KC's Age of Worms

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

Reminded of their disguises, Tanith gives another *woof* should any non-devils be watching somehow.

"Yes, it really is a shame about those illusions." Mara gives an insincere shrug. "I do like dogs. They have such...structure to their behavior."

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16

Carina just keeps her mouth shut and focuses on breathing.

"What, are we trespassing or something? If we're surrendering, what happens now?"

"Our group goes free, save for myself, who will be imprisoned in an antimagic cell in the Aerie as security. The six of you better not get me executed, or I will totally reincarnate as a full rakshasa and make you miserable." Zalamandra gestures back-handedly to the Angels. "No more attacking the Alhaster government, is the main thing. And yes, this cellar is apparently restricted ground, and we will not be able to return and continue our investigation here."

"I don't know what happened upstairs, either . . ."

"What!" Astraden says as she stumbles downstairs, wildly pinwheeling her free hand to clear the webs. "Someone knocking my illusions and or tactical ability?" She glares, gritting her teeth when she spots the erinyes so close to the wounded Zalamandra and Carina. "Does this 'surrender' let us heal our party, or . . .?"

Carina weakly nods.

Astraden channels positive energy, which washes over both parties to heal their wounds.

Healing: 7d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 1, 1, 3, 4, 3) = 20 [4/7] [89/94]

Carina takes a sudden, sharp gasp of air as some of her bloodiest wounds heal somewhat. With her newfound strength, she pulls a golden syringe from her belt and rams it into her own neck.

Breath of Life: 5d8 + 12 ⇒ (7, 2, 7, 8, 4) + 12 = 40

Her blue colour floods back into her cheeks as her wounds close up greatly.

"Oh... my heavens, that was horrible."

Er, the erinyes did explicitly tell Carina and her group that healing would only be allowed when everyone had exited the building (they didn't want the party to try anything). But we can assume the party has left by now.

Now that the part is outside, Mara puts a hand on Zalamandra's shoulder. "We will be in contact. Is there anything else you would like to say?"

Cuetzpalli looks about as happy as a cat in a bucket of cold water. He glares at the erynies, growling quietly to himself and grinding his teeth. He stays quiet, not trusting himself to open his mouth without making the situation worse.

Astraden gives a wave she looks terribly unenthusiastic about. "If you hurt even another hair on her head, I'm bringing this city down. You can tell your boss that Astraden Limhaare knows how to create anarchy."

"She means figuratively. Figuratively creating anarchy," Zalamandra tells Mara.

Bluff (silver tongue): 1d20 + 17 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 17 + 2 + 5 = 36 +1 if Mara could be attracted to her

"Yes, it's all figurative. Just like Zalamandra volunteered to be their token prisoner, in spite of the fact that someone else did the stuff she's being arrested for, so you could say she's just a figurative criminal..." Eben chimes, in staring very intently at Astraden.

Auto-aid another for +2 to Zalamandra's Bluff.

Sense Motives: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (17) + 18 = 351d20 + 18 ⇒ (18) + 18 = 361d20 + 18 ⇒ (18) + 18 = 36

The devils pause, eyeing Astraden skeptically. After a moment, they seem mollified by Zalamandra's explanation. Mara walks around behind Zalamandra, and the erinyes briefly binds her before picking her up and taking off into the air. The other Blessed Angels flap their wings and fly after. Only one lingers—one of the reinforcements, Spiny's Six is pretty sure, though it's hard to tell, as they're all identical. She gives a dull smile that does not reach her eyes. "We will return within five minutes. Do not return to the premises, or there will be harsher penalties in due course. We will contact you with more information...promptly."

With an unpleasant ringing sound, she vanishes.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 15 + 2 - 1 ⇒ (7) + 15 + 2 - 1 = 23

Carina blinks.

...I hope Zalamandra's going to be okay...

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 9 + 2 = 12

"Hey, anything I did was in defense of others!" Astraden says. "You on their side, Eben?"

"C'mon, we can argue somewhere else. Let's get out of this midden." Cuetzpalli begins walking away from the building shaking his head in frustration.

Astraden climbs the stairs and surveys the devastation. "Evil. F&#$ers." She turns to Carina. "We're still going to help these people. I don't know if we can spare the money to raise those who the Blessed Angels killed, but we can definitely heal those still alive. Tanith and Farrukh, could you carry some of these folks outside of the house so we don't have to 'break the law' to come back and heal them?"

