GM Kyshkumen's The Dragons Demand

Game Master Kyshkumen

And I should point out the information requested by my compaions is in scope of the clauses in the contract, and should therefore be delivered without delay, truthfully and comprehensively, Eugene says, clearly not amused.

"I already told you about the book questionzzzzzz. If you muzzzzt know what the wizzzzzard was wearing, it wazzzzzz a red robe with gold trimmingzzzzzz." The creature buzzes around clearly agitated. "I have already met my termzzzzzz now releazzzze me."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Not trivial to determine whether his information is comprehensive, Eugene says, though he is consistent and devoid of falsehood. Shall we regard this as acceptable?

I'm actually quite curious to see what happens when we release it, so I'm all for breaking the circle.

The half-elf watches the exchange with fascination, especially Zilch's skepticism.
"Huh."

This ain't no sheep. Err - Damn you Zilchus. This is no ferocious goatman.

He pats the silver dagger at his belt, before raising his bow, cold iron-tipped arrow knocked. "I'm ready. Jus' in case." At least I won't let the little bugger get a free shot on us if he decides to double-cross our agreement.

Zilch waits and watches confidently.

Eugene takes his longspear and draws a scratch in the summoning circle, holding his breath.

Here goes nothing

As soon as Eugene breaks the binding circle the fly like creature does an aerial summersault. "FREEEE AT LAZZZZZZT!" it shouts. It then looks at the party, "Took you long enough you bunch of jerkzzzzzz." It looks at Zilchus and makes a "Brrrrrzzzzzzt" sound while sticking out what you think is it's toungue before disappearing with a small 'pop' sound.

The half-elf tenses as the trapped creature celebrates, and shrugs at his comment.

"Coulda' been a whole lot longer."

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10 Was that an arcane invocation? It doesn't look like anything described in the book.

"That wasn't a sheep."

He will venture forth and examine whatever is left in the circle.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Zilch barely swats at the annoying buzzing fly, looking at it with confident thuggery as it disappears.

"That was some nice work, Eugene. While Aodan might be the Mauler of Mutton, your skill with the pen is equally dismissive and useful towards our goals. Keep that up and pretty soon, you'll be as well known as Ol' Scalebane here," Zilch points his thumb at himself.

After checking out the area, Zilch moves to the other hallway.

Eugene exhales again as the beast disappears, and says it was within its right to scorn us, we did not include a clause preventing it from doing that.

Deep down inside, Eugene is somewhat disappointed that Eugene did not readily come up with a nickname. He mumbles softly and tries some out for himself Discombombulator of devils? Discouragement policy enforcer of fiendish or otherwise non-prime presence?

Deep down inside, Eugene is somewhat disappointed that Zilchus did not readily come up with a nickname. He mumbles softly and tries some out for himself Discombombulator of devils? Discouragement policy enforcer of fiendish or otherwise non-prime presence?

Plume de Doom!

Zilch smiles to himself.

With the immediate threat gone the group can now focus their effort on the only other thing of interest in the room, the journal. It may take a while, but they can skim through it to find out more.

Hearing Eugene mutter more catch phrases, the half-elf groans inwardly. "Don't encourage him."

Aodan will skim through the book, scanning the log to get a quick idea of what was tracked or to see if anything in particular stands out, before trying to catch up to Zilchus to try and herd all of these two-legged sheep back together.

Eugene helps Aodan skim through the log We must be compliant with the four eyes principle he simply says, then moves over to Zilchus.

It takes about a half hour to go through the journal, but it appears to be an extensive list on the appearances and behavior of the various outsiders summoned by Hunclay, including any services he acquired from them. It looks like most of the outsiders were merely summoned for questioning before being sent back. There are notes about two outsiders that were summoned for a lengthy amount of time. Based on the description the goat man was a demon known as a Schir, which Hunclay planned to use as a body guard at an upcoming meeting with someone named Barlau. The other outsider seems to be held in another location in the basement. It lists the creature as a shae and Hunclay had hopes it might know about the dark tapestry, but so far it seems to have no knowledge of such things.

You may make a knowledge planes check on the shae.

"Huh. Goatman was a demon." Defeating him now should make much more of an impression than simply mauling a mutton man.

"Hunclay was after more than the view. And kobolds." Summoning demons and devils is even more dastardly than falling a tower or work with the little scaley ones."

"Anybody know 'bout a "shae" demon, err, devil, err, somethin.'"

It's a good thing Zilchus can't read, or we'd have all kinds of talk about Schirring sheep.

No knowledge planes.

Hilal came from Katheer, Qadira-A
Hiked his way across Oppara bay
Lost his shape along the way
Removed his face and then he was a shae
Hey babe, take a walk one the wild side...

Knowledge (planes): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

"Hmm. Shae. I seem to recall hearing this type of creature before."

