If we haven't left the Gecko yet, Frantino recommends we make haste. There are some items to be sold and shopping to be done on a tight schedule before getting back to sea.
"We need to report our findings to the city via the Sihedron Council as quickly as possible. These notebooks are going to take a while to research to see if some kind of treatment can be developed prior to an outbreak or attack, whether it's the gargoyle by himself or if the cult is successful in weaponizing it for widespread infection."
"I'm torn. This is my city and my family that are under threat! I have the skills, knowledge, and city connections, as well as first-hand experience with the gargoyle and getting infected, to lead Magnimar's research efforts, but the timeline is too demanding to ask that we wait before departing for Riddleport. Perhaps the Council can recommend someone else to accompany you in my place to chase down the cultists? Don't forget the incomplete mission with Runelord Thybidos on Rivenrake Island, with favorable winds you might have a day to spare to finish exploring his tomb en route to Riddleport. Or perhaps that will have to be delayed yet again until after the cult is dealt with."
After witnessing horrors no one should have to see, Frantino goes into a corner and heaves up whatever food he ate today. After some sips of water, he relays the vision to the party. He knows he's going to have nightmares for a long time.
"The most useful thing we learned is that the man-otyugh aberration that we locked in the other room seems to temporarily regain his senses when fed, and he can answer questions, at least he could do so not that long ago. Hopefully he can answer some of our questions after we give him some food, What should we ask him? After that, I think it's time to gather everything up and leave this nightmare tower. I, for one, REALLY NEED to leave."
Hopefully Frantino can narrate his visions while the trance is ongoing, otherwise he'll have to quickly describe everything to his friends before the details start to fade.
"I didn't see how our remaining prisoner was infected so perhaps it wasn't a direct egg implant, maybe it was a secondary infection from one of the other captives that I saw."
Now that he's seen impregnated captives, does it seem that the bodies in the water at the bottom of the pit look familiar?
"I can do this again in another location, I'm thinking the large room with all the tables near the cult leader's office. In fact, if I set up less than 30' from the office I should be able to see some of what happened there, too. This is an unconventional method of gathering information that they couldn't have anticipated."
I already rolled the Knowledge History at the same time as the first check, unless you want me to roll again.
"We know the cult was heading to Riddleport, if we can leave quickly we may even have a day to spare to swing by Rivenrake Island on the way so we can finish exploring Runelord Thybidos' burial complex."
"Do we know if he was implanted with an egg or if he was just subjected to secondary infection, like what happened to me? I can try to look back in time to see the kinds of activities that took place here, maybe even be able to watch how he got infected. However, I can only do it in two different locations today."
Ruin Reading:
Ruin Reading (Su): At 2nd level, an occult historian can glean secrets from ruined structures. She must spend 1 minute examining and touching part of the structure (such as a wall or a doorframe). At the end of the minute, the occult historian attempts a Knowledge (history) check. If the ruin has been claimed as a lair for a creature, the DC of this check is equal to 10 + the CR of the most powerful creature in the ruin. If the ruin holds a magic item (or multiple magic items), the DC of this check is equal to 11 + the highest caster level of all the magic items in the ruin. If the occult historian succeeds at the check, she learns the layout of the area of the ruin within 30 feet of her (including any secret doors), as well as a piece of information about the structure’s history (as determined by the GM).
At 5th level, the occult historian can see into a ruin’s past. This reveals the same information that can be gathered with the spell retrocognition, except the occult historian can use it only in ruins. If the occult historian succeeds at the check outlined above, she sees the events that occurred in the ruin over the past hour; for each minute she concentrates, she can see 1 additional hour into the ruin’s past. If the result of her check exceeds the DC by 5 or more, she can see the events that occurred over the past week, plus for 1 additional week per minute she concentrates. If the result of her check exceeds the DC by 10 or more, she can see the events of the past year, plus for 1 additional year per minute she concentrates. If the result of her check exceeds the DC by 20 or more, she can see the events of the past century, plus for 1 additional century per minute she concentrates.
An occult historian can use ruin reading once per day, plus an additional time every 4 levels thereafter, to a maximum of five times per day at 18th level.
