Hmm, I hope Gorok's decision works out for the Iruxi. They could do with a good turn after the last few millennia. It's time like this where I actually appreciate not being the technical leader of the party, making all the big decisions. We can recommend and influence to an extent, but there is still random chance and the concerns of our other party members to account for.
I don't think we should change our plans just yet. Cob is a great Goblin, but I don't know if he's the best option to liase with the Pathfinders, not on his own.
Gorok should be fine to meet with the Lord Commander on his own. That might even be for the best. He's the leader of our party, after all, and it's his people we are trying to get relocated into Andoran.
My only real concern is for Mina and Sirim dealing with Gavhaul. If he is pissed, things could go poorly, but I doubt he would throw down in the middle of the city, and they both have the ability to cast Invisibility if they need to hide. That said, Mina and Sirim are the pair best suited for actually breaking this news to him. They have the most knowledge about what Breolia actually was. It shouldn't be difficult for Gavhaul to understand the implications of potential fallout from Breolia's actions, especially since she was already under suspicion.
[X] Keep to the plan and go to the Lodge with Cob, Mina and Sirim can deal with the fallout with Gavhaul and Gorok can meet with the Lord Commander of the Eagle Knights
[X] Keep to the plan and go to the Lodge with Cob, Mina and Sirim can deal with the fallout with Gavhaul and Gorok can meet with the Lord Commander of the Eagle Knights
Why not deal with Gavhaul ourselves? It will involve half-truths, and that's our specialty. He also seemed approving of our judgement previously. Mina and Sirim could go to the Lodge with Cob instead.
[x] You will deal with Gavhaul yourself. Mina and Sirim will accompany Cob to the Lodge while Gorok meets the Lord Commander.
[X] Keep to the plan and go to the Lodge with Cob, Mina and Sirim can deal with the fallout with Gavhaul and Gorok can meet with the Lord Commander of the Eagle Knights
Why not deal with Gavhaul ourselves? It will involve half-truths, and that's our specialty. He also seemed approving of our judgement previously. Mina and Sirim could go to the Lodge with Cob instead.
[x] You will deal with Gavhaul yourself. Mina and Sirim will accompany Cob to the Lodge while Gorok meets the Lord Commander.
This could probably work, too. It might work even better. Not sure which I prefer, so I'll vote for both options for now.
[X] Keep to the plan and go to the Lodge with Cob, Mina and Sirim can deal with the fallout with Gavhaul and Gorok can meet with the Lord Commander of the Eagle Knights
[X] You will deal with Gavhaul yourself. Mina and Sirim will accompany Cob to the Lodge while Gorok meets the Lord Commander.
Of Mina and Sirim, the one with the relevant skill is the shade, who is thought to be her familiar. Not someone Gavhaul would converse with. Mina's own skill at Diplomacy is... 1, I think? Sirim could probably direct the conversation telepathically, but it would look really weird.
Kori, on the other hand, was with Gavhaul when they met with Briolia. He was the one who spotted the watcher and told Gavhaul about it. He could try and spin the story towards damage control. Eduamort has hired Eagle Knights who had suspected Briolia, and were hot on her trail. Briolia was careless and sloppy to attempt to skin a noblewoman with relatives who would look for her. In so doing, she doomed herself. We just took the opportunity to claim the credit for it so as to make something useful off the situation gone wrong... and ensured she won't tell anyone about things they don't need to know.
Whether this flies, we'll have to see, but I think this was the idea behind 'going loud' in the first place. This outlook would certainly look more plausible for Kori than it is for Mina. No offense to our cinnamon witch, but she'd probably expect 'vampire bad' argument to be convincing to most people.
If we talk up 'the good of the expedition', Gavhaul would likely require some proof of our sincerity, turning the loot or the influence we gained towards finding a replacement. We'd likely need to accede to deescalate the situation.
