A place for discussing things more closely related to current plot events than the OOC thread. A place where you can:

-Concoct complex strategies that your characters can enact instinctively.

-Decide in what order people will do things without having to discuss it explicitly in-character.

-Split loot efficiently.

-etc.

Presume this is also an appropriate place to ask clarification questions?

What was the timeline in which the captain needed to get the giant-things delivered in order to fulfill her contract?  And how difficult/simple/impossible would it be to make that timeline assuming we go to port, get the ship repaired, and then sail to where we're supposed to *without* going the uber-dangerous route?

I believe I kept the timing purposefully vague, but this is what I found:



I'll say the trip was expected to take about two weeks, plus or minus a couple of days depending on weather. It might still be possible to get to the Sunset Isles/Jungle of Blossoms before the dry season is over by taking the safe route, but it would certainly require some luck and a good ship. If you want to repair your current ship and go, you'll either need serious magic or you'll need to accept the fact that you'll arrive late. Quite late. Your ship is in utter shambles.

I know it was vague.  Thus the question :)

Planning mode:
We could possibly use the sea maiden bauble to get us where we want to go, though that's not certain.  (And Ilura's a little leery of magic doodads at the moment :>)

The question is whether to do that before or after getting the ship to dock (and whether we should try to get the ship repaired while in-dock - and if so, who will pay for it)

I have a slight leaning to put the blackest pirates into the rowboat to set the anchor, let them head off on their own (so we don't have to deal with them), then crack the bauble and have the sea sisters get us safely to our destination as fast as they're able.  We can then work on resurrecting the captain and figuring out how to deal with those at the other end.  We could encounter our new party members along the way.

Hopefully at the other end we can commandeer a new ship for the voyage home - assuming we don't all die :)

If time was already tight I think we may have destroyed any chance for Frost to fulfill the deal, unless we get lucky with either finding a new ship immediately, or having the dry season stretch out.

I'd say we try to make the run in a bid to save Captain Frost's soul, but if we hit any delays I think it's better to free or destroy the living cargo just so the Overlord's brother won't get it. If we're breaking the Devil's Bargain we'll have to find another way to save Frost anyway, so we might as well break it completely and keep the evil plot from advancing in the meantime.

I still wonder what we'll find at our destination. We stopped the plot in the sea cavern, but I'm not sure if that will delay the villains forever.

I think failing to deliver the cargo will, at best, delay the plot.  My thought was for us to use the arrival with the cargo (rendered at least temporarily useless) as an ingress to allow us to attack those attempting the resurrection.  Agree that our primary objective is to permanently stop the plot (which requires capturing the Overlord's soul and disposing of it).  Dealing with the Overlord's brother is just a step in the process.

Aye, I just consider it a mistake to bring the thing they want (and are apparently on a deadline to get) right to them. If it buys us a few weeks while they look for and transport new giants, that can only be good for us.

But of course: While there's still a chance to avoid breaking the contract, it would be best to make the delivery and then sabotage their efforts some other way upon arrival.

Totally fine with the plan of creating a fake map, Ilura just isn't a fan of someone reading her thoughts :>

I think there is some confusion over the whereabouts of the map. In message #41 of the active thread, Chance put it back into his pack. He is not opposed to having a copy of it made and would aid in doing so, but he'd go down that filthy grate with it before he'll stash it in a hole for a bunch of rats to make a nest out of it.

GM, should I edit the post where Chance put the map away for continuity's sake, or just not worry about it?

You can make an edit if you want to, but I wouldn't worry about it. Minor inconsistencies are bound to happen. So long we can still understand what is happening overall, I'm not going to worry too much.

I sort of figured that would be Chance's reaction.  Ilura will be frustrated, but as a player, I'm totally fine :)

Her gesture toward the map could easily have been pointing to your pack, so I think we're ok.  (Sorry for not double-checking the current location before my post.)

Very good. I'll post after dinner tonight.

This gnome - mister Wazowitz - obviously has some personal business with the overlord, as he called him a genius and all that when speaking with Chance & Aguri. The priestesses apparently know of the connection, as they implied they rented out the room for the dream ritual and sent us there because "the deal has gone sour" (referring to Chance holding Wazowitz at knife point).

So, they know of the map and were expecting to get it from Wazowitz, but I'm not sure what side they are on. They could be in league with Wazowitz, though the impression I got from the duality theme of their temple is that they would help anyone - good or bad - as long as they get something equal in return. (They mentioned the Vorlag too, and I'm not sure if they meant they helped us find it, or the villains. Possibly both. I forget if Lusiny helped guide us to the black beach.) Either way, without knowing for sure I think it's a good call to keep the map away from them.

Wazowitz himself is either still a follower of the overlord, or trying to trade his unique map for some other favor. We can't trust him.

What do you guys think?

I'm perfectly happy for the gnome to end up dead.  I think killing the priestesses is another matter.  I'm pretty sure Luciny wouldn't be thrilled.  At the same time, we need access to the temple to reach the chamber.  Perhaps we can offer that we caught a glimpse of it, but don't remember enough to re-draw it.  However, if we were to go dwelving, seeing the actual space might be enough to jog our memories to let us find it.

Nice roll on that sales pitch.  Let's see what happens...

I don't disagree with either of you. Chance will have to know a lot more about these Priestesses before he would trust them. They are sharing space with the gnome, after all, even if they are not affiliated with him.

Yeah, I get an uneasy feeling from the priestesses, but I won't be needlessly hostile towards them. I'll just keep them on a need-to-know basis regarding what I tell them from here on out.

Chance, remind me: are you related to the clergy of Corr in any sense of the word, or is it an entirely fabricated story your character uses as a cover? In either case you could probably use it as an excuse for snooping around in parts of the temple.

Affiliated with Corr, yes. Affiliated with any institution of worship, no.

If we intend to press Ilura's ruse, I'm inclined to let the frog go. If we think that a fight with this Demon-Angel thing and/or the priestesses is unavoidable then I will try to save him.

I feel like Chance has gotten plenty of mileage out of the frogs, particularly considering that the Dungeon Rations and Poison that he fed to them were only consumed in the gnome's mind (or wherever Chance and Aguri had been). Also, considering a fight will pit Ilura against another priestess of her faith (ostensibly) I am reluctant to start a fight and force that difficult (albeit perhaps unavoidable) choice on her.

I agree. I'll try to talk my way out of it.

If need be, one of us might be able to Aid you Chance, so if a roll is needed, give us a chance to do that.

Will do, thanks!

I will use the roll since he is so close behind the angel-demon, and Urella has supernaturally keen senses. So someone can feel free to make an Aid roll.

I'm uncertain about pushing my luck here, so would prefer if someone else tried, but I will if no-one else wants to.

I'm ok with a failure here. Don't feel like you need to expose yourselves to the consequences.