"I can try it in the room where we killed the qlippoth and watch how the cultists were harvesting his eggs, but if they brought the eggs somewhere else then I'll have to do this a second time. But where? The room with all the tables outside the cult leader's room is an option, or maybe the room the otyugh-man is in. There may be clues in the books and notes in the leader's room, but those will take time to thoroughly review. Maybe if he is lucid when he wakes up, the partially polymorphed man might be able to tell us himself."
"Anyway, if I could be cured perhaps he can, too. It would be tremendously useful if we could research and test a cure for this plague, just in case this cult is able to successfully release the plague here or in some other city or town. If people realize most of us spent time in Roderic's Cove, our neighbors there might be a target for a test run."
Frantino collects up his cloak and grabs a bunch of the other stuff that was here before, carrying them to the ledge outside the door where we've been entering. He's working off the assumption that the vampire won't go outside until dark.
I had to look back to confirm, but on Oct 24 I wrote that Frantino had already retrieved all of the gargoyle's stuff and put them on the outdoor ledge. He put his feathered cloak back on. Was the gargoyle able to go outside during the day to retrieve the other items?
Once he catches his breath, Frantino will cast detect magic and search this room systematically, especially the far corner beyond the summoning circle. The Roll20 handout for Og-Zeugus shows it holding an axe of some kind, is that accurate? Frantino will make sure to examine it closely. If it's that old and survived this long it must be magical!
Perception:1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 21 + 2 = 42
Spellcraft:1d20 + 15 + 1d6 ⇒ (5) + 15 + (6) = 26
Frantino is underwhelmed by the amount of loot here that we can sell before we head to Riddleport to track down the cultists. When we check in on the otyugh-man he'll look at the bodies that Ayita brought up from the pit, maybe some of them had possessions that the derro-vampires failed to remove before they threw the bodies down there? It's too bad we can't remove the pedestal with the holographic image of Magnimar as it once was, that would make a nice addition to the entrance hall in Kaddren Manor! Before we eventually leave, we'll also gather up all of the trinkets that the gargoyle had accumulated, not just the stuff we brought to trade for information before his inevitable betrayal.
Do you want me to roll the attacks out? Sounded like you just wanted us to explain what we'd do given that the creature isn't responding (yet).
Frantino will continue to hack away at it. In its current state it probably has hardness in addition to DR but at least it's flat-footed, since there's no way it can dodge attacks. He wonders how much an adamantine weapon would cost as he gets into a rhythm, kind of like chopping up a tree but with really long arms.
Frantino will keep an eye on the impact that Ayita's shots are having. If it doesn't look like much damage is getting through, he'll say: "Ayita, conserve your arrows, it's a great thought but I don't think many of your shots can get through its damage resistance without magic."
Having been told of the qlippoth's damage resistance, Frantino will spend a point of transmutation focus to give Fury another +1 and qlippoth bane, making it +5 vs this creature, bypassing most DR and doing extra damage on each hit. He'll then stay 10' away and chop at the creature. As much as this feels like murder, his city is in danger. The cult won't be able to harvest any eggs from it anymore to make their plague!
Frantino draws and drinks an extract of long arms as a standard action, then regrabs Fury as he steps closer to the qlippoth. At least this way, if he gets confused the closest creature is no longer a friend. He intends to remain 10' from the circle so that he doesn't accidentally damage it or step over the line.
Assuming that Ezranadir and Doc move away and Nasir takes up a position to protect them, Frantino will approach Nasir and attack his unrecognized enemy! Unless moving takes him out of the zone and he is no longer confused...
Frantino looks around wildly. Danger! Something or someone dangerous is nearby. He sees an elf and knows this person is a wizard. A dangerous, dangerous wizard.
He regrabs Fury (move action), takes a 5' step, and attacks the threat.
+2 halberd w/ PA:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29, damage:1d10 + 15 ⇒ (5) + 15 = 20
He still has an enraged look in his eyes, but his next actions will depend on what Ezranadir and Doc do in reaction.
