Rise of a Regent Campaign Thread

Game Master Illydth

Okay. Well if Armand weren't visible to me, I would have to move. However I read somewhere in the rules where living beings do not block line of sight, they just provide cover. I know this was confusing to me too in one of the games I DM. That is how I resolved the confusing rules. I looked like crazy for some type of rule that said that creatures blocked line of sight, because I was sure it would be there. Only it wasn't. A ranged touch attack, is treated exactly like a ranged attack, which can be made at any visible target within range. Only walls and doors and other large physical objects block line of sight, so I was basing my action on those principles. I don't blame you for being confused about that particular tittle, though. I was myself for a rather long time.

On the other matter, the only time I've rolled a critical, I've rolled the extra damage. But I'll be happy to go along with whatever you all come up with.

Living people do not block line of sight. If that happened you couldn't do a ranged touch at all. They do however provide cover, which effectively gives you a -4 to hit. To me if there is a -4 to hit involved, that would tell me that a roll was required. That is required by spells that do damage, so I would assume it would work the same for beneficial spells. Still a potent spell as you can heal at range which is rare. In my opinion making it like Magic Missile, which avoids cover would overpower it a bit. Anyway just my 2-cents

Living people do not block line of sight. If that happened you couldn't do a ranged touch at all. They do however provide cover, which effectively gives you a -4 to hit. To me if there is a -4 to hit involved, that would tell me that a roll was required. That is required by spells that do damage, so I would assume it would work the same for beneficial spells. Still a potent spell as you can heal at range which is rare. In my opinion making it like Magic Missile, which avoids cover would overpower it a bit. Anyway just my 2-cents

Fyird, what you say seems logical. So in a situation like this I want this to hit me. I'm not actively trying to avoid it, but I also don't know it is coming. So what would Father Armand's starting 'to hit' be, would it be zero? Then if you apply the -4 to that, would that mean that Selena needs to roll a 4 or greater for the heal to succeed? Something low like that seems fair for this situation. Also my 2-cents.

Fyird Olaafson wrote:

Living people do not block line of sight. If that happened you couldn't do a ranged touch at all. They do however provide cover, which effectively gives you a -4 to hit. To me if there is a -4 to hit involved, that would tell me that a roll was required. That is required by spells that do damage, so I would assume it would work the same for beneficial spells. Still a potent spell as you can heal at range which is rare. In my opinion making it like Magic Missile, which avoids cover would overpower it a bit. Anyway just my 2-cents

Fyird, what you say seems logical. So in a situation like this I want this to hit me. I'm not actively trying to avoid it, but I also don't know it is coming. So what would Father Armand's starting 'to hit' be, would it be zero? Then if you apply the -4 to that, would that mean that Selena needs to roll a 4 or greater for the heal to succeed? Something low like that seems fair for this situation. Also my 2-cents.

Ranged touch is based upon your touch armor class. Remember that this is a 6-second time period, not an instant, so in the six seconds you and the blocking target are constantly moving and dodging, and shifting positions, so the touch armor class is designed around the person trying to make the attack being able to predict where the person is going to be when the spell / attack is completed. Hence, it's touch AC -4 to hit. This is like a touch attack except at range. If you wanted to cast "Cause critical" wounds instead of Cure critical on a monster you'd still have to hit it's touch AC. If you were simply standing still, and waiting 20' away for the spell I might give you an AC of 10 which is base, but anytime you're trying something at range there is a chance of error, especially in a 6-second time frame. Were you in Melee it would be an additional -4, unless you have precise shot feat, because the targeter must take care not to hit the wrong target

Roll to Hit

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

There. Is everyone happy now?

Roll to Hit

1d20+2

There. Is everyone happy now.

Frankly I could care less...I was just explaining the rules. If you don't want my input I'll just shut up.

Ummm, that was a joke. Hello? Of course I appreciate the input.

Selena Devanholme wrote:

Roll to Hit

1d20+2

There. Is everyone happy now.

Frankly I could care less...I was just explaining the rules. If you don't want my input I'll just shut up.

Fyird, thank you for your input. I appreciate it very much. I am still learning much about Pathfinder, so please always feel free to instruct me on the rules.

LOL Selena, nice roll :)

We'll move this back around to Round 4. Apologies for discussing this in the open thread, should probably have moved this to the discussion thread...I hate to continue stepping on Dirk's nirvana of cutting a dwarf in half. He's so rarely competent that I hate to bring him out of his dream land too early. *grin*

From here out in a situation such as this (where line of sight is obscured) we'll need a ranged touch for the heal. The "harm" portion of this will always need a touch roll. Otherwise, when you have no obscurity and/or when you can move to perform the spell, no roll needed.

