Tyrant's Grasp II: Eulogy for Roslar's Coffer

Game Master CrusaderWolf

"Oh, honey, don't be shy. You may be a talking piece of furniture, but at least you're still alive." Zsofia winks at the screen and saunters into the Queen's throne room.

"Aroden's buttocks! I mean, wow, you're... I mean, no wonder the stupid Prince is afraid to come up here and kill you himself!"

Diplomacy, AA: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

Lol Sanduro!

Ketra pats the screen and finds its surface warm and very sticky. She has to pull disconcertingly hard to get her hand back. "Thank you for the food," the strange screen-creature mumbles. At Zsofia's teasing a single eye, level with Ketra's face, opens and blinks confusedly. "Wait, what? You're not alive? Ooohhh no no no don't go in there, Scritcher will eat you!"

In the throne room itself, Garrets easygoing charm draws the queen's attention. "Ambivalent assassins, will wonders never cease!" Fanning herself, Queen Carnassial dabs away her tears and gives the halfling a sly look. "Ah, you seek the seeaaall..." she says slowly, drawing out the last word. "The true signifier of power here, for it shows that the psychopomps favor my rule. Uspid can never have it! If you desire to proceed along the Dead Roads, I offer you this: bring me the head of that pretender who styles himself a prince, and I shall each and every one of that you may continue on your way." She sniffs disdainfully. "A far better deal than killers for hire such as your yourselves deserve, but there you have it. That is the deal."

"Sounds good to me! Everybody ready?" Zsofia turns on her heels and starts back out the door the group just entered.

Sanduro sighs and grabs the phantom's arm before she can leave. "Not so fast, Zsofia. Maybe this time we'll let Garrett and the others handle the negotiations, hmm?"

"Of course, Queen Carnassial, we could do that, if you wanted to lower yourself to Uspid's level. I would imagine someone of your nobility would have a much more fitting plan for your empire than the death of your son," replies Garret, dancing on the edge of the verbal knife blade with the unstable monarch.

"Why not bring him back under your control as a dutiful son, forcing him and his followers to acknowledge your royal authority once again, expanding your retinue and receiving the honors due you as undisputed queen?" he encourages, adding, "For we are not assassins, Your Majesty, and would much prefer to see a happy family devoted to a loving and benevolent Queen instead of yet more death and sadness."

Ketra nods along with Garret's suggestion. Going on a murder spree against one side or the other was a life-threatening exercise that she was happy to skip if they could.

Seems good to me Garret. But I'm already wondering how we're going to wrangle him out of the ground floor.

Silvia crosses her arms, nonplussed at her comrades' discomfort. "Uspid is a would-be kinslayer, who sought to entertain himself via sending us, guests in his home, to our deaths. It's justice, not murder."

Queen Carnassial looks puzzled and uncertain at Garret's offer. "A strange suggestion, how do you suppose to bring the wretch to heel then?"

Silvia's contribution has the Queen nodding along, her mouth set in a firm line. "Just so, it's the fate vile Uspid deserves!"

Rounding on Silva, Garret says, "You name Uspid kinslayer, though he would have us do his dirty work for him. Yet by your own definition if we slay him the Queen becomes a kinslayer as well!"

Turning back to face the queen, Garret continues, "Queen Carnassial, to me you seem lucid and reasonable, putting the lie to Uspid's claims about you. You have the seal that grants you the true power here as far as I am concerned, Your Majesty."

Thinking for a moment, he adds, "It seems to me that the key to retaking full power for you is the loyalty of the tooth faeries. How do you gain and ensure their fealty, Your Majesty? Is it by providing them with teeth or some other method? If you could get them all on your side, your son would have to capitulate."

"Maybe we could discredit him somehow? If he looks like a joke to the other faeries, they'd be more inclined to come up here and apologize." Ketra's suggestion is a little bare bones. She doesn't have a good sense for how these strange creatures think, and is more than a little distracted by ideas of just wrestling the seal out of the queen's grasp and then running for it. The sooner the group leaves this madhouse, the better...

She looks around to see if she can spot the seal lying anywhere.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Carefully scanning the room, Ketra doesn't see anything that looks like a magical seal anywhere--but she notice the Queen absentmindedly patting a pocket of her gown as she listens to her petitioner's proposals. The pocket bulges over so slightly from the presence of some unknown object.