"No, of course I'm not on the side of devils from HELL. Look, it was a delicate situation and your normal 'F*~~ your authority' response was not gonna help. I'm not happy about Zal being taken either, but better that than her- and Carina, and possibly more- dead. The fact is, the evil f***ers run this town, and we're here to get information to save the world. We don't have the luxury of starting another revolution, Astraden. Maybe we can do something about this city later, but right now pissing off the devil ladies that pass for law enforcement isn't gonna help us. For starters, I really wanted to see what if anything the Triad had hidden down that damn pit, and now it's probably gonna be watched day and night. In addition to getting Zal out because she's our friend and took a hit for us, she can probably teleport us in past any guards. But that's not gonna be til after we resolve this."

"I can teleport us too. It's just less flexible," Astraden replies with a frown. "But I'm worried about Zalamandra, so maybe playing nice is what we need right now. Don't like that she's out of our reach like this now. She's not all that tough."

Farrukh only speaks up after the Angels are gone, making full use of his right to remain silent.

"So what did you even do, anyway? I imagine you had a good reason to pick a fight with the cops. Probably. But the stuff we found down there seemed to point to something really important. It's jut...really bad timing."

"...Farrukh, do you remember that old woman that panicked and ran away when we tried to get into the house?" Carina clears her throat. "Apparently, the Angels came to investigate her, since she was making so much of a ruckus."

"And they were going to take back to the Aerie and/or kill her and the hobgoblin we healed. Either way, it was people getting f++%ed with for something we caused, so I tried to trick them into leaving the hobgoblin etc alone. But of course they could see through illusions. And apparently using those are a crime here."

"No, of course I'm not on the side of devils from HELL. Look, it was a delicate situation and your normal 'F@@& your authority' response was not gonna help. I'm not happy about Zal being taken either, but better that than her- and Carina, and possibly more- dead. The fact is, the evil f*+#ers run this town, and we're here to get information to save the world. We don't have the luxury of starting another revolution, Astraden. Maybe we can do something about this city later, but right now pissing off the devil ladies that pass for law enforcement isn't gonna help us. For starters, I really wanted to see what if anything the Triad had hidden down that damn pit, and now it's probably gonna be watched day and night. In addition to getting Zal out because she's our friend and took a hit for us, she can probably teleport us in past any guards. But that's not gonna be til after we resolve this."

"Wait, you're saying we can't save the whole world? Bah! I thought that's what why I came back to this stinking s#!%-pebble called Oearth."

"And they were going to take back to the Aerie and/or kill her and the hobgoblin we healed. Either way, it was people getting f%$!ed with for something we caused, so I tried to trick them into leaving the hobgoblin etc alone. But of course they could see through illusions. And apparently using those are a crime here."

Cuetzpalli pats her on the shoulder. "Oh. That makes sense I guess. Don't blame yourself, you couldn't have known that. You were just trying to do the right thing."

The gears keep turning in Carina's head as the party takes stock of their situation. There were still sickly innocent people inside, and they certainly weren't going to get the treatment they needed so long as the Angels were about.

By the same token, the Angels themselves were much more of a threat than she gave them credit for. They caught them unawares and separated, and managed to triumph in that regard alone. Not to mention that they were the real law of this... cesspit of a city. Her bombs didn't seem to do much against them--her force bombs didn't do enough to bring down even a heavily wounded one before she brushed with Nerull again. They were evil. Self-admittedly, even.

So, what can I do to even the odds when we come into conflict again?

She looks between Astraden and Tanith, an idea taking shape in her head. If we got bombarded with unholy magic... hmm. I need to write this down when we're back at the Deluxury.

Alright, you guys have roughly 5-10 minutes before the Angels return to the house. Do you want to risk using that time to try to achieve something?

"So, I know it's a risky prospect, but do you guys want to see if we can slip back in there without getting seen before we get back? This may be the last chance we get, and if we stick together and they come at us again me might actually be able to fight them off. The only reason they had the upper hand in this little tussle is because we were split up and nobody knew what was going on. There's only twelve of them total, so if we kill them all it might make the city better anyway."

"I mostly just want a good look at that basement though. I have a bad feeling about it. Like 'catacombs under the Greyhawk arena' bad." Farrukh whisper-barks to his compatriots.

