Search Posts
Having heard no information to make her think otherwise, Henrika relies on her familiar tactics and takes another step to flank one of the remaining statues with Malphene. She swings her enchanted sword at her new opponent, deciding to forgo its attempts to parry the cryptguards' powerful blows.
I'll say! :D
Henrika frowns in consternation, not sure why she cannot connect with the large, lumbering hunk of stone. Perhaps she is distracted by her concern for Tychus. She looks around briefly to make sure he isn't somehow invisible or hiding in the shadows. Shaking her head, she again focuses on her opponent.
Henrika briefly concentrates and causes mirror images of herself to appear, absorbing the blows that the statue aims at her. She swings her sword again, hacking off chunks of the animate stone guardian.
Henrika steps quickly towards the closest statue and swings at it while it is still animating, seizing her advantage. She tries glaring at it with her hypnotic stare.
Henrika listens carefully to try and detect any movement in the immediate area.
With the revelation that there are indeed traps, Henrika implants one of her mesmerist tricks in Icabhod, Trevor, and Xallis: Astounding Avoidance.
Henrika asks Jack to remain at the entrance and watch their backs. She casts several spells before they proceed.
She steps forward, as if anxious to see what is ahead, but then apparently thinks better of it. "We must be wary of hidden hazards left here to guard the tomb," she says. "Perhaps we should go forward with care, our eyes active?"
Please keep us posted how you’re doing when you can, Peachbottom!
Henrika is absolutely delighted at this development, and fulsome in her praise of Lord Tychus at the various subsequent celebrations. She reminisces to all who listen about how his cool head and insightful aim have taken down scores of Taldor's enemies. "I am honored by your offer, Lord Kalbio," she responds to the new baron with a deep bow, "And I would be happy to share with you my knowledge and experience of the ways of the aristocracy, having myself descended from a noble lineage."
Jack grins. "Wish I could hear the green and pickled cries of envy when your uncle learns of your new title, Ren," he says with a wink.
Henrika speaks up as the team discusses their options. "I myself am inclined to work with the people, though it may be that we will have more success as a group by focusing on charming the Viscount. If we are agreed that this is the best way to ensure Eutropia's safety and proceed with our quest, I will swallow my bile at helping someone who appears at first blush to be an odious lordling."
I realized this morning that Henrika already has a +1 luck bonus to her saves, so the Band would be less mechanically effective on her than anyone else! Bartelby’s the only PC without a relic— I think the Band should go to him.
Henrika speaks up quickly, anxious to show her worth as an agent of the Crown by asking useful questions. "What should we do with the other grave goods and objects we find in the tomb, once we locate the mantle and reinvent the ritual? Does the Pathfinder Society have a prior claim on its artifacts and treasures?"
If no one else wants it, Henrika can wear the Band of the Crusader's Alliance. A +2 luck bonus to common Fort-based saves would certainly help her frontliner defenses. 5 scrolls of Aram Zey's Focus which investigators can cast. It sucks, but investigators (unlike alchemists) do not count as having any spells on their spell list, so the only way they can cast scrolls or wands is with Use Magic Device.
Henrika assigns some of her agents to remain behind in Zimar as they travel to Meratt, tasking them with attempting to learn what became of her team that was lost while investigating the hags. One group explores the shop in excruciating detail, looking for signs that Henrika might have missed. The other group remains at Abadar's Pillar still acting as soldiers, and they attempt to influence the other inhabitants to convert to Eutropia's cause.
Henrika also works with Xallis and Bartelby, marveling at the summoner's knowledge of arcane magic and wondrous items. Though she has been skeptical of Bartelby's changed loyalties, watching him work creates a positive impression in her, and she allows that she may have been mistaken about him. She also compliments Navia on her new, puissant capabilities and size. She particularly enjoys seeing how mystic runes augment his arcane magic. Jack hangs around too, but his time is focused on Navia and Bartelby, and he asks them many questions about influencing and intimidating others. He encourages them to demonstrate their prowess, and he seems to really enjoy learning new tricks from them, dirty and otherwise. He also keeps an eye on Icabhod's suddenly twitchier hand, and it reminds him of some of the roguish types that he used to employ when he was out of favor with the Karthris household. For his own pride of skills, he practices stealing items himself a little too.