I’m leaning toward trying to resist whatever magic is being conjured and trying to finish the thing. Before I decide can you tell me what the defy danger stat would be, or do I need to commit to that action first?

You can use either Con or Wis to try and weather this particular magic.

I don't think we've dealt with Marcus disappearing yet IC.  We might be willing to go delving without our hirelings, but we certainly wouldn't leave without him.  And right now our party is probably personna-non-grata at the temple, so him hanging out here probably doesn't make much sense.  Perhaps he learned something from Aguri and he decided he was urgently needed elsewhere and he leaves a note promising to catch up with us "as soon as he can" or something like that?  If he happened to take the good captain's body with him, that might also be helpful :>

We can say Marcus was starting to lead Aguri outside as the commotion was beginning. Once they were out, Aguri mentioned the important thing and they left. Marcus let the hirelings know he wouldn't be back any time soon, but the hirelings haven't had a chance to relay the message yet. Maybe they were all sitting outside on a smoke break or something. :-P Feel free to fill in any details to make it more believable/real/fleshed out. And feel free to send a hirelings or two with Marcus if you so desire.

My leaning is that we're going to need all the cannon fodder help we can get.  I'm sure Westley would be thrilled to scout out a booby-trapped hallway or two...

Other opinions?

Looks like we've got a choice - get into the underground area and start looking for the secret room or head into town to deal with Eryn's magic weapons.  In theory, we could do both - look for an entrance and then see if we can figure out how to get from town to the entrance without crossing our not-so-friendly priestesses.

I'm not in favor of leaving the mace behind.  In the worst case, we should lug it to the safety of a concealed room for later retrieval.  Same goes for our gnome friend's body.  I want to make darn sure our friend can't be resurrected.  They might be able to call back his spirit, but I don't want him getting stuck back in his old body.  Besides, Eryn might need something to snack on ;)

I'd like to wait and see the result of my spout lore roll before we make a decision. Then, assuming we can find someplace out of the way, I'd like for Chance to do a little recon of the area to compare to the map.

If you want to go on to town while he is nosing around that would be ok. He should be able to remain largely unnoticed by himself and can find you in town once he's had a look around.

I agree that we should stash the mace somewhere. If its magic can't be useful to us, we should still keep it away from others. I could drag it into town while waiting for Chance, but I don't feel like splitting the party right after such a dire situation. Who knows what's lurking in the depths of the temple?

That's cool. I thought I'd put the option out there. The spout lore roll wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. Let's see what Chance knows about this place and decide from there. It may be that the recon should wait until we come back.

I don't think any of us will object to dropping him occasionally - even if not strictly necessary :>

My leaning is to try to catch some rest/healing in the gardens (if feasible) or somewhere else outside but nearby and semi-defensible if not.  Thomas and I could possibly fly and try to scout out some of the drainage lines and see if any are large enough for us to get through into the lower part of the temple.  We'd have to figure out how to deal with the guards are guarding the entrance to the well.  Could Chance knock them out?  (I'm not sure if Eryn knows Charm Person - and if there's more than one guard, that might not help much.)

Worst case is we could just rush them and try to take them out before they raise a fuss, but they may be 'good' guards, and we'd have more time to work with if everyone's convinced that no one's ever gone down there...

I agree that we should rest up somewhere. I wish to save the healing potion Westley brought back, but if needed I see that drinking it will take me almost back to full HP.

In-character I sorta suggested that we skip the garden because it's one of the places the enemy may look, but OOC I'll say that I think risking a guard knocking on the door is better than trying to leave with all this stuff in tow in the middle of the commotion. We can lay low until they relax the search.

I don't know Charm, but some of the temple attendants - like the orc - sound more zealous than others. We may be able to convince some of them that we were in the right here.

I do have Alarm to keep us forewarned in the garden, though I would need to prepare it first. I only have Magic Missile and Mirror Image ready at the moment.
This message was last edited by the player at 09:29, Thu 13 Feb 2020.

I wouldn't count on any of the temple attendants being un-zealous.  If you're going to hang out at a temple half populated by followers of your opposed god, you're doing it because you passionately believe in it or you have no choice - and in either case, we can't count on them taking our side.

Chance, might be able to use some of his Goldenroot.  Assuming there's only a couple of guards, I could transform into a rat or something and get past and then create enough of a distraction to get them to turn around making it easier for you to touch them both.  Then you'd just need to convince them to do something else while the group of us headed down to the bottom level.

Other possibilities: I could possibly hit one in the head with a blunted arrow to stun them long enough to rush them and gag them.  I can also cast 'hold person' or 'darkness', but neither of those will stop them from shouting out.  Creating a distraction to lure most of the guards upstairs/outside might not be a bad idea either.

The good news is that no one other than the head priestesses seem to know the value of the lower level.  If we can get down there and past there without anyone else knowing, that'd be good.

Ilura has one other reason for going to the gardens.  The holy people here likely have access to some sort of divination spells - probably through Luciny.  She'd best be able to protect us from discovery in one of her own spaces.  (And if she doesn't *want* to protect us, Ilura sort of wants to know that...)

The goldenroot may be an option, but touch isn't sufficient to deliver it. Unless I am mistaken It has to be ingested. Regardless, it sounds like we are headed to the garden.

I read this before reading the IC thread. Do I understand correctly that we are headed to town via the drainage tunnel?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:29, Thu 13 Feb 2020.

It says that goldenrod can be "carefully applied to the target" - it would be helpful to understand what that means as opposed to 'touch'.

We're leaving the temple via the tunnel and then heading up to the garden is my understanding.  (I was presuming we could reach the gardens without going through the temple.  If that's wrong, then I'll revise my post.)

My understanding is that the garden is on top of the temple, in which case, theoretically, it should be reachable through the drainage tunnels.

Regarding the poison, I think applied carefully would mean either to a specific place on the target's body, or maybe prolonged contact, or contact under certain environmental conditions. Since it is unclear I decided the easiest way to handle it was to say it had to be ingested. If the GM wants to offer clarification it would be appreciated. I haven't had reason to question it until now.

I found the above information about using Touch vs Applied poisons on people. Goldenroot is an applied poison, so it can't be used by simply splashing it on someone or by stabbing them with a weapon coated in it. Food or drink is the obvious way to get it to affect someone. I would also likely allow other creative ways you might come up with, such as injecting it into them like a flue shot (provided you could locate such equipment), or rub it on them like lotion so it sits for a long time, or maybe even if you can manage to spray it directly into their eyes or something. I would have to consider these alternate methods on a case by case basis.

Sounds good, thank you!

I know I wrote a post in which Chance ignores Ilura and goes after his stuff, but I'll be darned if I can find it. Oh well, I guess Chance did as he was told this time. Y'all don't get used to it.

