Pirate Wishes PaizoCon 2022 (Inactive)

Game Master Pirate Rob

"It's okay," Vanetta reassures the frightened group as she carefully enters the room. "Yes, we're here to rescue you. Are you the household staff or guests?"

She moves to the group and tries to get names, looking either for names on the guest list, or Rashid-al-Marah the baclava maker, or confirmation that the group is all staff.

"What can you tell us about what happened here? Did you see what started all this?"

Once she's satisfied, she tries to usher them out the door and back to the gates and the care of Commander Al-Sabri.

Doc administers rapid Battle Medicine as needed to anyone who appears to have be suffering from any wounds, as he listens to their story then helps guide them back out of the house. "The Pathfinder Society is happy to be of service."

You get a variety of discordant answers and find one dead body in the corner in addition to the 13 survivors.

"Can we leave!?!!?"

"Did you deal with the bad air next door? Nadia wished for something beautiful to take her breath away and so many people died. How I have survived this hardship, sometimes I wonder at it! Truly, I think none
have suffered as I do.”

"We're saved!"

"I.. I.. Yua.. wiahe!"

"Staff! If you weren't in the midst of rescuing us I'd be more insulted. I'm Kala Al-Amin, importer/exporter extraordinaire, and quite good at it I might add. We've been stuck here for weeks with nothing but this horrible plate that constantly fills with the worst horderves. No variety and certainty lacking in nutritional value!"

"Ugh, Kala got what must have been a dozen people killed! That Kurgess brained middle manager wished for a dance partner to sweep her off her feet and some sort of tornado elemental appeared and slammed guests into the ceiling before slamming them back down to the ground. It was horrible. I just wanted one of those pastries I had as a child in Absalom. Instead, I’ve been imprisoned here with these unfashionable fools for time immeasurable! The noises those screeching flapper demons make, I cannot even begin to describe to you. Honestly, I should have known what would happen by just looking at the guest list. Corvius invited the riff raff. The riff raff have no idea how to ask for what they want! All of this is Kala’s fault, all of it. That horrible blue woman is here for her, after all.”

"This is what happens when you play with powerful forces. Well, let's get everyone out of here. And don't anyone say the 'W' word!"

Doc looks at the fiest one who speaks. "Nadia wished? Where is this Nadia?" He glances toward the body in the corner, suspecting he knows the answer. "Why were you all making wishes? Is some sort of devil or djinn behind this?"

He nods in agreement with Jiki. "Yes, wise counsel."

Vanetta tries to be patient and reassuring with the traumatized survivors. She watches as Doc ministers to their injuries and helps Jiki lead them out the door.

"I don't see anyone named Nadia on the Guest List. Who is she?"

"Does anyone know who that is?" she asks referring to the body in the corner.

"Ah, so you're Kala? Who's the "blue woman" that some claim is here for you? And, Kala, what "flapper demons?" Can you describe them more?"

So much info. Sooo many questions! 

@GM I hope you don't mind but I pasted the Guest List into a Slide. Maybe we can line out those we find, or determine to be dead, etc. 

Once again many answers from many voices and several people pointing to the dead body in the corner in response to Nadia.

"Corvius, had his bound genies on display and let guests wish for things. But things went wrong. Very wrong!"

"The flapper demons were this horrible shade of green, maybe the size of a baby goat and they flapped around and screeched. They were covered in shells which were an even more revoting shade of green!"

I'm happy to roll secret checks to try and ID them based on the description of the ragged party goers, it's going to be extremely difficult though so false conclusions are fairly likely. (To make it easy let me know your nature, occultism and religion bonuses if you want to make a guess)

Nadia Samra, she had mentioned attending in her brother's place because he wasn't feeling well."

"The blue woman's name is Perizia. She isn’t one of Corvius’ genies, though. She’s here of her own accord, to punish him, or to punish us, or something. Sometimes she comes down here and offers us more wishes, but the wishes are all torture and pain. Tutak tried to wish his way out of here and she freed him from his body and this mortal plane entirely—he’s dead. Genies simply cannot be trusted to act of their own wills.”

Doc investigates Nadia's body, mostly to confirm his suspicion that the cause of death was an inability to breathe. I have a +15, but auto 20 from Assurance

Yup, asphyxiation, as though her lungs were full of smoke.

Durg takes in all the information from the guests and tries to figure out what everything might be.

