Road's End (Inactive)

Game Master Feral

"Though I have a full appreciation of your confidence, Ursus, it is my understanding that we are speaking of a rather nasty deity of fire and destruction," she says, fanning herself to keep cool. "I would rather not tangle with Mhar."

Filraen shakes his head. "The Great Old Ones are not, strictly speaking, deities. They are powerful, they are from beyond our world, but they are, for lack of a more specific term, different from the divine. More akin to the Lords of Hell or the Demon Lords, though on a scope of power infinitely greater than even the mightiest of the Abyssal or Infernal masters. In short, I would prefer not to confront Mhar, or any of his ilk. Even the lesser Great Old Ones like Hastur are sufficiently terrifying."

As he speaks, the elf retreats from the portal to stand over the unconscious wizard, still adjusting straps and returning items to their pockets almost absentmindedly. Looking down on the wizard, he continues, "As for Karzoug, he knows he is defeated. He was attempting to bargain for his life. Humiliation might satisfy some base instinct on our part, but I am more concerned about his honesty than his immediate threat. Removing his spell component pouches and that lovely wand of blood money should be sufficient to prevent him from doing too much harm now. Rather, I was asking about ways verify the accuracy of his claims."

So... waking up Karzoug?

"Let's leave 'im unconscious fer now, and head to the portal and learn wat we can. Then we can decide this bastard's fate."

Morgrym starts heading for the Leng Portal.

Investigation of the portal being tuned by the Denizens of Leng, with a bit of time spent examining this incredibly complicated device from another world, reveals that it was drawing from the runewell to power a rift in reality which would be able to reach through time. Or, if attuned differently, it could reach within reality, as well as within the mountain Mhar Massif, and give the sleeping Old One inside enough of a jolt of energy to likely wake him up. Karzoug's claim that his death would awaken Mhar seems legitimate, as he is tied to the runewell that the Leng device draws from.

However, the portal would have to be attuned a certain way to possibly awaken Mhar. Further investigation eventually reveals that the Denizens of Leng had done so, but the party's interference has disabled the portal at least temporarily. The attempted emergence of the gigantic Hound of Tindalos essentially overloaded the portal.

So, to move things along, the party has three options for Karzoug:

A) Wake up Karzoug, interrogate him, then go from there. This risks Karzoug potential escape.

B) Kill Karzoug, sending his soul to Pharasma. This will destroy the runewell and all the potential it holds, both in itself and as an energy source for the Leng device, as well as disable several powerful artifacts. But it'll kill him.

C) Imprison Karzoug within the Eye of Avarice. This avoids the problem of losing the runewell, and he can be permanently trapped in suspended animation or his soul stored in a gem.

There are also two options for the soul lens:

1) Destroy the soul lens. This is will prevent entry and exit from the Eye of Avarice forever. The party will be able to get out of the Eye with plane shift, but it would be a one-way trip. The runewell itself would become inaccessible, and would never reach "full charge." This would also mean that if Karzoug were to be imprisoned in the Eye of Avarice, it would be really really hard to wake him up in the future, because no one would how to get into the Eye of Avarice, and we probably would just not speak of where we imprisoned Karzoug.

2) Don't destroy the soul lens. The party would have access to a permanent demiplane as well as the runewell. The runewell could also reach "full charge." If Karzoug were to be imprisoned within the Eye of Avarice, though, he could possibly escape if someone in the future woke him up.

Once we've made these two decisions, we can really move into "player-collaboration mode," and greatly expand the scope of our play-by-post.

To help spur discussion, as Ben and I talked about, Lady Gabrielle would like to choose Option C for Karzoug and Option 2 for the soul lens.

"Karzoug is too dangerous to let loose, but I fear it unwise to close the door to his prison too early; should his claim regarding Mhar be true, even in part, by leaving him alive but imprisoned we retain the ability to walk back our decision later."

Filraen votes for option C and option 2; Karzoug in a soul gem, the Soul Lens intact in case we need it later.

"I've had about enough of this place and its master. I don't care how much magic Karzoug's pulled out of his ass or if he's attached to Mhar's cock somehow. Let me break his fool neck and smash his prize", Ursus growls in reply.

B-1.

C-1.

"Sendin' his soul to Pharasma leaves True Resurrection open as a possibility. Locking him here and destroying all the ways to get 'ere creates the most secure way I can think of to make sure he never comes back (unless you lads can lock up his soul, but even then, someone just has to find the gem). I'll not leave this place open simply to sate my own curiosities, ambitions, or greed abowt these artifacts."

