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Finding the Spark (Pathfinder 1E Quest)

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Vote closed, lets see how this goes.
Adhoc vote count started by DragonParadox on Aug 8, 2023 at 3:44 AM, finished with 20 posts and 5 votes.
  • [X] Goldfish
    [X] When in doubt, BS
    -[X] Leave Cob to his looting for now. The Suggestion should run its course soon enough, but if it becomes a problem ask Mina to use her Slumber Hex on him to snap him out of it.
    -[X] Kori activates his headband to gain Detect Thoughts, then greets the guards. He tries to act authoritative and confident, reading the guards' surface thoughts to better tailor his words for the audience. If the guards cannot speak for the tribe, urge them to quickly find someone who can.
    --[X] Wording might change, depending on what Kori learns using his headband and how they respond, but something to the effect of: "Rejoice, for we have freed your god from captivity and slain Ssesh, the tyrant who imprisoned it!"
    ---[X] "Ssesh was our enemy, so he had to die, but no other Xulgath needs to perish today. Although our mission here is finished, if you reward us properly we will hurry to convince our Mongrelmen friends to halt their attacks."
    ----[X] "Ssesh has made many enemies in a short time, the local Orcs among them. If the Mongrelmen withdraw, you will be able to better defend yourselves from the Orcs who even now prepare to overrun your tribe."
    -[X] Mina will cast Guidance cantrips on Kori when the opportunities present themselves, and both she and Gorok will attempt to use Aid Another to help Kori's Bluff checks.
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Arc 2 Post 31: Striking Swift Deals
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    • Striking Swift Deals ​

    Season of Rushing Waters

    Fear, confusion and sudden gapping uncertainty, as though a chasm had opened beneath their feet dominates, the thoughts of the xulgath. The attack had been as brutal as it was swift, from a place unlooked for. Worse yet it had slain the one who by his own design was the arc-stone of the tribe, so soon after the shaman had 'abandoned' them. Some think Sshesh had slain him too and hidden the body... and now this. As you open your mouth to speak of the ancient's tyranny you realize that none of them know the spirt which is now gorging itself upon the belly of its tormentor. Why should they? It is a thing for shamans to know the shape of the gods after all.

    Xulgath Will Save: 1d20 = 5 (Failure)

    "Our enemy is dead, you need not be added of that accounting! Our grudge is not with you!" You hope enough to bend shadows that one of them at least speaks dwarf tongue. "He has made many grudges though, among the mongrelmen and the orc-folk, we would offer you the hand of peace with Cauldron so that the orcs do not slay you all..."

    "Do we have the authority to make peace deals?" Mina asks, her whisper doing little to disguise the words, though thankfully her strange gift does.

    "We'll worry about that when we do not have so many spears pointed at us," you call back.

    Akorian Bluff: 1d20 +5 = 15 (Success)

    Speaking of spears...

    "Goblin thing sneaked in," the larger and you assume older of the guards stabs at the air above Cob's head as he is rummaging though one of the chests only for your friend to tip entirely into the chest for cover. Even you do not know if it was intention or instinct.

    "That is our friend and ally the Great Cob... Demonslayer?" Had the thing in the kitchen been a demon? Probably not, it seemed too solid but close enough for lying to xulgath.

    "What you want to leave us in peace?" the head guard asks, his already uneven crest perking more to one side, as though he does not entirely buy what you are selling, but he can't quite find the maggots in the meat.

    "We claim all the goods of the fallen as Blood Right, Grudge Right." Duergar has a thousand words for grudge and none for forgiveness, you had been told and though you are pretty sure that is overstating it, it's not by much, even from what you know of the rumbling clicking tongue. "Further, we would know his plans and his mind to... er, be sure there are not more such mad-scales waiting to be woken to trouble honourable dark-delvers,"

    Alas the subtlety of your word choice is lost on your xulgath audience who have more direct troubles on their mind. "Fire-blood talk to spirit, make good-deal, shaman deal?"

    After a bit of back and forth with Mina translating so you can actually get nuance across it becomes clear what the the guard, Horek Broken Claw, is asking. He is entirely willing to let you have all the loot you can carry out of the room if you can talk the spirit into appointing a new shaman with the same quality and quantity of sacrifices they had before. As the name he gave you shows he thinks you are some kind of spirit wrangler because of the elemental which had by this point already returned to an ember inside the jar.