Back to the action! :) Round 4 Actions?

If he is still in range I'll target the Mage, if not, the Fighter

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Damage 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

...

We'll move this back around to Round 4. Apologies for discussing this in the open thread, should probably have moved this to the discussion thread...I hate to continue stepping on Dirk's nirvana of cutting a dwarf in half. He's so rarely competent that I hate to bring him out of his dream land too early. *grin*
...

Ouch! But I agree, discussions in discussion thread.

What's this? A warrior still in one piece?! Let's fix that.

Fyird hacks again at the wily fighter

Battleaxe (Flanking) (1d20+5=9)...and continues cooling the room by use of his whirling axe as a fan.

Checking if I'm missing something. I have hit / attack rolls in from Mird and Fyird, I think I'm missing actions from everyone else unless I've got some weird caching problem going on at work.

I'm trying to post my attacks within a couple of posts of the surrounding players and NPCs based on our initiatives. This gives me a bit of flexibility in target selection based on previous attack outcomes.

I'm trying to post my attacks within a couple of posts of the surrounding players and NPCs based on our initiatives. This gives me a bit of flexibility in target selection based on previous attack outcomes.

Same here. Too much can change by the time it gets to Dirk. I'm actively watching the boards and will post when it gets closer to his turn on the init list.

Lash attempts to mauver into position to strike the warrior as he faces Fyrd.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3, sneak attack 1d6 ⇒ 4

Reposting for convenience.

Initiative:
Selena: 22
Armand: 20
Fyird: 18
Mage: 17
Fighter: 17
Dwarf: 17
Mird: 13
Priest: 9
Thantos: 8
Dirk: 7
Lash: 7

Yep, those of you at the end of the initiative list can certainly hold attack till sometime "later" without any problems to ensure continuity of action, I've got no problem with that. I think I'm going to go ahead and post attack for Selena by around 1:00 (CST) this afternoon if I've not heard in. Don't want to hold this up too much, there's a lot to get to after the battle.

Yep, those of you at the end of the initiative list can certainly hold attack till sometime "later" without any problems to ensure continuity of action, I've got no problem with that. I think I'm going to go ahead and post attack for Selena by around 1:00 (CST) this afternoon if I've not heard in. Don't want to hold this up too much, there's a lot to get to after the battle.

I thought you determined previously that her round 4 action would be the heal she threw at Father Armand??? Or do I have my rounds confused?

I had Selena healing Armand on the last round. If you were confused I suspect Selena was as well. Apologies all around, this is why I should confine discussions to the discussion thread so it's not in line with the campaign...and figure out a better system for multi-party combats like this.

We'll move forward for the sake of expediency.

Seeing the Dwarf down and the Wizard leaving the fight, Selena calls forth a golden ray of light, aiming at the warrior attacking Fyird, the only active threat to the group.

Selena Ranged Touch: 1d20 ⇒ 3
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

A Duck by the Fighter and the ray of light boiles over his head, missing him by quite a ways.

Armand, in the mean time, is moving around behind the priest to cover him in case he wakes up. (Full move action).

Fyird takes a swipe at the warrior but again misses, his axe whistling harmlessly over the warrior's ducking head as he crouches almost to the floor for an upwards cut at Fyird.

Fighter Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Fighter Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Taking advantage of his duck and crouch to avoid both the magical bolt from Selena and Fyird's swing, the warrior jabs his blade out and up, catching Fyird under the shield, tearing a rent in the armor across his chest, and cutting a slice in his shoulder. (6 Damage Fyird)

The mage limps his way across the ceiling and disappears into the hole in the ceiling, exiting the fight, but continuing to drip blood from the arrow wounds given by Mird.

Ok, Mird, Lash, Dirk, and Thantos, I suspect this will be last round. Actions in please.

Mird will target the the Fighter with his Longbow

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Damage 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

After just missing the fighter Thantos bares down using all of his concentration to again target the fighter. After a quick exhale he narrows his vision and fires a bolt from the crossbow.

Attack: 1d20 ⇒ 11
If Hit Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Ducking and Dodging swipes and swings from Lash and Fyird the Assassin fighter looks up and sees Dirk withdrawing his blade from the mangled corpse of the Dwarf, he sees the mage escape through the hole in the ceiling and glances back at the priest to see him down on the floor.

