(PF) maggie's Rise of the Runelords: Skinsaw Murders IC

[Desril]

Setsuna

At Red's alert that opening the lock will take time, and aware that the protective spell to ward off the evils of the house wouldn't last forever, Setsuna shakes her head. "We can do it later then. There are still other rooms we can search, we should not waste time if we do not have to."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Red nods in acquiescence. Yes, it probably wasn't going good to leave unchecked rooms behind them. If that door was keeping them out, then anything nasty on the other side would have to work its way out as well.

Would they hear it coming, if there really was something nasty on the other side? Now that the idea has crossed her mind, Red finds herself shaken, nervously glancing at every darkened corner to make sure that there really was nothing more in them than dust and mold. Nevertheless, she spares a faint smile of encouragement and a hesitant pat on the arm for Brin as the group retraces its steps back down the corridor.

*****

GM post

There are about 5 minutes of MCaE left.

You return to investigate whatever is on behind the other set of double doors directly opposite the room with the stained glass panels.

The doors of this room (B17) swing open to the protesting squeak of unoiled hinges when you try the tarnished door knob. Within is a large chamber, largely devoid of furniture save for a stone fireplace in the northwest corner and yet another set of double doors in the west wall. A rotting ice bear fur that has seen better days lies forlornly in the middle of the room, its paws having long since been savaged by moths, its white fur faded to a dirt-flecked yellow. Above your heads, an ancient chandelier hangs from a thick brass chain, its glass baubles tinkling softly and twirling in the air currents you have disturbed with your entry.

The most notable feature of this room are the large paintings that decorate the north and south walls - three to the north and five to the south. Each of these paintings is coated in a thick sheet of dusty cobwebs that obscure its subject from view.

For those of you who choose to examine the nearest painting on the southern wall, you discover a small plaque affixed to the bottom of the frame. Should you use your hands to wipe away the accumulated dust, you discover that the name "Sendali Foxglove" has been carved into the soft wood in a swirling cursive letters.

*****

Map

[bcool999]

Taladron

Taladron looks around the room, then starts casting spells to clean off the paintings and plaques so he can get a good look at them. When he reaches the one about Sendali Foxglove, he pauses and thinks of what he knows of this person.

After searching the room and looking at the paintings, he renews his light spell since it, (and the protective magic that Brin provided) are both starting to fade. He then nods to the others that he is ready to move on and stands near the next set of doors.

Spoiler: Spells and checks

Show

Casting several Prestidigitation spells to clean off paintings and plaques without harming them. Knowledge Nobility on Sendali if needed (1d20+9)[11] Recasting Light for another 50 minutes of being able to see.

Also Perception (1d20+4)[18] for loots, danger, secret messages, hidden doors, etc.

[Desril]

Setsuna

After seeing the dust and cobweb covered portraits, Setsuna can't resist the urge to wipe them down and see who they were of, especially given the state of the last room they were in. Before she can as much as reach the first painting on the north wall however, Taladron cleans it with the efficiency available only to magic-users.

Recognizing a good idea when she sees one, the tiefling emulates the elf and speeds up the cleaning of the portraits.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

...hangs back, catching her breath while she watches the arcanists work their cleaning magic with unabashed envy. "One of these days, I'm going to get a wand to cast that spell." She quietly promises herself, looking down at the mud, dust, and mold stains on her boots and long cloak.

"Remember to check behind them," She say as the pair finishes their prestidigitations. "There might be a safe or something. Let me look."

Spoiler

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Take a 10 to search the room for a total of 20

[Desril]

Setsuna

Hearing Brin's comment about getting a wand, Setsuna pauses a moment before cleaning the last picture. "I think I might be able to make something more durable than a wand. I would need some materials though, and about a day to work on it. We can talk about it when we leave here with Foxglove and the crying woman." At least, assuming that both of them are still alive.

Having said all she had to say, the Minkaian mutters the incantation to clean off the last portrait and its plaque if Taladron hadn't done it while she was speaking.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus


...helps look around the room.

Spoiler

Show

Take 10 for Perception 22

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

You are down to the last minute of MCaE.

Taladron

Sendali Foxglove, if you remember correctly, is the younger sister of Aldern Foxglove. As far as you know, she lives in Korvosa with a distant branch of the Foxglove house.