Frantino is watching Ayita closely. If he sees that she comes to her senses, however briefly, he urges her to run back up the tunnel past the party until she recovers, as a way of protecting us from her unintended attacks. That way, if she does suddenly feel the urge to attack one of us she'll have to waste her actions moving back within melee range. Hopefully it's Nasir at the rear, he is hard to hit.
Frantino is surprised when Ayita attacks him. The second swing comes uncomfortably close, but both attacks miss.
"The creature used some kind of mental attack on us, making Ayita confused. Don't attack her, that'll force her to attack you back."
Frantino takes a 5' step to try to block her path to the qlippoth. He drops Fury (still on its weapon cord) and readies a grapple if she should start to move toward the summoning circle. He wants to make sure she isn't further controlled and might try to break the circle, freeing the creature.
"Another qlippoth? There was one under Roderic's Cove as well, but a different type."
Frantino has little reason to trust the creature.
Sense motive:1d20 + 15 ⇒ (9) + 15 = 24
Ever paranoid, Frantino keeps looking around to make sure the gargoyle isn't hiding here.
Perception:1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 21 + 2 = 29
He calls the rest of the party forward, keeping his distance from Og-Zeugus.
"Looks like we found Og-Zeugus, turns out it's a qlippoth. The notes from the cult said they were harvesting eggs from it, didn't they? It's trapped in a summoning circle and is asking us to free it so it can leave. Can we just kill it in the circle, won't that send it back to its home plane with no risk of it getting loose here?" Frantino looks at Ezranadir and Doc to see if they can confirm if this plan makes sense. Does his knowledge check allow him to determine this?
Fury held at the ready and everyone in place, Frantino follows Ayita down the tunnel. She is better detecting traps and his magically enhanced vision can help ensure that invisible creatures won't surprise her.
Satisfied that we've explored this section, Frantino suggests that we go back to the room where we fought the vampire and check out the unexplored passageway to its east, staying alert for the sneaky gargoyle all the way.
"The only remaining areas I can recall are the rough hewn tunnel just past where the vampire escaped, and the room with the haunt that Nasir triggered and we never went back in. Did I miss any?"
"I know wood shape but cannot cast stone shape. I wonder if this leads to another room or stairwell or if this is a way to restrict outside admittance to the tower? Ezranadir, you probably know more about construction than I do, what do you think? Given our observation of the size of the structure as we entered, do we think this would open to an outer wall or landing, or is it still reasonably within the size of the tower to lead to another room beyond? We entered from that direction," Frantino waves to the west "does anyone remember if there was anything on the southern side even higher up on the tower?"
Frantino moves with the group and proceeds down the wide stairs in tandem with Ayita, see invisibility and heightened awareness still active. He asks Ezranadir to keep up detect magic behind us so that he doesn't have to maintain three different vision enhancements at the same time.
Frantino auto-succeeds at the knowledge planes check with a +13, +2, and +1d6. Thanks to his headband's programming to teach him a new language every time he becomes more experienced (ranks in Linguistics), he also knows Abyssal, Celestial, and Infernal, plus a dozen more. He and Ayita share a love of languages! No time to read the journals right now, though.
"Looks like we just missed them, they just left on a ship to Riddleport! They want to resurrect a runelord? Hopefully Sursha and her ship are still in port, maybe she can take us on another journey."
"There is a reference to something with an abyssal name that is a prisoner they are harvesting eggs from. I don't think this is referring to the poor polymorphed man we knocked out. If the rest of these side rooms are empty we can check down the stairs we just bypassed, or we can go back to that rough passageway near the vampire's crypt. Have we overlooked any other areas in here? The faster we finish this and leave the better, the cult has a few day's lead on us. However, killing this creature or sending it back to the Abyss will hamper their plans should the cultists return, at least for a while. Maybe we'll run into the gargoyle again, too."
Frantino admires Ezranadir's work. "Nicely done! I'm grateful we were the ones lucky enough to pluck you out of the sea a few weeks back."
Frantino sees Ezranadir enhance his vision to see magic and doesn't bother to duplicate the effort, his own eyesight already magically altered. He is leery of another trap inside, since this room was important enough to be protected by a magical trap.
