Keyleth shakes her head. "I don't know how. But I'm not stupid enough to think I can disturb an ancient temple of hers and get away scot-free."
She looks at the young human, almost envying his naivete about the situation, how he looks at it like an accomplishment. "There's hardly any story to tell, really. I'm an archaeologist. I was exploring what was left of an ancient temple. I took a portrait of a woman. Didn't know the full situation until the historian I brought it to informed me that it belonged to Tiamat, and depicted a humanoid form of hers." She hates that word, humanoid, but that's an issue for another day. "And I'd be willing to undergo that spell."
She turns back to Ragnar. "Ah, you're that Ragnar. I'm on the same level of punishment as a tyrant, now." The elf shakes her head. "I don't know whether to be flattered or horrified."
Varan looks briefly at Keyleth. "You should not let Tiamat's wrath bedevil you so. The mother of dragons has sworn her vengeance against half the stars in the sky, and many of the souls dwelling beneath them. While she won't forget a slight, with any luck you'll be dead of old age before she finally draws your card from her deck of woe."
As to Mulligan's suggestion, without looking away from his attempts to grasp the driftglobe, "Must we start off so distrustful of one another? That in order for a simple agreement to cooperate and share in the burden of trying to save one another, we must swear an oath under magical examination?" He sighs. "If you all agree this is necessary, I shall consent. I wish none of you harm and have no fear ofzone of truth. If we are to do it, lets have it done then so we can get on to more pressing matters."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Wulgar is listening to all points of view. As he does so, his hand reflexively goes to the hip curled up on his belt. He squeezes the leather making a squeaking sound, squeezes and relaxes, again and again. After all has been said he nods to Ragnar, "I have heard of Northumbria, but never been there. My paths have lead me over the seas, from the Sea of Fallen Stars all the way to the Shining Sea. I am known by Wulgar the Whip, if you have ever heard of me. Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond, call me what you will. I will take your oath, if that is what is required. I think it a good measure. Useful when making deals with those that may...hold back information."
He looks to Keyleth and says "While we all have done ... things, I think Tiamat(he stops to touch his claw to his nose, his chin, then his chest) has many other matters on her mind than us. If we work together we can make it through this. Stand with us, little one."
He points to Varan and nods, then says to Mulligan "If you fall here it will not be by my hand. I will help in any way I can, with my strength and my axe. After we leave this accursed place we can go our separate ways, each to his own. What say you?"
Wulgar looks down at his hand and spits on it, some smoke and a little blush of flame come out of his mouth when he does this, he holds out his big, red, scaly hand to you, claws retracted.
Keyleth's ear twitches. "I've got about six hundred and fifty years left in me, so I wouldn't be too confident about the old age thing. I will stand with you all, though, if you feel it is worth the risk. My name is Keyleth." She looks up at the dragonborn. "And do not call me 'little one.'"
Wulgar laughs to break the tension "Hah! There is fire in her belly! Ok, ok, I won't ... Keyleth. Hah!" The hulking 7 foot tall muscular dragonborn stands beside Keyleth and takes her hand in his to shake, sealing his oath. He turns to the others to do likewise.
"Well for the moment you would seem to be the former ruler of Northumbria. The name is Avarice, admittedly a name suited to my sins, although I would argue that not only the name that was given me but in fact my whole existence is a cursed one and that I was born into sin...or at least that would be my claim when pleading for a verdict of not guilty in this farce." He says with a wry smile as he takes the hand of Ragnar.
Avarice returns to his investigation of the room and listens as the conversation unfolds. This certainly seemed to be a group of mostly powerful individuals. Whoever brought them here would deeply regret that, when confronted by their former prisoners. His sins had been avarice and greed but he suspected a murderous rage would be added to that list when he would deal with whoever did this to him.
"I too will take that oath, if only to get through this, but if you want my trust you will do it with a real blood pact. You might have your doubts about the policies of Avernus but the infernals are undoubtedly the true masters of unbreakable contracts and pacts, belive me." Avarice says and stretches out his hand again, a dagger appearing in the other making a cut in his palm, a red line of blood appearing, waiting for a true pact to be made.
