I think a lot of groups respect Lya, of the Ob leadership she is the one who is most sincere and honest with the least involvement in the dodgy goings on. Even after killing her my group continued to try and work with her to reform Danor and the Ob, Ressurection means you can say sorry.
Could always be a Quadruple agent with the Ob Knowing she is faking betraying Risur to them and instead passing bad information to Risur through her because they know she is betraying them. That way the player gets to think their plan worked while the Ob in the end get to demonstrate their cunning
We began the session with an attack on the Summer Court. Tinker Oddcog had just been escorted against his will into the throne room to speak with Lya Jierre, and was very vocal about not wanting to speak with anyone--Ella included. But as the discussion happened behind closed doors, all chaos broke out as a Soul-Stretched Marco lashed out, attacking his beloved reptilian friend and chaos began to unfold.
Ella made haste (literally) to head to the throne room to see if such madness was also ensuing with Lya and her entourage as Lisandra scanned the room for enchantments and Angharad did what Angharad does best; got ready for a fight with the 11 guards with firearms stationed around the waiting room. The oracle saw the souls of those present, save for her fellow Knights and dear Polo, were stretched, strangely to the south, just as the Minister of Rebellion’s soul had been. Something was very wrong.
Angharad pulled his punch as he struck out at Marco with a fiery strike, and was surprised to see the scaly fellow took no damage at all from his blow. Guards began loading their muskets and readying aim as shouts from the throne room rang out; Tinker apparently, had brought a bomb to the discussions.
Although not mentioned in the Pathfinder template, I could not imagine duplicants would take damage from non-lethal attacks.
Angharad held off the guards as Lisandra moved to back Ella up, now cornered at the doors by two guards. As the tiefling flung open to the doors, she saw the guard inside bearing down the Lya and the Bruce. She also saw the bomb yanked out from inside her uncle’s chest. Yes. Inside. Because apparently the gnome is made of metal and has a Bender door in his chest like a robit. The technologist could tell by looking at the ticking device, there was only about 6 seconds left before an explosion, one perhaps 70 feet wide, would fill the throne room. On the upside, as her uncle spotted her, he irrately told her she wasn’t meant to be here and she should just GO AWAY. Apparently he hadn’t planned on blowing her up.
As Lya and her men fight to protect the Bruce and get the quivering manchild evacuated, Ella watches in horror as Kenna, though hesitant in her actions, raises a claw and sliced down into the Bruce swiftly, cutting him down with a heavy injury. It wasn’t long, despite Lya’s attempts to protect him, before Kenna ended his life with another strike.
BOOM.
The Summer Palace shook with the explosion, the flame of it not quite broad enough to lick the face of Ella where she stood, or Lisandra a few feet behind. But the heat and force rushing past turned the oracle pale with memory, and as Ella vanished from sight to slip past the guards, Lisandra insisted they flee and teleported as far as she could from the throne room.
She was greeted at the door to the hall by a bloodied, armless Angharad, dragging a bloody, invisible Ella with one foot. Crestfallen, and a little guilty at her actions, Lisandra made quick work of healing Ella back to consciousness and the three made their escape.
They met with Glaucia and her entourage cleaning up a slew of possessed constructs in the courtyard and told her of the Bruse’s demise before regrouping with her people and helping take back the Summer Palace.
As it seemed the thread was quashed, and the survivors picked through the shattered remains of constructs about the throne room, they found a familiar face attached to a metallic spine. Kenna Vigilante. The only soul left stretching to the south. The red light from her eyes fades and the head calls out, recalling her surroundings, guards of the summer court, people she knows… the sound of gnollish spoken… before the face becomes suddenly silent and still, reverting to its metallic state.
Serkava enters the throne room with an entourage of guards and Lya’s group in tow. She surveys the destruction around them and demands to know if they were responsible for this or the corpse of the Bruse still spread across the dias. With support from Glaucia, as surprisingly Lya, the advisor seemed content to believe the Risuri knight had no part in the attack. With a solemn expression, she announces that the Danoran and Risuri guests will remain within the Court as cleanup ensues and a new Bruse put into power to turn the martial forces on the Cult of the Steel Lord.
