It's Pathfinder Friday! Last week our weekly game was canceled because of the horrid ice and snow conditions that trampled through Central Ohio. This week, we were back on and ready to pickup where we left off in the Dungeon of the Fire Opal.
I'm not sure I have mentioned this before, but Dungeon of the Fire Opal is an adventure by Jonathan Tweet which was published in Dungeon magazine issue 83. Naturally, I've heavily altered the dungeon, first I updated it to Pathfinder, I switched some of the monsters out for other monsters and I altered it to make it fit in my custom-Golarion.
Our adventurers were just about to enter a long hallway with three offshoots. This week, they made it through all three of them.
The first contained one of the most fun encounters I've run with this group. It was the second encounter of the night. First, they found a Giant Whiptail Centipede hiding in a closed room. They very quickly closed the door back up and left the giant bug in its hiding chamber. They used a spike to jam the door shut, ensuring that the centipede wouldn't come out and attempt to kill them. Truthfully, the centipede just wanted to be left alone, although it will almost surely die of starvation at this point, thanks to those horrible, inhumane adventurers!
After leaving the centipede, the group made their way further down the hall where they heard the faint sound of incoherent babbling (what they thought was incoherent babbling, anyway). The shadow they found was actually a deceased monk whose undead consciousness was locked in a logical paradox. Darius, who is a budding linguist, speaks an ancient language and was able to converse, albeit barely, with the shadow. The monk continued pondering his paradoxical question, "What directs us to obey Law?" He somewhat befriended Darius who tricked the monk by walking to the entrance of the dungeon and going upstairs, the shadow was unwilling to follow him, so he went back to his resting place and continued pontificating on the directive to follow Law. I gave Darius and Doc each a Hero Point for their spectacular roleplaying.
The last room in the first hallway was a dead end with some more awesome bas-reliefs.
The second hallway contained a large number of cells. Inside the cells were more bas-relief and some more phrases in Infernal, saying things like, "Obey Your Master" and "Praise to Asmodeus." Generally, all-round nasty things. Two skeletal champions were hiding in the cells, but were dispatched with ease. The party then found a scroll and a potion at the end of the hall.
Finally, the third hallway, where things get really interesting. The first two rooms off the hallway were completely empty save for most bas-relief. In the first room was a picture of monks fighting a knight and a barbarian. The second room was a large relief of two monks flanking a Hound Archon (On a side note, I learned that this is pronounced Ar-Kon). This further demonstrated the pure evil that this order of monks represented. The small hallway opened into a large room, which the party didn't explore. Instead, they went directly into a room on the right. This room had infernal glyphs painted on the wall, as well as the chewed up bones of a pig. Using their skills, the group decided that an imp had eaten the pig and left the bones. The next room contained a large pile of boxes, each containing copper coinage. There were 40 of these boxes, which the party realized were almsboxes where people would leave donations to a temple or a deity.
The next room was a workshop of sorts. When they opened the door to the room they saw the other door (leading out) close quietly and lock from the outside. They unlocked and opened the door and found two spots on the floor where it appeared as if the dust had been unsettled by a sudden gust of air. They decided that there were actually a pair of imps who were invisible and flying away.
The group set out trying to find materials to make a "glitter bomb" of sorts that they could throw on the imp which would provide an outline of the creature, even if it attempted to go invisible.
While three of the party members did this, Gormgen stood watch at the door. He resisted the Suggestion from an imp and then briefly saw the devil as it lost its invisibility for a moment. The imp taunted Gormgen before turning itself invisible again.
Finally, after creating a "glitter bomb," the group set out to find the dastardly trickster! They made their way back into the large room they had bypassed, completely missing the occupant who was hiding in the room.
Once each of the group was in the room, they heard a rather deep voice (most assuredly not an Imp's) say, "Well, isn't this a nice surprise."
All four of them turned, and Darius found himself face-to-face with a young green dragon, who had been hiding, waiting on the floor. The dragon stood on his hind legs and stretched his wings.
Roll Initiative? Nope, we'll see you next week. That's all for tonight!
So, we're on a one week break, we'll find out what the dragon does to our "heroes" next Thursday! Before they left, they asked, "So... next week should we bring a backup character?" I laughed, and laughed... then said, "yes."
