Hal Blythe's page

Hal shrugs at Mel's decision "You're the boss." he agrees easily.

Hal relays his findings and shakes his head "I don't wanna be the bearer of bad news... but demons are good at taintin', and this particular one is one of the best. I c'n clean up the traces, and I've found one trap... but might be better to just burn the place down. Never be 100% sure you've got everything in a case like this."

"If the two of ya want ta take your auras and all those chips out ta the river I'll try lookin' for subtle signs - otherwise I'm likely to miss somethin', what with all the other auras."
soulsight goggles and a feat to see lingering magical auras should make Hal pretty good at this, but happy to roll whatever is relevant if you like Brookside GM

Hal peeps through the hole overlooking the door he set up before opening it, but his paranoia is more habit than anything else. In a voice full of forced cheer he snarks "Given how ya look I'm half tempted not ta invite ya in, but it's you, so c'mon in then. Tea? Booze?"

I'm good with the plan, just saw an option to give storyteller a bit of a whirl :)
1 scene left to go Mel?

Hal takes well to answering questions, which segues smoothly into telling stories. His words take on the cadence of a trained storyteller as he tells tale tales of epic heroes - those being Kaz, Mel and Túrion - that are technically true, if incredibly overblown.
"...And then Túrion's noble actions and carriage convinced the elven maid Isabella to share with the heroes the secrets of the dark lord's evil tome! But while she was willing to part with secrets, she was not so willing to part with him!" He pronounced, before stopping to shove an entire fist-sized baked potato into his mouth in one go. "He was there" he somehow mumbles through a full mouth, gesturing to Kazador with a fork "ask him!"

for what it is worth if we were rolling he only has a Perform: storyteller of +5, but he'd be cheating and using Bit of Luck!

Hal shrugs "I'm runnin' low on shortcuts, but I could find another if you want ta get there right now?" missed edit by 1 min, sorry

Hal shrugs [b]"I'm runnin' low on shortcuts, but I could find another if you want ta get there right now?"

"Yeah, he's safe. Not sure if he's got family in Brookside, but from what we've heard he's got Family. You sure about this?"

"So, did you get anything 'cept a slap f'r savin' 'em all?" Hal asks. "Normally when I do a funeral I try ta use the rites of whatever god the s... person worshipped. Reckon there might be a better choice from here?"
From inside a pouch Hal pulls a mess of holy symbol necklaces - the cords and chains tangled like coiling vipers - and puts it on the table.

Am I right that Hal is far away at the moment? And not supposed to come back?

Hal nods. He fossicks through his pouch for a simple looking bead and throws it to Kaz. "I'll scry for that. Want me ta take the Fox too?"

He squints at the body, mutters ""Paranoid much" then reaches out and gingerly touches Perrin with his walking staff. A moment later Hal and 'passengers' vanish.
Figure he has some sort of trap or spell, so Hal is being careful. Will leave with Rally if desired.

Hal pulls chalk and starts to scribe runes upon a nearby wall - runes that immediately screech and glow as the overflow energy from the overloaded rune is parasited into the hastily scrawled mess of glyphs.
"This isn't going to hold long!" he screams, as the first glyph he drew flares out.

Hal, conscious of the fact this 'Perrin' knew nothing of him, did his best to stay unobtrusively in the back.

"I sure hope y'r right, or this could go real bad." Hal - as Hal -warns.

Hal casts glimpse of truth - I am assuming this is not an illusion
Hal shakes his head abruptly "Just checkin'. Y'r old friend has taken over the gang and gone back home. Pretty sure I was hallucinatin' there for a second." he sighs "Guess it's not the least likely thing I've seen round you lot. Maybe don't point out who I am though, hey."

Hal doesn't know Perrin, so I think this is up to the others...

As Mel stalks off Hal turns to Kazador "Orcs, tradin'? This Perrin bloke spend much time 'round Orcs?"

Hal looks around and then speaks "Not much... Something's goin' on in that gang we were lookin' into - the one I used to be involved with. Word is someone callin' emselves "the Doctor'' took it over lock stock and barrel. He's got people lookin' over, or after, Brookside."

knowledge:religion: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (6) + 12 = 18 whispers within... hopefully a bonus for having been in the Reaps
"Ah. I might have some... unwelcome news then."

Hal thinks about it for a moment "Nah - can't be right. 'Less your doctor vanished a couple months ago and switched careers to criminal mastermind, I guess."

"Huh." Hal considers, and glances around the public room "When you were... lookin' into... that gang... ever hear of a guy called The Doctor? 'Specially in conjunction with Brookside?"

