GM Kiora's Wrath of the Righteous

Game Master Kiora Atua

"So... two swords of famous paladins went missing a month before a demon attack on a city..." she says slowly, shaking her head. "Do you know of any other weapons that have gone missing? We should ask the others about this, as well. I dreamed about a sword I'd never heard of being taken from a guarded room..."

Anevia sighs. "I still can't believe that Irabeth sold her sword," she says as she sharpens her shortsword with a whetstone. She seems sad.

Know(Local): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
Artistry(Epics): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11
Just in case the Lore was supposed to be Artistry! Not that it matters apparently :P

"Interesting indeed." Li'an says, pondering the meaning of the sword thefts.

"Anyway, I think we probably shouldn't try to infiltrate deeply, just far enough that we can take out the guards quickly and hopefully prevent them from alerting everyone. Going in too far could easily leave us outnumbered."

Turning to Anevia, she says "Don't worry Anevia, I'm certain she had a good reason for it," trying to comfort her.

"I just..." Anevia bites her lip, looking at Li'an. Her eyes are welling up with tears. "Irabeth is up there, fighting who knows what, and she doesn't have her sword. I think she sold it for me...and.." She sighs, grasping at her silver longsword pendant. "If she got hurt...because she didn't have her cold iron sword.. that'd be because of me, wouldn't it?" Her voice is barely over a whisper at this point; she is talking to herself more than she is to anyone in particular.

Li'an hesitates for a moment, unsure what to do. After a moment she leans over, and whispers into her ear.

She stood back up and looked Anevia in the eyes. "Really, it'll be alright, don't start worrying about everything. That's Aravashnial's job," she says trying to lighten the mood.

"We can worry once we reach Kenabres," Ehren adds resolutely, a very clear destination in his mind. "The path has been laid out before us. All that is left is for us to take it... after taking care of business, of course." He pauses for a moment, thinking on his own words, before turning to the mongrelman.

"Lann, do you know exactly where on the surface that path might lead? Somewhere well hidden, I imagine."

Anevia sighs, rubbing her eyes. "Okay. Okay. Okay. Infiltrate the bad guy lair. How are we doing this? Who is doing the talking?"

Lann glances to Ehren. "I don't know...I've never been all the way through that tunnel. As far as I know, none of us have. Then Hosilla arrived, down from the surface. So it must still connect somehow, right?"

Val raises her hand. "Well, I already volunteered to do the talking, and I know how to spin a good yarn, even a bullsh*t one. We might need to get our story straight before we actually put this plan into action though."

"I can back up Val as well, I'm better than you'd think at it. Between the two of us we should be able to ease their concerns enough for us to approach."

Li'an thought for a moment. "Well, either we pose as members from another tribe, or we attempt to pass ourselves off as cultists. The former might be unbelievable if they've not reached out to the other tribes, but the latter could be impossible."

"That reminds me, Lann, would it be possible to get a sap here before we leave? If we really manage to catch the guards by surprise, it would be good to be able to knock them out without killing them. Shoving Lleuad in their kidney is unlikely to give them much of a chance to change their minds about following Hosilla."

"Yes a plan would be beneficial going into the situation, not that many of our other plans have worked out super well, but a general idea may be nice none the less."

Val taps her fingers on her hip, deep in thought. "Cultists may be better. No matter what, we're not going to have enough disguises to pass all of us off as members of one of the tribes. Their appearance is a little... unique for us to pull off convincingly. We could claim we fell down here during the original attack and finally made our way back to friendly territory. It the cultists down here are any indication, there are likely more up in the city. And it's not even entirely a lie."

Lann thinks for a moment. "You mean...like a baton? I think we have.. 1d4 ⇒ 4 of those."

Anevia thinks for a moment. "Okay so... cultists? Or you can use your magic to disguise yourself to..y'know..look more like Lann and all them? Or both? What about Horgus and Aravashnial and stuff?" Sniped!

EDIT: Anevia nods. "Okay. But all we know is that they infiltrated the Crusades, right? And Valaria and Markus are all abyssal-y already" she wiggles her fingers. "Soooo they're cultist-y so that makes sense. But what about Aravashnial and Horgus and...Ehren. Not very cultist-y looking."

