[PFS_CORE_Aerondor] 00-04 The Frozen Fingers of Midnight (1-5) (Inactive)

Game Master Aerondor

"I would.." she admits.

"If you bring Skelg here, I can fix the problem. In truth I have missed his company and would enjoy seeing him again."

Erevel isn't sure if we should trust the woman.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (4) + 0 = 4

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (17) + 0 = 17
"I guess we can take your offer to him ... and let him decide."

"In that case, we'll need your name, at the very least. And I, for one, am very curious about the nature of the magic at work here. Any information you could provide would be quite useful."

Diplomacy (with Guidance): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

"We are friends of Skelg, know as the Ripper, lady, and Skelg, as you know, is on his death bed. Others it seems wanted to make certain he died in the most tormented way possible. How are we to know that you do not mean the same? That attempting to bring him here would not kill him?"

"Perhaps if you could tell us how you know him,. . . how you met, and what your intentions are, it could help us to trust you."

Sense Motive (if she does): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

"I am Lady Natasya, and my lord Skelg saved my life a few weeks ago. Unfortunately there were side effects... " she gestures to the icy prison.

"Return here with Skelg and the lantern and I will see what can be done.

She is keen on getting both Skelg and the lantern. She harbours no obvious ill feelings towards Skelg.

Tomren calls for a group huddle.

"So, do we trust her? Personally, I see no other way to lift Skelg's curse."

If you want to go back, please include a diplomacy check to persaude Skelg to leave his fire and head somewhere even colder!

"I am not certain. She does not seem to have any agenda, and I do not seen any other option."

If we do go back. . .

"Skelg. We ventured through the portal. It led us to a massive ship covered in solid ice. We could not see much, but we met someone there that says she knows you. A woman that called herself Lady Natasya. She says that, with the lantern, she can save you from the curse, but only if you go with us. I couldn't tell if she way lying, or if there was some sort of trap. So, it is up to you. Who is she? Do you know her? Are you willing to go to the ship, risking the cold to see if she speaks the truth?"

Diplomacy (with Guidance): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

:(

Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 9

Not even an assist...

"I wish we had found another way Mr Skelg but this is the only lead we have on breaking this curse."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
... Right ... this is going well.
"It's been nice knowing ya Skelg ... rest in peace."

"So let's get this lantern back to HQ."

"So Skelg, do you actually know this woman, or was she lying to us? If you do know her, then this seems like your best bet of not dying here in bed."

diplomacy: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (10) - 2 = 8

Anyone have a shirt/folio reroll? I haven't used one this game, but if the GM will allow, I'd donate it to someone with a real diplomacy skill.

Pretty poor rolls to be fair. I'm happy with a donated reroll on the diplomacy

I'd had originally made one with the above post, unsure if I'd already used mine. I deleted it after going back to check, (and I rolled an 18 too). So, unfortunately, even with a donated one, I can't make another reroll.

Skelg nods "A few weeks ago, I raided a funeral longship. Good plunder. They left the poor mans bride onboard to die. I saved her and left her the ship - as was her due. She was quite a woman." he acknowledges amongst shivers.

Amelie looks to be your best bet to convince Skleg to go aboard.

And a small retcon to back on the ship.
After a little probing, Natalya lets slip she could probably remove the curse with just the lantern. Whether you could convince her to try without Skelg present... that would be another diplomacy check.[/ooc]

I'm not not entirely sure what's going on, but I'll roll a diplomacy assist just in case.

Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Diplomacy (Aid): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
"You know how stubborn Skelg can be ... I am sure he will be of a different mind once he is back on his feet again."

"This lady wants to see you again! I say you get out of that bed and go get her!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10

The dice hate us all

He can't be that heavy. We can carry him, right? *says the guy with the 7 str PC*

Skelg doesn't want to budge. "Get me fixed up, and I'll think about it...." she shivers. "But I'll die if I get any coldder."

As noted above, Natalya doesn't need Skelg present, but she'll be much easier to convince if he is, and seemed to indicate a better chance of success.

This may be the Dark Archives in me talking, but we could say b@#+++~s to it and keep the lantern for our selves for further study.

Yep ... that is kinda what I was leaning toward ... we have a huge bargaining chip here. Either she helps and gets the lantern ... or she doesn't and we keep the lantern.

I can go along with that.

The primary mission is to save Skelg...

Recap:
* Curretly in Greydog manner with a freezing Skelg who doesn't want to move
*Natalya has indicated she can probably fix the issue, but needs the lantern.
* She has indicated she'd be willing to try without Skelg, but would prefer if he were present.

