[X] Send someone to deal with those rats
-[X] The two Clerics cast support spells; Bless, Bane, etc.
-[X] Gorok orders Warty back to Mina for healing while he charges the tripped Merc Leader, Power Attacking with his axe while he is Prone.
-[X] Kori targets the Halfling slinger with a Barbed Chains spell, using both chains to attempt to trip and render them Shaken. If Mina puts the Halfling to sleep before Kori can target them, he instead directs his chains at the Merc Leader if he still lives. If the leader has been killed, Kori instead casts Cure Moderate Wounds on himself.
-[X] Mina uses her Sleep spell on the Halfling slinger if she acts before Kori. If Kori's chains reach it first, she instead uses her Daze spell against them.
-[X] Cob moves to engage the Halfling slinger. He's the least likely to be caught in the area of the slinger's bombs, and those bombs are calling out to him something fierce.
-[X] The remaining Iruxi finishes off Merc 1 before moving on to Merc 2 while they are Blind and Stunned.
-[X] Sirim moves to check on the rats while casting Invisibility on himself. He has AoE spells prepared that can deal with multiple weaker foes simultaneously, can pass through the walls without opening doors or alerting others of his presence, and can telepathically communicate the situation to us.
The positioning seemed to make more sense, plus Cob has a much higher Reflex bonus. He's more likely to avoid high damage from a bomb or being snared by something like a Tanglefoot Bag.
The remaining iruxi warrior swings wildly at the wounded foe, though to no avail as the leader pulls something from his cloak, a potion bottle, tosses it in the air and catches it in his teeth. Mina's spell melts away as with a wild laugh he slides on his belly like a snake between Gorok's legs and then upward. "No man may deny Farsam Jaffer his prize, nor yet a lizard!" Alas for him he spoke too soon, for the blow that should have sunk into Gorok's pelvis instead slices only his cloak and clangs unmusically on the armor beneath.
Enemy Leader Gains Freedom of Movement for 40 Minutes
"Away!" Gorok shouts for Warty as Cob dashes out of the temple in the direction of that damnable slinger.
The slurk bounces, careful of the last remaining blade that would have sliced clean into his belly had he taken a chance to pare with his teeth, so the wounded warrior instead draws a flask of her own and flings it at Gorok. Though by chance or instinct he dodges, sending the glass shattering and acid sizzling on the stone ten paces behind him
For his part Cob practically rolls into the halfling, though without anything to distract the foe his blade is nowhere near as deadly as it would be in the midst of the chaotic melee. As long as he keeps the tongue-biting pest from throwing anymore flame, I'll be content. Form the spell she's casting and the way she's motioning Mina isn't, but he stays on his feet.
Mercenary Halfling Takes 9 Damage -> Now at 26/35
"Rats there are indeed, a petty conjuring," Sirim speaks with faint disdain even in silent thoughts, the barred door no barrier to him "Conjuror is yet unseen. Wounds are yet small, screams unnecessary."
By his measure at least, you add mentally though not at him. Instead your attention like, your magic, is still bent on the halfling. Chains rise around his ankles to trip and tangle, but he manages to dance out of the way and take a swing of a potion of his own, taking another cut across the chest as be melts into a misty form.
Mercenary Halfling Takes 6 Damage -> Now at 20/35
Mercenary Halfling becomes Gaseous
There's a grunt of pain from one of the blinded mercenaries as the remaining iruxi warrior at the door spears him through the shoulder, though it's covered by by Mina shouting to the one by the side door: "Let them through!"
Mercenary Two takes 9 Damage -> Now at 10/19
Akorian Sense Motive (DC 20): 1d20+12 = 18 (Failure)
As High Priest Tuvius, seeing there is no reasoning with your foes, proclaims a blessing of Pharasma upon those to guard the sanctity of her temple, the side door smashes open and a trio of scratched, terrified, but otherwise still hale acolytes burst into the room pursued by a swarm of rats.
Akorian, Mina, Gorok, and the Iruxi all gain +1 to attacks and saves
"Mine!" You only catch a glimpse of the a hooded figure appearing next to the altar, next to the priest, and garbing at the ring around his neck, the final syllable of the blessing still on his lips.
