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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 3, 2013 22:11:37 GMT -5
Once we are back in Barb-el-Shay we also need to -check on the reward from Baseem, -see if Colby can repair the armband, -determine new spells learned, -purchase spell inks, books and pearls, -pay for additional time for the vault, -attempt to convert paper money to gold,
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Post by Ginger on Jan 4, 2013 11:01:04 GMT -5
Yes to all that. After resting, we'll start at Ymmu's tomb and expand outward to find the Almanack. Haddiq will memorize a locate object spell and see if that helps. It's possible that when we broke the tomb's seal the anti-scrying ward was also displaced.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 4, 2013 12:01:02 GMT -5
Reviewing the party, Friedrich, Mary, Youssef, Mamnoon and Nordel don't need to go to Antioch to see Fizzi. We could set them up in the mansion that Baseem offered as a reward and have Mary train Youssef for 2nd and 3rd level spells. They will probably still be training by the time the rest of the party travels to and from Antioch. Friedrich could also use this time to retrain in flail.
Or we could just stick together to avoid any issues with having the party split.
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Post by Ginger on Jan 4, 2013 13:46:37 GMT -5
Reviewing the party, Friedrich, Mary, Youssef, Mamnoon and Nordel don't need to go to Antioch to see Fizzi. We could set them up in the mansion that Baseem offered as a reward and have Mary train Youssef for 2nd and 3rd level spells. They will probably still be training by the time the rest of the party travels to and from Antioch. Friedrich could also use this time to retrain in flail. Or we could just stick together to avoid any issues with having the party split. I'm pretty confident we'd return to find Friedrich dead in the fighting pits...
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 4, 2013 15:43:26 GMT -5
You know he is going to get bored sitting around the city while everyone else trains. We'll need to find something to occupy his time. Maybe we can give him some walking-around money and he can gamble on the fighting pits. Not as exciting as putting his own life at risk but maybe he will learn some pointers and it will slake his blood lust.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 7, 2013 8:54:25 GMT -5
So we didn't find the Almanack. We thought it was in Ramm's tomb but that turned out to hold a vampire wearing a robe of scintillating colors. We defeated the vampire by boxing it and then dragging it out into the sunlight. Unfortunately it was in gaseous form at the time and the robe did not reappear when the vampire was destroyed. We did get some gold and potions from its coffer.
Not sure where to look after that, we checked some of the other tombs nearby that we hadn't visited yet. We fought some mummies in one room. Found a nice looking grappling hook in another. Then we came across a room with a large purple bottle on a pedestal. When Colby went to grab the bottle, a skeletal warrior animated and started attacking. We kept defeating it and having it reform. We thought opening the bottle would make the thing stop. Instead a purple mist covered a large area making most of the party disappear.
We tried to outrun the creature, then tried reopening the bottle. That made Haddiq disappear. Leaving Trommer, Paavo and Basmadoos. We went back into the tomb. We blocked the creature behind a door. We were then attacked by an undead spell caster and a pack of 9 ghouls. They were defeated pretty easily. We then lured the skeleton to the pit and opened the pit under it.
We revisited the room that the bottle came from but found no clues as to what had become of our party members. We headed back to camp at this point. We are debating what to do.
Meanwhile, in the bottle, the rest of the party found themselves in front to the gates to Khosura (not in ruins) under a purple sky. This appears to be some sort of bottle city of Khosura. And unfortunately no magic of any kind appears to work - spells, items, innate abilities.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 7, 2013 10:04:31 GMT -5
Team A: Trommer, Paavo, Friedrich, Mary, Basmadoos, Khaddil, Baseem, camels, hawk Team B: Colby, Dan, Bolo, Nordel, Youssef, Mamnoon, Haddiq, Azhbar Team A is working under the theory that a magic bottle captures or holds something inside. The only clue we have is that the stopper for the bottle has the rune for Khosura on it. No attempt to command people to come out of the bottle has worked. Options: - break bottle. assume anything and everyone in the bottle will return. or be lost forever.
- have team A reopen the bottle and hope they end up at the same place as team B. how everyone gets out is a mystery since the bottle stays here.
