Ruins of Azlant IC

[Farmerbink]

As the party walks around the colony, Jessica spends most of her time listening and thinking on what her companions have said. "I wonder if you're onto something, Henri," she murmurs. "If ghosts can control a person, maybe Arkley was haunted? It seems.... perhaps unlikely that a ghost would bear a grudge against so many, but perhaps the haunt was using Arkley's body for some nefarious purpose? He might have been... uhh... dealt with, already, and the ghost was using his body to get to others?" She ponders the grim possibility with no small bit of concern, frowning in what she hopes is a commiserating way at Taz's obvious frustration. "I'm frustrated too, but we've got to keep a level head or we'll just end up falling prey to whatever got the first wave of colonists."

"That doesn't really make sense," the priestess finally comments, referring suddenly to her previous theory. "I don't think a haunt could have so much power all over the colony, and maybe beyond?" She frowns deeply, still lost in thought. "It's all just guesses until we find something sure."

Confident that they're at least still making progress, Jessica steels herself outside the small chapel. "I meant what I said earlier. I'll go talk to the ghost and see if it can tell us anything. If Lightburn wants to come too, I wouldn't mind moral support." She takes a few moments to cast simple spells of protection and light, and opens the door.

Holding aloft her glowing symbol of Shelyn, Jessica steps boldly into the sanctuary. She looks around the space with her cantrip of detection active as well. "Hello?" She calls. "My name is Jessica Cooper; I'm one of the chaplains here in Talmandor's Bounty. If you will let me, I'd like to help you."

Spoiler: OOC

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First steps: casting light on the holy symbol, and protection from evil on herself. Casting detect magic just before opening the door.

Also, Jessica still speaks several languages: Common, Celestial, Azlanti, Aquan, and Dwarven are all on the direct list of fluency. Given time (and necessity), she'll try greeting and diplomancing the haunt/undead in any and all of them.

(1d20+8)[9] Diplomacy to improve the ghost's attitude?

Every other skill I can think might possibly be significant:
(1d20+9)[24] heal
(1d20+5)[10] know religion
(1d20+7)[24] linguistics
(1d20+8)[19] sense motive
(1d20+5)[12] spellcraft

[farothel]

Laurelata went to a window or if there was none, made sure the door was open and she could shoot inside. She wasn't sure if her bow could harm the haunt, but from all the weapons, that one had the most chance in her opinion.

[u-b]

Jessica and Lightburn enter the chapel while Laurelata looks in through a window. At first the chapel seems to be empty, save for furniture and such, even though in the center, where you don't see any notable thing, registers a slowly-moving magical aura. Then a ghotsly figure appears in that exact place. Clearly undead and clearly incorporeal, by the look of it. Most likely formerly male. It listens to Jessica's introduction, looks at her and at Lightburn, then says in a somewhat confused tone: "Arkley?" He looks at the two of you for some more time. "You are not Arkley. He sent you? Say he won't have me! He won't have me no way!" A wooden bench starts to rattle. "Why? Why would he kill me? Why? Why, why, why?" The bench really rattles and starts to lift into the air. At this time, Jessica concludes it would be wise to retreat. Some time after she and Lightburn are out, the bench lands on the floor and the ghostly figure disappears, though you still hear occasional "Why, why, why?" from the chapel.

Spoiler: Jessica

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The ghostly figure looks pretty dead and decomposed, even skeletal, so you cannot tell what killed him without getting the actual body and possibly not even then, but you doubt the actual body has decomposed that much over the time scale involved. Maybe the owner's impression or artistic effect. The ghost speaks Taldane with maybe some lower-class Andoran-specific accent. Seems a native speaker. Seems to be really fixated on the last event(s) in his life and on the question of why.

Spoiler

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Yeah, the diplomacy's not helping. But you did well on some other rolls, whatever good it gets you...

[DarkOne-Rob]

Henri watches from the doorway, his expression dour as the confrontation continues. When it's over he shrugs and says, "That didn't look too bad, but I'd hate to get hit with a bench. Could any of us pass for this Arkley guy?"

[farothel]

"As we don't know what he looked like, it would be difficult," Laurelata said, "not to mention that this ghost can go really berserk at the sight of his killer. Here, let's try to talk to him through the window. At least it's easier to duck if he starts throwing benches."

She moved back to the window.
"Hey," she called inside, "I'm Laurelata of Greengold. We would like to help you, but in order to do so, we need some information. Could we try to talk to you so we can get this information?"

