Celene listened a while to the debate, then suggested "why don't we find a large fallen palm tree, or fell one, then lower it into the hole? Kibeti can surely climb a tree! Or several small ones if need be?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:43, Wed 04 Nov 2015.

Cool!

Kassius and Alohan look around for a suitable tree, but there isn't anything tall enough on the swampy little island. They make do with cutting down a couple of the biggest trees and lashing them together with bamboo strips and rope. It takes a couple of hours, during which time Angati and Celene transport Logan's body and the remaining two chests to the trap door room. They are just in time with moving Logan's remains - they find that the water level in the dungeon is rising and the dry spot they had put him on was now an inch deep in water and his corpse was in danger of floating away. Additionally, a couple of crabs (normal sized thankfully) had begun to nip at his flesh. They prioritise moving him before the chests.

Kibeti is also a problem as the cat becomes more frantic as time passes. Finally, Kassius has to descend the makeshift scaffold himself and lead his relieved animal companion through the dungeon, then up the ramp.

Eventually everyone is out safely along with the three chests and Logan's body. By thus point the bottom of the trap door room is flooded with a couple of inches of water - it appears that the dungeon under Parrot Island is doomed now that the pumping system has been disabled.

Well done team, you have faced the Peril under Parrot Island and triumphed with less than average casualties. This is recognised as one of the big TPK spots in the early part of the AP as I am sure you can all now understand why.

What are your plans now?

I guess go back, find out who could rez Logan and for how much. I can probably pull favours from my stay at the shrine... but Celene probably can do even better.

Other than that, go to our place and find someone of confidence to unlock the chests... we pay without letting him/her see contents.. just for the unlock. Check out how much we would have, rez Logan up...


By the way, I'd go to a different tavern to do all this... and would NOT go to stupid lavinia until we are all done... I'd keep it all hidden (including ourselves) until we are in full force, and only then go visit her.
One proposal I'd have would be talking with my sister so that she finds us somewhere hidden to stay, but maybe you have better proposals.

Not go to taverns or previous places until we are full ok?

After that I'd go to Lavinia and slap the bitch senseless...

Then try to find her brother or else kidnap his wife to be... if he doesn't come, at least he looses his wife (not because of killing her, but because she'd see how he is...) hmmm that's about it
This message was last edited by the player at 18:54, Wed 04 Nov 2015.

Kassius smiles with delight as he and Kibeti carefully climb their way up the makeshift scaffold. For a short time at least, he allows himself to not worry about the locked chests, the murderous treachery of Vanthus or the naivete of Lavinia. He doesn't even worry about poor Logan. Instead, he simply revels in surviving the pit of death.

I agree with Angati re: hiring someone to open the chests. Seems like it makes the most sense for how to get into them. We might want to lay low for a while; Vanthus think's we're dead, and as long as that continues, he won't try and kill us again...

It had been a tiring two days. Alohan wanted nothing more than undisturbed sleep, free to dream and not worrying if his brains would be inside some forsaken, undead zombie. As much as he hated to admit it, he wanted to give up. No, not on life, just on his silly adventure into Sasserine. He lost a friend and -had things gone a different way- almost lost himself. He was beginning to think his soul searching escapade into unfamiliar cultures was a mistake. Maybe his parents were right. Maybe he should retreat to Nuari, marry several nice Nuari women, and -in time- take his father's throne. Hells, it sure would have been easier that way.

Alohan sighed and turned to his companions. "Come, let us be seein' if de Punani still remains." Tried as he might, he couldn't help but smile at his ridiculous choice of name.

---

Plan: Wouldn't it make sense to just... bury Logan and keep the money? or maybe Alohan can muscle the chests open and we see what is actually in there? I know there is a problem of 'where' we are going to be doing this -it will be hard to hide four individuals, a cat, and three overly large chests. I am out of ideas. We could maybe open them in the chuch we plan to use to rez Logan but that seems a bit meta-gamey. This is a hard decision, especially since it would draw a bunch of attention.

We could also open them on Parrot island and transport them back to civilization via another means. What if we go, get a bunch of sacks and fill those instead of these chests. Then, we would know if we have enough money to Res Logan and just take it directly to the church.

Sorry, but no one in the shrine of Liir is able to perform a raise dead. There are only about a dozen clerics in the whole city who can do that, so competition for their services is fierce and just having the money isn't enough and you also need  connections. Of course, Celene's mentor Magnus Eseriel is one of those who can do such a thing...



Yeah, the module describes her as 'naïve' but she seems to have crossed that line over to 'stupid'. :D



That's actually a really good plan. The Lidu's have the contacts to get anything done without a fuss, and Angati seems to have a good relationship with her older sister Zeline. How about we proceed with that plan?



