Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)
- Thread starter DragonParadox
- Start date
- Fantasy
-
- Tags
- pathfinder
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
I didn't find the answer with a cusory search, but I feel a vampire takes an hour to get a new body, from the point that they return to their coffin.
@DragonParadox roughly how long to vamps tend to take to respawn, and roughly how far is the party from the carrige?
----
This bit confuses me:
If the vamp's after Sirim, do we think he was operating with permission/assistance from the Chilax? Since we had the captain sent to arrest people who look like us, I'd say so.
But in that case, I'm confused about the difference between the vampire being found dead in his coffin, and these three people and their horses and carriage vanishing.
----
@Goldfish can you add in a "Sirim and/or cast Detect Magic before Kori attempts to enter the carriage and coffin" please? My paranoia's spiking, not for "weird homebrew revenge curse" but "vampire has installed a last ditch magic trap/defence on his coffin or the inside of the carriage it's in", which is much more likely.
----
Much more involved; but I'm also concerned that we're not going to find the hatchlings, so I was wondering about something to the effect of:
[Assuming that the vamp takes an hour to respawn, and that we're waiting for it to respawn to cast Cure Wounds on it, and that the party is within 10ish minutes light jog of the carriage]
-- [] If, after 20 (or 30?) minutes Gorok doesn't think he has a good chance of finding the hatchling's, the party all get close to the carriage and ambush the people there, intending to take the weakest alive for interrogation, the hope being that they were involved in the handling of the hatchlings. Kill the other two and the horses - as cleanly as possible. Pepper and Sirim Prestidigitation away the blood/mess. Bag of holding the corpses. Dismantle the carriage and put it in a bag of holding. Question the survivor (Kori uses Suggestion + Bluff to get around the "won't do stuff that risks self" clause). Kill survior and put in bag of holding.
Assuming that we are using the portable boat to get back to the ship, drop all the remains off in the ocean. Or maybe burn the carriage a fair distance from it's current location?
Note that the steps lead out above aren't strict, I'm just laying out an idea for how to implement "Gorok might not find the hatchlings, and if he think's the search is going poorly, we capture one for interrogation in case we get lucky and they were involved, and dissapear everyone"
- Location
- St. Petersburg
I'd say "attacking Chelish citizenry", for all the difference it makes. If the vampire dies in an ambush of his own doing, or as a consequence of it, that's his business. If other people get dragged into it, that's another matter.
Does it make a difference to our legal status, considering we might already be wanted men for the number we did on the inquisitor of Asmodeus? Probably not. The reason why I want it done quietly is for expedience's sake... and maybe also hoping that however much leverage the vampire had, it does not extend to hunting armed and dangerous outlaws. He can't be paying them enough.
This is also the reason I don't want to wait for anybody. The only thing we get from involving Cob is 'not having vampire guards on our tail', but that might just be achieved by losing them in the wilderness.
Last edited:
It will take an hour for him to start regenerating and then 15 rounds, a minute and a half to get to full health
Assuming these people are Chelixians which seems likely given that they did not join the attack, them being found dead or going missing would likely be of greater concern to the Chelish authorities than a dead vampire from a foreign nation, even an allied one.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
The plan we settled on was for Kori to track the Vampire and the others to follow him at a distance. They can also use Kori's Dark Whispers spell to communicate at fairly long range to coordinate. Cob is more than able to sneak close enough to use his Create Sound power to accomplish the desired results without being detected. He doesn't have to be all that close, however, as the power will let him produce a sound equivalent to a Dragon roaring or something similar.
At best they'll probably find ashes in the coffin, and that won't be immediate. They probably aren't going to try to open it up to check inside for a while, and we should be long gone by then. Who wants to open the Vampire's coffin during the day and risk becoming his next meal, after all?
Okay.
[X] Incorporeal and Invisible, Kori will join Cicat in his coffin when the Vampire reforms. He will quietly target the helpless monster with a Cure Light Wounds spell, then slip from the bottom of the coffin and through the bottom of the wagon before returning to the rest of the group.
-[X] Kori and Sirim will examine the cart, coffin, and immediate surrounding using Detect Magic and Detect Fiendish Presence before approaching.
-[X] With Sirim coordinating their efforts, Kori will time his spell to coincide with Cob using his Control Sound ability to mimic the sound of a nearby beast, something loud and native to the area, which might startle the guards but shouldn't make them overly suspicious.
Last edited:
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
[X] Goldfish
And then there's screaming and noise and Kori's stuck there for another turn 'cuz he has to cast Cure Wounds a second time.