- return to Barb-el-Shay and do research on bottle. it is at least a week back to the city. it is unclear what could happen in that time to the people in the bottle.
- go directly to Antioch and ask Fizzi for a Commune. that is 2 weeks away.
I don't like the first two options because of the lack of information. I have to the assume that the group in the bottle can take care of themselves. Having one of the high level fighters would be better but I don't think any of us are going to volunteer unless Friedrich is game. So I would suggest -head to Barb-el-Shay -send some people into the city to get supplies (including pearls) -pay for an additional 2 months on the vault -get the reward from Baseem -quickly consult sage regarding bottle(?) -continue on to Antioch -on the way Mary can identify the bottle and items while we rest for the night -deliver temple items to Fizzi -ask for remove curse, restoration and commune
For Team B, I would suggest holding their position for awhile. See if Team A is able to contact us or chooses to join us. Check everyone's items to see what if anything works. I would guess the green box still works since that is technology instead of magic. Maybe the healing waters work. We need to see if time passes here - is there night time? Also food and water could be an issue since we can't create it. But if time doesn't pass then maybe food isn't an issue (like the Ethereal Plane). We saw some smoke rising from the city. That likely indicates some inhabitants. They may or may not be helpful. Inhabitants likely mean someone else opened the bottle and have been living here since. No one has been in the tombs for a while so these inhabitants must be surviving on locally available resources. Also they are either the descendants of those captured by the bottle or time does not pass here in the same way. Also they haven't found a way to get out of the bottle.
Some random meta-game thoughts: -opening the bottle could have caught the guardian. if the guardian gets taken into the bottle then who protects the bottle the next time someone goes to open it. -if you really didn't want the bottle to be opened shouldn't the guardian been tougher to get past. -how was the guardian able to follow us in the tomb once we ran from it. we know that locate object or any other scrying doesn't work here. -everyone in the bottle should have the curse removed since that is a magic effect and all magic effects have terminated. returning from the bottle should not cause the curse to be reinstated.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Jan 7, 2013 10:22:03 GMT -5
I still vote for going in the bottle after them rather than splitting up. Simpler.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 7, 2013 11:26:53 GMT -5
It seems rash to just go into the bottle without any clue as to what happened to them.
If we do go into the bottle, do we leave anyone outside to help guard? Do we tell Khaddil to wait a couple of days for us before he and Baseem head for Barb-el-Shay with instructions if we don't reappear? I don't like the chances of two men and 14 treasure laden camels. Maybe Basmadoos and Mary stay behind. I would feel better about their chances of making it back. And Mary could conduct the research to identify the bottle if we don't return.
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Post by Ginger on Jan 7, 2013 12:07:43 GMT -5
Basmadoos and Mary staying with Khadill and Baseem makes a lot of sense.
We don't know that scrying doesn't work in the crypt, we just know that scrying for the Almanach doesn't work.
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Post by venger on Jan 7, 2013 14:50:23 GMT -5
I reply to these because logical inconsistencies in stories/movies annoy me, even if they're about orcs & aliens. I'm looking at you Prometheus. Some random meta-game thoughts: -opening the bottle could have caught the guardian. if the guardian gets taken into the bottle then who protects the bottle the next time someone goes to open it. -if you really didn't want the bottle to be opened shouldn't the guardian been tougher to get past. -how was the guardian able to follow us in the tomb once we ran from it. we know that locate object or any other scrying doesn't work here. -everyone in the bottle should have the curse removed since that is a magic effect and all magic effects have terminated. returning from the bottle should not cause the curse to be reinstated. -guardian of the thing is immune to the fx of the thing... possibly? maybe it only works on the living? i did consider it though -sometimes a guardian need only be strong enough to keep out the riff-raff -didn't seem too unreasonable that two parties with the same movement rate could keep pace with one another - considering one party is carrying a light source with a 60' radius... it did not have an unerring homing ability and if you had webbed it and ran off it would have wandered aimlessly, searching -really depends on the curse!
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Post by Bolo on Jan 7, 2013 18:50:18 GMT -5
Nordel thinks that if we find the tomb where the purple bottle was, there might be another bottle there that will take us back to the non-purple version of the world.
(Or, of course, it might take us inside another layer of bottle, whatever that is.)
