Volcano's Land - Mercury Morn

Game Master Miner Cotren

Samen smirks at Abby's vanity. He mockingly bows before her. "Behold, a smoke goddess! As likely to choke the life out of you as drift away, she's always fun at parties."

Osna chuckles: "So, mistress Abbygailiwy. I can say I am delighted to meet you. We seem to have acquired more than our share of new companions today. If you can persuade one of your fellow elemental to help us, that would be invaluable"

I never head of a smoke elemental. Is she part fire and part air or something like that? I'll need to ask Phon when we are alone. I know next to nothing about those.

He glances as Phon, trying to keep track of everything that was discussed. "In the meantime, Phon, I think we should go on with your proposal to speak with the corpse of the creature impersonating the Captain. Maybe it'll tell us where it was created. And who it really was before."

being that disposal of bodies is a big deal in this world, a group of mercenaries would make it standard procedure to take their own dead out of combat situations, away from officials, etc. Even in their semi-dazed state earlier, Half-Blind and some of the others have tricks they know for such occasions. The body is with Beautymark, the company's resident witch.

Abbygailiwy claps her semisolid hands together in delight after Osna greets her. "Ooh, he is polite! Not as handsome as you, of course, Samen,"

reminder - charisma 5 for Samen

"but that is true of most elens. Hmm," she hmms. "I think I will watch this speaking-to-the-dead from the staff. No reason to take risks. I am hungry though, love. Could you hold me over that lovely bonfire for a minute or two?"

"It is a delicate matter. I would have to ask whatever gods for the spell, and hopefully whoever the deceased is bound to will listen to my pleas." She taps her head thoughtfully, "Though as you know bodies do not last long, so it is imperative we ensure nothing happens to it, whether it smolders out, washes away, or otherwise."

The war priest starts reciting prayers in her head for the next sunrise, "I will need time unfortunately, I cannot be greedy when I balance on this precipice of devotion."

Hearing the smoke elemental, Phon turns about, "And what sort of spellcraft is this?" Unphased by the new arrival, she was aware of something, but was ready for something far worse. "Abbygailiwy was it? I have many questions to ask of you, but if you are a friend of Samen, I will hold you to the same that I hold him."

Not entirely sure, she releases her weapon. "Let us head to Beautymark, and see what we can do in preparation for the morrow. We would need a few very direct questions, as the link is tenuous."

"Certainly, my dear." Samen obliges Abby's request, gathering up some hay, leaves, or other light detritus to make the fire burn smokier. Then, he holds the staff over the flame as though he were roasting an invisible marshmallow.

"I'll catch up with you in a minute. She gets cranky if she's not fed."

This is the DM botting Iniga for now

After Phon Vos mentions her communcations to the gods, Iniga remarks, "Make sure Volcano is first in your prayers. It is one of His children abducted and flayed." Her eyes are still far away.

As Filipo mentioned, you find your resident witch at the far edge of camp. Away from the bonfire, you notice roughly twenty elens lying on their backs, neatly arranged upon the ground and covered with blankets save for their faces. Blue faces. As you get closer, you see they are all undines, both els and eles in their number. All soundly asleep.

Crouching among the gentle sleepers is a young ifrit ele, beautiful and curved and something of the charcoal desert in her looks. She straightens from her task, showing the large goiter on her neck that is the origin of her nickname. Charms dangle from her ears and fingers.

Without preamble, in a hag voice at odds with her youth, she says, "Spill it."

She was never happy with the terse statements from the elder el, but at this point there was no reason to attempt to teach an old el new tricks... It would be like teaching fish to fly.

"Beautymark. We are looking for the body that just came in recently." She kept the term vague to ensure that who she was speaking to was legitimate.

She pats one of the sleeping undines absently, then grunts. "Fine. Over here."

Kept away from the undines you see the shape of the "captain's" body. Despite being covered by an old tarp, the corpse gives off an aura of disquiet. Nearby, birds have fallen silent. No insects trouble the dead thing. There is a faint astringent scent in the air, like rotting magic rather than rotting flesh.

Satisfied that Abby has consumed enough, Samen joins the others. He pokes Osna gently with his staff. "You smell it too, right? I'll check for elemental traces. Could you check for other general magic?"

Casting detect elementals

Osna glances at the undines under Beautymark's supervision then follows Phon Vos to the body.

Would Osna know if that is standard for Beautymark to have people asleep like that under her care?

"Yes, that's not a normal smell at all for a body.", he replies to Samen. "I can look at general magic auras but Phon is way better that me at that game. What I can do however is that."