Damn, I thought you might head back to Logan's favourite tavern 'The Skinned Man' and give it a try. Good to see the party is smarter than that!



:D

I never understood what a CN character was until I met Angati. She isn't mean... unless she needs to be. She is in fact sometimes nice to people... until they piss her off or prove to be not worth the effort. She feels the rules don't apply to her, but she isn't trying to take over the world, she just trying to make her way in it. Yes, Lavinia would probably benefit from some tough love at this point.



OK, I've got that too. Low profile.



Heh heh. Just googled it. Of course the rest of the party don't know the meaning in Nuari and think it's a great name.



Well that's what I said! And then spend the cash on lots of equipment to help battle the next bad guys. I am worried about the feedback loop of spending 5,250gp on raising someone - it will mean the party has less stuff which means they are more likely to die next time which means more raising which means less equipment...

Oh well, it has been decided that Logan is coming back, and I don't want the story building efforts in the afterlife thread to do to waist. Maybe the cash expenditure wouldn't seem so bad after you look back in a few levels time.



This is the 'alien world' problem players face when making these decisions, since you don't know what is and is not possible in Sasserine. The good news is that since this isn't a homebrew, neither do I! I am going to go with the Lidu manor and Angati's sister solution.

And a final quote from Beni:


Cool, that is the plan then.

The party travel the path back along the broken paving stones and find the HMS Punani still hidden under the bivouac that Kassius made yesterday. It takes two trips to transport the three heavy chests down to the beach, but it is easy enough to put them into the rickety boat and then slide the boat across the mud into the water. Logan's remains are wrapped up in an old sail and stowed under a seat.

The party slips into the early morning traffic on the lagoon and Alohan pilots them across the enclosed bay to the Noble District. Even though they are very early, Angati is pretty sure that four mud covered adventurers accompanied by a big cat carrying three chests and a corpse shaped bundle through the streets of Sasserine's best district is going to bring the watch down on them very quickly. The work around is that she and Celene clean themselves up as well as they can and then get dropped off at the high market docks. Kassius and Alohan pull out 100 yards or so into the harbour and await their return.

The two ladies are still dirty despite their best efforts, but at least a they both below there and they get no more than sidelong glances as they cover the short distance to Angati's childhood home. The dual cursed oracle hammers on the outside gate until the door man arrives - he recognises 'Aunti Angati' despite her being covered in stinky parrot shit and zombie brain matter and quickly opens the gate while asking after her health in shocked and concerned tones. Ten minutes later Angati is talking to her older sister, Zelina, with Celene standing to one side.

"By the goddess Angati, whatever have you been up to?!"

OOC: I can't wait to hear this explanation. :D

Standing before the young head of no less than the Lidu family, Celene found it best just to step back and let Angati do the talking. Celene had been more than happy when Angati suggested her relative here, rather than going to one of their temples straight away. Celene had no trouble imagining the rumours and gossiping soon flying around the temple of Wee Jas if they had waded in, filthy and bruised, three treasure chests and a dead man. The other novices in particular were awful. But she'd also have quite a bit of explaining to do before Magus Eseriel.

Her mind going to Lady Eseriel, Celene contemplated their intentions. Assuming they could raise enough money, they were going to BRING BACK LOGAN FROM THE WORLD OF THE DEAD! Of course, Celene had had enough schooling about these matters that she knew Logan most likely was on the plane of existence where his true faith lay. And from where he could be called back. It contradicted all Celene had been raised with as a child, and she had a hard time coming to terms with it, but her later teaching ensured her of the possibility.

But if they were hoping to get aid at the temple of Wee Jas, they could be in for a nasty surprise. Death was one of the aspects of Wee Jas, but one that Celene had not considered much during her time at the temple. Magic and law was more upon her mind and in her soul. Yet it was undeniable part of the great design of the Goddess of Death, and many other clerics of Wee Jas felt deeply for the natural order of life and death constituted upon mortal man by the Stern Lady. One should not meddle with the sanctified order of the world, they would say. Bringing back Logan certainly would not sit well on these. Even Celene herself had qualms about touching something as inherently basic in life as the finality of death. Lady Eseriel, Celene hoped and believed, was fortunately more pragmatic in the ways of their Goddess.

But that assumed they could gather the wealth required to compensate the church for their compliance. The chests recovered from the pirate hoard was their hope. But they could as well just be filled with sand or rubble.

Celenes focus returned to her present location, and Angati talking to her... niece, was it?

OOC: hope this in line with what you're playing about Angati's backstory, Beni?

