GM Ever_Anon's The Midnight Mirror

Game Master Ever_Anon

Ussaile raises an eyebrow, "A few things. I think that her nephew may have utilized the Mirror to get hands on with Iozif and Henric."

Jassminder pauses with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth and closes her eyes, willing away her exasperation. "Are you incapable of a straight answer, or are you just abusing the fact that it would be wrong of me to hurt you?" She glances to Noctifer. "Can I get a plain answer from someone who speaks Taldan rather than Cryptic?"

Plan B is that she stabs one of them repeatedly with her fork until they spill the answers, and then seeks atonement somewhere. She won't do that, ever, and they know it. But a girl always needs to have a plan B.

Sorry, busy few days, weekends have other commitments.

** spoiler omitted **

At lunch, Jassminder piles her plate high as if she'd skipped breakfast, which she didn't. Between ravenous mouthfuls, she answers Noctifer's question. "Xanther and I had a talk with Anya. There were lots of feelings but nothing useful to learn." She notes the tiefling's emphasis on his words. "And what did Eugenia draw your attention to?"

"She didn't know much of the history of Dimitri Boroi beyond what we learned in the library. She did say that Nadia, the hedge witch, is the person to talk to about fey and that, if there are any in the are, Nadia would know. So it appears she is our next stop."

"Who's Iozif and Henric? Brothers? Uncles?" Marcus asks.

"Who's Iozif and Henric? Brothers? Uncles?" Marcus asks.

"Baron Stepan's brothers and apparently in front of him in the line of succession until they died. At around the same time from some type of 'illness'."

Jassminder pauses with a forkful of food halfway to her mouth and closes her eyes, willing away her exasperation. "Are you incapable of a straight answer, or are you just abusing the fact that it would be wrong of me to hurt you?" She glances to Noctifer. "Can I get a plain answer from someone who speaks Taldan rather than Cryptic?"

Plan B is that she stabs one of them repeatedly with her fork until they spill the answers, and then seeks atonement somewhere. She won't do that, ever, and they know it. But a girl always needs to have a plan B.

"The plain answer is no one knows for certain what, or who, happened to Henric and Iozif. We heard speculation from Ionela about the rumors Ussaile is alluding to. Perhaps we'll learn more along the way?"

And for some odd reason I didn't see Ussaile's or Jassminder's posts until about 20 minutes ago...weird!

"Baron Stepan's brothers and apparently in front of him in the line of succession until they died. At around the same time from some type of 'illness'."

"However, the timelines and description don't quite fit."

"Iozif died 5 years ago. If the Baron was using the mirror then, I would expect Nicasor to attack at the same time as well. Nicasor already had the ability to send nightmares all the way back during Dimitri's time."

"Additionally, Iozif died, which probably means they found the corpse. If he had been imprisoned in the Mirror, it would have seemed that he mysteriously disappeared instead... Unless the Mirror has some other function we are unaware of."

"Although, if they died of disease, it might be possible they got Tallowthroat from the leaking Shadow Essence in the courtyard. Since the Study isn't too far away."

"Actually, there's been something bugging me for a while now." Xanther says between bites. "The Mirror was designed for eternal torment. So those inside do not age. But what is there to stop the prisoners from killing themselves? Or indeed, from killing each other? An escape through death, if you get my drift."

After lunch and conversation the five of you make your way across town to Nadia Witch-Blood's house. Along the way you notice there are fewer bonfires surrounding the village and none of the ones you see are tended to by the guards. Captain Groy must have spread the word among his own men at least. The streets are nearly empty; the windows of the houses you pass all shuttered. Killing Ilquis and putting an end to the kidnappings has not lifted the palpable aura of fear from the town.

Nadia's house is a cottage on the north end of town close to where the Ombrefell begins. A fence and a small garden keep it separated from its neighbors. Green ivy climbs up the walls and curtains the windows; you can't tell whether Nadia can see out but it would certainly be very difficult to see in. When you walk up the cobblestone pathway the door opens before you can knock. A voice calls from inside, "Come on in, I've been expecting you."

Upon entering it takes those without darkvision a moment to adjust to the gloom. Potted plants are everywhere and dried herbs hang from the ceiling, particularly coriander, rosemary, and mandrake root. In a corner near an unlit fireplace an old woman, presumably Nadia, sits in a rocking chair. She has a fern in her lap that she's petting as if it were a cat. Piercing eyes not at all dimmed with age fix on each of you in turn. "Hmmph. So you're Karpad's heroes, eh? Heard you saved some children." She grins, revealing crooked yellow teeth. "Good for you, good for you. Now what can old Mother Nadia help you with?"

Taking 10 on Diplomacy for a 20 plus Noctifer will spend an Inspiration point:
Inspiration: 1d6 ⇒ 3
For a total of 23 barring any aids from the rest of the group.

"Greetings Mother Nadia, I am Noctifer Umbria. Some in Karpad may call us heroes but we're still quite a distance from such a title in my estimation. We come to you on the recommendation of Aunt Eugenia Boroi who said you would be the one to know about fey. In case word has not reached you we killed a fey creature named Ilquis that was a Lurker in Light. There is at least one other fey creature with either a name or designation of 'Dag'-something; our witness wasn't sure of its full name. It seems like Ilquis summoned this 'Dag', wasn't happy about it, and was hoping to use its help to summon something else. In fact the kidnapped children were part of a kidnapping ring that killed several residents of Karpad. This 'Dag' thought Ilquis and it should stick to the woodsmen working in the forest. I'm also sure some townspeople have sought your wisdom about curing the disease called 'Tallowthroat.' A development you may not be aware of is that Catalina died from Tallowthroat and birthed undead shadows. So we find ourselves requesting any information you may have on this development with Tallowthroat plus any information about the fey in the area, where they are, and what they might be trying to summon with all of the sacrifices."

"Jassminder. Sweet Jassminder." The tone wasn't quite mocking but she knew the paladin was anything but, "I don't speak until I know everything. Making a fool of oneself is a heinous crime, when it involves my Patron as well... It is a little more complex."

