Angus will glance over at Sam and say, "I can only hope you are right, big fellow. I have no doubt he is or was more clever than I. I would be overjoyed to learn he survived."
Akame: Did you drsg the Ambassador's corpse to the safehoise and did you let Ussa see it? We should unpack that separately, if so.
That corpse is a lot of trouble for Akame, physically and legally, so he'll want to drop it off as soon as possible with someone who a) can plausibly interrogate the corpse or Raise it (after binding the mage of course) and b) is not on the side of the Thayan magocracy. If the safe house can tick both of those boxes, by all means. If not, maybe the guard? If need be he will take a minute to cast teleportation circle (assuming he knows a way to get back into the city) to take the late ambassador to his (Akame's) home country.
Ideally he wouldn't get separated from the group but if he has to, he can use his Criminal Contact to find them again. Maybe approach in disguise so they don't realize it's him.
I don't know the answers to all of those things. Like, the rebels are still red wizards and use the Ussa's house cell in their operations, so they still want a mageocrqcy, just more of a plutocracy than a dictatorship, which is the Nicolle what Thay has now, but most understand Szazz Tam as the keeper more than first among equals within the Zulkirate.
I don't see the harm in spoiling(?) this, so: Cherthemiud cast mind blank on himself before yoi killed him. I dint actually think there is any mechanical interaction with the spell and dying. It is only good for 24 hours, but you wouldn't know he cast it, so u less you waited a day, you'd probably just have to assume uts effects are true. Now, what does that mean? I've been debating uf this is an effort to read its thoughts. If it's [speak]speak with dead[/spell], I don't actually think so. But that spell also doesn't compel him to cooperate. It can lie. You could try casting stuff on it, but those shouldn't work becasue the corpse is an object, unless you un-corpse it first to make it a valid target, but then the suppressed mind blank would kick in, so whatever you cast would have to get around it unless you fir purely arbitrary non-meta reason kept the assassi aged embassadors corpse around for the balance of 24 hours prior to trying it. I'm not sure what that would include but mind blank is supposed to he interpreted broadly, I think, based in its wording:
"The spell even foils wish spells and spells or effects of similar power used to affect the target's mind or to gain information about the target."
I do suggest Akame stay with the group, but it's your choice. Just need to know who I shoukd RP as to talk wirh them. Character-wise, I think they might be suspicious of you.
Ussa is pretty creeped out by the displacer kitty, but tolerates it, assuming it's with you as it's followed you here.
If Ussa sees the dead ambassador at any point, she scolds the party for bringing it to her door, "Don't you know those arcanists have ways of finding things?" A raven flies by the window ominously as she says this. "Get that thing out of my house burn it, bury it, throw it in the Moonsea, throw it in a rift. Just get it out of my house."
Looking at akame, she inquires, her tone accusatoey: "Don't I know you from sonewhere? Since when are you a part of the group. Nobody mentioned anyone else joining in."
...
Upon seeing the artifacts in the chest, she remarks, "this is it, isn't it? The very thing Remallia and Zehira feared. Is it.. is it true?" She asks Chadderlay.
....
Upon hearing if Tetrevess' fate, she is saddened, but maintains "that's the sad business of seeking what's hidden in the dark corners, isn't it? Sooner or later you find something or it finds you."
...
Throughout the night, the city is relatively quiet. The events of the evening appear isolated to the embassy.
Inspecting the notes more thoroughly, you learn of the research conducted by Kazit Gul in the Far Realm Cysts of the Doomvault. Kazit Gul, a Thayan archmage, built the Doomvault to siphon the souls of those who perished within it for use in his dark experiments. You also learn thst he was able to open a portal to the far realm, and kept several strange creatures in the doomvault to study. The rituals and symbols used in the process are not among the notes, however.
In the morning, Ussa leaves to send a message to Morwena at the tailor. In the early evening, Morwena arrives at the safehouse and listens to what has transpired.
She replies:"After the fall of Bloodgate Keep, a Red Wizard named Syranna, a leader in the Thayan Resurrection resistance movement, saw an unusual opportunity. Her knowledge of the secret portal network of which the Bloodgate was a part gave her the ability to open portals directly into the Doomvault. She described something she saw there that made its way to Darlon Ma, and from him, to me: A blood-red circle is scribed on the floor of a cavern in the Doomvault, the twisted runes around its edge pulsing with sickly purple light. I recalled it when I saw the runes on the cradle holding the orb of destruction. You've seen them, too. It is a magic, unknown to me, that binds this object. But the runes evoke the symbols of the old Sarrukh empire. Whatever magic holds the rift object you encountered and that orb, it must be the means by which Kazit Gul opened the portal."
