OOC: Add your consumables to the appropriate thread now, or forever keep your peace.

When Levithian had put forward his request for a very special wagon, Zhorr had scratched his head and promised he'd look into it. For the time being, however, they would have to make do with large backpacks and a nice ass. Noticing the confused looks, Zhorr had amended that particular expression to "a donkey of good breed".

After packing all of their equipment, old and new, in the brand new set or masterwork backpacks gifted by Zhorr and Lia, and loading anything they couldn't or wouldn't carry on the aforementioned quadruped, the party set out northbound, past the bridge and the border of Cheliash.

Akane had apparently chosen to wear a black leather catsuit. She said it went well with her whip, thematically. Her backpack had been specially crafted to fit with the rest of her ensemble.

Most everybody was convinced it was actually some kind of magic armor, and her smirk when the possibility had been raised had only made the suspicion stronger.

The trip would be relatively short, only a couple of days given good weather, but Zhorr had pointed out that hobgoblin raiding parties had been sighted in the area, and suggested the party pay special attention.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:35, Mon 12 June 2017.

Dakash was secretly very glad to be moving again. There was still a large portion of the world he hadn't seen in this lifetime, and he aimed to travel through much of it before his time in this mortal shell was complete.

Their patron's comment of the group's use of nice asses, combined with the cat suit donned by Akane, gave the warrior-priest pause, until Zhorr had explained himself. Fortunately, Dakash hadn't done or said anything monumentally stupid in the interim, so he was able to keep his thoughts to himself.

"Hobgoblins? Seems like the lord of the land might be better suited to hiring them as mercenaries, for the dual purpose of getting them to stop raiding, and sending them against tough opponents to whittle down their numbers. Isn't that what Asmodeus is all about: weakening potential enemies and threats?"

All too familiar with hobgoblin tactics and military acumen, Leonia sends Midnight aloft to scout from the air as they travel. She chats with Akane about the places each has visited in the past.


Leonia Perception +11
Midnight Perception +10
This message was last edited by the player at 15:24, Thu 01 June 2017.

Akane spends most of the day experimenting with her prestidigitation, trying to give some flavor (any flavor) to her wandermeal rations.

Munching on her latest batch, she replies: "Asmodean doesn't really 'hire' anybody: His contracts tend to go the other way around, and the services of His host are generally overpriced, if you get my drift. There are hobgoblin mercenaries in the service of some Chelian nobles, but they tend to be an experienced bunch. Guess how they gained that experience?"

She winks at Dakash: "No prize for guessing right. Not this time, at least."

From her conversation with Leonia, it transpires that Akane, like Lia, comes from a country far to the east, whose name is apparently somewhat impractical to pronounce.

As it turns out, she's not Lia's sister, even though she looks very much like a younger version of Zhorr's companion.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:00, Thu 01 June 2017.

Lev tilts his head side to side, "Considering just how much I have seen in the way of divine efforts, just how active are the gods here?" He had heard of god like beings and servants of the gods running around, but with as thick as the religion in this place it seemed as if the gods showed up for afternoon tea. "Dinner with a draconic god would be nice but it seems as if the gods are directly pushing their agenda in the material more than the outter places. That or someone is running with that agenda."

Akane shrugs: "This is devil country. Asmodean himself does very little in terms of direct intervention. Why would he? All the nobility has sworn allegiance to Him, the entire country is quite literally going to Hell in a handbasket, minus a handbasket."

Without missing a step, she waves her hand over another bit of wandermeal, trying yet another flavor: "And this is before His minions even start collecting souls of their own: one minor devil corrupts one minor person, that person corrupts ten other people in the hopes of saving his soul, and in the process damns it even more. Now you have eleven corrupted people, and all it took was one minor devil offering one minor service."


She takes a bite, makes a face, and gives it yet another try: "And it's not like the gods can do much about it: the laws of the land are very strict, and not too tolerant of those who do not swear allegiance to Asmodean. Pretty much the only ones who have any hopes of countering Him and His host are the Paladins of Iomedea... And only because Asmodean specifically made an exception for her."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:07, Fri 02 June 2017.

Dakash crooks an eyebrow. "How can the gods be kept powerless in this? The laws of the land were made for mortals, weren't they? How can they bind the gods themselves? They didn't agree to any of this."