She lets Noctifer resolve the minor quibble.

---

Entering the witch's house, Ussaile senses the empathic link. She doesn't bow to the witch, that wouldn't be proper. Instead she meets her gaze directly, a fiery one counterbalanced by Ussaile's cold space.

Aid Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (14) - 1 = 13

She wasn't going to speak up, but her body language said enough.

Marcus nods to the witch. Not being much of the social type, he looks about with an alchemist's eye to see what interesting things she has hanging or prepped.

Alchemy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Xanther stands behind Noctifer and tries to look as 'heroic' as possible.

Diplomacy Aid Another: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

As Noctifer talks Nadia stops rocking and leans forward, idly chewing on a fingernail. "I'd heard you'd killed a fey. I hadn't heard that it was Ilquis. That's interesting. Very interesting. And shouldn't have been possible. Not the killing him part; the kidnapping residents of Karpad part." Her eyes close and she tilts her head as if listening to someone, then a slow smile spreads across her face. "Ah. That's how. I'm almost impressed; I didn't think Ilquis was that clever. Ambitious yes, but not clever."

"Geni told you right when she sent you here. I haven't been able to figure out anything about Tallowthroat and I don't know about undead shadows either, but I do know the fey. I'm the only one in town that does. Other than Stepan, but he's not exactly himself these days, is he?" Nadia grunts as she pushes herself out of her rocking chair, carefully placing the fern down on the seat. She heads over to an old wooden bookcase and pulls out a hand-drawn map which she then rolls out onto the table. You can see Karpad on the southeast of the map but the majority of it depicts the Ombrefell. Dozens of areas have been either circled or crossed out in red pen. "The culmination of years of work. There's an official version in Boroi manor but Mikhail would never show it to me, the stingy bastard. Stepan might have but by the time he became baron I no longer needed it. This," she taps on one of the circled areas, "is why Karpad can live right on the border of the Ombrefell without fear."

"Centuries ago, not certain exactly when since the fey don't really keep track of time, the Borois made a deal with the fey. Karpad would be careful with it's logging, avoid the areas the fey find sacred," (she taps the circled area again), "let them live in peace, and in turn the fey would serve as a buffer against the darker creatures of the forest. It's worked quite well for both sides. Most of the fey out there think it's a perfectly reasonable bargain. Ilquis was one of the few that didn't. He thought the fey should take over Karpad, drive the humans out, the usual power-hungry drivel. He could never do anything about it though. He was bound by the contract too, and 'not kidnapping and killing Karpad's citizens' was part of it." She smiles. "But if he got permission from the lord of the land, well, that would have changed things."

"The good news: I doubt any of the other fey in the area will try anything similar. I can think of less than ten that agreed with Ilquis' sentiments and none of them were as strong or as ambitious. Gremlins mostly. They're never happy with anything. No, the main thing we have to worry about is this Dag. If Ilquis summoned him directly from the First World he won't be bound by anything." She leans back, eyes closing again as she thinks. "I need details, as many as you can give. You say Ilquis wasn't happy, do you know why? Was the animosity mutual? Was there a reason given for why Dag wanted to target loggers instead? Exactly how many people were sacrificed and how were they killed?"

@GM: Not replying to shorten the 'wall o' text'. :)

Noctifer retrieves his journal and begins reading his notes:

"There were seven corpses in total, all of which have been dead for about a week The PCs were told the names but they weren't listed out; Noctifer would include that information. I don't know if some or all of those were used to summon 'Dag' or if those were after its arrival. Ilquis used a wand of Dominate Person to compel Judy Potts, Neliana Mallus, and Fane Cline into helping him. When we interrupted their plans they had kidnapped Delian and Olya and had them in cauldrons filled with wax. The children were told they could 'survive without food for a few days' so it seemed Ilquis needed more sacrifices? Judy was ensorceled nine days ago, Neliana four, and Fane six. Ilquis had Judy selling candles in the store, ordered Fane to keep him safe, and had Neliana stay in the basement 'to protect him until the time came for the ritual.' Apparently Catalina was either working for Ilquis willingly or was the first ensorceled by the wand.
Judy gave us this information about what Ilquis was doing or if he was talking with anyone else: 'Otherwise sometimes I've heard him arguing with someone. I didn't see anyone else in the room but there was another voice. It said that this was stupid, that Master Ilquis was wasting his wand playing god over a bunch of mortals when they could have just stayed in the forest and grabbed a few lumberers. Master Ilquis insisted this was better because there wasn't any chance of the ritual being interrupted here.' And then this:
'The first time I heard them talking was six days ago, at night. I could see Master Ilquis but not the person he was talking to. They didn't seem to like each other much. Master Ilquis was saying that the other person, Dag-something, was the last thing he wanted to summon. Then three days ago I heard them arguing again, also at night. That's when Dag said they should just stay in the Ombrefell and take lumberers since Master Ilquis had wasted his wand.'
I think that's the extent of what we have learned about the fey situation; if any of my associates wish to chime in?"

I don't know if I've missed anything related to the fey or not so if I have, please post it as dialogue for Nadia.

"On a perhaps different topic would you know anything about an item called 'The Midnight Mirror'?

"Don't forget that when we seemed to be about to win the fight he sent the woman out to unleash the sunlight spell. An obvious signal for something I would think." Marcus chimes in.

"Don't forget that when we seemed to be about to win the fight he sent the woman out to unleash the sunlight spell. An obvious signal for something I would think." Marcus chimes in.

"From what Neliana said that was to wait for Ilquis to escape us and give her new orders. I'm guessing he had some kind of escape plan or option to restart the ritual."

