Summary[]
More boxes are searched. More stairs taken. An ambush attempted.
Synopsis[]
The party is in a storage room after having infiltrated the Shoin Institute, and having tied up a kobold they encountered. The party decides to go up the next floor using the staircase. As they make their way up, the walls start to change from hewn rock to old masonry. Cel is able to remember that the institute used to be an very old ruin that was built to establish some kind of military presence on the island, but was abandoned and converted to a lighthouse, and even later the ruins were retrofitted into a series of buildings for some unknown purpose, where Yoshida arrived as a child there and later established the Institute.
Zolf, Cel, and Azu peek around a corner at the Shoin Institute. Art by @dainesanddaffodils on tumblr. Used with permission.
Hamid casts dancing lights when they reach the next floor, where they find a similar storage area as below, with similar crates of items. Hamid detects magic, but cannot see any magical items. They discuss whether to explore floors or continue upstairs, and they decide to head further upstairs. It is slowly becoming slightly less dark as they head up. They reach another landing with a storage area, but this time there is a metal grate fitted into the stairwell with a padlocked door. Zolf asks Hamid to cast acid splash, but Hamid still cannot see anything, so Cel manages to open the padlock themselves. Cel oils the hinges before opening the gate so it doesn't creak.
As they reach a new landing, they see empty crates, and Azu sees a stain leading out from underneath a metal door that leads further into the building. Hamid turns dancing lights off so Cel can attempt to open the door, which clearly hasn't been opened in ages as there are cobwebs on it. Zolf helps Cel look for traps. When they look through the keyhole they see a long aristocratic hallway with portraits on the wall, but it is derelict. About 10ft from the door something has grown across the floor, wall and ceiling of the corridor in bright rainbow colours. It reminds Zolf of the type of fungus the party encountered in Kew Gardens. As Zolf is explaining this to Hamid and steps away from the door, Cel immediately opens it.
The desiccated body of the last person to come through the door flops inwards towards Cel. A cloud of almost luminous blue spores sprouts towards Cel and electrocutes them (32 damage), throwing Cel backwards while the door falls closed behind them.
BREAK
Hamid casts dancing lights and they check up on Cel. Zolf berates Cel for their recklessness and that they should be more careful in the future, because they are using up resources to heal them. While Azu heals Cel, Zolf looks over the dead body that fell through the door. Hamid casts detect magic. Zolf can tell that the person burned to death due to some type of acid, and probably died very quickly. The person is wearing the tattered remains of some kind of lab coat, but underneath it they are wearing some fairly fancy clothes. Zolf thinks they have been dead between 1 and 5 years (~2 years). Hamid theorizes that the fungus must be able to deal all types of magical damage, corresponding to its rainbow colour. Based on this, Cel realizes that they are dealing with a Prismatic Mold, which is triggered by movement and then releases random spores, which can do damage, confuse someone, or teleport them in a random direction, or stack multiple effects at once. Seeing how big the mold it is, it has probably been growing there for 4 years.
The party decides to leave the hallway alone. The body of the dead scientists contains a golden pocket watch, which contains a picture of a human wife and child. The party goes further up the stairs, and Hamid turns the dancing lights back off as it is slowly getting more light. They reach another loading bay with a door that is open, and it is light enough that Hamid can see. Cel turns invisible and steps towards the door. There is a similar derelict mansion-esque hallway, there is a number of open doorways leading from it and there is light coming in from windows from other rooms. Cel can faintly hear movement in one of the rooms, which they inform the others about.
Cel prepares to throw a bomb. Art by @kalgalen on tumblr. Used with permission.
Cel goes and look as they are invisible, and they see open doorways on both sides. On one side is a toilet, on the other side a large room and large bay windows, overturned tables and chairs, similar to a refectory. The noise appears to be coming from the refectory. The others follow behind Cel very slowly and carefully. The sound appears to be coming from a shattered window, and the storm is rattling it.
A large, jelly-like creature drops from the ceiling in front of Cel. Hamid runs into the room, and failing to see Cel, attacks the creature with scorching ray, barely missing Cel. Cel steps back and throws four bombs, two which hit the creature, and yells at Hamid about almost hitting them. The cube reflects Hamid's attacks back at him and then moves towards him. Zolf suggests to run away from it and stays positioned by the doorway, but Azu runs up to Hamid and yanks him back from the cube and pulls him behind her in order to protect him.