    What do you reply?

    [] Agree, how hard can wrangling a spirit be (Knowledge the Planes, Religion or Arcana needed with increasing DC if the second and third are chosen)

    [] Refuse, you already gave them a chance to make peace with Cauldron (More Bluff rolls, harder DCs)

    [] Write in

    OOC: Well so far so peaceful, lets see if you can keep it up.
     
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    • Okay, so far so good. We just need to apply a bit more BS, then let Mina work her magic. Or her brain in this instance. She has very good bonuses to the relevant Knowledge skills needed (+9 for Arcana and The Planes, +10 for Religion), and Pepper has decent enough bonuses in them to have a good chance to successfully use Aid Another to provide Mina a further +2 on her check. Add the +1 from Guidance and she'll have a +12 or +13 bonus.

    It's not optimal to reveal that the old Shaman is alive and in Cauldron's custody (definitely won't be telling them we're the ones who crippled and captured them!), but it's a good fallback option if Mina fails to convince the spirit.

    [X] "We will attempt to convince the spirit to appoint a new Shaman. As you can see, however, the spirit's wrath is mighty and it may not look favorably upon your tribe due to the crimes of Ssesh. You must leave the room while we commune with the spirit, so that its anger does not taint our negotiations."
    -[X] Once the Xulgath guards leave the chamber, Mina will attempt to convince the spirit to recognize a new Shaman for the tribe. Kori will cast Guidance cantrips on Mina and Pepper, and Pepper will attempt to use Aid Another to further boost Mina's Knowledge checks.
    --[X] If this fails, we will instead reveal to the Xulgath guards that the spirit has told us their original Shaman still lives and is being protected by the forces of Cauldron after Ssesh attempted to slay them. Once we depart, we will arrange for the Shaman to be returned to the Xulgath so that the spirit will be appeased.
     
    Artemis1992 said:
    What did the spirit previously do for them?

    Why not kill it and be done?
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    It's basically the "god" of their primitive tribe, at least prior to Ssesh usurping authority and imprisoning it.

    More importantly, it's really not something I want to fight. We're down to two 1st level spell slots for Kori, none for Mina, and everyone but Mina has been healed by her Healing Hex today, so it wouldn't take much at this point to get one of our people killed. And while we don't know just how capable the spirit is in combat, it scored a 39 point Critical Hit against Ssesh in the first round of combat. Assuming a x3 Crit multiplier, it's regular attack would hit for around 13 damage. Kori is not at full HP, so that could take him out in one hit, and anyone else might be able to take two of them.

    Depending on exactly what it is, we might not even be able to reliably harm it if it's incorporeal or has DR.
    Artemis1992 said:
    So burning it out to create a hatching of real Xulgath would have been a damn good deal...
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    For Ssesh, it would have definitely been worth it to raise up a new crop of true Xulgath. For everyone else in the region, not so much.
     
    Goldfish said:
    It's basically the "god" of their primitive tribe, at least prior to Ssesh usurping authority and imprisoning it.

    More importantly, it's really not something I want to fight. We're down to two 1st level spell slots for Kori, none for Mina, and everyone but Mina has been healed by her Healing Hex today, so it wouldn't take much at this point to get one of our people killed. And while we don't know just how capable the spirit is in combat, it scored a 39 point Critical Hit against Ssesh in the first round of combat. Assuming a x3 Crit multiplier, it's regular attack would hit for around 13 damage. Kori is not at full HP, so that could take him out in one hit, and anyone else might be able to take two of them.

    Depending on exactly what it is, we might not even be able to reliably harm it if it's incorporeal or has DR.

    For Ssesh, it would have definitely been worth it to raise up a new crop of true Xulgath. For everyone else in the region, not so much.
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    The fact that it is close enough to a god is what provoked the reaction.

    Those always have to justify their existance, unlike people.
     
