DM Brainiac's War for the Crown: Table 2 (COMPLETE!) (Inactive)

Game Master Brainiac

"Maya!" Katria exclaims, moving to the halfling's side as she concentrates on preventing the rat from attacking again.

"Enough! Don't you attack us again!" she orders.

Casting forbid action (DC 14); forbidding him from attacking

Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

"I am King of the Centrifuge! The Royal Roundabout! I shall do as I please" Dagio counters, resisting Katria's spell.

Bernal, Doritan, and Liam are up.

Liam moves almost under the rat and stands on one of the wide stairs."Fall."
Using Spontaneous Casting to give up Bless to cast Command. 30' range, which should be just enough. DC 14.

Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

"Very well!" Dagio declares. He starts to loosen his grip on the ceiling.

He will fall to the floor at the start of his turn, so Bernal and Doritan can ready melted attacks to attack him when he hits the ground if they like.

Nice!

And by melted attacks I obviously mean melee attacks. Stupid auto-correct! Bernal and Doritan are up!

I'll roll for Bernal and Doritan to keep things moving.

Falling Damage: 3d6 ⇒ (6, 4, 1) = 11
Bernal Readied Attack, Flanking, Prone: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (12) + 14 = 261d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Doritan Readied Attack, Flanking, Prone: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
Malphene Readied Attack, Prone: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
Wand of Shocking Grasp, Holding Metal Object, Prone: 1d20 + 2 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (7) + 2 + 3 - 4 = 8

Bernal, Doritan, and Malphene gather around Dagio as the rat releases his grip on the ceiling. "Observe a perfect spiral dismount!" he shouts, spinning in the air as he plummets to the ground. He impacts with a thud, and the three surrounding him attack, but only Bernal manages a good hit. A shield of force deflects Doritan's and Malphene's attacks.

"Ouch! Trickery! Treachery! Taste the wrath of my royal rod!" Dagio grabs the wand off his back and speaks a command word. It begins to crackle with electricity and he thrusts it toward Doritan, but the rondelero dodges away.

Everybody may act again!

Maya remains unconscious, but stable on the ground. While it wouldn't take much, the halfling looks more like a noble now with her arms and legs laid out at weird angles than she does when awake and composed.

Liam resumes his Sermonic Performance.
I had meant to maintain it as a free action last round but forgot to say so. So standard action to restart.
"For though we are merciful, if ye test us, ye shall feel our WRATH!"

You could still have used the free action to maintain it, Liam, even though you didn't mention it. You can take a different standard action this round if you'd like.

As Bernal swings his blade for another attack on the rat, he spins the falcata in his hand, in part to mock Dagio's obsession with circles, and instead hits him with the flat surface of his weapon.

Falcata + Performance + Flanking + Prone - Nonlethal: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18, Damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11 Nonlethal

"I think not killing the rat is the wisest course of action right now; he could provide us with some valuable insight later on."

Okay, then with me having maintained it, did Malphene hit?
Liam attacks the rat with his morningstar.
Attack, Performance, vs Prone: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 2 + 1 + 4 = 12 Nope.

She did, actually. Dagio's AC is 20.

Malphene Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Doritan, Katria and Malphene are up for this round now.

Maya concentrates on the rat for a moment, clutching the pendant hanging from her necklace as she tries to fog its mind. A moment later, she leans down, looking for a curative potion in Maya's equipment. I don't seem to have one

"Come on, Maya," she whispers. "You have to come around now. It's too dangerous to rest here."

Using cloud mind resonant power on Dagio (DC 14): Cloud Mind (Su): As a standard action, you can expend 1 point of mental focus to cloud the mind of one foe within 30 feet. That foe is dazed for 1 round if the number of Hit Dice it possesses is less than or equal to or your occultist level. If it has more Hit Dice than your occultist level, it is staggered for 1 round instead. The foe can attempt a Will saving throw to negate the effect. Whether or not it succeeds at the save, the target is then immune to this effect for 1 day. This is a mind-affecting effect.

"I think I need to get a club of some sort if we're taking prisoners often." Doritan remarks, flipping the hatchet around and using the back as a club.

Handaxe, Nonlethal, flanking, v. prone: 1d20 + 4 + 1 - 4 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 + 1 - 4 + 2 + 4 = 231d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

While Dagio's shield protects him from Bernal's attack, Doritan manages to club the dire rat with the hilt of his hatchet. With a squeak, the large rodent falls unconscious!

