Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 20

[Day 40 –  Lurkers and Wasps]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 9, 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 6th level Wizard (Invoker)

Hrefna – female changeling 7th level Omdura

Ariphi – female tiefling 7th level Rogue

Autumn

Day 40 (continued)

Having released an unknown number of Lurkers in the Light from the latest room opened, many of the Ratpack were caught by surprise.  Zitch advised the Lurkers were fae that needed to sacrifice a victim in order to return to the Faewilde.  He then cast Baneful Polymorph, getting past a Lurker’s spell resistance, turning it into a newt.  Marativy saw this and raced back down the corridor to kill it, suffering several attacks of opportunity along the way.  [This also identified the total number of Lurkers at six, minus the one she killed.]

Winston rapid fired, killing one of the Lurkers and injuring another.  Zitch took a 5 foot step away from the Lurker in his space [Lurkers are Tiny and must enter a square to attack] and cast Adhesive Spittle on himself [something he’s wanted to do for a while].  He spat and just tagged the Lurker, sticking it in place [for 6 rounds].  One of the remaining lurkers flew down the corridor, attempting to flee while calling out something in Aklo, a language none of the Ratpack spoke.  Hrefna raised an aura [reduce enemies AC, I think] and then cast See Invisible.  Swamprover cast Magic Missile at the lurkers, hitting with all 5 missiles [not guaranteed due to their Spell Resistance].  Marativy focused her ki to move faster and chased down the fleeing Lurker, slashing at it and discovering Lurkers also have Damage Resistance.  Gridik announced he had a terrible plan but was blind and needed help targeting.  Roscuro moved to the kobold and steered him with one hand on each shoulder.  Gridik then cast Dragon Breath [cone of fire] at the trailing group of Lurkers.  This blast unfortunately included Templeton and Hrefna as well.  Templeton evaded the blast but Hrefna took the full brunt of it, bloodying the changeling.  The trailing group of Lurkers, still airborne, advanced, attacking Gridik, Hrefna, and Templeton [with a critical hit].  Templeton attacked back with all of his claws and a bite.

Winston rapid fired at the Lurker attacking Gridik, killing it.  Zitch put Protective Luck on Hrefna and cackled to prolong it.  The fleeing Lurker attempted to cast Teleport, but Zitch recognized the spell and got off Conjuration Foil, shunting it into a wall, killing it.  Hrefna, severely injured, changed her aura to a healing aura [Fast Healing 3] and attempted to defensively cast Cure Moderate Wounds on herself.  Unfortunately, the Lurker attacking her in her space spoiled the casting and it failed.  Swamprover then unwisely cast Shout, attempting to kill the remaining two Lurkers.  Instead the Grippli killed Hrefna, injured and deafened Gridik and Roscuro, and only injured the remaining Lurkers.  Marativy and Ariphi closed with the remaining Lurkers but could not get in attacks.  The last two Lurkers cast Teleport and teleported away…somewhere.

Roscuro quickly placed Hrefna’s body into one of the body bags of holding [a bag of holding with Quiet Repose on anything inside it] given to the group to retrieve the bodies of the previous group of explorers.  The Ratpack then pulled back to the orrery room to lick their wounds.

Templeton came out of synthesis with his eidolon so he could summon another Azata Bralani to heal the group.  She nearly completely healed Zitch [still down 2 hit points] and healed Roscuro in full.  Zitch cast Cure Light Wounds on himself to finish his healing.  Templeton then merged with his eidolon again before casting Cure Light Wounds on Marativy, healing her in full.  [Templeton is physically very weak and sickly when not merged with his eidolon (STR, CON, and DEX are all below 9), so he stays merged as much as possible, which grants him access to the eidolon’s superior stats.  We refer to it as his "super suit".]

With the group healed up they decided to investigate the door on the southern side of the orrery.  This door opened to a small workshop of some sort.  The eastern wall was covered with a “papery honeycomb”.  There were two dead bodies against the far wall, a halfling and a human that matched the descriptions of two of the adventurers the Ratpack were to rescue.  A second door could just be seen on the far end of the eastern wall, just past the papery honeycomb.

The Ratpack expected the papery honeycomb was a giant wasp nest and decided to act as such until proven otherwise.  The rest of the group stayed in the orrery while Marativy and Roscuro snuck into the workshop, each with a body bag of holding at the ready.  Once at the bodies, Marativy started to bag the halfling body when lumps appeared under its flesh and a wasp swarm erupted from it!  Winston immediately fired upon the swarm, the noise of his musket discharging awakening a second swarm from the papery honeycomb, filling Marativy and Roscuro’s exit.  Both swarms had a reddish tint, suggesting they were something more than normal wasps.  Swamprover cast Burning Hands on the closer swarm to no effect!  Gridik cast his last Dragon Breath spell for the day, choosing a cone of cold.  The blast filled the room, fully damaging both swarms but not killing either.  Marativy was able to dodge half of the blast and Roscuro completely evaded it [Ninja’s don’t get Evasion as a feat until they are much higher in level].

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Swamprover’s player got a lot of flack for casting Shout after the player running Hrefna stated Hrefna was very wounded.  She’s developed a mild reputation for catching party members in area of effect attacks, particularly Templeton.  This will come to a head a couple more sessions down the line.  I believe that after this session Swamprover’s player started being a little more careful about spell placement, but she does love casting all the big attack spells.]

[For my own part, I tend to play characters who have Evasion and good saves or pick up DR versus the party’s favored attacks (usually fire), so I’m a little more blasé about getting caught in friendly fire like this, especially if the friendly fire successfully takes out enemies.  The spell wouldn’t have been an issue if Hrefna had made the save for half damage or Swamprover had killed the last two Lurkers, especially as the reason Hrefna was down so many hit points was because of Gridik doing exactly the same thing the round before.]

