Tales of Crimson Darkness II

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky fades away from sight.


Skorne is in the rocky badlands and vast areas of flat land, there are no mountains within sight of the town. The nearest high mountain range is several days travel to the east, at the edge of Thay.

Gretreo does not have any cold weather gear, but then few in Thay do.

Thay is roughly like Afghanistan/Iran/Iraq, except it has no vast sandy deserts and has more vast rocky, broken lands ...mostly hot and dry where the temperature never gets too much close to freezing. And the weather is not at all natural, as the Red Wizards do control the weather to make sure the crops and farmlands get the needed water...and this does take water from elsewhere.

If you want some sort of ''survival story'' a heat/sun one would work perfectly.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky fades away from sight.


Skorne is in the rocky badlands and vast areas of flat land, there are no mountains within sight of the town. The nearest high mountain range is several days travel to the east, at the edge of Thay.

Gretreo does not have any cold weather gear, but then few in Thay do.

Thay is roughly like Afghanistan/Iran/Iraq, except it has no vast sandy deserts and has more vast rocky, broken lands ...mostly hot and dry where the temperature never gets too much close to freezing. And the weather is not at all natural, as the Red Wizards do control the weather to make sure the crops and farmlands get the needed water...and this does take water from elsewhere.

If you want some sort of ''survival story'' a heat/sun one would work perfectly.



"All right, I think everything's in order. Let's go."

Hissra walks towards the street to try and figure out which building is the Old Tusk, and then turns back to where Snagazod was. "Just so you know, the spell doesn't break if you talk, but if you do so while anyone's listening they'll probably guess you're there."

Hissra keeps his eyes near Snagazod's feet for just long enough to be sure he's following.

Well, then spinning a tale where Gretreo backed off because Hissra got picked up by Aurilites is probably out. That leaves Malarites and Banites, since I can't imagine Umberlee has any worshipers nearby either. Of the two, I think Hissra would get along better with Banites.

I think I will throw in the detail where Gretreo backed off because he didn't have the gear to survive in the hot sun, though; I'd wanted there to be some reason why he didn't follow the group to try and gain what information he could and maybe take Hissra out while the group slept (Or most of the group, since a group large enough to scare Gretreo off would be large enough to have someone keep watch.

Would knowing whether the colors of the robes the women were wearing were significant fall under Knowledge: Arcana, Knowledge: Nobility, or Knowledge: Local?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Ok" says a voice from the nothingness.



Not having the gear for the heat is just like not having it for the cold. To trek into some rocky badlands with no shade and you don't have anything to cover yourself with...or worse, don't have much water is never a good idea.

You could just say you lost them.

Knowledge Local would cover such things.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Ok" says a voice from the nothingness.



Not having the gear for the heat is just like not having it for the cold. To trek into some rocky badlands with no shade and you don't have anything to cover yourself with...or worse, don't have much water is never a good idea.

You could just say you lost them.

Knowledge Local would cover such things.



Yeah. I've been on the receiving end of heatstroke. It messes you up. And worse, it snuck up on me. I honestly think I might have died if I hadn't gotten it in a very public place with responsible adults around who figured out what had happened and helped me recover. I have no trouble believing someone could die of it if they're as careless as I was, alone, or especially both.

I don't want to make Gretreo look too incompetent. He was a worthy enough opponent that I (and Hissra) don't want to do that to him, and anyway if I make him look too bad Yuuta might just slam the door in "his" face in disgust. Besides that I have trouble believing Gretreo could lose Hissra and a largish group, but the story needs to include "Gretreo" watching Hissra meet a largish group that "Gretreo" could spend some time describing. Ideally one that sounds dangerous enough to make Yuuta sit up and take note. If the group's members are people that are credible enemies of one of Kabhsenuf's allies (Aramil Dsuke, who specifically mentioned Talos) so much the better.

Speaking of which, what are Bane's favored symbols and colors?

I don't have points in Knowledge: Local, so that's out.

Hissra nods, and keeps walking out of the alleyway to find the Old Tusk. He deliberately moves at the standard speed for a Prime Material Humanoid rather than his own slightly faster speed so that Snagazod can keep up without undue effort.

[Darth Ultron]

The Old Tusk is easy enough to find, it is one of the few buildings with a canvas sign with a huge picture of a of a large white tusk on it.




Bane:Black and a closed fist.

[whiteflash]

The Old Tusk is easy enough to find, it is one of the few buildings with a canvas sign with a huge picture of a of a large white tusk on it.




Bane:Black and a closed fist.


Hissra turns back for a second to make sure that footprints are forming behind him, then turns back towards the Old Tusk.

Thanks.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky makes footprints.

The Old Tusk is an old building, a boarding house with five large rooms for rent for long sets of time. The ''sixth'' spot is the office/living area of the owner: an older male orc sits on a fur rug carving something out of a chunk of wood.

Each of the rooms has two small windows and single door, each with a ''I" or "II" or "III" or "IIII" or "IIIII", and that door opens to the outside.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky makes footprints.

The Old Tusk is an old building, a boarding house with five large rooms for rent for long sets of time. The ''sixth'' spot is the office/living area of the owner: an older male orc sits on a fur rug carving something out of a chunk of wood.

Each of the rooms has two small windows and single door, each with a ''I" or "II" or "III" or "IIII" or "IIIII", and that door opens to the outside.

So it's like a modern motel? No main interior space? That helps.

Since Hissra's about to knock on the door and speak: Hissra didn't directly talk to Gretreo at any point, but I remember you narrating that Gretreo was speaking without getting into exact words. So, was Gretreo speaking in typical orc fashion, or was he using proper grammar?

[Darth Ultron]

Technically it's more like a Bed and Breakfast.

Gretreo spoke like a typical orc, so not quite perfect speech, like Snagazod .

[whiteflash]

Technically it's more like a Bed and Breakfast.

Gretreo spoke like a typical orc, so not quite perfect speech, like Snagazod .


Thanks.

Hissra double checks to make sure the footprints have caught up to him and, raps on the door medium-hard when he sees that they have. "Yuuta Mori? This be Gretreo Seekerslayer. Me ran into problem dealing with Hissra. Me think you need to know what happened. Could be bad."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky makes footprints.

Yuuta Mori quickly opens the door as soon as you start speaking. "Do nots speek such things outsides, in quickly!"

Yuuta Mori is a male orc with light red skin and black hair. He is wearing nicely made black fur clothing, and is not wearing an visible weapon.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky makes footprints.

Yuuta Mori quickly opens the door as soon as you start speaking. "Do nots speek such things outsides, in quickly!"

Yuuta Mori is a male orc with light red skin and black hair. He is wearing nicely made black fur clothing, and is not wearing an visible weapon.

"Well, me come in, but it not really likely anybody spying on you. This is Skorne. Bounty mark just try to kill me in marketplace and nobody care. Everyone mind they own business."

"Gretreo" emphasizes this looking around at all the rubberneckers he (probably correctly) imagines there aren't, hoping that this gives Snagazod had time to slip in the door but not daring to look down at his footprints to check for fear of Yuuta following his gaze.

In my experience as a gamer a red orc means something funny is going on, but my experience as a gamer led me to believe that Invisibility spells break if the target sneezes too hard, so... is Yuuta the first red orc Hissra has seen so far?

Also, where is Yuuta relative to the door? Does it look like Snagazod can go past him without bumping him?

[Darth Ultron]

Yuuta Mori moves himself over half behind the door, leaving lots of open space for you to walk inside the room.

There are a dozen or so people on the street...but no one is looking towards the Old Tusk.



Red orcs are uncommon, so Hissra has seen a couple around. Skorne is mostly a gray orc town (like Snagazod the Sneaky ). Red Orcs are also the ones altered by the Red Wizards and much more likely to have magical abilities.

[whiteflash]

Yuuta Mori moves himself over half behind the door, leaving lots of open space for you to walk inside the room.

There are a dozen or so people on the street...but no one is looking towards the Old Tusk.



Red orcs are uncommon, so Hissra has seen a couple around. Skorne is mostly a gray orc town (like Snagazod the Sneaky ). Red Orcs are also the ones altered by the Red Wizards and much more likely to have magical abilities.


"Gretreo" shrugs and walks in after the speech, hoping that Snagazod has had time to sneak in, or that he can sneak in later if he hasn't. (Because either way, Hissra probably can't try any harder than that without raising suspicion. If he hasn't already.)

"Okay, should me start from when someone with magic try to kill me in market, or with the bit where I sees Hissra leaving Skorne in big group?"

Do I need to make a Knowledge Arcana check or something to know that last sentence in-character, or is that bit free?

[Darth Ultron]

Yuuta Mori "The beginning. Start at the beginning. Tell me everything." he says as he quickly closes the door.


Nothing to really roll about....

[whiteflash]

Yuuta Mori "The beginning. Start at the beginning. Tell me everything." he says as he quickly closes the door.


Nothing to really roll about....

Okay. Thanks.

"Me... think the story start with me asking around the market trying to find Hissra. Me got attacked by three weird snakes, but they vanish before me could kill them. That pretty obviously magic. Me think Hissra must have been in market, and heard me looking for him. Either that or someone else try to kill me while me wasn't looking for them, which be weird coinkydence, especially given what happen later. Anyway, the snakes managed to get their teeth in me, and me wasn't feeling so good, so me decide to go home and get antivenom. But me was just passing a jewel-er-ry store when me feel someone put something into me boot, and hear someone shouting that me was thief."

Gretreo shrugs. "Me think Hissra not like me much."

[Darth Ultron]

Yuuta Mori "Yes, maybe summoned snakes. I did warn you he was a wizard of illusion, mostly shadowstuff.

But...ow would he know you were after him? Did you blab to every orc in the market that you were looking for Hissra or something?

And did you see him at all? Ever? Any what about him leaving town with a group.?"

[whiteflash]

Yuuta Mori "Yes, maybe summoned snakes. I did warn you he was a wizard of illusion, mostly shadowstuff."He maybe summoned them. Someone must have, because they wasn't an illusion. The snakes was real. Their fangs hurt. Me pretty sure they had real poison."
But...ow would he know you were after him? Did you blab to every orc in the market that you were looking for Hissra or something?"Gretreo" looks at Yuuta with some confusion. "Me ask around trying to find him. Maybe he hear while me was asking? Was that problem? It worked. Me found him."


and did you see him at all? Ever? Any what about him leaving town with a group?"

"Me see him, but not during these attacks. Like I said, these attacks could have been someone else. But me think they was him, because for someone else to attack me with magic would be big coinkydence... and because me know he was involved with next person to try to kill me."

"Gretreo" sighs. "You said everything, so next attack was at me house. Me use Invisibility item to dodge guards someone (again: me think was Hissra) trick into trying to kill me, and then go home because me feel sick from snakebites. Me just drink antivenom when hawk come through me window screaming. Me think this another summon, because when me slice it in half it vanish like snakes. Then me hear orc swearing behind me and trying to run. Me think plan was to use hawk as distraction so orc can stab me in back, but that not go so good."

"Me not know who orc was, because I didn't get good look at face, and because orc was wearing face coverings. Not mask for disguise: orc was dressed for long walk in hot sun, including face cover. Me lose him, but me follow his prints. He move slower once he lost me, so I was able to catch up by the time he meet large group outside town."

"Hissra was in that group. Hissra didn't have face cover on, but he had it with him, and other than that he dressed exact same way that orc was. He and the orc start talking when they get close. Me not hear words, but me think they were arguing."

I haven't forgotten that Hissra originally heard about the bounty from Grazus Darkspell. But he wouldn't risk Grazus suffering for talking on the off-chance that this goes wrong, and anyway I'm not sure the real Gretreo would have made that connection.

Something that occurred to me while I was considering this post: what color(s) were the orcs (and half-orcs) Hissra encountered at Tantawi's manor?

[Darth Ultron]

Yuuta Mori "all right then. Let me get this all down on a scroll."

Yuuta grabs a scroll, can of ink and a quill and starts to write down everything you told him.



Gray orcs...like most of the others around the town.

[whiteflash]

Yuuta Mori "all right then. Let me get this all down on a scroll."

Yuuta grabs a scroll, can of ink and a quill and starts to write down everything you told him.



Gray orcs...like most of the others around the town.


"That not all that might be important, but me wait until you done. That kind of a lot to write down while also listening."

So, there's that, and the fact that the orc at the temple agreed that "Yuuta Mori" didn't sound much like an orcish name...

There's other ways either of those could be explained, but still: do I see any evidence that Yuuta is under an illusion? For example, do I see his hands intersecting with the objects he's holding in any way, or his tongue or cheeks clipping through his teeth?

Also, while Hissra's making sure to keep his eyes firmly on Yuuta and so wouldn't see anything happening, does he hear Snagazod trying anything?

[Darth Ultron]

Yuuta Mori writes quickly and fills up the scroll.



Should you suspect an illusion...any time...you can always study whatever it is and try a disbelief save to see if you notice anything about the illusion...if it is an illusion.

Of course he could also be something other then an illusion...like shapeshifting.

You don't hear any foot steps...but Snagazod the Sneaky does have the skill Move Silently.....

...But you can try a Listen check if you want to try and hear anything.

[whiteflash]

Yuuta Mori writes quickly and fills up the scroll.



Should you suspect an illusion...any time...you can always study whatever it is and try a disbelief save to see if you notice anything about the illusion...if it is an illusion.

Of course he could also be something other then an illusion...like shapeshifting.

You don't hear any foot steps...but Snagazod the Sneaky does have the skill Move Silently.....

...But you can try a Listen check if you want to try and hear anything.



Well, [roll0] to see if that's an illusion, and [roll1] to listen for Snagazod.

Has it been six minutes since I cast that Invisibility spell, yet?

"Right. Well, that group Hissra was with... they was all dressed in same kind of clothing the orc and Hissra was. Robes and face coverings, like they was going for walk in the sun. And they did. They headed to southwest. All maybe-twelve of them. Don't... don't Kahbsenuf Tantawi live around there?"

[Darth Ultron]

You don't see any illusions and don't hear any footsteps.

It would be around five minutes or so....

[whiteflash]

You don't see any illusions and don't hear any footsteps.

It would be around five minutes or so....

Then the invisibility would only last another minute?

"Me also notice one had this amulet on black chain. Me not close enough to see what was on the end, but me did see person was muttering to it. Even... kissed it at one point, me think."

"Gretreo" sighs. "That about all me can think to tell you. Any questions?"

[Darth Ultron]

Yuuta Mori "Yes, yes, questions...."


Just as he is struck from behind!


[roll0]
[roll1] [roll2]


The sword strike cutting into Yuuta's back...wounding him.

Snagazod the Sneaky fades into view holding the bloody sword.

[whiteflash]

Yuuta Mori "Yes, yes, questions...."


Just as he is struck from behind!


[roll0]
[roll1] [roll2]


The sword strike cutting into Yuuta's back...wounding him.

Snagazod the Sneaky fades into view holding the bloody sword.

Hissra smiles as he goes for the triple scroll of Shadow Spray. Oh me of little faith.

"Me kind of curious what they were." He draws the scroll. "It's a shame I'm never going to know. Could you say hello to some friends of mine for me? Their names are Foppo and Nuxd Boneeater."

So, drawing and casting the scroll is two standard actions, right? Can I do both of those during the surprise round, since I don't intend to move?

