As mugs of grog are passed around, Doctor Ramada finds a seat near Badger Medlar, joining the weathered half-elf in a quieter corner of the mess hall. The fish-eyed physician glances over the older woman briefly from behind his spectacles, his tongue snaking up to moisten one eye. "You have the air of an experienced sailor about you, mein Freunde. Have you had many postings before this?"
The nascent deep one scowls, sipping at his mug. "I have had a fair few myself. Some worse than this, but not many. Most ships have need of a surgeon - this one more than many others, I think. I've met your old surgeon - the man struck me as a sot. Probably a butcher also, but that is nothing new, I fear - unless a surgeon is trained in Ustalav or the Padishah Empire, he is very much a butcher by the standards of modern medicine." He raises his eyebrows inquisitively at the older half-elf. "I take it you have seen many things - do you have any tales of your travels?"
Ramada works reasonably diligently in the bowels of the ship - at the very least, the bilge pump is a relatively welcome change from the rat-traps, and the deep one surgeon actually finds the physical labor involved quite easy.
The piscine physician mostly avoids trying to win over the others as he works - both Rosie and Fipps are fairly steady in their loyalties, and he's well aware of his own shortcomings as a conversationalist. Instead, he decides to poke around the bilges, idly wondering if anything useful might have collected in the depths of the Wormwood.
Perception:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
While he's not much for conversation, he does idly chat with the others as he works. "Fipps, your vest is... hmm... Chelish Navy, unless I miss my mark? Not as great a distance from here as the... hmm... Soivoda, but a distance nonetheless. What brings you to... hmm... this part of the world?" He glances over at the bald sailor between pumps, his tongue moistening his bulging eyes as he nods at the other man's bald head. "In my homeland, the monks of... hmm... the Monastery of the Veil shave their heads, in service to She of Graves - I've seen you shave your... hmm... head, is it in obeisance also?"
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
When the drunken former surgeon accosts him, Ramada responds with his usual diplomatic tact. As his too-wide mouth twists into a ferocious scowl of his own, he bats aside the bleary-eyed man's prodding finger and waves his own digit accusingly in his predecessor's face. "Now listen, you pathetic drunkard... hmm... I take great pride in my work, and I have clawed my way from... hmm... nothing to become as I am today. I have this position, and I will keep this position if it means stepping over your corpse - do you... hmm... understand that, does it reach to within your pickled skull?" Glaring at the man one last time, he shoves past him to reach the mess hall, muttering a particularly inventive Varisian curse as he does so.
As he fetches his meal for the night, the piscine physician keeps near the other press-ganged sailors, but mostly keeps to himself, muttering about the incompetence of his predecessor and soundly cursing the drunkard's family line back three generations. As he spots a handful of sailors playing hog lob, however, his bulging eyes seem to light up, and he approaches the group eagerly, setting aside the mug of rum he had been nursing. "Pardon me, but might there be... hmm... room for one more at this game?" Rather short on cash himself, he places a modest bet, setting the equivalent of four gold in mixed coins into the pot as he hefts the greased ingot, chattering all the while. "They had something... hmm... akin to this on the Alert, a position I held... hmm... long ago. They called it... hmm... 'pitch-steel,' though it was a similar game to this one. It may take... hmm... a moment for my lobbing arm to remember its tricks, though."
Clutching the 'hog' tightly in his webbed fingers, he tosses it as best he can, aiming for a precise angle that he hopes should work with the ship's motion to propel the ingot forward.
Hog Lob (Throw Anything):1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20
The doctor nods approvingly as the 'hog' flies a good distance, leaning against the bulkhead and crossing his arms as the others make their attempts. "Of course, I wasn't the ship's... hmm... pitch-steel champion. That honor went to our... hmm... navigator, Seeker Verali. He was one of the gray elves of the... hmm... Spire, banished for some forgotten crime. A good man - rather, elf, as the case may be." Despite his earlier frustration with his predecessor, Ramada genuinely loves the 'hog lob' game, and the normally taciturn deep one eagerly chatters with his fellow sailors as they play.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Actually, I'll take one if the offer's still on the table. Ramada has a trait that gives a bonus with daggers, but he's still a Strength-based alchemist.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Ramada grumbles under his breath at the assignment to the belowdecks areas yet again, but obediently shuffles back downstairs to continue his work. This time, he doesn't bother with snooping - the previous night's inventory of his medical supplies revealed an alarming paucity of his sharper tools, so once his rudimentary traps are set, the fish-like doctor ambles over to the galley area to barter for what he needs with the quartermaster.
The spindly physician makes his way into the galley with his standard unhurried gait - as he spots his two fellow conscripts, he stops short, his tongue coming up to moisten his eyes again as he nods in greeting to both sailors. As he waits, his bulging eyes roam over the presented goods, and one hand comes up to rub at his runic amulet as he thinks.
When he deems it an apropos time, he clears his throat, trying to get the attention of Cut-Throat Grok. "Pardon... hmm... Fraulein, but I had been taking stock of my medical supplies and found myself rather lacking in... hmm... scalpels, bonesaws, anything that holds an edge, really. Now, with no disrespect to the... hmm... bandages and poultices this crew has no doubt been subsisting on, in Ustalav we perform... hmm... surgery, and to do that I will need a tool more sharp than an old nail, you see? Might you have anything small and... hmm... reasonably sharp I might make use of?"
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Sincerest apologies for the delay - the holiday period's a bit hectic. I should be all caught up now, though unfortunately, there's not much room for Ramada to interact with other characters on rat-catching duty.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Jacques wrote:
"What sort of apparatus was that?"
