The Red Arm of Absalom - Ongoing Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master GM Red

Red the tombstone that the raven is perched on that is outside of the mausoleum right?

Int check: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

"Talking? Uesugi I think you may need to lie down for a bit. That ant did hit you pretty hard." Gallix retrieves his dagger from Cup's Servant - which feels odd, as it appears to have just begun floating toward him - then steps toward the tombstone and begins scraping away the bile with the cold iron blade.

I don't suppose my Comprehend Languages spell will help. It's probably been more than 10 minutes since the warehouse.

Int Check: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

"What is Yellow-foot...Gellion had a pair of yellow boots." She prepares her wand and applies it to Uesugi.

Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
Wow

With his wounds mostly closed, Sirettis turns her attention to cleansing the bile from the tombstone.
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

"No the bird talks. Even the spirit agrees. Were the boots made for another?" he watches as the barbarian scrapes away the oni ichor from the tombstone.

Linguistics: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

"I can cast comprehend languages. It's innate magic for gnomes like me. But first... What language are you speaking, Blackfeather? Do you understand me? I know that ravens talk."

She concentrates, trying to make out the Raven's language to know if she needs the spell or not.

Meanwhile the tiny parrot on her shoulder has poked its head out and started whistling, eyes wide.

Mr Peppers holsters his wand listens to the Raven familiar Intelligence: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18 and he nods as he follows along. "And to think all these years I thought they were just saying cah cah cah over and over again. We'll take you back to Nolaria, she's safe."

Before hand though he detects magic at the mausoleum area and has a look around the place. "Take your time looking for clues, we don't want to miss anything." He refreshes his light and helps someone with keen eyes scour for any other clues. Take 20 if it won't keep us here all night.

Giving Mr. Peppers a small salute, Corsac starts looking around. He pays particular attention to anything that might be yellow in color.

Perception Aid: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Take 20 takes us just 2 minutes.

If we have that time, taking 20 for 26.

Perception otherwise: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

@Uesugi: Yup

The raven caws and caws, repeating the same thing over and over again until Cup speaks to it in its language. It stops and looks at her sideways, then stretches its wings out and responds.

Investigating the graveyard turns up a cold iron morningstar leaning up against a grave. You also find a wand Spellcraft to ID and a pouch containing an elixir of hiding and an elixir of vision.

Using her wand, Sirettis destroys the bile covering the gravestones with a healthy dose of positive energy.

Take 10 for a 22 to ID

Sirettis looks at the wand.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25

When she recognizes Miss Poshkettle and the raven conversing in Auran, she also speaks in auran.

Now that everyone's speaking her language, Isa begins chirping.

Mr. Peppers and Sirettis identify the wand as a wand of bless weapon with 10 charges remaining.

Blackfeather twists its head as it looks at Isa curiously.

The raven pecks into the air in front of its face a few times.

There's not much else in the graveyard. The story had meant for you to come here before the warehouse, but you guys had enough clues to learn about the warehouse without coming here first.

Mr Peppers and Sirettis battle over wand ID rights and in the end come up with the same judgement. "Useful wand, I could use it with some effort, but being a divine spell it certainly isn't my forte."

He watches and listens to the back and forth squawking and tweeting between the birds, Cup, and Sirettis. "Hrm. If we're going to be working together frequently it may be helpful to learn this language. A secret code we could use between us."

After doing a thorough search Uesugi concludes, "Is it time to return to the temple to rest?"

Isa seems to laugh as Blackfeather pecks the air.

"Yes Isa... Blackfeather can't wait to see Nolaria. Shall we visit her now?"

Turning to Mr. Peppers, she tilts her head curiously. "The language of the winds is not too difficult to understand. Breath control is paramount, though. Many swimmers and athletes pick up the basics relatively quickly."

Mr Peppers points to Uesugi "I think that's a really, really, really good plan. This has been an extremely long day." Mr Peppers pulls out his journal for some final notes on the graveyard site.

He lifts his head up from the book "That doesn't bode well for me then Sirettis, I'm no athlete! But if you have the patience to teach me I'd like to learn. But not today, I'm spent."

Gallix hangs back for the most part as the ladies are speaking with Blackfeather. Great, he thinks, I've got D and Uesugi speaking Tien and the ladies speaking Bird. And now Peppers is talking about taking up bird calls too? Looks like Corsac and I might get a chance to get close. I wonder if Barry is still in town...

Cup turns to look at the little parrot on her shoulder. "Are you ready to go home, Pretty Bird?"

"Pretty Bird?" The teeny parrot hops in agitation, whistling. "NOT a 'Pretty Bird!' Not!"

Cup raises an eyebrow, surprised to see the little bird forming a sentence that wasn't sheer mimicry.

It has language!

"What do you mean, little one?" She offers the parrot a perch on her finger.