Nature +17 (M), Occultism +10 (T), Religion ahahahaha! +4 (U)

Vanetta continues asking questions as she guides the guests towards the manor gates. She's beginning to get a little frustrated at all the different voices and answers, so she focuses on one or two who seem to be the most cogent and informative.

"So, Perizia is a genie, just not one of Corvius' bound genies. Wow, yeah, that sounds bad for Corvius. I wonder how he's faring now. Did she say anything about that?"

She checks the guest list and notes that there's two different Samra's. "Do you know Nadia's brother's name? Was that Nasseem ibn Samra?"

"ibn" means "son of," so Nasseem is male. But "Atena al-Samra" is generic enough that I can't make a guess. However, I presume Vanetta would know if Atena is a masculine or feminine Keleshite name.

Durg thinks the creatures are most likely fey demons of some sort. Cold Iron is likely effective but they can flap their wings, confusing and maddening their enemies.

There's some murmuring and shaking of heads, nobody seems to know the answer to Vanetta's question.

Atena is feminine, making Nasseem ibn Samra the more likely answer.

"Can we go?"

"Is the hall safe?"

"I'll have you know my father will make sure Corvius is banished from the city after this debacle!"

"I can't wait for a bath!"

"The snacks from this plate aren't even gluten free! Do you have any idea the toxins my pores are clogged with after 3 weeks of this? Even if it killed me maybe I should have wished my way out of here."

"Killed you? It probably would have killed all of us, we're lucky to be alive! I'd rather kill you then let you wish us into even more trouble."

Should be easy enough to help these people out the front door and towards the guard. They are grateful to have been rescued but are are clearly at the ends of their ropes after having been stuck here with nothing but a refreshing plate of horderves for 3 weeks.

Maldlethu waits for the rest of the Pathfinders to escort the survivors out of the room and out of the estate before swooping in and stuffing the plate of endless hors d'oeuvres into one of his billowing sleeves. "What marvelous magic!" he whispers, eyes gleaming with excitement.

With the babbling bunch being escorted out of the house, Durg goes back to the two rooms and searches them for anything of interest.

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25

Maldlethu liberates the silver tray while Drug looks for clues in the bad air room and the sandy main hall and does not find any new clues.

Durg heads down to the other end of the hallway to make sure no one escaped that direction before heading upstairs.

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (8) + 15 = 23

She's just waiting for the rest of the group to be ready before she goes up.

Heaving a sigh of relief to be done with the rescuees, Vanetta joins Durg in checking the other wing of the main floor. It's not that she's unsympathetic, but they were just so overwhelming. As if they'd never faced adversity before in their lives, unlike any Pathfinder, of course. Heck, she'd regularly has less variety of food over a longer period of time working on her dad's caravans. {sigh} How I miss those simpler days sometimes, she thinks as she follows Durg.

I think we're checking the rooms near where I placed Vanetta's token first. If nothing and no one there, we're heading upstairs. 

The remaining rooms on the first show signs of opulence and destruction but do not contain any further guests or clues, as you investigate however the sound of eerily beautiful music cascades down the stairs from the second level of the estate.

The source of the sounds seems to moving around above you, it sounds more like some sort of mobile organ or other wind based large but somehow mobile instrument that also contained various percussion. A very strange noise.

Which way upstairs, the spiral staircase and both sweeping side bits go up as well.

Jiki will try to figure out what is up with the music.

Performance (E): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20

The glean to Doc's skin diminishes a bit, and his skin seems to soften, =eyes and demeanor seeming to grow more alert as the juggernaut mutagen wears off while talking to the captives and helping them escape.

Doc moves over to the base of the stairs leading up to the south (left side). "Up here, then?"

No singing in the otherworldly music, whatever is making that noise most likely isn't humanoid. Hawthwile continues to detect magic everywhere in this manor. Every thing here has been magicked to be more glamorous, or is under the effects of unstable planar eddies, or both.

Durg search vs hazard: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (18) + 16 = 34

Durg is able to stop the party from advancing into the dangerous hallway...

Durg notices a ominous wind blowing up and down the hall, creating the melody by twisting in time with the sounds, capturing paintings and vases and making them dance in an endless tempest.

New map on slide 11, added fun picture of tempest to slide 9.

The hallway up ahead seems quite dangerous but you're likely safe unless you enter, and the other ways up don't look any less dangerous.

The tempest does seem both connected to music and another unfortunate planar disruption.

