Agents of the Darklands: A Campaign for Monsters and Madmen

Game Master thunderbeard

The scryers are back at the house I believe. No one at the Citadel has access to their insights but you're drifting around maybe you'll run into her?

Iranaset leans lazily onto Mal's shoulder. "You want to see if we can get an appointment with the priest? Or another suitable higher up?"

"Perhaps another suitable high up. We can casually bring up the priest and meditation room to see what he has to say about it. "

Diplomacy(Gather Information): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29

Iranaset puts on her sweetest face, silvered fangs baring and all, and goes looking for an appointment with a higher-up in the clergy.

[dice=Diplomacy(Gather Information)]1d20 + 13

Iranaset puts on her sweetest face, silvered fangs baring and all, and goes looking for an appointment with a higher-up in the clergy.

Mal looks the part of a church member, but stays silent as is his cover story. The imps follow a short distance away hiding and invisible.

The scryers are back at the house I believe. No one at the Citadel has access to their insights but you're drifting around maybe you'll run into her?

Possibly. Depends in part on whether or not I'm supposed to be following you and Mal around like an intangible puppy. If you want backup I'm with you, otherwise I'm probably watching the area around the meditation chamber for weak parts.

Also, the scryers have access to telepathy, yes?

Iranaset Maior wrote:

The scryers are back at the house I believe. No one at the Citadel has access to their insights but you're drifting around maybe you'll run into her?

Possibly. Depends in part on whether or not I'm supposed to be following you and Mal around like an intangible puppy. If you want backup I'm with you, otherwise I'm probably watching the area around the meditation chamber for weak parts.

Also, the scryers have access to telepathy, yes?

It's up to you what you want to do. Scryers only have short range telepathy.

I assumed scrying doesn't confer telepathy; you can't speak through a scry, it's just a remote viewing, and I'd expect that the same goes for sending mind-messages unless you're scrying on someone who's physically very close.

Also, Spherescry, unlike other Scry spells, specifically does not let other spells operate through it, so I'd say this probably goes for spell-like abilities as well. (Anaxian's blindsense is an Extraordinary ability and would function just fine).

I'm assuming there's also some information that the group may want to share with each other, since it looks like you guys have used the appropriate spells to read most of the spoiler tags.

I assumed scrying doesn't confer telepathy; you can't speak through a scry, it's just a remote viewing, and I'd expect that the same goes for sending mind-messages unless you're scrying on someone who's physically very close.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I thought that everyone in our collection of misfits, mutants, and monsters except me had telepathy as one of their misfit-mutant-monster powers. I don't even remember who was scrying and who actually has telepathy, let alone the ranges. So it wasn't a "hey, cast telepathy through the scrying sphere, will ya?" as much as a "hey, who's scrying and can you tell me about the serving wench without using semaphore?"

I think it would be a good idea to regroup and confer to get all this knowledge out to everyone.

I think it would be a good idea to regroup and confer to get all this knowledge out to everyone.

Send a messaged before we get to the temple. We have tele porters.

Just had an idea…

"Come with me." he said to any ally still in the manor house.

Anaxian followed the tunnel to the catacombs beneath the temple. The bones of every person buried in the town since the church dug its first grave had been collected and were now being cleaned and sorted into neat piles by small quadruped creatures the size of dogs made out of hundreds of tiny animal skeletons. Anaxian had made himself a staging ground in a hollowed out dome directly beneath the church.

The little dragon reached out with his mind, finding the fingerprint-like awarenesses of his allies.

His mental voice found them all.

We need to coordinate our efforts. Speak, and I will relay what you say to the others.

There. Now Anaxian is our comm system. As long as everyone is relatively close to each other this should work.

Just assume I relay everything you say roughly the same way you say it. Anaxian is a surpassingly good mimic.

Ooh, and I can link you up another 100 ft around me! Yay for helping!

"The halls near the Meditation room are relatively quiet," subvocalizes the ghost. "It may be possible for everyone to approach it and get into position now, although I do not see an abundance of hiding places. There are a few empty storage rooms and cells that might serve if we want to wait until nightfall.