*****

Everyone else

With magical assistance, it is simply a matter of minutes before you have managed to tidy up the portrait room.

The portrait of Sendali Foxglove shows a young girl in an exquisite lace-point dress, willowy and preternaturally serious, her hands neatly folded in her lap despite the curly lapdog that someone has obligingly placed by her slippered feet. There is something about her thin cheeks and sharp nose that puts those of you who have seen Aldern before in mind of the man. If this is indeed Aldern's relation, then this portrait must have been painted a long time ago, given how many years have passed since Aldern ascended to manhood.

The other portraits on the south wall seem to indicate that they too must have been commissioned over a decade ago. To the left of Sendali's portrait is one of "Zeeva Foxglove", a mere pale waif of a girl, even younger than Sendali and likewise wrapped in expensive silks and pearls. To the right is a much taller portrait of a woman in mossy green. Unlike her sombre relations, the woman's face is beaming, her green eyes sparkling with mischief and her glossy red hair done up in braids, a jewel-replica of the Foxglove flower pinned to her cloak. The name on her plaque reads "Cyralie Foxglove" - the name of Aldern's mother - and should Red turn to see this portrait, she recognises much to her horror that this is the same woman as the one whose mutilated face had appeared on the manticore's not too long ago.

Occupying the far end of the south wall is a portrait of Aldern himself as a boy, his cheeks still plump and rosy, white flowers stuffed into his buttonhole, the ceremonial sword at his side looking incongruously out of place. On the face of this portrait is the same nervous eager smile that those of you who have met Aldern before have come to recognise - whoever painted this portrait certainly had the knack for capturing the littlest idiosyncrasies. Between Aldern and Cyralie is the tallest of the south wall portraits, showing a powerfully built man with a thin moustache, dressed in ceremonial Tien-shu robes, an arrogant though not unpleasant smirk lighting up his face. The plaque on the wall under his picture reads "Traver Foxglove"; this is Aldern's father, the aspiring Pathfinder. He certainly doesn't look like someone who would have burned his wife alive and pushed her out a window. But if appearances are anything to go by, nobody would have guessed Aldern capable of murdering his own wife and starting a ghoul epidemic either.

Perception DC 15 (Sirus ONLY)

Spoiler

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The picture of Traver Foxglove shows him brandishing all manner of weapons in an ostentatious display of his manly prowess. You however observe that at his belt is strapped a hunting knife of exceptional size. This is the exact same knife that you saw wielded by your father in the vision of your parents trying to murder each other.

*****

The portraits on the northern wall, judging by the wear and tear of their frames, seem to be even older. The first one that you uncover is turns out to be that of Lorey Foxglove, once the living name of the Attic Whisperer downstairs - a slip of a girl with an impish grin and two ferrets balanced on either shoulder, her hair done up in tight ringlets as befitted the noble fashion for the children of her time. To the left of Lorey's portrait is a taller painting of a stern-faced "Kasanda Foxglove", her short chesnut hair fading to wispy grey. To the right of it is one of a tall, middle-aged man, his long hair bound neatly with a black ribbon, dressed austerely in clothing of darkest blue, the barest traces of a sneer touching the edges of his thin clean-shaven visage as he stares haughtily down at all of you. The name on the plaque, once Setsuna has scoured away the cobwebs obscuring it, reads "Vorel Foxglove".

So this is Lorey's daddy and Aldern's great-grand uncle, the pioneering xenophobic merchant prince whose entire family perished of disease overnight. He certainly wouldn't have approved of the number of Varisian-born or bred people standing around in front of his picture.

*****

For those who rolled Perception checks in their last post - DC 15:

Spoiler

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You can't find anything of hidden or of value in this room, though the portraits themselves might perhaps be worth something to the right kind of collector.

Also, is it just you, or is this room somehow getting colder? You can suddenly see your breath pluming white in front of you. That's certainly rather odd, given that the rest of the house was damp but warm enough.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

A shiver runs down her spine as Brin comes to the portrait of Vorel Foxglove, whose child and wife sit trapped bnetween worlds on the floor below. "But where's your spirit?" She asks quietly, but it's enough of an utterance to send forth a wisp of condensation into the suddenly chill gallery.

