Zitch and Winston [Team: Speed-run]. The trio would take the loot the party wanted to sell as Kaer Maga would be the best place to sell most of it. The remainder of the group (Marativy, Roscuro, Swamprover, and Hrefna [Team: Slow-walk] would walk west to Riddleport and wait there.

11:00 PM

Templeton and his team arrived at Kaer Maga, Templeton exhausted from the effort. Templeton flew them into the city itself, landing near The Grange. Zitch cast Lesser Restoration to remove Templeton’s exhaustion. The trio entered The Grange and asked for rooms. There they found out 2 months had passed since the Ratpack entered the Dark Forest [back in Book 3].

[This makes it Day 105 in the Book 3 count of days.]

The trio got a room to sleep in. Before sleeping, they tracked down Mel, Alice, and Flo’, discovering that the three had opened a small diner in town and preferred to remain in the city. Templeton, Zitch, and Winston wished them the best.

[The rest of this session and most of Session 2 will follow Team: Speed-run to establish how much time the other team has at their disposal.]

Day 106

The trio had breakfast at The Grange and made preparations for the day. Templeton configured his eidolon into what he called its combat/diplomacy form [my notes don’t say what this entails].

The trio then went to the Therassic Spire and met with Elaneiros, the head wizard there. Templeton reported what had happened in the Dark Forest [Book 3, Sessions 26-37]. Elaneiros then paid the trio for the work done and the information given, plus the bounty for retrieving the head of Selasny, the last of Elaneiros’ agents to be retrieved from the Dark Forest.

After that, Templeton displayed the loot items the group had retrieved and offered them to Elaneiros for purchase or first refusal [per the team's contract]. Both tried hard to fail in the negotiations [they both rolled a 1 on their Diplomacy check], but Templeton failed the least and Elaneiros paid 32,000 gp for the items he bought, 10,000gp of it in two, 5000gp diamonds [which were necessary to raise Gridik and Ariphi].

Winston borrowed Ariphi’s cloak of disguise in case Leroux was still hunting for him. The trio then went over to the Tarheel Promenade and found Gadka’s Magical Oddities, where they sold two more items for 16,000gp. In the Promenade they located a Bloat Mage and sold the [magical] Jar of Leaches to the mage for 4950gp. They walked over to Ankar-Te and located the Temple to the Child Goddess to sell the Skinharp to for 14,750gp.

Finally they went the Temple of Pharasma in Oriat to get Gridik and Ariphi raised. When asked if the trio were supplying the material components for 2 castings of Raise Dead, Templeton offered the use of his ring of blood money. The priest politely declined. Templeton then offered up the two diamonds and Gridik and Ariphi were raised by the temple [both received 2 Negative Levels as a result]. Templeton also sold the temple a phylactery of positive channeling for 10,750gp for a net gain of 750gp at the temple.

End of Session 01

Day 107

In the morning, Zitch cast Restoration on Gridik and Ariphi [removing 1 negative level from each]. Once that was done, the 5 adventurers planned their construct heist. The plan was to grab one of the small spybot constructs, have Zitch cast Force Quiet on the construct, and then Gridik cast Invisibility Sphere on the group. Templeton would then fly the group out of Kaer Maga at maximum speed to avoid pursuit.

An hour later

The adventurers walked through The Warrens to access Bis district. There was a heavy security construct presence at the border between the two districts. Winston asked a passerby what was going on. He was told that the heavy security was due to an attack on the Ardoc family compound two months ago followed by ongoing hostilities from the trolls of the Augur Temple [see Book 3 for details].

The adventurers worked their way through Bis, looking for a spy construct that was all alone. The best they could find was one construct only being observed by a single companion construct. Checking out the area around this (mostly) solo construct, they located an unobserved spot 60 feet from their target. They waited there (all but Templeton inside Templeton’s lucky barrel, attached to his back) for a lull in the crowds in the street and then launched their ambush.

Winston cast Mudball on the target construct, blinding it. Zitch cast Force Quiet to silence their target, then the group checked if the target’s observer had noticed. 

It had.

The guard construct launched a net at the adventurers but missed entirely. Gridik cast Nondetection at the target, so it could not be tracked but the spell failed to take. Templeton flew at the target at such speed that Gridik lost his footing and was tumped back into the depths of the lucky barrel. Templeton grabbed the construct, stuffing it in his bag of holding. He then flew towards The Barrens to escape from the city. By the time Gridik regained his feet and cast Invisibility Sphere, the group was over The Barrens.  [There might have been a flying battle here, but my notes don't say and my memory is hazy.]  Outside the city, Templeton flew south, following the river to where the Runtash River joined it, hoping to set a false trail towards Korvosa. At the confluence of rivers Templeton turned west and flew towards Magnimar.

Evening

Templeton reached the town of Wartle on the Yondabakari River. There Zitch cast Lesser Restoration to remove Templeton’s exhaustion. They contemplated flying on to Magnimar, but realized they would arrive late at night and the city’s security might ask them questions they did not want to answer. The found the inn in Wartle and rested for the night.

[We did some activity with the other team, but overspent on time and had to do a ret-con next session, so I’m skipping it here.]

End of Session 02

Day 108

In the morning, Gridik successfully cast Nondetection on the captured construct and returned it to the bag of holding. After breakfast, the group of 5 adventurers flew on to Magnimar, arriving early in the afternoon.

Their first stop was to Morgamer Pugg’s shop to drop off the requested construct. Morgamer was down in the basement again, behind a door with Silence cast upon it to block out the sounds from the basement workshop. He was spooked at first by the adventurers until they reminded him he had hired them to grab an Ardoc construct. They turned over the construct and were given the promised bag of coins. They politely left as Morgamer started examining the construct.

Their next stop was to see Frederick at his shop. There they offered Frederick an ornate box recovered from the Thassilonian workshop under Kaer Maga. While Frederick evaluated the box, the adventurers borrowed a side room to discretely count the coin Morgamer had paid them. It turned out to be 6000gp, which seemed reasonable. Once he’d evaluated the box, Frederick purchased it from the group for 2750gp.

After some pleasantries, the group left Frederick’s shop and went over to the Pathfinder Society Lodge. They discovered the hydra heads they had turned over to the Society the last time they were here mounted with a ferocious snarl on each head. They requested to meet with Sheila, the Lodge Captain.