"There appears to be some sort of hostile, otherwordly presence in the room with the High Priest. He may be involved in some sort of planar binding, and his servant may or may not be biddable by anyone. But I see no other guards around him.

"As to wards,.... there are areas guarded by silence, that might help mask our presence, but might also hinder our casting."

"I see little reason to delay further. Come quickly, bringing fear, fire, and steel...."

I think some of us would prefer cover of darkness for the escape part of the plan and all of us actually being in the building, but if you want to go in now, I'll watch. I brought treats!

The succubus teleports to the rest of the group, dressed as a man but still clearly having the curvy features of a succubus.
Her form shifts into the young men she entered the city as.
"This better be good..."

The succubus teleports to the rest of the group, dressed as a man but still clearly having the curvy features of a succubus.

Her form shifts into the young men she entered the city as.
"This better be good..."

"We shall see. "

The creature seems quite agitated

A broad daylight assault seems unwise. Things are likely to get… messy.

"You expect it, perhaps, to have calmed down by moonrise? Perhaps the serving girl will bring it a soothing beverage and a hot water bottle?"

As a DM, I'm going to rule that the entire party should start the fight together. Since nobody seems opposed to doing this at nighttime, unless people all agree to go during the day that makes more sense as a plan.

And to anyone in the tunnels: When I mapped the Citadel, the Meditation Room just happens to be against the wall closest to the graveyard. If your tunnels go right up to the wall of the church, this thing (and the Priest who appears to be in there) are within 60' of the edge of the tunnels, allowing it to be subject to Anaxian's telepathy etc.

Via telepathic coordination:

"We strike at night then."

Iranaset smiles, broadly as she hears, and in some cases see, her accomplices moving in on the citadel. She begins laughing, but buries her head in Mal's shoulder to pretend as if it was something he said.

So we're attacking now? Fun! I'll be needing a few things done though. That nasty thing strutting around the hallway needs to be made visible... Or brought to our side if you can manage it. Next it'll be nice to have a panicked crowd to move through. Maybe force somebody to start stabbing everybody else? Its just a suggestion. If you want me to just start slitting throats I can do that too. she pauses for a moment. Yes, I like all of those options.

Her eyes fall on a particularly enticing young man with beautiful jugulars, but she pouts as the general agreement shifts to attacking at night time.

Okay. Sorry to let things generally languish, I've got ideas for how to keep future quests moving faster and splitting up the party less.

Fast forward to an hour or two after midnight. Most of the Paladins in the Citadel are asleep, the majority of them outside the main building. The doors of the church are closed to visitors, but still open and close occasionally as guards leave and enter, allowing small or invisible creatures a chance to sneak in.

Feel free to acquire any low-level spells you want first. There are people in the party who can easily scroll-cast (or memorize) See Invisible or Invisibility Purge.

Here is how I assume everyone in the party sneaks into the Citadel; if you've got a different idea, feel free to change it.

Drisquar: Slipping in as a breeze is pretty easy, and has done before.
Shimsil: Carried by Drisquar.
TSG: A ghost can just sort of wander through floors and walls, etc., not being noticed.
Delyliath: Can pretty easily disguise herself as someone who belongs.
Anaxian: A cat in a church isn't going to stand out at all.
Illia-: Could also use a disguise, or teleport in as soon as a battle starts, or ask a caster for invisibility.

Anyone: Drisquar can take Shimsil AND two other characters with him while wind walking. Alternately, you could ask one of the casters to prep invisibility. This should cover Iranaset and Mal.

Will continue below with a description of the Citadel, and then you guys can get to the assassinating.

At night, a dozen or so guards and paladins still patrol the halls of the Citadel, but they're not very vigilant, as they'd expect any attack to come from outside the walls of the city.

Note: The entire main building of the Citadel is consecrated. Since Mal's armor acts as a mobile Desecration, anyone near him (I believe 60 feet is the radius?) is unaffected by the consecration.