"Dude, they've got us by the hangers. I do not want Zalamandra getting killed and soul-trapped for a hunch that turns out to be wrong. We can come back after the feast, and hopefully whatever's down that pit will still, in fact, be down there. I'll scry daily and see if the Angels are up to anything." Astraden kneels down and rolls one of the smaller sick people onto her shoulders, then slowly gets to her feet. "Plus, going down there and investigating wouldn't give us any chance to get these people out of there and into a place where Carina and I can work on them."

Cuetzpalli nods. "We can't risk Zal." Following Astraden's lead he grabs another invalid on the way out.

Alright, so as a recap: It is the 4th of Harvester. The night of the 5th (tomorrow night), Eben purchased tickets for everyone to attend Miomay's Playhouse.

For the 6th, you made plans to help Ms. Crumm, owner of Patchwork, look after her kids while she tailored your garments. Afterwards, you'd go to get makeup and "prosthetics" done by Ril Shimeise, the gnome from the Playhouse. That night, you'd be heading off to Zeech's Banquet.

These plans might have changed now.

What are you going to do for the rest of the day?

Astraden sets down her load and considers. Then she goes back inside and spends the rest of her reserves healing the sick folks. She also grabs the bodies of the deceased and asks Tanith to stow them in the bag of holding for a few hours before burial.

That's 7 heal spells. Even if all the remaining living people are sick, that should get all of them.

She points back west towards the temple district. "I want to give a proper burial to the people who got killed. Olidammaran funeral practices aren't the most complex, but I'll need a few bottles of wine to perform them properly. Might be able to use the boneyard of the Kordians? Anyone who wants to come is welcome," she tells the party and the assembled new non-invalids. "Unless you think your 'caretaker' will handle the burials herself."

If the hobgoblin is in sight after the kerfuffle, Astraden tracks her down. "Sorry for getting you in harm's way. I had no idea the police would respond so quickly."

APs [11/11]
Spells prepared tonight:

• 0-level (4) create water, detect magic, read magic, stabilize
• 1st-level (4+1+D) disguise self (D), shield of faith, shield of faith, shield of faith, --, --
• 2nd-level (4+1+D) bear's endurance, bear's endurance, invisibility (D), owl's wisdom, spiritual weapon, zone of truth
• 3rd-level (4+1+D) communal resist energy, dispel magic, magic circle against evil, magic circle against law, nondetection (D), stone shape
• 4th-level (4+1+D) - chaos hammer (D), death ward, death ward, greater magic weapon, --
• 5th-level (3) - communal air walk, scrying, --
• 6th-level (2) - heal, word of recall (centered on All-Seeing Eye)
• 7th-level (1) - summon monster vii

The night of the 4th, Astraden prepares her silver mirror and spends a long time chanting before eventually trying to pull up Mara's image.

Casting scrying DC 19.

Farrukh will help however he's able, even if that's just carrying corpses.

Tanith shakes his head at Astraden's question. "We could go back and ask their high priest but I don't think he's going to be much help. 'Help' in general is in short supply here."

I shuffled Tanith's prepped spells too:
. . 4th—death ward (2)
. . 3rd—communal align weapon (2), channel vigor (2), wind wall
. . 2nd—bear's endurance, ironskin (3), shield other
. . 1st—bless, divine favor (3), endure elements, remove fear
. . 0 (at will)—create water, detect poison, guidance, light, vigor

Astraden sets down her load and considers. Then she goes back inside and spends the rest of her reserves healing the sick folks. She also grabs the bodies of the deceased and asks Tanith to stow them in the bag of holding for a few hours before burial.

That's 7 heal spells. Even if all the remaining living people are sick, that should get all of them.

She points back west towards the temple district. "I want to give a proper burial to the people who got killed. Olidammaran funeral practices aren't the most complex, but I'll need a few bottles of wine to perform them properly. Might be able to use the boneyard of the Kordians? Anyone who wants to come is welcome," she tells the party and the assembled new non-invalids. "Unless you think your 'caretaker' will handle the burials herself."

"Poor old Furpotia never handles the burials," says an old one-legged half-orc, shaking his head. "She still thinks Prince Zeech will be sending in a shipment of remove disease potions any day now. An acolyte of Wee Jas collects us corpses every few days."

If the hobgoblin is in sight after the kerfuffle, Astraden tracks her down. "Sorry for getting you in harm's way. I had no idea the police would respond so quickly."

