Proving Grounds[IC; Bernoli the upcoming God of Knowledge]

[Sønderjye]

Actually, before really starting, I'd like to ask - is there anything you want to do? For most others I could come up with something, but for you I'd end up just making some random prompt that might not mesh with what Bernoli wants to do.

Standing just outside Heartrock City, you take in the lights, the revelry. You'd heard from the "adventurers" you joined that people were eagerly looking for treasure and salvation in the wilderness because of a new century, and it seems that is cause for celebration. The road you have been following ends a few hundred yards ahead, with seemingly unguarded gates, and the beginning of a new, brick-paved path.




Yeah, I want to build an empire. No worries though, I intend to be the driving force in this sequence and already have a rough plan for the initial phase.
For the sake of transperency I wanted to highlight a few final points:
Bernoli is capable of binding a spirit to her. She does not have a spirit binded currently which is partly because I need to polish my understanding of the spirit rules and partly because I wanted to roleplay at least 1 summon. Fluff wise I'm justifying it with that she didn't want to be influenced right now.
I also picked up a few 3rd party spells from d20pfsrd. I got the impression that this was fine for you but I wanted to be sure that it was pointed out. In particular I want to ask whether you are fine with Sanguine Focus, Greater. It adds +10 level to my bloodline power which is the ability to summon spirits for a limited time. This WILL NOT allow me to summon spirits that I couldn't do normally since I have to pay a spell of the level of the spirit but it does increase the power of the spirits that I can summon some.


<<It seems that we are finally here, Jared>> Bernoli telepathically communicates to the small construct hiding in her shadow. <<Sharp observation>>, Jared responds with a playing tone before turning more serious. <<How do you feel?>>. Bernoli closes her eyes, enjoys the sun on her skin for a brief moment and then turns her attention inwards. <<Anxious and excited predorminantly>> She reponds <<and ready to start phase 1. Jared be prepared>>. With those words she headed towards the main gate.
The problem with acces to the vast majority of knowledge in the world was that you needed to know which questions to ask. If one asked the wrong question and make the wrong assumption then one were setting themselves up for failure. This was why Bernoli had been reluctant tapping into her vast knowledge on the way to the city. And now that she were here she needed to learn.
After entering the unguarded city gates she walks around for a bit, trying to get an impression of the city.
Afterwards she finds a quite place, probably a side alley, and after making sure that she isn't being watched she inhales and concentrates on her presense. She pushes it out and feels it stretch far and wide searching for answers.

Jared has an action prepared to use Pride's Movement on Bernoli should anyone appear to attack her.
He is hiding in her shadow, taking 10 in stealth for 31.

I'm interested in Bernoli's first impression of the city.
She is using her Seer ability to take a gather information(as diplomacy) as a standard action
first to search for information on what the city's biggest problem is from the point of view of those who control the city, [roll0]
then what the general population's biggest problem is [roll1]
and lastly what the 4 biggest problems are for the poorest. [roll2]



That all seems fine.

You close your eyes, taking in the city from your mind's eye. Frustratingly, some sort of block makes it difficult to seek the one in control - they must be cautious, or hiding something. Still, you get a general sense that the rising threat of monster attacks is on everyone's mind. The poor are even concerned, though it comes second to safety and general wealth for the poorest of the poor. However, it seems nobody goes completely hungry in this city, and there are very few who could not afford to join in the celebrations this week.

You do notice that many are looking for someone to lead them, or someone to save them. Most point to the mountains, as that is where the only successful treasure hunt has gone, while a few look to the seas. You think they'd be easy enough to gather, and some are quite rich or quite capable - but not many.

Go ahead and tell me what you're specifically looking for, and I can lead you to them if you roll well enough.



Bernoli takes a moment to process this information. Strange, Bernoli ponders. She didn't like it when people were able to block her access to knowledge. She felt blind and vulnerable. I wonder if there are people behind the appearent rulers

She is even more suprised when she learns that hunger isn't a problem for anyone. Do the city have that much wealth? Are the ones in power that altruistic or is this the work of some organisation? Or were the poor educated enough to sustain themselves? This was a hurdle in her plan as she had been hoping to be able to recruit using food as bait.

Even more suprised is she when she feels the strong urge for a leader in the general conciousness. Surely there were rulers in this town already, why did they not suffice? And with this strong of an urge why haven't anyone stood up and taken advantage of it? What was it that the population needed from a leader?

kno local to learn about the known rulers. 26
Using Focused Trance for a knowledge local to learn of any potential hidden rulers: (note: The 20pfsrd advices this to be a DC 20) 52

Using Seer to learn about how the poor is managing to stay fed. 27

Using Seer to learn why the population craves a leader so much 34
Using Seer to learn what it is that the population needs a leader. 32
Using Seer to learn if there have been anyone who in recent times have tried to use this urge and how they failed/succeeded. 31

Note. Using Do-Over on the 1 and the 2 in the roll thread.

Right now I'm not looking for someone. I am looking for general knowledge about the city while prioritizing information that Bernoli can use to establish a leader position. She was(and might still do it) intending to gain the trust of the poor through food and using that trust to instill a purpose in their life.




If the Mayor of Heartrock City was a figurehead, you'd be sure to know.

Looking closer, the Mayor still seems to be the one in control, and his priority seems to be the prosperity of the city. You can't get much more at first, as it seems that he has some sort of mental warding - but you manage to break past it after a tense minute of concentration. Looking deeper, it seems he is mostly paranoid about some of the stronger forces in the city - the Archmage Aristodemos, who has been lobbying to create a sort of arcane police under his command, and Vadoma, a more mysterious figure, who has sway over a large section of the poorer populace and has some sort of magical power as well.

I'm just going to answer in list form, because it's awkward to write answers to a list in IC.

The poor are fed because the city is prosperous - its well situated on the river, it has all the supplies it could need, and the presence of high-power individuals means monster attacks are dealt with promptly. Parliament has also passed many laws ensuring that nobody starves in the streets, and people are well off enough that they can't really disagree.

The population wants a leader because they're afraid, despite things going well. The same thing happened just before the Second Shadow War, and there are still people alive who fought there.

I'm not sure what "what it is that the population needs a leader" exactly means, that isn't answered above?

The two powerful figures I mentioned above (Vadoma and Aristodemos) have people under their control, and they've sent people to start searching for treasure for them. They've both got direct control of at least twenty followers, and influence over hundreds.

Faithful Followers: 23(C)/25(F)
Cohort: TBD
6: 1/2
Ellisar Dawnhorn. Battle Oracle
5: 0/2
4: 0 of
4
3: 1 of
7
Gareth Blackblade. 3rd lvl Magus(blackblade).
2: 1 of
13
Kantor Stormhammer. Lvl 2 Artisan. Skill Focus (Weaponsmithing), Lawful Good, 118 years old, born in Stonesong. 10-12 Str, 6-8 Dex, 12-14 Con, 12-14 Int, 10-12 Wis. cha above average. Master Craftsman(Weaponsmithing). Craft Wonderous Item x2.
1: 135 of
135
30 Apprentice Wizard/Druid. Animal Handler(Riding Eagle). Arcanist(Ray of Mercy) 15 int.
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, NG, mid interest) Druid Eagle, Riding
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, CG, mid interest) Cleric - Evangelist
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, CG, high interest) At Elisar
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, CG, high interest) warlord (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/tos---warlord)
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, NG, high interest) x2 Warlord(POH)
1st level Elf Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest) Warder.
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, CG, high interest) x2 Warder.
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest) x2 Warder.
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, mid interest) x2 Warder.

Previous 1st level Human Expert (15 int, all alignments with high interest)
10 1st lvl Human Scholar (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/tripod-machine/scholar)
50 1st lvl Human Taskshaper (https://cse.google.com/cse?cx=006680642033474972217%3A6zo0hx_wle8&q=taskshaper#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=task%20shaper&gsc.sort=)
28 1st lvl human Hunter(Packmaster. Riding Eagle
1 1st lvl Human Investigator
1 1st lvl Human Skald
1 1st lvl Human Investigator
1 1st lvl Human Inquisitor
Dystany Founder: 25(F)
6: 0/25: 0/2
4: 0 of 4
3: 0 of 7
2: 0 of 13
1: 135 of 135
Previous 1st level Human Expert (15 int, all Good alignments with high interest)


80 1st lvl Human Artisan. Craft Wonderous Item. Crafter's Art(Arcane)
15 1st lvl Human Artisan. Craft Wonderous Item. Crafter's Art(Weapon)
40 1st lvl Human Hunter(Packmaster), Riding Eagle. Those with a higher wis.

[Sønderjye]

A grim satisfaction fills Bernoli's mind as she searched the barrier and finally finds a way through. She is intriqued by both Aristodemos and Vadoma. Mental note: Before the day is over, invest in learning about those two and the major. Also learn about the parlament and prominent figures in that. Knowing the other players on the board is almost even more important than knowing the game itself.

<<Hmm. It seems that we'll have to redo our approach. The city are wealthy and there exists law that ensure that everyone are fed>> Bernoli tells Jared, not because Jared needs to know but because it worked wonders to verbalize her thoughts. <<It seems that the population is afraid which offer an approach I hadn't thought of. As such we have>> Bernoli mentally forms her thoughts like a board.
<<1. We utilizes the general fear to gather people.

Perks: Fast and effective, strong emotion that could even be used as a regime change.
Downside: Fear is difficult to control, others could use rumors easily, failures would be devastating and if the citizens at some point feel a blind security they might become lazy.>>

<<2. We offer purpose and community.

Perks: Social preassure is easier to utilize. Punishes failures less harshly. If successful people would be easier to control and rumors would be less effectful. Motivating is easier.
Downside: Weaker due to vagueness. Really need to be inspiring. Complixity deduction.>>


Giving it careful thought Bernoli decides that she would prefer not to use fear, at least for now. Having finished her initial research she is ready to continue phase 1. She opens her eyes and heads to the poorest part of the city. Statistically speaking, people who had nothing tended to be more willing to risk what they have.
Wanting the streets of the slum(assuming one such exists?) Bernoli realizes that she looks very vulnerable, wearing sandals and ragged clothing. She debates whether it could be advantageous for her if she is attacked and decides in favor of it.

She is searching for a street kid or young beggar who are sitting down and prioritize those who looks like they don't have anything to do. If she finds a suitable candidate she will cast Detect Alignment(Good) and if the candidate isn't good aligned she'll move on.

Bernoli smiles, part in excitement and part in anxiety. She casts Focused Scrutiny before approaching the candidate. When she is within 10 feet of them(the neutral noun, not the plural) she kneels down and waits a moment for their attention. "Hello" she says, radiating kindness and motherly protection. "I am Bernoli". She waits for the youngster to respond, not expecting any particular answer but wanting to know if this approach is working.


I meant: what it is that the population needs "in" a leader. But it sounds like they primarily need security.
If you feel like doing an encounter here I'm not against it. We can resolve it simultaneous with the social encounter and say that that is what will happen if Bernoli survives the encounter.
Diplomacy to radiate kindness and motherly protection: [roll0]

[Sønderjye]

Also a sense motive to judge what is happening in the head of the candidate [roll0]
Edit: Natural 20, whoop whoop!

[r2d2go]

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

While nothing is quite a slum, there are a number of cheap housing complexes, which inevitably draw poorer citizens. It takes very little time to find a bored youth, who eagerly rises and extends his hand. "Hello! I'm Charles. What's a nice lady like you doing here?"

He's not sure what to make of you, but you seem very interesting to him, and he's probably been out of a job for some time. He's getting a feeling that you're powerful enough to get him somewhere greater than the mundane life he lives now, and maybe even put him in history books, and he's almost immediately altered some of his dreams of greatness to fit you in.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli hessitates for a moment. She had not expected this. She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it herself. He wants me to lead him to greatness! He wants me to lead him and have just met me! How can anyone be so trusting? What is WRONG with this city? Do they legitemately want to be abused? All this happens while she keeps her face perfectly straight.

"Pleasure to meet you" She says, graps his hand while focussing her attention, deciding to figure out what is going on inside his head. She summons her godlike powers to peak inside his skull before continueing. The then turns more serious: "I am here because there are things that need to change, Charles. It is my hope that through teaching that I protect the people. Tell me Charles, if you had the power to alter reality what would you do?" Her tone is now dead serious and Charles may get a sense that a lot depends on his answer.

Using hypnotic stare on Charles. This imposes a -2 on his will saves and sense motive in addition to lowering the diplomacy and intimidate DC's for Bernoli. Furthermore this is undetectable both to Charles and too onlookers.

Using By Will Alone to cast detect thoughts without any components thus making it impossible to detect.
Taking 10 on sense motive to read Charles for 40.
Taking 10 on bluff to conseal what she is doing for 35.

[r2d2go]

"Ummm. I... I would... try to help the city? Yeah. I don't know what you mean, but if you mean magic... I'd go with the other adventurers. I'd try to make a difference."

He's not got a dishonest bone in his body - what he says is what he thinks. The same thoughts are running through his mind.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli makes a mental sigh. That will have to suffice.

"That is good". A little warmth have snuck inside her otherwise serious tone. "You see, Charles. I am willing to teach you to become strong. But I need to know that this strength will be used for Good. I need to know that you will do all that is in your power to defend sentient life when the need comes and that you will not abuse it for selfish goals. Are you willing to do this? Are you pure of heart?"

After talking with Charles

After finishing her talk with Charles Bernoli heads out to find 4 more candidates. Before starting however she realized her mistake, she didn't tap into Knowledge to find the right candidates.

She will open her Mind's Eye and search for the best candidate, find the candidate and present herself similarly to how she did with Charles.


Later
After having talked to 5 candidates and being satisfied with her plan this far she decides that she wishes to make reveal her presense in the poorest group. She learns where those who can't get their food and dines at the simple food amongst. She intends on sleeping a similar place.

Using Focused Trance for +20 to knowledge local(or geography if you prefer) [roll0] to find a place where they won't be bothered.

Using Focused Trance 4 times. Each time to find the best candidate that she has not yet talked to based on the following: 1. Must be Good aligned 2. Must either have strong feeling for preserving life or be open minded enough that Bernoli can convince them to grow those feelings 3. Can contribute the most to her cause (whether this be by teaching capabilities, resources, power or potential power) 4. If the other 3 are close for some candidate, then a candidate from a different environment(power, culture, race) than previous candidates are prefered. Taking 10 on knowledge local yields 43

I think that it could be fun to play out every of these meeting but since they largely doesn't affect each other I figured we could play them out all at once(having time skips in between) or you can just summarize their answers if you feel that would be beneficial to game play.

Bernoli makes a mental sigh. That will have to suffice.

"In that case, meet me tomorrow morning" She smiling pauses and opens her Minds Eye, allowing the young boy to get a glipmse of her power be, before stating the location of the meeting.

If she has the impression that the boy will be there tomorrow she will take her leave. She intends to do the same to 4 similar youngsters but before starting she realized her mistake, she didn't tap into Knowledge to find the right candidates.

She will open her Mind's Eye and search for the best candidate, find the candidate and ask similar questions as she did to Charles and assuming they answer satisfactory she will invite them to join her tomorrow. She will take whatever time that it takes to convince them that they want to show up tomorrow. She will do this 4 times.

Later
After having talked to 5 candidates and being satisfied with her plan this far she decides that she wishes to make reveal her presense in the poorest group. She learns where those who can't get their food and dines at the simple food amongst. She intends on sleeping a similar place.

Using Focused Trance for +20 to knowledge local(or geography if you prefer) [roll0] to find a place where they won't be bothered.

Using Focused Trance 4 times. Each time to find the best candidate that she has not yet talked to based on the following: 1. Must be Good aligned 2. Must either have strong feeling for preserving life or be open minded enough that Bernoli can convince them to grow those feelings 3. Can contribute the most to her cause (whether this be by teaching capabilities, resources, power or potential power) 4. If the other 3 are close for some candidate, then a candidate from a different environment(power, culture, race) than previous candidates are prefered. Taking 10 on knowledge local yields 43

I think that it could be fun to play out every of these meeting but since they largely doesn't affect each other I figured we could play them out all at once(having time skips in between) or you can just summarize their answers if you feel that would be beneficial to game play.

[Sønderjye]

Botched a knowledge geography/local [roll0]

[r2d2go]

First Candidate

It's not long before you come across an interesting candidate - a slim, pointy-eared man who looks about thirty, just leaving a blacksmith's shop. However, your experience with those blessed by the gods tells you that this is likely a chosen of Corellon Larethian, or someone under his pantheon, and their practiced, elegant movements that still manage to be on guard indicates veteran of war to you. As he turns, you see a pendant of the crescent moon hanging from his neck - a likely indicator that he follows Corellon.

Approaching him, he seems much more suspicious than the previous candidate. While his body language is carefully measured, his involuntary responses are less so. As he politely introduces himself as Ellisar Dawnhorn, and outwardly indicates little interest in joining you, but inwardly appears to be frustrated at his inability to analyze you and is having difficulty trusting you...

Holy cow, he actually got a nat 20.

Uh.

Technically, there's no big benefit to a nat 20 on a skill check, but since I rolled the second just in case he got a nat 20, to see if he had even a hope to break your bluff, and that was high as well...

I'm going to ask you to tell me what you're bluffing about (what's the "lie" required), in general terms at least.

The rest of the people are written up, but none of them have a hope of beating your skill checks, so, I can put them in after. There is a dependence/modification needed based on that.

