Agents of the Darklands: A Campaign for Monsters and Madmen

Game Master thunderbeard

Anaxian casts Create Soul Gem.

It is done. I have his soul. Hold their attention a moment.

Then, careful not to be noticed, Anaxian uses a claw to remove some of the torn skin from the corpse's wounds.

A touch of a wand repaired the damage.

Collecting a couple small patches of skin (stealthy if need be), and then casting Restore Corpse

Finally, on his way back to the staircase, he stretches the patches of skin, pulling them into larger layers and materializing paths to be followed from the dead priest's memories.

Casting Create Treasure Map three times (to get maps in all three options)

::"Shall I accept their gracious offer of payment?":: Dris asks the group.

Off to bed, if the group agrees, I'll accept on the group's behalf. Should I or another attempt to 'convince' them to pay us more than they intend?

Best not to push our luck any further. We can claim that we shall return once we have released the High Priest's Soul for their resurrection spell to work.

Edited my last post.

Also, why do they need to know we have the priest's soul? Resurrection spells fail sometimes, usually because the soul doesn't want to come back. The person casting the spell doesn't usually know why. It just doesn't work.

Done. We can leave.

Hadn't thought about Create Treasure Map; I'll have to think of something for that.

On the nearby/local scale, however, the map points to his corpse. Apparently the priest carried his most valuable possessions with him.

EDIT: The broad scale treasure map points to his corpse as well. Evidently, whatever valuables he may have known the location of, none were worth more than the gear he carried with him.

just checked and the imps don't actually have teleport anymore. They must have removed that in the latest editionno matter. Since they guy is dead they're not picking pockets or attacking ony moving things on two inanimate objects that it doesnte break invisibility. If that's wrong let me know.

Kodo

Stealth 1d20 + 40 ⇒ (1) + 40 = 41

Podo

Stealth 1d20 + 42 ⇒ (6) + 42 = 48

Mal goes to listen to the paladins talk standing in such a way to block line of sight to the body. his holy mace held across his chest, but very visible.

also no detection was cast an hour or so ago, so detect evil won't trigger

even though Kodo rolled a 1, he's still invisible and it's still a high roll. Hopefully Mals active placement gives them a circumstance bonus. Regardless, we'll see.

Realizing he's probably caught Kodo will shift to rat form and visibly scurry out from under the priest to scurry away. That should give Podo ample opportunity to invisibly grab the priests stuff and stealth away as the paladin watches the rat scurry away.

A roll of 1 on a skill check isn't an auto-fail, although that invisibility bonus is only +20 because the imps are moving.

Paladin's perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

The paladin standing guard doesn't see the imps go past and rifle through things.

However, there's still a bit of finesse and wrangling required to slip off belts, rings, etc. without making too much noise or commotion; getting the items he's actually wearing will also, I'd assume, require a slight of hand check or decent dexterity check.

Also, apparently I had a LOT of free time today, huh.

Given the excitement involved in the fight with the devils,... was there anything else of interest/value that could be casually picked up? I'm thinking that this would be a great opportunity to loot the temple library, or the apothecary's potion collection, and so forth.

Here, have an illusion, he's probably carrying good stuff.

Illia casts an illusion between the body and the paladin via her at will minor image of the body being still. Obviously she can't cause silence, but at least they can create as much physical commotion as they like, as long as they get him back to normal before the priest arrives.

A roll of 1 on a skill check isn't an auto-fail, although that invisibility bonus is only +20 because the imps are moving.

dice=Paladin's perception]1d20+8

The paladin standing guard doesn't see the imps go past and rifle through things.

However, there's still a bit of finesse and wrangling required to slip off belts, rings, etc. without making too much noise or commotion; getting the items he's actually wearing will also, I'd assume, require a slight of hand check or decent dexterity check.

Also, apparently I had a LOT of free time today, huh.

+20 for invisibility and +20 for his skill ranks. the 1-20 for the roll would just be that much more. :-)

Sleight of hand 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Telepathic relay to the group

::We need to get out of here. Someone who can teleport should grab the body and leave. The rest make our own way out. I'm about to release the horde to cover our escape.::

Mal will wait about three round then release the undead he has stored around the temple. That should cause them to sufficiently run amok.

