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Life can always happen. I, for one, appreciate just being honest about when it's tough rather than dragging out something meager. It's tough, and I was looking forward to the game, but sounds like you're prioritizing what's important. Best to luck with everything going on!
Alithea touches Adol and begins casting to take them off to Oppara, near the Senate's Hill. The area is more memorable than most of the city, and Adol sought to go there.
Once in Oppara, Alithea set out to find a local library or cartographer that might have the old maps with Talamir available.
"I've little interest in dealing with the nobles of Oppara. I plan to spend as little time as possible in the city and be back within a few hours' time. If anyone else would like to do it, they're certainly welcome. I'll take whoever would like to go, if they think we can learn more about Horronath by joining, or if you have valuable shopping. Is anyone else staying behind to notify those who left if either Eldran or Horronath show up again?" Alithea asks the crowd as she steps away from the group. "If you have business in Oppara, this way please."
Alithea was only interested in going to Oppara to learn about Talamir's location and to go there to gather more information through magic. It seems Maika's already picked up a lot of that information through Legend Lore, a spell I wasn't really familiar with. With that out of the way, and Alithea's suspicions all but confirmed that the dragon is in fact the object of Eldran's hatred, she is now much more interested in the dragon. The part I'm having a hard time with is how to find said dragon. Locate Creature is quite limited in range, as it turns out. Scrying has a low chance of success given the dragon's saves. If we could just acquire something of his, it would be much easier. Probably would have been great for Calaxti to ask for some kind of hint on Horronath's location.
Ah, I don't know the details of the wording, but I would love if I could cast longer spells outside of combat to not cheat the casting times.
Are we not considering the 1 standard action limitation on Wild Surge and the like? Or is that an in-combat limitation only? I was re-looking at the nerfs recently.
Alithea starts to speak, but immediately cuts herself off and shakes her head. After a moment she responds to Adol's question. "I know he's in an area of unworked stone, and that there are several more bloodless around him. This town used to have mines, so it seems the most obvious conclusion, but I do not know exactly where he is, and we know he's a potent mage, so he could be much further still." Alithea informs the newly returned about what her scrying picked up. "He was on some kind of wooden machine, and her appeared to be communicating with... some kind of mist? It was strange, but the machinery along with the bloodless makes me think he's been building something around here and is still around town."
"I had not planned to spend long in Oppara, even if I did go. It would only be get map of this Talamir, both its location and its layout. If I could go there, I would undoubtedly be able to learn much about Eldran. I could do something similar here, but it comes at a sizable price, and I'm not sure Eldran did much here beyond the ritual." Now with most of the group reunited, Alithea brought the question foremost in her mind to the group. "Before we spend more time speculating on plans, the day has gone on quite a bit. Do we wish to spend the rest of our time tracking down more information on Eldran, or do we wish to search for him in the mines and set off another battle? That will ultimately decide they best way to use what ability I have left for the day."
"The fact that Eldran was once a prince of Taldor is interesting, and we know a location from which he ruled. That's certainly interesting." Alithea mused. "I'd have to find some old maps, but perhaps if I knew where this Talamir was and what it might have looked like, I could learn a lot more, but it would be a time consuming process, and would likely involve a trip to Oppara to find the kind of maps I seek. It would likely exhaust most of my resources for the day. Let's see what Maika's divination discerns first." Alithea was starting to feel the nag to go do something, but patience was a well-honed virtue for the woman. Instead, she pulled out her notebook, and began to jot down notes. Looking around the bank, she noted Ulliaza's absence, then turned to Adol, "Was Ulliaza not with you? Do you know where she is?"
"I thought our plant sees enough wars, but it seems as if it could be much worse. That's a good perspective to have. None of our cosmology has considered the existence of another material plane. I'd wonder what the implications of such a discovery might be, and what other kinds of dangerous magic might exist there." Alithea started to get lost in thought then snapped back as Rory cracked the door and began to open vaults.
Not a literal weapon. Just made it sound like you were... designed and made for a purpose.
"It sounds as if you mostly think of yourself as a weapon of some sort. Certainly there is more to you than that." Alithea said, a hint of concern in her voice.
Alithea finishes her spying on Eldran, and notices and turns to Rirsa, "Ah, Lady Loldan. I have seen Eldran, he's in a place with natural stone, likely a cave. He was with several more bloodless, and they were on some kind of machine. There was a mist that seemed to be speaking to them as well. This was once a mining town, it seems likely they're hiding down in the mines." Alithea dusted off her simple dress, choosing to perform the simple task without magic. She then moved closer to where Rirsa was standing watch, and sat down on a nearby pew. "Since we have a few minutes while we wait for the others, perhaps we could get to know each other a bit better. I heard you mention a House Loldan, though I must say, I've never heard of them. I don't overly concern myself with nobility."
