KC's Age of Worms

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

"We can also rest up and let Astraden prepare a few divination or scrying spells. And her super-fast flying spell, because that would probably be a more accurate way to drop in than shadow walking and hoping we get reasonably close..."

"Wait, Krekie... is your seagull by any chance a man? Isn't there some sort of ancient rite where, when a monarch dies, that the throne can be taken by whoever's there and has the support of some heavily-armed mercenaries and/or powerful clerics?"

She slips off Marka's ring of protection. "This might do for a crown."

She sizes up the champion of the arena with a worried expression. "... Tanith, do you think you can carry a bird that big?"

Tanith huffs at the challenge. He eyes the enormous dead bird carefully.

How much does the body weight?

"A typical roc is 30 feet long from beak to tail, with an 80-foot wingspan and weight of up to 8,000 pounds."

Since this was a 'king', probably even more.

"It would be a new PR but I could move it. How far were you thinking?"

With rage and the strength domain blessing Tanith can get his strength up to 31 for ~a minute. With that much strength he could drag ~9200 lbs but dragging is super slow.

"Oh, just a few miles." Astraden points downhill in the vague direction of the portal.

"Wait, Krekie... is your seagull by any chance a man? Isn't there some sort of ancient rite where, when a monarch dies, that the throne can be taken by whoever's there and has the support of some heavily-armed mercenaries and/or powerful clerics?"

She slips off Marka's ring of protection. "This might do for a crown."

Krekie stares at Astraden for a long moment. "It's a sea crow," she says irritably.

I'm not saying the "make a new Roc King" plan won't work, but that's only because a part of me really wants to see you try it.

So, I don't know the exact poundage, but a typical roc has a wingspan of 30 ft, and the King had a wingspan of 100 ft, so I'm guessing it's a bit over triple the weight.

If you want to try the "teleport back to Greyhawk and grab some diamonds" plan, you certainly could try that, but you'd have to walk back to the exit to get back to the Material Plane first, and obviously acquire some sort of fast travel back to Tilagos afterward. Not saying it couldn't work, but it would certainly take some time.

Of course, you don't know positively that the Wardens will accept a "Living Feather" just because the roc was technically living when the feather was taken. Certainly they might prefer the roc still be alive, if the fey spirits have enough free will left to care about such things.

"We can drag the bird around and all, sure, but let's do the ambush thing. Soon as Astraden can figure out where they are, we find them and finish this, yeah?"

Carina finds herself nodding in agreement with Cuetzpalli.

"So, camp out up here tonight. Great view if nothing else, plus, well, plenty of fresh poultry if our rations are getting kinda boring. Astraden, what spells do you know that could do this? That scrying spell, another divination, anything more direct information wise? And then do your wind spell and anything we'll need for a big fight with the Hierophant and friends."

Plus maybe find the path, commune, or anything else that's good info-wise?

Astraden spends a few minutes rifling through her backpack, coming up with two loose twigs that give off a slight earthy smell, like cedar or maybe swamp water. "So, good news. I paid for the insurance on these, so regardless of what happens to them they're always worth twenty-five gold pieces, which is enough for a divination. Bad news: They're not a worthy payment for communism. But I could get help finding, say, Zyrxog, with a scrying and stuff."

Astraden can, after praying, cast divination, find the path, wind walk, and greater scrying, but not commune.

Gosh, and I'd have thought Astraden was the most pro-communism member of the group...

"That sounds fine, maybe talking directly to Olidamarra would be overkill anyway. But maybe not scry on Zyrxog, he's spell-resistant. It's easier to scry on someone if you have a piece of them to work with, right? Like hair, toenail clippings, that kinda thing..." he looks over at the former-daemonspawn-now-undine in their midst. "So what if we tried scrying Other Carina using real Carina as a focus?"

"...Wait, can we do that? That sounds like cheating."

"...uh..."

The thought of using herself to spy on Other Carina didn't occur to her until now.