    [X] "We will attempt to convince the spirit to appoint a new Shaman. As you can see, however, the spirit's wrath is mighty and it may not look favorably upon your tribe due to the crimes of Ssesh. You must leave the room while we commune with the spirit, so that its anger does not taint our negotiations."
    -[X] Once the Xulgath guards leave the chamber, Mina will attempt to convince the spirit to recognize a new Shaman for the tribe. Kori will cast Guidance cantrips on Mina and Pepper, and Pepper will attempt to use Aid Another to further boost Mina's Knowledge checks.
    --[X] If this fails, we will instead reveal to the Xulgath guards that the spirit has told us their original Shaman still lives and is being protected by the forces of Cauldron after Ssesh attempted to slay them. Once we depart, we will arrange for the Shaman to be returned to the Xulgath so that the spirit will be appeased.
     
    [X] Goldfish
    We might be able to arrange for the tribe to buy back their old shaman we just need to lie about who captured him.
     
    Arhin said:
    Double "who"


    I thought that Bluff checks are competitions with Sence Motive, are not they?

    [X] Goldfish
    We'll also need to evacuate Warty if all goes well. I hope we'll manage with that.
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    1. Thanks, fixing
    2. Not in this case, you just had to make a set DC so the crowd would buy your bullshit, otherwise the bluff skill would be a lot less useful in a crowd since someone is going to get a 20 if you roll enough dice and that is clearly not how the skill is supposed to work. If anything talking to a crowd, none of which have Sense Motive should be easier.
     
    Eh, sure.

    [X] "We will attempt to convince the spirit to appoint a new Shaman. As you can see, however, the spirit's wrath is mighty and it may not look favorably upon your tribe due to the crimes of Ssesh. You must leave the room while we commune with the spirit, so that its anger does not taint our negotiations."
    -[X] Once the Xulgath guards leave the chamber, Mina will attempt to convince the spirit to recognize a new Shaman for the tribe. Kori will cast Guidance cantrips on Mina and Pepper, and Pepper will attempt to use Aid Another to further boost Mina's Knowledge checks.
    --[X] If this fails, we will instead reveal to the Xulgath guards that the spirit has told us their original Shaman still lives and is being protected by the forces of Cauldron after Ssesh attempted to slay them. Once we depart, we will arrange for the Shaman to be returned to the Xulgath so that the spirit will be appeased.
     
    Arc 2 Post 32: Wages of Spite
  • Threadmarks
    • Wages of Spite ​

    Season of Rushing Waters

    Mina throws you a dirty look when she realizes what you are planning as you agree to Horken's deal, a far cry from the bat-in-lantern-light look she might have given not so long ago. "Why would anyone in their right mind worship a lizard... a lizard ghost. There are plenty of gods." she mutters under her breath as Cob continues his cheerful ransacking, entirely unnoticed by the spirt. There is gold and silver there, ingots of iron, each batch showing an improvement over the last, salt and worm oil, silks and carpets and slates containing... something complex enough to need diagrams marked in a language you do not read

    "Maybe their gods are dead, or perhaps they wished for the aid of one they could see with their own eyes..."

    Crunch

    Spectral jaws slick with blood somehow do not help make your point about the wisdom of the xulgath. Still if the four of you could manage to get the spirit to name another shaman then you would not have to deal with the fact that you deceived and bet up the last one. Something tells you that would rather strain the relationship.

    "Flesh is weak, flesh is fleeting." You are not sure in what tongue your friend is speaking, but her pale eyes are glowing faintly as she does and Cob's loot pile jingles ever so slightly in the process. "Take from him and sate your hunger if you must, but remember still your tribe."

    "They did not remember me, they forsook me... let them suffer, let them prove themselves to me again as their ancestors have."

    "But you are not as you were then no more than a hawk on the wind is the same as a chick new-emerged from the egg." What those words mean you can only guess. Some kind of flying lizard of the burnlands perhaps.

    "To ask such a change of your people is to give the one whose flesh you are feasting upon the last laugh, to accept his thievery, his destruction. Faith must then be found again yes? It must be made whole? Then the blackscale has taken it and he has broken it. Do not let it be so."

    If the whipping about to tails not touching the ground means the same of the Lurker as it does his mundane kin she has his attention, and more troublingly his annoyance. Your hand inches closer to the crossbow bold at your belt, just in case, but Mina is not quite done. "That would be giving him power in the spirit world, the ethereal, power perhaps to return in death as he did in life. In Ustilav we have learned though hard trial not to speak the names of criminals and heretics least it gives them power over the living even after they have bee sent to their just reward. If you make your tribe curse Ssheh with great gnashing of teeth maybe he will hear."

