Dain's King Maker Chronicles

Game Master dain120475

Okay… great. So – if you decide to follow Galen’s plan – then you’ll be on the other side of the river in about 15 minutes – including gear – as it takes Arasmes 10 minutes to summon Cali (assuming he has not already done so). If he has – you’ll be across in less time. This also assumes that you are all just standing around and pretty much doing nothing – while the Unseen Servant attends to all the packing and unpacking – and so on – as well as tethering the horses together with rope, and guiding them across the water; hopefully giving someone like Cali the chance to pull the rope, given her strength. If neither Arasmes or Shaezon want to be in the air above the horses to do the guiding, or ask Cali to pull the rope – then it will take a bit longer. Worst case scenario is that a horse will break from the tethering – flounder down-river, but – with a horse’s “strength” check – they should be able to have the natural ability to swim to the other side, though – like I said – a bit downriver. No worries, though – if that happens you can send the Unseen Servant to fetch them.

Meanwhile, Shaezon – Galen is right again – you can all simply sit around while the magic does the work for you; resting as you need – including reading books. The entire process – start to finish – including using Prestidigitation to spruce up your gear after all the work is done – will take you about 1 and 1 Half Hours (this includes summoning Cali – if she hasn’t already been summoned). For the most part – these are fairly low-level spells. Unseen Servant being the only one that may be the difficulty, as it can only handle 20 pounds. This means multiple little packages that need to be lifted and lowered, instead of larger bundles – packing takes longer, but it still can be done in the time above. And certainly attaching rope to the horse, and so on. However – as that spell will last you 6 hours, once the job is done, you can simply order your Servant to mount the baggage horse and sit there – and you can just have him ride after you, if you desire. However – any time an actual Ride Check is needed – the Servant will likely be unhorsed.

Ariarh – if you’ll permit him – Galen offers to copy the Draconic War Manuel for you – so there can be multiple copies. While he can do this with ease – if he has the paper (he’s a scribe – he has at least 1 blank journal, as well as another that he fills with notes) – he can do that. But, it is likely he would simply have an Unseen Servant do the copying for him – while he contents himself to snack and read the text, after you are done with each page. This will – however – mean you’ll have to give him the book a page at a time – which will ruin the book. However – he points out that his business is to copy paper and books – and he can simply rebind the book afterwards for you – and will happily do it in a very nice and new binding. You sense he is being very sincere. Though he is not fond of scribing, per se – he does enjoy pushing himself to succeed. And – he adds – it will mean you’ll have multiple copies when you get back – and multiple people can study the book – if you’re willing to let him to pull the book into pages, then rebind when he returns. Please let me know what you want him to do when you get a chance – this will effect how much of the book you’ve read.

To all – I don’t really like NPC’s solving the puzzle I put out for you. I am not sure if Shaezon wanted Galen to solve the puzzle because you guys didn’t know what to do – or was opening the door for some clever social RP with Galen. Either way – I am not overly concerned at it this time – between me, you and anyone else reading the board – I want you guys to move forward to the “End Game” soon. This thing at the river was meant to be a snarly issue – but not impossible. You could have done it from anywhere from 1 – 2 hours – depending on your solution. I was looking to figure out what time you’ll arrive at the coast of the lake. This is important – because the lake itself – according to Dior and Mister is several miles south of your position. And according to them you would have got there between 2 – 3 PM, barring any "Mishaps" – this “Mishap” means you’ll arrive from 4 – 5. To simply – I’ll just say you’re able to ride up to the lakeside by around 4:30 – speed is a factor here.

Now – I’ll be out running errands, and many of you guys have personal business to attend to. No worries – take your time – just do some social RP – I’ll be back in the evening. And of course – good luck!

I stated before that unless there is a specific reason not to, like he's in town or something, Arasmes summons Caliphana every morning when he wakes up. Also it takes 1 minute to summon not 10. I know when we first summoned her I thought it was 10 way back at Olegs but I was mistaken then. It is only 1 minute.

Actually it will only take minutes to do what is necessary. With that he concentrates a moment and 1d3 ⇒ 2 small water elementals appear. They will be able to move us across swiftly and without issue.

They have a swim speed of 90 and with a strength of 14 can push/drag 656 pounds each getting each person over in 1 round and getting the horses across without any issues either as from the PRD "A character can generally push or drag along the ground as much as five times his maximum load. Favorable conditions can double these numbers, and bad circumstances can reduce them by half or more." Water makes things easier to drag by far due to buoyancy and they are water elementals so everything should get taken care of very swiftly.

