Round 2
Tristain blindly activates the wand of bless while he tries to get the glitter from his eyes so he can see what evil thing is about to suck out his soul.
Will
Round 2, Initiative: 18
Weapon Equipped = Scimitar
Cold Iron/Silver Blanch Bolts = 20/20
Cold Iron/Ghost Salt Bolts = 20/20
Conditions = Bull’s Strength (31/70r), Divine Favor (2/10r), Bless (1/10r)
Scimitar: Attack: BAB +3, Str +4, Magic +1, Focus +1, (Power -1) Damage: Str +4, Magic +1, (Power +2) Crit: 18-20
Ranged: Attack: BAB +3, Dex +1 Damage: Str +4
Blessings (su)(5/5) (DC 14) (Holy Strike (std) or Powerful Healer) (sw)
Fervor (su, sw) (3/4) (DC 14, 2d6)
Sacred Weapon (su, sw)(5/5r)(+1)
Pearl of Power (first) 1/1
Spells (Caster Level 5, Concentration +7)
Zero (12): Create Water, Detect Magic, Light, Stabilize
First (13): Command,
Second (14):
Kyffin takes his AoO on the head, even with the resistance.
(bull, favor) (bull, favor)
He then tries to duck out of the way of the shards.
vs DC 17 for half of 9hp (4hp)
Finally, he crosses the room (diagonally SW twice), chasing after the undead, and swings again, this time with bless!
(bull, favor, bless) (bull, favor)
(bull, favor, bless) (bull, favor, 2hp is fire)
Kyffin kills the poor undead creature with extreme prejudice.
Alberts resists the ice shards and is pleased to see the undead creature destroyed. "Maybe we should investigate this storeroom thoroughly before moving on, seems like them folks have a load of weird things and hidden secrets in here." Al will stand guard again if the party gives the room a complete searching.
Tenebrynn winces as the shards bite into her, but shrugs off the small cuts as the creature falls. She sighs, raking one hand through her constantly moving shock of hair, ”Why is everything around us so weird and gross?” Her lament voiced, she nods to Al and start hunting through bedroom, though she steers wide of the entrails and fallen body.
Kyffin cleans his blade, satisfied that this undead won't haunt others for now at least.
He too keeps guard while others search - standing by the door the creature was attempting to flee out of in case someone heard the battle and chooses to come in.
Tenebrynn looks through the room, starting with the the spacious armoire, which is rather disorganized and grimy, and contains an eclectic collection of expensive clothing — an ample cloak, a fur coat, an Qadiran-styled frock, a couple of silk turbans, a wide-brimmed hat, and a half-dozen shirts with lace-trimmed collars and sleeves.
In a worn-out greatcoat, hanging from a peg near the door to the corridor, is a folded piece of parchment — a permit to visit an inmate of Briarstone Asylum named Ulver Zandalus, issued by Administrator Losandro.
As you read the note, you experience a brief flash of memory, where you, Tristain, Kyffin and Heinrich -- as well as the dead Belzoni -- accompany the count to a dreamlike desert and speak to an old man called the Mad Poet.
On the writing desk lies a disorderly stack of handwritten notes, which seems to be records of dreams. The last note mentions someone called the Mad Poet, who told the count to look for a book called the Necronomicon. It concludes with a darker bent: "This revelatory dream has cost me much … The sacrifice of the minds of my five companions has put them into a fugue state, but they yet live, unable to remember their lives or react to outside stimuli. Now I must turn them over to the warden of Briarstone Asylum, according to our agreement, never to see them again."
Will
Tristain stops panicking once he removes the glitters from his eyes, still frightened. When his vision does clear and he stops shaking, he will glance an eye or two at the undead that ravaged his eyes.
Know (Religion)
”Oh...its a penanggalen! You said vampire, which it somewhat is...but more importantly, Kyffin, is what IS IT DOING HERE!? What is wrong with this place!?” Tristain retreats for a few moments of head bonking so he can think about the monstrosities of this place.
”This town gets worse and worse. I can’t wait to leave here. I can’t wait.”
