That is some very hard news. I hope to see you again some day on the other side of this.
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I have a Roll20 account just for games on here that use it for maps. I am not a Discord user.
Yesss can’t wait for the crazy shenanigans
"I don't have any way to keep a mental 'tether' to you, I'm afraid," says Constantin as the two prepare for entry in the cult. "So I will simply wish you good fortune and may the eyes of the wicked never turn your way."
"Very odd. Some kind of co-opting cult perhaps?" says Constantin.
"Worth trying. I have a feeling that some of this cult's important functions are underwater."
Constantin replaces his hat as the team leaves the mayor's office. He stays quiet and contemplative, thinking to himself, casting his mind toward what if... what if? over and over again. What if we try to sneak in and investigate the Cult under cover of night?
We need to find out how large and powerful the Viziers actually are. If the Viziers are like, six people including the sheriff, then it's a matter of identifying them and probably killing them. If they are the majority of the town, then the other townspeople will be too scared to go against them, and fighting them would mean basically wiping out much of the settlement. Even if we get proof of the malfeasance of the cult, if the townsfolk are outnumbered they can't exactly do anything about it.
Don't forget that I have divination, so we may be able to gain some foreknowledge about what avenues may work or not.
I had to drop running games when my S.O. started chemo, but I still have time to slip in to play a few. I’m happy letting Zev, Vala, and Khaz lead the investigative part of this section.
"Thank you for the hospitality regardless, Mr. Croon," says Constantin as he stifles a yawn. He brushes off his tophat. "Do all visitors receive this kind of invitation from the mayor?"
I'm inclined to agree. Seems like a cruel punishment, but the pseudo-medieval setting is full of those. We have no knowledge of what's actually going on, no context, and our preliminary information gathering indicates that the town is executing this guy (in a particularly horrid way) for being a criminal. I might try to sneak into his head to be sure - I would not be surprised to find out that he's being executed for not being one of the Deep Ones here - but this feels like a way to get ourselves in even more local trouble with a town that already doesn't like us.
Constantin puts one hand on his hat and nudges Vermundr with his other elbow. "You see that?" he says with a nod. "Too far for me to tell what's going on, or if he's even alive. Tied up... like some kind of offering to Gozreh, you think? Or to some local aquatic monster?"
Wowww so you are literally the guy who holds up the numbers saying "guys everyone agrees that Brexit would be terrible" and then the government tries to do it anyway
Constantin holds a silver coin between his fingers, idly flipping it back and forth. "We don't want to take much time, and we'd like to move along as much as you'd all like us to," he adds to Vermundr's query.
Constantin pauses at Vala's request, then he takes off his hat and nods his head. "I can do that," he says. "There's... something going on here, some larger picture to this community that I can't quite put my finger on... I'll do what I can to feel out the locals as we try to find out their motives."
Constantin pauses to take in the statue of Cassius Undiomede for several minutes. Finally he says enigmatically, "You found something under the waves, didn't you, captain." When he finally reaches the Whistler's Place he says to the team, "Does anyone else have a bad feeling about staying at a place named for one of the prisoners we had to fight back at the start of all of this?"
Constantin holds his long coat close, keeping his hat on with one hand, and does his best to stay behind Hazel and look like a gentleman of some means but not too many airs.
Constantin waits back at the shore through all of this, hand keeping his hat on his head in the face of the whipping wind, squinting out at the boat as the ladies get it under control.
The only reason I can think of to fly over is if you plan to try to save the boat from on board. Otherwise I should just pluck the guy off it with telekinesis.
I can lift the old man out with telekinesis and bring him to us, or perhaps Vala could fetch him. The ship, though, I got nuthin'.
"I could use a good night's sleep," says Constantin agreeably. "We won't get there faster if we run ourselves into the ground with fatigue."
"It's entirely possible that he may have attacked others who were less prepared," chimes in Constantin. "If anyone else has gone missing recently, this might be related to for such cases."
The intent was that we bring information to the authorities about this guy so they can take care of that. Basically the thinking is:
I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. At no point did Constantin advocate investigating every single crime that this guy committed. He simply suggested informing local law enforcement, if we decide they can be trusted, so that they can carry out such investigations or at least notify other families who may have lost people to this dude. I even said I don't care if we execute him, because it's basically just luck that he didn't wind up dead while fighting us! I am mystified as to why people think that I am saying we should take a lengthy side-journey to chase down every crime this guy committed. Some quotes from my recent posts:
So, somehow, my track on this got wildly misinterpreted! Hopefully that clears things up. Carry on!
"That's a job for the constabulary - but we should at least make sure that someone knows so that there's a chance that the job will get done." Constantin rubs the bridge of his nose. "I feel like... remembering this is part of remembering our essential humanity. No offense to the nonhuman among us. Derlith has architected all of these horrible things, Vrood helped him, and many people have suffered along the way. We're not the only ones who've taken the hits from their plots, but we seem to be the only ones with the power to do something." "Kendra is... so very important to me, we absolutely have to save her. But other people who have been caught in this crossfire - they were just as important to other families and other friends as Kendra was to us, and who is left to give them justice? To let them know that this wasn't a fluke or bad luck, but the work of evil men and women who are finally being stopped?" "And when we do rescue Kendra, if we bring her back, if we restore her and are able to right what Derlith has done... how could I ever look her in the eye and tell her that the quest to save her came at the cost of lives and loves of others? How could I expect her to live with that?" says the psychic in a haunted voice. "I love her, Vala, and so do you, and when we get her back we'd better make sure that when we tell her what it took and what it cost she doesn't look at us in horror and ask us what we became and what we allowed in the name of vengeance and on the road to save her."
