GM Miteke - The Twisted Circle (7-12) (Inactive)

Game Master miteke

Ezekial shakes his head in the negative, It is not evilly aligned either. So this seems to be a natural, or potentially unintelligent specimen, which Baldrum says is very magical. Do we think this is related to the tree in the village? I suppose is the next question.

Nistivo scratches his head. "But isn't the real question: whether it's valuable? I imagine we could pawn it off on a sage or something as a curiosity."

Nistivo continues drive home the crux of the matter, whether it would be more profitable to take the plant with them or leave it. The answer seems obvious to him.

"Honestly I don't know what to tell you. Perhaps this seedling can help out the sick tree in Mercy but maybe it is a mistake to wake it up at all. As for it being a source of profit I just don't know."

We were charged with finding Amenira, and learning more about Mercy and what protects it against the mana storms. I think we've learned as much as we can here, I say we leave it, make a report, and let the scholars figure out the details... the young paladin offers.

"I think we should bring it back for research purpose. It might help us getting a better understanding of the influence of the Mana Waste"

"Considering how dangerous this creature can be to ghorans and the fact that it was locked away with powerful magic for a reason I think it is best to leave it here."

Two votes for leaving it and one vote for waking it up. We should decide on what we are doing here so we can close out the game. :)

"Its magical aura is very, very powerful, I haven't seen anything like this. And if it promotes plant growth... wait. The people of Mercy said their god Robori makes the cashew trees grow plenty of fruit, right? I wonder..."

The monk abruptly turns to his fellow dwarf.

"Eredur, didn't we find a scroll of speak with plants?"

Nistivo tries to think of any potential buyers for the plant.

Appraise to see if it has monetary value: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20

Of course it has monetary value. It is a magic scroll after all. And Nistivo knows it can be purchased for 375 gp.

"Can anyone cast the Speak with Plant scroll?"

Since it is a 3rd level Druid, 4th level bard, and a 2nd level ranger spell it is not on anyone's list and will require UMD. You might as well try (in spite of Nistivo's reluctance) as it is not like you ruin the scroll on a fail.

lv3 scroll equires 25 UMD which Patchouli can't get on a NAT 20

Baldrum will provide guidance (+1 on one check) and blessing of the faithful (another +2 on all skill checks).

Ezekial looks at Eredur, Will you give it a shot? Maybe this can work and we can learn something more.

Of course. Prepare your questions.

Eredur studies the scroll and uses it, with some timely divine assistance provided by Baldrum.

UMD, DC 25: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 24Guidance needed
UMD, Wis 13: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 20

Not sure if I understand the second check.. I need to emulate Wisdom 13 to cast the 3d level Druid spell, and I got Wisdom 12 already. PRD says "Your effective ability score (appropriate to the class you're emulating when you try to cast the spell from the scroll) is your Use Magic Device check result minus 15." So did I need to get DC 28 (13+15), or only DC 16 (15+1 point missing?)

Yes you need a 28 UMD to emulate a Wisdom of 13. Also you can keep on rolling UMD checks until you roll a 1 and jam up the item for a day. :)

Does he have to make both rolls at the same time? Or can he attempt the UMD to emulate Wisdom, then, when he succeeds, make a roll to use the scroll? And does the roll to emulate wisdom trigger failure for a day if a 1 is rolled, or does that only happen on the roll to activate the scroll?

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough:
Baldrum will cast guidance (+1 on one check) as a standard action. It is a cantrip and lasts until either it is used on one check or one minute is gone.
He can also use blessing of the faithful (Su) (+2 profane bonus on - in this case - all skill checks for 1 round) at will as a standard action.
So you have +2 on each UMD check you make, and you must decide on which you want the +1 from guidance before rolling it. Also, you have to wait one round after each unsuccessfull try as Baldrum needs two standard actions and therefore two rounds.
Unfortunately, aid another is not allowed on UMD.

Does he have to make both rolls at the same time? Or can he attempt the UMD to emulate Wisdom, then, when he succeeds, make a roll to use the scroll? And does the roll to emulate wisdom trigger failure for a day if a 1 is rolled, or does that only happen on the roll to activate the scroll?

To emulate an ability score, a race or a class feature a successfull UMD roll is needed once per hour.

You make a Use Magic Device check each time you activate a device such as a wand. If you are using the check to emulate an alignment or some other quality in an ongoing manner, you need to make the relevant Use Magic Device check once per hour. (Link to the Source)

@Eredur: I think you should keep trying to activate the scroll, rolling both checks until you get either a natural one or you emulate a high enough ability score (a result of 28).

If you get a natural one, we can try again tomorrow. In that case I'd suggest you memorize owl's wisdom so you do not need to emulate the ability score.