    Pepper Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 +3 = 16 (Success)
    Mina Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 +9 +2 (Aid another) +1 (Guidance) = 31 (Success)

    What an odd custom, you cannot help but think. What a sad land that must be to have learned those lessons. How much blood did they have to shed in the learning?

    As unpleasant as like in the Caves of Zul had been at times at least you did not have to worry about the hateful dead coming back for vengeance because someone spoke their names. For that matter if their names were lost how would the dancers recall and recount the tales of their fall that the young might avoid them.

    Whatever the case it seems that spite and fear together were enough to get He Who Lurks to see things Mia's way and resume his former stewardship of his people... which leads to the four of you being invited to a feast.

    "Feast! Food! Feast-food good-great!" Cob lapses into evocative goblin grammar as for the first time you get to see some of the foragers and nest keepers of the tribe, the smaller and less aggressive of each clutch and you soon learn very curious about outsiders whom they do not get to meet often.

    Maybe it's the frothing blood-shroom hooch, maybe it's almost dying, maybe it's seeing whatever the hell that thing was in the kitchens, but you find your magic deepened and so too does Mina while Gorok and Cob are hardened by battle and somehow even harder to notice.

    [] Write in level up plans

    OOC: I will math up your XP later, I am tired and not at my home computer at the moment, but you guys definitely got enough XP to level up.
     
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    • Ah, great job, Mina! She verbal jujitsu'd that spirit.

    I don't think I'll ever get tired of Kori's continued confusion when someone references common surface world animals or customs. Even when we eventually get to the sirface, I have a feeling that those will be the gift that keeps on giving for a good long while.

    Now that I'm back home for the day, I'll try to get level up proposals out together for everyone shortly.
     
    Here's what I've got for level ups so far.

    Gorok's level up is pretty straight forward. I'm not dead set on Improved Initiative for his new feat, but it's a solid choice, IMO. You can't ever have enough Initiative. Although I would like to select Weapon Focus for him, we don't really know what kind of weapon he's going to be focusing on, so picking one now is a bit premature.

    Cob gains the Finesse Training ability this level up, so now we can retrain Deadly Agility since it has become superfluous. I've got Roll With It taking its place. It's a Goblin feat that seems really fitting for Cob, IMO. Given his Stealth focus, it makes sense for his new feat to be Skill Focus (Stealth).

    I'm most excited about Mina's level up. The Split Hex feat will let her target two enemies simultaneously with her Slumber Hex, which is a huge increase in her combat effectiveness. Slotting in Extra Hex (Evil Eye) for Mina's new feat for now. It's a really great debuff that can be applied multiple times and in multiple ways. It will synergize really well with later Hexes Mina will likely learn, like Misfortune and Cackle. She also gains the ability to cast 2nd level spells, and automatically learns two of them. I've got Glitterdust and Web slotted in for now, since they're both powerful AoE crowd control spells. Each is useful in different scenarios, and the CC gives our party a lot more options when Facing powerful enemies or large groups.

    Kori doesn't gain the ability to cast 2nd level spells until 4th level, but he does learn a new 1st level spell. I've got Bless slotted in for now. It doesn't provide a large bonus, but it's a good one with a decent duration and a huge AoE that means all allies are affected. He also gets a new Revelation this level, and I've selected Dark Secrets. It's by far the best Oracle Revelation in the game, IMO. It doesn't start off amazing, simply because of Kori's low level, but it rapidly gets better and better. For now, I've got it granting Kori the Shadow Trap spell. For a 1st level spell, it's a really good CC effect.

    I'm not sure about Kori's new feat. There are a lot of good choices available, so many that it makes it hard to choose. Improved Initiative, Extra Revelation, Spell Focus, etc., but for now I'm going with Skill Focus (Bluff). We can't use Diplomacy, so we need an alternative social skill to lean on. Bluff has worked really well for us so far. Boosting it further can only help. @Tomcost, I know you want Kori to pick up ranks in Intimidate, I just don't see where the points can come from at this point. I think we should focus on our strengths for now while we're at a low level.