"It's times like these that I wish I could fly. Getting soaked by elementals sounds like a fantastic time..." Clari grimmaces as she begins to assist in unloading.

Does a Floating disk wink out if it is over water? It cannot be over 3 feet above a surface, but does that include the surface of water below it? cause if it does, a floating disk can also help carry things across.

She can prepare a floating disk in an empty spell-slot in 15 minutes

Prestidigitation to dry yourself. Also as far as the floating disk goes it's kind of up to the dm. The spell does specifically say ground but take that as you like. Me i'd probably rule you couldn't take it over water as it would follow the bed.

it was supposed to be a teaching moment, but kind of backfired. Regardless it's a good plan. Also floating disk only works over ground. Three feet over ground to be specific.

although if there's a solid surface to ride along below it, like rocks or a tree or something, it could ride along above that, in theory. but that's for the gm to make the exact call on, and if there's a check to know how exactly it will act.

Ka'etil laughs at the suggestions, "Well, that goes to show how magi think. I was going to suggest the stronger ones swimming across, and using ropes and such to assist those who would have trouble making it on their own. Then again, I cut my adventuring teeth with common fighter sorts who wouldn't have had much trouble simply walking across this fiord, even with the current."

"SO the elementals can carry most of us across, would Califana mind carrying the goods that are best kept dry across?" Kae asks as he begins to assist in lashing rope to the horses so they can be assisted in walking across, and removing the gear from them for a servant to carry.

Kae does the speed the process along so they can make better time as opposed to wating around for magic to solve their problems for them.

”There – you see? Arasmes did exactly as expected, namely; he used magic to solve the problem. Now we have no need to do any work at wall – for the elementals he called shall simply ferry us across,” Galen says broadly to all that will listen.

Excellent! Some quick notes, then:

1. Arasmes – yeah, I did forget the speed of Cali. Okay, she’s up and about – I should have figured, but I didn’t know for sure. As she is up – good enough. It just means that you’ll be able to get things done faster. Also – I am going to assume that Cali will also ferry certain stuff across the water. While there are no specific rules for getting black powder wet – and the consequences – for Social RP I will insist that is at least one item you don’t want wet, if you can avoid it at this time – which you clearly can.

2. Things are going on nicely – lots of good social RP – which I like – and though there’s been some drama – most of it is “in game” – which I also like – providing everyone remembers that that is just RP – and we all have fun. Which it looks like is already happening – so that’s good news.

3. Shaezon – yeah, you got a bit of a handful with Galen’s response. While I had a hunch that was a beginning of a teaching tool – I didn’t know. Play-by-post in general often feels like (to me) a Shakespearean play – or Star Trek the Next Generation. In both cases a person will make a statement, that really turns into a long soliloquy that seems to go nowhere. But it does have the advantage of sounding cool to the audience, and explaining a lot of details – because – just like in Star Trek and in Shakespeare (and Play-by-post) – a character can make a HUGE speech without ever being interrupted by anyone else, because everyone in the entire room – be it a council chamber or Picard's Ready Room – just kind of sits there saying nothing – until the first person finishes their long speech. Point is – the game has that same advantage – unless we’re all online at the same time and kind of refreshing things – like we did last night. Therefore – to make things easy – if you’re posting, do not be afraid to go into as much detail as possible. Otherwise – I won’t necessarily know what you’re doing – what your plan is – what your intention is, and so on. Then I have to ask – then you have to answer anyway – then I have to clarify – and everyone has to twiddle their thumbs while you and I go back and forth – instead of just making the one post – albeit long – yet filled with detail. Long posts aren’t for everyone – I get it – but it does help me a lot to understand player’s intentions and motivations.

4. For now I got a hunch that Ariarh/Isani may be out of the picture for a bit. The thing with her mom won’t allow much time to post, and there’s a lot of reading to catch up on. However - Ariarh/Isani - if you read this, let me know if you let Galen rip up the book so you can all start studying it. You can tell his offer to rebind it is sincere, but the choice is still yours. Meanwhile - until she gets back on the boards - here’s what’s going to happen:

although if there's a solid surface to ride along below it, like rocks or a tree or something, it could ride along above that, in theory. but that's for the gm to make the exact call on, and if there's a check to know how exactly it will act.

Ka'etil laughs at the suggestions, "Well, that goes to show how magi think. I was going to suggest the stronger ones swimming across, and using ropes and such to assist those who would have trouble making it on their own. Then again, I cut my adventuring teeth with common fighter sorts who wouldn't have had much trouble simply walking across this fiord, even with the current."