"Perfect, I'll definitely need one then. I'm not sure if anyone else wants one."

Assuming the Baton functions as a Sap, she'll snag one. Not so ideal for others, but lets Li'an do non-lethal SA damage. Li'an had 1gp left so I'll mark that off.

"Ok, lets go with cultists then. Do we still have that symbol of Baphomet? That would probably suffice for proof of membership for someone. In fact, on Val, with the right words, it might buy us all entry. Besides that I can disguise up to three of us. We might want Horgus and Aravashnial to hang back a ways until we've secured the entrance though. If things go bad we'll need to be able to fall back quickly."

Val nods. "Alright, that's a good idea. Does anyone have some basic bandages? I think I'll need to cover my mark for this to work." She taps the butterfly on her cheek. "And an exit strategy is always good. I've gone into too many situations without one to not know the consequences."

So who are you using the scale on, if anyone?

Is the whole group approaching the outpost at once? If Horgus and Aravashnial are hanging back, are they hanging back alone?

Ary digs out the bull head and tosses it Valaria's way, "Careful, it's a bit heavy. I'm good with carrying something for you, if you need me to, in the meantime. And... I should hang back with Avi and Sir Gwerm. If... they know much about the first crusade, they might recognize my shield. And... no offense, but I think I look a little more Crusader-y than the cultists can pull off." she suggests, even while wearing a cultist's armor, the irony apparently lost on her. She tosses her hair with a flick of her wrist for good measure.

Valaria catches the unholy symbol and after a moment hangs it around her neck. "Lady Desna, please don't take offense."

"Leaving them alone would be dangerous. If you're sure, then staying as the rear guard is probably a good idea. We don't need cave creatures getting in the way, or worse patrols or the like showing up to reinforce them. I still think Markus could pass for a tiefling, at least to the Neathholm traitors, so I'd like him with me. Li'an too, since it's her scale that can alter someone's appearance. Maybe Hrut for some muscle, but disguising him could be tricky..."

"So... Fen'wen, Shiny, and Hawk are getting the 'monster' treatment?" Ary asks, looking them over, "I mean, there's no way you're going to keep Anevia from joining in on an undercover op with -dragon- magic as a disguise. How else is she going to be the hero here?"

Wait. I think I just... if we polymorph Anevia, there's no reason she'd be forced to move slow anymore. But on that same token... would it grant Avi his sight, if only for a short time? Three uses isn't quite enough for him to rememorize spells, but if we do have down time... it could do a lot for him transcribing his knowledge. Not that this is something Ary would innately think of. But... :o

"Well, I won't turn down her help. Next question. What kind of disguise are we giving them? The cultists must have humans or other races among them, considering they seem to be acting as infiltrators. We don't want to give ourselves away be imitating someone who wouldn't be a member to begin with. Only one cultist down here was a tiefling if I remember correctly, so there must be other kinds of people."

"I would suspect that they are predominantly human," Ehren replies, nodding. "Or at the very least, I imagine it would be easiest for a human to infiltrate the crusades."

Wait. I think I just... if we polymorph Anevia, there's no reason she'd be forced to move slow anymore. But on that same token... would it grant Avi his sight, if only for a short time? Three uses isn't quite enough for him to rememorize spells, but if we do have down time... it could do a lot for him transcribing his knowledge. Not that this is something Ary would innately think of. But... :o

I'd say no, simply by virtue that it is a 2nd lvl spell, and therefore should not be able to fix problems that require a 7th-9th level spell. I'd say if you polymorphed Aravashnial he'd just be a blind member of some other race. There's nothing in the spell that for example, says that you instantly regenerate all your HP as part of the polymorph process, or even that you lose debuffs.

Anevia grins. "I'm already the hero here, so you don't need to worry about me. Well, other than how I might blow your cover if I'm recognized. I'm fairly amazing after all, so why wouldn't they? Anyway, what about Ehren? He's Kellid, looks Kellid, kinda sticks out. I mean they might have infiltrated the wallers but who knows."