If there isn't anything else worthwhile, can Henrika use her Persona phase to charm or inspire her followers help with crafting magic items? If we're concerned we don't have enough time for Bartelby and Xallis to craft everything we want, that might reduce the number of hours needed?
With the items currently marked for sale, we should each get around 27,000 gp to spend. Of course, there's also a few big-ticket treasures that I didn't check off because I don't know if anyone wants to keep them to use. These include: bracers of armor +5, greater book of extended summoning (lawful), orb of golden heaven, silent metamagic rod, spectacles of understanding, +1 human-bane dagger, band of the crusader's alliance, primogen rod, gold holy symbol of Abadar, and candle of invocation. As we've got downtime, I wonder if Xallis and Bartelby would be willing to help Henrika craft a few magic items? She wants to upgrade her headband of alluring charisma +4 to +6, which would cost 10,000 gp. She'd also like to upgrade her armor's enhancement bonus from +3 to +4, which would cost another 3,500 gp. Finally, she'd like a 2nd and a 3rd level runestone of power, which would cost 13,000 gp total for both, and which she'd give to Xallis to use to cast barkskin and heroism on her. If we get enough additional gold from selling loot, she'd increase the armor's enhancement bonus to +5 for another 4,500 gp, and buy a wand of remove fear for 750 gp. I'm not sure what to use our persona phase for. Can we use it to wrap up things in Zimar, perhaps encouraging the remaining templars to follow Rafien and the soldiers to follow Eutropia? Or, can we use it to sway public opinion towards Eutropia in other parts of Taldor, now that Pythareus has been arrested?
I went through the treasure spreadsheet and moved some things around between Henrika and Jack, and also marked some things for sale now that we're back in Meratt. I was thinking I should look into commissioning a few runestones of power to give to Xallis, to allow him to cast barkskin and heroism on Henrika more often. I also think I should find her a wand of remove fear, since she has much better spells to cast with her 1st-level slots.
"Of course, milady," Henrika hastily replies. "I only bring it up because some of Maxillar Pythareus's supporters believed that his claim was superior to yours. But I suppose doubt will always follow those who stand to gain from the former High Strategos's rise." Embarrassed, she realizes that she was close to encouraging the Grand Princess to fabricate documents, and that Eutropia must distance herself from such nefarious activities. Such counsel is not seemly, even in private, she chides herself. Henrika bows to the young prince, glad to see he is adapting well to his new circumstances.
"What has become of Carrius, Your Highness?" Henrika asks carefully. "With the strange events surrounding your brother's return, I wonder if your father, treated well, might be persuaded to more clearly establish his line of succession for the good of Taldor. A document declaring you as his heir would settle a lot of potential battles in this War for the Crown that we are fighting."
Henrika sighs deeply. "I cannot advise you to execute your father, Your Highness, despite his many blatant crimes. He acts as if afflicted with a heart-sickness, or rather a sickness of the mind, perhaps. Some of his symptoms are shadows familiar to me from hours spent with mine own aging parent. Likewise I would not counsel exile, for sending him away seems to me like a crueler form of death-sentence or imprisonment; I do not believe he will long survive without regular care-- and if he is looked after in exile, why not imprison him closer to home? My mother lives in something like imprisonment, sedated and senile but not in pain or anguish. The worst of her mistreatment is solitude, which while it is true it causes me guilt and worry, I feel it is better than the alternatives."
"Sir Xallis," Henrika addresses the summoner through her whispered message spell, "if you are willing to transport yourself, Navia, and the grand prince to the Palace of Birdsong to meet Eutropia, the rest of us can return to Waterhill Manor and see to our departure from Zimar via more conventional means. Perhaps Bartelby can ensure that the former High Strategos and our Opparan allies are similarly transported past the city walls to avoid bothersome questions?"