As Dirk stands to move toward him, Armand starts to move forward, and Thantos lowers his crossbow to take aim the fighter grins and stands up.

Looking Mird in the eyes, straight down the leveled bow, he raises his sword in salute as the arrow leaps from the bow. Taking a quick step and jerking up a bit, the warrior causes the arrow to take him in the throat, cleanly ripping through both the carotid artery and larynx.

The smile on his face tells the tale as he topples backwards over the priest, bleeding his last onto the floor.

And that finishes that combat. Actions? You still have a sleeping (but wakening) priest, a door at the far end of the room, and two escapees up the hole in the ceiling. What would you all like to cover?

Thantos looks at Mird saying, "Quick, the priest is starting to come around. Let's tie him up, restrain him and question him about his friends."

Pointing his smooth, delicate index finger at the priest Thantos cackles, "Finally we will have answers."

Thantos pauses for a moment to quickly scan the room. In a start he begins furiously looking for the bone scroll tube that he saw the caster drop near his feet.

"Ok"

"Does any one has some rope?"

Says Mird while he start undressing the Priest taking any weapons, scrolls, rings and bracelets first.

Dirk pulls 50ft of silk rope from his pack and tosses it to Mird. "Make sure you gag him with strips of his clothes until we have time to deal with him..."

Then Dirk turns his attention to the hole in the ceiling. "Lash! Can you climb after them? The mage was moving slowly, and seemed out of tricks."

Looking up hole in Ceiling - Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 2

/sigh

Dirk has his crossbow in hand and is looking for a final shot at the ascending mage. He's also looking to see if the walls of the hole are rough enough to allow Lash to climb.

"OK"

DM: Is there a need for a roll? What would be?

Knock, Knock. Hello? anyone home? Things were just getting interesting.

I'm sorry guys, I got a message Wednesday around 4:30 - 5:00 saying "you're in charge of the project to get 1400 systems identified, verified and their business owners noted in this spreadsheet. You have till close of business tomorrow to get it done." Needless to say, yesterday was a LONG day.

I've got some cleanup work to do (bunch of tickets from yesterday I told their owners they needed to wait on) this morning and I'll be back in the swing of things. I'll try to get a post out around noon answering the open questions and moving us forward a bit and I'll also try to get at least one post out this weekend if you all have time for it.

May next week be better than this one!

Dirk:

As you walk under the hole and look up you notice a trapdoor built into the ceiling of the room, concealed from this side to look like the stone ceiling. Looking up into the hole you see it extend FAR above you. You cannot make out anything in the hole beyond the first 20 or so feet up the shaft, but you know it extends quite a distance up from there.

There is an iron rung ladder built into both sides of the shaft starting about a foot or so up from the trap door. If the mage is still in there, he's obviously not carrying a light and the darkness has swallowed him.

Reminder: Due to the Mage's levitation spell he's going to be able to climb much faster than he could conceivably move otherwise. Treat this as "flight speed" going up the shaft: About 60' a round. Using the rungs he could simply propel himself up the shaft by "throwing" himself upwards.

Thantos:

On the floor you move around the back of the dressing table and are rewarded with the sight of a bone scroll tube laying on the ground. The top of the tube has been removed and discarded on the floor and a piece of weathered parchment is sticking out the top. Obviously you interrupted the mage and his friends before he could pull out and use the scroll. Lifting the tube, you gingerly extract the paper and see that it contains some kind of spell on it that, with a couple seconds of concentration, should be able to decipher.

Mird:

Taking the rope from Dirk you pat down and remove any trinkets, weapons or other items of note from the priest and, being comfortable with his inability to escape, bind the priest and gag him, paying attention to his hands and fingers and mouth, to ensure the priest cannot cast any spells allowing him an advantage in escaping.

This will take you about 10 minutes of effort to ensure the priest is properly bound and incapacitated. Obviously, the priest will be awake by the end of this but he will not struggle, given his fairly helpless position. We'll let some other actions in the room go while you're binding your prisoner.

Ok, what else do we want to do here? Armand will move around to the party, using his healing skill to bind wounds and otherwise clean up some of the mess you guys are in.

At your best estimate you've been down in the dungeon here for somewhere around 8 - 12 hours. The shaft up here may be your other way out. You have the sword but are still missing the Tiara and the Journal you are looking for. There's a door in the south of the room that stands closed at this point. The hole in the ceiling looks like it MIGHT be accessible with a good enough climbing skill by someone dexterous like Lash, but the hole is only about 20 feet above you, with the rungs starting somewhere around 22 feet.

