Outpost II - GM Badblood's [PFS] #3-19 The Icebound Outpost (Inactive)

Game Master Lance K

"If someone needs to be healed come closer!"
channel energy: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 5) = 7

The Balrog is amused by the Nagaji's playing with 'fire'.
"Hey, I can do that for real - wanna see?"

On the other hand, he continues to be frustrated at this idea of trying to save the lives of the Aspis agents.
"Calistria doesn't favor it. Torag doesn't favor it. Iomedae only if they have surrendered honorably, which these didn't. What, are we a bunch of Shelynites? All you are doing is making the Aspis a more compelling option to join."
Then he reconsiders.
"Well, Aram Zey did say we should interrogate them as to how they were getting in. I haven't seen any interrogations yet. If you squeamish types can't handle it, I can do it."

Kala deactivates her Animal Focus and replies to Nirion: "I'm fine. Thanks, though."

She stares blankly at the scrolls for a moment. With a gesture that communicates a combination of obligation, distrust, and dismissiveness, she asks the group: "Anybody want these? I don't have any more room in my pack, but the Society'll probably want to keep 'em from falling into the wrong hands."

With that, she turns her back on them and pours all of her focus into examining the room, whether or not that is necessary.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

Yagaji nods his thanks to Nirion. "Ahh the good stuff. Ya just feel a little more peppy after someone channels positive vibes your way. Am I right?"

Yagaji says to the Balrog, "I never know what to ask when it comes to internme--intee--when it's time to ask questions. You can do that. Are we s'pose to be taking any of this stuff back with us? I'm good at carrying stuff...and smiting bad guys. Ohh, I could also go check on those poor prisoners. I'm good at cheering folks up..."

Nirion's channel would heal the enemy wizard to consciousness unless he's excluding her with Selective Channeling. There is also still an unexplored room, although it doesn't appear to have anyone in it.

Kala searches the room and finds a map of Vudra with some strange writing on it. Closer examination or a read magic shows that a know direction spell has placed on the map, turning it into a spell scroll.

Nirion will exclude enemy wizard with Selective Channeling

"Shall we collect everything of value and then we can get out of here?"

Lunevi shakes her head. "No, we should determine that these are all of the agents here and find out how they've been getting in. Our most recent foe seems to have an understanding of what's going on - should we question her?"

After a brief pause, she adds, "Besides, why would we suffer from this? Going unconscious is hardly an excellent defense, so I'd like to find out what she meant by it."

The wizard is unconscious and in no condition to talk with you. Healing her up to positive hp or using smelling salts would wake her up. Nirion, that channel would have brought her back to consciousness. If you want, you can chose not to deselect her.

As you continue to search the room, you find that most of the artifacts that were looted from the watch room are in here, stacked in crates. There is also a life sized statue of a six armed goddess that was probably removed from that shrine to make room for their cook fire. The statue is solid stone, and probably weighs somewhere around 1,000 lbs.

Nirion will NOT exclude enemy wizard from Selective Channeling

"We're just taking the stuff from the Aspis, right? Not looting the shrine. Even I have standards. Should we put these things in the crates back where they belong in the temple?"

"That's a good idea, Balrog, if we can figure out where they go. First, though, there's one more area we haven't cleared. We also gotta talk to this lady and find out what's going on here." With a smirk, she adds: "Maybe you could 'convince' her to cooperate quickly."
Is The Balrog still super-sized?

It lasts for 2 minutes, so he could be - depends how much time we took.

It takes a minute of conversation to improve someones attitude using Intimidate. I think you used it right before entering the room, so I'll let you take advantage of your embiggened stature.

"You think I'll talk? You don't have the stomach to do what it takes to make me talk," the captured wizard drawls in her think Vudrani accent.

Intimidate, Large: 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 7 + 4 = 28
"SORRY! CAN'T HEAR YOU! SOMEBODY POKE ME WHEN SHE STARTS TO TALK! I'M GOING TO START BREAKING FINGERS NOW."
The Balrog reaches for her hand - and if she doesn't talk he actually will break a finger.

"Hey, easy now! I don't even know what you want!"

It looks like you've made her temporarily Friendly

The Balrog can tell that she is trying to talk, so he says (still deaf), "Okay, tell Kala here whatever she wants to know. About how you got in here. And if you have more friends around."

"Did Gaestos manage to deafen all of you, or just the devil?"

Lunevi quickly reaches out to poke The Balrog, not wanting to see - or hear - anyone's fingers breaking.

"Most of us can still hear just fine," Lunevi says easily. "But please, tell us what you know." Glancing at The Balrog, she adds, "I wouldn't count on him to not break your fingers if we don't do this quickly. He's, um. He's a hasty sort."

Drawing out her inkpen and a piece of parchment, she reiterates, "How did you get in here? Have you other allies? Other... servants? Where did you bring these people from?"