Zilch waits, wondering what all the thinking is about.

Zilchus looks down the hallway leading south as the others discuss their findings in Hunclay's journal.

The high-level take-away is the presence of another outsider in this basement, another hazard that we are obliged to eliminate. Given the limited granularity we have regarding this creature's whereabouts, a risk averse continuation is advised.

With that, Eugene moves along with Zilchus, keeping his longspear in hand.

"Great. Maybe more demon goats ta' kill."

He sighs knowingly to Davros,
"إذا كان شيء أكثر إثارة للإعجاب من الأغنام، سيتم الاحتفال بالتأكيد Zilchus به في أغنية"

He will make sure the book and any related materials are gathered up and follow after the others. Upon catching up to Zilch, he shrugs. "What's next, fearless leader?" More demons, more traps, more kobolds, or whatever it is, something more from the evil wizard no doubt.

Davros shutters after bring lost in thought for a moment.

"These shae... they are no demons. They people of the shadow. No necessarily evil but no necessarily good either." Davros says catching up with the others.

Following the hallway the group find themselves facing another door. It appears to be unlocked if they wish to open it.

"I am no certain of the exact nature of these shadow people, but I seem to, eh, recall," Davros pauses to confirm the correct word, "Yes, recall. I seem to recall that they tend to wear masks that appear to be made of the, eh, delicate Tian pottery. So that should help us identify these Shae."

Caught up in explaining the people of shadow, Davros absently opens the door leading to the next room.

"Oh yeah, Darkrose. You got right. You gotta watch your shadow."

Zilch nods along like he understands what others are talking about, and readies to enter the room as the Davros opens the door.

Inside the walls of this room are covered with arcane symbols. In the northern chamber, a wooden table sits against the eastern wall, with several items laid atop it. A bright light shines forth from an opening in the south wall.

"Great. Shadows with pottery." If we survive these, will Zilch be a great shadow slayer? Or will I be a chipper of flowerpots?

The half-elf will raise his bow and a mystic word or two slip from his mouth.

Arcane Armor Fail: 1d100 ⇒ 47
Casts Detect Magic

He will scan the runes, looking for any enchantments as well as trying to comprehend anything about their purpose or meaning.

Was there anything like this in the book?
Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Hmm, it all looks Orisani to me.

If he doesn't seen any danger, he will move down the hallway to take a closer look at the runes and to scan the end of the room, too.

Davros follows Aodan into the room and quickly scans the area.

Perception check => Taking 10 = 9

Hearing Aodan's arcane utterance Davros reaches into his pouch and draws forth a small bit of crystal and holds it up to his eye, hoping that his own incantation will illuminate the nature of the mystical writing on the walls.

Casts Read Magic

Now, what did you write about here Mr. Hunclay?

On the table is a set of leather armor fashioned to look like plate mail. Next to the armor are a scimitar and a short sword, both of which radiate magic. To the south the source of the light also seems to be magical in nature.

Aodan stares through the bowsight at the objects....

Spellcraft (scimiitar): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

Spellcraft (sword): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Spellcraft (light): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

....and grins at the weapons.

"Hey. These are enchanted swords!" +1 each

"Includin' one from the east. Like where Davros is from." Would the Qadirans train a slave in their use? Would one train an adept with magic like Davros?

"Don't know about the light."

Zilch walks in, following Aodan to the weapons.

"Oh yeah, these are pretty nice. Definitely pretty nice...worthy of heroes like me, huh?" Zilch takes the short sword and takes a few practice swings, then swaps it out for the scimitar.

"I could use one of them...but maybe Darkrose should get one. A magic sword is just what he needs if he's going to be a stone cold killer like Scalebane," Zilch offers the scimitar to Davros with a smile.

"With that, maybe you'll be as fierce as your good buddy, Ol' Zilchus."

Zilch takes a slow walk around the room, looking at stuff and stuff.

Take 20 Perception = 27

Zilchus doesn't really find any stuff. The only apparent way forward would be to walk into the light.

"Don't know about the light."

Hmm. The light...

"Oh! The wall. Wait. Yes. It could be to Hunclay's dealings with the Shae. If a creature of shadow or of the like passes through the wall it has the power to, eh, temporary, eh, temporarily blind them and rob them of their strength. ...never seen that done before... of course the proper binding and...," Davros' voice trails off.

"I could use one of them...but maybe Darkrose should get one. A magic sword is just what he needs if he's going to be a stone cold killer like Scalebane."

Davros turns and looks at the weapon and his eyes alight.

"أوه، التي صدر عامر Shelyn's ، و لقد سبق لك أن رأيت مثل هذا المنظر الجميل ؟ أوه، شكرا لك Desna لقيادة لي هنا و نعمة لي مع وجهك ," Davros grasps the proffered scimitar, his mouth turned up in a joyous grin.

