GM Kiora's Wrath of the Righteous

Game Master Kiora Atua

"So, first... the Rahadoumi officials want you to turn yourself in. They say they'll let the rest of us go if you do... I told them I couldn't ask you to do that, but I would suggest it to you as an option. They kind of said you might get a very small sentence... but it's likely to be more than a decade. So, I feel like that's sort of off the table." she pauses for a moment, before continuing. After a few moments of waiting for a response and not getting one, she shrugs and continues. "I told them about all of us, and what was going on with Avi, so maybe you guys will get help and not just arrested on sight."

"Beyond that, there's an ambassador on their way from Cheliax, if you and the others manage to save Avi and get clear, you should send Ser Abranci for further details. He said he'd be about a week out... I'm not sure what he can realistically do here, or what they can realistically charge most of us with... maybe aiding your escape, but that's a tough sell for everyone not-me that's involved."

"Last contact with Isilme is that they were looking for Maroq. She said she was leaving a trail in the city that we would be able to follow to her to get back together, I don't know how useful that is, though. Hopefully that doesn't matter and you've already met back up with her."

"Speaking of Isilme... I think one of the cultists, probably Jerribeth came for a visit. They were pretending to be Isilme, rather badly. They also had a conjured earth elemental... they took most everything. And made it look like it was us." she says, with a pained look. "Faith, Radiance, the bags of holding... let Isilme know they got Cygnus and her spellbook, too as soon as you see her. So... keep an eye out for scrying censers."

"After that, they moved me from the Western Barracks to some giant red stone castle. The room they're keeping me in is like Nurah's cell. It's furnished alright and has a circle against magic built into it... so I'm also trapped as me, I guess. I don't know how useful that is. I haven't seen Lann or Hinagiku since we were processed, either."

She makes a thoughtful sound for a moment, concentrating. "Other useful things, I think Jamal is a Faultspawn. That's the investigator in charge of us. He's looking into the cult information, but I think he's also looking for all of you. He's really old, and he has connections with some group called the Aspis Consortium through his daughter. He's taken down multiple cults... but I don't know of any evil ones he's done so with."

She pauses for just a moment longer, "I think I messed up badly in even agreeing to how we were doing this in the first place. I can't see any way else it could have gone besides turning myself in, and I think that was an equally awful idea. Everything has gone wrong, since. Hopefully things are going okay out there, though. I don't think you'll be able to Sending me because of the room I'm in, and I don't think you can respond here... so I guess that's it, unless they want me to do this again, later. Good luck."

"Mmmmm, the Dark Prince rules over all of the gods. Mistress says so," she says softly in response to Unafe's comment that there are other gods that disagree with Asmodeus.

Her eyes widen at the gold. "Oh, mistress, you are too generous!" she says, tearing up a bit at the charity. "If there is anything you need, please let me know, right away..."

Their initial preparations now done, what was left to do was for Isilme to send to Xander.

Earlier...

Theodora nods frantically, her eyes big and wide and watery. "Yes, Master Potts. Please bring me back. Please don't hurt me."

Now...

At the moment Isilme's sending comes through, Xander is fast asleep. He is dreaming about a meeting with Ary. The sending wakes him up, just as Ary finishes her message.

She ponders the exact wording for a few minutes before finally sending him:
Located Aravashnial plus 3 and two dozen halflings. Planning rescue with Ehren tomorrow just after noon. Thanadaemon, two Dhergodameon guarding. Can scry me and teleport tomorrow

Xander can attempt the Knowledge Planes checks regarding daemons listed in this post. He cannot benefit from Isilme's knowledge without free communication with her.

Xander responds: "Still in Westcrown with Unafe and Valais. We will meet up with you at noon tomorrow. Don't resist the scry attempt. See you soon."

Isilme gets out some of the bread and things she'd bought earlier today, offering some to Ehren. "We should eat before we go back to the sewers now. Hopefully they won't be crawling with patrols. I can't imagine they wouldn't figure out the sewers were the escape route for the theft. We will need to avoid using light sources while we're down there."

Once she's done eating she changes shape into a goblin, taking a moment to dance about in the ungainly shape. She then sets aside everything non-essential, bringing only her boots and Cygnus and her headband.

"Shall we head out?"

Once Isilme is ready to go, the druid shifts into the form of a rat before climbing onto her shoulder, trusting her to take care of the sneaking if necessary.

"Alright, let's get going," he says in a low voice, sitting next to Isilme's bulbous head.

After enchanting herself with heroism, Isilme pulls out the rose she had used earlier to produce the path Ehren had found. She again casts trail of the rose using it, knowing it would make navigating the sewers significantly easier. Isilme then climbs out of the hideaway cautiously, making a point of covering the edges of the door to prevent it from being easily spotted. She then moves away and begins following the river back to where they'd bypassed the grating earlier.

When they reach it, she moves up to it and begins working her way through the grating, making use of her smaller goblinoid head and dislocating her shoulders to get all the way through, thereby avoiding using magic to shape change as she had earlier.

