DM Eric's PFS - The Midnight Mirror (Gameday VII) (Inactive)

Game Master Eric Swanson

Setare looks at the fey in horror and then at the humans who attacked her.

”I ... I am so ... so sorry for hi ... hitting you!! Please for... forgive me. I am ... am very fo... focused in battle and therefore so... sometimes cannot restrain my... myself! Can you please te... tell us who you are and ... and why you were su... supporting this evil be... being?!“ Setare says with some insecurity and guilt in her voice.

Diplomacy : 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Kane is a mongoose and has an int of 6 and will help Barley get around. Can take orders but cannot talk.

Kane gently nudges Barley's hand and when it is resting on top of his head he slowly makes his way over to the fey.

"I was at a fair once where there was this juggler whose act ends with a weasel down his trousers." Rilia considers. "I doubt it would be as funny if the man were seriously disabled--before the show starts that is. Take heart though there are ways to restore sight." Just give me 3 more levels and....

Rilia then seeks a bit of guidance from Calistria, and looks around just to really rub it in.

perception (guidance): 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 9 + 1 = 19

”I ... I am so ... so sorry for hi ... hitting you!! Please for... forgive me. I am ... am very fo... focused in battle and therefore so... sometimes cannot restrain my... myself!“

"Given your performance tonight, in a battle of love, I would pity your opponent."

"I don't think we should revive this creature and risk more blindness. Let us question these two tallowthroat victims. They seem compliant at the moment. And we are operating at the Baroness' request."

Once led over by Kit's familiar, Barley picks up the small creature by the arrow through it like a roasted chicken. "I agree with Eti, I was hoping this blindness would wear off after the creature dies, doesn't seem to be case. We don't want another one of us handicapped." He drops the fey-kabob with a Tian curse. "Looks like I'm not looking at anything. Thanks Kitoro, I'm gonna need to relay on Kane for awhile until we get back to Absalom, or at least a field lodge in the region."

As you keep a close eye upon the unconscious lurker fey to make sure it does not awaken, the two humans cautiously approach you as you talk of your association with the Baroness. "You are working with the Baron?" Fane responds first, still sporting an ugly bruise from Setare's scimitar, "Ilquis here," he replies, pointing to the fey, "told us he was working for the Baron and claimed that the baron knew what he was doing and had given him permission to — in fact, had ordered him to — sacrifice whomever in town Ilquis wanted!"

As you follow the gaze of the two humans, you realize with horror there are still people imprisoned up to their necks in the two northernmost and the southern vats encased in cold, dried wax.

"Pulura save them! Quick, we have to get them out!" Etienne looks about for some sort of tool to start digging or carving away the wax.

Kitoro gapes at the two idiots.

"You do know that it is unwise to believe everything someone tells you, don't you? Right at the top of the list is:
1) God told me to marry you.
2) I have this magic amulet that will cure your diseases for a mere 20 gold.
3) I get to kill whoever I want because my cause is just."

Reminds me of the Pathfinder Society, actually, but I'd better not say that.

"I don't suppose you bought any magical amulets lately, have you? Forget it. Don't just stand there, help rescue the victims."

"Could they be under some sort of charm?"

@GM, when the fey cast Blindness on Barley did it do it in the usual spellcasting fashion (i.e. with hand gestures and arcane words)? Because if so, we can easily tie it up and interrogate it with a sword tip under its throat to be sure that it can't cast a spell on us. I suspect that it may know a great deal more than these two human dupes...

Hoprah gazes in horror at the imprisoned people. Do they appear to be alive? Conscious?

Kitoro gapes at the two idiots.

"You do know that it is unwise to believe everything someone tells you, don't you? Right at the top of the list is:
1) God told me to marry you.
2) I have this magic amulet that will cure your diseases for a mere 20 gold.
3) I get to kill whoever I want because my cause is just."

Reminds me of the Pathfinder Society, actually, but I'd better not say that.

"I don't suppose you bought any magical amulets lately, have you? Forget it. Don't just stand there, help rescue the victims."

LOL! I really had to laugh ... not the first time! ;-)

Setare is shocked about the humans that are still imprisoned and frantically starts digging and tries to get them out!

”Oh no!! Oh no!! Don’t die!!!“ she says sobbing.