Maybe he was busy mentally rehearsing ignoring her and once he was ready to act, found her there holding his bag, leaving him feeling rather annoyed - and Ilura rather confused :>


Can we clean up the Character Status thread a little?  Chance is there twice and there's a good chunk of space taken up by characters I don't think we're expecting back.  (I'm fine with keeping them, but it'd be nice if we could at least trim/eliminate the line breaks in those entries to make it faster to get to the relevant stuff.

Also, I don't see an entry for Opal, the gargoyle, so I've added one.

I deleted all of the old player characters except Marcus, since he is the only one who I think might return eventually. I saved their info elsewhere though, just in case. I also got rid of Chance's extra post.

Thanks! :)

I assume you meant 'fought', but on the chance you are referring to the tar demon we faced back in Markhain, that was Hiran's victory. I don't recall it affecting me or my spellbook. If I did describe at as black or tar-colored at some point, however, then my bad!

In any case, outwardly my face is what has changed, along with a little more pale skin. It may make my past battle scars more obvious contrast. You healed the rest away (thanks again!)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:33, Wed 04 Mar 2020.

I thought you had taken Hiran's spellbook and were browsing through it.  If that's not the case, I'll adjust my post so the language fits.  (And yes, I was referring to the tar demon)

Your paler face wouldn't have been noticeable when it was covered w/ blood and gore from the fight :)

I learned from him and have copied some of his research, but he's kept his own spellbook. Mine is a travel journal which is sure to be stained by now, but it's not full of demons (yet!)

Corrected :)

I'll try to remember that +1 in a few years when I actually hit level 10 - if Eryn and Ilura both survive that long... :)

Question: Can you explain more about the nature of the garden?  Are there a whole bunch of areas like the one we're in, or are we in the only one?  I'm picturing around 200 square feet with not much if anything in the way of hiding space - is that accurate?  How far does someone have to come into the garden before they can see all of it?  Is it possible to see through the gate when it's closed?

The area looks similar to the garden in the link below. So yeah, not a lot of hiding places unless you get creative. They would not have to come in more than a few steps to see the entire area. There are a few dozen similar areas scattered throughout the larger garden. Due to the magic of the area, you shouldn't be able to see in or out of the area despite all of the natural peep-holes the shrub-walled area has. However, you shouldn't be able to hear people outside either, so there must be a way to circumvent the magic.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals...c7865242b8934cbe.jpg

Edit: I guess the link isn't working? Does anyone know how to do images in rpol? Otherwise I guess you'll have to copy and paste the link. Sorry.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:45, Sat 14 Mar 2020.

Pasting a link is supposed to work according to the help.  Not sure why it doesn't work.  As GM, you should be able to use the <a/> tag.  I can't because I'm not here.  The <img/> tag seems to work.


In terms of plan, I see a couple of options.  We can try to fight, or we can try to hide.  The former seems dicey to me, as we'd be fighting a whole bunch of elite guards and there's only 3 of us (even if we have hirelings to help a bit) and they probably have back-up.

In terms of hiding, if we send out Westley and Silas, Lady Mirrorsheen and Opal can fly up high - where they're unlikely to be noticed by guards looking for 3 fugitives.  I can turn into a rat and hide pretty easily.  The trick will be hiding Eryn and Chance.  The only thing I can think of is to try to fashion breathing straws and have you hide under the water of the pool.  It's night and it'll be dark, so it should be hard to see you underwater.  We could stick the mace in their too.  In the worst case, we end up fighting anyhow.

Open to other ideas :)

I had imagined the gardens being walled in and had thought about going over the walls. In this case maybe going through them is an option?

Our fairy tried to fly over and it wasn't possible - they kept going up forever, with the quote that made my week

I'm pretty sure we can't go through them either - at least not without defeating some sort of magic barrier.

At the very least, going over or through the wall of shrubbery wouldn't be a simple task. They are designed to magically prevent intrusion and eavesdropping. But, seeing how a group of adventurers is anything but mundane, you may certainly try to bypass the defenses in some way. It would definitely require a roll or two though.

Perhaps Eryn can aid Chance's aid?  :)  That way we can all succeed together or all count XP together...

I'll allow it. :-)

I'll get to posting tomorrow, this new virus going around necessitated some changes to our work day. Got all settled in now, though!

I work from home and it still turned our life upside-down for several days figuring out how everything was going to function (and I'm pretty sure we're still not at the 'all settled stage' :>)

The awesome thing about RPOL is we can continue to play with no fear of infection!

So, my roll of 8 should increase Chance to a 7 which should also increase Ilura to a 7, right? And we all incur some form of problem or cost thanks to our hastily formulated plan, oh my.

I was kind of looking forward to three sixes to deal with, but congrats on the success regardless. Everyone has a 7-9 now. Eryn and Chance get to deal with a "danger, retribution, or cost," but a 7-9 on a Discern Realities doesn't really come with a penalty. Although I am sure Ilura will still be helping with her group's issues as they arise.

Now I need to figure out what actually happens...

Can Eryn use my +1 on her constitution (or whatever) roll for using the benefit of my perception?

I'm going to say no. The bonus is non-transferable. However, you could use the +1 on an Aid roll to try and provide a bonus to Eryn if needed.

k.  Some little voice tells me that I might need a +1 soon regardless... :)

I'm not totally sure what the first sentence means.  Does that mean that in normal situations I could use multiple hold in a single action (e.g. regurgitate acid on someone and carry them in my beak if I was a queen sea buzzard)?  I had no clue that was even possible...

Second does the first sentence mean that I need to spend hold to turn back into my normal form?  Are you saying I must spend all three hold *before* I can turn back into my normal form?  Or something else?

Third, how much of this is OOC knowledge and how much does my character intuit?  E.g. will I have any sense that trying to use one of my abilities will cause a shift in form or that I need to use my holds before I can become myself again?

Fourth, if I randomly change form, will my abilities shift?  E.g. If I become a minnow, can I still chew, or do I get something else?  What happens if the powers I get are not useable in my current situation (e.g. if I turn into a salmon and get "leap out of water" and "consume smaller fish" and, at the time, I'm flopping around under a hedge trying to breath with my gills out of water, am I screwed? :>  Also, do I get to complete my action before I shift?

Sorry - this changing form stuff is complicated.  I'd been avoiding it, but this seemed like the sort of desperate situation where Ilura would have risked it...

Sorry for the confusion. I tried to make it simple, bit did not explain very well.

The first sentence is referencing how you can usually expend all your Hold at any time to resume your normal form. However, if you try to change back right now, you will change shape instead, and only use one Hold. (Your third Hold still changes you back to human).

When you use your Hold for a skill, the skill works before you transform. The new shape gets new skills. And if you end up as a fish on land, it won't be good for you. :-/

You know you have three Hold IC, but you do not know you will change shape when you use it.