Hey, has anyone tried that gem of seeing to find out what it does? Remember the magic item houserules are in effect, so no attunement needed, it just works. You find out what things do h6 using them.
If Ussa sees the dead ambassador at any point, she scolds the party for bringing it to her door, "Don't you know those arcanists have ways of finding things?" A raven flies by the window ominously as she says this. "Get that thing out of my house burn it, bury it, throw it in the Moonsea, throw it in a rift. Just get it out of my house."
Looking at akame, she inquires, her tone accusatoey: "Don't I know you from sonewhere? Since when are you a part of the group. Nobody mentioned anyone else joining in."
...
Upon seeing the artifacts in the chest, she remarks, "this is it, isn't it? The very thing Remallia and Zehira feared. Is it.. is it true?" She asks Chadderlay.
....
Upon hearing if Tetrevess' fate, she is saddened, but maintains "that's the sad business of seeking what's hidden in the dark corners, isn't it? Sooner or later you find something or it finds you."
...
Throughout the night, the city is relatively quiet. The events of the evening appear isolated to the embassy.
Inspecting the notes more thoroughly, you learn of the research conducted by Kazit Gul in the Far Realm Cysts of the Doomvault. Kazit Gul, a Thayan archmage, built the Doomvault to siphon the souls of those who perished within it for use in his dark experiments. You also learn thst he was able to open a portal to the far realm, and kept several strange creatures in the doomvault to study. The rituals and symbols used in the process are not among the notes, however.
In the morning, Ussa leaves to send a message to Morwena at the tailor. In the early evening, Morwena arrives at the safehouse and listens to what has transpired.
She replies:"After the fall of Bloodgate Keep, a Red Wizard named Syranna, a leader in the Thayan Resurrection resistance movement, saw an unusual opportunity. Her knowledge of the secret portal network of which the Bloodgate was a part gave her the ability to open portals directly into the Doomvault. She described something she saw there that made its way to Darlon Ma, and from him, to me: A blood-red circle is scribed on the floor of a cavern in the Doomvault, the twisted runes around its edge pulsing with sickly purple light. I recalled it when I saw the runes on the cradle holding the orb of destruction. You've seen them, too. It is a magic, unknown to me, that binds this object. But the runes evoke the symbols of the old Sarrukh empire. Whatever magic holds the rift object you encountered and that orb, it must be the means by which Kazit Gul opened the portal."
Sam moves in “can you draw these symbols” sam seems a bit on edge somewhat in an excited way and another in a move worrisome manner
Morwena goes on. "These notes describe how Kazit Gul siphoned soul energy from the chosen of several gods, one Ilmater among them. The Ilmateri hold no sway here, now. The Tymorans will see all thst you have done, and The Lady of Crime, though she may not forgive your shenanigans at the Grinder, may find it too much fir the priests to allow the Thayan's trespasses to go unchecked. D'arlon worked hard to build the Thayan presence in Mulmaster. He one day hoped to reclaim the embassy for the new Zulkirate, but if you give those letters to the Tymoran priests, we will no longer find refuge in any quarter of the city, despite our long shared history. Such was the fate of the Zhentarim and perhaps now, too, for the Red Wizards"
"I have received a sending from Remallia. She sends news of the effort in the north. News both encouraging and troubling. They followed the RED WIZARDS to the ruins of XORVINTROTH, an ancient city from ABEIR, the sister world of Toril divided from her in the sunderings, buried under ICEWIND DALE.
With the help of adventurers, such as yourselves, not only did Remallia and Zehira discover the Thayans were harnessing magic from the FAR REALM by mass-producing FAR REALM BATTERIES, they also provided a distraction while the slave workforce freed themselves from Thay’s control." Morwena expounds
Chadderlay studies the symbols and tries to memorize them for later duplication.
"Let me see that Gem of seeing, it might help."
Chadderlay will use the Gem of Seeing to view the symbols around the red circle.
Investigation: 18
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
Clarification. The red circle is in the doomvault. Morwna has heard a description of the circle, but it is not among the notes in the chest. She believes they are similar to the ones om the cradle tjst held the orb, ehixh you've all seen. Its currently in the Tower of the Cloaks, where Tetrevess brought it. So, if you want to see it, should probably go over there. They were also on the case, bit the case is back in the catacombs.
