GM Badblood's The Dragon's Demand

Game Master Lance K

The familiar can understand what the PCs are saying, but it can't talk.

The homunculus glares at Ilvaria, and she sees pure, unadulterated hatred on it's face. Her questions seem to make the creature even angrier.

If this was Hunclay's familiar, than it would know that he is dead.

"What do you think of this creepy baby?... I already said it was creepy- do you always just have to copy me?... I don't need your sass, Tanssi"

Sense Motive: 1d20 ⇒ 15

"I don't think this is working, Ilvaria. I am not sure what to do about it, exactly... but he? it? is definitely preventing us from carrying out our responsibilities here."

Andwise pulls the small acid flask out, and into her hand- before calling Tanssi over. Touching his hand to the creature, a shimmering layer of magical protection engulfs the creature.

"Can't be too careful right now..."

Mage Armor on Tanssi

As Andwise casts a spell on Tanssi he notices that the ugly little creature is gesturing with its arms. It looks like its inviting someone to sit down at the slanted chair next to the telescope.

Not sure what to think about the creature Irlana watches as the team moves forward. "Ah.... Could it be considered 'property'? We won't be held liable for damage if it attacks will we?"

“Yes, true! So will you sit there?!?“ she asks with a sky smile.

A quick review of the contract shows that any sentient servants, guardians or slaves of Hunclay are not subject to being sold as part of the auction and should be dealt with however the party see fit. On the other hand, non-sentient pets and live stock (such as the birds) should be secured.

Seeing that it is unlikely that anyone is going to sit in the chair, the creature lets out a high pitched cry and leaps off the edge of glass.

Round 1
Andwise
Tanssi
Ilvaria
Irlana
Sir Falcon
Homunculus - Flying, 10 feet off the ground

Everyone beat the creature in initiative and gets to act first. The homunculus is flying and out of melee range right now.

Ilvaria draws her crossbow and shoots.

bolt : 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 161d8 ⇒ 6

Ilvaria fires a bolt into the creature. The bolt strikes one of it's wings and seems to hurt it, but it's going to take a lot more than one crossbow bolt to take this creature down.

Following Ilvaria's example Irlana targets the creature with her smaller crossbow.

Crossbow Bolt: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 81d6 ⇒ 2

Stepping forward, Tanssi growls a deep and gutteral growl. Rearing back, it sets itself on its back legs, preparing to leap and swipe.

Readied attack

Claw #1, PA: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20 Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Circling in behind his friend, Andwise draws his arcane energy through the vial in his hand, launching a small, empowered, acid blob at the flying creature.

Acid Splash, touch: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9 Acid: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Andwise and Irlana both miss with their shots. Tanssi waits eagerly fir the creature to come down from the ceiling.

Sir Falcon is up!

Putting Sir Falcon into delay.

Sir Falcon decides to wait and see what the homunculus does. And what the creature does is fly along the ceiling; descending once it is safely out of reach. Now only five feet above the ground it turns around and point the copper wand at the party. A gurgling sound comes from its mouth as it points the object right at Sir Falcon.

Use Magic Device: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

But the only thing that happens is a thin stream of smoke erupts from the end of the wand.

Round 1
Sir Falcon

Round 2
Andwise
Tanssi
Ilvaria
Irlana
Homunculus -6, - Flying, 5 feet off the ground
Sir Falcon

Bold may act!

Ilvaria reloads her crossbow and shoots.

bolt : 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 151d8 ⇒ 6

Turning and leaping, Tanssi sprints across the room and pounces on the lowflying creature.

I can't tell if the line indicated clears for a charge or not. I will roll my single attack and my pounce separately

Claw #1, PA: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15 +2 if charge
Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Grabbing another globule of acid from the ether, Andwise again sends it hurtling toward the creature.

Acid Splash, touch, combat: 1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 5 - 4 = 20 Acid: 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Irlana moves over by Sir Falcon and touches him. "Time to cut that thing down, before it figures out how to use that wand!"

Guidance on Sir Falcon.

Falcon points to the homunculus and issues a challenge We must put an end to this nonsense.... FIGHT ME

And then charges at the puppet

Katana Power Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 1 + 2 = 261d8 + 4 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 3 + 3 = 12

Irlana gives Sir Falcon some guidance before he charges at the creature. Sir Falcon charges at the homunculus and delivers a powerful strike. The blade slices deep into the creature's body but it just turns toward the samurai and lets out an angry sounding gurgle. Andwise fires past Sir Falcon's shoulder and hits the construct with a glob of acid. Tanssi then joins the fray and rips at it with one of their claws.

