GM Ever_Anon's The Midnight Mirror

Game Master Ever_Anon

I can dig +4 using my Hair or Search +12 Perception

Ussaile searching with her high perception would work too.

Actually I'd add reunite the children with their parents - especially Olya. It might be helpful to have the influential Captain on our side plus we've proved we're competent. :) Given the situation and the other tasks we need to do, should some of us go fetch the good Captain. He can help identify the other bodies and perhaps even get some answers out of our captives.

If we're going to send someone out to get help now, Ussaile isn't blind, and is human, so is the least likely to get lynched. However, there is the risk that she may be ambushed alone by Undead Shadows or whatever.

Since she would be the one taking the risk, I'd say we let her make the choice.

Otherwise, we can finish our business here, and then collectively move out to drop off the children and make a report.

I still have See Invisibility and Mage Armour up.

If I'm going to be ambushed by Shadows, MA provides full armour against their touch at the very least.

You would have to convince her, she won't go out of her way to do it on her own. It doesn't fit the character.

I'll get something up later.

If we're going to send someone out to get help now, Ussaile isn't blind, and is human, so is the least likely to get lynched. However, there is the risk that she may be ambushed alone by Undead Shadows or whatever.

Since she would be the one taking the risk, I'd say we let her make the choice.

Otherwise, we can finish our business here, and then collectively move out to drop off the children and make a report.

Less get help more get official 'witnesses' to this scene before we leave, go get the Captain, come back, and everything is gone.

I’ll be honest, I assumed in my previous post that as greedy adventurers of questionable moral character experienced adventurers of course you’d be scanning everything with detect magic, so I already gave you the full list of everything in the room. I also personally find the process of rolling to identify individual magic items really boring. You beat the encounter, you should get the reward.

However I never mentioned that and it does make spells like Identify much less useful, so if anyone with Identify as a spell known wants to swap it for something else they can.

I have Identify but it isn't a Spell Known. It's in a Spellbook. Would that count?

Yes that counts.

Apologies for not posting yesterday; it took a while to gather the answers to all Xanther's questions. If you want to ask any more before leaving you can but I figured I'd go ahead and move you to the Town Watch.

Apologies for not posting yesterday; it took a while to gather the answers to all Xanther's questions. If you want to ask any more before leaving you can but I figured I'd go ahead and move you to the Town Watch.

We might have followup questions but Noctifer would've suspended asking anything else after hearing the news about Catalina going out for another child.

I get that chasing Catalina to stop her going after any more kiddies is a priority here, but how long would it take Jassminder to get her eyesight back? Can she do that and catch up with the rest of the team a few minutes later?

I get that chasing Catalina to stop her going after any more kiddies is a priority here, but how long would it take Jassminder to get her eyesight back? Can she do that and catch up with the rest of the team a few minutes later?

I apologize, I should have been more clear. The reason for going to Groy's was so he could rouse the watch/guards/posse to go find Catalina and send a couple of them to help Marcus (along with anyone else who might choose to stay behind with him) and get Delian home. I thought the remaining PCs would go ahead with our original plan to get Jassminder healed.

I’ll move us forward to the temple in a few hours if no one objects. (Along with introducing Marcus to Matteo, which at least gives him someone to talk to in the interim.)

I've added a simple loot tracker to the top of the campaign with the maps.

If anyone would like to know about potential mechanical penalties for going with the "pain" payment option, I've included a spoiler below.

I've added a simple loot tracker to the top of the campaign with the maps.

If anyone would like to know about potential mechanical penalties for going with the "pain" payment option, I've included a spoiler below.

** spoiler omitted **[/spoiler]

I've copied and pasted the list but, since we haven't gone back to the chandlery, I have no idea what the PCs will be allowed to keep and what will be returned to relatives, etc.

Xanther, your Strength damage has fully recovered. Jassminder, you're sickened for three hours but otherwise unharmed.

Anything else you want to do at the temple, or are you ready to head back to the chandlery?

I'm just waiting on Jassminder's response for flavour, mechanically I don't think I need anything at the temple.

Besides I want to regroup with Marcus

Once he is healed, Xanther is ready to return to the Chandlery.

Xanther, your Strength damage has fully recovered. Jassminder, you're sickened for three hours but otherwise unharmed.

Yay!

In terms of loot, there was also 65 gp, 29 sp, and 88 cp, and a small candle with an enchantment aura.

Once he is healed, Xanther is ready to return to the Chandlery.

GM Ever_Anon wrote:

Xanther, your Strength damage has fully recovered. Jassminder, you're sickened for three hours but otherwise unharmed.

Yay!

In terms of loot, there was also 65 gp, 29 sp, and 88 cp, and a small candle with an enchantment aura.

Is that after the 20 GP for Xanther's Lesser Restoration?

Is that after the 20 GP for Xanther's Lesser Restoration?

No, its the chandlery's profits. You can click on the link.

