Fey and dinosaurs

The triceratops has left a very easy trail to follow, heading southwest and away from the city. It terminates in the hills, ending at a large hill separated from those around it as if placed at the center of a natural rough bowl. The trail leads up to a huge cave-mouth, some twenty feet across.

While the others stay about 200 feet away, under cover of nearby rocks, Leonis sneaks up to the entrance. He finds that there are stone jambs on on either side of the entrance and a lintel above, as if it were a doorway rather than a cave, with symbols carved on them. Though deeply faded, he can decipher some (in sylvan), all of which seem to be phrases of warning against those who enter the realm of the queen and the king unbidden. The queen and king are not named, but are referenced over and over.

Looking through the doorway, Leonis can see a huge cavern beyond, stretching some sixty feet across and with a domed roof that rises to nearly thirty feet. The walls and the ceiling, though not fully smooth, are far too regular to be natural. It is full of moss, fungi and other vegetation, ranging from small shrubbery to larger than human size. The vegetation rises at least two feet from the ground, though generally it is a little higher—in some areas to a height of ten or twelve feet. Walking through it would be a little slow, but not too difficult. There is a central 'path' trampled through it which is easy to take, leading from the entrance in the west to an opening in the east wall. A second opening, with no such path to it, is in the north wall. There is no illumination besides the light from the doorway. The chamber smells wet and moist, and there is the faint sound of running water coming from the eastern opening.

Looking around and based on Leonis knowledge skills (Nature, dungeoneering, arcana) does leonis
1) see any tracks
2) able to identify the creature that left them (other then the triceratops)

Basically Leonis is trying to tell what kind of creatures may have come through here

First roll perception to look (Roll +15)

Second roll knowledge skill (Roll + 12 arcana, +9 dungeoneering, nature, religion, the planes)

The member 'Leonis' has done the following action : Dice roller

#1 'd20' : 9

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#2 'd20' : 14

Leonis wrote:

Looking around and based on Leonis knowledge skills (Nature, dungeoneering, arcana) does leonis
1) see any tracks
2) able to identify the creature that left them (other then the triceratops)

Basically Leonis is trying to tell what kind of creatures may have come through here

First roll perception to look (Roll +15)

Second roll knowledge skill (Roll + 12 arcana, +9 dungeoneering, nature, religion, the planes)

OOC: I'm assuming that Leonis is staying outside the cavern and checking. I'll also presume that you eventually get Kara and Grabthar to help with tracking, since you need Survival for that (which Leonis has no ranks in).

* * * * *
Besides the giant tracks left by the triceratops, Leonis primarily picks up the tracks of small animals in the area. The number of them interesting thing about them is that the ones at the entrance are all either moving around it or going in. There are none coming out.

The only tracks leading out (besides the triceratops') are those of a pair of humanoid feet, probably clad in boots. They lead out and away from the entrance, getting about a hundred feet away before they disappear. The same tracks also lead into the cavern, beginning from another spot some twenty feet outside the entrance. If the source is the azata bralani, it would fit with their ability to transform into a form composed of wind and fly.

Though the adventurers have experienced many battles together, the sheer violence of the last couple of seconds of their most recent affray is hard to match. Grabthar absorbs the impact of a charging triceratops, cuts it down in a flurry of tremendous blows, is in turn hacked down by the enraged bralani, and an instant later a blinking Leonis sends a deadly glob of acid into her face. With a scream of pain, the already critically wounded warrior collapses, her throat and face melting away in seconds.

An instant after she hits the ground, the bralani's body begins to shimmer with a green light, swiftly turning translucent and misty. Her equipment and clothes flatten as the body within fades away. In seconds, her physical form transforms into mist. The wispy form rises, turning to face the adventurers, its stance threatening as it expands and looms over them. And then, as if blown away by a wind that the others cannot feel, it blows apart and into nothingness.

As the misty shape dissolves, the adventurers hear a faint whisper, still recognizably in the voice of the bralani. It says, "Forgive me, my lady! I underestimated their power compared to the chosen ones! Avenge my fall and...." The sentence remains incomplete as the voice and its speaker die away.

Besides watching this sight, the three conscious adventurers also have to revive Grabthar, who is luckily still alive - if only barely. When he is finally up and back on his feet, the goliath finds himself still with a lingering weakness, which the healing wands do not seem able to remove.* The source seems to be the final wound from the bralani's falchion, which remains as a livid red scar across his throat, which is not at all the norm for wounds healed via magic.

The other thing which the adventurers notice, now that the bralani's body is utterly gone, is that the shimmering green light remains. It seems to be emanating from something inside the clothing and armor which she left behind when she dissolved. The light matches the color of that which spills out of a doorway to the side, near the far end of the giant hall.


* Grabthar has an effective negative level, which can't be cured magically and will remain till he gains his next level.

Rowan will cast detect magic and try to figure out what the glow is, but will leave the physical poking to those who have the skills for it (I.e. Leonis).

