Darkest Corners volume 2

Game Master Harakani

I think Director wanted the Archon to heal him of something.

And Hossiter was acting weird, but still was at fourth floor when Diene found her, and did not resist. While she's fishy, right now i believe that
whoever is responsible for the state of the garden also got a hold of the gardener, and caused him to go crazy, setting fire downstairs, decapitating 2 other constructs, and then opening the zoo.

Thats just a theory, of course. As said, all fine with whatever we do, but we should have something we can tell Spooky.

Isama used four quenches total I'm pretty sure.

So maybe we need to do a few more things.

1. Make sure the weird construct that we left at the door is still there and if so confiscate it.

2. Talk to the Director

3. Check the Soul Dolls

4. Gather up the gardener and the disabled constructs on the bottom floor to see if they can be examined in detail to see how they were messed with.

What's everyone else think?

I believe the director is "innocent".

And I think we are all (or maybe it is just me) confused about the "weird construct"/"Soul Dolls"/Gardener

Yeah I went over the gameplay posts again and I think I got everything right.

I thought the weird construct WAS the soul doll?

And I'm pretty sure the director was selfish and rude, but not wanting to burn his home down.

I'm not clear on what he wanted the archon to do.

Hmm - given it has been so long.

I was tap dancing around it. It'd be difficult to find out exactly what his condition was but I figure there were enough clues dropped that the Sgt got it, at least... The director had an STI. The Archon resented being forced to cure it instead of fighting the Forces of the Evil.

The 4th floor construct is a Soulbound Mannequin made using some of Hossiter's Soul. It's legal... but a bit... y'know... Evil. Someone theorised that the Archon sensed Hossiter - but there's no conclusive proof.

Does this help?

That was everything I had gathered nicely summarized.

Hah, completely missed that. In any case that takes care of point 2. Still have the other things we need to do right?

1. Make sure the weird construct that we left at the door is still there and if so confiscate it.

2. Check the Soul Dolls

3. Gather up the gardener and the disabled constructs on the bottom floor and confiscate them as so well so they can be examined in detail to see how they were messed with.

Yeah, sounds good.

The disease hints were pretty good, I had a good chuckle back then . )

Sorry that I didn't share, figured it was one thing that Ophelia wouldn't get

I had some suspicions but it was totally unimportant for Castor at the time...

as mentioned, the upstairs stuff is funny and hering-y, but i doubt relevant(for the record, I also got the STD reference and chuckled).

But:
As Ophelia and me found out during rolls, the garden was unusually dry, and unnaturally ill.
And the gearbound gardener breaks the locks on the zoo, shortly after a fire started downstairs.

Unless these normal constructs can just snap, my guess is that the Gardener was tampered with. He is working outside, in the yard, and thus easily accessibly to someone from the streets, or invisible, etc...basically hes more vulnerable to tampering than those constructs staying inside the academie.

If the garden was magically made ill/blighted, then chances are whoever did that also altered the gardener.
Or that is Mias theory on the matter. Chances would be whoever put the plan in motion(timing it so the summoners are at the Arena) is among the spectators outside, trying to see if it succeeds.
Thats why i wanted to outfit another construct with the gardeners gear and send it outside, see if anybody seems to pay special attention to its actions. Don't really have other ideas about how to find out who is behind all this.

Okay - addressing points.
1. The gardener is destroyed - it will fight like a mad thing until something seems to break inside it. It's crazy dangerous to the other constructs, and I think they're just going to rip it apart.
2. You can send out a manservant with the gardener's gear - won't be a great disguise. If so, perception rolls all round.
3. You can confiscate Hossiter, the gardener and the broken manservant. There's going to be some pretty steep demands for them to be returned (so they can be repaired). If you're keeping them for a day or two to do an 'autopsy' you'd be okay. If you're keeping them longer they'll count against you.

All good? What have I missed?

I'm good with steps 2 and 3 and head back to Spooky for debrief.

Per: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31

Per: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

Of course, why would I stop rolling ones now?

*Boing* - Just a thought - the Hossiter construct can cloak itself in illusions. Maybe we can get it to look like the gardener?

