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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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Haha, a new experience for Mina. I bet she wishes it wasn't because of a Dragon. I suspect she's only having issues because the Dragon is deliberately speaking in what it believes to be an archaic or overly formal method, probably to sound sophisticated, and the disconnect between legitimate communication and it's poor attempt.

Not sure how we should approach this. The Dragon has a +17 Sense Motive bonus, which means it is very good at spotting BS, even if we buff Kori up to a +29 Bluff bonus.

We could buff Kori's Azlanti Lore skill up to +20, which might be enough, but that may not actually help much. Awfully suspicious for such an expert to just show up like that now. The Dragon isn't stupid. Subject matter experts showing up at a random tower in the middle of the forest right after a Dragon arrives with its loot is kinda convenient...

We could also get Sirim's Diplomacy up to +20, but again, it might not help as much as we except, even if he succeeds.
 
DragonParadox said:
"Speke thou, even though it be not well. What dost thou wante?" With this question the dragon finally pokes its slander neck above the parapet of the old tower sounding annoyed... no, more like it feels it's proper to be imperiously annoyed, but is in truth intrigued.
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Putting on airs matches what I expect of it. And... we can certainly play into it's pride.

It expects to be catered to more than it actually thinks it deserves to be. Which makes it much more likely to listen to us if it thinks we are actually qualified.

I wonder what kind of interactions with mortals it has had in the past? Dragons in pathfinder are generally more... communal.

Family servants perhaps? Tutors or the like? Maybe its only heard of men and other creatures in folk tales. And considers us a great rarity.

[X] Claim to be an expert in Azlant and offer to identify the treasures within with greater precision that the auctioneer could (Akorian Knowledge Azlant ???)

@Nevill I suspect this dragon is actually a gigantic space nerd. :thonk:

DragonParadox said:
"I was hopinge I shulde nat have to sle any man to-day. Thou canst stille turne aboute."
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Interesting thing to hope for. This also strikes me as a somewhat half baked Intimidate check.

I mean I wanted this dragons help fighting against our boss but... I do wonder what brings them so far from home.
 
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DragonParadox said:
So far she has always understood everyone perfectly, she does understand the dragon anymore than a speaker of Modern Common understands a speaker of Middle Taldan.
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That is so strange.

Honestly, if Mina doesn't mind revealing her mind reading/language ability here, I'd love for her to bring it up.
'cuz what!?
----

Anyway, warning about demons and puffing ourself up is all well and good - and I do want to do that here, but the question was what do you want, and personally...

1. To trade for the reading crystal and at least one of those djiett skins for Mina (I'd like two so Sirim can use one eventually, but since we'd be trading and not killing, it's probably better to keep cash)
2. To have an opportunity to buff up and try to figure out that AI core. (Admit to not being an expert + share what we learn)
3. Warn the dragon that our employer is expecting us to kill the dragon and get the loot. (Let them know that we're planning on betraying our (very evil) employer, and attacking someone who hasn't done anything particularly bad would be one of those lines (also slip in that it would be suicidal so as to praise the dragon).
4. Learn more about the dragon as a person, their relationship with the Alzanti empire and if they know the people in the escape pods and how the dragon got here. (Did they also use an escape pod?)
 
Goldfish said:
We could buff Kori's Azlanti Lore skill up to +20, which might be enough, but that may not actually help much. Awfully suspicious for such an expert to just show up like that now. The Dragon isn't stupid. Subject matter experts showing up at a random tower in the middle of the forest right after a Dragon arrives with its loot is kinda convenient...
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If it's that well trained in sense motive I would say go for the knowledge roll.

I am willing to bet the DC is lower due to not being deliberately misleading. And I am guessing this dragon is A. A huge nerd and B. Used to listening people in a position of authority.

DragonParadox said:
no, more like it feels it's proper to be imperiously annoyed, but is in truth intrigued.
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Even just looking at us it is visibly curious. I would be suspicious if we didn't beat it's sense motive. But if we get an opening like that...?

Give it the excuse to do what it wants. Ask us a million questions.

It does seem like a wildly bad thing to offer. But DP said it's a knowledge role not a bluff.
 
How about a lie mixed with a surprising amount of truth?

[X] Claim that we are among the last surviving descendants of fabled Azlant. We were guided here by the spirits of our ancestors, and just as we arrived to take possession of the treasures they left for us, the Dragon swooped in from the sky and carried them off.
-[X] Kori casts Channel Vigor, choosing the Spirit effect, Mina casts Heroism on him, and Sirim casts Bestow Insight using Shadow Enchantment, for a total Bluff bonus of +29.
--[X] Mina uses her Fortune Hex on Kori to give him a reroll on his Bluff check.
 
I honestly can't tell of that's a lie or not.

Mostly because I suspect an Owb might be pulling strings behind the scenes (ancestor spirit?) And the cache might have been left behind for Azlanti survivors.

I also do not think asserting a direct claim for the loot is a good idea though.
 
[X] Ask it what it's doing down here for you have never heard of a dragon so great as him before (Sirim Diplomacy DC ???)

I'd like to understand wtf is going on, so asking questions (while flattering because Dragon) seems like a sensible course of action.
 
zxzx24 said:
I also do not think asserting a direct claim for the loot is a good idea though.
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I very strongly agree.
Maybe "hinted to the knowledge of the core is of importance to us?"
Tbh... I am wary of trying to meaningfully trick this dragon beyond the minimum we need to avoid our curse.