The state if the embassy is in your hands. I don't know what you'll do, but if you show the research (even redacted) to the Tymorans, they'll clamor for the Lady of Crime (who really runs tue city more than the Lord of Blades does) to oust the Thayan occupation. This could make the catacombs accessible in the future.
I will tell you that the things look the same with the gem as they do without it. They're pulsating purple glowing runes. Most arcane runes are of draconic or giant script origin, but have become sigils in their own right (much like the letters I'm writing are descended from older languages with different but not wholly dissimilar symbols, rhat have permutated over time. Most English speakers won't recognize our recently 'lost' letters 'thorn', 'wynn', 'eth', 'ethel' and 'ash'* I still see ash from time to time, and apparently the state of California recognizes it as a letter becasue you csn put it on a birth certificate, but not the number 12 becasue it's 'not a letter in the English language,' so...)
My point is, you can recognize these runes as letters similar to other draconic letters. I personally can't always tell Chinese characters from Japanese, or Ukranian from Russian, but I can tell their not Western European. I can see Catalan, and mispronounce the 'Ç' in Barçelona, though, so trying to read a spell like this with a verbal component could prove difficult.
So, with all that. Chadderlay, are you using the gem? I really have to know.
Yes, Chadderlay is using the Gem of Seeing to look at the items and look over the different sets of notes we have taken.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
The statues were recovered by the Thayans from the Tenebrous Creed site they raided. The notes are from the Doomvault.
the Red Wizard rebels maintain control of an unmapped magic gatehouse, which is how one may arrive in Thay and enter the Doomvault. The gatehouse contains several permanent teleportation circles. Syranna can key these circles to any entry point (listed below). Further, any creature that possesses a glyph key can use a black gate to teleport from the Doomvault to a permanent teleportation circle in the gatehouse.
The gatehouse also has a huge physical gate, facing east into Thay just west of Lake Thaylambar. This gate is built into a cliff about 30 miles northwest of Eltabbar and about 30 miles south of Keluthar.
So, the Thayans don't know what the statues are, per se. He appears as a grinning fang-mawed old man and the notes recovered from tbe site are rambling snf incoherent, but reference frequently someone called 'Father Llymic'. Also a section of notes referencing a 'Wena' which is not really explained, but repeated many times as the writing reaches the end of the page and twists along the margin, the name written over and over in smaller letters until there was no more room to write.
There are also several pieces of insectile jewelry in the chest.
"I don't want to alarm anyone but that kitten that is following the chest, and therefore all of us, is actually some sort of monstrous thing. It is disguised by illusion magic but I can see it clearly with this Gem of Seeing."
Chadderlay points to the gem he is holding up to his eye.
"It has tentacles and eyes and a great fanged beak of a maw... it is truly something snatched directly from a nightmare."
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"A rightful place awaits you in the Realms Above, in the Land of the Great Light. Come in peace, and live beneath the sun again, where trees and flowers grow."
— The message of Eilistraee to all decent drow.
"Run thy sword across my chains, Silver Lady, that I may join your dance.”
<those features keep shifting as you look at it, absorbing into the mass and re-emergence. It always remains vaguely 'bipedal' or bi-psuedopedal, maybe>
I should clarify on the notes. It's a mix of Kazit Gul's research from the Doomvault and things they took from Tenebrous Creed, which might cause some confusion. Kazit Gul is general cogent and coherent, the TC are not.
You guys planning on showing the priests of Tymora? You csn take it somewhere else. I don't know what happens then. If you do take it to the Temple, in tome the embassy will be vacated, and any red wizards in mulmaster will operate in secret. Actual agency is afoot.
(right, this was just a bit of in-character RP)
I don't know the answers to all of those things. Like, the rebels are still red wizards and use the Ussa's house cell in their operations, so they still want a mageocrqcy, just more of a plutocracy than a dictatorship, which is the Nicolle what Thay has now, but most understand Szazz Tam as the keeper more than first among equals within the Zulkirate.
I don't see the harm in spoiling(?) this, so: Cherthemiud cast mind blank on himself before yoi killed him. I dint actually think there is any mechanical interaction with the spell and dying. It is only good for 24 hours, but you wouldn't know he cast it, so u less you waited a day, you'd probably just have to assume uts effects are true. Now, what does that mean? I've been debating uf this is an effort to read its thoughts. If it's [speak]speak with dead[/spell], I don't actually think so. But that spell also doesn't compel him to cooperate. It can lie. You could try casting stuff on it, but those shouldn't work becasue the corpse is an object, unless you un-corpse it first to make it a valid target, but then the suppressed mind blank would kick in, so whatever you cast would have to get around it unless you fir purely arbitrary non-meta reason kept the assassi aged embassadors corpse around for the balance of 24 hours prior to trying it. I'm not sure what that would include but mind blank is supposed to he interpreted broadly, I think, based in its wording:
"The spell even foils wish spells and spells or effects of similar power used to affect the target's mind or to gain information about the target."