[roll0], [roll1]

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli wasn't lying to Charles and haven't intending to lying to any of the other candidates. In Charles case specifically I included a bluff check to conseal the spellcasting( which I actually don't think I had to do since there's no components but I figured I might as well if you were of a different oppinion).
She do intend to teach the candidates and are only trying to be sure that she is teaching the right people.
If I were to include something that at the current state would have required a bluff then I guess Bernoli would have made a bluff to appear weak in hopes that she could teach something to those who would abuse a lone innocent weak woman.

You said that he is "outwardly indicates little interest in joining you". Does that mean that at this point, Bernoli have already proposed that he should join her in fighting what is to come?

[r2d2go]

Huh, okay. Don't worry, everything else proceeds smoothly...

As for the interest, I'd say you'd indicated some interest in procuring his services, and as he was paying rapt attention, he picked up on that much easily.

Ellisar eventually decides to trust you - he seems to be exhausted by two hundred years of vigilance, and figures he might as well try this time to make some sort of lasting peace.

Second Candidate

Not too long after securing Ellisar's pledge, you find another "blessed" figure, certainly worth talking to. He's a smith, and while his skills aren't quite those of Ellisar's supplier, he sells his goods for a fraction of the price, and is well known for being second-best, particularly with bladed weapons. It appears he is a blessed of Torag, and while he hasn't lived quite as long as Ellisar, he's no weakling. Having moved to Heartrock City after escaping Stonesong as a young child during the postwar tensions, he apparently decided he'd had enough conflict and settled on smithing, despite being a decently capable fighter. Frankly, he's grown bored, especially of being second-best, and is happy to join.

Third Candidate

Some time and effort later, you locate another candidate - this time, a stealthy character, one who's apparently got some connections in many groups around the city. She apparently does slightly less than legal jobs for a number of people, including associates of Vadoma, as well as contract work for the government. She also travels frequently and has some sway in other cities, though these connections are less concrete. She doesn't have a strong drive to help, but admits that the entire region could really use a kick in the rear to get things together. She claims she only takes advantage of the situation to help encourage someone to stop her, and you can tell she's not... entirely lying. There's some kernel of truth, even if she enjoys the benefits a bit too much.

Fourth Candidate

Searching for a variety, you soon find that the vast majority of arcane spellcasters in this town are under the banner of Aristodemos' Cowled Brotherhood, dedicated to stopping the misuse of magic. However, you do find one disgruntled caster, who quit after some degree of discrimination and hardship in the ranks of the Brotherhood. His somewhat feral appearance made many judge him, and while he is a capable fighter, he strongly dislikes the assumption that his square jaw and tinted skin means he is only good for fighting. However, despite his best efforts, he was never quite as smart as the others in the Brotherhood, and so, he's been scrounging a living doing mercenary work, much to his disgust. He happily agrees to help after you mention his arcane skills would be most appreciated.

After the Search:

Eventually, as night falls, you make your way to one of the poorer parts of the city, where people occasionally go hungry, though it is exceedingly rare to die of starvation. You can see why - meagre rations are being given to any who are hungry enough to eat the small bowls of bland, tasteless gruel they provide. Better still, the lines are not prohibitively long - It seems that most can afford to avoid such meals, at least most of the time.

Whether you choose to eat the free gruel or something else that matches the simple meals people appear to be eating, you soon find a place to rest among the others in crowded, open houses or makeshift shelters between them. It seems that a lack of desperation makes people more trustworthy, and by sifting through the impressions of the crowds that pass, you figure they must have strict backlash against anyone who would betray such trust. It's not an uncomfortable place to fall asleep in - even if you were a more vulnerable individual, you get a feeling of protection from the community built here, despite being almost entirely new to it.

So, what'll it be?

You can retroactively interact with any of the candidates if you'd like, or tell me where you want to go (I can provide a list of rumors or potential places of interest if you'd like).

[Sønderjye]

Charles

Bernoli waits patiently for Charles to answer.

First Candidate

"Your vigilance only does you credit Ellisar Dawnhorn. Trust is not a good that should be given freely and certainly not to complete strangers." Bernoli says applausing. "You need not fear me though. My utmost priority is to protect sentient beings. This is actually why I have approached you. A great danger is upon us and I request your help in training others such that we may be prepared."

Second Candidate

"But tell me why is it that you want to be the best?" She asks, hoping to unravel the underlying desires of the blessed of Toraq.

Third Candidate

Bernoli smiles at the wording of the sneaky one amused by the language. She wonders why her divine knowledge hadn't guided her to this one first, contacts in every aspect seems more useful than any of others? Maybe this one hadn't the same passion for others which means that. "Would being a part of giving that kick be worth giving up the benefits you have enjoyed this far due to way things are now?"

Fourth Candidate

"That is unacceptable" Bernoli says with fire in her eyes after hearing of the hardships of the feral candidate. "The Brotherhood certainly did you wrong, discrimination of any kind is ignorant and harmful. We are all sentient creatures and capable of change and individuality" the fire in her eyes persist for a little while before she calms down a bit and asks the crusial question. "I need to know though, if your arcane abilities were to grow significantly, what would you do with it?" She hopes that anger or revenge isn't a driving motivator for him but don't want to shape his answer by ansking specifically.

Sorry for not posting the last few days. Life have been really busy.

The phrasing that you are using implies to me that Bernoli have presented herself and have talked to the candidates and proposed that they should join her. However the fact that I don't have the names for the last three candidates makes me think that the knowledge may just have come from Bernoli's divine knowledge. My respondses above are assuming some conversation have been had.

If I use divination or commune, would that allow me to determine how many lives that will be lost if the sneaky one does not contribute to fighting what is to come?

To avoid a large number of rolls assume taking 10 for diplomacy checks for 35(or 40 if the meetings are within 2 hours and 20 minuts of the meeting with Charles due to two castings of focused scrutiny)

[r2d2go]

Divination would let you know the score on lives within a week. Commune would give you a yes/know answer to a question of that source.

...to be honest, I started with descriptive text for most of them, and I guess forgot to give them names. Similar forgetfulness with not answering Charles :smallsigh: entirely my bad, sorry.

Charles Reed

Charles looks a little nervous, and takes his time to answer. After a minute or so, he shrugs ruefully. "I don't know, really. I've never, you know, been in a position where I really had to ask myself that, or prove it. I sure hope I'm a good person, though..."

Ellisar Dawnhorn

Ellisar nods slowly. "I am not... the most understanding of teachers, but I would not mind taking on a few disciples."

Kantor Stonehammer

Kantor sighs, spinning his hammer in one hand idly as he thinks. "S' not really being second best. I'm happy servin' people however I can, and I seem to do that better'n the other guy. I just... feel like I should be doin' something more with my blessin', y'know?"

Sophia Amoline

Sophia grins, though here eyes betray the conflict within. "Depends on the kick, and how many benefits I lose, don't it? I'm not gonna go back to livin' in the streets for the sake of the people who put me there."

Gareth Blackblade

Gareth scratches his beard, considering. "I'd probably try to teach my own students. Show the Brotherhood, or at least the people who rejected me, that they'd failed. I mean, I never got past the introduction point - they higher ups might appreciate me more, and I wouldn't reject that."

[Sønderjye]

Charles Reed
"What is a good person Charles?" Bernoli asks "And why do you not think that you are one?"
Ellisar Dawnhorn
"I am glad to hear. Then my instinct about you were correct" Bernoli truthfully flatters says, "And what of yourself? Would you be willing to learn?" She asks before reaching for her spellpouch, "may I cast a spell to understand your abilities and see if I can help?"
Kantor Stonehammer
"I do understand what you mean, Kantor" Bernoli responds "And I agree with you. The question is though, are you willing to leave the comfortable and safe life behind and use your blessing to do what will help the most?"
Sophia Amoline
So she is resentful at someone? Bernoli makes a mental note to learn the history of this one. "I take care of those who are with me, Sophia, and I would never allow them to needlessly suffer." She says with a protective sternness in her voice and some of her weak facade crumbles and reveals some of the power that she is hiding. She relaxes a little and studies Sophia carefully as she continues: "I don't recommend luxury either. That said I am not asking you to give your things away.."
Bernoli wants to continue ".. or even stop your.. discrete business. Many advantages can be found in having contacts in the shadows."
She expects that Sophia will want to hear this since it is "safer" for her since she isn't risking losing what she already have achieved. However she is suspecting that Sophia in fact is resentful of this lifestyle and wishes to quite it. As such she will only say the part in this spoiler if she judges that Sophia will react positively to it. Feel free to roll appropriate rolls if needed.


Gareth Blackblade
"Good answer" Bernoli says in appreciation. "Would you like to get past the introduction point? I may be able to help, may I cast a spell to understand your capabilities?"


I see. Thanks. When these conversations are over I'm looking forward to a little minigame of Commune.

That's perfectly fine. Thank you for clarifying.

If Ellisar agrees that Bernoli may cast a spell she'll cast Psychic Reading (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/p/psychic-reading) with a Sense Motive check on: [roll0]. She wishes to learn all of his class levels. If she does that and still have leftovers she'll learn his feats - Alignment - Place of Origin - Age - Ethnicity
Same goes for Gareth Blackblade: [roll1]
If any of these rolls lower than 5 she'll use do-over to reroll.
Edit: Using original rolls.

[roll2]
[roll3]

I'm noting that due to the Seer 1(Eldritch Godling) The chance that all of the information is correct is 79. Also note that Bernoli is using Hypnotic stare to lower the DC by 2. (Being undetectable is really an incredible qualify)

Actually is there another way than this to learn class levels? I only know of psychic reading and occult skill unlock(sense motive).

[r2d2go]

Charles Reed

"Well... I guess I just haven't done that much, you know? I've mostly lived life just, plodding along, doing whatever. That doesn't seem particularly good, right? I guess you could say it's not bad, but I haven't done anything special..."

Ellisar Dawnhorn

Ellisar nods again, lowering his head slightly.

Oracle 6, Power Attack, Furious Focus, Improved Initiative, Neutral Good.


Kantor Stonehammer

"O'course! That's why I agreed! I've got nothin' ta lose, anyway."

Sophia Amoline

Considering your words, you decide to finish the sentence, as you suspect she is at least somewhat attached to the lifestyle she's built for herself. Sophia nods, idly tapping her fingers on the hilt of a dagger by her waist. "Well, I guess I'd be okay helpin' you out. Nothing's free, though. Unless you're hiring me with some serious incentives, the best I can do is give you a discount for doin' good things."

Gareth Blackblade

Gareth grunts an affirmative, waiting to let Bernoli cast the spell. "What's it look like?"

Magus 3, Spell Focus (Evocation), Spell Specialization (Shocking Grasp), Chaotic Good, Heartrock City.

I don't know any other ways to read class levels, no.

[Sønderjye]

Charles Reed

"Goodness is not found in the deed but in the heart. Compassion and altriusm are defining traits of a Good person." She reassures: "Look into yourself, Charles, if you could save many lives at the cost of yourself, would you do it?" She looks him deeply into the eyes and allows him to see her hope and belief in her eyes before pulling back a little: "You don't have to answer now. When you have an answer come find me."

Kantor Stormhammer

"That is good" Bernoli says with true happiness and hope in her eyes, "May I cast a spell to understand your capabilities?"

Sophia Amoline

"I see" Bernoli revealing only enough of her genuine sadness from failing to truely recruit Sophia through, enough that it could seem like she was failing in keeping up her facade. "Then I shall only approach you when the situation calls for it."

Gareth Blackblade

"Battlemagic channeled through weapons" Bernoli opens her eyes and has a questioning look on her face: "There's certainly things I could teach you but you are already quite strong. Which begs the question, why didn't you make it past the introduction point?" She asks frowning: "Also, what is your choice of Arcane?"(refering to the magus arcane talent

Does Bernoli know that people's maximum level is 6? I'm waiting with the reply to Ellisar because I'm unsure if Bernoli thinks that she can train him further.
Also can she train people into getting feats similar to how normal E6 progress(Which is 5000XP per feat or slightly less than from level 4 to 5 if using the medium xp track). If she can, would it take the same time as progressing someone from level 4 to 5?

Also is Bernoli capable of teaching archetypes/retrain feats?

If Kantor agrees, same spell and order of information as before. Sense motive [roll0]
[roll1]


The reply to Gareth is assuming that 3rd level is quite high in an E6 setting. Is this accurate?


After the search

Bernoli spends some time getting to know the community(or rather to get the community to know her as one of them) before withdrawing to a quite corner.
She breathes deeply and leans against the wall. Out of her backpack she takes out her mask, puts it on and allows herself a moments rest while she waits for it to take effect. Today had been strange. She had expected a lot more resistance but after feeling the need for a leader and the eagerness of Charles she had almost expected that the other candidates would be as easily persuaded.
Eventually she stops dwelling in the past and focus on her last task before she can surrender to sleep.

Taking 10(for ease) for 31 using the Seer 1 to gather general information :
The Mayor
Archmage Aristodemos
Vadoma
Other big and highly influensible figures in the town

She then grinds her teeth before resorting to her most powerful combination of magical divination.
Her focussed look stops at once as she open her eyes and stares into the very fabric of knowledge. <<I see it, Jared>> a tear runs down her chin as she is left unable to find words that can accurately describe the beauty that she is percieving.

Casting: Heroism(+2 morale), Investigative Mind(lets me roll two dices for knowledge and choose better), Moment of Greatness( doubles morale bonus on a single roll, recast after each knowledge check), Bestow Insight(+4 insight).
Using Focused Trance and Mask of Thousand Tomes and a total bonus of knowledge of 51
Prioritizing secrets < motivators < history not known to the public she tries to learn about
The Mayor Best of: [roll2] and [roll3]
Archmage Aristodemos Best of: [roll4] and [roll5]
Vadoma Best of: [roll6] and [roll7]
And with this she is almost out of knowledge mojo for the day.

Edit: I'm noting that I am keeping tracks on the resources that I have used on a given day under additional informations on the sheet.

[r2d2go]

Charles Reed

Charles nervously nods, and goes back into his home.

Kantor Stormhammer

"Sure!" After a moment of waiting, Kantor smiles. "What're you seein'?"

Sophia Amoline

Sophia looks a little regretful, and takes her hand off her dagger, running her thumb along her fingernails instead. "Come, now, you're breakin' my heart with that tone of voice. I'm not totally consumed by avarice. Keep in touch, I'll see what I can do for you, and maybe you'll prove to be worth makin' a greater commitment to." With that, she begins to silently walk off into the city.

Gareth Blackblade

"Yeah, that's me. Could never get away from the 'blessings' of war. It's helped me get where I am, actually - learned a lot on the roads, fighting for my life. I think if I went back now, they'd let me skip a few ranks, but I'm not interested in climbing their ladder anymore." However, he doesn't seem to understand the last question, raising a confused eyebrow. "What's that?"

Bernoli knows there's a certain limit to power that she's surpassed, perhaps even dividing spells into levels and saying "I'm one of the only ones capable of getting from 3rd tier to 4th". In that sense, Bernoli definitely wouldn't be sure she could train Ellisar more, as he's already achieved "tier 3" spells.

Training for feats is no, retraining archetypes/feats is a no, training archetypes from the beginning is a yes.

3rd level's quite high, yes. There's probably around one in a thousand people who are "3rd level". However, since Gareth hasn't reached 2nd level spells, he's still in the tier where he thinks he's just good, not one in a thousand.

Kantor: 2nd level Warrior, Skill Focus (Weaponsmithing), Lawful Good, 118 years old, born in Stonesong.

The Mayor appears to have some deep, dark secrets - so far behind wards and secrecy that even as you go through layers upon layers of secrets, and still are not sure you have pinned down the true nature of the man and his family. First, you discover that he is part of a vast conspiracy, though you cannot pinpoint its nature - It seems good at its core, keeping people happy for the sake of their well being. However, one thing is both shocking and certain - he is a kobold.

Looking further still, you unravel the veil behind the kobolds, and find they have permanent residence below the city, harvesting subterranean fungi for sustenance. Their influence runs deep, with permanent magical control over many important people, including nearly half of parliament. A council of eleven powerful mages seems to run things, and curiously, they have a very paradoxical, simultaneous worship of Bahamut and Tiamat as primary deities overseeing a pantheon of many lesser dragons. It seems that long ago, in the second Shadow War, they were forced into cooperation in order to drive back the Kitka, and have lived in some degree of harmony ever since.

Aristodemos, you find, is definitely in that fourth tier of spellcasters. A particularly skilled diviner, but also a master of almost every school of magic, he seems to single-mindedly pursue the absolute dominance of magic in the land. While his Cowled Brotherhood has done a great deal of good in controlling dangerous magic users, Aristodemos' attempts to get them promoted to an official government organization worries many people, and you can see that his plans are potentially quite dangerous, as they would result in more or less absolute control over magic in Heartrock. His intentions are relatively benign, but do allow for a great deal of magical experimentation, even if he stresses safety while performing such experiments or overseeing others. You also find that he's left for a trip into the mountains quite recently, to investigate some manner of magical anomaly.

Vadoma is markedly more secretive than Aristodemos, though you find out a reasonable amount of information anyway. A skilled illusionist and deceptress, with formidable psychic powers that match other fourth tier spellcasters, she appears to be seeking eternal life, an improved form, and power in general. One rumor says she wishes to best an elder dragon she knows in some form. She's recently left upriver for the mountains.

[Sønderjye]

Charles Reed

Bernoli looks after Charles for a moment, considering if she was too stern on the young one, before making a mental note for herself and leaving to continue her search.

