Sure. Surprised that the gorget didn't make the cut though, since it's got that sweet "can trigger even if immediately killed or rendered helpless" ability.
Those are really neat, but have a very steep spell casting requirement to make up for the unusual and powerful effect. Of our current crafters, only Lya and Anu are high enough level to cast Limited Wish. In Pathfinder, the Limited Wish spell just costs diamond dust or temporary Strength damage (assuming tandem use of the Blood Money spell), but we're using the 3.5 version, which consumes XP. They're not worth impeding either Lya or Anu's advancement, IMO.
 
On the matter of danger of Lya from Aradia being captured I'll write a short interlude to explain Lya's contingencies. This is the kind of thing she considered before making her first Arcanum.
 
Vote closed.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on May 30, 2020 at 4:39 AM, finished with 74 posts and 9 votes.

  • [X] One of Teana's Shadow-Trace duplicates, buffed for social combat and disguised to hide her appearance behind form concealing robes and mask, will meet with the Sons of the Harpy contact.
    -[X] The duplicate will carry a hidden satchel with Fungal Stun Vials and Sleep Smoke containers primed for dispersion by an Explosive Launcher munition to detonate should she feel it necessary.
    -[X] In addition to Teana's mental link with her duplicate, Malarys will observe the meeting using his Greater Scrying spell while Tyene used the Crystal Ball.
 
Interlude DCCCXIII: Fractal Selves
Fractal Selves

Ninth Day of the First Month 294 AC

"So how screwed are we if the damned devil took my blood?" Aradia was never one for small talk, or dancing around unpleasant truths. That the belier devil did not recall ever having the time to do so did not mean much since before the hand of its master its own memories were no more sacrosanct than Aradia's own.

"Less than you might think in some ways," her maker looked sad and a little wary as she explained that. "Teasing aside, calling you my daughters is more accurate than simulacrum which I used for the basis for my work. It is a well known fact to trasmuters that the body influences the expression of the soul, the transformation Viserys gets so much use out of uses that by reducing foes not only to the physical capacities of a turtle, but also their mental acuity. Temperament and personality tends to take a little while longer to wear away, but in the end even it is lost." She paused to take a sip of her ginger tea and waiting for Aradia to do likewise.

It was good tea, but she would rather know if she was about have her soul torn away from her body, or worse be turned into a puppet again sooner rather than later.

"There are of course exceptions, mostly regarding beings of the Far Realm, discoloration and softening of the flesh, excess eyes..." she waved vaguely towards the bookshelf on her right, the one with several books bound in chains of silver and cold iron. From Naria's descriptions Aradia knew those chains were not there to keep would-be thieves from walking off with them, but rather to keep the books themselves in. She was coldly pleased that this would likely be the fate of the fiend that had possessed her.

"And that," Lya continued. "Is where the inverse applies, the soul influences the body. Your material form may be physiologically identical to mine, but the particular admixture of elemental power and the life you have lived divergent from mine makes it more like the kinship of parent to child. Someone could use your stolen blood to lay a bloodline curse on me and your sisters, but by the very nature of the degrees of separation it would be weaker than what could be cast on..."

"Me," Aradia finished bluntly. "I'm fucked but the rest of us aren't, or at least not as bad."

"For the moment yes, but I did consider a contingency against something like this. I could transfer your consciousness to a different body..."

"How is that going to help?" Aradia asked. She might not the the greatest magician among her sisters, or even by the standards of most Scholarum masters, but this was hardly xeno-interpretative symbology. "Still a body like yours, still the same me, pattern holds."

Lya took a deep breath, obviously not liking what she was about to say. "By enacting a partial transfer, part of your consciousness in your old body, part in the new. It would be an unstable bond, lasting minutes at most, more likely seconds, but enough for you to sever the connection, by an act of your own will."

"I have to kill myself, conscious on both ends?" the incarnate asked just to be sure she got the explanation right.

A small nod and a sympathetic look met the question.

"Alright, let's get to it so I can stop worrying," Aradia replied.

For some reason that drew a look like she'd grown a second head, followed by a rueful laugh. "You know, for all that I just talked about how different you and your sisters are from me I still forget how deep it can go."

"You can't actually forget things mother," Aradia said, doing her best to channel Kira. Judging from the eye-roll she got in return she was at least somewhat successful.