The elf looks around, on her guard and acutely aware that her ward is about to expire. "To Rico, quickly. There's something wrong in this room!" She calls to the others, hoping there's still enough time left on the spell.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

... follows Brin 's suggestion. It was getting unnaturally cold. And then he makes another realization.

"I saw. That knife. In my. Vision. This man. Killed his wife. Who tried. To protect. Her children. And the. Mold. Has. Something. To do. With it."

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Spoiler

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Taking 10 for Perception = 18

That woman. Those eyes. Red involuntarily starts and jerks away, slowly shaking her head. This was going wrong. All wrong. And why was it getting so cold?

"I think... we should leave. Now." Red pulls at Rico's arm, trying to get her friend to budge, glancing around appealing at the others.

[Desril]

Setsuna

Seeing and hearing everyone start to sound worried and move closer to Rico while Red tries to get Rico to move, Setsuna tilts her head to the side in confusion, not noticing the sudden shift in temperature.

Still confused, she hesitates a moment "What are we doing? Did something happen?"

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

By the end of this post, the effects of MCaE will end.

Before anyone can reply to Setsuna, however, the temperature in the room plummets so dramatically that you barely have time to blink before you find yourself struck by a cold so intense that your ears and jaws ache, the warmth draining from your fingers as your body stiffens in shock. Your breath hangs before you in clouds of white frost, fingers of rime slithering across the walls and ceilings, covering everything in a thin layer of gleaming ice.

Well, almost everything. For those of you who behold the portraits, you realise that many of the figures depicted within are somehow moving, their outlines blurring in a torrent of colour, rapidly shedding their current form to take on instead the image of folks long since dead.

Aldern's portrait is the first to change. While the portraits of Sendali and Zeeva merely frost over, those of you who glance up manage to catch the rot blooming on his cheek, his flesh darkening to putrid greys and purples as his hair falls out in large clumps. Gone is the boyish charm evident even in his youth. Instead, his body bucks and twists, wracked by some deformity that distends his neck and gnarls his hands into talons, the nervous smile on his face replaced by something fanged and wreathed by a spotted lolling tongue. The resemblance between him and the other ghouls you have seen is clear - Aldern, if you can trust the intimations of this picture, may no longer be in the world of the living.

Meanwhile, next to Aldern, the portrait of Traver Foxglove soon grows pale, his face still caught in a smirk as a long cut slices open his throat from ear to ear, blood seeping down over his chest in a crimson tide. Almost immediately after, the portrait of Cyralie begins to blacken and char, her limbs and back twisted like a paper doll's, apparently shattered in dozens of places.

Should you possess enough presence of mind to turn to the northern wall, you are in time to see the fate of Kasanda and Lorey as they slump into misshapen, tumour-ridden corpses, Lorey's beautiful smile still frozen on her face even as she keels over. It is the portrait that shows Vorel Foxglove himself, however, that seems to be undergoing the most frightening change. The picture of the man has vanished from his frame, replaced by a quivering, dripping man-sized mass of black tumescent fungus, with various horny ridges and pus-filled bulbs in the centre that suggest a large mouth of sorts. The black mass seems to shudder, green ichor oozing down its form, right before it suddenly erupts in an explosion of fungus and tumorous growth, pouring over the frame and onto the walls and down the floor

The wave of fungus is fast. Too fast. Before any of you can move to escape the room, the foul mess has washed over your feet, curling up your limbs in black tendrils and holding you fast, twining up your bodies and grasping for your throats.

Just before the fungus can reach your necks, however, a woman's scream pierces the air hurting your ears with its shrillness. Immediately, the fungus tide and the ice covering the room vanishes, returning the room back to its original state, the eight portraits gazing solemnly down at you, all of them intact and whole once more. From the looks of it, none of you have been hurt by the illusion. At least, not in any way that you can tell by just looking.

Spoiler

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Fort saves:
Sirus: (1d20+8)[17] - passed
Red: (1d20+9)[14] - failed
Setsuna: (1d20+9)[17] - rolled by PC, passed
Rico: (1d20+12)[22] - passed
Taladron: (1d20+6)[21] - passed
Brin: (1d20+8)[24] - passed

MCaE re-roll for Red: (1d20+11)[24] - passed

DAMMIT. Nobody gets nasty diseases. This MCaE thing is really making things too easy. Oh well.