Ellisar Dawnhorn

"I'm impressed, you certainly possess a lot of strength and your devotion is admirable" Bernoli says, "May I ask to which mystical area that you have chosen to persue?".
"Tell me Ellisar, are you content with the way that this city is?"

Kantor Stormhammer

Bernoli looks thoughtful at Kantor. He had little life experience and despite that he was the second best smith in town from which she could only conclude that he was very intelligent. "I see martial prowness and crafting skill". She responds truthfully,
"But listen closely Kantor. I can teach you many things but as a box only can hold a certain amount of objects so is the mind limited to only knowing so much. As such I can teach you better if I know the fundemental shape of you" And with that she starts quizing to gauge his mental abilities and asks him to perform a few tests to learn his physical capabilities.

Sophia Amoline

Bernoli's face brightens a little hearing that and looks like she is accepting Sophia's decision.

Gareth Blackblade

"I see" Bernoli nods. She takes a moment to consider how to best explain it before deciding on the parallel. "Not considering spells then battlemages tend to differ. Similarly to how wizards specialize in a school of arcane magic, battlemages needs have some choices they make down the road commonly refered to as arcana's. For instance an arcana for a battlemage could be forming a bond with a familiar or find new ways to utilize your arcane energy"

Bernoli smiles in satisfaction as she passes through layer after layer, gracefully dodging all the security measures that have been put around the secrets. She is stunned learning about the conspiracy and just sits there for a moment considering the implications before continueing. This I did not expect.
Aristodemus seemed dangerous but the fact that he hasn't succeeded yet implies that someone is keeping him at bay. She wonder whether his motivation is just want for power or fear for what happens if he isn't successfull.
She makes a mental note to talk to Vedoma at the first possible convinience. If it was possible at all to become immortal and transfer that such that all mortals could benefit from that, the relative power of sentient being would increase exponentially.

Somewhat satisfied with her results, she continues to the last thing on her evening routine before she can surrender to sleep. She takes off the mask and puts her finger into the dirt in front of her and starts making scribbles, drawing from depths of knowledge that she desperately hopes that she some day will be able to fully comprehend.


So you proposed that the mentor feat could instantly convert NPC classes of my follwers into PC classes. Can you remind me again wha the conversion was? I remember that warrior could turn into some other full BaB class from d20pfsrd but don't remember the other possibilities(for commoner, expert, adept and aristocrate). I'd like to do this with Kantor over a few days to fluff it out.

Ah, that's why you suggested playing a kobold. This is cool, I like this.

Bernoli use her automatic writings to cast commune, initially asking the following questions.

Questions:


Are there magical methods known to people in this region that can prevent me from recieving the information I wants with the previous result?
Wil Charles come around within a month?
Does there exist more than 15 beings in this region, not counting me, Aristodemus and Vadoma capable of casting 4th tier spells?
Can Ellisar under my guidance progress further than he would have been able to without my guidance?
Are there a secret or secrets in this town that of as significant magnitutde as the kobold conspiracy?
If I continues with my current plan of becomming a leader and a teacher, are the Kobolds likely to complicate things for me?

[r2d2go]

I figure I'd answer the Commune stuff first, since it's likely going to be another decent delay before full responses.
1. Yes.
2. Yes.
3. No.
4. Yes, but little.
5. Yes.
6. No.

[Sønderjye]

I am unfamiliar to methods that can block a knowledge roll. Which are those?

I'm quite suprised over 6 and I like tension that 5 is building up. It's interesting in particular because Bernoli probably could learn what it was about if she had any idea about what questions to ask. But she doesn't.

Also I'm guessing Vadoma to be another player. If it is the case then I'm not sure how interaction would happen, given that Bernoli would seek her out when she hears of the return. We can probably do some jumping in time and fiddling with timelines as nessesary.

[r2d2go]

There isn't anything that blocks a Knowledge roll exactly, if you make the DC. However, you can use magic in less-direct ways to make the DCs so insanely high that you haven't succeeded on them. Alternatively, if the knowledge simply doesn't exist (e.g. there is a secret but everyone who knew it was erased from existence [at the very least made impossible to recover beyond rewinding time to a point where they still existed]), you simply cannot know the information.

Fiddling with timelines is something I'd prefer to avoid. In other words, if you can avoid direct interaction with Vadoma and Aristodemos, or at least arrange interaction with prior notification, that'd be good for all involved.

[Sønderjye]

Which spells are those? I am unfamiliar with that. The SRD says 20 to 30 for really tough questions so 40 is already an insanely difficult answer. I'm not a rule lawyer by any means, just thought I would share my understanding of knowledge DCs.
Non-existing knowledge is fair. That would also be a reason as to why Bernoli can't figure out a way to undo her prophecy.
The idea about erasing secrets from people's minds are clever but modify memory is a 4th level bard spell and that's the lowest that I know off that can mess with people's head permanently.

Alright, I'll consider asking the other players.

[r2d2go]

Again, indirect. For example, if someone makes a demiplane, tells no one, constantly has Mind Blank up, and shrouds it with epic level magic, that should probably be out of even the DC 40-50 range (low epic) to know about, probably more like 60-90 (mid epic). DCs cap out at around 150, so I'd say "hidden by gods with that sort of thing in their portfolio" is DC 100 or so, "nonexistent, but once existing knowledge" would be at around DC 120, while "know completely nonexistent, unknown truths" would be 150.

As for erasing memory... Nobody said that everything in this multiverse is E6 :smalltongue:

Proper post should be up within 48 hours, probably within 24.

[r2d2go]

Ellisar Dawnhorn

"Mystical area? I'm not sure what you mean, but I am a warrior before a mystic. As for the city... I believe it could be improved, but first, it must survive."

Kantor Stormhammer

Kantor eagerly proceeds through your tests, performing admirably on most, though his movements are slow despite being precise.

I assume you're trying to figure out his stats. He's got something like: 10-12 Str, 6-8 Dex, 12-14 Con, 12-14 Int, 10-12 Wis. Not sure how you'd test Cha, but you think it's at least somewhere around average.

Gareth Blackblade

"Ah, I see. I have a familiar, of sorts, I suppose..." As Gareth unsheathes his greatsword, you realize that while it looks like a relatively ordinary (if finely made) obsidian blade, it's actually made of blood crystal, and must have drained an enormous amount of blood to be so darkly colored. Then, the gems embedded in the hilt and grip begin to whirl, and the large, central gem floats off, creating a tiny cloud of glinting jewels. Gareth then taps the central gem and sheaths his sword, causing the gems to replace themselves. "I always thought it was just part of the sword, but it turns out it's alive.

[Sønderjye]

Ellisar Dawnhorn

"I see" Bernoli responds deducting that Ellisar probably had taken
"What excactly are you afraid that it might not survive?"

Kantor Stormhammer
So I'm not entirely sure how high a 14 is. I am suprised that the second best smith in town only has +4 on his craft checks(+7 weapons) however I do have a PC array rather than an NPC array.
If a 14 is high Bernoli will say: "Impressive. I see many possible roads for you and of those there is one that suits best. I will teach you how to defend yourself and how to defend others through martial arts. Know that this road will require a lot of discipline and only if you are willing to go the distance will you become strong. Meet me tomorrow morning at (X)"
Where X represents the a place(that I never got the name on) in the city where Bernoli can teach without being disturbed and which she found through a knowledge local or geography in the OOC from when she was talking to Charles. I now realize that the roll was butched and are rolling again [roll0]
Rerolling with Do-Over [roll1]



Gerath Blackblade
"That's where you got your name from" Bernoli says satisfied, "I didn't realize that you were a divergent. Very well, meet me tomorrow at (X)"

But mind blank is an 8th lvl spell and creating demi-planes are a 9th lvl spell. What can someone at Bernoli's power level do to hide from a high knowledge check?

Last commune questions:
7. Not counting me, Vermoda and Aristodemus there more than 7 people in this region capable of casting 4th tier spells?
8a. If yes, Is there more than 3 people?
8b. If no, Is there more than 11 people?

And with that Bernoli is ready to go to sleep.

[r2d2go]

Int 14 is pretty high for an NPC. Also, there's a good chance he has the Craftsman alternate racial trait for +2 (to stone/metalworking), as well as possibly other traits. Thus, he could have 10+ to craft. Basically, being able to take 10 for masterwork = incredibly good, because a normal craftsman (+4 or 5) would have to spend twice the resources and time, and would barely make a profit.

The place you're at doesn't really have a name - it's just a mishmash of lower income streets and housing. I'll say you can choose from Riley Street (where they have free shelter for the homeless), the Worker's Quad (a place where laborers meet, and several end up sleeping. Most are friendly and will just assume you don't have time to make it back to a farm further away), or just a random alley.

At your level, pretty much nothing :smallbiggrin: you can hide the information, avoid people, kill those knowledgeable, disguise evidence, but very little's going to get the check over 40.

7 - No (assuming "this region" means "Heartrock River Valley").
8 - Yes.

Ellisar's response is going to take a bit. I'll edit it in if you have no further questions, otherwise, I'll post within 24 hours.

Ellisar

"I've spent a great deal of time and money on discerning the future. The spell, Augury... I'm sure you know of it, but it only answers Weal or Woe, even with my enhanced version, and only to a course of action. It's been difficult to really get an idea of a vague future with it, but... all of it points to the same general idea - woe be unto us. In the next year, unless there are major changes to be made, things I cannot do alone, there will be a great calamity, of sorts. I cannot say for certain, but I believe it is the next Shadow War." Ellisar quietly contemplates for a moment, staring at the ground. "Perhaps you are more capable? Tell me, have you seen such things?"

[Sønderjye]

Day 1, BE

Ellisar

Bernoli considers her words for a moment. "I am of the same conviction of you, woe is comming, although I do not know what will happen during the next year. I can imagine many horrible things to come but I fear that within our lifespan that we will encounter something far worse than a shadowwar. " She pauses before continueing: "All the more reason to prepare as many people as possible."


Day 2, BE

Morning

Bernoli wakes up, rubs her eyes and stretches her numb limbs. Since yesterday suggested that she wouldn't be attacked at random she decides that she can lessen her defences slightly today and after a long discussion with Jared he conceeds.

She finds a quite place and starts drawing a seal so complicated that words can't describe it. "Loh'moi, I summon thee!" Bernoli says with a clear voice.
Casting Sanguine focus repeatedly for a +4 to the binding check
Trying to Bind Loh'moi (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/variant-magic-rules/pact-magic/spirits/loh-moi) [roll0]
[roll1]
Summary of binding: Binding a spirit gives abilities as presented in the link. If the binding check the character is unable to supress the sign and is under the influence. If the binding check is beat with +10(that is 33 in this case), the binder also gain the capstone empowerment.

To the untrained eye this feline creature looks like any other street dog, however upon close examination one can trace an unnaturally intelligent look in the eyes.

HD: 36
Speed: 40ft
Attack: Bite +11 (1d6+7), 2 claw +11 (1d4+5)
AC: 19, 13 touch, 16 FF.
Saves: +6, +8, +2
Feats: Power Attack, Martial Training I+II(Primal Fury)
Maneuvers: Shoulder Rush, Primal Wrath, Running Hunter Stance Momentum Crush Bloody Riposte
Readied: Momentum Crush, Bloody Riposte

Evolutions: Bite, Limbs(x2)| Claws, Pounce, Ability Increase(Str), Bite
Special Qualities: Darkvision (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/eidolons#TOC-Darkvision-Ex-), link (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/eidolons#TOC-Link-Ex-), share spells (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/eidolons#TOC-Share-Spells-Ex-), Evasion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/eidolons#TOC-Evasion-Ex-), Devotion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/base-classes/summoner/eidolons#TOC-Devotion-Ex-)

Ability scores: Str 20, Dex 17, Con 13, Int 7, Wis 10, Cha 11



After the ritual is over Jared takes his leave to go scout on the Cowled Brotherhood.

Relevant information:
Jared has a stealth modifer on +34 and a perception of +21.
Jared can hide in plain sight as long as he is within 10 ft of shadow as per the 9th lvl power from the shadow bloodline (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/shadow-bloodline)
Jared enters Stance of the Ether Gate which allows him to teleport at will.
Bernoli will on occation scry on Jared to be sure that he is alright as through crafter's eyes (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/building-and-modifying-constructs)
I am leaning slightly towards just letting you control Jared for this but if you want, I can do it and we can play it out.


Search

Bernoli will spend most of the day searching for more candidates to train, today flanked by Fido, this time trying a slightly different route. Rather than searching out those who will have the most impact, she searches out those who from birth are the most talented by have yet to recieve training.
That is, she is using her divining abilities(feel free to pick which ones you feel are most appropriate. She is ready to invest all of it in this) to find those with the highest ability scores who still only have NPC levels(which I am imagining most have).

We don't have to roleplay this, although we certainly can if you want to.

I made a list of followers which currently is empty. Should I add Ellisar, Kantor and Gerath to that list?


Kantor

Bernoli greets Kantor with a reassuring smile. "Good morning, are you ready to start?"
Bernoli starts out with a lengthy explanation of bodily energies and on a theoretical level how to harness those through specific techniques. She then goes into how this can be used to protect other people. After going over this she asks Kantor to stand up and goes through various exercise to focus his mind and help his body learn the new movements.

Bernoli intends to train Kantor to become a Warder (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/classes/warder) with the Sworn Protector (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/path-of-war/classes/warder/warder-archetypes/sworn-protector-warder-archetype) Archetype. I have no idea if this is a smart choice but it looks like a thematic interesting type. If he doesn't want to go that route she'll scratch the archetype.

She'll teach the following maneuvers and stances:
Shards of Iron Strike(BB)
Pugilist Stance(BB)
Flurry Strike(BB)
Pride Movement(GL)
Tactical Strike(GL)
Encouraging Roar(GL)
Iron Shell(IT)
Stance of the Defending Shell(IT)


Gerath

The training for Gerath is most expanding what he already knows and she corrects some of his gestures and pronouncations to make his spells easier to cast.

[r2d2go]

Jared easily makes his way into the Cowled Brotherhood's more low-security buildings, but the information there is limited. It seems that anything that isn't available in some form to the public is stored in more difficult-to-access locations - Somewhere in Aristodemos' tower, or underground, with ample warning at the physical entrances that the areas are warded. You can't exactly verify the truth of those warnings, but considering Aristodemos' power, you wouldn't be surprised if he had something of the sort.

Kantor

Kantor responds to the training well, though he's not the most eager or skilled of disciples. He is, however, diligent, and makes about as much progress as you could hope.

Ellisar would be a Cohort. Kantor and Gareth would be followers, yeah.

You find:

3rd level Orc Warrior (17 str, CN, low interest)
2nd level Orc Warrior (17 str, CN, low interest)
2nd level Orc Warrior (16 str, TN, mid interest)
1st level Orc Warrior (16 str, NE, low interest)
1st level Dwarf Adept (15 wis, LN, mid interest)
1st level Elf Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest)
1st level Half-Orc Warrior (15 str, TN, mid interest)
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, TN, low interest)
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, LN, low interest) x3
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, TN, mid interest)
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, LN, mid interest) x2
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, TN, high interest)
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, NG, mid interest)
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, TN, mid interest)
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, CG, mid interest)
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, CE, high interest)
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, CG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, NG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, CN, high interest) x4
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, TN, high interest)
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, CG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, CN, high interest)
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, mid interest) x2
1st level Human Expert (15 int, all alignments with high interest) xMany

This is with preference for, in order:

High stat
High interest
Matching alignment
Supply


There's a bunch of higher level people too, but those are more unique so it's going to take some more time to write 'em out. Expect something like:

1 third level adept
1 third level aristocrat
2 third level warriors
4 third level experts
5 second level adepts
6 second level aristocrats
10 second level warriors
18 second level experts

Who have some degree of interest and nonevil (or at least redeemably evil) alignment.

Oh, and a ton of commoners, but those don't retrain into anything.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli is suprised by the large number of non-good candidates that her search leads her to. She had decided before she came to town that she would only give her teachings to those pure of heart. For a little while she is a bit troubled by the prospect of rejecting this many candidates but eventually decides that she might be able to redeem at least some of them.

She gives them a location to meet her tomorrow, explaining that she see potential in them but that this potential can end up both being damaging and beneficial for the sentient races. She explains that they under her guidance can achieve great power and that tomorrow she will start preparing them to the training for this. She will stress that they will not begin the actual training before she feels that their mind are ready for it.


3rd level Orc Warrior (17 str, CN, low interest)
2nd level Orc Warrior (17 str, CN, low interest)
2nd level Orc Warrior (16 str, TN, mid interest)
1st level Orc Warrior (16 str, NE, low interest)
1st level Dwarf Adept (15 wis, LN, mid interest)
1st level Half-Orc Warrior (15 str, TN, mid interest)
1st level Half-Orc Warrior (15 str, TN, mid interest)
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, TN, low interest)
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, LN, low interest) x3
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, TN, mid interest)
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, LN, mid interest) x2
1st level Human Aristocrat (15 cha, TN, high interest)
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, TN, mid interest)
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, CE, high interest)
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, CN, high interest) x4
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, TN, high interest)
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, CN, high interest)
1st level Human Expert (15 int, non-good) xMany


Bernoli begins the training of some of the students immediately.


