Doug M's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master Douglas Muir 406

Xen draws Della.

Put it down Judge. If you have fallen under the control of this item then you have put us all in danger. Once it is down we will settle this. You have to count of ten. One...

ready to strike if he attempts to cast a spell

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 str check :)

Strength: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

Yep, a true battle of muscular titans here. The Judge once beat a disabled 3-year old girl suffering from malnutrition in an arm wrestling competition. Ok, he won 2 out of 3, but he beat her.

LOL too 1st grade girls fighting over a my little pony!

Edmin grabs the judge. 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Okay, the Judge is grappled. Edmin, with the rest of the party cooperating, I'd say you're able to wrest the statuette away from these two.

Of course, that means that now YOU have to make a Will save. I'll bot to speed things along... 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

As you hold the statuette in your hands, you can feel it trying to get at you. It's like slimy tendrils trying to insinuate themselves into your brain.

But your will is strong, and the power of the Dark Lord is with you. You are his Champion, and no thing of chaos can turn you away from His path of flame and iron. You hold the statue, and you are not moved by it.

Darn antipaladins and their stupid high Will saves.

What the hell is going on?

"This damnéd statue! It tried to get into my mind, thankfully my will seems stronger tjan thèse two's. We must rénové ifs tait from them, or sens them to our Lord for judgement. They must not ruin our mission"

Dren looks at Edmin, No one should handle that item directly. It is obviously powerful and has a nature to subvert those who hold it. My spirits can handle it without fear of it subverting them, they are beyond the influence of such a thing. We should bury it somewhere safe for now and then retrieve it when we have accomplished our mission. Edmin, it will most likely subvert you eventually, even though you have resisted it for now.

"This damnéd statue! It tried to get into my mind, thankfully my will seems stronger tjan thèse two's. We must rénové ifs tait from them, or sens them to our Lord for judgement. They must not ruin our mission"

[rofl] - Edmin seems to have the french spell checker working today.[/rofl]

The Judge glares at the rest of the group:
THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME!!! HE IS A THIEF AND THE VOW DICTATES THAT HE MUST BE PUNISHED!!!!

Technically 100% true, gotta live the way attorneys can twist the truth.

We couldn't trust you with it, Judge. You were going to cause problems that would affect the mission!

Edit: Lmao, after reading Judge's post I had to e-read Edmin's out loud with a french accent.

Damned phone.

The Judge continues to glare down his long pale nose at Jax:
WHAT PROBLEMS??? You speak as though I am the guilty party, yet you have no evidence, no proof to support your preposterous assertions. As leader I have protected this item until it can be returned to the Cardinal for study. I have done nothing wrong, nor anything to endanger the mission. It is you who have pilfered the statue from me. What were your intentions? Have you decided to sell us out in the hope of leniency? Have you decided to attempt to call on the chaos of the Two Queens?

Judge Tohram Quasangi wrote:

I am confused, what CMB is he using? Grapple? Sunder? Steal will not work since I am holding the statuette.

I'd say to grab the statuette. Actually getting it out of your hands will require an opposed Str check. So at the moment, the two of you are struggling over it like a couple of kids in a schoolyard fighting over a Pokemon deck or something.

From now on, 'corn' is called Pokemon! Although that's even more evil than demon queens. I just pictured Jax and the Judge as little kidies. So cute.

LOL too 1st grade girls fighting over a my little pony!

I used to love My Little Pony!

What the hell is going on?

Wrong, its the other evil plane. Well one of the other evil planes.

Edit: Lmao, after reading Judge's post I had to e-read Edmin's out loud with a french accent.

Actually it works with an accent.

Cуровую addresses the Judge but makes sure the others hear as well.

'The item is a tool, a dangerous one, but a tool none the less. If we can use it against our enemies then we should. But you are clearly not yourself Judge. Are we even aware of what this item is capable of?'

'If it can bend you will Judge then it can subvert most of us, but the real danger is that it may very well be a conduit for others with their own agendas to divine our actions, capabilities and movements.'

-

Guys there is a demon sex cult out there.

'There are other forces in play here.'