Henrika level 13 +10 hp (+5 HD, +4 CON, +1 FCB)
* For some reason song of discord isn't listed on the mesmerist spell list, but greater song of discord is. I imagine this is a mistake, since song of discord is basically a bard-specific improved version of confusion and mesmerist gets confusion at the same level bards do. Is it okay if Henrika takes this spell? Falchion Jack level 11 +9 hp (+6 HD, +2 CON, +1 Toughness)
* Since Jack is likely to use Intimidate more now that he wears a relic that encourages it, I'd like to retrain his skills out of Ride and Handle Animal and into Intimidate and Sleight of Hand if that's all right?
Henrika blinks several times as she composes her thoughts. She does her best not to react to the grand prince's aggressions, like a good soldier. She looks to the others, calculating various methods that they might deal with this problem. "I think we should find a way to return the Grand Prince to Eutropia's care without making it apparent to anyone else who he is," she murmurs through her message spell. "This may mean that we will have to remain here overnight to recover the spells necessary to transport him to the Palace of Birdsong."
Henrika nods politely to the guard. "Thank you, sergeant. We will take custody of the prisoners."
Henrika considers Rafien's response. "Would you agree that it would be fair to imprison them where you are now? As the temple is now empty, I think it would be best if we left someone here to tend to it, for there are those of our number who follow the Master of the First Vault. We would not wish for devotion to Abadar to founder in your brothers' absence. Would you be willing to take up the mantle? Or has your treatment entirely driven you away from your faith?"
Henrika grunts, with a piercing look at Tychus. "Iovinus is dead, and only two templars remain unconscious and under guard after clashing with us in the courtyard. They refused to yield to the lawful order, seeking instead to avenge Pythareus. As you seem to be the last of the Vault and Chain here in the fortress, what do you think should happen to them?"
Henrika nods to the prisoner. "We are here on the authority of the Lion Blades and Princess Eutropia, and we have captured the former High Strategos Maxillar Pythareus and transported him to Oppara to await trial. Now we are in the process of securing the fortress and collecting evidence for or against him. We will examine the records kept here, but you may speak on your own behalf if you wish to tell us why you have been seized and what crimes you have been accused of committing."
Henrika wheels and charges at the remaining zelekhut, dodging its flailing appendages as best she can.
She attempts to fix it with her hypnotic stare before she swings her sword. She instinctively draws upon her Lion Blades training to ensure her attacks get through its defenses.
Henrika rushes after the zelekhut, unwilling to slow her speed but still attempting to dodge its attacks.
She tries to fix it with her hypnotic stare . She swings wildly with her longsword, sacrificing accuracy in an attempt to deal heavy damage.
Henrika adds 9 to the yellow templar's damage from the coin shot and 9 from the breath weapon with her painful stare. She activates both Trevor's and Jack's Astounding Avoidance trick, preventing 9 damage to each of them.
Henrika casts confusion on the clump of templars, and then hustles back towards the second zelekhut, attempting to tumble past its reactionary attacks.
Henrika casts placebo effect on Navia . Then, she rushes forward towards the templars, fixing one of them with her hypnotic gaze. She turns to face the clockwork creatures, and gestures imperiously toward them. Gambling that their declaration might be turned against them, she cries out in a loud voice, "Stop! Put up your weapons! We have arrested Maxillar Pythareus for high crimes against the people of Taldor! He has been transported to the senate building in Oppara to await trial. For the good of the country, he has surrendered himself to our custody and temporarily relinquished all titles, offices, and suzerainty associated with the throne. We are duly authorized agents acting on behalf of Princess Eutropia, who you must agree is the next in line now that the former High Strategos has been removed. Do not rebel against the rightful authority here!"
How about we go to the general prison first, since the captain advised us to go there? I suppose we'll bring the golem with us, although Henrika doesn't feel worthy to give it commands. (I'd imagine Xallis or Bartleby would gladly order it around, though! Possibly Tychus would claim authority as a devotee of Abadar.)
Have we explored everywhere in the upstairs keep? If no, we should proceed searching the rooms. If yes, I think we should head to the prison.
Henrika shakes her head. "This is not our decision alone. We might not want to share this information with the Lion Blades, but at the very least we should bring it to Eutropia and Martella. The princess deserves to know." She scowls. "Is this what Pythareus was hinting at once he was overcome? His fall means that he has no reason to keep this secret any more. It will be difficult to suppress rumors if he is actively working to spread her illegitimacy."
