Do I add an int bonus to this or the concentration check bonuses for combat casting?
Grimnir, not one for library studies, nevertheless looks around for the book.
As Reigan's less than magical methods fail to turn up anything, he looks to his arcane and divine compatriots. "If there is something here, it might be up to you lot." he says as his paranormal investigations seems to be lacking a certain panache if he is so easily foiled.
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Searching through the boxes Reigan and Terry both turn towards magical means and detect a faint illusory magic coming from within the box.
Reigan lights some incense and attempts an Augury nearby. The spell seems to have good results as it leads towards the box of Golarian Encyclopedias.
Reigan feels an inkling in the back of his mind that he is on the right track as the Spirits themselves almost seem to guide his hand.
Near the bottom of the box lies a book, that looks just like the rest that has a bookmark placed within the folds of the paper.
Grimnir continues to look around with detect evil, hoping whatever book they are looking for might be revealed in that manner.
Grinner watches the party go to work at investigation the house. He casts Guidance on anyone who asks to aid with their search.
Looking out for the girl, Grinner says "Don't rummage through too hard his stuff. Please be respectful."
Gerard also watches intently. "Some of you lot will be better at finding the book," Gerard explains until the time was pointed out to him.
"If the book is so evil, do we want to risk touching it? What do you think will happen?"
"I detect an illusion. I think the book is disguised as an encyclopedia. That one there."
Terry makes a quick warding gesture and picks up the book after casting heightened awareness and performing a quick check for traps.
Does the illusion extend to the contents? Not that he is going to go beyond the first page, but hopefully that will tell him what needs to know. He opens the book to find out.
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Terry slowly flips through the book. As he does so it indeed looks like a normal encyclopedia of Golarion's history. Though as Terry reaches the center of the book, the book mark falls free from the pages and hits the floor. As the bookmark leaves the pages the books transforms in Terry's hands into the Paginarum Lethargica.
The Paginarum Lethargica is the accumulated history of the dreamstone—centuries of mismatched parchments and scrawled sheets of ragged vellum in a hundred different languages, all roughly bound between two hinged darkwood slats. The book itself is not inherently magical, but scrolls for sleep-related spells such as cloak of dreamsAPG, lullaby, restful sleepAPG, sleep, sleepwalkAPG, and symbol of sleep are occasionally found between its covers. Its pages recount centuries of study by the church of Desna into the dreamstone’s properties. Referencing the book for 1 hour grants a +5 bonus on the reader’s next Knowledge (planes) check if it relates to the Dimension of Dreams or the Ethereal Plane.
Inside Terry also finds a very detailed history of the Paginarum Lethargica and the Clavis Somnus key.
The events of Earthfall affected not only Golarion, but also portions of the Dimension of Dreams where the falling fragments were no less deadly. The goddess Desna intervened on that plane in ways not possible in other realities. Yet one meteor, silent and slow, plunged into an ephemeral demiscape, where it tore through one reality and into another, coming to rest not in the realm of dreams, but in the waking world. Desna’s emissaries on Golarion clandestinely collected this fragment from a deep crater in the Mindspin Mountains. This dreamstone passed secretly among her clergy for thousands of years, their actions recorded in a secret journal known as the Paginarum Lethargica. The taint of nightmare could not be entirely erased from the reality-warping stone, however, and the dangerous meteorite was locked away in a shrine in Korvosa 2 centuries ago.
Those few aware of the stone’s existence sought it desperately. One such entity was Mog-Lathar, a Leng spider who slipped through the weak borders of reality around the meteorite’s flooded crater. The creature’s efforts were thwarted by the deadly spears of stone giant hunters, and its slain body settled into the crater’s sediment, where it waited, dead but dreaming, bathing in the warped energies of the dreamstone.