"SO the elementals can carry most of us across, would Califana mind carrying the goods that are best kept dry across?" Kae asks as he begins to assist in lashing rope to the horses so they can be assisted in walking across, and removing the gear from them for a servant to carry.

Kae does the speed the process along so they can make better time as opposed to wating around for magic to solve their problems for them.

”Aye – of course they use magic to solve things,” Brett returns to Kae.

”And why shouldn’t they, I reckon? They’re completely right – no need for frontier towns, and rough characters like you and I – instead – you can sit around on a bed eating and reading – and rustling up one of these magic servants to take care of any personal needs, as it were… “ he adds with a shrug.

”No need for food, or work, or – hell – even women, excepting if you want babies – the magic will take care of all of it. I tell you Kae – lads like you and I be obsolete the way this truck is going.”

Meanwhile –

The party will advance – As stated, you will arrive at the edge of this “Lake” between 4-5 PM – however, I saw some good hustling. Everyone pitched in, which was good. It means you hit the edge of the lake at 4 PM – pretty much on the nose. This gives you roughly 3 hours of light.

The edge of the lake is, for the most part – heavily wooded. The forest is largely oak – but there is also a lot of soggy underbrush. Also – you notice that there has been modest flooding – the ground itself is covered with muck, and will slow down your party considerably. However – you seem to have a plan.

Sending out your “aerial scouts” you are quickly able to locate the small “Fishing Village” that Sir Dashan mentioned. It is on what would be the “north-east” side of the lake – (more on that soon).

There is a river that runs all the way down your nation – the same river – which runs south, literally splits your fortress between the valley. It spills into this lake – and the river you crossed a few hours ago starts in the east and travels west – it also spills into the lake, and – according to Isani – it flows out the western side of the lake through marshes, which she believes are now overfilled with recent flooding.

Toward the southwest side of the lake – but still kind of the middle – is a small island. You can all see it from here – but it is veiled with heavy mist and fog – either magically made, or otherwise. As stated by Sir Dashan – the fishermen said it was about a league from the western coast (re: 3 miles).

Beyond THAT – according to Anuk-su – was a low lying plateau that was on the far south west side of the lake. Here, there was a small city, a sort of port town, as it were. This town was believed to be destroyed – but you have no information on it.

You DO know it is on the western side of the lake. Isani and Clari – when the traveled north from the Osirions – the whole time they walked north – they were ALSO on the western side of the lake. The crossed the same river you did – but; it was traveling west – and they crossed the ferry several miles to the west of the lake.

Clari would remember that when they explored – the river ran faster and faster – and, according to her data – it spilled into a wide valley far to the west. The valley was filled with heavy mists – and almost looked like (according to her description – though she wouldn’t use the words, as she probably wouldn’t know it) – a jungle.

That is extremely odd to find in your land – you are far too north for such vegetation – even so – that is what she thought she saw.

Anyway – you are no the north-east side of the lake. The lake is very large, longer then it is wide – and the island is 3 miles (give or take) from your current position; which is near the fishing village.

The time is now 4:00 PM.

What’s next?

Normally I'd say this to Ariah, but since she's understandably AWOL...

Shaezon says to the group,

"Now what?"

I have not left yet but soon. I will only be gone a day (today) and can try and catch up on posts tonight (my time).

The boy was certainly intelligent but prideful and still on the search for wisdom.

"I may ask the nature gods to aid us with fine weather if it were important to a task or quest and they may choose to heed my prayers, yet I do not possess the power to produce sunbeams at will, Galen. I can, through divine grace, invoke storms and call down rain, lightning, sleet, create mists and fogs, but I cannot change natural weather patterns on whim for the sake of a nice lunch."

"In regard to the Draconic War Manual, I will not have it disassembled for it could ruin the old pages, text and pages could even be lost especially out here on the grasslands and waterways. It would devalue the integrity of the tome. I have it to read and I shall from start to finish in the most efficient and respectful way. If you are interested in reading the book, you may do so after I am done. However, I must make this clear, if you are permitted to read this tome I expect that you will not pull it apart to scribe without Council sanction. If you do so, there will be formal consequences. Thank you, Galen."

Ariarh's tone is courteous yet direct with her expectations in regard to the book and respecting its contents. She is speaking in a manner a mother would take with an impulsive/rash child who acts first and thinks later. She is concerned with preserving the Draconic War Manual and would like to read and know its contents before giving it to a child (or anyone outside the Council) to read.

Arasmes looks around at the lake and says I wonder how Anuk-su and her brethren crossed?

Arasmes looks around at the lake and says I wonder how Anuk-su and her brethren crossed?

