City of Strangers (Inactive)

Game Master Nebten

I'm at 4/11. o.0 We'll have to heal first thing in the morning and have a verrrry mellow day.

How mellow do you want it? We probably have enough acid to go around :P

Gunder is at full HP.

1d20 - 2 ⇒ (20) - 2 = 18
After Gunder finishes reading the journal, Svilennius starts to rumble awake . . .

Time of truth people..

No one has Detect Evil, do they? Looks like druids, in their great neutrality, don't have it.

"Svilenius. We know what you have been doing, and why. Will you tell us where Esme is?"

Just for the record, can we state that we stripped Mr. Tripe to his smallclothes and bound him quite thoroughly? And he's down to HP 1, yeah?

Stripped yes, but bound how? To my knowledge the party has no manacles nor rope. He is currently disabled.

How about them chains from Tripe's laboratory? Plenty of chains in the picture.

Let's keep the OOC talk in the discussion thread.

"Hut, *cough* hut. Esme . . . I won't give you the satisfaction."

Garuneh says nothing else, but tears material off of his blanket and firmly gags Svil, taking care to avoid getting bitten.

"Wouldn't want you to call to her, then," he says.

"Satisfaction?"
Gunder raises an eyebrow.

Right now you are potentially in a great deal of trouble. We were sent here to find the one who was stealing corpses from the Ossury above, and you have a lot of guilt painted all over you. We are very much in our rights to turn you over the the Pharesmians above, and that will go very badly for you. So try to work with us here and perhaps you and your Esme can get out of this.

Garuneh doesn't unbind him, wary of verbal spells.

"Mr. Silvenius, my name is Aldous Mor'esti. I am afraid you are in quite the unfortunate position. You see, we were sent into this crypt to investigate missing corpses & the increase of undead activity.

[B] Since we found you in the process of creating such creatures, one does not require much more to satisfy our mission. Now, all that being said, we have no real reason to turn you over to the Pharasmins.

Nod if you want to live."

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20 diplomacy.

Svilenius looks at Elizabeth then looks and Aldous followed by a nod.

This is what I propose; you come with us and we will retrieve Esme and anything you can carry. Aldous, I believe that we should give him back his books and alchemy book. There will be difficulty in getting the two of them out unless Silvenius knows of a different way but perhaps Aldous's illusion can cover them. Then we will send them off into Kaer-Maga, I believe that necromancers have their own little section of the city where they can stay. We then tell the Pharasmins that the source of the stolen coprses have been delt with. Perhaps blame that goblin-snake.

Svilenius nods again at Elizabeth's suggestion.

So what does everyone else think?

"I really hate to turn this text over to a known necromancer. I have no problem giving his formula book and journals back, but this volume contains significant potential to changing how we treat injuries and healing. I'm talking about a watershed event, if the secrets contained within are even halfway true."

Aldous waves his hand dismissively, "As for Silvenius & his undead paramour, I don't really care. If he does not bother me, I say let him go."

Durnolf grumbles a bit and gives Svilenius a pointed I'm watching you gesture, but otherwise lets the more diplomatically-minded folk do their thing.

Your going to blame an a crime on one who has not done it and yet let the real criminal go?

"I don't want to frame the naga. However, we can clear the Ossuary and let Svil and Esme go. Kaer Maga is not ruled by Pharasma; far from it--I've seen several undead houses of pleasure here--from the outside, that is. Let them seek refuge there and leave the city if they will. We can show them the ruined laboratory and say that they fled, or were disintegrated, or some such."

"Personally, I don't care what the Pharasmins think. I have no affiliation with their church, and bear no responsibility toward them. That being said, I also feel uneasy pinning these activities on that stupid snake-person. Yes, she lied to us, but that's hardly cause for false witness against her."

Aldous flips though The Lives of the Chymists as he talks.

"This fellow Silvenius may per personally distasteful, but as someone said, he was just defending his territory. Although declared a "free-fire" zone down here by the nominal property owners, he did maintain a space and personal property. I'd consider the loss of this book payment enough for sparing his life, under the circumstances."

"Besides, we were hired on to stop the undead issue in this crypt. Nothing more, nothing less. If we remove this fellow and his 'Esme' friend, that will meet our obligation elegantly."

You are right Tina, sorry for suggesting framing the naga.

It seems our only issue now is how to get them out. I am unsure what time it is now, but we did sleep twice and might be able to puzzle it out. If we can leave at night we might be able to sneak out of the temple with a little magic.

Elizabeth looks at Silvenius. Look at it this way, Down here you were closed off from any outside sources that could help you restore Esme. There is an entire city out there with new ideas that you can draw on, an alchemist can make a nice living selling potions and even buy a spell that raises the dead with some work.

