After about an hour of socializing with each other, the Venture Captain comes back, but this time alone. He points at certain members of the group and gestures for you to follow him.
"I hope you learned everything you want to know about Acererak," he says curtly. "Because we are going to have one of our Venture Lieutenants teleport you onto onto a boat near the shore of that island. You all are some of the most competent adventurers we have available at the moment; everyone else is fighting off demons in the Worldwound. Anyway, you are going to be entering one of the two locations that Acererak may be hiding with another group going into the other. Here's the catch." Ambrus looks at you all grimly. "The Decemvirate has no idea why Acererak returned after all this time, and they aren't even sure he is a hostile. Nothing has attacked any of the people we sent to the island thus far. We want you to find him and figure out his goals. If he can be reasoned with, then go that route. If not, we want you to destroy whatever threat he poses, understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"Baaa! baa aaaa aaa"
Understood. Jean gives a little salute, his earlier drinking showing no signs in his behavior now. As soon as they are away he turns to the group.
Everyone, let's review what we know so far. Partly because I don't know much about him, partly because I'm just the guy who hits things, partly because I seem to have been out of the room when everyone was discussing him.
He is.. or was a magic user of some renown, trying to give his people immortality." turning to the goat as it starts to bleat,"Shh... Harvey, yes I know that life is supposed to stop... But getting back to the story, even though he thought this was noble, he was unable to accomplish his goals. He turned to darkness for shortcuts. This eventually led him to his current status as a Lich. I've also heard some of the others mention that he has a fair number of contacts with outsiders and that his lair might be unsafe for magics that interact with the planes including teleportation effects."
From my understanding, we aren't likely to be able to reason with him. I suspect we may need to end him.
"Well, I pray that that is not the case; it's always unfortunate when a life comes to an end, and I'd rather not be a party to that."
Father Raphael quickly starts to put on a set of full plate armor. He looks...kind of silly really. The armor doesn't seem to suit him at all, but he seems well enough able to move in it, so clearly he's had some practice. At his side looks like a brand new morningstar; there doesn't seem to be a single scratch on it. But one closer inspection, the faded leather on the handle suggests that it may be more likely that it just hasn't been used much. The dagger seems a big more used, but given Raphael's previous peaceful-inclined statements, that may just mean that he uses it to cut his food.
"If we going to be working together, perhaps we should all introduce ourselves and say a little about what we do? I am Father Raphael, a follower of Sarenrae. I'm afraid I don't have much experience fighting as I'm more of a healer. I've studied a number of subjects in my free time, but none so much as the teachings of Sarenrae and the origins of many of her enemies."
He takes a deep breath before finishing. "Oh, and by the way, I should also mention that during times of stress, I have been known to become possessed by Sarenrae. So if I start speaking in the tongue of angels, it's nothing to be concerned about." He smiles reassuringly at his companions as he finishes putting on his gauntlets.
Well I am a worshiper of Veiloaria. I am on a mission by my very god to find what mysterious await us here. I am a bit of the stealthy type, and know my way around traps. Though I would prefer not to take point on those as I am well over due for a mishap. I can heal a bit and have 2 wands of cure light wounds with me. I am the believer in 1 is none and 2 is one.If the need should arise I shall keep one of them hanging from my belt, so just grab it.Also I really despise the undead.
Well I am a man-at-arms. I have some skills outside of fighting but it's unlikely they'll be as useful as me swinging my sword and standing between, say, Father Raphael and a demon that wants to kill him.
"Veiloaria, eh? The gods must really be concerned if two of them spoke to us to get us in here." He pats the other man on the back. "Well, I might not be able to heal you as well as if you worshiped Sarenrae, but I'll do my best." He leans in conspiratorially to whisper, a twinkle in his eye, "Unless you'd like to convert of course?" He seems to be half joking. But only half.
Raphael closes his eyes an focuses, connecting all his companions together.