Yagaji moves to where he can keep an eye on the entrances to the room with freed prisoners, the party and the wizard, and the area not yet explored.

Thinking quickly, Kala interjects: "Speak quickly! He gets mean when that spell wears off."

"I don't know very much about the main operation. We only give our agents enough information to do their jobs and my job is to appraise the relics in this temple for marketability. Now that you defeated us, I'm sure you're going to take these items back to your Lodge and lock them up in your vaults never to be seen again. But there are a lot of buyers out there for stuff like this." Cathixia sighs heavily.

"I was teleported to a camp in the woods by a masked agent. Someone who had far more knowledge and arcane power than myself. They wanted me because I'm an expert on Vudrani religious artifacts. I know which things should get sold to academics and which should go to private collectors looking for an exotic conversation piece to put in their parlor."

"From all I know, you've probably killed or captured all of us, but people come and go here. Someone new could arrive at any time."

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

"Oh? Who? Please, tell us everything," Lunevi encourages with a smile.

sense motive: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24

"Yes, but speak quickly!"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13

Sensing the woman is holding back, Kala scowls sternly at her and gestures for her to keep talking.

"There was somebody else in charge when I first came here. A half-orc named Leska. She left a few weeks ago; or at least I think it was that long ago. When you're on a demi-plane with no setting sun it's easy to lose track of time. Anyways, I don't think the leadership is planning on leaving me in charge here and even if that was the plan, they will eventually be sending in supplies, more slaves, more agents. But honestly, that could still be a few weeks from now."

The conversation has taken about 4 minutes in game time, so any of those minute per level effects should be worn off by now.

The Balrog shrinks down, loses interest in the proceedings (since he can't hear), and wanders around cracking his whip with Arcane Strike.

"Where did you come from? What spot did you enter at?" Lunevi asks, carefully writing down the name and details. She can't quite think of exactly what else they need to do, but... "Where did these... servants come from?"

"We all came in about a mile away from the fortress. That's where the portal drops you off at. I don't think I could find the place on my own. It wouldn't help you though. When you come in here, it leaves...what the word for water swirling around something? Nevermind
When you travel here it leaves a circle about two feet wide and it looks like a...distortion...like a mirror or looking through water. But you can only come and go through your own portal."

Cathixia shrugs. "I don't know where the Consortium purchases their slaves. Probably from a slave market."

To her comrades, Kala raises her eyebrow meaningfully and mentions: "Perhaps our other prisoners would be more...knowledgeable." If we can find the spot where they come in, it may provide clues...

Turning back to the prisoner at hand, she asks in a no-nonsense but reasonable voice, ticking off questions on her fingers until she is finished: "What is your name? What is your rank? What was Gaestos's rank? What information did Gaestos share with you about this operation?What information did Leska share with you about this operation? Where is the site on our plane where you were teleported to this demiplane? What do you know about the individuals associated with teleporting you to this demiplane?"

As she answers the questions, Kala will put down the finger associated with that question.

Sense Motive (How honest and complete are her answers?): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Cathixia is a silver badged Aspis agent, making her the highest ranking agent here, but despite that she really doesn't know much about the Hao Jin Tapestry operation. Her rank does seem to come from her unique expertise more than anything. She does not know where the portal into the Tapestry is, as she was teleported in and it was dark when she arrived. She knows that her personel eddy is about a mile away from here but she doesn't know exactly where it is. She is willing to make things up if pressured, but the details are not consistent and would fall apart with proper scrutiny.

Graestos is the whip wielding druid with the cat. All she knows is that he was a former slave catcher and his job was to keep the slaves digging away at the glacier. The rest of the people here are basically just muscle. Leska was in charge when she arrived here but they didn't talk much and she doesn't know where she went or why.

It takes about twenty minutes to get this out of her and it doesn't seem like she knows much else.

Sighing in resignation, Kala brushes her hands off on her pants legs and announces: "Looks like we've gotten all we can out of this one. Let's drag her over to the others so those guys can keep an eye on her. Then we can check out that other room." If no one objects, she'll begin dragging the woman off to join her fellow Apsis dirtbags.

Oooh! We're dragging things? I love dragging things! Especially meat. She's not meat yet, but I'll help you drag her. Grr! Hey, can we play tug of war? Grr! Grr! Stinky starts out helping, but then begins playfully tugging in the opposite direction.

"Stinky! Knock it off! Geez!" Stopping to pull a scrap of jerky from her pocket, Kala pitches it to the far side of the room. "Fetch, boy! And leave that woman alone."

"Kala, that sounds like a good plan! Who has a rope?"

"I have some," Lunevi volunteers her rope. [b]"There's fifty feet of it, but I suppose that just means she'll be properly restrained while we're gone."

After they tied and placed Cathix, Nirion says. " Let's check out what else is left." Then he moves toward the room they didn't yet checked.

Before he enters the room he tries to detect presence of magic in the room.

perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Does anyone else follow brave Nirion into the shrine room?