EDIT: For those who want to know, I actually modified this haunt to make it nastier and with a Compulsion effect. Don't ask the details if you don't want spoilers for the Chapter!

[Desril]

Setsuna

Frozen by a mixture of fear and nausea at the feeling of being consumed, at least so it seemed, by the strange black fungus, Setsuna spends a few moments doing nothing but breathing rapidly with no illusion of being calm while trying to catch her breath. "Is-is every one alright? Did that black stuff manage to get to any one's head?"

And who was that screaming? Did she save us?

Spoiler

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Out of curiosity, do the saves marked as failed just happen to be copy/paste typos? Rico, Taladron, and Brin all rolled higher than Setsuna but say "- Failed" on them.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus barely has the time to steel himself before a new assault begins. But he manages.

Thank you, Lady. A bit more, I beg you.

"Did you. See?

Vorel. He was. Responsible. For the mold. It affected. Traver. And Aldern.

But how? And why?"

[Bhaakon]

Brin

"Yes, I saw it." Brin hisses through bone-white lips. Her eyes bounce between the two sets of double doors in the gallery, unsure whether to press on or flee the cursed house. "Heard it, and felt it. This...this might be more than we bargained for."

[Desril]

Setsuna

Regaining enough of her composure for Brin's idea to retreat to inspire enough bravado to press on, Setsuna speaks up. "Maybe it is, but it does not matter. We have come this far, and there still might be some one we can save. I am not leaving until we at least find the woman who was crying, and have figured out of Foxglove-san is here or not."

Glancing at Sirus, "I do not know, but maybe he was a victim too? We do not know enough yet, but we will find out more if we press on."

Should no one stop her, Setsuna makes her way to the unopened doors on the far side of the room and tries to open them.

[maggie_mcknife]

Red

Red places a trembling hand over her heart, her eyes half-closed, shivering as she tries to pull herself together. Damn this house - it must be cursed, for all these people who had lived here to died so horribly. What on earth had it done to Aldern Foxglove? His wife? That woman whose face she'd seen - his mother? And the little girl who lived in the skull?

They had to solve this. Find Aldern. Make sure the house didn't hurt anyone else.

Seeing Setsuna suddenly move to the remaining set of doors, Red tries to call out, one hand outstretched. "Wait... we should stay... together."

*****

GM post

The other set of double doors open with surprisingly little resistance, needing little more than the lightest touch on the handles before they swing open, as if extending an invitation to enter.

This room seems to have been another bedroom, though less touched by decay and damp than the rest of the house, perhaps due to it being on the east side of the house. Most of the furnishings in here have been removed, leaving ghostly outlines on the wall and floor, save for a large double bed angled against the east wall and a study desk made of solid leadwood that must have been too heavy to remove. The desk seems to be in rather good condition despite the thick layer of dust coating its surface and a dark splotch on one side, age having mellowed the dense wood to a rich ashen grey streaked with black.

Heal DC 13

Spoiler

Show

The dark splotch, you realise, cannot be anything but an ancient blood stain given its ghastly rust brown tincture. Just how old exactly though, you can't tell.

*****

Map

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico began to nod at Red
But then too swift, from every shadow
Horror upon horror bled
And even as the rotten flood did flow

"WAAAAAGGHH!"

In defiance, though she knew
In almost all likelihood, it was spitting at a storm
But still she steeled her heart and forth did shew
Her teeth and her blessed shield wellworn

"HOLD! HOLD, IN HIS, NAME!"

And at the scream that saves,
Grinds her teeth, reaching for iron and flame
But for naught, as the phantasms retreat in shame
Still, she glares at where had rolled forth the horrific waves

"...Sound off, y'all? Everyone arright? I'm... alive. Looks like. Hellsteeth, hang all this rot."

Rico growls over her chattering teeth
And dares but slowly, her flame phials to sheathe
Slowly stalks towards the doors, with her shield forward
Nudges Setsuna away, then says, as shivers her hat-and-helm's silver halo

"Hellgirl, Red's right. Brin? Reckon that blessing from earlier's still pumpin'?"