1st level Human Adept (15 wis, NG, mid interest) Druid Giant Frog companion
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, CG, mid interest) Cleric - Evangelist Archetype. Protection(Defence) domain.
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, CG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, NG, high interest) x2
The warriors are trained as such:
If 14 or giver int = Warder.
If 12 or higher charisma = 1 sent to Ellisar for training
If 14 or higher charisma = Trained as warlord(PoW) Bannerman.
1 being trained as warlord (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/tos---warlord)


At a location not far from Heartrock City, just before dusk.

On the ground Bernoli have created a large and circular pattern. The pattern is encombassed by two rings and in the small space between the rings she engraved various draconic runes, including the draconic rune for summon, respect, help, duty, protection and good. Seemingly sporadicly placed circles, just big enough to fit a candidate, appear within the pattern, each enclosed with draconic runes of the word copper(or synonyms of that). (Possibly some circles with gold instead of copper, see below). Each of the small circles contains a small hole. Just before the participants come she casts some spells in preperation for the ritual.

"Greetings" Bernoli's voice is loud and clear in the chill night air as she greets the gathered participants. By her side is Ellisar, "In ancient times it was not uncommon for humans and elves to bond with dragons but with the fall of the Shousin Empire this practise was forgotten." She gestures towards the pattern "Behind me you see the seal that was ones used to issue the call." She pauses for a moment letting the information sink in. "With the danger that we are facing we need all the help we can get. It is my intention to assist each of you with going through what was once called the Draconic Rite of Bonding. However... the Rite must be gone through willingly."
"I will not force any of you to go through this, nor will I reject the help of those who do not wish to complete the Rite. However this is the way that I am seeing us having the best chances to face what is to come. Now, make a decision, will you undergo the Rite?"

If they agree to proceed Bernoli will ask the participants to take their place in the small circles. She repeats the ancient draconic chant to the best of her ability and hand a knife to each participant telling them to cut themselves and let the blood slip into the small container in their circle saying the words "By my blood I, (name), swear to hold myself to the highest standards. I swear that I will respect my dragon and heed it's advice in good times as in bad. Hear my call!"

1st level Elf Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest) Dragonrider Copper dragon
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, CG, high interest) x2 Dragonrider Copper dragon
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest) x2 Dragonrider Copper dragon
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, mid interest) x2 Dragonrider Copper dragon
1st level Human Expert (15 int, CG/NG/LG) xMany Dragonrider Copper dragon.
If any warriors from the above haven't been trained yet they will be trained as Dragon Riders with Gold Dragon.


I'm noting that the above draconic rite is just something that I have made up. The text of the Dragon Rider doesn't specify how the bond is formed so I took some liberties. If you dislike it or similar let me know. I am assuming that Bernoli was able to get the knowledge through some previous knowledge check.
Spells: Heroism, Ancestral Advicer(Diplomacy, Arcane). If there is some problem with Bernoli pronouncing the draconic words when not speaking draconic, assume that she used Ancestral Advisor(Linguistics) and uses focused trance for a total +36.
Diplomacy check to convince the participants to undergo the rite: [roll0]
How many commoners and experts of good alignment are there?

Since Bernoli won't be training the ones without a good component in their alignment at onces I imagine that some of them will stop being interested. Bernoli is hoping to bait them with the future promise of power in the future. Should I count the ones that are non-good as followers or wait a bit for that?
Which divination resources does Bernoli have left?
Can I allocated Ellisar as a follower for now? I have a few 6th lvl followers spots and I would like to keep the position of cohort open(at least until Bernoli reaches 9th lvl at which point it will actually matter.

[Sønderjye]

[roll0]
If the above is less that 45 reroll: [roll1]

[r2d2go]

Before continuing: Dragonrider says " A character that starts as a dragonrider at 1st level is assumed to have already bonded with a dragon of his choice. A character multiclassing into dragonrider is approached by a dragon as a prospective bonded mount within 30 days. "

Since these guys are retraining, I'm going to say it can't be assumed these random NPCs have dragons sitting around to ride. Basically, unless you find a whole lot of dragons, you're not going to have a whole lot of dragon riders.

It does say "Most true dragons are unwilling to undergo this bond (though there is always one that will do so [sic?] able to find each dragonrider without a bonded steed).", but I think in this case, dozens of dragons magically materializing is just crazy. There probably aren't even that many dragons in the world (you can roll knowledge for a more precise answer on that if you'd like).

[Sønderjye]

The idea wasn't that dragons would materialize out of nowhere but that they would respond to the call and start travelling to the town.
I'm thinking about other classes that I could have them turn into.
If Jared returns some time earlier during the day Bernoli will use her magics to find the entrances to the underground kobold complex and have Jared enter through the easiest entrance. I would be interested in playing this out as Jared.

[r2d2go]

Okay, so upon finding the warded areas in Aristodemos' tower, you call Jared to return?

The following text assumes so.

Guided by your instructions, Jared makes his way to the only entrance to the kobolds' underground dwellings - A small stairway in the storeroom of Calvin's Apothecary, a small alchemist's shop run by an eccentric disguised kobold. You're fairly sure Jared can sneak his way through the shop and into the storeroom without being noticed, but it seems there is a series of button presses, vial tipping, lever pulling and trinket turning required to open the actual passage. You've figured out the sequence, but the execution is made for a kobold with a tail, and takes some significant manual dexterity (or a lot of practice) to pull off. Of course, it's only opening a relatively thin (2 foot) stone door, but ripping open that would almost certainly alert someone.

[Sønderjye]

Correct assumption. How did Jared know that the area was warded btw? Or if it was Bernoli that found out, which kind of warding have he used?


'You couldn't have made my arms any shorter, could you?' Jared takes a moment to mentally complain to Bernoli as he looks up at many buttons and levers.

Jared concentrates on his inner energy and as his body becomes transparent and walks straight through the door. As soon as his eyes are on the other side of the door he is ready to teleport to a hiden location.

Jared uses Ghostwalk to become incorporeal and thus not have a physical body. He is in Stance of the Ether Gate and have an action readied to teleport to a location with shadows if there is none just behind the door.

[r2d2go]

There was a sign that said "Warded area, do not enter" :smalltongue:


Jared easily makes his way into the Cowled Brotherhood's more low-security buildings, but the information there is limited. It seems that anything that isn't available in some form to the public is stored in more difficult-to-access locations - Somewhere in Aristodemos' tower, or underground, with ample warning at the physical entrances that the areas are warded. You can't exactly verify the truth of those warnings, but considering Aristodemos' power, you wouldn't be surprised if he had something of the sort.

Shifting through the stone, Jared finds himself on a staircase downwards. From where he stands, he can see that it leads into some sort of stone-floored space, and hear echoed voices and commotion, as if a busy market was a few hundred yards from him, if the busy market was for draconic-speakers only.

[Sønderjye]

I am amused. I clearly didn't read that throughly enough.

'Inside. draconic speakers, large number, estimating kobolds, moving closer.' Jared sends to Bernoli. He takes a moment to focus and regain his used ability before proceeds forward slowly. His steps are cautious, he stays in the shadow and he is at any moment ready to teleport backwards.

[Sønderjye]

Can warriors take the apprentice (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/4-winds-fantasy-gaming/apprentice) class if one of their classes of choice have full BAB and they take Warrior(gives +1 to melee or ranged attacks).

[r2d2go]

Sure, but you have to take the full BAB class first (so Apprentice > Fighter > Wizard > Fighter > Wizard is fine, but Apprentice > Wizard > Wizard > Fighter > Fighter is not).

Is Jared moving forward a move action at a time, and readying an action each turn to use the maneuver? That's what I got from the text. If so, remember that readying an action can only trigger "before your next action", so it'll only work after your move, not during it.

[Sønderjye]

I did not know that. Thanks for telling me.
Can Jared use the half-gone counter(which is an immediate action) to avoid triggering a trap if he notices that he is about to trigger one?
I had completely forgot that Jared could fly. Rather than walking(which can make noice) he obviously flies just above ground level.
Also let me roll perception for traps and other hidden stuff: 1d20+21


1st level Human Adept (15 wis, NG, mid interest) Druid Eagle, Riding
1st level Human Adept (15 wis, CG, mid interest) Cleric - Evangelist Archetype. Protection(Defence) domain.
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, CG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 str, NG, high interest) x2
If 12 or higher charisma = 1 sent to Ellisar for training, Rest as warlord
Highest Charisma of the rest: warlord (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/adamant-entertainment/tos---warlord)

The two others as below
1st level Elf Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest)
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, CG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, high interest) x2
1st level Human Warrior (15 dex, NG, mid interest) x2
All the above will be Apprentice. With druid with Handler(Eagle, Riding) and Warrior
if high cha: Warlord(PoH)
if high int: Warder
Else: Fighter
1st level Human Expert (15 int, CG/NG/LG) xMany Apprentice (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/4-winds-fantasy-gaming/apprentice). Wizard/druid(If any of them have a cha on 12 or higher then Arcanist instead). Arcanist(Ray of Mercy) and Handler(Eagle, Riding)

If there's not enough eagles in the world I'd be happy to take some dragons instead :smallbiggrin:

[Sønderjye]

Perception Roll [roll0]

[r2d2go]

Flight still has some noise, though I'd rule you have a very large bonus to Stealth, especially if invisible. The best precedent I can find is in Listen for 3.5 where "an owl gliding in for the kill" is DC 30 listen to hear. Owls have a listed +17 Move Silently bonus (+14 Racial), so I'll call 8 of that size (same as bonus to hide). So base +6 for nonmagical flight, modified by size. Magical flight there is nothing for, so I'll call it +10, since I'm not comfortable with having a side effect of the stealth bonus of Invisibility as a side effect of an already powerful spell, but I also think it is a sizeable benefit.

Immediate actions work if you notice a trap (so, intentionally triggering it). Otherwise, you are considered surprised and unable to take immediate actions.

While Jared doesn't notice any traps, he does realize that he could be walking into some manner of guard or sentry. He doesn't hear any breathing or the like, but it could easily be masked by the noise, and he has a very limited angle of sight down the stairs.

[Sønderjye]

Thanks for taking the time to find background to base your ruling on. I appreciate.
I wasn't actually using flight with the intend of gaining a bonus, my main consern was preassure plates.
Jared is confident in his abilty to hide in the shadows and hopes that he is able to avoid traps. He continues downwards. He'll of course be cautious.

Also were the classes of the followers accepted? If so I'll add it to the follower-tracking post.

[Sønderjye]

So the apprentice counts as a level for the purpose of spells known/per day. Does it also count as a level for the purpose of maneuvers if picking a PoW class?

[r2d2go]

Everything is okay except the Experts going into full-caster. Only adepts can go into casting classes. As a reminder: Warrior > Full BAB, Adept > Full casting, Expert (and Noble now) > everything else e.g. rogue, monk, etc.

Apprentice will increase initiator level but will not grant additional maneuvers/stances known.

[Sønderjye]

That's fine. I'll just not use the ability to change their class through the mentor feat and instead take the time to retrain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/basics-ability-scores/more-character-options/retraining) them into apprentice, 30 gp a piece. How many good-aligned experts were there?

[r2d2go]

Hm...

While I'm not going to outright ban Retraining as written, I'd really prefer not to have an army of customized casters at your beck and call. So, I'm going to say, much like Leadership, and unlike Mentor, Retraining doesn't allow you to bend people's lives to your whim. You can try to get as many experts as you can to learn magic, but many are not going to have the magical skill or interest to become a caster without a mentor in that class in 6 days. I mean, if anyone could self-teach into wizard or cleric in 6 days, it'd be a lot more common, you can easily make 50-100 gp a day doing that.

I'd say there's 1000+ good aligned professional Experts with a high interest in helping you, as they compose a large chunk of the skilled craftsmen and professionals of the city. Depending on how transparent you are about the process (e.g. losing skills in the form of 2 skillpoints, becoming weaker physically in the form of d6 hit dice from d8), you probably have in the order of magnitude of 100 to 1000 willing participants in the city, of which maybe 5-10% will actually become casters (more, probably double, if they're taking one of your classes, or Apprenticing in one of them). Their exact stats, spell lists, etc will be more or less randomly assigned.

You can directly control a number of these equal to your Leadership numbers, and any others you train will simply be people friendly to your cause and grateful to you, unless you want to place them under contract.

Going around and finding people will take time, but mostly actual walking around the city, knocking on doors, convincing them, and getting them to a meeting place. The actual finding is done easily enough in an instant with your various divinations and knowledge enhancers. I'd say about 10 minutes a person seems reasonable, which means if you're working 16 hours a day, you can find around 100 people a day and get them started on training.

If that seems unreasonable, consider that these rules still imply that you can just straight-up purchase a CR 1/2 dude for 30-60 gp with a little bit of searching. At pretty much any WBL, that absolutely breaks everything if you bring them into combat, and is still pretty mind-boggling out of it.

[Sønderjye]

Question: Actually I found some interesting classes at the d20pfsrd. Can I redo all retraining that have been done by the mentor feat and take some time to figure out fun stuff while we play out Jared scouting and discuss?

Responding to the above.
I'll be honest. I don't know what you thought I would be doing after getting followers from two sources, working with you to create a feat such that I could train followers and having Bernoli's goal be to stop what she expects to be an invasion by training people on the material plane, if not to train her followers for combat.
What you are saying about leadership is true for any class. 100 followers of either adept or experts with use magic device each holding a wand of magic missile would, say that 20 of the experts fail their UMD check, do like 80d4, averaging 200 dmg a round. Slaves cost 75 gp which is only slightly more expensive that what you are proposing and while it comes with it's own set of disadvantages it doesn't take up two feats. Trained hirelings can cost 3sp/day which is more than sufficient for killing a giant monster.
Furthermore I should add that while Bernoli is working on this, the other players are presumably killing monsters, getting XP, levels and a ton of gp.
That said I do want you to be comfortable with how the game is going and I am more than willing to work something out with you.
Initially I thought that I would only find 10 people today so I am absolutely fine with it taking 10 minutes to find one follower.
Being able to train a greater number of people that will follower her sounds appealing as well.


Bernoli will be honest about the drawback of becomming accept her offer to become a caster, will also explain the responsibility that comes with being able to bend reality. Does Bernoli know which ones that will want to be and the nessesity of the sentient races getting ready for the evil that are comming. Does she know who her speak will work on?
Would you be comfortable wtih some of Bernoli's followers having dragons as mounts? If so how many?
Bernoli is hoping for all of her combatants to be able to be flying in battle. Are you comfortable with the idea with a big number of Eagle, Riding?
Are you comfortable with some experts being turned into Artisans (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/3rd-party-classes/drop-dead-studios/the-artisan)? They are a item creating class that will assist Bernoli in finding time to create the items needed for the fight.

[r2d2go]

Hm... I never actually thought of Mentor as being a way to get a second source of followers. As I said in the recruitment thread, you can't choose exactly what stats you get on your Followers - they were never intended to be an extension of character, but rather an amorphous source of social influence. Mentor was designed to let you slowly change that, molding the Followers into exactly what you wanted them to be.

It's definitely more powerful than most things you can do, though. You can't simply choose your followers to be Adepts, or Experts trained in UMD (though that one would get horrifically expensive due to wand costs), and without Magic Missile, you're probably getting no more than a 10% chance to hit on your followers against mid-level opponents with a crossbow (19-20 crit range). Even with anthem buffs, you're not getting that far. Similarly, hirelings are going to have a tough time hitting opponents - and against those types of enemies, you can be sure you're paying them for Deadly or at least Hazardous work (1-3 gp/day). And, even if you could find a thousand crossbow users, since work requires a minimum of a week's pay in advance, you're looking at tens of thousands of gold to deal with CR 10-15 encounters. Not to mention the consequences if many of them die, as 1st level NPCs tend to do.

Meanwhile, pretty much everyone has only completed one encounter. The absolute fastest just finished up their second :smalltongue: nobody's gotten even close to making their starting gold again, or leveling. Probably a result of my slow response rate, but, eh. You won't be falling behind on power any time soon.


Yep, you won't waste any time finding unwilling people. Your skill checks are high enough for that.
Dragons are Serious Businesstm. While I wouldn't be surprised if you found and convinced a dragon to bond with someone you knew, they're more than a class feature, ritual, or purchase using WBL. As an intelligent species (and a proud, independent one at that), they're pretty much always going to be treated as full, quite powerful NPCs. So, really, it's an extension of what you do IC - if you want to have dragon mounts, you're going to need to find and interact with some dragons. You have recently heard rumors of some firebreathing monster that some people are claiming is a dragon, northwest of Stonesong, but it's nowhere near confirmed. Also, the kobolds definitely have some ties to dragons, though that seems more cultural and religious than involving actual contact.
Riding Eagles are much less Serious Businesstm. Anyone who gets one as a class ability can be assumed to get one easily enough - Cavalier is a little questionable since it's a nonmagical class, but I'll handwave that and say that even if it's (Su), they basically can get the (very fast) giant eagles to book it over.
Artisan should be fine - In fact, even more people will line up to enhance their existing crafting abilities over becoming a more traditional caster (easily a thousand, maybe more). You'll still only have a lot of level 1 Artisans, but that's a lot of 200 gp wondrous items, potions, and scrolls. Which is... fine, I guess.


Quietly hovering down the hall, Jared makes it to the very bottom of the steps... when suddenly, a cascade of fire falls down upon him. What must be gallons of alchemist's fire rains upon him, the perhaps dozens of pint flasks crashing into each other and blowing up in a chaotic, escalating explosion. While it's not particularly pleasant, it seems even this massive amount of mostly mundane fire is not enough to severely damage him. Above him, he can see the now-spent flask launchers that were positioned around the entry, though judging by the fact that there was no tripwire, pressure pad, or other trigger to be seen, there's a good chance that some magical trigger caused the physical launch. Immediately, he hears the idle chatter of draconic cease, and some footsteps approach rapidly while most others move away.

