PFS PbP Gameday 5: Feral's #4-12 Refuge of Time (Inactive)

Game Master Feral

Having entered the site, Azzik takes a moment to activate a new spell upon himself.

Casting Investigative Mind

"Perhaps we should follow them and see if we find our cultist or cultists."

perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20

Crowe examines the footprints for anything unusual.

"Others have come to defile the temple. I subdued them and turned them over to the mortal spellcaster as prisoners", the angel explains as the party examines the muddy prints.

Looking carefully over the prints, Aeris counts six distinct sets - all look to be made by medium-sized humanoids. Miklos detects no traps and Sihir detects no magic.

Voices can be heard from further inside the room. It sounds like an argument.

Upon hearing the voices, Miklos smiles.

"Oh my. It sounds like someone is having relationship issues. We'd better go help help them."

He then sneaks closer to the argument.
Stealth: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (11) + 16 = 27

I'm not sure which way Miklos is heading on the map, so feel free to move my token in the right direction DM Feral.

It's to the left.

Silently peeking around the corner, Miklos spies a three shoanti braves, a relatively lean dwarven woman, and a taldan man dressed in a deep blue waistcoat. All three are caked with dried mud.

The braves are seated on the floor in sullen silence while the taldan man and the dwarven woman argue.

"I'm certain there's a better reason we're here", the man says confidently.

"It's as I said, we came to get a sample of the stone for a new quarry. That's the only scenario that makes any sense", the dwarf answers defiantly.

Peering around the corner, Aeris slips his bow off his shoulder and holds it low, ready for trouble.

Waiting on the stealthy to resolve the situation or request aid.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Unlikely Azzik heard what seems to be a confused group.

Miklos steps around the corner, sword in hand and a smile on his face.

"I'm sorry to interrupt what is clearly a very interesting conversation about stone quarries, but you wouldn't know where a certain Naroth Balam is, would you? My associates and I have some business with him."

He waits a short moment for their response before remembering something.

"Oh, where are my manners? Miklos Lebeda, expert swordsman, at your service."

The dwarf stares in confusion but the taldan man suddenly looks relieved. "Well met Miklos. I am Marquis Jeor Haywood and this is Lady Wattlee Battlesworth. We and our guides appear to have become lost..."

"We're not lost you damn fool", the dwarven woman says proudly. "I'm sure I meant to be here. Dwarves don't get 'lost'."

Aeris listens closely to the man's voice, and studies the body language of the group, to discern if perhaps falsehood are being uttered.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

Did we ever get a description of Balam?

Aeris doesn't get the feeling that either speaker is lying or misdirecting.

Yes, neither figure matches the description.

"How long have you been here?" Aeris asks, "And did you meet an angel on your way?"

Seems to me if they were lost, they could have asked the angel for directions, and I doubt they've been in here bickering for four days. And they didn't mention passing the angel, which I'd think that would be something you'd mention. This doesn't feel right.

"Not long. A few days maybe", the dwarven woman says.

"The angel? Yes, the fat man summoned it from the heavens when we arrived", Jeor explains trailing off as he finishes.

"The fat man?" Aeris asks, looking around and shifting his wings as if slightly uncomfortable. "And where is he now?"

Turning to his companions, he says, "I fear they've been enchanted somehow, their minds seem a bit muddled. Can any of you help them with that?"

To confirm his suspicions, Aeris scans the group of lost travelers for magic.

Not sure if detect magic would reveal that they've been ensorcelized somehow.

Feral - did the description of Balam include him being fat?

Someone make a diplomacy check please.

@Aeris - Yes

Miklos puts on his biggest smile, and works his darnedest to alleviate Aeris' bluntness.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (20) + 18 = 38

Man, I'm rolling well on those diplomacy checks.

"I.... don't know", Jeor says. "We haven't seen him for at least a day. He had us digging, yes. Why were we digging for him?"

Sihir stares at them with a trained eye...

detect magic and Spellcraft: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (14) + 17 = 31

Sihir detects no magic on Jeor, Lady Wattlee, or two of the braves. He detects two auras on the third brave.

Spellcraft #2: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (10) + 17 = 27

After a bit of study Sihir detects an enchantment aura and a divination aura on the third. The braves makes eye contact briefly and then looks away.

Detect magic lets me identify the auras, but my Spellcraft roll should enable me to identify the specific spell(s), shouldn't it?

It does but it takes three rounds. I'm giving the others a chance to interact before that happens.

Does Sihir hint at there being foul play?