The doctor waves a hand dismissively. "Of no import. It wasn't... hmm... finished - will never be finished, thanks to those dumkopfen and their... hmm... chain gang." He sighs. "If it had worked, it would be a device for... hmm... reanimation. Not by magic - by galvanic energy. Even a... hmm... dead arm will twitch if struck by lightning. Not as... hmm... clumsy or random as the works of a necromancer - my resurrectionists would have had a purely scientific motive force. Perfect beings of... hmm... logic. Such a shame..."
As the conversation shifts to mutiny, he scowls, bending over his drink as his tongue moistens his eye again in agitation. "Meine Freunde, if we are to take... hmm... drastic measures, we must know precisely who stands in our... hmm... way. With the ship as shorthanded as it is, we cannot dare risk anyone meeting an... hmm... unfortunate fate without cause." The fish-like physiologist glares up at Lily as the half-orc tries to intimidate the other crewmates. "That sentiment must be marked doubly for you, Fraulein. You offer... hmm... a choice between the captain, who holds the power of life and death over all of us, and you, who... hmm... cannot harm them without yourself being keelhauled. You simply remind them of your own weakness, not that we can... hmm... together be strong."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
The doctor nods as the other press-ganged sailors approach the small group. "Greetings to you as well, fellow sailors. As I was just explaining to... hmm... Herr Lacrimoisi here, my name is Doctor Nicolas Miron Ramada, of late ship's doctor aboard the... hmm... Myrmidon. I do not... hmm... expect that you will have heard of me, but I am told that my... hmm... treatise Abhandlung aus die galvanischen Funktionsweisen des menschlichen Körpers was well-received by the scholars of my native Ustalav."
As the bosun makes his rounds of the crew and leaves the main deck, Ramada scowls, removing his spectacles to polish them as his tongue snakes up from his mouth to moisten one of his eyes. "This is not my... hmm... first press-ganging, but I think it prudent to remain as a group together. Our bosun... hmm... didn't seem to like me, and the feeling is mutual after I was forced to leave my... hmm... apparatus aboard the Myrmidon."
At the keelhauling, the eerie doctor pays little attention to the looks on the officers' faces - he pulls a handful of tinctures and tools from his heavy pack, ready to treat the man should he somehow survive his experience, but as the mangled form of the seaman resurfaces, he shakes his head, stowing the tools as he recognizes the man as well past saving.
That night, as the soup and rum rations are passed around on the main deck, the fish-like man approaches where Jacques and Jacquelyn speak, the mug of rum he's nursing inspiring the normally introverted scholar to introduce himself to some of his new crewmates. Clearing his throat, he addresses the two, his Ustalav-accented voice punctuated at odd intervals by a faint humming as he speaks. "Excuse me, meine Freunde - I do not mean to... hmm... intrude, but you were press-ganged at Port Peril also, yes?" The well-dressed doctor extends a webbed hand to Jacques and Jacquelyn in turn. "Doctor Nicolas Miron... hmm... Ramada, a carpenter of no small skill and a physician of Bhaltvrest Hall - though I have always first considered myself a... hmm... scientist. May I have the... hmm... pleasure of your names?"
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
The piscine scholar scowls at the 'fish' taunts, muttering sarcastically to himself as he obediently ambles belowdecks. "Hhh... 'fish freak,' that's a clever one, never heard that before..." Shaking his head, he casts about him for the tools he needs to succeed at his task...
Survival:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Despite his grumbling, he works quickly and efficiently at catching vermin aboard the ship - this isn't the doctor's first press-ganging, and within a couple of hours, he's crafted a few impromptu 'rat-traps' and baited them with dabs of some foul alchemical tincture, placing them in areas he knows from long experience will see heavy rat traffic. While he may not be quick or agile enough to catch the rats on his own, the rat traps more than make up the difference, and he spends the rest of the shift ambling from trap to trap, resetting them if necessary and killing any captured vermin with swift blows to the back of the head from a reasonably hefty object, or his iron amulet if none are available.
Not shirking my work, but I will use the suggested 'Sneaking Around' activity.
As he works, he tries to acquaint himself with the ship - he's no navigator, and he knows he has no hope of determining the ship's position or destination without being told (at least, not beyond 'far out to sea'), but he does take the opportunity provided by his circuit of the traps to surreptitiously stick his head into any rooms that catch his eye, excusing himself as 'looking for rats' if challenged.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
I'm fully on-board with that. Why bother with crimes against humanity when crimes against nature are so much more fun and interesting? Doctor Ramada might be on the pro-necromancy side when these discussions arise, but slavery, wholesale slaughter of the innocent, et cetera he wants no part in. (The not-so-innocent, however, might end up sacrificed to Great Cthulhu, but we'll cross that gaping moral chasm when we get to it.)
He may be an insane cultist and nascent Deep One who takes a cavalier approach to medical ethics (but then again, what alchemist doesn't?), but he still has some standards.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
As the group emerges onto the main deck, they are followed a few moments later by a scrawny Varisian man dressed in fine clothes of a slightly dated Ustalavic style, his tardiness likely caused by his curious shuffling gait as much as the time it must have taken to retrieve the thick tome he clutches to his chest in a death grip. Two bulging, unblinking eyes stare out of his grayish face, magnified further by the thick spectacles perched on his flat nose, and a curious iron amulet of a complex rune hangs from a simple cord around his neck.