The Meditation Room is locked, but getting the key is a trivial matter, as the party has already observed the serving girl who normally brings the High Priest his meals and the Summoner's Ghost can pretty easily go phase through a few walls and pilfer the key.

Will continue below with a link to a map of the Citadel.

And here is the Dungeon Grid Map of the Citadel. I can keep track of where everyone is if you guys don't want to directly use it/don't know how.

The Meditation Room is the one room that appears to be filled with lava (since it's the only one you can't see into).

Portcullis tiles indicate the entrances of the main Citadel building, which are currently closed.

Any undead popping out of the ground can appear either from the edge of the graveyard (along the left border of the map) or from the cellars (entering through the teal squares in the upper right-hand corner).

Paladins and guards standing around the Citadel should be obvious. One paladin (indicated with a unique icon) wears special armor.

I haz this message: You are not connected to any maps

Use the button above to create a new DungeonGrid map as a Game Master, or follow a link provided by another Game Master to join an existing map.

I logged in via Facebook

Yeah, that was the wrong URL entirely. My bad. (And you don't actually need to log in to use Dungeon Grid, just to create a new map)

Here is the correct URL

"I can turn invisible for a period of time and I can purge the invisibility of others. That should reveal the creature. "

Oooh, very nice, but if you wish to save your spells, I can go angel form and attack it, I'm pretty sure most Paladin's reaction upon seeing an angel fighting a fiend will be to help the angel. The only problem is that revealing the creature and using the paladins against it will rouse the paladins. I think, if the plan remains to assassinate the priest, we leave Osy there unhindered until the last second, but have me ready to play with him if necessary. The only problem will be he can negate my teleportation pretty effectively, making my escape that much harder. I'm a master at drawing out fights, though. I've fought an Osyluth before, and I'm pretty sure I can make the battle last as long as I want while I draw him away from the room.

Seeing that they are in an enemy base, Illia is using only telepathy at this time. She teleported in to a nearby corner relayed by her comrades, such as H22 and is currently in disguise. But, with her stealth, she's pretty confident she won't be caught, save by the osyluth. Considering the likelihood of dispels and true seeings flying around once the action gets going, she went ahead and dyed her hair and wings silvery white under the illusion. A process which likely left the restroom of their host house smelling like a ton of bleach.

Disguise, +2 from having time to use masterwork disguise kit: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (2) + 21 = 23

Sigh, le two.. Probably didn't get the roots..

However, this does present us with a new opportunity. If we reveal the devil, after we and the paladins kill it, Delyliath can con them into thinking she's a holy woman who grouped with this adventuring party to kill the devil, then use the paladins, and us, to kill the guest priest for his corruption and consorting with devils. Then, best of all, no one will WANT to resurrect him, because he dies a pariah instead of a holy man. I'm pretty sure no Paladin will have the ability to see through her lies, and the priest dies at the hands of his hosts. We can hold back without needing to show how powerful we are.

However, this does present us with a new opportunity. If we reveal the devil, after we and the paladins kill it, Delyliath can con them into thinking she's a holy woman who grouped with this adventuring party to kill the devil, then use the paladins, and us, to kill the guest priest for his corruption and consorting with devils. Then, best of all, no one will WANT to resurrect him, because he dies a pariah instead of a holy man. I'm pretty sure no Paladin will have the ability to see through her lies, and the priest dies at the hands of his hosts. We can hold back without needing to show how powerful we are.

Delyliath chuckles amused "A holy woman? Not really my usual disguise. Anyway, it looks a little ... suspicious to me to make an holy woman materialize from thin air and accuse the high priest. maybe one of the local paladins would be a better candidate. someone who has a reason to be here."

"Not that I want to delay the plan and go for something convoluted again but...
Do any of you have any way to make sure that if the devil is indeed here as the high priest servant? I can try to read the devil mind, I don't think I have much chances to learn what I want without revealing myself and asking questions though. And in case he is not controlled by the priest, has any of you an idea on who may be in control of that? If there is any way to quickly sort out that it would be great.
Or I can always reveal him while posing like a paladin."