The next few days are a blur of studying construct remains, divinations, the sewing on of missing limbs and a memorial for those lost. It also was marked by the simple, no-fanfare affair of appointing Cavallo de Geurra the new Bruse and the unexpected visit of a Risuri ally, Principle-Minister Harkover Lee. Lee arrived with another bomb, only this time it wasn’t the kind that exploded bodies, it exploded our minds. He revealed that good old King Boyle never actually slayed all the dragons that lead hostile action against Risur, as history tells. I mean, he mostly did. With the exception of Gradiax, who he cut a deal with. Take refuge in Risur, remain alive and with your wealth if he never took hostile action against Risur again. To secure the deal, he agreed to live in a human form for 100 years. The form, currently, of Benedict naughty word Pemberton.
So now we plot and plan with the new Bruse and his people to launch an assault on the Cult of the Steel Lord, recover Tinker before Lya can… oh, and maybe face off against a naughty word Tyrant Dragon who hopefully isn’t inconvienctly coming up to his 100th year in human form just as we roll up to hopefully stop whatever his lackeys have planned in the south.
Let's do this; today, in the insane adventures of Team BAD.
DM Notes
I will say, my favourite part was the duplicant maestro pulling out a musket from his harpsichord.
Have some maps. The first is of the Summer Court generally, and the second is in the antechamber to the throne room.
North is a little whack on this map. The ocean is the eastern shores of Ber. I made this in Wonderdraft.
View attachment summer-court-waiting-room.png The harpsichordist played near the tree. Even he was kicked out of the throne room when the Bruse demanded everyone leave. I made this in Dungeondraft.
My party is approaching Pemberton's lair. Lisandra is hoping to use a supernatural ability from her Oracle mystery on Lya, who is also infiltrating the lair:
Brain Drain (Su): You can take a standard action to violently probe the mind of a single intelligent enemy within 100 feet. The target receives a Will save to negate the effect and immediately knows the source of this harmful mental prying. Those who fail this save are wracked with pain, and take 1d4 points of damage per oracle level you possess. After successfully attacking with this ability, you can use a full-round action to sort through the jumble of stolen thoughts and memories and then attempt a single Knowledge check using the victim’s skill bonus. The randomly stolen thoughts remain in your mind for a number of rounds equal to your Charisma modifier. Treat the knowledge gained as if you had used detect thoughts. This is a mind-affecting effect. You can use this ability once per day at 1st level, plus 1 use per day at 5th level, and 1 use for every 5 levels beyond 5th
If she pulls it off, she may have a few rounds to sift through Lya's knowledge. Lya knows a lot, and I don't mind sharing that with the party. However, I think I'd prefer if Lisandra didn't discover the goals of the Ob, particularly around the exact mechanism of the Axis Seal. I understand the adventure can still works when the party discovers that knowledge, but I am not sure the players themselves would like a 'spoiler' of this sorts.
What do other people think? Am I blowing this out of proportion? If not, how should I handle it?
I think keeping the Ob secret is both a good idea and a major objective of the Ob.
The ability as written is not mindreading so you could say that knowledge of the Ob is not a skill check. However that is a bit harsh, better to reveal that the Ob's divination blocking extends to mindreading and the ability cannot pull anything about the Ob from her mind. It can pull Danoran military secrets, the secret embarassing things she had done any anything else she wants to hide but nothing about the Ob. Century old conspiracies with divination blockers have good divination blockers and no one can steal their secrets unless they actually digest the brain
In 4e, there is a DC 34 Arcana check to bypass the defense against divination. In PF we failed to convert that; it'd probably be a DC 28 caster level check, like bypassing nondetection. If you fail, you get some innocuous result.
In this situation, Lisandra's got a neat ability and is really digging around, and she knows Lya is involved with the Ob, so I'd give her a clearer sense that she's getting fake information.