Shifting his weight as he takes account of the others on deck, he casts an appraising eye over his fellow abductees, his too-wide mouth seemingly fixed in a half-sneer, though there's no real malice in his gaze. A capable band of ruffians, at first glance. Rather fewer humans in our group than most crews in these waters, though none of them seem ill at ease on the water. Not the worst ship I've ever served on... A gust blows some of the sea's spray into his face, and he scowls, removing his spectacles as a long tongue snakes up from his mouth to moisten his eye. ...though not far from it.
The strange man listens attentively to the Captain's speech, nodding as the Garundi man storms off before turning to Mister Plugg expectantly, raising his eyebrows as he waits for the man he presumes is the bosun to give them their tasks.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Greetings! The GM reached out to me and offered me a spot in the crew. I'll try and catch up, get something posted later tonight - work's been killing me, but I'm glad for the opportunity.
I am thinking of putting that 17 into INT since the new role makes his point buy so high. Would add a lot to the character without making him significantly more powerful. Anyone have thoughts on that before the deadline?
Frankly, for my two cents, that sounds like a great idea. Rolling for stats can result in really good stat arrays - Doctor Ramada has a 29-point buy, if memory serves - but for me, that's always been an excuse to make a 'suboptimal' character work rather than make an overpowered character. I mean, the good Doctor is all over the place from a build perspective, but I'm excited to make it work.
Ragnhild Demondottir wrote:
Evil characters work, in an rpg, similar to normal characters.
They just need:
--A reason to adventure
--A reason for others to adventure with them.
Hence why I think Skull and Shackles is a better 'evil' AP than what I've heard of more explicitly evil ones like Way of the Wicked or Hell's Vengeance. One of the main complaints I've heard about both is that the default assumption is that the party is kept together only under duress - in Skull and Shackles, on the other hand, all but the most persistently problematic evil characters have a good reason to adventure - pirates make lots of money - and a good reason to adventure with a group - nobody is afraid of a single pirate in a rowboat.
Frankly, I've also been toying with changing my alchemist's alignment - he's CN at the moment, but NE would also work well. I'm personally envisioning him somewhere between the Medic from Team Fortress and Alfred Bester from Babylon 5 - a scientist more than a healer, but cordial in a sort of Lovecraftian way to those who keep him alive on the high seas.
I know that Hell's Vengeance is supposed to be the 'evil' AP, but it seems to me like Skull and Shackles is a better AP for an evil character to actually get along with the rest of the party. In general, but especially on a confined space like a sailing vessel, there is a good reason for an evil party member to work with the rest of the party - no matter how evil you are, you generally need to be able to trust the people keeping you alive, and there seem to be rather a lot of ways to fail at staying alive when the nearest solid ground is either 200 leagues back the way you came or 6,000 fathoms straight down.
Just realized I forgot to select background skills - I'll take care of that now. I rather like the background vignette, Arkhan - I'll try to get one made up within the next day or so as well.
Incidentally, it seems like we have quite a few applicants of the various gun archetypes - it's shaping up to be quite the heavily armed group.
Although from what I gather, not at the beginning of the module - we'll be in quite dire straits there, perhaps even with our lives on the line. The party should be fine as long as one of its members has a decent Bluff skill - after all, that is not dead which can eternal lie.
Okay, I've finally managed to wrap up my alchemist. Reusing an old alias for this - crunch is in the profile.
Appearance:
Tall and gangly, with long limbs, Doctor Nikolay Ramada has the unmistakable 'Illmarsh look' about him, with his stringy black hair, grayish skin, too-wide mouth, and pointed teeth marking his heritage to those familiar with the nation of Ustalav. From behind a pair of thick spectacles designed to compensate for his poor eyesight, a pair of bulging black eyes peer out at the world, their lidless surfaces moistened by his long, slimy tongue when the need arises. His fingers and toes are heavily webbed, and he is quite a powerful swimmer despite his lanky appearance. He can pass as an exceedingly ugly human at a glance, but most with more than a passing knowledge of the horrors of the deep can identify him as bearing the blood of the deep ones. He generally dresses in the fine clothes of a Sincomakti doctor, girding himself with a reinforced coat when it becomes necessary.
Personality:
Like many of the people of Illmarsh, Nikolay Ramada is an unpleasant person by nature - the brusqueness and self-reliance instilled into him by the marsh folk has not been diminished by his time at Sincomakti, and while he is more than willing to work with others in pursuit of a shared goal, he rarely says more words than are needed, even to his close allies. On a topic that interests him, however, he can prove quite verbose, and he eagerly chatters at his patients about the intricacies of their condition as he treats them. In his youth, he was inducted into the worship of the dark god Cthulhu, and while he temporarily shunned the 'superstitions' of the marsh folk while at Sincomakti, his time traveling the seas has reawakened a fervor in him, and he is a zealous devotee of the Dreamer in the Deep - alongside modern medicine, matters of faith are an exception to his usual taciturn nature, and he readily raves about the glories of Great Cthulhu if the topic arises.
Backstory:
Hailing from the exceedingly damp swamp village of Illmarsh, deep in the backwoods of Ustalav, Nikolay Ramada was always drawn to the pursuits of a scholar - as a boy, he would occasionally help in his father's shop when the need arose, but just as often, he would hide away in some dark corner with a book of stories, fascinated by tales of the world outside of his backwater village. When he came of age, he could very well have had a stable job following in his father's footsteps as a carpenter, but instead, he left the town in the dead of night, hoping to see the world outside of Illmarsh. With a keen mind and an insatiable appetite for knowledge, the young man sought out an education in Rozenport, spending years learning the secrets of modern medicine at the Sincomakti School of Sciences before graduating a full-fledged physician.
