Malatar Kane's page

Sh*t. This is going to be bad.

I hope I get a chance to use this character again at some point.

Malatar Kane wrote:

Carp, a DM wrote:

So...

You and the party round the crumbling hulk of the ancient building, broken by the probing tendrils of vegetation: life springing stubbornly in this place of death. There is a slight, acrid breeze; a feeling of disquiet. Suddenly, you arrest your movement with alarm. For on the tumble of brick and stone before you, in the partial clearing that was once a cross-road, stalks a dragon!
** spoiler omitted ** Roll for initiatives.

"Aw ... crap."

Init: 1d20 + 1

OH, I'm sorry, but I rolled that you were surprised. And being of the double hue, it has hybrid energy damage, baby!!!

"Arrrrghhh!"

~Dies in a gory mess of electrified acid~

So...

You and the party round the crumbling hulk of the ancient building, broken by the probing tendrils of vegetation: life springing stubbornly in this place of death. There is a slight, acrid breeze; a feeling of disquiet. Suddenly, you arrest your movement with alarm. For on the tumble of brick and stone before you, in the partial clearing that was once a cross-road, stalks a dragon!
** spoiler omitted ** Roll for initiatives.

"Aw ... crap."

Init: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

"Fascinating! These items alone are worth more than the average Pathfinder finds in a lifetime!" The wizards grins in childish delight.

Mal raises an eyebrow. “Nice.” Then he scratches at the stubble on his chin and frowns. “Suppose we should give the others their share though. Or compensation. They all played their part. Not really their fault they fell victim to that silly gas and we didn’t. Well, maybe Herral’s fault …”

DM note - per PFSRD, you can try and ID them by sampling the liquid and making a Perception check. Of course, if it is a poison, you may also take a minor damage as well.

Can you not also attempt to ID them (and all the magical items) using a detect magic spell and a spellcraft check?

"Did the voice seem to help with resisting the effects of the room? Or seem to be contributing to the magical lethargy?" Will asks, dipping his quill in the bottle of ink. He doesn't seem to be judging. Simply interested in the details.

Mal shrugs. "Not that I noticed."

"Not to be insensitive. But COULD it be your X? I mean, is she still living? No. Silly. How would your X-wife's voice end up in an obviously antique amulet?" He shakes his head and continues to write,...

"Nope, this one doesn't sound like so much of a b~@$%."

“Doesn’t bother me,” Mal shrugs, gestures to Will’s notebook. “Write. Long as you don’t try to have me committed. And it’s just the one voice for the record ... you know when we first entered the room where we found this?” he touches the amulet beneath his shirt. “Everyone started feeling tired? I was looking at the wall carvings, of the king and queen, heard a woman’s voice singing, something about true love. Think it was the same voice from this amulet.”

Mal squints at Will for a moment. “You hear her? She sounds ... familiar. Nice? Don’t know ... my ex-wife seemed nice when I met her.”

Mal takes back the amulet, putting it around his neck then tucking it into the front of his tunic, watching Will closely. Then he grunts and nods.

“Seeing Itaden for lunch?” he asks.

Adelaine Harthos wrote:

Hmmm ... Alex hasn't been on in about a week and a half. Hope it's still just work and nothing serious.

Ditto!

Indeed. Post to let us know you're ok if you can Alex.

To everyone, my apologies for the sudden lack of postings - a project got dropped in my lap for work and I've been buried all week. This should be the last of it after the sporadic nature of the last couple of weeks. Update to all your questions later on today. Thanks for your patience.

No worries mate.

"Well, spirits aren't exactly my specialty,... A 'looker' you say? Seems familiar? Are you sure that you aren't simply letting your imagination run away with you? We HAVE been on the road for a while, Maybe your missing a, friend ?" He asks tentatively as he rummages through his encyclopedic knowledge for anything that sounds like what Mal is talking about,...

Mal shrugs, as forthcoming with information as usual. Then, after letting Will think for a moment, he plucks at the amulet around his neck. “Think this was hers,” he says. He’ll allow Will to examine the amulet if he wants.

Mal wakes late, and, after dressing and scribbling a reply to the messages left for him - Sure. Mal. – he joins the others for breakfast. He has washed, dressed in clean clothes – his own, not the patchwork of costume and armour that he has worn for the past several days, but has still not shaven, the stubble on his jaw almost, but not quite, reaching the status of ‘beard’.