Edit: here's an idea for lie for us to get an opportunity to examine the AI core, but avoids us calling ourselves 'expert' since I think that'll be disproven too easily:

"Among my people, some can with effort [buffs] and luck [roll good], call upon memories of those who came before. [The bluff is 'among my people'. As far as Kori knows the Alzanti memory stuff is a him-only thing, or maybe related to his circlet thingy]. I can try to identify that... rock, and share what I learn with you. The Lord of Veils was going to gift it to get his exile lifted so must be powerful, even if not actively dangerous."

The dragon won't want to give us the core, unless some wild shit happens or we learn that for some strange reason its better in the party's hands, so I'd like to share what we learn for one suit of armor (for Mira) and that reading prism.
 
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If you're voting for the Sirim Diplomacy option, please add this to your vote. The higher his Diplomacy bonus, the better the results will be.

-[] Sirim casts Bestow Insight on himself using Shadow Enchantment, Mina casts Heroism on him, and Kori casts Guidance, raising his Diplomacy bonus to +20.
--[] Mina uses her Fortune Hex on Sirim to give him a reroll on his Diplomacy check.
 
[X] Ask it what it's doing down here for you have never heard of a dragon so great as him before (Sirim Diplomacy DC ???)
-[X] Sirim casts Bestow Insight on himself using Shadow Enchantment, Mina casts Heroism on him, and Kori casts Guidance, raising his Diplomacy bonus to +20.
--[X] Mina uses her Fortune Hex on Sirim to give him a reroll on his Diplomacy check.
 
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Artemis1992 said:
-[X] Sirim casts Bestow Insight on himself using Shadow Enchantment, Mina casts Heroism on him, and Kori casts Guidance, raising his Diplomacy bonus to +20.
--[X] Mina uses her Fortune Hex on Sirim to give him a reroll on his Diplomacy check.
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You left out the plan part of the vote. :V
 
[X] D. All of the above.
-[X] Ask it what it's doing down here for you have never heard of a dragon so great as him before (Sirim Diplomacy DC ???)
-[X] Warn it that there are demons about. There were wicked fey too, but they are rather busy now since you killed their leader. He wasn't that hard to best (Akorian bluff ???)
--[X] Kori casts Channel Vigor, choosing the Spirit effect, Mina casts Heroism on him, and Sirim casts Bestow Insight using Shadow Enchantment, for a total Bluff bonus of +29.
---[X] Mina uses her Fortune Hex on Kori to give him a reroll on his Bluff check.
-[X] Claim to be knowledgeable of Azlant and a descendant of it's people, offer to identify the treasures within with greater precision that the auctioneer could (Akorian Knowledge Azlant ???)
 
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@zxzx24 I'd be happy to vote for your plan if you drop 'expert in Azlant' and replace it with something softer, perhaps to the effect 'my people [this bit is the lie, it's a Kori-only thing] can sometimes access racial memories with luck, and help from spells'
 
zxzx24 said:
[X] D. All of the above.
-[X] Ask it what it's doing down here for you have never heard of a dragon so great as him before (Sirim Diplomacy DC ???)
-[X] Warn it that there are demons about. There were wicked fey too, but they are rather busy now since you killed their leader. He wasn't that hard to best (Akorian bluff ???)
--[X] Kori casts Channel Vigor, choosing the Spirit effect, Mina casts Heroism on him, and Sirim casts Bestow Insight using Shadow Enchantment, for a total Bluff bonus of +29.
---[X] Mina uses her Fortune Hex on Kori to give him a reroll on his Bluff check.
-[X] Claim to be an expert in Azlant and offer to identify the treasures within with greater precision that the auctioneer could (Akorian Knowledge Azlant ???)
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That seems a bit excessive, dude. The shotgun approach doesn't really work that well in situations like this, IMO.
 
Could we not go the honest route? Tell them about the Alderman being a demon, Gavhaul's interest, and our plan to stop both?

We don't really want the treasure it took, but those we are dealing with do and we don't want to fight it if possible. So maybe make some kind of deal with it?
 
Massgamer said:
Could we not go the honest route? Tell them about the Alderman being a demon, Gavhaul's interest, and our plan to stop both?

We don't really want the treasure it took, but those we are dealing with do and we don't want to fight it if possible. So maybe make some kind of deal with it?
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Write in, but also Akorian personally also has catastrophic diplomacy penalties.
 
This thing seemed under the impression that whatever was here was genuinely and truly dangerous in the hands of the ignorant.
 
zxzx24 said:
This thing seemed under the impression that whatever was here was genuinely and truly dangerous in the hands of the ignorant.
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It's not an automatic point in its favor that it considers others lesser. Especially given its own age.

Besides, it could be just looking for a self-justification for why it should own the valuables. What's so dangerous about a launcher, or a pair of fast reading spectacles? I can make an allowance for the core, and only because it's pretty much the only thing unknown to us. We also sought to deny to the court of Veils (and the higher court it hoped to gain a favor with), but we didn't do it because it'd be too dangerous in the hands of the fey; we had our own ulterior motive.

Not saying that this is necessarity the case here, but I do keep in mind what Sirim said about dragons and their massive pride.
 
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We know the dragon is proud and intrigued, since we succeeded those checks. Option 1 caters to pride, option 3 to intrigue. Since we had a full success on the intrigue check, I'm going with

[X] Claim to be an expert in Azlant and offer to identify the treasures within with greater precision that the auctioneer could (Akorian Knowledge Azlant ???)
 
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