“Avarice. Right. Now we are getting serious.” He stops and flashes you a grin. “Others that I have made deals with in the past have said my spit oath is worth just that. Spit. Hah!” He looks around to everyone, on his left hand a razor sharp claw on his first finger flicks out and then slices open the palm of his right hand. “Fine, I’m game Avarice. Shake my hand.” His grin got wider and Wulgar almost gets more ..energetic, animated, excited even when he sees and feels the line of blood on his hand. “A blood pact is something different.”
To Keyleth, "Tyrant? No, I'd prefer the term enlightened despot. I've unified my people, who are now prosperous and can look forward to a better future. Do not put me on the same level as your arrogant, bumbling monarchs."
He shakes Wulfgar's hand. "Wulfgar the pirate? I've heard of you- the bounty on your head was just about to reach a hundred thousand gold last I checked. My merchants shiver with fear every time your ship enters our waters. Still, an honor to meet someone with such renown."
He nods as he listens to Avarice. "An old tradition where I come from as well. I will do this."
Ragnar cuts his own palm as well, waiting for Mulligan to cast his zone of truth.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral-Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries;Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Varan continues to try to grasp the floating driftglobe with his mage hand. Without looking away from his task, "I've consented to swearing to cooperate under azone of truthand will honor such a commitment. I must, however, decline any blood pact governed by the laws of the Nine Hells. A personal rule."
He does look up at Avarice at this time and utters a few harsh but highly structured syllables in a strange language.
Turning back to the driftglobe, he begins speaking, to no one in particular. "I am beginning to see an unwelcome design here. Avarice... a hellspawn guilty of greed. Ragnar... a despot and conqueror. Wulgar... a pirate feared in ports around the world. All parties who - by a neutral observer - might be understood to have committed some crime or acts worthy of 'punishment.' But then we look to Mulligan and Keyleth. Unless they are openly lying to us... which we cannot rule out...yet... the former is guilty of no more than being a lusty vagabond and the latter's greatest crime is unknowingly taking a portrait of an evil goddess from an abandoned temple. These two..."he pauses, closes his eyes and rubs his forehead, before turning his eyes back to the driftglobe and continuing his monologue, "... don't fit. A neutral observer would not see these two as deserving punishment. Indeed, a 'good' party might even comfort Keyleth and seek to aid her in her problems with Tiamat."
"What I am getting at is the pattern shows no pattern at all. If our host were some blind devotee of law and order, Ragnar's presence here would be an outlier... his word is law and he has imposed his order across huge swaths of the land. If our host is some person or creature devoted to 'good' then Keyleth doesn't belong here." He pauses again, gathering his thoughts. "My concern, new friends, is that we are dealing with a madman. Someone powerful enough to gather us all here against our will and also possessed of their own inscrutable code or believe system where somehow all of us, regardless of our backgrounds or past deeds, are deserving of deadly punishment. I do not expect we will find any reasoning possible with this being, nor should we hope to find any mercy." Finally, after another pause, "We should all prepare ourselves and one another. We will be fighting for our lives."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"I don´t believe I caught your name there half-elf." Avarice says to Varan, his eyes narrowing. "It is only the ones who consider breaking the blood pact that has anything to fear from it. Do as you wish off course."He finishes with a mock bow before turning to the undecided, while listening to Varan´s analysis. "I´m not saying you´re wrong but you failed to mention why you don´t count yourself as one not deserving punishment. Tell me your sin in the zone of truth and you´ll have my trust half-elf. After all it seems the rest of us have shared quite a bit considering we were total strangers to each other moments ago."
Keyleth shrugs. "Perhaps our host accidentally brought me here. Or perhaps they just really hate archaeologists." She chuckles despite herself. "Of course, you're probably right about their moral code being alien to us. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that that means there's no reasoning with them, though. We don't know enough right now to come to that conclusion."
She gives Ragnar a disdainful look. "Is that what helps you sleep at night? Because everything I've heard and read about Northumbria suggests otherwise."