I'm intentionally going to wait a bit before continuing as Alithea spends several minutes Scrying Eldran. Also thank you for catching my miscalculation.
Upon finding the remnants of Eldran's person, Alithea pulls out her book and memorizes Scrying. Pulling a mirror out of her Haversack, Alithea lays the mirror on the ground and begins casting Scrying on Eldran, empowering the spell, keeping the image of Eldran in her mind, projecting the image into the mirror.
Bookkeeping: -3 Reservoir (Dimensional Slide last post, Quick Study, and Potent Spell) +5 Reservoir Consume Spells -1 Consume Spells daily use (5th level slot)
Stifled by the mundane lock, Alithea pulls out her notebook, jotting down a note about mundane locks. She then moves over a window to get sight into the Bank and use Dimensional Slide to enter and begin her search.
I misunderstood it based on Adol's post. All the more reason to go looking then. Hm, no Knock in my book. I'll have to remedy that at some point.
Alithea, unconcerned with hiding the difficult truth of the goings on within the temple, opts to simply dispel the lock.
She will then open the door and enter the bank to begin her search, closing the door behind her.
Alithea is searching the church for pieces of Eldran that fell off (hair or skin) during the confrontation. We already have some of his belongings that we were able to remove, but an actual piece of a creature greatly increases the chance of success. She's also planning to help Maika review anything within in the vault if necessary.
"Sounds well enough to me," Alithea said, putting away her belongings. "I don't know if Maika needs to go elsewhere, but I'll head to the bank." Alithea then ambled off to see what she could learn as others asked around about the dragon.
I wasn't looking for an exact number, a rough idea helps.
Do Ulliaza and I, in particular, who dedicated time to getting people out of fires have any idea of the death count? In particular, we have a decent idea of how many bloodless Eldran has created, at least as a player, I don't know how many casualties / fatalities occurred during the dragon attack. I think this would factor into Alithea's threat assessment.
I'd be inclined to contact the regional Abadaran bank. They're likely going to be much more furious at this offense to their temple, and they're all about instilling order.
"We can safely grab the mayor now, if we wish, or we can wait for him to sleep it off. The mayor is certainly our best bet, at gaining new information, but abducting him will likely not help our image. And the ploy with trying to get him to lead us somewhere feels like an unnecessary gamble; we don't know such a place exists. We have time, and other leads to follow." Alithea ponders, then thinking a moment longer, is struck with inspiration. "We should go back to the temple in the meantime. We can try to look for some stray flesh or hairs of Eldran's, and then I can scry him, at least. If we want to view him and the mayor, perhaps that is our best bet. It's of a limited duration, though, unless I learn the greater version. Alternatively, we can easily secure the same from the mayor and magically observe him as well. I've been so distracted it didn't occur to me before."
As several hours passed Alithea sat quietly, usually holding nothing, occasionally pulling out a small notebook and quill in which she wrote notes. She was spending the time reflecting on the rather unusual day she was having. When Ulliaza emerged, Alithea put away her notebook, and rose. "When your message mentioned the possibility of beating, I figured it best to stick around, in case you decided to take action. I wanted to handle this situation with the mayor delicately if possible, but wanted to be prepared if things went south."
Alithea, having worked with Ulliaza before trusts that if the Count does get too violent, she'll intervene. "I'd suggest we just wait this out here. It sounds like Ulliaza is getting antsy, if she makes a move, we'll want to make sure at least some of us are close. Though it would still be best to not abduct the Count if we can avoid it, hopefully we can just wait this out."
"She'll be quick enough about it. In case we need to extract him, best we stay nearby. The priests themselves are not terribly strong, whereas we know the mayor is important. We can figure out how to kill time if the mayor is not up to anything nefarious."
"The guards did not detect as magic. There are ways to conceal the effects of magic, but Eldran hasn't shown any indication of attempting to conceal his magic before. But cunning enchanters can know to hide their magic. That said, it seems far more likely that most of these citizens wouldn't recognize an intelligent undead. Most of the weaker undead they could place are animated decay, these creatures are... off, but are a rare type of dead. The head cleric of the bank, and perhaps the head Sarenite are the only ones who might stand a real chance of identifying these undead." Alithea offered her thoughts on enchantment and the undead. "As for our plans", she continuted, "I think unless we suspect of some nefarious dealings within the brothel, we will likely get more out of the mayor if we don't interrupt his time. If that is a concern, perhaps Ulliaza can confirm. We don't know if the mayor is in league with Eldran because of malice, gullibility, or enchantment. Best not to unnecessarily antagonize him until we know."
I have family in town and doing my daughter's birthday today, my son's baptism tomorrow, and we're doing a 10k on Monday. I'll still be around, but probably slower to post, and only on my phone.