::Before we get the loot? Fair enough, if that's what you want::

::Before we get the loot? Fair enough, if that's what you want::

:: Loot is on the body. The imps are getting it now unless one of the teleporters would like to take it away for us to deal with at our leisure. Beyond that we can always loot the place during the undead Mayhem that is to follow momentarily. ::

::They were bringing us some additional trinkets; gold, frankincense, myrrh. Did you not want them as well?::

Neither dragons nor liches are able to sigh. Exasperation was a difficult emotion to read off of Anaxian. The invisibility and the cat suit probably didn't make things any easier. His mental voice, though, was rather terse when it said I will handle it.

Going out of the paladin's sight, Anaxian retrieved a few bones from his pouch, laid them on the ground and cast Restore Corpse from a wand. Then he cast Sculpt Corpse from a scroll. The corpse now looked like the dead priest. A quick brushing of Marvelous Pigments dressed the corpse identically to the real one. Anaxian had quite a sharp mind, an eye for detail, and a flare for the artistic.

Finally, he cast Shrink Object and stuffed the doll-sized corpse into his pouch.

Then he returned to the meditation chamber. All that takes about 36 seconds, plus travel time.

Back at the meditation chamber Anaxian said Maintain that illusion a moment.

Then he cast Shrink Object, making the body smaller beneath the illusion, stuffed it into his pouch, replaced it with the fake one and dismissed the shrink spell.

Finally he slipped an onyx orb into the corpse's pouches.

I have the body

i also retrieve my spherescry orbs while we are here.

Anaxian, I presume the corpse you have made cannot be resurrected? Because they will attempt that.

Of course not. Ressurection spells are limited by time. That is a very old corpse.

::Great. Lets get out of here::

Mal casually walks out of the room.

Ok. Given I can teleport, I guess I'll stay here for the loot and Shimsil, then. See you guys at Crimson's.

Ok. Given I can teleport, I guess I'll stay here for the loot and Shimsil, then. See you guys at Crimson's.

::Body is taken care of. Get what else you can. WOrk with Anaxian and meet up with the rest when you can. ::

Mal continues to walk out of the room and if unimpeded out of the complex.

"well.. that was... anti-climatic..." says telepathically Delyliath. "but looks like it worked..."

Delyliath on the surface still looks like a priest, and she is still actig scared for the paladins.

"So... any of you need any help finding your way out of the city? Or do we meet in the darklands?"

Guys, what happened, really .. days of not much happening and 30-40 posts in a few hours (and in my timezone was from 4am to 7 am) Sorry for lagging behind

Posting has an interesting cycle of growth. The more people are on and quickly respond to posts, the more people check to see if it is their post. The more people check to see if it is their post, the more they quickly respond to posts. Activity causes activity.

The inquisitor motions over one of the lesser guards "Excuse me, would you mind taking me to your temple's library? I am told it is quite extensive, and would like to peruse its collection while I still have time here" 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34 Diplomacy

Sorry about that, Delyliath—the only reason it went so fast was that I guess people got very excited and I was able by chance to respond real quickly. Basically, the guy's dead, the party found a way to get his corpse without anyone noticing, and Shimsil convinced the senior paladin to go get an appropriate offering for the party.

Now it sounds like a few of the party is seeing what sort of loot they can get the priests to give them because hey, why not rob the church while they've got a good opinion of y'all.

The lesser guard is happy to show the Bralani pretty much anything in the Citadel, considering how much the angel just flattered him. "Can you read in the dark, celestial?" he asks, "Or should I fetch you a candle?"

Drisquar, was there something you're looking for in particular?

In the meanwhile, one of the paladins brings you some expensive holy offerings. I'll make a google doc with loot that people can claim, and put a link to it at the top of this campaign.

I already have a ring of counterspells, but I definitely wouldn't mind having another. Can't ever have too many. :)

Other than the Silent rod nothing else on the list is decent for me.

Okay, let's wrap this Citadel up.