So Ary/Horgus/Aravashial holding the rear, and Anevia/Li'an/Hrut in magical disguise as humans and Valaria/Markus/Ehren just as they are? How far back are Ary and co staying? What will Lann do?

Setting note: Tieflings aren't all that rare in area of the Worldwound. Not as common as in Cheliax, I'd say, but at least 1% of the population in Kenabres is comprised of Tieflings - either locals who became tainted in pregnancy, or good-aligned tieflings eager to prove themselves good. (This unfortunately does very little to help curb racial prejudice.)

This is why, in general, people will confuse Markus for a tiefling (remember that while horns/red skin/tail is iconic of a tiefling, tieflings can have a pretty varied appearance, which people in Mendev are aware of - hence why the mongrelmen were mistaken for tieflings, essentially.) Dhampir are pretty unheard of in the region, vampires are the last thing on people's minds, and most wouldn't even realize that undead can procreate.

"Hm. You make a point, I guess. I don't think they'd know something like that, though, unless they have a Cultist with them. Which I suspect they would. But it's also an easy and believable lie that they'd -want- to work to take the city... yeah?" Ary tilts her head.

I am uncertain of the range we should stay. Too far back seems highly inappropriate. Probably similar to what we'd run with previously, I would think. Keeping our allies out of Ary's light, and just letting her rearguard as it would seem natural.

I think the only way you could fix Aravashnial's sight with polymorph would be to give him a sense that normally wasn't present, like blindsight or tremorsense. Unfortunately that's far beyond what alter self can do.

"I agree that Anevia and I should be disguised, Hrut might be alright given he has a helm, but on the other hand the magic would make him even more effective in combat, so that's not a bad choice for a third. As for disguises, I think we can't risk claiming more than a couple of us are from above. As for disguises, I think Ehren is right, while there may be Elven, Dwarven, Tiefling and other cultists, the majority would be human. I'd say we go with human."

Thinking about their grouping, she adds "If the guards see like Lann, or the others down here, then perhaps we can use Lann's vision to determine how far Ary, Horgus and the others should be? If the front group is just inside Lann's vision in the darkness, and the rear group carries no light sources, then the guards at the gate shouldn't be able to see Ary and the others in the rear until we're already on top of them."

Mmhmm. If that's how it's gonna be, so be it! :o. Seriously, though. The polymorph section explicitly calls out that GM is final arbiter near the bottom, so I'm cool with it. I'd run it as an ex. ability getting taken off while morphed, while a sp, spell, or su. would run its course. Yes, you're a bear now, yes, there is still glitter all over everything. On the bright side, no one will ever forget sparklebear. :) But I'm honestly more for 'no bandaid', as that creates a ton of its own problems.

"I'm... not sure how comfortable I am going in blind. I tried it once, and there were grippy grabby things... And... please no?" she asked. She could see that it was a better choice... but it went completely against her nature to go in blind.

Believe me, no one is more worried about Aravashnial's vision than Li'an. :p
I almost didn't take him to the hot springs, 'cause I was terrified that if he slipped in he'd get eye sockets full of burning water... still gives me the creeps thinking about it.

"You shouldn't be blind, you'll still be able to see us up ahead at the very least, and Lann would be with you. Though if you're really worried about it we could rely on Hrut's helmet to disguise him and give you darkvision instead."

"It'll be fine. If anything goes wrong, I'll just draw my sword. I don't need the magic like you guys in the front do. I'll be fine." she says. "I'll just have to trust Lann to lead us mice around." Ary said with an attempt at a smile as she looked Lann-ward.

I'm back! I'm also all caught up. Where am I? I can either go with the scouts (with my high Cha score and my undead appearance, I can Bluff and Diplomacy well). I can also be ready with Ary near the back - I have darkvision and I know light.

Everyones chilling in Seer Opoli's hut and discussing tactics. Welcome back! :)

"Alright. So right now it's me and Markus going as ourselves and Li'an, Hrut, and Anevia either disguised or just being careful going in first. That means Ary, Horgus, Aravashnial, and Ehren stay back and wait for us to get inside before following us in. I don't think we want to fight these cultists without everyone there, so they can slip in behind us once we do something about the guards."