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 8, 2013 9:03:01 GMT -5
If we are going in to the bottle then we should do some prep work. We can't assume that we will immediately find the rest of the party. So we should be ready to go it alone for a day or so. - Ask Mary to mend Paavo's armor1.
- Ask Mary for a new Strength spell1.
- Leave all treasure.
- Leave quantum box.
- Leave key to vault.
- Leave Angvmar - haven't used it since receiving Iskander.
- Leave surplus encumbrance (Trommer and Friedrich).
- Take additional rations and water skins. Leave enough for 4 people for 10 days.
- Use healing (waters, potions, apples) to make sure we are in good shape.
- Decide if we should bring some camels with us?
1Assuming she has access to the spell. Paavo will ask Khaddil, Baseem, and Basmadoos for anything they recall hearing about Khosura. How long has it been in ruins? Why did it fall? How was it cursed? Etc. As natives to this land surely they have heard some stories of Khosura over the years. Khaddil comes from a long line of ghoul hunters. Maybe there are stories that have been passed down to him.
Dan asks Haddiq, Azhbar, Youssef and Mamnoon what stories or rumors they have heard about Khosura.
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Post by Ginger on Jan 8, 2013 11:17:28 GMT -5
Presumably Paavo took his critical hit on his shield, which is probably not up for much longer anyway. She doesn't have any useful spells other than Comprehend Languages anyway.
I think bringing camels is a bit much, but I guess it can't hurt. The worst outcome is that escaping the bottle will require going somewhere they can't walk, leaving them stranded.
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Post by venger on Jan 11, 2013 16:09:50 GMT -5
Most of the stories pertaining to Khosura are of the undead guardians and fiendish traps protecting the burial vaults beneath its dusty streets and crumbling palaces. Or of the ancient and magical treasures concealed within that vast under-city, which have over the centuries drawn foolhardy graverobbers and adventurers alike.
As Khaddil has told you, the city is not only haunted by terrible undead but also said to be cursed. When the sun sets, the dead walk and hunger for the flesh of the living. Any who are within the city are then doomed to join them for all eternity.
Khosura was a decadent and corrupt kingdom in the most ancient of days, when men worshipped the old gods, ruled by sorcerer-kings that congressed with demons, djinn and worse.
Legend tells that the proud city was destroyed in a single day by the wrathful gods, "all of the marble palaces and gardens were devastated, and the right, haughty inhabitants reduced to haunting spirits."
Of course another story goes that a vain and arrogant king made a foolish wish and lost his kingdom to the Djinn, the lesson there being to be careful what you wish for.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 12, 2013 23:02:56 GMT -5
Brain storming here. Take with a grain of a salt.
I am not sure how the city being destroyed by wrathful gods would have created a version of the city in a bottle. A poorly worded wish however might have that effect. But that would be quite the wish. I am not sure how that helps us though.
Dispel magic or remove curse don't seem powerful enough to reverse the effects of the wish. Destroying the bottle should de-magic it. But I don't know what would happen to the contents. They might still exist in some pocket dimension but with no way to reach it.
Finding the Djinn who supposedly destroyed the city and created the bottle might be helpful. The only djinn we know is Ibrahim who might be able to help with that. Not sure how we contact him. If only we had a magic item that would allow us to contact the Elemental Plane of Air. Oh wait, we sold just such a thing. If Mary heads back to city maybe she should see about borrowing it.
Trommer still has the horn we got from Queen Cloudia, right? We could ask for their help. If nothing else we could pull them into the bottle with us.
Assuming we do go into the bottle. Then we have to assume there is some way from within bottle to effect our escape. I can't imagine what sort of action would need to be done.
And why would the bottle continue to draw people in? Is this some sort of loophole in the wish? Having there be no way to reverse the effects of the wish would make it too powerful. So sending people into the bottle provides access to the mechanism that would reverse the wish. But then why not destroy the bottle if you didn't want people to have a way to reverse the wish.
Trommer also has the dreamstone. I wonder if that could be used to contact the people in the bottle. Or temporarily draw them forth.
I don't know if time passes in the bottle the same as outside the bottle. If slower in the bottle then going back to the Barb-el-Shay makes sense.
