I was assuming that it looks somewhat freshly dead(still covered in flesh and skin, ect). Is that accurate? Also, do any of us have any idea what this creature may be? I have a knowledge religion of +11, though I don't mind if you roll for me so I don't necessarily know how well I did.
Yes, Artimus, it appears to be a more-or-less whole corporeal undead. Knowledge (Religion): gives you all the standard undead information. The closest you've seen to something like this is a wight, but wights are physically tougher than this appears to be. (If you were to ask a necromancer, she might say that the negative energy fuels a wight's musculature, but replaces the need for muscles in the hanged man.) Given the proximity to either the temple of Orcus or the Desolation itself, this may be an entirely new form of unliving pest.
At this sight, Alia bares her teeth and snarls savagely raising her bow.
While the bow starts singing its death song, Swiftpaws stands by, hair raised with a similar expression, ready to pounce on the dead man.
Full attack for Alia with a 5 foot back-step afterwards.
1st Attack with deadly aim, point blank shot manyshot and rapid shot
, damage + damage
2nd Attack with deadly aim, point blank shot and rapid shot , damage
3rd Attack with deadly aim, point blank shot , damage
And delay for Swiftpaws which is just behind her. Alia will order him to attack once the undead is engaged in melee.
Four shots, straight on, drop the thing. The instant he goes down, the rope from the gallows falls to the ground as well.
Four shots, straight on, drop the thing. The instant he goes down, the rope from the gallows falls to the ground as well.
Still snarling, Alia moves warily to the corpse, draws her scimitar and chops the head then crushes the ribcage to take the heart out. If left to her devices, she will methodically dislocate the arms and legs and cut them off, lost in her fury.
Once done, she takes a step back, and whispers in a cold voice "I hate them."
"Thankyou" I say to Alia.
Undead give me the creeps.
I don't suppose the Orcus cultists are watching again...?
When the creature falls, Artimus will take the action to look over it again to see if it seems to still be emanating evil, or if it is now fading. He will glance to Durnast. "Does it still live? Or, un-live?"
He has little enough issue with Alia severing the head or even removing the heart to ensure it does not rise again, but he will step forward and rest a hand on her shoulder before she completely dismembers it. "It is done, Alia."
The creature is dead. Deceased. It is an ex-undead.
The temple doors are closed. Orcus' thralls keep late hours. After five or ten minutes, Hetman comes 'round to clean up the remains. "Be seein' you," he says pleasantly.
Now?
"You really need to be checking bodies more carefully.
How many times have you tried to bury this guy anyways?"
I also ask about who the "Cheater" was, who he cheated, etc.
Oh - and mention that the ghoul (or whatever) didn't quite finish his meal near the well.
"So... To find our lost companions then?"
"You really need to be checking bodies more carefully.
How many times have you tried to bury this guy anyways?"
I also ask about who the "Cheater" was, who he cheated, etc.
Oh - and mention that the ghoul (or whatever) didn't quite finish his meal near the well.
Hetman's expression is winsome. "This is the first time I've been able to get close enough to the bastard.
Who was he? Don't rightly know. I don't imagine anybody 'round here knows. He appeared in Camp 'bout two weeks ago, and every night, he'd be drinkin' his fill at the Sip o' Blood, and you could see his eyes gettin' narrower and meaner each night.
"The Usurer caught him cheatin' at cards and strung him up four days ago, right about the time that expedition party came in from the south, and his damned rope kept me away every time I came near.
"Thanks for the head's up 'bout the body over there."
--+--+--
The Bender Brothers' boarding house is on the west side of town. A gnome walks up to greet you; he looks tired, like he's been up for a while with the kind of morning chores that a figure of his size would find strenuous. When you ask after Jylan and Chyressa, he frowns.
"No, we have a couple of hobgoblins staying here, but nobody matching your description."
At this sight, Alia bares her teeth and snarls savagely raising her bow.
While the bow starts singing its death song, Swiftpaws stands by, hair raised with a similar expression, ready to pounce on the dead man.
