- Location
- St. Petersburg
What does he mean by 'the choker'?
Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Fantasy
-
- Tags
- pathfinder
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Added that to the plan.
Cloudkill from the start, the spell isn't just going to be called by its full formal name by non-wizards
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Maybe add after we've been given chance to interrogate him again beforehand? See if there is any other info we can get out of him?
Mission details and such?
He might want to keep the captain around to act as a witness to both House crimes and political issues should dwarves make a stink about attack on their merchant ships.
And nothing says we still can't vote for what questions to ask dead once rest period is over.
- Location
- Germany
[X] Goldfish
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Updated plan, now including Speak with Dead for the corpses, a second, enhanced Suggestion interrogation for the Razmiran, and Kori performing a Divination just to be thorough.
[X] Finish combing the Scorpion's Sting for secrets while the sailors among Sir Pisca's Riverguard prepare it to be towed back to Cassomir using their own ship.
-[X] Inquire of Sir Pisca how he wishes to handle the pirates and Razmiran. Should they be returned to Cassomir alive or hanged now before we depart? The latter option would simplify matters greatly.
--[X] Would it be in his authority to give the Razmiran over to the local Fey in order to placate them? It appears he is the one to have riled them up in the first place.
-[X] Mina will prepare two Speak with Dead spells in the morning in place of her Lightning Bolt spell and a Heroism spell, and an Ill Omen spell in place of Sleep.
--[X] She will ask Miska who/what is Swallowtail, why Elven traditionalists would use Humans to attack Dwarves, and why would a House Basri, well known as diplomats, try to foment conflict?
--[X] She will ask the Dwarven Alchemist what, if any, special skills or procedures are needed to safely operate the magical propulsion of the Scorpion's Sting. She will use remaining questions, if there are any after learning what we need, to answer questions Sirim or Cob have about Alchemy, poison, or whatever else may seem relevant to them.
-[X] We'll also attempt to interrogate the Razmiran again in the morning as well, but along with using the same tactics as before (Demoralize to render him Shaken, Evil Eye to reduce saving throws by -2), Mina will cast Ill Omen on him then use Wild Arcana to cast Bestow Curse on him (inflicting a -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks)
before Sirim uses Shadow Enchantment to cast Suggestion on him, expending one Mythic power to make him roll twice and take the lowest result on his saving throws against the spell.
--[X] Bestow Curse Spell: DC 17 Will save. Roll twice due to Ill Omen and take the lower result.
--[X] Shadow Enchantment Suggestion: DC 20 Will save. Roll twice due to Ill Omen and take the lower result, then roll again and take the lower result due to Mythic Spell Focus, if necessary.
-[X] Kori will perform a Divination tonight to attempt to divine what hazards may face us before we reach Cassomir.
[X] Finish combing the Scorpion's Sting for secrets while the sailors among Sir Pisca's Riverguard prepare it to be towed back to Cassomir using their own ship.
-[X] Inquire of Sir Pisca how he wishes to handle the pirates and Razmiran. Should they be returned to Cassomir alive or hanged now before we depart? The latter option would simplify matters greatly.
--[X] Would it be in his authority to give the Razmiran over to the local Fey in order to placate them? It appears he is the one to have riled them up in the first place.
-[X] Mina will prepare two Speak with Dead spells in the morning in place of her Lightning Bolt spell and a Heroism spell, and an Ill Omen spell in place of Sleep.
--[X] She will ask Miska who/what is Swallowtail, why Elven traditionalists would use Humans to attack Dwarves, and why would a House Basri, well known as diplomats, try to foment conflict?
--[X] She will ask the Dwarven Alchemist what, if any, special skills or procedures are needed to safely operate the magical propulsion of the Scorpion's Sting. She will use remaining questions, if there are any after learning what we need, to answer questions Sirim or Cob have about Alchemy, poison, or whatever else may seem relevant to them.
-[X] We'll also attempt to interrogate the Razmiran again in the morning as well, but along with using the same tactics as before (Demoralize to render him Shaken, Evil Eye to reduce saving throws by -2), Mina will cast Ill Omen on him then use Wild Arcana to cast Bestow Curse on him (inflicting a -4 penalty on attack rolls, saves, ability checks, and skill checks)
before Sirim uses Shadow Enchantment to cast Suggestion on him, expending one Mythic power to make him roll twice and take the lowest result on his saving throws against the spell.
--[X] Bestow Curse Spell: DC 17 Will save. Roll twice due to Ill Omen and take the lower result.
--[X] Shadow Enchantment Suggestion: DC 20 Will save. Roll twice due to Ill Omen and take the lower result, then roll again and take the lower result due to Mythic Spell Focus, if necessary.