Rather than count up sixteen attacks, I just used a dice roller to find the total hits. Jared takes [roll0] fire damage, and is on fire.

[Sønderjye]

Oh no, Mentor is to slowly mold my followers.
I wasn't refering to mentor as the second source of followers. I was refering to Dynasty Founder which gives followers in addition to the Leadership feat.

No dragonic mounts unless found, got it.

How many of the experts are you comfortable with being turned into wizards?



'Code: YELLOW, I am retreating' Jared sends as his actions quickly follows words. He intends on getting out of the place the same way he got in. 'How in earth did you not know that they had traps I am unable to detect?' he complains sounding angry.

'I...' Bernoli starts responding but stops unable to find the words. Why didn't I check? she is unable not to ask herself before thinking about possible opportunities. She makes a final gesture "And keep practising by yourself or band together in small groups. I will see you tomorrow, same place" She calls out to the gathered group ending the class, her voice not betraying her inner turmoil. 'I'm comming' she sends, as she starts out at a relaxed pace and when she knows that she aren't followed she picks up her pace. She intends to arrive nearby the shop in case Jared needs her but not reveal herself unless nessesary.

'Fill me in' she sends and gets the basic details.


Code: YELLOW means that he is detected but not yet in immediate danger. I it serious enough that Bernoli will drop what she have and be in a position in which it might turn into a code: RED
Dang, I was sure that a +21 perception modifier was enough to find eventual traps. Just how high were the DC? I know of CR 11 traps that Jared would have found. Also I was a fool and forgot that the DC's for traps are balanced around taking 20 rather than rolling.

[r2d2go]

Ethereally returning to the streets above, Jared gets out before anyone reaches his location.

Meanwhile, your students leave. You hear mixed chatter, mostly discussing how the training felt - most seem to think it is productive, though a few are dubious it will make them truly transcend normal human limits.

You're not sure it was a traditional trap at all - If it was, it was an unusual trigger (likely magical, but with a mechanical response).

[Sønderjye]

When Jared appear besides Bernoli at her hidden location she burst into tears and hug him. This was the first time after Jared's first death that he had been in serious danger and she had been terrified that she might lose him again. They quickly



How many of the experts are you comfortable with being turned into wizards?

In PF all traps have perception DC's even if they are magical. If you are houseruling this to be different then I would appreciate knowing.

How many resources(divination related ones) have Bernoli left for today?

[r2d2go]

Not houseruling anything. The emphasis was meant to be on "not a traditional trap" not "magical".

Sorry, missed the expert to wizard thing. None into straight wizard, probably 30 or so into apprentice > wizards if the other half is something suitably crafty.

I'm going to give up on precisely tracking divination related resources - it's a lot of numbers and very amorphous, with the amount you need to spend to get an answer typically unknown to you until you actually try to get an answer (overkills and severe shortfalls being common, depending on what you're doing). Instead, I'm going to let you keep asking questions until I feel like it's enough (and I have a general idea from day 1, where everything was tracked).

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli finds a discrete place and does some divining.


Bernoli uses her divination abilities to figure out what it was that hit Jared and what triggered it.
Also she wants to know if the Kobolds are capable of figuring out that it was Jared who triggered it and if so how long that will take for them to figure out.

In terms of the experts. Can they become semi-casters(like those who only get 6th lvl spells) or do they need to be something without spellcasting at all? Also were there 60 experts?

[r2d2go]

While you're not 100% sure about the details, you think it was a manual activation, combined with some manner of divination or invisible watcher. Thus, it wasn't so much a trigger as many attacks as soon as line of sight was gained. There isn't really any way to differentiate between the different mediums of observation without being there and taking a look at what was there. The simplest would be an Alarm spell with some sort of password or signal to pass, which would mean Jared wasn't spotted, while Arcane Eye is what you suspect as the top end of possibility, which would mean they know. However, judging by the fact that kobolds were immediately sent over, and Jared is incredibly durable to have survived that attack, you think they saw at least something that indicated there was still a threat to deal with. You're fairly sure they only saw the outline of Jared due to him being covered in liquid and glass in addition to fire, since he was basically invisible then ethereal instantly.

There were many, many experts (maybe 1000+), but not many were up for spellcasting. I'd say classes that go to 6th level are generally ok, but specifically Summoner is closer to a full caster than a partial caster. There might be another that's like that, but I don't know.

Again, the less the class gives up compared to an expert (d8 HD, 6 sp/level), and the more craft-enhancing skills the class provides, the more willing subjects you have.

[Sønderjye]

Not satisfied with the vagueness of the knowledge that she gets Bernoli pulls out the big guns, metaphorically speaking of course. They sit down and make some scribbles in the dirt.


Questions
1. Assuming Bernoli and Jared doesn't interact with the kobolds any more, will they know that Jared was the one who entered?
2. If yes will they know in less than a week?

[r2d2go]

1. No, only his shape.
2. They will learn no more.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli wipes a pearl of sweat of her face, feeling the tension leaving her body, shoulders falling down. Since she already is asking question she decides to continue with the questions from the previous day.


3. Not counting me, Vermoda and Aristodemus, is there more than 5 people in this region capable of casting 4th tier spells?
4.a. If less: Is there 5?
4.b. If more: Is there 6?
5. Is something that will threat the lives of more than 10000 people going to happen within the next month?
6. a if yes then will it happen within a week?

[r2d2go]

3. Yes.
4b. Yes.
5. Yes.
6. No.

Some of these questions, particularly 4b (the exact number) and 6 (week-accurate prediction of impending doom) are getting strenuous (requiring generic buffs to bump the rolls into the 60 range). You've got probably in the high single digits of questions left, but if you run into walls you'll run out of full-steam divination after the first really difficult question.

[Sønderjye]

Afterwards Bernoli looks at the roughed up Jared and tries her best to restore him. 'Accept' she tells him.


So I realize that I wasn't explicit enough. For these questions, Bernoli is using her automatic writings for yes and no questions.
Last questions:
7. Are one or more of the people capable of casting 4th level spells a kobold?
8. Are one or more of the people capable of casting 4th level spells under the 3 I know can do so?

Also can the public go to the counsil meetings of the town?

Casting Shadow Conjuration to emulate Repair Serious Wounds (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rogue-genius-games---3rd-party-spells/repair-light-damage). Jared volunteeringly fails the saves
[roll0]
[roll1]

[r2d2go]

Then you still spend some magic getting the harder answers because the Commune results in Unclear.

7 - Yes.
8 - No.

There are spots for the public to quietly observe council meetings - however, these are generally reserved in advance. The waiting list for your average commoner is 2-3 months, but wealthy nobles, scholars, family and other priority groups are often moved up.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli wants to go to the Mayer and subtly quiz him, however she is afraid that a sudden appearance of a new player being in the face of the kobolds the same day as the
will assist them making a connection, so she postpones that idea.

Instead she sends the now fully healed JavisJared to the spectator spot with orders to stay hidden and observe. She herself finds a spot on the ground, not far from an area with poor people and tunes in to Javis, watching through his eyes.

That's fair.

[r2d2go]

Wait, wasn't he named Jared? It still says that on your character sheet. I'm gonna keep using that...

Jared sneaks in relatively easily, and invisibly hovers over the proceedings. It's mostly quite dull - votes on small taxation changes or permits granted, mostly. However, he does hear a few notable snippets:

A quick reminder/overview before going into what you learned:

There's a parliament of 17 representatives (referred to as the council) that acts as the legislative and executive government organization. At the "head" of the 17 is the mayor, Insigne Ardos, whose seat is hereditary, leads the council in meetings, and is given executive power during crisis. The other members are voted in yearly elections, in which everyone citizen is allowed one vote, and the top sixteen are given seats.

Now, into the things: there was a motion that Insigne Ardos (the mayor) be removed from his assumed executive power during crisis. This is apparently a common and futile gesture by a councilman, Jayce Bell, a councilman who consistently places in a double-digit position in elections by constantly pushing things that increase the citizens' direct power (e.g. proposing removal of the hereditary seat, or more frequent elections). However, you notice that while the vote is anonymous (collected into a box and counted by a neutral party), with a sharp eye you can see that two others voted yes for the motion - a very influential, power-hungry councilman, and a councilwoman who apparently just really dislikes him. 3/17 is nowhere near the 12/17 required to such a motion though, and nobody blinked an eye when it was brought up and quickly dismissed.

A motion to start an active military, by a well-known ex-soldier councilwoman, was close to passing - 8/17, not including Ardos, voted for it.

A motion to remove some of Aristodemos' power (his Cowled Brotherhood has authority to clean up magical mishaps without express permission of the affected, as well as report to the police with some greater priority, if not actually arrest anyone).

[Sønderjye]

You are correct, I incorrectly used the name for another construct I played in another game

'Astounishing job' Bernoli applauses mentally when Jared managed to sneak in. She built the body that he was using herself but it was still impressive to see it in action through Jared's eyes.

Knowing that some of the counsil members are magically manipulated by the Kobolds, Bernoli summons the spirit of an ancestor for guidance and observes each of the counsil members taking turns, studying them throughly.

Ancestral Advisor(Sense Motive).
Sense motive to get a hunch. I don't need the actual information for this one, just storing it and when I ask for it, Bernoli knows.
[roll0]
Sense motive to try to detect magical enhancement or manipulation.
[roll1]

[Sønderjye]

Botched the last sense motive rolls
[roll0]

Edit: Noting that appearently it doesn't include the +30 in every roll(which probably also is smart. Just add 30 to each of the rolls above.

[r2d2go]

Not sure what to post, as you said you don't need the info right now, and there's nothing else active in your post. For now, I'll just say that only 2 council members besides Ardos are directly Kobold-influenced, though most of them are indirectly swayed.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli waits until the counsil ends doing her best to pay attention to everything, intending to track down the ex-military counsilwoman down afterwards for a word.

I said I didn't need the information on the roll for hunches because I figured that would be tiresome to do for 17 people. I needed the info on the kobold controlled which you also gave.

What is the name for the people that are directly manipulated by kobolds? And some info? Aside from Insigne Ardos of course.

What is the name of the well-known ex-military counsilwoman? Info on her, using the last heavy divination?

[r2d2go]

Iona Wheeler
A Corellon-blessed veteran who's parents were soldiers in the Second Shadow War, Iona has age and experience that makes her well known for being the foremost authority on war. She's recently been rallying to organize a more powerful military, saying that a Third Shadow War is not just possible, but likely.

Your heavy divination reveals that her parents were not actual soldiers, but rather simply residence of Stonesong who fought out of necessity. Her motivation seems clear to most - her parents died because Stonesong wasn't prepared, and she doesn't want that to happen again. However, you learn through your divinations that she's in great part driven by nightmares - you get the idea that they're due to something very powerful passively influencing her, and that's why it's not entirely clear what the dreams entail, or what their nature is. However, you can be sure she's trying to defy them - they're telling her she causes some tragedy, and she wants to prevent it.

Calvin Black
Calvin was once just a particularly wealthy noble, who controls most of the mining related trade of Heartrock Valley. Now he's under direct kobold enchantment, and is mostly just a puppet. He's surprisingly okay with this, as it takes all the effort out of doing things, and he's given free reign over his leisure time.

James Torin
James is actually a kobold sorcerer in disguise - one of the better illusionists among the kobolds, he's one of the most involved of many in human affairs. He doesn't have much power in either community, though - his opportunities for interaction with both groups are heavily limited by his extreme precautions (several layers of illusions, a ring of counterspells [dispel magic], a hat of disguise, many contingency plans for people to replace him or to help him escape if revealed).

After the council session, you find that the council members mostly go to their private offices in the building, which aren't open to the public. While it would be quite simple to sneak in, going through the "proper channels" would take at least weeks of waiting for a meeting, if you were introduced as nothing but a random citizen.

[Sønderjye]

Noting that I'm very busy with exams right now and that's why I'm not posting. Expect to be done by the 15th.

[Sønderjye]

"Let's see", Bernoli says trying to figure out what her next step should be. Her priority number one was still training people, however people could only learn so much during any given day and would just stop learning if you pushed them too far. She felt a need to learn something about this kobold conspiracy but right now things would probably be quite heated up and it would be better to wait a bit longer. Going by that logic, establishing her own position in the town should be her next priority. And for that she would need money.

What does Iona's schedule look like on a typical day? Or more precisely, where can Bernoli catch her out of the attention of others?

[r2d2go]

Iona basically wakes up, works, and goes to sleep. Your best bet to catch her alone is sneaking into her house - she's a fairly private person and has the martial skill and authority to throw more or less any normal person out of her relatively spartan, government-provided, apartment near the council room.

In terms of more legal and "normal" methods, you could try to catch her alone between meetings, especially in or out of her office. There's a good chance there'll be someone else waiting, but especially very early (she gets up at sunrise) you might get lucky.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli considers intruding Iona's home or making a show of power but decided that she for now would benefit from appearing less powerful that she is.

Instead she gets up and walks towards the building that Iona works in.

I finished up deciding on what the NPC's should transform into. Sorry it took so long, was difficult to decide.

[r2d2go]

While some strange glances are directed your way, nobody stops you from walking through the council building and making your way to Iona's office. The wooden door is simply marked with large, blocky, steel letters: Iona Wheeler.

What time are you doing this? The same day, the next morning before sunrise, after sunrise, night? How long are you waiting?

[Sønderjye]

Does Bernoli know why they are staring strangely at her and if she is doing something weird, why they aren't stopping her?
The same day.

[r2d2go]

You look weird. That's actually it, you just don't look like you belong in the council building.

[Sønderjye]

On the way Bernoli reaches down and discretely touches plants in variuos places, letting a bit of her magic slip into

When almost at the Parlament Bernoli finds a single street and casts two spell in preperations of meeting Iona.

Bernoli is suprised that nobody stops her or tells her to leave the dog-looking creature outside. With confident steps that in no way matches her ragged clothing she strides towards the office.

Once steps close to Iona's door and raises a fist. She sends signal to Jared who turns incorporeal, looks through the door and assuming that there exist a spot he can use to hide, teleports into the room at his designated place. Bernoli then knocks and waits, while observing through Jared's eyes.

Bernoli does 5 castings of Plant Spy. One in the town square(or other similar public area), one near the central guard station, one in the richest district, one at the town's gate and one alleyway.

When outside of the parlament Bernoli casts Focused Scrutiny and Ancestral Advisor(Diplomacy).

Jared Stealth check: [roll0]

Does priests and religious figureheads not often debate in parlimental debates? Or is it just that Bernoli looks poor?

[r2d2go]

Both, somewhat. There's no reason priests can't be part of parliament, and given their high wis and sometimes high cha, they don't make bad politicians. However, at the moment, the only priests with seats (two) are male, and are high-ranking, so you just look out of place. However, they for the most part can sense you are powerful - In this city/region, weird = adventurer = probably deadly. They're trusting the density of powerful people in the building will discourage any undue disturbances.

Iona appears to be at her table, busy scribbling at the mounds of papers on her desk. The top sheets appear to be: A briefing on a "welfare grain distribution" bill, a form for her image's use in a local publication, a pile of sealed letters, and many more miscellaneous corners of the papers stacked beneath. It's... a little messy, but you get the feeling she knows where everything is.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli doesn't really look powerful. Her cloth is ragged, she isn't clean and her only magic item has been designed to look like it isn't magical.
Bernoli generally attempts to appear less powerful than she is.


Bernoli anticipated that a knock wouldn't bring attention. Iona being a busy woman would naturally not respond to simple nuissance.

"Iona Wheeler" Bernoli's voice appears, seemingly originating from a point about 2 feet in front of Iona's house: "As you know the next great war is drawing closer. I wish to aid to prepare the city. I request a meeting to discuss that."

Bernoli then waits and observes the reaction of Iona through Jared's eyes.

Bernoli uses ghost sound to make her voice appear in the room.

[r2d2go]

Again, weird tends to equal powerful around these parts. Yes, you occasionally get the genuinely crazy/eccentric person with no special powers, and in fact those people probably outnumber powerful adventurer-types, but people err on the side of not messing with people.

I'm sure you'll pass the spellcraft, even if I put a penalty for looking through Jared: She's casting Detect Magic.

Iona takes a look at the door, and mutters a spell, looking around. Almost immediately, she visibly tenses and draws a sword - well made, quite possibly magical. "I'm a busy woman. Convince me."

[Sønderjye]

"As you wish." Bernoli answer.

"First I will demonstrate my skill. You just summoned a spell that allows you to see magic. I am assuming that you were able to see that I am speaking through illusion magic and I would guess that you have concluded that I am currently standing in front of you invisible. This is however untrue, it was simply an easy way of communication."

Bernoli terminates her Ghost Sound and waits until Iona realizes that noone is in the room before she casts Instigate Psychic Duel.


Iona suddenly finds herself at a place that definitely isn't her office. The red rocks under her feet is clearly manifactured and extends as far as the eye can see without any appearant buildings or other features. The sky is cloudy but there is no wind.
About 60 feet in front of her is a human female, wearing a old and dusty clothing that cover only allows her face to be seen. Her hair is so dark that it almost appears to be sucking in light. Her eyes are dark and her posture is in sharp contrast to the undignified clothing.