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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diplomacy: (1d20+6)[22]

[u-b]

"Greengold?" You hear back from the chapel as the ghost becomes visible once again "We have no one from Greengold." He says in a confused tone. Not very aggressive though, maybe because his space is not being infringed. "Who are you? Do you know Arkley?"

[farothel]

"No, I do not know Arkley," Laurelata said, "we're in the second group of colonists. However, we're trying to find out what happened to the first group of colonists, where you belonged to as well. Could you please help us with information on what happened, so we can help you find the peace you seek."

[u-b]

"The second group of colonists? Then you are not with any faction in here. I do not know what happened to them, I have been dead. Arkley killed me. And before that, people were all behaving strange or getting paranoid. I tried to stay away from it. Didn't help." The ghost is not terribly coherent, but is willing to answer more question. He wasn't there when the people disappeared, so does not know the details.

Spoiler

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You can just post a list of questions and we'll see how it turns out.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Spoiler: Questions

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• How can we help you find rest?
• What were the factions in the first colony?
• With which faction was Arkley?
• How were people acting weird?

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz is happy that Laurelata was able to smooth things over with the dead man, at least for the moment. After some questions go answered, she feel confident enough to voice some of hers:

"I am sad Arkley killed you. Who were you in life? What was your name?"

"Before he killed you, did you see or hear Arkley or anyone in his faction doing something strange?"

"We found a copy of the charter hidden in Arkley's former home with some named marked off. The only names unmarked were: Kulena Sprads, Frel Tanboor, Machi Valenth, Silas Weatherbee, and Kalcora Weems. Can you think of anything these five people had in common?"

"While there were internal struggles, what problems was the colony facing from external threats?"

[u-b]

Q: "How can we help you find rest?"
A: "I... I don't know. Can you find Arkley? Can you make him answer for what he did to me?"

Q: "What were the factions in the first colony?"
A: "The leadership. The opposition. The scaremongers."

Q: "With which faction was Arkley?"
A: "The leadership."

Q: "How were people acting weird?"
A: "Getting disinterested in exploration and economic endeavors. Bickering. Not being like themselves."

Q: "I am sad Arkley killed you. Who were you in life? What was your name?"
A: "I was a leatherworker here in the colony. Name's Silas Weatherbee."

Q: "Before he killed you, did you see or hear Arkley or anyone in his faction doing something strange?"
A: "I mostly kept to myself. Strange thing Arkley came to me asking for missing people. I still don't understand why he had come to me."

Q: "We found a copy of the charter hidden in Arkley's former home with some named marked off. The only names unmarked were: Kulena Sprads, Frel Tanboor, Machi Valenth, Silas Weatherbee, and Kalcora Weems. Can you think of anything these five people had in common?"
A: "Strange now you ask me about them. The four of them went missing one night. The fifth is me, but I don't think I have much in common with the rest. That is, not more than anyone else."

Q: "While there were internal struggles, what problems was the colony facing from external threats?"
A: "Ankhegs. Goblinoids. Traps in the wilderness. Ancient ruins. The later did not kill anyone, but caused some scare."

[DarkOne-Rob]

Spoiler: More Questions

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• Where would you look for Arkley? We haven't found any sign of him since we arrived...
• Why were the factions fighting?
• What did the leadership do that the opposition didn't like?
• Why were the scaremongers trying to frighten people? What were they afraid of?
• How were people acting differently than usual? Was there a trend?

[SanguinePenguin]

"Thank you, Mister Weatherbee, you are helping us so much. We will try to find Arkley and bring you peace. Ancient Ruins? Do you know roughly where these ruins are? Can you recall if the odd behaviors started before or after the ruins were found?"

"Who led the opposition? Who led the scaremongers?"

Spoiler: OOC

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Later, I want to ask what information he has on the four who went missing, but I am worried that may be dangerous territory since that line of questioning preceeded Arkley killing him.

[DaOldeWolf]

"If I may ask, do you know if any explorers managed to escape? Also, can I ask how did you die?" Hewitt decides to ask.

[u-b]

Q: "Where would you look for Arkley? We haven't found any sign of him since we arrived..."
A: "I don't know."

Q: "Why were the factions fighting?"
A: "A lot of reasons were named, but I don't know if there is truth behind any of them. The leadership claimed that they must maintain control. The opposition claimed that the leadership is incompetent and must relinquish control. The scaremongers wanted to live long enough to get out of here."