Nadia listens silently to all this information, head once again tilted slightly to the side. When asked about the Midnight Mirror she simply shrugs. "Never heard of that before. But what you said about the witness' testimony, now that's interesting." She hobbles back over to the bookcase and pulls out a thick book with The Encyclopedia of Fey Creatures embossed on the spine. She starts flipping through it quickly, occasionally pausing on a page before shaking her head and moving on. "You'd be surprised how much it narrows down what 'Dag' could be. Human sacrifices means he's the type of creature to be attracted by blood. Seven deaths means he's moderately strong. Not a gremlin but not a vilderavn either, fortunately for Karpad. Intelligent enough to understand what Ilquis had in that wand and wise enough to not want to waste it. Prefers the forest over civilization. Capable of invisibility." She stops on a page and makes a triumphant noise in the back of her throat. "Most importantly of all, he's the last creature a lurker in light would want to summon, with the feeling of distaste being mutual."

She spins the book around. It's open on a gruesome picture of a demonic-looking being with dark purple moth wings wearing a necklace of eyeballs. "Lamp Blighter. Can't be 100% certain of course, but it's the only fey I know of that fits all those criteria. Poor Ilquis. He was probably trying to summon a redcap, maybe a coryphae, and he got a mortal enemy instead. He should have realized then that the Eldest were against him." She chuckles to herself as she flips over the page, reading quickly, before turning back to the map.

"The loggers haven't run into him yet, I would have heard if they had, so Ilquis must have told him which places were safe. If you want to continue your heroics I'd check here first." She taps a circled area about five miles into the forest. "The trees are particularly thick there. Dim, gloomy, perfect conditions for a lamp blighter."

Nadia falls silent, eyes closing and head tilting once more while she thinks. Then she turns and heads towards the back room of her cottage. She's gone for a few minutes before returning with a single potion which she holds out to Ussaile. "Lamp blighters have two major forms of defense. They have constant invisibility, which you must already have some way of dealing with if you killed Ilquis. However they can also cast darkness at will. Seeing through invisibility doesn't help much if you can't see at all. This potion of darkvision will help with that. I'm offering it freely, as a gift."

”Can you tell us how to kill a lamp blighter?” Marcus asks hoping to narrow down the possibilities.

"They also have magical arrows which can inflict bleed, fear or sleep." Xanther says, suddenly feeling more grateful for his elf ancestry.

He turns to Nadia "Thank you for your help. Do you happen to sell magical supplies as well?"

Ussaile already starts to consider what spells she would need.

See invisibility, faerie fire, possibly something else...

She was worried that the fae had plenty of strength and was going to cause them problems so she mentally checked off what she needs.

"I can ensure that I can see it, and reveal it for you all but I have no way of dealing with the darkness myself."

"They also have magical arrows which can inflict bleed, fear or sleep." Xanther says, suddenly feeling more grateful for his elf ancestry.

He turns to Nadia "Thank you for your help. Do you happen to sell magical supplies as well?"

** spoiler omitted **

"And in case you think that's all they can do if its invisibility fails it will move into melee range and its claws do far more damage than their arrows. With lucky strikes or if attacking a helpless opponent they can even pluck out their victim's eyes."

"We also have the Bottled Sunshine to perhaps 'enlighten' his attempts to darken the area. Given its wings we may need to either ground it or get one of us in the air."

Noctifer will ask Nadia if she has, or know anyone in Karpad who has, for sale items such as a tanglefoot bag, potion of fly, scroll of see invisibility, and potions or scrolls of blur.

"How do you kill a lamp blighter? Same as any other fey. Make sure you have cold iron on hand then stab it." Nadia grins revealing crooked yellow teeth. "They're pretty resistant to spells though. He might just shrug off a glitterdust spell like it was nothing so grabbing some extra ways to see through invisibility is a good idea."

"I can sell you tanglefoot bags for 50 gold each, and other alchemical weapons too if you want them. You can find arcane scrolls at Plotbound. Whether Costel has those particular ones you'll have to ask him. It's on the town square, big sign with a book out front, you can't miss it. You'll find a few basic potions at the general store, also on the town square, but I doubt they'll have a potion of fly. For divine scrolls head to the Temple and check with Master Miklos; he's the only person in town who'd have any."

Lamp Blighters have DR/10 cold iron and SR 17.

@GM: Just a point of reference Glitterdust does not appear to have SR:

Glitterdust

"Saving Throw Will negates (blinding only); Spell Resistance no"

"Many thanks Nadia. It's not an exaggeration to say this information might save our lives."

Jassminder nods approvingly as Noctifer seamlessly recites the events so far, listing details she would consider unimportant like names. He may be a chatterbox, but this is good work. She frowns in thought. "Invisibility we can get around, one way or another. Magical darkness will be an issue, if it will overpower magical light." She pulls an ioun stone from out of her pouch; it burns with a heatless flame as it circles around her.

"This works in normal darkness, but even then only out to a few feet. Beyond that, I won't be able to shoot anything reliably." Not that being blinded prevented her from putting Ilquis down; but you can't rely on luck going your way every time. She puts the circling stone back in her pouch. "Can you tell me if that will work against a lamp-blight's darkness? Otherwise we're going to need two more darkvision potions." Noctifer and Marcus can see in the dark without problem, she knows that from experience. But she, Ussaile and Xanther will need assistance.

"As previously mentioned a couple of darkvision scrolls can take care of the darkness issue. I think once we pin it down and neutralize its invisibility the fight swings in our favor. Until then, we'll have an extremely difficult time. What about checking to see if the baron has some huntsmen? We could have them come in with nets. See if we could overwhelm the thing with numbers."

"I think we should try and procure one Scroll of Remove Fear as well." Xanther adds. "Carried by someone who can use it effectively, other than me. That way, if I am disabled by a fear attack, they can rescue me."

"I think we should try and procure one Scroll of Remove Fear as well." Xanther adds. "Carried by someone who can use it effectively, other than me. That way, if I am disabled by a fear attack, they can rescue me."

"I can use a Scroll of Remove Fear."

Jassminder nods approvingly as Noctifer seamlessly recites the events so far, listing details she would consider unimportant like names. He may be a chatterbox, but this is good work. She frowns in thought. "Invisibility we can get around, one way or another. Magical darkness will be an issue, if it will overpower magical light." She pulls an ioun stone from out of her pouch; it burns with a heatless flame as it circles around her.