Akane similarly raises an eyebrow at Dakash: "And you think the people did? The laws of the land are imposed by those who have the power to do so, and those who have no power must either accept them, or flee... Or fight, and lose."

Another wave of her hand, another bite, another sad face, and then she continues: "What would you have the gods do? Declare war on Cheliash and its people? The good gods won't do it because it would mean the death of many innocents, the lawful gods won't do it because it paves the way to chaos, the neutral gods don't especially care one way or the other, that essentially leaves... Daemons and demons. I'll pass, thank you very much."
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:24, Sat 03 June 2017.

Lev looked confused, "Why would anyone sell themselves? You don't have a soul, you are a soul and you have a body. The idea of selling your eternity for something material is not a good trade unless you are getting something like immortality." He scratched his head, "I mean, speaking as someone who knows first hand you can survive with a sliver of soul but really? People have whole souls... a whole soul to themselves! How amazing would it be to set aside a little fund so you can be revived if you get stabbed to death."

"Life is too short, and your forever afterlife comes too soon to sell your soul."

Akane sighs: "Immortality is one of the standard offers, yes. Healing is also rather popular, either for the requeste or a loved one. And very often it's not an outright 'your soul for your baby's life' deal, either."

With a word of power, Akane summons the faint sound of a crying baby. She cups her hands, and clouds of colored smoke appear, creating a small scene that somewhat resembles a mother holding a small child. "Baby's sick, daddy's dead, mommy goes to the temple to pray. This is devil country, so there is really only one temple she can go to."

Another word of power, the sound changes to some kind of holy (or, most likely, unholy) hymn, the scene now features a praying cloudlet and a tall cloudlet with a strange hat. "Priestess takes notice, offers to help. Baby's saved, he goes on to become rich and powerful. And mommy goes on to sing all her praises to the Lord Asmodean."

Another word of power, and now the sound is a faint wailing, screaming, cursing, and so on. It's hard to tell exactly what the various cloudlets are doing... And that's probably a good thing. "Two centuries later, after a rich and full life, mommy is in Hell, and so is baby. And before each flaying, when the devils ask her if she still thinks she did the right thing, she always says yes."
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:15, Sun 04 June 2017.

Dakash is clearly upset by this. His face turns a deeper shade of blue - almost purple. "But if the death of the father was directly caused by the interference or involvement of the evil deity or his minions, how is her request for aid voluntary? If they set her on the path to need help later...that is the lowest form of coercion. Did they expect her to travel to a nearby fief and pray to a different power?".

He smacks his fist into his other (open) hand.

"Regardless of law, that is the basest form of soul-slavery. I feel particularly incensed by this situation."

Akane shrugs noncommittally: "She could have gone to the temple of Iomedea... Not that anybody wants to be seen going to the temple of Iomedea. But she didn't get damned for accepting the help of Admodean: that is like using infernal healing - a minor evil act. It will barely make a stain on your soul, and an easy one to clean too. She was damned because she gave her mind and soul to Him after He healed her son. Freely and of her own volition, not as part of a bargain."

She pockets her wandermeal and intones: "The Lord's Truth is that all mortals belong in Hell. And if He can only convince you of it, you will. Welcome to devil country, where life suck, and then you die.. And death sucks even more."

Lev tilted his head side to side again. "So it is more of a consensus of reality ordeal. What idea you submit your will to is the idea that takes root in the material. THough I would call her a better person to most. Many have to be rewarded to follow a god, from an outside perspective it seems rare for even clerics to worship without the incentive of power."

"adventuring clerics seem to be the minor eception to the rule."

"How many people are willing to sacrifice for the will of a god? To love a divine being without condition. Though she suffers I would call her more holy than her god if what you say is true, as it seems he wants creation for himself."

"I cant help but wonder what he thinks of people like me. Unless I am killed by violence I will live. Most gods can die if you snuff them the right way but they are also immortal to time."

Leonia appears troubled. "You paint a bleak picture. If Asmodeus is the only source of healing magics allowed here, then he garners all the gratitude and prayer. But why do you say that no one wants to be seen at a temple to Iomedea? If Asmodeus allows her presence, then why would his worshippers feel less inclined to be so accepting?"