"It appears that we are at a stalemate with regard to the soul lens, but I believe Karzoug's fate is decided..." the pace at which she waves her fan slows down, as she considers something for a moment.

a moment...: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (15) + 17 = 32

"I do not entirely agree with Filraen's soul-gem method, however. I can understand the desire to guard the gem personally, but it strikes me as an unnecessary pressure. I do not believe you need to put yourself in such danger, Filraen. Regardless of the method of his imprisonment, his conquered city awaits us..."

All right, so I believe we are ready to move into opened-up player-collaboration mode. From here, we get to work together to craft the stories our awesome adventurers experience after the incident at Xin-Shalast. Instead of playing a GM, as I was doing there before, I see myself taking the role of facilitator. Instead of the GM/player back-and-forth, in which the GM comes up with the resolution of player actions... well, it's on all of us now to collaborate on the best and most interesting outcomes.

So let's get to it!

The elf deliberately closes his gauntleted hand at Lady Gabrielle's words. "What exactly are you implying Lady Gabrielle?"

Also, did anyone else notice "the problem" of losing the runewell?

The Lady appears a bit puzzled, and then considers a thought for a moment. "I apologize if I have offended, Filraen. I believe I let fear speak for me there. I was afraid of the potential of a servant of Karzoug shattering the soul gem and releasing him... but if that were the case... he would have likely arranged that method of escaping this place already."

Also... I had commissioned a portrait of Lady Gabrielle, since I had been playing her for so long. The final illustration just came in today, so I thought I'd share it with you guys.

The wizard relaxes his fist; blood drips from four holes in his palm down to the stone floor. "If we imprison him here, we must guard this place. If we imprison him in a receptacle, we must guard the receptacle. If we kill him, he needs a powerful priest to bring him back via true resurrection. Each one is vulnerable to different kinds of threats; I simply fear the weaknesses of imprisonment more than the weaknesses of trap the soul or his death."

Turning to face Gabi, he smiles. "Besides, if you didn't trust me to possess Karzoug's soul, why trust me with the location of his prison?"

The artwork is very nice. You should include the link in her Paizo People page.

She lets out a gentle laugh. "It was never a matter of trust, Filraen. It was a matter of both your safety and the health of your soul. Guarding a Runelord would have made for a heavy burden, but if he cannot return to Avistan, that makes me feel quite relieved for you."

Right. I've added the link.

Morgrym sighs long and deep. "Alright, lads. Here's a proposal. We kill 'im. We imprison his remains deep in the earth of this plane. We trap his soul. We shatter the soul lens and plane shift owt. We imprison his soul gem deep in the earth of my demi-plane (or some other similarly small and hard to notice plane of existence). We pray to the Forgefather that's enough to keep him owt of existence for all time. How abowt THAT?"

Filraen looks askance at Morgrym, then bursts out laughing. "Its all well, Morgrym. Perhaps a compromise. A binding, then an imprisonment on the receptacle? He's still stuck here, but in the unlikely event someone were to come with the intent of freeing him, he can be moved later." He turns for the portal back to the Pinnacle of Avarice. "But first, my spells have nearly expired. It is time to deal with a dragon and a lamia; it will be hard to turn the place into a functioning lodge if it is beset by priestesses of Lamashtu and fearsome beasts of legend."

"What is important is that a solution is available to us. I am confident in your ability to keep him imprisoned for at least a millennium or two," she comments, before moving towards the portal herself. "The wendigo will have to be dealt with if we are going to have laborers working in the city," she adds.

It looks like the first things on Lady Gabrielle's plate are comforting Sheila Heidmarch and taking an estimate of just how much wealth is in the Pinnacle.

How exactly do we want to handle those off-screen interactions with the various surviving NPCs? Should we just, like, lay out OOC actions and then roll the appropriate dice? I have no idea how "player collaboration" roleplaying works.

I imagine we won't use dice unless it's really necessary. The collaborative part comes in when the players all contribute ideas towards the resolution of each player's actions. So, if I have Lady Gabrielle, say, try to convince Sheila Heidmarch to abandon this whole Pathfindery thing, leave her husband, and become a traveling musician, the rest of you guys would contribute towards how that line of conversation and action turns out. Ben might take on the role of Sheila, and maybe Nick plays her husband who angrily accosts Gabi for stealing his wife away, or Ryan points out how silly I'm being and that Sheila would just mind-control her husband into being her bass player, stuff like that.