@Divinity: Do you have any issue with Alithea taking Abadar's Truthtelling? It's obviously tied to Abadar in the game, but it so perfectly fits her portfolio, and she is supposed to be a master mage. I missed it at first pass because I didn't look at enchantment spells at all. Despite her normal opposition, I think a compulsion to tell the truth is fair game.
Particularly the recent discussions about the guards made me feel like Adol is just assuming they should open up to him or otherwise treat him as an authority. I think that just overly rubbed me the wrong way. That said, I know you want to move the game forward with each post, but you also post more often than anyone else, which can make it feel like a million things are happening at once, which also contributed to this feeling. Though I do think that hasty and impatient are intrinsically chaotic qualities. While I understand what you're saying about just letting the guy talk, but your comparison falls short in that this person is literally immortal. At the time, we didn't know he had some kind of supernatural ability to become incorporeal either. Finally re:the guard. Yes, I did taunt them somewhat (in truly the most simple sense). I just think there's a significant difference between a non-violent (but still aggressive action), and completely annihilating something. If we did get the undead to attack us while asking simple questions, we'd look better for it to the guards, whereas those guards fled from Adol in fear. Maybe it's not especially "not-paladin-y". Alithea is going to abstain from responding in thread to a) just leave it, and b) the guards are around.
"You're getting ahead of yourself again, young one. In several ways. It would be incredibly foolish for every guard to know where the mayor is if they're not part of his personal detail. Further, the guards know nothing of what's been done at the Bank so far. Even if we show them now, someone will need to know enough about decomposition to determine there was death in there before we went in there, locked as it was. It also won't help our case that you turned one of their guards, undead though she was, into paste right in front of their eyes." "You seem to believe these guards should naturally follow you, or your orders. We are strangers, powerful strangers at that, and so far we've caused a scene during a town gathering, smeared several of their guards, again acknowledging that they were undead, and broken into their church and bank. We also attacked the mayor's chief aide, but I imagine that's probably not too well known at this point. I'm unsure how you've been doing things on Akiton, but people damn well should be suspicious of or even concerned about us. We need to inspire confidence that we can actually solve the problems these villagers are facing. As far as I can tell they think that at best we're a bunch of dangerous foreigners running around their town, and at worst actively destroying their guards, and possibly loved ones." Alithea takes a deep breath, having become notably agitated as she went on. Focusing on her breath the Garundi woman relaxed and composed herself. "Let's drop off the enfeebled villagers first and go from there." Alithea said in time to hear the guards coming. She stays quiet for now, honesty is often not the easiest way to win others over.
I was writing up a post, but I realized this needs to be ooc. Adol's behavior these last few posts doesn't feel very "paladin" to me. Or Lawful Good. He's frenetic and seems to think the guards should just see things the way he does and do what he says. Binding the villagers didn't feel great either, but I understand the practicality with only 2 of us. I'm having a hard time reconciling Adol's actions with his premise. Am I the only one who feels this way? Is there a Paladin Code here follows, similar to the ones in ISG?
"I suspect the mayor would know who's been gathered as their 'tributes'. Perhaps he'd be useful? I believe our best bet is to simply drop them off at the temple of Sarenrae. They are likely to at least help keep the addled villagers alive until a more permanent solution can be found, perhaps they'll even recognize some of the villagers and know their next of kin. Once we no longer have the villagers in tow, we can resume our search." Alithea offers to the group, seeking to resolve their most immediate problem. Then turning to Maika's concerns, "If someone could check the bank's documents that would be fine by me. I don't have any particular reason to believe the safe contains anything but the bank's documents."
@Maika: Is this the right spell? (link) I don't see how that spell resolves Feeblemind. Even moreso in any permanent sense.
I'm pretty sure commoners don't have 3300 gold a pop. Given that it's not urgent, Teleporting to Absalom on a day with downtime and acquiring scrolls of heal for 1650 is viable, or perhaps procuring services directly from a cleric of a friendly faith (for a donation to their church).
Feeblemind can only be removed by heal, or effects stronger than it (we can resolve that conversation in character as well. Since the villagers are not in immediate danger Alithea is primarily pressed with getting them somewhere safe and resolving the situation before figuring out a way to help them. That said, my background included spending years in the Serene Circle learning from the Old Man (Irori's Herald), as I figured Irori himself would not be bothered with a fledgling divinity. That said, I noticed HE has heal a few times per day. I'm not planning to use this relationship to benefit from the herald's ability, but I figured people getting hit by Feeblemind has to be pretty anathema to Irori's teachings of self-perfection. Do you think if I either brought him here, or took these poor villagers to the Serene Circle that he would tend to them? I'm trying to get an idea of how you figure that relationship would play out. Otherwise, we can find other means of solving the problem.
