Damned in life - A Pathfinder 1E Adventure in the Infernal City of Dis

[Narasan]

But if we wait longer to clean it out, our enemies have more time to grow. Thats more exp!

-i think the why is left open to interpret by the dm of each game .



My own interpretations would be:
1. Everything has to be (somewhat) in balance,as designed by the creator, because the setting was created by them to produce exceptional individuals, no matter their alignment, and conflict is very useful for that.

2. There were times where good and evil joined forces(or ignored each other) to stop forces of annihilation.Nonexistence is unwanted by most.

3. Its easier to destroy then to defend. If good uses a time of great strength to try and eradicate evil, evil can with what time they have left, use all their stored ressources to destroy and corrupt all that good wants to protect, making it pointless.

4. So, good made pacts with evil.
So there are rules, and repercussions.
There are loopholes,and abuse ,and suffering, but the alternative was
a: chaos that destroys all possible of good or
b: complete annihilation of all in an emergency.
So their hands are tied,and they tied some enemy hands with them.


Of course, the rules affect mortals far less then gods.

Good trusts in mortals to rise up against evil, and hopefully improve the situation longterm.

Hasnt really happened much, but hope dies last.

 

[Tomcost]

But if we wait longer to clean it out, our enemies have more time to grow. Thats more exp!

-i think the why is left open to interpret by the dm of each game .



My own interpretations would be:
1. Everything has to be (somewhat) in balance,as designed by the creator, because the setting was created by them to produce exceptional individuals, no matter their alignment, and conflict is very useful for that.

2. There were times where good and evil joined forces(or ignored each other) to stop forces of annihilation.Nonexistence is unwanted by most.

3. Its easier to destroy then to defend. If good uses a time of great strength to try and eradicate evil, evil can with what time they have left, use all their stored ressources to destroy and corrupt all that good wants to protect, making it pointless.

4. So, good made pacts with evil.
So there are rules, and repercussions.
There are loopholes,and abuse ,and suffering, but the alternative was
a: chaos that destroys all possible of good or
b: complete annihilation of all in an emergency.
So their hands are tied,and they tied some enemy hands with them.


Of course, the rules affect mortals far less then gods.

Good trusts in mortals to rise up against evil, and hopefully improve the situation longterm.

Hasnt really happened much, but hope dies last.

Click to shrink...

The comsmological order in Pathfinder has a lot of justifications, and being in a place where you see right in front of you the consequences of said order is something that gives a lot of reasons to talk. That's why I liked Dis. I wanted an adventure in the Spheres, but the quality and diversity of things to do would have been less interesting in, say, Armun Kelisk or the gates of Heaven.

Also I am giving you level-adjusted threats... mostly. You rolled a one here.

 

[DragonParadox]

[X] Pest Control

Seems like a nice opening

But if we wait longer to clean it out, our enemies have more time to grow. Thats more exp!

-i think the why is left open to interpret by the dm of each game .



My own interpretations would be:
1. Everything has to be (somewhat) in balance,as designed by the creator, because the setting was created by them to produce exceptional individuals, no matter their alignment, and conflict is very useful for that.

2. There were times where good and evil joined forces(or ignored each other) to stop forces of annihilation.Nonexistence is unwanted by most.

3. Its easier to destroy then to defend. If good uses a time of great strength to try and eradicate evil, evil can with what time they have left, use all their stored ressources to destroy and corrupt all that good wants to protect, making it pointless.

4. So, good made pacts with evil.
So there are rules, and repercussions.
There are loopholes,and abuse ,and suffering, but the alternative was
a: chaos that destroys all possible of good or
b: complete annihilation of all in an emergency.
So their hands are tied,and they tied some enemy hands with them.


Of course, the rules affect mortals far less then gods.

Good trusts in mortals to rise up against evil, and hopefully improve the situation longterm.

Hasnt really happened much, but hope dies last.

Click to shrink...

Option 1 is canon I think. Golarion means the Cage and it took all of the 'primordial' Pantheon to bind the Rough Beast. Asmodeous holds the key. If nothing else should be ever be on the brink of losing he can always just turn it.