Glibly, the girl replies: "Oh, holy indeed... Though not quite as holy as her son, maybe. He made Grand Inquisitor at age thirty, youngest Grand Inquisitor in the history of Cheliash."

She seems to consider another smoke illusion, then gives up. "He led some of the bloodiest, most brutal repressions in the history of Cheliash, too. Archdevils got involved, archangels got involved... Legend has it, the Lord and the Lady had to personally work out an agreement on how to deal with the situation before it devolved into open war between their respective factions. That would be how mother and son both ended up in Hell, in case you're wondering."

Akane considers Levithian for a moment: "You are not technically a mortal, are you? As long as you don't mess with the divine order, the Lord has no strong feelings about you, one way or the other. Bring chaos to His land, however, and He will smite you like you've never been smitten before. Well, probably not Him personally, you know, he's very busy with his evil god stuff, but there are plenty of lower level devils who would gleefully do that for Him."

Turning to Leonia, she explains: "The Lady is pretty much the only god you are allowed to openly worship in Cheliash, other than the Lord. so naturally people don't trust her. With Asmodean you know where he stands, he wants to collect your soul and torture you for all eternity. What does Iomedea want? Nobody knows. She speaks of good and purity and generosity and other stuff that, if you lived in Cheliash long enough, you are way too jaded to believe can possibly be true. And Asmodean, who wants to collect your soul and torture it for all eternity, lets her servants preach openly, and you can worship her openly. People figure they may as well skip the middleman."

After a pause, she continues: "And of course, since people don't really trust the Lady, they also don't trust people who pray to her. So even if you do believe in all her talk of good and love, you don't want anybody else to know. And so people don't really want to be seen going to the temple of Iomedea. Of course, this is entirely accidental, and not in any way a sneaky plan of Asmodean's."
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:01, Tue 06 June 2017.

Leonia shakes her head in denial. "You don't want others to think you believe in goodness in a land that doesn't penalize you for it? Why not? That makes no sense! Why are they being so stupid....? The only thing that causes Evil to triumph is for Good people to do nothing."

Lev bowed his head in understanding. He understand the list of events but it seemed massively short sighted that people would turn to gods when it came to their immortal souls. At least they HAD souls, but everyone seemed to have a very mortal view but they lose sight of the fact they are all immortal. The soul was something of endless value but far more resilient than any gave credit for.

More so when if they just found a mage of sufficient power they would be likely able to do many of the same 'wonders' as the minor devils managed all the damn time.

It was made worse by the fact that religion wasn't something left up to concept. People could visit the afterlife with the correct spells. Celestial beings could come and say hello if you really broke it down. It was a sad thing if the woman's child died, but it wasn't an evil thing. Bad things happen to both the good and the evil equally. In other realms it was likely that evil people got hung if they failed a detection test.

It took a long view of things it seemed, even Lev failed there... Lots to ponder on...

Dakash raises his hand several times to interject, but Leonia and Akane seem to have come up with an argument or comment that dismisses or nullifies  most of his initial thoughts.

Still, the concepts of Asmodean being a non-interfering evil ruler of his own mortal kingdom does not sit well with the warrior-priest, and he silently vows to have a speak with one of these Imodean clergy, before too long.

It's early afternoon when the group reaches a place that Akane promptly christens This Is An Ambush.

It's late afternoon by the time a most perplexed party gets past This Is An Ambush without being ambushed.

The actual ambush happens in the early evening, as the party is stopping to set up camp.

The small rocky formation next to the clearing turns out to be hollow, and hiding a small hobgoblin warband.

The leader jumps out first, a tall specimen sporting a fine chain shirt, rapier glistening in the dying sunlight.

His three henchmen, all wearing breastplates of obvious quality, follow suit. Two of them double-wield their weapons (one using two short swords, the other a scimitar and a short sword), while the third wields a morningstar, with a buckler in his off hand.

One thing is pretty obvious: they seem amazingly well-equipped for a group of bandits.

OOC: Low light conditions. Characters without darkvision or low-light vision get a 20% miss chance. Which means none of you, since Akane, Dakash, and Leonia all have low-light vision, and Aran and Lev both have Darkvision. Can't blame the hobgoblins, though: they expected a bunch of humans.