Lost 960 IM (Body and Ritual Cost)

***​

Twenty First Day of the First Month 294 AC

Not quite two weeks later a different sort of doppelganger was walking the streets of Meereen and if her stride was just a touch too soft, barely a ripple across the puddles gathering from the recent unseasonal rains, well there were hardly many abroad this evening to measure her steps. Meereen, like most slaver cities, had slums for those freemen clinging onto that freedom by bloody fingernails, though Teana Strycos, the woman behind the Shadow, was glad at least to see they were not quite as terrible as those of Pentos, even with the city's trade taking the poor turn it had of late.

What exactly it said for the magisters of Pentos that even the 'Great Masters', a byword for decay and poor treatment of the populace as far as Volantis and beyond, Teana could not rightly say, not having curse words vile enough in any of the many tongues she knew, but it was a good sign perhaps that she might be able to have a conversation of some worth and substance with those who awaited her here.

The sound of a gloved hand knocking on wood range a little deeper than it aught... the door had been enchanted, but not so deeply as to make her suspect this was a safe house of great use to the Sons of the Harpy. They probably could not stand the bare clay of the walls, the buzzing thatch or the smell of rot wafting in from the river.

The door opened to reveal four figures, robed as she was to hide as much of themselves as they could. All wore metal masks, brass, iron, bronze and copper, forged in the image of bird skulls that allowed only their hair 'wings' to show, though even those had been painted a uniform blood red.

"So you have come, but you are not the Shadow, only a shadow," the one of the iron mask said after closing the door behind her. "Whom do you serve then, who would slay the servants of corruption so brazenly..."

"And spill the blood of Masters so readily," the one wearing the copper mask added in a slightly less courteous tone.

How does Teana reply and what does she offer the Sons of the Harpy?

[] Write in

OOC: This is a lot more like two interludes than one, but I figured it was best to handle the Aradia matter sooner rather than later since it would be urgent in-character.
 
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Feels like a bit of a cop-out, but I'd it works then it works, I guess.
The Devils not doing something with the blood the moment they understood the posession was discovered feels a little SoD-straining, but whatever.
I guess they just didn't keep on divining the status of the posessor, for some reason.

"So you have come, but you are not the shadow, only a shadow,"
That they are aware of Garin as "the shadow" makes me think they've been fed info about him being here... For whatever reason.
Him being simply discovered seems... unlikely, to be honest.
 
Feels like a bit of a cop-out, but I'd it works then it works, I guess.

It's less a coup out and more characters that are not Viserys having the agency to do something about the obvious weakness that would endanger life and and limb for her.

i mean he was under mind blank they couldn't be constantly devining him that's the point

Pretty much, they only knew the devil had been captured once he missed his report.
 
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Pretty much, they only knew the devil had been captured once he missed his report.
I guess I just expect hypercompetence from people doing Asmodeus' bidding.

Just keep on divining a target, gotta be easy to grab some Devil with at-will ability to.
The moment they can divine anything whatsoever? Plan's gone to shit, time to do extra-killy stuff with that blood the Posessor-Devil got them.
 
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I guess I just expect overcompetence from people doing Asmodeus' bidding.

Just keep on divining a target, gotta be easy to grab some Devil with at-will ability to.
The moment they can divine anything whatsoever? Plan's gone to shit, time to do extra-killy stuff with that blood the Posessor-Devil got them.

There was never a moment they could divine anything unless they did it in the twelve seconds the devil was free. It went from being in Aradia's body (under mind blank), to inside a dagger in Malarys' possession (under mind blank). Constant second by second divination is not posibile unless a god is specifically paying attention to it personally.
 
Feels like a bit of a cop-out, but I'd it works then it works, I guess.
The Devils not doing something with the blood the moment they understood the posession was discovered feels a little SoD-straining, but whatever.
I guess they just didn't keep on divining the status of the posessor, for some reason.


That they are aware of Garin as "the shadow" makes me think they've been fed info about him being here... For whatever reason.
Him being simply discovered seems... unlikely, to be honest.
Everything that happened after she went back into the safe house involved one or more mindblanked people. The devils wouldn't be able to rely on divination until she was outside of their influence.

I'm also still concerned about the bloodline cursing still being possible. Even if Aradia broke her chain to the blood it's connection to her family could still be a thing. It's not like the blood would lose it's connection to Lya if Aradia died or something, so I don't know if a body switch will help anyone but Aradia.

There's also still the possibility that the devils used the blood while we were unaware of the issue and chose the subtle approach. Are any of the other Arcanums currently lacking a mindblank?
 