Henrika looks at Tychus. "Pythareus claims to be a devout follower of Abadar, so it would make sense if his vault guardian has been instructed not to attack those who display Abadar's holy symbol. But then again, I doubt that he would have trusted all members of his faith with his treasury. I fear we will have to fight it to claim the riches within." When they are ready to proceed, Henrika casts battlemind link on herself and Jack.
Henrika frowns. "I do not think we should leave behind the contents of Pythareus's treasure vault, guardian or no. Such incredible wealth could make all the difference to Eutropia's claim, and those documents could include more evidence against the former High Strategos or his followers." She looks around the group. "Does anyone know anything about this creature? How do we defeat it?"
Henrika moves carefully through the smoke when she sees the first construct fall. She almost runs into Trevor before she sees the other one past the haze, and when she hears Jack's chuckle she attempts to tumble past its defenses to put herself opposite her friend and mentor.
She lines up a slash against the aggressive machinery and takes her shot.
Henrika steps forward into the smoke and swings her enchanted sword at one of the constructs. Unless we can dissipate the smoke, the sound strategy is to try to deal as much damage as possible, I suspect, she thinks. Seeing that her enemies are throwing projectiles, she guesses that they are relatively nimble machines, and decides to try to feint them. She slashes through the cloud at the creature's legs, trying to provoke an evasion that she and her colleagues can exploit.
Henrika: Would you be interested a a genuine piece of the Starstone? Iomdae herself touched it when she ascended. Sorry, I don't get the joke. :) I know things are less funny if you have to explain them, though.
"Thank you, captain," Henrika says calmly with a small bow from the neck. "Your choice is commendable, and we will ensure that your actions are communicated to the proper authorities. Will you take care of Lieutenant Kane's remains? Despite his decision to join his commander's rebellion, we would prefer that his body reach his family so that they may properly honor his memory. I would ask that you do the same for the other soldiers that we, regrettably, had to put down to capture our quarry. We will do our best to prevent further bloodshed, but as you say, there are some here who will resist us. I would hope that someone, if not you, would see to the proprieties as the acting steward of Abadar's Pillar." She scratches her head. "May I ask, captain-- As part of our mission, we must carefully search the fortress for additional evidence that could be used to exonerate or further incriminate Maxillar Pythareus. For example, before his capture, the former High Strategos mentioned a prisoner that he was keeping here under his own personal supervision, and he indicated that this prisoner possesses certain information that would be valuable to his defense at trial. We would like to bring this person with us to the Lion Blades for testimony. Will you allow us to do so, with our promise that we will not allow them to come to harm in our custody?"
Henrika shrugs. "We have his armor; here's his helmet. You know he was wearing it when he left you. The lawful thing to do is to stand down. Seeking retribution before his trial would suggest you are his accomplices, and I doubt you knew about most of the crimes that he admitted he committed. Meticulously documented false flag operations against Taldane soldiers, as my colleague says. For the good of Taldor, captain, I implore you as the highest-ranking officer here remaining, let you and your soldiers peacefully depart. Without your commanders, there is nothing left in the fortress for you to secure, is there?"
Henrika nods politely to Patrika. "I will explain, but you should know that Maxillar Pythareus has been captured and taken to Oppara to stand trial for his many crimes. Captain Thrain is with him. Unfortunately, Lieutenant Kane resisted arrest and fell in the line of duty. The former High Strategos had been acting erratically in the last few weeks, and so his high commanders contacted the Lion Blades. They gave up their renegade overlord for the good of Taldor, providing enough hard evidence of his misdeeds to make a Senate trial a mere formality. To protect them from retribution, we have taken their places to finish securing the fortress." She gestures to Trevor, providing the cleric an opening to convince the soldiers and their captain to stand down.