[X] Keep to the plan and go to the Lodge with Cob, Mina and Sirim can deal with the fallout with Gavhaul and Gorok can meet with the Lord Commander of the Eagle Knights
[X] Keep to the plan and go to the Lodge with Cob, Mina and Sirim can deal with the fallout with Gavhaul and Gorok can meet with the Lord Commander of the Eagle Knights [x] You will deal with Gavhaul yourself. Mina and Sirim will accompany Cob to the Lodge while Gorok meets the Lord Commander.
It felt strange to be changing her face to one so close to her own, Mina thought, but she did not complain. The consequences to being caught conspiring against the Aspis Consortium did not bear thinking about. Gavhaul had made a deal with that... that skinner, maybe knowing what she was, certainly knowing she had dealings with Hell. Part of her wondered what she was even doing playing these kinds of games, but a quick look to the left confirmed Cob was still dashing tree to bush to decorative fountain, barely a rustle of leaves to mark his passage, while Sirim was coiled up in one of her bags. They just needed to make contact, to get confirmation of what kind of help they would have taking down the expedition and then...
"Master Cob just informed me that he spotted something following us," Sirim slipped into her thoughts with an edge of urgency. "He describes it as a 'birdy bony ghost' that's poking its head though walls observing you."
"Here?" Mina thought uncomfortably. They had already reached the Avenue of the Gods, the grand architecture of dozen temples, churches, and sanctuaries lining the wide straight street crowded nonetheless with both the pious and curious. Farmers and fishermen as well as travelers and merchants seeking the favor of Gorzeh, folk of all kinds, rich and poor, seeking loans and spells of prosperity from the Abadarites, the sound of mirth and merriment filtering out from the broad and stocky temple of Cayden Cailean, ringing hammers and solemn prayers from the temple of Torag as well as smaller chapels dedicated to various empyreal lords and other demigods. What manner of spirit would dare tread so close to so much hallowed ground?
"It is keeping to the walls on the left. I can't catch a glimpse of it, but I trust him if he says it follows." Higher praise than the shade mage would give to most, Mina knew, and all the more so for being delivered almost as an afterthought.
Having spent so long in Sirim's company Mina had spent rather more time than most considering the limitations of being untethered from physical reality, such as the fact that they could enter but not entirely submerge into the the ground under their feet, else the shade would not need a gap under a door, be it ever so slim to pass through. After stopping at a shrine of Desna to toss a few coins into the donation fountain, hopefully obfuscating their purpose, the three walk the length of the Field of Concord and grand indeed that seemed to her. Stretching from the Andoshen almost to the city walls, a great cobblestone avenue lined with fountains, statues, manicured hedges, and flowered trellises rises toward the old Chelish fortress which like the field itself had been rededicated, now the Golden Aerie of the Eagle Knights towards which had gone Gorok and his kin to meet with their Lord-Commander.
The plaque-adorned statues and stalls of merchants just packing up their wears offer less cover than the walls on either side of the Avenue of the Gods, so Mina finally gets a glimpse of it... she almost wished she hadn't. Only about three feet long, low slung to to the ground like a feline, its skeleton is visible through the wispy, ethereal flesh though its head sports a boney beak.
"What is that?" Mina asks in confusion.
"I have never seen the like nor read of such in any tome," Sirim confesses. "The bones seem oddly solid, as though it is not quite native to the Ethereal Plane such as the moonsilver spiders. It's movements seem weary, an ambush predator forced from its natural hunting patterns."
"Do you think it can see under glamors?" Mina asks, considering the weight of her own magic at the back of her mind.
"I would not hazard a guess." Frustration is a bitter tang in his thoughts.
What do the trio do?
[] Try to kill the watcher
[] Trust that a veil of invisibility will be enough to shake it off and get Mina into the Lodge
[] Write in
OOC: The reason that DC was so high is that that was not, properly speaking, a Knowledge the Planes roll, but a Knowledge Dungeoneering roll, since it is an Aberration.
Split the party, perhaps? The ghost is following Mina; let her do something innocuous and stay well in sight of guarded places, while Sirim and Cob proceed unseen.
Don't feel bad, Sirim, I'm failing my Knowledge check to figure out what the hell that thing is, too. It's an ugly SOB, whatever it is.