In her office, they gave a report of their expedition to Kaer Maga and the Dark Forest. They announced that the group had secured the Shard of Gluttony (currently with Roscuro on his way to Riddleport) and that the next shard’s location was Windsong Abbey. Shelia told them that her research suggested the next shard would be the Shard of Envy and she handed over a dusty rose prism Ioun Stone as the counter for that shard’s curse. She also relayed that Windsong Abbey was reportedly under attack. A witness, a Varisian peddler named Pilla Linuveshi, was currently in Sandpoint and the group should stop by there to get first-hand information. Additionally, the Temple of Desna had posted a bounty for the liberation of Windsong Abbey from the forces there. She also offered to send a message to Roscuro to update him. Templeton agreed to the message and said the group would investigate the attack and lift it if they could.

It was too late to fly out to Sandpoint and get there before the sun set, so the group took care of some business in Magnimar. Gridik went to the Temple of Desna to ask about the bounty and if they could provide any maps of the Abbey. He learned the bounty would be paid in the form of divine spell castings or items. He made note of this. Unfortunately, the only map available [or that they were willing to sell a kobold] was a general map of the area around the abbey.

Zitch tracked down a scroll of Teleportation and relayed this to Gridik, who purchased the inks necessary to copy the spell into his spell book, despite not being able to cast it yet. [This would be important later.]  He spent the night doing so.

Day 109

Templeton flew Zitch, Winston, Gridik, and Ariphi east-northeast from Magnimar to Sandpoint. At the only inn in Sandpoint, in the common room, they found Pilla telling her story to anyone who would buy her a drink. [The adventurers learned she was continuously telling the story, starting over when interrupted or once she reached the end, but my notes don’t say how they learned this.]

When Pilla started again, the adventurers listened in and learned:

• The abbey is partially collapsed.
• The lighthouse is one of the buildings still intact.
• She found a small cap on the ground, red with blood.
• A hill giant threw a boulder at her at that point and she fled for her life.
• She saw many hill giants when she fled.

Having learned all they could from Pilla, the adventurers left Sandpoint and flew towards Riddleport.

Early Afternoon

Marativy, Roscuro, Swamprover, and Hrefna arrived at Riddleport after walking for 4 days with minimal supplies. Despite this, they took the time to find a good inn, the Rusty Anchor. There they rented two luxury rooms for a week. The luxury rooms came with hot baths and hot breakfasts, of which the hot baths rated most urgent for the weary travelers. They had meals delivered while they bathed and were mostly restored by the time Templeton, Zitch, Winston, Gridik, and Ariphi arrived in town early that evening. Zitch used his earrings of telepathy to locate the other group and they shared information and food.

Day 110

In the morning, the treasure was tallied and shares were paid out. A full share equaled 9670gp [paid to Marativy, Zitch, Roscuro, Winston, Swamprover, and Templeton], and a half share worth 4835gp [paid to Gridik, Hrefna, and Ariphi], with Party Fund getting a full share and the remainder of 5gp.

The group decided that Riddleport was a good place to resupply and do some crafting. Gridik was able to track down and purchase a scroll of Fireball [finally!] and a scroll of Mad Monkey. He also crafted a pair of magic boots for Winston that double the wearer's movement. Roscuro contributed 3000gp to the purchase of a Selective Metamagic Rod for Swamprover [so there would never again be a “friendly fire” issue]. Additionally, enough time passed by that Gridik and Ariphi were able to have Restoration cast upon themselves again, removing their last negative levels.

End of Session 03

Rat Whispers

[This wrapped up all the between books things that were properly the end of Book 3. It had been eight months since we finished Book 3 and this allowed us to remember what our characters could do. We, except for those on Team: Slow-walk. We just waited for the other team to finish their thing.]

[Next session will properly be Day 1 of the counting of Book 4. At the time I’m typing this, our next session will be Session 37 on Day 12. That’s not a typo: Day Twelve! This book has multiple action-packed days that take several sessions per day to play through. Be warned.]

[One final thing.  For this Book, the Other GM decided he wanted to try milestone leveling and not Experience Points.  In hindsight, I'm not certain this worked out well.  I think we need to do a post-mortem once the Book is complete and discuss it.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions 

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions 

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Book 4: Beyond the Doomsday Door – Links to all Book 4 sessions 

Last Session: Book 3, Session 37 

Next Sessions: Book 4, Sessions 4 and 5

[Day 34 to 40 – Hrefna hears things; the Delve begins]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened December 26, 2022.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 8th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 8th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 34

Still waiting on Zitch to finish enchanting Marativy’s belt, the rest of the Ratpack went about their business in Kaer Maga.  Gridik used up the last of the scribing supplies he and Swamprover brought from Magnimar scribing scrolls of Spontaneous Immolation and Nondetection for Swamprover.  Swamprover fed them to her familiar, adding to the spells Snek contained [as a Familiar Adept Swamprover stores her spells in Snek].

While walking around town, Hrefna heard a hauntingly beautiful melody coming from nowhere.  Quickly casting See Invisible, Hrefna was able to catch glimpses of another fox-like humanoid.  Being the only fox-like humanoid she knew of, Hrefna gave chase to the other but lost them in the Hospice district.

Day 35

Gridik starts learning gunsmithing from Winston during the day and Ignan from Koif’a [the half-orc wizard who is a member of the Spire].  Gridik was only able to do this due to the ring of sustenance he wears, which reduces his need to sleep to two hours.

Day 38

While walking around in Downmarket, Hrefna again hears the hauntingly beautiful melody from nowhere.  Not wanting to tip off the other fox-person, Hrefna used her Silent Spell feat to cast See Invisible and then Bluff to look around without seeming to be looking around.  She has some success.  She sees others on the street can hear the music but not see the source based on their confused expressions and their looking around for the source.  Hrefna located the source, the fox-like humanoid hanging from a piece of architecture and playing a golden flute.

Hrefna acrobatically bounced up the side of the building to get even with the other fox-like being, but this drew attention and the person dexterously flipped to achieve the roof and ran off.  Hrefna pursued and caught up to the fox-like being when they stopped to wait for Hrefna.  They talked a little, but the fox-like being gave no direct answers and then took off again.  Hrefna lost them on the rooftops.

Day 39

Zitch completed his work on Marativy’s Belt of Incredible Dexterity [+6].

Day 40

The Ratpack left the Grange in Downmarket and made their way to the Therassic Spire in Cavalcade, avoiding Bis district and any of the construct sentries scattered in the other districts.

At the Spire, Marativy set to picking the lock on the front door and succeeded on her first attempt.  [Much better roll this time.]  Entering the foyer, the Ratpack found Elaneiros waiting for them.  He led them up the stairs to the left and onto the lift.

