S3: The Scythe of Seto (Bront Judging)[Completed]

[SlagMortar]

OOC: Beamer has no need for any of the equipment.

Thanks for another terrific adventure, Manzanita, and thanks to the group! I had a lot of fun with this one whole sequence of adventures and if I can get a little more time, the events of this adventure will help shape much of Beamer's future personality.

[Manzanita]

I had actually expected the group to engage in more gambling. There were quite a few nice items which could have been garnered. There were risks too, of course.

I'll still post a DM commentary, adventure summary & update the Wiki. So I'm not done with this yet. I'm going to try to kickstart LEW a bit, though, before I move on to that.

Is Eusebius & crew going to leave Torvin in Orussus, then? Or try to take him to the shrine?

[Boddynock]

That really depends on whether or not someone's prepared to DM it. If you (unlikely, I know) or Patlin want to run something, Eusebius certainly isn't one to shirk responsibility (although I'll confess that I'm not particularly excited by the idea of riding shotgun on the rat). If not, I guess we just hand-wave it.

[Rae ArdGaoth]

OOC: I know I haven't been around much, and when I have, I've given priority to the games I'm DMing rather than those in which I have one PC. But Rasereit very much wants to gamble. If it's not too late, I'd like to have him draw twice. It's not the end of the world if you think it'll hurt continuity, but I was pretty excited about gambling with the imp after the epic final battle.

[rln]

I'd planned for Ogrin to gamble (and attempt to cheat!), but caught up in real life... stuff happens. Also, I think my email subscription must have gone awry somehow.

Let me also thank you for a fun game, for the most part. The chess game dragged a bit; I think it might have lent itself better to a real-life game, where the action would've been decided more quickly. The suspense of watching others struggle in duels kind of wore off after a few weeks. :-)

[Boddynock]

OOC: It's funny, because I've always wanted to draw from a deck of many things (which I'm assuming this would resemble) - I just think it's so cool! But Eusebius is probably the last character I have who would do such a thing.

Oh, yeah - and thanks for an excellent adventure, as usual, Manz.

[Manzanita]

Thanks for the feedback. I"ll address some of that in my DM Commentary. I'm fine with allowing a little retroactive gambling.

To gamble, the imp insists that the gambler turn in one of his chess pieces. Razh has plenty. He could also give some to Ogrin (who only has one, I believe). If you want to draw, I'll let you do it. Find a deck of cards, and draw at random. Tell me the first two (or one) face cards (or aces) that you draw. There's no cheating, really, at this one. I had another one you could do. I'll have to dig out my notes for that one, though.

[Rae ArdGaoth]

OOC: I posted a nice, detailed thing about the aftermath of the battle, but apparently it got lost. I'll summarize it.

After offering his many "coins" to the others, Rasereit slams down two chess pieces on the imp's table: A knight and a pawn. The imp pushes forward the deck of cards and instructs the dwarf to draw two. With a wink at Ogrin, Rasereit reaches for the cards. "Two Jacks, one o' Diamonds, one o' Clubs. What's that get me?"

[Manzanita]

Rasereit first draws the jack of Diamonds. This card immediately gets his interest. The 'jack' in the image is thick and bearded, certainly a dwarf. And the diamond of the card is being mined. Razh looks at the dwarf picture closely. It's a beauty. A better picture than he has ever seen. This is no ordinary dwarf captured, either. It seems a perfect image of the perfect dwarf. A dwarven god, perhaps, though Razh can't place it. He feels his dwarven identity strengthened. Razh feels himself becoming more like this image, more dwarven than ever. And that's a good thing.

Jack of Diamonds:

Spoiler:

This card normally gives the dwarven bonuses to non-dwarves. To a dwarf, it gives dwarven paragon abilities, including:

Craft Expertise (Ex): Razereit may add +2 as a racial bonus on all Craft checks related to stone or metal items.

Improved Stonecunning (Ex): Razh's racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework increases to +4. The range at which he receives an automatic Search check for coming near an example of unusual stonework increases to 20 feet. Also, he can intuit where true north lies in relation to himself (as if he had 5 ranks in Survival) whenever underground.

Improved Darkvision (Ex): Razh's darkvision range increases by 30 feet.

Save Bonus (Ex): Razh's racial bonus on saves against poison and against spells and spell-like effects increases by 1. (to +3)

Ability Boost (Ex): Razh gets a CON boost of +1.

These DO NOT stack with the dwarven paragon abilites should Razh ever take levels in that class. Essentially he has already gained these abilities.

The second card Rasereit draws is the jack of clubs. This shows a human jack, or royal servant. This image, though, is hardly of a god. In fact, this servent looks downright stupid. What an idiot, Razh things, rather ironically.

Jack of clubs

Spoiler:

This card causes Razh to lose 1d4 of Wisdom, or 2 points.

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit looks at the cards carefully for a moment. As he does, his skin seems to turn a little darker, though it's difficult to tell in this lighting. He turns to Ogrin, a reckless look in his eyes. "Ah feel a li'l funny. But... in a good way. Stronger, harder, more free... S'good, in fact," he turns back to the imp, "Ah'll do it again." He puts two more pieces down on the table: another pawn and one of his knights.

And in his first act as a less wise dwarf, Rasereit draws the Queen of Clubs and King of Diamonds.

