EM - [PFS] 1.37 The Beggar's Pearl (Inactive)

Game Master Evil Minion

Are those of us that had it, now freed of the Shaken condition?

Who is she? the Halfling inquires.

"Are you still hurt? I am a healer, can I do anything for you?"

He is! Fimbir says as he fishes into his pockets and pulls out his own stick. And I can try to be as well.[/b]

the gnome looks at the dwarf. And I don't think you're she. But we're Pathfinders. Here, we found your pearl. Fimbir takes out the glowing object and shows it to him. Are you Torvic? Don't worry, we came to help. The bugs are all gone, and the mites too. We chased them off. Were they attacking you? The gnome is trying to put the dwarf at ease, but his eagerness to find out what's going on causes a few peppering questions to mix in with the soothing words.

Are those of us that had it, now freed of the Shaken condition?

You are still affected by it, though it will be gone by the time we're done here.

And yes, he's still hurt. Quite badly. As he sits at only a single hit point at present, and that's after Tad's initial heal

"Gone?" It seems to take a moment to sink in.

"Gone." He repeats, a moment later. "But still here! Or out there?"

He collapses to the ground, crying. "Thank you! Thank you! I wasn't sure if I was out. Or still in, while being out."

"Blue bastards are hers." He finally mutters, taking a few deep breaths. He stops suddenly, a worried look on his face. "Ya, Torvic is my name... I think?"

"Yes, Torvic." He repeats, with conviction. "But I think I might still be hers too."

The last comment seems to upset him again, and he starts rubbing at his hand once more

Eventually, he looks up, surprised with a note of panic again. "Do I know you? Who are you?" He blurts out, as if seeing you all for the first time.

When Fimbir produces the pearl, he looks at it like he doesn't recognize it, for a moment, then frowns for a moment, puzzled. "I know that... I think I know that. Maybe I know something else?"

He starts tapping on his temple with both hands, as if trying to remember something. "Yes, I know that!" He starts getting excited, continuing to hit the sides of his head with the heals of his hands. "Yes! Yes! That's how she got in. That's how it all got in. I didn't have it. It was gone too! It was gone. Then I was gone."

He reaches for it excitedly.

Tad takes what Torvic is saying as implicit permission to keep working on him. He first looks at him carefully (taking 10 on heal check). He shakes his head gently at the poor dwarf's condition.

He uses his heal wand twice more on the poor injured dwarf.
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

"I wish my dear teacher was here; the Lady has not taught me magic enough yet to heal his injured mind."

Daedîn looks to Mutahir. "Should we go after the mites? Or look to the dwarf?"

Just to speed part of that along...

While Tad tends to Torvic, though he's not entirely sure what he can do for some of the damage that's been done, some of the others venture further down the cave, to see if the mites are still lurking. The cave itself quickly narrows... the rough stone walls on both sides growing closer and closer together, until you find yourselves able to touch them on either side, and then narrowing even more, the ceiling quickly disappearing, to a point where they would have to crawl to go any further.

An easy trip for a mite... not so much for most of the rest of you. The light shining down what remains of the passage, seem to indicate it narrows even further, before the darkness swallows it up entirely.

From somewhere, far down that unnavigable path, the faint sounds of fey laughter echo back to you, before those too fade.

Dynath will switch back to his urgosh being ready and help lead the group down the tunnel, looking for any signs of recent movement.

Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20
SurvivalToTrack: 1d20 + 12 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 12 + 3 = 24

Blasted things... mutters Mutahir as he to begins to follow down the darken tunnel, holding his rapier at the ready.

The tunnel leads nowhere you can follow.

Okay, misunderstood.

Mutahir swears in Rahadoumi and heads back to the entrance and looks to the injured dwarf.

Well... that is going to make this a little more difficult.

Daedîn, looking at the dead end, shrugs. "Well, that's that. Shall we go ask the Dwarf 'bout the Gallery of Wonders?"

Does the Halfling have a better navigational experience in the tunnels since he is small?

I think we should the Halfling responds to the elf.

The mites are actually bigger than Tad. They are 3 ft tall, Tad is only 2. However, Tad is way too squishy to wander back there alone.

If you want to crawl in there alone, you certainly can.

Tad might want to be with his Lady, but I don't think she approves of suicide.

Tad stays near the dwarf, hoping that his presence is comforting while the others ask their questions.