Casting trail of the rose and heroism. Isilme, Ehren, Unafe and Xander are the only ones who can see the trail.
Stealth(Heroism,small): 1d20 + 23 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 23 + 2 + 4 = 45
Acrobatics(Escape Artist - Move through Tight Space, Heroism): 1d20 + 17 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 17 + 2 = 30

She then begins to head in the direction along the river towards where the compound would be in town.
To be explicit, Isilme is a goblin and has darkvision 60' as a result, and she and Ehren are using no light sources

Heroism wears off.

Goblin-Isilme creeps along slowly through the sewers, using the river to help her navigate along under the city. However, Sophini's Servants was not directly river-front property, so to determine where it was from their vantage point of being below would require a skilled dungeoneer...

It's a DC 15 K.Dungeoneering check to navigate underground the rest of the way. If the heroes look above ground to gain their bearings, it's a DC 15 survival or K.Local check instead.

Isilme uses what she remembers of the maps she studied in Obo's office along with Jahani's instructions to navigate as close to the slaver's compound as she could. She and Ehren toddle along a 15'-wide sewer canal. They pass by a turn to the right, but rather than branching off into a new segment of sewer, this branch transitions to a small staircase out of the muck, which leads up to a large set of wooden double doors.

Isilme casts locate object, then walks down the sewers another fifty or so feet. She passes by another turn to the right, but this appears to be more akin to a purposeful break in the sewer wall. The wall caves in and gives way to a small, 5' wide tunnel that appears to have been burrowed out of the rock. A little bit past where this break in the wall is appears to be the closest point to the Thanadaemon's staff, which is somewhere above. There are no visible grates to the surface here along this tunnel, all of the refuse that enters here likely runs down from pipes.

Hinagiku wakes up. She is laying on a cold, uncomfortable slab of stone. Her body is fully healed of all injury from the previous day. She is only wearing her underwear, with just a thin cotton sheet laying across her body.

Her eyes open. It is dark, so she cannot see.

While trekking through the sewers on the way back to the hideaway, Isilme notices another scrying sensor appear, follow her for a brief amount of time, and then wink out of existence.

Will Save: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Perception: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (5) + 26 = 31

The trail of flower petals makes it easy for Isilme and Ehren to find their way back to the sylvan hideaway. Isilme and Ehren return to their muddy little hole in the ground and settle in to get some sleep. They would need it for tomorrow.

Isilme and Ehren may recover 1 MP each, all daily resources, and prepare new spells.

Xander, as he typically does, stays up all night, contemplating the problems he has at hand. He finds that regardless of how dark it is in his room, he can see perfectly. His hobgoblin vision could only discern murky black-and-white in the dark, but now he saw in full color.

Moonlight streams in through the window, providing enough dim light for Theodora to see that Xander was still awake. She is clearly both confused and terrified of him, and stays as far away from him as possible. Eventually, though, she falls asleep, her head leaning against the wall of the bed and breakfast. She snores softly.

Xander Will Save: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
Xander Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (16) + 14 = 30

Xander may recover 1 MP, his SP, and prepare new spells.

The next morning, Xander is in the middle of studying his spellbook when Ed knocks on his door, bringing a fresh platter of breakfast - two fried eggs in a stew of eggplant, peppers, and zucchini served with a cup of coffee. This wakes Theodora up. "Master Potts, breakfast is served. Would you like anything else?"

Unafe was exhausted after a long day of sprinting across the desert. Her body also hurt, from the many wounds that their pursuers had scored on her thighs and calves. She and Valais slept until the next morning, until Mirabella wakes them up with a soft knock.

Unafe may recover 1 MP. Unafe and Valais may recover SP and daily uses of abilities. Unafe recovers all hit point damage.

"Eggplant parmiggiana arrabiata, just as you asked, mistresses!" Mirabella says, beaming. "A little bit unconventional for dawn's meal, but I was worried you would be checking out today, and I wanted to thank you for your kindness."

She smiles, busying herself with setting the table. She pours them some mint tea. "A gentleman named Master Xander came in the night to see you, but I didn't want to disturb your sleep. His room is in the attic upstairs if you'd like to go see him."

Though Ary and Lann cannot see each other, they are in similar situations. Their accommodations are much more comfortable, and also more private, as there are no slats to allow people from the outside to peer in. They eventually fall asleep, and in the morning, a Legionnaire woman brings them breakfast: fresh baked bread, fried eggs, goat cheese and olives. She doesn't bring with her any news of their friends (or enemies).

Ary may recover 1 MP. Ary and Lann heal any damage and recover use of daily abilities and SP.

Centering herself, Hinagiku represses a retch which gives herself enough control to let her senses recover. Slowly the flow of the world and truth of this room comes into focus, allowing her to see everything around her. She carefully sits back up, takes a shallow breath, and makes her way to the closest garbage bin or refuse container she can find and throws up the poison still filling her body.

Wiping her mouth, she quickly surveys the surroundings. This did not look at all like the infirmary… strange. Perhaps her sleep had appeared too much like death, a good thing to keep in consideration for the future. Well, it did not matter, she was now alone and perhaps would have a chance to escape. All she needed was to recover. Laying back on the slab she was on, she covers heself back with the cotton sheet and then lets the energy of the room suffuse her and fill her inner ocean with tranquil power.
Hinagiku will meditate to recover her spell points, if needed she will spend half her mythic points to do so. She will only do so if it is obvious that there is no one nearby (might need to listen to the door first is there is one that lets some light pass in.