I kind of figured that being a fish on land would be problematic.  Being a fish on land where none of the skills are applicable to my land-bound situation - and thus I can't expend hold to change form again - would be particularly unfortunate... :)

Can I choose to expend hold without using a skill?  (I presume that doing so still counts as an 'action')

Yeah, you can. Same as expending hold to change back to your human form.

A couple of options for leaving:
- I could try to turn back into a queen sea buzzard and try to fly out with one person in my mouth (probably Eryn) and Chance could try to sneak out while the others gave him a heads up.  If necessary, we take out the guard at the door (ideally one who isn't aligned with Luciny).
- I could turn back into a rat and with telepathy with Eryn, I can help lead the group out.

Also, figured out what to do with that mace - we can just stick it in my hat.  There's a chance we won't get it back, but if we leave it here, it's pretty much a given we won't get it back - and there's no realistic way we can sneak out while lugging it.  Any concerns with that as an approach?

Telepathy sounds like a good option. I think it's better for you to stay hidden as a rat than to become a monstrous bird to be seen by all.

I could also attempt to use my new spell to contact a spirit and ask for a way out.

I don't have any concerns with any approach that nets us that mace without having to drag it behind us. :)

It's not a guarantee - there's a chance of losing anything we stick in the hat to time and space.  I'd be very leery of sticking something critical (e.g. the map) in there.  However, for something that's "nice to have" but not critical and that we're likely to have to surrender otherwise, I think it's a good option.

Communing w/ spirits sounds ok so long as it's fast and relatively quiet.


@GM - did I notice whether the guard stationed at the nearest entrance was affiliated w/ Cherka or Luciny?

Yes you did. I will let you decide which it was though.

Oh, and your transformation worked exactly as you described it, so no worries there either.

Any damage for flopping around as a tuna suffocating?

Haha, no. The time was so short it wouldn't make that much of an impact.

Ilura will wait for Lady Mirrorsheen to look at her bracelet before using it.  OOC, I understand there's nothing she can do.  But IC, she has no idea why it's behaving so badly :)

I guess see if you can see any entrances to the drainage tunnels from up there Chance.  That might be the best way to get out of the garden unnoticed and without killing anyone.  Plan B would be to see what the nearest entrance is (with the least number of people in the way) that's guarded by a Cherka worshiper.

He's trying to do just that; however, if it requires a discern realities roll, he failed.

Should I apply Telepathy to one of you, by the way?

Probably to me once we have an objective - unless Chance plans to (and is able to) navigate to where we need to go on top of the hedge and provide overwatch as we navigate there

He ought to be able to do that provided Eryn's sudden appearance in his mind doesn't startle him and cause him to fall. Does that spell allow you to roam freely through a person's mind?

Wasn't someone planning on using a speak with dead spell too? Or did you guys decide not to?

We've still got the gnome, but not sure we have questions to ask him.  He didn't know the way to the secret room - if he had, no need to go into his brain to get the map.  We might have a use for him later, perhaps questions about the overlord.  My main objective with taking his body was to deny it to the enemy to ask questions of their own.

@Chance: No, Telepathy allows two-way communication but I cannot read anyone's thoughts with it. You explicitly choose what you tell me, and vice versa -- though I can imagine a bad roll of the dice leading to the consequence of one of us (like me, as the caster) transmitting thoughts without meaning to.

Like how tasty you look... ;)

That is good for me to know. Chance wouldn't know that, though, so I still imagine it might spook him a little.

I feel like Chance ought to go back, turn that little girl over his knee, and give her a "you can't solve your problems with violence" spanking. Would you like an assist, Ilura?

My objective is to get her to follow me into one of the segregated gardens and stick the chalk somewhere that'll take her a while to get it back from.  I'm willing to take damage, but I presume I need to defy danger to get away and get her to follow me?  Will taking damage help get her to follow me?

She is already following you, trying to stomp you. Once she gets a hit in, she will consider you "punished" and lose interest. Feel free to lead her where you want and add in any other minor details you feel like. You only need to Defy Danger again if you try to avoid the damage completely, otherwise your partial success is enough to complete your goal.

Oh, and yes, you can fit through the closed grate as a rat.

It's not super clear to me how we're going to pull this off...

Between us, we've got:
- hat of holding
- a dead gnome (in hat of holding)
- a big honking mace (in hat of holding)
- a golden pant-leg (I presume we put this in the hat too?  Seems sort of awkward for Westley to keep carrying...)
- a sword that stabs shadows
- a jellyfish orb that promises to summon 3 to pay what's owed
- a dagger that teleports the thrower
- a vial of poison from the gnome
- a leaky magic doorknob - I can't see any reference to what we did with this?
- Marcus's vial of Fleshdust Poison - ditto
- Hairpin of Fickle Vestments - ditto

Any other resources I missed?

Any ideas?

To start with, I'm going to sneak under the door to see what I can find - if we can figure out how to get to the hidden room 'quickly', that reduces our risks somewhat.  And maybe from inside the room, I can figure out an alternate way for us to get to where we need to be.  E.g. if we can make an entrance from a nearby room - outside the guard's view - by me belching acid.

I can also see try casting my revelation spell to see if Luciny has any ideas

I carry some adventuring gear, bandages, a healing potion, and whip which deals stun damage. I was hoping to Blacksmith the bonuses from the sword and cumbersome mace onto my main weapon, but likely won't have an opportunity for that down here.

For spells I have Mirror Image (50% avoid attack), Alarm (alerted when creatures approach warded area) and Contact Spirits (answers one question) prepared. I may also ask my ancestors for intel via Heirloom.

Between my weapon, armor and backup healing items I feel rather confident in a one-on-one duel, but the descriptions makes it sound like it might be a bad idea to face any of the guards head-on. Alerting either of them will likely call the rest upon our heads unless we take them out silently.

If they're the professional level they appear to be, I'd expect to be going 3-on-3 while the fourth one runs for reinforcements - which would show up several turns later.

In theory, we have the time to rest to switch spells.  The ones I have that are most potentially relevant are: Bless (+1 to attacks), Magic Weapon (+1d4 damage), Darkness (super useful for me...), Hold Person (they can't move, but they can still yell), Contagion (could maybe paralize someone, including vocal cords?).

If needed, to help find our way past the well room, I could also cast Words of the Unspeaking (would let me ask questions of the room itself) or True Sight (reveals all illusions/hidden things).  Though, to be honest, if those were the answer, I'd have expected the local clergy to have used them long ago - so the map is going to have to give some sort of help/hint.  Also, those are level 5 spells - if I can cast them, I can't cast anything else.

With my bow + Thomas, I can do d8+2, pierce 1.  If I surprise them, I can stun them for one round.  Hand-to-hand, I can do 2d8+2.  With Silas, either of those can be bumped by 4 and with magic weapon, bumped by another 1d4.  I'm expecting a defense in the 6 range, 15+ HP and a few magic items on each of them.

Does anyone remember what we did with the stuff from Hiran ad Marcus?