When Fimbir produces the pearl, he looks at it like he doesn't recognize it, for a moment, then frowns for a moment, puzzled. "I know that... I think I know that. Maybe I know something else?"

He starts tapping on his temple with both hands, as if trying to remember something. "Yes, I know that!" He starts getting excited, continuing to hit the sides of his head with the heals of his hands. "Yes! Yes! That's how she got in. That's how it all got in. I didn't have it. It was gone too! It was gone. Then I was gone."

He reaches for it excitedly.

Fimbir lets the dwarf grasp the pearl without complaint. Of course. It's yours, I think.

So 'she' got in with this? In to where? The Gallery of Wonders? We heard your old uncle or grandfather or someone found that. Have you heard of it?

"Nonono." He cries, grasping the pearl to his chest, and closing his eyes as if trying not to see something. "She was already in."

Torvic holds up the hand still clutching the pearl. "Without this, she got in here!" He starts beating on his temple with the heal of one hand again, pearl clutched in the other so hard, the dirt and blood covered knuckles go white. "Still whispering..."

His words trail off, his eyes close, and he goes still.

He says nothing for a long while and you start to wonder if maybe he's fallen asleep... but just as suddenly, his eyes fly open, and he looks around in a near panic. "Can't sleep. Mustn't sleep!" He mutters.

"Who are you?! Where are you!?" He yells, though his eyes don't seem to be focused on anyone, and you start to wonder if he's talking to you, or someone else. He notices the pearl, still clutched in his hand, and starts to calm down almost immediately.

"From Orv, they say." He says, showing it to Fimbir, seemingly forgetting that the gnome just handed it to him. "Brought up during the Quest for Sky."

He almost seems lucid for a moment, but drops into dwarvish for a while, reciting something.

Eventually, he changes back to common, you're not sure he even realized he'd switched out. "My ancestor. My life's work. My legacy."

"The Gallery of Wonders" He breaths that last out like he was speaking a holy passage. "And I found it!"

He looks confused. "I think... did I find it?" The question directed at Tad.

Once more, he appears to become agitated, his heading twisting back and forth, as if trying to see in all directions at once.

"But she was there first!" Again he starts striking his temples with the heels of his hands. "She was there first!" He repeats, and starts sobbing.

It is quite obvious now, that he has not slept or ate in days... and whatever did happen to him, has only made the symptoms of those conditions worse.

"Guess we rest here...until he gets some food and sleep, don't think we'll get the location of the Gallery of Wonders..."

Mutahir seems annoyed, but nods.

No sense in whipping a dead horse... but will he agree to sleep I wonder?

"Remaining here is probably not good for him. Can some of you strong ones help get him out of this cave which is probably not safe, and probably full of bad memories?"

Assuming that is done, Tad talks gently to his patient, explaining what they are doing. After they find a place to stop, he takes his time to look over him, and provide any help his froggy brain can come up with. He also gladly shares his rations, although they may not be exactly what the dwarf wants.

GM, may I take 20 on a heal check to see what else is wrong with him, since we are resting for the evening so time is not an issue?

"No!" Torvic yells fearfully. "Mustn't sleep! Not safe to sleep."

Mutahir kneels down in front of the dwarf and steels him with a steady gaze.

Torvic. Pay attention. We are here to go to the Gallery of wonders. You WILL take us there. We will stop Her. Stand up. Prepare to move out.

His tone is firm, and broaches no argument. He reaches out and shoulders the man up.

Lead us to the entrance, now.

Intimidate: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (16) + 12 = 28For reference on tone, aiming for "Police officer being firm to suspect." He's not angry, but he's not going to take "No" for an answer. Basically hoping that a commanding presence might cut through the brain scrambling, at least a little bit.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16Shifting through alignment and magical detection on him... trying to identify if there are any influences from cultic type magic or any of the madness dieties/qlipth/other various otherworldly nasties messing with his head.

Just a reminder, and Mutahir, you know this... I do not ignore the penalties for failing diplomacy checks by large amounts... nor the down side of using intimidate to influence folks...
So be prepared for him to be far less friendly in an hour or so =)

Mutahir will definitely detect some sort of moderately evil influence working on the dwarf, though he does not have the knowledge to determine anything more than that.

For his part, Torvic does not respond well to the man's aggressive approach, eyeing him fearfully.