"...not sure if that's how it's supposed to work, but I think it'd be worth a shot."

Tanith's brow furrows in worry.

"You sure about this Red? Is there a chance she'll know you're watching?"

"Honestly? It's possible we're being watched already." Carina sighs.

"I'm not entirely sure this is even going to work, but I feel that any information we can gather on their movements will help us."

"Oh, yeah, one of them will definitely know we're taking a peek, even if it's not her. Darl saw Lashonna's sensor in like, seconds last time we scried them. Zyrxzog is probably smart enough to see it too. We're just going to have to accept that this is going to give them a heads up, because I don't see any other way of being able to find them."

"Sounds good to me. Wanna set up your web tent again so we have somewhere to chill out of the wind? It's gonna be a while until sunset. I think."

"Sure..." Eben says, weaving the shadows again to form a not-really-all-there shelter."Don't suppose you have gentle repose on tap for our feathered buddy over there? I'm concerned he might start to smell and the wind will shift in our direction..." He settles in to a comfortable niche. "So, Krekie, this is probably the best time to tell use what you can about Darl's group. We know there's him and the 'cuttlefish', presumably he's a top tier priest and we know Zyrxog has mental powers and is a mean sorcerer to boot. What else? There's an efreet, is he the one riding the cauchemar? Is he just an efreet, or does he have more tricks up his sleeve. And then there's Carina's not-exactly-but-kind-of-twin, who we don't know anything about, really. Plus at least one more, dresses like her." No having anything better to do with his spells for the moment, Eben conjures up a series of illusions recreating the individuals they've seen so far from Lashonna's brief scry session.

Shadow conjuration and silent image.

Krekie considers the question carefully. "Yes, the efreeti rides Black Fire, the nightmare. Pompous types. They were exiled for trying to kill the Sultan of Div, I suppose. He's a very good rider, wields a flaming falchion. There's also a fiend, Nalhaarath. Big horns, spiked chain. Seems to have a deal with Darl. We--they have a minotaur, too. She's a berserker, but she casts spells, too. Big axe."

Her beady black eyes fix on Carina. "And the Sinfires. A martial artist and an alchemist. Tieflings. The mother has a strange fighting style. Darl said she stole it from the ancients. It reminds me of him, how he fights." She flicks her head to Farrukh. "And, well, the daughter's talents I think you are familiar with, yes?"

She hesitates. "Darl... is not good at dodging, and knows it. His robe of eyes makes him vulnerable to gaze attacks, as well. He will guard himself carefully and conceal himself as much as possible. Dispelling magic might be wise against him. His god does much to protect him, though. None of you alone can match the strongest magics he wields." Her eyes settle on Astraden and Tanith.

"The brain-eater is a sorcerer, as maybe I think you know. Very tricky. Very strong magic, from what I have seen, though none much stronger than yours, MacTeague. He likes to draw in new servants from wherever he goes, so..." She makes a clucking sound to indicate concern. "If we are lucky, he has not encountered any landsharks."

You all already know devil resistances and immunities thanks to all your previous clashes with them. Knowledge (planes) applies to efreet, nightmares and devils.

Cuetzpalli frowns, "Sounds like we're in for a proper fight."

What would the Knowledge check be on what the robe of eyes does, since that's a pretty big impediment to some of our standard tactics? Arcana?

Eben listens intently and then nods along with Cuetzpalli. Although maybe a little paler faced. "That's... more of them than even I was expecting. This could be tough."

Age of Worms: the Revenge of the Action Economy.

Arcana, I think.

Eben thinks about what he's heard of robes with eyes on them. Knowledge (Arcana): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25
Meanwhile, Forzamele contemplates his own second-hand knowledge of planar creatures, first regarding the efreet:
Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18
Eben's aid another check for that:
Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Sheesh, maybe Forzamale should Aid Eben instead. Oh, well, too late, already declared.
And then what sort of fiend Nalhaarath might be:
Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
And Eben's aid another check for that:
Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

And then, as he thinks about it... "Wait, how does Other Carina have a mother? I thought she was just Carina's split off daemonic essence, where did she get family members out of this?"

