"Oh, excellent. I do love performing in front of an audience that's worthy of my talents. Now now dears, it's time for us to get going. We have to try and get poor Veracity's head screwed back on after these ingrates got her marbles scrambled and I have to get myself all prettied up for what promises to be the performance of a lifetime. Ta ta!" And as Carrhae walked back, flanked by allies with robes in hand, she only had one thought going through her mind. We'll give them something that they'll never forget all right. 

Daewen just stands there in the shadows, mouth literally agape af the scene unfolding in front of her. Crying at the same time as laughing. The wonders of her friends never cease to astound!  Truly more wonderful stories to tell her Raven Queen when she returns.

When the group of “performers” returns back with the robes, Daewen grabs one and then casually walks over to Strife and gives her a loving hug of consolation. 

Mercy's lip curled in disgust at the robe she was handed, but she said nothing, instead holding the feathery...thing out in front of her, between her thumb and forefinger. As one would a dead rat's tail, or other foul item. She followed the girls out of the room, shoving the ugly piece of filth into her bag of holding to deal with later. If she needed to look the part, she could always cast Disguise Self to do so...though by Mask's shadow, she'd better not need to.

Carrhae reflects on the events that just happened as she puts on her robes and moves out. "I don't know what came over me back there. I just suddenly felt this overbearing personality come over me and I just decided to go with it. Not going to lie, it was kind of fun though. Anyway, where to next? South or East?"

Daewen points south, where she was directed to head earlier, before Zephyr ran off to play the music critic.  With a quizzical look, she waits for the team to respond.

"Yes, let's head that way. And now that we have these, we don't have to sneak around." 

You head south, round a corner, and open a door. What th-? Two Kenku are making wailing, moaning, and horrible other sounds, trying to hold back giggling as they do so. They see you, indicate to you to remain quiet, and shoo you away, as if you all are interrupting their fun.

Mercy peeked into the room and realized what was going on. She pressed her fist to her own mouth, biting her knuckles to stifle the laughter that very nearly escaped her. Lifting her other hand in a gesture of approval for the mischief of the Kenku, she shut the door on the shocked faces of her companions before sliding to the ground. The laughter she was trying to contain held her incapacitated for about thirty seconds before she managed to contain herself. "That....is hilarious..."

Carrhae silently giggles and waves at the kenku before Mercy shuts the door. "Let's try the eastward route." She says, still smiling and trying to restrain the laughter. If only the entire temple was going to be this easy.

A14 appears to be living quarters, like a dorm room. Theres lots of debris in the hall as if once, long ago, this underground temple had a much different purpose. If you enter the dorm, a few initiates give you a casual glance, and return to their meditations. 

Mercy arched an eyebrow at the initiates and turned to Carrhae. "I'll catch up." She walked across the room to the opposite door and tried the handle.

A3 - THE MACHINE CHAMBER

Two massive stone pillars thread holes in the floor and ceiling of this vast chamber. Stone crossbeams pierce the pillars to form spokes, creating giant wheels. Two robed figures whip five sorry-looking humans into pushing against the crossbeams of the westernmost wheel with all their might. As the wheel turns slowly counterclockwise, you hear the grinding of enormous gears hidden deep below the stone floor. 

One of the sorry-looking prisoners is the missing delegate. 

Ravyn: More dorms. Nothing special. Get back with the rest of the group, don't you know anything about splitting the party up? 

After making sure there was nothing dangerous in that room, she went back to the others.

Carrhae is going to try and recall what Strife taught her about seduction and manipulation as she casts Charm Person at both guards.

"Hey there soldiers. I'm Carin and these are my friends. We're going to perform tomorrow, but we need help to ensure that we'll be ready to give you an evening that'll be truly unforgettable. Those people over there look like they can help us. Let me and my friends have them for the night. Don't worry, Lord Commander Merosska said that he's going to send some replacements down to fill in for them. We'd be just so grateful if you were to help us out here." 

DC 14 Wisdom Save or they're charmed by Carin's sultry voice and bedroom eyes.