"Context matters, Garret. Kill a man on the street and you'll be imprisoned for murder. Kill the same man on the battlefield, though, and you'll be lauded. Uspid isn't defending himself, he just got tired of waiting for his turn and decided to off his own mother. On top of that, he already betrayed us within minutes of asking for our help. Treachery is in his nature." Silvia uncrosses her arms and her face takes on a thoughtful expression. "I won't oppose a peaceful solution, if you can find one, but I think he's earned what's coming to him. It feels right."

"If peace isn't an option, the Prince has it coming. I think we can all agree though that a whole community is better than a damaged one, if we can manage it," Wallace says in agreement.

"If it is teeth, perhaps we could use that snake to persuade a few?"

I like her, boyo, Zsofia projects to Sanduro with a nod towards Silvia. She doesn’t take any crap. She reminds me of me.

I’m sure she’d be horrified to hear that.

“Killing anyone isn’t my first choice, but I don’t suppose I’ll shed many tears over Uspid if that’s what it comes to,” Sanduro says. “The thing is, though, there were a lot more fairies downstairs with the Prince than we’ve seen up here. They may not all peacefully accept a change in leadership, if you see what I mean.”

"Yes, yes! Uspid is a despicable traitor who deserves to suffer, to perish for his crimes!" Queen Carnassial slams her scepter on the ground for emphasis, drawing a concerned rumble from Skritcher. The esobok shifts slightly but otherwise doesn't move from where he has been watching you the entire conversation. The Queen's face reddens with her fury. "The teeth, OH THE TEETH! I almost had enough of them, you know! Enough to buy back my beloved Canin...but then that ungrateful wretch found them when Chester decided they wanted to be a dressing screen and just left them piled on the floor," her voice takes on a disgusted tone.

"Uspid ate his father's ransom! And then has the gall to try and supplant his mother--by claiming that I had even more teeth hidden about. He pledged to share this fictional bounty and poof! My subjects' loyalty vanished like smoke. Even Fangwinder doesn't seem to have been able to fix him for me," Carnassial collapses back against the throne, fanning herself and giving you all a woeful stare. "Well there you have it, the whole sordid tale. Uspid doesn't deserve to live, you had that much correct." She waves a hand dismissively. "Dispatch him forthwith!"

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (20) + 0 = 20

(Is she telling the truth? Is she actually insane?)

"I suppose we could go try to convince the tooth faeries downstairs that Uspid has been lying to them about your secret stash of teeth, that he betrayed you by eating the teeth you had been saving to get the king back," suggests Garret, thinking that perhaps that could save at least some of her subjects if they return to her side.

What he doesn't consider, of course, is that they may try to rip apart Uspid to get the teeth he ate, but oh well, he doesn't think like a depraved tooth faerie after all.

Silvia makes a show of rolling her shoulders and cracking her neck, but says nothing. Bless him, still looking for the way to save everyone, she thinks, watching Garret.

Ketra turns to glance skeptically at her allies, one by one. 'Are we REALLY going to go kill a bunch of tooth-crazy faeries just because they can't get along? Really?' is what she wants to say, but she holds back in front of the Queen. With the seal possibly in the pocket of her gown, it wouldn't be easily to pilfer without getting into a big fight. So maybe that meant following her instructions after all.

More than anything, Ketra wants to get out of the Queen's earshot to talk this through with the group.

With a soft pop a tooth faerie appears in midair hovering near the throne--your newest guide, his invisibility having elapsed. "Aw, b@%&~$#s," he mutters.

”Give is a moment to discuss among ourselves, if you would, Your Majesty,” asks Garret. When they have some privacy, he says, ”They are all a bit crazy, but at least she seems sincere and isn’t trying to send us into multiple traps like Uspid. I say we take her up on her offer and go down to challenge Uspid for his treasonous ways. If we can enlist the help of the Queen’s loyalists to do so, so much the better. What think you all?”

"Finally," Silvia breathes, her relief palpable. "A straightforward solution. We go down there, tell him the situation, and if he won't come quietly, we cut the proverbial knot right down the middle."