I hesitate to try to kill it. Ugly as it is, the creature could have been sent to Mina by a friendly, or at least a neutral power. We did just get up to some serious shit the previous night, after all.
Split the party, perhaps? The ghost is following Mina; let her do something innocuous and stay well in sight of guarded places, while Sirim and Cob proceed unseen.
This is how I'm leaning as well. Without knowing what the creature is, we can't know how it's doing its tracking. Is it through scent? Does it have the Locate Creature spell as an SLA? Just good Perception and Survival bonuses to tracking? It could have See Invisibility for all we know, which could render Invisibility spells useless.
If it's through scent, we can mitigate that using Mina's Pass Without Trace SLA.
[X] Just a regular shopping trip, nothing to see here.
-[X] Mina uses her Pass Without Trace SLA on herself and Cob.
-[X] Sirim and Cob will first check that the lurking creature is still observing Mina before heading for the Lodge. If it loses track of Mina after she uses Pass Without Trace, they'll continue on as originally planned.
-[X] If it doesn't lose track of her, they'll seek out a merchant near the Pathfinder Lodge who sells magical goods, such as scrolls, wands, and staves. While Mina peruses the wares, looking for scrolls she and Sirim might wish to learn, and magical equipment the party might wish to purchase, as well as a looks into trading her staff in for something better suited for combat, Cob and Sirim will split off to continue the mission.
I think trying to throw it off is unnecessary. It sends a message we spotted it, and are trying to take measures against it.
If it's following Mina, let if follow Mina. In this case it's best that she doesn't set foot at the Lodge, as if the hound (let's call it a hound) loses her trail, its master could try to locate us through other means.
[x] Sirim and Cob will first check that the lurking creature is still observing Mina before heading for the Lodge. Mina will remain behind to peruse spell scrolls and other equipment we might wish to buy.
If the creature tries to follow either of the other two, we might have to throw it off with Invisibility spells, or failing that, attempt to kill it.
[X] Just a regular shopping trip, nothing to see here.
-[X] Mina uses her Pass Without Trace SLA on herself and Cob.
-[X] Sirim and Cob will first check that the lurking creature is still observing Mina before heading for the Lodge. If it loses track of Mina after she uses Pass Without Trace, they'll continue on as originally planned.
-[X] If it doesn't lose track of her, they'll seek out a merchant near the Pathfinder Lodge who sells magical goods, such as scrolls, wands, and staves. While Mina peruses the wares, looking for scrolls she and Sirim might wish to learn, and magical equipment the party might wish to purchase, as well as a looks into trading her staff in for something better suited for combat, Cob and Sirim will split off to continue the mission.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Jun 17, 2024 at 1:50 AM, finished with 8 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Just a regular shopping trip, nothing to see here. -[X] Mina uses her Pass Without Trace SLA on herself and Cob. -[X] Sirim and Cob will first check that the lurking creature is still observing Mina before heading for the Lodge. If it loses track of Mina after she uses Pass Without Trace, they'll continue on as originally planned. -[X] If it doesn't lose track of her, they'll seek out a merchant near the Pathfinder Lodge who sells magical goods, such as scrolls, wands, and staves. While Mina peruses the wares, looking for scrolls she and Sirim might wish to learn, and magical equipment the party might wish to purchase, as well as a looks into trading her staff in for something better suited for combat, Cob and Sirim will split off to continue the mission.
[x] Sirim and Cob will first check that the lurking creature is still observing Mina before heading for the Lodge. Mina will remain behind to peruse spell scrolls and other equipment we might wish to buy.
"I'm going to need Cob to come over here so I can..." Before Mina had even finished the thought her hand was tickled by something, a leaf... attached to a branch that was attached to a piece of old burlap rubbed well with dirt, just the same color as Cob's skin presently was. She was very glad indeed to have him for a friend, not an enemy, stamping down hard on all the childhood memories of all the terrible things sneaking goblins could do. A shiver of magic passed from her to him and then over her as she walked through the streets among fortune tellers, hucksters, and talismongers. Tucked into a corner between two larger temples below the sign of eyes that she had at first thought was Nephys, but looked a bit too colorful for that, was a stand stacked high with herbs and flowers, sweet smelling in the brisk breeze.