[Darth Ultron]

To manipulate an item, like pulls a scroll out of where your carrying/storing it is a move action. The casting of the spell is a standard action.....but you can take a move and standard action in one round.

So, yes you can surprise attack

[whiteflash]

To manipulate an item, like pulls a scroll out of where your carrying/storing it is a move action. The casting of the spell is a standard action.....but you can take a move and standard action in one round.

So, yes you can surprise attack



Oh. Well, I'll remember that.

Anyway, Hissra casts the scroll.

Is the Save DC my usual for a second level spell? If so, it's 16.

[Darth Ultron]

Yuuta Mori drops the scroll, quill and ink.


[roll0]

[whiteflash]

Wow. That wouldn't save against much of anything.

That was both my actions, so I can't pick up the scroll to make sure nobody steps on it.

If I asked Snagazod not to step on it, and Yuuta heard me, would he be in any shape to step on it himself out of spite?

And did enough ink splash on it that this whole question is moot? Or did it land facedown or something?

[Darth Ultron]

The ink bottle falls well away from the scroll. The scroll is right at Yuuta's feet.


Round 1

Initiative

Snagazod the Sneaky [roll0]

Yuuta Mori [roll1]

[whiteflash]

Well, I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut and hope Snagazod gets him this round.

[roll0]

So, the Daze doesn't wear off until the end of Yuuta's turn?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky quickly goes for another strike.



[roll0]
[roll1] [roll2]




Yes.


Snagazod the Sneaky's sword cuts deep into Yuuta Mori's body sending grayish blood flying everywhere, but Yuuta does not fall.

[whiteflash]

That's a natural nineteen. That's within a short sword's critical threat range, right?

Anyway, if Yuuta does manage to stay standing through that blow I think I should probably cast that scroll again, just in case.

[Darth Ultron]

Yes it is....note Snagazod has a long sword (1d8 damage), not a short sword (1d6)....but the crit range is the same




[roll0]



Snagazod does swing his sword very skillfully and gets a good hit...and twists the blade in the wound....


Yuuta Mori's body falls apart into a pile of gray chunks of odd material.

[whiteflash]

Yes it is....note Snagazod has a long sword (1d8 damage), not a short sword (1d6)....but the crit range is the same




[roll0]



Snagazod does swing his sword very skillfully and gets a good hit...and twists the blade in the wound....


Yuuta Mori's body falls apart into a pile of gray chunks of odd material.

Oh. Right. Thanks for the correction.

"Nice. Thanks again for the help."

Hissra puts away the scroll and goes to look over the report to see if it is still legible. (And, for that matter, whether it mostly matches the story he'd spun to Yuuta.)

[Darth Ultron]

The scroll is laying on the floor, next to the pile of chunks of gray matter. It's written nicely in common, and is word for word what you said.

Snagazod the Sneaky pokes the gray stuff with his sword "Me no think he was an orc at all."

[whiteflash]

The scroll is laying on the floor, next to the pile of chunks of gray matter. It's written nicely in common, and is word for word what you said.

Snagazod the Sneaky pokes the gray stuff with his sword "Me no think he was an orc at all."

"Huh. I... think you're right. It occurred to me a while ago that he might have been under an illusion, since the name didn't sound Orcish to either of us and sounded Eastern to the priest, and since all of Tantawi's orcish servants were grey orcs. But... maybe we're looking at something weirder here."

Question one: does this look like the remains of a freshly slain, formerly living creature with bizarre coloration? Or am I looking at something inorganic? (It's starting to sound like the latter, but I wanted to be sure before I went any further.)

Question two: are his clothes and equipment intact, or did they melt into the pile of whatever-this-is along with his flesh?

[Darth Ultron]

The pile of gray chunks of matter don't look inorganic exactly....but they sure don't look like normal natural parts of a life form, unless you count things like oozes, as they are very much alive.

Most of the items Yuuta Mori was wearing fell apart into gray chunks, except for two bone scroll cases and a single dagger.

[whiteflash]

The pile of gray chunks of matter don't look inorganic exactly....but they sure don't look like normal natural parts of a life form, unless you count things like oozes, as they are very much alive.

Most of the items Yuuta Mori was wearing fell apart into gray chunks, except for two bone scroll cases and a single dagger.

Hissra takes the two scroll cases. "I'll look through these later. I hope it's something I like." He picks up the dagger by the blade (being sure to only apply pressure to the flat and to keep his fingers well clear of the edges) and holds it out to Snagazod hilt-first. "Did you want a spare? If not, maybe I could use one."

So, assuming this is something from the standard creatures and phenomena, my best guess would be a doppelganger. (I kinda feel like that's stating the obvious, but then again I don't know the material well enough to be sure there's nothing else it could be.) Anyway, does Hissra have to roll to make that guess, or would he just know that was a possibility?

Also, are there enough solid bits in Yuuta's head that it could survive being put in a bag and carried across town? Or would I have to find a solid box and carry it carefully to avoid shaking his semi-solid skull?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me got plenty of daggers."

It's hard to tell what gray chunks and blobs might have been the ''head'', but you can sure take a bit off the top where the head was...



If by ''standard'' do you mean in Core or what?

You are always free to guess, and Hissra can guess too. You don't need to roll to guess (how many ranks does Hissra have in the skill Guess...lol)

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me got plenty of daggers."

It's hard to tell what gray chunks and blobs might have been the ''head'', but you can sure take a bit off the top where the head was...



If by ''standard'' do you mean in Core or what?

You are always free to guess, and Hissra can guess too. You don't need to roll to guess (how many ranks does Hissra have in the skill Guess...lol)



"I'll keep it then." Hissra puts the dagger away.

"I'm guessing this guy was a doppelganger. A creature with the natural ability to disguise himself. I... don't know why Kabsenuf Tantawi bothered trying this, though. I don't fit in, but nobody's tried to murder me. Maybe he thought an orc would draw less attention, and be less likely to come to my attention? (Or our attention, if his information is that good.)"

"Mind you that is just a guess. He could have been anything, really. Scrolls suggest a mage of some sort, and that could just as easily explain Yuuta looking like something he wasn't. And for that matter he worked for a wizard..."

Hissra blows out a breath. "I wanted to leave his transcript of my account of our fight with Gretreo where it fell, and hope whoever finds it believes it's true and reports it to the Red Wizard. In case you missed any of it, about half of what I said is true, but I made sure to stay away from any truth that might actually help the Red Wizard and his minions and told a big lie at the end that might draw heat away from us if they believe it. Kabsenuf Tantawi buying it seems like a long shot, especially given what the Red Wizards are supposed to be capable of with divination, but trying costs us nothing."

"As for how we can magically gain information on Kabhsenuf..." Hissra turns to the grey, gooey corpse.
I was referring to all the stuff that isn't homebrew, really. Srd, whatever else is in Core but not Srd, or really any Wizards rulebook anyone uses. I don't know how much of that you use, though. And I thought the four spells I found in Ogolkil's office had to be homebrew, since I googled them and couldn't find them.

But anyway, assuming this isn't homebrew, I thought it was probably a doppelganger. And if it's Core, or especially Srd, I think it would have to be. I don't know of any other natural shapechangers in the game that could do this, and I don't see much point to including another in the Srd.

As for the head (or the pieces roughly cooresponding to it), is it (or are they) solid enough that it looks like it could survive being carried in a sack? Or would Snagazod and Hissra have to be careful with it lest they shake it apart?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well...um, me know he no orc. " with a shrug.





Well, Google does not always work....even worse as they are Evil Corporate Company.

This one is in the books...but there are a ton of creatures...even just in Core/SDR and not everyone has a great memory.

The gray chunks are semi solid...think like Jello

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well...um, me know he no orc. " with a shrug.





Well, Google does not always work....even worse as they are Evil Corporate Company.

This one is in the books...but there are a ton of creatures...even just in Core/SDR and not everyone has a great memory.

The gray chunks are semi solid...think like Jello


"Maybe we can ask him what he was, if it turns out he's something that can be made to talk the same way the temple did Gretreo. Maybe we need some way to carry the head carefully, though. Make sure it doesn't fall apart." Hissra looks around to see if there's a solid wooden box in easy reach.

Well, I found another shapechanger in the srd. Can't imagine how I forgot that succubi and incubi can shapeshift. Seriously, there's a major succubus character in OOtS that abuses that power a lot. And you didn't say this was Srd, or that I should rule out the other stuff Hissra just mentioned...

I think I'll roll Knowledge: Planes to know what happens when an outsider dies. [roll0]

Hey, if I wanted to roll something to know what happens when a doppelganger dies, what roll would that be? (Edit: Never mind. It's Dungeoneering. I don't have that one. Edit2: Wait, I was wrong. Doppelgangers are Monstrous Humanoids, not Aberrations, so that means it's Nature. But, anyway, is that basic enough to be DC 10? If so, I think I can do that untrained.)

And for that matter, I'll roll Knowledge: Arcana and Knowledge: Religion (in case this creature is some form of undead or a manifestation of divine magic) to see if I know what this stuff is. [roll1] for Arcana, and [roll2] for Religion.

[whiteflash]

Dang dice-roller glitched. Maybe it's because I tried to preview my post. Anyway...

[roll0] for Knowledge: Planes
[roll1] for Knowledge: Arcana
[roll2] for Knowledge: Religion

[Darth Ultron]

There are no wooden boxes in the room. There is a big heavy wooden chest and a clay bucket.

Knowledge: Planes, Hissra does not recall anything.

Knowledge: Arcana: In just about all cases anything that changes shape will revert back to it's true natural form (if it has one) when it dies.

Knowledge: Religion: Hissra does not know of any religion based around this.




Not that you need to be a SRD expert or anything...but there are a couple shapeshifters there.

[whiteflash]

There are no wooden boxes in the room. There is a big heavy wooden chest and a clay bucket.

Knowledge: Planes, Hissra does not recall anything.

Knowledge: Arcana: In just about all cases anything that changes shape will revert back to it's true natural form (if it has one) when it dies.

Knowledge: Religion: Hissra does not know of any religion based around this.




Not that you need to be a SRD expert or anything...but there are a couple shapeshifters there.


"Hm. Openly carrying a head in a bucket might draw some stares. But... that's not openly a head, is it? We don't even have to admit to knowing what it is, if some busybody looks into it. Though as I said to that pile of grey grease, nobody here seems to care what we get up to anyway."

"Anyway. Let's search the place, then... well, I still look like Gretreo. Maybe I can pretend I have no idea what's going on, or what that is, and ask the owner if he knows where Yuuta is. Maybe ask some questions when I'm done."

Okay, Knowledge Arcana and Knowledge Planes are straightforward. Just to be sure, though: I rolled Knowledge: Religion because it covers undead. When you say Hissra doesn't know anything on that score, does that mean this isn't recognizably an undead of any sort, or a phenomenon tied to them?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Don't look like a head to mes."

The table has several more blank sheets of paper, and a small bundle of ones with writing on them tied with a piece of twine. There is also a clay cup of water, and a 'wheel' of dry cheeses.

Snagazod the Sneaky finds a metal box under the bed with a good lock. He opens it and reveals the 5,000 gold coins inside of it.


Yes, it's does not match any undead you have heard of

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Don't look like a head to mes."

The table has several more blank sheets of paper, and a small bundle of ones with writing on them tied with a piece of twine. There is also a clay cup of water, and a 'wheel' of dry cheeses.

Snagazod the Sneaky finds a metal box under the bed with a good lock. He opens it and reveals the 5,000 gold coins inside of it.


Yes, it's does not match any undead you have heard of


"Not much like a head, no..." Hissra sighs. "Well, we'll take it to the temple, see what they can do. Of course, if they agree to try the money they'll charge is coming out of my share of that." Hissra indicates the gold.

Hissra approaches the sheaf of papers. "If they charge at all..."

Since I haven't decided whether I'd rather take the papers, or simply leave them exactly as they were and hope whoever searches the scene assumes I didn't see them, can Hissra read them without picking them up or undoing the tie?

Thanks. Just wanted to be sure.

One last question, though: if I wanted to use Knowledge:
Arcana to figure out if this could be a spell or a construct or something, would I need to make another check, or would we use the fifteen?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky just shrugs.

The papers look to be some sort of journal. The top one describes a day of just sitting around the room waiting for any news and how bored he was doing it.


Sure you can use the 15, unless you want to re-roll.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky just shrugs.

The papers look to be some sort of journal. The top one describes a day of just sitting around the room waiting for any news and how bored he was doing it.


Sure you can use the 15, unless you want to re-roll.


"Well, we'll see."

Is there a date on the entry that Hissra can see? And for that matter, does the Plane of Shadow use the same calendar as the Prime Material plane? (Assuming that there is just one Prime Material calendar, and that I shouldn't be asking about a calendar specific to Thay.) Or if the calendars aren't the same, would Hissra know what date it is by the Prime Material (or Thayvian) calendar?

Does that entry get any more specific than that on what sort of news he was waiting for, or how long he's been there?

And about how many pages long does the journal seem to be?

I should probably reroll. I could believe that this is obscure enough to need more than a fifteen, and it's only a one-in-twenty chance that this will backfire given that this fifteen was the result of a natural two. So, [roll0] to know whether or not this could be a construct's ability or the result of a spell. (Though I'm starting to doubt it from the sound of that journal entry, even though I was leaning in that direction before I read this post.)

[Darth Ultron]

The journal does not have a date, but the top one does say ''day 33'', but the stack of papers is only 11 pages, so some must not be here or he did not write one everyday or is using some other form of numbers to count them. The entry is not specific, but then he likely knew what he was writing about.

The Plane of Shadow does not use a Prime plane calendar, as it has no sun, planet, seasons, etc.

Of course, every place in the world has it's own calendar.


There are a couple spells...even some Shadow spells, that let a spellcaster make a temporary servant or copy a living one to send out to a dangerous place. Simulacrum, and clone are two obvious ones.

There are constructs that could be made as well, though most are much more obviously artificial.

[whiteflash]

The journal does not have a date, but the top one does say ''day 33'', but the stack of papers is only 11 pages, so some must not be here or he did not write one everyday or is using some other form of numbers to count them. The entry is not specific, but then he likely knew what he was writing about.

The Plane of Shadow does not use a Prime plane calendar, as it has no sun, planet, seasons, etc.

Of course, every place in the world has it's own calendar.


There are a couple spells...even some Shadow spells, that let a spellcaster make a temporary servant or copy a living one to send out to a dangerous place. Simulacrum, and clone are two obvious ones.

There are constructs that could be made as well, though most are much more obviously artificial.



About how long is the entry Hissra can see? A paragraph? Two? Or is it the whole of a reasonably large sheet of paper? And while I'd assumed someone like Hissra can skim a paragraph well enough to get the basic meaning in about a second or two, are there actual rules on how long it takes to read that contradict that idea?

I see. Thanks. Yeah, I'd figured that for the same calendar to apply to the entire world didn't make sense, and that the same calendar applying to several planes would make even less. So, does that mean Hissra doesn't know what date it is, by whatever calendar the Thayvians use?

Neither spell perfectly fits this. The description for Clone gives me the impression that Hissra wouldn't have any clue that anything had happened that wasn't supposed to; Yuuta would have simply died in front of him and woken up in a laboratory someplace out of Hissra's sight. Simulacrum works better, and might even explain the non-construct-like behaviors of keeping a journal and suffering boredom, but the version described in the srd wouldn't result in the exact type of false corpse Hissra sees.