-[X] Kori will perform a Divination tonight to attempt to divine what hazards may face us before we reach Cassomir.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
That is in my updated plan. I just updated it again to include Bestow Curse.
With the -2 penalty from being Shaken and the -2 from Evil Eye, he'll be at a -4 penalty to saving throws, then he'll get hit with Ill Omen to force him to reroll his next two saving throws in favor of lower results. And then he'll have to save vs the Bestow Curse, which will reduce his saving throws by -8, followed by the Shadow Enchantment Suggestion, and that one will also make him reroll in favor of the lower result.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
I've been thinking, if we do get attacked by the Sorceress and whoever she's managed to call in favours from -and the lood look unfavourable for us - we might have a way of bluffing our way our of it.
Here's an idea, it's probably full of holes, and it will only matter if we find ourselves in an unfavourable combat position against her and her support:
She wants her friends back; one living, two dead (to cast raise dead on them).
If we say (bluff) that we've put her two dead friends in an extradimensional space (bag of holding or whatever), and that they are set to be fully burned to ashes/disintegrated unless the correct commands to make that not happen are given every [time period], then suddenly we have leverage.
Because True Resurrection is hard to access. Really really hard.
The deal would be this: She does not attack. The captain is brought to the authorities and handed off for trial and execution; his rescue after he leaves our hands is on her. Maybe she gets him out before execution. Maybe she gets her hands on his corpse after he's executed. That's her business.
We cast Gentle Repose on her two dead friends. After the captain is no longer our responsibility, we return the bodies of her two dead friends to her, undamaged and ready for a Raise Dead spell, in return for a few things: Her +Int item, because of course she has one (to be given now).
She tells us what her two cool items do and we pick one for ourselves. (...probably also to be given now. I think we can get this when she is most desperate)
She also gets us the scrolls for Spellsister and Deathwine (and probably some others that I haven't thought of).
On out part, we will maintain Gentle Repose without any lapses (excepting emergencies, but we'll recast it a few days early to be safe) until she acquires the scrolls we want, and then we'll trade her friends for the scrolls.
Up to a duration [not sure of a fair time period, until we get tired of expending the resources/carrying corpses?], or we get the scrolls elsewhere, in which case we'll Sending her and trade them for money or something, and if she doesn't agree, we'll give them a respectful (read: safe, with good Religion checks to prevent bad stuff from happening to them) burial, and she'll have the regular timer to deal with.
Because otherwise she's just going to get free Gentle Repose castings out of us.
----
Edit: @Goldfish not sure if it works this way, but If we just knock the priest unconscious before Mina attempts to cast Bestow Curse on him, won't that mean he can't try to save against it?
Here's an idea, it's probably full of holes, and it will only matter if we find ourselves in an unfavourable combat position against her and her support:
She wants her friends back; one living, two dead (to cast raise dead on them).
If we say (bluff) that we've put her two dead friends in an extradimensional space (bag of holding or whatever), and that they are set to be fully burned to ashes/disintegrated unless the correct commands to make that not happen are given every [time period], then suddenly we have leverage.
Because True Resurrection is hard to access. Really really hard.
The deal would be this: She does not attack. The captain is brought to the authorities and handed off for trial and execution; his rescue after he leaves our hands is on her. Maybe she gets him out before execution. Maybe she gets her hands on his corpse after he's executed. That's her business.
We cast Gentle Repose on her two dead friends. After the captain is no longer our responsibility, we return the bodies of her two dead friends to her, undamaged and ready for a Raise Dead spell, in return for a few things: Her +Int item, because of course she has one (to be given now).
She tells us what her two cool items do and we pick one for ourselves. (...probably also to be given now. I think we can get this when she is most desperate)
She also gets us the scrolls for Spellsister and Deathwine (and probably some others that I haven't thought of).
On out part, we will maintain Gentle Repose without any lapses (excepting emergencies, but we'll recast it a few days early to be safe) until she acquires the scrolls we want, and then we'll trade her friends for the scrolls.
Up to a duration [not sure of a fair time period, until we get tired of expending the resources/carrying corpses?], or we get the scrolls elsewhere, in which case we'll Sending her and trade them for money or something, and if she doesn't agree, we'll give them a respectful (read: safe, with good Religion checks to prevent bad stuff from happening to them) burial, and she'll have the regular timer to deal with.
Because otherwise she's just going to get free Gentle Repose castings out of us.
----
Edit: @Goldfish not sure if it works this way, but If we just knock the priest unconscious before Mina attempts to cast Bestow Curse on him, won't that mean he can't try to save against it?
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I'm pretty sure he would still get his Will save vs the spell. It would be up to @DragonParadox, though. It really shouldn't be that much of an issue, though. he might succeed on both rolls against Bestow Curse, despite the -4 penalty from other debuffs, but then he would also need to succeed in three DC 20 Will saves against Sirim's Shadow Enchantment with a -4 saving throw penalty. There is luck, then there is Luck, and this dude doesn't have that.