"My name can be difficult to catch, yes. I am called Varan. I see myself as... a contractor. I offer a very particular service. For the appropriate price, and if they know how to contact me, an interested party can hire my particular service." Pausing a moment from his mage hand but not taking his eyes off the circling driftglobe, he raises a cupped hand.
(While continuing to speak he uses metamagic (1 sorcery point) to use subtle spell to cast poison spray in his cupped hand...)
A greenish poison bubbles up and begins to pour out over the cupped hand like wine overflowing a chalice, dripping down to the floor. "If an interested party needed someone - a general, a spy, an ex-lover - eliminated, and were willing to pay...". He trails off, allowing the poison spray to dissipate and pours the rest onto the floor, shaking it off of his fingers.
"I have no doubts about why our host invited me to this party."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Woah now, hey now, I'm not sure about a blood oath. I mean no aspersions or anything but blood magic, I hear that is something else entirely," Mulligan says in his best jovial tone. "I mean can't all kinds of weird mamba-jamba be done with blood magic?"
"But I suppose I am the one who got us all into this, huh? I suppose if you swear there's no extra on the pact that the rest of us don't know about, then the more oomph of enforcement the better?"
Mulligan then turns to Varan and give his best winning smile. "Well I have a personal rule to not be kidnapped and imprisoned with scary powerful bastards, but sometimes things spin out fo control. Know what I mean?"
"As for any pattern... Ethics, go figure. One can philosophize things however they want it if they make is sound reasonable enough. Perhaps this... person? being? jailor, if nothing else I guess... Perhaps they just believe that every crime must punished, no matter how petty, how justified or how infamous. Take our archeologist, Keyleth yes? Many or most would considering recovering ancient art and bringing it to light once more to be a noble endeavor... Yet I have heard of cultures who believe disturbing even a mote of dust from their temples to be amongst the most previous sins an outsider could commit." Mulligan finished with a "go figure" kind of shrug and then waves the thing off entirely.
"We're here. We need to deal. Maybe we can figure out the why's and how's after we discover the who..."
"As nobody is objecting..." Mulligan then moves to the center point of the room and casts his Zone of truth - He widens his arms to include all, mutters some arcane words and pushes some magical energies into them, finishing by saying loud enough for all to hear "May all those nearby speak only truth!" He then pauses for a moment and looks around to the others. "I'll know those the spell doesn't affect... As for myself, I give you my word. But if that is not good enough, I shall do the blood pact as well to bind myself."
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We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
"Well I can think of a contract that I would be prepared to use some of my precious gold for." Avarice says as Varan finishes. "But yes, it seems clear why you are here." He adds seemingly satisfied over Varan´s answer.
As Mulligan casts his spell Avarice steps up beside him holding his bloodied hand outstretched in front of him. "I Avarice Embershade swear upon the eternal fires of Avernus to stand by anyone committed to this blood oath until the time we all have endured this our reckoning and are free of our imprisonment." He solemnly exclaims.
Ragnar seems unsettled by Varan's thoughts. "A madman dictates our fate, following no laws or moral code known to us. This isn't good.
To Keyleth, "You have heard lies and propaganda, distributed by your rulers to tarnish the name of Northumbria. I sleep very well knowing that everything I've done has helped build a brighter, stronger nation."
Ragnar feels the encroaching grasp of the Zone of Truth. Such a simple enchantment, hardly fit to chain the mind of a great king. It would be trivial to just bat away it's influence, but he allows it to take hold.
Placing his bloody fist to his chest, "I, King Ragnar Yith IV, ruler of Northumbria, vow to stand alongside this group, using all of my power and abilities to ensure the safety of it's members and to destroy its enemies; to commit all efforts to release us from captivity, and to place my life on the line to protect us. On the name of my realm, this I do swear."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral-Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries;Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Keyleth grits her teeth, but says nothing to Ragnar. She allows the spell to influence her, and speaks. "I, Keyleth Siannodel, swear upon my life to stand by everyone here in our efforts to free ourselves of whatever this place is."