DC 28 UMD, Guidance, Blessing: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 20
DC 28 UMD, Guidance, Blessing: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 19
DC 28 UMD, Guidance, Blessing: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 25
DC 28 UMD, Guidance, Blessing: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 24
DC 28 UMD, Guidance, Blessing: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 21
DC 28 UMD, Guidance, Blessing: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 29That's how you do it
DC 25 UMD, Blessing: 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 5 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 1 = 31

Being a dwarf, Eredur was destined to succeed.
Perhaps a less diplomatic (less gloating) way to say it is that the race stubborness is legendary, and Eredur is a perfect exemple of that.

Sounds good to me. I will hand wave the UMD to emulate the Wisdom since you can keep trying without consequence. What do you say to the plant?

Are we waiting on Eredur to speak to the plant?

Correct.

Depending on one choice you might have another combat, or I could just assume some things and go straight to the summary and debriefing if you so choose.

Considering how badly this game is dragging and the fact that we are past the game day end date I suggest a GM summary wrap up.

Sorry, I was waiting on you for suggestions about questions to ask to the plant..If you want to wrap up the story GM nevermind!

I did not want to spoiler anyone because I already played this scenario once. But before we end this game with nothing happening at all, I will propose some questions.

Suggestions about questions to ask to the plant:

Are you Robori?
If not, who are you?
What are you?
How did you get here?
Are you dangerous to other life forms, e.g. us or the ghorans?
Did you save the town from the mana storm?
What is happening to the children of the town?
Is it possible to move you?
If yes, what will happen to the town and the plants here?

I too played this scenario before, so guiding others with prior knowledge is something I don't want to do here. I would suggest wrapping up as well.

Also have played this before - but those seem like reasonable questions for the characters to ask

The somnolent plant is a bit slow and dreamy, making it difficult to get anything concrete out of it, including its origins or anything about Ghorans. It communicates a motherly affection for the surrounding region and the townsfolk of Mercy. It stepped in and saved the inhabitants by producing a transformation in the bodies of their young, making them 'bionic', except with plant augmentations instead of machine. This has been going on for a while with the processing becoming more and more perfected over time and, though not apparent, the adults have already gone through this transformation. Before the Verdant Spark (which is what it calls itself) came to the rescue, the town was doomed. The Spark thinks this transformation is such a great thing that it plans to spread the favor over the whole world once it is fully awoken. Whether or not it could actually do so might be in question, but it seems confident, in spite of the fact that it has absolutely no concept of how big the world is.

It has no idea who Robori is (or Amenira or the doll or any particular individual for that matter), but is quite certain that whoever or whatever Robori is, it is not responsible for the thriving life in the area and saving the village. Over time it has learned to influence the surrounding land across several miles and protected the village from numerous natural disasters, including the mana storm. You can quickly deduce that Robori is the villagers attempt at explaining the happenings as best they can, being totally unaware of the Verdant Spark.

Suggesting the idea of moving it sends it into panic mode, much like a mother being threated with separation from its children. It would probably be possible, but it would likely fight back.

Assuming you leave the creature to protect the town, the return journey to Katapesh is largely uneventful, though if the PCs take Nira with them, the doll attracts strange looks and mutterings from other people who see her. Venture-Captain Roderus requests that the PCs provide him a detailed account of their journeys and discoveries. The venture-captain is disappointed that they did not bring back the Verdant Spark, but when the PCs explain that they left the artifact in place to protect Mercy, he praises them for their prudence in considering when a mission should or should not be completed. Once the PCs have completed their account, Roderus reaches under his desk and withdraws a fat pouch of coins. “I told you I would compensate you for the success of your investigation, and I am a man of my word.” He distributes coins to the PCs. “Well done, Pathfinders. It’s good to know I can rely on you for future missions.”

OOC:
The scenario explains that the Robori religion started out as a bluff to prevent the villagers from exiling their children as they underwent the transformation, which they planned to do to prevent the spread of the disease and turned into a full-blown religion. there were no hooks or rolls to explain the relationship of the Verdant Spark to the Ghorans so I added that as a knowledge discovery.

Amenira used the enter image spell on the dolls she handed out to spy on the children and witness the transformation. The cloaker, self-styled and quite mad protector of the Verdant Spark, felt like Amenira was getting too close to the truth and stole some of her possessions to lured her to it's lair where it killed her. But Aminira was able to cast her soul into the doll which continued the fight and sent the bewildered cloaker running for safety. Hey, if a doll came to life and attacked me, I would probably get the heck out of there too.

Ha, me too! Thanks for running the game GM, and thanks for playing everyone.

Thanks for running!

Thanks for running. :)

Good game, everyone.
Thanks for running, GM miteke!

You're welcome. Unless someone objects I will probably close this campaign by weeks end.