Initiative re-post:
Lamm - 21
Morkeleb - 17
Ferox - 17
Grym - 9
Odric - 8
Gaius - 8
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Round 3
Lamm
Lamm spits in your general direction. His breath comes in gasps, a symptom of how many years and how he's filled them. "Gaius, right? Just go back to your whore goddess and leave me alone. With the last word a plantive tone creeps into his voice. With Gobblegut dead, the resignation is beginning to sink in, even as the anger continues to pour out. He stands and turns. Grym is in line, no aiming required...
damage:
ROUND 3
The final movements of Morkeleb's spell are deceptively graceful and look calming enough: he gently blows the handful of dust toward Lamm. the dust drifts on a magical zephyr to just in front of Lamm's hiding place. The calmness and serenety is a lie, though: any close enough can hear Morkeleb's final curse carried on this arcane wind:
I crush your mind!!
Will Save DC: 19
Gentlemen, he's yours. Enjoy yourselves!
Morkeleb then moves toward the unopened door, and listens intently.
Perception:
You think you can stand against us all, you giant ass? Your death is nigh. Please don't surrender.
Round 3
HP: 1/9
AC: 15
Wrath 2
Ferox moves 40' back across the southern wall to stand 10' from the door along the eastern wall. He draws his bow and lets loose, hoping his aim is true.
Attack:
Damage:
OOC:Lamm has a Will save modifier of SIX?
Well, damn.
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Ferox lets fly, the judgement of Abadar aiming true. The arrow tears into the old man's neck. It seems as if the arterial spray rivals that of the alligator. Staggered, the bitter old man clings to life. Just barely.
You can tell that the exertion will kill him, but he prepares a final bolt in defiance anyways.
Round 3
HPs 9/13
AC 16
Grym advances altering his speed as he makes his attack, sword raising up to strike down on the balding head of the evil old man.
for damage
Lamm raises his crossbow up to ward off the blow but at the last moment Grym whips his blade down and around in a quick belly cut.
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When the final blow comes, it comes too quickly for any biying last words. Lamm's innards spill to the ground by his feet. Grym stands firm, his gaze and his hand as steady and strong as steel. The urban ranger holds his his position for many moments paying no heed to the pooling blood on his boots.
Gaedran Lamm, scourge of Korvosa lies dead.
Thorgrym finally recovers from lunge. He wipes Lamm's blood from his sword with the bottom of his cloak. The feeling is strange, Lamm is finally dead and many souls have been avenged. But there are practical matters still at hand. Keeping an eye on the final door (and what possible dangers lie inside...), the ranger quickly loots Lamm's body and scans the tables for anything useful. (especially a cure light wounds potion for the Inquisitor's massive bite wound)
perception
And Morkeleb uses his arcane powers to scan for dweomers.
Cast Detect Magic and scan the entire room.
After Lamm's corpse is searched, I push his remains and what's left of Gobbleguy into the drink for the sharks.
I retrieve my dagger first.
Hold on, I want to make a necklace from Gobblegut's teeth!
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On the man himself is little, though his weapons are exquisite (though non-magical Morkeleb informs you.) He carries a masterwork dagger and a masterwork handcrossbow, His case holds the remaining 7 bolts. The only other thing of note is the ring of keys on his rope belt.
Around the room is little of value. It seems like this is a dumping area for all that his erstwhile band brought back. Clearly anything of worth has been picked clean and no longer rests here.
Combat Summary
Each character receives 240 XP.
Odric checks Gobblegut's stomach contents as well
Anyone mind if I help myself to the dagger and the hand crossbow?
Gaius, check this final door and lets finish this.
Gaius saunters up to the door and checks for traps, alarms, and other assorted nasty surprises.
Find Traps (Perception):
After that, Gaius will test the lock. If locked, he'll try the keys on Lamm's ring first. If none of those works, he will take out his tools and pick the lock.
Once the door has been searched and is unlocked, Gaius steps to the side of the door and bows, presenting the door for Odric and Thorgrym
The door is... Open, Sahibs
I'll need a couple of retries if the keys don't work.
Dammit.
Savored Sting! There we go.
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This foul-smelling room seems to be a combination bedroom and study. A wooden bed with a lumpy mattress stands against the east wall, while a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, stained goblets, fruit rinds, and scuttling cockroaches sits nearby. At the foot of the bed sits a large strongbox, a slighty rusted lock securing its lid. A sagging dresser filled with moth-eaten clothes well past their glory days is in one corner—what appears to be a wooden hatbox surrounded by a small cloud of flies sits atop this dresser. The old man’s personal habits are very much on display—he has little interest in cleanliness. Bedbugs infest the sheets, a chamber pot pushed under the bed is badly in need of cleaning, and the bits of food heaped on his table have attracted a large nest of roaches.
Odric looks up from his task of removing the teeth from Gobblegut's jaws and notices everyone gone. Belatedly, he leaps to his feet and fumbles with the hilt of the falchion, trying to dislodge it from the planks between sets of gator ribs. He liberates his blade, stumbles back in his haste and nearly topples as the blood rushes into his legs after so long kneeling.
