GM Tarondor's Ptolus Campaign

Game Master Tarondor

Diplomacy (inspiration): 1d20 + 4 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 4 + 2 + (4) = 19

"Peace, Taunell! We are not your enemies! We have come to destroy chaos."

How is this working? Are we each making individual rolls, or should some of us be assisting?

For some reason I thought Velika couldn't since she already failed with him earlier.

You cannot use Diplomacy to influence a given creature’s attitude more than once in a 24 hour period.

How is this working? Are we each making individual rolls, or should some of us be assisting?

According to the RAW, you're each making separate Diplomacy checks. And if I were running a PFS game, that is how I'd play it. However, that makes no sense to me. On a skill (like Diplomacy) where multiple people may work together, I allow the highest result to be the primary and all others are considered to be attempting an aid another action.

I wasn't rolling since I should not be the primary but if I can attempt to aid I will.

"We wish to aid in destroying whatever evil has made it so you cannot go to your final rest."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

You can almost always attempt an aid.

Botting Holys.
Holys Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

Holy speaks eloquently about your struggle to free Pythoness House from the oppression of Chaos.

Hearing your speeches, the ghost's furious features soften to mere pain and sorrow. He puts up his sword and floats toward you.

Suddenly, he moves forward and enters into Holys's chest! The sorcerer writhes and throws back his head, an eerie voice echoing from the young man's lips.

"Peace in the name of Lothian. I will not harm you if you speak truly. Why are you here?"

Dain stares into Holys' eyes, trying to see through to the possessing spirit. "We came here looking for a magical key. The chaos cult that dwelt here several years ago was rumored to have it in their possession. As we began to explore the house, we were surprised to find remnants of the cult still present - it was our understanding that the Knights of the Pale had wiped them out 3 years ago. So in addition to finding the key, we are doing our best to rid the house of the lingering agents of chaos. " Noticing that Magill still bristled in front of him, Dain reaches down and scratches her between the ears, calming her.

"We don't wish to fight with you, and we considered leaving you be if we could accomplish our goals without disturbing you further. But seeing the anguish of a spirit that we guessed was not evil, we decided we would attempt one more time to speak with you and see if we could help you complete whatever unfinished business ties you to the mortal realm."

Tilver jumps back as the ghost enters Holys. "Whoa!" He looks back and forth as Dain talks to the spirit. "Uh, excuse me? Do you have to be in our friend? I thought you were speaking to us just fine before. We don't want to hurt you."

A ghostly light emerges from Holys's eyes and mouth. The ghost ignores Tilver's question.

"I saw them. I died one hundred ninety years ago and I saw them. The wanton women. The red-cowled priests. I saw them hide the bound angel and the broken key. But the other...the Chaos spirit... protects what lies below and keeps me from seeing what it is."

"Is the bound angel a living angel or an artifact like the key?"

Silas eyes the ghost currently inhabiting his family member and isn't sure how he could get the ghost out without harming Holys and so he decides to just play along in the hopes the ghost will willingly leave him.

"Bound they put her in the tower, and bound they left her. And bound you bear her."

Ping!

"We bear her? We do?" He glances around. "Wait, do you mean the Spiral Contrivance? Does that hold the angel?" He motions for Velika to dig out the chaos key.

"I'm not sure ...", Velika mutters as she pulls the two halves of the spiral contrivance from her bag.

Dain thinks back to the items they'd taken from Pythoness House. "Do you mean bound...like a book?"

Taunell doesn't seem to be so great at linear conversation. Maybe two centuries of being bound to a house full of a chaos cult will do that.

"Bound, and left within the tower."

GM Hint: I refer you to THIS POST from 10 months ago.

Velika visibly shudders at Dain's suggestion of a book. "No, it can't be what you're thinking. Although ... " She pulls the jar of urine from her bag. "Didn't Holys tell us that this was transmutation magic as well?"

Silas frowns and says, "It would be odd for an angel to effect you as the book did I think. But then again I know little of such matters."

As he goes back to check the post that named everyone but him. :P

"Wait, the angel was turned into a jar of urine?!" Tilver gives a horrified look at the jar. He turns back to not-Holys. "Is this what you meant?"

"Or maybe the wizard turned the angel into a...a jar, and then...ummmm...pissed in it?" Dain wrinkles his nose, "He didn't sound like a very...mmm...nice wizard according to Lady Dierna."

Silas looks at them quizzically. "Well, that does seem...evil."

Suddenly, Holy sags as wispy luminescent fog pours out of his mouth and eyes, coalescing into the insubstantial image of the long-dead priest.

He looks at you sadly, and then moves back into the gloom of the gatehouse and is gone.

Holys gradually recovers his composure, and the others fill him in on what happened.

"The jar or the book. A book has more direct connotations of binding. We should return to the other room and consider both options."

I guess we go back, set both items down, and see if something happens?

