GM's note: Since there appears to be a problem in keeping consistent tenses throughout a thread, this one will be in present tense, Carry on.
This message was last updated by the GM at 18:29, Fri 06 Jan 2017.

A gentle knock on the door wakes each of our protagonists in turn, as Tessa and Uldus remind them that the meeting with Zhorr has been organized for the morning.

After a rustic but sizable breakfast, Uldus accompanies the group to the the hill that dominates the tiny village.

The building at the top is not really a castle: it's not designed with defense in mind, and it has neither battlements nor arrow slits. Asidee from that, however, the manor is rather imposing.

Three stories of solid stone, looking as if they have been carved out of a single huge rock, with big windows and an doorway that would allow a giant to go through without bumping its head.

Since the owner of the manor appears to be a wizard of some persuasion, there is a good chance that magic was involved in the construction at some point.

As the party approaches the manor they notice two statues on the sides of the door, one made of white stone, one made of black stone.

From a distance, they appear to be human.sized winged humanoids.

---

As you approach the manor, you notice that the walls have many, many decorative carvings, and the two statues resolve into two angels.

The quality of the work is apparent even to the untrained eye (you can use Appraise to get an idea of the statues' worth). The angels are not wearing any clothes, or armor, but even so you wouldn't call them erotic sculptures.

Both statues are beautiful, but the white one seems to express a loving welcome, while the black one seems to regard the world with burning hatred. There are veins of white material included in the black marble, which makes the statue look as if its perfect skin is scarred.

Planes or Religion 14 to identify them. You MAY take 10 on Knowledge checks when you are not in combat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:22, Fri 06 Jan 2017.

Leonia rises with a slightly fuzzied mind. When she joins the others,she takes the sights in as she travels in silence  (time enough to be giddy when in Zhorr's presence). When they arrive at the doors, she gazes at the statues and her demeanor breaks as she openly declaims the artistry and value of the two works of art.


Appraise 23 on d20+5.

Aran's Hangover was no trifle, but benders were nothing new to the Efreet. He makes his way with the others to the Manor in a somewhat sluggish manor, but he manages to keep up. Upon seeing the statues, he takes some time to admire the quality of the work done to create them, as well as take in his surroundings as best he can.


16:41, Today: Aran Kalisar rolled 17 using 1d20+5.  Appraise Check.
Knowledge: Planes 15 (Taking 10)

Approaching the manor, the group chats amiably about unimportant things, such as Uldus recounting the daily life of a lumberjack, and the inner workings of his wife's ice mead as best as he understands them.

Once in front of the large wooden doors, Uldus grabs a big brass ring sticking out of the wall on the right side, and pulls it hard.

Bells goes off inside the building, and several seconds later the doors open. There doesn't appear to be anybody inside, but Uldus is unperturbed.

Immediately behind the doors there is a sizable atrium, with multiple corridors leading off in various directions, each of them with a carpet of different color.

Uldus walks right in, and keeps going straight, following a corridor with a red carpet.

---

The corridor on your left has a green carpet, the one on your right blue, and the one in front of you red.

There are many doors, but they are all closed; midway through the red corridor, twin stairs on each side lead up and down. The place appears to be even bigger than you originally thought.

(Planes/Religion) Judging from context and visual cues, this appears to be the artist's rendition of an Erinyes (devils born out of fallen Angels): the white and the black statue would then represent the same creature before and after the Fall. The use of black marble is probably a bit of an artistic license (according to lore, only the wings are actually black), probably chosen because the white inclusions highlight the "decorative" scars most Erinyes bear.

(Appraise) The closer you get the more details you see, and the higher you rank the statues' worth. To begin with, any marble statue of that size is worth at least 1500 gp just for the raw materials. Poor quality statues are worth at least 3000 gp, and average quality statues sell for 4500 gp. You would put the value of these particular statues at around 6000 gp. Each.
The carvings on the walls also appear to quite the artistic endeavor - though, since they cannot removed from the walls, they add to the value of the manor rather than having an intrinsic worth. Even so, a lot of gold was turned into stone here. Or maybe it's the other way around.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:14, Sat 07 Jan 2017.

Dakash enjoys the 'sizable breakfast', as he is himself a not-quite-average specimen of his race. He smacks his lips and makes sounds of appreciation as each course or portion is completed. Some listeners may find his noises rude, though he is well aware that with the company he keeps, his enjoyment of meals is a small price to pay for the skills he brings to the table himself.

However, when they arrive at the building that is their destination, he regards the two statues coolly. Unlike his companion Leonia, he does not appraise them for value or source of origin, but rather the concept behind their creation. If allowed, he reaches out and touches each, caressing first one then the other briefly to discern if they are as smooth as they seem, and of course to see if they would animate. He's heard of such things, but not yet experienced a living statue in this lifetime.

Once inside, he pauses and watches Uldus take the red carpet path, momentarily wondering where the other two led, but since he was not a rogue by trade or in spirit, he only wondered and did not act on the curiosity, and so followed the man silently. a bit further.