As such, maybe it'd be safer to have Kori drop a 2nd or 3rd level spell? [I'm feeling second is more reasonable tbh]
If we have to wait for him to reform to cast CLW on him, and if he starts regenerating immediately, won't there be a chance we roll low on our CLW spell, and he survives the turn?
And then there's screaming and noise and Kori's stuck there for another turn 'cuz he has to cast Cure Wounds a second time.
As such, maybe it'd be safer to have Kori drop a 2nd or 3rd level spell? [I'm feeling second is more reasonable tbh]
Last edited:
In this case I do not think reforms means 'regenerates' just that he regains physical form in his coffin.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
It doesn't take him an hour to reform. After he reforms, it takes him an hour to wake up and no longer be helpless. And during that hour, he is at 0 HP without being able to heal at all. A CLW spell will do more than enough damage to finish him off, even if he makes the Will save to half the damage. Undead are destroyed when reduced to negative HP.
As soon as he reforms, that's when Kori is going to CLW him, and then he'll get to scream as he is destroyed.
Last edited:
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
I was not being careful with my technical terminology - pretty sure I mixed them in a few posts tbh, so thanks for that
Ohhh. That does make more sense. Thanks!. CLW is grand
Edit: Oh! @Goldfish - what do you think of Kori and Sirim quickly backing off while waiting for Cob and casting Deeper Darkness on a pebble in a pouch on Kori's body for Sirim to drop?
The guy reading has obvious darkvision, and might have something that will see Sirim through an invisibility. Though since we can't know if he could see through invis, it might no be worth using.
Also, if he has Devil Sight, DD would useless.
Anyway even if Deeper Darkness is a poor use of resources, Sirim should Alter Shape Kori's body into some sort of creature. I hesitate to lean on "fey, as they are mercurial/inscrutable" again, but I'm not drawing a better idea. Cob too, since he's coming up to join us.
Last edited:
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
They shouldn't need to wait for Cob. He's already close enough to communicate with them and his power will be loud enough to get the job done without needing to be right on top of them.
I don't see the purpose of using Deeper Darkness here, and with everyone but Kori's spells being so depleted, it seems like an unnecessary waste, IMO.
It's dark and we're in a forest, and everyone who will be getting anywhere close to the coffin have very high Stealth and Invisibility. The whole point of doing this sneakily is to destroy Cicat without being noticed. Using Deeper Darkness is the opposite of being sneaky. If Sirim did use an affected pebble, he would be just as blinded as anyone else without See in Darkness.
It's already standard operating procedure for everyone to change their appearance when on any sort of covert mission. We've been doing that consistently since getting the Hats of Disguise.
Vote closed.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
If Gorok can't track down the missing children, we can have Mina use her last Mythic power for the day to cast a Locate Creature spell to find them. If that doesn't work, they're probably dead or outside of our immediate ability to retrieve them.
Arc 10: Post 37: To Slip the Steel Gaze
New
To Slip the Steel Gaze
30th of Kuthona 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
"There's a divination aura shrouding the knight; too weak to be foresight, too strong to be common mage sight," Sirim announces after a moment.
By now you know enough about knights to be surprised at the revelation, though all the more resolved not to linger or make a fight of it. Thus you catch one final look at the vampire, face to face in the confines of his coffin. He seems remarkably ordinary, you wouldn't have marked him in the street save perhaps to wonder if he too hailed from some subterranean realm from pallor alone.
'Be healed,' you whisper fingers, alight with golden light... and the assassin screams a thing not of flesh, but of soul rent from its vessel and hurled to whatever fate the River would carry him to as you fly outwards. The knight's head snaps in the direction of the cart, eyes suddenly catching a blue glint.
"Fiend's Blood! Who goes there?!"
Though you have no muscles you freeze for a fraction of an instant, sure he had seen you. Perhaps he had, seen a shadow at least
"Sir Grifald, what...?" the man atop the cart shouts alarmed, drawing both his attention and his ire, just long enough for you to escape.
Among the many mumbled apologies you hear in parting is one word that offers at least an inkling of an answer, 'signifer.' These then had been Hellknights, or at least one Hellknight and his servants, perhaps contracted by the now twice dead Cicat to guard him, though of what order and temperament the man was you and Sirim do not linger behind to discover. They had certainly come a great deal closer to avenging him than you are entirely comfortable with, but in the end you make a clean escape back to the others.