Tenebrynn emerges from the wardrobe bedecked in all but one of the shirts and two of the turbans, though one turban is precariously balanced atop the wide brimmed hat which her hair seems to struggle against of its own accord. She holds up one arm, waving a note she found, looking something like a flying squirrel thanks to the overly large sleeves.
”Oh, hey! Look at this! Losandro at Briarstone gave Lowls a vistor’s ticket. Looks like Lowls was visiting Zandalus.”
She looks up at the others, adjusts her turbaned hat, and shrugs. ”Maybe all the weird, gross stuff like not-doctor doctors and not-vampire vampires isn’t us? Maybe it’s been Lowls.”
On the writing desk lies a disorderly stack of handwritten notes, which seems to be records of dreams. The last note mentions someone called the Mad Poet, who told the count to look for a book called the Necronomicon. It concludes with a darker bent: "This revelatory dream has cost me much … The sacrifice of the minds of my five companions has put them into a fugue state, but they yet live, unable to remember their lives or react to outside stimuli. Now I must turn them over to the warden of Briarstone Asylum, according to our agreement, never to see them again."
Kyffin picks up the note and reads it aloud. "Five companions huh. Bet that's us. Bastard sacrificed us for some dream or other from this Mad Poet. Damn that's cold."
He agrees with Tristain, "No doubt brother, no doubt. This is crazy. Let's get going, I feel like killing something." He growls as the moves to the door.
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Heinrich frowns. 'He sold us to gain some DREAM? My sanity for SOME DAMN DREAM?!?" Heinrich's face twists with anger. "I had a gods-damned life! I had memories! That sonuva tentacled whore must die!" He shakes with anger.
Tenebrynn perks up when Kyffin mentions the Mad Poet. ”Mad Poet? I remember him! Sort of. We visited him with Lowls in that weird desert.” A few beats pass before she jolts, ”Hey! I actually remember that! Do you guys?”
Tristain puts down the note, having the same flash of memory as the others.
"Well yeah, I remember now. But how do we know it's a real memory or just implanted by this note? Have any of you considered that we're not real, and instead just getting new memories as we interact with objects in this mad town!?" Tristain goes back to bonking as his view of reality comes under question again.
*bonk*
*bonk*
*bonk*
"How do we know these memories are real? How? How is any of this real? What was that monster in the attic? And this vampire head here? Why? How? It doesn't make sense, does it?"
Tristain takes some time to recover, and will eventually be ready to move on.
"It doesn't matter, I suppose, if it's real or implanted. Memories are all we have now and we must be glad to have anything back. But either way, I think this is the fault of Lowls. That man has taken from us what no thing has the right to take - our very selves. We must make him pay for what he has done. And at the very least, his revelations were bought by us and I intend to own what I bought."
Tristain slowly stops bonking, turning his head to Heinrich. He nods slowly, not agreeing necessarily, but willing to think upon what Heinrich has said.
”We should move on to the next horror. It’s probably waiting for us and wondering where we are. Maybe it’s another crying door.” Tristain seems ready to shuffle after Kyffin.
"Sounds like you folks been running with the wrong crowd." Albert comments after hearing the note. "This Lowls fellow needs a reckoning for what he's done. If he called you companions and still sacrificed you all, then image what he's done to everyone else with the misfortune of being near him."
As you get ready to move on, you check the doors -- the one to the west opens into a hallway running north and south.
The one to the south opens up to study: The walls of this room are lined with fine wood panels. The furniture includes a desk sitting under a window opposite the door, a high-backed chair, and a couple of small bookcases packed tight with scrolls, volumes, and notebooks. A trunk stands near the door.
You realize it will take hours to go through everything here.
Kyffin takes a quick look at the last thing on the top of the desk, but otherwise leaves things as they are. 'We should investigate this when we have more time." he turns to Tristain, "No burning this place down until we've looked through here. OK?"
He waits for others to look around, briefly, before heading south in the hallway, hoping to stretch his Bull's Strength to one more combat...
"Are you guys *sure* you don't want to stay in here, in safety, with all the books? Seems like a nice quiet place with no monsters or body-less apparitions or anything? We could all read a book and share stories from the books, yes, let's do that," Tristain begins to make a nice book chair-nest so he could read all day and night long.