But that's not to say I've concluded this is impossible. I'd imagine a variation of one of those spells that fits the description you've given is possible. I'd especially imagine that it shouldn't be that hard to rewrite the Simularcrum spell to use animal fat or some other substance that is more common in Thay than ice or snow would be. But does Hissra know if a spell that perfectly fits what he sees has been done before? Or if one of these spells has been used to create a golem that this fits with perfectly?

And of course if Kabhsenuf Tantawi has a spell slot he can cast either out of then it's a good idea to avoid him for the time being, but I'd already guessed that much.

[Darth Ultron]

Hissra can read the whole entry on the top of the stack of bundled papers. And a couple lines from the ones under that of like ''today I waited-"


No reading rules. And no reason Hissra would know the calendar.

Neither spell fits perfectly.

[whiteflash]

Hissra can read the whole entry on the top of the stack of bundled papers. And a couple lines from the ones under that of like ''today I waited-"


No reading rules. And no reason Hissra would know the calendar.

Neither spell fits perfectly.



Well, my guess is that Hissra can skim a paragraph in under a second, if he doesn't care too much about getting the whole meaning. If that sounds fair I guess he picks up the journal and scans the whole thing looking for any names or any units of measurement of time.

One other thing he'd look for: what's the day number of the second entry? And the third? That might help me pick out a pattern. Edit: Maybe the fourth for good measure, but no farther. I'm trying to have Hissra economize on his time spent.

Yeah. Well, if it ever comes up I can probably ask someone. Probably not someone from Skorne, but it's not likely to come up in Skorne.

Yeah. Okay, I'm back to guessing this is a natural shapechanger, then.

[Darth Ultron]

The pages look like a diary a day, looking to be written at the end of the day. The pile is only a couple weeks worth.


Or unnatural Shapechanger...dum, dum ,dum.

[whiteflash]

The pages look like a diary a day, looking to be written at the end of the day. The pile is only a couple weeks worth.


Or unnatural Shapechanger...dum, dum ,dum.


Does Hissra see any names (such as his own, or Kabhsenuf Tantawi's, or Aramil Dsuke's) or any units of measurement of time (such as days or weeks?)

Or, do you judge that looking for those specifically would take as about as long as just skimming the entire journal? (Or what I can find of it?) If I wouldn't lose any time just reading the whole thing, obviously I should just do that.

Yeah, I can't really rule that out yet.

When you said that most constructs would be more obviously artificial, what does that mean? Would most constructs have been easy to tell from the real deal while I was watching them? Or would I have had to look for some little hidden clue that they weren't real? Or do you just mean that I when I killed them they'd show some flashy, obvious tell like melting into a pool of organic goop?

And you said most constructs would be more obviously artificial than a natural shapechanger... what are the real hard-to-spot options?

[Darth Ultron]

You could just grab the papers, to read them will take a couple minutes...maybe like 10 minutes.


Many Constructs like Golems, Shield Guardians, Helmed Horrors, and Effigys look like ''moving statues'' and are very clearly not natural living creatures. Even the living type constructs, like Warforged and Mordons still ''look'' like artificial objects shaped like people. Only a few, like the Homunculus look like a ''real living creature''.

[whiteflash]

You could just grab the papers, to read them will take a couple minutes...maybe like 10 minutes.


Many Constructs like Golems, Shield Guardians, Helmed Horrors, and Effigys look like ''moving statues'' and are very clearly not natural living creatures. Even the living type constructs, like Warforged and Mordons still ''look'' like artificial objects shaped like people. Only a few, like the Homunculus look like a ''real living creature''.




I want to read them, but I'm not sure about taking that long while I'm still running down the clock on that spell and standing in potentially hostile territory.

Hissra puts the journal away for later. "Okay. We'll take the cheese too. I think." Hissra quickly looks it up and down to see that it isn't hard, or moldy, or a piece of wax designed to look like food in order to help a construct keep up appearances or anything.

The description of what a dead homunculus does (it "melts into ichor") sounds awfully familiar for some reason.

Okay, I have three questions: would Hissra be able to recognize the "ichor" that homunculi dissolve into? If so is this a match for it? And is Kabhsenuf Tantawi's manor within the slightly more than a quarter mile (or 457.2 meters) that homuncli are willing to stray from their masters?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "We should get going"



Ichor is a bit vague to recognize. It's looks/sounds similar. Your many miles from Kabhsenuf Tantawi's manor.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "We should get going"



Ichor is a bit vague to recognize. It's looks/sounds similar. Your many miles from Kabhsenuf Tantawi's manor.



"We should, yeah. Let's leave the head. I think it might be a construct's head, and at any rate gathering it up might be a problem."

"Do you think the guy who owns this place is likely to know anything about this guy? What he was, where he came from, anything concrete about what the hell he was? If so, it might be worth me keeping this disguise spell on and talking to him. If not, we should just go."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me thinks not. Good business is to not ask questions. We should just go."

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me thinks not. Good business is to not ask questions. We should just go."

"I see your point. Let's do that."

Hissra looks out the window to see if they have any company before he opens the door.

[Darth Ultron]

Outside the window is clear of any activity. There are a couple orcs on the street, walking around in different directions, but no one is looking your way or anything like that.

[whiteflash]

Outside the window is clear of any activity. There are a couple orcs on the street, walking around in different directions, but no one is looking your way or anything like that.

Hissra sighs in relief and steps out through the door. "I'd rather not specifically state what our plans were for the night, since it's possible (and depending on what exactly we just killed maybe even probable) that we're being scryed on right now. So without going into more detail as to what we have lined up, are we heading to work now, or should we wait?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky looks around. "Me see no spys. Guess you used up your magic, hum? So we can't loot more today?""

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky looks around. "Me see no spys. Guess you used up your magic, hum? So we can't loot more today?""

"Well, remember that when dealing with wizards, not seeing a spy doesn't have to mean much."

"I still have some magic left, but none of it's going to be particularly useful in a fight, so we have no backup plan if we get caught. How safe do you think that housecall we wanted to make would be? You know, the one we got pointed out to us by the talking head?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe not safe. Maybe good to wait. "

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe not safe. Maybe good to wait. "

"All right then. Maybe we should go someplace quiet where we're not likely to be interrupted? I have some reading to do."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky leads the way back out to the road, and casual walks along and eventually back to the now empty house. No one on the street overly notices the two of you or reacts in any way.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky leads the way back out to the road, and casual walks along and eventually back to the now empty house. No one on the street overly notices the two of you or reacts in any way.

"Yeah, this is the place for it. It should be safe, but... well, let me know if anyone shows up."

Hissra starts by taking out the journal and reading through it. You told me he's already read the top one, so he starts at the second one.

[Darth Ultron]

Page two is a lot like the first: describing waiting around, and more waiting. He wonders if he should look himself, but decides to stay put.

[whiteflash]

Hm. Let's see... my first full day here I stole an orb for Ogolkil, my second day was a spree of independent thievery... this is my third.

He can't have been searching for me the entire time he was writing this journal, if each entry was written on a different day. Not even if Kabhsenuf guessed that I'd come here before I actually arrived. Was I a side objective? Is there someone else he's looking for? I remember Snagazod saying that Grazus Darkspell hates humans, and might have come to hate humans because he'd worked with some before... if we both hate the same man, and he wants us both dead...

Hissra smiles as he turns the page.

So, am I reading them in the order they were written in? The top one says Day 33; what does the one Hissra just read say? And what does the one he's about to read say?

Grazus's color wasn't specified. His robes were black, but was his skin grey, red, black, or some other color?

[Darth Ultron]

The last page is 33, then 32, then 31 to 22 for 11 pages total.

As Hissra has read 33 then 32, , your reading them backwards.

Page 31 ''I got a mystical message today from you master about the dark human you seek. As this is mostly an orc town humans here do stand out, so I should have little trouble locating him. if he is here. As Brek-Shall is still in the area, I have kept up the cloak of being a merchant. To that end I have hired three bounty hunters, though they are all dung beetles. I sent two of them to encircle the town in a wide claw mark, looking for signs of your human. One will remain in town. Maybe one will find your human, or at least bring him out into the open. Graatch has kept watch on Tlukkah, but when he returns I will also tell him of this human. All Hail!"

[whiteflash]

The last page is 33, then 32, then 31 to 22 for 11 pages total.

As Hissra has read 33 then 32, , your reading them backwards.

Page 31 ''I got a mystical message today from you master about the dark human you seek. As this is mostly an orc town humans here do stand out, so I should have little trouble locating him. if he is here. As Brek-Shall is still in the area, I have kept up the cloak of being a merchant. To that end I have hired three bounty hunters, though they are all dung beetles. I sent two of them to encircle the town in a wide claw mark, looking for signs of your human. One will remain in town. Maybe one will find your human, or at least bring him out into the open. Graatch has kept watch on Tlukkah, but when he returns I will also tell him of this human. All Hail!"

Okay. Thanks.

Hissra looks away from the text for a minute, rather than continuing to the next page.

"Uh oh. Gretreo wasn't our only problem. Yuuta hired three bounty hunters; two to circle town looking for me, and a third to search the actual town. There's also a fourth guy who's hinted to be an actual ally of Kabhsenuf Tantawi's named here, and Yuuta hints that he might know to look for me to.

"On that note, I have started getting specific names out of this piece. 'Brek-Shall' was Yuuta Mori's enemy, or at least someone worth hiding from if not an outright enemy. 'Graatch' was Yuuta's ally, and he was keeping watch on someone named 'Tlukkah,' unless Graatch has already been recalled and told about me."

He looks towards Snagazod. "Any of those names sound familiar?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky nods, "Tlukkah is an orc: Most Great Everwatcher of Gruumsh, he is the second most important priest in Skorne, after All Great Everwatcher Uzgakh. "

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky nods, "Tlukkah is an orc: Most Great Everwatcher of Gruumsh, he is the second most important priest in Skorne, after All Great Everwatcher Uzgakh. "

"So Kabhsenuf Tantawi's servant was spying on the priesthood of Gruumsh. Hm. We might be able to use that. Do you know the other two names? This 'Graatch' who was doing the spying? This 'Brek-Shall' from whom Yuuta Mori wished to hide it?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me not know other names. Me not know too many people...but they don't sound too orc like to me."

[whiteflash]

"Hm. Maybe the priest of Gruumsh will know, if we take him this information." Hissra hesitates. "Would that be a good idea?"

"Also, something that occurred to me: there was supposed to be one bounty hunter searching the town, and two searching around it, right? Well, the bounty hunter searching the town itself is dead, and the bounty hunters searching the area around the town are both alive. Unless whoever this 'Graatch' is knows to come here, we might be safer staying here than going back to the cave."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, me avoid priests...they always bad stuff. But if we want to, we should stick with Inkathu the Dark. Or another priest of of Shargaas. They all about secrets so they keep secrets. And sure they will betray or back stab like anyone...but they not crazy brutal like Gruumsh ones. Gruumsh ones be like 'me kill you because it's windy'.

Good point. If we leave town, we might get spotted.

Or, wait, maybe better...we could hide out and catch them if they come into town. Kinda sounds like they come back every day to say 'we no find nothing', right? Maybe we Am-Bush them?"

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, me avoid priests...they always bad stuff. But if we want to, we should stick with Inkathu the Dark. Or another priest of of Shargaas. They all about secrets so they keep secrets. And sure they will betray or back stab like anyone...but they not crazy brutal like Gruumsh ones. Gruumsh ones be like 'me kill you because it's windy'.

Good point. If we leave town, we might get spotted.

Or, wait, maybe better...we could hide out and catch them if they come into town. Kinda sounds like they come back every day to say 'we no find nothing', right? Maybe we Am-Bush them?"



"Oh, don't misunderstand: I'm not suggesting we make a habit of going near their temple. I just thought if we told them they were being spied on by our enemy, they might interfere with him in a way that benefits us. Or is there a risk they'd just murder us on the spot for any or no reason?"

"As for ambushing the bounty hunters... hm. I like that idea. We'd need some way to know the bounty hunter's coming before he sees us; was the plan that we hide out near the inn, and ambush anyone you recognize as a bounty hunter who tries to enter?"

"Oh, hey: how sure are we the bounty hunters would still want to kill me now that we've taken care of Yuuta Mori? Are they still able to hand in the bounty somehow if they do get me?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, priests are sneaky and vile backstabbers that use strange ways...and magic to get to peoples. Like any orc but worse. Me just avoid them. I like more normal vile backstabbing orcs that just come at me with a dagger form behind. Me can handle them.

Well, sure, but the bounty hunters don't know he is dead. Nobody knows he is dead. So they will still come to check in...right?

Well, yes, we am bush. We could just watch for anyone going to Yuuta Mori's room. Um, hey, can you make an Yuuta Mori illusion? We could fool them with that...

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, priests are sneaky and vile backstabbers that use strange ways...and magic to get to peoples. Like any orc but worse. Me just avoid them. I like more normal vile backstabbing orcs that just come at me with a dagger form behind. Me can handle them.

Well, sure, but the bounty hunters don't know he is dead. Nobody knows he is dead. So they will still come to check in...right?

Well, yes, we am bush. We could just watch for anyone going to Yuuta Mori's room. Um, hey, can you make an Yuuta Mori illusion? We could fool them with that...



"Okay, we'll let the temple of Gruumsh worry about their own security then."

"I know the bounty hunters don't know he's dead yet, but... when they do find out, what will their reaction be? Will they decide not to risk themselves for money they won't get, try to kill me anyway and hope if it does work they can find another person to pay for my head, or just try to kill me out of spite?"

"And if we do still have to kill them, then disguising was my first thought, but... well, the reason I was confused is that I can't think how to make that plan work. I'd like to try that, but the problem is that I can't make my illusions last long enough... unless we already know when the bounty hunters are coming, and they all arrive at about the same time. That's unlikely, so honestly we probably would have to wait someplace near the room and wait to see who goes in."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, bounty hunters no care about much then money. So they do nothing but look for another bounty job.

Umm..oh..maybe me hide out side and oink like pig when me see someone coming ands you be inside and cast short spell then?"

[whiteflash]

"Hm... We might not need to do this at all, actually. If they're going to give up as soon as they see their client is dead, then all we need to do is stay out of their way until they learn what we've done. Unless you want the bounty hunter dead for another reason... off the top of your head, do you know if any bounty hunters are looking for you?"

"Oh, wait... that 'Graatch' the journal mentioned doesn't sound like a bounty hunter the way the other two are. I think he's actually loyal to either Yuuta Mori or Kabhsenuf Tantawi. Him we are going to need to handle eventually, even if the bounty hunters get to live. But we don't know what he looks like... Do you have any guess as to what race a 'Graatch' would be?"

"But yeah, your general plan of action sounds like a good one for Graatch, or for any of the bounty hunters you decide you want dead."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "No one is after me that I know.

'Graatch' no sound orc, maybe goblin?

Me guess it make cents to send more then one guy, it all ways makes cents to have a partner and works in twos.

"

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "No one is after me that I know.

'Graatch' no sound orc, maybe goblin?

Me guess it make cents to send more then one guy, it all ways makes cents to have a partner and works in twos.

"

"A goblin spying on the second-highest priest of Gruumsh? I... could see the logic. I've seen goblins around. They're used as menial laborers, and not shown all that much respect from what little I've seen. One woman had a goblin on a leash to carry her gold. I'd guess nobody really pays attention to any goblins they see in town, do they?"