If Chance could find a way to apply Goldenroot to the door guard - and then arrange to be the next person she saw, he might be able to convince her to leave the door long enough to for Chance to unlock it and all of us to get in.  Perhaps if, just after the circulating guard passed, I could use Contagion to completely paralyze the door guard, then chance could apply his poison and convince her that we're actually there on a top-secret mission from Cherka/Luciny and that she needs to let us into the room and continue to guard it, not telling *anyone*?

Obviously any plan we have will go to hell with one flubbed die-roll, so having a backup would be helpful...

Other possibilities, trying to use Lady Mirrorsheen to 'hold' two guards when they happen to be in range (making them easy to defeat - I presume that Chance or Eryn can simply dispatch someone who can't move or defend themselves?)

I'd really rather not kill any of the guards if we don't have to though.  Did I happen to notice whether the guards were wearing the symbols of Luciny or Cherka?

Unless I am mistaken, Hiram had the door knob, water breathing ring, and magic hairpin with him when he left. Marcus still had the fleshdust poison and the twinscript journal. The magic body bag is still with Frost, wherever she got put by the Temple's people.

The guards are wearing generic symbols of the temple itself, so it is unclear what their specific affiliations are.

In IC2#488, Marcus and Hiran gave us the Body Bag of Stasis, Marcus's vial of Fleshdust Poison, the Hairpin of Fickle Vestments, and the leaking doorknob.  However, I can't find reference to them after that.  Also, I thought we'd sent the captain's body with Marcus and Aguri?

The captain should have been handled like Ilura says IIRC, yes. I did not pay much attention to who got the items because I believe I had my hands too full to carry any of them at the time.

When it comes to combat, I can use Mirror Image (and Armor Mastery) to prevent damage to myself while going straight for a guard with my 1d10+1d4 damage, possibly using the blue sword to pin them down so that you guys can pile on more hurt as needed. Sounds like they may be hard to hit at all, so Hold Person would be great as an initial move.

Sadly I don't have anything that would prevent them from calling out for aid, unless Stun Damage (from the whip) actually stuns beyond simply being non-lethal?

Mistake. Frost did go with Aguri and Markus (along with the bag). The fleshdust poison, doorknob, and magic hairpin are with your group. You can decide who has what.

For the whip, the intent is that it merely does non-lethal damage. Although feel free to attempt whatever feat you think you might be able to pull off with it.

I think the doorknob would have found its way into the hat of holding.  It's very hard to avoid leaving a trail when you're continuously dripping...  I don't have a strong need for the poison or hairpin, so happy for Eryn to have them if she wishes.  Having two warriors who appear to be in plate wouldn't be a horrible thing if the situation comes down to it.  If Eryn decides she trusts Chance enough she might past the poison to him.

Some questions:
- Can I commune and select new spells while remaining a rat?
- Can Contagion be used to cause complete paralysis (i.e. lock muscles in place, including vocal cords)?  It would mean doing more than Hold Person, but that's a level-3 spell, while Contagion is level-5
- Is the onset of the disease instantaneous or do the symptoms build up over time (at a normal or accelerated pace)?
- Do I have a sense yet of how frequently the rotating guard comes around or how frequently the guards change positions?

Chance, I don't think we know about your poisoning capabilities IC, so this might not be a bad time to share it :)

I agree. The setup is vaguely like what I faced when I poisoned those frog statues. Very vaguely, actually, but the comparison will do.

I'm not sure that I have communicated my idea clearly, but at least now everyone knows that Chance can use goldenroot poison. There may be a better method of delivery, I'm not sure. If we have access to illusion magic we might be able to get a couple of guards in one go. Can either of you disguise one of us well enough to pass as someone who belongs down here?

The poison sounds good. I also think we can take one guard at a time if we manage to strike quickly and cohesively.

Of course, I just missed a Discern roll for the tactics, so who knows. :P

I'm not sure if I can disguise as anyone else. My appearance is noticeably 'me'. Was it so that one of the magic items could aid disguises?
This message was last edited by the player at 08:45, Tue 19 May 2020.

You can commune in any form, as long as you are conscious. It will take at least an hour though.

Contagion can cause one target to suffer from the full effects of a disease for as long as you maintain the spell. So if Ilura knows of a disease that locks muscles in place, yeah, it can do that. I'll say the onset can occur as slowly as you would like it to, but the fastest it can onset is a few seconds. About as fast as it takes someone to realize they need to hurl.

Keep in mind that Mirrorsheen can help boost the effects of spells of effective level 4 or lower, so that may provide additional options to your strategies.

You haven't been around long enough to know exactly how often the guards switch positions, but likely every hour or less. The only one that moves about is the one roaming the single curvy hallway. He passes by every few minutes. It shouldn't be difficult to time out when the best time to avoid/run into him would be.


You guys have access to an item that can change your outfit's appearance. Your face does not change with it, but it can provide a helmet or mask. And like Ilura, remember that Mirrorsheen can help boost effects of your spells that are level 4 or lower.

Hairpin of Fickle Vestments:
When placed in one's hair, the wearer can alter the appearance of their clothes to look however they desire.  The effect is only an illusion, however, and changes only the clothes appearance and not its material.  Cloth made to look like armor will not clank, or provide physical protection, or hinder
movement.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:15, Tue 19 May 2020.

How many doses do you have left Chance?  If the guard is coming around every few minutes, it might be nice to do both the door guard and the circulating guard.  That reduces any risk of what we do being overheard.

The optimal would be to try hitting both guards (door + circulating guard) with contagion at once with the help of the fairy.  It increases our risk if things go wrong though.  Also, we'd have to catch two bodies before they crash to the floor, possibly alerting those way down the hall by the door.

If I slip out beside door-guard's foot after the patrolling guard has walked past and is close to rounding the corner where Eryn and Chance are waiting, then they can grab him/her when he starts to collapse and I can switch forms as soon as the spell is cast so I'd be positioned to catch/guide the door guard to the wall.  We'd probably be looking at a defy danger DEX for each guard for that.

Then we just move them close together so Chance can administer his 'medicine' - ensuring that both are looking at him, not each other or anyone else.  I expect he'll need to do a defy danger CHA to convey the story to convince them to do what we want.  A story something along the lines of "We're on a mission blessed by both the goddesses to save the world, the attack against the priestesses was by someone else who framed us to try to interfere.  There are agents everywhere, so not to say anything about this to anyone - even each other, but just to feel proud that they've done their part.  They should let us into the room, ignore any noises we might make and try to ensure the other guards don't suspect anything, let us know about anything that might interfere with our mission and, if you're feeling ambitious, ask if they have anything to spare that won't be missed that might help us.

I'm guessing that Chance is the best talker - my modifier is 0.

I plan to try and avoid interfering with the group's planning as much as possible, but wanted to make sure you were aware that Mirrorsheen can't help to modify the Contagion spell. It is just slightly above her current skill level.