Full attack for Alia with a 5 foot back-step afterwards.
1st Attack with deadly aim, point blank shot manyshot and rapid shot
1d20+15 , damage 1d8+13 + damage 1d8+13
2nd Attack with deadly aim, point blank shot and rapid shot 1d20+15 , damage 1d8+13
3rd Attack with deadly aim, point blank shot 1d20+10 , damage 1d8+13And delay for Swiftpaws which is just behind her. Alia will order him to attack once the undead is engaged in melee.
That's my best damage possible.
"Long night? Ah well... Alia? Your dog pick up any scent of them?"
I was going to try a Locate Object, but then I find out I didn't make a scroll of it. Oh well.
Cam is inside an unfastened pouch of my Handy Haversack (able to breath/ peek out/ fly out at will)
BTW, I like Hetman's character :-)
Artimus will approach the gnome, since it seemed to have liked him when he first entered the inn before. He will give the tired gnome a smile. "Are you so certain about the two, my friend? It does appear that you are quite worn from your work and that does make it difficult to remember such unimportant details. If you wish, I could help you some. Perhaps if you catch your breath you will be able to remember where they went from here. I'd be happy to continue to help so you can put your feet up for a bit while my friends wake those two and they get ready for the day."
Diplomacy
"Long night? Ah well... Alia? Your dog pick up any scent of them?"
At the poor choice of words, Alia tenses the articulates clearly " Swiftpaws is no dog. Do I call you slave ? We of the wolf run free and he is with me of his free choice."
"But I hear your mind behind your words and I will ask him. Swiftpaws, can you scent the veiled woman or the warrior that fought with us when the sun was sleeping ?"
Handle animal check
"Swiftpaws, can you scent the veiled woman or the warrior that fought with us when the sun was sleeping ?"Handle animal check 1d20+13
Swiftpaws drops his nose to the ground and starts sniffing at the doorstep and the packed earth around.
Survival check
After a few moments, he stops and whines as he hasn't found anything.
You might have some Racial scent bonuses in there too...
The gnome squints fiercely at Artimus, as if it were difficult to see him. "Listen, I tell you. We ain't seen nobody like that here. Nobody. Now, get yourselves gone."
Behind him, inside the door, you see another short figure, busy about the days chores.
Artimus will glance towards the others and squint his eyes a bit in case they hadn't noticed, suspecting that the gnome's eyes aren't so great.
"My thanks to you, good sir."
Artimus will bypass the gnome, moving over to the other and trying to keep down his voice a bit so as not to offend gnome, altering his question slightly for the same reason.
"Excuse me friend, perhaps you could be of some assistance. We have two friends we are trying to find who were heading into your establishment last night, I was hoping you may have seen them. Your friend said they are not here now, but perhaps they were here yesterday and you may have seen them."
He will then give him a description of Jylan and Chyr.
Actually, the first gnome shifts to the side and blocks your way past. He's much faster than your first impression would suggest.
After you call out to the other figure, it comes out of the shadows, and appears to be a perfect duplicate of the gnome who checked your progress. (You were sure the gnome you've been talking to is the fellow you spoke with yesterday. Now, you're not at all certain.) This gnome is wearing a heavy leather apron and holding a cleaning rag.
The first gnome sputters. "I didn't say they aren't here now. I said, the. haven't. been. here. We ain't seen 'em!" He's pretty upset.
The second gnome takes a deep breath. His moustache shivers as he exhales. He appears to be sorely irritated by some aspect of your encounter with his twin.
Sense Motive for Lying
Trying for hunch
Sense Motive on first gnome: 1d20 + 11 = 18
You've seen a berserker once work himself up into a froth. This gnome is no berserker, but his attitude reminds you of that. His anger seems to be intentional, self-provoked, rather than genuine. It's as if he's gotten angry towards some end.
In any case, if he's lying or hiding something or embarrassed, his anger is masking that.