Carina winces at the mention of the name 'Sinfire'.

"...she'd be Sabir Sinfire." She sighs.

"My mother by blood."

"Oh. Well. That's nice and dramatic." Eben pauses, not sure that quipping is appropriate, but since that leaves nothing but silence to fill the air, things aren't exactly less awkward. "Um. I think I remeber your mentioning her now. You learned about her from the Apostolic Scroll, right? Oh, hey..." he says, brightening, and gliding along with the topic, "That's a resource I forgot we had. If Astraden's information gathering isn't enough, we can always ask it something big. It's gotta be lonely by now because we keep forgetting to talk to it..."

Confirmation that efreeti are wish-granters and the circumstances under which they'll grant them?

"Uh... the robe of eyes might be annoying, he'll be able to see all around him and see things he normally wouldn't, like people covered with a very smart bard's greater invisibility. Plus it'll be hard to take him by surprise or get an advantage in ganging up on him. On the plus side, it has some drawbacks, like Krekie said, it makes him vulnerable to gaze attacks, so if one of us is secretly a medusa, now's the time to pipe up. Also if you cast a light spell right on the robe, it'll blind him for a bit, that might actually be worth trying to exploit somehow...."

You receive that confirmation.

Carina's eyes light up. "I do have flashbangs!"

"Worth lobbing one at him and seeing, but that might not be enough. I think it's more like, you need to cause the whole robe to light up at once so all the eyes get blinded at the same time. Ironically, a cantrip could do it. Maybe if Tanith got close..."

"Oh, and Forzi didn't recognize the fiend description, but had some input on efreeti. Like what we already know, they're big bruisers, outsiders with fire powers, evil but like to follow their own rules (kinda like devils), and... well, they can grant wishes. So that's something to keep in mind... if things go wrong and one of us goes down before Astraden or Carina can revive us, if we leave him for last, maybe we can threaten him into wishing a person back to life. Or, hey, maybe the Roc King."

"All these things and people with the ability to see invisible stuff makes me glad I don't try to sneak around much anymore. In the stories you hear all about these great rogues who sneak around and steal the eyes right out of a demon's head or whatever. What a load of crap."

He looks sad for a moment. "I used to really like those stories..."

Knowledge (planes) on efreeti: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Knowledge (planes) on nightmares: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21
Knowledge (planes) on Nalhaarath: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

"Funny how those stories all happened at some point before Zagyg failed to imprison Olidammara. Seems like someone on the cosmic scale is sore about rogues."

Astraden shares what she knows about nightmares and the horned devil. "We should try and protect our mouths and noses around the nightmare, by the way. They breathe smoke, kind of like a halfling. And the fiend is actually mentioned in this cool book I read when I was a kid. Nalhaarath is a horned devil. There's something about them that makes people afraid to meet them up close - also kind of like a halfling, with a knife."

Divination or greater scrying first?
Oh also, do we want align weapon or anything like that?

I think scrying first, then divination to fine-tune it, ask any needed followup questions, apostolic scroll in case both of those leave us lacking. Find the path once we're airborne to take us to the scryed location, and if they've moved from there in the time between, Cuetzpalli or Farrukh can track them.

Aside from the devil, I don't know that having good-aligned weapons is necessary for this fight, and the Cuetz/Farrukh/Tanith damage output likely far exceeds his DR, but... it couldn't hurt, if you have an available 3rd level slot. But don't bend over backwards to make it happen.

I also have holy bombs, dispelling bombs, force bombs... I should be able to contribute, however slightly, to the coming battle.

Oh, yeah, I imagine dispelling bombs will be very, very handy. Not to mention you're one of our two breath-of-life-ers.

So I assume everyone is set with planning? Shall we just rest and do the scrying them?

Eben settles down into a webby hammock and closes his eyes.