"WIngs?" Shaezon muses

"As far as I know only Anuk-su has the ability to fly. They have a ranger among them, Ryul. He could have found a way around. Can we see any tracks?"

Survival via tracking: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20

Shae also looks around for tracks
Survival 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Checking for tracks? Why - indeed you can!

Firstly – let me give you some basic details to set the stage.

You currently see on a wide open area, filled with many shoddy buildings which flank a larger building somewhat in the center. Somewhat apart from these buildings you see what looks like the docks for this crude “fishing village” which you heard of.

Fanning out – with your trackers in the forefront of the expedition – you move slowly closer to the village itself. As you advance forward, a boom of thunder sounds, and rain begins to patter down.

You have a good sense that if you did not arrive to the village as early as you did – and, instead – were delayed, even by an hour – the tracks you will discover would have been completely eroded. Even so – you proceed.

Brett’s assist roll with the tracks:
1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

You find that there is evidence of hoofprints – horses were here. Based on your read of the signs – there were four of them – they were led to the northeast of the camp, and tethered inside a small cabin – or at least – so you would guess!

You can see clearly what looks like the kobolds tracks, it looks like the led their horses to a small abandoned house – took them inside, tied them off, and moved out toward the docks themselves. You would guess that Anuk-su is with them, too.

However – at this time the horses are not there. Other tracks are – more recent. The tracks look like they come from booted feet, not the kobolds claws. They look like the tread of heavy men’s boots – you’d guess the walkers were roughly 6 feet, maybe 180-200 lbs. There were two sets of tracks leading around the hut – the horses are no longer in it – and once you get into the villages “main square” – the tracks are lost in a confusion of mud and chaos.

The tracks look like they are about 24 hours old – give or take.

It’s possible that fisherfolk or trappers came here after the kobolds, found the horses – and decided to steal them. But that seems unlikely, given the disposition of the town itself. You see no evidence of recent travelers who would conduct themselves as fishermen that may have come here – rather, the place is fairly empty of anyone – and, for the most part – it looks like there have not been any travelers who would use fishing boats or function as fishermen in general in the area for some time.

The tracks lead down back and forth between what you deduce to be the pier and what looks like a large building. Further – you can see clear evidence of chaos in the mud – a scuffle – a fight? You do not know – but there is definitely some evidence of blood, and a recent lost sword is sticking up from the ground (you deduce THAT because it is in the mud, yet not covered with mud).

Moving quickly to the blade – you can see that it is not one that belonged to the kobolds – you know their gear. But it is not what you’d guess to be local make, either. The blade itself is a fine quality steel – and the hilt is damasked with twin serpents which intertwine to the cross guard. There – the hilt is clearly what looks like two cobras facing each other – on either side of the blade. The metal that makes up the hilt is not steel – and can be identified.

The blade is somewhat longer then a shortsword – and a far thinner. It looks like a wider version of a rapier. There are strange runes on the blade.

Meanwhile – the rain is coming harder, and you advance to where the tracks seem to congregate the closest in the town, or rather, the village.

The town/village itself

Anyone with a Knowledge: Engineering skill (you only need one rank to make this deduction, it’s fairly easy) can deduce a few things about the houses.

Firstly – they are all centered around a large lodge or meeting room. More about this in a moment…

Kingmaker Rules: Town Hall
Fairly damaged – if you wanted to fix it – it would take 4 BP and about 2,000 in raw gold. But it could be done. This building alone looks like it is in the best condition.

Near the water are some large buildings – empty now. It looks like some tools and rope may have been stored here for boats and rafts. It is now filled with mostly junk – the valuable tools now plundered, lost or ruined.

Kingmaker Rules: Piers
The warehouses are fairly intact – 2 BP to repair it fully – 3,000 gold pieces.

You see a low lying room, with a second floor and adjacent stable areas. The roof to the stables are collapsed, the hay– what there is left of it – is moldy and rotten. The floors are nearly rotted through on the upper level, you find a small kitchen of the side of the lower room, the large chimney looks burned out, too. The bricks are cracked and the plaster eroded.

Kingmaker Rules: Inn
Badly damaged – 2 BP to repair to full and 2,500 gold pieces to fix it.

Throughout the village in general you see nothing but rotted huts; perhaps livable at one point – now they are fairly useless.
Kingmaker Rules: Tenements
Not much of value here. The huts are pretty much worthless – and tenements only cost 1 BP – but they are here. For every building you complete – each tenement is restored. Further – for the cost of 1 additional BP, and the completion of a building – the tenement is converted into a House.