Osna casts see invisibility to check if there is anyone hiding under an invisibility spell or ability or if they are scryed upon.

this is an unusual amount of sleeping elens, and it is also odd that they are all undines. Odd enough for Osna to comment on, if he is the sort to do so

As if registering something odd, Osna steps back towards Beautymark and whispers.

" What's going on here ? Why are all these els asleep here ? Did they catch something ?", he asks, lowering his voice to avoid waking the undines.

Onsa, Beautymark talks at her normal, grating volume. "Fell asleep when Moon came."

In response to your other post, see invis reveals nothing, so the area is clear. I like your attention to detail!

"Only undines? Did you ask Phon for her take on that?"

"We still need to figure out the issue with that thing, first.", he indicates the "Captain's" corpse. "But this Moon is really getting out of hand. In the mean time, if there's anything we can do to help you tonight, please ask."

Phon sees Osna talking with Beautymark, "What's wrong?" Listening in, she almost staggers back, "Touched from Moon? You're certain?"

She focuses on a spell, and casts Aura Sight. "If there is any taint from that thing... I will hopefully see it here."

Her own pains were quickly put aside for her duty to work as she looked around the room to see what she could.

Not sure if this will work, let's see!

Abbygailiwy yawns theatrically and returns to her staff, not interested in the detective games of Samen's companions.

Chapter Two. Speaking of Dying.

It is eighteenth candle. After dinner, early evening.

I think the next solid point on the agenda is sleeping until morning and getting the speak with dead spell, correct? If so, narrate the rest of your evening/night as you see fit.

I'm assuming you are all staying in the camp for the night, that way you are close to the body when you have new spells in the morning

"I do not believe Iniga will be fit to stand watch tonight. I will be happy to take middle watch, and more besides if the need arises."

Wamblee helps his vision-plagued cousin into her bedroll for the night, then he leans up against a nearby tree, arms crossed, watching for any dangers that might beset his family. Will these mercenaries remain our allies? he wonders.

"I think we should stay here tonight. We will have the the Swords as back-up and be ready first thing in the morning to see what you can get from this body, Phon."

"But if whoever did that were able to infiltrate us, that could do it again. As Wamblee proposed, we should take watches as well. I do not mind getting up early, so I'll take the last one if that's fine with you."

Osna gestures to one of the tent in the center of the camp. "Besides, Phon and I have quarters here. You're welcome to use our tent. I'm sure we can set up extra bedding for the night."

"As for tomorrow, I'm planning to study a spell that will help me find specific items. If we leave the vial we found here in the camp, I may be able to find the location of some of the other similar vials that were produced. Maybe casting the spell close to where the envoys from Forge are will help us detect if there are people close by willing to use those vials to sabotage the negotiations."

"You are all magically skilled. Is there anything you can do to detect that yellow mind-control magic consistently? Or perhaps dispel it entirely throughout the night?"

"I'm afraid I'm no good with that. I can only use the spells I've learned or researched and I mainly know spells that affect myself, help me disappear or sense others. Beside the one spell I talked about, magic of the mind eludes me for now."

"Beyond being able to check for enchantment magic in the immediate vicinity, I'm not sure how helpful my skills would be either, brother. You know most of my magic is elemental related. I will prepare the magic to consult with Samoon's star tomorrow. It could be he might know something from an alchemical perspective.

Osna, if you wouldn't mind, could we both sweep the camp checking for enchantment magic? Two might see what one might miss."

Just using detect magic, nothing super fancy.

Phon starts to think, "I can prepare whatever the gods give me. I will look and see what I am gifted, but I can ask and hopefully receive."

She moves to get rested, "I don't know if I can prevent it throughout the night, the most I can do is create a circle of magic, but it won't last that long. Permanency is beyond my understanding."

I don't think there's anything that lasts that long on the Cleric list outside of Magic Circle Against and that is only 10 minutes/Level

"Dispelling magic and unwinding it is my specialty. I will prepare some enchantments to help break it as well as some divinations. I do not know what tomorrow will bring so I will leave it in Their hands."

Phon Vos, let me know what spells you pray for (just the most important), and in particular how you ask for the Speak with Dead spell.

Running a game tonight, I will get back to you when I have a chance

"Beyond being able to check for enchantment magic in the immediate vicinity, I'm not sure how helpful my skills would be either, brother. You know most of my magic is elemental related. I will prepare the magic to consult with Samoon's star tomorrow. It could be he might know something from an alchemical perspective.

Osna, if you wouldn't mind, could we both sweep the camp checking for enchantment magic? Two might see what one might miss."

Just using detect magic, nothing super fancy.

"Aye, I will do a round with you before turning in.", replies Osna "Besides, I want to check on the sentries as well."