"Isa is 'Pretty Bird'. Blackfeather is 'Pretty Bird'." The baby parrot hops up and down in agitation, shaking its wings and whistling. "Ra-a-a-awwwk! I'm a pretty dragon!"

D. observes the talkative flirtatious bird, and decides it needs to tone down a bit.

Slowly, a decapitated ant head hovers up, behind the bird, as it is talking to Cup. Its dead eyes aimed straight at the bird.

Mr Peppers looks up at D's shenanigans, raises and eyebrow then goes back to the book. Then all of a sudden his light spell goes out.

"I think that's a sign its time to head back.."

The parrot looks at the decapitated ant head, cocking its own head to study it. It hops on top of one of the antennae. "Flies, but not a pretty bird, and not a dragon either. Food?" It queries Cup.

"Not food! The last thing we need is you eating something infected with bile." She offers her hand to the parrot. "Let's see if we can find you some proper fruit."

And figure out why you think you're a dragon...

With the graveyard cleared of bile and vermin, you head back to the Temple of Erastil next door. Blackfeather teases Cup's parrot and Isa with a few playful and harmless pecks along the way. Once you enter through the wooden doors, the raven swoops ahead as he sees Nolaria bent over as she tends to Gellion's injuries, and perches on her shoulder.

"Oh, Blackfeather! You found him!" She smiles brightly as she ruffles her hand through the bird's ebony feathers.

Gellion is tied to a bed and still unconscious, but he's looking much more human than he did an hour ago.

The raven cocks its head and stares at him, its eyes narrowed. "Oh no, don't worry. He won't hurt us anymore, Blackfeather. He was under a sort of spell before," Nolaria says to him while pressing his small talon down, just in case.

"Thanks again. You've really helped me out, and as I'm sure the Mayor has told you, Saringallow is indebted to you. It's quite late so my father has gone to bed, but all of the apprentices are resting and should be just fine. If you come by again, I'm sure we can offer you some free spellcasting as our thanks."

That is, the Temple will now offer you up to 2 free healing and restorative spells of 1st or 2nd level per day

Uesugi only needs a nights rest to get his 1 str back. So best to use the spells on Gallix to get his str back up. no doubt the morning will bring us some more gifts in terms of 'The Man with the Yellow Boots'

"Oh, thank you for your offer! Can you take care of our friend, Gallix?" Cup asks Nolaria. "I can't tell you how many times he's gotten hit with poison today. I've lost track."

Sirettis strokes her hair so Isa can hide behind it as shelter. She's used to the weight of a thrush on her shoulders but ravens and parrots are different stories. She doesn't seem to object.

Sirettis seems to smile as Blackfeather flies back to Nolaria. "As promised, we have returned you." She takes a look at the party, worn and bruised from the night. "I think it is time to rest until the morning." She takes one look at Gellion. "We all need it."

Gallix would absolutely just run away in the face of that spoiler, Red. Haha

Gallix staggers into the temple behind the others, the effects of the poison obviously still making him feel far from healthy. He smiles weakly as the temple's acolyte is reunited with her feathered friend, though he is still curious how a girl with healing magic could have a...what do the wizards call it? A familiar? He had never seen a priest with an animal friend before, though admittedly, he hasn't spent much time in temples.

When Solaria offers some healing services, Gallix is quick to step up to the young girl, and he raises his hand high into the air above his head. "Yes, please! I haven't felt so weak since my last bender in Katapesh!"

Gallix will recover 1 point of his strength just from sleep, and he would eventually heal it all naturally, but if we could heal the other 2 points of damage tonight or in the morning, that would be great. Thanks, Red/module!

"Rest would be good, yes. I for one would love a bed. Thank you for taking care of Gallix. He's been a gallant protector for all of us!"

She turns to the little parrot. "Um... I'm never met a dragon that looks like you. Usually they have scales instead of feathers and beaks. How do you know that you're a dragon?"

"Dragon! Said so on my box!" The little parrot whistles, flaps his wings and fly-hops to Mr. Pepper's shoulder. "Ra-a-a-awk! Hello! Got food?"

Mr Peppers waves away the parrot from marring his nice new cloak. "Now isn't the time for food, now is the time for sleep. Lets get to the inn and get some beds, I feel like I could sleep at least half a day. Maybe there are some leftovers at the tavern you could nibble on before bed."

Before they head off Mr Peppers will turn to Nolaria and thank her for the offer of healing. "If you're able to fix up Gallix tomorrow I've also got some lingering weakness from poison that may or may not need attention tomorrow. We'll be back either way to check on everyone."

Nolaria shakes her head. "I unfortunately don't have that sort of magic prepared. Sorry! Father Ildris does and he'll be here all day tomorrow. If you stop by in the morning, he'll get that plague right out of you."