The group took the lift down, below the first floor, passing one basement level before stopping at a second basement level.  The entrance here had an adamantine gate with a very fancy lock that Elaneiros unlocked.  Once the entire group had stepped through the gate to the Restricted Library, Elaneiros re-locked the gate behind them.

The room contained many books and some locked cases.  There were two doors on the left and right walls and Elaneiros led the Ratpack to one of the doors on the left wall.  This was the secure device storage and had shelves with a small number of items on display.  Elaneiros stepped over to a blank wall and said a magic word, causing part of the wall to slide aside, revealing a sloped passage leading down.  Elaneiros explained that the passage led down to the Thassilonian Workshop with no side passages.  When the grouped returned and opened this door, Elaneiros and the others wizards of the Spire would be alerted and meet them at the gate.

The Ratpack descended the sloped passage for some time, descending quite a ways.  The passage suddenly ended, but Zitch spotted a secret door at the dead end.  Marativy checked the secret door for traps and then opened it.

The room beyond was twenty feet square with a door on the far [east] wall.  The only two things in the room were a wooden chair on the center of the west wall, just south of the secret door, and a purple blob that floated in the center of the room, pulsing slightly.

Zitch and Swamprover looked at the blob from the secret doorway, attempting to identify what it was.  Neither recognized it at all.

Zitch cast Heroism on Roscuro, Marativy, and Winston.  Roscuro then stepped into the room to see what would happen.  The blob spoke at Roscuro in a language he did not know.  Marativy identified it as Thassilonian and she translated its words to be “Please state your query”.  Roscuro shrugged and asked in Common where the shard was located.  The blob transformed into the Rune of Weakness and the effect of that rune filled the room.  Roscuro felt the magical power but was not swayed [he made his save, barely].

After a minute, the blob reset to a sphere.  Roscuro asked Marativy to swap places and ask the blob where the Chamber of the Black Menhir was located.  Once they switched, Marativy asked the question.  This time the blob changed into the Rune of Fear.  Marativy was not impressed [she made her save by a lot].

Realizing this was a waste of time, Roscuro decided they should just bypass this room.  He walked across the room and opened the door on the eastern wall.  Beyond was a corridor.  He waved the rest of the Ratpack to follow and he entered the corridor.

A short way down [we use Roll20 for the map and we are now on a different map, so I cannot get the exact distances – sorry] were two doors, facing each other.  Weeping could be heard from behind the northern door, the southern door was silent.  Marativy quietly checked both doors for traps and found both to be safe and unlocked.

After a quick set of hand gestures with Roscuro, Marativy opened the door on the south wall.  The rectangular room had three beings standing motionless at the far end, wrapped in chains.  Hanging from the ceiling was a lattice of hundreds of hooked chains.  Marativy quietly closed the door.

A quick huddle discussion and the group decided to leave these rooms alone for the moment and press on down the corridor.  Marativy locked both doors, just to be safe.  The corridor turned left but arched to the right until it became a parallel passage to the first stretch.  Ahead the Ratpack could see two doors on the southern wall at some distance from each other and a single door on the north wall.  At the far end of the corridor it made a left turn.

The first door was the closer of the two on the southern wall.  After verifying it was not trapped, Marativy opened it.  The room beyond was circular and 30-40 feet across with a large contraption in the center.  The corners where the walls met the floor and ceiling were smoothed over and rounded.  On the walls was a very realistic mural showing a view of Kaer Maga from a point somewhere above the city.  The contraption had a central pillar holding a a bright yellow orb.  Branching from the central pillar were eleven curved arms, at the end of which was an orb, each of a different color.  Adjacent to the contraption was a low pedestal and a lever.  There were two cracks in the wall, one on the eastern curve and one on the western curve.

After looking at it for a moment, Zitch recognized it as an orrery, a mechanical model of the worlds around Golarion.  The large central orb represented the sun and the other eleven orbs were the planets that orbited the sun.  Golarion was the third one out.  Zitch also realized that the orrery showed the current locations of all the planets.  Further, the “mural” was magical and seemed to show Kaer Maga as it was now.

Looking at the pedestal, it had a mechanism built into it that showed the current date in the Thassilonian calendar.  The Ratpack believed that by setting a date on the pedestal and pulling the lever, the device would change, showing the locations of the planets on that date and might even show what Kaer Maga looked like then.  [Yes, we have all watched Avatar: The Last Airbender.]  Curious to see something no one else living had, Roscuro picked a date 7000 years in the past: Earthfall.  He then pulled the lever.

The orrery started rotating in reverse, going slowly at first but gradually picking up more and more speed.  The mural on the walls showed the same viewpoint over Kaer Maga but moved backwards in time, new construction disappearing and older buildings reappearing.  The Ratpack watched with great interest…until the orrery started making groaning noises and shuddering.  Roscuro warned everyone not a monk to evacuate the room immediately.  All but Roscuro, Zitch and Winston left the room.  As the machine continued to spin out of control, eyes appeared at the cracks in the walls, bulging out, and growling could be heard.

Suddenly the contraption blew apart, sending shrapnel and globes flying out from the center of the room.  Roscuro safely evaded the flying debris [made his Reflex save and had Evasion], Winston avoided most of it [made his Reflex save for half damage], but Zitch caught the full brunt of the exploding orrery.

From out in the corridor, both ahead of the group and behind came the unearthly baying of hounds!

Zitch identified the creatures as Hounds of Tindalos, warning they were immune to mind effects, could teleport through corners, and were able to rip things apart with just a look.  Hrefna raised her healing aura and the Ratpack reorganized to face the hounds.  Templeton, able to see the earlier doors announced that the chain guys were attempting to force their way through the door and into the corridor.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Learning Gunsmithing and Ignan was part of Gridik leveling up (spent skill points on Gunsmithing and Linguistics).]

[I’ve played Call of Cthulhu, so I knew what Hounds of Tindalos are and what kind of trouble they would cause us.  I also recognized the chain devils from their description as there were a favorite monster to put in the higher level modules in the Bandit Kingdoms for Living Greyhawk, which I played in and wrote some of the lower level modules for.  I do my best to not bring in knowledge my character would not have, but I was not looking forward to this fight.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions 

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Last Session: Session 17 

Next Session: Session 19

[Day 27 to 33 – The Elf Job, Part 2: The Job is done and information is brokered]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened December 12, 2022.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 8th level Wizard

Winston – male ratfolk 8th level Gunslinger

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 27 (concludes)

Late Afternoon

Marativy went out into the streets of Kaer Maga to return two of the three scrolls she stole from the Augur Temple [the scroll of Raise Dead and the scroll showing the Ritual of Controlling Devine Gifts] by slipping them into the haversacks of two trolls.  For an extra layer of protection, she was disguised as a male halfling [boosted by her Hat of Disguise].

