Krystallos: Blue Quartz

Game Master JGray

For a brief moment Dawna looks straight at Leiko and considers. "I'll stay with you then. I just hope nothing bad happens in the mean time."

She takes her sword, shield and backpack, as well as the gloves of her armour off.

As the group of strangers gathered around a table, an arrangement of steaming pots already in place after Kintals endeavors, Milo looked around at everyone with curiosity. "So, now that everything isn't so hectic and the more worrisome subjects of conversation have been dispensed with..." He slapped his hands together and rubbed them as he sat down, quickly beginning to select his meal. "...Maybe, we get to know one another a little better? I should like to know who I might eventually entrust my life to, beyond a name and profession." He put down his filled plate. "That, and you all seem the sort to atleast have an interesting story to tell. I might even write some of it down."

"not much to tell for my story really, I have been a down on his luck mercenary/ bodyguard ever since I left the ruby city."

"Surely theres more to it than that." Milo said through a stuffed mouth, his cheeks visibly bulging under the strain of the mouthful he was currently battling. "I mean, and pardon me if im mistaken, but you look like one of those, ah whats the word." He stopped to think and swallow. Tapping his spoon to his chin thoughtfully he finally perked up with realization. "...Slayers! Yes, thats it, Slayers. I remember reading about them in passing. I mostly just remember the visual queues though. What are the Slayers like? Some sort of warrior brotherhood I take it?"

Yes, I am intentionally creating potential trouble here, but also leaving Milo on a knowledge level where Telthes can avoid talking about it.

"In a manner of speaking yes. The reality is far more complex than that and this is far to little alcohol for such a tale."

No alcohol at all, in fact, beyond cooking wine. The Cult of the Quiet Hand is a dry order.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

Somehow noticing the reluctance in Telthes' reply, Milo decided further inquiry was likely to at best strain their work together, at worst be hazardous to his health. "Ahem, very good." He said, a bit sheepishly. "So, uhm, who wants to go next?"

Kintal suddenly disappears to the back before returning with a small burner and a bubbling bowl of chocolate, together with a large plate of strawberries. Setting the items down, he draws his sword, spears a strawberry, dips it in the melted chocolate, and then flips his rapier tossing the chocolate covered morsel into the air before catching it in his mouth.

Desert is served, fondue for all.

Looking over at Milo, he smiles.
As I said before, I have travelled through many lands. The Jade Kingdom, Pearl Islands, Tourmaline, and many other lands. In every land, I have learned of the local cuisine to improve my palate and cooking skills. I am known as the performing chef, and usually make cooking into a show.

"Thanks." she smiles as she inhales the promising smell. "You are indeed a genius with making delicious food." She does struggle with herself whether she really eat all of it, though. It is delicious, but she is used to controlling her appetite in order to remain an exemplary paladin.

"Have you ever worked for the court of Amethyst before? I've never been to the Pearl Islands myself, but recently I've travelled quite for on myself. Before that my greatest adventures were scouting and exploration missions at the borders of the swamped forests on the onyx peninsula. There were times I wish I had but a dry field ration but had to eat whatever I found." It seems she remembers that time with very mixed feelings.

Kintal smiles back at the paladin between savoring bites of his food.
Hmmm, Amethyst. Yup, been there. Nice people. The love a good show. My cooking performances tended to draw fairly big crowds. Onyx on the other hand. Kintal shivers. There is something seriously wrong there. People there were more interested in the slaughtering of the animal than the food. I didn't spend much time there as they sort of freaked me out.

"Loosing Onyx was something that should never have happened and showed us how vulnerable we can really be. But, whatever remains there, I don't think it still turns to the crystal giants, but to the aliens and their magic." She shakes her head as if to shake off the thought.

"So you cook for large amounts of people as well? Doesn't quantity make quality suffer?"

You're thinking of Obsidian, Dawna. Onyx is the volcano where the Illithid live and practice their devotions to Onyx, the Totem of Death and the Mind. Which isn't a bad thing as Onyx is who guides the dead to the afterlife. Obsidian is the land that was lost.

After a wonderful meal, provided by the skilled Kintal, plans are made for the female members of the party to go and guard the orphanage.

"I will write you a letter of introduction if you wish," Sister Jenya says, "But the children were kidnapped three nights ago and there hasn't been an additional kidnapping there since. Are you sure exposing yourself to the rain and depriving yourself of sleep are the best ways to help the missing?"

"I'm not, but a friend is a friend."

Dawna nods politely to the elder sister. "I prefer to spend the night there either way, I would appreciate a commendation from you. Did I understand that correctly, that there are more people missing throughout Blue Crystal City? Not just only children?"

Sister Jenya sighs wearily. "Yes. A number of missing persons cases in the last... I'm not even sure how long. It isn't an easy thing to track, mind. People in Blue Quartz simply get up and move all the time. They have artistic inspiration to go to another city in the middle of the night, for example, or occasionally someone gets drunk and manages to fall off the giant. Now, though, things have gotten worse. When the children went missing, we decided we had to investigate. We could not sit idly by and wait for more to vanish."