"This works in normal darkness, but even then only out to a few feet. Beyond that, I won't be able to shoot anything reliably." Not that being blinded prevented her from putting Ilquis down; but you can't rely on luck going your way every time. She puts the circling stone back in her pouch. "Can you tell me if that will work against a lamp-blight's darkness? Otherwise we're going to need two more darkvision potions." Noctifer and Marcus can see in the dark without problem, she knows that from experience. But she, Ussaile and Xanther will need assistance.

"Unlikely, unless you paid extra for it, but I'll check." Nadia casts Detect Magic, a spell you're all familiar enough with to not require any assistance identifying, then shakes her head. "No. The continual flame spell cast on that stone isn't strong enough to overcome a darkness spell."

Jassminder Shah wrote:

Jassminder nods approvingly as Noctifer seamlessly recites the events so far, listing details she would consider unimportant like names. He may be a chatterbox, but this is good work. She frowns in thought. "Invisibility we can get around, one way or another. Magical darkness will be an issue, if it will overpower magical light." She pulls an ioun stone from out of her pouch; it burns with a heatless flame as it circles around her.

"This works in normal darkness, but even then only out to a few feet. Beyond that, I won't be able to shoot anything reliably." Not that being blinded prevented her from putting Ilquis down; but you can't rely on luck going your way every time. She puts the circling stone back in her pouch. "Can you tell me if that will work against a lamp-blight's darkness? Otherwise we're going to need two more darkvision potions." Noctifer and Marcus can see in the dark without problem, she knows that from experience. But she, Ussaile and Xanther will need assistance.

"Unlikely, unless you paid extra for it, but I'll check." Nadia casts Detect Magic, a spell you're all familiar enough with to not require any assistance identifying, then shakes her head. "No. The continual flame spell cast on that stone isn't strong enough to overcome a darkness spell."

"How about this item?"

"I also suggest we should also refer to the Lamp Blighter in code. So we do not alert it to our intentions." Xanther adds. "I propose 'Uncle Lambert', with time as direction and distance. So when Ussaile says, 'by the way, I have a meeting with Uncle Lambert at 6:25'. What she really means is the Lamp Blighter is at her 6 o'clock, 25 feet away."

"I also suggest we should also refer to the Lamp Blighter in code. So we do not alert it to our intentions." Xanther adds. "I propose 'Uncle Lambert', with time as direction and distance. So when Ussaile says, 'by the way, I have a meeting with Uncle Lambert at 6:25'. What she really means is the Lamp Blighter is at her 6 o'clock, 25 feet away."

Noctifer chuckles, "You and your numbers! Ingenious though and I agree although it will certainly understand the code but hopefully that first advantage in our favor will prove decisive."

"The bottled sunshine would work but not well. It covers too small of an area." Nadia smirks as she looks at it. "No need to ask where you got that one. Lurkers in light are the only beings I've met that would find such a thing useful. Unless you want to try your luck gardening in the Darklands."

I need a vacation from my vacation...

The witch gives a chuckle, "Very well Xanther. I can do that. Hopefully we can resolve this without too much issue." She doesn't really worry about the fey, she certainly knows her party can handle it, but she has a suspicion that there was something else they were missing.

Whether it was paranoia or not, she would eventually find out later.

Jassminder nods. "Code makes sense. Let's pick up what we need and get moving."

After finishing your conversation with Nadia you make your way around town purchasing the various items you believe you'll need for your confrontation with Dag. As prepared as you feel you can be, you head off into the Ombrefell.

Jassminder has some experience hunting various criminals through the woods so she takes the lead. For the first mile or so the journey is fairly pleasant. Enough sunlight makes its way through the treetops to brighten your path, the brush isn't so thick as to impede your progress, and you see occasional glimpses of rabbits, squirrels, and other normal forest creatures. The deeper you go however the darker things become, both literally and metaphorically. The trees grow thicker and closer together until you can no longer see the sun and those without darkvision rely on Jassminder's ioun torch to brighten the way. The birdsong is replaced by eerie sounds made by creatures none of you can recognize. Small bushes turn into piercing thorns that tear at your clothes and force you to detour away from your planned path.

Two hours into the journey you pause to catch your bearings at a small stream you remember seeing on Nadia's map. Following it should lead you directly to the clearing she had pointed out as being the most likely location for Dag to be. As you're about to head out Xanther spots it first; a shadowy dog drinking from the stream about sixty feet away. It doesn't seem to have noticed you yet.

"A shadow Mastiff." Xanther whispers. "An Outsider from the shadow plane, which has total concealment in anything less than full daylight."

(OOC: I think Faerie Fire might work here.)

"It's howl causes panic in a 300' range."

"Panic?" Xanther whispers. "I shall begin with Remove Fear then. Just give us the signal."

(OOC: When the fight starts, Xanther will cast Remove Fear. At CL4 it should be able to cover 2 targets, so himself and Noctifer.)

Is it too late to have Mage Armour up as its 4 hours? I only have one Faerie Fire prepared but if we spend 10 minutes afterward i can prepare another. I should also mention I have an Ioun Torch as well.

"Do we need to engage it? Do you think it is with the target?"

Marcus steps into the shadows and does what he can to hide himself. A cold iron dagger in one hand and his waveblade in the other, he waits for word as to when or if to engage the dog.

Stealth: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

Noctifer eyes Jassminder and her bow.

Jassminder considers things carefully, as befits her Lawful nature. Drawing back into the trees, she whispers to the others. "I'd rather fight this thing now with surprise on our side, than risk it attacking us later when we're already fighting our real opponent. And if it howls and brings the enemy to us, then so much the better, right? Means we don't have to keep looking."

Others may disagree with her sentiment, but assuming they agree with her logic, she waits for someone to light it up with magic before drawing her bow back and shooting the creature.

Smite evil, swift action

Longbow, Smite: 1d20 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 9 + 4 = 33

Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 4 = 15
Crit damage: 3d8 + 9 + 12 ⇒ (1, 8, 7) + 9 + 12 = 37

50% miss chance, if needed: 1d100 ⇒ 61 hit

AC 24 against the shadow mastiff

Since the consensus seems to be to attack I've posted a map. Water is difficult terrain, everything else is normal.

