Malum the Forsaken's page

And now it is April with nothing heard. :(

Yeah, I thought we had some lovely group energy. Now we may never know if Felrin is alive in the hole or not... :)

Looks like no posts since the 2nd of March... hope he is okay.

Are we slowing down? Seems very limited posts the last little bit... but maybe that is me. Obviously we shouldn't have let Felrin get 'eaten' by the pit trap... alas, we need to rescue his body so I can have his boots... :)

Since Malum doesn't seem to notice any immediate effect he reaches over and knocks on the lid of the trap (or peers in) to see if Felrin is still alive.
Bang, Bang, Bang, "Anyone still alive down there?"

"Oh, oh, that can't be good..."
Malum looks around to see if the pressure plate triggered any changes.

Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Maybe I missed something, did Iz fall into the trap as well?

Since Twigs seems to think it is safe... Malum walks over the pressure plate to look down the hole where Felrin disappeared. I guess we will find out if it is safe or not right away... :)
"Hallo, is there anyone still alive down there?"

Not to worry, we are waiting for something to eat you so I can get your boots... :)
So we need to take our sweet time rescuing you...

"So you would defend Mitra torturing his loyal followers... yet you then bemoan being imprisioned? Your faith is weak and you then blame me for my trust in Mitra being broken? You are a hippocrite, maybe we should just leave you here!"

Malum sighs.
"I do not fear if your Lord Balin hears this from me, maybe it would be a blessing to let this all end. And there is no threat from Branderscar." Malum will look at Timeon and slowly a look astonishment upon his face appears.

"Could it be that you have not heard? Branderscar has fallen, followers of the Dark Prince managed an escape and butchered all the loyal guards. Then they even set fire to the place. The rumours have been flying that the Sergeant of the Guard Thomas, Tommy, Tom, some 'T' name, was corrupt and helped them in the escape. We live in dark times Timeon, I fear the light of Mitra is setting upon Talingarde, when a bastion of justice such as Branderscar falls."

Malum will walk into the room in his disguise... as a stonemason.

Raising his hands in the air in despair... "It is no use, Mitra has abandoned us in this time of need, and has now allowed our good friend get swallowed up by the floor, by the floor! Even the stonework is out to get us! My lively hood is now against us as well!
Malum slumps down on the floor and cries.

"How can Mitra be so powerless? How can Mitra forsake us!"

After another spurt of tears, Malum gets up and wipes his eyes and has a wild look in his eyes.
"If Mitra has forsaken us! Then I shall forsake Mitra! I shall find some other deity who is worth my devotion! Some deity that cares for their worshippers!"

Malum looks startled to realize he is in the room as he sees the boy-under-glass. "Oh, forgive my outburst. I am called Mulam, a humble stonemason. It has been a rough week. I've lost my job, my family and now I'm here."

Malum looks the glass cage over, the one holding Timeon, all the while eyeballing the lad.

Would he make a good slave? Profession (Slaver) 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

"Ah Fel, the problem with that solution is that it is pretty final. We would lose his 'trust' either way. Maybe he has info for us, or perhaps better is that if his master is also here, his presence would allow us to surprise the fellow. Perhaps we could even convince the fellow that Mitra has abandoned him and turn him to our cause. The most effective way to remove an enemy is to make him your friend."
Malum grins at the last bit, and if he wasn't disguised as a commoner, it would be a truly evil grin, instead is merely a bit mean.

Pulling at his chin he contemplates Felrin's comments about the snakes. "You are quite right Fel, we don't know what those things are. We may need to look at them a bit closer, it would behoove us not to underestimate Thorn and his trials."

"I concur with Numair, let us not be hasty about this. After all, if Thorn has brought him, then his master is probably here as well."

Knowledge Nobility 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24 to know anything about this Sir Balin

"Since those creatures look like snakes and are acting like snakes... maybe we can 'treat' them like snakes by trapping them in a bag or other container. They might prove useful later on."

Malum whispers "It seems to be a trap of some sort with the poor fellow as the bait and the snakes as the 'teeth' so to speak. I would suggest that it would be to our tactical advantage to fight the snakes back here, if we need to fight them."

To emphasis his point about 'tactical' Malum shows his holy symbol of Dispater to the group before tucking it away. The implication being not to demonstrate divine abilities that are obviously not of Mitra to the victim-under-glass.

Malum whispers back to Felrin "Wait a moment Felrin. Trust is pretty wide range of options, but what if the intent is for us to 'gain' someone's trust. Since Twigs still looks... disreputable is the best word I have for it, it might be harder to gain their trust. I suggest we wait until he uses his amulet to look harmless like the rest of us before we open the door, or failing that, have him move away from line of sight until we know what we are dealing with. On the other hand, maybe we are supposed to 'trust' what is ever on the other side of the door."

Malum looks over at Izabelle and whispers again "Do you concur?"

When we are all ready to have Felrin open the door, Malum will cast virtue on Felrin, probably as he casts resistance on himself.

After Felrin isn't immediately eaten by monsters in the dark Malum will follow him in.
"Ah, the darkness looks fine, Felrin hasn't been eaten yet."

Rubbing his chin, Malum looks thoughtfully at Gil. "I think we might be making an assumption that the Ravens were given the same test as us. Instead I think we should only work with the facts before us, that someone went through here and did not return."

Malum will stick his head into the darkness to see if he can track Felrin's movements for the rest of the group.