Moving forward...

If anyone has any other questions for Sister Jenya concerning the missing people, please make note of it in your post under a bolded header of Questions for Sister Jenya and I'll answer them in a separate section.

After dinner, the new companions split up along gender lines. The women head to the orphanage while the men stay at the Temple of the Quiet Hand.

Not seeing anything untoward, and not expecting anything unexpected in the temple, Kintal rolls out of his hammock at the noise, and picks up his rapier, just in case there are rats violating the sanctity of the food stores.

Move: Stand up
Standard: pick up/draw rapier

5-foot step -- down and diagonally to the right

Dawna listens to Tashykk patiently and smiles encouragingly on occasion. While she is not sure she likes the way he stares at her, she certainly does like the way he is wax in her hand. She looks at the paintings and tries her best to memorize the looks of the missing kids. Since she has no particular trust in Tashyyk's artistic ability she rather tries to memorize particular marks, hair colour and such things.

She twitches a bit at being addressed with "man", even though it was probably just a colloquial expression, neither Leiko nor she were men. And very clearly not.

"That nightmare Jose had... did he remember it particularly well? Has he had nightmares of that evil gnomes before or was a story of such a gnome told the evening before? Is he suffering from a breathing disorder - asthma or so? And the kids that disappeared... how did they feel about living in an orphanage? I mean were they the kind inclined to break out?"

She is a bit surprised about the quality of the locks. In a place like this she would have rather expected locks that were virtually painted onto the doors.

"I will need to have a look at the sleeping halls, but not while the children are sleeping in there. That can wait until the morning. What do you think, Leiko?"

"Mmmh, wha? Whats going on?" Milo asked drowsily, raising his head from his pillow with all the majesty of a dog, his hair a wild unrestrained mop. Smacking his lips he looking around in a daze. Looking at Kintal, he almost made to turn away and go back to sleep, when he noticed the rapier in his hand. "What the..." He said with a start, sitting up on suddenly looking very much awake. "What are you doing Kintal, is something wrong?" He asked with big scared eyes, starting in a normal tone but quickly lowering it to a whisper.

Even as he asked, he reached down and scooped his reagent belt out of his belongings.

Retrieve reagents, but otherwise stay sitting in his hammock.

"I think that anyone capable of walking on the side of buildings is capable of using magic to open any mundane lock." Leiko still didn't expect to find anything useful here, but went along with Dawna. Leiko was quite sure they were on a wild goose chase and were needlessly interrogating poor Tashykk.

"He remembered an evil gnome and his breath being stolen. It isn't a nightmare he's, like, had before but..." Mr. Tashykk shrugs his shoulders. "The kids we get are, you know, not the happiest when they come here. A lot of them have nightmares. I don't think these kids walked out on their own, either. They'd have had to have, well, unlocked the doors, walked out of the room, and locked them again. There's no keys missing. From us, anyway."

Meanwhile, in the Temple...

ROUND ONE

The red dot greyscale masker steps forward and attempts to stab Telthes with a dagger while the dwarf is still in his cot. Telthes is at -4 to his AC due to being prone in addition to being flatfooted (the maskers go first) and without his armor. His adjusted AC is 6.

Red dot Masker attack on Telthes: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20
Red dot Masker damage on Telthes: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Telthes' Fortitude save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Telthes take 7 damage and is now at 8 hit points.

As the noise wakes up the sleeping adventurers and they struggle from their hammock, a figure steps out of the shadows next to Telthes. It is a Greyscale Masker and a dwarven one, at that, judging from the height and the build. The Masker raises his dagger and brings it down, stabbing into Telthes' unprotected side.

Stealth check: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Telthes' Perception check w/ circumstance modifier: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
Kintal's Perception check w/circumstance modifier: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14
Milo's Perception check w/ circumstance modifier: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

ROUND ONE STILL ONGOING
We're waiting on Telthes to post his action. Please wait until he's posted before posting your actions for round 2. The map has been updated.

"I think that anyone capable of walking on the side of buildings is capable of using magic to open any mundane lock."

"... and close it afterwards?" Dawna asks around and considers. She doesn't really know a lot about magic. "Well, it's gonna be a long night. I am gonna post myself in front of one of the rooms..."

Anything else may wait until the morning I think. Sorry I dragged you into this, Leiko... Dawna is simply the type needs to do something.

"I dunno, maybe? Doors are more of arcane thing."

Leiko's cool with that.

Leiko'll give it the place a once over to humor Dawna.

Perception: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (14) + 16 = 30

I can see basically nothing on the map, not even the square I started in.

Telthes will roll out of his bed, grabbing his axe and raging as the pain courses through him. he will use the momentum from rolling off the bed to add to his damage.

