[pfrpg] follow me into shadows

[fireinthedust]

Ragnor: [sblock=madness check!] You rolled Mania/Phobia. The focus: swarms of bugs! You can roll high/low to see if it's Mania or Phobia. Either way, after this adventure you'll need to Will Save each encounter with a swarm, or be fascinated or afraid. High for Mania, Low for Phobia.[/sblock]

Also: I can edit your action this round if you say what it is.


ooc: Everyone in the swarm at the end of this round please check your HP this round to see if you survive the damage from the swarm. If you do, you lived. If you don't you died... in theory (read the end)


THE FINAL ROUND!

Sindri sends his elementals into the temple, attacking the swarm with their flaming limbs again and again. The serpents are visible in the darkness, but the shadows threaten to envelop them any moment.

The ranger is completely consumed by the swarm, what's left of her body falling to pieces and being lost in the feast. Her hand falls away from Keepiru's cloak, vanishing.

Keepiru flees back towards the edge of the temple, his movement aided by the will of Desna. Breaking free of the edge of the swarm the darkness vanishes! Suddenly now in bright daylight, the nausea is still present but fading fast.

Angus throws another bead, clearing a swath of the swarm from himself in a burst of cold. The nausea prevents him from moving further, but light from outside pours in for a moment, cheering him greatly; then the darkness returns.

Ragnor feels the swarm crawling over him, and is indecisive about whether to leave or stay fighting. The horror is too great, the effect of the chanting and the darkness eating away at his mind, stopping him from acting in time to make a difference. All the strength of the dragon, and no idea how to use it...


Then Julius acts. Having grabbed the Pick from the wagon, he took a swing at the Gem. It shattered under the pressure of the specially-designed stone-breaking tool. A bright red light bathed the group as a beautiful young woman appeared in the air above the Assassin and the Scholar, and everyone felt themselves ...transported.


The group awoke a moment later, discovering themselves in a massive expanse of endless blue in all directions. The Sky! But the land was nowhere to be seen. The wind was present, blowing them in every direction.

All the party who survived were present, including Jack the Eidolon. All of you are healed completely from the ordeal, though your garments are tattered from the various battles you'd fought. Kept together by some powerful force, the party floats before the strange and beautiful woman released from the Gem.

I am grateful to you, mortals, for the service you have done for me and for my family. Long ago the cult of darkness that captured me wished to use the magic of my people for their own ends. They trapped me in that Gem and syphoned my magic to feed a creature from the depths of the Underworld. By placating it, they believed they could gain sorcerous powers; yet those same powers consumed them, and their Empire fell long ago, to be forgotten by your historians. The Crawling Chaos, as it is called, is but the barest fragment of the power they tapped into, a devouring terror from beyond your time and space. I could not challenge its magic, and am grateful to you all for saving me.

In return for your service, my father the Sultan of the Djinn of the great expanse of sky, shall grant you each your pick of a great treasure trove to arm yourselves with.

I, for my part, shall bestow upon your party one Wish(!) that your group can agree upon. I fear that this gift is its own burden and responsibility, but you have shown yourselves worthy of such great trust.

As well, you shall have the friendship of our tribe of Djinn; we shall be friendly to you should we meet again. Know that this in itself is a great honor.

 

[fireinthedust]

THE TREASURE

Your group sees a great palace hurtling towards your position (or are you flying towards it?) and soon are on the doorstep of a magnificent Djinn Stronghold made of strange stone; it is like marble, but swirls inside it move like cloud fronts. The Princess guides you inside, where many Djinn greet you. There is a massive door there, which opens to reveal the treasure trove of this palace.


It is fantastic: sparkling gems glitter with their own light, peaking out between round balls made of gold. There are many urns filled with treasures, as well as racks covered in weapons, stands of armor, and other truly wondrous items created by this magical tribe.

The Princess instructs you to choose your reward, knowing that each of you can only carry up to 59,500 gp of treasure in items to equip yourselves with, and the rest with gemstones.

She inquires of the agreed-upon wish for your group (and obviously wants you to pick it soon).

She also asks: where in the mortal world would you wish to return? What part of Golarion would you seek to explore, or do you wish to return somewhere and live off the spoils of your adventure?

The Scholar, who she says wanted to control her for many wishes and his own ends, she forgives: had he not tried to do this, the party never would have rescued her. He mutters "Absalom" and is transported away.

The rest of you bask in the celebration of the Djinn for some time. The air elementals truly know how to have a good time, and their genie magic is enough to ensure that you all enjoy yourselves thoroughly. Every want is catered to for weeks, until the time comes for the group to take your treasures and adventure once more.

The Princess of the Djinn gives you each a kiss on your foreheads, and you vanish to the material plane of Golarion.

You appear there, once more on firm ground. The wind blows suddenly at your back, and you feel the wanderlust take you once more. Putting one foot ahead of the next, you move forward, ready for the next adventure...


THE END!




OOC:

Rewards: 59,500gp in magical items or material wealth.
Group Reward: one Wish (as the spell) granted.
Experience Reward: All survivors gain one level, and are Level 7 +200xp
Pathfinder Setting Reward: Djinn of this tribe consider you a friend, and will be "friendly" at the start of any RP encounter.

Location: you may be transported to anywhere in Golarion you wish.

The next adventure: This wraps this game up (woot!). I'm going to give XP on ENworld to anyone who chooses their items and their next destination. I'll give more to you when the group decides on a Wish.