Also took 10 on my Religion check for the statues [total 16].

If it will help, I'll also be watchful as I move through this [and other] new area(s) so I'll Take 10 on Perception rolls when I can [total 18].

Leonia observes the antics of the blue-hued humanoid and wryly says "Were you expecting that your touch was exciting enough to bring them to life? And here I thought Fey were too narcissistic! Live and learn, I suppose..."

"The gods work in mysterious ways..." He chuckled and removed his hand from the non-offensive place it had been and continued inside.

Uldus leads the group through the red corridor, to a closed door. He knocks, waits for an answer and, after asking everybody to kindly wait a moment, gets in.

A short while later, the door opens again, to show a fairly large room decorated with paintings, carvings, and more statues.

There is a big table in the middle, with enough chairs for everybody to sit down.

Behind the table stands a man in his forties, not particularly tall. His black hair and goatee contrast with his pale skin and clear eyes.

Particularly surprising to the arcane spellcasters in the group is the fact that he is wearing what looks like an expensive armor, and carrying a long pointy sword that the more martial-oriented types promptly identify as a rapier. His other accessories also appear to be of the expensive variety: it seems stone is not the only thing his gold was turned into.

He greets everybody with a simple: "My lady, gentlemen, welcome to Carp on the Wall, and to my humble abode. Please, have a seat."

---

(Reposted from the OOC thread, to keep everything in one place.)
The statue is as smooth as marble can get (which is to say, quite). It's also very realistic, to the point that if it actually came to life you wouldn't be surprised. So far, however, it hasn't moved. If it's alive, it's not ticklish.

If Gron decided that he would like to meet the mayor (e.g., due to an off-screen conversation with Tessa), he has been included in the group, and can politely (or less politely, if he so desires) point out to Dakash that marble doesn't react well to skin oils. As far as I know nobody else has knowledge in stone working - Gron is a dwarf, so he has some knowledge regardless of skill ranks, just by virtue of having been exposed to master stone workers in his youth.

---

The statues inside are similar to the ones at the entrance, except these ones are less than three feet tall, and made of bronze rather than marble.

The paintings depict more scenes of angels and devils, and are fairly standard, if quite varied, religious depictions.

Finally, those with knowledge in Religion will be surprised to notice the holy symbols of not one, but three gods.

The symbol of Asmodean is expected.

The presence of the Manual of City Building, the holy book of Abbadar, is not surprising in the house of a community leader, and it is in fact a good sign.

The presence of the holy symbol of Iomedea, however, is not something you would really have expected - not so openly displayed, and not right opposite the symbol of Asmodean. It's good, but definitely... Interesting

To clarify: these three deities are all lawful, and they are evil, neutral, and good respectively. As I probably already mentioned, Iomedea (much like her canonical counterpart Iomedae) is on speaking terms with exactly one evil deity (no prizes for guessing which one), while the church of Asmodean is giving her cult more freedom than any other in Chelian. As such, it's certainly possible to pray to all three deities at once without angering any of them... But it's certainly a fine balancing act. Those households that pray to Iomedea in Chelian tend to do so in a small private room, rather than openly displaying her symbol right alongside that of the ruler of Hell. Aran will know this due to being native of the region, fo everybody else is knowledge local DC 10 or geography 15.

The Manual of City Building, for those not familiar with the cult of Abadar in canon PF, is indeed a holy book, but it is also literally a manual of city building, filled with very practical advice on how to develop a strong community.

It's essentially a "project management" kind of guide for community leaders, complete with "Best Practices" and "Quality Assurance"-type sections: if it has been proven to be effective in building a community, it's in the book. The church is very proactive in keeping it up to date, adding new material as it proves its effectiveness and removing those parts that have proven to no longer work.

This message was last edited by the GM at 18:54, Fri 13 Jan 2017.

Leonia studies the three aspects of Lawful society, each represented by a different holy symbol. She turns to the man in armor and rapier, and in a puzzled voice asks "Zhorr? How are you able?-" her mind reels at possible implications. She also tries to recall if any other person has ever tried to balance the forces of the three deities in the past.


01:40, Today: Leonia Sunstorm rolled 19 using 1d20+9.  Knowledge History.

Dakash is actually impressed at the proliferation of all three deities in one area...though of course his happiness is somewhat dampened by the knowledge that Asmodeus only allows things that serve his interests, or can be manipulated to do so. Still, it is good to see that there is at least the surface appearance of equality for worshippers of goodness.

"Are there laws governing the conduct and rituals of religious services? Surely the lord of the land doesn't allow Iomedea an actual foothold in the land, much less the hearts and minds of the citizenry."

Zhorr smiles at Dakash: "You would be surprised. You are not from Chelian, so allow me to explain how it works."