The first attempt went smoothly, with Marativy inserting the scroll without being noticed.  Unfortunately, just as Marativy was inserting the second scroll into the haversack of another troll, the troll reached into the haversack for something and instead found Marativy’s arm!  Being surprised the troll dropped Marativy and turned to see what it had put its hand on.  Marativy immediately turned invisible and ran away.

Once back at the Grange with the rest of the Ratpack, Marativy simply reported returning the scrolls, leaving out the part about almost being caught.

Day 28

Hrefna started the morning by casting Commune and asking questions.

1. Is the Shard of Gluttony in the Abbey of the Glutton Moon?: No
2. Is the Doomsday door mentioned in the prophecy in Abbey of the Glutton Moon?: No
3. Is the Queen of Blue on this plane?: Yes
4. Is the Queen of Blue the former ruler of Thassilon?: No
5. Do we have the prophecy Elaneiros wants?: Yes
6. Should we give the prophecy to Elaneiros?: Unclear
7. Is the Shard of Gluttony in the old Thassilonian Workshop?: Not Exactly

The Ratpack found the answers interesting and encouraging enough that they decided to take the prophecy to Elaneiros.

9:00 AM

At the door to the Therassic Spire, Marativy had trouble picking the lock for the first time ever.  Taking her time on her second attempt, she noticed how much more complicated the lock was.  Apparently, the Spire wizards had upped their security significantly since the group's last visit.  Roscuro told Marativy to take her time.  On her third attempt, the lock opened of its own volition.  Marativy reported simply, “It’s open now,” and put away her tools.

In the ground floor vestibule, Zitch asked if anyone had looked for secret doors?  The group now knew that the Thassilonian Workshop was under the Spire and there was a way to access it from the Spire.  This suggested a hidden accessway somewhere on the ground floor.  The adventurers took some time to search the vestibule and the two attached study rooms.  They located a secret door behind a bookcase in one of the study rooms.  Not wanting to delay meeting with Elaneiros any further, the adventurers made note of the secret door and then climbed the stairs to the lift.

The Ratpack took the lift to the top floor of the Spire and entered the library there.  Zitch and Gridik both had See Invisible running and noticed two legion archons hovering and on guard.  Elaneiros was sitting with some of the other members of the Spire in the comfy seating area of the library, apparently waiting for the Ratpack to arrive.

Roscuro presented the scroll of prophecy to Elaneiros, who inspected it.  He found the seal still intact [thanks to Marativy's masterful reattachment] and agreed to share the information he had on the shard the Ratpack sought.

Elaneiros stated that the wizards of the Spire had recently been contacted by the Caulborn, non-humans who predated the Thassilonians, some of whom live in the Undercity and  act as information brokers.  The Caulborn offered information about the location of the Shard of Gluttony.  In the Thassilonian Workshop, which once belonged to Karzoug, was an entrance to another dimension.  The shard resides in that dimension.

The Spire sent a group of adventurers down to collect the shard but had not heard from them in some time.  Elaneiros was willing to send the Ratpack down to meet with the Caulborn so the Ratpack can retrieve the shard as part of their deal for the prophecy.  He also offered to pay for the return of the previous group, dead or alive, and any items of scholarly interest the Ratpack brought back to the surface.

Roscuro looked to the other members of the Ratpack to see if they were willing to proceed.  They all nodded assent.  Roscuro spoke for the group and agreed to the terms, but added they needed some time to finish preparing for the expedition [notably for Zitch to finish crafting a magic belt for Marativy].  Elaneiros agreed a week’s time would be acceptable.  He and Roscuro shook hands.

Elaneiros explained that the Caulborn had stated they would meet representatives of the Spire in the Chamber of the Black Menhir, beyond the River of Memory.  There the Caulborn would transport the group to the Dark Forest to retrieve the shard.  He also provided the names and descriptions of the other adventurers: Hassari, a human female monk; Perotus, a male halfling rogue; Luonim the Vast, a male gnome Bloat Mage; and Selasny, a female dark naga fighter.

Days 29 to 33

Elaneiros opened up [some of] the resources of the Spire to help prepare.  Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch were allowed to copy many spells from the Spire’s library.  Zitch also took the time to finish working on Marativy’s Belt of Dexterity [+6].  Gridik had time to craft a Headband of Vast Intelligence [+2] for himself while the group was waiting on Zitch, Roscuro helping with the funding for supplies.  Roscuro acquired a Headband of Inspired Wisdom [+2] from the Spire for free.  Winston spent the time crafting special ammunition for himself and gave Gridik pointers on how to best use the pistol the kobold was carrying around [see Rat Whispers, below].

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Gridik had enough experience to level at this point and reached 7th level.  He picked up Named Bullet and Dragon’s Breath in his spellbook as part of leveling, but also received Invisibility Sphere, Haste, Water Breathing, Magic Mouth, Shatter, Keen Edge, and Gaseous Form from the Spire library.  Copying over the spells took a little over 2 days to accomplish and it took him another 2 days to craft the Headband.  As a feat he took Exotic Weapon Proficiency and selected Gunpowder Weapons, reflected as the pointers that Winston offered and practice he did with his pistol.]

[The Other GM also decided to switch us over to a Milestone Method of awarding experience.  The Adventure Path made assumptions about what the party would get involved with and what level they should be entering the dungeon and when we exited it.  Rather than sweat the math and add a bunch of extra encounters to substitute for things we didn’t do (some of which were pretty dumb), he would just bump us in level where appropriate.  As a result, he leveled all the main characters to 9th level.]

[He also mandated that I needed to actually take Leadership and make Gridik a cohort or give up direct control of him as an NPC.  Making Gridik a cohort was always in the plan, so I did that.  Winston’s player also had to decide which character he was going to run as his character.  He chose Winston, but also took Leadership to make Hrefna his cohort.  This kept Hrefna as part of the party (something all the players wanted), even if it did stifle her leveling up.  Winston will need to do some things over the next while to up his Leadership score so he can legally have Hrefna as a cohort as his Charisma and reputation are low (due to being captured by Leroux).]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 16

Next Session: Session 18 [Not yet typed up]

EDIT: Corrected date to when this actually session happened.