Q: "What did the leadership do that the opposition didn't like?"
A: "It seemed about everything they did, or didn't, the opposition didn't like. Thinking that some of it was for real and the rest just to say bad of the leadership."

Q: "Why were the scaremongers trying to frighten people? What were they afraid of?"
A: "They were afraid and tried to get the rest on their side. They were afraid of the sudden infighting and of us not being here alone. One major scare was Eliza Hanniver telling how she barely escaped being held prisoner by two statues trying to teach her their language."

Q: "How were people acting differently than usual? Was there a trend?"
A: "The farmers stopping to plow their fields and starting to do politics. The cleric stopping to cast his spells for no good explanation. The others just did not feel right, I don't know."

Q: "Ancient Ruins? Do you know roughly where these ruins are? Can you recall if the odd behaviors started before or after the ruins were found?"
A: "Some north. Some north-west of that. The strange behaviors started after, I think. Yes. After."

Q: "Who led the opposition? Who led the scaremongers?"
A: "Una Hendrake led the opposition. Nobody really led the scaremongers."

Q: "If I may ask, do you know if any explorers managed to escape? Also, can I ask how did you die?"
A: "I don't know. I... Arkley had questioned me. I told I don't know, but he did not let me go. I tried to run, he stabbed me, I rand and hide in the altar. There I died, I think. I cannot remember."

Telling about his own death seems to be a traumatic experience for the ghost as he began to wander around the chapel, forgetting about you, saying like "But, why, Arkley? Why, why?" and eventually turning invisible, while still wailing.

Spoiler

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It would take another diplomacy roll if you want to continue questioning.

[farothel]

"Well, I'm not sure how much of this is admissible," Laurelata said, "but it's quite interesting information nevertheless.
What now? Do we try to get him back?"

[Farmerbink]

Jessica frowns, listening quietly for fear of offending the spirit. She scowls a little, focusing as her companions continue to pose questions and learn more about the colonists. In particular, news of the clerics not casting spells comes as an unpleasant shock. When the spirit disappears, and the party regathers, she breaks her silence. "This is very concerning indeed. It sounds very much like... something was... changing people? I cannot imagine turning on Shelyn over any of the challenges we've faced, and if anything the first wave of colonists was chosen first for being better prepared than we. And who takes up politics over a lone colony in the middle of the ocean? That just doesn't make sense."

"Whatever happened here, I'm confident the colony was targeted from outside. People don't just abandon each other- especially not when their very survival depends on it." As she makes her conjectures, she frowns. "That.... doesn't bode well for survivors, I suppose," she adds, sadly.

"Either way, we've seen these ankhegs, the Goblins, and while traps might be concerning, they don't change people." She looks around at her companions seriously. "We need to find the ruins he mentioned, though I suspect we already have found some."

Spoiler: OOC

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Can we confirm that this scene, starting around post 921 is "north" of the colony? Or would they be north-west of north? XD

[DaOldeWolf]

Hewitt cannot hide his anxiety over the discovery. "I must say I find this very dim. We made a great progress on our current state since we actually know what happened here even if we certainly lack the finer details of the bigger picture. Now, what we need to do is to find the source behing this change to prevent a future tragedy. And the bigger issue is that we dont know how much time we have left before the events could potentially repeat themselves."

Lightburn looks confused. "But what can we do? We dont know what did this. We dont know if it has even started again and we just havent realized it."

"Well, we should inform Miss Avandth of our discovery. Just to make sure she takes measures now that we know the effects that whatever happened. Right, everyone?" Hewitt asks asking for opinions on the matter.

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz contemplates the ghost's words in silence for several minutes. Finally, after some time passes she looks up and begins to speak, "that was informative. Although Mr. Weatherbee is not completely sane, the behavior of people is too strange to believe that something didn't happen and this was just the natural evolution of the colony. I only see two things that make sense," she holds up a single finger, "either something altered the minds of people and made them behave strangely and engage in behaviors that subverted the colony," she raises a second finger, "or something altered itself to take the form of the colonists and subverted the colony from within. I suspect Arkley was one of the earliest affected, because if I was trying to destroy the colony, from the leadership would be the best way to do it, right? I think the ruins are where this happened. Though Lightburn is right. We don't know for sure that it isn't happening again. We need to tell people. Too many and there will be panic. Too few and there won't be necessary security to stop it if it happens again."