Wulgar steps to the center and allows the zone of truth to wash over him. “I, Wulgar Verthisathurgiesh, promise not to kill yuns, beat yuns within an inch of your life or sell all of you as slaves. I swear to stand with everyone here and protect them, fight alongside them until we are out of this accursed place. As the captain of the Burning Dragon, upon this I give my oath.” He steps back and looks at everyone, looking for approval, not knowing everything that would come out of his mouth.
Varan submits to the magic of the zone of truth. "I am called Varan. So long as we are trapped in this place, the persons in this room can depend that I will take no action to harm them. Further, I will utilize all my abilities to effectuate our mutual escape from this prison."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Fine, I guess that is what could be expected. Let´s get to this." Avarice says sternly, shifting his focus back to the room and it´s contents. (Already rolled for perception and investigation in post #4 checking the walls and the pillars for now.)
Assuming the spell didn't ping anyone as telling a lie, Mulligan McSullivan says as much to all. "I suppose one can believe one thing know and still do differently later, but that's about as much a guarantee as I know how to get..."
"As for myself, I vow that from this point until we are free of this situation, you are all my people. My friends. My buds. You have my voice, my sword and my blood to back you up in whatever shenanigans we find ourselves in and that I shall live and breath by a one for all mentality," Mulligan says, his tone lighthearted but his tone and manner oozing with sincerity and respectfulness for what he is saying. "We will get ourselves out of this. We will make whoever put us in this situation pay for it. And as we act together to see these things become true, our deeds and actions shall be legendary..."
"But as it's my spell, it cannot really tell any of y'all if I am being truthful or not. So as I said... I shall do this blood pact thing to seal it for you if you still wish it..." The hesitancy in his voice here was appearant but his turned to Avarice while saying is and drew out a dagger and held the edge against his own opposite palm. "Just how do we do this then?"
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We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
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Keyleth shakes her head. "I don't know how. But I'm not stupid enough to think I can disturb an ancient temple of hers and get away scot-free."
She looks at the young human, almost envying his naivete about the situation, how he looks at it like an accomplishment. "There's hardly any story to tell, really. I'm an archaeologist. I was exploring what was left of an ancient temple. I took a portrait of a woman. Didn't know the full situation until the historian I brought it to informed me that it belonged to Tiamat, and depicted a humanoid form of hers." She hates that word, humanoid, but that's an issue for another day. "And I'd be willing to undergo that spell."
She turns back to Ragnar. "Ah, you're that Ragnar. I'm on the same level of punishment as a tyrant, now." The elf shakes her head. "I don't know whether to be flattered or horrified."
Varan looks briefly at Keyleth. "You should not let Tiamat's wrath bedevil you so. The mother of dragons has sworn her vengeance against half the stars in the sky, and many of the souls dwelling beneath them. While she won't forget a slight, with any luck you'll be dead of old age before she finally draws your card from her deck of woe."
As to Mulligan's suggestion, without looking away from his attempts to grasp the driftglobe, "Must we start off so distrustful of one another? That in order for a simple agreement to cooperate and share in the burden of trying to save one another, we must swear an oath under magical examination?" He sighs. "If you all agree this is necessary, I shall consent. I wish none of you harm and have no fear of zone of truth. If we are to do it, lets have it done then so we can get on to more pressing matters."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Wulgar is listening to all points of view. As he does so, his hand reflexively goes to the hip curled up on his belt. He squeezes the leather making a squeaking sound, squeezes and relaxes, again and again. After all has been said he nods to Ragnar, "I have heard of Northumbria, but never been there. My paths have lead me over the seas, from the Sea of Fallen Stars all the way to the Shining Sea. I am known by Wulgar the Whip, if you have ever heard of me. Roamer, wanderer, nomad, vagabond, call me what you will. I will take your oath, if that is what is required. I think it a good measure. Useful when making deals with those that may...hold back information."
He looks to Keyleth and says "While we all have done ... things, I think Tiamat (he stops to touch his claw to his nose, his chin, then his chest) has many other matters on her mind than us. If we work together we can make it through this. Stand with us, little one."