"Anyway, if nobody's after you then there's no point to killing the bounty hunters unless they attack us before they learn better. Which is worth avoiding. Do you think you could come up with another signal, just in case they appear before this Graatch does? I could hide from them somehow, let them discover the body, and then we're back to seeing if Graatch shows up."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Yea, no body cares about goblins. And lots of goblins are dumb...but not all. Lots of goblins are sneaky and goblin smart. They do make good spies and stuff.

Well, sure, me can make lots of animal noises. Like how about a dog bark?"

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Yea, no body cares about goblins. And lots of goblins are dumb...but not all. Lots of goblins are sneaky and goblin smart. They do make good spies and stuff.

Well, sure, me can make lots of animal noises. Like how about a dog bark?"

"So, any goblins we see bear watching. Especially if they're headed for where we killed Yuuta Mori."

"Let's see, a dog bark if you see an orc headed there, and a pig snort if you see a non-orc?"

Hissra winces. "Hang on. We can't do this until tomorrow, so what happens if Graatch already knows Yuuta Mori is dead, or finds out before then? If he shows up there anyway for whatever reason, and sees me disguised as Yuuta..." Hissra sighs. "I liked the Disguise plan, but I think we're going to have to go with your first plan instead. Wait out of sight, and ambush this Graatch together if he comes."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Why would we want to wait? And how would like anyone know U-tah is dead...we only like kill him a couple minutes ago. So know one knows. If they knock on door and get no answer they leave. But even if they go in room, how they know U-tah is dead when there is no body?"

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Why would we want to wait? And how would like anyone know U-tah is dead...we only like kill him a couple minutes ago. So know one knows. If they knock on door and get no answer they leave. But even if they go in room, how they know U-tah is dead when there is no body?"

"Well, we can't do it tonight because I'm out of spells. That's all I meant, because we certainly shouldn't wait any longer than that."

"As for anyone knowing, the bounty hunters almost certainly won't, but Graatch might. Kabhsenuf Tantawi might already know that Yuuta Mori's dead, and this 'Graatch' might be important (or more likely useful) enough that Kabhsenuf would directly contact him with a new assignment. Or he might check in, see the... whatever that was, and realize that it used to be Yuuta Mori."

"Most people wouldn't know what they were seeing, of course. I'm a wizard myself, but I probably wouldn't have known that used to be Yuuta Mori if I hadn't watched him die. But Graatch works for a Red Wizard. He might know what that was. (Though I was a little worried that the bounty hunters wouldn't know what they were seeing, and that we wouldn't be able to show them a satisfying body.)"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Oh, me not know about the magic.

Maybe might be best if we just go and see what happens.

We could wate until tow morrow, then you come back looking like Yuuta and me invisible. If no one is in the room we could wait, but if someone is there we could surprise them and attack. "

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Oh, me not know about the magic.

Maybe might be best if we just go and see what happens.

We could wate until tow morrow, then you come back looking like Yuuta and me invisible. If no one is in the room we could wait, but if someone is there we could surprise them and attack. "

"I'd still rather not kill the bounty hunters, unless they attack us first or wind up working directly for Kabhsenuf Tantawi later. But if a non-orc, or an orc you don't think is from around here shows up? Fair game. Can we still do the different signals? A dog bark for one, a pig snort for the other?"

"And is the current plan that we show up with the spells already in place? If so, how long would we stay? The invisibility spell only lasts six minutes minutes, and we'd need to cast it before we were directly in sight of the room to cut down on the chance of anyone seeing you before we got in."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me bet bounty hunters are orcs, it's a good orc job.

Maybe it just best for us to walk away.

"

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me bet bounty hunters are orcs, it's a good orc job.

Maybe it just best for us to walk away.

"

"Yeah, probably. Almost everyone here is an orc, and I think I see how such a job would appeal to an orc."

"As for walking away, even if we don't go after the bounty hunters we need to kill Graatch. The bounty hunter problem will clear up with time, more likely than not, but the journal suggested that Graatch was working for the enemy, not the enemy's money."

"Unless you mean fleeing the town entirely, getting away from everyone here either of us has ever managed to tick off including Graatch, and getting further away from Kabhsenuf Tantawi? I've been playing with the idea for a while, ever since the first orc I met here (or the first one who didn't immediately pick a fight with me) was poisoned against me by one of his minions."

Hissra chuckles. "I was actually trying to do that when we first met, remember? You told me the nearest human town apart from the one Kabhsenuf Tantawi lives right outside of was..." Hissra points to the west "that way, a few days travel past his manor. Irrefas, I think you called it. Then there's Fayfall..." he points east "that way and almost as close as Irrefas."

"But I did specifically ask about human towns, hoping I'd blend in better there... is there someplace else we can go? Someplace closer? Apart from the town Kabhsenuf Tantawi lives near, of course. That's not going to make us safer. It might make us less so."

The posts I had to look up to write this were from January 2017. I still can't believe how long we've been doing this. It's awesome.

If you need to reference that bit again, it's Page 29 of the previous thread.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Oh nos, me not talk about flee town. Just leave here. Me kinda think they find you no matter where you go. Life kinda like that. And, well, run is not orc way. We stand and fight. Sure, me stand and fight you in the back as me sneaky, but me still fight and not run.

But sure there be other places. Couple more orc towns, gnoll town, centaur village...and gnome town. Only other place I ever go is other orc town of Gorgol. "



Yup...like ages ago. That was the day you met Snagazod....

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Oh nos, me not talk about flee town. Just leave here. Me kinda think they find you no matter where you go. Life kinda like that. And, well, run is not orc way. We stand and fight. Sure, me stand and fight you in the back as me sneaky, but me still fight and not run.

But sure there be other places. Couple more orc towns, gnoll town, centaur village...and gnome town. Only other place I ever go is other orc town of Gorgol. "



Yup...like ages ago. That was the day you met Snagazod....


"Well... yeah, you're right. He's not going to stop, is he?" Hissra sighs. "I'd take surviving over killing this guy if I had to, but this current problem seems to indicate that I can't have one without the other over the long term. It's starting to look like the only truly permanent solution is to survive however I have to, long enough to build up my skills enough to confront the guy who wants me dead. Anything else is just a short-term solution meant to help keep us alive that long."

"Getting back to short-term goals: when you say we're not leaving town, we're just leaving here... do you mean this building? I... see the logic. If they know anything about who their comrade hired or have any way of learning they'll certainly check here. Or they might put two and two together when they learn a bounty hunter was attacked in the market by summoned snakes. But where do we go if not here? I don't think the cave (or anyplace else outside the walls) is safe until the bounty hunters learn the bounty payer whose money they seek to kill me for is dead, and since we've killed the one who was searching the town itself we've bought ourselves some temporary and relative safety inside the walls. But I'd be worried about hiding anyplace owned by a living host who could decide to inform on us."

Yep. Good times.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "You forget, we gots Greeto's house. We can stay there. "

[whiteflash]

Wait, aren't they at Gretreo's house at the moment?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky does not always use proper English, like the correct pronouns. Like he ''should'' have said ''here'' not ''there''.

[whiteflash]

Okay.

Hissra pauses for a second. "So... we should move in here? ... Okay. Short term we should be safe here. And over the long term we should be safe enough moving back into the cave. I'm a bit worried that Graatch might figure out that we killed Gretreo before the bounty hunters figure out we killed Yuuta, though. Then neither the cave nor this house will be a safe place to sleep for as long as the bounty hunters take to figure out what happened."

"Unless we are going after him tomorrow. It's longer than I want to delay, but I don't have the power left to take him out now, and one night probably isn't long enough for him to figure out where we are, and it's the best plan we have... I think. Anyway, is that the plan?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "We should be sort of safe here for a couple days. A day is not a big delay, not too long. So, yes, that sound like good plan to me."

[whiteflash]

"All right. Tomorrow morning we head back to the Old Tusk and watch the room. I... really do like the Disguise plan, and I enjoyed it against Yuuta Mori, but it has a few more moving parts than I'd like in this case. We're expecting three people, we don't know when they're showing up, we can't be sure they won't show up simultaneously (either deliberately or by rotten luck for us) or whether any of them have the magical background to figure out what's going on... with Yuuta Mori only that last bit was true. I really think just watching and waiting together and being ready to rush whoever looks like they need rushing is a simpler way of handling this one job. And it gives us more room to replan if things go wrong."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Yea, sound good to me. Me all for sneaking and hiding and attacking from ambush. "

[whiteflash]

"Okay. That's what we're doing with what we know now. Let's see what else I can find."

Hissra glances back through the three pages he's already read. This time I should probably make a Will save to disbelieve an illusion just in case. [roll0] to see if he's been taken in by an illusion.

If that reveals nothing, then he turns to the fourth page.

[Darth Ultron]

There is no illusion on the pages that you can detect. The handwriting is nice though.

Page Four-"More waiting today. I avoided leaving my room too much today, Graatch has not reported in yet and I did not what to miss him. With the window open I have hopes that he will just fly in. He should know enough to report in at least every other day, if for no other reason then I can keep you, master, informed of his doings. "

[whiteflash]

There is no illusion on the pages that you can detect. The handwriting is nice though.

Page Four-"More waiting today. I avoided leaving my room too much today, Graatch has not reported in yet and I did not what to miss him. With the window open I have hopes that he will just fly in. He should know enough to report in at least every other day, if for no other reason then I can keep you, master, informed of his doings. "

Hissra glances nervously towards the windows, particularly the one that his summoned hawk ripped the curtain off of during their assassination of the house's previous owner. "Graatch... whatever Graatch is, he can fly. Probably means he's not a goblin."

"I realize that he probably wouldn't know where to find us, but... just in case, do you think there's another curtain here we could replace that torn one with?"

Part of me is starting to wonder if Yuuta was a wizard (or more likely a sorcerer given his complete lack of a spellbook) and if Graatch was his familiar. I'd mostly ruled it out when Hissra didn't find a component pouch, but some spells don't need one (Magic Missile doesn't have a material component listed for example,) and a sorcerer can avoid spells that do need a material component more easily than a wizard can. And there's a feat for ignoring non-costly material components anyway.

What happens to a familiar when its master dies? Are there actual rules on it? I can't find any rules about it in the srd wiki and one of the Neverwinter Nights expansions had a familiar who'd outlived his master by however long it had been since Netheril fell remark that there were no rules on that subject.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Hum, Graatch could be like a bird or bat? Maybe like a crow? Lots of wizards use animals, even me know that. Birds make good spies, after all birds are everywhere all the time."

Snagazod points out the window, and sure enough there are birds around outside.

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me can do some shopping."



The familiar becomes a ''normal animal'' or such, so they will ''know'' their master died....but then too, they would just be a normal animal and ''not'' know that. Unless the familiar was something other then an augmented animal, like a pseudo-dragon.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Hum, Graatch could be like a bird or bat? Maybe like a crow? Lots of wizards use animals, even me know that. Birds make good spies, after all birds are everywhere all the time."

Snagazod points out the window, and sure enough there are birds around outside.

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me can do some shopping."



The familiar becomes a ''normal animal'' or such, so they will ''know'' their master died....but then too, they would just be a normal animal and ''not'' know that. Unless the familiar was something other then an augmented animal, like a pseudo-dragon.



Hissra comes close to whisper, just in case their enemy is listening. "If we're going somewhere let's both go. Safety in numbers and all that. There's still a little I can do, if we're attacked. I just didn't want to try another assassination with as little power as I still have. As for Graatch, I'm kind of hoping he is a bird. If he is, he might have lost his intelligence when Graatch died. Unless he was intelligent on his own merits, rather than being a normal bird."

So if Graatch is a bird familiar, he'll have lost his intelligence when Yuuta died. Unless he's an outsider. Do any of the birds outside have unusual coloration? And for that matter did the Fiendish Raven and Fiendish Hawk Hissra's summoned recently have unusual coloration?

Oh, also: if Graatch was a psuedodragon (familiar or otherwise), would the birds outside find his presence frightening enough to flee the area, or curious enough to look and see what's happening?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me think we should wait. You rest. Me rest. they gonna come if they gonna come. "


The birds out side all have normal mundane colors. They are a mix of crows, vultures, small song birds and pigeons...with the occasional hawk.


Fiendish (and Celestial) creatures are a bit more intensely colored, but mostly not by much. There are say fiendish hawks with blood red feathers, for example, but they are rare. Most Summoned creatures come from the more normal looking ones, as there are so many of them. But then too, all otherworldly ravens are black...and ravens don't have much color variations.

Note there are plenty of winged familiar type creatures. Like winged snakes, winged cats, fey, elementals and outsiders.

Pesudodragons mostly eat small furry animals (kind like eagles) and don't overly attack birds(but would gobble up their eggs if given the chance). So birds won't overly react to or avoid a pesudodragon, at least any more then they would a person like an orc or human. Sit on a bench in the park and some birds zoom away...and some just stay where they are (and some hop right over to your foot and wait for you to feed them...lol)

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me think we should wait. You rest. Me rest. they gonna come if they gonna come. "


The birds out side all have normal mundane colors. They are a mix of crows, vultures, small song birds and pigeons...with the occasional hawk.


Fiendish (and Celestial) creatures are a bit more intensely colored, but mostly not by much. There are say fiendish hawks with blood red feathers, for example, but they are rare. Most Summoned creatures come from the more normal looking ones, as there are so many of them. But then too, all otherworldly ravens are black...and ravens don't have much color variations.

Note there are plenty of winged familiar type creatures. Like winged snakes, winged cats, fey, elementals and outsiders.

Pesudodragons mostly eat small furry animals (kind like eagles) and don't overly attack birds(but would gobble up their eggs if given the chance). So birds won't overly react to or avoid a pesudodragon, at least any more then they would a person like an orc or human. Sit on a bench in the park and some birds zoom away...and some just stay where they are (and some hop right over to your foot and wait for you to feed them...lol)



"I suppose I see where you're coming from. But isn't there at least something we can plug that hole up with?"

A bird of some sort would make the most sense to spy on a high-ranking cleric with. Anything obviously magical he'd probably kill either out of sadism or paranoia. (If "paranoia" works in this context; it's generally used to refer to excessive suspicion to the point of being pathological, whereas assuming an elemental you catch watching you is doing so for some nefarious purpose sounds about right to me.)

That does still leave the possibility of a fiendish or celestial bird, though. And if Graatch is a familiar of either type, he keeps his mind? And for that matter: what about winged cats and snakes? I think I know enough biology to know that that has to have been the result of magic, and the template to grant wingless creatures wings increases the base creature's Wisdom and changes animals into Magical Beasts: does one of those changes grant it the ability to remember its previous master?

Oh, hey: Hissra knows Infernal. He can command some evil outsiders using that language. Does he recognize 'Graatch' as a word in that language? (I want to give a list of all his languages, but Mythweavers is down for maintenence. I'm going to be really annoyed if they lose this sheet the way they lost a whole bunch of my other ones.) Edit: Never mind, it's back. Hissra's full list is Common, Infernal, Undercommon, Dwarven, Draconic, and Abyssal. Does knowing any of those languages help him guess which culture that name might have come from?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky leaves and comes back in an hour with two new hide curtains, chunks of meat, blocks of cheese and dark juice.


What, no winged cats around where you live?

All familiar's are Magical Beasts, as long as they are familiars.