See ya next week for more Tales from Thornkeep!!
I'm not sure I have mentioned this before, but Dungeon of the Fire Opal is an adventure by Jonathan Tweet which was published in Dungeon magazine issue 83. Naturally, I've heavily altered the dungeon, first I updated it to Pathfinder, I switched some of the monsters out for other monsters and I altered it to make it fit in my custom-Golarion.
Our adventurers were just about to enter a long hallway with three offshoots. This week, they made it through all three of them.
The first contained one of the most fun encounters I've run with this group. It was the second encounter of the night. First, they found a Giant Whiptail Centipede hiding in a closed room. They very quickly closed the door back up and left the giant bug in its hiding chamber. They used a spike to jam the door shut, ensuring that the centipede wouldn't come out and attempt to kill them. Truthfully, the centipede just wanted to be left alone, although it will almost surely die of starvation at this point, thanks to those horrible, inhumane adventurers!
After leaving the centipede, the group made their way further down the hall where they heard the faint sound of incoherent babbling (what they thought was incoherent babbling, anyway). The shadow they found was actually a deceased monk whose undead consciousness was locked in a logical paradox. Darius, who is a budding linguist, speaks an ancient language and was able to converse, albeit barely, with the shadow. The monk continued pondering his paradoxical question, "What directs us to obey Law?" He somewhat befriended Darius who tricked the monk by walking to the entrance of the dungeon and going upstairs, the shadow was unwilling to follow him, so he went back to his resting place and continued pontificating on the directive to follow Law. I gave Darius and Doc each a Hero Point for their spectacular roleplaying.
The last room in the first hallway was a dead end with some more awesome bas-reliefs.
The second hallway contained a large number of cells. Inside the cells were more bas-relief and some more phrases in Infernal, saying things like, "Obey Your Master" and "Praise to Asmodeus." Generally, all-round nasty things. Two skeletal champions were hiding in the cells, but were dispatched with ease. The party then found a scroll and a potion at the end of the hall.
Finally, the third hallway, where things get really interesting. The first two rooms off the hallway were completely empty save for most bas-relief. In the first room was a picture of monks fighting a knight and a barbarian. The second room was a large relief of two monks flanking a Hound Archon (On a side note, I learned that this is pronounced Ar-Kon). This further demonstrated the pure evil that this order of monks represented. The small hallway opened into a large room, which the party didn't explore. Instead, they went directly into a room on the right. This room had infernal glyphs painted on the wall, as well as the chewed up bones of a pig. Using their skills, the group decided that an imp had eaten the pig and left the bones. The next room contained a large pile of boxes, each containing copper coinage. There were 40 of these boxes, which the party realized were almsboxes where people would leave donations to a temple or a deity.
The next room was a workshop of sorts. When they opened the door to the room they saw the other door (leading out) close quietly and lock from the outside. They unlocked and opened the door and found two spots on the floor where it appeared as if the dust had been unsettled by a sudden gust of air. They decided that there were actually a pair of imps who were invisible and flying away.
The group set out trying to find materials to make a "glitter bomb" of sorts that they could throw on the imp which would provide an outline of the creature, even if it attempted to go invisible.
While three of the party members did this, Gormgen stood watch at the door. He resisted the Suggestion from an imp and then briefly saw the devil as it lost its invisibility for a moment. The imp taunted Gormgen before turning itself invisible again.
Finally, after creating a "glitter bomb," the group set out to find the dastardly trickster! They made their way back into the large room they had bypassed, completely missing the occupant who was hiding in the room.
Once each of the group was in the room, they heard a rather deep voice (most assuredly not an Imp's) say, "Well, isn't this a nice surprise."
All four of them turned, and Darius found himself face-to-face with a young green dragon, who had been hiding, waiting on the floor. The dragon stood on his hind legs and stretched his wings.
Roll Initiative? Nope, we'll see you next week. That's all for tonight!
So, we're on a one week break, we'll find out what the dragon does to our "heroes" next Thursday! Before they left, they asked, "So... next week should we bring a backup character?" I laughed, and laughed... then said, "yes."
See ya next week for more Tales from Thornkeep!!