Rage

grab weapon.

5ft step

Hit red grayscale mask with axe (power attack) 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22 for 1d12 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16 20 str (+7), power attack (+3), zest for battle (+1)

Assuming I take him down with that hit I will spit on his bleeding corpse.

"we are under attack."

Unless you were sleeping with your axe in a hammock, you can't attack this round. Getting out of bed is a move action. Grabbing your axe from where it was resting is a move action.

I also believe I fixed the problem. Can you check to map to see if you can see now?

Unless you were sleeping with your axe in a hammock, you can't attack this round. Getting out of bed is a move action. Grabbing your axe from where it was resting is a move action.

I also believe I fixed the problem. Can you check to map to see if you can see now?

I can see the map better now. I missed the getting out of bed = move action. So I guess I can't attack this round?

Even Leiko carries a dagger to bed, and she doesn't wear armor all the time like most.

Even Leiko carries a dagger to bed, and she doesn't wear armor all the time like most.

It would still be a move action to draw, and Telthes is so poor he couldn't afford a dagger

I thought you could draw as part of a move action, and standing is a move action.

I thought you could draw as part of a move action, and standing is a move action.

But then couldn't I "draw" from the floor beside me as I stood?

I was presuming you'd have your axe on you. :P

Regardless, you could probably stay prone and hack his legs off with that roll.

If Telthes would like to stay prone I'm willing to adjust his attack roll - say he did a move action to grab the axe from the floor and then attacked.

If Telthes would like to stay prone I'm willing to adjust his attack roll - say he did a move action to grab the axe from the floor and then attacked.

That works for me.

"Um.. Huh. There are patterned scratch marks on the inside of the locks. Doesn't seem to be as random as lockpicks would be. Maybe the donation wasn't as magnanimous as we might have hoped."

Kintal would have probably been sleeping in his chain shirt since it is light armor and there is no penalty for sleeping in light armor. I did not post this before so you are welcome to consider him to be unarmored.

With his rapier in hand, Kintal moves down the hall listening for the sound again.
Something bad is happening. We need to make sure that the Emerald Totem clerics are safe.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 <-- listening for any sign of what and where the scream came from

"Yes, ofcourse, uh, certainly!" Milo said with urgency, though his face betrayed his reluctance to go searching for trouble. Fumbling with his reagent belt to secure it at his waist, he followed the halfling. Passing Telthes, he spared a sideways glance at the wound with a worried look. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Move Action, secure belt, Convert Standard Action to anoter move to follow Kintal.

"Pattern? What does that mean? Is that a security feature of the locks or has it been applied when the kids were taken?" Dawna speaks with lowered voice, so she will not wake the sleeping children and looks a little puzzled.

"Um...... I'm not much of a locksmith to say. But I don't THINK it's a security feature."

"Hmm... alright. I don't think there is anything to be done here for now. So it's gonna be a long night, I suppose. You don't happen to have a deck of cards or a few dice? Or would you like to tell me about your family?" She smiles. "I must admit that I was a bit selfish when I asked you to join me, I didn't want to do this without good company."

Telthes will get up and move to engage the next mask.

"If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to undrench myself and then get sleep. Prayer seems to do little help in regaining my totem's powers if I haven't a clear enough mind to form words."

Kintal is torn between moving to investigate the clear sounds of conflict from the direction of the Sister's chamber, and the clear wounds apparent on his new dwarven friend's body. Hoping to accomplish both, he slides toward the Sister's chamber while stabbing at the Masker.

Attack-rapier: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Although not deadly, the poke undoubtedly smarts.

Out of the way fool. There is a Sister to be rescued.

Will use Opportune Parry and Repose if attacked.

Seeing Telthes continue to stand in spite of the ever increasing amount of wounds and the rather horrific volume of blood escaping his body, Milo was in awe at his endurance. "Most impressive!" He thought, before snapping back to the matter at hand. Weighing his options, he dashed forward, his surroundings distorting as he neared the Maskers reach. As he drew within striking distance, reality seemed to give way completely, floor and ceiling seeming to bleed into each other and run like wet paint. Then suddenly, as it had done before, everything righted itself with an audible popping sound. From his new position, he continued to move, before turning back and uttering a quick incantation. One hand tracing signs in the air, the other reached for one of the many pockets in his belt. Moving his hands forward, he slapped his palms together, the contents of his belt made clear as a shower of sand blasted from between his fingers. As it fanned out in the air with great force, it sparked a flashed, changing color in a rapid successions of blues, reds and yellows.

Milo uses Dimensioal Slide do get past the melee without drawing an attack of opportunity, then turns around and shoots a Color Spray directly East, thus barely missing Telthes. Will save DC 15 for the Masker or:

Unconscious: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 3) = 5 rounds. There are more effects but the unconscious part should be the only relevant one. This is assuming the enemies have at most 2 hit dice.