Dagio is wearing a ring of protection +1 and has a wand of shocking grasp (23 charges). It's a DC 15 Climb check to clamber up the walls to the hole in the ceiling if you want to search his nest.

Nobody has Climb, and Doritan and Liam are the strongest at a whopping 13? Hmm...
Liam looks up. "I don't know if I should try that climb in my state. If somebody else wants to attempt it, I can use my magic to help."
Doritan with Guidance would need to roll 13+ to make it, 8+ to not fall. For anybody else it would be tougher.

While the others look to the nest, Katria continues to try to tend to Maya.

"Jowuan," she calls. "We need you to channel!" Figure several (all?) of us have some injuries.

"Very well. Abadar, tend to the wounded!"

Channel Energy: 1d6 ⇒ 2

"Thank you, Banker."
Liam pays 5 gold to Jowuan.
Had 15.9, now 10.9.

Katria's wounds heal, some of her remaining burns from the electricity fading even more as she looks to see if Maya wakes.

She collects the potion they found in the garden room and offers it to the halfling, who still looks more dead than alive.

"Here, drink this," she orders. Not sure who was holding it, but it's on our loot list and I think this is a good use. Maya, you're awake, so you can roll.

Maya’s eyes open to see the hovering form of Katria before her. Of all the people Maya expected to see after coming back from a near-death experience, a noblewoman was definitely way down on her list. Why does Katria even care? A question for another day, perhaps.

The bard nods gratefully to Jowuan before eagerly taking the potion from Katria and nodding to her as well.

CMW: 2d8 + 3 ⇒ (6, 1) + 3 = 10

Sitting up, Maya looks over at the still form of Dagio and says, “Did you kill him or is he just unconscious? We should tie him up if he’s not dead.”

Don’t think climbing is a good plan for Maya considering her health and strength damage.

It was actually a potion of cure moderate wounds, so you'll heal an additional 1d8+2.

Ah, okay. I edited my post above to reflect that. Thank you.

Doritan looks up at the ceiling, "I think I might be able to make it. Here. Hold my axe."

Climb: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

The crumbling stone and plaster walls of the lecture hall offer myriad handholds, allowing Doritan to clamber up to the opening in the ceiling. The crèche in the roof stinks of Dagio's urine--also rendered into circular patterns. Along with the rat's spell book, the small room contains four pristine rubies worth 100 gp each and a pearl of power (1st level) hidden within a pile of chewed and torn paper, as well as a scuffed jewelry box containing a magic ring. The golden ring appears perfect on the outside, but the inside shows centuries of wear. A family crest adorns the front, depicting olive branches encircling two crowns, which seemingly indicates a house dedicated to ambassadorship and diplomacy.

When Katria uses her object reading, she discovers that this is the Envoy Ring. It last belonged to a wizard named Eros Glendower. Like Dignity's Barb, this relic was once more powerful, but its glory has faded over the centuries. There may be a way to restore its powers.

The ring grants its wearer a +2 competence bonus on Diplomacy, Linguistics, and Perform checks. Once per day, the wearer can speak a command word to transform her appearance and clothing, as per disguise self. The appearance of her clothing automatically matches the customs of the dominant culture around her, typically that of the local nobility or ruling class. Her physical features don't match those of the local people, but features that would make her stand out diminish, such as elf ears in a settlement where no elves live. This lasts up to 24 hours, but can be dismissed at any time.

"Should we give the ring of protection and the shocking wand back to Factor 12? I imagine we won't be permitted to check out anything else if it determines we have those items in our possession. It might even attack us. But if we return the items, there could be a reward. Maybe. I don't know what the customs are of that sort of creature... thing.... being."

Katria seems surprised by the suggestion.

"Oh, I think the ring is much too valuable -- historically, it's quite a relic and I think there should be some way to waken the magic that's inherent in it because of that history -- to let it linger down here," she says. "Though perhaps returning other items isn't a bad idea. We should keep the ring and we could return the wand and the ax, I suppose.

She looks at Dagio's bound form.

"What do we want to do with him? I don't think we really want to carry him around with us, do we? Should we maybe bring him back to Factor-12 too? Maybe after we question him?"

Note that Dagio's ring of protection +1 is separate from the Envoy Ring.

