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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
The Hunt
- Thread starter LostSoul
- Start date
Storminator
First Post
The Sunlord's player has returned!
Erais opens his mouth to rebut Tira, then Tira's grip turns painful. "Ahhhhh, yes! The Ritual of Revelation! Just the thing. To the temple!" He walks off with Tira, an hisses at her: "the temple? What about the tracks and the inn? Shouldn't we figure out what's happened so far first?"
PS
Erais opens his mouth to rebut Tira, then Tira's grip turns painful. "Ahhhhh, yes! The Ritual of Revelation! Just the thing. To the temple!" He walks off with Tira, an hisses at her: "the temple? What about the tracks and the inn? Shouldn't we figure out what's happened so far first?"
PS
Graf
Explorer
Tira eases up on her grip once they get out of sight. Linking her arm with Erias' she continues to pull him along speaking quietly.
The others can tromp about in the mud looking for that bastard. If they get close and it makes him nervous? Then good, but be reasonable...
That thing can look like anyone, I'll wager good coin on bad terms that they won't dig him up. By evening he can slip over the wall, and disappear, or replace someone else.
No... we need to make him come to us. It was your blast of light that drove him off last; he's most likely to take the threat of you and your god seriously. If he thinks he only has until dusk, he's more likely to try to do something rash, either try to replace someone quickly in the hopes of fouling up your spell or coming for us directly.
Tira's brow furrows in thought as she tries to hurry toward the temple.
The others can tromp about in the mud looking for that bastard. If they get close and it makes him nervous? Then good, but be reasonable...
That thing can look like anyone, I'll wager good coin on bad terms that they won't dig him up. By evening he can slip over the wall, and disappear, or replace someone else.
No... we need to make him come to us. It was your blast of light that drove him off last; he's most likely to take the threat of you and your god seriously. If he thinks he only has until dusk, he's more likely to try to do something rash, either try to replace someone quickly in the hopes of fouling up your spell or coming for us directly.
Tira's brow furrows in thought as she tries to hurry toward the temple.
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LostSoul
Adventurer
Nice move, Graf! I smell a conflict.
edit: strike all this below. I have a better idea. We'll do that "role-playing" thing and I'll set it up to get Tira in on things.
I'll allow you to make an "Aid Another" check to give Erias a +2 bonus to his next check. Your words impress on him the need for haste/you aid him in his ritual/whatever. If you fail, though, he'll take a -2 - your link to dead gods taints him/your constant nagging to hurry up bothers him/or however we want to describe that failure.
This Aid Another check won't apply a success or failure to the overall skill challenge, and you don't have to make it if you don't want to. The DC is the general DC for the skill challenge; it's a secret, but it's not 10.
If Erias wants to perform a "Ritual", he can; the skill he uses will tell us how he does that. Diplomacy? Maybe he gets someone to cast for him. Religion? Maybe he uses the resources of the temple (whatever they might be, a relic, a magic item) to perform a Ritual. My point is that I won't veto a skill check that has him "cast a spell" that's not on his character sheet.
You head to the Court of Erathis, a stately building in the middle of town. It is hard to miss, even for newcomers like yourselves - it's just like any other Court dedicated to Erathis you've seen in the Wildlands settlements: white walls, made of stone quarried with no tools but the Word of Law1; the All-Seeing Eye, who sees all transgressions, looming over the entrance; and the Two Blind Seers of Justice carved into the supporting columns, one with sword in hand, the other with scales. The familiar Covenant of Erathis is carved on its doors: "All are Equal Before Me."
It's well lit inside, slightly dusty, and full of that musty odour of old books and parchments. Clerks are writing at their desks; they pause, look up at you for a moment, and turn back to their work.
A priest approaches, a thin, balding, middle-aged man with ink-stained fingers. "Welcome," he says, "to the Court of Erathis in Bel Tungin. He has gifted us with the Rule of Law, that we may spread civilization to all who seek it.
"Do you have a greivance to file?" he asks, staring at Tira.
His eyes narrow, and he focuses on the arcane wand at her belt. "Tell me, miss - is that a wizard's wand? I would not have an Oathbreaker2 defile His Court. It is against His Law."
1 - A Stone Shape spell, cast by acolytes simply reading the law to the stone.
2 - "Oathbreakers" are what clerics of Eriathis call warlocks; for breaking the Sacred Oath: Thou Shalt Not Trade in Souls. "Even your own" is assumed part of the Law, as written in the 1,811 Clarifications of Thondad the Elder.