Hinagiku is awake and in the dark. She doesn't sense anything alive with her supernatural senses.

Hinagiku recovers her SP.

Unable to sense any door, Hinagiku elects to fully survey the room. After taking note of which slab she was lying on, she walks until she finds a wall and follows it in an attempt to get a sense of the size of the room she is in. Hopefully, she would find an exit and a much needed container to throw up in.
Assuming no mythic points spent on regaining SPs (though Hinagiku won’t rest until she can get rid of what was injected in her) and no jars to throw up in.

Hinagiku paces around the perimeter of the room. She finds the room mostly bare. It is filled with about 12 slabs, each with a lumpy, draped piece of cloth over them. The floor beneath her feet is cold.

She finds a door, which is up a very short staircase.

After going back to her slab and draping herself (two posts ago), a difficult meditation, and intertwining her essence with the flow of the world so as to give her greater speed, Hinagiku readies herself for the outside world. She folds the shroud so as to make it less revealing and drapes her upper torso and head with it. She tries to make it look as much like the clothing she has seen people wear in Azyr.

disguise: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Once she is done, Hinagiku heads back towards the stairs and door upon which she lays her ear, listening to anything that might be outside. When she is convinced that there is no one there, she attempts to open it as stealthily as possible.

perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (20) + 20 = 40
stealth: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

Rest with stomach full of arsenic it is. Two essence dedicated to boots of the coward. If the door can be opened from the inside, will move at half speed (22’) to stealth until there is light or path is barred.

Hinagiku creeps up to the door, to see that someone passes by it on the other side carrying some form of light. Light streams in through the bottom of the doorframe. The light allows her to glimpse the stone staircase in front of the wooden door. She waits for a moment. Eventually, the light passes, and she is left in the dark, again.

If door opens, Hinagiku will move steatlhily through the corridors and listen for any incoming individual. She'll open her eyes every so often to catch glimpses of light.
more stealth if needed: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (10) + 20 = 30

Hinagiku stands still a whole minute. After a minute, the creature carrying the light returns, passing the door in the opposite direction.

Once she is done, Hinagiku finishes preparing herself by fully connecting herself to threads of the ley.

Deducted 1 sp on past sight and concentrate for 10 minutes to see the last 10 hours of occurrences within 35’. She focuses on whether a key is used to unlock the door, any other mechanism, as well as the layout beyond the door (when open) including whether she can see light from the sun and what direction it comes from. Deducting another 1 sp to cast prescience, battlefield sense, and rapid response.

Hinagiku observes the past of her immediate area. Around 7 hours ago, a person passed by in this area. They were a Garundi man, wearing bloodstained robes, long black gloves, and heavy black boots. They have long white hair and a trimmed white beard. They pushed the door open to leave. Nothing else of interest happened in this area for the past 10 hours.

Hinagiku also waits for 10 minutes, observing the person outside of the door moving back and forth. They move to Hinagiku's right, vanish for around 30 seconds to a minute, then move past the door, to Hinagiku's left, and vanish for one to two minutes, before repeating the cycle.

Hinagiku darts out and towards the left. She can see light streaming from around the corner behind of her, so she heads in the opposite direction.

She heads down a hall, passing by a wooden door on her left. The hallway continues on in the dark, ahead.

1d20 ⇒ 9

Hinagiku finds that after another forty feet or so, the hallway curves around a corner, then leads to a narrow stairwell that leads up and out of range of her senses. There is light coming from somewhere upstairs.

stealth (half speed): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Hinagiku slowly creeps up the stairs, which lead to a new hallway. This one is twice as wide as the hallway that was downstairs. She finds the light-source: a torch of continual flame in a sconce at the top of the stairs. The hallway is short, terminating in 20' in a pair of wooden double-doors.

perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (9) + 20 = 29

Hinagiku does not hear anything on the other side. It is well-lit on Hinagiku's side of the door, and there are no large seams on the door, so it is not possible to tell if the other side of the door is also lit.

Hinagiku pushes her way through the doors with no resistance.

On the other side is another hallway, extending to the right and left before curving out of sight. The floor is tiled with marble, and the walls are made of white stone. There are no windows. Every dozen feet or so there is a sconce affixed to the wall with an everburning torch, which keeps the hallway well lit.

There is no furniture in the hallway for Hinagiku to hide behind but she also doesn't see anyone approaching, or hear any foot steps.

She can see a small wooden door about fifteen feet down, across the hall to her right. There is a plaque on the door but she cannot read the writing.

perception: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (8) + 20 = 28

Hinagiku moves down the hall to the right. The cool marble feels good against her bare feet. Further along, there are more doors on both her right and left side. Each door has a plaque, written in a language that Hinagiku doesn't understand.

She stops just shy of the corner and listens. She hears foot-steps in the distance, but they don't seem to be coming in her direction.