This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Cob slips over closer to Gustav while the others are talking.
"Hey, Gustav. You seem to have a better idea than most what's going on around here," Cob says quietly, pulling the silver needle from his pouch. "Any idea what this is, and why it did such a number on the ghost?"
Gustav ponders for a moment before quietly replying to Cob, "I might not look the part, but I am old. I have seen many things. My people in Montecarexpat are quite knowledgeable on the nature of ghosts and undead creatures. Ghosts are typically resistant to unenchanted weaponry and certain types of magic. This creature, though, despite having the characteristics of a ghost, is not a ghost. If it is, it will have possessed one of us already, such is the nature of a ghost. Besides that, the ward on the train will have repelled the ghost before it can come through. This creature is something else entirely. The needle, on the other hand, is something simpler to explain. I can see dwarven runes on it. I can only guess that it is enchanted to produce such flame."
Eremoz runs his finger through the blood on his maul and sniffs it. Getting down to one knee, he examines the floor where the figure was.
Investigation: 5
He looks to the dwarf and then to the other passengers. "I hope you all have learned for this man's mistakes and will follow our instruction. We are trying to avoid either of these outcomes." He gestures to the dwarf and the corpse.
"What are we going to do, then?" The conductor asks. "We cannot bring this creature with us to Erdelun. It will cause mayhem. We are about 30 minutes out from Erdelun, but I can stretch it to an hour at most before the management forces us to quarantine with the creature here when we fail to arrive. Please, anything you can do will be much appreciated. You seem to recognize what happened to Stewardess Harcourt. Is this the same creature that attacked Vortesso? Can you do anything at all? What about the good sister's suggestion? Can any of you find out what they are? Any magic you can do?"
With the conductor's questions, the others begin to ask similar questions: What are we going to do? What can we do? Am I going to die? What spells can kill this creature? How can we get out of this? And so on.
The other businessman, who remains in his seat during the debacle, stands up and begins to walk toward his brother, whispering nonchalantly to Eremoz, "I'll give you twenty-five copper if you escort my brother and I back to our cabin and protect us there. Let the creature come for these other people for all I care, but my brother and I must survive this."
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Arcana: 12 (if history would be applicable that would increase by another +2) I have read books about those creatures that attacked Vortesso. THey have many names; Seeker, Procurer, Runner. I dont know which is the real name, if it is even the right one. Some theories say they are beings that shouldn't exist already and whose spirit wronfully manifested to soon. Other papers describe them as otherdimensional creatures that seep into our world. Whatever they are they are thought to be sealed away by the Braveheart at the end of the 3rd age. Karm turns to Gustav. You are right. This is no ghost. even udead get the shimmies when they come close to a Seeker
{{With a 12 in Arcana,}} Karm, while you don't quite know the creature's true name from the many aliases and names that history has called them with, you do know that what had attacked you in Vortesso has a different look than the one on the train. However, from the brief moment the creature showed itself on the train, it exudes the same magical presence -- or lack of presence -- as the one from Vortesso.
From your studies, you know that there are two types of magic in the world. One is living magic, the magic that is in every living -- and certain types of unliving -- being. The other is material magic, the magic that has been placed in an object. Sometimes, material magic can manifest living magic on its own, which is where sentient magical items come from.
You notice that the creature seems to have changed its focus. Back then, it is looking for magical items -- material magic, but now, it has already attacked two people who can cast magic. Looking back at the body of Stewardess Harcourt, you can feel the lack of magical presence from her, which should not be possible as even the weakest spellcaster has a presence long even after death. You think that this is either a self-preservation mechanism where the creature is eating living magic from living beings or simply another creature entirely who consumes living magic. You are not quite sure which fits more with your current situation.
Eremoz turns to the standing business man. “You and your brother will be protected, the same as the others. Nobody is leaving this room until this has been sorted out. If you think money will gain you preferential treatment from me, you are a fool. Besides, I am the least equipped member of my group to protect you from this creature.”