Everyone may take their surprise round actions. Everyone but Noctifer may also post actions for Round 1.

Initiative Tracker:
Jassminder: 20
Ussaile: 15
Xanther: 11
Marcus: 10
Mastiff: 9
Noctifer: 5

As planned, Xanther casts Remove Fear on himself and Noctifer, in the hopes that at least one of them will survive the Howl of Panic.

(Surprise Round: Cast Remove Fear. +4 Morale to saves vs Fear. Noctifer has the scroll of Remove Fear right?)

Seeing the Dog had yet to react, he also cast Remove Fear on Ussaile and Marcus for good measure. He then draws his favorite Heavy Mace and moves closer, following along the bank of the river.

(Round 1:
Standard: Cast Remove Fear
Move action: Draw weapon and move closer)

Once the arrow flies, Marcus moves toward the beast. If it still stands after that first shot he closes the distance rapidly (charge) and strikes.

Wave Blade: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 9 + 2 = 20
dmg: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

Jassminder follows up her initial shot with an additional volley, aiming to put the creature down before it can make a sound.

Also realised I forgot to confirm the previous cricital - sorry. Been playing too much PF2 recently...

Confirm previous crit: 1d20 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 9 + 4 = 21

Longbow, rapid shot: 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 4 = 20
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 4 = 15

50% miss chance, if needed: 1d100 ⇒ 34 MISS

Longbow, rapid shot: 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 7 + 4 = 31
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 4 = 13

confirm ANOTHER crit: 1d20 + 7 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 4 = 19
Critical Damage: 3d8 + 9 + 12 ⇒ (3, 6, 3) + 9 + 12 = 33

50% miss chance, if needed: 1d100 ⇒ 77 HIT

Pulling some light from the stars, Ussaile tries to engulf the hound with magic that should make it easier to track.

Casting Faerie Fire
Spell Resistance?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 Well then, let's hope it doesn't have SR

The violet light swirls around...

Going to wait on the result of this before I commit to my normal round action

The faerie fire lights up the startled mastiff, who swivels its head to look at your group just in time for an arrow to pierce through its eye. It stumbles to one side, groaning, before the second and third arrows put it out of its misery.

With this obstacle removed you can freely follow the stream. If Nadia's hunch is correct Dag should be less than thirty minutes away.

How close do you want to try to get before doing pre-battle buffing? Also, will you be trying to approach stealthily or no?

The sleepy town of Karpad in shadow-haunted Nidal has long been overseen by the Boroi family, and until a few weeks ago, the citizens under Baron Stepan Boroi's rule have lived uneventful lives of relative peace. Recently, however, the outbreak of a virulent and fatal disease and a number of mysterious disappearances have left the people of Karpad paranoid and fearful. Even Baron Stepan has been acting strangely, and now the tenuous balance of racial tensions between Karpad's human and fetchling populations stands on the verge of collapsing into total anarchy. Can the PCs uncover the root of Karpad's problems and put an end to the deadly virus, the terrifying disappearances, and the miasma of fear and distrust that threatens to overwhelm the region?

Welcome everyone! I’m looking for three players to run through The Midnight Mirror, with the fourth spot promised to Wandering Wastrel. This module is fairly short and should be finishable within a few months.

Recruitment will be open until midnight GMT on May 24th.

Level: 4
Ability Scores: 20 point buy, nothing below an 8 after racial adjustments.
Alignment: Any so long as they can work with the party.
Classes: Any Paizo except antipaladin, use unchained versions when available.
Races: Core, Standard, and Advanced races are all allowed. If there is another race you want to play, ask and I’ll consider it.
Traits: Two traits; you may take a drawback for a third. No campaign traits.
Wealth: 6,000gp; no single item may cost more than 3,000gp. The party will also receive a free wand of Cure Light Wounds at the start of the game.
Skills: Background Skills are in play. The first half of the module has a lot of investigation so keep that in mind when assigning skill points.
Backgrounds: At the start of the module the PCs are hired as a group by a Nidalese noblewoman. Therefore assume that you and the other PCs have already formed an adventuring party and had at least one adventure together in or around Nidal. A brief summary explaining what you’re doing in Nidal and why you might have joined such a party will be sufficient.

When creating characters, remember that Nidal is a lawful evil theocracy dedicated to the worship of Zon-Kuthon. Karpad is far away from the capital and most people there just want to get by, so no one is going to yell “Burn the witch!” at the mere glimpse of a Sarenite holy symbol. However if you run around screaming “Zon-Kuthon sucks!” there will be some backlash from the villagers. Good-aligned characters should be prepared to roleplay accordingly.

On the flip side, while Nidal is a great place to explore evil character concepts, this is not Hell’s Vengeance. Most of the enemies you fight will be either evil or neutral and the overall goal is for the PCs to save the town. You’ll have non-altruistic justifications for doing so, but it’s something to keep in mind when creating evil characters.

If anyone has questions, either ask them here or send me a PM. Looking forward to gaming with you!

dotting for interest.

Immediately have an idea for a Dhampir slayer.

What is Wandering Wastrel playing?

Any pregame crafting? Or should we use the suggestion that each item crafting feat increases WBL by 25%?

I'm interested but limited in my PF experience so not that good of a PC builder.

Interested

I'd like to play a skill monkey of sorts, maybe Investigator

Interested

I'd like to play a skill monkey of sorts, maybe Investigator

That was my first thought but the Alchemist part of it gave me a headache.

Hi all, I'm on UK time so will generally be posting on a different rhythm from some (most?) of you :)

Thanks to the GM for inviting me into this game, I'm looking forward to it immensely.