Hoprah: You did not see the fey use any spell-casting gestures so you believe it must have been a spell-like ability.

Setare: Freeing a prisoner from a wax vat requires a DC 15 Strength check or removal of the wax by another means such as cutting through it or scooping it out and away from the captive.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Kit lets the others deal with the prisoners. She needs something to distract her from the horrible wailing from Setare so she takes out some of her puppet paint and draws smiley faces on the fey while keeping one eye on Kane to make sure he's not walking into any danger.

"Maybe this will help change its attitude. I've known some Shelyn worshipers that swear by happy art."

dSetare is not very strong but she is quite skilled with her blade.

Using her training to not cut anybody severely she uses her blade to free the humans!

Scimitar attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 23
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

* * *

Scimitar attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

* * *

Scimitar attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

* * *

Scimitar attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

* * *

Scimitar attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

* * *

Scimitar attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

* * *

Scimitar attack roll: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Kit lets the others deal with the prisoners. She needs something to distract her from the horrible wailing from Setare so she takes out some of her puppet paint and draws smiley faces on the fey while keeping one eye on Kane to make sure he's not walking into any danger.

"Maybe this will help change its attitude. I've known some Shelyn worshipers that swear by happy art."

sense motive (+2 if it is 'hunch', +1 if it is something she has time react to with a guidance spell): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

"I know in my heart of hearts that I've sworn by it." Rilia muses darkly.

She looks at the little transfixed creature.

heal (diagnose state, kit): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

If it seems alive and stable (and doesn't have to wrestle Hoprah in this mud pit for the captive) she removes the arrow, trusses him up with candle wick and then finds a large enough container of warm wax, shoves the blighter in it up to his neck and let's it cool.

Are lurkers tiny or small? I, the player, cannot remember.

Barley is not going anywhere near the paladin swinging a scimitar at candles - an old training exercise he'd done many times. Instead, he feels around the room, checking for anything of interest, maybe a potion for curing blindness. Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Try as you might you cannot determine if the humans are being magically influenced.

Setare, you quickly determine your scimitar is a poor tool for cutting away the cooled wax.

Rilia, The lurker is Small-sized. Only one of the wax vats contains heated wax though you do see it is balanced somewhat precariously. Let me know if you wish to continue here.

Barley finds a scroll, a wand, a dagger, and 348 gold pieces on the body of the fey. Also in a barrel marked “paraffin” next to the furnace are two sets of studded leather armor, a masterwork chain shirt, 4 daggers, a masterwork short sword, a composite shortbow (+1 Strength bonus) and 15 arrows, and a labeled potion of cure moderate wounds.

Nice haul.

Barley frowns his closed eyes at the barrel, possibly making some sort of connection, "We've heard a few descriptions of the disease as having waxy skin... " Barley dips his hand into the paraffin and shows it to the others.

Spellcraft, scroll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12 If that's insufficient, she does have Read Magic so maybe she can just read the scroll and see what it is?
Spellcraft, wand: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Hoprah will also cast Detect Magic to check and see if any of the other items are magical.

Hoprah looks at the people in the wax and tries to see if any of them are conscious. Or alive. "Hello? We're here to help. Are you in any pain? What happened to you?"

Rilia, The lurker is Small-sized. Only one of the wax vats contains heated wax though you do see it is balanced somewhat precariously. Let me know if you wish to continue here.

She does assuming no one stops her (pending the results of her heal check of course--see above). Rilia is a bit of an expert in the application of hot wax, and restraints, and has intimate knowledge of the tolerances that most, common, humanoid physiologies have to such rigors--i.e. she endeavors not to melt the small creature. She enlists the aid of one of the big, strong men in the room to help with the logistics.

Once that is done, she examines the waxy captives.

Hoprah fails to discover the magical properties of the items, though a read magic spell does reveal the scroll is one of continual flame. She also realizes all of the prisoners are indeed alive, yet unconscious.

Rilia drops the unconscious fey into the near boiling vat of wax...

Rilia, give me a Perception check.

Kit will check out the wand, slightly annoyed that Rilia is ruining all of her nice artwork but figuring the little annoyance has it coming to him..

spellcraft: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Setare, you quickly determine your scimitar is a poor tool for cutting away the cooled wax.