Eremoz picks up the injured business man and sets him down near his brother. “When we get you to your destination alive, you’re more than welcome to give us a donation out of the goodness of your heart, of course.”
The man tuts and sits back down beside his brother.
"This is a foreboding omen for what's to come," the man says and seems to look a decade older. His shoulder slumps down as he leans back on the chair further, almost using it as a shield and blanket. "Do you know where my brother dropped his needle? That's the only one capable of channeling his fire magic safely. Don't want to burn the train down, do we?"
Eremoz, if you are substituting your lack of magical capability with the ability to protect people on this train you might be wrong. The creature makes a similar impresson to me as the ones in Vortesso but its drive is different. In vortesso they were seeking magic objects. Here it attacked two people able to cast magic. I think it wants to absorb magic from people.
Drexon, who had been a bit lost in thought for a moment, looks around at the others registering what they were talking about. "It spoke to me", he says simply.
After a moment, if anyone is listening, he continues. "I often speak in another tongue when using m y magic. I thought it was just that, speaking in tongues, but the creature spoke in that same language and I understood it".
"If it comes back, if we can attract it again, maybe I could talk to it?", he finishes a bit dubiously.
Dvark chuckles "of course we could try talking to it. Might as well since we can't hold it down. Seems it's that or try a beat down which could very easily get messy."
Dvark pauses to consider his next words before directing then at Gustav and Bastian "she wasn't sick today was she?"
"Divination magic is not usually effective while on the train," the conductor says. "The amount of enchantments on the train usually interferes with it, but maybe one of you can try?"
"She looks healthy," the head of the family of three says to Dvark. "She was the stewardess assigned to our carriage. She was good to us. Are we going to end up like her?"
"Yes, all staff members who are about to board the train are required to be examined by the station physician," the conductor adds. "None of us are allowed to enter the train without a clean bill of health. While it is true that some passengers who are sick can be granted passage with the train, a sick staff can be a problem with the station management's evaluation. We try to staff the train with only healthy ones.
"The protocol is also quite firm that any problem on the train will have to be solved on the train to ensure it wouldn't spill to the cities. In the event that we fail to do so, the station management can forcefully stop the train and locked it away until the problem can run its course. We only did it once before when a sick passenger managed to infect the staff with their sickness and the entire train became sick in a matter of hours. The station management stopped the train in between Barai Dunne and Mantagard and let it sit there for days before the disease can be safely contained; only a couple dozens of the passengers and staff survived, while almost fifty were left for dead."
"Not while in this carriage, no," Gustav replies to Eremoz. "She ran in and dropped. I don't know what happened before she entered the carriage."
Five minutes passes after the creature showed itself. So far, there has been no more attack or sudden seeing of the creature by anyone in the carriage. The family begins to calm down, especially with Eremoz's assurance. The acolytes too have chosen to sit rather than pace around. Still, to ensure their safety, they relinquished some of the more arcane items in their possession. You collect a pair of pouches from Sister Fierai and Brother Stavius. The businessmen, whose names you eventually learn to be Farim and Bronwen Kamoriz, relinquish several small gemstones that they have on their person. They put it on the kitchen counter, following your first plan to lure the creature. They sit close to each other while the other passengers are moved farther away from them, just in case Karm's hypothesis proves true.
{{If the needle is returned, Bronwen will put it into Farim's pocket and refuse to relinquish it.}}
As the clock strikes fifteen minutes after the creature showed itself, Drexon, you see the creature appears at the end of the carriage, toward the direction where you entered the carriage and far from the other passengers. It just stands there quietly, staring right at you. You turn to see your companions and the other passengers on the train, but none of them seem to see the creature despite some of them turning toward the creature's direction.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Drexon moves towards the creature, closing half the distance to make sure he is well and truly between the creature and the passengers.
"It is here", he says calmly to the others as he walks forwards.