Two decades ago, an obsessive collector and occultist named Nahum Caligaro rediscovered the Paginarum Lethargica in his family’s library. Nahum, his lover, Myra Lombroso, and the son of their aristocratic sponsor, Stainton Drune, soon set out on an expedition to unearth lingering fragments from the meteorite’s impact crater. Though they found none, they uncovered the fossilized remains of Mog- Lathar. Soon the warped remnants of the petrified Leng spider awakened and began whispering foul temptations to its saviors, promising immortality in exchange for freedom.
They chiseled the fossil free and packed it for return to Korvosa, where it was to be put on display at the Jeggare Museum, but the relic never arrived. Nahum and Myra succumbed to the temptations of the spider’s promising whispers. They abandoned Stainton and the others and secreted the fossil away, establishing the Brotherhood of the Spider, a cult formed around the idol’s worship.
The Brotherhood of the Spider has grown, becoming cunning and potent. In return for worship and supplication, the idol Mog-Lathar has gifted its followers with their promised rewards, including immortality to its most faithful. The Brotherhood has also gained significant influence over Korvosa’s shiver trade, using the profits earned by selling the drug to fund increasingly elaborate ceremonies of supplication to the hungry idol.
As part of his obsessive study, Nahum discovered that the dreamstone’s final resting place lay just below the foundation of his family’s ancestral manse—now his cult’s headquarters. Nahum found the object shielded in a deep well. Mog- Lathar grew jealous and feared Nahum might use the stone’s power to destroy the Leng spider’s remains. Secretly, the idol ordered his high priestess, Myra, to betray her lover by disrupting an occult ritual meant to awaken the dreamstone.
"We may be over our heads here, friends. As a rule, I generally avoid taking any job that involves an artifact or demigod. Do we know anyone that might be able to help us deal with this mess? Perhaps we should visit the Madame. Also, I fully expect to be ambushed when we exit this place. Whoever killed the most recent owner must know where his shop is and have, at the very least, eyes on it."
"Yes this is high level, dimensional plane hopping magic. I'm quite clever, but this stuff would take me weeks to begin to understand. And Terry is right, we are now targets, carrying that book. I say we put the illusory bookmark back in, as an extra layer of defense."
"We've managed tae beat 'em so far," Grimnir says.
"We can keep it up. What do we need tae do tae learn th' ritual?" the dwarf wonders as they peruse the book.
Grinner doesn't know quite what to say. *Ribbit* "That is quite a twist. The rabbit hole is far deeper than I thought it would be. Like Terry said: Perhaps Madame can help us."
"Child, is there a back way out of this place - a secret tunnel would be ideal, but wishful thinking I suppose. Or even a door to the roof would be nice so we could see what it is we're walking into."
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As the group plans for a route to see Madam Carrington once again Grimnir pours over the ritual. From what he can tell this ritual is going to take quite some time to learn. As he pours over it he can glean a small bit of information. The ritual will require a bit of Wormwood Wine.
The young girl looks up, tears stain her pretty face. "Yea, there is a loading door that leads back into the alley." She hops up from her chair and escorts you to the back door, leading to an empty and dark alley.
Just before he leaves the building, whenever that happens, Terry will cast a Heightened Awareness from his wand to boost his init to +10, and give him a +2 on perception/knowledge rolls.
"Should we take the kid with us? And where are we going to go? I'm not really from around here and don't have a hole. Wherever we go, these guys have a real track record for finding folks. Well, first things first I guess. Let's visit the Madam, though I'm betting she's not going to be all that happy to see us."
Gerard wasn't particularly concerned about the child. He had work to do, and a mission tocomplete. If the others wanted to dither with her, that was fine, but he was more focused.
"Ye'll be safer away from us," Grimnir tells the girl.
"If ye can find a relative, ye ought tae stay with them," he adds.
The dwarf prepares to visit the Madam. "This book will take more efforts tae figure out, but we'll also need some Wormwood wine."
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Leaving the girl to fend for herself the group makes straight down the alley and heads back across town for Madam Carrington's place. Just inside is the familiar servant Maynard, who now looks to be extremely haggard and pacing the front room. Tears flow down his face as he doesn't even notice you enter the building.