Again I don't know if time passes differently in the quantum box, but alternatively we could open the quantum box. Drop the bottle in it and close it up again. Even if a single demon (summoned by the rod of Demogorgon) came out, I think Trommer and Paavo could take it.
We do have the rainbird tear back in the city. It is supposed to restore anything. Maybe we can use it on the bottle to restore the city. We would probably want to ask someone to research that before wasting the tear. Getting a commune from Fizzi would be the quickest (and cheapest) way to answer that question and many others.
Paavo is leaning towards not going into the bottle. There are too many options to explore from outside the bottle. There is just not enough information to know what is going on in the bottle. Maybe the people in the bottle have the appropriate abilities to get out of the bottle. Maybe not.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 13, 2013 11:51:52 GMT -5
Assuming we do go into the bottle. Then we have to assume there is some way from within bottle to effect our escape. I can't imagine what sort of action would need to be done. Possible actions to escape: -defeat some creature or entity. not sure about the causal link between killing something and breaking a curse. maybe they created the curse. maybe they guard something (see next). what creature? how do we locate it? -find some item which when destroyed or activated breaks the curse. what item? how do we locate it? the crown of kings might be useful for finding it. Of course it could be shielded from discovery by magic. -free something/someone who is trapped within the bottle that has the power to break the curse. Again who and where? I keep coming back to the fact that we don't have enough information. And that information may not be readily available from within the bottle. If we had been less hasty in opening the bottle, we would have taken back with us and identified it. That would have provided a clue to what we were dealing with. Then we might have done some research to determine more information about how to accomplish what needed to be done. Meta gaming: The area of effect indicates that it was intended to get the whole party. But how often have we actually used an unidentified magic item in a dungeon setting. Very rarely. So maybe it is intended as a trap, maybe it is intended as the start of a quest.
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Post by Ginger on Jan 14, 2013 15:46:56 GMT -5
I don't have much to add here. I agree that Paavo and Trommer jumping in the bottle is overly hasty and mostly justified for metagame reasons. Although on those grounds pretty compelling for Trommer to jump in so that he has something to do, as I foresee more action going on in the bottle than without.
Maybe the king wished to rule Khosura until some impossible condition was met and the evil genie decided to fulfill the wish by changing the nature of Khosura. I can imagine a million things.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 14, 2013 15:49:37 GMT -5
I reply to these because logical inconsistencies in stories/movies annoy me, even if they're about orcs & aliens. I'm looking at you Prometheus. Another possible inconsistency (I am clearly spending too much time analyzing this stuff) is why didn't the other undead take the bottle. Clearly there are some free agents roaming the Tombs, breaking in and taking stuff. Why not take the bottle? A pack of ghouls directed by spell casting undead would have no trouble subduing a single guardian. Is there something special about the bottle or the room that prevents other undead from interfering? Probably not the bottle since we were attacked while in possession of the bottle. So maybe the room keeps undead out. Or maybe they all know something about the bottle. Guess this is just one of those things I never know the answer to.
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Post by Bolo on Jan 17, 2013 23:05:35 GMT -5
And unfortunately no magic of any kind appears to work - spells, items, innate abilities. While we are conveniently in this place where no magic of any kind appears to work, Bolo is thinking of affirmatively giving up on the Demonspore quest, in the hope that "no magic" includes the ill effects that would otherwise result from abandoning a geas. Any opinions on the likely outcome of this?
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 18, 2013 9:15:01 GMT -5
Clearly some sort of magic is at work here - we are in a city inside of a bottle. But I doubt you would be struck dead while in the bottle. Once you left the bottle and continued in that vain, I think you would be in danger. I think it might be more accurate to say that magic is temporarily negated. If everything was permanently de-magicked, then all of our magic items would no longer be magical when we returned. That would suck.
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Post by Bolo on Jan 18, 2013 11:53:35 GMT -5
I wasn't there for the session when the geas was imposed, and I can't find the details of this on the board, so my recollection may be entirely wrong, but ...
IIRC, this particular geas isn't quite like the PHB spell. It's implemented via some kind of magical thorn wristband, which will instantly kill the wearer if the quest is abandoned.