[Day 27 – The Elf Job, Part 2: Talking to the Temple and Acquiring the Prophecy]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened December 5, 2022.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 8th level Wizard

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 27 (continues)

Marativy, Roscuro, Hrefna, Zitch, and Templeton arrived in an alley across the street from the Augur Temple in Kaer Maga.  The alley dog-legged and the group was hiding around the corner so the trolls standing in front of the temple would not see them.  Zitch cast Heroism on Marativy, Roscuro, and Hrefna and then placed his Ward on Marativy.  Templeton followed by casting Invisibility on Marativy.  Templeton then flew up onto the roof of the adjacent building to surreptitiously observe the goings on.

Preparations in place, Roscuro and Hrefna walked around the corner and openly approached the Augur Temple with Marativy following along behind, invisible.  Acting like they had every right to be there and doing what they were doing, the duo stepped up to the closed door to the temple and attempted to push it open so they could enter the temple itself.

The door was weighted for trolls and Roscuro almost face-planted into it.

After Roscuro and Hrefna failed to open the door or even make it budge, Roscuro waved over one of the several trolls standing around and asked for the door to be opened so he could meet with a person inside the temple.  The troll ambled over and asked Roscuro who he needed to meet with.  Roscuro confidently stated he was there to speak with the head of the temple.  The troll explained that the head of the temple was out, but he would send a message to them.  Hrefna asked if there was a temple assistant the two could talk to as they had information to trade.  The troll asked thought about it and asked what kind of information.  “We understand Augustille is missing,” Roscuro quietly replied.

This got the troll’s full attention.  “Then you need to speak with the head of the temple,” he said.  “She’s at The Sorry Excuse in Hospice.”  The troll then gave Roscuro and Hrefna directions to The Sorry Excuse.  “When you get there, tell Vargun ‘Garma told me to talk to you about Augustille.’.”

With no other choice, Roscuro shrugged for Marativy’s sake and then he and Hrefna left, making their way to Hospice.  Marativy stayed and waited for an opportunity follow someone into the temple.  Once Roscuro and Hrefna were away, Garma, the troll, walked back over to where the other trolls were waiting for clients needing their fortunes told.

Knowing the Invisibility spell on her would wear off in several minutes, Marativy decided to check the door to the temple herself.  She had seen Roscuro walk right into it and Hrefna lean against it to open it and fail [both rolled below 5 on their Strength checks], but maybe she would have better luck.  To her surprise, it moved under her efforts.  Before opening it, she paused to see if any of the trolls had noticed her efforts.  One had, but as Marativy had only moved the door a small amount, it decided it was just the wind or something and went back to talking with the other trolls.  Marativy carefully pushed the door open just enough to let herself in and then slowly closed it behind her.

She was inside the Temple!

Marativy quickly scouted the first floor, which was mostly empty of people and things.  She located stairs down and quietly descended.  The main room had two trolls talking with each other, apparently bored guards.  There were a couple of open doorways and one closed door.  The closed door was on the north wall and Marativy stepped as silently as she could to it.  Testing the handle, she found the door was locked.  With a growing sense of urgency lest the Invisibility spell lapse while she was exposed, Marativy pulled out her lockpicks and picked the lock.

Once the lock was unlocked, she slowly opened the door, again only enough to let herself in.  Being a ratfolk helped here.  Once inside the room beyond she quietly closed the door and stared looking around.

The room appeared to be a valuable item storage room.  On the back wall, prominently displayed were three large scrolls in ornate scroll tubes.  Having no way to tell the scrolls apart, Marativy took all three scrolls and placed them inside her box of holding.  At this point she realized she was visible again – Templeton’s spell had worn off!

Marativy shouldered her box of holding and prepared to leave.  She could turn herself invisible for less than a minute.  Hopefully it would be long enough for her to get out of the temple.  She slowly and quietly opened the door to the main cellar chamber.  Neither of the guards noticed, but as she stepped through the door, a third troll descended the steps into the room and noticed the still open door.  

Marativy quietly and invisibly moved around the three trolls as they moved over to the open door.  When she reached the steps she broke into a sprint up them.  She heard the trolls bellow as they heard her footsteps race up the stairs and started to follow her.  She quickly reached the front door and started hauling the heavy door open as the pursuing trolls sounded the alarm.  She was able to get the door opened wide enough for her and squeezed out.  She then ran for all she was worth until her pool of ki was empty and she became visible again, the trolls none the wiser to her location.

Thirty Minutes Later

Over in Hospice, Roscuro and Hrefna arrived at The Sorry Excuse.  The two walked into the tavern and looked around.  As it was still morning, the tavern was nearly completely empty.  Other than the bartender, the only occupants were a troll and a dwarf sitting at a table and talking.  Roscuro and Hrefna walked over to the table openly and waited for the troll and dwarf to pause their conversation.

They did this almost immediately and the troll woman asked their business.  Roscuro repeated the phrase “Garma told me to talk to you about Augustille.”  Vargun [the troll woman] asked the dwarf for a moment and the dwarf went to the bar to get another drink.

Roscuro hopped up onto the table and sat so he would be at eye-level with Vargun while Hrefna just took a seat [Roscuro is size Small and Hrefna is size Medium].  Roscuro stated he sought to trade information: information on where Augustille was in exchange for information as to the location of a Thassilonian item under the city and how to get there.  Vargun was intrigued.  She stood up and had Roscuro and Hrefna follow her into a private room in the back that was magically sealed against scrying.

Vargun and Roscuro discussed why he sought the shard.  Roscuro explained that wherever the shard was would also have Thassilonian art and artifacts that could be sold for profit.  Vargun asked if he had a sponsor in this hunt.  In reply, Roscuro pulled out his pathfinder and showed it to Vargun, saying nothing.  Vargun recognized the item and what Roscuro was implying.  They quickly came to an agreement.

Roscuro explained to Vargun that Berkanin Ardoc had kidnapped Augustille and was holding him in a torture device on the Ardoc compound in Bis.  Roscuro described the device and the location of it as of the previous day.  Roscuro also stated that due to the secrecy Berkanin was taking, it was unlikely that the rest of the Ardoc family knew about the kidnapping.  Vargun stated that Berkanin was likely to be disappointed with Augustille.  Augustille did not start with the ability to prophesize.  He once touched the Pillars of Dreams in The Warrens and slept longer than was normal after doing so.  Since then he occasionally has episodes where he prophesizes but he has no memory of what he says during those episodes, so torturing him will get nothing.  Vorgun also asked if Roscuro and his group had anything to do with the ”excitement” over in Bis the previous day.  Roscuro allowed that they did.