Shortly after graduating, the dreams began - in his sleep, he would explore vast cities beneath the waves, wandering amidst cyclopean monuments or navigating maze-like trails in the depths of the sea. Fascinated by these tantalizing hints of another realm, Doctor Nikolay Ramada ran away for the second time in his life, this time leaving behind a fledgling career as a Caliphas physician to seek out the source of these dreams. Within months, he had spent his life savings buying passage to Cassomir aboard a riverboat, and from there, he signed aboard a merchant vessel, the Vigilant, as the ship's doctor.
As Ramada travelled southwest, the dreams intensified, and the piscine scholar eagerly followed them, jumping from ship to ship in pursuit of his strange dreams. As the campaign begins, he is currently serving as the ship's surgeon aboard the Myrmidon, a trade carrack out of Haigui Wan, but during a stopover in Port Peril, he was set upon by thugs and knocked unconscious as he left the tavern...
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
I'd like to apologize for the decreasing quality and frequency of my posts - with the way work's been going, I'm afraid I may have taken on one campaign too many. Unfortunately, after careful consideration, I have decided to withdraw from this campaign. While it was by no means an easy decision to make, a general malaise with this particular style of PbP game, confusion regarding the integration of StarCraft enemies into Pathfinder, and the fact that Ramada is my single most difficult character to get into the mindset for have convinced me that I should withdraw from this game. GM Wolf, thank you for running such an amazing game, and my fellow players, thank you for helping to make this game so enjoyable. Best wishes to those who remain.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Sincerest apologies for the lack of posting - I hadn't gotten notifications for posts in this campaign for close to a month, so I had assumed that the game was dead. I am indeed still here and ready to continue.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
In the furnace room, Nikolay slowly gets to his feet, his spindly body wracked by coughs, and rejoins the others in the area by the lake. He stands in silence for a moment, punctuated only by sporadic coughs as he tries to avoid the gaze of the others, before sighing and hanging his head. "I'm sorry - I'm afraid I inhaled too much smoke in the furnace room. It's this accursed Teratogenesis B compound. Every day, the madness lasts longer, and my shearlung returns quicker - I'll probably be dead within the year. Still... If I had been faster, if I had been stronger, perhaps I could have saved Børak. In truth, it's my fault he's gone."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Nikolay rushes to Visayn's side, striking at the side of the furnace with his enchanted aspergillum and dousing its hinges with acid. "You are worse than an inanimate object - you are an animate inanimate object, and you are annoying!" It would seem that this is the best battle cry the young alchemist can do - to the more experienced warriors in the room, the sight is pathetic at best.
Lectrum may have lost his mind after his critical hit, but Nikolay never had it in the first place - in that respect, he has a head start on his poor draconic friend.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Nikolay is about to respond to Valiard when he hears shouting from the furnace room, quickly rushing after the herbalist. As he sees the pit that Børak and Lectrum have presumably disappeared into, he stops short, a look of incredulity on his face. "Damnation! It shouldn't be possible - this portion of the complex still had most of its structural integrity!" After a moment, he grabs hold of the rope, following Valiard down into the pit. As he descends the rope, he hums nervously to himself - he is well aware of the closeness of the walls and the fragility of the silken rope keeping him from a potentially fatal fall. At one point in the climb, he accidentally wedges his lanky body in an awkward position and becomes stuck, causing him to hyperventilate madly until he manages to free himself and continue down the pit.
Climb - Unknotted Rope DC 15:1d20 ⇒ 16 DC becomes 5 if there is one wall to brace against, or -5 if there are two walls.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Valiard Tessar wrote:
"That sounds good to me. Let's clear the upper floors, then proceed downward."
Nikolay nods. "That would be for the best. If we press onward, we should be able to find the prisoner ghosts and vanquish them."
Valiard Tessar wrote:
"I didn't see any stairs however..."
At this, the strange doctor grins. "My friend, I am a trained engineer with a ready supply of explosives and a cavalier approach to safety regulations. I make my own stairs - well, more of holes in the ground, really. Just let me know when you want to move on - and be sure to roll upon impact, of course."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
As the spirit dissipates, Nikolay brushes scraps of ectoplasm off his coat. At Valiard's words, he grins. "You need not fear, Valiard. It's a simple matter of multidimensional metaphysical quiddity anchors..." He clears his throat before correcting himself. "...That is to say, my grip on life is stronger than most. Of course, the ability to see souls didn't hurt, either."
When the other rooms are mentioned, he looks worried for a moment. "This complex is not stable! One wrong step could bring the entire thing crashing down on us! I had best go verify the rooms the others are in to ensure they are not buried alive."
Auto-succeed Knowledge (engineering) check.
He stops in the sinkhole room, glancing at the state of the floor near the pit. "The unstable pieces will have fallen in by now - the system has reached equilibrium, though I can't see why anyone would want to climb down there." To demonstrate his point, he walks to the edge and peers in. "I sincerely doubt we can access the lower level from here. It would be best to just leave this room be, for the time being."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Nikolay pulls another concoction from his bag and throws it, splattering the spirit with more of his concoction and limning its incorporeal form with the strange froth. "Never fear, my friends! I can see the spirit clearly! At least this way some good will come out of that accursed Eternis Project!"
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Valiard Tessar wrote:
It makes sense that Ramada would rush in, since the auditorium reminds him of the lecture hall.
IC, that is indeed the case. OOC, he's decent at investigating suspicious things - he has high ranks in Knowledge (Arcane, Engineering, and Nature), and his Soul Seer alternate racial trait allows him to detect undead.