He points to Varan and nods, then says to Mulligan "If you fall here it will not be by my hand. I will help in any way I can, with my strength and my axe. After we leave this accursed place we can go our separate ways, each to his own. What say you?"
Wulgar looks down at his hand and spits on it, some smoke and a little blush of flame come out of his mouth when he does this, he holds out his big, red, scaly hand to you, claws retracted.
Keyleth's ear twitches. "I've got about six hundred and fifty years left in me, so I wouldn't be too confident about the old age thing. I will stand with you all, though, if you feel it is worth the risk. My name is Keyleth." She looks up at the dragonborn. "And do not call me 'little one.'"
Wulgar laughs to break the tension "Hah! There is fire in her belly! Ok, ok, I won't ... Keyleth. Hah!" The hulking 7 foot tall muscular dragonborn stands beside Keyleth and takes her hand in his to shake, sealing his oath. He turns to the others to do likewise.
"Well for the moment you would seem to be the former ruler of Northumbria. The name is Avarice, admittedly a name suited to my sins, although I would argue that not only the name that was given me but in fact my whole existence is a cursed one and that I was born into sin...or at least that would be my claim when pleading for a verdict of not guilty in this farce." He says with a wry smile as he takes the hand of Ragnar.
Avarice returns to his investigation of the room and listens as the conversation unfolds. This certainly seemed to be a group of mostly powerful individuals. Whoever brought them here would deeply regret that, when confronted by their former prisoners. His sins had been avarice and greed but he suspected a murderous rage would be added to that list when he would deal with whoever did this to him.
"I too will take that oath, if only to get through this, but if you want my trust you will do it with a real blood pact. You might have your doubts about the policies of Avernus but the infernals are undoubtedly the true masters of unbreakable contracts and pacts, belive me." Avarice says and stretches out his hand again, a dagger appearing in the other making a cut in his palm, a red line of blood appearing, waiting for a true pact to be made.
“Avarice. Right. Now we are getting serious.” He stops and flashes you a grin. “Others that I have made deals with in the past have said my spit oath is worth just that. Spit. Hah!” He looks around to everyone, on his left hand a razor sharp claw on his first finger flicks out and then slices open the palm of his right hand. “Fine, I’m game Avarice. Shake my hand.” His grin got wider and Wulgar almost gets more ..energetic, animated, excited even when he sees and feels the line of blood on his hand. “A blood pact is something different.”
To Keyleth, "Tyrant? No, I'd prefer the term enlightened despot. I've unified my people, who are now prosperous and can look forward to a better future. Do not put me on the same level as your arrogant, bumbling monarchs."
He shakes Wulfgar's hand. "Wulfgar the pirate? I've heard of you- the bounty on your head was just about to reach a hundred thousand gold last I checked. My merchants shiver with fear every time your ship enters our waters. Still, an honor to meet someone with such renown."
He nods as he listens to Avarice. "An old tradition where I come from as well. I will do this."
Ragnar cuts his own palm as well, waiting for Mulligan to cast his zone of truth.
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Varan continues to try to grasp the floating driftglobe with his mage hand. Without looking away from his task, "I've consented to swearing to cooperate under a zone of truth and will honor such a commitment. I must, however, decline any blood pact governed by the laws of the Nine Hells. A personal rule."
He does look up at Avarice at this time and utters a few harsh but highly structured syllables in a strange language.
Turning back to the driftglobe, he begins speaking, to no one in particular. "I am beginning to see an unwelcome design here. Avarice... a hellspawn guilty of greed. Ragnar... a despot and conqueror. Wulgar... a pirate feared in ports around the world. All parties who - by a neutral observer - might be understood to have committed some crime or acts worthy of 'punishment.' But then we look to Mulligan and Keyleth. Unless they are openly lying to us... which we cannot rule out...yet... the former is guilty of no more than being a lusty vagabond and the latter's greatest crime is unknowingly taking a portrait of an evil goddess from an abandoned temple. These two..." he pauses, closes his eyes and rubs his forehead, before turning his eyes back to the driftglobe and continuing his monologue, "... don't fit. A neutral observer would not see these two as deserving punishment. Indeed, a 'good' party might even comfort Keyleth and seek to aid her in her problems with Tiamat."