Vargun then explained that the shard was most likely in a Thassilonian Workshop that exists under the city, specifically under the Spire in Cavalcade.  It is separate from the rest of the Undercity but there might be possible access points hidden somewhere in the Undercity.  The most direct access will be through the Spire.  This information was the most concrete information the Ratpack had received on the location of the shard so far and Roscuro was happy to have it.  It told him his deal with Elaneiros would actually provide a route to the shard.

Both Vargun and Roscuro agreed they were satisfied with the information shared and their deal was concluded.  Roscuro and Hrefna left, heading back to the Grange to meet up with the rest of the Ratpack.

11:00 AM

Back at the Grange, Marativy took Gridik and Swamprover aside and showed them the three scroll tubes.  The two wizards examined the tubes and found they were sealed with magic.

Once Roscuro and Hrefna were back, Marativy went to work disarming the magic sealing the scrolls.  Marativy took her time to avoid tripping any traps or alarms on the scrolls and so they could be resealed after reading the contents.  The first scroll was the spell Raise Dead.  The second scroll was The Prophecy.  The third scroll was a ritual for controlling divine gifts.

Like all prophecies, this one was a poem and not very clear.  After reading it several times, the Ratpack decided that they did not have enough information to put it to use.  It was copied down and then resealed.

To avoid any kind of war with the Augur Temple, the group decided to return the first and third scrolls.  Marativy would take them and place them unobserved into the haversacks of two trolls who were part of the temple.  Secrecy being most important, she had the rest of the day to accomplish this.

The group ended the day discussing what questions should be asked using Commune in the morning.  The answers to those questions would help them decide on how to deal with the second scroll and Elaneiros.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[This session was roleplay heavy.  Luckily Marativy was able to avoid fighting a temple full of trolls!  There was an additional piece of information about the temple interior that I remember being mentioned but I did not write down.  The altar inside the temple was to a human deity of omens, but I don’t remember specifically which deity the GM said.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 15

Next Session: Session 17

[Day 26 and 27 – The Elf Job: Conclusion]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened November 28, 2022.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 26 (continues)

[Rewind to follow the part of the Ratpack that Dimension Doored south to Cavalcade with Agustille’s head.]

Roscuro explained to Swamprover what happened after her failed attempt to Dimension Door out of the Ardoc compound with Augustille [see last session].  The grippli cast Prestidigitation on Roscuro and Ariphi to remove the blood stains all over their clothes so the group could walk through Cavalcade without the locals calling the guards on them.  During this time, Roscuro asked Zitch if some healing or a Restoration spell would revive the troll head and jumpstart any regeneration.  Zitch answered stating that the troll’s regeneration would start with the largest piece, meaning the body still back in the Ardoc building, not the head.  Roscuro was greatly disappointed in this.

The four teammates [Ariphi, Roscuro, Swamprover, and Zitch] discussed the situation and decided to take the troll head to the Therassic Spire anyways to see if the wizards there could do anything with it.

Zitch used his telepathy amulet to make contact with Templeton and the other team.  After Zitch reported that Team: Teleport’s status and plan to take the head to the Spire anyway, Templeton reported that Winston had shown up!

This was good news, but Roscuro was concerned that Winston might be a cat’s paw for Leroux.  Roscuro asked that Winston be checked with Detect Magic to determine if he was under the influence of magic still.  Templeton cast Detect Magic on Winston and only observed auras from some magic items Winston was carrying.  For good measure, Templeton cast Protection from Evil on Winston, which would block any compulsion spells for its duration.

Roscuro and his team hopped down from the rooftop they were hiding out on and walked through Cavalcade to the Spire.  Ariphi broke a set of lockpicks doing it, but picked the lock on the front door of the Spire, letting in the team.  The team went up the stairs to the left and then took the elevator up to the sixth floor, where it stopped.  Roscuro handed Swamprover the token Elaneiros had provided and using that she was able to raise the elevator two more floors to the top.

Elaneiros was eager to see what the team brought him, but clearly disappointed to receive only the head of the Augur Oracle.  Roscuro explained that there had been complications, including a harpy.  He also reported in detail how Augustille was being held.  The information on the harpy was a surprise to Elaneiros, who stated the rest of the Ardoc family had probably not known about it either.  Both sides agreed that the results were unfortunate and did not complete the contract.  Roscuro stated the group would now work on “doing the other thing” [steal the record of Augustille’s Prophecy] and the team left the Spire.

Roscuro made a mental note to have Hrefna find out if Augustille was actually dead using Commune the next morning.

Back over at The Molten Bunny [the tavern they had stopped in], the other team and Winston spent the afternoon drinking and catching Winston up on things.

Both teams took roundabout paths back to the Grange, avoiding any guards or Ardoc constructs they saw along the way.

Day 27

Morning

Hrefna cast Commune.  The results were:

1. Is Augustille dead?: No
2. Does the Ardoc family know who infiltrated their compound yesterday?: No
3. Is the Ardoc family looking for the ones who infiltrated their compound yesterday?: Yes
4. Does the rest of the Ardoc family know Berkanin had Augustille?: No
5. Is Leroux looking for Winston?: Yes
6. Does Leroux know if the Rat Pack is in Kaer Maga?: Yes
7. Is Leroux still in Kaer Maga?: Yes

Some of the answers were good news and some were not.  The fact that the Ardoc family did not know of the Ratpacks’ involvement in the attack on their compound was good.  That Leroux knew the Ratpack was in Kaer Maga and that he was looking for Winston were unwelcome pieces of information.

The adventurers discussed the situation and what to do next.  The best bet seemed to be to go talk to the Augers and see if it was possible to barter what they knew about Augustille’s situation for access to the prophecy.  Roscuro and Hrefna would go talk with the leader of the Augur Temple.  As a backup, Templeton and Marativy would also go, but before Roscuro and Hrefna approached the temple, Templeton would cast Invisibility on Marativy and she would attempt to sneak into the temple with Roscuro and Hrefna and snoop around for the prophecy.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[I finished editing Book III of my OD&D clone!  I need to fix some typos in Books I and II and make some adjustments to the Naval Combat section after a playtest, which should complete primary writing on the rules.  It’s looking like my cover art person will not be able to come through due to his dayjob and family obligations, so I need a new source for the cover art, but I’m still excited to be nearly done writing my own set of rules for OD&D.]