Gives us a good reason to steal *ahem* borrow it too : )

If an 'autopsy' is being performed, can I get knowledge:ARCANA roll from someone please.
Yeah, I said engineering originally, but technically constructs run under arcana.

I say we return the others after autopsy but keep Hossiter, even if she counts against us.
She will make for a fancy mascot and be a LOT better off with us than there. It may be legal, but as I understand soulbound stuff, it's also cruel. We can call it a witness confiscation program or something.

Sorry guys, I'm moving on a little - felt like we were starting to stall, and that's death. Please give me kn:arcana rolls if'n you want in on the autopsy. If you're working with Mia on spyinginformation gathering, you can roll aid diplomacy.

I apologise for my disappearance - combination of work and heat wave got me "distracted"

You have a heat wave? We're in near record cold. Wish there was some way we could exchange for a day or two...

Me too, trust me.

Hot air coming from North Africa. This weekend it should reach a new temperature record for this time of year...

I would greatly welcome a record cold, too.

Heat is not as bad here as it was 2 weeks ago, but it's still very inconveniently hot...and doesn't cool down significantly during night, either.

Unless people post otherwise I'll assume they're just going to go in without precautions or anything.

Also, if people would like to just check what ranks I think you are, I've posted it.

Diene did not take any precautions before entering Spooky's office, no.

Yeah, that's fair. There is a reason.

No precautions, Castor trusts Spooky.

I will have a gameplay post up within 24 hours. I have to think on it (and the heat wave culminated today...)

Boing!

I'm flying to Los Angeles tomorrow. And since my living arrangements are not 100% just yet I'm not sure when I can access reliable internet again.

Hopefully/probably soon, but don't wait up for me : )

Hey Mia.
Okay - so I've been thinking about two effects. How do these hit you?

1: Custom Cantrip. Your magic first manifested while you were trying to enlarge yourself to pass among humans, and you have developed an intricate - if specialised - cantrip for the purpose. You may ignore penalties for height and weight when using the Disguise skill to pass as small or medium. If you do this you radiate a very faint transmutation aura.

2: Know a guy. You have blackmail on one of the best crossbow enchanters in the city. You can buy crossbow and bolt items at 50% off. Additionally once per mission you may produce a free +3 bolt of your choosing. You cannot sell or give away this bolt.
so it could be a "+1 flaming Outsider (cold) bane" in one mission and a "+1 phase locking" the next.

Hey Mia.

Okay - so I've been thinking about two effects. How do these hit you?

1: Custom Cantrip. Your magic first manifested while you were trying to enlarge yourself to pass among humans, and you have developed an intricate - if specialised - cantrip for the purpose. You may ignore penalties for height and weight when using the Disguise skill to pass as small or medium. If you do this you radiate a very faint transmutation aura.

2: Know a guy. You have blackmail on one of the best crossbow enchanters in the city. You can buy crossbow and bolt items at 50% off. Additionally once per mission you may produce a free +3 bolt of your choosing. You cannot sell or give away this bolt.
so it could be a "+1 flaming Outsider (cold) bane" in one mission and a "+1 phase locking" the next.

Hej, I love the second one. Only question: Instead of having blackmail on him, could I have helped him out with something...? Using someone I blackmail as a "regular" supplier kind of strikes me as...dangerous. Don't want bolts blowing up in my face ^_^ (I would definitely take it with the blackmail background too....)

The first one...not sure If I understood it right...if so, not really sure. My feat+favored class boni+playing innocent specifically call out posing as a human child. So while that may allow me to ignore penalties to disguise as medium creature, I won't get all my fancy boni in that case.
Counter-Offer: How about I get a few "cover identities" with official papers as a human child instead, meaning the ID will check out for anybody suspicious or checking papers(rather than having to forge them myself)? So I could walk around with my Uncle Castor or my Mechanical Nanny Ophelia, or Auntie Dienne and nobody would suspect anything?
I know that will come in seldom but I think it would fit more than a "masked" enlarge person...while going into the same general direction-

Boing: Update!

I'll get an apartment next tuesday and reliable internet hopefully soon after. Hopefully!