"Hello. I'm Azzik" the tiefling introduces himself with a smile, "Did I hear correctly that you recall your arrival, and that you were given a task, but do not know why you have been motivated to complete the task?"

"Have you explored any other areas in these halls than this door?"

"Bits and pieces maybe. I believe we met the fat man on the road. Somehow he convinced us to join him and he brought us here. He warned us not to go through those doors", Jeor explains while pointing toward the northwest doors. "He mentioned nonbelievers being punished. At the time it made absolute sense."

At the question of leaving the duo look at one another and then nod at the young shoanti men. "Our guides here don't want to leave. Something about the area being the territory of giants and orcs or some rubbish."

Does Sihir hint at there being foul play?

Sihir still needs to do a bit of studying, evidently.

The third round of concentration passes. Sihir picks out charm person and telepathic bond.

"Your guides seem like very charming individuals."

Bluff to innuendo: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Miklos nods at Sihir.

"Which one would you say was the most charming?"

Miklos can't fail the DC 20 Bluff check to pass a complex secret message.

Sihir uses prestidigitation to create a thin beam of 'sunlight' over the head of the enchanted one.

Miklos puts an arm around the spell-influenced brave and tries to lead him away from the others.

"Doctor Sihir here says that you're sick. Let's have him take a proper look at you."

Some rolls if needed:
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22
Bluff: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (6) + 19 = 25

I can see that Sihir actually prepares a Protection from Evil spell. We could use it to try and break, at least some of, the spells afflicting the brave.

If Miklos fails his diplomacy roll, Azzik will aid him with a Gallant Inspiration and add +Gallant Inspiration: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 4) = 6

Can Azzik identify how Naroth convinced the non-charmed to do his bidding and forget the details?

Crowe looks confused, unsure how his companions are gaining the additional information they have.

He settles for nodding at appropriate times.

diplo aid: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11

"I may be able to help free their minds," Aeris offers, "Milani would not wish them to be so deprived of their free will."

Aeris has communal protection from evil prepared, he could try to break the enchantment on the brave, even give a little bit of protection to a few of us as well - can affect up to 8 people.

The brave goes into a frenzy the moment Miklos approaches him.

He's a level 1 warrior so we can assume you guys subdue him.

"What was that about?" Jeor asks once the dust has settled. "Don't hurt him! They're our guides."

"Everything's alright, just let 'Doctor' Sihir take a look at this one...."

I cast protection from Evil on him, which does offer a DC 18 Will save.

Will: 1d20 ⇒ 9
Will: 1d20 ⇒ 10

Sihir feels his spell take hold but the enchantments remain.

It should give him another saving throw against charm person.

That was the second will save.

Drat. Can anyone else do anything to dispel/drive out mind control? I have dispel magic, but I'm hoping to save it for something more dire.

As I said in my post above, I've got communal PfE prepared and can use it on him. That said, if we're up against an enchanter, we might want to use it on one of us later, or on ourselves protectively. But I'll cast it if folks feel it's vital right now.

The brave might not be that important in the grand scheme of things. It'll probably be better to save the big guns for later.

Yeah, I doubt he has mission-critical information. Saving it sounds wise.

Sounds good, I'll hang onto it.

Now that he knows better what to look for, Aeris studies the folks they've encountered, trying to understand why they're acting so odd and forgetful if they have not been enchanted.

Sense Motive : 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

Azzik asked a similar question above - can we figure out what's up with the folks other than the charmed brave?

From what Aeris can tell they're not faking it. They've either had their memories fiddled with (which wouldn't be detectable with magic more than a couple rounds after it was done) or are crazy.

Sihir will attempt to dispel the charm.

dispel magic: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

The brave stops struggling as Sihir unravels the charm clouding his mind.

"You should leave this place", the young shaken shoanti man says as he sees clearly for the first time. "He knows you're coming. I told him about all of you while I was his thrall."

"How could you have told him about us?" Aeris asks, puzzled. "What do you know of us and our mission? We didn't even know we were coming until recently."

"Now that you know he enchanted you, tricked you, used you," the warpriest continues, "perhaps you can tell us all about him? What should we watch out for, and how can we best defeat him?"

"They had a telepathic link, I'm afraid," Explains Sihir helpfully. Suddenly he snaps his fingers. "Do you still have it? Could you send him falsehoods?"

Azzik nods, "Or you can at least point us to him."

Crowe smirks. "Well, if he knows we're coming, the least we can do is oblige him. Let's go find him."