Departing the Temple, you make for the Witch's End tavern. After explaining to Alcie that you'd saved her bouncer/cook-in-training/man of many talents, she offers you free room and board for a week.

We're pretty much done this chapter. Excellent job, guys! You saved them all!
I will have your chronicles up this weekend. I will also get a loot tracker prepared. If anyone is slow tracking this chapter, let me know! In fact, if you could re-post your PFS information and day job rolls in Discussion, it'll save me a bit of time flipping back pages.

Woo! Great job running, Red! Looking forward to part 2. :)

Gallix sighs at the news, but smiles at the young woman anyway. "That's alright, Nolaria. Thanks for letting us know. I guess we'll see you tomorrow."

The brawler makes one more weary trek through the town to the tavern, where he finally meets Alcie. He thanks her heartily for her hospitality, then makes his way to the provided room as quickly as possible and collapses onto the bed.

The little parrot veers away as Mr. Peppers shoos him away, instead landing on Uesugi's head. It peers down at the samurai cross-eyed, and then whistles and falls asleep as the group travels en route to Alcie's.

D. can't help but slightly smirk.

"Be careful, it might grow to like you."

Uesugi has a fondness for animals so he lets the feathered dragon stay where he is.

"You never know. He might turn out to be a grand dragon indeed. Sleep green one."

That night

That night Cup retrieves the tiny deluded parrot from Uesugi's head, wrapping it in a scarf to stay warm. She trundles into the room she shares with her new sister, Sirettis, Isa, and Oolong. Oolong has been giving her sad reproachful looks. She sings a solid note into being and creates a little perch for the parrot to sleep upon, and then pets the dog. "There's room in my life for both of you, you know." When he climbs on the bed, she lets him, even though his big doggie body takes up more than half the bed and he steals most of the blanket.

She turns to Sirettis and smiles. "Night, sis! Thank you for being there for me."

The next morning

Cup is up early. She looks around the breakfast table. "I'm heading to the temple to check on the kids. Anyone want to join me?"

"I can't believe you got me up so early. Kids are resilient you know but they also need their sleep, as do Elves that rely on sharp mental faculties." He rubs his eyes with his hands.

"Maybe you could make me some proper tea and gather some decent breakfast and I'll be ready to go. None of that magically heated stuff either, it just doesn't get quite hot enough for a complete brew." He goes back to reading his spellbook, which includes some careful scribing.

That night

She trundles into the room she shares with her new sister, Sirettis, Isa, and Oolong. She turns to Sirettis and smiles. "Night, sis! Thank you for being there for me."

The next morning

Cup is up early. She looks around the breakfast table. "I'm heading to the temple to check on the kids. Anyone want to join me?"

Another morning brings up a quick conversation with Isa. "Let us converse with the children. Perhaps Gellion has recovered."

In the morning

Uesugi looks at these people that were once strangers gathered around the table. He knew much more about some of them then they knew of him, yet they never felt the need to demand more of him. Accepting him for who he was to them was the greatest honour they could have given him. Their trust in him was what pushed him to protect them even if it might mean his own death. And he knew he would face it many times before leaving this town.

Uesugi looks up when the little gnome says she is off to the temple to check on the children. Standing up from his chair he nods to her "I will be checking on Yurei this morning. I shall meet you at the temple."

In the morning, Isa seems to stagger awake and immediately flies towards Sirettis.

As the group sits down to breakfast and places their order, Alcie marches towards the back and shouts into the kitchen, "Alright, Morv! I need six eggs sunny-side up, two lamb shanks, ten strips of bacon, and four loaves of that honey oat bread Gunty brought over! Oh, and a copious amount of tea!"

Profession (Cook-in-training): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13
Morvinarr twirls a pan in his hand and flips a half-cooked egg into the air, catching it in mid-air. One of the yolks unfortunately breaks. "Comin' right up!"

Profession (Barmaid): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10
Within only a few minutes, Alcie scurries over the table with five plates neatly balanced on her arms. A few forks and knives fall off the plates and onto the floor, but none of the food does. She lays the plates down in front Cup, Mr. Peppers, and whoever else wanted to stay for breakfast before scurrying back to fetch more cutlery.

The eggs are to near perfection, with soft yolks and hard whites, though a few yolks did break and harden. The bread is toasted and warm with steam rising out of the center as you break it in half. The shanks are cooked medium rare and the bacon sizzles and crackles as if it were still on a hot pan.

"Enjoy your meal! Morvinarr's reputation rests in your hands," she smiles brightly and softly laughs.

__

I felt like the breakfast scene would be a nice respite from Bile hunting. :)

Mr Peppers eats fairly light, avoiding the lamb and bacon, but enjoying the toast and eggs. "Might you have any sort of jelly or jam or honey for the toast? And if it isn't too much to ask perhaps an apple?"