He brings with him the items that he retrieved from the hole in the floor of the tomb room; two small bags, a dagger, a masterwork bastard sword and an amulet (the silver stone it is made of shows pitting and tarnish. But the blue stone in its center still retains its color and shine). GM, I assume Mal would have by this stage inspected the contents of the bags.

He tells the others that there was also a skeleton within the hole, and asks Will if he can determine the magical properties (if any) of the items.

Malatar actually wears the amulet around his neck, and the others might notice that he constantly touches and plays with it during breakfast, almost unconsciously. He seems strangely reluctant to let anyone else look too closely at it, or take it off, although he will do both if directly asked, and stakes no verbal claim to the item (though he might do so if challenged).

At some point during the meal (before Will dashes off), the warrior leans close to his wizardly companion and asks quietly, “Know anything about hauntings? I keep seeing and hearing this woman ... seems familiar. A looker – just my type, ‘part from likely being dead.” Anyone who makes an effort to listen can overhear this.

At the end of breakfast, Mal sticks around if anyone wants to talk about anything, or if there is any discussion about splitting up loot or next moves or anything.

Afterwards, he heads to Will’s room and knocks on the door.

So tired after the last several days’ adventure (and hiking) Mal hardly even thinks about seeking out alcohol or soft company (I’m getting too old for this crap, he thinks) – after a quick wash and a meal he collapses into the bed at the manor and is soon snoring loudly.

1d10 ⇒ 8 hit points for level up.

Mal is levelled up.

Mal, who has been concentrating on eating with the dedication of an old campaigner who doesn’t know when his next proper meal is coming, raises a surprised eyebrow in Simon’s direction, but nods his agreement to the man’s request.

Soon after, noticing Addy re-checking her pack, he stands and shoulders his own. “C’mon,” he says. “Best be off if we’re to catch Itaden.”

Mal squints up at the sky and stifles a yawn. It’s been a long night. “Dayle,” he nods conversationally at the approaching man then asks, “Itaden left already?” nodding towards the outward trail. Then he glances at his addled companions, wondering if any of them are going to take off or do anything stupid.

“Almost there,” says Mal, then more loudly, “everyone together. That way,” pointing to the entrance just ahead.

Simon thinks it over.
"Yes, I did in fact. The drunken lout made a comment about my sister and I couldn't let it stand. I challenged him to a duel, but he passed out with the foil in hand. When he woke up, he had no recollection of the event!"

"That boy is being kidnapped... in a cellar? Brother Malik, you must intercede! That red-haired woman is up to no good!"

Despite the strange situation, Mal chuckles. He likes this version of Simon. “Story checks out,” he says.

“The boy’s fine. He’s just addled,” Mal makes a corkscrew motion with his finger to his temple. “Must be ... ah ... this Qadiran heat? As you can see we’re not in a cellar.” I hope you see that.

“Ever met a priest of Cayden Cailean?” Mal asks, guiding Simon hurriedly towards the portcullis.

He nods to Will when they reach the rest of the group. “What are you waiting for?" he asks, gesturing the way forward.

Mal seems distracted for a moment, looking at the amulet, before shoving it into a pocket (rather than his pack as he had first intended). “Hmmm?” he replies, dragging his attention back to Simon and then, when he sees that the paladin is moving, beginning to hurry after the others. “Oh, it’s a long story …”

Then he closes the trap, grabs Simon by the arm – “C’mon, we gotta go” – and hurries after Will.

“Kids.” Mal shakes his head, then glances at the still dazed looking Simon. At least he didn’t seem to have regressed to childhood or some other fantasy ... yet.

Quickly, Mal re-opens the trapdoor and grabs the stuff within (sans skeleton) – bags, dagger, sword amulet. His own sword sheathed, he takes the one from the trap door in hand and shoves the rest of the stuff in his pack, taking a brief moment to scan the alcove for anything else of interest, as well as what condition the skeleton is in. Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 15

“Will! Stop him,” Mal orders as Herral makes to run off; Will, who was talking to him is probably closer to the Halfling than Mal is.

