Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Sailing to Azlant


Orias has gone missing. We have no idea what happened to him. (His player had to leave the game)

We sit and talk about how we plan to get to Riddleport. Eorin buys several scrolls of teleport and Illythan successfully teleports them to Riddleport. We find a vessel already heading to the Azlant islands, and agree to work in exchange for passage. Eorin gets mildly seasick, but Kyle cures him. Illythan uses Gust of Wind to speed up travel, and we make it to the islands in half the time (one month). Kyle learns the joys of gambling with sailors. 

We reach the northern most point of Azlant - it looks very wet. We find a set of ruins. It's an ancient Azlant gazebo. It looks like this area might have been a park at some point, and there are a lot of fish up there. Zelara finds a chessboard with engraving along the edge. It explains that "there are eight queens of Galerion. All will kill each other unless none in each other's way." None of the queens have any specific color, and there is a single pawn in addition to the eight queens. It's a puzzle that clearly unlocks something if we get it in the right configuration, and there is a button to press when we think we have the correct configuration. After puzzling over it for a while, we realize that there is a pattern to the figures: the eastern and western shield maiden, a demon and an angel, a cleric and a litch, a light elf and a dark elf. After they think they've figured it out, Kyle pushes the button. The pawn moves diagonally.

Illythan notices that each piece radiates the energy of a school of magic. The pawn is "universal." Eorin ponders the pawn and thinks that pawns don't matter and that anyone can manipulate pawns. After much pondering, Eorin finally figures it out. They press the button, and four stone staircases leading downward appear in the floor around the chessboard. The chessboard itself is collapsing, and there's a pouch within. In the bag is a full collapsable chess set and a skull. The chessboard is not on the list of Azlanti artifacts. 

We decide to head down the south staircase. There's a glowing ion stone orbiting Zelara's head. We walk down the hallway and come to great big double doors. There's a fake trap with a bunch of letters on the floor that don't say anything and none are made to be pressed down. The door is made of brass. Zelara pulls out a crow bar to open the door. There's a room with a pedestal and a 10 x 10 obelisk behind it. There's nothing on the pedestal other than a cushion. There's no writing on the obelisk. There are ropes in the corners coming from the ceiling. Each rope is attached to a counterweight. Zelara figures that the rope can bear her weight without moving the counterweight, so she shimmies up the rope. She sees that the counterweights are on pressure plates. Illythan realizes that he counterweight is a lodestone. Kyle scrutinizes the lodestones and notices that only three are on pressure plates.

Eorin notices that the obelisk is containing some kind of pure elemental magic. He sees that the pedestal and pillow radiate necromantic magic. We put the skull onto the pillow and it speaks in Azlanti "please complete the circuit." Kyle shimmies up the rope of the lodestone that isn't on a pressure plate to put it into place. The head then says "You must pass the challenge by defeating the guardian of fire." The obelisk is opening and inside is a large fire elemental. Combat ensues. We kill it. The spot where the energy thing was now contains a red crystal. It is a portable gateway to the elemental plane of fire.

We go back and decent down the north staircase. More brass locked doors which we crowbar open. The room down this staircase has four statues with light coming out of their eyes. There is a pedestal and an obelisk in this room as well. We put the skull on the pedestal, and it once again says to "complete the circuit." We turn the statues so the light all points at the obelisk. An air elemental comes out of the obelisk. It gives Illythan the air elemental equivalent of "yo!" Illythan and the air elemental talk for a bit, and it says "I assume you want the crystal?" "Yep." "Alright then, watch out for the tree." And it hands Illythan the crystal.

East staircase next! Same brass locked doors + crowbar = open. The obelisk is on the ceiling with the pedestal underneath it. "Oh you're not going to like this one" says the skull. The far end begins to open to let out a large brass golem. The golem then asks The Riddle in Azlanti. We figure out it's "The Azlanti" rather than "Man" however, because the Azlanti thought they were better than all other humans. The golem goes away and an earth elemental falls out of the obelisk. Combat ensues, it dies, and we grab the crystal.

Finally, the west staircase. We get down about ten stories  before we hit salt water. Illythan turns into an elemental to scout the hallway. He opens the door. And there is exposed ocean, and a pedestal. "Yea, you're not going to finish this one." says the skull as Illythan puts it on the pedestal. Basically, it's already been completed, but it tells Illythan that he can still get the item, but he has to go down very, very far. Illythan keeps the skull on the pillow and returns to the party. We talk a bit, and eventually realize that the skull is really Tar-Baphon. He is talking to us through the skull. He is willing to send us one of the items on the list. Tar-Baphon chats with Illythan about how Tar-Baphon wants to help us with the whole Rovagug thing, because his plans won't mean anything if there is no more Galerion. They talk for a bit, and then Tar-Baphon tells Illythan that Eorin needs to sever the connection. Eorin looks confused, because he only cast one necromancy spell. His eyes are still glowing. Illythan holds the skull closer and Tar-Baphon walks Eorin through a series of mental exercises that return his eyes to normal and sever the connection between Tar-Baphon and the skull.