Nikolay staggers back a step as the spirit manifests, clutching at his throat as it drains his life energy - though his infernal nature spares him from the worst of the effects. "Valiard, my friend, bring the holy water! An unquiet spirit has manifested - likely a prisoner who died here!" He fumbles in his bag for a moment before extracting an explosive concoction and throwing it at the incorporeal spirit, splattering it with fragments of a strange, glowing substance.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
As Nikolay enters the auditorium, his blood-red eyes take in the rows upon rows of mold-spotted benches before resting on the barricaded stage, and a smirk flickers across his face for an instant. "Now there's an innovation! Those bars would have come in handy in any number of Sincomakti lecture halls - I'll be the first to admit that my colleagues and I rarely take safety into consideration in our work."
Børak wrote:
"Should the mold be dangerous?"
Ramada clears his throat and adjusts his spectacles at Børak's words, startled out of his reverie. He moves to the nearest bench and examines the mold growing on it with a scientist's curiosity.
Knowledge (Nature):1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
After a moment, he straightens up and glances around the entire auditorium. "There may be supernatural forces at work here, as well - I should check for unquiet spirits."
Using deathwatch, detect poison, and diagnose disease SLAs on the room if applicable.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
As the others begin to examine the warden's office, Nikolay begins trying to catalogue the papers, quickly becoming overwhelmed by the reams and reams of disorganized, useless records.
Lectrum wrote:
"Should I start piling the papers, Doc?"
At Lectrum's words Nikolay looks up, his face taking on a look of dismay as he registers the massive stack of paper Lectrum is holding in his hands - hours more of work to add to that already in front of him. Without a word, he buries his head in his hands, and if Lectrum listens closely, he can hear the sound of quiet sobbing.
After a moment to regain his composure, Nikolay makes his way into the warden's office to rejoin the others. "The bad news is that every record I have looked at has been next to useless, and I have hundreds more documents to sift through before the paperwork can be said to even approach orderliness. The good news is that I have discovered a new source of kindling." He glances around the room, his lambent red eyes resting on the safe in the wall. "Now this I can deal with!" He pulls out his thieves' tools and sets to work on the door.
Disable Device:1d20 + 17 ⇒ (19) + 17 = 36
Within a few moments, the safe lies open at his fingertips, and he begins to rummage through its contents. He pulls out the hefty stack of legal papers, glances through them, and unceremoniously tosses them over his shoulder. "Out of date for decades - valueless, and unlikely to tell us much of import." He sets the wooden rack and its vials on the table, sparing barely a glance at the labels. "I recognize the texture and consistency. The four on the left will restore your vigor, the three in the middle will return your strength or health if they are sapped - such as by those stirges the other day - and the two on the right will cure us of any unpleasant plagues that we may encounter." He pulls out the moldering leather pouch, opening it to glance inside before cinching the drawstring closed again. "The prison's payroll. A respectable amount of cash, and I doubt the guards will be collecting their paychecks. Hey, Børak, catch!"
Sleight of Hand - Vanishing:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34 Sleight of Hand - Reappearing:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34
He appears to toss the pouch to Børak, secretly tucking it away up his sleeve before he throws it and leaving Børak with an empty hand. He grins mischievously as he sees the result of his prank. "I've still got the skills from my Sczarni days! Check your pocket, Lectrum." Sure enough, in the dragonkin's pocket lies the moldering pouch of coins, deposited there while everyone was watching his distraction. Nikolay's grin widens. "I think we've done all we can here. Should we check out those double doors in the main foyer?"
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
As the others start to prop the door back up on its hinges, Nikolay shrugs and returns his explosive concoctions to his pack. For a moment, he simply stands and watches the others work, but after a second of analysis, he rushes forward, arranging the existing supports to provide the optimal reinforcement. "Hold a moment, Lectrum - you're putting the support all the way down here, at the other end of the moment arm! And look at this cross-brace - it redirects the force into an already weak beam! Haven't you ever read Logic of Design?"
As the group enters the offices, Ramada scowls at the papers scattered across the floor. "Such inefficiency sickens me. There may well be useful information in this clutter, but we'll never find it at this rate!" He begins to pick papers up off the floor and examine the remnants of the cabinets to try to organize the prison's filing system. "What imbecile designed this filing system? Look at this - the maintenance records aren't alphabetically or chronologically organized, half the requisition forms are mixed in with the prisoner identification data, and these behavioral records are back-dated!" He shakes his head in disgust. "It will likely take hours of work to get these offices in order, and to be perfectly frank, I don't see an immediate benefit to doing so. Should we move on? Those big double doors in the main entrance room looked quite promising, I think."
Not seeing much benefit in being in S3 right now - move on to S15, maybe?
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Børak wrote:
Sorry folks, I posted my question about 'clearing the chapel' on Tuesday. No one gave a specific answer so Saturday I recommended we move on. At this pace were posting twice a week or less, can we pick the pace up?
Again, my sincerest apologies - I wrote the post itself on Thursday (with a few minor tweaks), but due to a hectic schedule and several late nights at the lab, I've been falling asleep at the keyboard before I get the chance to post. I've barely had time to skim the forum, so I'm afraid I missed that part.
On that topic, I wanted to check in with everyone about how my character's been going. It seems like his erratic actions are often seen as annoying by the other members of the party, but when I asked about it here, Magdali and Børak stated that they enjoyed his antics. Quite frankly, I myself have had a lot of trouble getting into the character - he went in a very different direction from what I had originally planned, and it's very difficult to get into the mindset for his current behavior. Unfortunately, with my relative inexperience at PbP, I am unsure of what to do - I was hoping the other players would give the okay for me to run him more normally, or I could bow out of this game if he's already too disruptive.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Apologies for the delay in posting - it's been a long week.