    [X] Gorok Level Up
    -[X] Class: +1 Ranger (Lantern Bearer)
    -[X] Favored Class Bonus: +1 HP
    -[X] Feat: Improved Initiative
    -[X] Skills (6 points): +1 Climb, +1 Knowledge (Nature), +1 Perception, +1 Ride, +1 Stealth, +1 Survival
    --[X] Background Skills: +1 Handle Animal, +1 Knowledge (Geography)
    -[X] Favored Terrain: Underground

    [X] Cob Level Up
    -[X] Class: +1 Unchained Rogue
    -[X] Favored Class Bonus: +1 HP
    -[X] Feat: Skill Focus (Stealth)
    --[X] Retrain: Deadly Agility >>> Roll With It
    -[X] Skills (10 points): +1 Acrobatics, +1 Climb, +1 Disable Device, +1 Escape Artist, +1 Knowledge (Dungeoneering), +1 Perception, +1 Ride, +1 Sleight of Hand, +1 Stealth, +1 Swim
    --[X] Background Skills: +1 Craft (Alchemy), +1 Knowledge (Engineering)

    [X] Mina Level Up
    -[X] Class: +1 Witch
    -[X] Favored Class Bonus: +1 HP
    -[X] Feat: Extra Hex (Evil Eye)
    -[X] Skills (6 points): +1 Knowledge (Arcana), +1 Knowledge (Religion), +1 Knowledge (The Planes), +1 Spellcraft, +2 Stealth
    --[X] Background Skills: +1 Knowledge (History), +1 Knowledge (Nobility)
    -[X] New Spell Knowledge:
    --[X] 2nd Level: Glitterdust, Web

    [X] Kori Level Up
    -[X] Class: +1 Oracle
    -[X] Favored Class Bonus: +1 HP
    -[X] Feat: Skill Focus (Bluff)
    -[X] Skills (5 points): +1 Perception, +1 Sense Motive, +1 Stealth, +2 Bluff
    --[X] Background Skills: +2 Lore (Azlanti History)
    -[X] Revelation: Dark Secrets
    -[X] Spells:
    --[X] 1st Level: Bless, Shadow Trap (via Dark Secrets)
     
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    Goldfish said:
    I'm most excited about Mina's level up. The Split Hex feat will let her target two enemies simultaneously with her Slumber Hex, which is a huge increase in her combat effectiveness. She also gains the ability to cast 2nd level spells, and automatically learns two of them. I've got Glitterdust and Web slotted in for now, since they're both powerful AoE crowd control spells. Each is useful in different scenarios, and the CC gives our party a lot more options when Facing powerful enemies or large groups.
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    Split Hex requires level 10

    Goldfish said:
    Kori doesn't gain the ability to cast 2nd level spells until 4th level, but he does learn a new 1st level spell. I've got Bless slotted in for now. It doesn't provide a large bonus, but it's a good one with a decent duration and a huge AoE that means all allies are affected. He also gets a new Revelation this level, and I've selected Dark Secrets. It's by far the best Oracle Revelation in the game, IMO. It doesn't start off amazing, simply because of Kori's low level, but it rapidly gets better and better. For now, I've got it granting Kori the Shadow Trap spell. For a 1st level spell, it's a really good CC effect.

    I'm not sure about Kori's new feat. There are a lot of good choices available, so many that it makes it hard to choose. Improved Initiative, Extra Revelation, Spell Focus, etc., but for now I'm going with Skill Focus (Bluff). We can't use Diplomacy, so we need an alternative social skill to lean on. Bluff has worked really well for us so far. Boosting it further can only help. @Tomcost, I know you want Kori to pick up ranks in Intimidate, I just don't see where the points can come from at this point. I think we should focus on our strengths for now while we're at a low level.
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    I agree with Shadow Trap. I think that once we reach level 5, we will get a nice bonus to both Bluff and Intimidate, and we will be able to put ranks into Intimidate.

    Also, see this feat:

    Cunning – d20PFSRD

    It would net us 3 skill points right now (and one extra each level up), but we can allocate them wherever we want. Alternatively, if we go all in into bluff, we can leave it for later.

    Later we can probably go for Spell focus, once we determine the line of spells we will primarily use via Dark Secrets
     
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