Tenebrynn shoots a pleading look to the others as Tristain suggests sitting down and reading for the rest of the day. "Do... we have to?"
Heinrich nods at Tristain. "I agree. Why not take the time now? What is the hurry? These documents could hold the key to our missing lives."
"Fine. Proceed at your leisure, and I'll wait here then. I'm sure there's nothing else dangerous here. Why don't I pop back into town for some tea while you read?"
Kyffin sits down heavily, and lets his preparations for battle expire while the party, unsafely, reads. He eyes the entry to their chamber, but does not stand near it, preferring to let another member take up the watch as he's to be ignored in favor of the truly insane.
"Fine. Proceed at your leisure, and I'll wait here then. I'm sure there's nothing else dangerous here. Why don't I pop back into town for some tea while you read?"
Tristain looks surprised at Kyffin’s words. ”What? You have tea?”
"Let's at least search and see if anything of importance jumps out at us. It won't take so long."
Albert takes a stand by the door. "We've been flailing all over this dang countryside with no answers from no one about anything. The few scraps we do know came from books, notes, and files. We've finally found our connection to Lowls, by reading mind you'all, so heck yea we're staying here while the boy reads for a few hours. Lowls' study is the best chance we've had to finally get a few answers in this whole forsaken town. Now quit lollygagging and watch out that window while he's reading."
Heinrich smiles and begins to sift through the mountain of notes and knowledge.
Tristain settles into work, trusting Albert to watch the window and Kyffin the door, Tristain hits the desk, reading and researching for all he's worth.
"I'll start here, Heinrich. Maybe you hit the bookcase? Either one is fine," Tristain says, carefully opening drawers and taking them out, looking for anything interesting. "Kyffin, you were joking about the tea, huh?"
Tenebrynn throws her head back and groans loudly as Al grumpily asserts that the group will indeed sit tight and read for hours on end. "We didn't do enough reading back in Briarstone? But it's so booooring!"
Once she consigns herself to her fate, she vanishes beneath the desk only to somehow appear a few moments later on top of one of the bookcases. She sits atop the tall case for a few long seconds, swinging her feet before hoping down to the ground, popping open the trunk, and then vanishing inside of it.
Her head bursts back out of the trunk a few seconds later, some of the trunk's contents lazily wafting down to the floor on small, unseen zephyrs. With a deep sigh, she lets her arms droop over the lip of the chest along with her chin and she opines, "Are we done reading yet?"
Heinrich nods and begins to systematically pull books down in a display of book-fu to rival the ages.
Kyffin settles down, despite the lack of tea, as the others attack the contents of the study.
On the first bookshelf, Heinrich finds a wide variety of books, many of them focused on old cults and other occult lore.
Tristain and Al start sorting through the mess on the desk, unrolling a scroll that turns out to be an annotated map showing Lake Encarthan and the lands to the south. Someone has drawn a route from Thrushmoor to Xer in Razmiran, then traced a line down the Sellen River to Cassomir, and then marked the coast to Katheer.
Xer (pronounced ZER) is an important port on the banks of Lake Encarthan and the Glass River. It serves as one of the two main ports for all Razmiran, and much of the trade goods that flow from across the lake are funnelled through Xer. The importance of Xer means it is tightly controlled by the priests of Razmir, who collect tithes from every business in Xer—since anyone who lives in Xer must be a worshiper of Razmir, they collect from everyone.
Cassomir is located at the mouth of the Sellen River, and is the second largest settlement in the empire of Taldor. It acts as a major trade city, and through its ports enter goods from the Inner Sea, as well as from nations to the north that utilize the Sellen as a trade route. Cassomir is also home to the greatest of Taldor's imperial shipyards, even though the majority of the fleet itself is stationed in Oppara.
Katheer, also known as "Glorious Golden Katheer", is the capital city of Qadira, and serves as the seat of power for the Satrap Xerbystes II. The city is the center of trade for goods to and from the distant Empire of Kelesh, as well as from throughout the Inner Sea. Each day, ships arrive from and depart for the major trading ports throughout the Inner Sea region, including Quantium, Absalom, and Katapesh. Katheer is also renowned as a center for learning, and contains dozens of academies of mathematics, philosophy, and healing.