We decide to teleport back to Riddleport, instead of taking the boat. There's someone waiting there, and they wave at us. We don't recognize them. It turns out to be the crow that was bossing Orias around and Orias' familiar. They've come to tell us that Orias is dead - killed by an arrow in the night in his hotel room in Isgur. The crow familiar can't talk anymore because it's not a familiar. Zelara remembers she has a crow amulet that allows her to speak to crows! The crow tells us that there were two people that looked like the former master, one was speaking angrily and the other shot him. They smelled like the sea. The crow can't tell us anything else. The man then asks us if we need a ride anywhere, and we tell him "Absalom." There are crows everywhere, covering every  inch of us, and fly away. Basically, crow magic. And now we're in Absalom awaiting a package from Tar-Baphon to trade for the statue that the River King has. The man wants to buy the crow amulet from Zelara. We agree to give it to him in exchange for a ride to Isgur later. We go to see the Firebirds. No package has arrived for us yet, but they have rooms ready for us. We take baths and sleep in big beds. Breakfast is delivered in the morning.

OUR FIREBIRD ACTION FIGURES ARE IN! We come in a set, which is a little sad since Orias died. They added our main villain into the set as well: Tar-Baphon. And the next day, our package arrives.

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Aboleths and Outsiders


"HI!" Kyle greets awkwardly. "I bet you're the River King aren't you?" The River King sits back down in his chair, which is made of pipes. "Well, we, um, came to talk to you. Well, specifically about one thing. Really what we're interested in is that statue behind you."
"You come into my sewers, murder my workers… Also, you destroyed a vast collection of mine."
"Well, your house is a little shoddy on the foundation work. Also it was an accident. And Eorin here feels really bad about it"
"You expect me to believe that this boy with a shovel cast the lightning bolt that caused the cave in?"
"No, I never said the person who did it felt bad about it. So we would like to deal with you about the statue"
Zelara gestures to Illythan. She noticed the water is slowly rising. Kyle and the River King continue talking, and he taps some tubes on his chair, causing the water to stop rising.
"Who sent you?" He asks
"That's a complicated question. Lets just say we're here."
Eorin blurts out the story about the Lenorm and the gods having sent them. The River King clearly does not believe us. We speak a little bit more, and then the River King goes into Eorin's brain.
After rifling through Eorin's thoughts, he comes out and says "You are not as ignorant as you appear."
The River King then attempts to look through the minds of the rest of the party, only succeeding with Zelara.
"Interesting. We will have to deal with this elsewhere."
The teleportation rune is back on now.
"You may go. I will send one of my men to bargain with you."
We go back through, and end up back in the house.
Illythan inspects the bag on Eorin's arm more extensively. It's a vastly superior version of Iron Flask. Whatever's in here could be as dangerous as those avatars we met. The conjuration on the bag summons and binds them. If you release them, they have to fulfill their bargain with you. While there are only 6 slots for demons, if you release one, you can put another one in. Illythan looks at Eorin and sees that Eorin is under a powerful enchantment. We figure out it's probably a Geas or quest spell, and that it will take a wish spell to rid Eorin of it, and that very bad things will befall Eorin unless he fulfills the geas.

We go back to the ladder and climb up it into the store room of the very inn we've been staying at. Zelara goes to reunite with Chubby Baby, as the rest of us contemplate what to do about the bag. Illythan suggest a temple of Asmodius. We decide to go there, and find ourselves at the doors. They charge 20 gp per head for non-believers to go in. They write us a receipt, and Illythan donates five extra gp. We try to go in, and there is a barrier preventing the bag from going in, and it tightens around his arm. Eorin feels the wards on the temple giving, and decides to wait outside. Illythan asks to speak to a priest and is given a number and told to wait in line. Kyle decides to wait outside with Eorin.

While we're waiting, the accountant from the River King's house comes to find Eorin and Kyle. He asks where the rest of the group is, and we explain that they're in the temple. He gives us a piece of paper and says he'll wait for us there, since he needs to speak to all of us. The address is the nicest restaurant in town. Illythan finally reaches the front of the line. He explains the problem, and they tell him they can't help him with the problem. The temple at the capital in Cheliax can. Their best recommendation is to kill Eorin. The offer Illythan a variety of poisons for sale, that are very lethal but painless which he passes on. They decide to go to Abdar's temple after meeting with the accountant.