Once everyone is ready to continue, Henrika offers Trevor Maxillar's signet ring. "If we can convince the remaining soldiers to parley rather than fight, this may strengthen our arguments that the former High Strategos has been captured. As you are the most accomplished diplomat of all of us, Sir Trevor, I think you should carry it." She casts false life and heightened awareness on herself, and Hermean potential on Trevor. When she learns they are likely to fight another magus, she also implants Astounding Avoidance in Jack and Trevor. Though they keep Maxillar's distinctive armor with them for more proof that Maxillar is taken, they decide that Jack should not don it just yet, as the Chief Enumerator's golden armor will help him maintain his disguise once the scroll wears off.
Then (if no one has any other suggestions) they head into the next room, with Henrika, Jack, and Icabhod taking the lead.
Henrika bought and cast a level 3 scroll of disguise self and a scroll of disguise other for Jack. Both of these would have lasted 30 minutes. I believe Icabhod drank an extract of disguise self which would have lasted 120 minutes, so his is probably still active. But if Icabhod is the only one of us in a credible disguise, it might be better not to try subterfuge. I had originally suggested buying a wand of disguise other, but I decided it wasn't worth the cost if only Henrika was using it.
Henrika considers. "I suggest that we make securing the High Strategos our highest priority. His safe capture will produce the most political capital for our cause. If Sir Xallis can coordinate with Kathann and transport Maxillar Pythareus directly to her while we recover our strength, we may not need to delay our continued assault at all." She draws out rope and ties up both of their prisoners.
I was waiting to see if the consensus is to follow my plan. If we do, I don't know if we would be better off waiting for all the cohorts to come back or if we should continue without them. Waiting an hour would mean we'd lose many of our buffs, but we'd ensure that Maxillar gets back to Oppara. That's certainly worth it to me. And we couldn't teleport them back in unless we get a scroll or something. But maybe we could have the cohorts meet us at the gate after we're done clearing the keep we're currently in?
Any ideas for how we deal with Maxillar? He's probably the most valuable thing in this fortress as far as our cause goes. My suggestion is for Bartleby to recall dimension door and use it to teleport a manacled Maxillar out, to smuggle the High Strategos to a safehouse while we contact the Lion's Blades and secure Abadar's Pillar. Based on my reading of the spell, I think Bartleby has to be one of the four characters transported by the spell, but if we decide not to kill Thrain (and I don't think we should), Jack or Malphene could go along to help. Arguably both of them could go if they can carry the weight of Thrain's body between them. If we can't get him out before we take on the rest of the fortress, it might be enough to tie him up and carry him with us as we ascend to higher levels of the keep, with the plan to leave him imprisoned in his chambers or somewhere else that looks difficult to escape, as it seems less likely that other soldiers would come across him up there. Do we want to go in guns blazing through the rest of the fort, or do we want to use some subterfuge/diplomacy? We seem to do pretty well with subterfuge, especially since Henrika, Jack, and Icabhod still have active disguises. If we keep hold of Maxillar's signet ring we might be able to convince other lieutenants or advisors that he has been taken and that they should stand down. Maybe we can round up all the soldiers in the yard and convince them to surrender? If they recognize us as intruders, though, we might not be able to talk before fighting, and I'm certain that there are some defenses here that can't be bluffed or reasoned with and that we will have to brute force our way through. We also know from Baron Astor that there is a prisoner kept here important enough that no one but Maxillar knows who they are.
Henrika briefly considers staying at the stairs to make sure that the High Strategos cannot flee, but she decides that it would be better for their cause to show bravery and strength of purpose, rather than anything that can be construed as cowardice. She raises an eyebrow when Kane says he will serve Pythareus "as long as he draws breath." "Does that mean you will change sides once he is defeated?" she teases. "I warn you, that may not be enough to save your reputation. Taldor has a long memory for those who betray her people." She turns back to Maxillar. "A last stand is all very well, but I imagine it will gall you for your time imprisoned that your last act as High Strategos was to flee for the stairs, your cape streaming behind you like tears. For many, this account will be another sign of your unworthiness." She steps up to him. "This sound is the knell of justice; listen well as it rings your end!"
She makes a wide, predictable arc towards her opponent's neck with her sword held in both hands, hoping to see him flinch away. When he brings his battle-ax up to parry, she slices inside his guard, aiming to cut a gash across his forehead instead.
As he falls to his knees, dazed and finally unconscious, she glares at Kane again, as if asking him what he will do now. |