"He's a big, gross talking rat. We should just leave him here and get out of this damn dungeon," Malphene opines, scowling as she plucks tufts of rat fur off of her dress. The other nobles murmur their assent, wanting only to escape as soon as possible.

"No, not the Envoy Ring. I meant the other one, the ring that Dagio was actually wearing, not the one in his nest. Factor 12 said the rat took A Ring of Protection."
We returned the axe already to get the key, I think.
"I hate the idea of keeping anyone a prisoner, but do what you think you have to do. We could just take away his spell components and spellbook and let him go scurry off. Or give him to Factor-12."

Oh, sorry, mental fart, but it's enough Katria that I'll leave the post. Then I'd say let's figure out which item we want to keep: ax, ring, wand ...

"He might be able to tell us what's going on down here, though," Katria says sadly. "But maybe you're right. There are probably more important things going on above and we can't really wait."

Katria's persuaded to move on and just leave Dagio here. He didn't seem to be hurting anyone, though I guess it would make it harder to get back down to Mimips.

The ring of protection will probably be the most useful for us long term, unless someone plans on wielding an ax in combat. The wand would be nifty, but probably not as useful.

Maya looks over at Dagio, considering what to do with the rodent. After a few moments of contemplation, she says, "I don't think we should just leave him here. Either bring him to Factor-12 or kill him. When I was injured back in the hallway, I had a vision or dream or something of a terrible arcane ritual being performed in this room. I don't know who could have been performing it besides Dagio. Even if we take away his spell stuff, I don't think it'll be safe to just leave him here. He needs to be punished for what he's done."

Maya's not sure where her sudden urge from judgment comes from. Maybe it's the fact that the rat managed to knock her unconscious or perhaps it's the teachings of Erastil from her parents bleeding through, but she's certain they shouldn't just leave the rodent to his own devices.

For Mimips' sake, if no one else's, we shouldn't just leave Dagio here. He also tried to kill us and seems to be able to summon rats, so I'm not sure removing his spell components and book will be enough to render him harmless. He also seems to be crazy, so leaving him alone probably isn't in his best interest either.

On another topic: who is going to use the envoy ring? It seems to be good for both social situations and perhaps also for infiltration. OOC (and this is just speculation), I'm guessing we're going to get 4 or 5 of these types of things, so we should probably take one each.

That was my feeling as well regarding the items. I think the envoy ring can probably be passed around if we find other relics. Katria currently is holding Dignity's Barb, but I'm not sure how much she'll end up using it yet. Still figuring out her combat mechanics/role...

Katria looks unhappy at the idea of killing Dagio in cold blood, though she realizes he might be dangerous, as Maya says.

Liam hates this situation.
"Forcing him to become a prisoner was wrong. He did not surrender by choice. It should have been his choice to surrender or die fighting us. 'We'll beat you unconscious, take you prisoner, and make you to do what we want' is what slavers do. I dislike the idea of killing him but captivity is a horrific fate. Is it worse than death? Maybe. Let us ask him if he would rather be turned over to Factor 12 or killed. I would still say set him free were it not for Maya's vision."
CG. Freedom!!
"The ring would be useful. We could return it to Factor 12 and then check it out if we wish."

"Slavery and captivity are very different," Katria points out. "After all, if someone commits a crime -- say trying to murder us all -- shouldn't they be sent to prison?"

"We are not the law here. And he could just as well say he was defending his home against invaders. A court would have to settle that, and I don't trust the courts of Taldor at the moment.
What is your plan?"

Doritan raises an eyebrow, "For all intents and purposes, the law has failed and it's up to us to enforce some semblance of order down here. Let us not forget that the king- in many senses the ultimate law in the country, just murdered a peasant in a crowded room and had his retainers slaughter the crowd. I've never trusted a judge farther than I can throw one, and now even less so. The simplest thing would be to take away all of his implements- I'm no wizard, but I'm pretty sure they're all but powerless without one. Besides, he's a rat. He'll survive even if we lock him in here with nothing. That is the very least we should do, though I will remind you all that, after announcing his existence, the first thing he did was try to kill us when we simply inquired to his purpose. We survived, but do we really want others falling prey to a big rat with an overblown ego?"

NG/LN, here we go!

Katria frowns, but nods in agreement. Their points were certainly valid, both about the courts and Dagio himself.