Once they're outside, Ketra crosses her arms "Straightforward sure. We've got no idea how frightening that glass thing is, and the little faeries that Uspid's got duped could swarm us and pull all our teeth. But it'd be straightforward." Ketra glances back to the queen's chambers, wondering if it isn't too late to shout FIRE and then grab the seal in the confusion. Still, with most of the team wanting to bring it to Uspid, she says "But if you guys want to fight it out, I'll be there with you."

Before the party leaves, she goes over to Chester, lowering her voice. "Hey Chester? The Queen doesn't seem too happy with you now that you're a dressing screen. If you wanted to leave this place, maybe find a way to come back to the normal world, maybe eat some things along the way... well, there's a dressing-screen-sized-hole in our current team."

Wallace nods. "We'll take the fight to the Prince. The Queen is as close to the lawful ruler of this place as one can get, in my eyes, anyways. I don't think the Prince has reason to suspect us, yet. I say we all get as close to that glass behemoth as we can and bring it down first," he suggests. Heaven knows we'll have a rough time of it either way. Those Toothfaries certainly out number us, but if we can at least get that brute out of the way, we'll persevere.

"Then we are decided? I will confirm with the Queen then," says Garret, moving back into the audience chamber.

"We have decided to aid you in your cause, since you are the rightful ruler here and Uspid has betrayed you," says Garret, "But we wish to save as many of the faeries as we can, for they have merely been led astray by Uspid and you will need them back as subjects for Your Majesty."

"If it please Your Majesty, send what trusted allies you can spare to help us make our case to the populace and, should it come to combat, defeat the upstart prince," requests Garret humbly but hopefully persuasively.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24

"The last time we saw it, the glass angel was standing outside the room where we fought Fangwinder, waiting for the Prince's herald," Sanduro reminds the group. " If it's still there, we'll have to go past where the prince is waiting for us to get back there, unless there's a more direct route than the one we took up here. Maybe if we can convince the prince - or incapacitate him - quickly, we'll be able to avoid fighting the construct altogether."

"Or - and hear me out, boyo - we could fight the sparkly silent thing anyway! I want to see if it really has a glass jaw."

Wallace thinks a bit too hard about his contribution. "And then there'll be more teeth?" he adds to Garret's words.
________
Diplomacy (Aid) vs Garret: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

"Hey Chester? The Queen doesn't seem too happy with you now that you're a dressing screen. If you wanted to leave this place, maybe find a way to come back to the normal world, maybe eat some things along the way... well, there's a dressing-screen-sized-hole in our current team."

An eye opens halfway up the screen with a moist sucking sound. "You...want me to come with you? Out into the Dead Roads?" The screen gives a little shudder. "Ohhhh...that's really really nice of you! I've, I've never been invited anywhere before! Well, I suppose I must have been invited to this castle, but it's been a very long time and I don't remember. I guess we'd have to ask the Queen if I can go, right?"

"If it please Your Majesty, send what trusted allies you can spare to help us make our case to the populace and, should it come to combat, defeat the upstart prince," requests Garret humbly but hopefully persuasively.

Arching one eyebrow at the halfling, Queen Carnassial gives an imperious nod. "You have chosen wisely, toothsome ones. Chompsky, handle the details."

"Roit," says the other faerie with a rough salute and a murderous grin. "I'll round up the lads an' if'n any o' Uspid's lackeys so much as look at ye funny we'll knock their blocks off, swear on me mum!"

"We'll hold you to it," Wallace responds. "This is it then. Unless we've any final preparations to make, let's steel ourselves for battle."

Heeding his own words, he double checks the straps on his shield and warms up his wrist and shoulder, warhammer in hand. Let's see how that glass beast likes this piece!

gnome chompsky

"Always ready, Wallace. Let's go get this over with." Despite her words, though, she spends a few seconds warming up herself, clenching and unclenching her hands to loosen up her fingers.

Ketra whispers back to Chester "Well, you don't have to ask if you don't want to. You're your own person. Don't let mean-tempered tooth faeries put a damper on your vibe."

Diplomacy, encouraging: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Ready to go otherwise. Let's go fight some teef-grabbers.

"Ooohh, I don't know, the last time I made a big change without asking Uspid ate all the teeth and the Queen banished me out here," Chester heaves a sigh, but gives Ketra a sheepish grin. "But she can't banish me if I'm already leaving, right?"