Fortune continues to favor you as when you return to the others you are greeted with the high-pitched babble of half a dozen small iruxi voices. Cicat had apparently simply stolen them away in a large basket which he had set aside for later by the simple expedient of hanging them up in one of the taller trees, still sleeping. All in all a good end to the night's ventures, even if, as Cob reminds you, the only loot is bits of vitrified sand from the construct, still bearing a glimmer of its animating power.
Gorok Survival (DC 25): 1d20+19 = 34 (Success)
***
31th of Kuthona 4707 A.R. (Absalom Reckoning)
It is not until the following day when Cob marks that you are being followed by a pair of eagles that you learn you had had not been the only one to gain something that night. The assassin had driven away a druid and his band of beasts and fey so that he might summon the eye of his god, but with the ritual brought to a humiliating end the hand of Zon-Kuthon might perhaps be lifted from the stones.
"If only we Nidalese were so fortunate," Sirim says though only to the company, and his attempt at a jest does little to hide his bitterns.
The druids, a pair of them master and apprentice, are quite troubled to see the iruxi go after what they call the mind plague of Longacre, but when Mina offers them the chance to come along they refuse. Someone, they claim, has to see to it that soil stays healthy so that wholesome growth might one day sprout from it.
"We would repay you if we could, but we are poor in coin and you don't seem the sort to have need of food and shelter through so mild a winter," the elder admits. In parting then they leave a series of syllables and thrills in their strange tongue which you gather would mark you as a friend, at least to those green folk nearest here in Cheliax and parts of Andoran.
Gained Minor Druidic Boon
At last you come to the sea and now tis time to play the sailor with spell and skill, not to mention the help of a very interested Anippe who, in her own words, 'hopes to get to use some magic on pirates.' You do not bother asking which pirates.
How do you set sail?
[] Write in
OOC: Sorry if this is a bit scattered, the druids rolled very strangely to where they were as friendly as they were poor, but hey, you got to the sea and you did not add Hellknights to your enemies.
Last edited:
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
I still want those two regenerate scrolls.
So this might (at least) help as leverage to getting purchasing access.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Haha, sweet irony.
Get fucked, Cicat.
I was afraid that dude was a Hellknight of some variety. I'm glad we avoided getting into any conflict with those guys on top of everything else.
@DragonParadox, how is the weather? It's winter, so the conditions on the Inner Sea could be unfavorable, to say the least. Also, what time of day is it?
Assuming Gorok has already prepared spells for the final day on land before setting sail, a Read Weather spell combined with a Survival skill check should be a good way to gauge local weather and what we're likely to encounter at sea for at least a couple days.
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
The joke is that no one is going to attack us because of Anippe.
The next one is.... [checks list]. Huh.
A team up between a minor fiend offended that Cob is turning away from Grandma (see back around the time of the Hag village), and a small party hunting the "dread witch" Mina.
---
@DragonParadox
Might those parts include the area that those lovely thieves that we were very careful to be gentle with hail from?
[I'm hoping that they might have Regenerate scrolls we can buy, since the druids we took the skulls from suddenly got all "come over here and visit us!" for no. discernable. reason. when we tried to buy two from them.]
Edit:
I think we have a Portable Boat we can use to get back to the summoned ship?
Last edited:
The weather is clear with a brisk wind, there are a few clouds shading the late afternoon sun but nothing major.
Not the Keth if that is what you mean, they are isolationist and Clannish even by the standards of other druids and as far as you know they are more fey inclined than green faith. If you mean Arenway, that is the closest thing to a druid capital in southern Avistan
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
It's time to once more venture forth into the high seas!
Here's the plan I've come up with. It's using the Sailing Ship option instead of the Longship, since it provides much more room for everyone, multiple decks, and greater overall protection for the passengers and crew. With Trade Wind and Tail Current spells we don't have to worry about lacking wind for our sails, so we shouldn't be much slower than the Longship option and it won't require 40 of the Iruxi to act as rowers.
Am I missing anything?
[X] I'm on a Boat!
-[X] Preparations made on the final morning of travel before reaching the sea:
--[X] Mina prepares two Rune of Rule spells in place of her Invisibility spells and a Trade Wind spell in place of Glitterdust. She will go ahead and place a Rune of Rule spell on herself before setting out for the day. She adjust Pepper's Evolution points as she sleeps the night before, granting him the Skilled power twice, gaining a +8 bonus to the Profession (Sailor) and Perception skills.
