Vethran Tallomane's page

Vethran: ** spoiler omitted **

Elisile:

I see you didn't really opt for the, um... subtle spells?

What are those?

Leveled. Master Specialist level 2. Rolled crap for HP. :(

I doubt Illes's action will have any impact on mine, but if it does, then I can retcon the following:

Seeing the creature in melee, Vethran opts for a foolproof plan and invokes a word of power, sending a volley of missiles streaking forth from his hand.

magic missile at Foxglove. 3d4+3 = 11 damage.

D5 is fine by me.

The mage raises a hand, seeking to fire over the tops of his allies' heads, and intones a few words of power. At his command, a fiery meteor springs forth from his hand and flies towards the undead monstrosity.

Casting kelgore's fire bolt. Ranged touch: 11 + 3 = 14. If hit, damage (5d6): 21 (fire). If he has SR, caster check: 7 + 7 = 14. If that does not beat his SR (if any), he still takes 2 physical damage on hit.

Fort: 2 + 2 = fail

Spot: 17 + 1 = 18.
Init: 13 + 2 = 15.
Know (Arc): 1 + 11 = 12. Figures, doesn't it?

Climb: 14 + 1 = 15. Hooray for being a wizard with a STR bonus!

The goblins detonate before Vethran is even aware of their presence. When the proverbial smoke has cleared, he stares in disbelief at the smattering of gore covering his robes but quickly composes himself and gives Alwyn and enthusiastic thumbs-up.

I'll take D6. Init: 8 + 2 = 10.

Missed both checks.

Vethran 'hmphs' at the mention of the codpiece and the reward, oblivious to his surroundings until the others mention something.

Looking up the shaft, does it look like, perhaps, a well? Like the one we saw outside, maybe?

Vethran gives an exasperrated sigh. "Well, if they didn't know we were coming before, they certainly do now. Shall we?"

He gestures further down the tunnel.

Seeing the situation well in hand, Vethran directs his fiery wrath back to the remaining bat and conjures up another conflagration.

Another Fiery Burst, this time centered behind the remaining bat (so that the bat is the only one in the radius). Damage: 9. Reflex DC 16 for half.

Counting on Larken's Evasion here...

Seeing the combined assault against the bat on the left, Vethran directs his arcane attentions there in order to bring it down faster.

"Larken! Down!" he hollers before again invoking the arcane torrent of flame, this time against the un-seared bat.

Fiery Burst centered on B-C/2-3. Hits Larken and the flanked bat. 10 damage. Reflex save DC 16 for half.

I'll take G2.

Spot: 18 + 1 = 19. Init: 14 + 2 = 16.

Vethran raises his everburning torch instinctively and prepares for the attack. I'm probably at the back of the group.

Will save: 13 + 6 = 19.

The name 'Vorel' that Vethran mentioned stirs up some conversation until finally, after a bit of deliberation, Vethran has a revelation. "Vorel Foxglove! Aldern Foxglove's grandfather! It has to be the same person, he's the one who built this mansion! So... if Aldern's grandfather is a lich... then perhaps Aldern is not as he appears."

Know: Hist - 5 + 11 = 16. Man, I'm having some bad luck on these Knowledges. 2 assists will give me the 20, though.

Know (Arc): 1d20+11=16

Will save: 1d20+6=21

Decided to use the Invisible Castle since I was actually at home. Yes, it's 4:30am at the time of this post and I have to work in the morning.

Vethran takes a moment to regain his composure. "He... Vorel... the man who must've lived here. He became a lich even though his wife and children still lived. He abandoned them. His wife was overcome with rage when she found out..."

He rests a hand on his heart, seeming to calm down from a fit of rage himself. "I am alright... for now. This place is possessed of potent spiritual residue."

Natural 1 on the Fort save. Fantastic.

Vethran looks decidedly worse for wear after the encounter, though his injuries are fairly minor. He smiles at Elisile when she makes her statement.

"That's quite alright. I brought plenty of flame for both of us."

Init: 12 + 2 = 14. Declared action: Fiery Burst on the rat swarm. Hopefully I can target an intersection that won't harm any of the party members but get most (if not all) of the swarm. Area effects FTW! The save DC is 16 and the damage is 2d6. 5 + 5 = 10. Woot! I'll change my action if I can't do this without hitting party members. Swarms actually take +50% damage from area effects according to the SRD, so that's really 15 damage. Not bad for a Reserve feat!

"What in the hells was that batwinged freak back there?"

I'm guessing it was a manticore, but I don't know if Knowledge (Arcana) would let me know that or not. Let's see. Aubrey? Know (Arc): 8 + 11 = 19. Yes/no?

Vethran produces the everburning torch from his pack and offers it to Alwyn (or whoever ends up taking the lead) with a smile.

"Alwyn," the Varisian speaks, "perhaps you should attempt to turn the lingering spirit if we encounter signs of it's presence again? It might just save our lives."

Vethran gasps as he witnesses the scarf attacking Elisile. By the time he reacts, she has already freed herself from it.

"Definitely haunted," he says matter-of-factly. The mage glances around the room once more and picks up the open book on the floor to examine it's contents.

Vethran follows his cousin into the room, looking first at the book but then turns his attention to the scarf.

Spot: 17 + 1 = 18.

"Hrm. More evidence of haunting," the mage gestures to the scarf. "It appears to be moving."

The mage reaches into his pack and withdrawls a tiny flask, quickly downing it's contents and then moves cautiously to pick up the fallen book.

Drinking my potion of protection from evil, just in case.

Vethran furrows his brow at the sight.