That's not interfering.  Thank you for the reminder :)

So we're stuck doing one at a time (which increases the risk of failure and narrows our time-window) or we just do the one at the door and try to time any of our noisy work to happen when there's no guard nearby.

So y'all don't think we can get the guards to eat something they find on the floor even if it has a nice flirty note attached to it???

That's fair, I suppose. It was a pretty crappy idea.

I like the force-feeding thing, though. My charisma mod is a +1 if needed, but I think the poison effect ought to make it so a charisma roll isn't necessary for what we want them to do.

I have three doses of the poison. It may be possible to get the first guard to feed the poison to a second guard. It would be tricky to make sure the second guard saw one of us first, but worst case, I think, if they saw the guard we had already poisoned before they saw us we would still have a significant indirect influence.

Regular guards, absolutely.  But these are the best of the best - and are likely to be suspicious of anything unusual.  (You didn't use a dose with the frogs or did you replenish somehow?)

Having guard 2 feed guard 1 is possible, but it would be tricky.  Guard 1 would have to be given the right motivation to convince guard #2 - e.g. the powder breaks the enchantment that's been blinding everyone to the conspiracy?  Also, she'd have to have something guard #2 would actually want to consume - and would want to consume right away.  My leaning is we'd be better off chancing casting the spell a second time if we really want the second guard.

No charisma roll would certainly be best.

Once we've taken the first guard, I'd have to roll again to become a rat.  I'd rather not chance that if avoidable.  Perhaps we could have the first guard open the door and be peering in having heard something 'strange' when guard #2 appears.  We can hide around the corner and when guard 2 stops to help supervise, I can peer around the corner and cast the spell and guard #1 can keep him from falling to the floor.  Then we can focus on the rest of the instructions - like give us anything helpful, try to ensure no-one sees or hears us, etc.

I think it might be safest if Eryn stays in the closet with the hirelings unless we mentally summon for help.  Chance is skilled at moving quietly.  Eryn in her chainmail and the hirelings -especially Westley, not so much...

If things somehow get into a 'fight' situation, make for the entrance and do your best to keep anyone from running for help.  I think Chance and I can probably manage two of them.  You can maybe have the lady double the power of your mirror image.  That and some illusionary full plate will hopefully be enough to keep them distracted (and you alive) until we get there to help...

Or not... :)

Can I hear the voices from my room?  If not, I'll need someone to mention via my mental link if I'm going to help.  If you succeed in hiding - even briefly, I might be able to cause a distraction that will cause your guard to come running before he starts searching much - giving the party time to go back down the hole (though there may be issues with disturbed dust).  Alternatively, I can open the door and take on my guard, starting a second front, which will hopefully keep everyone from ganging up on your position.

Ilura can definitely hear the words spoken. She doesn't necessarily know Vance is starting at the most inconvenient door though.

Sounds like the stealthy approach is out the window. I'm not sure if I can hide effectively; I'm not exactly silent and my weapon pokes out, but I can hopefully be quite effective in other ways if I get the first move.

We may just have to bull rush grapple Vance here. Forcefully seize his arm and cover his mouth, strike to the back of the knee to get him down, apply gag or Chance's poison immediately.

I won't risk a spell right now since it's not really my main ability and I have an ongoing penalty to casting due to Telepathy.

Consumables used while in the gnome's mind weren't actually consumed because they weren't really there. I suppose they were effective because we believed that they were. Regardless of how the physics (or metaphysics?) work, though, I still have three doses of the poison.

It may be a non-issue now, unless we can subdue the guard and force-feed it to him.

Feel free to try.

I plan on waiting to answer Ilura's Revelation until after Eryn and Chance make their moves, since it would all be happening simultaneously.

Even if you can hide behind the door, crouch behind boxes, it'll be easier (and quieter) to attack and subdue him if he's in the room and you can close the door.  Though if he spots any of you before you jump him, you've lost the element of surprise.  Your call...  (And good luck!)

This seemed like an appropriate time to play up Chance's chaotic nature. I wish all of us the best of luck!

I'll wait another day or so to see if Eryn wanted to try and Aid Chance or perform some other action, then I will move the action forward some more.

The weekend ironically left me drained, but my head is back on now! Post is up.

Ilura, I'm not even going to require a roll for what you are doing. Ilura is specifically not defying the danger she would normally be rolling to avoid.

Excellent.  Then I shall not take an XP :)

Chance guilt-tripping his new friend the guard: Love it.

Thanks. Let's hope it works!

If you kill him, Ilura's not going to be happy with you... :)

If you do decide to take him down, it'd be best to do it behind a closed door to reduce the likelihood of the guards at the top of the stairs hearing you.  I suspect that full plate crashing into stone hallways would propagate quite some distance...

I'm not going to kill the man (I hope)! That's why I'm asking if it's possible to grapple him in the first place. Full armor unfortunately means that unless Chance has any sleep-inducing poison on him I don't have the right tools to do it swiftly and silently.

Behind a door - in the well room itself, perhaps? - does sound like the best option to minimize noise; unless we cover his mouth and then wrap him in a blanket or bedroll, to muffle the clattering of the armor as he drops. Hm.

Don't forget, the group's Adventuring Gear can provide simple tools too. Not sleeping-poison, but a thick blanket is certainly an option. Or any number of other simple tools you may need. I believe Eryn has some, and Ilura's are currently in the well-room. Your hirelings may be able to help in some way too.

"You look a little chilly.  Here, let me wrap you in this nice warm blanket I found..." :D

The well room is probably your best bet.  I expect it would be hard to get him to leave his post, but he might be convinced to help you deal with a threat in the room.  You'd have to worry about the traps though.

Possibility B is to wait until I get back and I could try firing a blunted arrow at his head to stun him, though that cuts into the time we have available.

@GM: I was already considering adventuring gear (I currently have 3 uses left), but thank you for the reminder. :)

@Ilura: I have a whip with 'stun' damage; never used since I purchased it. I therefore have a non-lethal weapon myself I could wrap him up in, but I'm fairly certain I'd need more than one swing even with my prowess as a melee fighter.

I'll play it by ear.

Why are we taking Vance?

Carrying a 200+ lb armored night as you climb a rope over top of a squid that wants to eat you doesn't seem like a great idea.

He doesn't know anything of use to us and he'll likely try to sabotage whatever we do.  We'll also be obligated to keep him safe.

The approaching guards will already be able to figure out pretty easily where we went.  Yes, he'll likely be punished for being defeated/tricked - as will all of the guards who were on duty, but we're not trying to rescue the other ones.  It's safer for both him and us to leave him unconscious beside the well.  If anything, an unconscious guard might provide the extra 2 seconds of distraction you need to get down to the bottom of the zip line before someone starts climbing after you...

Fair enough, we'll leave him. It was more a question in case Silas can actually handle it without much fuzz.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:32, Wed 15 July 2020.