Once Alcie heads back off Mr Peppers wipes off his knife and fork Just in case... and takes a quick look at his plate as well. "I'm not sure if its a good sign that Morvinarr is back at work already or if Alcie is one heck of a slave driver for a boss!"

He stows away his books when the rest of breakfast arrives wouldn't want some barbarian spilling ale on them. He then starts to go into some interesting spells he finally figured out but decides this isn't the best place for such talk. He changes the subject to the weather.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

Alcie rushes back to the table with an insulted look on her face. "Did you just call me a slave driver? Morvinarr insisted in coming back this morning. Much as I tried to stop him, once I told him you had stayed the night, he wanted to show his gratitude with breakfast!" She puts her hand into a pocket in her apron and pulls out a few glass containers of jam, throwing them down in front of Mr. Peppers.

"Mr. Peppers, or Mr. Obnoxious? Hah! Well, at least the green-haired one here seems a lot more appreciative of her breakfast!" With a forced smile and an awkward laugh, the tall woman swiftly turns her back and marches away from the table.

Earlier that morning

Cup didn’t mind making tea for tall, dark and grumpy. He was actually cute in the morning, his dark hair falling over his books as he studied. With the parrot whistling on her head, she made him a nice cup hot tea, redolent with bergamot, and sent it towards him with mage hand.

While Mr. Peppers read his book, she paged through her brand new tome of epics, looking for more ideas for stories and songs that she could use. It’s nice, taking some time, reading alongside someone else.

At Breakfast

When Alcie drops the plate, Cup immediately drops to the floor to help her pick it up, just like she would in her parent’s tea shop. Cup happily ate some of everything, grabbing some of the lamb and bacon on a special plate on the floor for Oolong.

When Alcie got offended, she got up and ran after the innkeeper. “Please don’t be mad at Pep. I’m sure he didn’t mean to offend you!” Her green eyes shoot a warning to Mr. Peppers. “He was just teasing Morivarr for his diligence, like boys do sometimes. I think he was just looking out for me, asking for the extra fruit. My little parrot is hungry, but has only been able to eat the toast so far.” She holds the little parrot out on one finger. “They primarily eat fruit and fresh vegetables and nuts in the wild. Isn’t he adorable? We rescued him in the same warehouse we found Mori! I don’t know what to name him yet!”

Cup’s Unleveled Diplomacy*: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

She looks up earnestly up at Alcie. “Anyway, I’ll take Pep out of here. We’re going to check on the other children in the infirmary. Pep, are you coming along? Anyone else want to go?”

___
*Unleveled because I haven’t completed my faction mission yet.

The parrot whistles excitedly. "Did you say fruit?! " It flaps its wings excitedly. "Raawwwwk! Dragons need lots of food!"

Mr Peppers looks extremely uncomfortable when he hears that Alcie overheard his joking comment. "Ahh. Errr. Ehh. I'm very sorry Alcie that was said completely tongue and cheek. You have a very nice place here and if I was in Morvinarr's place I'd want nothing more than to get back to normalcy." Diplomacy Aid: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

He shifts uncomfortably in his seat looking towards Cup who argues on his behalf. Its a great breakfast, he's done a great job. I just can't eat certain foods, they don't agree with my stomach. And of course Polly here would be happy to share an apple." He then excuses himself to head off with Cup to check on the rest of the children.

Damn Red, really raking me over the coals! And Cup's diplomacy dice continue to land on point!

Hehe. Alcie's described as obstinate and a force to be reckoned with, so I felt it was fitting.

Alcie nods and smiles as she walks you out. "Thank you, and don't worry about it, Mr. Peppers. I'll give Morvinarr your kind words. Oh, and that parrot is adorable!" She pats it on the head with a finger.
__

The door to the Witch's End opens to a fresh breeze of air and the sun high in the sky. The unending blanket of clouds seems to have parted, for now, and the locals are out and about tending to their daily lives. You're able to overhear whispers around town including the name Gellion and the other apprentices. Word of last night's events has traveled fast around Saringallow, but with the Mayor's backing, Gellion just might be able to avoid the gallows.

You enter the Temple of Erastil to be greeted by Father Ildris. "Welcome back, saviors of our town!" He laughs, but his compliment sounds sincere. "Come, everyone is awake and just fine... Except Gellion." He takes you down a sparse hallway and into the infirmary.

Gellion is awake and leaned up against the wall, his knees folded into his chest and his arms wrapped around them, looking nearly catatonic. Nolaria sits on the bed next to him, still tending to him with various spells, but his ailments don't look physically treatable.

"Oh, good morning. Welcome back. I hope you slept well!" Nolaria greets you with a bright smile, and Blackfeather caws happily from her shoulder as he sees Isa and the tiny green parrot enter. "Gellion's alive and awake, but I don't think he's in the mood for conversation." His eyes don't move as she speaks of him, staying focused on an empty spot on the wall.