“Get out of my head witch,” mutters Malatar a moment after the trapdoor opens. “It’s done.” Then he shakes his head and looks about, starting to step towards the trap door - an instant after Herral slams it shut again. “What?”

He looks suspiciously at the more dazed looking members of the group. At least Will seems himself. “Aye,” he nods in wry agreement, then feels Addy tugging at his tunic.

“Dad? Uh ...” he looks at Will, mild panic evident in his face. Dad? he mouths. Then he shrugs, and fishes a copper coin from his beltpouch. “Right. Here you are ... dear,” he says, handing the coin to Addy, and shrugging helplessly at Will. “Don’t wander off. Keep your brother out of trouble.”

Over the woman’s head he speaks to Will. “It can’t be trapped twice? Can it?” he asks, evidently about to re-open the trapdoor.

Fort save:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 Perception:1d20 ⇒ 8

Mal scratches his stubbled chin and nods slowly. “Gellner’s right.”

After all, we came here to rescue those folk, not search for relics, he thinks. A damn shame if we let them all get killed on the way home.

"That's the case, you and Will better figure how to work it real quick then," comments Mal.

“Trap’s just a thought,” Mal shrugs in reply to Simon. “Who knows? Still, sounds like we aint got much time and going by guesses – who knows if we’ll be able to get this thing working again if we don’t go now? Well, they told me the Pathfinders was all about going to new places ... this sounds like that.”

"Well, looks like our quarries tried to make sure they couldn't be followed. We wanna try and activate this thing anyway?" Addy says, peering over the gate (why do I want to call Will "Daniel" and Mal "Jack" all of a sudden? And if anyone named "Apophis" comes through, I'm gonna be ticked ...). She starts playing around a little, seeing if she can make it work.

And since I just noticed I didn't take any ranks in Use Magic Device (smacks side of head with fist), nothing does.

“Well that didn’t do a whole hell of a lot,” Mal observes drily.

He’s been waiting for Will or Addy or someone to make sense of this all and determine a way forward, but so far as he can tell, his learned friend is getting all hot and bothered without much action like my ex-wife in the last bit and Adelaine appears at a bit of a loss.

“Let me see if I’ve got this straight. The archway is a magic door to other places. If we knew how to work it, we could go to a tomb, a temple, a monument, a shore-line, or some place called Cynidicea – but maybe not directly to that last one according to the note. This Policrates bloke probably went through the door, probably not to Cynidicea or the wavy tower, though that's where he wants to go, and maybe he tried to sabotage the table – that works the archway – before he left. But he also left behind a stone that probably works the archway. Huh. Sounds like a trap ... only one way to find out though. Looks like the stone fits in the hole in the table there ... If it does work, and we don’t change anything, presumably the arch will open up to wherever Policrates went. Oh, and there’s those little studs around the edge of the table, pointing to those arches. Maybe they open the glass walls.”

Mal looks them all in the eyes, as if daring anyone to comment on what is possibly the longest speech he’s ever made. “Miss anything?” Then to Will. “What’s Cynidicea?”

Speaking of have we missed anything, did Mal investigate the stone box along with the crates and tables and such?

Mal only has ranks in Knowledge, Engineering: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 If that is relevant to anything – maybe the glass? Otherwise, an untrained Knowledge, nature roll for the table: 1d20 ⇒ 13

Of the stuff Mal found in the crates, he showed it all to Will and Addy. If they think any of it might be useful in figuring out stuff about this place, he gives it to them; otherwise he puts the crystal vial, the old Azlanti style mask, and the piece of bluish crystal in his pack, packing them carefully with the paper from the crates – figuring they might be of interest to the Society, or worth a few coins on the open market if not. The papers he gives to Will and Addy. Note: Update character sheet.

If the cheese, crackers and wine seem edible / drinkable based on a visual and olfactory examination, he will take them too.

“Will, see these armoured bones? Look old. Society might be interested.”

“Sure it’s all real exciting Will,” drawls Mal. “But is it gonna help us figure out what to do next?”

Without really waiting for an answer, Mal draws his sword again and goes over to look at the tall armoured skeletons in one of the alcoves.

Mal walks over towards the crates and boxes. Sheathing his sword, he begins rummaging through, looking for anything useful or interesting. Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 15

"What does it all mean?" asks Mal, impatience evident in his voice, looking between Herral and Will for answers.