As for bargaining with Adara, I'm not inclined to do that unless we are at a serious disadvantage. There is nothing in it for us that we couldn't just get through killing her and whoever she brings with her. Making it easier for her to have her friends raised or resurrected just makes it easier for them to come after us for revenge. It's what I would do, and I generally consider myself better than a pirate. I guess it will depend on how things develop over the coming days, though.
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- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
I just got caught up in the idea of having the threat of 'we can make raising your friends harder' and ran with a scenario where it might be reasonable to make that threat.
The only thing I could think of was "they have us in a really bad combat situation", which might happen if she gets sufficient help before we have a long rest, but after this long rest, feels like something not to be any more concerned about than any other terrible encounter roll.
----
I'm fully in agreement with you in this on all points, was just having fun with the idea (and planning a potential back-up option in case she does manage to get enough favours called in to stage a rescue before we get our spell slots/surge points back.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
The primary drawback of that idea: imagine Goldfish in charge of the team responsible for freeing the captured operative and possibly taking the bodies. Where is talking in that plan?
The only talking possible with her is if she fails to kill us in whatever ambush she sets up for us, at which point it's easier to see the encounter to its conclusion.
The secondary drawback is that you would have to prepare for that eventuality right now, in sight of Sir Pisca, who has an opinion on what is to be done with pirates. Preservation of corpses in preparation for eventual resurrection isn't on that list.
Even though I am all for upholding a made up Adventuring Codex, which is to say, leave other adventurers off the hook in hope that others would do the same for you (and I'd gladly kick the swashbuckler off the ship with his dead buddies; a high level team has contingencies and gains less from pursuing vengeance than from pursuing profitable contracts to pay for resurrections), there is an issue of their benefactor that we've likely made an enemy of. If they go back to them to raise the dead and reequip, we are almost certainly looking at round 2 because they'd need to work off the money.
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Vote closed
Arc 9 Post 31: Stories of the Southern Reaches
New
Stories of the Southern Reaches
8th of Kuthona 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
The Scorpion's Sting yields the treasures you had expected and some that you did not: a plain iron chest inlaid with darkwood from Andoran and sealed with a lock so complex one almost has to physically restrain Cob from trying his hand at it that is said by the pirates to contain the looted gems, a set of faintly magical charts that show a shifting array of potential anchorages under the watchful arches of the Verduran, and almost ten thousand gold, most of it in unfamiliar coin that would have made Sirim roll his eyes were he able to. "River Kingdoms dross."
"The devil are those tree-riders about?" Sir Pisca is considerably less pleased, though you are not sure quite what has Mina gasp with laughter until Sirim quietly explains just what kind of 'riding' that particular expression usually denoted in Taldan.
Whether or not the druids of Arenway are enjoying the company of the trees a bit too much, the fact remains that the pirates sailed between three pillars as perilous as they are mysterious: House Basri, the tree shepherds, and the elf calling himself Swallowtail. Any one of these might be a reason to hang the lot of them now and drop their bodies in the river. Alas, this day you do not break bread with a cautious man.
Scorpion's Sting loot:
Chest of Dwarvish Gemstones
A plain iron chest inlaid with darkwood from Andoran and sealed with a complex lock. The pirates did not dare open it before they reached safe anchorage, least it draw the eye of some dwarfish scryer on them.
Charts of Fey Voyage
Written more in subtle glamor than ink and parchment, these charts purport to show the slow 'migration' of the Verduran's trees, opening anchorages where there had been none and hiding an them from prying eyes.
9,640 gp
The sound side of his good cheer, the man is positively whistling, is that he's in the mood to talk of grand plans, adventures he might seek with the gold and favor gained from this 'little jaunt down the Selen', with gold on his belt and favors at his back. He speaks of traveling down to Absalom or even to the ports of Osrion with a cargo of northern furs, wild-caught beasts, and amber to sell for a profit, taking a commission on the Galtish border where there's 'sure to be a push against the murderers soon', heading to Numeria to claim for his house some of the famed treasures of that land. It all sounds somewhat plausible, though rather light on detail and logistics, but that is not why you're glad to hear it. In between describing his assured future success the knight speaks rather more frankly than most of his station about what you can expect in Cassomir.