The chain that had carried the damnable thing faithfully for so long snaps and the thief jams it on his finger and screams in pain, in ecstasy, or both as his cloak tears. Flesh boils and reforms into something half-way between humanoid and rat, though no mere rat-kin is this with supple and wild fur tangled, eyes blazing with pale flame.
"There is your prize, poisoned meat!" Gorok hisses at the man who had just tried to slice his tail off and wonder of wonders it seems to get through to him, a look of horror passing over his handsome features.
"Truce! Truce under the Iron Banner!" What god he's calling for you do not know, but you are glad for it regardless. The rat creature laughs, a hatefully familiar sound, muscles tensing for a leap away.
Cob's too far away to act, Warty's confused by this new foe, Mina's still horrified by what she had done... Chains, chains you call again, barbed and hooked and grasping sure to lash at it with fury and drag it to the ground.
Possessed Rat Man is Tripped and Shaken
That won't hold him long you know, but it doesn't have to as Sirim flows like smoke on the wind through the same door the thing had come through, and in a half whisper speaks a spell that's half a song. Colors dance and minds are taken.
Possessed Rat Man Will Save: 1d20+6-2 = 12 (Failure)
Possessed Rat Man is Fascinated
"No one touch." The words are oddly gentle, almost didactical, meant perhaps to cut through the haze of battle. "Mina, pray send this one to sleep."
As Mina fixed the thing with a determined look Gorok and the recently named Farsam Jaffer start to inch closer and the high priest raises his dagger glinting silver, but there is no need for either of them. The enemy collapses onto the stone, a creature of nightmare by slumber vanquished.
Possessed Rat Man Will Save: 1d20+6-2 = 9 (Failure)
"I'm sorry, I didn't..." Mina starts, but before she can even get through the first sentence Sirim interrupts aloud.
"Behold the one who was hidden in our power where had the door not been opened he would not be." the accursed ring flies off the finger of the sleeping foe as he motions with a tendril of smoke. "Judge yourself by what is not what might have been, that way lies madness."
The looks of guilt her face shifts into one of bewilderment then tentatively gratitude, though it's hard to tell if the words had been meant in kindness, genuine belief, or both.
What do you do next?
[] Extend the truce with the mercenaries as Cob and Gorok tie up the rat-man
[] Demand surrender (Intimidate Check opposed to Farsam)
[] Write in
OOC: Did not expect the Charisma 8 Lizardmen to manage a diplomacy roll. Anyway to the question 'how do you invade a temple of Pharasma as an undead' the lich answered 'you do not, cause a distraction then get a patsy to get the ring and get out.' The Happy Fun Rat has a rat form that he would have taken next round getting lost among the conjured swarm (this, but rat).
I would be fine with killing the mercs and looting their corpses, but the Clerics and Mina would no doubt have an issue with that after they've offered a truce.
[X] Demand surrender (Intimidate Check opposed to Farsam)
-[X] Kori casts Enhanced Diplomacy to boost his Intimidate check by +2.
[x] Demand surrender (Intimidate Check opposed to Farsam)
-[x] Kori casts Enhanced Diplomacy to boost his Intimidate check by +2.
Who was the thief? Was he the same conjurer who summoned rats? A member of the mercenary party, or someone else ensnared in the nightmare web? Why did he mutate into a rat, is that one of the ring's powers?
Good fight all around. Now may the looting commence.
[x] Demand surrender (Intimidate Check opposed to Farsam)
-[x] Kori casts Enhanced Diplomacy to boost his Intimidate check by +2.
Who was the thief? Was he the same conjurer who summoned rats? A member of the mercenary party, or someone else ensnared in the nightmare web? Why did he mutate into a rat, is that one of the ring's powers?
Given the horrified reaction of the mercs right now it's pretty clear he is not with them... Other than that you would have to interrogate him, which might be a bit hard given general Andoran view on lycanthropes and the fact that he invaded a temple of Pharasma at the behest of an undead being. There's very good odds of him being executed on the spot unless someone can make a hell of a social check.