Setare starts searching for anything that could help her to free the captives in the wax. She is becoming a little desperate now ...

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17

Setare: You can make a DC 15 STR check to free a captive, or perhaps check the doors that have not been opened yet.

Etienne tries to assist Setare in pulling out the victims. "We could use some help up here! Did you not see that there are people trapped?!"
Str check for Aid Another: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (10) - 1 = 9
dang it!

Once they are free, he'll try to identify the wand.
Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

"Maybe if you heated your knife or sword in the boiling way, you could cut through the dried wax? All I got is a whip and some quarrels though. I'll check out the other rooms. Maybe we'll find something there."

Kit marches over to the southwest door and opens it.

Setare is very weak and uses dexterity over strength in battle but she is desperate enough to try to save these people.

Strength check: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (4) - 2 = 2
Strength check: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (18) - 2 = 16

Still waiting on the results of the heal check (if any) from a few days back before Rilia does anything.

Sorry about that Rilia. The fey was unconscious when you checked it out earlier.

Then onward! SCIENCE!

perception (if she has time then she uses guidance as well): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

Barley feels around to get a grip and pull the soupers out of the vat.

STR: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Light posting today, work calls.

Hoprah is mistrustful of how the fey creature may react to being put in the boiling wax and watches it closely, ready to blast it with a spell if it shows any signs of regaining consciousness or taking any action.

The fey creature does not react here as it soon sinks below the surface of the wax.

Setare is able to free one of the captives on her own and, with the assistance of her companions, is able to free the other two as well. The northwest vat held a young female child who calls herself Olya Groy, the daughter of Lucien Groy who went missing before, while the other two held a butcher’s son Delian and a farmer named Zona.

Etienne sees the three doors each lead to store rooms, filled with cotton cord and twine, cleaning supplies, raw wax, and organic resins. Also scattered among these rooms are are five human bodies — two men and three women. All of the bodies are covered in a thin layer of wax. One of the female corpses you recognize as Irini, Gavril’s illicit lover.

Setare is so energised to see Olya, Delian and Zona alive.

”Oh I am so... so happy that you are a... alive! You cannot ima... imagine how much your loved ones were fee... feeling the pain of your ab... absence and how they fea... feared that they wou... would never see you again! Tell us ple.. please what happened a... and why you are he... here?“ she pleads.

The fey creature does not react here as it soon sinks below [into] the surface of the wax.

If it seems alive and stable (and doesn't have to wrestle Hoprah in this mud pit for the captive) she removes the arrow, trusses him up with candle wick and then finds a large enough container of warm wax, shoves the blighter in it up to his neck and lets it cool.

One of the female corpses you recognize as Irini, Gavril’s illicit lover.

Er, how? I'm pretty sure we've never met. Unless someone else there can identify her, or maybe Gavril gave us a description maybe?

heal (kit, guidance): 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 1 = 13

"Well, I'm pretty sure she's dead."

"So perhaps this accounts for the disappearances that have been reported?

Addressing the surviving victims: Can you move on your own? Can you tell us how you came to be here?

are the victims in a state to be questioned? I will apply my wand of clw if it seems that would help

Etienne: None of the victims need any healing, they were kept alive for a specific reason.

As Rilia watches in fascination she sees the body disintegrate over the course of several minutes into 2d6 ⇒ (4, 5) = 9 pounds of dust that glows with a cold light equal to that provided by a candle.

You gather up each victim and clean off the wax from their body as best you can. Each recounts how a fellow villager lured them here under false but believable pretenses (Catalina ensnared both Zona and Olya, and Delian was lured here by Fane). Once they were brought to the cellar, Ilquis cast a spell that made them agreeable to his suggestions, and none of them remember thinking that climbing into the vats of hot wax was a bad idea at the time. The lurker made no secret of his intentions to sacrifice them in a terrible ritual, and when they begged for mercy, the fey claimed that the baron knew what he was doing and had given him permission to — in fact, had ordered him to - sacrifice whomever in town Ilquis wanted.

Setare incredulously listens to the explanations of the survivors.