"This is a place called a mindscape. If you still seek a demonstration of power, we can fight here without worrying about damaging structures. I will warn you however, a death in this world is as real as the one we normally reside in."



Bernoli uses Hypnotic Glare to lower Iona's will save modifier with 2.
The DC to resist Instigate Psychic Duel is will 21.

[r2d2go]

[roll0]
[roll1]

Entering the mindscape and looking extremely confused, Iona seems to spend some time getting used to the world she has suddenly materialized in as you speak. As you finish speaking, she flings a weak mental attack at you, as if testing the rules of this realm.

Make a DC 15 Reflex save.

[Sønderjye]

"Should I choose to take that as that you still require a demonstration of power?" Bernoli asks dryly.

reflex [roll0]

Bernoli spends a 4th lvl spell slot for 4 points and readies an attack if Iona attacks again:
Bending slightly backwards, Bernoli extends her hand, clutches it and then punches the air in front of her, creating a shockwave straight for Iona
Reflex DC 23
Dmg: [roll1]

[r2d2go]

Nodding, Iona, drops into a fighting stance, and charges, a purple blade materializing in her hand. She is struck by your blast, but surges through to deliver a reasonably powerful mental blow. She's obviously severely injured by your attack, but shows no signs of relenting.

Take 19. Iona's around half health.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli ducks under the sword, spins around creates another shockwave with her leg.

I assume that the first roll is the reflex and the second is for the attack, which in that case doesn't hit Bernoli.
Reflex 23
[roll0]

[r2d2go]

It's the other way around - The first is the attack, the second is reflex. I believe it's a hit.

This is definitely going to need two posts of rolls, so wait for the second post in a bit:

[roll0]

[r2d2go]

Iona tries to twist away from your second attack, but only manages to put herself off balance, and it knocks her to the ground of the mindscape. For a moment, she seems to be unconscious, but then, she stands up... unnaturally. Almost as if being pulled up and swaying from suspending strings - there's no way she'd be able to lift herself torso-first like that in the physical world, without some magical power helping her up. Each of her limbs align themselves into a combat stance, one by one, until finally, her head snaps upwards and stares at you. Her eyes, once a soft brown, now glow an iridescent purple, and her face has sprouted a thousand curved, bone spikes, forming an intricate weave that could be called a bloodied mask, leaving space only for her unblinking eyes. However, the mouth-area twitches, then crumbles, revealing the mutilated lips and teeth underneath, which curve themselves into a grotesque smile. "Th-thank you, miss. Now, I believe you were demonstrating your power?"

Make a DC 31 Will save or be Shaken and take [roll0]. Success halves the damage and negates the Shaken.

[Sønderjye]

Interesting.
Bernoli is impressed by the combination of accuracy and power.
Given that she has access to 6d6 that must mean that she can cast 3rd level arcane spells, which again means that she would have to be a full caster. With that she would have +3 Bab.
For her melee attacks to be a +7 she would then need a str on 18.
This seems unlikely for a mage so I am guessing that either I missed something in the rules or she has some custom boon, in which Bernoli would be even more interested.

[Sønderjye]

[roll]1d20+15
[roll0]

[Sønderjye]

Botched roll
[roll0]

[Sønderjye]

I'm unable to access d20pfsrd right now. What is the mechanic for escaping a mindscape?
Also is the halls and doors in the building big enough that Bernoli could lie on top of a large creature, like a horse?

[r2d2go]

The psychic duel ends either upon being dropped below 0 HP, or if both participants desire to (expressing this desire is a free action that can be taken out of turn and cannot be restricted). The physical building is probably a squeeze for a long large creature like a horse, and definitely too small for a tall long creature.

Your enemy wants to end the psychic duel.

Stricken with mental pain and fear, you can barely stay on your feet as Iona - or whatever this is - continues to smile. It lets out a hoarse laugh, and says, "You are indeed powerful. Much better than this one, if you live..."

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli staggers back, her eyes wide open. Through her fear she manages to remain in control: "What incredible power! Who are you?!" she says with pretended awe in her voice.

I'm never quite sure how talking works in combat in terms of rounds. This is my free action. I intend also to take other actions before my turn is over. If that isn't possible with talking to the thing let me know and we'll scratch the talking.
Bluff to appear awed: [roll0]

Edit: Also I just realized that Future Sight(Prophecy Domain (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/cleric/domains/3rd-party-publishers---domains/kobold-press---domains/prophecy-domain)) did something different than what I thought it did. I am sure that they have changed it at some point. How far back can I change the action? Can I change the action that incapicitated Iona last turn? One could easily argue that the responds round was "the results of the action".

[r2d2go]

I think the clear intent of the ability is to act as a sort of "reroll", letting you undo a single poor action, not rewind after others have also acted. I'm going to say by now, you cannot take back your attack - you would have to do so before rolling your save vs the enemy, immediately after the first IC post after yours.

Free action talking is free action. You're free to act.

The mask's eyes crack slightly as the being glares. "Do not try my patience..."

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli takes another step back. Either the thing weren't susceptible to flattery or it had managed to see through her deception. Either way I can't fight it.

Bernoli ends the duel and in the instant she does this she reaches out for time itself and orders it to go back.

6 seconds earlier

Bernoli ducks under the sword, spins around to create a shockwave with her leg but in the last moment her eyes open wide and she tumbles to the side, avoiding hitting Iona. "Enough!" she shouts with a hand outstretched. "That attack would have killed you. I saw it happen. It is not my attention to go that far, your role in defending the city is way too important to for it to end due to a simple power demonstration."

Bernoli uses time shift from her time domain to return one round.

I assume that a diplomacy might be required [roll0]

If Bernoli still can communicate with Jared she'll tell him to make the Eidolon try to wake her up, thus giving her a saving throw towards her own 1st lvl spell to escape the mindscape before returning to his previous spot. vs will DC 20 [roll1]
[roll2]

[r2d2go]

As you agree to end the duel and return to reality, you get a glimpse of Iona - her body broken, bloodied, her eyes dim, but a natural brown. In the imperfect mirror of her eyes, even as you turn back time to escape the horror that rose from her body, you realize that your eyes are glowing a faint, iridescent purple.



Iona hesitates, then nods, hiding her relief well but not well enough to escape your watchful gaze. "Very well." In an instant, you two return to reality, internally bruised but quite alive.

No need for any of that, you get out just fine.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli stands frozen while a drop of sweat runs down her cheek. She raises her hand up to her eyes to see if her eyes are still glowing and notices that her hand is shaking.

XP? :smallbiggrin:
Does her eyes glow?

[r2d2go]

9600 XP, and no glow.

Iona takes a moment to collect herself, inhaling shakily. Then she says, "I... have to go. I understand you had more to discuss. You are welcome to find me in this office tomorrow at dawn, if you so desire."

[Sønderjye]

I forgot, are we using the medium or the fast XP track from d20pfsrd?

Also I just want to confirm that Iona still isn't in the same room as Bernoli and that Iona is talking to an empty room.

Sense motive to try to gauge the emotions of Iona through Jared's eyes: [roll0]

[r2d2go]

Yep, she's talking to... well, not empty. She saw the magic aura, so she's more talking to a disembodied force of magic she assumes is you. She is about to walk into you (assuming you haven't moved since knocking), though.

Sense Motive: The first thing on her mind seems to be healing herself. The second is that she has a splitting headache, that she suspects won't be fixed by healing, which she wants to figure out and fix.

[Sønderjye]

'You should track her' Bernoli suggests to Jared before taking her leave.

Didn't she see that Bernoli dismissed the magic?

Also which XP track are we using?

[r2d2go]

Her Detect Magic stopped being concentrated on long ago, she's just assuming.

Fast Track EXP, sorry I missed that.

Are you just walking away? I don't remember any other effects on you, but I might have just forgotten.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli silently curses herself for not having checked up on the background of Iona as she walks away.

Bernoli intends to find a quiet spot, let the Eidolon guard her and follow Iona through Jared's eyes.

Yeah, just walking away. Jared will be following her.

[r2d2go]

Iona gets up, looking left and right outside her door before continuing down the hall, away from you. Jared has no trouble following her, watching her walk to the back door of a local temple, where a priest greets her enthusiastically and brings someone in to mend her wounds, apparently at no charge. After this, she seems quite energetic and cheerful, and after thanking the priest profusely, practically skips (a difficult feat in her ever-present armor) back to her home.

Lemme know if you want to do anything, or if you want me to just keep going on with her day.

[Sønderjye]

Deciding that she is too low on resources Bernoli opts to chill out for the rest of the day, gathering energy for the days to come and occationally checking on on what Jared sees.

Jared on the other hand vigilantly continues his stalking.

[r2d2go]

Iona returns home, and the first thing she does is draw a hot bath and take off her armor. She appears to go all-out on it, using some sort of scented bubble soap, and spends probably an hour soaking with her eyes closed. When she finally leaves the bath, rather than put on her armor (which she is known to never take off), she digs through a closet to find an old pink dress, dusts it off, and puts it on, laughing quietly to herself. After a twirl in front of a mirror, she buries her face in her palms while grinning in apparent bemusement at her appearance, but keeps the dress on. She then moves to a study, starting on a large stack of paperwork, humming a tune you recognize from a nursery rhyme, slightly off-key. She only stops working when it gets too dark to read, at which she stands, and to her own surprise, hears her stomach growl.

She goes into what seems to be a kitchen, and after grabbing what looks suspiciously like trail rations from a cupboard, she hesitates before putting them back. Instead, she goes back to the closet, and takes a chain shirt and pants from the back and changes into them, and after a short time transferring all manner of small things from her full armor to her pockets, she walks out into the street. It's fairly dark, but the lamplight is enough to see by, and she makes her way to what looks like a small house, but is apparently is some sort of restaurant, as it is nearly full with people, sitting at tables and eating. She sits, a little awkwardly, at a random open seat, and is greeted by name by a friendly looking but extraordinarily short man who stands behind a counter, cooking what looks to be five or six of the same dish at once, which appears to be what everyone is eating. It's a strange set up, but most people seem to be very happy with their food, and nobody bothers Iona.

After eating and dropping a few coins in a small tin by the door, which the chef responds to with a "Thanks, Iona, you should come more often!", Iona walks back home, a slight skip in her step. After washing her face and changing into nightclothes, she flops onto her bed and falls asleep almost immediately.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli watches carefully. She feels a little unsettled with the fact that she spots Iona in such personal environment but brushes it off. If that thing came back she wanted to be ready, even if she felt that she was crossing some line.

A question for when Bernoli goes to sleep and wakes up.
Xalen (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/variant-magic-rules/pact-magic/spirits/xalen-d) seems like a spirit that Bernoli would like to summon for his ancient knowledge. However his ability "Enhance Vessel's Mind" only works on knowledges that the host does not have rank in. It seems counter intuitive to me that you can't replace the ranks you have with what the ability provides and wanted to check in with you what you think. I'd note that getting the ability would give 8 ranks in that one knowledge skill which can briefly be enhanced to 18.

[r2d2go]

While I agree it's a little counter-intuitive that this guy can't bestow knowledge if you already know something of the subject, I think it is intended to allow you to hit a baseline "fully trained" level, not exceed the normal skill cap. So, I'm going to say you can't use it that way.

[Sønderjye]

So does that mean that I can use it to allow my character to reach a base-line "fully trained" rank but not at the 18? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding.
To be specific what I was refering to with the "18 ranks" was to use Sanguine Focus, Greater to raise the binder level to 18 for a few minutes, thus having "fully trained" rank as a lvl 18th character for a few minutes.

[r2d2go]

Yep. That's using a 2nd level spell to modify an ability that you're getting by using an ability to get an ability to get a skill to access ranks of a skill ten levels up. That mess of a sentence is why I don't think this is something you're supposed to do :smalltongue:

I'll allow you to set a skill to 8 ranks, but I don't think they were counting on Binder pacts when the third party that made Greater Sanguine Focus gave it +10 to a level-based ability. I'm sure you could find a million ways to break things, what with - in general, try not to use a mixture of different systems to get more than what the individual system gives. A rule of thumb is, if I decided to ban one spell or ability, does what you're trying to do stop working? If so, probably don't try it. If it just gets moderately weaker, then it's probably fine.

[Sønderjye]

Jared is instructed to remain with Iona for the night while she orders her Eidolon to watch over herself while she sleeps.

When morning comes Bernoli puts on her mask and looks deep into the flow of knowledge for answers.

That's fair.
Does that extend to any use of Sanguine Focus, Greater? Since the only thing it can do for me is to raise binder level for a short period I'd like to retrain it if you rule that I can't use it :smallsmile:

Binding Xalen, choosing Local. Getting a Raven familiar. DC 21. [roll0]

Casting heroism. Moment of greatness(once for each of the questions below). Focused trance( once for each of the questions. 20+10+4+9+8+9(1)+0(4)+
To learn what the goal of the kobold conspiracy is or at least who/what the driving forces are: [roll1]
[roll2]
To learn what the thing that came out of Iona is. (if it's a knowledge local or planes add 7 to result). [roll]1d20+56[roll]
[roll]1d20+56[roll]

[Sønderjye]

[roll0]
If less than 64:
[roll1]

[r2d2go]

Wait a sec, I just noticed something. Heroism is +2, is that +4 because of Moment of Greatness, or is something else happening? Can you label the bonuses for me?

[Sønderjye]

Ehm. I don't really know what I did. Good catch. Guess it was too late a time of day for me to make math :smalltongue:
Focused Trance(20), Mask of Tomes(10, competence), Heroism+Moment of Greatness(4, Morale), Charisma(9), Rank(11/4), Spirit ability (0/4) = 54/51
So first roll is 56 and second is 71

[r2d2go]

Okay, cool.

To answer the question about Sanguine Focus - I'd say it applies to Binder things, but not to most Sorcerer bloodlines. If you'd like to switch, I'd be okay with that. The thing is I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be buffing the Cha+3/day, weak abilities, not half a class's worth of miscellaneous effects. There's a big difference between +10 Binder level and dealing 1d6+9 instead of 1d6+4 on a ray of acid, or 2d6 instead of 1d6 with claws.

The being is likely a manifestation of a deity known as Uku, the Splintering Beast. A powerful Chaotic Neutral force, Uku is well known (among the gods) for exponential growth as well as instant adaptation and unpredictability. He's only kept in check by bonds that continuously cut him down to keep him small and manageable. They would prefer to just get rid of this exististential threat, but he's also got an extremely tenacious core, which nothing has been able to destroy. As far as anyone (living or dead) knows, he's been kept dormant for pretty much eternity, so the fact that he's showing up, even only in mental realms, is Bad News.

As for the Kobolds, they just want to keep everyone happy and prosperous, and siphon resources from the prospering city to build their own community. They've made sure that people don't feel a need to have more than a couple children, and thus have been maintaining a very steady rate of growth as their own people have expanded immensely (though Kobold population is still less than 20% of humanoid).

[Sønderjye]

I just crossed blades with a god. Bernoli's face turns pale. 'Jared, I just crossed blades with a god.' 'Huh?' 'That thing I faced off yesterday before I distorted time. It's Uku, the splintering beast!'

'Well, you won didn't you?' 'Huh?' 'You crossed blades with a god who went all out on you and you came out alive. And he doesn't even know that you know of him. That gotta count as a win.'

The reassurance makes Bernoli feel a tad better but she is still shaken by the realization.

Well, the only sorcerer ability I have is the binder one so I'd like to request to change Sanguine Focus to some other spell.


What did Uku do last time he was free?
How have he come free and how was he bound?

[r2d2go]

Uku has been imprisoned since long before history was recorded by mortals (your check was high enough that you're literally getting information no mundane source can provide). You're not 100% sure about the details, but you're pretty sure when he was fully free, he basically spiraled out of control all over the place until the gods were like "you are threatening existence, time to not let you do that" - the process involved the combined power of most deities in existence at that time, so you've got few ideas about the specifics. Then they kept him small and manageable, and never mentioned it again.

Ah, yeah, forgot about spells known. Yeah, you can switch out Greater Sanguine Focus if you'd like.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli still feels shaken.

How does Uku gain his information? If Bernoli tells something to Iona will he know?

And with that Bernoli feels ready.. as ready as one can be after discovering that an ancient being of destruction isn't encaged any longer.. to meet with Iona. She finds a paper and a pencil and writes a small document up before walking to Bernoli's home.

On her way she checks in with Jared to hear if something had happened since she went asleep.

Picking up Oathbind (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rite-publishing---3rd-party-spells/o/oathbind) to replace Sanguine Focus, Greater.

That information was neat. It feels really cool to know that the character have that access.

[r2d2go]

You're really not sure, mostly in that nobody, not even the gods, probably know about what the heck Uku's doing. If they could, they probably would've reconvened and put him down again. You're guessing if he's within Iona's mind, he'll be able to extract any information she knows, but that's more general magical/psychic theory than any specific knowledge.

Jared reports that Iona has been sleeping soundly, and not much has changed.

[Sønderjye]

'I see, good work Jared.' Bernoli says, remembering a particular bad episode when she had been ordering Jared too much around and neglecting to let him know how valueable he is.

With that Bernoli makes her way over to meet Iona. Once standing outside the door she knocks a few times and waits for a responds.

"Greetings Iona." Bernoli says with an extended hand and a friendly smile. "I'm Bernoli."

"First things first. I acknowledge that we don't know each other and have little reason to trust each other. In an attempt to be more efficient with our time I brought this." She says as she pulls a paper and a pen from one of her pockets and hands it over.