Step 2: at the briar rose
"Better he doesn't. No way he's gettin' a reference, and anyone doin' due diligence is gonna think he's suss. Plus the Duke had... well, not friends but... someone's gonna pick him up." Hal considers "Could maybe get him a job here? Helm, I mean, not this pub."
Hal saws a chunk off a thick, juicy steak and just before he forks it into his mouth pauses. "Hey - you lot said you'd spent some time in Brookside, right?"

Hal staggers a step at Kazador's friendly slap, but grins back widely. "I appreciate your judgement master Kazador." he shakes his head "Seems strange to use real names."

At Mel's question he pauses "I'm afraid if I put it off I might not be able to raise the bal... will to do it at all. If I renegotiate it I can maybe get you a fortnight? Would that work? Otherwise I suppose I can hang around a bit" he sighs "It's certainly relaxing. Long as you promise to give me a kick in the pants when it is time.

Hal pauses for long moments after Mel speaks, then stands abruptly, and discretely wipes at his face with the back of his sleeve. "Right. Y'r right. Time ta flip the cards and see what hand I've been dealt, 'cos waitin's only gonna make it worse. I c'n change shape, and I c'n teleport, so promise me you'll explain it ta the Bishop and I'll go now."

He hesitates "Been a long time since anyone said anythin' like that about me. Long time since I had friends too. You lot need anythin', I'll leave a way ta call."

I've been frantically trying to come up with something poetic and uplifting to end Hal's story, but I just don't seem to be able to find it. I hope I am not bringing things down :(

This campaign has been amazing - both for roleplaying and story. I haunted it for a long time before joining. I almost applied back when it first started, actually started drafting a character but had too many games at the time - I regret not trying for back then.

This is definitely going to be one of the campaigns I remember forever. Thank you.

happy for him to use Unseen Crew if it helps, and probably a cavalcade of anti-scrying spells.

Hal's personality shifts as they sail. he starts busy, casting and carving, never letting himself stay still - but over time he seems to calm, and eventually spends most of his time on the deck looking out over the peaceful waves and passing terrain.

He starts, shocked when the others mentions their dreams. "I had a dream with a guy like that as well." he starts, a catch in his voice and tear in his eyes as he continues in a slow, tired voice. "It was such a... a nice dream. I dunno if it was about goin' home... I think it might've been?"
He shakes his head "I'm old. Oh, I know you've both lived longer than me, but... but I'm old. Even if I avoid every assassin and accident, I've not long left in me, I think. I've been using magic to keep meself spry - that works... but nothin' buys ya more time except the darkest o' magics. I always thought only a fool would go down those roads..."
"I wasn't a good person. I used ta think I wasn't even really bad, just sorta grey. The time in the mirror got me thinkin' though, and I reckon I was sauntering down a dark road that whole time. I'm trying ta be better... but I reckon death is not the end, and what's comin' for me after has me terrified."
He turns to Kaz "Y'r a good man. I can see ya spendin' ya life to rebuild, happy to go when the grey man comes for ya. I want ta do the same, try ta recapture the goods things I had in my life, even if not f'r long."
"I dunno what ta do. Do I go back, try ta take my wife and daughter ta somewhere safe and hide out? Do I take out the Reaps, try ta make up for what I did? Should I start lookin' for something in the First World that can give me another go round?"
His voice drops "When I went back... stuff... didn't add up. I don't even know how much I've been hallucinating. So, I adapted a charm to see clearly - meant to help 'gainst the Fair Folk. You... you lot are real. Might be the only real thing in my life, but real. You and this boat. That's what I know. I guess.. I guess I start from here."

Ah, in which case the complicated version of this probably doesn't work.

I'm thinking Hal gets a diminutive bird, hits it with greater magic aura for "just a bird" then possesses it. That'll let him scout, and he shouldn't trip any alarms (or Alarms) that wouldn't trip for a bird.
I've hold making any knowledge checks yet 'cos of this.
Not sure how useful scouting is going to be if we have a good map, and we are not going to emulate particular servants, so maybe we drop this one. The fact Hal then can't chat is a bit annoying as well.

Turns out there is a detect metal spell that could look for lead. Hal doesn't have it, but could fudge a single cast, albeit at cost. If he doesn't engage in anything that makes him break concentration he could probably keep it up for a good quarter of an hour or more.
This means shepherding him around, I guess, but I think the odds of finding a safe go through the roof (as for obvious reasons the spell is not stopped by the normal nonmagical materials)
There's no guarantee that Beaumont has a hidden lead lined stash, but it seems like something he'd do. if he doesn't then more conventional detections become viable.

Both of these are minor changes to the "break in via sewers" plan. Either can be done with essentially no prep.
I do not want to hold up the group!
That said I still haven't picked all Hal's spells, so he will need 30 minutes or so before they go in, ideally once he knows what to do.