We decide to go to a public bath house first to become not gross. We notice that there are water fountains and lots of bath houses, which are very clean due to the fantastic sewer system. Illythan goes to a tailor and gets a fantastic new outfit. We then go to the restaurant, which is very nice. The accountant says that first off, certain fees are to be paid due to the death of a sewer worker. The accountant then asks for the location of the Lenorm's minion's lair to know that they can trust us. Kyle tries to debate otherwise, but Illythan takes the map and draws the incorrect location. Eorin, who is completely guiless mentions that the location is wrong. After some back and forth, Illythan decides to show them the correct location. The accountant then suggests that we could send the demons in the bag after the Lenorm, so the demons will be death cursed instead of us.

The accountant then tells us that since the statue we seek is the only one left after the destruction of his home, the River King wants something in exchange instead. The accountant pulls out an old tome, that's waterproofed and written in ancient Azlanti. It describes beautiful art of the time, and the accountant tells us that any one of the pieces listed in this book would be highly desired by the River King. Kyle asks for information about Orias' mother. The accountant gives us the mother's location, and adds that if we bring back the statue, then they'll also give us the man we're looking for. We conclude the negotiations and head to the temple of Abdar.

This temple is much smaller than the temple of Asmodius. Eorin cautiously enters the temple, and finds he's able to do so. Eorin explains the situation to a priest, and is told they don't have a cleric that can help. After much debate, Eorin decides to order the demons back to their home plane and never to return to this plane, and lets them out of the bag. Five of them think this is the best deal and happily return to their home plane. One cannot, because it's a native outsider. Kyle attempts to detect evil, and she promptly goes blind - her eyes turning black. Unsure of what to do, Eorin orders to it to go and kill the Lenorm, but he cannot kill anything else. The outsider is frozen in place, explaining that he can't move because there are tiny microscopic lives that you kill just by moving around. Eorin amends the order to allow for the deaths of anything microscopic. The outsider begins to float through the air. The bag falls off Eorin's wrist, and Kyle pics it up. There are thick rope burns on Eorin's arm.

The Pathfinder society sends us notes on where we might be able to find old Azlanti art. Eorin reads through the notes and figures out the best place to look would be Riddleport. The outsider returns and has a very, very large bag over its shoulder. He starts pulling out corpses and piles them onto the ground. They're all undead, and the outsider asks if this is okay, and he's been consuming their souls. Eorin attempts to reprimand him, but the outsider tells him that he can't tell him not to consume souls. The outsider leaves, and everyone goes to sleep. Eorin decides to pray, HARD.

Sometime, in the middle of the night, the innkeeper knocks on Eorin's door, telling him that a "man" is here to see him. Eorin goes downstairs and is greeted by the outsider. He places the Lenorm's head on the table, and presents Eorin with a variety of sacks containing, a lifetime supply of Lenorm meat, scales, claws, bones, an undead lady thing with a scythe for a hand, rocks with holes in them, random shiny objects, and a goblin. He pulls the goblin out of the bag - it's wearing the same cloths as he is, and he clearly finds this entertaining. The outsider then goes upstairs to say "hi" to Kyle as Eorin and Zelara attempt to put as much of the stuff into the caravan as possible. He orders a few bags of holding through the imp to hold all the meat. They decide to leave the bags of rocks and random shiny things behind seeing as how they're not worth much. Zelara kills the goblin. 

The outsider asks Kyle if she's feeling better, and ruffles her hair. Kyle stabs him in the arm. He doesn't seem bothered, and begins to heal over the knife. Kyle pulls out the knife and attempts to kick him down the stairs and retrieves her bow. The outsider heals and stands at the bottom of the stairs dusting off his suit.  "Give me your soul bright one!" the outsider demands as Kyle fills him full of arrows. "Not too shabby! See if you can survive this!" Kyle takes 3 dex damage as her bones fuse together. She takes a step back and fires again. The melee continues ferociously, and Zelara and Eorin hear the noise and come rushing back into the inn. Illythan wakes up from where he was passed out at the bar and turns into an air elemental. Zelara rushes into the fray and Eorin goes to heal Kyle. Kyle attempts to use the bag to trap the outsider again. It doesn't quite work, but the bag is now on his head, blinding him for three rounds. The outsider stuns Kyle for ten rounds, and Zelara attacks him ferociously. He slowly devolves, saying "I'll be back, and next time, I won't return!" His suit and mace fall to the ground. Eorin heals and restores Kyle, while Zelara and Illythan have words about the wisdom of attacking a very powerful outsider.