Are all the men stationed here warriors in armor? is there any priest in robes or any other person that is not in a huge metal shell?

There are other priests, they're just asleep at night time like normal people. The priest you're trying to kill is also unarmored, or was according to Anaxian's scrying.

"If the Osyluth becomes a problem having Illia draw it away so the local Paladins can help kill it is a good idea. However, the rest of us should concentrate our efforts on killing the priest at the same time. Perhaps when the smoke clears the Paladins will think the Osyluth killed the priest. If we need a further distraction i'll call the undead army to wreak havoc. "

I could talk to him, if we want to do that. We are both similarly ranked devils. I could make up a mission about killing the head of the guard or something and ask him for intel about this place. Try to passively glean intel. We are both telepathic.

Delyliath holds her head and sighs.
"I know I am in the wrong company to share this with you but ... I don't trust Devils. And bony dead looking Devils? even worse.
And while I know HIM" Says pointing a finger at Malefeasance " and I know why is here and what his goal is... that guy over there is different.
Devils never just walk around in a citadel full of paladins because they are bored. They have an agenda, they always have an agenda.
And you can be sure, if he knows we are here, all he will try to do is to use us for his goals and screw us over in the process.
Unless we do the same to him first."

YAY for Delyliath casually insulting 2/3 of the party :P

Is sighing a good idea inside their base? Also, unless he's majorly incompetent for an Osyluth, he already knows we're here, but hasn't bothered to interfere yet.

So, just to make sure I'm interpreting the map correctly: The guards (who are, as far as we know, normal mundane non-spellcasters) are holding polearms, the paladins (who presumptively have levels in the Paladin class; it's not just a title) are in white tabards with swords and shields, and the person in full plate in Z22 is someone special?

Do we know anything about the Special Person?

Do the pictures accurately represent equipment (e.g. are the guards truly armed with polearms?

Is there any significance to the different colors of what I take to be walls? For example, square AC28 is filled with what appears to be black basalt flagstones; Z23 appears to be some sort of single sandstone or granite block, and the walls around the Meditation room appear to be made of cinder block. The room to the far northwest appears to have a number of squares of wooden flooring (e.g. F2) but those could just as easily be beds given their shape and size....

The guard(?) on J33 appears to be standing on stairs going up (to a second level?). Is there anything of interest to us on the second level?

I shall position myself for now in the empty chamber southeast of the meditation chamber; more accurately, I shall be in the northern wall of that chamber. Square H21. My unseen servant will be available to open the door to our quarry at any appropriate time.

As to the bone devil, I suspect it to be in thrall to our quarry. If he were free-willed, would the paladins patrolling the Citadel still have their throats intact? If you wish to converse with him, do so knowing the risk that he will warn his master. My suggestion is unchanged : come quickly, bringing fear, fire, and steel. Strike with confidence and disappear.

"Osyluth. Hmm." Anaxian's voice mused. "They can make themselves invisible as often as they like. Simply dispelling the effect would not last. It would do it again very shortly. What we would need to do is render it visible by other means. The Glitterdust spell, for instance."

"Also there is the issue of teleportation. If we mean to destroy it along with its master, we will need to ensure that it cannot simply leave whenever it wishes."

"If we mean to deal with it, I believe our first order of business should be to render it visible, and trap it with a Dimensional Anchor."

"A simple Dismissal or Banishment may also be an option if we wish to be rid of it rather than fight it."

"I have Glitterdust at my disposal, but not Dimensional Anchor. Nor have I Dismissal or Banishment."

Via our telepathy com "Its possible this Devil is some sort of ally, but it would be best to assume otherwise, at least till we know for sure. Of course, if we seek a celestial being to rally the troops, I believe I fit that bill, no?."

Okay, questions answered.

Regarding the map: The dark stones represent pillars, archways, etc. that might be hard to charge through. Gray walls are walls. This was probably not the best coloring scheme. The green things are potted shrubs, wooden-looking things are beds or benches. All the other terrain is just decorative changes, indicating mosaics etc (and stairs to the 2nd floor, which doesn't have anything interesting).