Am I completely hallucinating about this?
If not, then my thinking is that if the magical thorn wristband has no effect while in the bottle, just as other magical items apparently have no effect, then removing it while in the bottle is safe. And once it's removed, Bolo won't be wearing it at the point when he returns from the bottle, so his geas will have lost its enforcement mechanism.
Which could, of course, turn out to be completely wrong. In which case, either Bolo gets resurrected (which does appear to clear the geas -- or at least, removes the wristband, right?) or I roll up a new character.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 18, 2013 12:05:01 GMT -5
I think the geas was imposed by a series of runes carved onto the forearm using a magical thorn. I don't know if there are visible scares.
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Post by Ginger on Jan 18, 2013 14:09:02 GMT -5
I think it's more that everyone has a rune tattoo. Bolo could maybe try to carve out a chunk of arm flesh, but that seems very ill advised.
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Post by Bolo on Jan 18, 2013 16:02:09 GMT -5
A while back, some of us died, were resurrected, and wandered back through the desert to meet the rest of the party at the inn at Barb el Shay. I thought I remembered that they were thereby freed of the geas. Is that because their resurrected bodies don't have the rune tattoos? Or am I imagining it? Or what?
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 21, 2013 16:59:51 GMT -5
We accomplished some stuff in the last session but we didn't get far towards resolving the bottle.
Those outside the bottle decided to head back to Barb-el-Shay. We had several encounters along the way. This first almost came to blows but Paavo's mediation avoided any real conflict. Friedrich wanted to kill them but we didn't have a good reason to attack them other than the fact that they had slaves and were evil. There were a couple of 7th level spell casters and 6 guards. The second was with a merchant caravan, where we were able to purchase some pearls at a discount. We gave them some of our cursed Khosura gold which they seemed fine with for a little extra. Our final encounter happened a day from Barb-el-Shay. A number of unlucky rolls had a land shark (a/k/a bulette) attack and kill Baseem. Ruining our chance to get a palace as reward.
Once at Barb-el-Shay, we took Baseem's body to his family. They gave us 65 dinars for returning it. Then we consulted Iz Omazzi at the College regarding the bottle. He had nothing to help with regards to it. We left Mary in the city to Identify objects and headed to Antioch to consult with Fizzi.
Fizzi was happy to receive the items from the Temples of the Forbidden Gods as well as some of our other evil items. He provided Friedrich with a regeneration to help with his lost point of Charisma. He demurred with respects to restoring experience points for Trommer and resurrecting Gabul since there was a chance he could die from the aging associated with casting those spells. He also provided us with a Commune, but we didn't get much useful from that in regards to the bottle. He did offer to fill the ring of the spell storing but discovered it was already full - that is kind of a mystery. He also gave us a cleric scroll with three 4th level spells at 22nd level - divination and 2 others I don't recall. Finally, he removed the curses on ourselves and the items from Khosura.
Mary identified some items in Barb-el-Shay. Of note was a heavily enchanted scimitar from Khosura (+4?). There were also some interesting potions of non-magical nature - one makes an acid cloud, one turns water to glass and one more I forget. There is also a magical grappling hook which automatically grapples, a dagger of throwing, and a glass eye of magic detection.
At that point switched to the party in the bottle. There is a time dilation in the bottle. 1 day in the bottle corresponds to 10 days outside the bottle. There have been 24 days for those outside the bottle and only 2.4 days for those inside the bottle. So we will need to role play the intervening time period until the rest of the party comes into the bottle.
Those in the bottle did some checking to see what works and what doesn't. Only the green box appears to function. No actual magic appears to work. We did some binding of wounds since that is the only healing that will work other than time.
We saw some giant scorpions coming towards us so we made for the city gates. The scorpions were unable to squeeze through. We found some weapons in the gate house including additional arrows. We took some pot shots at the scorpions using a ballista. We spent 8 hours watching the city to see if there were any signs of life. All we saw were a pack of jackals in the distance. There are tracks in the road - humans and dogs (jackals). There is a cook fire in one of the building in the city. We explored the buildings along the main thoroughfare and discovered most of them have been looted of food stuff and other useful items. Bolo found a bag of dried beans. Otherwise it seems like a ghost town (city) where everyone just vanished all of the sudden. We are headed towards the cook fire which is coming from an inn. We have spent maybe 10 hours in the bottle. There is no sun or change of lights to indicate the passage of time.