Trying for hunch about second gnome: 1d20 + 11 = 15
Hard to say. Again, he's perturbed by something.
After her exchange with Durnast, Alia listen carefully to Artimus exchange with the gnomes trying to understand how he speaks so smoothly.
Sense motive to gauge the gnomes reaction :
"Wait Artimus, you should go and check to your horse. It must still be here."
Sense Motive to gauge the gnomes reaction:
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (15) + 10 = 25
1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30
"Wait Artimus, you should go and check to your horse. It must still be here." I think Jylan and Chyressa also came mounted, so Alia will check for their horses at the same time.
Neither Jylan nor Chyressa own horses. They rode into Camp on magical mounts Durnast conjured up through a wand.
Tin follows Artimus as he explores the area for the group's missing members. His sense of worry and trepidation grows as the situation becomes awkward with the gnomes. "That's strange, Artimus. I would swear this is where the pair went last night. Perhaps there is an error..? Sir, could you check your registry once more?"
After seemingly have become distracted, pulling at his hair and mumbling (to cover up the Message to Alia), Durnast returns to his normal comport:
"OHH... You were the one they told me about...", pointing to the nice gnome,
"...We have amulets allowing us to mentally communicate with one another, and before I left the range they work within they told me they had arrived at the Boarding Hostel where Artimus had already boarded his horse, and sounded glad because they thought Gnomes were always the sort to be good hosts even in a place like this."
Minor fib re: the amulets, but it's functionally identical to the truth (and simpler to explain than 'I constantly re-cast a Cantrip...'), so I figure it doesn't need a Bluff check. The whole 'You were the one...' bit is just to appeal to this friendlier one by playing up the good intent Jylan&Chyra trusted him with, as well as making it seem like we have direct knowledge that they DID arrive here last night. I don't of course, but it seems the most likely scenario, and it seems like something is up here with this gnome...
Artimus will nods his head to Tin, considering. "This is quite a dangerous camp, perhaps they encountered some trouble on the way here, or else they were simply distracted and ended up staying somewhere that wasn't according to plan." He'll pause when Durnast speaks, knowing at least that there was messaging happening between everyone, so he takes the story as reasonable. Hm, well it seems that they did make it this far at least. Perhaps they left at some point and our innkeepers simply did not see them."
Alia shakes her head at the gnome acting. "You Camp dwellers are weird. Why do you make yourself angry when we just want to know if you saw our friends ? Did something bad happen to them ? And why is your brother unhappy with you ?"
She then stares at the second gnome wearing his leather apron. "And you, she adds, "what did you have to clean this morning to wear a leather apron ?"
Durnast, you're trying to convince the gnomes of something (that you have evidence that Jylan and Chyressa were here) by implication, and that is a Bluff check.
--+--+--
The nearer gnome simply sputters in fury.
"Hang on a minute, mankin," says the second gnome, enunciating very precisely. "Let's correct this all up. My nomenclature's Jebli, and this one having an fissure here is my brother, Jashanah.
What Jashanah ... means ... to elucidate is that, yes, your compostriots were here last even, spoke with our other guests, ate dinner; but they arose abuttedly in the early morning and departed under coverage of darkness."
Jashanah sighs and looks at Artimus with an embarrassed scowl. "Aye, my brother speaks cunningly, but true. I thought that, if I convinced you that they'd sought other lodgings, you'd move off and leave us alone. They ... they left suddenly in the dark of the night. Neither spoke a word before they left."
Tinthariel:
Jebli presents an image of a simple man trying to appear "edumacated" and not doing a very good job of it. That image seems a little off, though; if he were convinced that all of you were academic elites, then, it would make more sense.
Once Jashanah dropped his feigned anger, though, he seems to come clean. He really does agree with his brother. He does not appear to be under any obvious ental control, either, but it's difficult to tell, him being a stranger and all.
"This is good to know. Now can we see their rooms. They must have left us a message there."