Regarding the enemies: the regular guards have light armor and polearms. The paladins look like actual proper trained paladins in medium armor, probably have several class levels, carry nice-looking swords and (according to any spells you've cast) possible a few simple magic items. The special paladin is heavily armored and carries a cool-looking sword; he's likely in charge of something.

"well... says Delyliath slightly bored. "Sort out your plan, I'll go get a more suitable identity and be right back"

I should have gained a little bit of intel when I scanned brains around the citadel. I want to teleport in the room of one of the priests disguised as any possible female servant he may be vaguely familiar with (I trust he won't care much about the fact that she has men clothes, she won't have clothes for long anyway), seduce him, consume his energy. Maybe hiding him in his own closet and take his vests and appearance.

Alright, here's the plan I think we've worked out telepathically. Buffers, start buffing, disguisers start disguising. I tank the bone demon, while Maior and Drisquar are going to hold a quick rock paper scissors duel to determine who gets to be the primary attacker against the bone devil. Everyone else uses that opening to rush into the room and attack the priest, except Myse who'll throw out a glitterdust in time with me and Maior/Drisquar's attack and Delyliath who will attempt to bluff them into thinking the priest summoned the bone devil and at least keep the paladins confused for a bit as they sort out who the bad guys are. But be ready to drop pretense, focus our attacks to annihilate the priest, summon the undead and beat a hasty retreat. As a last second note, I think Drisquar is the better choice for joining me in the attack on the Bone Demon for double angelicness and escapableness if things go badly and that Shimsil can fire at the priest while being relatively safe against the likely relatively tame Bone Devil, while Maior can inflict more pain faster on the priest, who is our main target.

Illia laid out her plan, quickly and decisively, worthy of her status as a warlord. A level 1 warlord, considering it had taken her this excruciatingly long to come up with it. Then her eyes slowly widened with realization of what kind of associates she had just given orders to.

If.. If that's ok with everyone.. I mean, if you're not.. Um.. I won't jump out and do anything yet.. I'll just stay over here. And.. There, normal Illia was back.

It sounds like everyone's agreed with some version of this plan. (A few of the party, angelic or disguised as such, attack the devil, while the rest sneak up on the priest in his weird side room).

I'll give you guys a little more time to prepare, but it sounds like everyone's itching to finally enter combat with this party, which is probably reasonable.

So: assume someone has the key to the meditation room. Since the Osyluth has no special way to see through invisibility/disguises, you should get a surprise round on it; feel free to roll initiative too, or I can.

If anyone needs a bit more time to figure out what spells they're memorizing for the night's raid, that's fine, and feel free to decide that a bit after combat's started if you need to.

Alright, sounds good. Let's start this already

Initiative (note: anyone who wants to can take a surprise round single action against the osyluth before initiative starts. Opening the door to the meditation room will also count as an acceptable surprise action; you can throw up buff spells before combat starts)

Throwing Shimsil at someone is also a perfectly fine surprise action.

Anaxian: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6
Delyliath: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Drisquar: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Illia-: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25
Iranaset: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
Malfeasance: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Shimsil: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
TSG: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Osyluth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

Paladins: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

Order (after surprise) will be:
1. Illia, TSG, Mal, Drisquar
2. Osyluth, Paladins
3. Shimsil, Iranaset, Delyliath, Anaxian

Shimsil will form his mindbolt as a free action, and whether or not he attacks depends on if he is thrown by Drisquar.

Illia adopts Angelic Persona just before engaging with surprise.

::"Shall I toss you at the Devil Shim, or would you prefer to I wield you and cut the thing to ribbons?"::

Activate Quickrun to get a Move action during the surprise round, move into position, then Glitterdust the devil!

::Up to you. If the demon isn't on our side, i could probably make it be::

::"Do we care that much to have it on our side? I doubt we truly need its help after all"::

::eh, let's be off with it then.::