I'm going to design and run another adventure. If you're not sick of me entirely, I won't mind using these same characters even post-wish, updated to 7th level.

You pick the items you want to use with these guys, let me know.

Otherwise, it's been a lot of fun for me, and a good learning experience. I'd appreciate feedback you could give on the adventure, what was fun and what you didn't like. Feel free to PM this to me privately.

 

[GandalfMithrandir]

[sblock=OOC]Good job FITD, I think that if it were me, I would limit the amount of treasure somehow for those who wish to go on to the next adventure, but that's just me.

On to how you did: I think that you did well, IMHO, the only thing that I think was bad about it was the choice you gave the party, as rangerjohn pointed out, of fight this thing with little chance of survival or run and ditch the group.

In terms of what Julius would want, probably a couple of magical, vorpal daggers, possibly throwing, but I do not have my book handy so I do not know how much those would cost.[/sblock]

Julius looks up when he sees the princess, then jumps in shock when they are transported to the sky. He looks around in wonderment at the palace. "I think our wish should be to bring back our fallen party members, what do you all think?" He says

 

[GlassEye]

Congrats to everyone on a successful adventure! It's nice to actually finish one (this is only the second I've been involved in that has actually been completed). Thank you everyone and especially Fireinthedust.


Sindri and Jack would collect an assortment of magical gewgaws and ask to be sent to Qadira. Why? It is, to them, a near mythical, exotic land far away from the witches of Irrisen...

 

[fireinthedust]

what of your vote for the group wish?

 

[SelcSilverhand]

Keepiru is bewildered and confused upon first appearing in the realm of the air spirits. Safe at last from the dangers of the material world he relaxes and enjoys himself. He spends some of his time in the libraries of the genies gaining a unique insight into the workings extraplanar beings. Enthralled, he is sorely tempted to remain in the realm forever. At night however his thoughts are haunted by the faces of his fallen comrades and the gentle nudging of his goddess. He is reminded that his service is not yet complete and he still has time to go before claiming his reward.

When talk turns to gifts and wishes he remains quiet, unsure what to ask for and what could be of greatest value. When Julius suggests bringing back those who had died he feels a terrible burden lift from him. "Yes... Yes that is what I want as well."

For himself, he asks for a new starknife to replace the one he lost to the chaos swarm. He is overwhelmed by the generosity of the gift, a silvery four pointed blade that glows softly with starlight when drawn. It flies twice as far as his old weapon and always returns to his hand. He is also given new chain armor covered in the same silvery metal and a metal headband covered in stars, moons, and other symbols of his goddess.

He carefully considers all his options on where to proceed to next. He knows he needs to continue traveling away from Kaer Maga in Varisia, but wonders if he should continue in the same direction or not. Another continent would be interesting, and perhaps safer that Ustalav, which next lies in his path. However that dark and fearful land might benefit from the light he carries.
He remains indecisive and decides to wait to hear what the others have planned.

OOC
[SBLOCK]
I enjoyed the adventure. I think you did a good job describing the rooms and the fighting. The only thing I get confused on is the end of a round and the start of a new one so I know when to post again. Other than that, I had a good time. I'd be interested in bringing Keepiru back for future adventures.


Requested Rewards:
Mithral Starknife +1, Distance and Returning (18,000)
Celestial Armor (+3 Mithral Chainmail, fly 1/day 22,400)
Phylactery of Positive Channeling (+2d6 to channel, 11,000)
He requests the rest be kept and used to empower the forces of good.
[/SBLOCK]

 

[GlassEye]

Sindri agrees that bringing back their lost companions would be the noble thing to do but he doesn't think it's possible to bring them all back... He has no other suggestions.

[sblock=OOC]How many characters did we lose? I seem to remember two, maybe three. And unless FitD is willing to bend the rules or give us more wishes we would only be able to bring back one...[/sblock]

 

[fireinthedust]

The Djinn shake their heads, and the princess interjects sadly I fear the devouring power of the Crawling Chaos devours more than merely flesh. We have not the power to bring your friends back from oblivion.

ooc: you lost Kain and the ranger girl, I'm afraid. Oh, and Scott De War wanted to play a whole bunch. We almost lost Ragnor, but he stayed.

Wish as per the spell, btw. And no bringing back characters whose players dumped the game! (though Grufflehead is in my other game, and piles of fun)

I want the group to pick something else. Remember, this isn't a TV show "where it was aaaaalll a dream". This is an RPG where anything can happen!

 

[ghostcat]

OOC: Angus is worried that we have released the Crawling Chaos on the world. So unless he is re-assured, he will want to use the wish to confine them. IC post later

 

[GandalfMithrandir]

[sblock=Final Treasure request list]
Mithral +1 Keen, Speed Dagger (50,502 GP)
+1 Keen Dagger (8,002 GP)

Total: 58,504 GP

and like keepiru he would like the rest to be used for good[/sblock]

Julius walks over to the rack of weapons and picks out two daggers, one of them in particular is very light and well balanced and has a silvery sheen to it, with a very sharp blade, while the other, while heavier it is still just as sharp as the other. "I also would like to use the wish to contain the Crawling Chaos" he says.

[sblock=OOC]I know that my character would LIKE to be teleported to where his nemesis is (See background, the guy killed his family) but he could probably either forget about it or figure he got killed by someone else already and so Julius will go wherever the majority of the group heads off to, assuming they will take him.[/sblock]