Investigation progress

*Anya (daughter of our client) is - by all accounts - fine and still alive
*There's a plague in town, origin unknown
*town is in quarantine
*people are scared, and blaming the local fetchlings (charmingly referred to as "shades")
*The Baron has recently fired his fetchling servants, for reasons unknown
*Bonfires surrounding the town for unknown reasons
*The Baron was acting strange long before firing the fetchlings, also for unknown reasons

So have we made much progress on these? We've discovered some other things, but we still don't know what's causing the plague or why the Baron fired all his fetchling servants or what made him go weird even before then.

Questions poured down like rain in the black of night; and in Nidal, it was always the black of night. Before this was through, we'd all be sorry we'd ever asked.

Jassminder Shah wrote:

Investigation progress

*Anya (daughter of our client) is - by all accounts - fine and still alive
*There's a plague in town, origin unknown
*town is in quarantine
*people are scared, and blaming the local fetchlings (charmingly referred to as "shades")
*The Baron has recently fired his fetchling servants, for reasons unknown
*Bonfires surrounding the town for unknown reasons
*The Baron was acting strange long before firing the fetchlings, also for unknown reasons

So have we made much progress on these? We've discovered some other things, but we still don't know what's causing the plague or why the Baron fired all his fetchling servants or what made him go weird even before then.

Questions poured down like rain in the black of night; and in Nidal, it was always the black of night. Before this was through, we'd all be sorry we'd ever asked.

Not knowing the structure of the module it would seem we needed a 'reason' to 'confront' the Baron and Ilquios's association with the Baron has given us our 'in' to speak directly with the Baron.

Not knowing the structure of the module it would seem we needed a 'reason' to 'confront' the Baron and Ilquios's association with the Baron has given us our 'in' to speak directly with the Baron.

Half true. You could have spoken with the baron at any time, but it wouldn't have been productive until now for reasons that will become clear.

Question for the group: How are you feeling about this mostly-investigative section? Are you ready for it to end and to move onto part 2 of the module? (Which, while still having opportunities for investigation/social interactions, much more resembles a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl.) Or do you want to continue investigating until you figure out all the mysteries for yourselves? If you'd rather answer privately feel free to send me a PM.

I've been enjoying the mystery of it and I'm keen to find the answers, but that's just because I like to know everything (there's a reason I'm more usually the DM than the player). If everyone else just wants to move on then I'm happy with that too.

I'm just enjoying the scenario either way.
I like slow dread.

I think it feels more natural if we poke around and discover the mysteries ourselves.

The more immediate question is whether we should try and rest to recover spells, before confronting the Baron.

The investigation is going fine. I for one want to hear what the Baron has to say.

Half true. You could have spoken with the baron at any time, but it wouldn't have been productive until now for reasons that will become clear.

I'm guessing leverage? ;)

Question for the group: How are you feeling about this mostly-investigative section? Are you ready for it to end and to move onto part 2 of the module? (Which, while still having opportunities for investigation/social interactions, much more resembles a good old-fashioned dungeon crawl.) Or do you want to continue investigating until you figure out all the mysteries for yourselves? If you'd rather answer privately feel free to send me a PM.

I like it! I'm genuinely curious if the evil fey have something to do with Tallowthroat or if Ilquis saw it as an opportunity to take advantage of the Baron. It's in Noctifer's nature to investigate, put the pieces together, and collect whatever information he can along the way. And some of it might even benefit the rest of the group! ;)

I think it feels more natural if we poke around and discover the mysteries ourselves.

The more immediate question is whether we should try and rest to recover spells, before confronting the Baron.

That's what I was suggesting in the Gameplay; whether to keep pressing for information now or sleep on it. Hey if we go back to the manor to speak to the Baron then we'll know for sure if we can sleep there or if we get the boot and have to foot it back to the Inn.

Has it been 4 hours?

Do I still have Mage Armour up?

Thanks everyone for your answers! It seems the consensus is that people aren't bored of investigating just yet. If that ever changes, please do let me know.

Ussaile, Mage Armor is still up. You cast it around 6:30pm and it's a little after 8pm now.

@Noctifer: I hear you, but I don't have diplomacy as a skill and Jassminder is ticked enough at the baron that he's only still alive because you aren't actually allowed to murder people and stay a paladin for very long.

Plus, you know, the whole needing-him-alive-for-the-adventure-module-to-make-sense metagame thing.

Plus you're in the same room as the both the captain of the guard and Stepan's wife, the daughter of your employer, who might be a bit ticked off if you murder her husband in cold blood based entirely on a hunch and the word of a chaotic evil fey.

@Noctifer: I hear you, but I don't have diplomacy as a skill and Jassminder is ticked enough at the baron that he's only still alive because you aren't actually allowed to murder people and stay a paladin for very long.

Plus, you know, the whole needing-him-alive-for-the-adventure-module-to-make-sense metagame thing.