So any ideas how to get them out? Perhaps a little distraction by the more diplomatic of us.

"Elizabeth is right. You are going to like it in Ankar-Te! But the church of Pharasma is unlikely to let you go. So it would be better for you not to leave through the front gate. Do you know another way out?"

Gunder waits for Silvenius to nod or shake his head.

Svilenius nods at Gunder's question.

Very well. Let us heal up and then we can head back to Silvenius's lab.

"Very well. I will be reading over here."

Aldous sits on his bedroll & concentrates on the Lives of the Chymists book.

Dot

Re-dotting

Gunder, Garuneh, can you heal us before we head out? I am still very sore from the fight.

do we need that spell Status, or can we just holler out our HP?

The party is able to rest the remainder of the day without any interuption.

When the group feels rested, the casters are able to study & mediate upon their spells. During this time, Svilenius cries out through the gag, "Wa-ta, wa-ta."

You can tell who is "bloodied" (half-HP). I don't have my offical notes with me, but I believe everybody but Aldous is bloodied.

Elizabeth will get Svilenius some water, but will still be on her guard for any hostile actions.

Now that we have refreshed ourselves for the night, we should heal and then we can escort Svilenius back tot he lab.

Gunder watches Svilenius thoughtfully, trying to figure out whether he can trust the alchemist.
Sense motive: 1d20 ⇒ 17

He motions the group to follow him and - out of Svilenius' earshot - he asks "Should we take away the alchemical materials he is carrying on his body - at least for the time being? Or can we trust him enough not to try anything funny?"

Afterwards he casts a healing spell on Elizabeth.
CLW on Liz: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
"Who's next?"

(4/5 spells left; 9/9 HP)

Thank you for the healing. When out of earshot, Elizabeth nods. We keep his equipment out of his hands until we escort them out and then give them back. Thos ebombs are very painful.

Everybody does heal back 1 HP from the nights rest.

"Oh is it time to go already? I lost track of the hours reading. This is really quite fascinating..."

Aldous stretches and prepares to head out.

Elizabeth is ready to go

"It is a good read, is it not? Hut-hut. But I need those notes back, they are to be my life's work. Take anything else, even my own life, but those I need. They are precious to me. Hut." Svilenius says after getting his water.

"Well, it would appear that you have the basis for a whole new paradigm of alchemical healing and treatment procedures. This alone would set you for life in Kaer Maga. Being able to create undead through means of alchemy is only the icing on that cake. Sick and disgusting icing, but you get my meaning."

"What can you tell me about this procedure? How did you come by these materials. I know you did not simply create this whole text, its too old for that. Help me, and we can probably help you."

Aldous begins taking notes on the healing processes and procedures in the back of his own spellbook. He is attempting to copy the primary notes and experimental design, if not the results and analysis of same. After all, if he knows how Silvenius came by his results, he can replicate the research and get similar answers.

Without zombies in tanks, hopefully.

Garuneh speaks low in Druidic and inspects his wounds.

"We will give you the books back just as we are about to exit this place," says Garuneh. "Let's clear the Ossuary of any other dangers, retrieve Esme, and let this happy couple go their way."

Best let them out first before we go back delving

"To do that, we need to know where she is. Also knowing about the rest of this complex would help."

"Very well, let's find her first."

"I don't know how the procedure actually works. That's what I am researching. I lost a majority of my work, hut-hut, in an accident. It is not like baking a cake, arcanist. One doesn't just mix A with B over a low heat for an hour. Besides, it would take you years to deceipher those notes.

"Take me back to my lab, hut-hut, and I will gather Esme. As for the rest of Godsmouth, I can tell you very little. I didn't explore very much outside of my own lab. I don't even know where we are at right now, hut."

The group makes its way back Svilenius's lab. When the party reaches the long hallway in which they encountered the two skeletal archers, Svilenius recommends making a right at the alcove. The alcove is barely big enough to fit a man. The alchemist suggests pressing in the second stone on the seventh column for a short cut. After a quick once over, the stone is pushed and the group opens a secret door (AK49:AL49) bypassing two room.

Once the group reaches Svilenius's lab, he gives a few more directions. "Go through that hallway, hut (north). On the left hand side of the pit is a narrow ledge. Esme should be in our bedroom, hut-hut, across the way.

Massive slow downs here.

Elizabeth will go with whoever wants to speak with Esme.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (2) + 9 = 11

Garuneh looks at Svil. "Why don't you just call her out here?"

"Because the room, hut, is across a pit and down a hall. She won't bite, hut, unless you ask, hut-hut." says in reply to Garuneh.