More on the Town Hall

This building alone is fairly undamaged. You see a lot of activity by the entrance of the building – wide double doors roughly 8 feet in height. Inside the room you can instantly deduce that the building was used as a sort of a “lodge” of sorts. Various old blankets are scattered in the far corners of the room. The majority of the furniture – if there was any – is now missing.

The central fireplace is filled with damp ash – and the rain is now coming thickly outside. In the far side of the room you see evidence of where horses may have stayed at one point – but there are none there now. Your suspicion is that whatever fishermen use this area in the “off season” merely congregate in this large room in a group for warmth and safety.

Hanging from the central rafters is what looks like the body of a human – it is dangling by its arms – and is naked. Male – and there are obviously deep wounds on it. Dried blood is pooled in a wide circle under it – and flies are buzzing on it.

Healing Check for more details.

You see blood trails on the rotten floorboards – they run toward the fireplace.

The fireplace itself is large enough to build a fire which would be able to cook a small boar. Galen could walk under the awning to the fireplace only by ducking his head – it is not small.

However – you see a strange thing in the fireplace…

There is what looks like the remains of a corpse. I say remains because the body looks like it is in pieces, and it also looks like it has burned through – the bones are charred, blackened, and it looks fairly recent.

Healing Check for more details.

What strikes you as the most curious thing here is that the skull of this body is certainly not human – in fact – it looks reptilian… The eye sockets are wrong – as too are the teeth.

Yeah – I just said it – but healing is helpful – but to get the real skinny on the skull you’d need a Knowledge: Nature check.

On the bricks above the fireplace is a long iron nail, slammed into the plaster. Stuck to the nail is a piece of parchment. There is writing on it – but the writing looks archaic, and the language is clearly Osirion.

Healing check: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Knowledge, Nature: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Brett gags a bit at the smell of the body – it voided itself a while ago – and the smell of feces is rank under the flesh. He jerks out a wide bandana and cinches it around his face.

”Gods – that stinks! Maybe we ought to attend to it – eh? Take it out and bury it, or burn it – or whatever needs getting done best.”

Meantime – as the party looks around the body, Brett trudges back toward the door.

”Hey – I’m heading down to the water, what do you want to do with the horses and gear? Anyone want to come?” he asks, even as he wanders toward the door – trusting to the party to take care of what’s in the room.

Meanwhile – if no one says otherwise – Brett will take the sword you found in the mud. Otherwise – let me know if you’re doing anything with it, and what. Does anyone who reads Osirion want to try reading the document on the fireplace? Finally – as it is raining – what exactly do you want to do with your horses and baggage?

Heal check: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11
Knowledge, Nature: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Linguistics check (on archaic Osiriani): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Heal check on corpse: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

Healing check: 1d20+10

Knowledge, Nature: 1d20+10

Quick question - which body are you using the healing check on? Wait - never mind - for now I'm assuming you are using it on the Human - because the DC is much higher for the burned corpse...

Therefore -

Based on the disposition of the body there was heavy bruising on the back of the skull. You believe the man may have been knocked unconscious at some point, then bound to the rafters while alive. While the body is severely wounded - you would suspect that the man had been tortured before he died.

The cuts and wounds look like someone vivescected the body. The entrails were cut open and pulled out after the fact - yes - you are sure; this man was tortured here, before he was killed.

Now - what is Healing Check for the other man?

Heal check: 1d20+10

Knowledge, Nature: 1d20+8

Yep, yep - you're definitely able to aid Ariarh with the human body - but you certainly need to toss up the check for Healing on the corpse in the fireplace.

Results of the knowledge check in a moment...

"Let us bring the horses into the buildng, keep things dry for the moment while we investigate these remains. Brett, what sort of sword would that be that you found there, any idea where it would be from?"

Kae takes a look at the skull and corpse.
K nature: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Human - Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 19
Burnt aid - Heal: 1d20 ⇒ 15

Knowledge: Nature

Coupled with Healing check on body in fireplace...

The body is firstly not a kobold. The bones, what they are – are too long. You’d guess the body is likely to be about anywhere from 5’9” to 6’0” in height. The skull itself is certainly shaped differently from a kobold. It looks more akin to a human. The cheekbones are the same – as are the features around the skull. Only the mouth itself is different – it looks like the mouth has slightly sharp teeth, but the incisors are elongated – examining up near the skull near the roof of the mouth you can see that there are strange gaps around the gumline – the incisors are able to recede somewhat into the skull – but the gaps in the gumline extend somewhat back behind the other teeth – your combined Knowledge: Nature check makes you think that these gaps could have been filled with venom sacks – like a snake.