I imagine, instead of the conversation being between player and GM, the conversation is between all the players.

To move things along here...

Lady Gabrielle wanders about the Pinnacle for quite awhile, taking in just how much wealth the group has access to now. It's a lot, enough to forge empires and remake the world, even.

"The Decemvirate gets no share of this, I assume," she comments at some point.

However, we have Sheila Heidmarch in the Pinnacle with us, and Lady Gabrielle would really like to bring Sheila into our point of view. Does someone want to take the reins and play Lady Heidmarch? Nick? Ben?

"What are your thoughts on the Masked Ten, the Invisible Kings of Absalom?" Lady Gabrielle asks Sheila Heidmarch when they have a moment.

I don’t think that’s necessary. Run her anyway you see fit.

”I don’t think it matters”, Ursus replies while examining various gilded accessories. ”There’s more wealth here than anyone could spend in a lifetime.”

I only know enough about Sheila to know that she's written badly in the scenarios. I'm not sure how she'd respond.

Upon deeper thought, what I'm going for might not work very well if I "solo" this. What Lady Gabrielle is looking to accomplish with Sheila is to come to her as a friend, comfort her, and figure out just how to draw Sheila's opinions of the Decemvirate out of her, and how to turn her away from the Ten and toward our group's ideals and ways of thinking. Lady Gabrielle could also really use Sheila's friendship and support as she aims to finish what Lady Morilla started in Magnimar. She believes that Lady Morilla's plan to convince the people of Magnimar of the benefits of an aristocracy was ill-conceived and poorly-executed, as the Pathfinders never really had the opportunity to accomplish it, and Lady Morilla pulled out of the city much too quickly.

So, Lady Gabrielle could use Sheila's support, and she wants to turn Lady Heidmarch away from the Ten.

-Posted with Wayfinder

"What are your thoughts on the Masked Ten, the Invisible Kings of Absalom?" Lady Gabrielle asks Sheila Heidmarch when they have a moment.

"Lady Gabrielle -- I feel that their generosity has afforded me many things. I am a powerful officer in a vast agency of scholars and artifact diggers. Through the Society's efforts, I've grown extremely influential, rich, and powerful in my home city. Both the Society and the Decemvirate have benefited me a great deal, as I'm sure I them. The idea that they are invisible matters little to me, if you are implying what I think you are."

Hmm, how to play this...

"I am glad that the influence of the Ten has raised you up in Magnimar and that your relationship with them has been mutually beneficial. I am wondering, though..." she answers, musing. "After the tsunami, did they assist at all? Our little group seems to have valiantly raced to the rescue, so I apologize if I was not paying attention to their own actions."

Hmm, how to play this...

"I am glad that the influence of the Ten has raised you up in Magnimar and that your relationship with them has been mutually beneficial. I am wondering, though..." she answers, musing. "After the tsunami, did they assist at all? Our little group seems to have valiantly raced to the rescue, so I apologize if I was not paying attention to their own actions."

Sheila ponders her response for a moment. "Yes, they did. They sent several influential members of the Society in an effort to secure my release and smooth relations between the Magnimaran government and the Society."

True, we did kind of leave that thread hanging after Dead Heart.

"I am glad that the aftermath was rather smooth. It seems that our own meeting with the Mayor during the incident went well," she says, while taking gentle steps across the carpet of rubies. "Were you happy with the result? I apologize if I am overstepping my bounds, but you are the Society's public face in Varisia, and I am concerned for my friends in Magnimar. You especially, as I admire what you have built and aspire to build something myself."

True, we did kind of leave that thread hanging after Dead Heart.

"I am glad that the aftermath was rather smooth. It seems that our own meeting with the Mayor during the incident went well," she says, while taking gentle steps across the carpet of rubies. "Were you happy with the result? I apologize if I am overstepping my bounds, but you are the Society's public face in Varisia, and I am concerned for my friends in Magnimar. You especially, as I admire what you have built and aspire to build something myself."

I figured as the person who GMed Dead Heart, I could fill in some of those blanks with information I'd established for our run but that never came out during the course of play.

"Smooth would hardly be accurate," Sheila replies, "Your meeting with the Mayor undoubtedly helped, but it was your action in the field that paved the way for my husband and representatives from the Grand Lodge to make amends with the Magnimaran government."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

"I am glad I have served as a role model for you," Sheila smiles, "You and your companions who assisted me will always be welcome in the Magnimaran lodge." As she says this, she begins looking around the prison complex. "But have you seen my things? Particularly my staff and headband. I should like to study this place for submission to the Chronicles, but not while unarmed and unarmored."