[I should also point out that Swamprover’s player is my wife, so I may have some bias here.]

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 19 

Next Session: Session 21

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 19

[Day 40 – Hounds, Kytons, and Lurkers in the Light!]

[This game uses the Pathfinder 1E roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened January 2, 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 40

[We apparently defeated the Hounds of Tindalos at the end of the previous session, but I took poor notes and I forgot.  Key point I remember was Gridik casting Named Bullet on his pistol, specifying “Hounds of Tindalos”, and they were both dead before he could shoot the following round.  At the same time, the creatures in the room with all the chains started trying to break out through the door Marativy had locked.]

With the Hounds of Tindalos down, Winston and Marativy moved to the door to the room of chains.  Marativy tied a rope from that doorknob to the doorknob on the door opposite it, providing extra resistance.  The rest of the Ratpack moved back to this door and held a quick discussion about whether or not to fight the chain fiends [kytons] now or later.  The chain fiends started attacking the door itself, so the group decided to fight them now rather than later.

Zitch put Protective Luck on Roscuro and cackled to extend its duration and maintain the Protective Luck on Marativy.  The chain fiends broke through the door, with Winston and Hrefna both taking attacks from animated hooked chains.  Roscuro and Marativy bodyguarded Hrefna, blocking one of the attacks.  Swamprover cast an attack spell at the chain fiends [I forget which one] and discovered they had spell resistance

Winston fired his musket at the first of the chain fiends, hitting the first chain fiend twice but taking two attacks of opportunity for firing while within melee range [they had reach].  Marativy waited until after Roscuro.  Roscuro stepped 5 feet to be adjacent to the lead chain fiend and unleashed a flurry of blows on it, hitting twice and dropping it.  Marativy turned invisible and stepped into Roscuro’s space, attacking the second chain fiend from surprise for big damage [28 of a single hit].  The remaining two chain fiends split their attacks between Marativy and Roscuro, who bodyguarded each other, causing the attacks to miss [that and the Protective Luck].

In the final round of combat, the Ratpack advanced into the room.  The chain fiends animated the hooked chains suspended from the ceiling to attack, but the Ratpack concentrated attacks and dropped both chain fiends.  Winston was seriously injured during the fight, so Templeton summoned a Bralani Azata [an elf-like chaotic good Celestial] to heal him.  While Winston was being healed, the rest of the group searched the room.  Three cloaks hanging from pegs on the wall turned out to be two Cloaks of Resistance and a set of Monk Robes.  The cloaks were portioned out to Gridik and Templeton [who had the worst saves in the party] and the robes to Roscuro.

Still feeling the door opposite to the chain fiends was a trap of some sort, the Ratpack resumed exploring the corridor.  The next door past the orrery was the singular door on the north wall.  Marativy examined the door for traps and locks and found neither.  When she attempted to open the door, she felt a great deal of resistance.  She pushed until stopped by heavy plant growth, which also blocked sight into the room beyond.  With no easy way to bypass the heavy plant growth, the Ratpack decided to move on, Marativy pulling the door closed.

The next door was on the south wall, right at the corner where the passage turned north.  At the corner, the Ratpack could see the corridor stopped after 20 feet  past the corner with a door on the east wall at the end of the corridor.  The door at the corner was made of stone, whereas all the others had been of wood.  Marativy easily picked the lock on it and opened the door.

The room beyond was circular, like the orrery, with two other doors out, each set deep into the wall so that all three doors were evenly spaced from each other.  Unlike the orrery, the walls, floor, and ceiling were of thick metal.  In the center of the room was a five-foot tall ziggurat with a lever on top.  With no monster nor obvious treasure, the Ratpack decided to close this door and check the last one in the corridor before following this path.

The last door was wooden with a very strong lock on it.  Marativy broke a set of lockpicks on it on her first try.  Ariphi offered to assist, but Marativy was determined to defeat this lock and did so on her second try, making it look easy [she rolled a natural 20 on the second skill check].  The room beyond was octagonal and brilliantly lit, each wall being a panel of light.  It was so bright that the group nearly missed several Lurkers in Light escape the room.  Zitch, all the way at the back of the line of adventurers saw them and recognized them for what they were.  He cast Glitterdust so the other adventurers could see them as well, unfortunately blinding Gridik with the dust [failed save versus the spell's blinding effect].

End of Session

Rat Whispers

[Sorry for my missing notes on the Hounds fight, I forgot how quick that part of the fight was and my notes failed to mention anything other than three rounds had gone by.  This is one of the hazards of being two months behind when typing up the session notes.]

[Oops!  While entering this session into Blogger, I noticed last session had the wrong session number.  My bad!  I fixed 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

Last Session: Session 18

Next Session: Session 20

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 18

[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

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 17

[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.

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 16

[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

Ratpack – Shattered Star Book 3, Session 15

[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

No post this week and next week

I'm pushing to get the Draft D edits of Book III of my OD&D clone [Adventures in the Green] done before the next playtest game (Feb. 11) so all my spare writing time is going into that.  I'll resume Shattered Star Book 3 session reports after that.  My apologies for the disruption.

As an aside, I discovered I ran one of the magic items my players discovered early in the playtest campaign wrong.  It was a Helm of Chaos/Law and I made the effect permanent instead of only while the helmet was on the character's head.  I'm discussing with the player how we want to "fix" this.  I see two solutions:

1. Assume he is still wearing the helmet and never took it off.  The PCs didn't have access to Dispel Magic at the time so it is within the realm of possible things.
2. Assume with his INT and WIS of 6 when they did remove it, he just kept acting Lawful because it never occurred to him to act differently.  Also within the realm of possible.

Later!