'Graatch' is not a 'word' but a name. It does not sound overly of any culture.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky leaves and comes back in an hour with two new hide curtains, chunks of meat, blocks of cheese and dark juice.


What, no winged cats around where you live?

All familiar's are Magical Beasts, as long as they are familiars.

'Graatch' is not a 'word' but a name. It does not sound overly of any culture.



"Nice." Hissra produces the cheese wheel from Yuuta's house too. "Let's put the curtains up first, then eat."

Well, one neighbor had one. She also had a broomstick that hit me in the face. (I don't mean that she hit me with the broomstick.) (We don't talk about that neighbor much.)

So outsiders become classified as magical beasts too? Oh, and what are the rules on what kinds of creature remember the process? You said psuedodragons do. Is it because they're dragon type creatures, or is the fact that they were already magical before they became familiars enough? Or is it the fact that their INT score is comparable to the typical human?

And... do the creatures that become familiars have to consent to it? Or are they just pressganged whether they want it or not?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky hangs the hide curtain.


No, and Outsider stays and Outsider, only animals become Magical Beasts.

The memory loss is really mostly for animals. An animal that becomes a familiar becomes a magical beast(''an animal with magic'') and that grants them intelligence (and memory). Other creatures of other types, like Dragon, Outsider, Elemental, Undead and so on don't change their Type when they become a familiar, so they don't loose any type when their master dies.

An animal can't ''consent'' to anything, of course, as they simply don't have the intelligence to do so. The rules don't say anything about ''consent''. But as a familiar is loyal and trustworthy, it would stand to reason that they want to be a familiar.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky hangs the hide curtain.


No, and Outsider stays and Outsider, only animals become Magical Beasts.

The memory loss is really mostly for animals. An animal that becomes a familiar becomes a magical beast(''an animal with magic'') and that grants them intelligence (and memory). Other creatures of other types, like Dragon, Outsider, Elemental, Undead and so on don't change their Type when they become a familiar, so they don't loose any type when their master dies.

An animal can't ''consent'' to anything, of course, as they simply don't have the intelligence to do so. The rules don't say anything about ''consent''. But as a familiar is loyal and trustworthy, it would stand to reason that they want to be a familiar.


"Thanks. All right, let's eat. While we're doing that, though..." Hissra takes some of the juice as he takes the journal back out and turns to the fifth page.

[Darth Ultron]

"I waited most of the morning. Keeping myself indoors as much as possible. At noon Hopk came to tell me about the gossip he had heard. Nothing of interest stood out, mostly just typical orc offal, except when he mentioned a stolen crystal ball. I had him go get in contact with the orc that had it, and set up a meting. And then waited.

I returned from my meting. It did not go well. The so called crystal ball was not magical. I'm not sure if it was fake all along or someone else got to the real crystal ball, if there ever was one. I do know orcs are stupid. I did kill the orc that had the fake crystal ball, and also killed Hopk. I'm not sure If I should hire another orc informant or not. I think I will give it a couple days at least."

[whiteflash]

"I waited most of the morning. Keeping myself indoors as much as possible. At noon Hopk came to tell me about the gossip he had heard. Nothing of interest stood out, mostly just typical orc offal, except when he mentioned a stolen crystal ball. I had him go get in contact with the orc that had it, and set up a meting. And then waited.

I returned from my meting. It did not go well. The so called crystal ball was not magical. I'm not sure if it was fake all along or someone else got to the real crystal ball, if there ever was one. I do know orcs are stupid. I did kill the orc that had the fake crystal ball, and also killed Hopk. I'm not sure If I should hire another orc informant or not. I think I will give it a couple days at least."

"Did you..." Hissra begins in the quiet, gentle tone one might use when about to inform a human they might have lost a friend. He then stops and clears his throat, and begins again in the same unconcerned tone one might use to have a casual conversation about the weather. "Eh. Had something in my throat. Did you know an orc named Hopk? He was informing for Yuuta Mori. He helped set up a deal between an orc with what was supposed to be a magical crystal ball, and Yuuta. The crystal ball turned out not to be magical. Now, this can't be the same Orb I helped steal: I scanned that Orb myself, and it was a moderately powerful item of Conjuration. But maybe it was a fake version of that same Orb?"

"Let's see, this was written five days ago. My first day on this plane was the day I was summoned. My second was the day our..." Hissra waves the journal in his hand "esteemed author's master betrayed me. My third day I stole the orb, my fourth day was the day after the night I met you, and I spent it stealing and getting to know the town... I think this is my fifth day on the plane? So my actions can't have been what killed this deal (and Hopk, and whoever tried to sell Yuuta a non-magical orb.) But maybe the orbs are still related?"

"Anyway, two practical takeaways from this: one, whatever Yuuta Mori was, this is the final nail in the coffin for any chance it was any kind of orc, since he describes orcs using language that makes clear he's not one. Two, he probably didn't have any orc informants by the time we killed him; he makes clear he killed his only one and wasn't even going to consider getting another for the next few days, and none of the previous entries indicate that he rethought that position." Hissra pauses. "Wait, it doesn't say Hopk was his only one. I'd... kinda assumed that."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "He sure write a lot.

Hopk is not name me know, but me not know everyone.

I don't know about balls and orbs.

Me was kind of sure he was not orc when he fell apart into gray stuff. Me seen lots of orcs die, and never see one die like that. "

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "He sure write a lot.

Hopk is not name me know, but me not know everyone.

I don't know about balls and orbs.

Me was kind of sure he was not orc when he fell apart into gray stuff. Me seen lots of orcs die, and never see one die like that. "

Hissra smiles. "Yeah. This is taking a while, isn't it?"

"Eh. Yeah, it's a big town, and not the only orc town around. And the Orb thing's got to be happening out of sight. It's... real cloak and dagger stuff. I figured it was worth asking, though."

"As for what Yuuta is... well, I have no more idea than you do. I already knew he wasn't a standard, natural born, Prime Material orc. That much was obvious. But beyond that... I wasn't sure whether whether he looked like an orc because of a spell cast on him (or inborn ability of his own) that could have disguised him as anything, or if he was an orc-like outsider (the same way I'm a human-like outsider) or a magical construct somehow modeled on an orc. But the phrasing in this journal suggests that he wasn't in any way an orc. Not an artificial orc, or an outsider orc. Maybe that should have been obvious anyway, and I'm not sure what good it does us, but... I thought it was worth putting some thought into. If nothing else it might give us some insight as to what Planes Kabhsenuf is capable of tapping for his servants, or what sorts of servants he's capable of creating."

Hissra pauses. "Given that he seemed really impressed with himself when he called me, and hinted that there were people doubting he could do it, and given that he's had this servant at least eleven days, I think this pretty much had to have been a construct of some sort. That... took me way too long to figure out. "

"Anyway, while this is taking a while, I think I'm getting at least a bit of good stuff, and I don't want to miss anything useful, so I think I have to keep going." Hissra turns to page six.

Is Page five dated? If so is there just one date, indicating that it took place the day before page four did, and that this all on the same day?

[Darth Ultron]

Page five read says ''day 29''. Page six says "day 28"

Day 28

The orc I hired, Hopk, reported to me twice today. He confimed Brek-Shall is still in the area, but I did instruct him to not ask or mention that name at all. I did doubt he would leve after seeing me. He could find no mention of Myrsirim or Phalnirr in the local gossip. He did find Krysalis, at the Mad Orc Inn room one. I sent him back to see if he could by chance learn anything else of use. Graatch has kept watch on Tlukkah, but he has not otherwise reported back.

After dark, hired a hand of orc thugs and went after Kysalis. The fight was fierce, and she got away. I spent the time until dawn looking for a trail or sign of her, but did not expect to find one. I'm unsure on how to proceed, as I don't see her as important enough to devote any more time too. I await your commands on this matter, master.

[whiteflash]

Page five read says ''day 29''. Page six says "day 28"

Day 28

The orc I hired, Hopk, reported to me twice today. He confimed Brek-Shall is still in the area, but I did instruct him to not ask or mention that name at all. I did doubt he would leve after seeing me. He could find no mention of Myrsirim or Phalnirr in the local gossip. He did find Krysalis, at the Mad Orc Inn room one. I sent him back to see if he could by chance learn anything else of use. Graatch has kept watch on Tlukkah, but he has not otherwise reported back.

After dark, hired a hand of orc thugs and went after Kysalis. The fight was fierce, and she got away. I spent the time until dawn looking for a trail or sign of her, but did not expect to find one. I'm unsure on how to proceed, as I don't see her as important enough to devote any more time too. I await your commands on this matter, master.



"Another mention of 'Brek-Shall.' It sounds like Yuuta Mori was afraid of this guy, whoever he is. There's other names on this page too. Myrsirim and Phalnir: Hopk couldn't find them. Krysalis: she'd rented room one at the Mad Orc inn, and Yuuta Mori gathered some thugs to attack her. They didn't manage to kill her, but they did manage to drive her off. They weren't able to track her, though. Yuuta was uncertain how to proceed, as he didn't think she was important enough to pursue. You already said 'Brek-Shall' isn't ringing any bells, but do you recognize any of the other names? Myrsirim, Phalnir, Krysalis?"

Hissra sighs. "Another important takeaway: it's becoming increasingly obvious that Kabhsenuf Tantawi had some means of reading this journal remotely and sending orders to Yuuta Mori in response. Presumably the last one was accomplished by a telepathy spell; it's probably Sending, which allows you to give a short message to someone you're familiar with and receive a short response. As for reading the journal, my guess would be that he was using a spell to locate and observe Yuuta Mori, and that Yuuta Mori left the paper out for his master to read. At least I hope that's true, because if it's anything else I have no guarantee that this paper isn't going to lead Kabhsenuf Tantawi's minions right here. But after I'm done with it I should probably scan it for magic anyway, just on general principles."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me not know Myrsirim or Phalnir names. But me know Kysalis name. She is orc seer that can look into crystal ball and tell your future. You know division magic. She used to have a shop, but it burned down couple weeks ago. I thinks she just works out of taverns and inns now.

"

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me not know Myrsirim or Phalnir names. But me know Kysalis name. She is orc seer that can look into crystal ball and tell your future. You know division magic. She used to have a shop, but it burned down couple weeks ago. I thinks she just works out of taverns and inns now.

"

"Hm. Well, we know how her shop burned down, I guess. Or maybe not: if this journal started when Yuuta Mori arrived he wouldn't have been around long enough for that. Still, though, if she was working from an actual shop Kabhsenuf Tantawi wouldn't have needed a spy to find her; he could have just looked for a shop with a crystal ball on the sign. (Although that does make the unsafe assumption that she only has one person who wants her dead.)"

"And... does Kysalis actually claim she can tell the future?"

I'm going to make a Spellcraft check to know what sorts of Divination spells for that exist, and how limited they are. Edit: Or would that be Knowledge: Arcana? I forget. Anyway, it's the same number. [roll0]

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Yea, sure she does...like I said she uses magic."



The spells Augry and Divination can both get hints about the future, maybe even details.

In a general sense, all divination is limited, and there are no easy quick answers and spells that tell all. But a lot of spells can give a lot of hints that can be put together to find out things.

And a lot of divination spells can reveal a hidden clue. But to really see the future is rare and much more then just a spellcaster.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Yea, sure she does...like I said she uses magic."



The spells Augry and Divination can both get hints about the future, maybe even details.

In a general sense, all divination is limited, and there are no easy quick answers and spells that tell all. But a lot of spells can give a lot of hints that can be put together to find out things.

And a lot of divination spells can reveal a hidden clue. But to really see the future is rare and much more then just a spellcaster.



"Even among magic users, truly seeing the future is a rare skill. Some Divination spells can give you small hints, or help you converse with a being that might know what the future holds, but that's not quite the same thing."

"If she can really do what she says she can, or really anything like what she says she can, I think we want to meet her. Maybe she knows some way we can make our problems with Kabhsenuf Tantawi disappear. She clearly has reason to try, considering." Hissra glances back down at the page he's already read, and rereads the bit where Yuuta Mori describes her escape. "Actually, given that we know she can hold her own in a fight maybe she can help us do that in ways other than Divination. If we can find her. But we'll work on that once we've handled everything we've got a real plan for. Hey, who knows, if she really can do anything like what she says she can she might find us."

"For the other two, maybe we can try asking Grazus or someone else to cast a Divination spell to try and find her. But since that's resisted by the target's mind, I'm not sure I'd bother trying it on Kysalis. Anyone who can do high level Divination would probably have a mind strong enough to block it. But... maybe we can learn more?"

Hissra turns back to the journal and flips the page. I think page seven's next?

[Darth Ultron]

Day 27

"Not much to report today. I stayed in my room. The orc I hired, Hopk, did not report into day...but I did tell him to take a day or two to search. So he should report in tomorrow. Graatch has kept watch on Tlukkah, and did stop in for a quick report at dark. Unfortunately he did not have much of substance to report, just mundane details. Still, it is a start, and such things do take time. I'm patient. "

[whiteflash]

"The only thing of interest on this page is that Graatch really did pass some actual information on Tlukkah, even if it wasn't anything useful. The way you describe the priesthood of Gruumsh makes me think it might be enough to enrage him, though." Hissra sighs. "It's a shame we can't try to pass that information along to Tlukkah, but still: I see your point that it's way too dangerous."

Hissra turns to page eight.

[Darth Ultron]

Day 26

I spent the morning going over the set of scrolls Graatch brought me yesterday from the vault. As far as I could tell, they had nothing of value on them. No codes or secret messages or anything else.

After lunch I hired an orc, Hopk, to do some spy work around town. He is not all that bright, but he is a perfect toll. I gave him a basic run down of what I was looking for, without too many details, and sent him off.

When Graatch swooped by at night fall, I gavee him back the scrolls to return to the vault. As they were only gone a couple days, I doubt they will have been overly missed.

[whiteflash]

"This might be interesting or might be boring. I'm not sure yet. Among other things, it covers the day he hired Hopk."

Hissra reads it over again. "This page also says that Graatch stole scrolls from a vault for Yuuta. It doesn't have any real hint as to how many scrolls were taken, except that it uses the word "scrolls" rather than "scroll." It also doesn't say which vault it was stolen from or where the vault is, but there's no evidence yet that he was assigned anywhere but to Tlukkah at any point, so it's a fair bet that this vault is related to him: my guess is it's either a personal vault or one owned by the temple of Gruumsh. He also said that he didn't find anything useful in them. No secret codes, no secret messages, no anything else. I assume that also means there were no spells on them."

"He said they were stolen the previous day, and that he returned them. So it's no wonder we didn't find them... or did we?"

Hissra takes out the bone scroll cases they'd found among whatever Yuuta Mori had reverted into at death. "I really hope these aren't duplicates of two scrolls that Yuuta Mori never found anything useful in. I was hoping for a couple of new spells." He opens them to find out.

[Darth Ultron]

One bone scroll case is full of nine blank scrolls.

#2-is a bunch of common words, next to a bunch of orc words.

#3-Does look like three scrolls with magic runes.

[whiteflash]

"Well, these might be useful later." Hissra puts the blank scrolls aside.

"Common-to-orcish dictionary? Really could be useful."

I realize I should have asked this a while ago, but are Explosive Runes obviously magical even before the person who triggers them reads them? Or could anything Hissra just finished reading have been a magical bomb just as easily as those obviously magical runes on the scrolls could be? Or do I need to roll a check for this question?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me already know common and orc."