[rln]

Seeing no apparent harm come to Razh, Ogrin steps towards the table as well. "I have no need of this, so why not?". He places his pawn figure on the table and draws a card from the deck. "My pawn for your... ace!"

OOC: Ace of hearts. Yeah, great, like Ogrin isn't heartsick already.

[Manzanita]

The deck gets smaller with every card drawn.

Razh hands over two more of his pieces, and draws two more cards. The imp chortles with glee and rubs his little red palms together.

The first card Razh pulls is the Queen of Clubs. Or should be. But what kind of queen is this? She is dressed in gray rags, and an expression of surprised helplessness is on her face. She is destitute. Ruined.

This makes Razh nervous. He glances at his worldly possessions, most of which are on his person. They are all still there. But something is different. He looks closer. His axe is still sharp, yes, but its gift is gone. His breastplate feels heavier, his arms weaker. The life has gone out of his equipment.

Queen of Clubs - Ruin

Spoiler:

Drawing this card causes all magic items in your possetion to lose their abilites. Armor and weapons once magical are still MW, but that's all.

Razh tosses the card aside. He roars with defiance and draws the next one. This one is the King of diamonds.

Razh studies the card. He likes it. The King is proud, and dressed simply, with no ornamentaion. His face and stance are bold. He's human, but weilds an axe. This one weapon is all the king has, but it is enough.

Razh glances back at Roar. The weapon had become dull, but now it was alive again. This weapon was his future. It was all that he lost and more. Bite clatters to the stone floor as the dwarf takes his axe in both hands and studies it closely. It is a powerful weapon, and he will make it his own.

King of Diamonds. The Knight

Spoiler:

Razh's waraze (or other weapon if he wishes) now has the equivalent of a +4 enchantment. Razh chooses now what form that enchantment will take. It will stay that way henceforth. Thus he could chose a +4 waraxe, or a +2 Keen waraxe of Mighty Cleaving or whatever.

[Manzanita]

Undaunted by his best friends fortunes, or lack thereof, Ogrin steps forward and hands the imp his black pawn. Drawing from the deck, he comes up with the ace of hearts. But this is no lovesick princess on the face. It is the image of the heretical Jareth himself, the White King. The chess piece looks normal enough, but then it winks at Ogrin. Winks? It has no eye. Ogrin smiles. He feels lucky. He can keep the card if he wants, but its benefits will stay either way.

Ace of Hearts - Jareth

Spoiler:

This card grants Ogrin a +1 luck bonus on all his saving throws. It also gives the power of the clerical Luck Domain:

You gain the power of good fortune, which is usable once per day. This extraordinary ability allows you to reroll one roll that you have just made before the DM declares whether the roll results in success or failure. You must take the result of the reroll, even if it’s worse than the original roll.

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit grins as Ogrin pulls from the deck. "Good stuff, eh?"" He considers carefully before pulling one more piece from his pocket: a bishop. "Been pretty t'et fer taht s'far. Mayhaps a bit o' divine luck'll win us a nice prize this time." He puts the bishop down, turns to Ogrin with a smile saying, "Last one, Ah swear," and draws a King of Hearts.

OOC:

Hope nobody thinks I'm abusing the opportunity. I'm still thinking about that +3 weapon. Rasereit still has 4 pieces, if anybody wants to take a chance.

[Manzanita]

I'm slow. Sorry. Anyone who's done with the cardgame can post in the RDI. Razh does have several chess pieces yet and has offered them to others. Future picks, though, will be done by me. You can say you draw a card, but I will tell you what it is. I'll get to Razh' pick here soon. And that's a +4 weapon he has.

[Rae ArdGaoth]

OOC: Correction to my previous post: Razh actually has 3 pieces left, not 4.

+4, yes. I must have misread the post. Not sure where I got +3...

[Manzanita]

Razh pulls forth the King of Hearts. This noble-looking King wears armor of gold, and his weapons shine like the sun. On his chest is a symble of the sun, which glows brightly. Razh finds himself staring at that symble, entranced by its power and beauty. Finally, he must tear his eyes away, as the light burns too brightly. For a few moments, he can see nothing but the inverse image of that sun.

Finally, his vision clears. He shakes his bushy head and smiles. He has acquired part of that sun's power. He can now see through magical impediments by summoning that vision. It will be hard to fool this dwarf.

King of Hearts: Once per day, for one minute, as a standard action, Rasereit can see as per the True Seeing spell.

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit blinks rapidly, then smiles. "Maybe this magic stuff isn' 'alf bad, eh?" He swings his axe and it leaves behind a trail of fire. "Not bad 't'all..." With a giant grin, he plays with his new +3 flaming waraxe all the way back to Orussus.

OOC: Great adventure, thanks again, Manzanita. =) Sorry for holding things up, everybody. Now I have to get this horrible beast that is +2-levels-post-5-Deck-draws-Rasereit approved. >_<

[Manzanita]

OK. This one is officially CLOSED! No more IC posting. I'll work on a DM summary & do my stuff for my extra DM credit. Thanks for playing and good luck at the RDI!

[orsal]

Did I see you post that you were still waiting for DM credits for this? I hereby award 13 DM credits to Manzanita. There, that was easy.