Sorry to drag my feet :)

@Mia: sure "helped with blackmail" also works, if you helped him/her get out from blackmail.
My intention with the first one was so that you could use your Disguise to pass somewhere (roughly) without having to look like a kid. There's a lot of places kids can't go. I guess you could disguise yourself as a Small creature though - but as you say, your feats won't help.

... There's a lot of places kids can't should not go...

Fixed that for you ^_^

Haha, no worries, I perfectly understand the limitations I face. Just saying that a trait that bypasses some of them but takes away the boni will not help much more often...

but I still like the idea. Maybe I could get a slightly different-looking cover identity as a halfling librarian? A proper day job, with false glasses, different hair style, official papers, all that...and the "Feats" apply to that one identity in addition to posing as a child(courtesy of being trained and focused in it's use)?

Also, I'm ok to meet the Goblin.

Let's go punch him.

Good to go.

Good news!

My new american cell-plan comes with free internet which, for some reason, doesn't let me access any secure sites (like logging in on paizo. Probably something to do with switching sims and/or some sort of date error. I'll figure it out). However turning the phone into a hotspot works fine, if a bit chunky.

So what I'm saying is: I've got internet again and will try to catch up and so again : )

(But maybe not until tomorrow when I have an actual apartment to live in :P)

Glad to hear, welcome back, Ophelia.

Sorry guys,
haven't forgotten you.
Was running this NPC pretty stat light, but have now realised I need more detail. Am working it out ASAP.

any news on how mister NPC feels? :)

Just for the record, if you run someone stat-light, then realize you need more fleshing out, I'm totally fine if you make up reasonable numbers. instead of running a full design process.

Can't speak for the others, but I GM'ed long enough myself that I have a pretty good grasp on what "values" a NPC can reach at what level, depending on his role. So streamlining it seems to make sense often.

But as you said...

Sorry guys, I'm moving on a little - felt like we were starting to stall, and that's death.

...so, I'd rather continue with made-up-numbers than not continue at all ^_^

Alright, as long as no-one is completely holding me to them. Goodness knows I hate trying to work out the WBL equipment of a high level crafter-specialist.

I've also been a bit ill, and had some unexpected stuff come up. Today's not too bad, but tomorrow might be. Let's do this!

If you need to, if you need to. If the dudes gonna come up a bunch, might do it now anyway though.

I'd forgotten what a pain high level characters are to stat up.
And wow - I think I just made fifteen edits trying to get the tags fixed on that gameplay post.

Would any of us be able to figure anything out from the remains of the gardner by examining it to confirm what Victor is saying? Isama has no Know:Engineering

@Isama:

We had no time to share this, but those involved in the analysis had a spoiler text:

the autopsy:

Gardener killed the manservants. Minor chemical marks suggest it also started the fire.
It really is very cheap work. One of the new 'discount' constructs. Easy to see why it wouldn't inside the house.
That said, there's a mix of genius inside this thing. Mass produced charms. Elementary Golem techniques. Thassilonian Runes. Some sort of gem-based magic. Alchemical reagents to provide power.
There's also a ward. Went off about three seconds after you popped open the chassis. There was a cloud of stinking blue smoke, and you got the call to report about five minutes later.

Sharing this here...I think our chance to check it is past...obviously we will tell you about this later(which is why I share the spoiler), but we went right to the report.

Cool. Thanks Daria.

I'm sure this will come up as soon as this talk is over - so I'll just jump ahead:

How do people feel that we should proceed with this investigation?

Personally, I wouldn't mind taking a look at Viktor's place just to rule him out.

Unrelated to this case Ophelia would also like to check in on our 'evidence'.

Since Isama missed pretty much every Sense Motive she's fine with whatever. I don't think it's too important though. It's pretty clear the Guards are in over their heads and can't really make many waves in any case. Victor's got friends way higher than we do.

We definitely should check his place.

In which case the question is: how?
Vic here isn't keen to have you over. Even to clear his name.

I should say for the record that there will be another mission coming up - this isn't it.

Hopefully vic has come across as a bit dubious. You're unlikely to get him on anything here though. If you do want to take him down, the case needs to be perfect - or you need to get someone big (one of his rivals, perhaps?) to back you.