I do suggest Akame stay with the group, but it's your choice. Just need to know who I shoukd RP as to talk wirh them. Character-wise, I think they might be suspicious of you.
Ussa is pretty creeped out by the displacer kitty, but tolerates it, assuming it's with you as it's followed you here.
Mechanics:
Sam can have the gauntlets.
Random bad things happen if number of magic items in use exceeds pour proficiency bonus, increasingly bad outcomes with more excess items.
This is in place of any attunement, *but other requirements in the attunement text remain.
Objects that do not recharge and cannot be used indefinitely do not count towards the limit unless they are very rare or rarer.
All of this is in the homebrew rules linked above (except *, recently added)
If Ussa sees the dead ambassador at any point, she scolds the party for bringing it to her door, "Don't you know those arcanists have ways of finding things?" A raven flies by the window ominously as she says this. "Get that thing out of my house burn it, bury it, throw it in the Moonsea, throw it in a rift. Just get it out of my house."
Looking at akame, she inquires, her tone accusatoey: "Don't I know you from sonewhere? Since when are you a part of the group. Nobody mentioned anyone else joining in."
...
Upon seeing the artifacts in the chest, she remarks, "this is it, isn't it? The very thing Remallia and Zehira feared. Is it.. is it true?" She asks Chadderlay.
....
Upon hearing if Tetrevess' fate, she is saddened, but maintains "that's the sad business of seeking what's hidden in the dark corners, isn't it? Sooner or later you find something or it finds you."
...
Throughout the night, the city is relatively quiet. The events of the evening appear isolated to the embassy.
Inspecting the notes more thoroughly, you learn of the research conducted by Kazit Gul in the Far Realm Cysts of the Doomvault. Kazit Gul, a Thayan archmage, built the Doomvault to siphon the souls of those who perished within it for use in his dark experiments. You also learn thst he was able to open a portal to the far realm, and kept several strange creatures in the doomvault to study. The rituals and symbols used in the process are not among the notes, however.
In the morning, Ussa leaves to send a message to Morwena at the tailor. In the early evening, Morwena arrives at the safehouse and listens to what has transpired.
She replies:"After the fall of Bloodgate Keep, a Red Wizard named Syranna, a leader in the Thayan Resurrection resistance movement, saw an unusual opportunity. Her knowledge of the secret portal network of which the Bloodgate was a part gave her the ability to open portals directly into the Doomvault. She described something she saw there that made its way to Darlon Ma, and from him, to me: A blood-red circle is scribed on the floor of a cavern in the Doomvault, the twisted runes around its edge pulsing with sickly purple light. I recalled it when I saw the runes on the cradle holding the orb of destruction. You've seen them, too. It is a magic, unknown to me, that binds this object. But the runes evoke the symbols of the old Sarrukh empire. Whatever magic holds the rift object you encountered and that orb, it must be the means by which Kazit Gul opened the portal."
Hey, has anyone tried that gem of seeing to find out what it does? Remember the magic item houserules are in effect, so no attunement needed, it just works. You find out what things do h6 using them.
Any takers?
Sam moves in “can you draw these symbols” sam seems a bit on edge somewhat in an excited way and another in a move worrisome manner
Morwena goes on. "These notes describe how Kazit Gul siphoned soul energy from the chosen of several gods, one Ilmater among them. The Ilmateri hold no sway here, now. The Tymorans will see all thst you have done, and The Lady of Crime, though she may not forgive your shenanigans at the Grinder, may find it too much fir the priests to allow the Thayan's trespasses to go unchecked. D'arlon worked hard to build the Thayan presence in Mulmaster. He one day hoped to reclaim the embassy for the new Zulkirate, but if you give those letters to the Tymoran priests, we will no longer find refuge in any quarter of the city, despite our long shared history. Such was the fate of the Zhentarim and perhaps now, too, for the Red Wizards"
"I have received a sending from Remallia. She sends news of the effort in the north. News both encouraging and troubling. They followed the RED WIZARDS to the ruins of XORVINTROTH, an ancient city from ABEIR, the sister world of Toril divided from her in the sunderings, buried under ICEWIND DALE.