”I ... I cannot believe that the ba... baron or ... or anyone would like to be in.. involved in such cruel ac.. actions! Look at the five peo... people we could not ... not save! Oh dear Sarenrae forgive u... us for coming too la... late!“ Setare says and closes her eyes ... praying for the fallen humans.

Did the fey die?!? Did we kill it?!? Good that Setare is oblivious to that. ;-)

Heal: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (14) + 0 = 14

Hoprah isn't able to discover anything further from examining the bodies but she is troubled by the entire situation and looks around carefully to see if there are any further clues.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (14) + 3 = 17

"Well it seems like it may be time for us to pay the Baron a visit, eh?"

"If I'm right, perhaps there is a Baron doppleganger involved."

Kit starts warming up to her theory.

"Why, the whole town could become nothing but body dups and they could start invading towns near them. Before we know it the whole world could be nothing but wax imitations of the people we once were!"

Hmmm. Sounds like the makings for a great play. But 'based on a true story' has quite a ring to it.

"Well it seems like it may be time for us to pay the Baron a visit, eh?"

"Mayhaps we check what is behind those double doors behind the vats, before we vacate the premises?

"Mayhaps we check what is behind those double doors behind the vats, before we vacate the premises?

Kitoro will head over to the big doors, but will lurk behind one of the vats. You may not have noticed, but she likes to let others do the dangerous work. Not a coward, but always thinking of number one.

Setare incredulously listens to the explanations of the survivors.

Did the fey die?!? Did we kill it?!? Good that Setare is oblivious to that. ;-)

"Ew. Huh? Oh this, it's sparkles err, for your hair. The fey creature? Um, I used magic to banished it to a farm up north."

bluff (+1 more if Setare is attracted to Rilia): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Kitoro will head over to the big doors, but will lurk behind one of the vats. You may not have noticed, but she likes to let others do the dangerous work. Not a coward, but always thinking of number one.

That's so sweet of you. Thanks! I think of Kitoro sometimes too. ;)

Assuming everyone is healthy, and the villagers are shown the door out.

After a quick prayer, Rilia investigates the door.

perception (guidance): 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 9 + 1 = 16

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

"Watch out! There's a trap on those doors! They are rigged to dump boiling wax on anyone who opens them. Do any of us have skill at disarming such things?"

Incidentally, did everyone who can take an attempt at identifying the wand we found?

Setare Katsu wrote:

Setare incredulously listens to the explanations of the survivors.

Did the fey die?!? Did we kill it?!? Good that Setare is oblivious to that. ;-)

"Ew. Huh? Oh this, it's sparkles err, for your hair. The fey creature? Um, I used magic to banished it to a farm up north."

[dice=bluff (+1 more if Setare is attracted to Rilia)]1d20+9

Setare smiles at Rilia ”You have su... such wondrous abilities! Tha.. thank you for your he... help today to save not only the.. these people bu... but also the fe.. fey!!!“ and she hugs Rilia.

Setare smiles at Rilia ”You have su... such wondrous abilities! Tha.. thank you for your he... help today to save not only the.. these people bu... but also the fe.. fey!!!“ and she hugs Rilia.

"Don't mention it. Really." Rilia says as the scrawny girl hugs her tall, statuesque self.

"Watch out! There's a trap on those doors! They are rigged to dump boiling wax on anyone who opens them. Do any of us have skill at disarming such things?"

"What!"

Incidentally, did everyone who can take an attempt at identifying the wand we found?

Rilia's more of a people person, and doesn't have any real skill in that department.

No wand ID'ing from Barley

”Kane - walk me over to this door. Let me try to disable it." Barley dangerously comes close to opening the door himself as he feels around the trap, trying to determine its nature. He pulls out his lockpick set, which looks suspiciously like bamboo chopsticks he used for noodles earlier.

”Everybody stand at a safe place”, then tries to disarm the wax bath.

Disable Device: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Hoprah watches in amazement as the blind ninja works on the trap by feel alone.

Hmmm, it seems there is no penalty to Disable Device checks for being Blind, soooo...

Working by the sense of touch lone, Barley is able to find the point where the door opening would trigger the trap and safely disarms it! You did not beat the DC by enough to leave it armed however.

"My thanks, dear Barley. Shall we proceed?"

Assuming there are no objections, Etienne will carefully open the double doors.