Frantino follows Ayita and sees the two nearby doors on the south wall. He slides past Ayita to see if the doors are locked and/or trapped, or if there appears to be noise emanating from behind either.
Knowledge religion:1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1d6 ⇒ (19) + 13 + 2 + (4) = 38 Same bonus for arcana, dungeoneering, local, and planes. +16 for history.
"Once we're done searching this place, this room might be good for a use of my ability to read the history of an area. I'm curious what's gone on here, these tables may have been used for live victim testing with the plague."
"I expected this stairway to lead outside but maybe there's another hidden stairway going further down into the Gecko to lower levels. I think we should finish searching this top level first before we look down there."
With the door secure, Frantino sprinkles some talc and powdered silver in front of his eyes to recast see invisibility and eats a single coffee bean to further open his senses and memory with heightened awareness. Fury at the ready, he moves east. Then again, we've been standing out in that room for the last hour, we all would have seen the wide hallway with stairs going down to the south, and another set of small doors almost directly across the pit room from the monster room except the doors are on the south wall.
Frantino watches for the sneaky vampire while looking for hidden doors and traps.
Perception:1d20 + 21 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 21 + 2 = 43 +1 for traps
Frantino isn't convinced we need to go through so much effort. "The creature seems to have been in this room for a while but he didn't escape before, even when we were locked in combat just on the other side of the door. Why? Was the door locked? The vampire said these cultists left for Riddleport, but they left him behind? If we're concerned about him getting out now, can't we just lock the door(if it has a lock) or jam it shut from the outside? We're overthinking a problem that doesn't exist."
"The pit is not a place we can put this man. I only survived the extremely long drop because of my ring of feather fall, and only got out because Ayita rescued me. The bottom is filled with water of unknown depth. There are dead bodies in there, presumably the victims of the derro vampires. I doubt he could swim down there very long, if he could even live after a fall of that distance."
The spell cast, Frantino feels no different. Or maybe he does? Or maybe that's just his brain worrying.
Worrying? Who said I'm worrying? Are people talking about me? I'm not paranoid, are you? Is it paranoia if it's true? People are talking about me, aren't they! Do I have an extra hand growing out of my head? An extra ear would be useful but not a hand...
"Thanks, Doc. Is there any way to check and see if it worked? While we have a minute, let's take a look around to see if our poor unconscious friend here has anything that can help us learn more about this plague or confirm what the vampire told us. Can't just take that one at his word!"
Frantino will pull out some rope and start typing up the human legs, monster legs, and human hands of this person. He'll put some of the rations in or near the human hands so that he can eat when he awakens, perhaps sating his overwhelming hunger can bring him to his senses, at least for a while. "He can talk, maybe he can answer questions? Ayita or Nasir, can one of you figure out a way to secure these tentacles and otyugh mouth coming out of his torso so that he can't attack us with them when he recovers? We should also close the door in case the gar-vamp comes looking for us."
Once that is done, Frantino will turn to the question of his own possible infection.
"Ezranadir, you said I was infected right before we entered this room. Can you and Doc please examine me to confirm this? Is it the same curse/disease that this man has? If we can cure him, then I'd appreciate the same, although I appear to have more time before it starts to transform me. I hope. I wanted to study this plague up close but this is ridiculous!"
Frantino will do a self-examination but doesn't trust that any infection won't cloud his judgment.
While the bite hurt, Frantino is troubled by the words and actions of this poor aberration who still seems to maintain a vestige of his humanity. Did he ask to be infected? Was he kidnapped and used as an experimental victim? Can he be cured? Now that Frantino has been told that he may have been infected, is this what the future holds for him, too? If this poor man can be cured, then it's likely that he can, too.
Having deduced that the aberration has a weakness based on its monomaniacal hunger, Frantino will risk a hunch. Since the creature is momentarily unable to act, Frantino will step back 5', rummage through his backpack, and toss out a day's worth of rations to the far side of the hungry person. Of course, Fury is always close at hand, attached by its weapon cord to his armor.
Frantino would try to recall information about any kinds of Special Attack, followed by resistances, immunities, and weaknesses.