"What I am getting at is the pattern shows no pattern at all. If our host were some blind devotee of law and order, Ragnar's presence here would be an outlier... his word is law and he has imposed his order across huge swaths of the land. If our host is some person or creature devoted to 'good' then Keyleth doesn't belong here." He pauses again, gathering his thoughts. "My concern, new friends, is that we are dealing with a madman. Someone powerful enough to gather us all here against our will and also possessed of their own inscrutable code or believe system where somehow all of us, regardless of our backgrounds or past deeds, are deserving of deadly punishment. I do not expect we will find any reasoning possible with this being, nor should we hope to find any mercy." Finally, after another pause, "We should all prepare ourselves and one another. We will be fighting for our lives."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"I don´t believe I caught your name there half-elf." Avarice says to Varan, his eyes narrowing. "It is only the ones who consider breaking the blood pact that has anything to fear from it. Do as you wish off course." He finishes with a mock bow before turning to the undecided, while listening to Varan´s analysis. "I´m not saying you´re wrong but you failed to mention why you don´t count yourself as one not deserving punishment. Tell me your sin in the zone of truth and you´ll have my trust half-elf. After all it seems the rest of us have shared quite a bit considering we were total strangers to each other moments ago."
Keyleth shrugs. "Perhaps our host accidentally brought me here. Or perhaps they just really hate archaeologists." She chuckles despite herself. "Of course, you're probably right about their moral code being alien to us. I wouldn't be so quick to assume that that means there's no reasoning with them, though. We don't know enough right now to come to that conclusion."
She gives Ragnar a disdainful look. "Is that what helps you sleep at night? Because everything I've heard and read about Northumbria suggests otherwise."
"My name can be difficult to catch, yes. I am called Varan. I see myself as... a contractor. I offer a very particular service. For the appropriate price, and if they know how to contact me, an interested party can hire my particular service." Pausing a moment from his mage hand but not taking his eyes off the circling driftglobe, he raises a cupped hand.
(While continuing to speak he uses metamagic (1 sorcery point) to use subtle spell to cast poison spray in his cupped hand...)
A greenish poison bubbles up and begins to pour out over the cupped hand like wine overflowing a chalice, dripping down to the floor. "If an interested party needed someone - a general, a spy, an ex-lover - eliminated, and were willing to pay...". He trails off, allowing the poison spray to dissipate and pours the rest onto the floor, shaking it off of his fingers.
"I have no doubts about why our host invited me to this party."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Woah now, hey now, I'm not sure about a blood oath. I mean no aspersions or anything but blood magic, I hear that is something else entirely," Mulligan says in his best jovial tone. "I mean can't all kinds of weird mamba-jamba be done with blood magic?"
"But I suppose I am the one who got us all into this, huh? I suppose if you swear there's no extra on the pact that the rest of us don't know about, then the more oomph of enforcement the better?"
Mulligan then turns to Varan and give his best winning smile. "Well I have a personal rule to not be kidnapped and imprisoned with scary powerful bastards, but sometimes things spin out fo control. Know what I mean?"
"As for any pattern... Ethics, go figure. One can philosophize things however they want it if they make is sound reasonable enough. Perhaps this... person? being? jailor, if nothing else I guess... Perhaps they just believe that every crime must punished, no matter how petty, how justified or how infamous. Take our archeologist, Keyleth yes? Many or most would considering recovering ancient art and bringing it to light once more to be a noble endeavor... Yet I have heard of cultures who believe disturbing even a mote of dust from their temples to be amongst the most previous sins an outsider could commit." Mulligan finished with a "go figure" kind of shrug and then waves the thing off entirely.
"We're here. We need to deal. Maybe we can figure out the why's and how's after we discover the who..."