Angati kissed her sister* twice on her cheeks... she then made presentations, and once they were over, she started telling a much abbreviated version of the story "Ohhh dear, you wouldn't believe... as I told you, I had struck upon an adventuring state of mind, and started working for Lavinia... well.. we were investigating the disappearance of her brother Vanthus, with great suspicions upon his involvement in shadowy things like the Jade Dragons... and following his tracks, we came to Parrot island" she paused waiting for recognition of the place from Zelina "You surely know the one... anyway... he has tried to kill us and get rid of our corpses all in one go, leaving us imprisioned in a dungeon beneath the island infested with zombies and huecuva".

She waited again, this time trying to recover her voice recalling the events that she was about to tell "Anyway, we lost a dear friend below the caves... and now that we are out, we need to find a place to hide until we deal with the resurrection of our friend, if it can be done by selling whatever treasure we have found below the caves... so we need someone discreet to open three cofres, and a place to hide for a few days until we can deal with this... and, if you have any high cleric of confidence someone to do the resurrection, although we would need to know beforehand how much money we have at our disposal".

"Anyway... as much as I know how much our families care for each other, I know that this might well be a mess too big... to have any kind of links between your family and this Vanthus business might prove dangerous, and unless you want to profit from this once we finish with him.... well... so... let us know how you would want us to proceed, and if there is anything that we could do for you in return".

She looked around and sighed "I am so sorry to bring all this onto your door... Vanthus is becoming dangerous.. still, if you can think of a way in which your family might profit from what we want to do, or from exposing all his affiliations in any certain way, I would be most happy to oblige."

* Though the rest don't know her yet as such
[Private to GM: Clearly she is not speaking as openly as she would have, had this been a private meeting. She is basically leaving the door open to her sister to say no or to ask for a payment or some favour trading should she want to.]

OOC: Fast speed flashback mode engaged.
OOC: Add what you want, or nothing if you're not in the mood.

SCENE ONE

Zelina didn't hesitate to help Angati, although she did ensure that the help was given discretely and did seem a surprised about her little sister's new occupation.

"When you said that you were going to leave the shrine and 'establish yourself on your own' this wasn't what I expected!"

"... Parrot Island? That's what they call that little sand bar out in the harbour right? ..."

"... well, what the frac is a huecuva!..."

Zelina tells Angati to return to the Punami, wait for an hour, and then sail to one of the family warehouses in the quiet end of the Merchant's District. Zelina will have help ready there and will arrange for a locksmith.


SCENE TWO

The Lidu heir is as good as her word and when the party sails into the open doors of the warehouse about 1½ hours later, several trustworthy and discrete family workers are there to help offload the chests and Logan's corpse. A short while later a wiry looking many in flimsy looking spectacles turns up. He is a locksmith and is able to pop the lids of all three chests with ease. The party are allowed to look at the contents privately.

CHESTS ONE & TWO: Full of coins of mixed denominations - copper, silver, gold and even a few platinum. The total value is 5,450 gp. Exactly what is needed to get Logan raised from the dead!

CHEST THREE: This was the lighter chest and turns out to have an exciting contents:
3 x potions of cure light wounds
1 x potion of lesser restoration (1,400 gp)
1 x potion of invisibility (300 gp)
1 x potion of barkskin +3 (300 gp)
1 x potion of cure serious wounds (750 gp)
1 x elixir of swimming (250 gp)
1 x wand of mage armour with 11 charges (200 gp)
The potions are all labelled. The wand is checked by Celene who successfully figures out what it is. Then there is the pièce de résistance, a small wooden box with a light brown gemstone sitting on a tiny velvet cushion. A strip of paper tucked under the paper identifies it as:
1 x earth elemental gem (2,250 gp)
A mighty haul of treasure!

SCENE THREE

Then the serious business of bringing Logan back is discussed. It is decided that exploiting their contact in the temple of Wee Jas is the best shot, so Celene is sent off to meet with Magnus Eseriel. The young sorcerer/cleric is at least sensible enough to bath and change her robes before meeting her mentor - she suspects it might be best to burn her old robes which is a shame because she'd only gotten to wear them for one day!

Eseriel is open to the idea to raising Logan. Actually, surprisingly open. She has none of the qualms about it that Celene thought she might. She does however demand the full payment of 5,450gp and that Logan's body be brought to her before the end of the day.

OOC: Is it a deal?
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:46, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

SCENE 1
"Yes.. that very same piece of curse sand... as for the huecuva, if you have five minutes later I'll tell you in all detail".

