Ishmael Mk III

[Monodominant]

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While wearing these gloves and handling
an inanimate object, you can learn
details about that object’s previous owner
through the psychic impressions it has
accumulated. The amount of information
revealed depends on how long you study
the object.
1st minute: Last owner’s race.
2nd minute: Last owner’s gender.
3rd minute: Last owner’s age.
4th minute: Last owner’s alignment.
5th minute: How last owner gained and
lost the object.
6th+ minute: Next-to-last owner’s race,
and so on.
Gloves of object reading will not identify
casual users as owners. (Anyone
who uses an object to attack someone or
something is not thereafter considered a
casual user.)
An object without any previous owners,
or without any owners in the past ten
years, reveals no information. If you
employ these gloves additional times on
the same object, the information yielded
is the same as the first time.

So basically if 1 or more is not -actually- used but simply placed here as backup/trap delivery system it will be visible :D or if they are used by spawns and not the Master.

[planswalker]

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um... doesn't it discriminate the OWNER?

If the Master owns all 3, not sure what you expect to find out. People use things all the time without owning them.

All three of them were owned by a Vampire skulk nymph, male, age 52, Chaotic evil and neutral good, purchased it, Still possesses it.

The owner before that was a male human, age 35, lawful good, created it, lost it when he sold it .

[Monodominant]

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It says: Gloves of object reading will not identify
casual users as owners.

So no, 'owner' is the person who actually uses the item. For example...

My work laptop is owned by the company I work for. The way I understand it though the gloves would show ME as owner because I am the one using it constantly and daily...

Also how is he Chaotic Evil and Neutral Good? Is it 2 people or...?

[planswalker]

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I do not see what is unclear about the owner is. Casual users not being owners is not the same as saying a non casual users are owners. Ownership is not the same thing as saying that you use it. The ceo of a large company that owns the building may never directly use it or in fact ever enter it. That does not mean the employees who work there all day own it.

The gloves of object reading are really powerful, but they are not infallible.

[Monodominant]

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Well actually if they work like this then they are anything BUT powerful. In theory then the coffins I found to belong to vampire spawn SHOULDNT register as belonging to the vampire spawn given that the person who paid was the Priest or the Master...

Anyway, it doesnt matter. I will explore another angle.

Can you though clarify what you mean by the fact that the person who owns them is a Skulk-Nymph-Vampire? Especially since the alignment you mentioned is CE and NG at the same time

Ishmael sights as he has failed to gain useful information from this.

"Well... I hoped I could figure out if one or more of these belonged to one of his spawn but it seems they are all his..." he says considering his options.

"Well, small sacrifices have to me made." he says and pulls out his wand of summon monster III and starts trying to use it.

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Rolling a few times to make sure I get the activation. Need a 20 total to activate the wand while a 1 means I cant use it for 24 hours

(1d20+15)[29]
(1d20+15)[28]
(1d20+15)[34]
(1d20+15)[34]
(1d20+15)[35]
(1d20+15)[17]

Managing to do so with his first attempt he smiles at the summoned fiendish ape.

"There we go! Please open the middle coffin for us." he orders the creature.

[planswalker]

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Well actually if they work like this then they are anything BUT powerful. In theory then the coffins I found to belong to vampire spawn SHOULDNT register as belonging to the vampire spawn given that the person who paid was the Priest or the Master...

Anyway, it doesnt matter. I will explore another angle.

Can you though clarify what you mean by the fact that the person who owns them is a Skulk-Nymph-Vampire? Especially since the alignment you mentioned is CE and NG at the same time

Ishmael sights as he has failed to gain useful information from this.

"Well... I hoped I could figure out if one or more of these belonged to one of his spawn but it seems they are all his..." he says considering his options.

"Well, small sacrifices have to me made." he says and pulls out his wand of summon monster III and starts trying to use it.

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Rolling a few times to make sure I get the activation. Need a 20 total to activate the wand while a 1 means I cant use it for 24 hours

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Managing to do so with his first attempt he smiles at the summoned fiendish ape.

"There we go! Please open the middle coffin for us." he orders the creature.

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Two issues with your line of logic:

1) you assume that the spawns' coffins earlier had not been gifted to them, which your gloves, IIRC, said they had been.
2)you also assume that the Master trusts himself to sleep next to two spawn who may or may not be 100% loyal to him while he's vulnerable.

your gloves are giving you odd and contradictory readings. You suspect if you'd done a detection for each of those races individually, he would have come off as an undead, a humanoid (human) and a fey all at once.

as for the alignment thing, it's the same kind of contradictory odd reading. You aren't totally sure what to make of all this. Perhaps you know someone who would know more? It's supposed to be a mystery that's completely inexplicable to you.

The creature obediently does so, and screams in agony as negative energy scours it, then it turns to you and looks at you with hostility for a moment, its stance protective of the coffin. The lid to the coffin was open only an inch before it fell shut again.

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spot check to see if the Master was inside.

[Monodominant]

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(1d20)[9]

Ishmael also asks the dwarf if he managed to see anything.

Regardless though he scoffs at the ape.