Explosive Runes are not obviously magical. They are made to be a trap after all. There are plenty of 'trap' type spells, and any of them could have been on the papers or the scrolls.

[whiteflash]

"Yeah, but I might need it myself."

A bit late to worry, then.

"Anyway, this third one..." Hissra takes a look through the scrolls.

[Darth Ultron]

Scroll 1 Infallible Servant

Scroll 2 Lesser Planar Binding

Scroll 3- Arcane Eye



Infallible Servant


Necromancy [Evil]
Level: Cleric 3, Sorcerer 3, Wizard 3, Druid 4,
Components: V, S, M,
Casting Time: 1 minute
Range: Touch
Target: Creature Touched
Duration: 1 hour/level (D)
Saving Throw: Will negates; see text
Spell Resistance: No

You rub dung onto your minion's brow, intoning dark words to bind his life to your cause.

With a touch, you give a target a powerful motivation to avoid failure. If the target is captured by non-evil creatures or is slain, his body dissolves into foul sludge. The target is utterly destroyed and cannot be affected by any spell or effect that restores life (such as true resurrection) or a semblance of life (such as animate dead) short of miracle or wish.

When the target dissolves, all creatures within 30 feet must succeed on a Fortitude save against the spell's DC or become nauseated for 1d4 rounds.

Material Component: Dung from an evil creature.

[whiteflash]

"Okay, two of these might be useful. One's a scr... well, what it does is let me see from some distance away as though I was there myself. It's called scrying, and I've wanted to learn a spell that does it for a while. Another lets me Call an outsider and negotiate for its services, like summoning only with different limitations."

"Hm. If Yuuta Mori could cast this, he'd have the power to compel service from beings with traits consistent with what little we know about this 'Graatch.' But he couldn't force them to avenge him, and if anything a creature bound by this spell would be glad to learn what we'd done... But that's just speculation. Back to what we know."

"Unfortunately two of these spells are more difficult than I can handle at present, and the third one is a necromancy spell. That's a school I have no... talent... wait."

Does Hissra figure the "foul sludge" a failed Infallible Servant would become could be chunky, like what's left of Yuuta Mori?

[Darth Ultron]

The foul sludge does sound a lot like what happened to Yuuta Mori, except you don't recall being nauseated, so it can't be the exact spell.

Snagazod the Sneaky waits.

[whiteflash]

The foul sludge does sound a lot like what happened to Yuuta Mori, except you don't recall being nauseated, so it can't be the exact spell.

Snagazod the Sneaky waits.

"This necromancy spell, Infallible Minion... it dissolves a target into goo when the target dies or is captured by morally upright individuals, and prevents necromancy of any sort from working on the target. I think it's meant either to punish minions who fail, or prevent defeated minions from being questioned. Maybe both."

"The result would be kinda like what happened to Yuuta Mori, except that the goo resulting from this spell sickens people who are standing too close to the target. I didn't feel anything like that. So this exact spell can't be what we saw, but... a similar spell could explain what we saw. That means that the strongest evidence we had that he wasn't an orc suddenly isn't as strong. Still, he described orcs as a people he wasn't part of..."

Hissra picks up the journal again, and turns to page nine. "Well, maybe it'll make sense when I get to the end of this journal."

[Darth Ultron]

Day 25
I arrived at the orc town today, Scorn, in the vile orc speech. As I'm well disguised as a traveling merchant, I had no problem getting into the town. I took a quick stroll around to get a view of the town, but did not want to stay in the open long.

I found a simple roadside place to stay, the type of place my merchant cover would stay at.

I sold nearly all of my merchant things at the market. I was glad to be rid of the donkeys. I sold the stuff cheep, and several greedy orcs bought it quickly.

I did try to mix with the orcs and hang out to see what rumors and gossip I could find.....but I found it hard...impossible...it fit in with them. I think it might be better for me to simply hire an orc or two to do this sort of thing. I will see about finding some orc tomorrow.

Graatch has kept watch on Tlukkah, as he flew into town several days ago on his trail. I sent him a message to let him know I was in town. He sent back a quick reply acknowledging that, and asking for message quiet. I assume he is close to Tlukkah and fears discovery if we communicate too much. He is a good spy, so I know he will slip away and report to me when he can.

[whiteflash]

Day 25
I arrived at the orc town today, Scorn, in the vile orc speech. As I'm well disguised as a traveling merchant, I had no problem getting into the town. I took a quick stroll around to get a view of the town, but did not want to stay in the open long.

I found a simple roadside place to stay, the type of place my merchant cover would stay at.

I sold nearly all of my merchant things at the market. I was glad to be rid of the donkeys. I sold the stuff cheep, and several greedy orcs bought it quickly.

I did try to mix with the orcs and hang out to see what rumors and gossip I could find.....but I found it hard...impossible...it fit in with them. I think it might be better for me to simply hire an orc or two to do this sort of thing. I will see about finding some orc tomorrow.

Graatch has kept watch on Tlukkah, as he flew into town several days ago on his trail. I sent him a message to let him know I was in town. He sent back a quick reply acknowledging that, and asking for message quiet. I assume he is close to Tlukkah and fears discovery if we communicate too much. He is a good spy, so I know he will slip away and report to me when he can.


"I've reached the part where he arrived in Skorne. And there's two pages left. That his journal goes on past this point might mean that I'm getting close to the things I really wanted to know... or the fact that it only goes on two more pages might mean that they're not here. Well, we'll find out soon."

"There's also more diatribe about orcs and the orcish language..."

"This does offer some new information, though. To wit: my theories on what Graatch was (or is) seem to be out. He wasn't working directly under Yuuta Mori, so he can't be his familiar or a creature Yuuta himself bound using the Calling spell I found. And Kabhsenuf Tantawi probably didn't bind him with that spell either, since he's an established enough servant to have a reputation for competence and this spell doesn't last very long. With those out: maybe he's a mephit, brought to this plane however my friend Foppo was?" Hissra chuckles darkly. "If I'd known he was going to wind up dead, and I was going to wind up fighting the wizard who'd Called him, I might have asked about that instead of what he did for fun."

"Yuuta Mori also seems to have been capable of magic on his own, since he's supposed to have sent Graatch a message, the circumstances imply there was magic involved, and we didn't see any magic item that should have allowed it on him. Good thing we killed him so quickly. That could have ended badly otherwise."

Hissra rereads the page once or twice, and then looks up. "Has... Tlukkah been out of town recently? This journal claims that Graatch 'flew into town several days ago on his trail.'" Hissra smiles his devilish smile. "It also says that Graatch fears discovery. So we know that this is the form of spying where you sneak around after someone, rather than pretending to be their friend or a harmless bystander and watching them that way. I... see your point about coming into direct contact with a priest of Gruumsh, but if I just used my magic to broadcast a message to Tlukkah telling him there's a flying spy watching him while I stayed well hidden, I'd be safe, right? And Graatch would suddenly be much less so..."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me not know Tlukkah every move....but sure, guess he could have left town. Like days ago?

Me still think we should stay clear of him. But maybe we could find Graatch? If he watching Tlukkah, maybe we can spot him?"

[whiteflash]

"He doesn't make it clear where he is for his flock the way some human priests do, then?"

"As for how we handle Graatch without coming to Tlukkah's attention: I agree that one thing we don't want is to come into direct contact with an unpredictable priest of a god who glorifies violence. But unless he uses divination (which I thought you said most orcish priests don't,) we should be able to get the message across without him knowing who we are. All I have to do is use Ghost Sound to create a voice close to where he is. I can create it up to forty feet away from myself, so when the priests come to investigate they're looking in entirely the wrong direction. And if we make ourselves hard to see beforehand and make sure to be gone as soon as we see how it ended..."

"The main downside is that this way, Tlukkah will know someone's taking an interest in him, and Graatch will know someone is on to him. Graatch might even be able to guess who I am and how I know about him. That'll make it harder to do it silently if we still need to. Maybe I should have the spells ready for either plan tomorrow, and we can decide which one when we get there? If we have a clear shot, I unload on him and we run like an angry god was chasing us as soon as he stops moving. If we don't see him, or a priest of Gruumsh is standing too close for us to go after him, we can try using Ghost Sound."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me not really go for all this people stuff. But illusions sound good and sneaky. "

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me not really go for all this people stuff. But illusions sound good and sneaky. "

"Okay. That means we have two plans for this. At least one should be workable. We'll figure out which one is tomorrow. And now let's see what else is in here."

Hissra turns to page ten.

[Darth Ultron]

Day 24

I traveled along this day as an orc merchant. The donkeys and trade goods made the travel slow, more so over the poor road. Still I though it best to conceal my movements. I carry little of value, and no notable or powerful magic. To any onlooker, or even scan, I will look like an orc merchant. I sent Laaz Vando with the magic off to find a good hiding place, something like a cave. He will stay out of sight. I told him to not contact me, and I will only contact him if the need is dire.

I am glad to be rid of Laaz. I work better alone. I would ask, master, if after this task is done to your satisfaction I might work alone? "

[whiteflash]

"Okay, Yuuta Mori had a whole bunch of magical items, but he hid them to avoid detection. They're guarded by someone named Laaz Vando."

"We're... probably going to have to find that guy before he finds us. He's supposed to be living in a cave or someplace similar, probably outside town." Hissra pauses. "Okay, you said some buildings in this town have entrances into the cave system under this town? If he's lucky he might be able to find a way to sneak in that way. In fact..."

Hissra looks around to see if there's any basement door in Gretreo's house, or if the floor is such that one could be hidden from sight. "I should have done this a while ago."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Hum, Lazz? Me doubt that orc name...me guess he whatever Yuuta was?

And yup, caves is an orc thing. Like the temple we went to was all underground.

This house kinda simple, so nothing on the bottom."

The floor of the house looks like normal dirt and ground. There is no basement or cellar that you can see.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Hum, Lazz? Me doubt that orc name...me guess he whatever Yuuta was?

And yup, caves is an orc thing. Like the temple we went to was all underground.

This house kinda simple, so nothing on the bottom."

The floor of the house looks like normal dirt and ground. There is no basement or cellar that you can see.

"We really need to figure out what he was sometime."

"Yeah, I'm starting to see that orcs like caves." Hissra turns back to Snagazod. "Hey, a few hours ago, you said you didn't think they were all connected. Are... there any that are, that you know of? Or any that have entrances both inside and outside the town walls?"

Hissra looks back down towards the pretty clearly caveless ground. "That there's none that lead directly in here is a mixed blessing. We could have used one, but so could Graatch, Laaz Vando, and who knows who else."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me not know too much about caves and underground. Me outside wild orc. I like just know the caves are there. Me know it dangerous down there. "

[whiteflash]

"I see." Hissra blows out a breath. "It's unfortunate, but I'm hardly one to blame you for staying out of danger. Still, it'd be a good thing if we had some idea what's down there and where it goes. Unfortunately, the people who know best are probably the people we should trust the least and who have the most cause to conceal the extent of their knowledge, so trying to buy a map would be risky. And I believe you when you say exploring them ourselves is dangerous."

"Maybe this is something to look into when I get good enough to cast that scrying spell we found." Hissra shrugs. "Anyway. Last page." And with that, Hissra reads it.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me kinda doubt there is any maps. Maps is not like an orc thing."


Day 23
Today was an uneventfully day of travel. As my cover is an orc merchant I have stuck to the common road and traveled slow.

[whiteflash]

"That makes sense."

Hissra sighs as he reads the page.

"Well, this last page isn't very useful. Okay. Now I should probably scan this whole journal for magic just to be safe. Before I do that, though... let's see, you have Gretreo's boots, right? I'm nearly positive those are magical, and his armor might be too. And... there should be a ring inside one of the boots that I'd wanted to give you as a thank-you present for your help today; I slipped it in there in a clumsy, obvious way that couldn't be traced back to me hoping the orc I was stealing it from would have Gretreo killed. It was one of the expensive ones, so there might be an enchantment on it. If it's intact after he took that fireball... And I should scan the daggers I got off him...."

"What'd we do with his wrist irons and whip? I forget. I don't think we have any use for those ourselves even if they are magical, but if it turns out they have enchantments on them Grazus Darkspell might know someone who'd want them."

"I was thinking we'd pile all of those up, put the papers on top of them, and just check the lot of it for magic. Maybe even the scroll cases just to be sure. Is... there anything we should check that I'm forgetting?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me got it all. One thing me always do is grab all the loot. It why me called sneaky. Hehe. And making a pile is a good idea.

Snagazod the Sneaky piles up all the loot.

"Me hope it good sneaky magic."

[whiteflash]

"Well, under the heading of sneaky magic: something he was wearing, probably the boots, should have an invisibility spell on it. I think I already told you, but just in case I didn't, he escaped that misunderstanding I arranged for him by turning invisible. I don't think he's capable of doing that under his own power. Especially since he didn't visibly cast anything. It is possible to do magic without gesturing or speaking, but that's really advanced stuff."

"But let's find out." Hissra makes sure all the things he mentioned are on the pile, and then casts Detect Magic on it.

[Darth Ultron]

None of the paperwork glows at all.

The boots do glow with weak illusion magic.

The whip glows with weak necrmancy magic.

[whiteflash]

None of the paperwork glows at all.

The boots do glow with weak illusion magic.

The whip glows with weak necrmancy magic.

"The boots have weak illusion magic on them. I'm now almost entirely certain they were what allowed Gretreo to get out of that second ambush I laid for him. I didn't see him activate them using any sort of gesture or command word, so they're probably thought-activated. And they're also yours, since I can make myself invisible without them."

"The whip has a weak necromancy effect. My guess is that it's a spell to non-lethally weaken whomever the whip strikes, possibly by artificially tiring them or draining their strength. Part of my rationale is that a whip with that enchantment on it would subdue a target very easily but wouldn't kill unless the wielder went out of their way to do so. That seems like something someone like Gretreo would have had a lot of use for. At any rate, we have no use for it, we should probably see what Grazus will give us for it, and split the fee."

When you say none of the paperwork glows, does that include the scroll cases? I feel weird asking, but I wanted to be sure.

And Grazus's armor and daggers don't glow either?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me bet the whip do something like drain strength or such too. That kinda normal catch people magic. We should just sell it.

Oh, invisible boots is useful."


Nothing else in the pile glows.

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me bet the whip do something like drain strength or such too. That kinda normal catch people magic. We should just sell it.

Oh, invisible boots is useful."


Nothing else in the pile glows.

"Yeah. We sell the whip, you keep the boots... and nothing else we got off him is in any way enchanted, so we keep what we have a use for. Would you say first thing in the morning before we try to go after Graatch? Hm. No, on second thought, maybe we should hold on to it a little while. We already have money, and let's be honest: only honest or unskilled people really need it on a day-to-day basis anyway. I don't think I've actually paid for anything I've eaten since I got to this town." Hissra chuckles, then gets serious again. "Graatch, on the other hand... the sooner he's dead, the better."

"When we do sell it, Grazus asked that we keep him in mind for any magical item we get by killing Gretreo. And... should we sell those wrist irons, or just toss them aside? For that matter, what do we do with his non-magical spiked chain and his net?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Eh, junk does not matter. Just put it in the corner. Me think Grazus only want like interesting magic items.

Thinks we should just get Graatch."

[whiteflash]

"He wouldn't want them to enchant or something, then?"

"And yeah, getting Graatch sounds good."