Hal still has Brilliant Planner if someone can think of something clever, but I think we're down to Stealth and Disguise. Brilliant Planner for appropriate clothes might be good, but I'm guessing most of us can get around that anyway. Probably better to save it for something unexpected inside.

If Hal "Magic Aura"s everyone we could at least prank Beaumont by disguising everyone as a shapeshifted high level elven magister! More likely a bland "nothing to see here" aura would be the way to go.

I guess most of us are pretty good at blending in, and there are spells to help, but even if we know where we are going I think there might be a decent chance of tripping an Alarm spell or something.

Mind controlling a servant to escort us around and do passwords probably makes sense, but is not in Hal's bailiwick.

Few things.

1. Hal is the t-porter. He wants loot (see #2) and would quite like to Skin Tag anyone who is both alive and being taken away.
2. I went to check if Hal had gold and realised I had somehow forgotten to actually record how much money he had. I'm going to assume he spent every bent copper, and possibly went slightly into debt getting the silence dust.
3. Not sure if the Hallucinatory Decor is actually going to help much - I've got nothing that'll make it look the same and the spell gives very little control. Given Hal's issues, anyone looking to hard at the intricate carving might be in for a surprise, and I think the pillars are of young Harold and his wife.
4. Hal is actually pretty keen not to screw the Madame over for various reasons.
5. Was Turion laying a false trail?
6. Can someone please put the cover story for the Madame in discussion in simplified form? I'm a little worried I missed something
7. Do you want Hal to t-port back here, or is everyone meeting up at some other place?
8. Hal is pretty done in - what is the next step in our cunning plan?

I am! Sorry - Paizo seems to be having intermittent issues with my new computer.

As I said, Hal is more than happy to see the Viscount - and he'll even clean up if the party asks him to. Won't hold a grudge if asked to stay 'in reserve'.

Would like to flag a request for a few scenes. Some of these could be smushed into other scenes.
1. Group planning for what information they still need; remembering Hal's primary goal is killing the Reaps before they kill him or his family, and secondary is stopping a war. This may well be done with the Viscount. I know the group is pretty good at plotting from previous reading, but I'd like to have a plan I (the player) can refer back to.
2. Shopping/scribing montage.
3. (Potentially) Getting someone to deliver a message to his group so he can push for gossip on nobles and houses in order to get the information identified from #1.
4. (Potentially) Possible divination frenzy to try to get the information identified from #1.
5. Hal confronts his greatest fear; full length mirrors (or more accurately, extradimensional spaces).

On #5 I have Hal trying to purchase/make an untuned planar fork and then linking it to the material plane - once trapped helplessly forever in an extradimensional prison, twice shy. Mostly this'll just be background, but checking Plane Shift still works the same? So if he cast it he'd be lost hundreds of miles from home on the Material Plane, but at least he'd be on the Material Plane.
I figure once he's got that he'd be willing to push through and use spells like Mirror Tranport again.

...Which reminds me
@Mel: I use your Pathfinder Spell Facets site a ton. Hal is full of "1 CL if class X" and "spontaneously cast as Y". The site is really helpful! Thanks :)

I had to reread the grapple rules to remember how they worked. It said you couldn't cast spells with an S component if you were Pinned. From my reading the idea was at grappled you lost one hand, and at pinned you lost two.
That meant he could cast a spell, but not use a rod.
Am I reading it incorrectly?

Thanks Mel!
Dispel it is then, I think.

Okay, so a concentration check
(d20+CL+int) DC= (10+CMB+cast spell level).
and then a dispel check
dispel check (1d20 + your caster level) (DC = 11 + the spell's caster level)
Neither of these are ability, skill, save or attack checks, so very few buffs apply. Hero Point should work.
I can't help but feel I'm missing something obvious, but if the mechanics are what is here I'll roll this.

I'm certainly happy with that.

@Brookside GM: I agree invisibility won't trip the stated conditions for Hal's counterspell - essentially it'd be a waste.
Does Hal make the roll to know what in the hopefully-not-hells Túrion has called up? I'm being careful not to look...

I'm currently suspecting he'll either be chanting "Just a Hallus", run screaming out of the room, and/or introduce himself politely.

Look, any of these plans could work.

The issue with clairvoyance is that the sensor is static. On the other hand we could cast it more than once. I think the question here is how confident we can be in where the basement/tunnel would be, which might be an engineering check?

The disguise plan has the issue that they might have some form of immediate action they can take. If they go with that plan Hal will knock up a one off 'generic grubby man' disguise that fits with his greater magic (fake) aura.

Given I'm new, I don't want to be the one who makes the call!