[Obviously, writing up my session notes has resumed.  I will be able to enter at least on session a week and will do my best to get in more as time allows.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 14

Next Session: Session 16

[Day 26 – The Elf Job: the Ratpack Escapes]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened November 21, 2022.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 26 (continues)

Inside the attic laboratory, Roscuro and Ariphi had a spirited debate about the best way to retrieve Augustille, the prophetic troll Augur kidnapped by Berkanin Ardoc.  Roscuro continued sawing at the troll’s neck, putting forth the position that the troll would regenerate from its head and the head would be portable via Dimension Door.  Ariphi, finishing unlocking the bound and delirious troll from its restraints, felt that the troll would instead regenerate from the larger piece of troll and therefore Roscuro should be at the very least cutting off a much larger piece.  She took the adamantine dagger from Roscuro and easily sliced through the neck, removing the troll’s head.  “Also?  Cut with the grain, not against it.”  Roscuro stuffed the troll’s head into a sack and the due climbed up and out through the hole cut through the roof.

In the meantime, Berkanin’s freelance security, a harpy, was desperately flying around the Ardoc estate grounds with Templeton hot on her heals.  Hrefna and Gridik, both charmed by the harpy’s song, followed as they could – Gridik easily following due to a Fly spell, Hrefna chasing along on the ground.  Zitch cast Protective Luck on Templeton and then Hrefna as Hrefna, running through the gazebo behind the harpy, discovered some form of aberration hiding inside the gazebo [I swear it might have been a Lurker Above, a monster I haven’t seen since 2nd Edition].  Templeton had been worrying at the Harpy and she had to stop singing to cast Cure Light Wounds on herself to stop the bleeding Templeton caused with his claws.  [She might have imbibed a potion, the effect was the same and my notes silent on the source of the healing.]

Some additional guards stepped out of an adjacent building and onto a walkway between that building and the building the lab was in.  One of them attacked Gridik as he flew past, still pursuing the harpy.  This snapped Gridik out of being charmed [it allowed another saving throw that he made this time] and the kobold wizard unleashed a Lightning Bolt at the guards.  The guards were close enough to melee with Gridik, which he started losing quickly.  However, this brought the guards within 30 feet of Zitch who magically whipped his beard out at the guards and plucked both off the walkway, one by one.  [Prehensile Hair Hex that Zitch had been saving for a while.]

Templeton had to turn from the harpy to help Hrefna against the aberration.  During this fight Templeton noticed the creature take some unexpected damage, allowing Templeton to kill it.  Zitch had caught up the harpy for a moment in his beard, but she broke away.  During her attempted escape, she suddenly sprouted a large bullet hole in her chest and dropped from the sky.  This released Hrefna from the charm and was when Roscuro and Ariphi returned to the roof with their grisly trophy.

Roscuro called out it was time to go and the Ratpack started leaving.  Zitch cast Dimension Door and took Ariphi and Roscuro south to the hidden landing spot he had scouted out earlier in the day with Swamprover and Templeton.  Swamprover was there, looking concerned by the delay in the rest arriving and the copious amount of blood splattered on Roscuro.  Roscuro quickly explained it wasn’t his blood, he had removed Augustille’s head as the only easily transportable piece of the troll.  He also asked Swamprover to cast Prestidigitation to remove the blood from him so they could walk the streets of Cavalcade without alarming the passersby.  She did so.

Back at the Ardoc estate, Templeton flew to Hrefna and allowed her to climb onto his back.  Then the two of them and Gridik flew north, pursued by surveillance automatons in the service of the Ardoc family.  They evaded most of them, but Hrefna was spotted when flying over a roof and Gridik had to cast Magic Missile a couple times to knock the pursuing construct out of the air.  Once in the Warrens and certain they were no longer pursued, they landed and started walking to the central lake in Kaer Maga.  Gridik noticed a mysterious hooded figure following the trio, but when he tried to point the figure out to Templeton and Hrefna, it was gone.

The trio walked over to Hospice and found a sheltered area to clean up with Prestidigitation.  Then they walked into a nearby bar and got drinks.  While there [establishing an alibi], the mysterious hooded figure walked up and removed its hood – it was Winston!  The four adventurers drank and caught up, introductions being made where necessary.

Marativy, still sitting on the roof of the building just out side of the Ardoc compound, dropped the Major Image spell she had been concentrating on.  She then hopped down to the ground and mingled with the crowd of civilians that had been drawn against their will to the Ardoc estate by the song of the harpy.  She then calmly walked away from the area as just another bystander…

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[A short write-up due to the combat taking up almost the entire session.  Next session picks up with Team Teleport down in Cavalcade taking the severed head of Augustille to Elaneiros in the Therrasic Spire to see if it counts as success.  They are not optimistic, but Speak with Dead might fill the wizard’s needs.]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions

Last Session: Session 13

Next Session: Session 15

[Day 26 – The Elf Job starts…and then goes sideways]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened November 14, 2022.]

[SPOILERS!  If you are likely to adventure through the Shattered Star Adventure Path from Paizo, this campaign will be spoilers all the way down.]

Player Characters

Marativy – female ratfolk 8th level Ninja

Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 8th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar

Roscuro – male ratfolk 8th level Monk

Swamprover – female grippli 7th level Wizard

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Via Roll20

Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 8th level Summoner (Synthesist)

NPCs

Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Mel Sharples – male halfling Cook (Expert of unknown level)

Alice Hyatt – female halfling Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Flo’ Castleberry – female gnome Bodyguard (Warrior of unknown level)

Autumn

Day 26

Morning

Hrefna cast Commune for some final intelligence before the Ratpack started the mission to free the kidnapped Auger from the rogue member of the Ardoc family.

1. Is Leroux currently employed by Elaneiros?: No
2. If Marativy uses Major Image from her shard to create an illusion on the grounds of the Ardoc family manor, will it trigger an alarm?: No
3. Are there any constructs as part of the security for Augustille in the Attic?: No
4. Do the combat bots have See Invisible?: No
5. Will Ardoc security follow into Cavalcade?: Yes
6. Do any of the Ardoc spy bots have the ability to deal acid damage?: No
7. Do any of the Ardoc spy bots have the ability to deal sonic damage?: No

Templeton, Swamprover, and Zitch walked to Cavalcade and spent the morning looking for a discrete place for Swamprover and Zitch to Dimension Door to later during the job.  Templeton was there so he would know where to look if things went wrong during the job.  They located a roof top that was obscured from the ground with no windows looking at it and spent time familiarizing themselves with it.

