The Closed Eye (DM: Halford, Judge: garyh)

[KenHood]

"Well, gentlemen...and Arnest...I think it would be wise for us to split up and return to my master's tower. The authorities probably have a description of our group, so if we stay together, we increase our chances of capture--especially in light of the fact that one of our party is easily identifiable as 'that guy with his image painted on his shield'. Also, I suggest that our murderous, thieving rogue compatriot sneak back to the house and assassinate that crippled elf, so the authorities won't be able to address additional questions at him and confound our attempts to defeat the Closed Eye cultists. As the house is on fire, I would think that the scene would be rather chaotic, making it easy for Atreus to sneak in and do the deed. Finally, I would like to mention that if you had permitted me to murder the elf initially, instead of saving it for later, we wouldn't be in this mess. In short, it is all of your faults."

"So..."

"I'll see you gentlemen in a bit."

Palindrome starts to walk away, pauses, and turns back to face the group. He points at Arnest, "By the way, ****, the reason you're so attached to the snake ***** is that she cast a ***** ****** compulsion upon you. You've been her **** patsy all along. Bet you've donated a **** of cash to your little worship group? Yep. She'll deny it, but hey, I'm only a **** wizard. What do I know about enchantments? A whole **** lot, that's what."

"See ya!"

[sblock=Bluff Check]Bluff (1d20+7=26)

Oh, yeah, baby!

Mr. DM, after all the 1's (15 to be exact) that I have rolled, that '19' had better do some awesome, super-cool stuff!

Pleeeeeeeease![/sblock]

[sblock=To the DM]Was Palindrome able to recover any of the arcane components or amulets before the flight from authority began? (Here.)
[sblock=No! Not you, the DM!]Here's what Palindrome plans to...

• Go to the Hanged Man tavern, step through the portal to Baccarta, find a crew of adventurers with a respectable degree of moral flexibility, and join them.
• If the cursed hand stops him, he goes to Doddoddod's tower as fast as possible to beat the other members of the party, sets the security system to recognize the other members of the party as enemies, tells his Dod*3 that everyone has been possessed, and lets the pieces fall where they may.
• If the cursed hand stops that, he goes to the tower, tells Dod*3 that everyone is possessed, that Arnest is a cultist and mind-controlled Palindrome into doing unspeakable acts (taking advantage of P's moral weakness), and now controls the other party members. Palindrome escaped with his life, and his party is out to kill him and his master.
• If the cursed hand stops that, Palindrome attempts to poison the Snake Lady's and Arnest's food when they get back to the tower.
• If the cursed hand stops that, he's going to FREAK OUT! All his other tantrums will be small by comparison.

[/sblock][/sblock]

 

[nerdytenor]

OOC: My last post was eaten by a troll. It was a small post, so the troll is likely still hungry. Beware.

Tander is too tired to argue with Palindrome over the mutilated elf, so he chooses to ignore the subject for now.

"The tower, yes. Let us gather there as soon as we may. We can't be sure of the identity of our pursuers - we've been hoodwinked one time too many in our adventures. I rather hope they _were_ the authorities, rather than some mad cultists. Either way, the protection of the tower will buy us some time while we plan our next move."

Tander heads off in exactly the opposite direction that Palindrome took.

 

[Atriden]

Atreus is relieved that they have escaped their persuers although he is not at all pleased. He listens to what the others has to say but it is apparent that the rougue is not in good shape and is having trouble listening to most of Palindromes words, that sound like gibberish but manages to catch some key points and aknowledges that something must be done about the annoying elf.

" I will try and see what can be done with and to the elf " and takes a moment to rest.

Before Tander leaves, he says to him " Tander, I wish that you and Woe take care of Arnest and his lady but before you do so, I will be quick to get some other cloths for you to wear "

And he moves off to buy or steal some cloths for the party as fast as he can.