 

[Narasan]

I based some of my ideas on that.I was reading about dnd and pathfinder gods and their history for some ideas i had,and that story gave me ideas of how interpantheon politics works.

Im mostly thinking of the gods as small familys in a small town, with each pantheon living in one street,sometimes in one house,and being extremley petty to each other.
Still, when an outsider makes trouble, or someone us an arsonist, they still form a mob.

its fun to give each god a stereotypical role in a series about a small insular town.




The thing with evil is, there is always a bigger evil. And the (currently) lesser evil has often many reasons to stab it.

 

[Tomcost]

The thing with evil is, there is always a bigger evil. And the (currently) lesser evil has often many reasons to stab it.

Click to shrink...

Often times, the greater evil is complete anihilation. Which, according to some "enlightened" daemonic philosophers, might actually be preferable to our reality of countless suffering.

I like making some decent arguments for the evil factions too. It does not have to be true, it just have to be understandable. They do have followers, and if they manage to keep them, it means they are functioning people, not raving lunatics*

*Raving lunatic gods do exist, and the raving lunatics do end with them, but not every evil god can be a raving lunatic. Diversity is good.

 

[DragonParadox]

Often times, the greater evil is complete anihilation. Which, according to some "enlightened" daemonic philosophers, might actually be preferable to our reality of countless suffering.

I like making some decent arguments for the evil factions too. It does not have to be true, it just have to be understandable. They do have followers, and if they manage to keep them, it means they are functioning people, not raving lunatics*

*Raving lunatic gods do exist, and the raving lunatics do end with them, but not every evil god can be a raving lunatic. Diversity is good.

Click to shrink...

To be fair to the Rough Beast he's not actually insane, he just wants to break everything, it is his followers who are insane (some of them at least). The heard 'I want to break everything' and somehow concluded the massive unholy engine of destruction forgot to add 'so I can build a utopia on the ashes for the chosen few'

 

[Tomcost]

To be fair to the Rough Beast he's not actually insane, he just wants to break everything, it is his followers who are insane (some of them at least). The heard 'I want to break everything' and somehow concluded the massive unholy engine of destruction forgot to add 'so I can build a utopia on the ashes for the chosen few'

Click to shrink...

Eh, I did not have in mind Rovagug specifically, but it applies. I have planned to explore the realities of the Kuthites, for example.

 

[Narasan]

Its fascinating. There are proven gids here, but their followers still often go against them. Not that all gods dislike that. I believe the beast decided to let his cult leader keep talking, because its goal( destruction) was still met.

And it doesnt HAVE to be annihilation. Its actually funny how this can go. For example:

That one rude guy you know
<Thief that only steals
<bandit that prefers just getting money
<organised criminals that slowly profit from corruption <drug dealer
<professional assassin <psychotic murderer
<evil cult member that wants to kill a community
<slavers
<demon that wants to grab souls to torture for awhile but holds to deals
<mindless demon that attacks everything
<Massive disaster(natural or not)
<hivemind that overtakes every mind with its control
<being of order that transforms everything into its preferred form
<annihilation of all


You can easily turn any point on this list into a temporary ally against a lower point of thus list.

The list is not perfect, and there many exceptions and other places to put them, but people are complicated.

 

[butchock]

[X] Pest Control

 

[Rilee]

[X] Pest Control

 

[Nevill]

[x] Pest Control

 

[Tomcost]

The Power of Blood​

Bloom season

The mood quickly changes as you all convene on a plan. No matter what you might personally believe, you are glad that you are professional enough to leave everything aside to keep each other safe. A more cynical part of your mind remembers that your profession here is first and foremost, surviving.

A quick plan is decided, and after a quick arcane blessing on Thrag'Ka's blade and a quick trick from Nasha confers weight that defies the ordinary to her bow, you make the gnoll invisible.

With Thrag'Ka leading, you all come outside, with Nasha quickly trying to find a position nearby to fire from.

Or at least that was the plan, because like an horrifically huge many-legged arrow, something darts with all speed from the sky towards Thrag'Ka, with her barely managing to lean at a side enough that the thing slides off from her armor, landing in a tangle of limbs.