Malum will follow Felrin to look into the 'dark' room that has frightened poor Gil... :)

Malum gives Gil the stink eye. "And if I tried the door and it was another trap, how long do you suppose I would need to wait for the lot of you to come looking for me. I would rather do the exploration as a group, my trip to the first room was to see if anything obvious had changed."
As Gil heads towards the first room Malum will tilt his head inquiringly... "And how long should we wait to follow up to check if you are still breathing?"

"Nothing seems to have changed in the first room, although I didn't try opening the door over the spike trap."

I have a busy couple of days coming up starting today, not sure how often I will get to post until Sunday.

Malum will move towards the first room to see if there are any obvious changes.

Sadly it looks like the new boots will have to wait. Very sad. :)

Malum bows his head in prayer.

Malum stops as he observes Felrin getting 'wrapped' up in work. Malum will look at the chains and see if he can spot a weakness.

Profession (Slaver): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

"Felrin, do not panic! Do not become grated tiefling!
Inspiring Words for Felrin, +2 to attack rolls/saves/skills/etc, it should help him get free and help him to avoid panicking. :)

Malum will watch Felrin move down the hallway. Then he will follow. Malum will attempt to avoid the majority of chains.

Cast virtue for +1 temp hp, then move down the hallway in Felrin's wake.

Hehe, I think we are all waiting for Izabelle to finish her 'suggestion' as to what happens next... :)

"Hmm, interesting idea Izabelle. Felrin, may I borrow your blade."
With the borrowed blade Malum makes a small cut in his hand. He then smears the blood over the plaque.
"Blood for the master of contracts! Blood to reveal that which is hidden! Blood to bind those in his service!"

Malum looks at the blood smeared plaque obviously anticipating something to happen.

"Well, it seems like Felrin has put our options into perspective. Is the lever a 'Red Herring'? Distracting us from moving forward. I would recommend that we NOT pull the lever. Once it is pulled it may put something into action that cannot be undone."

"Or perhaps we need to pull the lever to know what the test is."

Well since it is Malum's Folly, obviously I should run thru and spring whatever trap there is...
On second thought, maybe I won't do that. Maybe I'll just cower while the rest of you figure it out... :)

While folks discuss the merits of bringing down the wall, Malum will run his fingers across and around the plaque to see if there is anything hidden around it.

Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19

"Hmm, are we to try and guess the message, or maybe they forgot to put down instructions, which as I say it aloud sounds unlikely. That there is a lever hear implies that someone may need to stay and 'work' the lever depending on what is in the room."

Malum scratches his head for a moment.
"Hmm, maybe the plaque is deliberately blank, as in we won't be able to observe the threat inside the room...

Once the door is open, Malum will follow the rest of the party thru, somewhat quickly so as to not let the 'heat-sponge' regrow.

Malum will be the cold shield for Numair and Twigs.

"Well now that is one 'cold shoulder' kind of mold. I suppose we could light it up, but it seems to react to body heat, so I'm not sure what will happen when we apply fire to it."

Malum will hold off channelling evil to heal Gil until we get through the door, just in case we need to 'heal' someone else as well.

"Felrin, can you identify what kind of mold or fungus that is?"

I suggest we just beat the 'gatekeeper' into submission and have him open the door... nothing like having a 'trap detector' eh? :)

Malum looks over at Izabelle "What cold? It seems perfectly fine to me."

"Hmm, 'following the herd is for fools'... to me this would imply the next room has an 'obvious' exit. Which if this plaque is accurate is some sort of 'icy' trap. Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it."

"I don't think that Tiadora is his concubine... she doesn't strike me as the type to be a kept woman. Maybe she is more like his dominatrix as she seems to like to inflict pain. Perhaps I'm just reading more into it than there is. She could be just like us, serving the Cardinal from a different contract. I'm just grateful that she isn't in our chain of command as it were."
Malum dusts off some of the frost that struck his arm. He seems none the worst for wear.

I have the AP, only skimmed through it. It seems okay, has a lot of NPCs that the GM gets to juggle (unless they die of course... :)

Malum jumps as Twigs drops the crystal.

Reflex DC 15 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 1 = 17
Fort DC 12 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Cold Resist of 5, so Malum takes nothing.

"Twigs, I would strongly suggest you wipe the butter off your fingers before trying to pick up any additional 'shiny' objects that catch you eye!"

Malum watches Twigs' conflict as to reach for the shiny or not.

Well this should be instructive, either it will help 'cure' Twigs of reaching for things he shouldn't or it will encourage him to keep being impulsive. I'm kind of curious as to which it will be.

Malum seems to lean back a bit and there seems to be a twinkle in his eye and a bit of anticipatory smile as he watches Twigs reach for the 'shiny'.

"I think we should take nothing for granted while we are here. The test seems to be can we avoid being deceived. As such the obvious solution is probably incorrect."
Malum peers into the room.
"I would suspect that either the pedestal or the door are supposed to gather our attention, and thus deceive us from something else."
Malum will peer at the floor and see if there are any footprints. Maybe the White Ravens have left clues when they went thru.
Perception 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
Malum will leave the inspection of the door/pedestal to the trapfinders.

Malum scratches his head. "Hmm, personally I think bringing Grumblejack would be good experience, both for him and us in working together. But, it seems that we are going without him. I suppose we might as well see what is below."

Hope you feel better Fyren.

Well it all depends... is the family good or evil? :)

Malum goes and collects his gear and waits for the others to arrive.

And my trip away from the office is now cancelled...

Just got word that I'll be out of town for upto a week. Don't know if I'll have internet access or not. :(