Yeah, I think the group is decided. I'm just working out what Astraden will get from the scrying and/or waiting to see if they want to post a specific thing for the spellcasting. Mainly the former.

After another restful day of contemplation inside the spider spit tent, Astraden arises. She retrieves her shield.

Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25

She then slides the shield under Carina's pillow and summons water into it, beginning the invocation of seeing far away.

Greater scrying on the other Carina.

Will Save: 1d20 + 12 - 10 ⇒ (12) + 12 - 10 = 14

Strictly speaking, only Astraden gets to see this, but that's kind of boring and she'll be narrating everything over anyways, so we'll leave it unspoilered and let everybody interact however they like--though it still requires spells to communicate directly (detect chaos, detect evil, detect good, detect law, detect magic, read magic, tongues, and notably message all transfer).

The water in the shield swirls and foams into a wild whirlpool, then clears.

You see sandy earth and hear the flowing of distant waves. A dainty figure in a dark crimson hooded cloak sits upon a log of driftwood, hunched and silent as it mixes concoctions between two vials.

Nearby, a hulking armored minotaur nurses a brutal shoulder wound and watches the figure with glittering eyes.

"Sinfire, you have a voyeur." That soft, weak, delicate voice again, coming from just out of sight.

The figure looks up sharply. You catch a flash of crimson skin, wide, bright red eyes, dark hair. There is a gaunt wildness to those features. Heavy bags hang under her eyes, as if she hasn't slept in days--or weeks. She snarls and ducks her head.

"Ah, I don't believe I recognize this sensor," the voice goes on. The blue-robed man called Darl Qethos steps into view, smiling thinly at you. "I take it this is Astraden's spell. Very clever, using that little connection against us." He glances down at the figure as she begins to rise. "No, no, stay, Ms. Sinfire. No sense in revealing anything more than they've already seen."

The figure sits back down, letting out a low hiss of displeasure.

Darl looks back to the sensor. "Well, then. If I had to hazard a guess, you went looking for the bird first? That's very unfortunate for you. It seems we've beaten you to it. A dead feather won't please those fey constructs too much, I don't think. Unless you have resurrection magic, as I do." His smile widens slightly. "Perhaps not. Well, we're down by Krathanos, as you can see, licking our wounds. Perhaps we might arrange some sort of trade?"

Eben has message; anyone who wants to say something can just say it out lound and I'll relay it. Assuming it's not something appallingly juvenile, Astraden. (Don't know that this particular cantrip has ever been useful like this to me before.)

"Oh, ok..." says Eben, out loud to the local group as Astraden describes the scene, "I think I can send a cantrip through the pool and reply to Darl. We should probably keep him talking long enough to figure out where he is."

Keep him on the line so we can trace the call!

"Trade? Yeah. We can trade blows!" Cuetzpalli says, frowning at the narration.

"Hm. Such a shame your countrymen's first instinct is to resort to violence, Astraden."

Eben winces as Cuetzpalli goes the expected route but relays it regardless. He gives his own followup, however: "Some of us are perhaps more upset than others at the destruction of a magnificent specimen among its kind like the Roc King. Surely someone with your resources had the means to get a feather from it and still leave it alive?"

"That would have been the sporting thing to do, I suppose." Darl Qethos shrugs his shoulders apologetically. "Perhaps I've just learned to be wary of leaving poultry unattended."

"Hey... says Eben, to the group huddled around Astraden and not via message, "I called the Roc King poultry last night as a joke. Is he letting us know he's been scrying us too? That's just rude!" he says, hypocritically.

...between this and the Marquis, I think I'm definitely considering taking detect scrying next level.

"He wouldn't even be talking to you right now if he didn't think he could get something out of it," Krekie says, shifting from talon to talon. "Information is power to him."

"Perhaps he seeks to goad us?" Clunk suggests.

Darl patiently waits, still smiling slightly.

Astraden scans for lawful auras in through the pool, focusing on the three figures revealed thus far.

Detect law.