Something Ezranadir said just as we were opening the door finally clicks. "Wait, what do you mean I got infected???"
Since we were in the middle of combat and this was the result of failing a Fort save, I played under the assumption that Frantino didn't notice the ripples under his skin. Probably just a result of the frequent impacts on his body and the constant movement while in combat.
Clearly Frantino is still not very stealthy, even though he tried to become more capable in this skill last week!
"He seems to be mumbling to himself about needing food, which makes sense since he appears to be a strange merger of human and otyugh bodies. Is this what the polymorph plague will do to the city? He reminds me of Maga Szuul but with a more advanced form of the disease. Do you think the disease is transmittable by touch? Be careful! Does anyone have some rations handy? He still seems able to talk despite the effects on the rest of his body."
Feeling much more like himself, Frantino is ready to move on.
"I don't want to wait in here to see if the vampire might show up again. I vote that we go out those double doors and enter the room to the right. We were told there's some kind of abomination creature around and if we can find more information about the cult and their plans we can prepare to move along. If the vampire hides from us we'll alert the city authorities to his presence, he's not an existential threat to Magnimar like a plague might be."
The bigger differentiator is that Infernal Healing gives a flat Fast Healing 1 for one minute, thus a guaranteed 10 hp, while Celestial Healing gives Fast Healing 1 for one round per two caster levels. I always thought it a gross oversight that Celestial Healing didn't become the same as Infernal Healing until 20th level, when it's pretty much an irrelevant spell. As a 6th or 7th level caster, Celestial Healing will only heal 3 hp, not even remotely worth the cost of holy water.
Your spells bring Ayita and Frantino and Nasir back to health. But... for some reason, the damage to Frantino remains. He still isn't as dexterous as he once was. And the stutter he developed recently, as well as the weird nose twitch, continue.
His dex dmg and cha drain remain
Frantino has dex damage and cha drain??? That's news to me. I saw those on Nasir's status line until you just posted a new Status.
"Doc, how many times can you cast the restoration spell today? I know it would be a big drain on your resources but Nasir, Ayita, and I have all had portions of our life force drained out. This would go a long way to making the group fully capable again."
Frantino advocates that we prioritize having the negative levels repaired. Ezranadir's and Yazhi's charisma drain is unfortunate but doesn't really affect their core capabilities, those can wait until tomorrow.
Frantino collects up his cloak and grabs a bunch of the other stuff that was here before, carrying them to the ledge outside the door where we've been entering. He's working off the assumption that the vampire won't go outside until dark.
"If we're just going to sit around waiting for the monster to come attack us, we should set ourselves up in a room with a lower ceiling. We need to negate his flight advantage."
He looks at the first room where we entered the tower, where we fought the mohrg immediately south of the coffin room. What is the ceiling height there? It also has tables we can stand on, if need be.
"Unfortunately, we just don't know which way the gar/vamp went, flying creatures are terribly inconsiderate when it comes to not leaving tracks. I thought that was why we were trying to track him by scent. Looks like we have three options: Continue this way, double back to the coffin room, or go partway back and check out that other passageway, since he may or may not have come this way. I suppose he may have flown up into the small crawlway in the ceiling, too. I can step into this room and see if the haunt manifests again or if it's in a lengthy reset phase. Hopefully it's dormant and we can see what is at the far end of the room, but if it is active again I can try to jump back before suffering injuries like Nasir. I'm also pretty good at resisting mental effects, although I fear I'll be less resistant in my weakened state. This may be our best chance to get through this room unopposed, if the monster did come through here."
Frantino mulls over Ezranadir's comments. "We did get some information from the gargoyle before he attacked us, he told us that the cult had headed to Riddleport. While this creature is a threat, I'm still feeling very weak and wouldn't mind avoiding him if we can help it. Maybe we can do a quick search through some additional areas to find more information, perhaps confirm the vampire's information, and then leave. It sure seems like the cultists aren't here right now, and stopping the plague is the mission."
Since the indicators of the "attack" on Nasir are supernatural, Frantino tries to figure out what caused it and if the area can now be safely traversed.