Well, if "bound, we bear her", then it must be the jar, because we no longer bear the book - we gave it to Dierna to be destroyed

Give that man a cigar!

Was there an area past the ghost we had not explored? If so I will go that way first to see if anything is there.

Yes, we haven't explored the tower on the other side of the gate.

Dain and Magill follow Silas over the gate to the far tower.

"When we finish looking around, I'd like to go over to the Madame's Chamber where I believe we saw a tub. I'd like to pour out the urine in the jar. It's the jar that's magical, right Holys? What if the urine is the angel and the jar is what keeps her transmuted? Or if the jar itself is the angel, pouring out the urine is a kind thing to do. If I'm wrong on both counts and the jar and urine need to stay together for some reason, at least the urine will be in a tub so we can recover it.

"Ok, that is even worse. Being turned into a jar only to be filled with some chaos-demon urine for years! I think I'm going to be sick." Tilver shuffles out of the room, though he heads towards the Madame's chamber to see if Velika's theory is true.

You explore both floors of the southern gatehouse tower, finding a number of decrepit bows and glaives, but little else. You have discovered no clues to what holds Taunell here in Pythoness House.

There are a few unexplored rooms on the fourth and fifth floor as well as the strange statue of Segginal Fesbom.

1d2 ⇒ 1

Speaking of which, the voice of Pythoness House now intones "Chaos is the Key!"

A spellcraft check (DC 30) with detect magic or identify might tell you more about that jar.

Holys has Detect Magic but only +5 on Spellcraft, so can't make a 30. I will roll with an intention to Aid Another, assuming someoen else probably has a higher modifier.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 vs DC 10

Velika will try to learn more about the jar.
Spellcraft + Aid: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 9 + 2 = 17

Of course, you have a whole city right outside. There are sages (and even a few angels) who might be able to tell you more.

Spellcraft (inspiration): 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (14) + 7 + (6) = 27

Tilver tries to make sense of the auras Velika and Holys describe to him.

Tilver could possibly hit the DC if Velika's and Holys' rolls count as aids, but he doesn't have Detect Magic, so he technically can't see the auras.

D'oh! Yeah, this use requires detect magic or identify. Sorry.

"Anything more to learn from this aura is beyond my skills... however, a few business associates of mine may be able to point us towards those who may be able to tell more. Assuming we can convince them that examining a jar of urine is a serious request."

Rolling Know:Local and Know:Arcana to know of someone we could go to for assistance, assuming one/both of those skills would be helpful.

Knowledge: Local: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Knowledge: Arcana: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

"There are a few areas that we have not cleared. And I would like to see if that slot returns in the statue before we leave again."

Tilver pauses for a moment. "The voice just said 'Chaos is the key.' Maybe that's the queue that the statue is open now. Let's go see." Tilver leads the group back down to the statue.

Dain follows Tilver and the others back to the statue. As they walk he turns to Silas. "You're right, we still haven't seen what's in the top of...mmm...that tower." He points vaguely in the direction of the SE tower. "But how do we get there? I don't think we ever...ummm...found an entrance to those levels."

The tower in question has ladders from top to bottom. You just never went up from the jar-and-book room.

There in the statue's belly, the slot has reappeared. It's the perfect size for inserting the now-completed Spiral Contrivance.

A-ha! We never went up from the jar-and-book room because of a typo in the description of the room:

The floor of this chamber is made of wood, but the ceiling is stone. There is no way to progress up farther from here. This level of the tower contains a table and three chairs, all wooden and rickety but usable. Three objects sit on the table, covered in cobwebs: a glass jar; a short, fat candle on a copper plate; and a book

Right you are. My previous statement was in error. The only way into those parts of the tower are across the bridge and down from the Cobbledman's chamber.

If everyone is ready, Velika will put the two halves of the contrivance in the slot.

Velika places the Spiral Contrivance into the slot. The slot absorbs the Spiral Contrivance and disappears. Then, with a creak and a rumble, the whole statue slides back, revealing a pit that goes straight down into darkness. The air seems suddenly very cold.

Tilver lifts out his lantern and snaps his fingers. Suddenly, it lights and shines down the hole. "I've got a bad feeling about this..."

Magill, unable to contain her curiousity, slowly moves onto the top step. She peers about and sniffs the air before moving down a step and repeating the process. Meanwhile, Dain importunes the spirits to provide additional light, which he places on the head of his spear. As the group prepares to head down the steps, he positions himself at the opposite end of the line from Tilver and his lamp.

Magill's Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13

Cast Light on the head of his spear

The stone shaft descends ten feet before opening out into a room below. The floor of that room is thirty feet below where you are standing. No details of the room are visible. You can only see a narrow circle of dressed stone from the top of the shaft.

Tilver pulls his rope out of his bag. "Someone lower me down. The lantern should show us the room when I'm down there. Then everyone else can come down."

Silas will take the rope and tie it off and then prepare to pull up if Tilver needs him to quickly bring him up.