Fractal Selves

Ninth Day of the First Month 294 AC

"So how screwed are we if the damned devil took my blood?" Aradia was never one for small talk, or dancing around unpleasant truths. That the belier devil did not recall ever having the time to do so did not mean much, since before the hand of its master its own memories were no more sacrosanct than Aradia's own.

"Less than you might think in some ways," her maker looked sad and a little wary as she explained that. "Teasing aside, calling you my daughters is more accurate than simulacrum, which I used for the basis for my work. It is a well known fact to transmuters that the body influences the expression of the soul, the transformation Viserys gets so much use out of uses that by reducing foes not only to the physical capacities of a turtle, but also their mental acuity. Temperament and personality tends to take a little while longer to wear away, but in the end even it is lost." She paused, taking a sip of her ginger tea and waiting for Aradia to do likewise.

It was good tea, but she would rather know if she was about have her soul torn from her body, or worse, be turned into a puppet again sooner rather than later.

"There are of course edge cases, mostly regarding beings of the Far Realm, discoloration and softening of the flesh, excess eyes..." she waved vaguely towards the bookshelf on her right, the one with several books bound in chains of silver and cold iron. From Naria's descriptions, Aradia knew those chains were not there to keep would be thieves from walking off with them, but rather to keep the books themselves in. She was coldly pleased that this would likely be the fate of the fiend that had possessed her.

"And that," Lya continued. "Is where the inverse applies, the soul influences the body. Your material form may be physiologically identical to mine, but the particular admixture of elemental power and the life you have lived divergent from mine makes it more like the kinship of parent to child. Someone could use your stolen blood to lay a bloodline curse on me and your sister, but by the very nature of the degrees of separation it would be weaker than what could be cast on..."

"Me," Aradia finished bluntly. "I'm fucked but the rest of us aren't, or at least not as bad."

"For the moment yes, but I did consider a contingency against something like this. I could transfer your consciousness to a different body..."

"How is that going to help?" Aradia asked. She might not the the greatest magician among her sisters, or even by the standards of most Scholarum masters, but this was hardly xeno-interpretative symbology. "Still a body like yours, still the same me, pattern holds."

Lya took a deep breath, obviously not liking what she was about to say "By enacting a partial transfer, part of your consciousness in your old body, part in the new. It would be an unstable bond, lasting minutes at most, more likely seconds, but enough for you to sever the connection, by an act of your own will."

"I have to kill myself, conscious on both ends?" the incarnate asked just to be sure she got the explanation right.

A small nod and a sympathetic look met the question.

"Alright, let's get to it so I can stop worrying," Aradia replied.

For some reason that drew a look like she'd grown a second head, followed by a rueful laugh. "You know, for all I just talked about how different you and your sisters are from me, I still forget how deep it can go."

"You can't actually forget things, mother," Aradia said, doing her best to channel Kira. Judging from the eye-roll she got in return, she was at least somewhat successful.

Lost 960 IM (Body and Ritual Cost)

***​

Twenty First Day of the First Month 294 AC

Not quite two weeks later, a different sort of doppelganger was walking the streets of Mereen, and if her stride was just a touch too soft, barely a ripple across the puddles gathering from the recent unseasonal rains, well there were hardly many abroad this evening to measure her steps. Meereen, like most slaver cities, had slums for those freemen clinging onto that freedom by bloody fingernails, though Teana Strycos, the woman behind the shadow, was glad at least to see they were not quite as terrible as those of Pentos, even with the city's trade taking the poor turn it had of late.

What exactly it said for the magisters of Pentos that even the 'Great Masters', a byword for decay and poor treatment of the populace as far as Volantis and beyond, Teana could not rightly say, not having curse words vile enough in any of the many tongues she knew, but it was perhaps a good sign that she might be able to have a conversation of some worth and substance with those who awaited her here

The sound of a gloved hand knocking on wood rang a little deeper than it aught... the door had been enchanted, but not so deeply as to make her suspect this was a safe-house of great use to the Sons of the Harpy. They probably could not stand the bare clay of the walls, the buzzing thatch, or the smell of rot wafting in from the river for long.

The door opened to reveal four figures, robed as she was to hide as much of themselves as they could. All wore metal masks, brass, iron, bronze, and copper forged in the image of bird skulls that allowed only their hair 'wings' to show, though even those had been painted a uniform blood red.

"So you have come, but you are not the shadow, only a shadow," the one of the iron mask said after closing the door behind her. "Whom do you serve then, who would slay the servants of corruption so brazenly..."