The paper reads:

"Those who sign this document(from now on refered to as the participants) agrees to the following conditions:
The participants will not speak deliberate falsehood to other participants.
The participants will not speak half-truth or omit information with the intention of misleading the other participants or otherwise make other participants draw inaccurate conclusions."

"If you agree to sign this and I cast a spell we will know if the other breaks the contract above. I'll note that we aren't obligated to speaking truth, merely that we will know if the other breaks it. I'll also note that we can opt out at any point although the other will know if we do." Bernoli explains: "We can change it up if you're worried about the wording or even put a time limit on it if that makes you more comfortable."



The above is made assuming that Bernoli have the things she need to write up the document. I don't get a lot of satisfaction from keeping track of the small details but if you prefer it we can do it and in that case Bernoli went by a shop yesterday.

[r2d2go]

While I'm not going to make you keep track of material components as long as you have sufficient money on hand, retconning purchases is not allowed. Just making sure that's clear.

(Retconned)

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli frowns before deciding to pull the same trick as yesterday.

"You, yourself, asked me to come here at dawn. Have you forgotten already?" the spell replicating Bernoli's voice sounds in Iona's office.

Do you want me to keep track on stuff that costs less than 1 gp?

I'm curious as to why she is wearing nightclothes at work.

[r2d2go]

She's not at her office. Thought you went to her house, the last place she's been mentioned at (sleeping peacefully). Want to retcon?

[Sønderjye]

IIRC you mentioned that she had slept peacefully for the night and not that she still was sleeping.
I didn't see why Bernoli would want to go to her house when they have an appointment at her office in just about now.

Anyway yeah let's retcon.

[r2d2go]

Yeah, it's just, you didn't specify a time or place, so I just assumed the last place she was at.

Gonna scrub the previous post...

Iona yawns, opening the door. Raising an eyebrow at your immediate procuring of the document, she says, "How do I know that contract is what you claim it to be? And if I did have a way of knowing, why wouldn't I just use that?" Still, she motions for you to enter, and pulls a chair from its place beside a wall to a space across from her desk.

[Sønderjye]

I'll attempt to be more specific in the future.

"I can intentionally tell a lie after which you'll clearly notice it" Bernoli suggests.

[r2d2go]

Sitting back down, Iona furrows her brow. "And if it wasn't what you said it was? Or if you were simply using any number of illusions?" Shaking her head, she says, "I'd prefer to have the document analyzed by some of my own experts. Are there any issues with taking this to a few friends of mine?"

[Sønderjye]

"I understand your consern. It does you credit" Bernoli responds with a friendly smile. "Feel free to bring the document to anyone but I'll let you know that the document isn't magical. I can cast the spell now and you can have your experts analyze that if you'd like. Regardless should I wait while you let your experts analyze it or does it take so long that we would have to return to the subject another day?"


If Iona prefers to analyze it now Bernoli will cast Oathbind on the document and tell Jared to follow Iona while she waits.

[r2d2go]

Iona hesitates, thinking, then says, "If you can cast it on me without my permission, I have no way of stopping you, so you might as well. If it does require my permission, well... that makes things harder, and more dangerous. I'll have to call in some friends and have them prepare something to be done as you cast the spell... We'd better meet another time, yes."

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli considers letting Iona know that she has ways to make her accept the spell but decides against it. With the carefulness that Iona was currently displaying that could potentially bar for future meetings.

"The spell does require your permission" Bernoli confirms with a serious nod then pauses to think: "I believe that we have a common goal and if we are to work together in the long run I will need to confirm your trustworthyness. For now I suggest that we continue this meeting without the contract in question and at a later point, if you feel confident, confirms that we have been speaking the truth and only the truth during our meetings. What do you think?"

"Then I'll go on to why I initially came then. The defence of this city is in a miserable state. Evil is comming and we are not prepared to face it." Bernoli says with a stern face. "It seems plausible that a third war is approaching but I suspect that it is far worse and it is my primary goal to prepare us for that Evil" She pauses to let that sink in. "My presense have already allowed hundreds to be more prepared and you can expect to see a number of large eagle's approach the city within the next days. But people are poor and I have no intention of demanding money from those who are training to gamble their life for our future. We have no facilities or place to practise and this is one of the reasons that I now am approaching you. Another is that I wish to offer training to the guards of this city who wish it."

[r2d2go]

Iona hesitates, but agrees.

Once you finish explaining your position, Iona looks at some of the papers on her desk, looking troubled. "Unfortunately, I am only one council member, and while I do have some limited personal wealth, the city's larger resources will be difficult to access. I've already been rallying for war funding, and that situation doesn't seem to be likely to change. If anything, I'd recommend using your apparently considerable magical abilities to generate some funding of your own - if you can't find many interested in your services, I can probably refer you to some. There are also some who might actually pay for training from a powerful spellcaster, though they are not common."

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli's shoulders sinks a tad. She had been keeping a fools hope that Iona would be willing to alocate some of the resources.

"I see", she responds keeping posture: "I'd be interested in hearing any suggestions for who could use me and for what. I'll admit that I am new to the city and the needs of it". She hopes by sharing this vulnerability that Iona is less reluctant to trust her.

A thought strikes her. If the city guards is getting less funds that they had before then maybe: "Also, is there any buildings that the city defence own but aren't using? We could use a place to gather and train."

[r2d2go]

Iona considers for a moment, then opens a drawer and shuffles through some papers. After a minute of searching, she bites her lip, then says "There are... well, I can't officially sanction it. But there are a number of abandoned or unused buildings... the city doesn't own any training spaces they're not using, but I do know of a couple places that might be of use."

Closing the drawer and grabbing a sheet of paper from across the desk, she dips a quill in ink and starts scribbling notes. "Here's some addresses, and the names of some of the people who could use your help. And I'll get to you if I ever have something that needs... well, actually, what can you do?" She pauses, looking at you intently. "I just kind of thought 'generic sorcerer', but it occurred to me that might not be right."

[Sønderjye]

"Thank you", Bernoli says with a genuine smile as she recieves parchments.

Upon hearing the question of her abilities she looks thoughtfully at Iona. The moment Iona had declined her contract she had decided not to reveal anything about herself but her divinitions had shown that Iona was trustworthy. And she did just help her. Those adresses could potentially be really useful and the same went for the names.

"I am normally reluctant to share information like that but you have shown trust in me by trying to help me and I'd like to do the same. I'll need your word though that you don't tell anyone about this unless keeping it secret would endanger the city." Bernoli responds.

"You can think of my specialization as that of a detective. I'm unusually good at finding people or information. But that is only a specialization, I am able to do many things although I tend to leave actual combat to others."

[r2d2go]

Iona promises her silence, and looks at her desk thoughtfully when you answer. Writing some more names and addresses on paper, she hands you the new list, saying, "Some of these people might appreciate that particular skill. Some are... more petty than others, but if you establish yourself as a legitimately powerful diviner, we might be able to get you some influence in the court, and get you closer to your goals."

Then, shuffling papers to put them back in order, Iona leans back. "So, was there anything else?"

[Sønderjye]

"Thank you, I'll definitely check up on it" Bernoli says genuinely. Iona was being very helpful. Did she genuinely believe that Bernoli wanted the same as her or were she merely pretending?

Bernoli is a little suprised that Iona has no more questions for her but she doesn't let it show. "Yes that was all", she responds with a friendly smile.

She gets up to leave. Once outside she'll read the list and for every name on the list she'll tap into the general knowledge of the city to learn about them, their background, their importance and influence, their goals, their general trustworthyness and how liked they are by the public

For the above Bernoli uses her seer 1 ability to make a gather information check in a round rather than in an hour.
Since I don't know how many names are on the list I'll leave the rolls to you. Modifier is +21

[r2d2go]

The list:
Eli Delrey - A local dealer of information and general trickster. He won't be happy you're taking his business, but if you talk to him you're less likely to wake up with a knife by your throat, and he might be able to cut a deal. Tell him I sent you.

Eli maintains absolute secrecy about it, but he deals in the black market through a single close friend named Blair Willows. While his somewhat less shady dealings would make him very rich alone, ten times as much come in comes through Blair, even losing 70% (what he thinks is 60%) through commission. He technically does nothing illegal, but is fairly sure Blair is using the information for illegal means, and just doesn't care. He seems to be using the excess money in offering to what you're fairly sure is a nonexistent deity of secrets, essentially inviting people who buy his services to them and discounting their purchases, spreading the word by inviting vast numbers of people to parties and gatherings. In the sphere of honest dealings, he's well liked in general, as he hosts these events seemingly out of pure generosity. In the black market, he's seen as volatile, but nobody dares attempt to do anything against him.

Bailey Wyatt - Noblewoman, suspects husband of cheating, loves gossip in general.

Bailey is a fairly powerful woman, puppeteering her husband's wood mill and a restaurant of her own, which she acquired when her previous husband died. Very few people like her, but many are afraid of her. She spends her time in high society pitting one family against another, and while nobody likes her, none are willing to give up the free ammunition she provides or risk having it turned on them.

Argus Kol - Local fortune teller. He's pretty rich, though most of it because he's a good performer. If you can really teach him, he'd probably fund you.

Argus tells people he has limited actual fortune telling, and lets one person in each day for a legitimately magical fortune, while the rest he says are less powerful. People seem pretty convinced, and so he's well liked for being honest, and makes a lot of money, and as far as you can tell he's just saving it up. You're pretty sure he actually has no magical powers whatsoever, but he's pretty good at predicting things and reading people.

Ellen Dawntreader - Corellon-blessed, collector of knowledge. Not sure what she can do but she has quite the collection, and makes magic items. She should be in town soon.

Ellen is well known as one of the only legitimate seller of magic items. She'll be here in two days, and also sells knowledge, though that's the lesser-known of her wares, and is only available for trade. She's a decently powerful caster (5th level), and while she's not well-known in the city, the upper class almost universally knows about her in a sort of open secret, and are eagerly awaiting her entry. You've heard you'll want to be at the north gate at dawn to catch her first.

Sebastian Black - Runs a school of martial arts. His father has some disease that nothing's worked for.

Sebastian is well liked for giving practical advice and decent training for low prices. He's given up on making money to help his father - it's not a disease, it's not a curse, neither doctors nor priests can tell what it is. His father is a veteran Corellon-blessed from Stonesong, which is something only a few people know, which confuses him.

Delaney Pruitt - Leader of a group local farms. Recent poor harvest, would love to know why.

Delaney is well liked and considered a strong leader by most of the people in her organization. She thinks that someone or something is messing with her farms - they've noticed footprints that everyone says isn't them. However, she's more worried about the potential for infighting and suspicion, which she thinks is actually the more likely cause for the poor harvest.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

[Sønderjye]

In another game I'm in they are using a concept of scenes which is essentially that a single post can contain multiple scenes. I'll make this post like that as an example and let you decide on whether it's something you'd like to roll with for this game. It is similar to something we did earlier but we never talked about it explicitly. A no is fine to, we'll just start with things from the top.

Also what does it mean to be Corellon-blessed?

Outside Iona's building

Bernoli orders Jared to stick around a little while and watch what Iona does next.

As Bernoli walks away from Iona's office, eyes on the paper a frown forms on her face. Iona, the head of the city's defence, dealt with some shady personalitiies. And she recommended them openly. What did this tell about her? Was it a sign of trust that she wouldn't use this information against Iona? Or were she being tested to see which connections she would use? Or even worse, were it acceptable for upstanding members of this city to openly use shady connections?

She also gives the places Iona suggested a view.

What is the public view on using shady connection? [roll0]

Bernoli also uses the same ability on the places that Iona suggested. Specifically she's curious to as who owns them, why they aren't being used and if the previous owner have forgotten that they have them.



At a private place

When somewhere away from the public Bernoli orders the raven familiar she recieved earlier this morning to watch guard as she exercises her magic in order to learn more about her potential customers and competitors.Having learned from the kobold incident she remembers to check what the universe thinks of the idea pounding around in her head.


For the following Bernoli uses her usual means of gaining information. I'm including priorities in case some of the stuff requires more powerful castings.
On Eli Delrey(Priority 1): What's Eli Delrey's goal and what means does he use to gather information? Also what's the range of price that he sells his information for? What meassures have he set up to avoid being followed or spied upon and how does one avoid those? Also what's some information that he tries his best to keep secret or anything else that can be used against him?

On Delaney Pruitt(Priority 2): What is happening to her farms? What is her alignment and moral guidelines?

On Sebastian Black(Priority 3): What is his father's sickness and how does one cure it? What is his alignment and morale guidelines?

On Argus (4): What is he saving money for? What is his alignment and morale guidelines? How much does he earn on the expensive divinition?

On Bailey (5): What's her goal in trying to put the families up against each other? What's her alignment and morale guidelines?

On Ellen (6): What are her ambitions and what is her alignment and morale guidelines?


Also: Bernoli uses a casting of divination(using by will alone to avoid paying the steep cost of 25gp) on the idea of having Jared follow in Delrey's footsteps to spy on him.




One-on-one with Ellisar

Is it possible to use gather information to figure out where Ellisar is most likely to be right now? If not Bernoli will show up at his place. The above is only if she is able to find him and he isn't doing something important.

Same goes for Gareth

"Greetings Ellisar" Bernoli greets with a friendly smile. "How are you?"

After exchanging pleasantries Bernoli gets down to who she really is here. "In about an hour a number of people will gather for further training. They are training to better be able to defend themselves. If you have time I'd be interested in hearing your oppinion on the group." she lets the offer hang in the air, watching him closely to gauge his impression.

Gareth Blackblade

"Morning Gareth" Bernoli greets the feral-looking spellcaster. "How are you?"

"You mentioned an interest in teaching", Bernoli begins: "In about half an hour a number of people will be gathering to continue their preliminary training. Some of them are spellcasters and some are martials, both could use your help if you have the time."
"I'll note that my promise of training to you stands regardless of your answer here."

Training grounds, day 2

Bernoli hold her hand up, her middle finger touching the palm of her hand and waits in the same posture until the mixed group have come to a silence. Her facial expression doesn't clearly tell anything but there is something about the position of the shoulders and the way the eyes are held steady that radiates an aura of power that demands attention and respect.

"Welcome." She begins, hear powerful voice clearly reaching the ends of the silent crowd. "We'll begin. Start with the exercises that you got yesterday. Talk to your peers, give and recieve feedback where you can. I'll go around and help you out. Those of you who are working with nature come over to me now."

When the group is started Bernoli will try to coordinate when they have time to go through the animal calling ritual by the end of the month.

When that is done she walks around and makes corrections where corrections is needed.

...

"Hold a sword higher"

...

"No, it's awhdne, not awddne. Magic is powerful and if you don't pronounce the spell right it might backfire."

...

"We'd use unicorn hair for a wand of curing, not phoenix feathers"

I guess it's a diplomacy to make people silent. Take 10 for 35

[r2d2go]

This is pretty huge, so I'll get to the rest later. Here's a big chunk, though:

Corellon-blessed basically = elf.

You're pretty sure Iona doesn't know about any of the illegal things Eli deals with. The rest, well, you're not sure. Most people wouldn't view interaction with those people as problematic, though.

The places Iona suggested are abandoned because their (rather wealthy) owners couldn't make them profitable - one used to be a restaurant, another an apothecary. They've both been rented as cheap storage space for the time being, but are relatively unused.

1) Eli is thinks he can gain divine support by gathering worshipers and offerings. As far as you know, he believes in the god. The threat of him releasing information is enough to stop most people from revealing anything about him, while the lavish luxuries he provides encourages people to stay. He has more or less no other big secrets - he's not too worried about how he provides information to a black-market dealer, since he can truthfully say he never intentionally assisted a crime. The whole gathering-worshipers thing he'd only be worried about if people started witch-hunting his followers, but he views it more as a religious club than a cult.

(DCs 60+)

2) Delaney's farms are being raided by kobolds. You think these might not be affiliated with the undercity kobolds, because your'e fairly sure they have policies against interfering or harming with the surface without express council approval. Delaney herself is Neutral Good, and just wants to make sure everyone has enough to eat without relying on other cities.

(DCs 50+)

3) Sebastian's father is suffering from a strange curse-disease hybrid, much like Mummy Rot - however, it is more similar to a bone cancer that continually tears at then regenerate surrounding tissues. Remove Curse then Remove Disease could work, but would require a successful check as usual. Sebastian is Lawful Good, and generally wants the best for everyone, but is torn between helping his family and the rest of the community.

(DCs 30+)

4) Argus is simply saving for when he can buy a specific magic item from Ellen. He'd probably be grateful if you let him know when and where to find her first. He is True Neutral, and just wants to be a "real" fortune teller. He charges 100 gold pieces at most, but averages at 60 gold pieces for a "true" divination.

5)Bailey is Lawful Neutral, and just takes great joy in messing with families and nobility. She was born into this, and it's basically her only joy in life.

(DCs 20+)

6)Ellen is True Neutral, and wants to find immortality, but is in no rush - she knows she's got hundreds of years left.

(DCs 40+)

Divination: "Why not?"

[Sønderjye]

Yeah, I just came home from a longer vacation and had the time to make a bigger post.

Interesting information. I'm waiting eagerly for the rest of the answer :smallsmile:

I'm fairly sure that divination is supposed to give a useful advice :smallbiggrin:

[r2d2go]

Divination does say it can be brief or cryptic :smalltongue:

I'll give you the intended implication though: It's low risk, low reward.