In terms of classes, I am wondering whether paladin (tortured crusader) would fit the tone of this game? Nidal is a land of evil so paladins would need to be mostly undercover; by RAW I can find nothing that requires them to brandish their holy symbol either for lay on hands or smite evil... but with that said, I always have my paladin characters carry a holy symbol simply because, well, paladin. The second issue is really that of tone which is hard to define but you know it when you see it (the classic example is not playing a ninja when your DM tells you the campaign is Renaissance Europe-themed courtly intrigue).

If paladin doesn't look like a good fit, I will probably go with a bard.

@JeminiZero: I'm going to go with the latter option. For every item crafting feat you get an additional 1,500gp, with the caveat that this extra gold must be spent on items that could be crafted with that feat. However keep in mind that there will not be any crafting time during the module itself, so those feats may be better spent elsewhere.

@Wandering Wastrel: Paladins are fine so long as they can avoid smiting the local cleric of Zon-Kuthon just because he exists. Tortured crusaders are particularly thematic. As for holy symbols, I'd expect them to be mostly concealed but it's fine to carry one or even to brandish them during fights. Any bystanders who witness you smiting the monster trying to kill them will be inclined to look the other way while whistling innocently.

Interesting!
I put forward Shurin Yaes, a native Nidalese shadow unchained summoner (Shadow Eidolon, which doubles as his own shadow). He is true neutral, and is morally conflicted with what Nidal is. He has the Umbral Unmasking drawback, which I think is quite appropriate.

As a southerner, he would revere this region for the ancient tombs of the nidalese horselord ancestors, and his shadow magic makes him adept at fighting the possible threats that threaten this town.
He is somewhat mentally unstable (Bipolar), but largely his instability only hurts himself. It somewhat is a mystic kind of fuel for his power, as he alternates between being the active partner and being passive to his Shadow summon.
I can pair Shurin with any other party member.

@Shadow Dragon: I wouldn't worry about your lack of PF experience. I'm not that great at building characters myself and tend to shamelessly rip off builds I find elsewhere.

If you like the concept of an investigator but are having trouble with alchemy, there are a few archetypes that trade it out. I've played a Questioner before and had a lot of fun with it. (A Questioner spontaneously casts Bard spells instead of using alchemy.) You can be a divine investigator with the Jinyiwei archetype, a psychic with Psychic Detective, someone who's just really, really lucky with Sleuth, etc.

@Wandering Wastrel: She basically has no lore or information tied to her, but the Empyreal Lord Kelinahat might be an interesting deity for a tortured crusader. LG deity of intelligence, spies, & stealth

@GM - thanks, I specifically do not intend to play her as lawful stupid so we should be ok :)

Thanks for the recommend on Kelinahat! I may well go in that direction.

Statting her out now, will post with completed alias later today.

Very interesting! I could see playing a NE elf illusionist who is evil in that she is a firm believer in "the ends justify the means" but considers herself altruistic otherwise. A few questions:

1. Are you ok with animate dead, etc? This seems particularly thematically appropriate for this game and PBP makes it easier to manage all their attacks, etc. But it can still be a bit of a headache. It's not a core part of my concept either way, just curious.

2. PFS-style hit points, aka, max of HD at first level than average rounded up thereafter (d6 -> 4, d8 -> 5, d10 -> 6, d12 -> 12)?

3. What game format are you thinking in terms of maps (Google slides?), posting rate (1x/day?), and anything else you might have in mind.

So @GM do you have your 3 players already -- I ask because it does seem that you do. If not I could put forth a character concept of just about anything perhaps even tie into one of the previous mentioned characters.

Will look forward to your response.

@caster4life: 1: Animate Dead is a 3rd level spell (minimum) so I don't think there's any way for you to access it at 4th level. If I'm wrong let me know and I'll decide how I would handle it.

2: I knew I'd forgotten something! Yes, please use PFS style hitpoints.

3: We'll be using Google Slides for maps.

Regarding pacing, I plan to post at least once a day. I expect players to post often enough to keep up momentum. In combat that will likely mean posting every day so other players aren't waiting on your actions. Out of combat it will be more fluid. If your barbarian doesn't have anything to say while the group is talking to the noble you don't have to post for the sake of posting, (although you're always welcome to write something about your character's reaction to the scene). Just try to keep up momentum and don't leave other players waiting on you.

@DeJoker: This recruitment is open for two weeks and anyone who applies during that time frame will be considered. The only player currently set in stone is Wandering Wastrel, (because he's GMing another game I'm in and I promised him a slot). After May 24th I'll select the rest of the party based on character concepts, backgrounds, and party balance.

Nice to hear @GM, so what do you do with a player that can have fun playing just about anything and pretty much willing to play anything.

A player who likes to, when they can, work with the GM and/or other player(s) to create a character that is designed to fit the needs of the game (work with the GM) or is designed to dovetail into another PC (work with other player(s))?

These kind of characters kind of need a grounding and/or need to know what the game needs or what character one could dovetail into.

Thanks for quick and excellent answers!

Regarding animate dead, I was thinking of both level up plans (probably irrelevant for a short module) and other options like lesser animate dead, command undead, etc.

“Better to light a funeral pyre than curse the darkness.”

Wandering Wastrel's character here. Jassminder's stats, background and description are more or less complete: I’m just finalising her gear.

Backgrounds: At the start of the module the PCs are hired as a group by a Nidalese noblewoman. Therefore assume that you and the other PCs have already formed an adventuring party and had at least one adventure together in or around Nidal. A brief summary explaining what you’re doing in Nidal and why you might have joined such a party will be sufficient.

I like this! Lots of basis for noodle incidents :D

“This is like Riddleport all over again!”

*deadpan* “You and I remember Riddleport very differently.”

...

..

.

Anyway, introducing Jassminder Shah, a somewhat sociopathic take on the paladin class (with a side-helping of snark. OK, maybe it’s more like a main dish.)

Things Jassminder can reliably do:

Shoot enemies dead, even non-evil ones*
Snark intimidatingly
Heal herself in combat
Read the situation and know if you’re lying to her
Spot things
Use the wand of CLW
Hold her own in melee
Smite bad things
Navigate the wilderness

Things Jassminder can't reliably do:

Detect evil (no, really)
Take down a tough opponent in melee, especially a non-evil one*
Lie
Flatter/Diplomacy (see: lying)
Find/disarm traps
Know what she’s fighting and how best to kill it
Speak a dozen other languages
Heal other people in combat
Do skills she’s untrained in
Magic

*Hey, we might encounter some. It could happen.

