"Who is this mage and where do we find him? What can you tell us about his defneses? What is the name of this book and what does it look like? How does he protect it?"
"I know not the wizard's name, though he has a tower in Northern Nex. In his youth he worked in the golem-works of Oenopion, and the tome you will retrieve is a history of his noble house. Do not doubt that you will know it when you see it."
"His defenses and protections are not known to me as his tower is shrouded by protective magics and resists my probing sight. Similarly it prevents me from direct delivery of my agents into his lair. You will be unleashed upon a nearby farmhouse, where you should be able to reach his tower on foot or hoof within a day's travel."
Murmur stops dancing. "If this book is so important to you, why haven't you gone yourself?
Chuckling again "There are powers at play that might notice a being of my power if I were to depart Mechitar and search in earnest. A group of minor undead such as yourselves have a far greater chance of not drawing unwarranted attention"
Knowledge (Arcana) take 10= 20
"Golems, golems, we do not like golems. They are immune to many magics and others react differently against them. It may be good to invest in a Golembane Scarab if we may be running into golems..."
Euridicea tugged upon a stray lock of her hair which flows freely down from atop her head today. Her eyes roamed over the skeletal frame of their new master as she paced behind, between, and around the others as they spoke of the task at hand. She began to sing to herself, "Where treads the crownless king doom is soon to follow, but watching eyes peering down miss simple dolls so hollow, beware the cold touch of the men of mud and rocks and ore, beyond the threshold of the final death lies the sightless door."
She finished her latest rambling tune balanced upon one foot as she turned slowly in place to face the Shadow Claw, "In the spire of bonds the gilded key is found, once the slavemaster's pets have been unbound, in the blind man's land a true song shall ring, what path along the road to take, Oh Crownless King?"
In response to all the questions, with the exception of Euridicea's Gathroc says "Stop that incessant rambling"
Addressing Euridicea: "Gabriel will be accompanying you, once the tome is yours he will contact me and I can recall you in the same manner that you were sent."
"Do we have time to prepare, or will we be leaving immediately?"
"You will depart as soon as we are done here"
Drawing itself up to its full impressive height, The Shadow Claw continues "Unless you have more mysteries that I must enlighten you upon, I am impatient to see you on your way."
The Shadow Claw opens his mouth and exhales a cloud of deep shadow. It swirls around you, seeping into your person and clinging to you. For a few moments you feel nothing, but then a cold chill suffuses your person and a falling sensation is experienced. This fall through the void lasts only a few seconds before abruptly halting and the shadow starting to clear.
As your vision returns to find yourself in the open wild, outside a farmhouse with an attached barn. It is close to midnight by the track of the moon and lantern light plays out in fine tendrils touching the dark from both the house and the barn.
Vesta speaks up,
"I'll investigate the farmhouse. We can use it to discuss our next move"
With that vesta slides into the ground as she moves toward the farmhouse until only her head is visible. Then it becomes invisible.
Stealth (possible additional bonuses for cover)
Vesta will have detect magic up as she stealths about the house.
Perception
No magic appears to be in the vicinity.
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
I'm going to come up through the floorboards and use corrupting touch on the woman (12d6 dmg from "aging") then posses the man before he wakes up fully. He'll need to roll a will save. I'm unclear on the difficulty of that, but its at least 19 probably higher. I'll check when I get home. If he makes his save I'll corrupting touch him too. If I do manage to posses him I'll walk him out to the others.
Man Will Save:
** spoiler omitted **
A few moments after vesta disappears a man opens the front door and walks directly toward the group. In what sounds like two people talking in unison. One male you don't recognize and one female you do(vesta).
"right this way please"
The man sidesteps and sweeps his arm to show the path to the door.
"I assume you've taken care of the family, then, Vesta? That's quite a handy skill you've got."
"I assume you've taken care of the family, then, Vesta? That's quite a handy skill you've got."
"They were quietly dispatched though the one I inhabit now is quite alive The body may yet be useful."Vesta looks at Euridicea."I believe you're the only blood drinker among us. There is a woman in the bedroom that I dispatched moments ago. Her blood should be warm awhile longer if you wish to partake. Otherwise you can have this vessle when we've got no more use of it."
"Shall we all head inside to discuss our strategy?"
"We have no direction, no name for our target and know only that he lives in a tower and is a mage. I do believe our next course of action is going to be to discover who and where our target is." I say this as I head to the house, talking to no one in particular.
Gathroc follows Vesta inside. "It would be useful if we had a map"
"No children to play with?" A child's voice, sad and depressed.
"No children to play with?" A child's voice, sad and depressed.
"it would seem not."
A sigh whistles through Murmur's skull, producing an eerie sound not unlike a child crying.
"Maybe the ghost missed one?"
"I doubt it, she was invisible and could take a careful look."
"But it's possible."
"True."
"Let's go see! I want a new friend."
After Murmur's brief conversation, he skips torwards the house, a twisted mockery of a carefree child at play. Nearly inaudible sobs, whimpers, and songs trail behind him for a moment, then fade as he moves away.
The barn looks to be one that keeps some animals. You notice a horse post just outside the entrance to the house. The fields look to be sown with a currently immature crop of corn. In the far distance you can pick out the outline of a tower against the moon-lit sky.