At the doors' opening, Rico almost falls,
Such is their lightness, that she has to brace upon the walls
The halforc constable scowls, and methodically turns over the bed
As well as looking beneath--- and within its drawers--- the desk at which some fool had bled

"Blood. A lot of it. Possibly another primary crime scene. Uncertain, though, whether 'twas murder or suicide. Or, hell, ritual or manic mutilation, wouldn't put it past 'em."

Spoiler

Show

Heal for 18, Perception for 22. What's what? Anything more than meets the eye?

Also... stupid question, but hey, worth asking... If using the butt-end of the battle-table's stem, reckon that could be used to batter in the wall of the locked room?

[Desril]

Setsuna

Nodding in turn to both Red and Rico, Setsuna steps to the side to let the constable open the door. Noting how little remains, the tiefling is drawn to the stained desk. "Are you sure that it is blood and not some other form of mold?" Either way, this whole mansion should be cleaned. Thoroughly.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

Sirus looks at the desolate room. This seemed... normal for what he has seen.

The house was getting to him. Slowly but surely. Outwardly, he seemed calm and composed. But inside him, he could feel the strain. This was a battle of wills. How strong was his? How strong he really was, when all his training and all his capacity for pain was of no use?

I will find out, it seems. Lady of the Spiral, judge me and find me worthy...

Sirus goes on to search the room thoroughly.

Spoiler

Show

Perception take 10 for 22

"Shall we. Move on?"

[Bhaakon]

Brin

Are you mad? We should flee, drink the Rusty Dragon dry, summon up as many guardsman as we can from Sandpoint, and then, maybe, think about coming back here with as much lamp oil and alchemist's fire as we can carry. Is what the wiser portion of Brin's mind wants very badly to scream at Setsuna.

Thankfully the much larger portion is still ashamed of letting Caizarlu walk, as well as the death in Sandpoint the night before. That portion nods and follows the Rico into the next room., pausing only long enough utter a prayer to Pharasma that renews the Goddess's protection. "The Lady's blessing is as strong as ever." She replies to the constable, slapping her battle-table to anchor the spell.

In side the enxt room she help Sirus with his search. "Odd that they'd choose to strip most of its furniture from this room." She observes, offhandedly. "It's the only one so far that isn't riddled with mold. Relative to the rest of this festering heap, I mean."

Spoiler

Show

Renew MCaE for another 50 minutes.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

There are about 50 minutes of MCaE left.

Sirus and Brin

There is little to find in the main area of the room other than a thriving colony of dust bunnies under the bed and a lone white spider no bigger than Brin's littlest fingernail, that skitters nervously away on seven spindly legs.

The top most desk drawer, on the other hand, turns up a single midnight velvet wrapped bundle, bound with ribbon. Those who undo the ribbons and unfurl the velvet discover a gleaming silver dagger within, still handsome despite the hints of tarnish on the blade, its hilt set with aquamarines. The initials stamped on the base of the pommel - T.F. - suggest that this dagger once belonged to Traver Foxglove.

*****

Setsuna ONLY

Spoiler

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Spoiler

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Setsuna's Will Save: (1d20+6)[13] - failed
MCaE's 2nd Will Save: (1d20+8)[15] - failed

As you bend to examine what Rico claims to be an ancient blood stain, you cannot help but think of your father - dead, butchered by fiends, far away in Minkai. You can remember the stink and filth of your own body after a night of slaughter and the hot tears in your eyes. You can remember the floor of your childhood home, hard against your knees as you'd fallen, weeping, your body trembling with exhaustion and the knowledge of what you'd done - what you couldn't undo.

Your father's blood had soaked the floor. Had it ever managed to wash out? Or was it still there, like this stain was still here, to tell everyone of your shame, your guilt?

Dead. Dead. It is all your doing.

The voice, in your head is a man's, broken by grief so tangible that your chest constricts with the intensity of it, filling your aching head with the image of your father - dead - the one memory that you could never shake, no matter how far you ran. Instinctively, you know what you must do now. The penalty for kin-slaying is death, and there is only one way in which you can conceivably redeem your honour at such a late hour...

Everyone else

Few of you see Setsuna's body abruptly stiffen and shudder, as though shaking off cold water. All of you, however, do see when she suddenly surges forward with unnatural speed, snatching the silver dagger off the table and aiming it at her throat.