"I didn't, either," the hobgoblin says bitterly. "Wish we could've talked our way out of it, but, hey, guess things worked out okay for your lot. I guess anyone who can manage illusions that strong probably has some tricks up her sleeves." She grasps Astraden's hand and shakes it roughly. "Name's Caul. My family and I owe you and your weird bastards a debt. If you ever need a s*!*ton of street helpers who can get work done quick, stop by the Shipping Concern and ask for Mudmouth."

With this, she takes her leave, presumably eager to exercise her new lease on life.

By the way, fun fact: Caul, and Caul alone, rolled a nat 20 on her Will save. From the moment Asraden and Carina healed her, she was seeing you all for exactly who you were, and she makes that obvious when Astraden tracks her down.

Oops, I forgot I wanted to prepare dimensional anchor too. That'll be my last 4th-level spell prepared.

"Thanks for the help, Farrukh," Astraden says as she staggers under the burden of one of the other corpses and shoves it into the mouth of the bag.

Astraden frowns at the description of Furpotia's "planning." "Doesn't sound like she really gave y'all the care you needed. Well, we'll head to the temple district anyways. Worth asking that acolyte of Kord, Selvinne or whatever her name was, before we go to the Jasidians."

Caul:

"We'll call on you if we need help, but goodbye for now. Thanks Caul." Astraden waves the hobgoblin off.

On the walk to the churches:

Astraden comes up alongside Carina. "Do you have any scrying prevention spells in your formula book yet? I was just thinking - I can only cast Olidammara's Observation Obfuscation* once per day, and it only lasts half a day at that. But if I make a scroll of it, you could copy it into your book and make us extracts of it, yeah?" Astraden turns out her pockets. "The only problem is, I've gotta save my money for the damn dresses and s%$@. So we'd need to take the scroll-making materials out of your money, or see if Tanith's got anything in his party stash. Or 'earn' it somehow."

*Nondetection

Carina shakes her head at Astraden. "Nope. A scroll of scrying prevention would go nicely with my other stuff."

"Also, I wanted to ask your--and Tanith's--opinion on something. I've got an idea for my bombs. Specifically, tailoring them to more effectively fight those Blessed Angels when we run into them again."

"I'll help in anyway I can. What'd you have in mind Red? Bigger bombs? Bombs with rocks in them?" Tanith asks helpfully.

"Well..." The undine digs out her formula book and flips to a page detailing her bombs. "...I'm thinking of trying to harness Olidammara's mutable power or Kord's holy might in my bombs. Between you and Astraden, I think I might be able to concoct one of such a type in the near future--I'd need both of your help in imbuing the mixture with divine energy."

"I'd be able to help as well. Olidammara can grant holy might, too. It's just, well, not his."

Need 187.5 gp for the scroll of nondetection (Astraden has diamond dust for it). How much can we scrape together?

Have we picked up any loot since the last payout? Tanith has some spare coin if Astraden is strapped for cash.

Edit: Oh, I missed that this was for Carina's formula book. Yeah, Tanith can cover it.

"In that case, holy might would work better than chaotic power, I think. I'll have to work on this a bit more--definitely not so long as we've got this whole party thing hanging over our heads."

Astraden frowns at the description of Furpotia's "planning." "Doesn't sound like she really gave y'all the care you needed."

"Her mind was gone. Has been for years." The half-orc shrugs. "Was nice to have a roof above our heads while we died, though."

"You know I'll give you all the holy might you can handle", Tanith says with a smirk. "Speaking of the party, should we be trying to learn what's going down and who's going to be there? I know we're only going to get an audience with Lashonna but there might others there with information we can use or maybe make things easier for us to move around the city without the Angels coming down on us every time we wander someplace we're not supposed to be."

"This sounds like the kind of thing Eben usually does?" the big Kordite says in retrospect.

"Yeah, we might. With this kind of bureaucracy you can usually get whatever you want, eventually. Problem is all the paperwork and red tape and licenses and bribes."

"Great." Carina gives Tanith a mock eyeroll and a little smile. "Always happy to hear it, honey."

"And maybe you could help me with my bomb creation as well?"

"You've got it Red."

I know Eben is busyish with his camping trip. Can we assume he spends some time gathering information on this party and those attending or did he have other plans for the rest of the day?

Was Farrukh still planning on sneaking back into that basement? I'm not sure what kind of support the rest of us can offer since the angels see through magical methods of concealment.