He looks at it curiously, inspecting it now he is given the chance.
He silently whispers, "Bring power to my words", in Deep Speech before addressing the creature.
"We do not wish to harm you, but your actions are causing harm to us", he says in Deep Speech pointing at the body. "What is it you want? How can we help you?", he adds.
"Speaker of the Betrayer's tongue... Break the wall... and unleash the hounds of darkness... Intercept... Must intercept..." The creature says in return in Deep Speech. "Cannot intercept without sustenance... Must not break the wall... Find... Seek..."
The creature disappears for a moment from your sight and reappears again right in front of you, this time in completely visible to everyone on the carriage. It has one of its hands raised and about to touch your forehead, Drexon, but remains several inches away. It does not do anything else. It is as if it is asking for permission.
"Must intercept... Must not break the wall..." It says, this time in broken Common directly to every mind in the carriage.
Drexon stands his ground but gives the creature no permission to feed on him. He holds his palm up to the others.
"I can help you stop the wall being broken, but not if you feed on me. What do you need to intercept? Who are you? Where do you come from?", he asks it again in Deep Speech, not sure if it's common is good enough to understand.
Persuasion: 20+6=26 (Apologies, rolled in campaign log this time - in different games with different ways of rolling. Will try and remember to keep it consistent).
"The shadows... Beware of the shadows... Embrace the truth... Embrace destiny..." The creature says to Drexon. It remains still for a moment longer before its hand touches Drexon's forehead.
{{Do you allow it or not? If not, make a Dexterity save, Drexon.}}
{{Don't worry about the roll. I allow both rolling ways to avoid random changes during posting for unknown reasons.}}
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Cob slips over closer to Gustav while the others are talking.
"Hey, Gustav. You seem to have a better idea than most what's going on around here," Cob says quietly, pulling the silver needle from his pouch. "Any idea what this is, and why it did such a number on the ghost?"
Persuasion: 8
Gustav ponders for a moment before quietly replying to Cob, "I might not look the part, but I am old. I have seen many things. My people in Montecarexpat are quite knowledgeable on the nature of ghosts and undead creatures. Ghosts are typically resistant to unenchanted weaponry and certain types of magic. This creature, though, despite having the characteristics of a ghost, is not a ghost. If it is, it will have possessed one of us already, such is the nature of a ghost. Besides that, the ward on the train will have repelled the ghost before it can come through. This creature is something else entirely. The needle, on the other hand, is something simpler to explain. I can see dwarven runes on it. I can only guess that it is enchanted to produce such flame."
Eremoz runs his finger through the blood on his maul and sniffs it. Getting down to one knee, he examines the floor where the figure was.
Investigation: 5
He looks to the dwarf and then to the other passengers. "I hope you all have learned for this man's mistakes and will follow our instruction. We are trying to avoid either of these outcomes." He gestures to the dwarf and the corpse.
"What are we going to do, then?" The conductor asks. "We cannot bring this creature with us to Erdelun. It will cause mayhem. We are about 30 minutes out from Erdelun, but I can stretch it to an hour at most before the management forces us to quarantine with the creature here when we fail to arrive. Please, anything you can do will be much appreciated. You seem to recognize what happened to Stewardess Harcourt. Is this the same creature that attacked Vortesso? Can you do anything at all? What about the good sister's suggestion? Can any of you find out what they are? Any magic you can do?"
With the conductor's questions, the others begin to ask similar questions: What are we going to do? What can we do? Am I going to die? What spells can kill this creature? How can we get out of this? And so on.
The other businessman, who remains in his seat during the debacle, stands up and begins to walk toward his brother, whispering nonchalantly to Eremoz, "I'll give you twenty-five copper if you escort my brother and I back to our cabin and protect us there. Let the creature come for these other people for all I care, but my brother and I must survive this."
