- Location
- St. Petersburg
What do you mean, forgot? I thought they were meant to be kept in the inventory to do their job. How would they get 'used up' otherwise?
Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Fantasy
-
- Tags
- pathfinder
- Location
- Argentina
It could at least drive us to search more anti-scrying measures sooner I think.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I didn't forget about them, just figured we would be keeping an eye on them for changes if any of them were activated. It's good to see they've been working as intended.
The main reason for betraying Gavhaul was that we thought he would betray us. In this instance, it turns out that he wasn't planning to, but that only means he hadn't gotten around to it yet. The Apsis Consortium has a well earned reputation for betrayal and exploitation, especially of low level and expendable assets.
It's better to be on the good side of the Pathfinders, though that doesn't necessarily mean we need to be a member. Even without being members, they make good contacts.
The main reason for betraying Gavhaul was that we thought he would betray us. In this instance, it turns out that he wasn't planning to, but that only means he hadn't gotten around to it yet. The Apsis Consortium has a well earned reputation for betrayal and exploitation, especially of low level and expendable assets.
Ok, looks like we are asking our companions, lets see how the prisoner hand-over goes.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
For me at least; while I was intending to kill Gavhaul from about the time he introduced us to the vampire with imps, the moment I decided "might as well do it now" was when he sent us to murder a teenage demon-hunting thief so he could get the loot she stole. (Sylestrix)
And between trying to navigate refusing to do so or just killing him, killing him was much simpler.
I was also worried that the being he had bound was much more powerful than it turned out to be, was going to break out soon.
Arc 9 Interlude 5: The Way and the Watcher
New
The Way and the Watcher
12th of Kuthona 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
The small toad figurine felt almost warm in Mina's hand.
She liked to think Warty was sleeping in there, still able to see the colorful awnings and smell the toasted street meats spiced to over-stuffing, even though the cold precision of arcane permutations indicated that it would be more like an interruption of his life. Every thought, every dream, every beat of life within him made stone, completely in stasis.
No wonder Cob was upset. And you are thinking about that so you don't have to consider what all this spectacle is in service of aren't you, Mina? The young sorceress asked herself. In Barstoi, public executions were as common as the rain and as ominous as ravens, as the saying went. She hadn't seen one until she was away from the monastery, a woman who had stolen food from a count's storehouses, slowly counting the losses to vermin. According the the crier she'd been at it for twenty years until one of her 'accomplices' had confessed on the wheel for some other sin, real or imagined.
'Captain Scorpio' and 'Tarick the Wise' were both guilty of sins far greater and better attested, along with the rest of the pirate crew, but it still turned her stomach a little to see people crowd around the street and crane their necks like it was a fair; fathers boosting up their children for a better look, street hawkers going where the business was, not even caring that more than a dozen men were to face the noose. Were they bad people, the crew of the Scorpion's Sting, or did they just have nothing but bad choices left? They weren't all prancing down the street, heads held high and defiant, occasionally nodding to folks at random graciously like they were on the way to meet the captain and not their own demise. Some of them were clearly praying, some where glassy-eyed and a thousand miles away, only their legs moving, and some just seemed to view the people of Cassomir with the same surly resignation that a beast long caged sees its captors.
It was with such thoughts passing through her mind that she noticed another figure looking on from an alcove that once held a statue of Aroden, now broken, and looking beside the sandaled feet, more than high enough to serve as a seat. From the shapeless hat without the feathers of nobility or even mildly prosperous citizenry, his shirt a pale brown, bleached by the sun, and his pants leather cracked by the wind, he would have been wholly unremarkable save for one small detail. As he leaned further out to get a better look at the proceedings, his head and chin cast no shadow.
For any but daughter of Ustalav that would have been easily missed in the press, but Mina froze as she met his gaze, about to say something. Then unnoticed by anyone else, he vanished.
"Cob, did you see that?" she asks her small friend urgently, partly to make sure she wasn't being crazy, for vampires did not walk under the light of day, and partly a warning of danger.
"Huh?" he looked up. "Fire witch back to get captain-man?"
"No, this was something else I think..." she trailed off, looking for Sir Pisca. "Tell him someone strange was looking at the prisoners."
Cob deftly navigates the crowd and does as she had asked, but the knight doesn't seem to to pay him much mind. After all, Swift Prison is in sight.
The sound of breaking glass is the first and only warning she gets, and in an instant thick black smoke envelops the whole street. People are screaming "Fire!", but she can't see any. Not that it matters. The crowd is about to panic, and people are likely going to get trampled in the press back towards the harbor.
What do your companions focus on?
[] Securing the prisoners
[] Calming the crowd
[] Write in
OOC: There's tricks afoot.
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- Location
- Germany
Okay.
Regular looking dude, casts no shadow.
Illusion maybe?
More likely a smoke spell?
I don't see real fire spread smoke so quickly.