Update will be tomorrow, the last one was very combat heavy. I almost made two updates out of it, but I wanted to push through. At the same time though the next one will deal with quite a lot of world-building or even more combat if the intimidation fails and I do not think I can do another combat heavy update justice should that happen.
BTW though how are you guys liking this little arc? I know it was a bit unexpected, but it does give me the chance to show off some of the factions and general world-building of Andoran. This is a land that has always had to deal with lycanthropes , but it is also a heavily urbanizing land hence a lot more were-rats and werebats than you might think.
Also mercenaries from all over trying their luck make a perfect environment to get some hired muscle, even if you do not technically have gold to pay them.
Update will be tomorrow, the last one was very combat heavy. I almost made two updates out of it, but I wanted to push through. At the same time though the next one will deal with quite a lot of world-building or even more combat if the intimidation fails and I do not think I can do another combat heavy update justice should that happen.
BTW though how are you guys liking this little arc? I know it was a bit unexpected, but it does give me the chance to show off some of the factions and general world-building of Andoran. This is a land that has always had to deal with lycanthropes , but it is also a heavily urbanizing land hence a lot more were-rats and werebats than you might think.
Also mercenaries from all over trying their luck make a perfect environment to get some hired muscle, even if you do not technically have gold to pay them.
Kori in the big city has been great so far. Nice change of pace, and a great intro to the wider world, with plenty of opportunities for questing and adventure.
To be fair the Darklands in general do have plenty of politics: the duergar, the drow, the Court of Ether, it's just he was raised in a tribe of hundreds, very much a small town cavern boy
"Rejoice, for you are fortunate! You live despite being tools in dead one's hand." No more trying to bite back the accent you've been acquiring along your long journey, the loose evocative form of goblin, the harsh glottal stops of dwarf tongue, the whisper-shout that carries though the long tunnels, all these they can hear as you draw yourself to your full height. The lanterns behind the altar casting a shadow long and jagged pointed right at the swordsman slowly getting up from the marble floor, still slick with blood and slime. "Lay down your arms and you will not find ours buried in your back."
The woman with the wounded leg bristles, opens her mouth to speak even, but Farsam raises his left hand for quiet. "What makes you think your dagger will find our backs, grey-face?"
"You seem war-wise to me, not foolish 'knights' of Cheliax," you say with a shrug, which your shadow does not follow.
As you speak the two that had been struck by Sirim's magic rub the light from their eyes, still hale and ready for battle. For a moment it seems near as voice and echo. Then almost too quick for you to follow he reaches into his satchel, not for a weapon or another potion to quaff, but a vivid yellow flower that he tosses to a bemused Mina, who somehow still manages to catch it.
"A flower has no front and back," he declares as he gingerly sets his sword on the ground rather than simply drooping it. Then, without waiting for instructions, he calls out to the others. "Laleth, Ivrad, arms down then, see to the wounded, theirs as much as ours. The battle is over."
Akorian Intimidation: 1d20+17 = 18 vs Farsam Will Save: 1d20+1 = 15 (Success)
As they do so and Gorok and Cob, already hastening to bind the rat man as Farsam saunters to the entrance and shouts: "Quaffi, get down here!"
A few moments later a somehow sheepish cloud of mist floats in, just as the prisoner starts struggling in their bonds, though with both hands twisted and tied behind his back he certainly can't throw off a fully armored iruxi, or so at least you thought until the High Priest shouts in alarm: "What are you doing! It's a werebeast! Kill it before it changes!"
"No, I think he's going to lie still. He doesn't want to die with his face in the dirt like a worm," you say with deliberate gentleness that cuts through the air more than any bark of anger could have. "Isn't that... accurate?" Ever the practical soul, Gorok had now raised his axe over the captive's head but somewhere in the middle, which he will still have need of no matter what form he might take.
Still he is, an angry growl rising from his chest that forms into words. "What? You plannin' a hanging?"
"I'm planning to find out who you are and what..."
Akorian Intimidation: 1d20+17 = 25 vs Rat Man Will Save: 1d20+6 = 17 (Success)
"What in Pharasma's name are you doing?" Kastor Tuvius, who had been calm throughout the entire battle, now seems near hysterical. "Kill the beast before he twists out from under you and infects us all with its poison!"