I'll be mostly on trains for the next few days, and I have no idea what kind of internet I'll have access to. So, I'll post a scene change now, and see how quickly I have the time/means to respond.

The paladins of the Dawnflower thank the interceding angels who saved their Citadel from being overrun by demons. Someone wakes up an old, bearded priest, who says a bunch of blessings and then hands over quite a bit of loot.

Meanwhile, Anaxian has swiped the priest's body and soul, while Mal's imps successfully stole all his belongings (since Shrink Object doesn't affect magic items, they would've sort of clattered to the floor and rolled about otherwise).

Drisquar is in the library, where (I assume) he'll take the time to search out and steal one or two books of valuable rarity or on a particular forbidden/forgotten subject.

Shimsil has generally charmed the highest-ranking paladin currently awake into being super helpful, and Delyliath has generally been keeping things calm and believable.

And, as the party says farewell, and walks out of the Citadel/teleports ("returns to their home plane"), Malefeasance is back in the hidden tunnels under the graveyard, mustering an army.

Any last actions people want to do in the city can still be done retroactively; I'm just posting the scene change now, in case everybody's done what they want to.

(and you'll get a chance to sell things after the mission is completed)

As the party slips unnoticed out of the city, busy dividing up their spoils, a cry rings out from the direction of the Citadel, and as you go on your merry way the horrified screams of a city in the midst of an undead uprising gradually fade into the distance.

Some of the party fly, or walk, or teleport. It's quite a trivial matter to avoid the gnolls, although anyone scouting ahead might well notice a few raiding parties headed in the direction of the smoke plume now billowing out of the city of Solku.

I'm going to assume at least a few of those skeletons were fiery and explosive.

And, after a day or so, the party meets up underground, at the entrance to the ruins where you first met.

There are others in the ruins, this time, and they are not others you have met before. A tall, slender dark elf stands to attention, lightly armored and holding a drawn rapier whose surface gleams with shifting, sickening colors. Behind him, idly looking around the ruins, stand three Erinyes, their weapons sheathed. Unlike Illia-, the devils do not seem especially friendly.

You can try to approach with stealth or invisibilty, but they’ll still notice the party’s approach, because of spells they’ve set up.

As you get closer, the drow, unblinking, turns to face the party. He waves slightly with his left hand, and smiles. ”Hello!” he shouts loudly, in Undercommon. ”Seems you fellows have something I really need—a certain soul in a certain gem.”

He shakes his head. ”But see, it’s rather important to me—and my associates—that we get a chance to, shall we say, punish that soul ourselves. If you could be so kind as to hand it over, we can all stay polite here.”

None of the four look hostile yet, but the elf smiles in a way that suggests this will soon change.

Telepathy between the group, here, is absolutely a free action.

::give me to the drow.::

::give me to the drow.::

Mal grind st that internally waiting for the wilder of shim to do so.

::Kill them all? Regrettable, but I suppose necessary....::

The ghost speaks to the new party. "Well, if it's important, obviously we should discuss it further. At the very least, we'd want to confirm you're not simply going to take it back and return it to the land of the living. We have our own due diligence to perform. .... assuming I had any idea what exactly you were talking about."

::How the devil -- perhaps literally -- did he know it's stored in a gem?::

Iranaset walks forward, toward the drow, moving to almost within striking distant. Leaning forward, she places a hand on the hilt of her sword and sneers at the drow. "You got a lot of nerve coming here and making demands like that..." she says, "Tell me why I shouldn't twist it for you, stranger."

"Come, there's no need for violence. They have a job to do, even if it's just harassing random travelers. I'm sure this can be worked out," lies the ghost, smoothly. "I'm sure once they explain themselves, things will look different to all involved."

The drow seems willing to indulge a few questions.

"Navid Duryan was a nuisance," he says, choosing his words slowly, "And more than that, he was a thief who found ways to draw power from sources that did not belong to him."

"Several lords of Hell have placed bounties on his head," the dark elf continues, "But one of Asmodeus' generals is offering a special favor to anyone who can deliver his soul for... personal interrogation."

"And, as you probably know, Duryan was extremely good at evading detection. This is what made him dangerous, noteworthy, and a valuable target. But now that you've taken down his wards, that soul of his has become much easier to locate... and you might want to get it off your hands as soon as possible."