With the help of adventurers, such as yourselves, not only did Remallia and Zehira discover the Thayans were harnessing magic from the FAR REALM by mass-producing FAR REALM BATTERIES, they also provided a distraction while the slave workforce freed themselves from Thay’s control." Morwena expounds
Chadderlay studies the symbols and tries to memorize them for later duplication.
"Let me see that Gem of seeing, it might help."
Chadderlay will use the Gem of Seeing to view the symbols around the red circle.
Investigation: 18
Clarification. The red circle is in the doomvault. Morwna has heard a description of the circle, but it is not among the notes in the chest. She believes they are similar to the ones om the cradle tjst held the orb, ehixh you've all seen. Its currently in the Tower of the Cloaks, where Tetrevess brought it. So, if you want to see it, should probably go over there. They were also on the case, bit the case is back in the catacombs.
The state if the embassy is in your hands. I don't know what you'll do, but if you show the research (even redacted) to the Tymorans, they'll clamor for the Lady of Crime (who really runs tue city more than the Lord of Blades does) to oust the Thayan occupation. This could make the catacombs accessible in the future.
I will tell you that the things look the same with the gem as they do without it. They're pulsating purple glowing runes. Most arcane runes are of draconic or giant script origin, but have become sigils in their own right (much like the letters I'm writing are descended from older languages with different but not wholly dissimilar symbols, rhat have permutated over time. Most English speakers won't recognize our recently 'lost' letters 'thorn', 'wynn', 'eth', 'ethel' and 'ash'* I still see ash from time to time, and apparently the state of California recognizes it as a letter becasue you csn put it on a birth certificate, but not the number 12 becasue it's 'not a letter in the English language,' so...)
My point is, you can recognize these runes as letters similar to other draconic letters. I personally can't always tell Chinese characters from Japanese, or Ukranian from Russian, but I can tell their not Western European. I can see Catalan, and mispronounce the 'Ç' in Barçelona, though, so trying to read a spell like this with a verbal component could prove difficult.
So, with all that. Chadderlay, are you using the gem? I really have to know.
Yes, Chadderlay is using the Gem of Seeing to look at the items and look over the different sets of notes we have taken.
Put of the corner of his eye, chadderlay notices the kitten slinking around the chest. Except... it isn't a kitten. It's this.
<It still acts like a cat, though.>
(Is the Doomvault in Thay? Also, was there anything in the chest besides research into the artifacts? Does anyone know what the statuettes are?)
The statues were recovered by the Thayans from the Tenebrous Creed site they raided. The notes are from the Doomvault.
the Red Wizard rebels maintain control of an unmapped magic gatehouse, which is how one may arrive in Thay and enter the Doomvault. The gatehouse contains several permanent teleportation circles. Syranna can key these circles to any entry point (listed below). Further, any creature that possesses a glyph key can use a black gate to teleport from the Doomvault to a permanent teleportation circle in the gatehouse.
The gatehouse also has a huge physical gate, facing east into Thay just west of Lake Thaylambar. This gate is built into a cliff about 30 miles northwest of Eltabbar and about 30 miles south of Keluthar.
So, the Thayans don't know what the statues are, per se. He appears as a grinning fang-mawed old man and the notes recovered from tbe site are rambling snf incoherent, but reference frequently someone called 'Father Llymic'. Also a section of notes referencing a 'Wena' which is not really explained, but repeated many times as the writing reaches the end of the page and twists along the margin, the name written over and over in smaller letters until there was no more room to write.
There are also several pieces of insectile jewelry in the chest.
"I don't want to alarm anyone but that kitten that is following the chest, and therefore all of us, is actually some sort of monstrous thing. It is disguised by illusion magic but I can see it clearly with this Gem of Seeing."
Chadderlay points to the gem he is holding up to his eye.
"It has tentacles and eyes and a great fanged beak of a maw... it is truly something snatched directly from a nightmare."
<those features keep shifting as you look at it, absorbing into the mass and re-emergence. It always remains vaguely 'bipedal' or bi-psuedopedal, maybe>
I should clarify on the notes. It's a mix of Kazit Gul's research from the Doomvault and things they took from Tenebrous Creed, which might cause some confusion. Kazit Gul is general cogent and coherent, the TC are not.
You guys planning on showing the priests of Tymora? You csn take it somewhere else. I don't know what happens then. If you do take it to the Temple, in tome the embassy will be vacated, and any red wizards in mulmaster will operate in secret. Actual agency is afoot.
Anybody doing anything about that writhing mass of horrific features that followed you home?