This is a complex hazard, because it's been detected, it can potentially be disabled without setting it off. Disabling will take three successes. Performance (Expert) DC 26 always works. Arcana (Expert) DC 29 can be successful once, and unlocks Diplomacy (Trained) 26 which can be used for further successes to help guide the tempest back to the elemental plane of air. Unlikely most hazards there is something that happens on a failed disable check, so go ahead and roll a will save (DC 24) if you do fail. Lets do 1 round worth of checks and please at least make a quick post even if you're not disabling so I know not to wait for you.

“What marvelous magic!” Maldlethu sighs as he watches the wind dance and sing. “Is there really no other way?” If one didn’t know better, one might think the white-haired elf was whining.

Arcana vs DC 29: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19 Hero Point!
Arcana vs DC 29: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32

Jiki carefully removes his flute from his pack. Although he didn't properly learn what to call himself from the masterflautist, he did learn the proper way to use it. The midst of a fight is not that time, but this haunting concerto may be. He attempts to harmonize with the tune at first, then gently guide it into a less dangerous melody.

Performance (E): 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 14 + 2 = 21

He misses a note in the first stanza, but realizes his mistake and presses on.

Performance (E), Hero Point: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 14 + 2 = 31

Jiki Will save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Jiki loses a bit of focus for a moment but holds on, between Maldlethu's exceptional, and heroic effort and Jiki's lovely melody the twisting musical tornado dissipates. It now seems safe to explore the hall.

Doc nods to the two of them. "Excellent work..." He moves across the hall to outside the door and listens in.

If he hears nothing noteworthy or threatening, he will motion for the others to listen at some of the other doors.

No sounds from most of the doors on this floor but there are muffled voices from the middle door. Eventually opening it reveals a lavish bedroom that has been repurposed as a refuge for about a dozen people, many dressed in ill-fitting but extravagant clothing. Scavenged food and medical supplies are stacked in the corners of the room, which has been completely reconfigured to accommodate its new purpose. These people seem to possess much more in the way of practical skills than the survivors downstairs.

One of them steps forward with arms like smoldering flames and eyes like flashing stars. "Rescuers at last! Murad here, we weren't sure how long we'd be stuck here so we've been rationing our supplies pretty hard. Better that way than the other I suppose."

Several other similar looking people nod in agreement, seemingly glad to see you.

Vanetta again scans the guest list. "Murad, are you part of the household staff? Or at least not official guests?" she asks the ifrit(?).

She doesn't really wait for an answer and starts herding them towards the stairs to get them down and out of the manor.

"C'mon, let's get you out. The City guard is waiting beyond the gates, and we've secured most of the manor. But let's hurry, please. Just to be on the safe side."

Diplomacy : 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (5) + 15 = 20
+1 more if they're Kelesh, which I presume they are.

Murad nods "All staff here. Corvius and Perizia are up the spiral staircase and at a stalemate for control of the estate. Perzia has close to a dozen guests that she bullies into wishing for misfortunes upon Corvius while he commands more and more wishes from his genies to maintain his footing. We've been hiding out here. Happy to get out of here though, not sure who's domain stairs currently go to, but I'd be ready for anything if you head up there."

They gather up their things and are more than happy to make their egress once you're ready.

"I for one am looking forward to getting involved in a fight where the combatants are wielding genies at each other," Jiki responds sarcastically. "So how do we stop someone who can do literally anything, but doesn't have the wisdom to do it right?"

Doc asks, "So this floor is completely secure, so far as you know?" If this is affirmed, he goes go through and do a quick sweep of each room just to be sure. And checking for any useful supplies.

If they indicate that one of the remaining rooms has a potential threat, then I'll go and wait at that door.

Does the spiral stair in the center of the building's main room continue upward to the next level? Or is the only way up through the stairwells in the northeast & southeast?

As the group has cleared the area and completed any searching, and rejoins together, Doc says, "I am not particularly sneaky, but perhaps someone who has skills in that area could check the various stairways to see which ones seem the most silent. I would prefer to make our way up to get into position without notice, and perhaps assess the situation, prior to confronting, as Jiki indicates, two genie-wielding fools."

“Oh no - only one of the parties is wielding genies,” Maldlethu corrects. “The other is wielding people to enable use of her innate magical abilities. Quite the clever workaround for such a frankly unnatural restriction.”

Not particularly sneaky, but no objections if someone wants to do some scouting.

"You don't use the 'W' word, either," Jiki whispers urgently to Maldlethu.