Osna, you come across Nervous and Pinky again on your rounds. This time, the twitchy sylph asks you for the passcodes, and Pinky asks for your second set. They are less friendly in their greetings this time, still aware of your earlier chastising.

the other sentries are also more on guard throughout the night as you check

Samen and Osna patrol the perimeter of the camp companionably, and observe the common road magic that every good soldier knows:

You smell the musky animal magic the handlers cast to strengthen the hauling power of their pogonas; you spy a few sneaky invisibility alarms scattered throughout the grounds, courtesy of an apprentice abjurer; and of course, the sweet flicker of healing magic here and there, the mending of flesh an everyday miracle in the lands of the gods.

Phon packs up and prays. Knowing that she would seek the power of speaking to one of Volcano's fallen, she lights some candles around herself, and surrounds herself in thick blanket to create as much warmth as possible.

Grant me the power to speak and to unravel this mystery. There are forces that threaten more of your own as well as the others, and I fear that this lead may be our only way right now.

She focuses as hard as she can on the candles, the flickering, and the warmth. She tries to inhale hoping to feel the smoke and ash from the burnt offerings.

Help me Speak With the Dead to grant them peace and justice.

Her other prayers ask the pantheon for knowledge and the ability to undo the misuse of their magic. Restoration spells, divinations, she knew she couldn't ask for much but these spells were heavily linked to all of them. It was always a trial to prepare, she never knew who was going to answer but her faith held. Someone would.

Osna stops in his tracks and looks around with a suspicious look on his face: "Samen, I just saw a Wispering Wind spell coming from this tent."

He loosens the straps on his sword's sheath and motions towards the tent. "I think we should investigate. I'd like to know who sent this message, what was in it and why it was cast so late in the day. Shall we barge in or use a more subtle way?"

Would Osna knows who uses the tent normally?

The tent belongs to Limpy, a mid-level sylph magus so named for his missing right foot.

"Subtle isn't really in my wheelhouse. How about I barge in and you be subtle?"

Samen spellcraft with a +5 from Abby vs wind spell: 1d20 + 7 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 7 + 5 = 27

Abbygailiwy makes a strange funnel-slurp sound from the staff for a moment, then is silent.

That should actually be +6 more. You left off my intelligence and class skill bonuses. Not that a 33 is probably much different than a 27.

"I think Abby might've just eaten it."

"Good, let's get in. The tent is Limpy's. He's a sylph like me and a magus like you. Don't hesitate to use my name or Filipo. I'll be on you heels but not visible."

Osna casts expeditious retreat and invisibility on himself, draws his sword and follows Samen in the tent.

Stealth: 1d20 + 17 + 20 ⇒ (2) + 17 + 20 = 39

As Samen enters ready for violence-

A sylph with a ragged face--you can only assume this is Limpy--is in a state of undress, curled around a single red rose and a small pile of silver. He appears to have expected someone other than Samen to grace his tent, because he starts yelling in surprise as the oread barges into his quarters.

In reaction to the startled yell, Samen, who was tensed up for a fight, lets out his own startled yell. "Ahh! What are you doing here? I mean, it's your tent, obviously, but what are you doing? I intercepted some unsanctioned communication magic coming from this tent. What is the meaning of this?"

Osna moves in quickly and bites his cheeks to avoid laughing at the display.

Still invisible, he crosses the tent and stands right behind the hapless Limpy.

Abbygailiwy burps out in a male sylph voice,

"Come to my tent, my little lady. The passwords are..."

The elemental laughs in her own voice, then repeats the two most recent passcodes as Limpy looks on in horror.

Samen chuckles menacingly. "It seems you don't understand the importance of security. Do you know what the penalty is for compromising the safety of the entire camp? Why not do your business at her place?"

The sylph answers immediately, too stunned by events to think about what he is saying. "Because her place is a volcing mansion, and she don't want her fancy vee husband to know about it."

vee used here as slang for noble, since ifrit nobles have a v' at the beginning of their surname

Samen's eyes narrow as he tightens his hold on his staff and slowly, deliberately, asks one more question. "Which. House?"

Samen, looking into your terrifying tattooed visage, he seems to realize he does not know you. "Wait, who are you again?"

"I'm the one who can rat you out to your boss. There's a possibility you've been used to compromise the security of this crew. I'm investigating possible crimes of a noble house that have harmed your organization from the inside. I don't give a flying pagona about you, but if you're the leak, I need to know. If not, your superiors will handle it."

Still invisible, Osna lets out a long sigh.

Then his disembodied voice rises right behind Limpy's ear:
"Just what my friend Samen said. Do you really think this is a wise move? Inviting someone in the camp in the middle of the night and giving away our passwords. We're not going to ask another time. Who is that woman ? Did she already came here ? If so when and did you gave our passwords as well?"