In a panic, Odric charges into the side room, sword at the ready in his right hand, heavy pick trailing behind in his left. He lands in a ferocious fighting stance and looks about, eyes blazing.
Sheepishly, he recognizes his mistake and slowly lowers the weaponry. He clears his throat and commences officiously searching the room for loot.
Odric's father once told him something, and this bit of advice has stuck with him since his earliest childhood. "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." If he could see Odric's search technique, Odric's old man would be proud.
Odric leaves the easy itms for his friends. He begins with the chamber pot. Carefully, oh so carefully, Odric walks the chamber pot back into the other room. He carefully dumps the wretched contents out, looking for Lamm's treasure. Floorboards are pried up, drawer bottoms smashed, the mattress is dragged out of the room and hay thrown everywhere as Odric goes through it like crap through a goose. The clothes are rifled through thoroughly, if at arms length.
If there is something worthwhile in this mess, Odric intends to find it.
Gaius will get the obvious tasks complete first. He takes the keyring over to the strongobox. He checks for traps.
Find Traps (Perception):
If trapped, Gaius will disarm.
If safe, Gaius will first try the keys on the ring, and then get his toolkit.
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The room has nothing in it that would fetch even a few coppers, except for the contents of the chest which Gaius unlocks with a key. Inside are the collected treasures that his children-slaves have brought back. Each of these treasures is wrapped in cloth and tied shut with twine. The treasures include a narrow teak cigar case inlaid with tiny bits of jade, a 2-pound gold bar (Gold is 50 pieces per pound)bearing the Cheliax coat of arms, a miniature gold crown, a fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnets for eyes, a silver ring bearing the inscription “For Emmah—the light in my nights,” a highly realistic and highly scandalous ivory figurine of two entwined succubi, a masterwork shuriken, an adamantine arrowhead, an abalone-shell holy symbol of Shelyn, a tiny glass tube containing a dose of oil, an obsidian wand, a crystalline vial (itself worth something) containing a dose of silversheen, and a bejeweled brooch with a broken clasp. It doesn't take a jeweller to know that the brooch is the most valuable object in the entire collection. The circular gold brooch depicts a pseudodragon and an imp coiled around each other in an almost yin-yang pattern. The pseudodragon’s eye is an amethyst, while the imp’s eye is an emerald. It's clearly worth a King's Ransom as the saying goes.
While Gaius catalogs the contents of the chest, Odric makes an extremely disturbing discovery in the hat box. Inside the hat box, wrapped in cheesecloth is a severed head. The head looks as if it's been there for a few weeks. Why Lamm would keep this is anyone's guess, but the noise that escapes Odric's lips causes everyone to turn.
The head is that of Zellara, the Harrower....
Underneath is Harrow deck. Identical to the Zellara that you met earlier this night.
OOC: Okay, now THAT was unexpected. We've been set up. Or Lamm was. Or all.
Dibs on the Ivory Succubi Figure.
Before we move on to the Unexpected, would Morkeleb be so good as to detect magic.
Then we need to bail and withdraw to a neutral location to discuss the ramifications of this.
After the party finishes looting, Grym tells the party he has to go back for the dog. If they feel the need to leave imediately he will meet them at the specified place.
Grym goes back to the dog room. He gets out a dog leash and uses some canine beast scent. The ranger takes his time (taking ten), and begins the slow process of gaining enough of the dog's trust to get a leash around his neck.
Handle animal roll
Odric is stunned by the decapitated and decomposing head of a woman he saw just hours earlier. He wonders at it, a small doubt in his gut begins growing into a nauseating fear tinged with revulsion. While not a superstitious man by nature, something about this severed head unnerves him. A head which at this time has no name.
Nothing particularly catches his fancy, but he sees the ring as an opportunity to set right some injustice perhaps. He imagines a maiden, pining after a long lost love who perhaps perished on an adventure not unlike the one Odric himself is on. When the man died in Odrics daydream, he had this ring in his pocket. He had planned to gift it to his love but was waiting for the right time.
The general sense of the wealth included here in the gold and the brooch excite him, but only insofar as he looks forward to spending his share at the tavern.
Odric agrees with Gaius, Lets take all this back to one of our homes for sorting and discussion. Gaius is right, this indicates that something weird is afoot.
Odric gathers up his weapons and makes ready to depart, leaving the treasure and the head for his companions to pack and carry.
Tell me where we'll meet and I'll be there. I have to escort young Kip home straightaway.
Odric holds a quiet conversation with Morkeleb, nodding in understanding and leaves confident he can reunite with his party after delivering Kip to the safety of his father's hearth. The big man goes in search of Kip, a look of consternation on his face as he ponders the strange developments of the night.
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The dog is fast asleep when you get there. It takes every bit of skill, but when you gain the dog's trust, he takes to you. This gives you a chance to look him over. The dog may have well been one of "Lamm's lambs." He's malnurished, but also bears numerous scares. He's missing a few teeth and his left eye is starting to gloss over. It's hard to get a solid bead on his age, but you'd guess a little North of a decade. He's not really a fighting dog anymore, yet nor is he done in this world.