Thantos begin studying the scroll using his knowledge of magic and all of his concentration.

Thantos: The spell you're looking at is "Knock", a spell used to open locks on doors, magical or mundane. You've seen the spell cast several times in your dealings within both the Academy and your outside training.
There are actually two copies of the spell on the parchment paper in the tube.

Thantos: I need you to make a spellcraft roll for me.

As a reminder since this is the first time we've encountered it, you have the option of writing one of the copies of this spell to your spellbook, assuming your spellcraft roll above works. The successful process is destructive to the scroll (one of the two copies will disappear). The process will take 2 hours of time (assuming your spellcraft roll succeeds), but the 100g material cost for doing so will be suspended given the contents of the room you are in (all of the materials for copying scrolls and spells can be found on the big desk on the west side of the room...I'll cover that more when we get into room contents.

Still awaiting reactions from people.

Selena begins searching the various furniture. She begins her search at the desk against the west wall.

Sorry about the delay. Like someone said in another thread, RL exploded all over me.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

LOL, we posted at the same time. Okay, well thanks for telling me about the stuff on the desk. Umm, is there a journal there?

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

Thantos would like to add it to his spellbook, however, it is not something that he will try to undertake in our current situation.

Thantos:

You fully recognize and understand the spell in your hands. You both have the ability to cast the spell off the scroll as well as inscribe it into your book.

Selena:

With the fighting in the room having died down, while Mird is tying up the priest and the others are moving about the room in their own explorations, you start sifting through the Mage's desk.

On the tabletop and in the drawers are a host of magical paraphernalia. Specially prepared parchment used for inscribing spells, inks and quills and other components required for copying spells into spell books or inscribing scrolls are neatly categorized into drawers and sections of the desk.

All together the contents of the desk in this room along with some of the components from the alchemy lab you raided earlier, there are enough portable materials here to inscribe 10 scrolls/spells. These materials weigh in at about 5 lbs and are somewhat bulky, but are portable enough that they could be safely carried in saddlebags with a minimum of risk. From a game play perspective, having these materials on you will allow you to copy a known scroll to a spellbook (or to transcribe a spell onto a scroll) 10 times without having to pay the 100g cost for materials to do so. Obviously the time involved is still required.

On top of the desk are scattered papers and parchments, many containing useless alchemical and magical experiment ideas, some containing musings, stream of consciousness thoughts, poetry, and other misc. writings that do not concern you. Other papers contain stuff that makes absolutely no sense to any of you. The various books on the desk are mostly reference books for various magical, alchemical, and natural substances, plants and animals...none of them seem to match the description of a "journal" in any way.

Other searches? For visible features we have the wardrobe and dressing table in the east, the table and chairs in the north east, the chests in the north west, the bed, table and chairs to the south west, and the door in the south...as well as the trap door in the ceiling.

Note: the cloud of gas and smoke has dissipated enough at this point that it is no longer a hindrance. You estimate the effects lasted for a minute or two.

Fyird spends the first few minutes after combat ends binding the deep wound on his torso.

Heal Check (1d20=19)

then searches the bed, sitting on it to recover after a thorough search.

Take 20 for a total of 20

After studying the parchment, Thantos wanders over to the Mage's desk where Selena is currently investigating. Thantos notices a number of items that he could use to copy spells to his spellbook.

Noticing the usefulness of the items Thantos says, "Selena, what an excellent find. Are you interested in these materials? Because I could certainly use them for my spellbook."

After looking up the hole in the ceiling, Dirk waves Lash off with his hand. "Looks like they are long gone - the mage must have been able to move more quickly than I thought."

Leaving the others to the search, Dirk will flag Armand to follow as he steps over to the bound, awakening priest.

"Hello priest. You know this man...", Dirk says as he gestures towards Armand. "What you may not know, is who I am. My name is Dirk Deathtalon, Captain of the Kathlentican King's Guard. I am sworn by oath and by blood to protect my King from harm - to extinguish threats to my King... and you sir, represent a threat." Dirk's features turn to stone, devoid of emotion as he slowly draws his two-handed Elven blade, "Therefore, your life is forfeit."

Intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Duration if success: (1d6 X 10) 1d6 ⇒ 4 (40 mins)

Intimidate rules pg. 65.

DM: Is this priest character a Cleric?

Fyird: Heal check successful. You've bound your wounds and stopped the bleeding. Armand will eventually wander over to make sure all is in good shape though his compliment of healing spells are gone for the day.