Each time Lisandra makes a Knowledge check, have her roll the caster level check. If she fails, let her retrieve some of the following memories. If she gets close, maybe mention a few details flickering, like the faces of people, and locations. Maybe she half-hears a second conversation whispered in the background.
1. Lya talking with her uncle the Sovereign about how he's concerned about a secret society infiltrating both Danor and Risur, and that he wants her to let him know if anyone suspicious approaches her. This seems to occur some time after adventure 1.
(In truth, her uncle recruits her to the Ob after Axis Island is secured, and tells her she'll be in charge of the excavations there.)
2. Lya at the sovereign's hall in Cherage, seeing her uncle distressed, talking with a man whose face Lya never glimpses, worried about an industrial accident.
(In truth, she and Han Jierre meet with Nicodemus using needlewire who updates them about the crisis in Flint after Macbannin was captured. Nicodemus says that he intends to go recruit the mayor before his trial.)
(In truth, she's reading a ciphered report from Caius about having retrieved the golden icons from all eight ziggurats.)
4. Lya talking with the figure the PCs previously met at the end of adventure 4 (since they don't yet know that Nicodemus is a ghost possessing various bodies). Lya and the leader, who the fake memory says is named Johan, discuss that Luke Jierre will do well as a glassblower's apprentice.
(In truth, Nicodemus is saying that they'll need to be more careful about installing the lanterns now that the RHC has a hint of what they're up to. It won't do to be totally obvious and put them in lighthouses.)
5. Lya and her uncle watching a toddler stumble around and fall. Lya wants to help, but Han tells her it's not their child to interfere with.
(In truth, Lya and Han are fleeing Flint as the colossus breaks free. She wants to reveal what they know to help protect innocents, but Han says that the long-term value of their plan will save far more lives than revealing their secrets now would.)
There is a mechanism to defeat the divination block in the PF version I can't remember what it was , I decided it was too easy so the effect was more along the lines of Mindblank . I seem to recall I thought people would make the check too easily as well so pushed it up to a number they could not get until high level
It doesn't look like the ruling was converted. From the "Obscurati Ring Code" of the Campaign Guide (from the Act 1 book, pg. 69):
Divinations that do not relate to his involvement with the conspiracy can function, but have a chance of yielding useless, innocuous results. Whenever a character attempts to use magic to divine an Obscurati officer’s location, thoughts, status, or the like, that character must make an Arcana check (DC 34). If he fails, the magic reports something deceptive, usually in a way to lessen suspicions.
I was unsure about applying this 'block' to thoughts that were not divined (but instead magically yanked out of someone's head). But now that I think about it, it is quite similar. Surely after Shijen, the Ob would have reviewed their protocol to account for intelligent creatures that may eat officers' brains.
I think giving some meta-knowledge to Lisandra about the boundary of rings would be useful, as the players currently think it is impossible to divine information about the Ob officers. In truth, they just attempted to do so at very low level and had no chance of coming remotely close to the check. I'll make it clear to Lisandra where the boundary of the protection is.
And thanks for those scenes. I'm excited to see how this pans out.
Having spent the past week cleaning up after the coup, we found ourselves invited to a mission briefing with the new Bruse and his allies. Some of his advisors were… less than keen on sharing their secrets with us, but de Guerra reassured them that if we were allies then we’d need the information, and if we were enemies… well… we should learn what to fear.
With that charming message we were given the overview: the Bruse’s forces would invade the gnoll’s coastal city with tsunamis and cannons and armies, while Lya’s team, Glaucia and our team headed to the heart of the cult itself: Gradiax’s old volcano lair. Between the two attacks the gnolls - and the Cult of the Steel Lord - should be decimated and scattered into harmless nomads with no real power.
...Because the systematic displacement and destruction of an entire race is a reasonable response to a coup. Yes.
Despite Ella’s horror - especially at the tsunami-generating magic devices - we all agreed to our part and set about preparing for the voyage: using a scroll to Teleport directly from the court to our ship.
The discovery of a ziggurat off the coast of Ber has spurred great discoveries. One of which, so-called 'Project Skittles', allows for the generation of large waves.