I stole it because of what Edmin has said. It has a dangerous, mind-affecting influence on you. It wrapped its little tendrils around me until Edmin fortunately rescued me from the influence. THAT is what we intended to do for you.

As Cimu said, we must use this item quickly before it corrupts one of us more. I think Edmin should carry it as he's proven the only one strong enough to resist its influence.

Jax doesn't seem in the slight bit shameful about having been influenced by the item.

Jax doesn't seem in the slight bit shameful about having been influenced by the item.

Jax also does not make a lot of Will saves. In the future when we face Dominating opponents, I think Jax would be very dangerous if turned against the group.

Jax also does not make a lot of Will saves. In the future when we face Dominating opponents, I think Jax would be very dangerous if turned against the group.

You know, it's funny you should mention that.

But anyway: while we wait for the Judge's response, can I assume this is your agenda for Stew Day?

1) Do the raven thing

2) Poison stew

3) Zimu and 1-2 others (who? how?) enter for "interview" with Magister Tacitus

4) Rest of team waits in tunnel. (How will you communicate? Message won't work. Or will it just be "wait 30 minutes, then go in"?)

Don't forget that when you decide you've done enough damage, you have to launch the signal rocket. (Which I believe Jax has.) Then it's some period of time before the bugbear army arrives.

You know, it's funny you should mention that.

For the record I don't think that's funny at all.

3) Zimu and 1-2 others (who? how?) enter for "interview" with Magister Tacitus

4) Rest of team waits in tunnel. (How will you communicate? Message won't work. Or will it just be "wait 30 minutes, then go in"?)

Don't forget that when you decide you've done enough damage, you have to launch the signal rocket. (Which I believe Jax has.) Then it's some period of time before the bugbear army arrives.

I think it was the Judge as Lady Sackville North, Cуровую as her chief aide with some azure blue blindfolds (cut from her first 25 gp dress), Jax as the chef (who will be bringing food and wine, very important, arsenic and waters of Lamashtu) and either Edmin or Dren as the confessor.

In theory we need to wait until nightfall, well past 10 pm before we strike, do we try to meet the commander as well? We can have Morusm Summoned and the Judge can communicate through him to the others. Also do we launch the rocket from the highest point of the tower so it can't be seen from the tower?

Give Bref's head to someone with good throwing.

Um... you've already poisoned the stew. Nobody said anything about holding back any of the poison. I guess you can if you want to, but it will decrease the effect of the mass poisoning.

Good point about the Judge and Morsum -- IIUCtheir link ignores walls and such, correct?

Xen is probably the best thrower

Um... you've already poisoned the stew. Nobody said anything about holding back any of the poison. I guess you can if you want to, but it will decrease the effect of the mass poisoning.

-

Actually how long would it take for the effects of the poison to set in, when will the effect be most severe and how long would it last?

Craft (Alchemy) 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

edit not bad

Also did we find anything from the Knowledge Engineering?

The Judge growls:
You all refuse to listen. Take the statuette, use it and see what happens. What destructive power do you think it holds. This is not a structured reliable item like what the Dark Lord gifts us with. This is a chaotic evil device. A device which the Cardinal would relish the chance to study along with his associates.

Anyway, I shall record this event and report to the Cardinal that the Ninth is no longer functioning as a team. It may be me, or it may be one or more of you. But, further disobedience shall likewise be recorded and the Cardinal shall be made aware of the insubordinance.

Pathetic. You do not lead. You think to bully us? Pathetic. Own up to your folly. I am sure the Cardinal will be thrilled to hear of our petty squabbles. The statue would not have been stolen had you not given them cause to think it controlling you. No wonder the good guys always win.

Then after a moment And if I recall the last time the Ninth did not function as a team, I believe it was the leader that was held accountable was it not?

Luckily, Protection from Good blocks mind control from good casters. Now he just has to find an item that will give it to him continuously..

Cimu, the save on the poison and the effect are small enough that there's really no need to worry about it. Plus, without Xen there we have no way of reliably getting it into his soup. We also have no way of getting the majority of the party members up there. Invisibility lasts 5 minutes, not enough time to get in and do everything. Disguise lasts for awhile but s only a bonus. And the only person who wouldn't take a penalty for race is Xen and Edmin..neither of whom are going to be useful in a Dex-based and Cha-based situation (Xen would b e but..curse). I think rather than worrying/wondering about the poison if this idea is going to be gone through with, we need a reasonable solution for how to bring Cimu, a random woman? and a priest to the dinner.