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Post by Wolfgar on Jan 22, 2013 8:58:07 GMT -5
In addition, from the Commune we also know that the Almanack is not in the bottle and not in the tombs of Barrista the Godless and Vordak the Dragonknight. That leaves like four tombs left near the Ymmu tomb-complex.
While in Antioch, Paavo will ask Fizzi if he has heard of this Almanack. Is it a known talisman of evil? Should we be concerned about giving it to Iz Omazzi?
Also he will ask Ingrid if she is ready to rejoin the party. We could certainly use her services.
Before entering the bottle, we will put all of the loot in the Vault and give the key to Mary. Does the bank offer appraisal services? If not can we make an appointment with a jeweler to visit the vault. We would like get everything valued (so we know what we have for training costs). Also we would like to have the demon statue broken down and melted into bars. How much raw silver can we get from that? If we could get an inventory of everything we have in Barb-el-Shay that would be helpful.
In addition, we should supply ourselves with any necessary equipment - rations, water, oil, torches, lantern, rope, spikes, paper and ink, etc. Given our limited experience with planar travel, there is a chance the qbox won't work in the bottle. We should take everything out of it and then when we get into the bottle try to put stuff back in. If it works, great. If not we are no worse off. Since we don't have a cleric with us, maybe we should purchase some potions of healing from the Temple.
The 300 gp we gave Khaddil, does that employ him for the next 3 months or was that back pay? Assuming he is on the payroll, he should make himself available to Mary if she needs a guard while we are in the bottle. Also if he can look after the camels that would be good. Is Basmadoos coming with us?
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Post by Ginger on Jan 22, 2013 11:11:57 GMT -5
A while back, some of us died, were resurrected, and wandered back through the desert to meet the rest of the party at the inn at Barb el Shay. I thought I remembered that they were thereby freed of the geas. Is that because their resurrected bodies don't have the rune tattoos? Or am I imagining it? Or what? Colby and Friedrich were not affected by being raised. I think one of our characters found a loophole, but I don't remember. Maybe Mary, because she was dead at the time and was later wished into existence.
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Post by Bolo on Jan 22, 2013 14:03:40 GMT -5
Colby and Friedrich were not affected by being raised. In that case, never mind. If pretty much everyone else is in the same boat, Bolo won't bother rocking it.
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Post by venger on Jan 22, 2013 15:19:12 GMT -5
While in Antioch, Paavo will ask Fizzi if he has heard of this Almanack. Is it a known talisman of evil? Should we be concerned about giving it to Iz Omazzi? Fizzi Finnini has no direct knowledge of this "Alamanach of Abi-Dalzim," though in his experience good rarely ever comes from ambitious power-hungry wizards seeking ancient tomes of magical power... Also he will ask Ingrid if she is ready to rejoin the party. We could certainly use her services. Ingrid would consider rejoining the party if it were headed for either A) the Forest Kingdom or B) the Demonspore. Before entering the bottle, we will put all of the loot in the Vault and give the key to Mary. Bringing the loot into the city will make it subject to taxation. And I know Paavo isn't trying to avoid just and lawful taxation... Does the bank offer appraisal services? If not can we make an appointment with a jeweler to visit the vault. We would like get everything valued (so we know what we have for training costs). I don't see this being a problem. I'll total the party wealth, subtracting applicable taxes. Also we would like to have the demon statue broken down and melted into bars. How much raw silver can we get from that? I'll include it in the total. If we could get an inventory of everything we have in Barb-el-Shay that would be helpful. That'll be a little project for me to work on. The 300 gp we gave Khaddil, does that employ him for the next 3 months or was that back pay? Assuming he is on the payroll, he should make himself available to Mary if she needs a guard while we are in the bottle. Also if he can look after the camels that would be good. 300GP ensures that Khaddil is available (for a month) to serve as desert-guide, take care of the camels and handle the logistical arrangements of the trip as pertains to supplies, water, etc.
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