Lord Governor Bozbeyli, he explains, is a veteran knight of Taldor's cavalry, rising to prominence after fighting several border wars in the Zimar Prefecture. He began life as a meager peasant outside of Cassomir, much to the hargin of many finer bred folks, but his heroics as an officer in the Taldan Army are well documented and they saw him raised to senatorial rank by the hand of Emperor Stavian the Third himself. The Lord Governor was given the responsibility of running Cassomir 'as effectively and efficiently as he led his men in battle', which many saw as a trap laid out to finally make the blow hard soldier falter. If such a plot had indeed been devised, than it failed spectacularly as he has been overseeing a well-ordered and peaceful city for almost a decade now.
"You should compliment his scimitar if you meet him, he got it off a bandit chief in the Southern Ranges," your companion allows, taking a bite out of his fig bread and a sip of wine before continuing: "Don't play Towers with him though, he has a devil's luck."
You are about to ask which devil before realizing it was an expression.
"If you're the sort to talk to corpses maybe you can tell what ails Treacherous Jack," he adds with a laugh. "That's one scoundrel we can't hang on account of it being brick and mortar..." The name you discover is something of a dark jest regarding an ancient lighthouse, the last of a line that once ran the length of the coast known to sailors as the Jagged Saw. The others had fallen into ruin and perhaps it would have been better if Jack did too, for 'he' had the habit of going dark at the most unlucky times. Wrought with arcane fire and silvered mirrors at the height of Imperial Taldor, no mage who has checked the place has ever been able to figure out what ails the thing.
"Wrecked ships are precious..." Sirim hisses in your mind.
"Then there's the Locker. I imagine you'd have more luck around it than most..." And he's looking straight at you for the first time since he had greeted you for the meeting.
"Oh?" you draw your eyes from the shore passing by.
"The Imperial Naval Shipyards has been built and rebuilt numerous times in the city's history, from wharf to dockyard, from trade to shipyards of empire, but through it all the marshes will have their say. Things do not rot quite like you would expect down there, something about not having enough air. They say there's five times as much to the Locker below as what's presently used by the navy, and all manner of strange folk are said to traipse down there, shadow-kin and grey-faced dwarfs. I've even heard tales of elves with ashy faces and blood red eyes."
It's a good thing that you're not eating anything.
Do you explain the drow?
[] Yes, the more know of the danger the better
[] No, best not to darken the light of day
[] Write in
OOC: Interrogation after this.
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Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Nice find! I'm not sure about the value of the maps, but the gemstones will make it easier to pay our people their share of the loot won from the pirates.
Who would those maps be most valuable to, @DragonParadox? Drawing on Sirim and Pisca's knowledge, if necessary.
I don't see why we wouldn't warn Pisca about the Drow. Demon-worshipping Nazi Elves should be on everyone's radar.
[X] Yes, the more know of the danger the better
Who would those maps be most valuable to, @DragonParadox? Drawing on Sirim and Pisca's knowledge, if necessary.
Chagrin?
I don't see why we wouldn't warn Pisca about the Drow. Demon-worshipping Nazi Elves should be on everyone's radar.
[X] Yes, the more know of the danger the better
People who trade up and down the Sellen... and want to avoid the River Guard, smugglers and pirates.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
People live on top of one of the Underworld's exits, and don't know what a drow is? They must have good information security... regular security too, perhaps, for the exit to be considered more trouble than it's worth to raid.
Or maybe the nearest drow settlement is just really, really far.
[x] Yes, the more know of the danger the better
Kinda want to see one of those in this playthrough.
Or maybe the nearest drow settlement is just really, really far.
[x] Yes, the more know of the danger the better
Kinda want to see one of those in this playthrough.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I'm starting to think we should maybe refrain from telling Pisca about the possible Drow. If they're there, someone relevant probably already knows about it and has taken steps to mitigate the threat or doesn't believe it to be serious in the first place. We might be priming Pisca to do something stupid, which could blowback on us.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
A hopeless gambler who wants to raid Numeria for its
...I have to admit, I like his style. Yes, it is unsustainable and is liable to get him killed sooner rather than later, but for now he is an encounter magnet, and with the status to get away with it too. I am counting on him to find us a suitable adventure.
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- Location
- Argentina
[X] No, best not to darken the light of day
The guy is buried in debt and already thinking about spending it all. No need to point him towards some of the most depraved and dangerous folk on Golarion, thank you.
Also we have enough adventures already, we need less random encounters so that we can go and move Gorok's tribe. Then also go and re-deaden some dead dwarves.
The guy is buried in debt and already thinking about spending it all. No need to point him towards some of the most depraved and dangerous folk on Golarion, thank you.
Also we have enough adventures already, we need less random encounters so that we can go and move Gorok's tribe. Then also go and re-deaden some dead dwarves.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Yeah, upon further thought I'm changing my vote for the same reasons.
If we feel the need to share that info with him, we can do so when we part company. At that point we won't need to worry about getting dragged into his mess or losing the investment in bribery we've already made in this turd.
[X] No, best not to darken the light of day