Now settled upon a plan, the party bows and departs the Queen's audience hall. Chompsky flies ahead to wrangle the other two faeries, now also visible--and visibly intrigued on the goings on. "Roit, so 'Er Majesty 'as seen fit to allow these toothsome blighters ta have a go at 'Is Usurperness Uspid 'imself, and our job is ta even the odds a bit, aye? If'n a foit breaks out let 'em handle his Princliness and we 'ave to make sure those swarms 'o little s!*!es don't kill 'em. Ye savvy, mates?"

"Savvy!" they both affirm, and the three fall in slightly behind and above your heads as you descend back the way you came. Several of the tooth faeries in Uspid's entourage--you think, they don't actually wear any heraldry to signify allegiance and you struggle to tell one from another--spot your approach and their eyes go wide. They hesitate for only a moment before winging away, presumably to report to Uspid.

Indeed, as you enter the fountain hall you see Uspid lounging with theatrical casualness upon one of the chairs no doubt dragged from the ruined office, his supporters hovering all about him and the stained-glass construct standing with uncanny stillness at the foot of the stairs. Uspid begins to slowly clap...clap...clap... as you enter, his face twisted in a sardonic sneer.

"Ahn so se brave ah-sah-seens retehrn," he drawls. "But if se Queen--Pharasma rest hehr gentle soul--has passed on, why oh why are hehr guards still alive? Have se seen se error of sehr ways and come to beg se forgiveness of sehr rightful rulehr?"

"Prince Uspid, we have learned quite a bit since we left and spoke with the Queen, including who the rightful ruler actually is. The Queen holds the sigil blessed by Pharasma and thus holds the royal authority. She had a treasure trove of teeth, which her ungrateful son stole and ate, then betrayed his mother and turned her subjects against her!"

Speaking now to the tooth faeries, Garret says, "The Prince who pretends to the throne has betrayed his mother, the Queen, the true ruler! You owe her your loyalty, not him--the one who ate all the treasured teeth! Join us and bring Uspid to the Queen to face Her Majesty's judgement!"

(Not trying to convince Uspid, just his followers)
Diplomacy on the Faeries: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30

Yes, nat 20!

Ketra gives Chester a thumbs up as the group readies to head down, whispering "OK! See you out there!"

Once the party enters the fountain hall, Ketra stands to one side with her arms crossed. Uspid's theatrics were making her uncomfortable. He seemed awfully confident for someone that knew the party had killed a bone snake that none of his own tooth faeries had been able to deal with. Maybe he really believed that the party was returning with the Queen's turncoats in tow.

When Garret lays out the truth to Uspid's followers, Ketra chimes in with "Exactly, he's full to the brim with teeth he doesn't deserve."

Diplomacy (aid): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Zsofia sneers. "Yeah, what she said. The prince is full of ... teeth." She massages her fist with her other hand as though cracking her knuckles, but ectoplasmic bones don't pop.

Diplomacy, AA: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

Sanduro rolls his eyes at his phantom companion and keeps an arrow tight against his bowstring.

Diplomacy: aiding by not talking.

The party's declarations are met by shocked silence from the crowd of faeries. "Prince Uspid...ate all the teeth? No more?" one of tooth faeries hovering near the ceiling asks, accent forgotten. Uspid sputters and then growls out "Zis is an out-RA-geous lie! Se Queen has many vahst troves of teef she hides from m--you! Hides from all of us!"

"Wish 'at were true, ye damned codger," one of the Queen's guard-faeries mutters from behind your group. "Might 'ave a few of 'em meself. But there ent no secret teef, sorry ta say."

"My loyal servahnts, you cannot truly believe sat your Prince would have eaten all of se teef already?!" The silence at this question stretches out uncomfortably as the assembled faeries look at one another skeptically. "...Yes?" One of them offers eventually.

An enraged and undignified growl escapes Uspid, and he points his scepter at the group accusingly. "Zis is not how zis was supposed to go! You stupid toothers don't betray me! I betray YOU!! Angel of Teef, slay sem all!" The assembled faeries all beat their wings hard to gain altitude, crowding the torch sconces and rafters to see which will be the winning side.

-ROUND ONE-
Wallace/Garmid
Sanduro/Zsofia
Prince Uspid
Angel of Teef
Silvia
Garret
Ketra

Ketra calls out "Yeah, he's like a piñata of teef!" as the Prince's allies start to doubt him. She's a little too busy laughing at 'angel of teef' to be the first into the fight.