Roll Perception, Roll Init.

This message was last edited by the GM at 07:41, Thu 15 June 2017.

The moment she notices something moving abruptly, Leonia casts Mage Armor for protection.

Perception 15 on d20+11.
Initiative 13 on d20+4.

Familiar:
Perception :22
Initiative :21
This message was last edited by the player at 08:58, Mon 12 June 2017.

Dakash is similarly on his guard, noticing the subtle change in wind direction and ambient animal noises that heralds the coming of danger.

He is, however, of the race that pauses to reflect on the nature of the danger, and if it can be reasoned with or avoided, rather than simply ground into the earth by the bootheel.



08:59, Today: Dakash Szagdala rolled 28 using 1d20+8.  perception.
08:59, Today: Dakash Szagdala rolled 4 using 1d20+2.  initiative...cleric speeeed!

"Well, I am embarrased. It takes me a little bit to drop this form for my natural one... You know squeezing into tight spaces and all. Mind giving me about a sixty count?" He moved his hands in a clockwise motion as he was ready to start off with a mage armor spell

20:04, Today: Levithian rolled 13 using 1d20+2.  Do no evil. Init
20:03, Today: Levithian rolled 15 using 1d20.  See no evil. spot

OOC Order of Initiative:
19 Bargon +2/+2 (short swords)
17 Aktod +4 (rapier)
14 Drughing +0 (morningstar)
13 Leonia
13 Crevle +0/+0 (scimitar/short sword)
13 Levithian
 4 Dakash
 0 Akane
 0 Aran

The hobgoblins appear to be about half as surprised as their targets, as they realize that the group isn't a bunch of human smugglers caught flat-footed, but rather a fully alert adventuring party.

Their leader mutters a curse, then quickly casts a spell, before moving closer.

The one dual-wielding shortswords just simply yells something and charges at Levithian. Flat-footed and unarmored, Levithian cannot quite escape the wrath of the charging hobgoblin and gets hit by both weapons.

The morningstar-wielding hobgoblin also takes a moment to cast a spell, then moves closer to the other two.

The last hobgoblin starts... Let's call it singing, for lack of a better term... And also approaches his companions.

You may roll to identify the spells that have been cast (it doesn't take an action). I'm leaving Aran last so that he can opt to do something instead of leaving his character to GM control. Levithian, if you want you can change your action, since you've been wounded and all (casting mage armor now would require you to step away, cast defensively, or risk an AoO). Otherwise, I'll post the rest of the round (i.e., Akane's turn) and wait for Aran.

We can assume that Leonia took a step back before casting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:57, Fri 16 June 2017.

Ooc: Leonia does indeed step back. Spellcraft rolls of 22,22,& 16. Oh, and Midnight has initiative of 19.

"Shield spell, Bless spell, and some sort of Bardic Performance" she says for the others to hear.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:58, Fri 16 June 2017.

Dakash had just begun to turn and ask the hobgoblins if they were, perhaps, emissaries of the lord of the land. Perhaps they were being sent to escort them to their next location in safety. Perhaps they were...but no, the swiftness of their attack pushed aside any notion of a peaceful resolve to this encounter.

"No! You fools!" The large blue man shouted as he instinctively rushed to interpose himself between Levithian and the onrushing attackers. As he moved, a wellspring of power seemed to pour out of the warpriest, surrounding and engulfing him in a faint shimmer of energy that covered his entire body. He drew his scimitar as he moved, his face a mask of anger at those who would strike his companion.

He was too late, of course, but that didn't stop him from reaching out and touching the injured wizard on the shoulder, granting a quick burst of healing magic to the man that helped to seal his wounds, then settling himself into a ready stance at the spellcaster's side

It seemed that they had awakened the bear.


So, here's the [hopefully legal] breakdown of my actions. :)

Move action: go to stand beside Levi.
Free Action: Draw scimitar as part of my move action.
Swift Action: cast Shield of Faith on myself.
Standard Action: use Fervor to heal Levi for 5 HP.

So, I've used 1 1st level spell and one of my 5 Fervors. I wasn't able to find if using one of my 4 Blessings per day counts as any type of action, or if I 'just do it'. If it doesn't take an action, I would use one of them to Empower the healing I did, bringing it from 5 to 8, please.