Rowan wrote:

Rowan will cast detect magic and try to figure out what the glow is, but will leave the physical poking to those who have the skills for it (I.e. Leonis).

While Rowan detects multiple magical auras in the area, unfortunately her reliance on natural magic rather than study and training leaves her unable to actually identify most of them*. Luckily, Leonis can do the needful. Between the two of them, they work out that the glow seems to be coming from a single small object inside the late bralani's clothing. It radiates multiple strong auras - divination, abjuration, transmutation and evocation.


* In PF, you need to make Knowledge (Arcana) checks to ID magical auras. With a +5 bonus, Rowan has less than a 50% chance with even 1st level auras, and progressively lower as you go up.

Leonis examins the items first at a distance and then gets closer. "I do not have identify memorized but I think I should store this in my magical bag. We can look for our missing villager and rest here for the night. In the morning I can cast my spells and go ti town"

Knowledge arcana rolls

The member 'Leonis' has done the following action : Dice roller

#1 'd20' : 16

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#2 'd20' : 3

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#3 'd20' : 8

Leonis wrote:

Leonis examins the items first at a distance and then gets closer. "I do not have identify memorized but I think I should store this in my magical bag. We can look for our missing villager and rest here for the night. In the morning I can cast my spells and go ti town"

OOC: Are you planning to just pick everything up at once and toss it in the haversack? Or are you trying to see what the glowing item is? It's inside the mithral chain shirt the bralani was wearing, so you'd have to lift the shirt to see what it is.

Quote :

Knowledge arcana rolls

I rolled for Rowan and you to save time, hence the info about the auras in my previous post.

I will look for the magical component first. Before handling it what do I see? I wouldn't want to accidentally throw a bag of holding into the haversack

Leonis wrote:

I will look for the magical component first. Before handling it what do I see?

You carefully lift up one side of the mithral chain shirt and see that it is a pendant on a silver chain. The pendant (which is the object glowing) is a largish piece of emerald intricately carved in the shape of a leaf. You estimate it'll fetch 3000 or so gp.

Quote :

I wouldn't want to accidentally throw a bag of holding into the haversack

Actually, the only two which interact badly are a bag of holding and a portable hole. In all other cases, if you place an extradimensional space inside another, the only thing which happens is that you can't open the smaller one inside the larger. So, for example, if you get into a rope trick, you can safely carry your handy haversack (or bag of holding or portable hole) inside but simply wouldn't be able to open it till you exited.

Without identify can I figure out what it domestic!? Any writing on it? Read magic?
otherwise stuff the magic items in my bag until I can prepare spells.

Leonis wrote:

Without identify can I figure out what it domestic!? Any writing on it? Read magic?
otherwise stuff the magic items in my bag until I can prepare spells.

There is no writing or any other marking on it, so without an identify you currently can't work out what it does.

You stow it and the magic items away safely in your handy haversack. That leaves you with a few things to investigate, if you wish: The thrones and the dais, the doorway from which the similar green light to the pendant emerges, and/or the doors and archways leading off the giant hall.

Based on your descriptions it looks like the pendent and throne/dias are linked. I would like to stay in this place overnight to test the pendent.
I am also worried, with how the eladrin died that she may reform (similar to a vampire)

Ooc: hey guys do you think we should investigate with the pendant now or wait until I can ID it. Its probably some kind of key

You can identify it without casting identify, just using your spellcraft skill. In pathfinder, the identify spell only gives you a +10 bonus on spellcraft rolls to identify items.

Since she was talking to someone -- perhaps a diety of some sort -- perhaps when sitting on the throne with the necklace it establishes some kind of communication link

Leonis wrote:

Based on your descriptions it looks like the pendent and throne/dias are linked. I would like to stay in this place overnight to test the pendent.

OOC: Whether you stay overnight or not, don't forget that you guys are also searching for Kesten Garess, who you haven't found yet. He's presumably somewhere here.

Quote :

I am also worried, with how the eladrin died that she may reform (similar to a vampire)

Based on what you all know about azata (that's the general group which the bralani come from), she's dead. Her wind form is as natural to her as her physical form, and that seems to have been her manner of dying (probably also magically induced in some way).

Rowan wrote:

You can identify it without casting identify, just using your spellcraft skill. In pathfinder, the identify spell only gives you a +10 bonus on spellcraft rolls to identify items.

Thanks. I forgot about that.

Without an identify Leonis can't work out exactly what the pendant does, but he's relatively sure (esp. since his facility with locks helps too) that it's designed to fit into something larger, perhaps as a key. The auras on it indicates that it functions as more than just a key, however.

Luna wrote:

Since she was talking to someone -- perhaps a diety of some sort -- perhaps when sitting on the throne with the necklace it establishes some kind of communication link

Is Kara--or anyone else--checking the thrones? Or the doorway with the light? The latter is actually close enough to the thrones that if you go towards them you'll be able to look into it anyway.