Maybe some version of Fog Cloud, or just Pyrotechnics (one of Viserys' favorite little spells, IIRC).
Or maybe another illusion, since the shadowless person seems to me like a hint in that direction?
Massgamer
Advance toward the Future
- Location
- The Future
Hmmm, an attempted break out? Either way, there is going to be more damaged from a scared crowd more than anything else, so I suggest we focus on that.
[X] Calming the crowd
Does Mina know any spells that can be used to blow smoke away maybe?
[X] Calming the crowd
Does Mina know any spells that can be used to blow smoke away maybe?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
I don't think we should try to act overtly here, y'all. Our group is strange and Taldor is less than welcoming to anything non-Human.
If we try to calm the crowd, we might end up with the crowd focused on us as a convenient target of their ire. And if we try to secure the prisoners, someone might assume we are part of the encounter and are trying to free them instead.
Pisca is a native and a noble. Let's let him handle it.
[X] When in Cassomir...
-[X] Mina uses Wild Arcana to cast a Tough Crowd spell on herself and her party members, along with Sir Prisca and other nearby allies. She then casts See Invisibility.
-[X] Sirim casts Magic Circle Against Evil. He then uses Wild Arcana to cast an Ashen Path spell on himself and his party members, along with Sir Prisca and other nearby allies.
-[X] Gorok, Cob, and the rest of our people who are present do nothing to draw additional attention to themselves, gathering within the protection of Sirim's circle while waiting for the hidden assailants to act and reveal their plans.
--[X] Gorok quickly informs Sir Prisca of the warding spell and let's him know that we are watching his back to give him an opportunity to deal with the situation as befits his station.
If we try to calm the crowd, we might end up with the crowd focused on us as a convenient target of their ire. And if we try to secure the prisoners, someone might assume we are part of the encounter and are trying to free them instead.
Pisca is a native and a noble. Let's let him handle it.
[X] When in Cassomir...
-[X] Mina uses Wild Arcana to cast a Tough Crowd spell on herself and her party members, along with Sir Prisca and other nearby allies. She then casts See Invisibility.
-[X] Sirim casts Magic Circle Against Evil. He then uses Wild Arcana to cast an Ashen Path spell on himself and his party members, along with Sir Prisca and other nearby allies.
-[X] Gorok, Cob, and the rest of our people who are present do nothing to draw additional attention to themselves, gathering within the protection of Sirim's circle while waiting for the hidden assailants to act and reveal their plans.
--[X] Gorok quickly informs Sir Prisca of the warding spell and let's him know that we are watching his back to give him an opportunity to deal with the situation as befits his station.
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- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
Calm Emotions:
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area creatures in a 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration concentration, up to 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
I'm guessing that 40ft area would be too small?
We wouldn't need to calm everyone, just enough to prevent a crushing panic from occurring.
----
Idea: Cob and Sirim go looking for the source of the smoke:
Sirim could fly to the source of the smoke and use two Surge Points to cast a Wind Wall around it - at 5 ft high per level, the smoke will be contained in the cylinder and only be able to escape from the top.
Cob keeps an eye out for anyone who targets Sirim and stabs them.
----
Also, maybe Sirim should drop a mythic haste?
There's no point in just causing a panic if you're not going to make use of it, and an extra move action could come in very handy here.
Range medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./level)
Area creatures in a 20-ft.-radius spread
Duration concentration, up to 1 round/level (D)
Saving Throw Will negates; Spell Resistance yes
I'm guessing that 40ft area would be too small?
We wouldn't need to calm everyone, just enough to prevent a crushing panic from occurring.
----
Idea: Cob and Sirim go looking for the source of the smoke:
Sirim could fly to the source of the smoke and use two Surge Points to cast a Wind Wall around it - at 5 ft high per level, the smoke will be contained in the cylinder and only be able to escape from the top.
Cob keeps an eye out for anyone who targets Sirim and stabs them.
----
Also, maybe Sirim should drop a mythic haste?
There's no point in just causing a panic if you're not going to make use of it, and an extra move action could come in very handy here.
You need something to see through the smoke before you can go looking for its source.
- Location
- Germany
[X] Goldfish
Can't see the casting, can't do anything about it.
Maybe just Gust of Wind?
That won't work if the source of the spell is inside the cloud, I believe.
Can't see the casting, can't do anything about it.
Maybe just Gust of Wind?
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
The goal wasn't to deal with the source of the spell, but rather to prepare for whatever followup to it is coming without being obvious about it and making a target of ourselves. The Magic Circle isn't going to cause any visual effects to worry the crowd or draw attention and it covers enough area to protect the group from a bunch of stuff.
I can add in Gust of Wind if ya'll think it would be worth it?
- Location
- Germany
No strong feelings one way or the other.