"Maybe we should leave him be and ask later? I'm more curious what the Madame says."
Grinner suggests to continue moving forward.
Yea, I don't think so. I'd rather know what I'm heading into before I'm heading into it.
"Hey, Maynard, what's up? You look like the sky just fell on you. Is the madame OK?"
"Has somethin' happened tae the madam?" Grimnir probes.
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Maynard nearly leaps out of his skin as you speak. He grabs Terry by the wrist. "You had best see for yourself."
Leading you back to the main room Maynard maintains a sorrowful expression as the scene before you unfolds. The room is in tattered disarray; Carrington’s furniture is overturned, her accoutrements scattered, and the spiritualist herself pinned beneath her sofa. Her body is horribly twisted and her wide eyes locked in terrible fear, but she is alive, though unresponsive and impossible to awaken.
"My word..."
"Indeed..."
"Perhaps we'll meet her in the dreamscape when we go, provided she survives long enough. This is not good."
A small scrap of paper clutched in the woman's hand catches Grimnir's eye.
He opens her vice-like grip and reveals a note, then reads it.
"Th' spider’s silk is strang. They ur comin' fur me."
Furrowing his brow, he says "Whit coods thes mean?"
"Well, SOMETHING came for her, that's for sure. Maynard, where were you when this happened? Oh, and can we get this couch off of her. Out of it or not, that cannot be good for her health."
"Did you hear anything, Maynard? I'm afraid the Madam isn't capable of giving us help anytime soon. And she was the last place we knew where to turn. I'm at a loss now."
"Gaahhh!? Maynard, you do not look so well."
Gerard instinctively moves away from the man, not knowing what curse might have befallen him. "Protect yourselves!"
Please don't tell me you're going to turn into something too...
Grinner tries to examine Maynard's condition.
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Returning upright his eyes flare as his features darken and the color drains from the room. Maynard swallows an uncapped potion, disappearing into the resulting gloom.
Grinner does not suspect this is any sort of disease ailing the poor man.
Just as he vanishes several of the plants stir and release a dangerous cloud of spores into the air.
Terry
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?????
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Gerard
Grinner
Grimnir
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Xtabays
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w00t!
Terry casts Shield on himself from a spell scar, preparing for the worst.
"I don't think that is Maynard"
A turtle slumbers in Grinner's backpack.
Will
Will
"Oh, nae again!" Grimnir exclaims, just as he falls asleep.
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Tin, Gerard and Grimnir slump to the floor as they begin to snore loudly from the spores effects.
Terry shields himself as he prepares for the worst. Maynard suddenly appears right behind Grinner, stabbing at the Grippli with a shortsword in his hand.
Just as soon as he appeared Maynard tumbles behind the plants, fresh tears form in his eyes.
Terry
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Maynard
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Gerard
Grinner (25/52; 4 Bleed)
Grimnir
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Xtabays
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"You won't fell me so easily."
Grinder casts Cure Serious Wounds on himself to stop the bleeding.
"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."
"If someone has a protection from evil we may be able to bring Maynard to his senses. Please do not kill him."
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Grinner heals his wounds to stop the bleeding as the plants slowly move in. Small tendrils pull out and insert themselves into the sleeping individuals and begins to slowly and painlessly devour them.
Terry
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Maynard
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Gerard (Sleeping)
Grinner (25/52; 4 Bleed)
Grimnir (Sleeping)
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Xtabays
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Grimnir awakes with a start.
"WHAT THE...!?!" he yells as he scrambles to stand.
Fort
Will
Gerard climbs to his feet with a start and focuses on the enemies.
OK, then, that means the magic missile is a no go. Instead he fires up a shocking grasp, casting defensively and using spell combat, sidles over to the side to get a flank, and attempts to deliver it to the thing next to him.
+10/1d6+12 Rapier [crit 18-20/x2/+2; P)
, needing a 17
First attack
Extra attack from spell combat
Iterative attack at -5