After a few practice swings he turns to his companion and offers, "Eh - this will do," with a smile and a wink.

Zilch surveys the room.

"Ayep. This place is clear. The only way to go is back up. We just need to finish off the upstairs and we're done here."

Zilch is ready to go up the stairs from the first floor, I think.

Davros turns to Zilchus.

"...but the wall of light? You can pass it. Be the hero and tell us what is on the other side."

"Oh yeah, sure. That sounds interesting. Ain't nothing going to go wrong with that."

Zilch takes a few tentative steps down the hallway of glowing, totally-not-dangerous light.

Aodan chuckles at Davros' prompting of Zilchus, but takes a breath as the Scalebane steps forward. "Zilch." The half-elf steps forward, bow in hand, trying to give him some backup if he heads into the rather mysterious wall of light.

Zilchus steps closer to the light. It is overwhelmingly bright, but it does not seem to create any heat or sear the windbag drivers skin.

"C'mon. Ya' only live once."

Let's show the Qadiran and the contracted one how to take on a threat, oh bearded one.

"Who knows. Might be a demon sheep or an oversized kobold back there."

The half-elf will step up, trusting the Qadiran wasn't leading the spouting one to too much danger. He's been trustworthy so far. Although, I would imagine a slave with a dangerous agenda wouldn't act aggressively until an opportune moment. But he's not that devious, is he?

Aodan will take out a cold iron-tipped arrow and probe into the light.

Aodan places the arrow into the light and finds nothing but light two walls and a floor.

Interesting. The contract did not stipulate a perspective when 'hazard' was considered, where we can only guess that the current stakeholder of the Hunclay estate is implied. In that light - if you may - this wall of light would not be considered a hazard, even if harmful to certain specific subsets of entities. We are, therefore, not at obligation to disseminate this contraption. Should, however, anything of malicious nature remain within, we are obliged to convince it to leave, as we did with the devil, or to apply acute physical trauma, as we did with the sch... er... goat-man.

Going to move this along.

Zilch looks at the light, trying to find a face to the voice.

"What? I'm Zilchus, the Scalebane, terror of dragons and nightmare to kobolds. With me are Aodan, Mauler of Mutton, and the feared Plume de Doom, the Pen that Devils fear, aka Eugene. Also, my trusty scribe, Darkrose. Who are you?"

"My name is Meffei and I was summoned here by the one known as Hunclay. That fool thought I would know about the dark tapestry as a creature of the shadow plane. When I laughed at his ignorance he grew angry left me locked in here with that horrid wall of light blocking my exit."

Zilch squints his eyes again.

"Hunky's dead. You can go. Now shoo! He won't need your services anymore."

"Yeah I tried that once, that wall of light really did a number one me. I still have not recovered from it and I am afraid that if I were to try again it would kill me. Tell me....Scalebane, what are you and the Mauler of Mutton, the Plume de Doom and a scribe doing down here. If it is treasure you seek the wizard gloated about a secret stash that holds the means to my escape. I could tell you where to find it if you would be willing to bring back what I need."

Zilch puffs up.

"Oh, you need Ol' Scalebane to rescue you, huh? Yeah, I suppose I could take a break from all my other heroic deeds to do that. Rescuing people is what Zilch does quite often," Zilch says, glancing back at Davros (if he's within eyeshot, not sure).

"I rescued the scribe from almost certain death at the hands of a tribe of kobolds, I did. Slew most of their tribe myself, I did. So rescuing you from light should be pretty easy," Zilch says without a clue how to do it.

"What do you need to avoid the light. A nice thick blanket? We could put you in a strong leather bag and drag you out. Would that work?"

Hearing Zilch introduce him in "public" by that name, Aodan groans. "I do not maul sheep.". There are just too many squicky connotations to that.

"I maul goats! " Wait, that's not much better. "Err, not maul, but slaughter. I slaughter goats!" Oh Aroden! Not a mutton lover but a goatherd? "Not just goats, but I hit demon goats." Oh, that sounds so much better...

"Ahem. Yeah, shadow shae. If ya' tell all ya' know about the wizard, we could find the way for ya' round the light. We'd do it if we can be sure ye'll leave the area and not bug or hurt anybody on the way out."

As Zilchus spouts on, Aodan cringes. Well, this might get the Shae to underestimate us. "Don't think strong leather bags will do it, Zilch."

"Your friend is right, the leather bag would not be sufficient to protect me. I have no ill wills against any of you. I would gladly walk free of this place since the one known as Hunclay is dead." The Shae steps closer to the gate, "but tell me. How do I know I can trust you and that this isn't some sort of trick by the one known as Hunclay?"

Because of the over bearing brightness of the wall of light it will block vision to what is back on the other side. I added lines to show the effective areas of the wall of light to the map.