Quotes[]
- Zolf: "Also, is it just me or is it getting a bit more colourful?"
- Cel: "Well, I mean, there's light."
- Azu: "There's some, there's some light."
- Hamid: "I mean, it's gone from completely and utterly black to... yeah, pretty much black. So... maybe?"
- ―The party continues to make their way up the tower.
- Zolf: "I mean, I don't know but, I saw Sasha do it a couple of times."
- Cel: "Who?"
- Zolf: "Someone we used to know."
- Cel: "Oh, okay."
- Zolf: "She was very good at it."
- Cel: "Nice to know! I'm really happy for you! It's good to know people that know how to do things! I find it very useful."
- Azu: "Well, she's dead now, so."
- Cel: "Oh... I'm sorry- that, that happens."
- Hamid: "...Might not be."
- Azu: "Might not be."
- ―The party has to figure out how to open a padlock.
- Cel: "So what you're saying is that a sample of this could be extremely interesting."
- Zolf: "Also extremely dangerous!"
- Cel: "Well, those words basically mean the same thing!"
- ―They encounter a strange fungus.
- Alex: "They have what appears to be a picture of a wife and child, both Japanese, inside it."
- Helen: "Aww... [...]"
- Ben: "What-? Person has family?"
- Helen: "Just, you know..."
- Ben: "Helen, I hate- Everyone we've murdered, probably had a family."
- Helen: "Yeah, but this one had a picture of them, so..."
- Ben: "So now I'm thinking about it'? I'm reminded of murder and its consequences! Ahww!"
- ―The party finds a dead scientist in the Institute.
- Lydia: "So I'm going to step back and then I'm going to throw four bombs through that door."
- Alex: "Four?! Are you sure you don't want to throw one?"
- ―Cel attacks the gelatinous cube.
- "Oh, it's just a cube! Let's just run away from it! It's not going to report back to its boss, let's get out here!"
- ―Zolf
- "He's the only one I've got left!"
- ―Azu, after yanking Hamid away from the large cube.
Dice rolls and Mechanics[]
- Azu, Hamid, Cel and Zolf Stealth check to go to the next floor: 19 (Azu), 11 (Zolf), 14 (Hamid), 26 (Cel)
- Cel Knowledge (history) check on Shoin's keep: 25
- Cel Disable Device on the padlocked door: 26
- Azu, Cel, Hamid and Zolf Perception check: 18 (Azu), 15 (Hamid), 15 (Cel), 15 (Zolf)
- Cel and Zolf Perception check to find traps: 22 (Zolf), 15 (Cel)
- Azu Lay on Hands on Cel: 9 HP
- Azu Lay on Hands on Cel: 15 HP
- Zolf Heal check on the dead body: 26
- Cel casts cure light wounds on themselves: heals 7 HP
- Cel Knowledge (nature) on the fungus: Natural 20
- Hamid, Azu, Cel and Zolf Stealth check: -3 (Azu), 21 (Hamid), 12 (Zolf), 16 (Cel)
- Cel Perception check in the hallway: 30
- Cel Stealth check while invisible: 46
Combat Breakdown[]
Initiative: Hamid (20), Cel (19), Cube, Zolf, Azu
- Azu, Hamid and Zolf Stealth checks: Azu (Nat 20), Hamid (17), Zolf (0)
Surprise Round
- Cube: Drops form the ceiling but misses Cel.
Round 1
- Hamid: Moves forward into the room and sees the ooze. He shouts for Cel, as he cannot see them. He casts scorching ray: 14 (miss, attack to see if it hits Cel: 17 (hits), but misses because they are invisible) and 16 (18 damage)
- Cel: Steps back and throws four bombs at the creature: 13 (miss), 19 (14 damage), 25 (24 damage), 11 (miss)
- Cube: Shoots two scorching rays back at Hamid; doing 20 fire damage with the first and 11 fire damage with the second. Hamid's fire resistance reduces it to a total of 11 damage from both attacks. It then moves until it is right in front of Hamid.
- Zolf: Steps forward past the doorway and readies his glaive, which bursts into flame, and tells everyone to get out of here.
- Azu: Runs up behind Hamid and pulls Hamid away from the cube and behind her. Combat maneuver check: 28 (success).