"And spill the blood of Masters so readily," the one wearing the copper mask added in a slightly less courteous tone.

What does Teana reply and what does she offer the Sons of the Harpy?

[] Write in

OOC: This is a lot more two interludes than one, but I figured it was best to handle the Aradia matter sooner rather than later since it would be urgent in character. Not yet edited.
Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

The ritual solution to Aradia's problem works fine for me. After all, Lya is a Mythic Archmage with transcendent knowledge on the growth and manipulation of the soul. If anyone could devise such a ritual on short notice, it would be her.
 
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Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

The ritual solution to Aradia's problem works fine for me. After all, Lya is a Mythic Archmage with transcendent knowledge on the growth and manipulation of the soul. If anyone could devise such a ritual on short notice, it would be her.

It's not on short notice, it is something she developed when she made the breakthrough into multiple bodies.
 
I guess I just expect hypercompetence from people doing Asmodeus' bidding.

Just keep on divining a target, gotta be easy to grab some Devil with at-will ability to.
The moment they can divine anything whatsoever? Plan's gone to shit, time to do extra-killy stuff with that blood the Posessor-Devil got them.
It's more realistic to expect mere competence at this level. The hyper-competent minions are more likely involved in high ranking plots against the Archdukes of Hell, other potential rival beings who want to carve out a piece of Hell for themselves, fighting the Blood War, or merely fending off rivals of their own. Of course, even a competent Devil is still a significant threat.
 
Here's an edited version of the chapter, DP.

The ritual solution to Aradia's problem works fine for me. After all, Lya is a Mythic Archmage with transcendent knowledge on the growth and manipulation of the soul. If anyone could devise such a ritual on short notice, it would be her.
I'm still uncertain on what that ritual did. It sounds like she basically set it up so that Aradia is now in a new meat suit and that for the purposes of targeting stuff from her old body she's basically dead and gone. That sounds like it'd work fine for her, but even her actual death wouldn't make that blood any less connected to her family. Can you ritually disown someone without actually cutting them out of your family somehow?

Also, the devils had her for a while, so she probably needs a Ritual of Renaming or they'll be able to smite her even across the body jump. Not sure if the existing ritual covers that, but we should double check so she doesn't eat something nasty by surprise. Long range permanent Warp Truename sounds like something a diabolical archmage would develop.
 
I'm still uncertain on what that ritual did. It sounds like she basically set it up so that Aradia is now in a new meat suit and that for the purposes of targeting stuff from her old body she's basically dead and gone. That sounds like it'd work fine for her, but even her actual death wouldn't make that blood any less connected to her family. Can you ritually disown someone without actually cutting them out of your family somehow?

Also, the devils had her for a while, so she probably needs a Ritual of Renaming or they'll be able to smite her even across the body jump. Not sure if the existing ritual covers that, but we should double check so she doesn't eat something nasty by surprise. Long range permanent Warp Truename sounds like something a diabolical archmage would develop.
Thankfully, as far as I can tell, we have never used any of the Truename magic from the Tome of Magic in this quest. The magic system is already complicated enough without introducing that crap on top of it.

I'm pretty sure that is a deliberate exclusion on @DragonParadox's part?
 
I'm still uncertain on what that ritual did. It sounds like she basically set it up so that Aradia is now in a new meat suit and that for the purposes of targeting stuff from her old body she's basically dead and gone. That sounds like it'd work fine for her, but even her actual death wouldn't make that blood any less connected to her family. Can you ritually disown someone without actually cutting them out of your family somehow?

Also, the devils had her for a while, so she probably needs a Ritual of Renaming or they'll be able to smite her even across the body jump. Not sure if the existing ritual covers that, but we should double check so she doesn't eat something nasty by surprise. Long range permanent Warp Truename sounds like something a diabolical archmage would develop.

The ritual broke her connection to her old body which leaves her as vulnerable as any other arcanum when it comes to blood magic with a focus that may have been taken from her during the possession.

I'm pretty sure that is a deliberate exclusion on @DragonParadox's part?

Yeah, no true names. Those classes are the definition of too complex to bother with.
 
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Regardless of the situation being solved,
@DragonParadox, is it possible to use the whole body we have to divine the location of the potential sample the Posession Devil may have sneaked away?
In the similar vein to us divining a whole body through a small piece even under a Mindblank, given the curse-staff availability?
 