"So, we seem to have two choices. Either we carry Skelg there against his wishes, or go back to the ship and try to convince Natalya to help us without him there. I don't know if this group really has the physical strength for that first option - Skelg seems pretty strong, even sick."

"Well, I guess we need to go back to the ship and charm the nice lady into helping us."

Rolling my Diplomacy assist now:
Diplomacy: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Really?!

Assuming we go back to her...

"Lady Natasha, you said that Mr. Skelg saved your life, and he seems to think very highly of you. It's only fair that you help us save his! I wish we could have brought him here but he's too weak to move, the curse has really beat him up. But we do have the lantern with us if you're willing to help."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Seriously what is going on with these rolls....

"Please ... do what you can for the stubborn fool ..."
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

I am completely at a loss as to what else we CAN do in this scenario. If we can't do it we can't do it ... no use beating ourselves up about it.

Natalya takes the lantern, her eyes shining as she reclaims her prize.

"Come, let us see what we can acheive without the stubbon fool."

She moves to the front of the ship and summons a ball of fire, right at the edge of the ice, Slowly it melts its way through, and then downwards. After a minute or so she melts a passage through to the ships figurehead.

Reaching up, she hangs the lantern on it, and then climbs back on deck.

"Grab hold... this may be rough."

As the lantern shines on the ice it comes apart revealing the sea and a strange grey portal directly ahead. Within moments the ship passes through it, and suddenly you are elsewhere.

All around a massive, frozen harbour surrounds you. Well, to the front and side, behind there is what appears to be an ice shouded open sea.

"I can return you to Greydog manner if you wish. By opening this portal, I have hopefully closed the one that led into Skelg himself. Or if you wish you may stay here, though some of the inhabitants are a little rougher than you may be used to..."

She fishes under her chair and takes out a chest.

"You have my thanks for returning my lantern, and as such you may have these trinkets..."

Within the chest is a small horde of gold, a nice reward for a good days work.

"If this does cure him, then Skelg may be in a better mood now, and want to come back to see you. Can you hold the portal open between here and his manor long enough for us to talk to him and see if he wants to come and see you?"

Natalya nods.

"I can hold it for ten minutes. I would like to see Skleg again, if you can convince him to come with me. A life of softness is not one he should live."

Tomren eyes the lantern hungrily.

"Any chance we could, eh, borrow the lantern for further study?"

She looks at Tomren coldly.

"The lantern is an important part of my ship."

But as a very kind and generous GM, if you get Skelg back on board, you can try another diplomacy check on her. It won't be easy, but you can try it.

Pan will lead the attempt to convince Skelg to visit his benefactor ...
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21
Sweet ... about time!!! A little help here would be nice :-)
"Look Skelg ... the lady just saved your life ... and she wants to see you again. Don't you think she deserved at least that courtesy?"

"Hey Mr Skelg, we did it! You should be feeling better in a jiffy! How about you come back with us and meet this beautiful lady that helped save you. Maybe you two will hit it off!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Show off :-P

"Err, yes. And if you could convince her to let the Pathfinder Society have that magic lantern to study for a while, that would be nice, too."

diplomacy assist: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (14) - 2 = 12

Skelg doesn't quite jump out of bed. However he looks immensely better than he did even half an hour ago.

"I feel ten years younger already!" he acknowledges.

"And that Natalya was quite a woman...Bring me my axe. City life is obviously not for me!"

With time limited he grabs the important things in life. Axe, armour and ale and heads to the portal.

Both of them thank you for your assistance.

Now if you want to get the lantern as well, you'll have to pull off that trick again. But I'll give you a bonus for having delivered Skelg.

Once again the team finds themselves floating in the frozen harbour in the capital of the ice witch realm.

Diplomacy (Aid): 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
"Ahem ... about that lantern ..."

"Yes, if we could just borrow it for a while. The Society would love some time to study such a powerful and interesting magical artifact."

diplomacy (assist): 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (19) - 2 = 17

"Ah, yes... Borrow..."

Diplomacy Assist: 1d20 ⇒ 18

"In return you get this handsome man here!"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

"You spoke words such as "soft life", earler, my friends. Is not that what the lantern represents? Easy life. Set us aside, and allow us to study it. In fact, if you want to challenge yourself, to earn glory, to explore, why not come back with us? The both of you. I can't think of more dangerous life, but there rewards and glory are equally matched."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Okay, now you pull out the big dice rolls

Natalya eventually agrees.

"You may study it for a year, and then have the society return it to me. You had best take the tapestry from the manner with it so that it may be easily returned."

She arranges for the portal to be reopened to Greydog manner, and the group slip through it, with the lantern.

Okay, very well done. Full PP for this. I'll finish off the chronicles tonight. Getting the second PP in this mission is pretty hard.