He takes a step back and assumes a lecturing tone that Leonia is quite familiar with - there is definitely the heart of a scholar behind that armor: "Officially, all temples in the country must be consecrated to Asmodean. Shrines to other deities may be set up in back rooms in those temples, each with a specific authorization, and those are the only places where public prayer gatherings are allowed. People may set up small shrines in their own houses, but those are strictly for use by the owner's family. There are only two deities who are excepted from that rule. One is of course the Lord Asmodean himself. The other is the Lady Iomedea."

After a moment's pause to let the surprise sink in, Zhorr continues: "In return for this concession, and a small number of other allowances, the Lady Iomedea has agreed that all of her followers will have absolute respect for the law of the land as decreed by its rulers. If a Cleric or Paladin of Iomedea willingly breaks Chelish law, no matter the reason, they will immediately be stripped of all their divine gifts. It's quite ingenious, if you think about it. Plus it's a constant source of amusement for the Lord Asmodean, and eternity has a way of becoming dull... Or so I'm told."

He snaps his fingers and continues, looking directly at Dakash: "But I almost forgot! Uldus tells me you liked the statues at the entrance. I admit they are some of my best work, if I may say so myself."

As he says so, he turns around, and a small metal statuette floats into the room. It's a variation on the angel-before-the-fall theme, similar to the statue at the entrance, but clearly meant to be a small-scale piece of art.

"This is one of my prototypes. I tend to make a few of these when I am working on something new. They are made of conjured iron, which unfortunately means they require a bit of maintenance to prevent them from rusting, and since I cannot really hold on to many of them, I made a habit of giving the best ones to people who appreciate my art." Plucking the statuette from the hold of whatever it is that is keeping it floating, he offers it to Dakash: "I would like you to have it. It does need a light polishing every now and then, but I trust you can take good care of it."

---

The diabolic hold on Chelian is relatively recent, from a historical perspective, and its situation is rather unique, so you cannot really find any previous examples.

A community leader/lord worshiping Abbadar is rarely a source of surprise: on the one hand, most deities are fine with their followers paying their respects to Abbadar, especially if they are community leaders; on the other hand, Abbadar is willing to accept just about anything, as long as it doesn't cause strife. On the gripping hand, trying to worship good and evil *at the same time* does, in fact usually cause strife. Then the good and evil deities dislike you for worshiping the other one, and Abbadar dislikes you for creating a negative atmosphere in the community.

This strange choice Asmodean made is the only reason Zhorr could even attempt this without automatically pissing off three gods at once. Worshiping Asmodean alone would have been much easier, but evidently he didn't quite wante to put the village in the hands of the ruler of Hell exclusively.

A quick Appraise check will reveal that the craftsmanship on the statuette gives it excellent artistic value, although the fact that it is made from conjured iron severely tanks its monetary worth: it could probably be sold for a hundred gold pieces, though you might be able to get somebody with appreciation for the arts to pay up to 200 gp.

Conjured iron, in case there were any doubts, is metal that comes from a Wall of Iron spell: it's relatively brittle, rusts quickly, and is generally inadequate for any use other than building a wall... And apparently making small objets d'art, although you suspect that additional magic was involved in crafting that statuette, since trying to make it with normal methods would probably not have yielded that kind of result.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:55, Fri 13 Jan 2017.

"Impressive " Leonia says. "A Silent, Still form of telekinesis, and the armor isn't causing the spell to fail. Very Impressive, indeed" the elf says with a twinkle in her eye. She knows how the mage really did it, but maintaining awe for the Art was a duty shared by all wizards.
She adds "Zhorr, I read your treatise on Exercises and Experimentations in Abjuration and Conjuring. I'd love the opportunity to discuss it with you."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:29, Wed 11 Jan 2017.

The blue warrior-priest keeps his mouth shut and merely listens and observes.

Zhorr frowns for a moment: "Treatise on... Oh dear." With a small chuckle he continues: "My lady, that book was written over a century ago. That probably did not seem like a very long time to your teachers, but that one ancestor of mine who did in fact write the book was human, and has long since claimed his reward in the afterlife."

He smiles to Leonia and says: "As it happens, most of my relatives on my mother's side were true scholars. I am, by comparison, simply a dabbler: I took more than my fair share of love for the art of the sword from my father's side. As a result, my arcane formation wasn't quite as thorough as it could have been. However, I do enjoy magical research, so perhaps I can still be of help."

---

Zhorr is, as you may or may not have guessed, a Magus. Leonia is likely to have at least an idea of what a Magus is, though she might be unaware of the finer details of the utter insanity that is Knowledge Pool. Having both Arcana and Dungeoneering, however, she probably has at least a decent idea.

Leonia can still use most of his spells: specifically, Magus spells from Paizo sources pretty much all appear on the wizard list, and Leonia can copy them directly from one of his spell books in due course.
The ones he already researched for himself, however, such as his most beloved 10 minutes/level Shield spell (not necessarily as useful for a wizard), will have to be re-researched (with an appropriate discount) to also appear on the Wizard list.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:56, Fri 13 Jan 2017.