"The Chronicles," she says, while looking for her things in Khalib's old quarters. "We believe that this place is too dangerous to be written about. There are forces both evil and powerful associated with this place, forces which are still active, and to make the matter worse, this place is obviously very alluring to explorers. Xin-Shalast needs to stay lost."

She opens a drawer, and a familiar-looking headband is inside. "I believe this is yours," the Lady says while handing it to Sheila.

"Too dangerous?" Sheila exclaims, aghast, "Nothing is too dangerous to be reported! It is a fundamental tenant of the Society!"

Donning her headband, Sheila scans the room for her other belongings. Perception: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (2) + 13 = 15. "Besides, this place is the most complete trove of lost Thassilonian relics ever discovered! This is literally the home of a Runelord! Was his body destroyed? Do you think we could speak to him using speak with dead? There are so many unanswered questions! To think this started out of an office in Korvosa, of all places! Now... if that didn't make it to the records..." Sheila smiles, gazing off past Gabi, clearly lost in the moment of the greatest discovery of her lifetime.

Lady Gabrielle replies to Sheila's attempt at humor with an entertained smile. "I understand the desire to Report, and..." she pauses to consider something for a moment. "I believe quite a few of the relics can be reported on, but this place..." she exits the room to look around for Sheila's staff.

"A wendigo haunts the mountain, a cult of lamias along with several giant tribes are scattered about, and we have just learned of a dragon which lingers beneath the city. Also, this mountain has the attention of powerful beings from a plane called Leng, and I assume they will return in time in pursuit of their dark agenda. We cannot wet the appetites of every prospector and relic hunter by publishing this place in the Chronicles, knowing full well of their certain deaths."

"This place is Karzoug's tomb, and truly needs to remain so. The secrets of this place are best left buried. But..." she pauses, having found something.

Lady Gabrielle uncovers Sheila's staff buried in a pile of staves propped up in a corner of the prison. "I understand the work you have accomplished, and I respect that you are at the precipice of your goal. I imagine that we will not be leaving this place for good today. Sheila, my friend, stay with us awhile, and perhaps your curiosities will be satisfied. Privately. Will that do?"

Sheila frowns at Gabi. "I am aware of your split loyalties, Lady Gabrielle. I have attended some of the buildup to your play about the Korvosans. Remember this; as a Pathfinder, your first loyalty, your only loyalty, is to the Decemvirate. They require we report everything. It is up to the Ten to decide what appears in the published Chronicles. Not us." Striding across the room, she heads for the exit to the Pinnacle of Avarice.

Just like any well-to-do Lady of Taldor, Gabrielle maintains perfect poise in the face of conflict.

"Sheila, I understand your objection. I truly do," she calls to her. "Several rather disturbing events have taken place, events that you were shielded from and which have driven me towards my request. Allow me to inform you of them. Please, Sheila, before you turn away from me."

Sheila does not stop her inexorable march towards the exit of the Pinnacle. "You've explained; there are dangerous things buried here. That is all the more reason to notify the Ten."

Sorry, odd day. More later. Feel free to respond to this, though; should be enough.

"The last time the Ten made this sort of decision, the results were disastrous," she calls. "While you were busy assembling the Sihedron, Seekers and Venture Captains were dying. With Xin-Shalast, more than the Society will perish. You know that my loyalty to you is clear, Sheila. Please, take a breath and come back."

Sheila wheels to face Lady Gabrielle. "You should remember your place!" she proclaims, punctuating her statement by pointing to Gabi's Wayfinder. "As a Pathfinder, your first loyalty is always to then Ten. If you've forsaken that loyalty, then we have nothing further to discuss!"

Lady Gabrielle replies by touching her jade wayfinder with the tip of her closed fan. "My loyalties are also to the Society whose insignia is pictured here, loyalties which have come in conflict with the interests of the Ten," she explains, as she adjusts the position of her glasses.

She approaches Sheila as she continues, the heels of her shoes making alternating sounds as she walks across the tiled floor of gold and onyx. "While the Sihedron was being assembled, the Decemvirate opened a new route through the Hao Jin Tapestry, the exit being the abyssal Moonscar. What reasoning they used is unknown, but the consequences of that decision were disastrous. The demons of that realm quietly launched their invasion, capturing, torturing, and killing plenty of Venture-Captains and Seekers, myself among them. It was Ursus, Morgrym, and Arthur who saved us all from the demons, while the Decemvirate sent no one to clean up their mess."