Not summerizing for convenience or anything *whistles innocently*

Ehren nods firmly, in agreement with the plan. The less I say when the time comes, the better, he decides to himself. Among other things, deception was not exactly his strong suit.

Lann nods. "Alright. Sounds good to me. Shall we be off?"

When two agree to leave, we will.

"Yes, I think we've prepared as much as we can," she replied to Lann. "Now we see how effective our plans are. Desna please watch over us, I suspect we'll need the luck."

"As ready as I'm going to be." Ary responded.

Along the way... Ary would take the time to ask Aravashnial (old as he was) if he knew anything about Yaniel, her sword, and its disappearance.

"If anyone in the rear group needs us to halt for any reason, just let Ary know, and she can whisper to me," Li'an says as she works the magic she'd just mastered a couple days ago, finishing by pointing at Ary and then Valaria.

SLA: message, 20 min. duration, 120 ft. range.
Li'an will keep it up on Ary and Valaria for the trip, 20 min duration, will recast it when we apply the disguises about 5 min out from the outpost.

Val nods. "No time to waste. We need to warn everyone up top about the cultists and soon."

Lann leads the group to one of the several stone doors that mark exits from the cavern in which Neathholm is located. Chief Sull sees the group off.

"Good luck! I eagerly await word of whether the crusaders will want us to join in the war above. Either way, know that you are always welcome in Neathholm if you need a place to retreat, rest, and recover," says Chief Sull.

The tunnel winds onward for thirty minutes. Aravashnial is surprised at Ary's interest in Radiance.

"Radiance, Yaniel's sword? It used to be a powerful magic weapon. With her death, it was rendered inert, and unusual for Iomedaeans, was kept as a museum piece to bolster morale. It went missing a month ago from the Grey Garrison...I suspected cultist activity...perhaps a final act of cruelty from the demons that killed her. But I believe that the crusaders felt that it was probably stolen, no doubt by someone who actually believed it made of solid gold - to my knowledge it is just glamoured cold iron." Aravashnial is being pleasant, always happy to share his knowledge.

Meanwhile, up front, Anevia pokes Li'an with her crutch. "So! When are we using that dragon super spy magic of yours?"

"When Lann thinks we're five or so minutes out I would say, although maybe ten if they're likely to have patrols. If we start it too soon we risk it wearing off as we're talking our way up to them," Li'an responds to Anevia. "Have any particular request?" she adds, aware suddenly that Anevia's actually excited about it.

Anevia thinks for a moment, then grins. "A half-orc!" she requests. "I have a slight obsession."

Once they are closer, and Anevia gets her wish...

Anevia giggles softly, examining her now much-taller (and much greener) form. She squishes her breasts together and winks at Li'an. "You gave me an enormous rack, you trying to tell me something, huh?!" she whispers.

Lann glances out into the tunnel, where it is already beginning to narrow into a claustrophobic width.

"Their lair is a few minutes ahead. I wish you the best of luck."

"You're wife is unfairly lucky," Val mutters, trying for once in her life not to admire the rather attractive woman next to her. "She's taken, be good. she reminds herself harshly.

She nods to the mongrel and gestures for the others to follow. "Let's get this show on the road. We can't waste time if we're going to get in there before the scale wears off." She starts down the passage toward the outpost, stopping to make sure everyone is following her a few yards down. She keeps her eyes peeled for the structure, not wanting to get caught off-guard.

Hrut chimes in with his two copper,

"This should go well, hopefully we can get them in such a circumstance that they just surrender. They have been misguided, which does not excuse their behavior or choices, but perhaps they can be brought back to the light if possible."

The forward group: Valaria, Markus, Li'an, Hrut, and Anevia move towards the lair of the vile and vicious. It is dark, but of course the mongrelmen have no need for light.

Eventually, the tunnel widens out. Barricades made of heaped loose rocks and wooden boards bisect the cavern. Beyond the barricades, a wooden screen covers the lower half of a tunnel mouth. In front of the screen stand four mongrelpeople. As the heroes come into view, one mongrelwoman, a slender female with long, thin horns and covered in patchy blonde fur, starts howling and shrieking loudly.