"Veiloaria heals me. I shall not spit in the eye of my god to join yours."
"Name's Mad Hamish and I'm an alcho- wait wrong meetin. I just do whatever works, bit of magic, bit of swordplay, plenty of shootin if that's wot's called for. If Mr. Maxwell here is a bit shy on the traps I don't mind just taking care of them. I'm long overdue to get it right for a change."
Touchy, touchy. Raphael holds up his hands smiling. "Peace, sir. Worship who you wish. Can't blame a priest for trying though." He winks before addressing the group as a whole. "I will heal any who need it." His armor now fully on, he adjusts his shield, keeping his weapons sheathed by his side.
"Seems like a most excellent group with a nice balance of skills. I look forward to exploring the area with you all." He places his helmet on and closes his eyes, sending up a quick prayer for guidance and protection and steeling himself for whatever dangers they may face. He takes a few more deep breaths to try to calm the pounding of his heart. If it is Her will that I die, then so be it. Fear will gain me naught.
Ambrus shakes his head. Alright, alright, you lot are going to make me weep.* Now I'm going to introduce you to the man who will be bringing you to the island. He's a Pathfinder like you all, but I doubt you've ever met, let alone heard of him. His name is Andross Stern and..." You notice he hesitates a bit. "I'm going to put it to you bluntly: the man is a vampire. Now I don't want you to go mentioning his condition at all when around him. He's been loyal to us and has gone decades without an incident. The poor man has had to remain hidden even amongst his fellow Pathfinders and has had to live with the stigma of his kind, we don't need anyone poking fun at him now, okay?" He looks at you all quite seriously.
*
"Yes, suh!" Hamish said in the most sincere keenness. "Will be sure not to consider his condition at all suh! One of us normal people suh!" HAmish gives a quick sideglance to the two priests. The two very much against the undead gods sort of priests.
Jean looks amused at Ambrus' 'subtle' humor but starts visibly at the mention of Andross' condition.
Well, I ain't a judging type, so guess I'll just have to go with it.
"Yes sir, Venture Captain Valsin!"
In hushed tones, Suzumaru lectures Harvey as the group heads to the vampire. You occasionally make out words and phrase like "O-R-P-H-A-N-A-G-E" and "frilly pink ribbons". The goat makes an occasional half bleat but is quickly silenced by Suzumaru.
Suzumaru concentrates for a moment, and then she suddenly feels connected to everyone in the hall.
With the visor of his helmet up, Raphael blinks in surprised upon hearing that they're about to meet a vampire. His head tilts slightly to one side as he considers this. I suppose he probably didn't have much of a choice about becoming a vampire. And as long as he acts for the betterment of all, who or what he is doesn't matter, right? He shakes his head. No, I will not make the suffering of a man who by all accounts is trustworthy and good any worse. Sarenrae would want me to be kind to a man suffering from alcoholism; I'm sure she'd feel the same about this. He glances briefly up at the sky. I hope.
- Wand of bless
- traveler's any-tool (not sure if I had this on my character sheet before or not)
- Holy water x5
- keros oil x2
- vermin repellent x3
- Misc Things: bedroll, blanket, chalk x5, charcoal stick x2, earplugs x5, fishhook x2, flint and steel, grappling hook, healer's kit, silver holy symbol, holy text, mirror, oil, powder x2, sewing needle x2, signal whistle x3, silk rope x2, smelling salts, soap, spell component pouch, string/twine, tindertwig x5
With that, the Venture Captain nods at you and leads you to a secluded part of the Lodge, where the floor seemed to grow dustier and the air thicker. Eventually you've made so many turns that even those who have been in the building before have forgotten their way to the amphitheater. There are no torches in this part of the building, nor are there windows to let in moonlight, so Ambrus casts a light spell to illuminate the corridors. Finally you reach a dead end where there is nothing but a trapdoor on the floor.
Ambrus knocks on the trapdoor and says, "Andross, the adventurers are ready to see you."