With close combat joined, Ilvaria has trouble landing a shot and the bolt bounces off the glass dome of the observatory instead of hitting its target.

The creature is showing some significant damage but is showing no sign that it is ready to give up. The creature lands on the ground and skitters to the right of Sir Falcon. Once again it points the copper wand right at Sir Falcon and tries to activate it. The wand shakes and there is a faint pop, but nothing else happens.

UMD: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Round 2
Andwise
Tanssi
Ilvaria
Irlana
Homunculus -27, - Flying, 10 feet off the ground
Sir Falcon

Round 3
Andwise
Tanssi
Ilvaria
Irlana
Homunculus -27, - Flying, 10 feet off the ground
Sir Falcon

Ilvaria reloads her crossbow and shoots again.

bolt : 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 141d8 ⇒ 2

Stepping alongside the decorated knight- Tanssi snarls and leaps at the grounded creature, this time with teeth and claw.

Bite, PA: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19 Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
Claw #1, PA: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11 Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Claw #2, PA: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 Damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

Tanssi shreds the homunculus apart, leaving it lying on the floor in two pieces.

Combat over!

Irlana moves up behind Sir Falcon to cast Guidance again, but then notices that the creature is torn apart. She quickly snatches the wand and steps away in case the thing might come back to life.

Holding the wand out behind her she backs toward Ilvaria. "Any chance you can figure out what this thing might have done if that creature had been able to activate it?"

The coppery wand hums gently in Irlana's hand and she feels a metallic taste in her mouth. The wand is a little warmer than it should be.

Falcon lifts the chair What was the deal with this anyway?

spellcraft : 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

“Very unfortunate that we had to destroy it. What wand is this?!“ she asks with detect magic.

“Ahh! This is a wand of lightning bolt with 5 charges left in it. Very useful and I’m glad we did not find out earlier what it can do!!“ she says relieved.

She starts searching the room thoroughly.

Take 20 again as before. Might as well do it now?

The chair is made of wood and brass and has a several brass levers attached to it can adjust the telescope and rotate it in a full circle. The chair is on a metal track and also turns with the telescope.

When Sir Falcon touches the chair, a painful electric jolt courses through his body.

Electric damage Reflex DC 20 for half: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 1, 2) = 6

Besides the telescope, this room is filled with valuable items, including over 50 star charts, a platinum astrolabe, six aged astronomy tomes that were written during the old Taldan Empire, and two handheld telescopes. Any of these items would be highly sought after by any aspiring astronomer.

Irlana gives the wand to Ilvaria. She doesn't have any knowledge of spellcraft but figures (correctly!) that the sorceress could. Hearing what it does she blanches and whispers a quick 'Thank you' prayer to Desna that the creature hadn't been able to activate it!

Seeing Sir Falcon spasm when he touches the chair she casts Detect Magic again and joins Ilvaria scanning the area carefully. "There may be other magical effects that we need to be careful of. Who knows what that wizard was doing? That's probably why they wanted us to do the inventory. Don't want any of the locals killed by his goofy traps!"

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33

There is a lot of valuable astronomical equipment, but nothing else seems to be hidden away in this room.

The chair still seems to be trapped. And since its a magical trap, it would take a specialist in disarming traps to deactivate it. But whoever ends up buying the mansion would have to deal with that; as the telescope is too large to remove and would be a feature of the house.

In other words, someone with trapfinding, like a rogue or archeologist bard.

Irlana stops to document the equipment, clearly stating that the chair is magically trapped and will require a specialist to clear the trap.

I don't believe that our contract states anything about us clearing ALL of the risky stuff from the house! Besides, Like you said, It's a feature!!!

It might effect the resale value of the house, but that's not your problem. You just have to give your best effort to disable traps and hazards.

The party documents the astronomical equipment in the observatory.

Doing anything else in this room or going back downstairs?

Irlana moves over by the telescope. "I wonder what he was looking at?"

Is it possible to look through the telescope without being in the chair, or even touching the chair? If yes, Irlana would like to peek through. Keep in mind her size, 3' tall. She might need something to stand on?

Irlana contorts herself to look through the telescope without touching the trapped chair. She notes the telescope is angled to the west, in the direction of where the black tower once stood. The afternoon sky is too bright to see the stars at this time though.

Irlana carefully extracts herself from the apparatus and turns to the team. "Nothing worth looking at now."