--[X] Sirim prepares a Make Whole spell in place of Blur, Carry Companion in place of Fox's Cunning, Deathwine in place of Magic Circle Against Evil, and Summon Ship in place of Greater Invisibility and one of his Shadow Conjuration spells.
--[X] Gorok prepares Read Weather in place of Acid Maw, Allfood in place of Lead Blades,
and Aquatic Cavalry in place of Carry Companion. He has members of his tribe capture at least one small prey animal with a couple HD suitable for eating, such as a boar. It must be kept alive. He also has them gather up many small stones, between 15 and 20 pounds each. He will cast Allfood spells on the rocks each day to supplement the rations we brought for everyone, the supplies the Iruxi carried, and any fish that are caught during the voyage.
--[X] Kori uses Inspired Spell to cast a Death Knell spell into Mina's Ring of Spell Storing and a Calculated Luck spell into Cob's.
-[X] Summoning the Ship; after finding a suitable place to disembark:
--[X] Sirim will cast Marionette Possession on Gorok, then Mina will place a Rune of Rule spell on Sirim, along with casting Hermean Potential on him and using her Fortune Hex if necessary.
---[X] He will then use one of our Greater False Vision scrolls on Anippe in conjunction with the Generosity effect from Rune of Rule to increase its duration to 15 hours. The illusion will make it appear that she is in a random forest one might find anywhere in southern Avistan, surrounded by armed mercenaries.
---[X] He then casts Deathwine on one of our Cure Serious Wounds potions, followed by using the Ring of Spell Storing to cast Death Knell. After casting Death Knell, he sacrifices the previously captured animal to increase his caster level by +1.
--[X] Kori drinks the Deathwine potion to increase his Necromancy caster level by +3, then uses Inspired Spell to cast Sharesister on Sirim to increase his caster level by +2, up to 10th level.
--[X] Before he begins to cast Summon Ship, Sirim uses Calculated Luck from the other Ring of Spell Storing. If one of the 3d8 dice rolled is an 8, he will use it to increase his Conjuration caster level by +1, up to 11th. He will then cast Summon Ship using a dose of Darkwood as an Alchemical Power component to increase the caster level by +1, to either 11th or 12th level, in order to Summon a Sailing Ship. He uses one of our Extend Magic gems to double the ship's duration to 22 or 24 days.
--[X] Mina casts Hermean Potential on herself, and uses her Fortune Hex if necessary, along with the Generosity effect from Rune of Rule as she casts one of our Unseen Crew spells at 11th caster level, creating 11 Unseen Sailors for 11 days. She then casts another Rune of Rule on herself after recovering the spell using her 2nd level Pearl of Power on and repeats this process with another Unseen Crew spell. They will serve as the main crew of the Summoned ship.
-[X] Once the ship disembarks, Mina will cast Trade Wind and Sirim will use Wild Arcana to cast Tail Current, the spells acting together to speed our journey and provide constant wind for the sails, while Pepper serves as captain.
Here's the plan I've come up with. It's using the Sailing Ship option instead of the Longship, since it provides much more room for everyone, multiple decks, and greater overall protection for the passengers and crew. With Trade Wind and Tail Current spells we don't have to worry about lacking wind for our sails, so we shouldn't be much slower than the Longship option and it won't require 40 of the Iruxi to act as rowers.
Am I missing anything?
[X] I'm on a Boat!
-[X] Preparations made on the final morning of travel before reaching the sea:
--[X] Mina prepares two Rune of Rule spells in place of her Invisibility spells and a Trade Wind spell in place of Glitterdust. She will go ahead and place a Rune of Rule spell on herself before setting out for the day. She adjust Pepper's Evolution points as she sleeps the night before, granting him the Skilled power twice, gaining a +8 bonus to the Profession (Sailor) and Perception skills.
--[X] Sirim prepares a Make Whole spell in place of Blur, Carry Companion in place of Fox's Cunning, Deathwine in place of Magic Circle Against Evil, and Summon Ship in place of Greater Invisibility and one of his Shadow Conjuration spells.
--[X] Gorok prepares Read Weather in place of Acid Maw, Allfood in place of Lead Blades,
and Aquatic Cavalry in place of Carry Companion. He has members of his tribe capture at least one small prey animal with a couple HD suitable for eating, such as a boar. It must be kept alive. He also has them gather up many small stones, between 15 and 20 pounds each. He will cast Allfood spells on the rocks each day to supplement the rations we brought for everyone, the supplies the Iruxi carried, and any fish that are caught during the voyage.
--[X] Kori uses Inspired Spell to cast a Death Knell spell into Mina's Ring of Spell Storing and a Calculated Luck spell into Cob's.
