|
"You've given your opinion by bringing the subject up, djinni trickster. The Desimires name has come up far too much already. I am Naiar, Oracle of Nethys, Spirit Vessel for the Ancestors of Knowledge. What could you say to possibly enlighten me?" Naiar crosses his arms and looks up, unimpressed, at the djinni's title. He looks over at Boots for support, but he's got a gnoll leg still in his beak and isn't even looking at the blue humanoid.
Jairo flinches a bit and looks down to the ground. When he looks up again, though, he is smiling at you-this time, it is a smile of friendship and gratitude rather than the false smile of a host.
"Indeed, I am the servant of Pasha Muhlia al'Jakri. Would you like some food and wine? Let's sit down to discuss things."
He moves down from the balcony and with a wave of his hand the table is set lavishly with many types of food. "I appreciate your offer to free me, but such a gesture is naive at best. You would have to capture my master and take the magic ring she uses to command me."
"Like many mortals, she is consumed by a mad quest, her every spare though given to plotting the downfall of a group called the Pathfinder Society. It is not a leap for me to guess that you are they. I honestly find her a bit of a bore, but I do wonder how your group wronged her so to provoke such wrath."
Jairo sighs and begins pouring wine for everyone. "I must warn you, I am bound to fight you if you insist on going upstairs to her rooms. However. . . I believe it would technically be within my bounds to let you pass peacefully if you can guess the password within two tries. Yes! That is what we should try!"
"Now think carefully! I really do not want to fight you and it is not hard. My master has few friends these days, but I suspect that was not always the case. It is a mortal's name, someone she was fond of in the past."
|
|
Naiar closes his eyes and flips through his various tomes of knowledge within his mind.
Naiar begins mumbling to himself with his eyes closed, pacing back and forth as Boots watches him with the gnoll limb still in his mouth.....
rounds later, he opens his eyes and spews out all the information he could gather on Pasha Muhlia al'Jakri.
|
"You make an excellent suggestion, Jairo! And, should we succeed, I shall make every effort to recover your one-time master alive and with the ring intact, securing you your freedom.
"Now, comrades, let us confer..." Sündr drops he voice to a whisper. "I think Ru and Naiar are right. Let us try the Desimires, Aglorn first. Unless Naiar has remembered something of note?" She gives the pacing man a raised eyebrow.
"That's a hard riddle Jairo. Could you give us a hint on how he looks?"
"It's more about the family resemblance." the djinni answers with a grin.
As if wanting you to guess the right answer, Jairo motions to the two paintings in the room.
|
|
"Hey, so if we get this wrong and you have to fight us," Sündr says to the djinni, motioning to Graz to halt, "which won't, because we're awesome, but if we do then I promise to pull my punches. Won't kill you, just knock you out. Once we've dealt with your master and obtained the ring, we'll come back to wake you up and give you freedom."
You notice nothing special about the paintings. Jairo nods in respect to Sundr. "Thank you. I'm afraid you are thinking too narrowly, my friends. The password is only one word, not two! Your first guess contained two words and I'm afraid you are going to make the same mistake."
|
|
"Oh! It's probably just 'Desimire' then."
EDIT: the skald pays close attention to the djinn's expression. [dice=Sense Motive]d20 + 9
"But didn't we already say Desmire from the brother."
"Think about it! 'Desimire' fits all the clues! Listen:
'It is a mortal's name:' check!
'It's more about the family resemblance:' Desimire fits the whole family!
Jairo motioned to both paintings in the room: both Desimires, not just one!
'I'm afraid you are thinking too narrowly:' Aglorn is narrow, as is Tancred. Desimire is more general!
'The password is only one word, not two:' Desimire is one word!
Desimire must be the answer!"
Sündr pauses briefly and looks around. "Any objections, or should we go for it?!"
|
|
Naiar walks over to Sundr and puts an arm on her shoulder, ”He also said it is a mortal’s name, someONE she was fond of in the past.”
Boots looks up at the planar creature and squawks(?) at him, shuffling in place a bit anxiously. ”No Boots, you can’t eat the blueberry person.” Boots gives out another louder squawk and lays on the floor patiently as Naiar impatiently twirls his magical spear around. ”I’m right there with you, Bootsy.” he looks out the corner of his eye at the djinn and looks for some information on them in his head.
Jairo smiles and says, "Well, you have the password so I suppose I have to let you pass, right?" He gives you a wink. "By the way, the gnoll tribe’s chief has gone into the pasha’s suite and brought along another gnoll that the others avoid. As I understand it, this other gnoll violated a taboo and now bad luck follows wherever she goes. Perhaps before you go in there you might want to have a look in that wardrobe over there and make sure you are prepared for whatever lies ahead."
"There is a short corridor beyond that door; it leads to the Pasha's rooms. She has two small connected rooms that function as her personal living quarters."
|
Ru chugs three vials, preparing himself for combat. First, he drinks a silver concoction that makes his eyes momentarily glaze over . Next he drinks a brown flask that causes his whole body to shimmer for a second before vanishing. . Finally, he drinks a clear blue vial that speeds up his actions. . He grabs one more flask, holding it in his left hand as they move down toward the gathered collection of baddies.
A shallow reflecting pool is set into the tile floor, flanked by plush divans. Beyond two marble supporting columns, a heavy curtain separates the sitting room from the bedroom. A large map of Absalom hangs on the south wall, riddled with pins and crossed with colorful thread.
The curtains are opaque and block line of sight, but they are only anchored to a rod near the ceiling and pose no real obstacle to movement. The map of Absalom bears over a hundred pins tipped with beads of wax in half a dozen colors; many red, blue, and green strings connect various pins together.
There are two female gnolls in this room: the chief Chau—a powerful breed of gnoll known as a flind—and another wearing no armor.
Much of the pasha’s clothing now lies on the floor, stretched and torn. The Pasha Muhlia al’Jakri herself is nowhere to be seen.
|
|
- Decide round by round whether you take the effects (free action)
- +2 morale bonus to Str
- +2 morale bonus to Con (and consequently +1 HP/lvl)
- +1 morale bonus to Will saves
- -1 penalty to AC
- Cannot use Dex-, Int-, or Cha-based skills (except Acrobatics, Fly, Intimidate, and Ride)
- Cannot use any ability that requires patience or concentration
- No fatigue when you drop out or the song ends
One of the gnolls draws a shortspear and hurls it at Graz!
The other gives Sundr the bouda's eye.
|
|
"GRAZ!" Naiar shouts a second too late as a shortspear lodges inside of him through his armor. Naiar looks back forward and assesses the two gnolls before letting out a sharp whistle and pointing at the one who just attacked Graz .
Boots comes running through the group and runs up to the gnoll for a big POWERFUL bite!
The gnoll manages to avoid the large owlbear while Naiar moves around the side to engage in the caster by pooling all of the information he can about Shortspears, Taldor, the Blackros Family, and Mites, before bombarding the gnoll's mind with the information to confuse him.
He also takes a quick look at the two of them and goes through his mental catalog to try and gather information to help the group...
|
|
nope!
Sündr's quiet chant becomes a howling bellow as she charges forward into the gnoll chief. At the last second, the cover of her invisibility vanishes and the gnoll is treated to the sudden appearance of a greataxe in her face.
Status: HP 30/30, AC 9, fast healing 2, raging song 8/16 rounds remaining.