# [[019_20220917 The abandoned doll guards the shiny]] %% art:: [[golarion-tangletop.png]] %% ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[019_20220917 The abandoned doll guards the shiny]] > We looted the dead acolyte zombies as well as the body of the thief that had died trying to get out of this chamber. Ash recognized the four-pointed star as the symbol of Grotus, god of end-times. > > We went to the tower and covered up the Gauntlight Lantern with wood we found around the place, although we only had enough for a temporary cover. We went to the boathouse. Ash dove underneath and discovered a small cavern underneath the dock, in which he saw the dragon-like creature Boss Skrawng had warned us about! Bond didn't want to swim, so we crossed the bridge to the other island we hadn't explored yet. > > We entered the small single-storey building on the island and we were immediately approached by *Dancing Lights* that seemed to be trying to scare us away. After some intimidation, we found a creepy, blond-haired creature named Tangletop that was hiding in a corner, invisible, casting the *Dancing Lights*. Tangletop said they would give us some information if we got a Shiny for them, which they said was being guarded by "a mean doll". > > In the next room, we found a sad, bird-like construct that seemed to be looking for its master, Master Azrinae. It turend out to be a Soulbound Doll, and it was very hard to catch but not too hardy. After we killed it, we realised that there was another humanoid construct with only half its body that also registered to me as being something that could think. ^summary %% [Video](https://youtu.be/ebOYdjEAoPY) %% --- ## Recap ![[018_20220910 Monster parts for free#^summary]] --- ## Log Bond takes the 4 gp tooth on one of the acolytes. There is a polished stone within braided wire. Ash identifies that it is a polished tectite rock. It's not extraordinary, but the braided wire cage around it is well-made. It's a *Channel Protection Amulet*. It protects resistance 5 against *Harm* spells if you're living and against *Heal* spells if you're undead. The thief's corpse has 4 shiny, well-oiled daggers, a silver ring worth 5 gp, 2 vials, and 2 swords. One has been broken but the other is as well-oiled as his daggers and is a rapier. I took the silver ring, Skram took the 2 vials (he identified one to be an Elixir of Lesser Darkvision). Bond throws one of the daggers through the window and we see the sun outside. Behind the windows is the edge of the island where this keep lies, and beyond that is the swamp. Ash recognises the four-pointed star. He thinks it's a symbol of [[Grotus]], god of the end times. He's normally depicted as a moon with an ominous face. He is the god of ruin, oblivion. He's a chaotic neutral god. He is said to hang above the boneyard where souls travel. We cover [[The Gauntlight's Lantern]] with wood that we find around the place. But it doesn't look super sturdy. It'll hold for now, but we'll have to come and reinforce it at some point. We go to [[The Gauntlight#The Boathouse]]. - Remains of a relatively fresh campfire. - This door has been forced open and carefully closed again within the last couple of weeks. - Shelves and boats within have decayed. - Boathouse is connected to a pier that has collapsed into the swamp. - There is a rowboat tied to the piling that has been much more recently built than this dock. - Contraption in the boathouse that was used to move things between the boathouse and boats docked here, but it's in disrepair. - Bond finds smoked salmon in fish-shaped doughy pastries in the boat. They're old but not rotten. They taste good. He also finds a carving of a flying bird decorating the inside of the boat near the bow of the boat. He has seen this mark before in [[Crook's Nook]]. This is the mark of [[The Osprey Club]]. Ash dives underneath the pier. He sees a tangle of roots hanging from the ceiling of [[The Gauntlight#Cavern of the Sea Serpent|a flooded cavern]] underneath the pier. The roof is three feet above the murky water. Muted daylight filters through. The pier and the roots keep it dim though. The water is about 10 feet deep. Northwest portion of the cavern is an entrance. Ash sees a dark shape inside the water, about 30 feet ahead. It seems to be moving. It's a sea creature with wing-like fins and a jaw full of teeth. It's covered in algae. Underwater - We are flat-footed unless we have a swim speed. - -2 penalty to melee slashing attacks - ranged attacks that deal bludgeoning or slashing automatically miss - ranged piercing attacks have their range is halved. - Can't cast spells with fire trait We decide to cross the low wooden bridge to the other island first. There is a single-storey building sitting among thick reeds growing on the island. Bond kicks the double-door open. - First room is a study. It's in better condition than any of the other rooms. - A small light lights up, then another. Then another. Then another. Then they start moving towards Karsh, Bond, and Ash. They are white lights. I think they're will 'o wisps Initiative - 25 Zuhri and Ash - Bond - Skram - Will 'o wisps - 1 Karsh - Round 1 - Bond's breath goes right through them. He thinks they are a magical effect. - Me - Z1: Recall Knowledge - these are very similar to the wisps we fought in the altar, but they're probably easy to kill. - Z1: Protect Companion - A1: Move and look into the rest of the room - 2 squares deep (3 squares in the area where we are) - 7 squares wide - To the left, one set of double doors going west and two doors going south. - A1: Dragon stance but it didn't go through. Zuhri can tell with her thoughtsense that there is someone in the northern side of the room who is hiding. I tell Skram. - Skram - Smells someone not of the swamp. He says out loud that we are explorers and only want to rid the place of moorlocks. The lights speak and say "*We are the spooky wisps. Run away!