*****

Spoiler

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Party Initiative:
Sirus: (1d20+4)[23]
Brin: (1d20+5)[20]
Setsuna: 10
Red: (1d20+5)[6]
Rico: (1d20+1)[10]
Taladron: (1d20+4)[12]

Initiative Order:
23 - Sirus
20 - Brin
12 - Taladron
10 - Rico
10 - Setsuna
6 - Red

It is now Sirus's turn. No map, assume you are all within 10 feet.

[ProudGrognard]

Sirus

It is almost out of the corner of his eye, that Sirus sees Setsuna trying to self impale herself. Without thinking, his chi ignites, making him move lighting fast. He aims a kick at the joint of Setsuna, to make her lose her balance. His hands grab the dagger, hitting her wrist to make it fall.

Spoiler

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So. Burning ki for additional FoB.

FoB Trip to make Setsuna fall and make disarm easier (1d20+16)[33]
FoB Disarm attempt (1d20+8)[17] add 4 if Setsuna is prone.
FoB Second attempt (1d20+8)[17] add 4 if Setsuna is prone.

[maggie_mcknife]

GM post

Spoiler

Show

Haunt mechanics allow for Setsuna to use a standard action to attack whoever tries to disarm her, without affecting her turn.

Attack: Haunt auto scores critical hit
Damage: (2d4-2)[3]

Confirm Critical - Attack: auto, Damage: (2d4-2)[3]

Bleed damage: (1d4)[4]

His movements made swift by his inner ki reserves, Sirus easily knocks Setsuna off balance by axing her knee, felling her as easily as a woodsman fells a tree. Removing the dagger, however, is not so easy. Driven on by some foul spirit, Setsuna's eyes glow a dull crimson and her grip on the dagger is unnaturally tight. Even as he moves to strike the dagger from her grasp, she has already lashed out at his arm in retaliation, scoring a deep welt along his forearm from which the blood wells and drips.

Sirus takes 6 damage and also 4 Bleed damage. But he now has the dagger.

Setsuna is now prone.

*****

Initiative Order
23 - Sirus
20 - Brin
12 - Taladron
10 - Rico
10 - Setsuna - prone
6 - Red

It is now Brin's turn. No map, assume you are all within 10 feet.

Setsuna is compelled to continue trying to either kill herself or attack anyone who prevents her from killing herself until she passes a Will save or until the end of the round. Not that the PCs know that. Desril, it's up to you whether Setsuna tries a CDG with Maethilur or tries to grab the dagger back or attacks someone else or tries to take their weapon to CDG herself.

[Bhaakon]

Brin

How does he move that fast? Is the closest thing to a coherent thought that Brin can manage as Sirus's limbs flash out three times to hobble and disarm Setsuna. Brin, for her part, barely manages to let go of her bow and lurch towards the tiefling in a desperate attempt to fall atop her and pin her arms until what can only be a spirit-inspired madness has passed.

Spoiler

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grapple attempt: (1d20+4)[16]

[Miraqariftsky]

Rico stands before the side wall adjoining this room to the locked and unexplored room from earlier, brow furrowed and rubbing her chin as she searches for any structural weak spots that she might focus on so that she might batter open an alternative route...

...when hell breaks loose with Setsuna. Sirus and Brin are faster, partially disarming and barely pinning the flailing tiefling.

The halforc constable's body tenses as she pats her utility belt but then slaps her forehead and growls. JUST when the dang truncheon woulda been useful! This 'ere sword'll surely rip 'er in two in this situation an' that ain't wot we're lookin' fer. Goin' fer a Mordhau an' tryna knock 'er out with the pommel MIGHT work, but with such close quarters an' with the others gettin' in the way, the blade-end could get them. Leave it scabbarded... got no time for a secure peace-bond, scabbard ain't no guarantee. Go a-punchin', kickin' an' chokin'? Might take too dang long.

Ah, shyet. ...Hmm. Waitasec! She then hefts her battle-table, flips it around such that it's the forked legs' end of the stem instead of the tabletop/shield-end pointing towards her embattled comrades. "HOY MAETHILUR! Do wotchagotta DO!" she yells. "Brin, Sirus, Red! Try ta knock the wind outta her if ya can!"