The memory of a kind human is dim in his canine mind, but still dogs have that innate sense, and you have that skill...
For "rescuing" the dog instead of killing him, the party gains:
27 XP each.
Morkeleb gladly casts Detect Magic again, looking at the newly won spoils--and also paying special attention to the head, and the Harrow deck. I'll share publically anything I discover, including schools and dweomer strengths.
Hmmm . . . very interesting . . . he walks thoughtfully over to the hatbox, and gently but firmly grasps the head by the hair, lifting it out to get a closer look at it. Most would expect someone as frail-looking as Morkeleb to be retching by now, but he's examining the severed head with professional curiosity (and only a slightly cringing face).
Very interesting. I wonder whether we were seeing a ghost, or some other sort of apparition, earlier this night. And this deck . . .
DM: do the circumstances we've experienced tonight remind me of anything magical, specifically? What might be going on here?
Knowledge (arcana):
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There are any number of possibilities for what you've experienced. Haunting, Illusion, etc. You need more information...
I think we need to check out the residence where we met Zellara. There may be something there that could shed a little more light on this. While Odric is returning the boy, the rest of us could take a quick look and then all rendezvous back at a safer location.
What do you think?, Ferox asks the room.
I agree with Ferox. We should bring the Harrow deck. Perhaps, "Zellara", if that is her name will reward us. And box the head back up. That comes with us as well.
I see two reasonable explanations. The first is that this is not Zellara's head and that of her son. Perhaps the family resemblance is very strong, and this head has decayed some, altering the features.
Another is that we were not hired by Zellara but by someone or something posing as Zellara for reasons unknown.
So let's go ask her. We can discuss division of spoils on the way.
How should we divide treasure? Should everything be identified and/or appraised first?
Agreed, Ferrox. And yes, Gaius--your interpretations certainly sound reasonable. Don't discount a third option: that the Zellara we talked to is a ghost or some other apparition.
should we take this discussion to the "discussion" board, or do in-character RP?
Give me a moment to take another look at this wand, oil . . . and the Harrow Deck, as they all radiate magic.
Oil: <--FAIL
Wand: <--up to lvl 5
Deck: <--FAIL
Oil, perception check: <--FAIL AGAIN
Hmmm, I can't discern the properties of the deck, or this oil--perhaps someone else can take a look at it? But the wand, this is a . . .
Morkeleb also tries an eye at the other treasures.
I'm not looking under this spoiler. :-)
cigar case:
Gold crown:
ring:
figurine:
holy symbol:
crystal vial:
Brooch:
IN any case, I agree--we shoudl bring both this head, and the Harrow deck, back to where we all met. And I think we should be all together when we do.
No group pot. I just want my cut.
No group pot. I just want my cut.
whozyergreedyb#@@%?!?! ;-)
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Remember in Pathfinder, potions can be identified by anyone making a DC 25 Perception check. I'm also thinking that I'm going to house rule the Appraise skill. Failure by more than 5 and you just don't have a clue. I'd rather not track or decide on wildly inaccurate prices.
cigar case: Unknown
Gold crown: 250 Gp
ring: Unknown
figurine: 450 Gp
holy symbol: eeeeeeehhhhhhh 325?
crystal vial: Unknown. the stuff inside is Alchemical.
Brooch: Not sure at least 2,000, but as I mentioned, it's worth a King's Ransom. Lamm must have not known what he had, because this is worth more than an honest merchant makes in a lifetime.
No group pot. I just want my cut.
Grym endorses Morkeleb's suggestions about splitting treasure. The ranger is a little overwhelmed with the amount of treasure they have found. Especially when not long ago he survived on only a few pinches at a time.
Where ever we are going tonight, Zellara's or whatnot, let us go quickly. I'm a little nervous about carrying around a severed head, I'd hate for us to get stopped by the watch...
Agreed. Anyone object to my keeping this Wand of Magic Missile? It rounds out my repetiore nicely . . .
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And yes, let's get off the streets quickly--this brooch alone is worth thousands. We don't want to get stopped for a severed head carrying this much treasure!
Party Expenses? Who says I'm sticking around. Our business is near it's conclusion.
Morkeleb recalls Odric mentioning something about splitting treasure, funding a group pot and remaining friends until approximately level 20.
Morkeleb recalls Odric mentioning something about splitting treasure, funding a group pot and remaining friends until approximately level 20.
So are we back at Zellara's yet?
I object - I thought I posted this earlier, but it didn't show.
I think we should meet at a rally point near Zellara's to stash the loot, divvy it up, talk strategery and heal.
Also that will give Odric an opportunity to rejoin the party prior to a potential fight at Zellara's.
As the group approaches Zellara's, Ferox is going to move ahead and case the place, looking for anything out of the ordinary, at least on the outside.
Stealth:
Perception:
I object - I thought I posted this earlier, but it didn't show.
I think we should meet at a rally point near Zellara's to stash the loot, divvy it up, talk strategery and heal.
Also that will give Odric an opportunity to rejoin the party prior to a potential fight at Zellara's.