Mal, who keeps glancing around as if looking for something Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 13 says, “Just be careful Will. This place ... something’s not right.”

He moves down the steps and into the room.

“Bugger this,” Mal mutters. He reaches out for the staff decorating the sarcophagus and tries to push it back into place. Then he heads towards the now open doorway and prepares to step through. “Worry about the trap door later,” he says, looking back over his shoulder. “Coming?”

"Did something to the trap door?" Mal asks, looking at Addy ... but not moving just yet.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it Simon,” says Mal, clapping the cavalry-captain on the shoulder. “Makes you no less of a man,” he adds with a twitch of his lips. “Now, how ‘bout we try that key before this room puts us all to sleep or sends us mad.”

Will's head snaps up, not at Mal's warning about it not being real, but at the mention of smashing.

"Smash,... Wha,... NO! You can't do that!" The wizard cries fearfully.

Mal turns to face Will and quirks an eyebrow, his face otherwise expressionless. Will probably knows the warrior well enough to know that this is Mal’s ‘please explain’ face ... or more accurately, his ‘give me a good reason why not before I start hitting things’ face.

Mal squints thoughtfully at Addy for a moment. “Some sort of magic?” he asks, glancing at Will for confirmation. “We all experience what we desire...” His face falls into its usual frown, perhaps a little more dour than usual. “Stay focused. Let’s not get distracted, it’s not real. Now, the trap door you found, can’t get it open? We could try to smash it.”

He looks rather in the mood to smash something.

Mal nods. “You see it too,” he says to Will, a statement not a question. He lowers his voice and leans close to the mage. “Do ... do you hear the singing?” he asks, hesitantly.

Mal looks at Will, blinks, his jaw clenched – perhaps stifling a yawn, or perhaps something else? After a moment he answers.

“Murals,” he states laconically, nodding towards the embellished walls. After a moment he adds, “The King and Queen. They loved each other.”

A study of the murals seems to bear out Mal’s comment – the artwork seems to depict a real devotion between the rulers it depicts, and a sadness and loneliness is evidently portrayed in the king’s countenance after his queen dies, apparently saving the kingdom from a great evil … but it seems an odd comment to be made by a man as seemingly sardonic and frugal with his words as Malatar Kane.

Malatar looks around the room, his gaze lingering on the murals. An odd look comes over his face, and he shifts his head as if trying to hear something, his eyes narrowed. The he shakes his head sharply and looks down at the floor, massaging his forehead with one calloused hand.

Mal yawns after he follows Herral and the others into the chamber ... then notices that Will is looking very bleary eyed himself. “Something’s not right here,” he mutters to the wizard. “You feel that?”

He casts his eye about the chamber, gaze lingering momentarily on the staff and the sword held by the figures atop the vaults. Do these objects look like part of the carved crystal / brass figures, or are they separate – real objects?

"VERY Nice!" Will starts to murmur, then claps a hand over his mouth. He looks at Mal and the others apologetically, then points to the door with a big smile.

“Glad you think so,” comments Mal drily. “Are we gonna open them, or just look at them?”

Fort: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18

Mal hangs back, waiting for Will and Addy to check out the doors, occasionally glancing back behind them to ensure that nothing is lurking in the dark.

“Alright?” Mal asks Simon, ignoring Will (apart from a brief dirty look) and eyeing the man’s wounds. “Herral, can Desna aid him?”

Mal freezes, stands stock still when Simon is skewered, except for grabbing Will’s arm. “Careful,” he whispers, squinting with concern at the paladin.

As Mal begins to cross on the ledge, his foot slips off and he instinctively leans on the rope for support. Simon remains resolute as he holds his end of the rope. But Addy side begins to buckle some - probably since the slim woman didn't expect the sudden weight an armored man with an extra 100 pounds on her would impose - before she recovers.

Still, it is enough resistance to falling that it allows Malatar to recover his balance and slip across. Certainly contrasted crossings between the man and half-elf.

Next victim? ;-)

“Thanks,” Malatar nods to Addy, then takes her end of the rope, holding it securely from this end as the other three cross the pit.

Acrobatics: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (20) - 1 = 19