Arcana: 12 (if history would be applicable that would increase by another +2)
I have read books about those creatures that attacked Vortesso. THey have many names; Seeker, Procurer, Runner. I dont know which is the real name, if it is even the right one. Some theories say they are beings that shouldn't exist already and whose spirit wronfully manifested to soon. Other papers describe them as otherdimensional creatures that seep into our world. Whatever they are they are thought to be sealed away by the Braveheart at the end of the 3rd age.
Karm turns to Gustav. You are right. This is no ghost. even udead get the shimmies when they come close to a Seeker
Olloray Dim - Limbo's Pit
Gunther Korroden - Nightmares in the Mist
{{With a 12 in Arcana,}} Karm, while you don't quite know the creature's true name from the many aliases and names that history has called them with, you do know that what had attacked you in Vortesso has a different look than the one on the train. However, from the brief moment the creature showed itself on the train, it exudes the same magical presence -- or lack of presence -- as the one from Vortesso.
From your studies, you know that there are two types of magic in the world. One is living magic, the magic that is in every living -- and certain types of unliving -- being. The other is material magic, the magic that has been placed in an object. Sometimes, material magic can manifest living magic on its own, which is where sentient magical items come from.
You notice that the creature seems to have changed its focus. Back then, it is looking for magical items -- material magic, but now, it has already attacked two people who can cast magic. Looking back at the body of Stewardess Harcourt, you can feel the lack of magical presence from her, which should not be possible as even the weakest spellcaster has a presence long even after death. You think that this is either a self-preservation mechanism where the creature is eating living magic from living beings or simply another creature entirely who consumes living magic. You are not quite sure which fits more with your current situation.
Eremoz turns to the standing business man. “You and your brother will be protected, the same as the others. Nobody is leaving this room until this has been sorted out. If you think money will gain you preferential treatment from me, you are a fool. Besides, I am the least equipped member of my group to protect you from this creature.”
Eremoz picks up the injured business man and sets him down near his brother. “When we get you to your destination alive, you’re more than welcome to give us a donation out of the goodness of your heart, of course.”
Intimidation (if applicable): 19
The man tuts and sits back down beside his brother.
"This is a foreboding omen for what's to come," the man says and seems to look a decade older. His shoulder slumps down as he leans back on the chair further, almost using it as a shield and blanket. "Do you know where my brother dropped his needle? That's the only one capable of channeling his fire magic safely. Don't want to burn the train down, do we?"
Eremoz, if you are substituting your lack of magical capability with the ability to protect people on this train you might be wrong. The creature makes a similar impresson to me as the ones in Vortesso but its drive is different. In vortesso they were seeking magic objects. Here it attacked two people able to cast magic. I think it wants to absorb magic from people.
Olloray Dim - Limbo's Pit
Gunther Korroden - Nightmares in the Mist
“Only making the point that my weapons work best against creatures that have physical bodies.”
Eremoz turns to the larger group. “If you see the needle, give it the the dwarf. Does anyone have anything that can help us find the creature?”
Drexon, who had been a bit lost in thought for a moment, looks around at the others registering what they were talking about. "It spoke to me", he says simply.
After a moment, if anyone is listening, he continues. "I often speak in another tongue when using m y magic. I thought it was just that, speaking in tongues, but the creature spoke in that same language and I understood it".
"If it comes back, if we can attract it again, maybe I could talk to it?", he finishes a bit dubiously.
Dvark chuckles "of course we could try talking to it. Might as well since we can't hold it down. Seems it's that or try a beat down which could very easily get messy."
Dvark pauses to consider his next words before directing then at Gustav and Bastian "she wasn't sick today was she?"
"Divination magic is not usually effective while on the train," the conductor says. "The amount of enchantments on the train usually interferes with it, but maybe one of you can try?"
"She looks healthy," the head of the family of three says to Dvark. "She was the stewardess assigned to our carriage. She was good to us. Are we going to end up like her?"