The brothers bristle at Alia's request. "Of course," Jebli replies after a moment. "We've reinfected both quartiles and found ... no messages, but you are enblighted to see for yourselves." They show you to two rooms, at opposite ends of the boarding house, east and west. There's also a common dining area, and a toolshed out back.
The Bender brothers really do have cleaning, maintenance, and food preparation to accomplish today. (They're perhaps the most diligent members of the Camp community.) So you each have time for 7 careful Perception checks, to be distributed as you please among the west room, the east room, the dining area, the general common hallways, the toolshed, or each Bender gnome. Any of you can choose to Aid Another as you please.
The brothers bristle at Alia's request. "Of course," Jebli replies after a moment. "We've reinfected both quartiles and found ... no messages, but you are enblighted to see for yourselves." They show you to two rooms, at opposite ends of the boarding house, east and west. There's also a common dining area, and a toolshed out back.
The Bender brothers really do have cleaning, maintenance, and food preparation to accomplish today. (They're perhaps the most diligent members of the Camp community.) So you each have time for 7 careful Perception checks, to be distributed as you please among the west room, the east room, the dining area, the general common hallways, the toolshed, or each Bender gnome. Any of you can choose to Aid Another as you please.
Alia will focus on the hallways, and the toolshed, she is sure they have cleaned the rooms if something happened there. She will look for blood and dragging marks as she does not believe Chyressa and Jylan would have left of their own volition.
Swiftpaws will help her.
Perception for hallway
Help from Swiftpaws
Perception for hallway 2
Help from Swiftpaws
Perception for toolshed
Help from Swiftpaws
Perception for toolshed 2
Help from Swiftpaws
Perception for dining room
Help from Swiftpaws
Perception for east room
Help from Swiftpaws
Perception for west room
Help from Swiftpaws
OK, I'm almost convinced that's what really happened, after all they didn't even have the courtesy to say 'goodnight' before the Message wore off (I assume since I had already re-cast it enough times that all of us are aware of the duration), but I'll go check out the premises in case there are any clues.
Me and Cam will both make separate checks...
I just assume he takes 10 for a result of 29 on Stealth (+partial cover?) when he peeks out,
I don't really care that much if they notice him anyways):
West Room - me: Cam:
East Room - me: Cam:
Dining Room - me: Cam:
Hallways - me: Cam:
Toolshed - me: Cam:
Jebli - me: Cam:
Jashana - me: Cam:
Depending on what we notice, I can use Detect Magic or Poison as well.
Alia:
In the hallway outside of the eastern room, where the Bender brothers identified Chyressa's quarters, there's an odor of vomit and blood. Swiftpaws identifies it as some sort of humanoid blood, very distinct from, say, lamb or chicken.
At first glance, there's nothing unusual about the toolshed. But there's an odd pattern of tools that have been used recently: a hatchet, a couple of saws, and a foot-powered lathe have all been cleaned in the past day or so. But there's no woodchips or sawdust in the shed.
Swiftpaws catches the scent of Jylan in the dining room, which you confirm with a small swath of cloth from off his pant-leg, which was torn during the fight with Gurg. But that's not all too remarkable, as the Bender brothers admitted that your friends had dined here last night. From lingering scents, dinner was some sort of fowl --already starting to smell spoiled-- and a complicated lamb dish.
Durnast:
As you approach the front desk, you catch Jebli giving a quick hand-signal to someone. His brother isn't within sight, so you don't see who else he might have been signaling. You catch the tang of cleaning solvent on him --he's obviously been washing up very thoroughly-- but there are also trace amounts of dried blood on his shoes.
As you search the dining area, you hear Jeshana's voice in a low whisper, malevolent and ernest. Looking over, you don't see anyone around him. Perhaps they're using the same spell you have running with your allies, but they don't show any other evidence of being wizards.
The bedrooms are very small, about 8' by 10', with a bed and dresser taking up most of the floorspace. In the eastern room, the one identified as Chyressa's, you see a glint behind the headboard. Pushing the bed a few inches away from the wall, you can see a pommel sticking just the barest amount, hidden in the cracks between the wallboards. With a bit of effort, you can pry it free enough to see the hilt of one of Chyressa's two swords. It looks like it was hidden very well, but once you know where it is, there wouldn't be much difficulty in pulling it free.
