[Day 42 – The Fish Trap]
[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game. Game sessions happen once a week. This session happened January 30, 2023.]
[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 9th level Ninja
Zitch Grimreaper – male ratfolk 9th level Witch with a donkey rat (capybara) familiar
Roscuro – male ratfolk 9th level Monk
Swamprover – female grippli 9th level Wizard
Winston – male ratfolk 9th level Gunslinger
Via Roll20
Templeton von Trapp – male ratfolk 9th level Summoner (Synthesist)
NPCs
Gridik Stormstride – male blue kobold 7th level Wizard (Invoker)
Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura
Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue
Autumn
Day 42 continued
Having returned to the Thassilonian Workshop deep under Kaer Maga, the Ratpack was ready to explore further. In the room they now knew to be a centrifuge, they prepped some spells and opened the third door, in the south east area of the circular room. [The first door was the entrance from the main corridor and the second door led to a zig-zag corridor that Marativy discovered, which connected to the workshop room with the fire wasps.]
Beyond this unlocked door was a circular room with a lowered floor and a door on its eastern side. The floor was down two feet and filled with clear water. In the center of the room was a cage holding a fish creature with wires coming out of the fish and descending into the water. There was a ring of runes on the walls of the room, just above the water level.
Zitch identified the fish creature as a “grodaire”, a kind of fae with the ability to raise and lower water levels at will. The group immediately suspected the room of being a trap where the grodaire was forced to flood the room on command.
With no other viable paths forward, the group decided to get past the fish. Templeton flew into the room and over to the eastern door, staying close to the north wall. Nothing happened and the fish did not react. Templeton spoke at the fish in several languages but got no response. Templeton then flew back to the open door and Marativy climbed onto his back.
Templeton and Marativy then flew back to the eastern door so Marativy could examine it. The door had no additional traps on it [other than the fae fish creature in the room] but was locked. Marativy picked the lock. She then attempted to open the door, which apparently triggered the fish trap.
Steel plates slammed down across both doors, isolating Templeton and Marativy inside the room. Then the water level shot all the way up to the room. THEN the ring of runes around the walls discharged lightning, shocking everyone in the now-flooded room [Reflex save for half damage].
Templeton started fighting the grodaire while Marativy worked to disable the lightning runes, both holding their breath. Hrefna and Winston worked together and were able to break down the steel door between the centrifuge room and the fish trap room, with the water spilling out and then immediately started rising. Due to the much larger volume, the water level rose slowly now instead of shooting to the ceiling. This allowed the shorter members of the group [Gridik, Swamprover, and Zitch] to climb up onto the ziggurat and keep their heads above water. For a little while.
Roscuro had a sudden inspiration and opened the door to the corridor that led to the fire wasp room. He ran down that corridor to the back door of the workshop room and waited until the water was three feet high. He opened the door, which flooded into the workshop room, submerging the human body. Staying submerged and immune to the angry swarm of fire wasps, Roscuro moved in and placed the body into a body bag of holding, water and all.
In the meantime, Winston, now able to see the grodaire, started shooting the wires plugged into the fish fae. He had taken out three of the four wires by the time Marativy finished disabling the lightning runes. She immediately moved to the fish and removed the fourth wire, which “woke up” the grodaire. She explained the situation to the fish and asked it to lower the water level again. It did so, lowing all the water so that only its room contained any.
This included the workshop room with the fire wasps, leaving Roscuro suddenly exposed to the swarm! Roscuro [beating the swarm on initiative] bolted out of the room, dragging the body bag of holding through the back door to the workshop room and then slamming that door shut. He could clearly hear the very angry buzzing from the other side of the now closed door.
The Ratpack regrouped in the centrifuge room where Hrefna activated her healing aura [many had taken damage from the lightning runes when the water spilled into the other rooms]. The grodaire gave its name, but the Ratpack referred to it as Fish or Fishie [mostly because no one seems to have written its name down]. The fae was friendly if not too bright and agreed to travel with the group. It was able to bring its own “tank” of water, magically keeping a column of water two feet deep and about five feet in diameter around itself at all times. The Ratpack made certain to pair it up with taller members of the group to avoid any accidental drownings [Swamprover is under 2 feet tall and Gridik about two and a half feet tall]. Once the group was healed up, they re-entered the fish trap room and opened the exit door.
They faced a naga ready for a fight.
End of Session
Rat Whispers
[Winston’s player was recovered and had a negative Covid test, so he was back with us again. He contracted it just after our game on the January 16th and was already recovering on the 23. I would have insisted he stay remote (and he would have agreed) without the test results.]
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 22
Next Session: Session 24
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