"Yes, all staff members who are about to board the train are required to be examined by the station physician," the conductor adds. "None of us are allowed to enter the train without a clean bill of health. While it is true that some passengers who are sick can be granted passage with the train, a sick staff can be a problem with the station management's evaluation. We try to staff the train with only healthy ones.
"The protocol is also quite firm that any problem on the train will have to be solved on the train to ensure it wouldn't spill to the cities. In the event that we fail to do so, the station management can forcefully stop the train and locked it away until the problem can run its course. We only did it once before when a sick passenger managed to infect the staff with their sickness and the entire train became sick in a matter of hours. The station management stopped the train in between Barai Dunne and Mantagard and let it sit there for days before the disease can be safely contained; only a couple dozens of the passengers and staff survived, while almost fifty were left for dead."
"I trust the archivists take on this. I believe we need to gather any other magic users on the train and keep our eyes peeled for this phantom."
"We will keep your family safe to the best of our abilities. Was she using magic when she was attacked?"
"Not while in this carriage, no," Gustav replies to Eremoz. "She ran in and dropped. I don't know what happened before she entered the carriage."
Five minutes passes after the creature showed itself. So far, there has been no more attack or sudden seeing of the creature by anyone in the carriage. The family begins to calm down, especially with Eremoz's assurance. The acolytes too have chosen to sit rather than pace around. Still, to ensure their safety, they relinquished some of the more arcane items in their possession. You collect a pair of pouches from Sister Fierai and Brother Stavius. The businessmen, whose names you eventually learn to be Farim and Bronwen Kamoriz, relinquish several small gemstones that they have on their person. They put it on the kitchen counter, following your first plan to lure the creature. They sit close to each other while the other passengers are moved farther away from them, just in case Karm's hypothesis proves true.
{{If the needle is returned, Bronwen will put it into Farim's pocket and refuse to relinquish it.}}
As the clock strikes fifteen minutes after the creature showed itself, Drexon, you see the creature appears at the end of the carriage, toward the direction where you entered the carriage and far from the other passengers. It just stands there quietly, staring right at you. You turn to see your companions and the other passengers on the train, but none of them seem to see the creature despite some of them turning toward the creature's direction.
Drexon moves towards the creature, closing half the distance to make sure he is well and truly between the creature and the passengers.
"It is here", he says calmly to the others as he walks forwards.
He looks at it curiously, inspecting it now he is given the chance.
He silently whispers, "Bring power to my words", in Deep Speech before addressing the creature.
"We do not wish to harm you, but your actions are causing harm to us", he says in Deep Speech pointing at the body. "What is it you want? How can we help you?", he adds.
Investigation: 18
Persuasion (with Guidance): 20
"Speaker of the Betrayer's tongue... Break the wall... and unleash the hounds of darkness... Intercept... Must intercept..." The creature says in return in Deep Speech. "Cannot intercept without sustenance... Must not break the wall... Find... Seek..."
The creature disappears for a moment from your sight and reappears again right in front of you, this time in completely visible to everyone on the carriage. It has one of its hands raised and about to touch your forehead, Drexon, but remains several inches away. It does not do anything else. It is as if it is asking for permission.
"Must intercept... Must not break the wall..." It says, this time in broken Common directly to every mind in the carriage.
Drexon stands his ground but gives the creature no permission to feed on him. He holds his palm up to the others.
"I can help you stop the wall being broken, but not if you feed on me. What do you need to intercept? Who are you? Where do you come from?", he asks it again in Deep Speech, not sure if it's common is good enough to understand.
Persuasion: 20+6=26 (Apologies, rolled in campaign log this time - in different games with different ways of rolling. Will try and remember to keep it consistent).
"The shadows... Beware of the shadows... Embrace the truth... Embrace destiny..." The creature says to Drexon. It remains still for a moment longer before its hand touches Drexon's forehead.
{{Do you allow it or not? If not, make a Dexterity save, Drexon.}}
{{Don't worry about the roll. I allow both rolling ways to avoid random changes during posting for unknown reasons.}}