She shakes her head, while happy to have more information, she is horrified by the consequences. She looks up again with resolve, "we can't tell Ramona first. If this has already gotten to her, she is the colony's leader and could just decide to lock us up. I suggest Marius, Anya and Alba," the latter she says more hesitantly. "We've worked with all of them before, and I don't think any of them would start a panic or throwing accusations. Maybe Eamon and Kurvis, too." She pauses again, "and we shouldn't tell Ramona who else we've told. We also need checks in place for us. If we go to the ruins and fall to this force... Gods... I see what the scaremongers were all about..."

[farothel]

"We have to tell Ramona something," Laurelata said,"she knows we're here, so she will want to know what's going on.
We have to tell something. And yes, we have to check out those ruins. And the ghost talked about two statues trying to teach someone their language. We haven't seen those yet. But if Arkley was with that group that was ambushed by the grindylows, or another group ambushed by the other goblins or the ankhegs or something else, we're never going to find the body."

[DarkOne-Rob]

"I'm a simple man, but it seems that less is more, here. Keep it simple - make it complicated and then you're to blame when it goes belly-up," says Henri as the others discuss subterfuge and nuanced subtlety. "Tell people only what they need to know and nothing more, nor less..." he trails off as he seems to realize he's been saying much more than usual.

Then the half-orc steps back and pulls out his hand-drawn maps of the island and where they've explored so far. He lays them out for everyone to consider as they try to determine where they should explore next...

Spoiler: OoC

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I'm not sure how to do this, but I'd really like something graphic to help us imagine what the explored portions of the island look like so far. Can we get some help here, u-b? Can you link an image of the map with the unexplored areas spoilered or something?

[Farmerbink]

Jessica nods slowly, listening to her companions. "The other clerics like me are devoted to our Gods. None would have us spreading lies or withholding vital information. We should tell them, and rest easy in the knowledge that if they stop casting spells, something has happened to them, too. And we have to tell Ramona. At the very least, she's the most at risk. Perhaps she can be more careful than Arkley was, and prevent whatever happened to him from happening to her."

[farothel]

"I'm not saying we shouldn't say nothing," Laurelata said, "but I would hold of on giving a full account of what we heard until we can get some things verified. A ghost's testimony is strongly coloured by the events of his dead, so I think for now we best say that we have found some leads and that we will tell them more as soon as we can verify said leads."

[DaOldeWolf]

"Then lets keep it brief. Lets say that we are looking into the facts right now and that we only know that betrayal ocurred. We can keep the horrid and paranoic details of the "curse" to ourselves until we find out the actual source." Hewitt suggests as a fair middle point.

[farothel]

"Sounds like a good plan," Laurelata agreed, "and we don't know for sure much more anyway."

[u-b]

You go ahead and tell Ramona and the clerics that:
- you've talked to the ghost
- it is of Silas Weatherbee
- who was killed by Rayland Arkley
- for unclear reasons, maybe as part of internal struggle among the first wave of colonists
- for the time being, the gost is here to stay
- and you will try to investigate further

Spoiler

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Everyone present roll some Bluff. Those talking at +10 (you are not actually lying, just maybe deceiving a little) and those simply present at +15. And everyone present roll Sense Motive 20.

[farothel]

"We're also going to have to check further on the island," Laurelata added, "probably need two or three day trip to do a thorough investigation."

Spoiler: OOC rolls

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Bluff (she will probably be speaking): (1d20+16)[23]
Sense motive: (1d20+5)[20]

EDIT: made the sense motive, bluff isn't bad either.

[DarkOne-Rob]

Spoiler: Mechanics

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Bluff: (1d20+11)[14] (Henri isn't talking). Sense Motive: (1d20+2)[13] vs DC 20.

[SanguinePenguin]

Taz knew she was outvoted. Keeping people ignorant about this was a mistake. How would they feel if they were out of the loop? Still... she respected the will of the others and went along with the plan. Mostly by keeping her mouth shut and her senses open.

Spoiler

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Bluff: (1d20+14)[16]
Sense Motive: (1d20+1)[17]

[Farmerbink]

Jessica tagged along with the group, having come to the conclusion that some information was better than none, and that limiting it was still wise. She nods and smiles at all the appropriate times, keeping her eyes carefully peeled to measure the response of Ramona and the other clerics.

Spoiler: OOC

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Rolled OOC for a result of 27 on both bluff and sense motive