Cam observes that both rooms are locked with a key and a sliding bolt from the inside, but that the bolt in the western room is gimmicked to pull free from the wall if the door is opened. Sure enough, so is the bolt on the eastern room's door.
Artimus:
As Durnast and Alia go hunting around the place, you stick to the gnomes and keep them engaged in conversation. Both Bender brothers detect as evil. That's no surprise; it's probably the case that most everybody in Camp is evil-aligned. At that, you catch another evil presence, lurking somewhere in the building but avoiding your powers.
Tinthariel:
As Durnast and Alia go hunting around the place, you follow your own advice and check the registry. Sure enough, there's a page with recent additions. It looks like Jylan used his own name, and Chyressa signed in using a different identity. Next to their names are a record of payments; it looks like Chyressa paid for two nights for each of them. Next to their names are the designations "SAHR85" and "BAS18".
You look around the dining area, but find little of interest.
When you return your attention to the front desk, the ledger is gone. Artimus has been engaging the gnomes continually, so it's unlikely that one of them took the paper.
Trying to be as subtle as someone who is not skilled what-so-ever at being subtle can be, Artimus is going to try and find exactly what it was that he sensed aside from the gnomes. He will act as if he is searching so he can move around more freely if needed, trying to get to a point where there isn't much wall between him and it so he can identify it more clearly now, using the paladins ability to focus the detection much more quickly.
Artimus, it's moving, and after a minute or so, it no longer appears on your scans; maybe an intangible undead, an invisible, silent person, or a projection of some kind.
Artimus will then move over to the others one at a time and whisper quietly to them.
"Something else was here. Sentient and evil. It stayed in the room, but when I noticed it, it moved away. I do not know if it was hiding between the planes or simply invisible. Either way, be careful."
I cue Cam to pop out and do his best pseudo-dragon impression of humans, with lots of noisy sound effects and the like, and will chime in occasionally with my own loud sighs and inane sayings (encouraging the rest of us to play along with a loud-ish fake conversation). Should be a good sound cover for any discussions we wish to make of our discoveries. I'm assuming we're in one of the rooms out of direct sight. I pop Detect Magic before saying anything (real) - Do I get any residual auras even if there's nothing presently in range? - and if I don't suspect any unwanted voyeurs, whisper (Message):
"The locks were rigged to open from the outside even if locked from inside. And... one(?) of Chyra's swords is hidden here [secret panel in wall]. I don't think she willingly parts with those... I fear the worst... We may be too late."
" And... one(?) of Chyra's swords is hidden here...."[/B]
Indeed, just the one.
(Message back):
"There's blood and vomit outside Chyressa room and a hatchet, a couple of saws, and a foot-powered lathe have all been cleaned in the past day or so. All that is no good. Let's leave for now. We will come back later when we are ready and sort these gnomes out."
"Alia's suggestion seems wise... I unfortunately feel the moment for heroics has passed, and we know not even where to start, and what else, if anything, lies beyond these Gnomes. Perhaps we should simply claim Chyra's sword here and act as if we found what we came for...?"
So, what are your plans? Try to find your colleagues, just start a fight, wait a couple of hours and talk to the ranger, try to find this fellow from Bard's Gate, talk to the orc mercenaries, follow Gurg, just go on a killing spree around Camp, ...?
To facilitate this discussion in a Play-by-post environment, I recommend posting your top three preferences (1, 2, 3), with maybe a sentence, in character, about why your PC would favor each course of action.
Just a pair of questions, not speaking ex cathedra in any way:
- If it were your character who'd been murdered, what would you want the party to do?
- If it were your character who was confined in a space with maybe another 15 minutes of breatheable air, what would you want the party to do?