I really hope I am not starting Yet Another Fight With Vala here.
Constantin shakes his head and says softly, "This man was a trained killer, an assassin-for-hire, likely with a history of same. That means he has other victims. Other families, people wondering where their beloved ones went or how they met such a gruesome end, also deserve to know that the man responsible was caught and finally stopped. I don't care if we execute him now - his survival is really a fluke given the circumstances - but we at least need to make the gesture of closing the loop on his other crimes, for the sake of any other survivors." "After all, this is not only about us and our crusade. Vrood has impacted many other lives and they, too, deserve better. Doing things because they are just what we want, without regard for how they affect others, that was Vrood's way, not ours."
"Regardless, we should find out what the situation is with the local law officers," says Constantin. "If they are legitimate, this man should face justice for his acts. If not... his trail of assassination has to stop. Especially since he worked for Vrood."
"Think about the questions that you want me to ask, Zed," says Constantin. "I'll try to probe his mind, but I have to know what to ask in order to get it to respond. If it doesn't work... we can go back to doing it your way." Constantin kneels down and places his hands carefully on the man's face. His fingers flicker over the contours briefly, looking for the right places to make contact. He spends a few moments cradling the man's head, getting a read on his phrenological characteristics to aid in finding the proper tactile contact points.
"Shall I resort to the mind probe?" asks Constantin simply.
Constantin flattens himself against the wall so that Vala can move past him if needed to assist Hazel closer to the front. He turns and unleashes a blast of etheric force, augmented by his formidable psyche, against the ghoul that's attacking Hazel.
No worries, holiday season gets like that.
Constantin replies to Vala, "Will await your arrival. Trying to find more information about cultic artifact." He alerts Vermundr to the recent developments. "Seems they're going to come to us via magic. Khaz's family is in danger now. We need to find out if there's anything else we can learn about this cult and how the Whispering Way connected to it. This is more than just Vrood now," he says.
Constantin pauses as he receives Vala's magical missive. "A moment. Vala has sent information." He listens to her magically-delivered mental voice, then says aloud and sends back through the sending, "Vrood planned meeting in Thrushmoor to trade for cult object, trying to construct powerful item." He says to Vermundr, "I think we know where we are headed next."
"Hmm. So there was a reason for my hunch of disliking him," murmurs Constantin. "No matter. He's expected our response and played out this scenario with foreknowledge. We can't afford to lose any more time. We have to recover Kendra and find a way to stop him, and now that he's lost the shroud of his anonymity, he's lost a powerful tool." The psychic seems cool, almost compartmentalized. A psychologist, if such a thing existed yet on Golarion, might say that he was disassociating.
Don't forget that I can use divination to get a murky sense of what might happen if we do course of action X or Y, as long as it doesn't extend more than a week out in the future. I am happy to use divination to find out if the Darramid issue is pressing, or if we should do Thrushmoor first.
I was wondering why Vermundr was commenting on my work when I thought I was with Vala.
"Thanks, Vermundr," says Constantin to the big man as the psychic finishes his analysis. His movement of the papers slows and finally stops. "This is interesting. Vrood is either working for someone else, or supporting his own agenda in conjunction with help from an outside party. We need to find out who this other hidden person is!"
Constantin thinks, repeating the events of the ghostly insights inside his own mind. "Hmm. I would suspect that squamous green statue is tied to some other cult, and Vrood's Whispering Way has a trade with them. A heart, a skull, a swirling vial of mist? His connections were... making something? That would explain their interest in Count Caromarc and his success in creating life. Brains, hearts, courage." A flash of insight strikes him. "And our lost little lady, Kendra, taken away to a strange land. All that's missing is a little dog." He hefts a sheaf of papers. "More riddles. Maybe there's something hidden in all of these crazed notes." Constantin sits down to concentrate, making notes and references about the paperwork as he checks for hidden clues and meanings. He takes in a deep breath, lets it out, and his pupils narrow to pinpoints - an odd quality in the dim light. He starts moving papers around in a swirling morass, as if circling some unseen center and slowly pushing them into an orbit that determines their order, sometimes making a tic mark here, or even stabbing a needle into a page with a thread attached and linking it to another page.
I'm interested in none of the loot. Since I wiped my coin supply due to an error in the last distro, I just need cash.
Fine by me. I can use divination to foresee any problems with the trip so that Zed and I can avoid accidentally running into random encounters that we can't handle.
Constantin stirs, and then he looks over at the fallen, limp forms of Hazel and Vlad. His brow furrows in confusion. "That... wasn't supposed to happen," he says strangely. "I don't... hmm." He starts to stand, stumbles, catches on Zed's arm, and manages to haul himself to his feet. "Vrood took his secrets with him... only the ghost can help us now." "Vlad and Hazel... that can't be right. They're not supposed to be gone. We have to figure out something."
Constantin struggles with Vrood's dying body a few moments longer, then twitches and lets the body slump to the floor. A thin wisp of ectoplasm escapes his mouth and evaporates. His head turns and his eyes take in the brutal, morbid scene, but he does not quite seem to comprehend it.
Constantin races with the last of his supernatural alacrity to the falling body. Even as Vrood collapses the psychic is there, reaching, grasping, lowering him to the ground. His fingers search and seize, delicately fitting to the pressure points in the sides of Vrood's ruined face. "Not so easily into the night do you go," the psychic whispers. His eyes roll back. He sags next to the necromancer. His fingers tremble. Somewhere on the border of astral space, his shimmering, idealized, half-formed mental body rockets out. Searching, like an eye flying through the dark. Seeking through the puzzles, this form finds the strange webwork of black threads that are rapidly fading as Vrood's consciousness ebbs away.
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