Kala drags the other prisoner into the barracks room to join the others while Nirion steps into the shrine room.

With only the light from both doorways coming in, this room is dimly lit and shadows flicker along the walls. From what Nirion can see in the darkness, the room appears to be in pristine condition. The shelves built into the walls are filled with scrolls and books and the engravings on the walls are untouched. In the center of the room is a life sized statue of a four armed woman, standing slightly elevated on a small shrine.

The Balrog follows Nirion. He has whip and shield in hand, sword at his belt.

Keen on learning more about this temple, Salvadore enters the last room with Nirion, light of his Ioun Torch helping to illuminate the room as they go forth.

Salvadore casts Detect Magic and peers around...

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

As Kala is dragging the bound woman to the looted shrine to join her fellow prisoners, she thinks she sees some movement out of the corner of her eye. She could swear that it was on the roof of the shrine that Nirion just walked into but when she turns her head to look she sees nothing.

As she continues to lug the prisoner, she calls out with a grunt: "Hey, guys! There might be something on the roof of that shrine thing. Thought I saw something moving. Might be nothing, though." Once she has handed the scroll master off to the former slaves, she strides back to follow Nirion into the shrine. "Stinky, heel!"

Animal Companion Handling: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Munching on the scrap of jerky he finally found, Stinky spins around and scampers to Kala's side. What's up? Hey, got any more? That's good stuff. A little dry and tough, but it tastes good. I'm still hungry. Where're we going?

Yagaji happily enterd the room, ready for something more active to do.

Yagaji happily enters the room, ready for something more active to do.

know. religion: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

Lunevi is uncomfortable when Kala says there might be yet another. While they'd certainly taken the time to interrogate the woman, it was true that there could just as easily be another group she might not have known about, especially if the organization was as careful with their information as had been implied.

Thinking it better to be safe than sorry, Lunevi will continually cast guidance on all of her allies, recasting it as it wears off.

"Let us take care not to be taken unawares."

Nirion struggles to place where exactly this goddess rests in the Vudrani pantheon and draws a blank. He notices that the statue is of exceptional quality and curiosity to study it closer and with better lighting tug at him. The nagaji paladin steps into the room behind Nirion and also admires the statue.

Meanwhile Kala shouts out a warning to her companions. Expecting trouble, Lunevi casts guidance on Balrog, but before she is able to move onto her next companion, a pair of figures climb over the fallen banyan tree. Both are bundled in heavy winter clothing.

The first figure is a half orc female, lean and strong. She stands a few inches over six feet and as she gracefully jumps off the enormous tree she lands with a pair of long curved blades in each hand. Although she is wearing thick gloves and knee high fur leggings, her green biceps are bare, showing that her arms are thickly corded with muscle.

The other figure stands a mere three feet tall. Peaking out of his thick hood is a whiskered snout and a pair of gleaming black eyes. A whip lick tail flickers from behind him. His pink paw-like hands are uncovered, but instead of holding a weapon he merely has a long flute made from a yellowish wood. This individual remains standing on the log.

"I see we have some uninvited guests. Are any of you brave enough to come and fight me?" the half-orc shouts, banging her kukris together above her head.

Round 1
Lunevi
Nirion
Half-Orc Slasher
Kala
???
The Balrog (Guidance)
The Diminuitive Flutist
Yagajimoro
Stinky
Salvadore

Nirion comes closer to the enemy. double move

"We can fight you but first we wanna know who you are?"

Round 1
Lunevi
Nirion
Half-Orc Slasherdelay
Kala
???
The Balrog (Guidance)
The Diminuitive Flutist
Yagajimoro
Stinky
Salvadore

"I'm Leska Valentra and this is my property you're trespassing on. Who in the bloody Abyss are you?"

Bold may act. Leska is choosing to delay.

The Balrog moves up and his whip snaps out.
Disarm, Whip, Guidance: 1d20 + 4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 4 + 2 + 1 = 26
He laughs as one of the half-orc's kukris (presumably) clatters to the ground.
"YOU DIDN'T NEED THAT, DID YOU?"

This isn't your property, you Aspis thief! Lunevi thinks furiously. Slaver, monster, you--! She has a lot more thoughts on this particular matter, really, but most of them aren't necessarily worth the telling. And she couldn't, even if she wanted to, properly convey her feelings in Common anyhow.

Still, she can't help herself.

"Գող, հրեշ, խաբեություն: Սա ձեր գույքն է, եւ դուք, ինչ եք անում, գողանում է!" she scowls, expression fierce. "Հոգեգետ բաներ, կյանքեր եւ անզուսպ ձեր սեփական ազատության մասին!"

Taking a breathe, she shakes herself out of it and begins by granting her allies with bless. "Ընդունեք ջրի օրհնությունը, մաքուր եւ մաքուր."

Then, drawing out her crossbow for this new endeavor, she moves.