Noon

Templeton, Swamprover, and Zitch returned to the Grange in Downmarket where the rest of the Ratpack was ready and stated they had a suitable location to escape to from the Ardoc compound.  Satisfied with the answers from the Commune spell and that a safe escape route had been located, the group decided to run the job that afternoon.

The Ratpack ate a light lunch at the Grange and then broke up into small groups to discretely infiltrate into Bis.  The concern was to not be seen by the security in Bis as a united group and to keep any bystanders from seeing and remembering a large group of adventurers.

2:00 PM

The individual groups rendezvoused on the roof of the building adjacent to the Ardoc Compound in Bis.  Each group had taken efforts to not be followed and the group was confident their presence had not been noticed [yet].

Zitch cast Detect Magic and scanned the roof of the building inside the compound the group would leap to [or be ferried to by Templeton.  It had an Alarm spell on it that Ariphi would need to disable.

Marativy cast Major Image using the Shard of Pride in her possession.  She created a hollow path for the group to follow covering the roof they were on, across the outer wall of the compound to the roof the group would land on, then up the side of the next building, and finally over the entire roof of the target building that Augustille was being held in.  The image created showed the roof area as empty, so as long as the Ratpack was inside the area of the image, no one outside would see them.  Marativy had to concentrate to maintain the Major Image, so she stayed on the starting roof where she was covered by the illusion.

Templeton carried Ariphi through the area covered by the illusion and hovered over the landing building.  Ariphi dangled under Templeton and disabled the Alarm spell.  After that the Ratpack hopped the wall and advanced through the illusion onto the compound and then up on top of the target building.

Roscuro had been banking on there being a hatch of some sort on the roof allowing access to the attic of the building.  There was no hatch.

Improvising, Roscuro quietly asked Ariphi to listen to the roof and locate a quiet area for the group to breach the roof.  Zitch, looking around at adjacent buildings noticed a harpy on guard duty on the adjacent roof and warned the others.  Gridik [using Spellcaster Sneak] cast See Invisibility and peered over the roof edge at the harpy.  Resting next to the harpy was an invisible Spy construct, backing the harpy up.  Neither appeared to be aware of the Ratpack.

Ariphi found a spot on the roof that seemed to be over a quiet room, but pointed out that the roof was sturdily made and braking through would be noisy.  After thinking through a couple of options, Roscuro settled on having Gridik use the wand of acid arrow to etch a trap door into the roof.  It took four uses of the wand to etch the square outline in the first layer of the roof.  Another four uses deepened the outline.  The next use completed the cut on one side of the square.  Roscuro and Ariphi used the opening to peer into the room.

The room below was a combination alchemist lab and torture room.  Augustille was stretched out on some sort of rack contraption, his abdomen cut and held open and metal instruments of torture set in a small fire pit adjacent to him.  He was also alive.

A human male, presumably the alchemist based on his ornate clothing, entered the room while Roscuro and Ariphi watched and started doing things with the alchemy equipment.  After a short whispered conversation, the plan was to finish cutting through the roof, Ariphi would keep the roof square from falling and pull it out of the way.  Roscuro would then jump into the room and use the Suggestion ability of the Shard of Lust to have the human sit passively for an hour.  This seemed like the best bet and was agreed to.

Gridik used his wand to eat through the last three sides of the roof square and Ariphi adroitly caught it and set it aside.  Roscuro jumped down into the lab, landing next to the human and made use of the Shard of Lust’s Suggestion ability to “suggest” that the human passively sit on a chair in the corner.  This worked.

Swamprover carefully climbed down into the room while Roscuro stuffed Augustille’s innards back inside the troll and removed the clamps holding it open.  Roscuro then fed the troll a potion of cure light wounds, which closed up Augustille’s wounds but did nothing for the troll’s delirium [that required a Restoration spell].  Roscuro gestured for Swamprover to take Augustille away using Dimension Door.  Swamprover placed one hand on Augustille and then cast the spell.  Swamprover disappeared, reappearing on the rooftop she had scouted out that morning.

Augustille was not with her.

[Dimension Door requires any other creatures being transported be willing and Augustille’s delirium prevented that.]

Back in the lab, Roscuro quietly cursed before calling for Ariphi to jump down into the lab.  Roscuro had a terrible plan on how to turn Augustille from a person into a thing to be carried and needed the adamantine dagger Ariphi carried to implement it.  Roscuro called out a little too loudly and alerted the harpy.  [She rolled a natural 20 on her perception roll and The Other GM ruled she was now on alert.]  Ariphi easily made the leap down from the roof, landing on some notes on a workbench…which promptly slid out from under her, causing her to fall and knock all the glass alchemy gear on the table onto the floor with a tremendous crash!  [Ariphi rolled a 1 on her Acrobatics check to jump down.]

The harpy heard the crash in the lab [the building adjacent to her] and flew out in front of the building to look in through the windows.  There she saw Roscuro next to the troll captive and Ariphi sprawled on a suddenly clear work table.  The harpy called out an alarm and the Ratpack members up on the roof attacked the harpy.

Inside the lab, a very sheepish Ariphi joined Roscuro over by the troll.  Roscuro asked for the adamantine dagger and then attempted to decapitate Augustille.  This took longer than expected and Roscuro had to spend several rounds sawing at the troll.  Meanwhile Ariphi started picking the locks binding Augustille while the two of them argued which route was the quicker/better.

Outside, the harpy started singing, which entranced Hrefna and Gridik but none of the others [the rest made their WILL save] and moved around to the side of the building so those entranced would fall the farthest.  Hrefna stepped right off the side of the building and fell to the ground but Gridik cast Fly so he could move directly to the singing harpy.  Templeton took flight and started pursuing the harpy, hoping to get a pounce attack in.  The harpy fled while still singing, trying to stay just ahead of Templeton and his claws.

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[There was some discussion with the Other DM about the mechanism for cutting the head off the troll and which part would regenerate.  Roscuro would eventually have to use coup d’grace five or six times until the troll ran out of hit points.  Next session he ruled that the regeneration would happen with the largest chunk of the troll, which in this case would be the body, not the head.  I found this frustrating.  If the head was not going to be the point of regeneration, why did I have to go through all of the troll’s hit points to get just the head?]

Ratpack

Book 1: Shards of Sin Landing Page – Links to all Book 1 sessions

Book 2: Curse of the Lady’s Light Landing Page – Links to all Book 2 sessions

Book 3: The Asylum Stone Landing Page – Links to all Book 3 sessions 

Last Session: Session 12 

Next Session: Session 14 [Not yet typed up]