Unfortunately, as Tristain glances over another page ... it suddenly explodes, hurtling him and Al across the room and scattering papers everywhere!
Before the explosion, Tenebrynn spends a little time in the travel trunk, which fortunately is unlocked. Inside are a number of books as well as at least two scrolls, but she loses interest before taking in more than a few of the titles, including "Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax," "In Admiration of Keeping Pacts," and "Men and Vultures: Denizens of the Darkened Depths and Dead Skies."
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Kyffin sits bored in the corner gazing out the window wondering about their future. When Tristain and Al are blown across the room though, he can't help but laugh heartily - though he does apologize for it.
He gets up, takes out the wand, and helps any in need. Job done, he moves back to his corner, after a good stretch, and settles back in.
Reflex
Tristain *barely* turns the book away from his face and towards Al before it detonates. He still is forced back, clunking his head into the wall (and not the good clunking either). ”OW!”
Tristain looks around to see if another are hurt, rubbing the back of his head in annoyance.
”What the hell? Who would do that?! IN A BOOK, no less!” Tristain seems much more angry about that than anything else since he’s rebuilt his mind. It’s not okay to have crying doors, but not okay to mess with books.
”Ah man...did they ruin the book? Ah...” Tristain looks to put out any lingering fires/smoke, but then eventually settles back into research.
CLW off wand
Tristain will go through any unread areas as well as casting Read Magic and examining the scrolls.
As Tristain turns the book to Albert he leans forward expecting something interesting.
When the ringing in his ears stops he wipes the soot from his face and gets up off the floor."Danged explosive runes, that darn trick has got me more times than I care to count." After a few moments of healing, Al resumes the search with Tristain.
Tenebrynn jolts upright at the commotion and blinks a few times at the carnage of blasted papers, soot, and a lingering curl of flame licking up Albert's collar before he tamps it out. "See? This is why I don't like reading. It's boring and it can explode on you!"
While Kyffin patches the pair up, she returns to tearing random pages from various books and journals and folding them into vague shapes reminiscent of birds, with broad triangular wing-like flaps on either side. After a number of minutes of this, she giggles to herself and says, "Hey, Kyffin, look at this!" With a gesture, the air around her begins to gently churn and the folded papers shake and rattle briefly before leaping up into the air, flying in a column around her like a papercraft carousel.
Kyffin quietly snores in the corner, leaning against the wall. When called by Tenebrynn, he wakes and looks around the room for hostiles or more wounded. Finding neither, he watches Tenebrynn churn the air.
"Hey, that's pretty cool. Nice cascading." he grins. He looks around once more, and resumes his prior position with his eyes closed, resting up.
A book radiates magic from the bookshelf Heinrich wasn't looking at, as does the travel trunk and several of the items in it.
The book appears to be an arcane spellcaster's spellbook.
An abjuration aura on the trunk seems to indicate it's designed to protect the items inside from the elements beyond what the trunk itself physically does.
The book is a book of the loremaster.
They're both scrolls of psychic surgery.
One of the other scrolls, which was blown off the desk, appears to be a checklist of equipment and supplies -- including slaves, with several numbers X'd out and revised. Several items have been struck through, as if they had been collected. The list includes several book titles that are among the items crossed out: "Festival of the Snake," "Manual of Silence," and "Tigers and Flies."
"Take anything with you that can be used to show them folks in town what kind of craziness is going on here. Them folks need a prodding into action and evidence of the Count's madness will do more than any words from us." When the party is ready to move on Albert will again take the lead with sword and shield ready.
Tristain perks up as magic is found, his annoyance at the explosion dimming as the literature unfolds. He casts Detect Magic, and examines each thing in turn.
Spellcraft (trunk)
Spellcraft (book)
Spellcraft (scrolls)
Tristain will explain everything he finds out about the magics.
"These scrolls might come in handy, but we should sell the book & trunk, if we can get it out of here. Come to think of it, I'm sure glad the trunk didn't try to eat us."