Katria won't object to killing him, but we did discuss wanting to question him, which is why we didn't kill him in the first place.

Maya nods at Liam's suggestion. "We should certainly talk to him, whatever we do. Offering him a choice between Factor-12 and death afterwards sounds good to me."

"Relieving the rat of his wizard equipment is fair and well," Bernal assents, "but you don't know what kind of magical protection those things might have. Assuming he's the one who conceived some of the traps we've encountered so far, his spellbook might just explode in your face when you touch it."

"I'm sure we can figure it out," Katria says. "I have some experience with such artifacts, and, yes, many of them can be dangerous."

I'm not sure any of us actually have any use for a wizard's spellbook, though I guess I can use it as scrolls if we don't want to sell it.

"If we are to be the law, and Dagio's captivity is imprisonment for his crimes rather than enslavement for our benefit, that places moral responsibilities and obligations on us as his jailers, including the obligation to feed, shelter, and rehabilitate him, after a fair trial.
If he refused to talk, would you torture him? Would we be tyrants in our own tiny kingdom?
I would rather just leave him here, as a neutralized threat, and get out of here before he wakes. I don't want to take on the moral responsibilities of keeping a prisoner.
And if you are going to kill him, just go ahead and do it now. It's more merciful than making him live as a slave for ten minutes before his death."

Scrolls or sell it is fine with me, unless someone's planning on taking levels in wizard or something.

"We're just detaining him, Liam. He isn't our 'prisoner,' at least not in the sense you mean, and he's certainly not our slave. If he doesn't talk, we can just hand him over to Factor-12. Also, you speak of 'moral responsibilities,' but don't you think that includes preventing Dagio from doing more harm? We know he's dangerous. What's to keep him from killing Mimips or others once we leave? Wouldn't we be culpable for doing nothing? Maybe not in the eyes of the courts, but we've already discussed how they're unreliable at best.

"If we don't want to wait for him to wake up, let's go ahead and drag him to Factor-12. We have to go there anyway if we're going to return some of this stuff. Maybe Factor-12 will have a suggestion on what we should do."

"Also, you speak of 'moral responsibilities,' but don't you think that includes preventing Dagio from doing more harm? We know he's dangerous. What's to keep him from killing Mimips or others once we leave? Wouldn't we be culpable for doing nothing?"

"No. Only through due process, which we don't have time for, or in response to an immediate threat. Freedom demands that the Law be constrained and not just the whim of the powerful. Any who take the Law into their own hands must likewise be subject to those constraints.

If you're concerned about the kobold, even though Dagio didn't harm him before, we could arm Mimips. But do what you feel you must, I know I can't stop you.

I'm interested in what Factor-12 has to say."
He's not an anarchist or a vigilante; since his greatest concern is tyranny, he would be a libertarian, more or less.

OK, I think we have a consensus on taking him to Factor-12, and returning the wand and the ax, but keeping the ring.

You carry the unconscious Dagio back to Factor 12. The strange outsider's single eye widens when he sees your prisoner. "The rat thief, at last! I must thank you for capturing this wayward criminal and bringing him back to face justice, and returning his stolen goods. As a reward, I shall let you withdraw a second item from the archives.

"Under Taldan law, the punishment for grand theft is imprisonment. Leave him in my care, and I shall ensure he serves his sentence."

Liam is greatly relieved to be done with this.
"Thank you, Factor 12. We will check out the ring of protection. As our reward item, we will take..."
The axe?

"Indeed," Katria agrees. "We really do need to get out of here."

Yeah, I think the ax makes sense. Someone holler if you want it.

Once the swap is made, Katria moves back to the circular room and prepares to head through the southern door, using the usual precautions the group has established.

We should make sure someone will actually use the ax. If so, then that works. It still might be the one to go with, though, considering how much it'll sell for.

Maya nods to Factor 12. She knows so little about the strange being, but she suspects he'll do a much better job of carrying out Taldan law than the current ruler of the nation.

"Make sure you keep him away from spellbooks. He's quite effective with them," Maya adds to her companions' remarks.

Afterwards, Maya heads back to the circular room with Katria to continue onward in search of a way out.

"I'm not planning on replacing my falcata anytime soon", Bernal says as the group acquires the axe from Factor 12. "Which of you is going to wield that thing?"