After a moment you here a hoarse voice reply, "Yes, yes send them down. I want to inspect them with my own eyes, not through this blasted crystal ball."
Jean heads over to the trapdoor and climbs (jumps?) down.
Maxwell looks at the trap door for a second, a little uneasy. Then follows Jean.
"You're holding up the line Harvey. Just jump down already! I'm sure we can heal any injuries you take when you fall. Now go!" demands the little gnome. "Fine! I'll jump through the hole first."she responds to the goats whining bleat.
She then jumps through the opening. The goat following shortly afterwards.
Once down the hole Jean muses to the first magic-capable party member he sees.
I can't do magic, but if he was following us with a crystal ball does it bode well that none of us seemed to know he was doing it?
"No more than anyone else watchin mate. That's the sort of thing you actively have to be looking for. Slight distortion in the air, feeling of being watched, scan for magic in the areas where you might not normally look." As Hamish finishes he climbs down without hesitation.
"There's so much magic going on here in the lodge, it gives me a headache every time I cast detect magic. It's almost impossible to notice a specific effect without intense concentration. Though, I don't really recall getting a sense of anyone watching me."
When you get down the ladder, you notice that it is pitch black save for the extremely dim light that comes from beyond the trapdoor and a single glowing orb in the center of the room. With this faint light you can see a rather tidy, yet large room filled with bookshelves and papers. In this center of the room (where the crystal ball rests on a table) sits a pale looking man dressed in rather disheveled clothing. When he stands, you can see he is much taller than you anticipated, easily reaching a height of six feet.
He smiles,* and walks over to you, extending his hand. "Welcome," he says with a strong Osirion accent. "It has been so long since I've had a guest other than a member of the Ten in my quarters. I trust you are all caught up with the situation? Giant island that appeared to the south of Kortos? Used to be in the Eye of Abendego?"
*
Suzumaru looks at the goat, and mumbles, "Not a word."
Approaching the tall, pale gentleman and sticks her tiny hand in his and follows the shaking ritual. Her heartbeat picks up, due to excitement or fear, and she stammers a greeting,"Hello, Mr. Stern. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, it's too bad it has to be under such pressing circumstances. I imagine it is quite difficult to teleport onto a moving vessel at sea, you must be quite the accomplished spell caster." She notices the fangs and a slight expression of fear or disgust, probably a little of both, shows in her eyes for the barest moment. She then curtsies and moves away so that others have the chance to greet the vampire.
With some awkwardness, Raphael manages to clamber down the ladder in his bulky armor. He squints around in the dim illumination and starts to reach into his backpack.
He pulls out an ioun torch and places it to hang near his head.
However, it stops as he suddenly realizes such a thing might make their host uncomfortable.
He glances at his surroundings. Poor man: he only gets visits from the Ten? It must get lonely. I hope he's able to find at least some solace in his studies and his god. ...do vampires have gods? Surely some must. Although who knows how that journey beyond the veil of death changes a man.
"Yes, Mr. Stern, it's a pleasure to meet you." He shakes the man's hand firmly, if a bit stiffly. "We're grateful you've agreed to transport us there. I was wondering: the quick reading I managed to do on the topic earlier suggested that teleportation effects might garner some unwanted attention. Have we found the boundary at which that sets in? Or was I mistaken in my understanding? I would imagine time is of the essence, so even if not, we should still take the risk. I was just hoping you might enlighten us as to if we should expect company shortly after reaching the other side."
Yeesh. The Father's been thinking about this quite a bit. Teleportation is out, planar travel is out, I doubt someone capable of moving an entire island like that wouldn't also have some means of tracking people who simply sailed there as well.
Well Father, we're gonna get his attention sooner or later. If he sees us teleporting onto the island maybe he'll come out and save us the trouble of going to dig him out.
Jean grins slightly, as if he's both seriously hopeful of that and joking at the same time.