[sblock=OOC]
Atreus moves out to find some cloths for the party, do I need to roll a skill check? He isnt going to be picky and goes after what ever cloths he can get. Here are possible relevant rolls: Thievery, got 25, and if needed, here is a stealth roll, got 11
[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

Out of Character

*Cough. Cough.*

 

[covaithe]

ooc: Yeah. Work's being... something that I can't freely express my views about, due to Eric's grandma. And I have no idea what to do about that Palindrome character. But, hey, that's never stopped me before. Hang with me...

 

[covaithe]

"Like I'd believe anything you tell me," Arnest spits angrily as Palindrome leaves. But there is a trace of doubt in his eyes now, and he does not look at Tsasha.

Atreus disappears for a moment, and quickly runs across a clothesline on which flaps an assortment of simple clothing: sturdy tunics and trousers and dresses of nondescript dull-colored fabric. He returns to the party with an armload. Arnest dons a set with grim determination and helps Woe get a dress over Tsasha.

Tander leaves for the tower.

Woe shrugs. "Guess that leaves you with me, toots. Are you getting to like it yet? Come on, I know a priestess who won't ask questions." He strides off in yet a third direction, easily carrying the snake woman. Arnest hesitates a second and then follows.

[sblock=Palindrome]While traveling, Palindrome has time to examine the medallions and ritual components he hastily scraped from the floor in his flight from the underground ritual chamber. Unfortunately, the medallions turn out to be just bits of cheap medal on strings, and the components' virtue is entirely spent. On the other hand, the neat piles of unused components that Palindrome retrieved from the altar before exploring the sewers are perfectly serviceable, though not of huge quantity.

ooc: I couldn't find any explicit mention of Palindrome picking up the components off the altar, but I assume he would have done so. I certainly intended to award it as treasure. 100g worth of ritual components.

As for the actions of the hand... I really don't want to decide what the hand does. I'm happy if you want to use it as a deus-ex-machina to forcibly keep Palindrome in line despite his natural inclinations, but it's still your character and I don't want to decide what he does. So, where does Palindrome go?
[/sblock]

[sblock=Atriden]What does Atreus do when the party splits up?[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

[sblock=covaithe]I don't mind if the DM uses the hand to force Palindrome to engage in specific actions. It's more entertaining if I have no control over some manifestations of it.

If you've ever read any of Cugel's stories in Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, that's how I view Palindrome. The more he gets screwed over, the more entertaining he is.

However...

The hand would prevent Palindrome from running away (as it already has) and it would prevent him from attempting to kill his fellow party members, so after getting the bejeezus slapped out of him for even considering the two, he settles on this course of action:

He goes to the tower, tells Dod*3 that everyone is possessed, that Arnest is a cultist and mind-controlled Palindrome into doing unspeakable acts (taking advantage of P's moral weakness), and now controls the other party members. Palindrome escaped with his life, and his party is out to kill him and his master. ​

Bluff Check: 1d20+7=9 And it didn't work. [/sblock]

 

[Atriden]

[sblock=To Covaithe]
Atreus goes back to the the mansion and tries to find out how much the constabulary know about the party and if it is possible to get close to him or if it is possible to find a vantage point where he can snipe the elf from.
Streetwise: 16 to find out how much the constabulary know of the group
Perception: 13 to find a location where he safely can snipe his target
Stealth: 16 to see how close he can get to the elf without being caught
[/sblock]

 

[nerdytenor]

[sblock=Tander in the Tower]

After doing his best to clean himself off in the relative safety of Dod*3's tower, Tander quickly changes clothes again on the off chance he is being followed and decides to visit some of his more trusted spiritual advisers in case they might have any intel on the closed/open eye cults, or at the very least, if they know anything about Tsasha.

OOC: Streetwise 6, Arcana 12 - rats

[/sblock]

 

[KenHood]

"Master! Activate the defensive wards and set them to kill! Those bozos you hired have been mind-controlled by an evil Snake Lady. They've already killed several innocents, and now they're trying to kill me! Hur--"

"Oh..."

"Hi, Tander. I see you made it back to the tower rather quickly."

"So..."

Palindrome runs away and locks himself in his room, under the stairwell.