The front guardsman, a bizarre, feathered creature with vestigal claws sticking out of his shoulders, draws his club and snarls in strangely accented Common: "Do not come any closer!"

----

Ary, Horgus, Ehren, Lann, and Aravashnial stand father down the tunnel, about 60 feet, to stay out of sight.

Valaria stops, then steps forward just slightly. "Finally!" She calls back, her voice suddenly taking a posh Chelish accent (think an upper class British accent). "Do you have any idea how long we've been looking for you? You are Hosilla's band right? Not more of those little weaklings that refuse to see the way the world works. We've dealt with enough of them already today."

Prior to the Approach

Li'an will go Human since we've already got a half-orc, tiefling, dhampir already. Hrut can be whatever he likes, or just a more cultist-y, less Hrut-y version of himself.

"Just don't tell Irabeth, I don't want to wind up getting stuck with all the bad assignments for the next month!" she responded to Anevia with mock dread in her voice.

Li'an touches herself with the scale and suddenly her sharp elven features begin to soften. Her skin becomes a dusky tan and her now black hair gains half a foot in length. The features are almost certainly Varisian.

"I hope we are able to, Hrut," she says, as they begin their approach.

-----------------------------------
After the Approach

Li'an stops alongside Valaria and whispers softly to Ary, "Stopping."

Before reaching the gate:

Ary nods to Aravashnial, "So... there's no chance of it having been taken forcefully..?" she frowns a bit. Then she switches into Celestial as she speaks, sounding it out slowly, though it still sounds as though she's intoning something, rather than personally speaking. "واضاف "دعونا ترث ذين الأسلحة، Iomedae"

"Does... that mean anything to you?" she asked, much uncertainty in her voice.

--------------------------

Ary would pay heed to Li'an's signal and stop her companions, and stand still where they were, waiting quietly.

Earlier:

Aravashnial frowns. "Forcefully? I believe it vanished in the night. The museum guards were suspected, I believe, but I am not a crusader myself. I know what I know from hearsay."

He shakes his head at Ary's words: "Celestial? That's interesting. I never would have thought you multilingual."

------

Now:

Valaria Bluff: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 I was gonna give you a chance to get aid another but you didn't need it lol..

Mongrel Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Mongrel Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Mongrel Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 16
Mongrel Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

FYI: I am likely to roll sense motive in secret in the future, these are open because these guys aren't the greatest at hiding their intentions anyway

It is dark, but as the group approaches the mongrel lair, Li'an and Hrut can see light coming out from behind the wooden screen that covers the tunnel mouth.

The mongrels frown, thoroughly confused by Valaria's accent. They mutter amongst themselves, looking over the group of five with suspicion. Finally, the feathered man scratches his face with one of the claws protruding from his shoulder.

"I don't know you. I will get Hosilla. Surface dwellers wait in the common room." He gestures to the group, lifting up the wooden screen to lead them into the next cavern.

Do you follow?

Whoops. I knew I forgot something. Still, GM dice were on my side tonight.

"Yes, yes make it quick. We need to talk to her. Tell her a group of Templars from the surface needs to speak to her." She looks back at the others with a questioning look on her face. "Shall we?"

Earlier:

"I'm... not. Hrut's helping me. Baby steps." she says, an odd mixture of relief and disappointment. Truth be told, it was hard for Ary to know what to feel; dreaming of something she knew nothing about was one thing... but dreaming about something that hadn't happened was a different thing entirely. "Just a dream, I guess." But on the other hand, it had felt so good to feel... like she'd been called.

Li'an whispers to Valaria via the spell "Have Ary move up? Tell guards we have stragglers?"

Mongrel perception vs DC 25 to notice whisper: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Mongrel perception vs DC 25 to notice whisper: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Mongrel perception vs DC 25 to notice whisper: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

The mongrels close to Li'an are blissfully unaware she said anything.

Val pauses for a moment, thinking it over. "We have more allies."

"Hold a moment," she tells the guard. "We have a few other allies with us, guarding our backs in case some cave beast tries to creep up on us. They're... infiltrators, dressed as crusaders. We didn't want you to attack before we could explain the situation. They need to come with us."