As I am walking toward the house, I look up from the ground as I am mumbling about not knowing where to go. Seeing the tower in the distance, "Ah, That must be the tower that we are supposed to be going to! We may as well stay here for the night and make some plans. Rest for the day and then set out tomorrow night."
Also if able I would like to do a sacrifice to Urgathoa using any available animals in the barn and the still living human man to "Bless" our quest, I leave it up to you to decide if that would incur any bonuses or notice from the godess.
What plans do you need to make? There does not appear to be much in the way of other structures in the vicinity, so I dare say that unless we are all stealthy, our approach will be noted. Would it not be better to approach sooner, rather than later, so that you do not run the risk of discovery during daylight hours?
Gabriel then leaps into the air, and flicks his wrist in a dismissive gesture.
Still, if you are set on waiting here for 24 hours, I suppose that I should at least try to scout-out a good route to the tower, and view any out-lying defenses that are in place...
At the suggestion of waiting, Gathroc responds "Must we delay?"
At the suggestion of waiting, Gathroc responds "Must we delay?"
"Ask the Vampire."
"We definitely don't want the vampire getting caught out in the sun, so we should probably wait until we can get all the way to the tower under complete darkness."
"We definitely don't want the vampire getting caught out in the sun, so we should probably wait until we can get all the way to the tower under complete darkness."
"That's probably wise." Said with just a dash of sarcasm.
"I do not wish to waste half the night."
I stop and spin around at the sound of the arguing behind my back, "Well since no one seems the least bit inclined to go into the house to make plans I will investigate the barn and see what kind of resources we may have to use there."
So saying I make my way over to the barn and fling open the door.
Vesta lets out a loud sigh that sounds like several tortured souls sounding off in unison.
"I understand that we all have our own agendas, but if we don't work together you're all going to meet the final death while I escape into something solid. We're all immortal. We can afford one night so that we can discuss strategy. Now if everyone will PLEASE go inside we can talk at length about how we can work together and finish this task. ONLY when we finish this task will we all receive the boons promised us. Now if you PLEASE, GO INSIDE ALL OF YOU. Thank you." (cap words means vesta raised her voice, as i'm sure you all figured out.) "Besides, we can leave during the day if needed. I have means of protecting the vampire from the light."
"Very well, miss. However, the day is still a bad time to leave, as we would be much more easily spotted in daylight than in the dark of night."
"Very well, miss. However, the day is still a bad time to leave, as we would be much more easily spotted in daylight than in the dark of night."
"I agree. However, It's an option if we truly need it."
Murmur, having already headed to the house, misses the entire disagreement. Inside, he searches each room, hoping to find a playmate the ghost missed. Several voices hum softly, and his head bobs to the rhythm.
You see the woman killed by Vesta lying upon the master bed - skin stretched tightly across her face as though she were unnaturally aged.
Daemon throws open the barn door throwing the moonlight on a trio of frightened horses. Two look to be riding horses, while the third is a heavy workhorse. They neigh and shuffle fearfully as they bask in the lich's aura.
While the others were arguing between waiting and striking out that moment, Euridicea squatted down and plunged one of her hands into the rich soil of the homestead. She wiggled her fingers through the dirt as she pulled forth a handful clump of the material. The earthy aroma brought a sigh from her as she inhaled deeply, "Such fertile tilled earth is a sad sight to see, without a few hundred bodies buried beneath me." The nymph let the dirt run through her fingers as she stood and dusted off her hands before holding aloft her parasol once more. She circled Vesta and Gathroc, tsk-tsking as she unslung an embroidered black leather bag, it almost appeared more of a purse with the designs of thorny vines woven in gold thread upon its surface, from around her shoulder. Euridicea opened the tightly secured flap over the bag, then folds her parasol closed before sticking the whole thing into the smaller bag, "This little raven fears not the fiery eye, that indominable tyrant so high in the sky, for a snug little burrow is always close by, filled with cold dirt from where the dead lie."
The vampire smiled a queer little grin as she pranced more in the direction of the tower, pointing with one finger and arm outstretched that way, "If we mean to be quick then we must now go, the fallen crown shall not be claimed by the slow, the slavemaster awaits for our coming ahead, the worst fate he can inflict is to see us dead."
"Very well, though I am unsure how much strategy we can plan if we lack a map or any information beyond what the Claw told us." With that the warrior heads inside.
perception
"Message," I point my finger toward the house that I know murmur is prancing about in. "Murmur I do believe that I have found your playmates, they are in the barn, come quickly."
I step into the barn, pulling the doors closed behind me, "Hello children I do not wish to hurt you, what are you doing hiding out here?" I try to keep to the shadows so they cannot see me too well.
diplomacy
sense motive
disguise (to hide the fact I am undead by keeping to the shadows)
bluff
You know, Gabriel notes conversationally, By the looks of the tracks around here, it is likely that there are two riding horses and a work-horse in the barn. There may also be some more humans in there...
Still shuddering in fear, the male teenager replies "We weren't hiding... it's just her parents don't approve and... Who are you anyway?"
"Oh never mind. It would seem the vampire has no fear of the sunlight. Lets just make haste tonight. We'll need transport. Lets go see if Daemon found anything in the barn."
edit; Still inhabiting the mans body Vesta heads toward the barn.