If the reading and researching is done, Tristain will dust off his hands and get ready to move. He feels much better about his circumstances, now that he has had a chance to ground himself in knowledge. He's feeling pretty good.
Her enjoyment in making papercraft shapes fly doesn't last and before an hour is even up, Tenebrynn's hair is knotted and twisted even more dramatically than usual and she drags her palms down her cheeks in abject boredom and growing despair. "How much longer?" By the end of the eighth hour, she lays on her back atop one of the bookshelves, with her head hanging over the side and upside down. She'd given up hours and hours ago on teasing her allies with gusts of wind when they'd try turning pages or were reaching for something new to read. Now, she looks dreadfully pale, despite being in a position for all the blood to rush to her head. The lock of white hair above her brow too seems to be larger, as if it were now wider than it had been before. As the others begin to stir and examine some of the magics discovered in the room, she asks glumly from her perch, "We died didn't we? That head-flying vampire thing killed us and now we're in the Abyss."
You also discover several other things of note:
* A notebook holds an account of Lowls’s interviews with Ulver Zandalus, which took place in Briarstone Asylum. Lowls would apparently interview the mute artist while he drew his charcoal drawings of the mysterious city, and during the process details would emerge that Lowls would interpret. In later interviews, Count Lowls made use of magic to read the man’s thoughts. Through this process, Lowls was able to learn about a distant lost city in some nameless desert that reportedly featured three things called Star Stelae, identical in shape and arrangement to ones apparently in Thrushmoor. In the last pages of the notebook, Lowls stops relating what he learned from his interviews with Ulver, and begins writing with maniacal fervor about his obsession with the city and his belief that its discovery alone can repair his academic reputation.
* A note from someone named Miacknian Mun, who apparently lives in Cassomir. The note suggests Mun is pleased that Lowls was able to find use for several books to help him with his "dream journey." He urges him to read several more that he's enclosed ("in case you are unable to acquire them from your usual booksellers; should that not be the case, you can return these copies when we next see each other") -- titled Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax, Emotions of the Past and The Forgotten Servants -- and suggests they should meet "to better work on the Necronomicon."
* You also finish searching the travel trunk, discovering in addition to the magical items, that it's filled with the following books: Atop the Valley’s Soul, The Codex of Three Prescriptions, Curses of the Black Lake, Dichotomous Translations of Aklo Syntax, Elements Through the Spirals of Time, Emotions of the Past, The Falling Silk, Festival of the Snake, The Forgotten Servants, The Illusion of the Weeping Ones, In Admiration of Keeping Pacts, Manual of Silence, Men and Vultures: Denizens of the Darkened Depths and Dead Skies, Monuments of the Forest, The Shadow’s Ship, Shards of Sight, Spiders of Sin and Sky, Theological Agreements of the Kingdom, Tigers and Flies, The Unified Manual of Understanding, Voyage of the Rainbow Servant, and The Wise Harmony.
As the sun sets, Kyffin gets up and yawns, refreshed from napping and sleeping the day away. "So, did we learn anything useful?"
Tristain explains the above as best he can to Kyffin.
”Wow, that’s a lot of reading, huh?” Tristain packs everything of interest into the trunk, the books, the neat scrolls, the stuff that might be relevant to them. ”I guess we can go on now? We’ve given all the other cannibals and stuff time to run away.”
”We’ll want to come back for the trunk later, I think. There is stuff that Lady Winter or Cressida might want to see too.”
Tenebrynn sits in the corner, staring blankly at an empty spot of wall as the others finally stir. Her skin is nearly as white as milk and her normally vibrant red hair has rapidly faded to a dull mix of rusty tones, grey, and white. Her lips are chapped and drawn tight and she would appear as a statue if it weren’t for a faint and gentle rocking motion.
"Necro-nommy-con? Sounds like a made-up book to me." mutters Heinrich, still aching at the loss of his memories, though he begins to doubt if the memories were really worth all that much.
"Tennybryn, are you okay? You seem to be bleaching, my dear." Heinrich studies the gnome and starts to make detailed notes of the condition.