The bed frame is made of solid oak construction and, like the rest of the room, is fairly opulent. The covers are silk and down, both a rarity in this part of Norwold, and denote either a far traveled man, or a very wealthy man...possibly both. Knicknacks abound the bedside table and the warmth of the hearth along the southern wall is able to be felt easily, the hearth fire warming the stone of the wall behind it. A few books, mostly stories, some of which you've heard in your Bardic travels, even some you've told yourself, are stacked neatly on the table as well...

With the lack of "printing" technology in the realm and the world itself, books, scribed books, particularly STORY books such as these, would indeed be a rarity and bespeak both a deep interest in literature as well as a man with a goodly amount of money to burn or connections.

Paging carefully through the books, you do not see anything that would look like a Journal.

The priest is indeed a cleric.

Father Armand nods gravely at you and turns back toward the priest tied on the floor.

Diplomacy Roll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

"I'm afraid, friend, that my guard captain is quite correct. You and your compatriots attacked us and as such you are a threat to me. We could let you go, but you'd just join back up with your assassin band and hunt us back down again."

The priest recoils from Armand and Dirk's words, almost as if struck.

"B...b...but...you're a priest of Saenrae, the Sun Goddess, you can't kill me in cold blood!"

Shaking his head sadly Armand sighs and says "Yes, but unfortunately that isn't my decision. You see, my guard captain here has full authority to eliminate threats to me, and, as I mentioned earlier, you are, indeed, a threat. There's really nothing I can do, my hands are tied in this matter."

Getting a harder look on his face Armand says "Besides, after what you and your people did to my father and my country, allowing Dirk here to cleanly cut your head off would simply save me the trouble of having you executed publicly in a much more painful way."

At that the priest's eyes go wide. "Sirrah! I have no idea what you are talking about! I've never seen you before, I have no idea where you come from, nor do I know who you are!"

Slumping slightly the priest says "I do not know why my group attacked you but I am not with them. The mage and I are adventurers, hirelings. We hail from Oceansend."

His voice raising to almost womanly pitch he says "I swear to you, I don't know what's going on, PLEASE don't kill me!"

By the way guys, I forgot the big pile of metal sitting in the middle of the floor of the room as well as "visible" searchible objects.

Selena looks over the papers with a shake of her head. "There's nothing here that interests me. It's some arcane theories. I don't work with theories. I work with realities."

She turns away from the desk and prods at the pile of metal with her foot. "What do you suppose this is? Rust monster food?"

She looks around at her companions, hoping to get an answer then notices Fyird bandaging himself. "I have some power left within me still, Fyird. Shall I try to heal that wound?"

"Instead of begging you should be giving us reasons not to kill you, like information on your friends. Things like how they knew we were here. But I guess you're useless, Dirk, just kill him and let's get moving."

Intimidate 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Duration 1d6 ⇒ 4 40 mins

I guess one roll wouldbe aid another to the other one.

Thantos collects all of the relevant materials from the desk loading them into his travelling pack.

DM, let me know if I have enough room in my back pack for all of these materials.

Thantos: You certainly do, while there are several, they're things like ink in small vials, quills, parchment, and some rarer materials like gem dust, powdered minerals, etc. Nothing large and bulky. It is still 5 lbs worth so make sure to record that on your character sheet, but once you're out of the dungeon, you can transfer this stuff to your saddle bags as well.

Selena:

As you get closer to the pile of metal on the ground you detect some distinctive shaping of some of the pieces. Something long and tapered looks a bit like an arm with a hand at the end, the spherical object has the distinctive look of a head, and on the end of another tapered metal "rod" is something that looks VERY MUCH like a foot. Crouching down to get a closer look you can make out various carved lines and places where smaller pieces of metal were fused with others to make joints and other movement areas. Without a doubt, this creature was obviously another of Kavorquian's guardians. You've heard of Iron Golems, lifelike creations of powerful wizards, and you've also heard of lesser animated statues and constructs that serve wizards as guardians and servants, this is likely something along that line.

Seeing nothing of any real use, you move over to the bedside and look at Fyird's wounds.