::Well, as long as this fool is talking, the more time have we to prepare our tactics. Plan, or maneuver, or simply practice breath-and-diction exercises as you see fit::

"I see. Well, while I certainly appreciate your altruistic concern in taking a valuable object off our hands, my friends are of a more mercenary disposition. And for myself, I don't fully trust your companions' honesty, and by extension your own, I'm afraid."

The ghost gave a complex shrug.

"In the unlikely event that I knew this Miryan you spoke of, or that I actually had his soul instead of my own,... how do we know you're dealing in good faith?"

Would they be able to detect me specifically in wind form?

Probably. Assuming they have true seeing, then they would see your true form.

Drow sign language! Huh, yeah, he'll probably respond to that.

"Perhaps I should clarify the 'good faith' I had in mind for these dealings, then," he responds, and this time he looks at Iranaset, who is still standing right up next to him. "You hand us the soul, and we all put away our swords."

Let's give this a day or so to see who else checks in.

The succubus for the first time on these few days really has the occasion to remain in her natural form and wear outfits she is comfortable with.
The mission was ... rather awkward. too many things getting out of hand but in a way, all in their favor.
She didn't yet realized if they were good or just lucky.
But now, somebody wanted to get what it's rightfully their. And they seemed to be in the mood to negotiate. Well... the drow was. The erinni, not so much.

the succubus took a step towards the drow.
"So.. you are interested in our gem...
well.. this is already called for. But I guess you can always ask to the one who asked for this gem in the first place.
As far as we know he may even not be interested in this gem at all, but just in the elimination of the priest."

Says the succubus shrugging her shoulders.

so... why don't you just come back in a day or two while we finish our current business? If by then we have ways to dispose of that gem as we see fit, we could see if we can strike a deal.
Otherwise... we would not be the people you would have to talk to anyway.
Unless you have some other souls to capture, surprisingly we seem to have quite a talent for that.
I'm sure you don't have no need to confront us for something we might be willing to give up peacefully in a few days."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (12) + 21 = 33

Delyliath then sends a telepathic message to the crimson lady
"I didn't knew you had guests. Should we meet somewhere else?"

The GM just Ninja'd my post.
Added a line to make it respond to the "threat"

Mal stands with his unholy symbol of Asmodeus clearly visible.

Anaxian, still looking like a normal cat, says nothing. He simply waits, relaying messages telepathically as needed.

Detect Magic

Plan is Shimsil onto Drow, and if that doesn't work, glitterdust haste melee swarm strikes me as a fine plan. Erinyes are nothing special if they can't kite you. Wait a second... Illia seemed to realize too late that she had just insulted herself.

Can Dely bluff for me to convince the drow Shim has the gem hidden within him? or must I? Figure I could just silently hand over the blade and let her do the talking

yeah, the gem maybe shouldnt be actually in the handle, since the guy could succeed at his save.

You could try handing over Shimsil, but the drow's already holding a pretty nice sword and doesn't look like he's about to let go of it.

The drow relaxes a bit at Delyliath's suggestion, but he doesn't seem to back down.

And the Crimson Stranger responds, Amateur bounty hunters, working for a useless master. Just get rid of them, one way or another.

True. There's always the nat 20.

Plan is Shimsil onto Drow, and if that doesn't work, glitterdust haste melee swarm strikes me as a fine plan. Erinyes are nothing special if they can't kite you. Wait a second...

"Then I suggest you ready your spells because I don't see them falling for it.

Then she resume her attentions to the drow.
"It's really up to you now. We have been quite polite. And we are not denying you the gem... just asking you the time to complete our transaction without you interfeering.
After that, we may be willing to part away with the gem, or the gem will be in the ends of someone else who would either be willing to give you the gem himself or will be a way easier mark than us.
You seem reasonable enough... you sure must realize that asking right here right now something that would soon be of no interest to us is rather foolish."

do I need another diplo roll or I'm still using the same and just reinforcing the argument?

Why are you assuming that the "hand it over or die" people want to work out a trade or wait?