Maxwell eyes the man as he feels a heightened since of alertness. The mans fangs appear to be very white. Against his better judgement reaches out to shake the pale mans hand.
I wonder if this mans fangs look like that due to the vampires mighty healing ability. There is no way that he is actually "Clean".
Nice to meet you. Now lets get down to business.
Will save.
+2 if illusion or death
You all are immediately incinerated Andross smiles at the group. "Yes, you are more than the average squabble aren't you? Your minds are much more resilient than most, and you," he says, pointing at Jean, "Managed to block me out of your mind completely. Congratulations. As to your questions and thoughts; mages have already scouted the area. The ship we will be teleporting to is just outside the reach of where magic first starts appearing, so we will be sailing the rest of the way there. While it is true Acererak is likely to be know we are there, we don't want to accidentally break the subtle weaving together of the planes. If we were to teleport straight there, we might actually open a portal to another plane entirely... and we don't want to accidentally create another Worldwound, now do we?"
He slowly makes his way to the crystal ball. "I fancy myself a diviner you see. With this device and my own natural talents, I have been able to keep an eye on the Inner Sea region without exposing myself to the dangers of the outside world. Most people see me as a monster... as some of you here." He smiles broadly, looking primarily at Suzumaru and Maxwell. Once he has finished his lookover of those two, he turns to Raphael. "I can tell you think my vampirism a curse. I however see it as an opportunity to focus on my studies. As for your thoughts as to my religion... I was once a worshiper of Abadar. Unfortunately I can no longer have holy symbols displayed prominently... Never mind that. Are there any questions before I provide you with equipment the Ten have asked me to give you?"
Father Raphael's sudden feeling of shame is soon overshadowed by his confusion. How would becoming a vampire help with one's studies? Unless I suppose you're actually studying vampirism, in which case I would imagine it'd be quite helpful. It's too bad he's not allowed his holy symbols though. Although, of course, they're not strictly needed for worship. He fingers his own holy symbol absently before starting suddenly as the implication behind Andross' words hits him. He then places his holy symbol inside his armor so as to avoid any discomfort it might place on their host.
Changing the direction of his train of thought, Raphael looks curiously at Andross. "What kind of equipment are we to be provided with?" He represses his inner scholar's desire to pepper the man with further, most likely completely inappropriate, questions about vampirism.
Andross looks at Raphael and smiles. "I was once human. My scholarly persuits would have ended long ago if not for vampirism." When he notices you out your holy symbol away he noticeably breaths a sigh of relief. "Why thank you. I thought that I was feeling the presence of one of those. You have no idea how difficult it is to go through dusty old tomes when you get sick every time you open up to a page with the symbol of Desna or Pharasma on it."
Looking a bit ashamed, Suzumaru begins to apologize,"Sorry...
In her thoughts, now wait just a darn moment, this creature is an abomination, an insult to the natural order, and a slave to the undeath that he needs release from, even though he doesn't seem to know it. I'm not going to bow and scrape, or hide from him. I was perfectly polite as ordered, he can just suck it if I find his company distasteful.
Interupting herself and suddenly businesslike,"Yes. Let's get this transportation problem attended to and be on our way."
... he can just suck it if I find his company distasteful.[/i]
Warm sunny beaches, delicious garlic bread, oh look a creek to jump back and forth across, extra sharp pencils...
"Right, right, lovely introductions I'm sure it's lonely in the eternal darkness but we have a potentially less polite undead sorcerer to pay a visit to"
Jean is quiet, evidently deep in thought about deep topics and contemplating the implications of working with a vampire who genuinely wants to do good in the world, or at least not actively do evil. As far as you can tell.
Let's be honest, vampire man, I'm probably just too drunk for you to get any decent readings off me. Unless Cayden is protecting my mind through alcohol, oh I love my god. He makes getting drunk make me immune to thought-magic! I should bring some of that Kellish liquor with me. We may be there for a few days, don't want to sober up so much he can read my mind!