Anyway, within the temple lies the "All-Seeing Eye" (of Justice!), and you can use that to attempt a scry. How do you want to gain access to it? You'll need to roll!
If you want to use a power or an attack, you can; you can use Eyebite to "mess with his mind", or Curse of the Dark Dream to really mess him up good, though neither one will kill him (just break his mind, that's all ). A hit I'll consider a success on the skill challenge, and you'll gain access to the All-Seeing Eye, and the other clerks won't think anything of it.
edit: strike all this below. I have a better idea. We'll do that "role-playing" thing and I'll set it up to get Tira in on things.
This Aid Another check won't apply a success or failure to the overall skill challenge, and you don't have to make it if you don't want to. The DC is the general DC for the skill challenge; it's a secret, but it's not 10.
If Erias wants to perform a "Ritual", he can; the skill he uses will tell us how he does that. Diplomacy? Maybe he gets someone to cast for him. Religion? Maybe he uses the resources of the temple (whatever they might be, a relic, a magic item) to perform a Ritual. My point is that I won't veto a skill check that has him "cast a spell" that's not on his character sheet.
You head to the Court of Erathis, a stately building in the middle of town. It is hard to miss, even for newcomers like yourselves - it's just like any other Court dedicated to Erathis you've seen in the Wildlands settlements: white walls, made of stone quarried with no tools but the Word of Law1; the All-Seeing Eye, who sees all transgressions, looming over the entrance; and the Two Blind Seers of Justice carved into the supporting columns, one with sword in hand, the other with scales. The familiar Covenant of Erathis is carved on its doors: "All are Equal Before Me."
It's well lit inside, slightly dusty, and full of that musty odour of old books and parchments. Clerks are writing at their desks; they pause, look up at you for a moment, and turn back to their work.
A priest approaches, a thin, balding, middle-aged man with ink-stained fingers. "Welcome," he says, "to the Court of Erathis in Bel Tungin. He has gifted us with the Rule of Law, that we may spread civilization to all who seek it.
"Do you have a greivance to file?" he asks, staring at Tira.
His eyes narrow, and he focuses on the arcane wand at her belt. "Tell me, miss - is that a wizard's wand? I would not have an Oathbreaker2 defile His Court. It is against His Law."
1 - A Stone Shape spell, cast by acolytes simply reading the law to the stone.
2 - "Oathbreakers" are what clerics of Eriathis call warlocks; for breaking the Sacred Oath: Thou Shalt Not Trade in Souls. "Even your own" is assumed part of the Law, as written in the 1,811 Clarifications of Thondad the Elder.
Anyway, within the temple lies the "All-Seeing Eye" (of Justice!), and you can use that to attempt a scry. How do you want to gain access to it? You'll need to roll!
If you want to use a power or an attack, you can; you can use Eyebite to "mess with his mind", or Curse of the Dark Dream to really mess him up good, though neither one will kill him (just break his mind, that's all
). A hit I'll consider a success on the skill challenge, and you'll gain access to the All-Seeing Eye, and the other clerks won't think anything of it.
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Graf
Explorer
[sblock=Motivation]For all that she has -issues- with religion and religious types I don't see Tira using her powers to mess with this guy as a first resort. That's a line; she'd go over it, but she knows its a line and she's not keen to go over it just for the sake of going over it. So he gets to be reasonable...
Of course if he's not reasonable, then she'll zap the ____ out of him.[/sblock]
Tira looks about and abruptly changes her plans. No need to waste hours setting up a bluff if these mumblers have the magic to find the scum, she mutters to Erias as she enters the temple.
Tira presses her lips together, with some effort she controls herself, forcing what she hopes is a winning smile onto her face. This little thing? A boy gave it to me. To show his affection, I was supposed to give it back to him, but it turned out his affection was being spread around a bit.
So I kept it, to remind me of how bad it is when someone doesn't keep their word.
We are so sorry to trouble you good priest, when you are so industriously working to stop the undead horror that even now stalks and kills the people of this poor town. Why just on the way here we heard so many people talking about how you were using the Eye of Justice to scry this hideous man-eating abomination that has already killed at the Inn.
My compatriot has faced it before in battle and driven it off, he is most insistent that we come immediately and offer our services. With your Eye of Justice I'm sure you'll be able to fulfill your commitment and find this horror before it kills again. And return peace and order to the town.
[sblock=The Bluff]Is that everyone knows about the horror and the people of the town expect the priests to do something. If the priest thinks of himself as smart he'll probably try to pass the work off on someone else (Erias).