This is what the chief scientist (naturally, a goblin in a lab coat) had to say about it:
"Using recent archeological findings near Pazarillo, we have developed so-called skittles. These are devices designed to be submerged in large bodies of water. Once calibrated, they emit a pulse of water magic that can alter the tides. Before dawn, we will deploy a network of 124 skittles surrounding the Isla dolas Focas. Each skittle will emit a near-imperceptible wave from different directions at a common frequency. However, each skittle wave has a common destination. The placement of the skittle network will ensure each wave emitted from a skittle will converge, and superimpose upon themselves shortly before arriving at the gnoll capital of Karch. The small waves will pass harmlessly underneath the Beran and allied vessels, and indeed, the gnolls of Karch will not notice the wave until their shores are dragged hundreds of feet into the ocean, and return as a 600 foot wave. The single attack will devastate the unwalled city. The infrastructure is surely not reinforced with metal, and will collapse in the devastation!"
Skittles themselves look like large stone spinning tops, inscribed with the language of the Ancients.
Before we left though, Lya offered to travel with us, but was firmly declined.
No thank you, Miss Obscurati, we’ll be just fine on our own. You take your ship, we’ll take ours, and Angharad won’t have to throw anyone overboard.
The quick teleportation to Seobriga left us with some time to think though. In addition to the military info, the Bruse’s briefing had given us a little more info about Tinker: namely that he didn’t seem to be under a geas like some of other Obscurati members, and he’d likely been working as a duplicant for Gradiax for quite some time. Oh, and apparently he really likes playing with desert foxes. You know, useful information.
Glaucia had something more serious on her mind: asking Angharad if he expected us to die during the mission - Lisandra had prophesied her death after all. The Cipith shrugged, replying that potentially fighting a dragon would undoubtedly be dangerous but also exciting. The judge nodded, noting that if she did survive she’d rather like to meet more Vekeshi Mystics.
Xambria also had questions: these ones for Lisandra. She wanted to know if it would be possible to give her one of the cult’s duplicant constructs - they’re controlled by souls after all and… well, it was the best opportunity so far to get her out of Lisandra’s head. The oracle tentatively agreed that it might be possible but suggested focusing on the mission or now.
And so, with some last-minute preemptive spellcasting, we set sail for the Isla dolas Focas. There to hopefully find Tinker - and maaaybe a Pemberton-dragon.
The voyage was uneventful - thanks to Lisandra’s divinations of gnoll patrol routes - and we arrived at the island in good time. The hike across the blackened volcanic landscape gave John the opportunity to spot that the volcano was very much still active, but that obviously hadn’t stopped the gnolls, as Ella spotted an entrance into the lower section of the volcano.
A single gnoll with a dagger was meditating in the entranceway and cackled as we approached: “You cannot stop the Steel God! Your flesh is weak! My flesh is weak too! But the Steel God will reward me with a body as strong as my soul!” With that he slit his own throat.
(DM note: this gnoll was merely an alarm to alert the gnolls at the pump station).
Sodding fanatics.
Preparing ourselves for more of the same, we cast some spells, drank some potions, and proceeded into the facility. A 100 ft tunnel with a magically self-repairing carpet led us to a processing room full of pipes and angry gnolls. They shut off the lights and attacked, blowing up a water tank to flood the room and then electrifying the water.
Considerable damage was taken before everyone made it safely onto the walkways, and the fight turned into a free-for-all. John slammed things as an air elemental, Angharad fire-knifed a fire priest, Sydney and Glaucia saved Ella from gnolls with battleaxes, and Lisandra got into a duel with a gnoll near a tunnel down south.
The oracle found her vision flickering constantly between reality and her dream of a week before: seeing Glaucia surrounded by slithering serpents as she waded through flickering electricity, and hearing phantom footsteps like those in the dream. The footsteps turned out to be very real however, as the gnoll priest called toward the south for someone to kill the hostages! and Ella flew off to investigate, only to CLANG into something invisible and metallic.