It's just that I believe you can't counterspell without seeing someone cast, so before potential foes show themselves, it's not the most useful action.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Good point. I've updated my plan to have him cast Ashen Path in the group instead of waiting to Counterspell.
Vote closed.
Arc 9 Interlude 5: The Law Undermined
New
The Law Undermined
12th of Kuthona 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
What's the worst that this could be? It was a question that had served Sirim well over the years, for if one is prepared to deal with the worst rare is the circumstance in which one cannot at least mitigate some lesser ill. So a circle of power he lay in the air around his companions and a few of the witless Taldans who thought that a procession of pirates was fair cause for an outing, children and all... A thud, then another, and another, and another split the air as the prisoners vanished from among their captors. Damnable smoke, he cursed inwardly, spinning what his teachers would have called a slapdash spell doomed to fail, but this time, as all the times since he had taken of the fire, the magic heeded him.
"Order! By the Key and Shield keep your wits about you! Keep calm!" the knight's words were very distant to the shade, in no peril of being trampled by the citizenry or stabbed by half-blind soldiery.
Magic's gift this day was sight... and what he saw both impressed and annoyed him in equal measure: pirates vanishing one after another in the grasp of a petty translocation, one he had seen before when Scorpion's Sting met the Dancing Slurk, the sorceress was here. Or rather... there, the smoke breathing from a grate under the city. She was beneath their feet, working her magic though a scryer's glass.
"The underground, quickly!"
Events were certainly moving quickly, but not in a direction Sirim would have preferred. The Cassomiri watchmen would not heed a foreigner in the midst of a riot, no matter how well-bred he might be, and their own officers, such as they could be called, had been the first to lead the scramble, serving nothing but to allow the pirates their too-timely escape.
"With me! Ghosts with me and we'll double our earnings this day!" Sir Pisca shouted as he looked to the source of the smoke he at least could pierce by sorcery.
"Our earnings are safe in crates and stoneborn hands," Gorok sent along to a approving Sirim. "But curses will not hold against a skilled magician. Scorpio-Captain would be dangerous to share blood feud with."
Particulars of iruxi grammar aside, Sirim was inclined to agree and Cob did not need any prompting to open the bars as only a goblin given a dozen vials of acid could.
Lost 1 Acid Vial
"Steel spewer, no witch!" he called up and indeed Sirim could see that someone had rigged a crude alchemical apparatus to produce chocking smoke in order to distract the crowd. They had also collapsed the tunnel leading east along the street towards the prison. Beyond that one could clearly hear the clanking chains of the escaping pirates, the mage and her confederates. She could not have cast that many spells that quickly on her own. Scrolls most likely.
"Sons of scaled sows!" Pisca cursed... creatively, for all the good it would do him. Though he was not without some arcane skill, it would take a subtler hand than his to overcome this obstacle.
I could slip through. Cob could jump through the shadows, Sirim thought, but the prospect did not fill him with confidence, not against foes with the resources and the patience to set all this up. Perhaps he could manage another hasty conjuration to pass Mina and Gorok through as well, but that would leave him drained. For a moment the shade remained trapped in indecision between sharp peril near to hand and the prospect of a lesser one that lingered.
Finally he decided...
[] Follow the escapees
-[] Only with Cob
-[] Use 2x Mythic Surges to cast Dimension Step and get Mina and Gorok passed the collapsed stones
[] Let them go, it's not worth the risk
[] Write in
OOC: Disadvantage of having a city with several levels.
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- Location
- Germany
I assume they didn't get the priest out, since he had nothing to do with them?
Cause then I'd say securing the remaining prisoner and calming the crowd is more important.
Nope, the priest is still there.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Crap. I knew something like this was going to happen. Well, the captain is triple cursed, to be Blind, have hus main attribute reduced by -6, and to suffer a -4 penalty to pretty much every roll. That's hardly irreversible, but it's a roadblock that must be overcome before he's a threat. That still leaves Adara and whatever help she brought along, as well as the other prisoners
If we didn't have bad blood with these people, I wouldn't bother chasing after them, but we do, so we must. Gorok has the right of it.
[X] Follow the escapees
-[X] Cob expends one Mythic power to Shadow Teleport and Sirim uses two Mythic power to cast Dimension Step on Mina and Gorok, then follows.
-[X] Mina casts Mythic Heroism on Cob if she can before he teleports, or on Gorok if she cannot. Gorok casts Heavy Blades on his sword if he has a chance before being teleported.
If we didn't have bad blood with these people, I wouldn't bother chasing after them, but we do, so we must. Gorok has the right of it.
[X] Follow the escapees
-[X] Cob expends one Mythic power to Shadow Teleport and Sirim uses two Mythic power to cast Dimension Step on Mina and Gorok, then follows.
-[X] Mina casts Mythic Heroism on Cob if she can before he teleports, or on Gorok if she cannot. Gorok casts Heavy Blades on his sword if he has a chance before being teleported.
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