Hissra looks around. "We should probably rest up for that. I still have the trap spells I prepared for the cave, but... they'll lose a lot of effectiveness in a place with three doors and several windows, or against Graatch. And since we have to worry about both concerns..." Hissra shrugs. "Still, maybe one at each door that opens to ground level, in case someone who can't fly comes knocking. Not much I can do if someone decides to come in a window, though. I guess we'd better hope Graatch doesn't know where to look."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me think we should be safe here. Unless they tracks us with magic.

I can put normal traps up. Trip snares on the doors and windows. Or spike the ground. "

[whiteflash]

"Yeah. And depending on what exactly they use they still might not be able to find us right away."

"Right. Normal traps. I'm... glad you know how to use those, because I don't. And with them, this place... might actually be fairly defensible. Anyway, if we're setting normal traps, then I'm not sure I need to prepare trap spells anymore for as long as we stay here. But I might as well cast the ones I have tonight. No sense letting them go to waste."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky nods and sets his traps around the windows and doors.

"Like me say, me outside wild orc....traps is part of life, even to just catch food."

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky nods and sets his traps around the windows and doors.

"Like me say, me outside wild orc....traps is part of life, even to just catch food."

"Maybe I should learn how to set traps the normal way sometime. Anyway. Let's see, I can make one trap that makes the floor sticky, and another that conjures a trap that works normally. Not a trip-wire: I mean spears, darts, or something else potentially lethal. I think since I only have the two, I should probably put them up at the doors, since anyone who'd be likely to be caught in those would probably have to use said doors. Uh... does it matter which one goes where?"

Hissra looks up at the trapdoor into the house. "Also, do you think you could figure out a way to set up a tripwire on one of the higher rungs of the ladder, to entangle a careless thief who managed to evade the obvious spikes at the edge of the roof but wasn't looking out for anything else, and get him to fall? If we manage that and the thief lands from the fall at the wrong angle, that might solve the problem with no further effort needed." Hissra shrugs. "It won't help against Graatch, but unless his master is really clever with divinations or has other agents watching for us, we're more likely to get a normal housebreaker tonight if any."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky settles down to rest on the ground "You worrys too much, we be fine. Not like army is after us or no thing. Rest."

[whiteflash]

"I suppose." Hissra considers casting the trap spells anyway, just because it'd be a shame to waste them, but decides against it. He just puts himself on the floor and goes to sleep.

[Darth Ultron]

Time passes as you sleep.

Hours later you both wake up.

Everything around the house is still the same, and nothing looks to have happened while you were asleep.

[whiteflash]

Hissra looks around to see that the house had, to all appearances, been left alone as they slept. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I was worrying too much."

"Anyway, I need to get my spells ready. Today's probably going to be a pretty big day."

How much XP does Hissra get for Gretreo and Yuuta? And is anything else Hissra did yesterday worth XP?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky cleans his stuff and sharpens his weapons.


Of course.

XP-825



Like:
100 XP per spell level cast to over come major problems
100 XP for learning a new spell outside the ones acquired due to level gain.
500-1000-more XP for creating a permanent magic item.

[whiteflash]

"Okay, I'm done. Are you?"

"When we do get going, what's the plan? Do you intend to stop by Yuuta's room at the Old Tusk to see if it's been disturbed, or do we head right to staking out the Temple of Gruumsh?"

Okay, thanks.

I don't think I did any of the non-killy ways of getting XP in that list, though. Unless getting the priest of Shargaas to cast a spell for me counts, and not having any other leads counts as a serious problem. Though if both of those are true, that's worth 300.

I did find some scrolls, but I can't cast the necromancy one at all, and I can't add the other two to my spellbook yet.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe We should check the room. But me guess we just find empty room. Even if the other guy come back, it in like he'd just stay in the room. Right? He'd go back and watch the temple. So that is where we'd go. Unless you gots better idea. "

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe We should check the room. But me guess we just find empty room. Even if the other guy come back, it in like he'd just stay in the room. Right? He'd go back and watch the temple. So that is where we'd go. Unless you gots better idea. "

"Hm. No, no I think you're right. Unless we were lucky enough to get there right as Graatch did we wouldn't find him. Right to the Temple, then?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky leads over to the Temple. The Temple is a large stone building a bit more like a fortress then a temple, though it is much fancier. Dozens of orcs move around in and out of the temple and countyard, as it is a busy place.

Snagazod the Sneaky stops at the edge of a small alley between two small shops.

[whiteflash]

"Nice place," Hissra says sincerely, hardly seeking to mock solid construction that emphasizes function over form, however slightly.

Hissra looks around for any small flying creatures nearby as he follows Snagazod into the alley.

[Darth Ultron]

There are plenty of birds around, but no flying creatures.

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me no spot nothing. You spot anything?"

[whiteflash]

There are plenty of birds around, but no flying creatures.

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me no spot nothing. You spot anything?"

"Nothing I can be sure is Graatch. There's plenty of birds, and while I think it's unlikely we should remember that he could be a magically sap... he could be a bird with the ability to think, which would make it impossible to pick him out of that crowd at a glance. But we should also remember that it's more likely he's something else, and hiding so that Tlukkah's con... followers can't turn him in for a reward."

Is there a central keep in the temple, or one or more towers rising up from it? And are there places hanging off the walls, or embedded into the walls, or jutting from the walls, where a flying creature could sleep without being seen easily?

[Darth Ultron]

The temple is a chaotic mess of shapes and angles, but does not have any high points or towers. The whole building is full of all sorts of odd places where a small animal or creature could hide.

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe he invisible?

Oh, me know, maybe make an illushun of Tlukkah leaving the temple? Likes you know to draw him out?"

[whiteflash]

The temple is a chaotic mess of shapes and angles, but does not have any high points or towers. The whole building is full of all sorts of odd places where a small animal or creature could hide.

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe he invisible?

Oh, me know, maybe make an illushun of Tlukkah leaving the temple? Likes you know to draw him out?"

"I... don't have a spell that does that today. It didn't occur to me that we'd have trouble finding Graatch, or that he wouldn't already be within sight of Tlukkah. I do have a spell that would counter invisibility, since it occurred to me that Graatch might try that. But I only have one casting of it. Unless we know that we should be seeing Graatch and aren't, I'd be afraid to waste it."

"Does Tlukkah appear in public often? Maybe proclaim the will of his god to the populace, as some human priests do, or publically execute someone who's offended his god, as priests from a lot of races do?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Um, sures, me think. He is popular and well known.....and does to the priest thing for crowds.

I can goes ask, be like a follower."

[whiteflash]

"That's probably a good idea. Only try to be careful. You painted this priesthood as violent fanatics who kill for any or no reason, right? Try not to die."

Hissra looks around at the alley to see how well shaded it is, hoping that there's enough shadow to use his Hide in Plain Sight ability. "Is it safe to assume I should probably stay here? And unseen, if I can help it?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Yes, you stays here.

No worry, me can be dumb orc good...hehe. "

Snagazod the Sneaky heads off to the temple, walking right in the main door.

About an hour later Snagazod the Sneaky walks back over to the alley "Me back. He set to give big speech in big courtyard over there this afternoon. "

[whiteflash]

"That sounds like rather a long wait. If it weren't for the fact that I want to keep all my spells for the speech, and didn't prepare much in the way of theft spells to begin with, I'd probably suggest we go handle one of those thefts we wanted to take care of."

"But maybe we should at least steal some lunch. Nothing fancy. We'll just hit a soft target that sells something edible."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "not a problem"

Snagazod the Sneaky leaves and comes back after a couple minutes with some meat and vegetables on a stick and a clay mug of prune juice.

It is boring waiting....but, eventually, hours later, you do start to see orc gather in the big open couartyard next to the side of the temple as if they are waiting for something....

[whiteflash]

"Thank you." Hissra takes his share of the offered meal and eats it gratefully.

Hours later, he sees the orcs assemble.

"That looks promising."

Hissra looks around for Graatch without casting See Invisibility, figuring that Graatch might not have made himself invisible yet (assuming that he can at all), and might just be counting on nobody looking closely at the temple walls.

[Darth Ultron]

The assembled group looks to be all orcs, of all different types. You don't see anything anywhere around the stands out.

After a couple more minutes several clerics come out of the temple doorway, and across the courtyard. One Orc male, dressed in fancy robes, walks to the middle....

Snagazod the Sneaky "That him..."

[whiteflash]

The assembled group looks to be all orcs, of all different types. You don't see anything anywhere around the stands out.

After a couple more minutes several clerics come out of the temple doorway, and across the courtyard. One Orc male, dressed in fancy robes, walks to the middle....

Snagazod the Sneaky "That him..."

"Then Graatch should be there soon if he isn't already."

Are we still standing in an alleyway outside the courtyard? If so, there would probably be blind spots where Graatch could be standing that would let him see Tlukkah, but wouldn't let us see Graatch.

Either way, Hissra takes one last look around to see if he can finally see Graatch before he starts trying to come up with a new plan.

[Darth Ultron]

Aley way across from the court yard.

There are plenty of blind spots. Plus the whole area is filled with orcs and a couple goblins, so it is very crowded. No one stands out, except the temple clerics in their fancy outfits.

And no one has a sign that says ''Graatch".

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe he indivisible? He not orc right? Maybe? Me see no ones with wings? Heys, if I become use my boots, does I get to see others that are indivisible too?"

[whiteflash]

Aley way across from the court yard.

There are plenty of blind spots. Plus the whole area is filled with orcs and a couple goblins, so it is very crowded. No one stands out, except the temple clerics in their fancy outfits.

And no one has a sign that says ''Graatch".

Snagazod the Sneaky "Maybe he indivisible? He not orc right? Maybe? Me see no ones with wings? Heys, if I become use my boots, does I get to see others that are indivisible too?"

"He's probably not an orc, no. He's probably some small, flying creature. And yeah, he could very well be invisible. I might need to use that spell I have to see invisible creatures."

Hissra is about to say that the boots probably don't let Snagazod see invisible creatures, then he hesitates. "I... hm."

I assume he wants to know if being invisible lets him see invisible creatures, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't work like that. But are boots that grant both Invisibility and See Invisibility possible? And if the boots did grant that power, would Hissra have sensed both Divination and Illusion in them when he scanned them?

[Darth Ultron]

Of course it is possible. Custom magic items can be made.

Though, also, such magic would be detected.

[whiteflash]

Thanks.

"Well, being invisible doesn't grant you the ability to see other invisible creatures. Now, an item that turns you invisible can be modified so that it grants you invisibility and the ability to see other creatures, but if those boots did that I'd have caught that there was a Divination effect on them when I scanned them."

"One thing we can do... I can turn myself invisible, and cast the spell that lets me see invisible creatures. Or I could cast it on you, since you probably have better eyes. Then we can walk into the orcish congregation and look. You'll blend in, and I just won't be noticed."

"But that might not be the single best plan..."

A while ago, you said that ordinary bats have Scent and Echolocation. Would a dire bat have those same abilities? And would a fiendish dire bat be able to understand Infernal, like all the other Fiendish creatures I've summoned?

[Darth Ultron]

Yes and Yes.



Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, me better at spots, but you better at magic."

[whiteflash]

Yes and Yes.



Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, me better at spots, but you better at magic."

"There's that. If he's got any brains at all he's probably well outside of sword/axe/fist range."

"One possibility that occurred to me, though, was to use a summoning spell. I could conjure a dire bat and direct it to hunt down a flying creature that's concealing itself nearby and watching the speech. If we summon it close enough to the temple, it should have time to reach Graatch, and finding him won't be a trouble for a bat. The only difficulty would be what we do next if the dire bat isn't enough."


While he's speaking Hissra looks out at the crowd, to see how many clerics seem to be in it and what the non-clerics seem to be armed with. For that matter, can he hear what Tlukkah is saying?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Um, carful, me thinks the temple has no magic alarms. "


The only obvious clerics are the ones around Tlukkah, most of the crowd looks to be non cleric types. Just about everyone you see in the crowd is armed, just about everyone has at least one axe...but you also see plenty of clubs and daggers.

After a couple more minutes Tlukkah gets up on a flat rock and starts to speak: "Strength! Strength is all! When the gods of the lesser races tooks our homes it was Strength that won us! We are Strong! "

[whiteflash]

"Wait, but if there's abjurations warning the priests if someone uses magic... that would mean Graatch either has to be outside the temple, or has to be visible. Wouldn't it?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, you he magic guy. But me know temples are magic. Unholy evil ground. And things like you break a window, and magic bells ring."

[whiteflash]

"Hm. Well, we don't necessarily need to break a window. So if that's what the alarm is set to catch, we might be okay. And I'm not sure unholy ground would be a problem for either of us in and of itself. But unholy ground sometimes has other defenses cast into the spell that makes it unholy, and those defenses might effect us... and magical alarms aren't one of them, as far as I know, which means we'd be looking at some other defense."

Hissra gulps nervously. "I just remembered that one of the effects a cleric can cast into unholy ground cancels invisibility. If the temple is enchanted with that effect, any invisible bat we send after Graatch will be caught instantly, and so will we if we try using invisibility to sneak in there ourselves. But you might not draw a second glance as long as you don't appear out of nowhere, and unless that defense is cast selectively it'll effect Graatch too. Maybe you should go in there and look around? Carefully, of course. Get out of there if anything goes wrong."

While this is going on Hissra keeps one ear pointed towards Tlukkah in case there's anything relevant in the sermon.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Magic is hard."


*Snagazod looks around carefully*

"Wait! Look what me sees!" Snagzod points to a tree at the edge of the courtyard.....where a small gray skinned, winged humanoid sits on a tree branch..partly hidden in the branches and leaves.

No other orcs around, even the orcs standing under and around the tree seem to see the humanoid...though most eyes are looking at Tlukkah.

[whiteflash]

Hissra smiles. "I see him."

All right, one option is to kill Graatch as fast as I can and then immediately sprint away from the orcish lynch mob. Another is to get that lynch mob to accomplish my goal for me. The second one is more to my taste, but comes with the disadvantage that I can't take Graatch's body for my own use... although Kabhsenuf Tantawi probably bewitched Graatch to make his body useless to me anyway. Still the lynch mob might fail, since Graatch has wings, and then things get interesting.

How many trees are there in the courtyard? If Hissra casts Ghost Sound to conjure a loud voice, are there few enough trees that the voice Hissra conjured could easily point out the tree just by giving verbal directions?

And is the tree closer to where Tlukkah's congregation is congregating, or to where Hissra and Snagazod are standing?

[Darth Ultron]

The courtyard has a total of eleven trees, spaced around in a chaotic pattern.

Graatch's tree is in the middle, right in line with Tlukkah.

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me ready, what we do?"

[whiteflash]

"That tree is a bit closer to the brutal orcish cleric and his congregation than I'm comfortable getting. Maybe the smart way to handle this would be for me to cast Ghost Sound to conjure a voice that tells Tlukkah he's being spied on and where to find the spy, then for us to wait here and see what happens? If Graatch flees, we follow and finish him. If he dies, we wait to see if the body melts the way Yuuta Mori's did. If it does, we just sneak away. If it doesn't, we wait to see whether there's any way we can get our hands on it, and make sure we're ready to sneak away at any time."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Me thinks bunch of angry attacking orcs is bad. We is should get him.

You knows...me thinks he can't go in the temple...he'd set off alarms. So he must wait around outside, right?

And once all the talking is over we cans get him."