Once the servants have been escorted out of the building, Durg takes a look at both sets of stairs to see if anything inspires her to take one over the other.

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (7) + 15 = 22

Assuming neither presents a problem, she creeps slowly up the stairs after her hireling, Esther, unless someone more sneaky wants to go first.

Stealth (hireling): 1d20 + 4 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 4 + 7 = 27

Plenty of destruction and mess in what is otherwise opulent rooms, but nothing of use in them. The house servants are glad to be out of here.

The spiral staircase continues up and there are the little side stairwells as well.

The wide stairs go back down. Both the spiral staircase and the little stairs go up. Turns out which way you go up doesn't actually matter due to wishcrafting magic having mucked with the geometry.

Eventually heading up you find a room out of line with the geometry of the house, filled with lavish couches, chairs, and pillows.

A warm fire glows in a massive fireplace, with fresh fruit and other confections laid out across tables. An old man lounges by the fire, visibly drained from the toll of the last few weeks. Tired genies of large stature in midnight robes flank him.

See slides for more images.

Corvius, clearly close to exhaustion, stands with help of his cane, ready to defend his room. One of the large genies next to him shakes his head and Corvius's grimace turns into a smile as he greats you instead.

"Ahhh, greetings. A foul marid named Perizia has captured some of my guests and is making them wish for attacks against us. I've been using my considerable power to keep the disaster from getting any worse, but I'm not sure how much longer we can hold out. I trust you're here to help, but on the off chance you're the more mercenary type I'm happy to sweeten the pot with some considerable treasure."

Doc nods. "We are here to help. Any contributions to the Pathfinder Society to help reconstitute expenses are, of course, incredibly welcome, but we can discuss those details once the situation has been resolved." He looks around, pointing at the door on the other side of the room. "I trust Perizia is over there. Can you tell us why she's doing this to you and your guests? The way out is clear ... If you leave now, will she pursue you?"

Arcana check to know what a Marid is?

"We've rescued about half of your guests and about a dozen of your staff," Vanetta informs the genie-slaver. "Though it seems to me that your 'power' is simply being able to make wishes that these genies can't or won't subvert," she says with a wave of her hand to the tired bodyguards. "Or is there something that I'm missing about all this?"

Doc knows that Marids are water genies, in the same way that efreeti are fire genies. Fire is unlikely to be effective. While a relatively powerful genie and possess limited wishcraft magic, they lack the power to grant fill wishes like the Noble Genie. Even their offer of a limited wish could be quite tempting though...

Corvius responds "I am also a powerful wizard in my own right, although Perizia has made sure to keep me from a good night's rest since this debacle started. Do not underestimate the power of a good wish, much of the opulence you see before comes from that source. Perizia's domain does lie that way, at least a 50ft hall last we checked. We could flee, but A. this is my house and I have no intent of abandoning it to that foul Marid and B. Who knows what evil she would unleash upon the city if we stood down, at least we've been able to keep her destruction contained, even if my estate will never be the same."

Corvius's concern over the greater well being of the city seems to pale in comparison to his more personal issues.

Lets give a hero point to Vanetta, Doc and Jiki, my apologies for not handing them out sooner.

"Do you know what she wants? Is there some way we could appease her and convince her to go away? To be frank, if you haven't been able to stop her with a genie, this may be a bit beyond our ability to stop her with a direct confrontation. Perhaps subterfuge? Maldelthu, do you have a spell that could make you appear as Corvius, perhaps? Perhaps Perizia will be perplexed about who to target with her chaos." He glances around, to see if any of the others have any ideas or suggestions. "Sadly, I don't know that I have any concoctions that will be particularly effective against a water genie, or in defending against it."

Corvius answers "One of my guests, rest in peace, made a particularly poorly worded wish that resulted in the summoning of the foul and evil Perizia who's been trying to kill us all ever since. Unchained genies can be quite savage. I wouldn't take a chance and engage her in conversation if I were you. She has a certain way with words that one might describe as dangerous."

Doc begins eyeing his vials of reagents. "Fair enough. That does offer one strategy, I suppose. It seems she needs these wishes to really be powerful ... but if we could deafen her, perhaps? Alas, I know the formula only for a lesser thunderstone, which given her power will almost certain prove ineffective at the task."

"Perhaps I could make it too difficult for the wishes to be heard."