"As nobody is objecting..." Mulligan then moves to the center point of the room and casts his Zone of truth - He widens his arms to include all, mutters some arcane words and pushes some magical energies into them, finishing by saying loud enough for all to hear "May all those nearby speak only truth!" He then pauses for a moment and looks around to the others. "I'll know those the spell doesn't affect... As for myself, I give you my word. But if that is not good enough, I shall do the blood pact as well to bind myself."
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop
"Well I can think of a contract that I would be prepared to use some of my precious gold for." Avarice says as Varan finishes. "But yes, it seems clear why you are here." He adds seemingly satisfied over Varan´s answer.
As Mulligan casts his spell Avarice steps up beside him holding his bloodied hand outstretched in front of him. "I Avarice Embershade swear upon the eternal fires of Avernus to stand by anyone committed to this blood oath until the time we all have endured this our reckoning and are free of our imprisonment." He solemnly exclaims.
Ragnar seems unsettled by Varan's thoughts. "A madman dictates our fate, following no laws or moral code known to us. This isn't good.
To Keyleth, "You have heard lies and propaganda, distributed by your rulers to tarnish the name of Northumbria. I sleep very well knowing that everything I've done has helped build a brighter, stronger nation."
Ragnar feels the encroaching grasp of the Zone of Truth. Such a simple enchantment, hardly fit to chain the mind of a great king. It would be trivial to just bat away it's influence, but he allows it to take hold.
Placing his bloody fist to his chest, "I, King Ragnar Yith IV, ruler of Northumbria, vow to stand alongside this group, using all of my power and abilities to ensure the safety of it's members and to destroy its enemies; to commit all efforts to release us from captivity, and to place my life on the line to protect us. On the name of my realm, this I do swear."
DMing:
Solo Hoard of the Dragon Queen
Playing:
Baral- Coliseum of Conquest, Lazarus Vernon- Tale of Mercenaries; Bernard Lionsbane- Solo Curse of Strahd
Keyleth grits her teeth, but says nothing to Ragnar. She allows the spell to influence her, and speaks. "I, Keyleth Siannodel, swear upon my life to stand by everyone here in our efforts to free ourselves of whatever this place is."
Wulgar steps to the center and allows the zone of truth to wash over him. “I, Wulgar Verthisathurgiesh, promise not to kill yuns, beat yuns within an inch of your life or sell all of you as slaves. I swear to stand with everyone here and protect them, fight alongside them until we are out of this accursed place. As the captain of the Burning Dragon, upon this I give my oath.” He steps back and looks at everyone, looking for approval, not knowing everything that would come out of his mouth.
Varan submits to the magic of the zone of truth. "I am called Varan. So long as we are trapped in this place, the persons in this room can depend that I will take no action to harm them. Further, I will utilize all my abilities to effectuate our mutual escape from this prison."
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * [Sound of Cork Popping] - Kenku - Lvl 3 Lore Bard - Everasil
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
"Fine, I guess that is what could be expected. Let´s get to this." Avarice says sternly, shifting his focus back to the room and it´s contents.
(Already rolled for perception and investigation in post #4 checking the walls and the pillars for now.)
Assuming the spell didn't ping anyone as telling a lie, Mulligan McSullivan says as much to all. "I suppose one can believe one thing know and still do differently later, but that's about as much a guarantee as I know how to get..."
"As for myself, I vow that from this point until we are free of this situation, you are all my people. My friends. My buds. You have my voice, my sword and my blood to back you up in whatever shenanigans we find ourselves in and that I shall live and breath by a one for all mentality," Mulligan says, his tone lighthearted but his tone and manner oozing with sincerity and respectfulness for what he is saying. "We will get ourselves out of this. We will make whoever put us in this situation pay for it. And as we act together to see these things become true, our deeds and actions shall be legendary..."
"But as it's my spell, it cannot really tell any of y'all if I am being truthful or not. So as I said... I shall do this blood pact thing to seal it for you if you still wish it..." The hesitancy in his voice here was appearant but his turned to Avarice while saying is and drew out a dagger and held the edge against his own opposite palm. "Just how do we do this then?"
We're doing one small murder-y thing for a bigger, better reason. The ends justify the means.
-- Eleanor Shellstrop