"I don't remember." He wails. "I searched for so long... so very long."

"I think I found it... I think... I... I... I can't remember." He sinks down to the floor again, his head in his hands. "Are they mine? Are they hers?" He moans quietly. "I can't remember."

Also, you guys will also realize, now that you've been here a while, that there was a camp set up inside the cave here at one point recently... for a number of people. But it does not look like it's been used in about a week... at least not until this recent conflict with the mites.

Mutahir is a cop from Rahadoum. People tend not to like him anyways. :P From what I can tell from the lore, people tend to give Rahdoumi plenty of side glances, a pure legionnaire is not making any friends outside the country.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13+1 if divine in origin. Not that it matters with that roll.

Mutahir gives a nod and stands.

He is under a influence, that much I can tell. I don't suppose we are lucky enough that one of you can remove such influence?

He casts his eyes about for a moment before returning to the dwarf.

You need to focus. You found the Gallery. We have the pearl. Who is "She?" How did she take the gallery from you?

Fimbir scratches his head. So he has been there, but can't remember when. Or why. Or where. And The Who's a bit fuzzy too.

He looks at Mutahir. If he barricaded himself in here, then he expected them to come from outside. Maybe there's a trail he left. I'm not sure this Torvic's very sneaky. You've hunted cults: does that mean you're good at tracking them?

Mutahir gives a sour grin.

Not through the wilderness like a ranger would. Cults can never keep to themselves... it is the nature of the slaves of the divine to spread their chains to others. I find the people they contact and follow the trail back. There are others who specialize more in tracking them down in the wilderness. I'm usually asked to convince people that it is in their best interest to cooperate.

Outside the cave, it has grown dark, night time coming early in the mountains, as their bulk blocks the sun long before it hits the horizon.

"The Gallery?" He says, as Mutahir continues to press. "I found it! I was there! I remember..."

Again, he seems to lose focus, until he starts talking about 'her'. His eyes fly open again, fearful once more. "A woman... a terrible woman... whispering nightmares. Whispering shadows when I close my eyes."

"You mustn't sleep." He exclaims, desperately. "That's how she gets in. That's when she comes. That's when she whispers... mustn't sleep."

Despite his words, he seems to drift off once more, muttering quietly under his breath.

Mutahir sighs.

If he ever regains his senses, he's going to hate my guts. Oh well, duty is man's calling and all that.

With a sigh he pulls out his water skin and dumps some of it on the man's head, then snaps his fingers.

HEY! FOCUS! THE GALLERY! THE WOMAN!

This dwarf is gonna murder me in my sleep before we're done. >.<

Torvic's eyes snap open, as Mutahir continues unchecked. "Wha...? Who are you?! Where...?" He looks around, trying to back away, but with his back to the wall, he has nowhere to go. "Get away! Before she finds you too." The last comes out in a hissed whisper that only Mutahir can easily hear.

"Still think he needs food and rest..."

Daedîn kneels and shares some of his rations with Torvac...

"Here, have some food, you look hungry...eat and then rest, we'll protect you from the woman you fear...you can tell us about the Gallery of Wonders later..."

Tad stands as tall as he can, and then speaks to Mutahir. "He needs to rest before he can help us. Let him be; I will care for him, and then we will talk to him tomorrow."

Mutahir looks at the man and the frog and shrugs.

I will trust your Judgement little one. I am not a healer after all.

He gives a dark chuckle.

Really, rather the opposite at that.

He pulls some rations out of his bag and hands it to Tad.

Here, payment for his time. Sadly, I do not drink while on mission, so I do not have any ale to offer the dwarf, so this will need suffice. Hopefully, I will not need to compensate him for further lack of cooperation.

Tad does what he can to get Torvic settled and comfortable for a rest. He relies on Dynath as much as possible where muscle is needed, since he thinks it likely a dwarf will be the best strong one to handle another dwarf.

GM, let me know any checks or wand charges needed to do as much for him as possible.

Torvic will devour any offered food hungrily, obviously not having eaten in quite some time... but he does so never quite taking his eyes off of anyone, especially Mutahir.

"But who will protect you?" he mutters, between mouthfuls.

"In your sleep she finds you." He mutters later, "You mustn't sleep..."