"Good d... evening," she said to the woman tidying up. "I don't suppose you buy staffs?" Hopefully the watcher wasn't very good at marking a liar, she was not the fast-talker Kori was.
"Oh goodness me, I don't have that kind of money on me, dear," the lady laughed, thousands of smile lines blooming on her face. "I just sell teas to clear the mind and rouse the spirit, maybe a bit to help you remember things. They say the old forget more than the young, but really it's just that we're old enough to know when we've forgotten something. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it."
Despite her worries Mina returned the smile as she reached for her coin pouch. The ghost-thing was still there, watching her. Desna's eye on you, she thought at her companions, already gone in the direction of the Lodge.
The old temple still soared tall among its peers, though it had been twice forsaken: once when worship of Aroden had burst its bounds among the city's expansion to take advantage of the vast wealth flowing down the Androshen leading to the construction of the flame bright towers of the Golden Cathedral, and a second time with the death of the so-called 'Last Azlanti'. Sirim could appreciate the ingenuity that came with repurposing the halls to ones dedicated to the reclamation of knowledge rather than begging some higher power to reveal it. Come the day when he should see the temples of Pangolais likewise rededicated. They slipped through with hardly a look to the sandy-haired half-elf at the door and plainly demanded to see the Venture Captain, they were clearly expected.
Sporting a hawkish nose, slightly crooked from some youthful indiscretion, a finely trimmed mustache and goatee to match, Brackett certainly seemed like a man who would be as much as home on the docks of Nisroch backing fugitives among the wine casks as he was behind the massive pine desk, its corners rounded by time and wear to an almost boat-like form.
"So, Master Many Colors and Master Shade, what can I do for you this lovely day?"
"Not at all, it's what you can do for us, after all you are paying?" Sirim countered. A pity he lacked the face with which to match so sharp a smile. He proceeded to recount the paths that Gavhaul had presented for the expedition: the river with rumors of dragons, the fey, and the ogres barring the road.
"And you do not know which one he is going to take, yes? Just that your companion suggested chancing the river?" the Pathfinder rubbed his chin. "Really, it would be more convenient to strike once all the treasure from the find has been gathered in one place and started to move towards Taldor..." At the goblin's quizzical tilt of the head he said simply. "It's obvious where they'd be taking it, not like the Consortium has enough influence in Andoran to make lost cart-fulls of ancient treasure."
"The Consortium's planned for extraction route has been disrupted by us..." Sirim began.
By the end of it he suspected the Venture Captain was only not slack jawed because of the hand permanently planted under his chin. The goatee had long since gotten tangled. "Why...? Just from a note? Calistria's burning bush what possessed you to go in swinging like madmen?! Now you don't even know what route you'll be taking past Fusili!"
"All the more chance for an interested party to provide Lord Gavhaul with a solution then, is it not?" Sirim reaches out for his mind mid-rant. "Pose as a silent partner of Breolia, whom she had already approached for the transfer and who is all the more desperate for the job now that she has been unveiled as a vampire. Even the most sagacious schemers do not question good luck as much as they do bad. Get your agents in Taldan uniforms and then when the time comes have the cargo 'confiscated'. The Consortium might then simply think their prize vanished into the ever hungry maw of the Ducal or imperial coffers."
The longer he spoke the more the Venture Captain's eyes narrowed in thought. "Not a lot of time to get all those balls and scarves flying, Master Shadow, but I have to admit its not the worst idea I've heard. The sellswords might simply lay down their arms, leaving us to deal with Pairo's brother. Keep the mirror close. I'll be in touch."
What do you want to see next?
[] Gorok meeting the Lord-Commander
[] Kori explaining himself to Gavhaul
OOC: Sirim is having almost as much fun scheming as Cob has sneaking. Now lets see if you guys can pull this off.
hmmm...how do we explain this? "Your Contact was exposed as a Kidnapper through sheer incompetence. Congratulations, you are now travelling with the heroes who took her down. We must move quickly."