Time to leave?

Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Falcon smarts Oh blast it! That stung. He gets annoyed and kick the floor next to the chair.

Thatll be fun for parties don't you think? He grimaces and nods assent to Irlana and walks back downstairs to look at the 2nd floor more in depth

Having searched the observatory, the party climbs down the ladder and finds themselves back in the library.

Falcon snarls at the bear and lookes inside its mouth for any secrets.

When that doesn't bare fruit he will examine the paintings.

The bear's mouth doesn't hold any secrets, but it is an impressive specimen. The bear itself was certainly a formidable creature when it was alive and the taxidermy work capturing it in this pose is nothing short of masterful.

The paintings are of different planets which Sir Falcon doesn't have the knowledge to identify. But he has heard from scholarly and magical types that there are other worlds far away in the sky. He does wonder how someone would have been actually been able to get into space so that they could get a view of them. Perhaps the painter just made up how they thought the planets should look.

Sir Falcon looks around the room at the various bookshelves and then remembers that he found a small, strange object in the birdcage downstairs.

Just to be clear, the party still needs to search the second floor and the cellar. There is also that door in the kitchen that you weren't able to open.

"I feels like we should continue on. I believe the second floor still hasn't been catalogued. In all, it seems like the magistrate significantly overstated the wealth of this wizard... or we are missing something. I am going to guess the later."

Nodding quietly to Tanssi, Andwise makes his way down the steps and proceeds to slowly look about the second floor- after a quick check for anything malicious.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
Perception, Tanssi: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Irlana follows along but disagrees with Andwise. "There's a small fortune in the books, paintings, and the telescope equipment. And the magic? That controlled pit trap at the front door would be useful for security, but could also be fun if done right. If there were any way to make it safer, like padding the bottom, I've known people that would have fun with that at a party!"

"And yes, there's still more to the house. It may not be chests of gold, wands, staves, magical swords and armor.... But this also isn't a dragon's treasure horde."

The wooden library shelves have around 600 books on them; but there is also a locked iron case that holds some books. Several of those books had magical auras. The door to the east is locked and has a pair of enchantments cast on it; one is an aura of evocation and the other is an abjuration aura. The door to the east appears to be unlocked.

Its not super important right now, but anyone with Appraise (technically an Untrained skill) could try to identify the value of the objects found in the house. But Irlana is right, you've already found a pretty significant amount of treasure; at least by commoner standards.

"Hmm.... Magically locked and likely trapped, or apparently unlocked. I suggest we try East first!"

Moving over to the door and waiting for the party to get in position.

Falcon leads the way, shield up.

I am so ready for magic to something good for me for a change... He says hearing of the probability of further magic traps in the east hallway

Just a reminder, Sir Falcon took 6 hp of damage from that chair upstairs.

Also, I see I have a little typo in there.

The party heads to the WEST door first, which is unlocked and doesn't seem to have any magical enchantments on it. The door opens up, revealing what appears to be the master bedroom of the manor.

This bedchamber is richly appointed, with three armoires and three tall wardrobes, a canopied bed with a large locked chest at its foot, a writing desk and chair, elaborate marble tub, and a thick bearskin rug.

The entire room radiates a moderate aura of magic that drowns out any other auras that could be in the room.

Thanks for the reminder. Irlana would have helped with that.... Healing Hex: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Irlana has no Knowledge skills

I think Ilvaria is the only one with Knowledge Arcana. But you could just go into the room and see what happens ;)

kn Arcana : 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

“Hmm … no idea!“ she says and again asks her familiar to go into the room.

“Meshgi, can you please do me the honor?“ she asks and the familiar reluctantly complies.

Can you please move the icons as I’m on vacation currently.

Falcon ponders What is with this dude and bears? and he lifts up the bear rug and checks under it and then starts rifling through drawers and things looking for anything like a key or magic wand or whatever

Right. This guy definitely liked bears.

Ilvaria sends her familiar into the room and Sir Falcon follows right after. As he enters the room there is a strange howling sound and the bear rug stands up on its hind legs. Muscle and bone fill the skin, turning into into what appears to be a living, breathing bear. The beast lets out a great roar and charges towards Sir Falcon! Its eyes are glowing red and foul-smelling wisps of smoke are coming off its fur.

Round 1
Irlana
Meshgi
Andwise
Ilvaria
Sir Falcon
Bear
Tanssi

Everyone but Tanssi beat the bear in initiative!

The bear can be identified with both Kn: Nature and Kn: Planes