Knowledge (Nature):1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19
Nikolay nods in agreement with Lectrum's analysis, pulling an explosive concoction from his magic bag. "Despite his limited intellect, I am actually in agreement with Lectrum on this point. Valiard, you have a point that this location is likely to be of significance, but is that not a reason to worry about it now? If this chapel is indeed haunted, these spiders may block our egress if we do not deal with them. It would be the work of a few moments to set them on fire, and there is an extant chance that even solitary creatures like spiders could form a Class-3 amalgamative intellect in an area of occult significance like this prison, likely precipitated by unquiet spirits exerting psychosomatic influence on a gathering of insects." The young tiefling clears his throat before continuing. "...Besides which, I haven't set anything on fire today, and the Sincomakti alienists said that immolating things in a constructive manner would be a good outlet for my latent pyromaniacal tendencies."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Will:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
As the spirit appears, a wave of fear washes over Nikolay, but he remains steadfast. "Begone, blasphemous abomination! Move on to your final rest!" Drawing his spirits' bane concoctions from his belt pouch, he throws an explosive admixture at the ghost.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Børak wrote:
"Hey Doctor, can we use some of this stuff?"
Nikolay's eyes light up as he spots the remnants of the infirmary and the relatively intact tools within, and almost before Børak is done speaking, the young tiefling has rushed into the room, beginning to catalogue what he can. "This brings back fond memories. I served my residency in a place much like this, you know - this is just like the hospice at the Havenguard Asylum in Caliphas, where I apprenticed." He beams in pride. "Doctor Alexi said that I was one of the best surgeons she had ever taught, you know! It was trying, having to deal with all that megalomania and delusions of grandeur - the patients were almost as bad as some of my old professors at the university!" The young physiologist giggles, as though he has just made a great joke.
As he works, he keeps up a steady stream of chatter until he is interrupted. "Regrettably, these manacles are nothing new to me - we had them at Havenguard, and many of our orderlies carried saps. Several of our patients were rather violent at times; in fact, I remember one fellow who was a mass murderer - claimed to have killed twelve people in..."And so on and so forth until he is interrupted or he is done cataloguing.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Valiard wrote:
"I suggest we head back to the laundry room. That's where the shirt attacked us. We never fully explored it. Then we can keep going around the rooms on the outside wall of the building until we find the way down and are certain that upstairs is cleared and safe."
Nikolay nods. "I agree - we should try to eliminate unforeseen variables before continuing. This way, we always have a means of egress if need be."
As the group walks towards their destination, Nikolay turns to Valiard. "I suspect, my friend, that the restless spirits will not in fact need to be physically beaten into submission. I have done some studies of my own on spiritual dynamics, and I suspect that all we must do is use the items in a way that the dead would recognize." He flips open the spellbook to the area where his own name is scrawled in blood. "For instance, this section here and the evidence of his work on Vesorianna indicates that Feramin may have marked his victims by writing their names in blood. Thus, when we encounter him, I hypothesize that he can be destroyed if I stab myself with a quill pen, then write 'Hean Feramin' in the margins of this book with my own blood. A crude method, to be sure, but I suspect that the use of the techniques of the 'Splatter Man' against him will disrupt his grasp on existence. Similarly, I doubt you would actually have to hit Father Charlatan with those holy symbols, for I hypothesize that a prayer to one of the represented deities would be enough for the old unbeliever. I know a great many Pharasmin prayers, if you need one - I was raised Pharasmin, though I never truly found my faith until I was introduced to Kavapestan Penitence at the university."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Lectrum wrote:
"I know, but I meant... it's an axe... how would it work against a spirit that isn't really a whole body. It's noncorporal, you know?"
Nikolay glances over at Lectrum, clearing his throat to get the massive dragonkin's attention. "Well, the commonly accepted theory is that the enchantment serves as a multidimensional quiddity anchor, allowing the weapon to simultaneously strike..." He trails off as he looks up at Lectrum, then sighs before continuing. "...It works through magic. A wizard did it."
Lectrum wrote:
"Uhhh... fiends?"
The young scientist glances up at Lectrum again, his brow furrowed in confusion. "...You do know that I am grimspawn, yes? A descendant of soul eaters? I can resist extreme temperature fluctuations, as well as an alarming amount of voltage, and my eyes can see the souls of the living. It's not much of a secret - I could never keep secrets in any case, and my nature is relatively evident from my appearance. Nevertheless, I assure you that I am harmless, and the chances of me losing my mind and vivisecting you are negligible."
At Vesiorianna's words, Nikolay grins, stepping forward as he reclaims Ferramin's spellbook. As Valiard raises his concerns, Nikolay turns to look at the herbalist. "I thought corrupted souls could be rebuked with the presentation of holy symbols, yes? This one has a special connection to the holy symbols we have, so its efficacy should be increased." The young physiologist shrugs. "Failing that, it's a heavy amalgamation of metal on the end of a chain. As far as improvised weapons go, we could ask for worse."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Børak wrote:
"Let's put the tagged items from the vault in my pack for safe keeping."
When Børak opens the mouth of his pack, Nikolay initially holds back, casting suspicious looks at Børak as he holds the Splatter Man's spellbook close, but at a glare from Drake, he grudgingly drops the grimoire into the open pack.