Dirk/Lash

"No! WAIT!" the priest whines piteously. "I'm not one of them! I swear it! Mordrain, the wizard, and I were in Oceansend about three weeks ago when two men came into our establishment looking for adventurers. We were just minding our own business, causing no one any trouble, when Hargrinn and Cyric, the fighter and that damnable cutthroat, may the abyss take his black soul, approached us with an offer of adventure. They said they knew of this wizard's dungeon that'd been abandoned and needed some magical assistance to plund...er...explore it and wanted us to come with them. Of course my companion and I refused initially, we had no need to rob anyone, I mean, loot someone else's home? It's unconscionable! But they told us that since we now knew about their intent we either needed to join them or they'd have to kill us! There was nothing we could do! We were practically FORCED to join them in this adventure. I'm so GLAD you guys came along! You've rescued me! Thank you SO MUCH!"

Lash: Perception roll please.

The cords of Dirks forearm muscles ripple as he growls, "Your tale is littered with half-truths... "

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 6

Mird will start an extensive search in the room looking for the Tiara

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Thantos listens intently to the Clerics story while he finishes loading the last of the mage's desk contents into his travelling pack.

Walking from behind the cleric towards he and Dirk, Thantos gives Dirk a nod and a wink before he begins, "Now Dirk you needn't be so harsh on our friend. After all we have just delivered him from his captors. I am certain that our friend..."

Thantos turns toward the cleric continuing, "Your name, sir?"

Waiting for his name before I continue.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Turning his head quickly back toward you and quickly back around at the threat in front of him (namely Dirk) he mutters "Katzani, my name is Katzani."

Getting stronger of voice the cleric says "And I am not lying to you! I have never seen nor heard of you before I entered this lair, and only then my companions never told us anything about you, only that they intended to loot this complex for riches! We were forced here against our will, were it not for your bravery they'd have killed us! We never wanted to be here!"

Lash, make a second Perception roll please.

All of the responses he's giving you are certainly ringing as both true and false to your ears. You can tell he's terrified enough that he would not tell you any out and out lies for fear of you killing him, but just as obviously, he's not broken yet and given you everything he knows. He seems more scared of something else than you.

Mird:

While the prisoner is being questioned and Selena is tending Fyird's wounds, you start to perform a search of the room. Focusing on those areas not already covered (you've seen Fyird search the bed area and Thantos and Selena search the desk) you start in the north west corner of the room at the chests and make an upside down "L" sweep, from the chests across to the table in the north east to the wardrobe and dressing table and finally ending at the stone hearth near the southern door.

The search takes nearly 20 minutes all told while the questioning is going on and in the end turns up neither the book nor the tiara. The chests in the north western corner all contain what looks to be extra clothing, bedding, and other misc items you'd find in a living room area. The table and chairs in the north east are sturdy and strong and due to some of the food stains on the table itself seems to be used as a dining table.

The wardrobe opens easily and is a total mess, obviously having been rifled through by your assailants. Robes, tunics, breaches, and even some trinkets and decorative hats are strung around the bottom of the wardrobe, some remain haphazardly hanging from hangers while some others are randomly tossed along the dressing table. Some seem to be recently ripped and torn, mostly in the pocket and seam areas, while others seem to have simply been torn while being quickly removed from the hanging racks in the closet.

The dressing table provides little to nothing other than the scattered clothing and some other personal effects like a hair brush, leather thongs (used to tie back long hair at times or to fix laces on boots/clothing), small trinket statues, etc.

The door in the south you avoid searching for the moment. You notice the door handle and notice, too, that there is no locking mechanism on it.

The hearth still has a calm fire burning (like all the others in the complex) within it, permanently, with no fuel like logs or paper anywhere within to indicate anything but a magical burning fire. The hearth's flames seem lower than others you've seen in the complex, and the chairs in front of the hearth are warm and very inviting. Small stacks of paper and a few trinkets lay on a table near the fire, but again, nothing of much import.

All in all, there is definitely some items of value in the room, between some of the fancy well made cloths (at least those that haven't been shredded in the search), and some of the trinkets and knickknacks around the room you estimate a couple hundred gold worth of items and materials at least...but still, no tiara, and no journal.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20

Thantos continues, "I am certain that our friend, Katzani here, would be more than willing to tell us what he knows about his captors and about what they have found while down here."

Crouching down closer to Katzani, Thantos offers, "You see Katzani as I see it you have two choices. We can let Dirk and Lash slowly dissect you limb by limb or you can help us by telling us what you know about this place and your former captors. If you prove yourself and demonstrate to us that you are trustworthy we can offer you protection and a chance to redeem yourself by coming to the aid of Father Armand. If you serve him well he might even find it in his heart to forgive you for your transgressions against him and his family."

After a dramatic pause Thantos asks, "So Katzani...?"