Musings for later: Once we get down on the landing/the stairs, I was thinking I should cast Alarm to warn us of any pursuers.

Not a bad idea.  If you cover as much of the bridge and the beach around the doorway as you can, that should give us pretty good detection.

Umm, remind me to stand well clear if Westley starts flailing around with a whip... :)

This could have gone better. c:

I'd have gone for fast over quiet - if you make noise and you're down the rope before they rush into the room, that's better than if you're quiet but they walk into the room and head over to the well and the pair of you look up to wave "hi"...  (Because they're going to be walking into the room and looking down the well in 60 second or so regardless.)

Pfft... we're fine. I'll just have Chance cut the rope.

With the whip on his hip dangling from a cut rope above a monster, Westley can make like a young Indiana Jones.  He'll love it :)

Are any of the people who have made it to the beach wearing a backpack, or carrying a wooden shield (or anything of a similar size and hardness)?

No one's yet on the beach.  Everyone's on the stairway that leads down to the beach - with the exception of Chance, who's currently on a rope where one end is tied to the top of the well and the other is tied to a brazier on the bridge.  The kraken is currently gripping both sides of the bridge at the bottom and slowly pulling itself up towards us.  Heading to the beach just means it can get hold of us sooner.

Ilura is wearing her pack.  Though she might choose to take a wound rather than risk you damaging something in it.  She could even try a defy danger dex to see if she could catch your blade - if that wouldn't stop it from working...

No, I won't have him sink a dagger into Ilura. He can use the Kraken. Or... swing under the bridge on the rope and topple the brazier onto it? It will mean a fight, either way.

Decisions, decisions.

Rope is 20 feet from well to stairs.  Stairs aren't very high over the water.  (Total clearance from water to ceiling is supposed to be 10 feet, unless the bottom of the well comes out closer to the water than the ceiling for the room as a whole?)

In any event, unless you are able to climb fast enough to get super-close to the bridge, if the rope is cut, you're going in the drink...

If you can hit the kracken, you're going to want to make sure you can clamber onto the bridge before it grasps you.  If it wraps you in its tentacles and drops under the water, it's going to be hard to rescue you - especially without risking stabbing or shooting you. :)

The well does protrude down from the ceiling quite a bit. So there is still some space above the rope. If Chance wanted to try getting into swinging position before the rope is cut, it is possible but will require a Defy Danger to make it in time. Getting into throwing position will not require a Defy Danger before the throw, but might afterward depending on what exactly Chance does.

Regardless, I am excited to see what everyone tries to do!

Right now, I don't think anyone has a clue that Chance is in trouble or that the rope's about to be cut.

I'll get a post in tonight.

I think I may be going in the water, but I'll be taking that kraken down with me! If things get rough I may drop the Telepathy spell so I can cast Mirror Image without penalty.

That's a solid choice.

Chance, if you share what the rules are, Ilura can cast a spell to see if she can get some guidance from Luciny on who should wear which mask.

Sorry for my absence, everyone. I was sick in bed for just over a week. I thought I had Covid-19 and was as terrified as I was ill. My Covid test came back negative, though, and I am recovering from whatever it was that had me down. It was pretty nasty. I am trying to catch up with my games now and will have a post ready asap.

Glad you are feeling better!

I return after a brief leave of absence myself. Private matters ate up my spare time after work, then the entire weekend was marred by lack of sleep thanks to local students partying like there was no tomorrow. x)

It's weird to have Monday night be the time where I finally get some rest, but here we are!

Hope you're feeling safe, Chance. I don't know your local situation, but I can imagine it all depends on the crowd around you, and that can definitely be frustrating during an epidemic. :/
This message was last edited by the player at 08:01, Tue 25 Aug 2020.

The site was down for most of the weekend anyway, so it is probably a good thing that Monday is when you were able to post. Hopefully things are able to become less turbulent in real life for everyone. ;-)

September is always so calm and sedate... ;)

Twenty, twenty, twenty, four hours to go...

Innocence is definitely Westley.  Resolve could be any one of us.  I might be able to pull off Compassion.  No clue who we should use for Purity...

I agree, Westley is a good fit for Innocence. You may perhaps fit Purity thanks to having a divine connection to the 'good' goddess of the two.

Maybe.  Not sure Ilura feels particularly pure, but of the three of us, perhaps the best suited

We've got a couple of options here - I could throw down the Jellyfish orb and see if the "we three" folks who are suppose to pay what's owed will do anything helpful.  Or we can just all put on the masks and hope that the judging process happens sooner rather than later while we're tethered sitting ducks...  I'm concerned that this is just the first wave - there's going to be more and more of these turkeys coming down the well - and they're all going to be tough.

My personal leaning is "put on the masks, throw the jellyfish if things get desperate".  Opinions?

(And good call on the use of your armor to suck the bolt Eryn.  Unfortunate that we can't do that too many times...)

We're carrying a lot of things now, so my hope is to find a forge in the city at some point later where I can make use of my Blacksmith move to melt down the magic weapons we're not actively using (the blue sword and the demon mace), as well as spend money to maybe get full plate armor. I would gladly have taken the suit from the guard up top if we had time, but alas!

Right here and now I regret not preparing a projectile spell, but I'll toss the hatchet we found if needed. The orb sounds good, I imagine it could prevent more people from diving in the water if it's a sea-based item.

I'll have to hear what the spirit has to say before I make a call on the masks. If we fail to get the large door open quickly, then at least I've got practically full HP and think I can tank a few hits for you guys while we figure out what to do.

Chance - your thoughts on using the orb?

I can't think of a better time to use it. Anything to slow those guys down.

Given that I'm the only one who's wounded, and Eryn is likely to suffer each time we rest without her being able to 'feed', it may be best if we *don't* actually rest, though Eryn would still be stuck with her -1.  (Unless she can rest without us making camp?)  I could take an hour or so to commune and gain back my spells and Eryn could gain back hers.  I could then cast cure light on myself and, with the Lady's aid, probably be close to top form in only one go.

It would be nice to refresh my prepared spells, but with the penalty INT becomes rather risky for me to cast with, so I can make do without if I can't complete a rest at the moment. Not sure if we have the time to stop for an hour, anyway.

I can offer bandages and a potion if you need to heal right now.

Just a reminder in case it was forgotten, healing potions can also be used to cure one debility instead of hp. It doesn't seem to come up much in games that I've been in, but it is an option.

Our degree of urgency was measured in days, not hours I believe.  Does anyone *have* healing potions?

I have one, as well as 2 bandages. I sent Westley on an errand to purchase them before we entered the temple. We also have the funds to procure more, but obviously this depends on access to shops.