Some combination of Counter Performance, Loud Singer, Group Coercion and the Bullhorn cantrip? I know it's well out of RAW territory but maybe an obnoxious goblin can make wishing hard?

Durg glares at Corvius and actually speaks up. "If you didn't insist on enslaving the genies, maybe they wouldn't be so mad at you." Turning back to the rest of the party, she mutters in Dwarf, "Are we sure we need to rescue him?" She continues in a louder voice and back in Common, "Or maybe we don't speak, so she doesn't have anything to twist."

She looks over her shoulder at the genies, trying to get a sense of how they feel right now.

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21

"Agreed, but she has other captives in there, who she is apparently manipulating into making wishes. If she were deafened, she wouldn't be able to hear those wishes. If parlay is not an option, then some way of silencing the wishes would be good." He pulls out a flask of acid in one hand, and an elixir in the other. "Any other preparations?" He glances at Corvius. "Just the one marid? She has no minions in there?"

The Efreeti here have unconnected shackles on their wrists and look quite worm down with those 1000 yard stares as though they've been enslaved for quite some time.

Corvius ignores Durg's impertinence and answers the ally question. "She's got a penchant for conjuring various aquatic creatures along with enough water for them to swim in. I also wouldn't overly focus on what's audible, genies have a way of reading desires even if the words don't vocalize. Worry more about steeling your minds, and not giving her time to weave her other treacherous words. I trust you will be along your way soon. I'm rather ready for a nap and a bath before beginning the long process of putting my house back together."

Doc nods. "Spellcasters, be ready with any countermagic. The rest of us will focus on hitting Perizia hard and fast, in the hopes of taking her down as quickly as we can." He chugs the elixir, his fingernails growing into claws and the orcish portion of his heritage becoming more visible as his jaw thickens and his teeth grow into a maw of sharp fangs.

He then unclips the feather fan token from his vest, holding it in one hand and the moderate acid flask in the other.

Durg pulls out a wand and taps herself with it, muttering in a language no one understands (magic fang). She looks around to make sure everyone is ready before heading out for battle.

Maldlethu lays a long-fingered hand on Vanetta’s shoulder. “By the power of Nethys, magic will burn away your doubts and force you to greater heights than you could accomplish without it.” His gaze holds hers for a few seconds, and he continues chanting under his breath until the swashbuckler is surrounded by a faint silvery glow.

Casting heroism on Vanetta, giving her a +1 status bonus to attack rolls, skill checks, and saving throws for 10 minutes.

Sorry for missing these.  

Vanetta practically seethes with disdain at the slaver(!) telling them what to do. But she's a little concerned about going in to fight a genie without at least hearing the genie's side of this.

"Ummm, I hate to be the only one to say this, but maybe we should at least talk to her first. Not enough to give her anything to twist, but at least find out what's going on here. You know, get the other side of the story." She glares with a look that could kill at Corvius.

When Maldethu imbues her with magical energy she nods and thanks him, then turns and strides straight down the hall. She fully expects the others to follow, but she's not going to give Corvius a chance to poison their minds any further.

"Perizia, please hold your fire and your minions. We wi... request to parley."

Diplomacy, Heroism : 1d20 + 15 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 15 + 1 = 31

A long, ornate hall leads away from the sitting room and into a massive ballroom with a domed glass ceiling. Hazy wisps of light float through the air, and a giant hemisphere of water occupies the center of the room.

Several blue-skinned women in beautiful ball gowns dance with each other inside the water, and about ten frightened people dance with each other at the back of the chamber behind it. One of the women in the water breaks off from the others and floats to the edge, her gown disappearing when it no longer suits her as she grows from small size to large, holding a dangerous looking trident. She flashes a large, gregarious smile.

“Oh, hello all of you! It’s so good to have new guests. Are your dance cards full of Corvius or may I have the next dance?” As she motions for you to join her in the water.

Despite her haughty smile and Corvius's warnings there doesn't seem to be any enchantment behind her words.

She seems happy to chat, but clearly ready for danger. (From Recall Knowledge): Several of you recognize the watery dancers as extraplanar nixies, a watery fey from the plane of water that can grant extremely limited wishes to non-fey creatures. Clever allies for a genie. Unlike the Marid, they do need to hear requests for their wishing powers to work.

I've provided a copy of the underwater rules at the bottom of the slides for convenience.

"Well met, milady. Perhaps as a token of goodwill, you would let me play the next tune? Though I will admit that neither my instrument nor my frame are well-suited to join you in the pool."