Kara will go check out the thrones and look toward the light

Luna wrote:

Kara will go check out the thrones and look toward the light

Rowan will go with her. After healing everyone fully, of course.

Leonis trips Kara. Then attempting to tower over her (not really possible considering his size) "No playing with things until we examine them. if you end up killing or hurting yourself because you did something silly I will not sponsor your healing half-breed. Also, if you end up using a limited use magic item because you were 'testing it' without properly trying to have me identify it then the value of that will come out of your share of the treasure. If you test something and it ends up summoning something that kills me, or does something that kills me I will rise from the dead and suck your life force from you until you are dead...do we understand"

"Why don't we first search for Kesten, in case he is in some kind of trap that might have a timer to kill him, and while we are at it we can loot the place. I think our fine town would do well to have that bottle of never-ending water, and the continual flame stone would be nice..yea it's not expensive, but they are still nice to have. In the morning I can identify all magic items that we find, including the throne. We can also prepare for any possible attacks or damage this throne may cause. Does anyone have issue with that"


OOC: Julia - stop doing silly things. You know better. For a person who is scared of things like bushes, you sure like to jump without considering the consequences.

On a side note I am not trying to stifle group members from suggesting or doing things, but let's use some caution. Something along the lines "we wait for everyone to have rested, regained spells, and prepared, then after some examination by everyone who wants to I walk to wards the throne and stare into the light like in the movie A Bugs Life".

Shil: In an earlier post I said we should stay the night but search for Kesten.

I really don't think there is anything wrong with checking out the thrones...
and we're here now... so I think we should look around.
It may well lead up to where we need to go.
I am a Rogue so I do have some talents in that area...
I will refrain from donning the necklace and mounting the throne till you've scoped it out!

Luna wrote:

I really don't think there is anything wrong with checking out the thrones...
and we're here now... so I think we should look around.
It may well lead up to where we need to go.
I am a Rogue so I do have some talents in that area...
I will refrain from donning the necklace and mounting the throne till you've scoped it out!

Thank you for not mounting the throne. Let's definitely look around, we need to find our missing villager. It will also allow us to grab all the items we may have missed or just haven't found yet. Just let's leave the poking of magical stuff until I can ID stuff.

Leonis wrote:

Leonis trips Kara.

Leonis fails as Kara blithely steps out of the way of his attempt to trip her.

OOC: Never assume you can pull something off with another PC. Leonis, BTW, needs a natural 20 to be able to trip Kara (he's got lousy BAB and is weak, while she has much better BAB and is really dexterous).

Quote :

"Why don't we first search for Kesten ..."

OOC: Julia - stop doing silly things. You know better. For a person who is scared of things like bushes, you sure like to jump without considering the consequences.

I'm not seeing anything silly that she or Rowan have done, considering they are thus far just walking around. In order to search for Kesten, you basically have to head in the same direction as them, since this chamber is the one major area you haven't searched.

Luna wrote:

Kara will go check out the thrones and look toward the light

Rowan wrote:

Rowan will go with her. After healing everyone fully, of course.

Walking towards the thrones, the two women can see more of the hall. It is utterly huge, though parts of it have crumbled, especially along the sides. It is comparatively more brightly lit than the other chambers and areas in the remainder of this place, since there are dozens of continual flames set into the ceiling thirty feet above. The two rows of large pillars extend down its length but stop two-thirds of the way down the hall. Beyond them is the triple-stepped dais, which has nothing upon it besides the two stone thrones. The walls and pillars bear faded carvings of fey, elves and sylvan creatures involved in many activities. Multiple doorways and archways open up off the hall, most of them choked with rubble.

One of the comparatively less damaged rooms is stuffed full of vegetation, some of which has been pulled out and around the area, evidently by the feeding triceratops. Interestingly, all of it is fresh and at least some are species that are not common to this area of the Eldeen Reaches. Rowan and Leonis recognize a couple that would be found much deeper in the Reaches, in the heart of the great forest.

Behind another archway is another room, the one from which the green light is coming, another comparatively less damaged chamber that has been cleared of rubble. The room is mostly empty, except for a bound and unconscious Kesten Garess, and a three-foot tall stone carving that has been placed on a makeshift altar made of rocks. The carving is of a forest clearing, with fey humanoids dancing within a circle of trees. The entire thing glows with green light. There is a leaf-shaped opening on the side of it which looks the same size as the pendant.

The thrones (made of a dark black stone which doesn't match the rest of the chamber) are comparatively simple and unadorned, bearing none of the carvings that are visible on walls and pillars. Each has multiple indentations and holes in the arms and backs, which look like items of different sizes and shapes were intended to be placed or slid into them.

I'll go to unbind Kresten and administer whatever healing he might need.
Maybe he will be able to tell us something more about the necklace or the throne or the symbols