As the group begins to leave the room, Nikolay spares one final glance into the evidence room vault, ensuring the group hasn't missed anything, when the glimmer of sunlight on brass catches his eye. The young scientist begins to dig through a pile of rubble before extracting a startlingly undamaged pair of brass-rimmed spectacles. In his examination of the lenses, he fails to notice the strange factor regarding the discovery - namely that there was no sunlight to gleam off the glasses' frame.
After a moment of investigation, he tentatively perches them on the end of his nose, only to gasp in astonishment and wonder as their strange properties become clear. "These lenses have some truly fascinating properties - I can see everything! They must operate through some kind of refraction of visible-wavelength soul energy. Back at Sincomakti, Professor Salvar of the Optics group was actually working on something similar - right up until he splashed the acid in his eyes and started ranting about impossible colors, that is." The young scientist looks Lectrum up and down. "Lectrum, my friend, your soul is so full of life! All around you, sickness lies in wait - simple colds, harmless to most, but likely fatal to me without the influence of the Teratogenesis B compound, yet against your health they prove no more substantial than mist." He gives a nightmarish grin and lets out a short burst of laughter that, considering the context, cannot help but sound sinister. "I suspect your soul would have been much sought after by the fiends which spawned my bloodline, but I assure you, you have nothing to fear from me in that regard."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Nikolay follows his friend into the room, but after barely a glance at the cramped confines and crumbling walls, he rushes back out into the more spacious other room, grabbing what the scientist perceives to be the most important item - the book - as he goes.
Børak wrote:
"How do we know if any of these are the items in question?"
At Børak's words, he glances back at the room before returning to leafing through the spellbook. "If we brought them back to Vesorianna, she would know, I suppose. As all four of the other articles are linked to specific prisoners we know of, I would be willing to bet that the hammer you hold belonged to the Mosswater Marauder."
As he continues to page through the book, he blanches as he sees "Nikolay Miron Ramada" in blood along one of the margins, but after a minute more of reading, a faint smile begins to spread across his face. "Actually, some of these formulas are... genius, to be perfectly frank. Obviously, as they are applied here, they are quite dangerous, but I remember reading about a Sincomakti research vessel - the Spirit of Inquiry, I think it was called - that recorded refined measurements for the values Feramin used in his research here. I'll have to check the Bhaltvrest Hall Archives when I'm back in Rozenport, but just think - this knowledge could do so much good!"
For all his humorous antics, Nikolay is actually easily tempted by one of the mainstays of the horror genre - dark knowledge. He is convinced that things like formulas ripped from a necromancer's spellbook can have valuable uses, such as in the creation of new medicines, so it would be fairly easy for him to create unintentionally dangerous materials.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
GM Wolf wrote:
Collection of Holy Symbols: These holy symbols were used by Father Charlatan, who would select one from the collection that would match the faith of his victims as proof of his good intentions. There are a dozen holy symbols on fine silver chains—the collection as a whole is worth 300 gp. The exact holy symbols in the collection are Pharasma, Cayden, Nethys, Irori, Sarenrae, among others.
Okay, I understand that Carrion Crown is supposed to be a horror AP, but it's so hard to take it seriously with so many references to comedy movies!
It might just be an issue with me - I prefer the Mel Brooks versions of Dracula and Frankenstein to the serious ones - but to a certain extent, I suppose it's something to do with the horror RPG genre as a whole, as I've seen many similar instances where humor is spliced into horror games. For instance, Call of Cthulhu actually has some quite funny parts to it, such as when you try to push an Auto Use check at low SAN: the other players just find you behind the wheel of a parked car, making "vroom, vroom" noises like a small child.
As for a wish, I think I'll go with Physician's Spectacles. They stack well with Ramada's deathwatch SLA, and I have no doubt that being able to detect subtle threats like diseases and poisons will be useful against a secretive organization like the Whispering Way.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Merry (belated) Christmas to those who celebrate! Apologies for the delay in posting, as I've been rather busy with family reunions and the like. As for favorite foods, I can never resist green bean casserole - it's one of my favorites - so I suppose that's a +1 to Con?
Lectrum wrote:
A Christmas wish? To understand Ramada? So maybe Wisdom?
In fairness, not even I know what he's saying half the time. I think I remember that one of the Paizo splatbooks had a certain quote about Taldor - something like "If you need to keep something hidden forever, claim it’s urgent and hand it to a government official." Similarly, if you want to ensure nobody understands a fact, tell it to Ramada and ask him to explain it to everyone.
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
At Børak's question, Nikolay shakes his head. "I am afraid, my friend, that I am no warrior as you and some of our companions are. Both of these weapons are far outside my area of expertise." He glances down at the mace-like instrument at his hip. "Technically, this isn't even a weapon. Its official name is the Ramada-West Enhanced Medicinal Dispersal Device. I invented it alongside one of my fellow students as an alternative to the syringe for patients with psychological aversions to needles, but when I tested it on a lab rat, the rat exploded."
Perception:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12
As he enters the room, he makes his way over to the north wall, looking along it for any seams indicating a hidden door, though he finds none. He steps back, clearing his throat. "Well, it worked last time. *ahem* It would certainly be convenient if we were to find a hidden passage. Such a shame that we are unable to find it. I suppose I may as well lean against this completely unremarkable brick..."
When this fails to produce results, he scowls at the wall, pushing experimentally on a few more bricks before giving the whole structure a solid kick. As Børak points out the secret door in the eastern wall, however, he clears his throat again and moves in that direction, a distinctly sheepish look on his face. "I..." He sighs. "...Okay, I don't have any excuses. That was pathetic on my part." From the depths of his magic pouch emerge the set of lockpicks again, and he kneels down to examine the secret door. "Look, I'm not completely useless, and I'll prove it!"