Earlier, back at Waterdeep:

"You already know how to invoke magic, how to call upon Sune with prayer and use her gifts to act as an agent of her will. Communing with her, serving as a conduit, you have a small added measure of flexibility because your deity is an intermediary. Although certain spells do call for specific words and gestures, so long as you are operating according to the teachings of your faith, it's only really necessary to clearly convey your intent, and Sune will take care of the rest. As a humble supplicant, provided you express appropriate deference and respect, it likely won't matter if you slightly flub the pronunciation of a word, or use a motion that isn't quite right. Sune hears you, and if your request is worthy, she will impart the power you seek.

"But with Bardic magic, the words, the music, the sounds and movements are the intermediary. There's less room for error, because you are not making a request, you are directly causing to be. So, the pronunciation, the notes, the gestures really do have to be just right. Yet it is still important that you are purposeful, that your casting is deliberate and intentional, and that your action is coupled with an expectation of success, because mere imitation seems always to fail. I have played and performed with many other very skilled artists who have managed to reproduce a song with astounding fidelity, but no magical effect resulted, and I believe that it must partly be because they lacked conviction. A crude analogy is perhaps the difference between the countless ways to ineptly purse one's lips and exhale, versus the singular purposeful path to whistling.

"As you can no doubt surmise, having a lot of natural talent is a huge advantage to a bard, but practice can always improve your technique. However, you do not want to just start trying to use you spells over and over, because an actual casting is not the occasion to learn your form is slightly wrong - that can lead to disaster. So instead, you practice by just breaking apart the spell into smaller discrete parts and perfecting those, gradually joining the required elements together. A note is a note, and a syllable is a syllable. Thus, becoming expert at hitting that note through singing and playing your instrument, and becoming expert at pronouncing that syllable through storytelling and poetry, will help instill the muscle memory and impart the confidence to call upon them for real, in your spellcasting.

"I guess the other bit of advice I have is to invest in your spells, and the easiest way I can think of to do that is to put a part of yourself into the effort, especially by committing to an emotion. You can absolutely tell when somebody doesn't care about the song they are singing. Even if the notes and timing are perfect, if there is no emotional resonance for them, the result is hollow and weak. So too with Bardic spells. You can cast for love, from hate, fear, hope - almost anything, just be sure it means something to you. And even with a spell like Disguise Self, where you might imagine you would want to purge all traces of your own identity, that ends up falling flat - you come across as an idea of a person, not something genuine. Instead, try to imagine you are giving your interpretation of a role, which also conveys a lot of yourself, instead of just imitating observed surface mannerisms. If you care about your spellcraft, if you invest your words and notes with meaning that moves you, you will be successful."

I wonder how Carrhae would react if she knew I was speaking purely from my arcane research, and not from experience?

Now:

Who? That Dwarf? Talk about ungrateful! Unlike with the first group of prisoners, I did more than just get high, I really risked my life to save his. And I have not given him any reason to take the slightest notice of me since we parted. No, not him.

Maybe that earth cult priestess. She seems likely! But as I recall, by the time I loosed my first arrow, she was already dead. And my aim was perfect.

Not anymore. I can't do anything unassisted, and even then only barely. I need my pipe.

Uh..Oh, the save: 10, 5

Boobs.

Mindless drooling..

They're yours Carrhae. LOL.

As the men fall under her spell, Carrhae motions for her friends to free the prisoners. "Thanks boys! You've been a huge help to me and my friends. Make sure to find us after the performance tomorrow so that we can give you a special treat. *Mwah*" Carrhae blows a kiss at them and makes sure to memorize their faces before she leaves. Oh we'll make sure to give them something special all right. But I doubt that it will be as pleasurable as they're expecting it to be. Thank you Sune, for giving me such wonderful gifts and thank you Strife, for showing me how I can use those gifts to influence others. Once they've gotten the prisoners away from their captors, she lets them in on what's really going on. "We're here to rescue you. Put on these robes and follow our lead."

Mercy looked over the prisoners, her voice soft as she spoke to them. "Which of you is Deseyna Norvael?" Upon receiving the delegate's response, she stepped over to their final charge and cast Cure Wounds in an attempt to ease some of their suffering. "Let us be gone from this place, and quickly."

Heal Delegate: 9

(OOC: Because this site doesn't like me adding anything to posts with rolls in them...)

Stealth: 20

You trip and fall, hard. You hear a couple of “Oooh!”s in the background and one of the “prisoners” says “Oh my gosh are you ok?” 

“I am Deseyna.” A woman says, looking very tired, malnourished, and weak.