As you all settle in, to wait out the evening, Torvic seems to fight his exhaustion tooth and nail. Constantly mumbling to himself, he gets up and paces at erratic intervals, occasionally partaking in loud and sudden outbursts, slapping himself, and otherwise, doing everything he can to stay conscious. He even tries to make sure none of you fall asleep either, constantly mumbling about keeping you safe...

In the end though, it proves a losing battle. Even his apparent delirium and paranoia can not hold out forever. It takes a couple of hours, but eventually, he drops into fitful slumber, tossing and turning.

Tad, you have used 3 wand charges on him thus far (healing 12 total hp's) He still has a few scrapes and bruises, but you'd guess most of them will be ok by morning.

Will push it along to morning later today.

Can one of your arcane people perhaps charm him or something? he asks

Oh, he's not that bad. Fimbir says as the dwarf falls to sleep. ...okay, maybe he's a bit shaken up. But those mites made me feel really weird and I barely looked at them! If they've been bugging him for a while, I might be strange too. the gnome says while unstrapping his stilts. He takes an extended blink and suddenly a small flame in the shape of a fox emerges next to him. It looks expectantly at the gnome, who picks up a pebble and tosses it, causing the fire-fox to run to fetch it. That's it Sparky, there you go.

After a moment, Fimbir looks at the rest of the party. He furrows his brow. Hey, do you think we actually shouldn't sleep?

If any of you have any ideas, Tad can use his bonded holy symbol to cast any level 1 or level 2 spell on the cleric list to help Torvic.

Lesser Restoration maybe? Not sure if he's suffering from mental damage, just being tired, or something weirder.

Tad would have figured out that he is indeed suffering from some ability damage (though whether it is damage or the more serious drain, he can't tell).
But there is also other things going on, as determined by Mutahir's detecting of the evil aura, earlier.

Mutahir takes the midnight watch, his sharp eyes shifting in color as he detects the spectrum of alignments. He leaves the care and tending of the dwarf to the others. He knows his place in this, and healing is not it.

At dawn the next morning, Tad asks someone else (not Mutahir) to keep an eye on his patient while he goes to pray. When he prays for spells, he chooses to learn lesser restoration and protection from evil to see if they help his charge. Then he comes back and casts both of them on his patient.

Are you sure we should sleep in this place? It is kinda creepy he remarks.

Dynath will take care of the dwarf when Tad is away. He has very little knowledge of healing beyond basic wilderness trauma, but converses with the dwarf concerning the various geography in the area and how it relates to dwarves history.

When the mountain sky finally starts to lighten, it has been a long night. Torvic did not sleep well, thrashing and moaning throughout the night, occasionally waking up screaming, only to drift back off again. Needless to say, none of you got too good a rest throughout the evening.

Come morning though, he seems to have settled down. He still seems fatigued and tired, but far less incoherent than the night before. Though he recalls the previous night, as he thanks you once again for saving him from the mites, clearly he has not managed to retain all the details, as you end up having to introduce yourselves again.

He still looks around nervously, and tends to start at sudden movement, so what little rest he got hasn't completely solved his problems, but he seems a great deal more calm, and able to answer a few questions. Tad's spell seems to help, as he is able to focus a little better, and the restoration has the additional effect of washing away the fatigue.

"I did find it." He says quietly, when asked about the Gallery. "I know I found it." He sounds like he's trying to convince himself and he looks around, clearly distressed that he can't remember such an important thing.

"It was..." He starts to say looking west, then stops suddenly, looking out into the mountains, clearly not entirely certain anymore. He turns to look a different direction. "It was that way? No... there, up there." He points to the northwest. "The next valley over." He stops suddenly, frowning.

"I think..." He adds quietly, sounding unsure of even that. He shivers suddenly, as the cold mountain air hits him. "Not usually this cold." He mutters. "The snows must be coming early."

Dynath knows that the snows and weather are right where they should be for this time of year. After a few more comments, you start to think that maybe Torvic is confused on the date. Eventually, you can sort out that he seems to be almost a month off. Somehow he's lost almost four weeks worth of time.

The halfling rolls his eyes at the daft dwarf.

Mutahir calmly stands on guard, though when the dwarf wakes up, he checks him again for that lingering evil aura to see if it's still there. If it is, he whispers to Tad.

He is still under that influence. I hope things work out your way godslave, or I'll work them my way.

Either way he'll take up a guard position and let the others talk to the dwarf while he keeps his eyes peeled.