And, I'm presuming, scry only works if you've met someone, so they need Erias (or Tira of course) to do actually scry.
If it looks like it's not working? Then she zaps him before he puts up a fuss.
I'll roll bluff first, and give Erias a chance to do something of course, before nuking his head.
Bluff role to convince the priest that he has to act now or the standing of his church is at risk (seems like standard sorts of fast talking to me...) (1d20+9=16)
[/sblock]
Of course if he's not reasonable, then she'll zap the ____ out of him.[/sblock]
Tira looks about and abruptly changes her plans. No need to waste hours setting up a bluff if these mumblers have the magic to find the scum, she mutters to Erias as she enters the temple.
The priest said:
Tira presses her lips together, with some effort she controls herself, forcing what she hopes is a winning smile onto her face. This little thing? A boy gave it to me. To show his affection, I was supposed to give it back to him, but it turned out his affection was being spread around a bit.
So I kept it, to remind me of how bad it is when someone doesn't keep their word.
We are so sorry to trouble you good priest, when you are so industriously working to stop the undead horror that even now stalks and kills the people of this poor town. Why just on the way here we heard so many people talking about how you were using the Eye of Justice to scry this hideous man-eating abomination that has already killed at the Inn.
My compatriot has faced it before in battle and driven it off, he is most insistent that we come immediately and offer our services. With your Eye of Justice I'm sure you'll be able to fulfill your commitment and find this horror before it kills again. And return peace and order to the town.
[sblock=The Bluff]Is that everyone knows about the horror and the people of the town expect the priests to do something. If the priest thinks of himself as smart he'll probably try to pass the work off on someone else (Erias).
And, I'm presuming, scry only works if you've met someone, so they need Erias (or Tira of course) to do actually scry.
If it looks like it's not working? Then she zaps him before he puts up a fuss.
I'll roll bluff first, and give Erias a chance to do something of course, before nuking his head.
Bluff role to convince the priest that he has to act now or the standing of his church is at risk (seems like standard sorts of fast talking to me...) (1d20+9=16)
[/sblock]
LostSoul
Adventurer
I forgot to mention, the DC would have been lower had you blased him! (Easy check) But you came away with a success anyways, so no harm done.
The priest shrugs. "If you wish, you could file a grievance with the Court which has jurisdiction over him..."
"Undead horror? I had no idea. I haven't used the Eye - without any token of the killer it would have been pointless.1" He pauses. "Do you have a token of the killer? You seem to know something about it."
You think for a moment, back to your fight with the shapechanger in the Tomb. Kathra chopped off its finger, though it didn't hurt the beast much - it just grinned at you and grew another one. Skamos picked up the grey pulpy mass after the battle, "for future research."
1 - This makes you wonder what good it is, if it can only spy on people you know... oh, wait.
So, now Erias can use the Eye to scry on Shalmanisar, using his Religion check.
DM notes: I could have called for a check to see if Skamos had remember to pick that up, or had them make a check at the murder scene to grab some blood from under the victim's fingernails, but I don't watch CSI.
Graf said:
The priest shrugs. "If you wish, you could file a grievance with the Court which has jurisdiction over him..."
Graf said:
"Undead horror? I had no idea. I haven't used the Eye - without any token of the killer it would have been pointless.1" He pauses. "Do you have a token of the killer? You seem to know something about it."
You think for a moment, back to your fight with the shapechanger in the Tomb. Kathra chopped off its finger, though it didn't hurt the beast much - it just grinned at you and grew another one. Skamos picked up the grey pulpy mass after the battle, "for future research."
1 - This makes you wonder what good it is, if it can only spy on people you know... oh, wait.
So, now Erias can use the Eye to scry on Shalmanisar, using his Religion check.
DM notes: I could have called for a check to see if Skamos had remember to pick that up, or had them make a check at the murder scene to grab some blood from under the victim's fingernails, but I don't watch CSI.
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Kathra catches up to the others at the Court of Erathis. She looks through to the at her comrades-in-arms. "Tira is in the Court without either starting an argument or getting thrown out for heresy? This day is full of surprises." She gives a perfunctory nod to the monument of Erathis, and rejoins the others.
Graf
Explorer
Tira smiles triumphantly. She looks over at Kathra. Wonderful to see you again dear. Turns out that Skamos' creepy habit of picking up body parts had a useful point after all.
She strokes her wand and smiles off into the distance already imagining the shocked expression on the shapeshifters face when they burst in.
She strokes her wand and smiles off into the distance already imagining the shocked expression on the shapeshifters face when they burst in.