The invisible figure revealed itself as Pardo: reaching out toward Ella with a spell she identified as Slay Living. The necrotic energy roiling in the gnoll’s palm was horribly familiar to Lisandra, who recognised it as the same energy that had slaughtered Glaucia in her dream. This time though, it was heading straight for Ella. Thankfully the distractions of combat foiled Pardo’s concentration, and the spell disappeared when it had scarcely begun.
That wasn’t the last of the Minister of Rebellion’s tricks though, as he summoned a Wall of Fire to hem Lisandra and Ella in and proved frustratingly resistant to damage. Lisandra kept up a determined assault but Ella withered under the heat and had to retreat - teleporting through the wall of flames as Angharad Flame Jetted in as backup. The tiefling wizard’s arrival in the southern tunnel was greeted with a cry of “They’re approaching! Kill the hostages!”
Chaos immediately ensued, as Ella Dimension Doored deeper into the tunnels in hopes of finding the hostages before the guards could kill them, while the rest of the party tried to finish off the gnolls in the first room and rescue her. Ella’s teleport left her in the midst of many, many bloodthirsty gnolls, and it was only Angharad’s quick thinking in impersonating the gnoll priest’s voice that saved her.
The combat ended swiftly after that, as the gnolls in the tunnels ran to support their “priest” and were slaughtered along with Pardo’s duplicant. Ella found a hidden door while the fight was finishing, and after regrouping we opened it to find Kenna Vigilante and the other missing guards from the Summer Court.
As we freed them from their enchanted restraints, Xambria noted a few empty duplicants hanging on the walls, and convinced Lisandra to help her possess one. The attempt ended successfully, if unexpectedly, with Xambria in control of the construct and Lisandra unconscious on a cot.
Flashes of Lisandra’s time with Xambria’s consciousness sped through the oracle’s mind, rewinding all the way back to the day Xambria’s body had died. In this memory though, Lisandra saw things that she - and Xambria - had both forgotten. Sijhen slipping through the portal. A glimpse of an alien planet. Thought-form plants growing on red rocks. And a sense, a very real and immediate sense, that just as she was seeing this alien planet, it too was seeing her.
I wanted to give Lisandra's player a reward for being such a good sport with Xambria. So, I gave her the knowledge that Shijen bailed and a bit about their home planet.
The shock of that realisation was enough to wake the oracle from her stupor, while the sound of Xambria’s voice was enough to bring the rest of the team running. News of sentient alien planets, Sijhen’s escape, and Xambria’s newfound autonomy had to take a backseat though. We still had a mission to finish.
Glaucia rallied Kenna and the Summer Court guards and we headed back to the first room. Although not without John pointing out that: oh hey, there’s a mural of Gradiax’s hoard on the wall and by the way it has dragon eggs in it.
Nothing that will be relevant, I’m sure.
Glaucia and the guards offered to stand guard while we ventured deeper into Gradiax’s lair and slew the dragon tyrant (Glaucia’s words, not mine). We opted to do that by opening the circular hatch in the first room and seeing what was under it. Unfortunately, this would requite a lot of technical engineering and time. Or… we could just break the hatch and say screw the mechanics. That works too…
Having successfully opened the hatch, we found ourselves faced with… well, a face. As a disembodied duplicant head bearing Tinker’s deranged expression bounced around excitedly inside a minecart. He told us to Jump in! Time’s a-wastin’!
But… well…
Honestly that was where we left it. Because quite frankly we need a week to figure out what to do with someone as weird as Tinker. And no, just because Ella’s technically his niece, doesn’t mean she knows how to deal with him either. Some gnomes are just… too gnomey even for gnomes. Y'knowgnome?
We’d better figure out what we’re doing soon though. Because with Lya competing against us to find Tinker’s body - if such a thing even exists and isn’t just a series of increasingly uncanny constructs - and with a possible dragon lord to fight - and maybe a clutch of eggs to deal with - not to mention a flipping active volcano. Well… let’s just say it’s a very busy day.
I must express my Joy at finding other people have mad Goblin Scientists in their campaign worlds, although I suspect Manuel would have said the inventer of the Skittles needs more time in front of the Ethics Committee