We already studied it and know what destructive power it has. It's best to use it in the bloody tower since it'll be destroyed. Less magic voodoo we have to deal with then.

While I can use Morsum over long distances, if we are going into combat, we will want him at full power. If he is more than 100 feet from me, then he goes to 50%, at 1000 feet it is 25%, he is banished at 10000 feet. There is no restriction on the distance and no way of blocking the communication, but as I mentioned, if we do use him for communication, Morsum will have to be healed before any combat takes place.

I can Vanish, so I can move around a bit, perhaps remain disguised but keep my distance, use vanish cleverly to get to the right places?

Edmin grins as he places the headsman's axe into both hands. "As I said judge you stand relieved. You are unfit for command and are no longer in charge. If you continue I will be forced to consider you unfit for duty. If you can not help with our mission you will be terminated. Get your shit together."

The Judge turns to stare at Edmin:
WHAT have I done to require being relieved? Have I betrayed someone? Have I stolen from one of you? Have I gone and made unilateral decisions which caused great risk to the Ninth? NO - I have done nothing. If you are relieving me, then I demand an explanation of what I have done to warrant such a penalty!

"You are under the influence of this item. As such, you are no longer trusted to make rational décisions as the leader of this group. Furthermore, the group shall have to vote on a new leader until such time as the Cardinal sees fit to appoint à new one. "

Since I don't see anyone rushing to Vote Judge, it looks like the vote is 5-1 in favor of returning leadership to Sir Edmin. Unless anyone wants to jump in, I'll assume that's how things are going forward.

Sir Edmin, Asmodeus doesn't give a lot of second chances. Don't screw this up.

How do we know you are not under the influence of the item now Edmin? You have touched it and are therefore also not to be trusted under that logic.
We see if we can remove the influence and if we are not able to he should be temporarily removed from leadership until such time as he can restored.

Dren sees Edmin as siezing command at this point...and he has touched the item.

We-ell, one way to prove that would be to hand over control of the item to someone else.

Or smash it. That would work.

Don't really care who claims to be leader. We've managed this far without one of us bossing everyone around. All I know is that I don't want to touch that statue and we should either ditch it in the cistern under the fort or use it during the invasion. Problem with that is, you have to hold it to trigger it, yeah? Good luck to whatever sod wants that death wish.

the Judge stands to the side clearly displeased with the actions of his team.
The Cardinal will want to investigate this item, I have made that clear. If you, clearly the Judge is not including himself in this group, must use it when the fort is taken, then this will show weakness in turning to Abyssal powers. I certainly hope you are prepared to answer to the Cardinal for using powers of the eternal enemy.

Since I don't see anyone rushing to Vote Judge, it looks like the vote is 5-1 in favor of returning leadership to Sir Edmin. Unless anyone wants to jump in, I'll assume that's how things are going forward.

-

Creepy, but still one of us.

Not sure why you would be displeased with Dren, he is actually supporting you, per his promise to you when we spoke some time ago, unless the magic is still affaecting him.

Dren casts guidance then continues to watch the judge for signs the object is still manipulating or controlling him in some way.

sense motive guidance 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 1 = 10 glad I am not a fighter...I don't think I have ever rolled above a 10 in this PBP...

Great, fine. Go tattle on us when we are finished.

Xen says clearly frustrated by judges threats.

Lets just destroy the damned thing and be done with it. I am sure the Cardinal would rather we succeed and he not have a toy to study than we risk conflict and failure just so he has it.

I agree with Xenfal. We either use it or stash it away somewhere so it can't try to control one of us.

Dren quickly grows bored of the conversation turning to Cimu, What did the control device look like? Could we create a close facimile of it and switch them on his wrist? That way if he looks down it is still there unless he closely examines it.
I can't believe I waited until this morning to think of that.

Speaking to nobody in particular:
If that is how you want it, then great, hide the device so that it can bring no more harm and dissension.