Spoiler: Giant Mosquito

"How the fuck did that got in here?" Seldlom curses as he summons one of the very violent monsters that prove to work too well against anything you would want torn.

"They suck at the blood of the great meat eaters at home!" Nasha says as she knocks an arrow into her bow.

For your part, you are too busy in the delicate art of yanking the strings of fate to better get this creature killed sooner than later. It proves to work, as the slightest nudge gets the very risky shot the gnoll was calculating against the creature's heat land right in one of its eyes, causing the thing to shake violently in a tangle of long limbs.

Giant Mosquito takes 18 damage! Now at 42/60!

Thrag'Ka wastes no time, hefting a very vicious halberd and ramming it into the abdomen of the beast, all the thrashing of limbs is rendered useless when faced with a straightforward trust. Ichor sweeps from the halberd as the furry creature that Seldlom summoned bites and shakes one of its legs, the damage minimal but contributing to the fight nevertheless.

Giant Mosquito takes 16+6 damage! Now at 20/60!

Yet amid the chaos of the revolting creature you notice with dread that it had been, in fact, going up, using its wings to put distance with a speed that honors its otherwise diminutive cousins. Within a heartbeat, not even letting Tharg'Ka finish her curse, the thing had vanished into the sprawling streets going inside the Maleficus Ward.

There is a trail of ichor, but you are more worried about the bulging abdomen of the beast.

"Did you notice the fell lights the insect had within?" You ask, not getting much of a response, as your hobgoblin friend is in the process of loudly complaining about how she almost got run through with a sword sized horn.

That Seldlom explains that the thing was a proboscis, the feeding mechanism of many insects, and that Nasha adds that the mouth coming out from the other side would defeat the purpose of feeding out of her blood.

Thus, the outrage at almost being impaled is replaced by one at almost being sucked dry, which if further inflamed as a giggle escapes you at the sheer absurdity of complaining so hard at the manner of your own death. Gallows humor or not, it gives Thrag'Ka a third reason for her rage.

"What did you say abouts the fell lights?" Seldlom suddenly snaps, the pieces falling in his mind.

"Its belly or whatever it is called was filled, and a baleful light was shining inside."

The elf grows morose once again. "Must have fed upon a fiend. That it wanted to feed again…"

"And in such a small target!" Nasha chimes in, to what the elf nods in his reasoning.

"It must be getting ready to deposit its eggs, and with a source of food so tainted, its spawn will be tainted by the energies of the lower planes."

The realization of the problem you have just found by sheer chance is staggering. "Does that mean that we could have a plague of those things?"

"Worse than the leechflies, ain't them?"

You nod in thought, it would not only make the Ward more dangerous, but also risk getting it back on the sight of the higher powers of Dis.

"Wouldn't the rest of the blasted things inside the Ward take care of it?" Offers the hobgoblin.

"Perhaps…" Is the only thing the elf can answer to that. It is not encouraging at all, but it might be a possibility that the problem solves itself anyway.

A gleam is seen in the blue eyes of Thrag'Ka, as she gets a sudden idea:

"Devil blood might allow us to bully a Baatezu into submission, I've heard that diabolists divine and bind them with their own parts." Her smile is vicious as ever.

"Or it could be a valuable component for my spells, too."

"Or you might get us all killed in your fancies." Seldlom deadpans.

Still, you need to decide what to do here.

[ ] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

[ ] Leave the matter be, the Ward might clean itself and you already need to hunt a dwarven wraith already.

A/N: you are so lucky the mosquito rolled a 2, a grab would have caused a risk of friendly fire had you tried to attack it.

 

[DragonParadox]

[X] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

The wraith isn't going anywhere by definition, it is undead. Also that thing is likely worth quite a lot in parts and reagents and we already did most of the work of killing it

 

[Tomcost]

You are very likely to run into other encounters in the Ward, though. That is the catch.

 

[Narasan]

[X] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

finish it!

edit: more encounters? Great! Lets get xp and loot!

XP for the dice gods!
Loot for the Goblin throne!