Angati was really grateful for her sister's aid, and she did all she could to tell her all the details and all the information that was there to be told, after they were all gone. It was doubtful that it would be useful to her, but one never knew and her sister was the intelligent type that managed to make good use of most things. So taking the time to inform her in detail was well worth it.

"You know sis... I do not really know about the interest of gaining some favours from the Santos family... but... I am thinking that, given that the Santos patriarch is against the marriage of his daughter with Vanthus, presenting him with proves against Vanthus, might be worth it, and even more, if we find somewhere safe and we concoct something that proves the stupid girl how her husband to be does not care for her while keeping her safe, and hidden... there is also the matter of her unborn child.. but that is delicate, for I don't know how the patriarch might act to that, and we don't want to gain a friend by making an enemy that we would not crush.. Anyway, just saying, I think there might be game and gain there".

SCENE 2
"Well... thats one hell of a lot of money..." said Angati whistling as the coffers opened full of coins ".. I guess the one that payed dearest for it was Logan though... hmm let's check on that priest of yours.. with some luck we might even have enough for ourselves..."


SCENE 3
Angati had done all she could think off to keep the corpse in as much a good state as she could given the situation.

She kept pacing the floor... " hmmm have you checked if Eseriel has some divination abilities or something ? not that I am doubting him but.. this is too damn fate like if you get my meaning, don't you think ?" she asked Celene.

"Oh well, we were gonna do it anyways, and if it's fate or divination.. it's something we are not gonna risk. We got the chance so lets take it... come... I'll help you with the corpse"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:00, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

SCENE 2

Kassius looks over the potions, his eyes widening slightly at the potion of swimming. Now that would have been useful a bit earlier! Still, both he and Alohan had gotten through the pipe no worse for wear after a bit of rest, and now they still had the potion for future use. As for the rest of the items, Kassius could see how they would be quite helpful, if the group continued encountered life-threatening experiences. "How are we distributing them?" He wonders out-loud.

OOC: You are dicing for them! Everyone roll a d20 and then go in the order from highest to lowest in selecting a magical item.

EDIT: Added some values to the items to help you decide.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:47, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

"Oh, the Santos family! Frac, I totally forgot to tell you the news, what with you coming in covered in zombie gore! So, guess who got himself vivisected last night? Keltar Islaran, the harbourmaster himself! Somebody killed his bodyguards, snuck into his room and performed indecencies on him... the watch reckons that the old man was alive through most of it. Couldn't they just have waited for the old fellow to die?"

"And the Santos family was hit at the same time. You know how they basically ARE the stevedores guild, right? Well, someone has come down hard on them and one third of them are dead, one third missing and the rest are running like heck! I don't know if the young Santos girl you are looking for was caught up in it, she may have gotten out of the Santos house before it was burnt to the ground..."

"And the word around town is that these *Lotus Dragons* are responsible for it. They are making a play to take over the harbour. A thieves guild in charge of the harbour, can you imagine that?!"

Zelina seems very upset about it - as well she should. Sassarine lived and breathed around its harbour. Whoever controlled this would be a great power in the town.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:47, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

OOC: Sorry, but I don't follow this. Do you want to cast divination to check if Logan is willing to come back? Or do you mean that it's strange that Eseriel is asking for EXACTELY the amount you all brought back from the dungeon? That was because your DM is nice, and also didn't want to mess with the book-keeping! Actually, in the module the amount was less but then you guys fought more zombies and in two big groups rather than in lots of groups of 2-3. Also, your huecuva was turbo-charged, so I felt you deserved more in any case.

5,250gp is the standard amount for a raise dead and everyone in town knows that. 250gp for the church and 5,000 gp for the big mother diamond that gets powdered and then dusted onto his chest!

Oh I know its because DM is nice... its just that I wanted to notice the coincidence IC.  Both fate, or the priest using divination seem great options for a quick laugh.

In reply to Angati (msg # 451):

:D


Do you have a dice roll for the treasure selection, Beni?
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:48, Fri 06 Nov 2015.

SCENE 3

The party uses the next few hours to divide up the treasure, get cleaned up and have a little rest. Then, just as the sun is going down, Logan's body is placed in a cart and they all accompany it to the temple of Wee Jas.

His corpse is placed on a stone slab in the central prayer area - the same place where Celene had her unusual initiation ceremony - but this time only Eseriel is present. The Magus is very matter of fact about the procedure, and accepts the cash from the party with no comment other than a thin lipped 'ah-hm'. She certainly doesn't ask where the small fortune require to raise a rogue from Shadowshore came from. The cleric goes to a small metal cupboard one side of the alter, unlocks it with a key produced from under her robes and slides back the draw inside. Inside are probably 100 perfect diamonds of identical size and cut, all about the size of a chestnut. She nonchalantly takes out the first one her hand happens to come across, and then locks up the rest. Then she puts the flawless diamond into a small machine and activates a lever - there is a loud noise inside it like if someone had put a pebble into a nutcracker. A few seconds latter this stops and she opens up the machine. The only thing left of the diamond is a small pile of white crystal dust! This is swept onto a small dish and brought over Logan's body.