Barring any changes requested by GM, here is my submission. My general idea is that he is originally from Nidal and had returned home when contacted for this job.

Ideally, those selected could work together to come up with any ties/previous adventures together.

Mite Aldeas

@DeJoker: Unfortunately this isn’t the best type of recruitment for such a player. There are GMs that do closed recruitments for a select group of people they know, who can then work together to create their characters. There are also some (usually PFS) recruitments that take the first few players that show interest and build the group from there. Most recruitments however are like this one: people submit characters and the GM chooses a party from among the applicants.

What I’d recommend is waiting a week or so to see what other people come up with. Maybe you really like caster4life’s illusionist and Ms. Bloodrive’s investigator, so you build a frontliner that would work well with those two. Your ideal group may not be chosen of course, but that could help spark some character ideas. Or maybe there will be an obvious skill gap you could build towards; i.e. a full divine caster if no one else has submitted one.

Once the party has been selected, I expect to spend a day or two in discussion hashing out how well they know each other. If you want a close backstory tie with another character, that would be the best time to do it.

@caster4life: You’re correct that leveling will not be happening during this module. Necromancy spells like the ones you mentioned are fine.

@Everyone: In the interest of helping people build characters that actually get to use their abilities, I’ll tell you that the most common enemy types you’ll be facing will be Outsiders, Undead, and Constructs, (in roughly that order). For any rangers out there the best favored terrains will be Urban and/or Planes (Shadow).

@Everyone: In the interest of helping people build characters that actually get to use their abilities, I’ll tell you that the most common enemy types you’ll be facing will be Outsiders, Undead, and Constructs, (in roughly that order). For any rangers out there the best favored terrains will be Urban and/or Planes (Shadow).

NGL, undead & shadows were my first thought when I saw Nidal.

DeJoker: People don't mention it in their recruitments because it's pretty standard on this website. That's how I've done basically every recruitment I've ever run on here.

@DeJoker: For what it’s worth I sincerely apologize if I offended you with my response to your initial question. As I mentioned there are some recruitments on this site that are first-come first-served; since this is not the norm they will usually say so in their initial post. I would recommend simply ignoring every other recruitment thread.

Now I’m going to request that you stop commenting on this particular recruitment and leave us alone. I will be flagging any future posts from you here as “Baiting” and/or “Personal Harassment.”

@Everyone else: This is a recruitment thread, not an arguing over the proper way to GM thread. Please ignore DeJoker and let’s get back to creating characters. I’m really excited by what I’ve seen so far!

Ok, I drafted the initial character sheet for Shuren.
Here. I haven't chosen my magical loadout yet.

If the name doesn't sound sufficiently Nidalese, it's because I read as similar sounding name in the Nightglass novel, which I really liked back when I read it in the mid 2010s. I might be misremembering, but that name should feel at home in this region.
I always wanted to run a character in Nidal (augmented with enough Evanescence and Linken Park music in the same time period--god that was an old time ago). I understand this module is limited only to the north and won't pass through Pangolias and larger settlements, but that's OK.

Ok, I drafted the initial character sheet for Shuren.

Here. I haven't chosen my magical loadout yet.

Bruh. What is that layout? I'm digging it.

Why, thanks Ty'El!

The layout is built off 5e's monster layout. The more horizontal data flow helps make the character sheet less vertical and more legible.
Also the ACTIONS/REACTIONS distribution makes scanning for combat options easier. I think it would work well for PF2e as well.

@Chapel Ty'El: Thanks for the submission! I don't have any questions, just wanted to make sure you knew I saw it :)

@Arrius: Glancing at your character sheet I think you're using a 15 point buy instead of a 20. I know it's a draft but just wanted to remind you there are some extra points available. I look forward to seeing the final product! (Also I concur with Chapel Ty'El's admiration of the layout; it looks both cool and functional.)

Why, thanks Ty'El!

The layout is built off 5e's monster layout. The more horizontal data flow helps make the character sheet less vertical and more legible.
Also the ACTIONS/REACTIONS distribution makes scanning for combat options easier. I think it would work well for PF2e as well.

I hate people who can do cool stuff like this! :P Although I wouldn't hate them if they made some Google Slides and stuff so I could GM some PFS1...

Just a note about my submission, I had been toying with the idea of having the bite attack or not and settled on not in order to keep the SLA.

I accidentally left it on the sheet but Mite does not have a bite attack.

Hmm...this might be the game to run a Hellknight! Of course, the starting level means I'd be two levels shy, plus the devil killing witnessed by an existing Hellknight.

@GM Ever_Anon: Would a successful transition to Hellknight be a possibility within this game, or should I just plan on going for a different concept?

@Pin You could always check out the Armiger archetype for the fighter.

Not sure if you're familiar with that or not.

Hmm...this might be the game to run a Hellknight! Of course, the starting level means I'd be two levels shy, plus the devil killing witnessed by an existing Hellknight.

@GM Ever_Anon: Would a successful transition to Hellknight be a possibility within this game, or should I just plan on going for a different concept?

The GM wrote earlier in the thread that there was no leveling so your PC wouldn't make it to Hellknight.

That means it's not the game for a Hellknight! Lol!

I will dream up a different concept.

@ pinvendor: Sorry, this is actually going to be my first time GMing so I’m sticking to a short module. Like Shadow Dragon said you won’t be leveling. An aspiring hellknight is a good fit thematically though if you want to keep the original concept.

Maybe I'll go with a Life Oracle as the healer. Oracles technically don't need holy symbols to cast, so nobody would know what deity grants them spells. (Sometimes, even the Oracle doesn't know what deity grants them spells.)

@caster4life: 1: Animate Dead is a 3rd level spell (minimum) so I don't think there's any way for you to access it at 4th level. If I'm wrong let me know and I'll decide how I would handle it.