 

[CanYouMeme]

[X] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

This is the kind of thing that might become an exponential problem until a big name cracks down and crushes it, then goes looking for who let it get this bad.

We're not strong enough for that kind of snowball.

 

[Goldfish]

That's a big freaking mosquito! Makes me wish I had Seldlom Summon something that could fly.

No one is hurt, though we are down several spells. Still, I think we can find it and put it out of the Ward's misery. No one needs to worry about a swarm of Fiendish Mosquitoes, or worse Half-Fiend Mosquitoes, in a few weeks.

[X] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

 

[Nevill]

"Devil blood might allow us to bully a Baatezu into submission, I've heard that diabolists divine and bind them with their own parts." Her smile is vicious as ever.

Click to shrink...

I'd like to see her try.

[x] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

 

[Tomcost]

I'd like to see her try.

[x] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

Click to shrink...

Ellac quietly thinks that the devil might be grateful that you killed the pest and an are willing to return the blood. Perhaps.

 

[butchock]

[X] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

 

[BeepSmile]

[x] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

I think not nipping this in the bud will have our owner be pissed at us, and we're a very very long way from being in a position to kill her.

 

[Tomcost]

Adhoc vote count started by Tomcost on Nov 14, 2024 at 6:34 AM, finished with 9 posts and 7 votes.

• ---

  7 people have voted

  [X] Nasha tracks the giant vermin, to both harvest its insides and prevent a plague in the future.

  • DragonParadox
  • Narasan
  • CanYouMeme
  • Goldfish
  • Nevill
  • butchock
  • BeepSmile

As this is unanimous, vote closed. Update probably not today, but I wanted to roll the possible outcomes to have time to think properly

EDIT: well, that was a slightly boring outcome, but I can handle it

Tomcost threw 1 8-faced dice. Reason: Following the trail... Total: 2

 

[Tomcost]

An Absent Mage and a Tower Standing​

Bloom season

A brief discussion is all it takes to draw conclusions: the potential rewards of hunting this oversized vermin are many, the potential downsides of letting it fester even more. With a shrug coming from Seldlom, hoping that at least facing any of the godforsaken monsters on your way at least serves to clean this neighborhood more of its taint.

With a confident Nasha, who sets out to follow the trail of ichor the flying creature has oozed in bits, you set out into the deeper parts of the residential portion of the Maleficus Ward. The pace is quickly stopped, and then resumed again when Nasha's experience in tracking these beasts proves more adept to the confines of the Mwangi jungles than the dilapidated urban landscape of this part of Dis, and so it is Seldlom the one that keeps you going. Weaving through broken fences, finding openings in half-demolished buildings, even having to break a wall of loosely-fitting soulstone bricks which Thrag'Ka gladly pushes out of the way, once making sure that no roof is falling upon you all. The figure of a slender and tall building, an elegant yet wicked twist to the spire attempting to pierce the sick sky of Dis is seen at the distance. You hear Nasha muttering about how she hopes that is not the place where the creature had fled to.

After dispersing some eager fiendish flies, enthusiastically fighting about the best place to lay their eggs among some ruins dripping quintessence, you are unfortunately led to this edifice. Keeping close to the ground, you circle across the tall building, the soulwork mostly intact from the outside, yet you can see quintessence dripping from corroded metal gargoyles on the walls.

"This is a colony of scavengers, I've seen them slithering away from the place." Finally says Nasha.

This is far from the worst of news you could receive now, but now you think that you recognize this place among the many ones Vissretha had mentioned to you. "An Uniila used to use this place as an arcane research laboratory, Cith'artrha The Obsessive if my memory does not fail me." There is a loud snort from Thrag'Ka hinting at your false modesty, and you can't help but look sideways at her and put a blank face at her antics.

Ellac Rolls Knowledge (Local): 5+11=16 (Partial Success)

"What is it with mages and their towers?" The hobgoblin asks instead.

"Well, in Armun Kelisk there was such a dearth of land that the only place to build was up." You briefly think about the gutters of the city and the inverted spires of the bottom of the landmass, but refuse to mention the underworld of the beautiful city lest it taints your memory of it.