The cleric sprinkles the valuable dust over the thief's face and upper chest, discards the bowl and then begins to pray.

"Great goddess! Ruler of our emotions over life and death. Powerful and strong-willed goddess! Mistress of the inner love! If it serves your purpose, bring the soul of this creature back to its body so it may serve you."

SCENE 3

Angati just shrugged "You guys choose first... I really don't mind much".

She was however really interested about the resurrection procedure, and followed it closely... she doubted she'd be able to do something like that herself.. but maybe it would give her some clues about the next life.

SCENE 3

Logan's body spasmed, then he pulled in a long hard breath which ended in a choking dry reach over the side of the stone table. The thief is helped into a sitting position by his friends, and tries to catch his breath.

Then his entire left ear slides off, and lands on the ground with a soft *plop*.

"By the goddess!" exclaims Eseriel, her hands flying to her face. "Was his ear like that before?!"

OOC: Welcome back Logan. Your fatal belly wound has been closed over, and you are now back in the land of the living, but you feel very week. As you were too low level to take a 2 level drop, you take a 2 point constitution drop instead. Please adjust this on your character sheet and subtract the associated hp.

As you wear your hair long, the missing ear isn't a big problem, and when you get you missing constitution points 'restored' via a lesser restoration you can get your ear stuck back on as well. Actually, this is very cheap to get done - just 300gp for each point.

Also, you are missing about a yard of intestine which was left on the dungeon floor. You now have a sensitive stomach.

Celene stepped in to soothe Logan, who probably was in utter shock after this ordeal. Hell, none of them could imagine how this would feel - having your innards ripped out, dying, going beyond to.. somewhere, but then suddenly being ripped back into the hard, cold world of suffering, pain and mortality. But she would be there for him, comfort him, and ease his return to life.

Then his ear fell off.

Celene was just as baffled as Eseriel. She just blurted "Oh no! What's going on? It's not supposed to happen! No, no, it was all normal earlier, and it hasn't been touched after he... well died..."

"How can this be? What's happened, Eseriel?"

"Logan, can you hear us? Are you alright ... except for .. that?"

OOC: Continue here as you wish, then I'll see you in thread 1F!

Logan looks up, startled to see the world of the living again.  He looked around, trying to spot the mysterious eladrin, before giving up hope.  The rogue let out a deep sigh.  "Ah, lost my chance..."  He shook his head, then bent down and picked up his ear, packing it away in his vest before looking around again.

"So," he started, looking at the state of the group.  "I guess you won that fight after the zombies had me for chow, then.  And escaped?  Did you find V...."  Logan trailed off, finally realizing that a stranger was in the room.  "Hmmm, I suppose we should talk with our employer soon?  And you can catch me up on everything that happened?"

Alohan waited in anxious anticipation, hoping the Lady Eseriel could truly bring Logan from the land of the deceased. He watched as she had poured ground diamond dust upon his body and proceeded to pull Logan's spirit from the nethers. It was miraculous. No one on the Pearl Islands commanded such magical power. Alohan had never seen such superior casting and he hadn't an idea how it worked. Perhaps adding to its mystery.

"Lowgan!" he blurted, thrusting his arms into the air in celebration. "Ya be back!" he cheered. As the thief went to pick up his ear Alohan slapped him on the back, half jostling, half hugging. "Dis is cause for celebration! to de Skinned Man for more rotgut!" After seeing the questionable stares from Celene and Angati, Alohan only shrugged. Of course his plan to do a heavy amount of day drinking at the Skinned Man was vetoed by the rest, but Alohan didn't care. Logan was back and he didn't have to deal with the grief no more.

"We be finding de way out under a pool of water. But de ding was de home of a giant papa'i... what be de word.. cab! Giant Cab!" Alohan continues to talk, informing Logan on what he had missed, not particularly caring what remained to be accomplished. Today was a victory.

---

Backstory: Guess we can assume Alohan filled Logan in
Claim: Alohan doesn't really need any of those potions but he wouldn't mind carrying the Barkskin and maybe the Cure serious wounds due to my presence on the front lines. Also, wouldn't it make sense for Logan to drink that lesser restoration now? If there are no objections of course.