Alithea breaks her concentration once she has scanned the room as Adol speaks to her. "The safe can always be disintegrated, but it likely only contains records of the bank, and nothing of the rituals here. That said, these poor villagers have had their minds taken. I don't have such powerful healing at my disposal, at least, not without some expensive materials. I can always return to Absalom to retrieve what we need. In the meantime, the villagers are at least in no immediate danger. Hopefully the other group has learned more in the meantime." She points to the feebleminded villagers and adds "We best take them and join the other group in finding the mayor. We need to get them to someone who can care for them until we remove their afflictions. The mayor might have some idea of what tributes were collected."
I forgot Alithea has another daily resource. She can only use Consume Spells a number of times per day equal to her CHA mod, which is 2.
Surprised by the lack of an aura, she assumes some more powerful magic is at work, one that permanently alters the target. Curious about what has happened both to these people and the bank, Alithea pulls out her book to find the right spell, and then begins to study the room anew, looking for information even greater than her Arcane Sight would allow, hoping a look into the past will allow her to piece something new about the situation together. Searching not only the afflicted, but walking the halls of the bank.
"I'll start by checking out the villagers, Adol. Let me know what else you can learn about what else has happened here." She moves to the nearest villager and checks for any magic on them.
Alithea sighs, "You rush too much, young one." She says to Adol. "You've acted several times already without considering the consequences of your actions. You say it hits close to home, perhaps you need to review that trauma. If you cannot speak of it, you have not accepted it as part of your past, and it will forever cloud your judgment." She places her hand on the young warrior. "And now you're ready to rush off again without us having a plan of what to ask the mayor. You say we have no time to waste, but without considering your action, you waste all the better paths you could have taken. As a youth and a paladin I understand you're drawn to action, but action can have a much higher price than patience." Alithea then turns to the whole group. "I do think leaving a group here to search the area is wise. I think I have the appropriate knowledge to stay here and study these addled villagers. I'd nominate that Adol stay here with me, and we can send Lady Loldan to the manor, keeping someone expert with a blade per group. I believe Ulliaza will be most of use snooping around the Mayor's. Between Maika and Calaxti, I do not have a strong opinion on their allocation. Of course, you all know yourselves better than I." She then waits for the others to offer their input on her thoughts.
"You should consider the situation carefully before acting, Adol. The information he's offered us is quite valuable. Consider what happens if you hold on to him, even grappled he'll be able to slam you. It's a battle of attrition, and he has unending stamina and health. No matter how much physically stronger than him you are, you will eventually lose. You are a mighty force, but he is an immovable object, so to speak." Alithea said plainly. "We can rely on better bindings, ultimately, but getting what we want voluntarily seems much easier. I will prevent any spells he tries to cast. Even then, killing him will be hard. He is a potent caster so even sending him to the positive energy plane may well not kill him. There is some recourse, but I think we're best off just listening to him, and learn the subject of his hatred and unrest. He is a revenant, empowered through hatred of a specific creature. It's possible that the object of his hatred is something else harmful or dangerous we're otherwise inclined to get rid of, which would solve two problems at once. Besides, I suspect the mayor knows little, and arresting his advisor is not likely a good way to start a discussion." She continues, pointing out the enormous difficulty Eldran's remarkable abilities present. "Now, Mr Eldran, if our burly companion were to release you, would you still be willing to fill us in?" She asks with neither affection nor hatred, understanding that the revenant is so driven in both his hatred and evil nature, incapable of his own proper will, despite his intelligence.
"Now that he is all that remains, he cannot cast spells anymore. I'll see to that. I don't imagine he'll be able to escape through mundane means in his state." Alithea assures the other. "Besides, there's no need for planar travel, we can simply disintegrate him if we must. But I'm far more interested in learning about what's been happening in this town."
"He's been using magic to convert these sacrifices into these... vessels. It's something I cannot stand for. If we could subdue him, I'd be interested in learning what he is up to, but undead are notoriously hard to subdue as they cannot be knocked unconscious, stunned or paralyzed. If one of our more capable warriors can grapple him, perhaps we can bind him." Alithea shouts out in response to Maika.
His Dimension Door in this case was an actual spell, and not an SLA? Just making sure, as it will affect Alithea's actions going forward.
With most of the bloodless fallen, Alithea will shake off her wounds from negative energy, grumbling to herself about the undead. Alithea wants to wait to see if Maika's efforts for peace will be successful, so she readies herself to prevent Eldran's escape. "Bring who back? Surrender and fill us in, you have no other recourse but final rest." Alithea shouts out to Eldran.
I want to get a GM ruling on Chains of Light. I know as an undead Eldran is immune to paralysis, but can it still lock extradimensional travel? I can see either reading and would like your ruling. I figure Alithea would know with her spellcraft, as it's ambiguous in the description, but I imagine she would know.
Sure I'll make sure to add a description.
Amending:
All other factors (aside from her attack roll being 4 higher and expending 1 extra arcane reservoir) should otherwise remain the same. Reservoir: 6/10
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