There are multiple clean breaks on or around both femurs and again around the forearms. You also notice that the hands and feet look like the knuckles are crushed – possibly pulped. All of this leads you to believe that the bones are have been broken deliberately.

You believe this body was tortured too – before it was killed. Then it was cut up, and dumped into the fireplace and burned…

Going with Brett. Shae will examine and detect magic on the runed sword.

Percep 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (3) + 10 = 13

"Let us bring the horses into the buildng, keep things dry for the moment while we investigate these remains. Brett, what sort of sword would that be that you found there, any idea where it would be from?"

Kae takes a look at the skull and corpse.
K nature: 1d20+6

Human - Heal: 1d20
Burnt aid - Heal: 1d20

The room is a bit small for so many horses and a pony – still – you probably are able to hold all the horses in here – maybe, but it will be a very snug fit. If something happens – the horses could damage the building. Still – you can do it.

Any plans on what to do with the human body? It reeks – and is covered with filth – the intestines that are dangling from the stomach have maggots in them alone…

Brett responds to Kae –

”Blamed if I know,” Brett says, tossing Kae the sword.

”I saw it there – looks handy – a little big for me, but it can be a good fit, big for me – small for you – but – who knows? Anyhow – looks foreign like – got a good weight to it – like an Aldori blade… Got runes on the blade, too – but I can’t read ‘em. Anyone got a figuring on ‘em?” Brett asks, even as Kae is free to see the weapon.

Kae – Toss up an Appraise check to guess the metalwork, if you’d like – you can try gauge what kind of weapon it is – stat-wise – to do this I’m going to say that your “Knowledge Check” is going to be your 1d20+BAB – depending on how you roll – I can give you “stats” on the weapon. As it is – you may not know the runes on it – but a linguistics check can find out more on the weapon.

Sorry using my phone and Internet is sketchy at best here so everything runs very slow. I edited Isani's previous post to include 2nd heal check and linguistics.

Going with Brett. Shae will examine and detect magic on the runed sword.

Percep 1d20+10

Shae - it's definitely magical - as to the runes - you'll probably want a Linguistics roll to identify them. Spellcraft to identify the sword's magical power.

Sorry using my phone and Internet is sketchy at best here so everything runs very slow. I edited Isani's previous post to include 2nd heal check and linguistics.

Cool - second check on Healing was solved by Kae's check - however - the letter reads as follows:

Translation of the letter –

Death to Apostates! Death to Heretics! May the master curse all Traitors. May their bones wither, may their body rot, may they know darkness and despair!

BAB Check for the sword
1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

BAB Check for the sword

1d20+4

Wow – very nice – okay – here’s the full stats for the sword:

Type: Slashing and Piercing
Damage – 1d8
Critical – 18-20
Weight – 4 lbs
Special: Finesse Weapon – if you posses Weapon Finesse. Provide +1 CMD if using weapon to disarm weapon. This weapons as a Martial Weapon; very similar to a rapier.

Still need the appraise check to guess the quality of the weapon in terms of value and so on.

Clari approaches the blade <Interesting blade there. I wonder what it is, Keravel>

detect magic
Spellcraft
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25
To try to identify the sword as it's magic.

appraise: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

"Mind if I take a look at that blade, Maji Shaezon"

Appraise:
1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
to check out the sword.

Arasmes looks at the tortured creature with a sense of sadness and a feeling of pain. Sending his thoughts out into the ether he calls for aid. Hear my call. Send me an agent who can help bring peace and justice to this creature. A mournful twittering begins to sound and a tiny creature like a songbird appears near the corpse. A stylish plaster mask conceals its face, while two pairs of wings ruffle over its body’s somber shades. Arasmes reaches out his hand and the bird flies to his arm. CelestialThank you for coming. /Celestial

Arasmes looks at the group and says This is Mourninglight. She is a servant of Pharasmas Boneyard and would like to help with the creature hanging here. She can ask it several questions if you all wish to know more about what occurred. A slight keening comes from the bird in and she says in celestial in a voice full of loss but also peace Six questions to be precise, as it is proscribed so shall it be.

Summon Monster III to summon a Nosoi Psychopomp and request that it cast Speak with Dead upon the creature. I hope you liked the flavoring.

Clari approaches the blade <Interesting blade there. I wonder what it is, Keravel>

detect magic
Spellcraft
1d20+13
To try to identify the sword.

"Mind if I take a look at that blade, Maji Shaezon"

If Shae won't mind - then you nail the roll.