"Well, either someone has been doing some redecorating or Mr. Foxglove has some... eccentric interests," the mage gestures to the image of the box covered in spiky runes. "These are necromantic runes, which certainly helps explain the ghouls, but the more distressing fact is that the box resembles a common iteration of a lich's phylactery."

Seeing the blank looks on many of his companions' faces, he purses his lips a bit. "Liches are, ah, powerful spellcasters who seek immortality through undeath. A phylactery is the seat of power that keeps their essence anchored to their corporeal form. Every lich has one."

Vethran glances nervously around the room and smiles sheepishly.

Nevermind the fact that Necromancy commands a fair share of Vethran's spellbook pages...

Know: Arcana - 18 + 11 = 29.

Failed the checks... by quite a lot. :)

Vethran hangs back, frowning at the sight and smell of the rat creature.

RE: The door in the piano room - Sounds as good as any. Onward!

Vethran's face is a look of shock as Foxglove Manor comes into view. "Aldern seemed to be a more..." the mage searches for a word "refined person than the likes of which would reside here. Most curious... I wonder what the fate of our noble friend is?"

He moves to tie his horse to the tree so kindly indicated by the DM.

I presume it hasn't been more than an hour or two since the previous encounter, so my spells are still in effect?

The mage dusts himself off, shaking his head at Dravite. "No, I managed to make it through unscathed... though my magical protections have taken a bit of a thrashing." He smirks, checking to see if his horse will survive and then (if the horse is more or less okay) mounts up.

Seeing one of the slavering hounds go down, Vethran quickly steps back from the other one and unleashes an arcane volley with a snap of his fingers and a few words of power. The missiles streak forth from his hands, slamming into the hound and a third one sails across the battlefield to strike the other one currently engaging Dravite.

5' step back from the dog (to LL-16), casting magic missile at CL 5. Three missiles, first two on the hound nearest me: 3+1, 3+1 = 8 damage. The third missile strikes Dravite's hound: 4+1 = 5.

Fort save: 18 + 2 = 20. Lucky roll! 8 temp HP removed, 6 remaining.

What a weird typo. That should be '16' not '36'... all three times.

Vethran quickly moves out behind the cover of the horse, drawing the wand of lightning bolt from his belt as he moves and lines up a shot down the road at the three undead hounds. He levels the wand in their direction and, with a flick of his wrist, unleashes a powerful blast of crackling electricity.

Taking a wide path out to KK-36 to avoid AoOs, drawing the wand as I move (my BAB is +1). Activating the wand down the 36 row, hitting M-JJ 36 (120'). Should hit all three dogs. Damage (5d6?) came out to 15. Reflex for half.

Also seeing no targets at hand, Vethran follows Elisile's lead and invokes a protective spell upon himself as well.

Cast mage armor. Partial defensive, scanning the area for any more threats.

"Nice work, Alwyn!" Vethran calls out after seeing the display of divine might.

Since it's night time, Vethran would be carrying his everburning torch aloft if light sources become an issue. Assume he has it in hand.

Vethran dismounts nervously, reaching into his belt pouch to produce a small vial of alcohol which he uses to draw runes on his flesh, his skin growing noticeably paler and taut after doing so.

Dismount and cast false life. Rolled a 10. That's 14 temporary HP. Vethran is in GG-19 now.

Put Vethran on his horse at GG-18. He doesn't want to be anywhere near this.

At the temple:

I do have the ghoul touch spell and have used it before... is the stench similar to the one generated by the spell? :D

Vethran scratches his chin a bit, some stubble beginning to show as he's not had the luxury of a razor for several days. "I haven't a clue, either, but perhaps we can at least piece together what it was that attacked these people. Whatever it was, I believe we can reasonably assume it wasn't human. Given the hue of the blood and the fact that there's no noticable trail of blood to suggest an injury that continued to bleed, I'm reasonably certain our guilty party is something unliving... perhaps a golem or undead of some kind. Golems tend to be more orderly and methodical, though, not given to desecrating and dismembering their victims... so that leaves us with the undead."

Vethran frowns. "I'm afraid my knowledge on the subject is somewhat lacking. Illes, Alwyn, are either of you familiar with the undead? Particularly any certain kinds that exude a powerful stench? The stink in that mill is certainly more than would normally be expected from mere rotting flesh."

Vethran gives a grave look to his companions. "This isn't over yet."

He closes his journal, looking at Gint with severity. "We encountered that rune in the catacombs beneath Sandpoint. It's an ancient Thasillonian sigil and it is somehow connected to the most recent events that have unfolded. What it's relevance is, we aren't sure, but whoever is committing these murders probably knew Nualia... or at the very least has visited the catacombs."

"That, and the fact that this letter is addressed to Larken suggests the culprit is very likely someone we... or Larken, at least... has already met. I would wager it may even be one of Sandpoint's residents. What madness has that witch unleashed?"

Vethran, having been his usual reclusive self during the entire time in Magnimar, perks up at the mention of the killings, his face pale with shock.

"The star shape you mention... it didn't happen to look like this, did it?" Vethran opens up to one of the note pages in his journal, showing a diagram of the sihedron rune.

Vethran, for all his studiousness, could not help but gawk in awe at the architecture and historical landmarks surrounding him. Even as they moved along with their somber duty, he frequently tugs at Illes' sleeves, pointing at monuments and flying buttresses.

"Oh wow! A neo-Thalassian cloister! I've seen pictures before, but... wow!"

"Look at that! Those gargoyles are sculpted in the manner of a late-period cathedral to Asmodeus. Most intriguing..."

Vethran bothers to crane his head out of the wagon and smiles at the sight of the magnificent city, then goes back to his books without a word.