Gotta get that sword offa her... HMM. If her madness is let ta think it has a chance o' doin' ritual suicide on 'er sorry ass, might make it easier ta get the sword-belt off! Risky, but... Banking on some rather dark tales of Minkai that she'd heard from Ameiko, she barks out again, "Arright! If itsch possible! Try ta cut 'er sword-belt! Fully disarm 'er! Rip 'er pants off if ya hafta an' stuff 'em down 'er gob ta keep 'er from castin'! Still clearly dang mindfrakked an' verreh violent! To 'erself an' others!"

Gritting her teeth, taking a deep breath, she growls, "...an' if she don't manage ta dig 'erself outta the hellhole wot's grippin' er right now... gorrammit, just like back in those catacombs under the Glassworks... we knock 'er senseless fer 'er own good. DISENGAGE, GET THE FRAK AWAY FROM "ER, THEN I PIN "ER TA TH" FLOOR WI" THESE."

[bcool999]

Taladron

At a loss on what to do to stop the Tiefling's self destructive impulses, Taladron balls his fists and stares at the others attempts to subdue her. That knife... it belonged to Traver, and now Setsuna has tried, or rather is trying, to kill herself with it. Sometimes I hate it when I am right. Thinks Taladron to himself before shouting at Setsuna. "Setsuna! You have nothing to feel guilty for! Whatever you may be feeling now, they are the regrets and griefs of a man who murdered his wife in cold blood! Since the moment I met you I have seen an overwhelming amount of compassion and forbearance in your words and actions, so there is no reason for you to end your life! Center your mind as though you were casting a spell! Break the spirit's hold on you!"

Spoiler

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Aid Another Will save? (1d20+5)[8] (subtract 1 from that if you want Taladron's base save with no magic mods from the Sihedron amulet)

... In other words... Taladron does nothing this turn.

[Miraqariftsky]

"Tch! YEAH! Wot 'e sehdd!" Rico growls through grit teeth, her fists flexing about the battle-table's haft and eyeing up the flailing tiefling like a fisherman would a magnificent fish while preparing a spear.

"HOY! Issat all ya got? Surrender? Suicide? Yuki Setsuna of the Sakura Throne, slayer of goblins, wrathful avenger, relentless redeemer, she who defies devils, ISSAT ALL YAH GOHT?!" Seeing where Taladron had gone with his cajoling and encouraging, Rico takes a different tack even as she lunges and tries to pin Setsuna to the floor with the thick curved cruciform legs of the battle-table. If her aim holds true, one leg should hit just above her left shoulder, the second just under her right armpit, the third between her legs, the fourth just beside her left hip. "GANGWAY!"

As she lands upon her, one knee trying to pin Setsuna's legs down, Rico hooks one arm through the battle-table's support-struts, that hand winding about the safety strips for a firmer grip. That done, the other hand tries to grab the flailing tiefling's sword away, ripping the weapon belt off, if need be.

Spoiler

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4 Rage Str 5 BAB 2 Flank 4 Prone 2 Mancatcher-end of Battletable + 2 Ranger bonus +2 Charging
(1d20+21)[39]

Request permission to convert Knockback into a Disarm?

[Desril]

Setsuna - Haunted

Possessed of supernatural desire, despite landing flat on her back after stabbing the dagger into Sirus' arm, Setsuna loses no time in reaching for Maethilur, still intent upon turning the blade on herself. Easily using Brin's momentum to toss her aside and with Taladron's words falling on deaf ears, it isn't until Rico intervenes that the haunted hellgirl's target once again changes to the one preventing her from finally paying for her crime and restoring some semblance of honor to her name.

"What do you know?! After what I have done, this is-" Blade in hand, Setsuna resists the half-orc's table's pinning hold, managing to free her sword-hand and strike at Rico. Before the Black Blade can close the distance however, it falls short and suddenly Setsuna stops struggling, letting her sword-arm drop to the ground.

Angry shouting and glaring turns swiftly to barely coherent muttering and sobs as tears stain the tiefling's face, the maddened strength driving her to fight vanishing, Oh gods, what have I done? "I am sorry, so sorry, everyone, otou-san, please,"

Spoiler: Minkaian

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"Please forgive me, I had no choice, it was the only way I could save her...

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Will save vs suicide compulsion (1d20+8)[24] (including the bonuses from MCaE)

Banked roll: 15