"Field of sight." Nasha says, "the devil mage could see anyone approaching."

"Sadly that does not apply to a city where you are not expected to be assaulted on a regular basis." Seldlom explains in a boring tone.

You realize that talking about your own experiences does not really contribute too much, but there is something that the sky holds that you have been missing since you came into this place.

"The further you are away from the earth, the less interference in magical currents you have." You conclude, to which everyone nods.

"That does not explain why the creatures have made a nest out of it… unless the soulstuff has been pooling somewhere inside. The work in the stones is great, great enough that it takes too much time to fall, but it will leak a great deal of quintessence until it finally crumbles eventually."

Thrag'Ka Rolls Spellcraft: 18+10=28 (Full success)

Seldlom scratches his chin in thought, though no insight comes out of him. He finally shrugs.

"We should expect many of the creatures, I do not know how many."

Seldom Rolls Knowledge (Nature): 1+11=12 (Failure)

"I would advocate for the very thorough purge of the creatures from inside," The hobgoblin warrior starts with mock formality to contrast with all the serious thinking you have all been doing recently, "but if you give me time I could scrap together a ladder so that we can skip some floors and reach the upper levels the bloodsucker had probably reached first."

"We would be missing out on cleaning one of the birthing places of these other kinds of vermin, though." You point out, hopefully sweeping two problems aside with the same current.

"We can bait the creatures outside, ambush them." Nasha starts. "We need a lure, a conjured up animal," she says, looking at the elf druid. "But undue noise outside might call the attention of another thing lurking out here."

All plans deserving of consideration, now you need to decide what to do…

[ ] Purge the creatures: go inside, kill or disperse the creatures.
–[ ] Write in plan.

[ ] Thrag'Ka spends some time making a ladder of all the quintessence pooling around, you are likely to skip the fight, but won't get to clean up the place nor gather any kind of remaining valuables, if any.

[ ] Bait and kill, but risk spending more time outside and attracting unwanted attention.

A/N: you are all a party of geeks, so it makes sense I start doing knowledge rolls like crazy.

 

[Goldfish]

I'm going with the thorough purge option. It avoids outside attention, and gives us the best chance of finding loot and earning XP.

We found the mosquitoes' nest, so we don't need to be in a hurry now. We should instead take it slow and steady. Ellac can prepare and cast a Rope Trick spell we can use as a panic room if we need to retreat or recover.

The giant mosquitoes have a high Touch AC and are immune to Mind-Affecting effects, so swapping his Color Spray and Admonishing Ray spells for other options make sense here, IMO.

[X] Purge the creatures: go inside, kill or disperse the creatures.
-[X] The group cautiously enters the tower after checking for traps and structural integrity. Once inside, they secure the entrance to make it difficult for others to come in behind them, then Ellac spends the next 15 minutes refreshing his spells. In place of his regular combat loadout, he replaces his Admonishing Ray spell with another Burst of Radiance spell, Invisibility with a Rope Trick spell, Color Spray with Enlarge Person, Embrace Destiny with See Invisibility, and Heightened Awareness (after casting it on himself) with another Magic Weapon spell.
--[X] Once his spells are refreshed, he casts Rope Trick to create a safe fallback position for the party in case they need to retreat from the dangers of the tower. He then casts See Invisibility on himself and Magic Weapon on Thrag'Ka. Seldlom gives Thrag'Ka a potion of Bark Skin to drink before the party begins clearing the tower.

 

[Tomcost]

By the way, some comments...

I am going to be travelling for a couple days, so I might not be able to answer any questions immediately.

And on an unrelated note, I am trying to use ChatGPT to help me check for mistakes and it is either brilliant in some things or outright supid and missing typos. I swear I am trying to be modern and all, but I can't seem to get a hold of it.

The giant mosquitoes have a high Touch AC and are immune to Mind-Affecting effects, so swapping his Color Spray and Admonishing Ray spells for other options make sense here, IMO.

Click to shrink...

The colony is one of Boneneedles, which size variant you do not know because Seldlom failed his roll. You need to go through it all to get at the mosquito at the top.