-[X] Summoning the Ship; after finding a suitable place to disembark:
--[X] Sirim will cast Marionette Possession on Gorok, then Mina will place a Rune of Rule spell on Sirim, along with casting Hermean Potential on him and using her Fortune Hex if necessary.
---[X] He will then use one of our Greater False Vision scrolls on Anippe in conjunction with the Generosity effect from Rune of Rule to increase its duration to 15 hours. The illusion will make it appear that she is in a random forest one might find anywhere in southern Avistan, surrounded by armed mercenaries.
---[X] He then casts Deathwine on one of our Cure Serious Wounds potions, followed by using the Ring of Spell Storing to cast Death Knell. After casting Death Knell, he sacrifices the previously captured animal to increase his caster level by +1.
--[X] Kori drinks the Deathwine potion to increase his Necromancy caster level by +3, then uses Inspired Spell to cast Sharesister on Sirim to increase his caster level by +2, up to 10th level.
--[X] Before he begins to cast Summon Ship, Sirim uses Calculated Luck from the other Ring of Spell Storing. If one of the 3d8 dice rolled is an 8, he will use it to increase his Conjuration caster level by +1, up to 11th. He will then cast Summon Ship using a dose of Darkwood as an Alchemical Power component to increase the caster level by +1, to either 11th or 12th level, in order to Summon a Sailing Ship. He uses one of our Extend Magic gems to double the ship's duration to 22 or 24 days.
--[X] Mina casts Hermean Potential on herself, and uses her Fortune Hex if necessary, along with the Generosity effect from Rune of Rule as she casts one of our Unseen Crew spells at 11th caster level, creating 11 Unseen Sailors for 11 days. She then casts another Rune of Rule on herself after recovering the spell using her 2nd level Pearl of Power on and repeats this process with another Unseen Crew spell. They will serve as the main crew of the Summoned ship.
-[X] Once the ship disembarks, Mina will cast Trade Wind and Sirim will use Wild Arcana to cast Tail Current, the spells acting together to speed our journey and provide constant wind for the sails, while Pepper serves as captain.
Last edited:
- Location
- being near locations is my passion.
@Goldfish there's a lot of cool stuff going on here, and I've not given your plan the careful read through it deserves, but I wanted to state these two things before I forgot:
As I understand it, Pepper and Sirirm can Prestidigitation the food into tasting a bit better.
Why "she is in the tavern where we were first attacked by Cicat." in particular and not somewhere different? Wouldn't that tavern be obviously suspicious? I feel like we're missing an opportunity to make any scriers expend resources chasing a more believable false lead.
Oh. Oh wow. I've had a fair bit of baileys so I missed this bit on my first read through.
I really don't think that Skeleton Crew is in any way ok. Like, this isn't amoral D&D tabletop-game methods, this is characters with characterisation.
I was really iffy on using Death Knell already, and I have serious objections to using Skeleton Crew.
As I understand it, Pepper and Sirirm can Prestidigitation the food into tasting a bit better.
Why "she is in the tavern where we were first attacked by Cicat." in particular and not somewhere different? Wouldn't that tavern be obviously suspicious? I feel like we're missing an opportunity to make any scriers expend resources chasing a more believable false lead.
Oh. Oh wow. I've had a fair bit of baileys so I missed this bit on my first read through.
I really don't think that Skeleton Crew is in any way ok. Like, this isn't amoral D&D tabletop-game methods, this is characters with characterisation.
I was really iffy on using Death Knell already, and I have serious objections to using Skeleton Crew.
Goldfish
Friendly Spider-Fish Abomination
- Location
- Formerly of the Far Realm
Yep, that will help, assuming the Iruxi didn't bring herbs and other stuff along with them they could use as seasoning.
No real reason beyond being annoyed with the innkeeper. I've updated that part to have it be a forest instead.
I don't understand the moral objections, if the Iruxi were willing to allow their ancestors to help. These are basically mindless Undead robots programmed to act as sailors.
I don't mind removing them from the plan for now, though. I've updated it to have Mina use two Unseen Crew scrolls for now. Just a heads up, though, we will only have one of those remaining and they're only going to last 11 days. We will probably need to use Skeleton Crew along with our last Unseen Crew scrolls before we reach Cassomir.
Death Knell is even less objectionable than Skeleton Crew, IMO. It's not like we're sacrificing puppies for fun, but killing something that would have been hunted for food anyway, which the Iruxi can then go on to eat.