Regardless of the situation being solved,
@DragonParadox, is it possible to use the whole body we have to divine the location of the potential sample the Posession Devil may have sneaked away?
In the similar vein to us divining a whole body through a small piece even under a Mindblank, given the curse-staff availability?

Unfortunately not, you can't really curse a vial of blood to make it visible through mind blank since it's not a living thing.
 
There was never a moment they could divine anything unless they did it in the twelve seconds the devil was free. It went from being in Aradia's body (under mind blank), to inside a dagger in Malarys' possession (under mind blank). Constant second by second divination is not posibile unless a god is specifically paying attention to it personally.
Technically, technically, they could grab a whole lot of Devils capable of casting Divination, and have them cast Divination continuously, so that even if 2-round lapse exists, it does get caught.
Over-engineered as this is, it is also something Hells could do with the sheer amount of forces it has.
I am quite sure there were some very low-CR devils with Divination SLAs.

Bottom line, fleshgrafting a few thousand Imps together and having them continuously cast Commune sla of theirs makes a fairly efficient mechanism.

Not saying that's the case here, just saying it's possible.
 
Here's what I've got so far for our response to the questions posed by the Sons. Anything ya'll think I should add or change?

[X] "I serve those who do not wish to see the people of Mereen, Astapor, or Yunkai, whether they be freed man or lowly slave, succumb to the depredations of Hell. The fools who willingly sell themselves into Infernal servitude also forfeit their souls to an afterlife of unimaginable torment, thus my allies and I work to hasten their inevitable descent to Hell before they can doom those not yet corrupted to share a similar fate." We don't need to push an anti-slavery agenda right now, as it would be of little use beyond all but guaranteeing the Sons of the Harpy refuse any cooperation with us at all. Instead, we need to make it clear we are targeting the folks who have allied themselves with Hell. Given the nature of Slaver's Bay, however, that means that most of our victims are going to be counted 'Masters' by the Sons.
-[X] Teana will go on to explain that we do not expect the Sons of the Harpy to trust us, as we do not yet trust them, except perhaps in regards to situations where our interests closely align. They do not appear to wish Slaver's Bay to become a puppet state of Hell any more than we do, so in this we have a common purpose.
--[X] We will not ask for material assistance from the Sons, nor will we expect them to ask it of us. Rather, we will share information. We have methods of gathering intelligence distinct from those employed by the Sons, and vice versa, so it is in both our interests to share what we learn, when we can do so without endangering our respective organizations of course.
---[X] She will stress that this is an opportunity to establish a working relationship which may evolve into a more beneficial partnership in the coming months and years.
Just as we did not execute every former slave master in Tyrosh, Lys, or Myr when we took control of those cities, we need not do so in Slaver's Bay either. The Sons of the Harpy, assuming the being they claim allegiance to is not as bad as or worse than the powers of Hell, could very well end up as governors and administrators of Slaver's Bay when it comes time to join the Imperium.
----[X] As our first contribution to this tentative alliance, explain that the Lady of Spears, long rumored to be the secret Goddess of the Unsullied, does in fact exist. Unfortunately, not only does she exist, but she has also made a Pact with Hell. In exchange for her support of Hell's forces in Slaver's Bay, including the control of the Unsullied who worship her, she will soon become the newest Archduke of Hell. The implications for her increased personal power and ability to act through her pawns are obvious, as is the reality that no Unsullied can be trusted not to be one of hers.
 
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Technically, technically, they could grab a whole lot of Devils capable of casting Divination, and have them cast Divination continuously, so that even if 2-round lapse exists, it does get caught.
Over-engineered as this is, it is also something Hells could do with the sheer amount of forces it has.
I am quite sure there were some very low-CR devils with Divination SLAs.

Bottom line, fleshgrafting a few thousand Imps together and having them continuously cast Commune sla of theirs makes a fairly efficient mechanism.

Not saying that's the case here, just saying it's possible.

Those commune spells do not actually come from the imps, they are just the vessels, the actual effort of looking into the future comes from the arch-devil in charge of them just as when most priests use the spell it's asking their god.
 
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That's how Planar Binding we've been using to call up various creatures works. IE, if you do utter a name, you get someone particular, instead of randomness.
I'm familiar with that, it's just that we haven't been able to use any name that a creature goes by to summon it. A devil could go by one name for centuries and we still would have to figure out its secret real name to positively ID it for the spell. I assumed that this meant something like the true name mechanic was in play.
 
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