I understand I just wanted to explain why Noctifer wasn't aiding Jassminder's Intimidation attempt. :)

Plus you're in the same room as the both the captain of the guard and Stepan's wife, the daughter of your employer, who might be a bit ticked off if you murder her husband in cold blood based entirely on a hunch and the word of a chaotic evil fey.

Well...it is Nidal you know; maybe the Baroness sees Marcus as a step up in husband material. ;)

If Crusader Kings has taught me anything, its that the moment the Baron dies, his infant son becomes the new Baron, and Anya becomes his regent. Which is a step up for her regardless. =P

I clearly missed a lot. This is what I get for spending my whole day watching Mission Impossible.

I'm unsure how to break this stalemate. We should discuss it here for a moment.

If you want me to intimidate him, that's an easy ask but unless we are absolutely sure about the Captain, we might end up in a very bad position.

I clearly missed a lot. This is what I get for spending my whole day watching Mission Impossible.

I'm unsure how to break this stalemate. We should discuss it here for a moment.

If you want me to intimidate him, that's an easy ask but unless we are absolutely sure about the Captain, we might end up in a very bad position.

At this point we'll have to see how the Baron responds to the Diplomacy and Intimidate checks and see if we have more convincing via rolls to do or whatnot. Noctifer has more encouraging speech and an angle to use. ;)

You’re not exactly the baron’s favorite people right now but you’ve gotten his side of the story. Are you going to stay and push your luck asking more questions, or do as he says and leave?

I will add that I would not recommend Marcus push his luck. Consider this a friendly GM “Are you sure you want to do that?” in regards to any more needling.

I guess we really need a united front now.

Alright, comparing what the Baron has said with the timeline:

3.5 months ago: Marek was born. Stepan seemed overjoyed at first, then rapidly became withdrawn and distant.

2 months ago: Stephan’s paranoia increased. He refused to sleep without multiple candles in the bedroom. He spent most of his time in his study and ordered Laurentiu to move many of the manor’s lanterns inside that room.
7 weeks ago: Stepan came to her and announced his plan to sever his shadow. She tried to talk him out of it but he refused. His paranoia became worse.
6 weeks ago: Stepan had a secret meeting with someone in his study. He ordered everyone, including her, to stay away from not just the study but the entire first floor while this meeting took place. He’s had similar meetings every two weeks since and is due for another one any day now.
5 weeks ago: Stepan randomly fired all the fetchlings working at the manor. He accused them of plotting an uprising against the human residents of Karpad.
4 weeks ago: The groundskeeper started displaying the first signs of illness. Stepan ordered bonfires be lit around the manor.
3 weeks ago: The groundskeeper died. His wife started displaying symptoms. Stepan ordered a full quarantine of Karpad. Henri was sent to Pangolais for aid. The first people started disappearing.
1 week ago: At Stephan’s suggestion bonfires were lit around the whole village. He stopped sleeping in their bedroom and now almost never leaves his study.

It matches what happened 6 weeks ago.

It still does not explain why he became paranoid 3.5 months ago and severed his shadow 7 weeks ago.

The Fetchling firing took place 5 weeks ago. Was it something Ilqus told the Baron? Or just paranoia?

The plague started 4 weeks ago, so Ilqus MIGHT have something to do with it. Maybe he started it as a cover, so that the townsfolk would have a reason to leave? And nobody would be surprised if some people randomly disappeared? Even if it was Ilqus who started it, if the disease is self-sustaining, it might continue spreading despite the Fey being gone.

Sorry, Marcus just kind of spoke his mind but not in a needling way this time. He even used an honorific. He is distressed and obviously has a group of resourceful people who are offering to try and solve the problem. Hopefully, we can bring this to a positive resolution.

@Marcus: That’s absolutely fine. I didn’t mean you couldn’t (or shouldn’t) talk at all. I was specifically warning you away from comments that give the unstable paranoid baron reason to believe his insane conspiracy theories are all true.

Even if he deserves the snark.

Would everyone let me know their preference for non-combat knowledge checks? (Taking 10 vs rolling?)

Would everyone let me know their preference for non-combat knowledge checks? (Taking 10 vs rolling?)

Part of that for me is whether I think it's really obscure Knowledge or not. With Noctifer's ranks, and his ability to use Inspiration for 'free', I'd like to go with 10. The only exception might be anything related to Nicasor since his killing was over 1,000 years ago? That's probably DC 25+ territory.

If you think it's something my Patron might know, I'm fine with taking 10. Otherwise I'm happy to roll, she's smart but not formally educated.

Would everyone let me know their preference for non-combat knowledge checks? (Taking 10 vs rolling?)

I'm not a great believer in taking 10 - I like the element of chance - but I do concede it leads to instances where critical plot elements can be foiled by a single poor roll.

I tend to lean toward rolling but I'm fine with taking 10.

Putting on my min-max hat for a moment*, it would seem best if the character with the highest score take 10 for some reliable results, and the rest of us roll for a chance at better results.

*This phrase implies that the min-max hat actually comes off at some point. There is no guarantee that actually happens.