The sword is clearly magical - and it is a +2 weapon.

Again - an Appraise roll or Linguistic roll may learn more.

To all -

FYI - DOES ANYONE WANT TO DEAL WITH DEAD/ROTTING HUMAN IN THE HALL - OR TRY TO DEDUCE THE CASE INSIDE?

... just curious on that matter... ;)

Appraise:

1d20+2
to check out the sword.

Appraise Check

Meanwhile – though the steel is high quality – the hilt is made out of a different metal. You would guess the hilt is fashioned from an alloy of Mithril and Cold Iron – no knowledge what that may do for magical purposes – it certainly won’t matter if you stab someone with it, unless you “stab” someone with the hilt. But at the least – that is what the metal is.

The weapon can be used by either a small or medium creature. Small creatures are at a -1 to attack, however.

Arasmes looks at the tortured creature with a sense of sadness and a feeling of pain. Sending his thoughts out into the ether he calls for aid. Hear my call. Send me an agent who can help bring peace and justice to this creature. A mournful twittering begins to sound and a tiny creature like a songbird appears near the corpse. A stylish plaster mask conceals its face, while two pairs of wings ruffle over its body’s somber shades. Arasmes reaches out his hand and the bird flies to his arm. CelestialThank you for coming. /Celestial

Arasmes looks at the group and says This is Mourninglight. She is a servant of Pharasmas Boneyard and would like to help with the creature hanging here. She can ask it several questions if you all wish to know more about what occurred. A slight keening comes from the bird in and she says in celestial in a voice full of loss but also peace Six questions to be precise, as it is proscribed so shall it be.

Summon Monster III to summon a Nosoi Psychopomp and request that it cast Speak with Dead upon the creature. I hope you liked the flavoring.

Very cool - but, quick question on rules clarification - The creature can use the ability as a Spell-like ability "at will" - does this negate the casting time? I ask - because to use the spell the "casting time" is 10 minutes - and I don't know how long the summoned creature remains there. Also - and this is a bit more important - does the bird need to speak the language of the dead man? How does the language barrier work? You can work through Isani - depending - but I do need to understand those variables.

Also - you do realize that you can have a summoned monster OR your Eidolon - but you can't have both up at the same time. This means you'll need to dismiss Cali - then resummon her afterwards - even though this didn't happen before, it is something that will matter later.

My fault I missed the casting time. I'd be willing to burn another summon to "extend" the time so that the casting could be done if you allowed in this instance. As for the languages, the spell reads like anyone can hear the answers and we can give the Nosoi the questions to ask and it should be able to repeat them. Due to the difficulty I would say we'd probably only get 3 or 4 questions off instead of 6.

Part of the Nosoi's job is to interview and guide the dead within the boneyard so this shouldnt be too much of an issue for it lol. But I understand the rules dynamic as well so whatever you say will be fine.

"I shall assist in attending to the body. If the priestess would like to give any sort of last rights... I do not know much of such things..." Kae says after the others have fully examined it.

"Arasmes, Can your summoned friend also assist in questioning this body to determine what happened to it?"

While this happens, Kae examines the rest of the building for clues as to who tortured this man, and what happened in this building, including evidence of the Kobolds.
Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29
survival to find tracks: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15

My fault I missed the casting time. I'd be willing to burn another summon to "extend" the time so that the casting could be done if you allowed in this instance. As for the languages, the spell reads like anyone can hear the answers and we can give the Nosoi the questions to ask and it should be able to repeat them. Due to the difficulty I would say we'd probably only get 3 or 4 questions off instead of 6.

1. Good news about Nosoi - she is free to do the questions as you prefer. I will need you to burn the ability twice though, so she can stay for 12 minutes, instead of 6.

2. Again - the real issue here is that if you want to summon monsters - it forces Cali to be dismissed. I only mention it because she couldn't have helped you across the water when the water elementals were helping the group across the river up north. Though it would take longer without Cali - no worries. You're here now, and it's all good.

3. So - the real question is - what is the questions you would like to ask? You have 6 - use them wisely...

I am not sure there will be time Kae but I will ask... ...the DM. It can do it 3 times per day but I would need to burn two more summons to extend it again but only if you allow. If not that's fine just stick with the first one.

"I shall assist in attending to the body. If the priestess would like to give any sort of last rights... I do not know much of such things..." Kae says after the others have fully examined it.

"Arasmes, Can your summoned friend also assist in questioning this body to determine what happened to it?"