[r2d2go]

You can find Ellisar relatively easy with a standard-action Gather Information. Though, if you do, you can't find him again this way for (however long the limit on sequential use for that ability was). Same for Gareth. I'll wait on responding to that for when you decide.

The group seems happy to continue training, and progress as expected.

Just to clarify - it hasn't been a month, so there hasn't been any actual change in the people's stats yet.

[Sønderjye]

On the standard action gather information. I didn't realize that one couldn't make another check on the same subject for an entire level. Can Bernoli find Ellisar and Gerath without spending divinition resources? Like just showing up at their place? :smalltongue:

I remember that you said something along the lines of "To sweeten the deal(in reference to the teacher feat) your followers will switch their NPC levels for PC levels immediately upon becomming your followers. And then I said something like "Let it be not immediately but over a little time". Have this changed?

[r2d2go]

You can try looking for them where you first found them (which you found with your initial Knowledge (Local) checks. Gareth was looking for mercenary work in a tavern known for those kinds of dealings, while Ellisar was walking out of a store you know he frequents.

I'm pretty sure the time to gain PC class levels was (level to convert)^2 months. Do you have a quote from me saying otherwise?

[Sønderjye]

The time to gain new levels were [new level]^2 month. So 1 month for first level, 4 month for second level and so forth. The whole point of the feat was to add levels to the followers, not to convert. You said that I couldn't get them over lvl 6 though(now at least. You did imply that something would happen sometime along the timeline that would make it possible. In fun we discussed that I could do this by giving them god blood but that half-god blood didn't work) and that I couldn't give them XP to feats.

You did say what I mentioned in the last message but I don't have any quotes, didn't think I'd need to save those messages. If you still have the messages about the feat feel free to send them over.

[r2d2go]

Doesn't look like I have those PMs, but I'm definitely not allowing instantaneous (or short-term) conversion of NPCs to PC classes. I thought the system was that your followers gain PC levels, but you may replace NPC class levels for no extra cost. So, gaining level 1 takes a month, gaining level 2 takes 4 months, etc. So going from level 1-2 costs 4 months whether the NPC's first level is NPC or not.

Pretty sure this was always the case - you even said yourself, "Mentor is to slowly mold my followers".

[Sønderjye]

Alright. I'll go back and edit the previous IC post.
What does "you may replace NPC class levels for no extra cost" mean though?

[r2d2go]

It doesn't cost you anything more to retrain, only the normal cost of gaining that PC level. In other words, you can get the first PC level in 1 month, instead of 4, by turning an NPC 1 into a PC 1.

[Sønderjye]

Alright. I editted the IC post. Feel free to post the responds from the two.
Did the lack of answer on what that shady information seller has to prevent people from stalking him mean that he had none or that Bernoli's check wasn't high enough?
Also when is that shady information seller's next big party?

[r2d2go]

Edited in new response.

I answered this:

"As Bernoli walks away from Iona's office, eyes on the paper a frown forms on her face. Iona, the head of the city's defence, dealt with some shady personalitiies. And she recommended them openly. What did this tell about her? Was it a sign of trust that she wouldn't use this information against Iona? Or were she being tested to see which connections she would use? Or even worse, were it acceptable for upstanding members of this city to openly use shady connections?"

with this:

"You're pretty sure Iona doesn't know about any of the illegal things Eli deals with. The rest, well, you're not sure. Most people wouldn't view interaction with those people as problematic, though.

The places Iona suggested are abandoned because their (rather wealthy) owners couldn't make them profitable - one used to be a restaurant, another an apothecary. They've both been rented as cheap storage space for the time being, but are relatively unused."

The shady information dealer is Eli, and his parties are invitation only. You could try to get one, or just figure out where/when it is, using various checks.

[Sønderjye]

I think we might be miscommunicating. I know who Eli is. In that one massive post I asked what meassures Eli had against being stalked and since I never recieved an answer to that I asked whether that implied that he had none or that Bernoli's check just wasn't high enough.

Feel free to use appropriate divination spells to check about when Eli's next party is.

Also did Bernoli manage to find the two followers and convince them to come?

[r2d2go]

Hm, sorry, didn't quite follow what you were looking for, so I put the parts that seemed like less direct answers. I directly answered "On Eli Delrey(Priority 1): What's Eli Delrey's goal and what means does he use to gather information? Also what's the range of price that he sells his information for? What meassures have he set up to avoid being followed or spied upon and how does one avoid those? Also what's some information that he tries his best to keep secret or anything else that can be used against him?"

with:

"1) Eli is thinks he can gain divine support by gathering worshipers and offerings. As far as you know, he believes in the god. The threat of him releasing information is enough to stop most people from revealing anything about him, while the lavish luxuries he provides encourages people to stay. He has more or less no other big secrets - he's not too worried about how he provides information to a black-market dealer, since he can truthfully say he never intentionally assisted a crime. The whole gathering-worshipers thing he'd only be worried about if people started witch-hunting his followers, but he views it more as a religious club than a cult.

(DCs 60+)"

Bold text being the direct lines drawn.

As for the "two", who do you mean? I didn't catch any changes besides the mention of training. Are you making the Gather Info checks? If so, I believe you've yet to roll them.

[Sønderjye]

That is a very roundabout way of not answering my question :smalltongue:

What about the next party?

I was refering to Ellisar and Gareth. Did Bernoli find those at their houses and if so did they agree to come to see the training?


Grouping with the non-good group

After the session with the first group Bernoli goes to the place she informed the second group to meet up. For this group she takes more time to chat individually with the trainees and for this group she moves exceptionally slow ahead with the training to give herself more time to try to influence the members of the group to be converted to the right way of thinking. She is aware that this might push some away but considers it an uneviable consequence.

Recall that Bernoli split the group of followers into two, one with good aligned people and one with nongood. Bernoli hopes to convert some of them into a good alignment with a mixture of promoting empathy, appealing to ego, letting people know how much people look up to good people while trying to keep them close with baits of power in the future.
She uses Ancestral Advisor(Diplomacy) and takes 10 for 45.
She isn't expecting any kind of immediate results but hopes that working with the group over a long time can help push some in the right direction.


Helping out the farm

After the training for the day is completed Bernoli moves on to the next point on her list. She locates wherever Delaney is most likely to be and moves to that location. If there is anyone there she tells them that she is looking for Delaney.

[r2d2go]

It's really the only answer to your question - that's how he avoids being followed or spied on. The threat of retribution is too high.

Neither Ellisar or Gareth were at the places I mentioned you could try to find them.

The next party is in four days, at a small but expensive and high-class restaurant near Eli's home. It's under the guise of a birthday celebration for one of the guests.

You're right in that changing people's alignment is no easy process, but I will take into account your efforts.

You find Delaney fairly easily at her home in the outskirts of the city, near the farms. She seems very welcoming, inviting you in and offering you tea even before you relay any reason for being there, though she seems obviously stressed.

[Sønderjye]

I see.

I'm not having any expectations in regards to the alignment change. If nothing else it serves Bernoli's ego in that she "didn't give up" on anyone while simultaneously not making the world a worse place by giving power to people who couldn't use it responsibly.


Bernoli is suprised over the hospitality that she is shown but accepts politely. She looks around trying to get an impression of what Delaney's house tells about her and what kind of people that Delaney surrounds herself with. Discretely she tests the tea for poison and assuming it isn't poisonous she takes a sip.

[r2d2go]

How are you testing the tea for poison?

It's pretty hard to tell who Delaney works with by her interior decoration, but fortunately, you do have incidental information found while investigating her. Mostly, it's just a lot of farmers - generally hardworking laborers, who form small, tight-knit extended families within the larger farming community. They tend to have a certain distance and perhaps disdain for "city folk", but you know from before that Delaney's more concerned about infighting between them.

Walking inside the house, it seems to be cozy, if a bit messy - a small fireplace with a kettle sits in the far corner of the room, small streaks of ash marking the wood floor before it, and scattering of drawings transitioning from childish to what could be valuable works of art are pinned to the walls. Delaney, after retrieving the tea kettle, sits herself on a chair covered in furs on one side of the central table, whose slightly uneven surface is covered with a worn tablecloth, with an assortment of dishes and papers seemingly randomly spread across the surface. She gestures towards a few stools as well as another one of the larger chairs as she pours the tea into cups. "So, miss, what brings you here?"

[Sønderjye]

By casting detect poison. She'll try to do it discretely but with magic there is only so much you can do.

Very fortunate :smallbiggrin:


Bernoli tilts her head ever so slightly at the question. She doesn't know my name? If that is the case then chances are that she doesn't know who I am and still she allowed me into her home and offered me tea?
Rather than answering the question Bernoli voices her obvious confusion: "Do you know who I am?"

[r2d2go]

Noticing your casting but saying nothing, Delaney smiles and says, "Well, I heard you were asking around for me. And, well, my people have a good sense of who's dangerous, you know? I trust them, and so I trust you, to some degree. Besides, everyone could use some more friendliness in their lives, don't you think?"

No poison in your tea.

[Sønderjye]

Bernoli can't help herself smile at the warm attitude of Delaney. Foolish, yes but warm and that had been fairly uncommon on her travels.

"I am inclined to agree" she responds before taking another sip.

"Rumour has it that your farms are having a problem and I wanted to hear if you wanted help" Bernoli says casually..

"By the way this is delicious!" she genuinely flatters after yet another sip.

[r2d2go]

Looking slightly uncomfortable, Delaney puts on a strained smile, nodding. "Yes, there is a slight issue... it sounds like you know something of it. Why don't you tell me what you've got, so we're on even ground?"

[Sønderjye]

She doesn't show it but the strained smile confuses Bernoli. Shouldn't she be happy that someone were ready to help her. "Well" she says putting the tea down and turning more serious. "I know that your farms are being interfered with and that your morals makes you worth helping. I can find out what is going on." she says with confidence.

Allowing the offer to dangle in front of Delaney for a long second she continues:"However I will need something from you in return. I'll need your written word that you will keep my part in this a secret from others. There are people in this town that I do not wish to know of my capabilities."

[r2d2go]

"...what else do you need from me?" Delaney seems hesitant to accept, hopeful of your success but at the same doubting your, as far as she knows, unfounded confidence.

[Sønderjye]

"I'll need to see the farms but that's about it." Bernoli responds with a friendly but professional smile: "If you are asking about money don't worry. I'm not charging you anything although I will accept donations if you feel so inclined"

"You doubt me I see", she says not particularly suprised, it was expected after all: "But what do you have to lose by allowing me to help you?"

[r2d2go]

Leaning forward on the table and sipping her tea, Delaney looks you in the eyes, brow furrowed. As she puts down the tea, she says, "Nobody goes around solving real problems for nothing. Either this has a cost I'm not seeing, you can't deliver, or you've got an ulterior motive. I can't pin down what it is, but I'm not going to do anything I wouldn't anyway, until I figure you out."

[Sønderjye]

"Everyone could use some more friendliness in their lives, right?" Bernoli mirrors with a humerous smile, hoping to display the irony of Delaney's last statement becomes appearent to her.

"If it makes you feel better you are free to make a donation", she says with a shrug: "I am not willing to prove my abilities or my motive unless you are willing to give me your written word you won't tell anyone anything about me."

She sighs: "At any rate I will only help you if you wish, it isn't my intend to do it if you prefer me not to although I feel it is a shame."

People are really untrusting in this town huh.
I just wanted to ask how you wanted to run with diplomacy since I am assuming that we aren't using it as written.

[r2d2go]

Delaney grins, and shakes her head. "Friendliness, yes. But that costs nothing and gives little. Do what you will - if I see results, I might donate to you out of good will. But I won't be signing anything."

[Sønderjye]

At Delaney
"In some cases you are right. But it could, some people are willing to abuse friendlyness", Bernoli counters still friendly.

"I see" she says consealing her disappointment. "If you change your mind and decide that you want to give me your written word that you won't talk about my involvement in this let me know".

On the way to Sebatian

After leaving Delaney's home unfruitful Bernoli is a bit down and she had to remind herself why she needed those principles. She could find people who needed help without them knowing of her and any kind of publication would only give information that could be used against her.

Questions:
Using gather information: Who of the good-aligned people in the local community strongly needs help right now and what is it that they need help with?
What are the DC's of the disease Sebastian's dad has, where did it come from and how can it transfer to other people?

[r2d2go]

No groups are in dire need of assistance - the closest is, in fact, Delaney's farm.

In terms of individuals, your divine gathering detects a few people who recently had mortally wounding accidents - four, scattered across the city.

More detail on the disease can't come from Gather Information, as it is "simply unknown to common folk."

[Sønderjye]

Any of them of good alignment?

Bernoli uses her other stronger divinations on the disease.

[r2d2go]

Two of them are Good, but all of them are fairly far away - if they stabilize in the next minute or so, they'll survive, but they're all more than a minute away.

Even without seeing the diseased person in question, your formidable skills let you know that it is contagious, but curiously, nobody (even the son) seemed to have gotten the disease. You suspect there may be a magical condition to be met before someone contracts the disease, or perhaps before the symptoms (which are similar to bone cancer) manifest. Beyond that, you don't get much more than you already know - it's a hybrid curse/disease, so it's got a magical source of some kind.

[Sønderjye]

Knowing fully well that she won't make it in time, her hope makes her dart in the direction of the nearest good wounded person.

Knowing that Jared can move faster than her she sends him ahead, instructing him to report back what he sees on the way.

[r2d2go]

Jared zips ahead, and returns, but it seems the person has perished already.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]

[Sønderjye]

Jared would be reporting bacl through the telepathic link, not by physically comming back.

When you say perosh do you mean that they died or that someone removed their corpse?

[r2d2go]

They're dead, but the body is still there. Someone's trying to bandage the wound, but is coming to realize that they're dead. It's in a house, but getting in and out unseen is no problem for Jared.

[Sønderjye]

Out of sight Bernoli summons the power of revelation to her left hand. She then moves closer to the body, touches the skin of the face and looks with an apologizing look at whoever closest looks like they care the most for the person and after having said a small prayer she leaves.

Unless something else happens she'll concentrate on that spell for the rest of the day.

Casting touch of history (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/paizo-fans-united---3rd-party-spells/touch-of-history) on the person

Bluff to appear like she isn't concentrating on the spell [roll0]

[r2d2go]

Are you just walking into the person's house? Their door is unlocked, but they'll definitely notice you (unlike Jared).

There are things you could do to get in unbothered - Jared noticed they called for help at some point, and they've been saying prayers and whatnot. But just walking in will probably get you at least questioned nontrivially.

[Sønderjye]

We're in a house?

It's details like that, that could be important. What did Jared specifically see and hear?

Also some details on the house and who lives there: [roll0] gather information.

[r2d2go]

They're dead, but the body is still there. Someone's trying to bandage the wound, but is coming to realize that they're dead. It's in a house, but getting in and out unseen is no problem for Jared.

It's the house of one Cynthia Anton, a retired baker. She's watched over by her daughter-in-law, Sophie Anton.

[Sønderjye]

If there's noone outside the house, Bernoli calls upon her inner flame and drawing from the shadow realm she conjures a middle-aged man with a mild look on his weather-teared face dressed in priest robes. She gives the priest a quiet series of commands.

She then orders the power of revelation to her left hand and allows it to rest there before quickly entering the house closely followed by her minion. "You called for he.." she starts then abruptly stops mid sentence. "Aldrian, heal him" she says in a hushed tone as she herself also rushes to the side of the lying man. "Arete, I call thee, heal this man!" Aldrian says as his hands glow with a bright light that is then transfered into the body. He then puts his head close to the guy's mouth but when he draws away he has a sad expression. "We came too late" he says to Bernoli.

I missed the part about the house, my bad.

Casting Shadow Conjuration to replicate Summon Minion 3 (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/3rd-party-spells/rogue-genius-games---3rd-party-spells/summon-minion-i) to summon a 3rd lvl adept(which is found in the PF Gamemastery Guide)
Casting touch of history as before and holding the charge.

The summoned adept casts cure light wounds to heal [roll0] which I'm guessing is reduced to 1/5 since the guy is dead and therefore automatically makes the save against shadow conjuration.

I'm guessing that they have some reaction but if none of them react Bernoli will just take her leave after touching the man with her left hand with an apologizing look.

[r2d2go]

So, I assume you spend 1 minute casting? It doesn't require concentration afterwards, but casting time before. I won't start going through her history yet, so we can clarify.

Sophie looks up in hope as you and your conjured healer run in, then breaks down in tears when Cynthia is declared dead. Upon your touch, she flees, sobbing, even as you leave the house.

[roll0]

[Sønderjye]

I think that we have a different impression of the spell. My impression was that you cast the spell, touched someone and then went on casting the spell for however long you wanted to and that gave you an ammount of information depending on how long you spent on it afterwards. It seems that the text implies you do a cast, gain the information and then spent a lot of time processing it. Does this interpretation seem reasonable to you?

If not then yeah 1 minute is fine.

If it wasn't clear, the spell is cast on the corpse.

[r2d2go]

That's not how casting times work, though. I think the last bit is just saying that unless you ask specific questions/focus on specific things, you don't recall the information, as to prevent the DM from going through years of memories.

Leaving the building, you soon find the memories flooding your mind, almost like an intrusive mental force. The memories themselves are relatively mundane - mostly peaceful sleep, followed by an attempt to walk down for breakfast, and then, blackness and pain as the old woman falls down the stairs.

[Sønderjye]

That's fair.

Looking carefully at the memories, does it seem like the old woman was expecting to be hurt from something or that something made her fall down the stairs? Furthermore what was her name?