Wallace won initiative? What?!

Wallace sighs as Prince Uspid chooses to the 'blaze of glory' option. He levels his warhammer at the Angel of Teef.

"On my honor as a Knight, I challenge you, monster! By the Divine, may the righteous succeed this day!"
________
Adamantine Warhammer (Challenge) vs Angel of Teef (Flat-Footed): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 161d8 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 2 = 6

Garmid being missing was an oversight on my part, thanks for the reminder!

"A prince who serves only his own interests is no true prince, and deserves not his crown!" Garmid's sonorous voice reverberates throughout the room. "Strike down this faux angel, and let order be restored!" Urged on by the ancient knight's exhortations, Wallace steps up and sends his hammer crashing into the stained-glass angel's center mass--a snaking web of cracks spreads out from the point of impact, but if the construct is hampered by the injury it gives no sign.

Inspire Courage (+1) to everyone in the room!

-ROUND ONE-
Wallace/Garmid
Sanduro/Zsofia
Prince Uspid
Angel of Teef (-7hp)
Silvia
Garret
Ketra

"Don't worry, Wallace, I'll take care of the ugly one," Silvia says, her eyes firmly locked onto Uspid.

Sanduro glances at Zsofia and projects, You help Wallace deal with the glass man, and I'll try to keep the Prince busy.

The druid takes aim at the prince and readies a shot, if the tooth fairy takes any action at all other than to surrender (attack, move, cast a spell, activate a spell-like ability).

Zsofia grins. All the best bar fights start with the sound of breaking glass!

The phantom glides around the Angel of Teef to flank with Wallace and launches a kick at its midsection.

Slam!, flanking, challenge, inspire courage: 1d20 + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 4 + 2 + 1 + 1 = 261d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 + 1 = 5

Sorry y'all, was working the primary election yesterday and a 13hr day is a lot!

Zsofia floats like a butterfly into position, the hops forward to drive a powerful kick at the Angel of Teef/ The blow sends more cracks radiating out and even knocks a pane loose entirely! With a crunch of glass the construct clenches a fist and drives it into Wallace's jaw--the knight's helm spares him any grievous injuries but the shards of glass still cut him up. The Angel of Teef throws a wide backhand blow at Zsofia, but the experience pugilist ducks the swing.

Atop the stairs, Prince Uspid begins calling up some sort of spell, and Sanduro takes his shot--the arrow strikes the tooth faerie directly in the sternum, but instead of puncturing it bounces off after scarcely drawing blood! With a hateful glare at the druid, Uspid completes his incantation an vanishes from sight.

-ROUND ONE-
Wallace/Garmid [-7hp]
Sanduro/Zsofia
Prince Uspid (-1h)
Angel of Teef (-10hp)
Silvia
Garret
Ketra

With only one enemy visible, Garret sends a silent scream at the crystalline creature, hoping sonic damage will shatter it, or at least crack it severely.

Ear Piercing Scream Sonic Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4 and Dazed one round
DC 16 Fortitude save for half damage and no daze.

Aloud he calls, ”Where did the Prince go? Has he so little confidence in the worthiness of his cause that he quits the field before even engaging his challengers?”

"No surprise that he's a coward, really. Only a coward would lie about his Queen being crazy rather than just going and facing her properly." Ketra draws and twirls a machete in a show of confidence to the surrounding tooth faeries. She steps toward the "Angel" and gives it a quick straight punch to one of its glass panes.

Cestus; w/ PA, IC: 1d20 + 5 - 1 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 5 - 1 - 1 + 1 = 8 Damage (B): 1d4 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8

Anyone have KN Nature? Would be good to know what kind of DR we're dealing with.

"He'll be back," Silvia warns, her eyes searching. She sidesteps out from behind Garret and fires a shot from her pistol at the glass monstrosity. She quickly reloads in preparation for her next attack.

Pistol, DA, IC, and Reclaimer: 1d20 + 5 - 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 5 - 1 + 1 + 1 = 12
BPS: 2d6 + 2 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6, 5) + 2 + 1 + 1 = 15 -_-

Your GM goofed, Wallace & Sanduro may also take their turns for Round Two!