*" - Realises these are *Dancing Lights*, the cantrip. - Skram tells us to put our hostile actions on hold. - Enemies - 4 wisps move past Ash to the rest of the party and try to scare us some more and makes us leave. - Karsh - Runs away - Round 2 - Bond - Me - Z1: Shield - Z1: Move - Z1: Intimidate. it comes out! It's a tiny, blond-haired creature with a leaf skirt. - A1: Move Its name is [[Tangletop]]. ![[golarion-tangletop.png]] He says there is a room (pointing to the door to the west) with shiny metal things that he doesn't want. But there is one shiny thing there but there is a mean doll guarding it - about his size, slightly bigger. It flies and scares him. He's been looking for something Shiny. He offers to tell us three secrets about this place. It says its race is something that means "Brownie" in Elven. They like knicknacks like flatware. They have wildly different whims from time to time. They have some innate spellcasting abilities. They are natural feywild creatures. They're not good or evil. They're whimsical creatures. We go to the western room: [[The Gauntlight#Paintings of the past]] - Large paintings (about 10 feet tall and wide) damaged by decay. - Absalom in flames, with ghosts rising from city streets between burning buildings. *So Shall The Fools Suffer.* - Gauntlight Keep as it appeared before the upper floors collapsed. - Lighthouse emits a pale blue light and in the light there are ghostly faces sneering and grimacing. *Let The Light Shine Forever*. - Woman with a high collar. *The Lady of the Light*. On the stone right next to it, there's something written in a language none of us know. (This is probably [[Belcorra]]!) Skram puts a snare on one door of the double doors, and then we go into the first room on the south. Ash - Karsh - Bond - Zuhri - Skram. - This was once a workshop. This was used to make mechanical contraptions. - Soggy strings of dripping moss. - Carpet of broken glass on the floor. Something has shattered here. Uneven ground. - Workbenches and shelves, armatures, displays. Might have been where the lighthouse lantern was created? - Bejeweled spyglass sitting on a display rack that has survived the devastation. - Tiny doll resting on the counter. It has a beak and pants. Looks mechanical and metal. Has wings instead of hands. Short pants and loose boots. The [[Soulbound Doll]] starts flapping its wings. "Is [[Volluk Azrinae]] coming back?" Bond lies and says he will come back eventually. Initiative - 28 Karsh - Enemy - 20 Zuhri and Ash - 18 Bond - Skram - Round 1 - Karsh - Rages - Raise shield - Move in - Enemy - Flies about 10 feet of the ground. - Casts a spell at Bond, who suddenly feels mental pain. Will save. On a critical failure, take the initial and persistent mental damage and are *sickened* 2. 2 mental damage and 4 persistent mental damage on Bond. It is an *illusionary, mental* spell. - Me - Z1: Protect Companion - Z2: Forbidding Ward - A1: Move - Bond - Retches twice to get rid of *sickened*. - Recall knowledge. - This is a Level 3 Soulbound Doll. - It is a construct. - It's immune to things that affect only living things (like bleeding, mental damage, doomed, paralyzed, sickened, unconscious, nonlethal). - Speaks Common, the language of its creator. - Most well-known for having one stronger spell (and several weaker spells) that is deadly and Bond suspects he's already felt it (the one that caused illusory mental damage). - "Soulbound" is a process that is both magical and mechanical. The fragment of the soul is somewhere inside the doll. - Skram - Chromotherapy to help Bond and ends his persistent mental damage. - Round 2 - Karsh - Attacks! But misses. - Soulbound doll - Attacks Karsh - 6 bludgeoning damage. - Flies over to Ash and attacks. - Me - Z1: Sustain Forbidding Ward - Z1: Boost + Extend Boost. 3 rounds of this. - A1: Attack, but missed - A1: Grapple - Bond - Hits it with 5 slashing! Its AC is 22. - Sees something in the wing - a gem that seems to have been forced in and was welded in. Tells us what he learned. - Skram - Tanglefoot bag: it takes a -10 penalty to its movement. Escape DC 17. - - Round 3 - Karsh - - Me - Z1: Sustain Forbidding Ward - Z1: Shield - A1: Move - Z1: Tries to convince it not to attack, but fails. - Bond - - Round 4 - Karsh charges it but fails on the attack - Soulbound doll - Moves to Ash and attacks him. - Me - Z1: Sustain Forbidding Ward - Z1: Shield - A1: Move - A1: Grapple, but it doesn't work!!! - Bond: Can't hit it either - Skram: - Round 5 - Karsh: Attacks and hits it, finally - Soulbound doll - - Me - Z1: Shield - Z1: Move - Z1: Taunt it - A1: Attack. Slowed 2. 14 sonic damage. - Bond - Skram - Tries to convince it to kill itself? Fails. - Round 6 - Karsh - Critically fails on an attack and gets confused. He uses a hero point. He attacks again and hits for the first time! 11 piercing damage. - Raise shield. - Soulbound doll - It fiddles with controls and two mechanical arms rise from the jumble of parts. He presses a button. A force lifts the broken shards on the floor and some of the metal pieces. It does 14 mental damage - Me - Z1: Boost - Z1: Sustain Forbidding Ward - A1: Move. He sees a humanoid figure of metal with no lower half (it's been cut off). - A1: Attack - Bond tries to hit the hand but misses - Skram - Moves into the room - Round 7 - Karsh bites the helmet off. Beneath it is a humanoid head with a single wide eye. The metal of the head and arms are different. There are arcane writings on them. The light of the eye dwindles, but it's still alive. The levitating things fall back on the floor. Turns out that [[Oriana|the metal humanoid]] thing registers as something that thinks! My thoughtsense pings. Skram heals it and hears in his head, *Thank you.*