Disable Device:1d20 + 17 ⇒ (1) + 17 = 18
Another sigh. "...Okay, bad example. Give me another chance..."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Auto-succeed Knowledge (engineering) check. Also, are the grid squares for inside Harrowstone in 1 square = 10 ft scale? It seems rather small otherwise.
Nikolay barely spares a glance at the crumbling remains of the Warden's residence before shaking his head, keeping a healthy distance from the decrepit building. "That building is critically unstable - I'm surprised it hasn't collapsed yet. If any of the prisoner's items are in there, we would likely be safer knocking it down and sifting through the rubble." The gaunt scientist smirks. "I suspect it will be a simple matter of convincing the termites to let go."
As he enters the remains of Harrowstone, following closely behind Lectrum and Børak, his expression becomes nervous, and he begins to wring his hands together. "I-it's a rather small prison, isn't it? All these tiny rooms and narrow hallways make me feel like I'm already in my grave - and if it's decayed as severely as the Warden's outbuilding, one wrong step could bring the whole place down on us!" Reaching the foyer, however, he gives a relieved smile, glancing around the small space at the sturdy walls. "Actually, this part of the structure is in remarkable condition! We should have little to fear as regards a collapse." He looks sheepishly again at his comrades-in-arms. "I hope you will forgive my lamentable tendency to fret in close quarters. I could never stand being confined in enclosed spaces - it reminds me too much of my childhood." The young tiefling shudders. "Whenever I enraged my father, he would lock me in the root cellar for days on end. In late winter, when the cellar was bare, I sometimes had to catch and eat rats to stave off starvation. I've never been truly comfortable indoors for that very reason. When others are around in such circumstances, I tend to babble - as I'm sure you are all aware by now - since it helps distract me from my fears."
Nikolay moves over to the northeast double doors. "Let's make a start - I'm sure we can solve this little puzzle easily." He reaches for the handle...
...only to be thrown back as the spirits trapped within the building make their presence known. He staggers back, his face pale, and he draws the spiral of Pharasma over his heart as he fumbles for his holy symbol. "...Gray Lady, grant me your protection, though my path is treacherous and the mists of death rush around my feet..."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Nikolay listens intently as Valiard lays out the various stages of the plan. Once the herbalist is done, he grimaces and looks away, a sheepish expression on his face. "I... do not think I should talk to the townspeople. I've been in several towns like Ravengro, and it always ends the same way - the ignorant think I'm a necromancer or grave robber and so distrust me, the learned recognize my daemonic blood and so distrust me, and by the time I've unpacked my lab equipment, they've organized a mob to run me out of town." His expression seems to brighten before he continues. "I think I could do some good here at the prison, however. I've done a great deal of research on arcane theory, and I have poor old Lorrimor's notes and journal, which should tell us everything he knew about the Whispering Way. Besides which, my soul-sight could help us pinpoint where the restless spirits of the prisoners lie."
At the mention of the warden's wife, however, the young scientist casts apprehensive glances at Magdali, the only other worshiper of Pharasma he is aware of in the group. "I am unsure - by a particularly strict interpretation of my goddess's teachings, life beyond death is an abomination, and we should not help Vesorianna. However, logically, she is doing more than any of us could do to work against the unquiet spirits of a startling number of murderers, and by helping her, we can aid her in reaching the afterlife. I do not believe there should be any problem, from a theological standpoint."
As the group sets to work at Harrowstone, Nikolay speaks up after a moment of silence. "...Why the Warden, do you think? I mean, why would the Whispering Way agents take the Warden's soul? They could have had their pick of the spirits of killers and cutthroats, but instead, they took the one man perhaps least likely to aid their wicked machinations. It's not logical - our data must be incomplete."
M NE Deep One Hybrid Alchemist (Vivisectionist) 1 HP: 11/11 | AC: 15/10/15 | CMD: 13 | F: +5; R: +2; W: +1 | Init: +0 | Perception: +5; Low-Light Vision | Conditions:
Børak wrote:
So Ramada, how sure are you that at the end of the week the prisoners will escape?
My line of reasoning is as follows, based on the information HERE:
Valiard wrote:
"5 spirits in particular. One of whom, the Splatter Man is attempting to destroy her, by spelling out her name... Vesorianna."
Premise: Valiard told us that the warden's wife's ghost is keeping the malevolent spirits contained in Harrowstone (that is, rather than overwhelming the nearby town), and that the Splatter Man is destroying her by spelling out her name.
Premise: We know from earlier that the Harrowstone Memorial is being defaced in a very specific, methodical way, and we are currently three days into a ten-letter name at one letter per day.
Conclusion: Once seven more days have passed, the blood splatters will spell out "Vesorianna" and the benevolent ghost will be destroyed.
Conclusion: Since she was keeping the evil ghosts contained, her destruction would mean that the ghosts would be uncontained, free to wreak havoc on Ravengro.
This means that, as it currently stands and barring unexpected developments, we are in fact on a rather strict timetable, and we should make it our goal to gather one of the required prisoners' items per day, so we have two days' buffer. Since according to our resident Protoss Akhundelar the 'Zerg' will no longer grow and become more powerful (and are sealed several miles below the ground in any case), they are a secondary threat to the ghosts of the Harrowstone Five, and if we get side-tracked, Vesorianna will be destroyed and Ravengro will fall. Now, we may be able to lengthen this deadline or remove it entirely by destroying the Splatter Man's ghost first, but if we stay in the Zerg complex for too long, nothing will get done.