Technically, there is the Lesser Animate Dead spell which only works on small/medium creatures.

I'm interested.
Haven't seen a nice short PF1E game here in a while.

I'll probably whip up something in a few days.

I generally like leaning toward things with utility and gishes.

I haven't had much of a chance to play Occult classes so I'd probably look into Mesmerist or Medium; with the latter hopefully using spirits as intended instead of just being a dedicated Champion.

@GM: Does the module take place over the course of a single day? Just asking due to the Medium Spirit Channel being a 1 per 24 hour thing.

I'm definately going to be reading up on Nidal now.

I'm afraid I haven't got much further with finalising Jassminder's character; in particular I haven't really got into why/how she ended up in Nidal in the first place.

That said, I hope there's enough there for people to see what she contributes and where they might build a character to fill in the gaps and/or tie in your backstory to some extent: the GM said we have had at least one adventure together and given that we're 4th level I think it could be more than that - as I said in my earlier post, there's lots of scope for noodle incidents :)

@ Hubaris: The module will take place over somewhere between two days (bare minimum) and a week. Even at the shorter end there would be some benefit to swapping spirits: the first part is geared more towards investigation with a side of combat while the second part is the other way around.

That being said I just considered a potential complication with classes like Medium, Spiritualist, Summoner, etc that I need to send you and Arrius a PM about. Stay tuned for that.

I would have an idea: LN Kellid mercenary Bloodrager. Does not fight against the worldwound because his Abyssal Bloodline is rather obvious and he could either get lynched, or put on a stake and burned.

Nidal is fairly open as long as you are OK with Zun Kuthon, as he could be semi on the run from he source of his Abyssal Bloodline, a powerful Indiviak, he could well decide that Nidal is like, the one place where a Shadow Demon in the service of Deskari would loath to thread.

He does pay lip service to Zun-Kuthon, as he is a pragmatist and it improved his position.

That said, I hope there's enough there for people to see what she contributes and where they might build a character to fill in the gaps and/or tie in your backstory to some extent: the GM said we have had at least one adventure together and given that we're 4th level I think it could be more than that - as I said in my earlier post, there's lots of scope for noodle incidents :)

From the looks of it, we all saw Nidal and ran with the dark and spooky character idea.

Quick edit: meaning I like it.

I'm afraid I haven't got much further with finalising Jassminder's character; in particular I haven't really got into why/how she ended up in Nidal in the first place.

She serves Kelinahat right? According to the wiki: "Her followers use guile, subterfuge, and shadow magic to break into evil bastions and return with valuable information."

So maybe she was assigned to Nidal as part of a long term spying operation? Keep tabs of going ons? Provide a safe house for passing agents? Relay messages? That sort of thing?

Quick mechanical overview: Abyssal Rageshaper:

Abyssal Rageshapers have pretty excellent claws (d6, magic base, when they bloodrage the become large, and due to rageshaper there is an extra lead blades like size increase, giving him 2d6 claws), they typically cast long arm to have AoOs with these. They are not tanky, as their AC is typically pretty bad (Abyssal Bloodrager effectively reduces most ACs by 4 rather then 2), so their cunning plan of tanking is to murder foes really fast.

Outside of combat:
Ok Face by investing some traits into it.
Has some reasonable lore skills (arcana, spellcraft) and can UMD reasonable if they invest a trait.

At level 4 there is some spellcasting, which is notable enough to get things like Arcane strike, or using the pretty good bloodrager spell list for wands.

That means it's not the game for a Hellknight! Lol!

I will dream up a different concept.

If you're going for the 'theme' of it you can go with whatever class you like and call yourself a Hellknight Armiger (think knight-in-training) like I did with my Paladin in PFS.

pinvendor wrote:

That means it's not the game for a Hellknight! Lol!

I will dream up a different concept.

If you're going for the 'theme' of it you can go with whatever class you like and call yourself a Hellknight Armiger (think knight-in-training) like I did with my Paladin in PFS.

There's also a tree of Hellknight related feats. If you're a Hellknight in training, you can still swear Allegiance and grab stuff like Hellknight Obedience and Hellknight Obsession.

Jassminder Shah wrote:

I'm afraid I haven't got much further with finalising Jassminder's character; in particular I haven't really got into why/how she ended up in Nidal in the first place.

She serves Kelinahat right? According to the wiki: "Her followers use guile, subterfuge, and shadow magic to break into evil bastions and return with valuable information."

So maybe she was assigned to Nidal as part of a long term spying operation? Keep tabs of going ons? Provide a safe house for passing agents? Relay messages? That sort of thing?

That's pretty much what I have gone with, except she requested the assignment to Nidal :)

Equipment still in progress but mostly done.

Pondering a possible Fetchling Brawler.

Decided against the Medium and Mesmerist, I've always wanted to play a White-Haired Witch and 4th level is the perfect level before they become... basically unplayable.

Ussaile Nyoxia is a white-haired witch who hunts for her patron, an unknown entity who speaks to her through an alien ioun stone embedded into the back of her neck.

Willing to take any job if her patron requires it, she does not care about getting her hands (or hair) dirty to get the job done. While she is cruel, she is dedicated to her craft and finishing the mission; and has no qualms with working with people as long as her patron has no qualms with it either. Wholly dedicated to the being she only knows as the Black Stained Seed, she is relentless and more than happy to reap the rewards it grants her. For her, service and servitude to something more powerful than you shows a lot about yourself and is a route to enlightenment.

She can be in Nidal for any reason, however she has worked for the Umbral Court before (or least had the appearance of it) and has no issues with Zon-Kuthon (as she finds that her philosophy aligns somewhat with theirs).

Mechanically, she is an Intelligence based class (which seems to be a bit missing here), with a handful of knowledges (planes, arcana, nature, history), as well as Stealth, Perception and Intimidate. I've left her actual Patron slot empty currently, a few spells in her spellbook, her languages (8 or so!) as well as a few hundred gold in case we get selected and need some specific holes filled.