While this happens, Kae examines the rest of the building for clues as to who tortured this man, and what happened in this building, including evidence of the Kobolds.
Perception: 1d20+11
survival to find tracks: 1d20+5

Har har - you're outside in the rain with Brett - who's on his way to the pier. Unless you want to go back into the room... You can - or you can use that tracking roll to explore the coast and other buildings... What is your plan on that account?

You have a chance to go either way, though.

We had talked about that no summons rule with the eidolon when i brought in the summoner and that the summon and eidolon could be here at the same time was the result of the convo. That's how he's been played the whole time. I've been using the summons and the eidolon since the beginning without issue. I didn't realize we were changing now because that changes a lot of things about my character and spell selection.

I am not sure there will be time Kae but I will ask... ...the DM. It can do it 3 times per day but I would need to burn two more summons to extend it again but only if you allow. If not that's fine just stick with the first one.

Yeah - that's where I'm lost too. As I read the rules - it says you can do it "At Will" 3 times a day.

So first - if it's used "at will" how long does the casting time take - 10 minutes or "at will"?

Next the - spell's description says (once you cast it) - that you can ask six questions. Does this mean each question needs 10 minutes - or after 10 minutes you can ask 6 questions?

Argh! I simply don't know - there are variables on variables to consider. So - here's what we'll do.

Burn the 2 summoning - and I'll let you ask 4 questions straight, does that sound fair? I really don't know - as it reads - you shouldn't be able to use "Speak With Undead" in any case - because if takes 10 minutes to use, the creature would Dismiss halfway through the spell.

But again - to expedite - you spend the Summoning 2 times - you can get 4 questions - but the total time will take 20 minutes all told.

Let me know if that works - if so - you can do the 4 questions...

It's not at will. It's 3 times per day. The questions themselves are able to be answered for 1 minute per caster level of the Nosoi, in this case for this ability the caster level is 12 so the creature can answer for 12 minutes up to 6 questions normally.

That works as far as burning the summons.

Nosoi begins keening and singing to the body preparing it and infusing it with life for answering the questions.

We have 10 minutes in game to come up with 4 questions. Unfortunately I have to go to bed but my suggestions for the questions would be who killed you? What was the information they were trying to torture out of you? What are you? Where did you come from? etc. but mix and match and add as you see fit.

Dain we are going to need to talk about the Summon/Eidolon thing because if that is how we are playing it then I need to make a change or two to my spell selection because they were selected with how we've been playing it up till now in mind.

We had talked about that no summons rule with the eidolon when i brought in the summoner and that the summon and eidolon could be here at the same time was the result of the convo. That's how he's been played the whole time. I've been using the summons and the eidolon since the beginning without issue. I didn't realize we were changing now because that changes a lot of things about my character and spell selection.

Ah - I really don't remember that conversation, to tell you the truth. And I don't know much about summoners, but I have been reading up on them lately, and it is pretty clear that because of the powers of the Eidolon in general, not to mention summoned monsters - that the book doesn't want you to have both the eidolon and the summoned monsters out at the same time.

Now - if it has compromised your characters spell selection - I will let you modify the spells you know, no problem. You guys are at a tight spot, you can just reshuffle the spells you know, if you like. But the only reason you've had the Eidolon and the Summoned creatures at the same time, as far as I remember (and I'm not saying you're wrong) is because I thought that was how they were actually played, until I just checked the source.

Having the Eidolon and Summoned Monster out at the same time would mean that you would gain all the advantages of the Eidolon - and have the summoned monsters to back you, too. That is extremely powerful, and far more powerful then a Summoner would normally have.

I just want to keep things balanced and fair - and I sincerely don't remember talking about it - I honestly assumed that was how they were played. Do you want to reshuffle your spell list, though? If so - you are free to do that, just let me know.

It's not at will. It's 3 times per day. The questions themselves are able to be answered for 1 minute per caster level of the Nosoi, in this case for this ability the caster level is 12 so the creature can answer for 12 minutes up to 6 questions normally.

Ah - indeed. Then that would be the Invisibility that is "at will" - my mistake. We can talk about the thing with spells later - as I said - Eidolon's are already very powerful - but I don't want you to feel shafted via your spell selection if you honestly picked spells to compliment something else, and even though it is the middle of the afternoon "in game" and you are on level 6 - I will allow you to reshuffle your spell selection if you need to.

We can talk more about this when you get a chance - by the way - you guys are very close to concluding this thing - as you may no doubt realize.

It was how it was played in the playtest and was nerfed in the release but I mentioned this when I brought in the summoner that I thought that the nerf was unnecessary and that he playtest version worked fine. If we are changing that's fine but like I said I need to alter my spells and will do so soon.