Everyone reacts with varying degrees of surprise to his words: Cob's ears perk up at the mention of poison, though you don't think it's that kind, Gorok actually raises his axe a little in annoyance at being so summarily commanded, Mina looks up from where she had been healing the iruxi thrown to the ground in the initial explosion in alarm, while Frasam just raises an eyebrow in askance and takes half a step back.
"Andorans have a particular loathing of lycanthropes," Sirim informs you and the others silently. "The terror from which it sprouts is not without cause given the predilections of the afflicted, but it can drive them to unproductive extremes."
Thinking back to the stories of the Darkmoon Vale it's easy to pick out the signs, but do they have a right of it. It is easy, after all, for Sirim to call them fools, being in no danger of either being mauled or changed by a werebeast. On the other hand, werebeasts are not all that you had heard called monsters since you had come to Augustana, the guards at the entrance of the Old Town and the whispers in the taproom at the Minotaur's Horn. It would not be the first time you let pawns of the dark dreamer walk. Odds are good that's what will happen with Frasam even. Why should only this one have no chance to stay final judgement.
What does Kori say?
[] The priest's right, we should kill him and be done with him (Higher Standing with the Cult of Pharasma; Better Reputation in Augustana)
[] Sit him up and question him, if he tries to shape-change out of the ropes Gorok will see to him (Worse Reputation in Augustana; ???)
[] Write in
OOC: When I saw that 1 I was very concerned we were about to get right back to combat, but thankfully Frasam has a very bad will save for his level, that is part of how the thyrlien lich got him.
: When I saw that 1 I was very concerned we were about to get right back to combat, thankfully Frasam has a very bad will save for his level, that is part of how the thyrlien lich got him.
If I had been using those rules it would have been DC 10+HD+Wis Modifier which in his case is 10+6-1 =15 still a pass. I had him roll his Will save which is a +1 since he has a base of +2-1 from low wisdom instead.
We're not a Paladin, and we don't have some sort of mission to spread brotherly love or peace among all creatures of Golarion. The Wererat is an enemy now and would be an enemy later, unlike the mercs, and we don't have any responsibility to save it.
Nor do we need to make our lives even more difficult than they already are. We've made a good contact here with the church of Pharasma and Augustana has tolerated our existence better than I feared. I'm not inclined to damage either one of those relationships.
[X] The priest's right, we should kill him and be done with him (Higher Standing with the Cult of Pharasma; Better Reputation in Augustana)
This has nothing to do with being a Paladin, and I doubt any Paladin in Augustana would have spared the lycan.
However, I bristle a little at the notion that I have to dispose of the prisoner because a local priest demands so. Information is valuable, and we are asked to throw it in the garbage bin for the sake of another's fear and bloodthirst. How about no? We risked our hides in this fight and bled for it, we can interrogate whoever we want, however we want, especially given that even with the lich dead, the wider plot persists. Does the lycan know anything about it? Maybe, maybe not. That's what we are to determine here.
For one, what did he have in mind after stealing the phylactery? Where was it to be delivered?
I don't really know what means of escape he has, though. The rat-form, sure. Can we interrupt the transformation, seeing as he is bound? Can we hunt him down, even in rat-form? If there is indeed a risk of him breaking out... or worse, infecting us in the process -- then perhaps killing him then and there is warranted.
I don't really know what means of escape he has, though. The rat-form, sure. Can we interrupt the transformation, seeing as he is bound? Can we hunt him down, even in rat-form?
No to the first, it is a Supernatural ability, those do not get interpreted by anything once they are started though Gorok would get a coup de grace on him as he turns
Yes to the second and Sirim even still has his sleep spell for what it's worth
[] We don't need to make our stay in this land any more difficult than it already is, but there is little reason not to at least try to pry some information out of the creature before it meets it's end.
-[] Kori uses his headband to cast Detect Thoughts while questioning the Wererat about it's plans and where it would have taken the ring had it succeeded.
--[] If it attempts to transform or escape, Gorok will finish him off and Mina and Sirim cast spells to assist, if necessary.