Alia thinks both Chyressa and Jylan are dead and were killed by the gnomes and by that third entity Artimus detected. But she does not want to comfront them right now and would prefer to come back when the group is ready, specially spellwise to fight a possibly invisible foe.
"The gnomes took our fiends and we will get them. But I will not rush. We must weaken them and catch them one at a time."
For now, she wants first to find the Bard's gate fellow, then go and speak with the rangers and eventually follow Gurg.
"We told Gurg we were going to collect our friends, then follow him. I think he is the closest to an ally despite his nature. Sometimes, the wolves use the angry bear to maul their ennemies. The rangers knowledge could also be usefull in the Desolation. "
So the second choice would be to speak with the rangers.
Her third choice would be to go and speak with the Orcs
"They were too weak to fight the hanging dead. We will waste our time speaking with them now."
Artimus frowns at these options but will nod his head. He doesn't like to leave behind any of his friends, but at the moment they have little information to run on beyond hunches. Once they are outside so they can speak somewhat more freely he will look to Durnast and Tin, though he will maintain his detect evil and scan about in case that invisible entity follows them.
"It sounds like that is our best choice, we can find what Gurg can teach us about the area near here and that will at least give us some wisdom. I would not have our friends go forgotten however. Are either of you capable of any magic which may be able to give us more information? The miracle you performed this morning Tin, was impressive, perhaps such a spell could teach us more about what has happened to the others."
Durnast pretty much doesn't think either is alive - The freshly cleaned LATHE was sort of a bad sign. They technically could be of course, but given the Gnomes didn't seem at all roughed up from any sort of actual FIGHT, the signs look more like something cold-blooded and gruesome.
Artimus' report of Invisible/Immaterial entities passing around nearby us puts Durnast on edge, and feeling we certainly aren't prepared for action here, especially given we have precious little knowledge to know how/where to act, we would be blindly flailing about - which probably isn't the best way to effect our friends' vengeance.
If we think it's a good idea, I CAN cast Detect Thoughts now and keep it up as we leave/ scan the Gnomes/ whatever I detect as we leave...? (@Chris: Does passing the Will Save vs. Reading Thoughts mean the target is AWARE of the attempt or not?) If we have a clearer understanding of what has actually happened/ what is happening as we speak/ what we might accomplish by acting immediately, that may well influence our actions, depending what I find out, of course.
Artimus, do you want to take the sword in your bag?
My preference for order of our next actions:
#1 "We can't be dallying in Camp forever. We have some time before Isnakomos requested a meeting, so perhaps we can find this Caravan fellow for information on Gurg's Caravan. The Celestial Store-House people likely have dealt with him, either for personal supplies or the Caravan itself, and may know where he is staying. We can also replenish our own supplies there before leaving."
#2 "We have a bit more than an hour before meeting Isnakomos and his company. I only spoke briefly with him, but he seems the least dubious of characters we've met so far in this Camp, and if they operate out in the Desolation, would be good to have some working relationship with."
#3 "We need to act more surely. If not able to directly pursue our ends here, we should be pursuing our mission in the Desolation. We can survey the site of Gurg's ambush on our way out."
Tin furrows his brow as Artimus explains the strange presence and the companions discuss options. Tin finds it disheartening that the company is ready to move away from the death of those who accompanied them only a day before. "I don't agree with leaving our friends, or even their remains, behind here. Something has most definitely gone awry and I feel we should get to the bottom of it. If it were any of you, I would feel the same, and I hope you would do the same for me!" With that, Tin claps his hands together and channels the power of the sun to burst out from his center. He'd be standing right at the site where the registry once was.
Channeling energy needs line of effect, so it's possible for someone to block the energy. As well, you can't harm undead and heal living people at the same time (this is a change from the Beta rules to the Pathfinder final edition.) But Channeling energy is a supernatural action, so you can accomplish it without a lot of commotion.
Durnast, are you taking the effort to retrieve Chyressa's sword? (It'll take about three full rounds.)
Are you folks departing, staying, departing with the intent to return shortly...?