[whiteflash]

"... Huh. You're right. That would work. And without the Temple of Gruumsh even realizing anything had happened at all, if we did it right. And we'd be the ones with access to his corpse (assuming it's still usable...)"

Hissra's smile widens. "Yeah. Let's do that."

[Darth Ultron]

It takes two long hours, but eventually Tlukkah stops speaking and the crowd breaks up and the clerics go back inside the temple.

Graatch lounges on his branch, watching Tlukkah. No one looks at the tree.

As Tlukkah enters the temple....Graatch wiggles his wings and fades away from sight!

[whiteflash]

"Well, it's not like we didn't see that coming."

He turns to Snagazod. "Okay, you're the one who saw where he was hiding, and I still have two spells that I can aim well enough just knowing his location. Maybe I should cast my See Invisibility spell on you? But we need to decide fairly quickly."

[roll0] for Knowledge: Planes to try to figure out if there's any sort of mephit that can turn itself invisible as a racial ability, rather than requiring class levels, a magic item, or whatever else.

[Darth Ultron]

There is no mephit that can turn invisible as a racial ability that you know of


Snagazod the Sneaky "Um, me not sure. Is we just gonna kill hims? Or you want to catch him? "

[whiteflash]

Thanks.

"I'd assumed we were going to kill him. I'm not sure what else we can do. We don't have the resources to watch him, if we slip up he could well kill us, and anyway the only interrogation I'd trust him not to lie in would be a postmortem interrogation at the Temple of Shargaas..."

Hissra stops. "There might be another way. We might be able to turn him against Kabhsenuf Tantawi. There was a mephit who... hm, did I already tell you the story? How a mephit named Foppo and a goblin named Nuxd Boneeater and I killed a woman for Kabhsenuf, and he betrayed us, nearly killed me, and killed my two teammates? Well, if he knew and liked Foppo, we might be able to persuade him to seek revenge. If not... well, we might still be able to turn him, given how his master rewards loyal service, but it gets harder."

"Anyway, since capturing him is off the table, who gets the See Invisibility?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Well, guess you don't have two spells.

Well, you the magic guy...you know about magic. "

[whiteflash]

"Yeah. I should probably do that next time. I'm just not used to having a partner."

"Anyway, you have better eyes, and he might hide again. I should probably cast it on you."

(If Snagazod doesn't protest then Hissra just goes ahead and does that, then asks "Is he still here?")

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky nods "Yup, me sees him. He moved over to that tree...on that low branch right there."

[whiteflash]

OOC: Is Snagazod pointing to a tree inside the temple courtyard? And are there any orcs still inside the courtyard?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod points to a tree on the side of the countyard, closer to the temple...right in line with the temple door that leads to the courtyard.

There are six orcs in the whole courtyard wandering about.

[whiteflash]

"I see. Still in the courtyard, and there's still orcs around. Both are problems, especially the still in the courtyard thing. The spell will last about an hour; that gives us time to watch and wait. Do you want to bide our time and see if he goes somewhere more open, or should we just attack now?"

Hissra pauses. "Wait. I've... been assuming that killing non-temple-affiliated beings on temple grounds is a problem. Is it?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Priests only care about priests....and kinda the faithful, sometimes. They not much care about anyone else. But lots of them like to fight. Gruumsh is all about fights and blood and war.

Me doubt he is going anywhere....me think he just waits and waits. Like was in the letters. "

[whiteflash]

"So waiting is out, unless we decide to wait for his invisibility spell to wear off. But we don't need to worry about subtlety, so unless we're doing that there's no reason to wait at all."

You said that Graatch (or the guy we're pretty sure is Graatch) turned invisible by wiggling his wings. Is that something that can count as a somatic component for a spell, or would it have to be a spell-like ability?

Also, did Hissra get a good enough look at him before he turned invisible to be able to tell more than that he's a smallish, winged humanoid? Does he recognize him as a specific form of creature, such as an imp or a quasit?

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "We coulds attack fast. Then we get away invisible."


Any movement could be a somatic gesture of a spell. A spell like ability needs no movement.

Rolls Knowledge planes check for Hissra
[roll0]

He could be an imp or quazit...but could be anything.

[whiteflash]

"Hm. Yeah. That sounds good. Okay, how's this for a plan? I summon a giant bat and turn it invisible, then order it to attack him by scent. We follow in its wake, with you trying to get within reach of our target and me waiting until he turns visible. When Graatch dies, we leave his body if it melts like Yuuta Mori's did and take it if it doesn't. Either way, I use my other casting of Invisibility, and you give the boots that are supposed to turn you invisible a try. (Again: it should be as simple as thinking a command at them.) Then if all goes well we can get out without having to answer any awkward questions."

"Oh, possibly important question: do those trees serve any theolog..." Hissra pauses. "Are those trees important to the temple's priests? If they get lit on fire during the fight, for example by a spell aimed less at Graatch and more in his general direction, will it irritate anyone?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "No orc cares about trees.

Me thinks your plan is good."

[whiteflash]

"Well, that simplifies things. We can throw a fireball into that plan. And into Graatch, for that matter."

With that, Hissra begins casting Summon Monster III.

Assuming that goes well, Hissra says to the bat in Infernal "There's a winged, invisible creature in that tree. I'm going to turn you invisible, and then you're going to fly over to it and bite off parts it would rather keep. Try to keep a reasonable balance between speed and stealth, unless he tries to flee. Then just get in and start biting."

And if nothing changes while he's doing all of this, he casts Invisibility on the bat and moves aside to let it enter the courtyard.

Thanks to Swift And Silent, I've never had to look the rules on Move Silently penalties before.

The bat can move at anything less than its full 40ft per move action and still only take a -5 on Stealth, right? So, would it probably do 35ft per action?

[Darth Ultron]

The infernal bat nods, and fades from sight as you cast invisibility on it.

A couple seconds latter it becomes visible as it swoops down and tries to bite.


[roll0] [roll1] [roll2]


The bat misses and bites only air.

[whiteflash]

And there goes a perfectly good 19.

Well, it happens. Graatch, whatever he is, is still invisible. And I get the feeling he's going to spend most of the fight that way.

How close is Graatch to the wall of the temple? Is he within 20 feet of it?

Oh, and how does spell resistance work if the caster hits his own ally with an AoE? Can I choose not to overcome the bat's spell resistance?

And am I able to act now, or was Summoning the bat my action?

[Darth Ultron]

Graatch's tree is about 30 feet from the temple.


A caster can't effect anothers Spell Resistance at all. It is always up. The creature can lower their resistance if they want too.

Summoning is a full round casting action.


Graatch becomes visible as he breathes a cone of acid on the bat.


[roll0] Bat Ref save: [roll1]

[whiteflash]

Okay, so do I go now, or do we roll initiative?

If it's my turn, and he's within 160 feet, I cast Empowered Magic Missile.

[Darth Ultron]

Initiative

Graatch [roll0]

The tree is about 150 feet away...

[whiteflash]

Oh. That might change my plans a bit.

[roll0] to see what I get.

Edit: That was supposed to be a two, but even correcting for my mistake I still only get a ten. I think it's either Graatch's or Snagazod's turn.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky double moves forward.

Graatch Whips his tail around to sting the bat.


[roll0] [roll1]

[whiteflash]

Wow, my bat's not doing so hot. 11 hp left, I think. (And without knowing what Graatch is I can't know what that stinger does other than damage, but I'd be surprised if that was all.)

Anyway, Graatch is still visible, and in range.

I think I will cast Empowered Magic Missile, and save the fireball for if he turns invisible. [roll0]

And I think the bat would attack. [roll1] to hit, [roll2] for damage, and feel free to correct those numbers if the bat took a penalty from any poison Graatch might have injected it with. (Not that I think a 13 is likely to hit Graatch even without poison.)

[Darth Ultron]

The bat misses.

All the magic missiles hit slamming into Graatch's body and doing lots of damage.

Graatch takes his action to become invisible!

[whiteflash]

The bat misses.

All the magic missiles hit slamming into Graatch's body and doing lots of damage.

Graatch takes his action to become invisible!

And he still has one action to let him move away.

Does the bat turn to look in another direction?

Either way, Hissra would ask "Partner, do you still see him?" in Common.

[Darth Ultron]

The bat turns and flies northward.

Snagazod the Sneaky "I sees...he is flying away...to the north, right above that small pine tree. "

[whiteflash]

The bat turns and flies northward.

Snagazod the Sneaky "I sees...he is flying away...to the north, right above that small pine tree. "

"Smart, but it won't save him."

If Hissra positioned the blast so that the center of the explosion was about ten feet above the small pine tree, would the bat be caught in it? Edit: And, important question I forgot, would I singe the wall of the temple doing that?

If neither is true, Hissra casts Fireball so that it detonates right there.

[Darth Ultron]

The fireball is well clear of the temple...but sure the bat will be caught in the blast(if you care?).

[whiteflash]

Well, I don't care about the bat for its own sake, but I'd rather it stayed on the field for now. If I had any guarantee the fireball would finish Graatch I'd probably cast it and let the bat either survive it or not survive, but I don't know what his max hp is, how resistant to fire he is, or whether or not he has any spell resistance that I just lucked out on with the magic missiles.

The rules as written say talking is a free action, but... how far are you willing to let me take that rule? Do I have time for one more short call-and-response with Snagazod before my turn ends? Enough to confirm exactly where Graatch is before I have to cast the fireball?

If I can't get one more call and response in, I'll cast the fireball. If I can get in one more, I'd rather hold off to ask Snagazod one more question.

And... where exactly is the bat, relative to the top of the tree? Is it level with the top of the tree, or in a square below it, or in a square above it?

[Darth Ultron]

The bat is in the 'square' above the tree.

You have time to chat.


Though what do you really want Snagazod to say? He is 14 feet above the tree?

[whiteflash]

I know he's probably not going to be able to give an answer in feet. But I was hoping to get enough information to either figure out where to throw the blast to hit Graatch without hitting the bat or the Temple, or to be absolutely sure that that's not a practical way to go. So I can work with whatever I get, one way or the other.

I probably don't need the answer to be specific to within a square anyway, since you said the tree isn't terribly close to the Temple. Close counts in horseshoes and fireballs.

But first I have to work out what to ask, and see what he does answer. You said the bat is in the square right above the tree. Which direction is it looking?

[Darth Ultron]

The bat is looking up, presumably towards Graatch.

[whiteflash]

Actually, I probably have enough information to aim the fireball now. A 20-foot radius means a 40 foot diameter, right? So if I cast it so far above the bat that the bat is just barely out of range, Graatch should be caught in it. Unless he's fast enough to be more than 40 feet ahead of the bat, which is possible but which I don't think is likely.

But just to be sure... Hissra turns to Snagazod and asks "You've seen how big a fireball is. If I cast it so that it stops just barely over the bat's head, will it hit Graatch?"

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky"Me think that would work"


"A spread spell spreads out like a burst but can turn corners. You select the point of origin, and the spell spreads out a given distance in all directions. Figure the area the spell effect fills by taking into account any turns the spell effect takes."

So, you quite simply point the Fireball to a point of origin from whence it will explode, and it will then spread out 20' in all directions for as much as it will go. The ground will stop it, but this does not mean in the least that it will spread out any further in other directions.

[whiteflash]

"Great, thanks," Hissra replies. Then he casts the spell as described, so that it ends just above the bat and the center of the fireball is above it.

[roll0] for the base damage, before any fire resistance he might have and before we know whether or not he saves.

Most of that's about what I expected, except that I didn't realize it could go around corners. Thanks. That could be useful.

[Darth Ultron]

Imp save:

[roll0]

And minus a bit for fire resistance...


The fireball burns the imp to a crisp....and it's body tumbles out of the sky and thumps on the ground.

[whiteflash]

Hissra laughs in triumph, and is giving orders to his bat in Infernal before the body hits the ground. "Bite something off to make sure it's dead. Not the head, which I need, or the tail, which I'm not sure is safe. If he doesn't object to losing part of his body, bring the corpse here."

He turns to Snagazod, and speaks to him in Common. "I think our work here is done. Maybe we should leave. I'm having the bat bring that thing. Let's roast it over the fire tonight."

I really wish I'd thought of this lie while there was time to tell Snagazod I was going to tell it. Just gotta hope either he doesn't tell the orcs what I'm really doing, or they decide it doesn't count as necromancy.

[Darth Ultron]

The bat has no problem swooping down, grabbing the charred body and flying back over to you.

Snagazod the Sneaky turns and rushed back over too.

Of course, everyone around saw or heard the fireball, and there were a couple shouts and grunts.

[whiteflash]

Hissra grabs the body.

"Let's go," he says to Snagazod in Common.

"Follow for as long as the spell binding you lasts. Be ready for further orders," he says to the bat in Infernal.

Hissra starts to run at about the fastest pace Snagazod (who I assume moves at thirty feet per round rather than forty) can be expected to keep up with. He moves in whichever direction seems to have the fewest orcs in it.

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky nods and runs along.

Orcs around yell and grunt, but none seem to be moving in your direction.

[whiteflash]

"Well, this is going better than I thought it would." Hissra turns to Snagazod as they run. "Anyone approaching invisibly? The spell won't wear off for a while, so you'd still know."

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Nopes, nobody.

Maybe they thoughts it was an attack on the temple? "

[whiteflash]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Nopes, nobody.

Maybe they thoughts it was an attack on the temple? "

"Maybe. If they did, they probably don't think so now. Let's, uh, stay away from there for a while, though. Just in case."

Hissra lowers his voice, less because he thinks they're being eavesdropped on and more on general principle.

"Let's see... what now? I... think the best thing to do would be to take this corpse to the same place we took Gretreo's and have a chat with it. After that... "

[Darth Ultron]

Snagazod the Sneaky "Looks like no one noticed us.....but then we are unnoticeable.

And...um..chat...with the body?""

[whiteflash]

Are you saying that Hissra and Snagazod used their invisibility abilities (Hissra's spell and Snagazod's boots) on their way out? I remember that that was the plan, but neither of us explicitly said that it happened. I just want to know so I know whether or not to mark Hissra's second casting of invisibility as used or not.

Also, that Knowledge: Planes check I failed... do you interpret that as not being familiar enough with whatever Graatch is to recognize it, or just not recognizing his species at a glance? If it's the first one, never mind. If it's the second, would having his corpse in my hand and watching him fight before he died be enough of a memory jog to give me another roll?

"Yeah... well, not literally. Or, kind of literally." Hissra speaks a bit more quietly, now, as though he's actually afraid of being listened in on now. "You do remember that thing we did with Gretreo's head, though, right? At the Night Gash? That's why we have Graatch's corpse, isn't it? Or... did you actually want to try eating it?"

Hissra looks down at the corpse in his hand.

"I'm not sure that would be safe..."

[Darth Ultron]

No? No one used invisibility to get away...

Yes, the roll was too low to recognize the type of creature. You can't really 'reroll', you either know something, or you don't.




Snagazod the Sneaky "Me no eat."

[whiteflash]

Thanks for clarifying both points.

"Well, let's take it to the Night Gash, then. Next we should probably go offload the whip we picked up."

When Hissra ordered the bat to bite off part of Graatch's body to make sure he was dead, but make sure it wasn't the head or the tail, what did the bat do?

[Darth Ultron]

The bat bit off most of one of the creatures small hands. The dead body did not react, of course.

Snagazod the Sneaky nods and moves along....but keeps a watch around and behind.