I doubt we're going to have access to shops for a while.  Our objective, as soon as we're ready, is to teleport across the world and kill the Overlord's brother before the good captain's soul becomes due.  I don't know exactly how the transport mechanism works, but we need to prepare for the likelihood that whatever we do will be a one-way trip - so heading off to go shopping and then popping back before we go visit Yordakin isn't something I'm counting on being able to do.

I sort of prefer to hold onto the healing potion until we're in an emergency situation where resting is not an option.  (e.g. mid-combat).

In theory, there could be stores of stuff on the other side of the wall that we can take advantage of.  The real question is whether we're comfortable going through the door when we're not at full strength.

GM: Does the requirement to "rest" to lose Eryn's -1 mean waiting long enough that she'd incur the penalties for not feeding?

Also, in addition to the possibility of near-by loot, is there any likelihood of near-by consumable flesh?  I.e. Any monsters that Eryn could feed on if that proved necessary?

If we find the hideout, perhaps there will be something useful we can restock with - perhaps even a secret exit to the surface for use by the Scourges. Otherwise I agree, we won't see any shops down here, and the potion is best kept for later.

I'll wait for the answer to your IC thread question about nearby treasures. If there's anything useful nearby, we should nab it.

I wonder if this elf-like being is 'real', or if they are a sort of bound spirit? In either case, being illustrated conveys some greater importance.

She described the door as 'hers', so she seems to be innately tied to this whole structure - which is impressively extensive and highly magical.  (Keeping all of the monsters alive and traps going for a few centuries after the order disappeared and managing to keep up the barriers to entry is no easy feat.)

Pretty sure we don't want to piss her off, whoever/whatever she is... :)

I'll try my best to be a not-pissing-off person!

I can't say the same about Chance, but I think we're ok so far.

Probably.

I bit into one of the monsters we fought, and I believe I told everyone about how rations no longer seem to do the trick for me, but I don't think I have told you the specifics of the curse. I'm not sure I can confidently state its limits myself.

The djinn must already have noticed my appearance when I spoke, and seeing as we are inside the sanctum of a renowned group of monster hunters, I actually think they may turn out to be one of the best sources of aid in lifting this curse.

Unless you guys think it would cause trouble for us, I wish to ask Valteshi if she has a remedy for the curse.

Go for it. :)

You have at least a week before Captain Frost's ship would have made it all the way to the Sunset Isles to meet Yordakin Qizproteus. Possibly two, but that would be pushing your luck. Her contract expired at the end of the dry season, which is not an exact date.

Cool.  So we have time to hang out here a bit and do some research and some prep.  It probably makes sense for Eryn to do most of the Spout Lore rolls, but I can cast some spells to get divine insight into what tomes we should be reading.  In theory, we should be able to get your spear all magicked up and dump that silly heavy mace, etc.

Chance can figure out some new poisons and maybe brew up a batch or two of each.

We can do some research on how to cure Eryn - and or head out into the maze to find him some food

And we can do some research that might allow us to figure out how best to take on Yordakin and how to deal with Nikadroi after that.  (In theory, we can also figure out to hop around the world to other places where there might be useful resources.)

Great! A couple of days' work may even be enough I think, though just getting familiar with the place could take a lot of time on its own.

I will focus on the forge and the curse-breaking research for now, to avoid getting paralyzed with choices. Hopefully it can help both me and Chance, and potentially ward us against dark magic in the future.

Ideally you'd want to *not* bring across the demonic tag when you bring across the other stuff from the mace.  I could try helping if a semi-holy person would be useful.

The one thing I think of when I see "demonic", however, is raw power. :)

Ilura rubs her holy symbol anxiously...

As a player, I want to wade into the library.  However, as a character, libraries aren't really my thing - though I'm happy to help.

My plan is to seek Lusiny's guidance in terms of what to read - and what items to examine/borrow/take.  That might speed up our process of finding relevant stuff.  Beyond that, I can try to 'Aid' the rolls of everyone else who's working on stuff

In terms of research, obvious questions are:
- how to cure Eryn - 1 person day (no Lore role)
- how to cure Chance's knife - 1 person day (no Lore role)
- How to make new poisons - 1/day (2 if you risk defy danger)
- How to find (and contain) Nikadroi's soul
- How to find the 'void'
- The best place to arrive at the Jungle of Blossoms
- What can beguilers do and how to defend against them
- What's in the vault

If I give up my bond w/ Marcus, I could theoretically take a second bond with each of you.  +2 for an Aid wouldn't be a bad thing.

For Eryn, my thought was: "In some ways, Eryn and I are much the same - warriors who came to hold magic power.  Perhaps I should strive to learn from her?"

I don't know that I know enough about Chance yet to form a second bond with him, though I'm open to ideas.

If we think that it is safe to stay for a week, Chance will spend a day helping Ilura to purify his dagger and whipping up 3 doses of Goldenroot. Each of the remaining six days he will research and create 3 doses of each of the following:

• Fury's Scorn
   Dangerous, touch, 50 coins, 0 weight
  
   Target enters a blind rage and physically attacks the beings nearest to them for roughly a minute. Target deals +1d4 damage while enraged.
  
  
• Whippleroot Extract
   Dangerous, touch, 30 coins, 0 weight
  
   Target's becomes rooted to whatever they are touching. They typically can't move from their spot or drop what they are holding.
  
  
• Zombie's Panacea
   Dangerous, Applied, 15 coins, 0 weight
  
   Any physical undead this poison is applied to slowly reverts to the state it was in before undeath. (usually a corpse)
  
  
• Kosher’s Slip
  Dangerous, applied, 50 coins, 0 weight.
  
  The target answers the next question it is asked truthfully.
  
  
• Witchbane
  Dangerous, applied, touch, 35 coins,0 weight
  
  Until cured, if the poison was applied the target cannot use magic. If the poison touches the target, magical effects or attacks are diminished or halved, the GM will describe how.
  
  
• and, Godsbane
  Dangerous, applied, 40 coins
  
  Target slowly loses their connection to the divine. Priests and Paladins find their deities' voices grow distant, then silent. Angels and other divine servants wither into mortality. Rumors abound about the effect the poison might have on a god.

If anyone thinks we need to leave sooner than that I will adjust accordingly. Also, if there is anything Chance can do to help either Ilura or Eryn with anything they would like to get done, he will make time for that, too. He can research and make two poisons each day (requires defy danger), and is glad to attempt it if there is a better use of his time.

We'll probably want you around when we purify Eryn.  We'll also want to decide if we want to become members of the Silver Scourge or not.  (And if so, whether we try to bring any of the hirelings along as members.)  Need to hear answers from the Djinn and I'd like my Goddess's thoughts on that too.  (Your guys' opinions as well.)

I expect I'll be doing some researching in the library.  I may find something that requires your attention, but I don't know for sure.

If Eryn has some time after she's done playing with her sword, it would be nice if she could enchant my rapier (not sure if I'd trust her with my bow).  Having all of us with magical weapons that are effective against magical creatures seems like a good idea.