The Lady watches Sheila's reaction as she speaks, as she is about to move into sensitive ground with her next point.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

After a brief moment Sheila purses her lips. "The Ten opened a portal to where?"

"The Moonscar," she answers the Venture-Captain. "My understanding of the matter is that the Azlanti opened a rift to the Abyss as a part of a failed experiment."

She looks over the frames of her glasses as she walks closer. "The fact that you were never informed is alarming. I am told that Skyreach was on fire at one point."

-Posted with Wayfinder

"If they were exploring an Azlanti site, then they took a calculated risk; the magic of Azlant is barely understood, even by the most accomplished scholars of the Society."

"We discovered evidence that the Ten knew exactly what dangers lurked in the Moonscar. The gate through the Tapestry was not the first time a Pathfinder had ventured to the Moonscar. No one was ever made aware of this foreknowledge or of their calculations."

The sound of her heeled shoes on the onyx and gold floor slows as she reaches Sheila. "When the Ten approved of the Sihedron's reforging, was that also a calculated risk? Did they elect to place Magnimar in the path of danger instead of someplace else?" she asks, careful as she treads on this topic.

"The Ten trusted my plan! They put their faith in their agent to know best, as they did with you in Galt and as you should do to your superior now!" Sheila replies angrily, her nose inches from Gabrielle's face and her eyes narrowed in anger.

Lady Gabrielle remains startlingly calm and confident. "We were trustworthy while in Galt, on Akiton, on the moon, and in Whitethrone," she gently explains. "The Society placed their faith in us when we arrived in Magnimar, and I am honored to have had your trust as well with that matter. With what we have seen, and what we know, are we not worthy of your faith now?" she asks, the beginnings of tears in her eyes, as if she were a sister mending the fences after a fight over a boy.

Sheila pauses for several breaths before she responds. "The Ten have shown remarkable faith in you, even when you have slandered their name and publicly flaunted their will. Very well. If they can trust your judgment then for now, so can I."

Turning back to the rooms, she surveys the grand entrance hall of the Pinnacle of Avarice. "Still, it will be sad to lose all the history of this place," she announces, before heading again for the entrance.

"I can assure that it will be far from lost. The murals alone will take ages to catalog and examine, and will likely be the source of several entries in the Chronicles."

"Be careful with that stairway. Reality is a bit warped on the other side. We have not exactly repaired it yet," she adds, before heading towards the throne room with the carpet of rubies.

So, I'm thinking Lady Gabrielle will end this scene with having at least planted a seed of mistrust of the Decemvirate with her speech about the Moonscar. Getting Sheila to flip entirely was apparently more difficult than she thought. Maybe later she'll turn Sheila away from the Ten.

So, do Morgrym, Filraen, Ursus, and Arthur have something to put forth for us to resolve?

Filraen desires to reestablish the Shadow Lodge; the Decemvirate are a powerful group of unknown identity with access to an untold trove of magical artifacts, a group too dangerous to operate without oversight. In pursuit of that goal he's planning to recruit the remaining giants and the lamias who were loyal to Karzoug using compulsion magic on the rune giants and a combination of charms and persuasion on the lamias to enlist them in his plans just as the Shadow Lodge of Season 2 did with the goblin tribes of Irrisen.

Morgrym has three points of interest that he'd like to deal with (that I can remember). The exiled Dwarves, the tapestry, and the spying machine inside Skyreach.

All right! It sounds like all three of us have three different ways of going about the same thing. We all want to take the Decemvirate down a couple of notches. Filraen wants to re-establish the Shadow Lodge, Morgrym wants to take away their scrying artifact and maybe the Tapestry, and Gabi wants to turn some influential Venture-Captains away from the Ten.

I've got all the information on the baddies surrounding Xin-Shalast, so I can handle a lot of what Filraen wants to do. My understanding of dwarven society is more limited; can any of you guys point me to some key source material from which I can use?

You don't have to handle all of it yourself; I'm a fully-functional GM most of the time. Dwarves of Golarion and the wiki are both good sources on the dwarves. I'm not sure about any major dwarf stuff in the AP line, but Halls of Dwarven Lore and The Secrets Stones Keep also had some dwarf-related information in the Adventure Background section.

Ben - when you get the chance, can you expand on what you're looking to accomplish with the Tapestry? I'm guessing that you want to put the dwarven spirits to rest and that you're hoping to destroy the artifact that Shemis was using in Skyreach, but its not nearly so clear about the Tapestry.