"Open it. Its against the geas but that only causes you some physical damage and pain but I doubt it can keep you from doing it long enough to die..."

Should the ape refuse to do so regardless he will proceed to dismiss it and summon another one before the trap resets.

[planswalker]

The ape refuses, you dismiss it, and you summon another. It opens the coffin to reveal that it is empty.

[Monodominant]

"Good job Mr. Ape...

Now on to the next one, lets go for the one to the left..." he orders the ape as he turns to the priest.

"Keep your eyes open in case you see him in there... unless by some miracle the ape manages to resist the geas we will have more or less the same effect!"

[planswalker]

basically the same effect happens, but the priest says, "If he's not in there, the prettiest skulk man I've ever met has left his twin as a body double."

[Monodominant]

Ishmael smiles.

"That is good news... but I want to be sure its not yet another trap... after all why chose one coffin over the other?" he says and proceeds to summon a 3rd ape and use him to first open the coffin that now has sprang traps and then also open the last remaining one.

[planswalker]

There is indeed the Master lying in the second one. The third one, the ape resist the geas and opens the coffin to reveal that it is empty.

[Monodominant]

Ishmael will look at the priest.

"Is it still him? What does the detect spell tell you?" he asks.

After the man answers he probes more.

"So you said after having gone into smoke he needs 8 hours before he can rise again right? In that case lets search this room for any other exits or traps..." he suggests and takes 20 for searching the room, hopefully with the priests help.

When done, if nothing has been found he tells the Doomguide to go ahead with the destruction of the vampire.

[planswalker]

The search reveals no other exits.

He hands you a wooden stake and mallet and says "Drive this through the heart while I take this hatchet to its neck." he says as he pulls out a silver-bladed axe.

[Monodominant]

With a certain dread Ishmael does as instructed to the letter.

[planswalker]

You stab it through the heart as the axe cleaves off the head. The vampire's body withers and dies.

[Monodominant]

Ishmael smiles pleased with the results.

He considers draining the soul of the dead vampire but given the amount of crimes and horrific things this vampire has commited he decides that his judgements in the halls of Kelemvor is more appropriate a penalty.

"Well done Doomguide. Do you think that is truly it?"

[planswalker]

"Aye, it is. Leave the stake where it is. I have a few binding and sealing spells to place on the coffin, and I'll be taking the head back with me for some long-term safeguards. The Master will not be coming back in that body ever again."

[Monodominant]

"In that case I am glad its over... I think we even got off easy if I am being frank... I was worried for a second when he managed to overpower some of the harriers but thank Kelemvor we made it..." Ishmael tells the man.

He spends some time searching the coffin for any type of gear or treasure the Master maintained and he also explores the warehouse above when they get out.

[planswalker]

Other than his armor and a ring, the Master had no gear.

[Monodominant]

Ishmael will take them and depart with the doom guide.

When they are back up in the surface he will search the other undead that had been in the room, and the room itself, for any treasure left behind.

[planswalker]

As you re-enter the warehouse proper, you see a pair of spectral figures fused at the shoulder standing before you. One is a homely skulk that looks vaguely like the Master did. The other is a beautiful nymph.

"You freed us from the dark one, but we cannot part while we are fused to each other. Help us." The odd amalgam says in undercommon and sylvan simultaneously.

[Monodominant]

Ishmael looks at the spirit form fairly suprised.

"Errr..." he begins turning also to the DoomGuide.

" Lets start with who or what are you and how did this happen and whats your relation with the master. When we have that I am okay with helping but you need to tell me what I can do. I am not versed in the spiritual..." he says in undercommon.

[planswalker]

"We are the other two souls that had been spliced into a vampire's soul. We do not know how to be liberated. We had assumed that slaying the Master would do so, but apparently his/my brother fused us together and then fused that to the vampire. his is in sylvan, my is in undercommon.

[Monodominant]

"Interesting. Well there is a person that I know that is very into this splicing and grafting business... perhaps he can help. If you can tell me the story behind the Master and what he has been up to as well as well he kept his stash and what he wanted with all those coffins I am sure I can help.

In short all I ask is that you give me all the information you have in exchange for my help..." says Ishmael wanting to help but knowing that learning more about the Master, his connections with the Pelorites and everything else would be really good at this stage. Considering the purchase of coffins and boxes that was even more imperative in order to find any other pockets of spawn...

[planswalker]

"You are just trying to pump us for information, aren't you? Your smell is completely impregnated by the stench of the Devourer."

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they will cooperate with you, but I'm stalling the infodump because I'm tired and somehow I didn't predict this and will need to prep my answer tomorrow morning. Sorry.

[Monodominant]

"That might be true. Though I was tasked to take the monster upon myself in order to ensure... well it is a long story and this is not the place. Know that if I was a fully willing recipient instead of helping I would devour you both and simply get the information from the morsels of the soul...

But instead I am asking you in return for helping you. Many could do much worse. I need your information to take apart the Masters network and reclaim his riches. I need it to have more arrows in my quiver against the Pelorites that were so gladly helping him and using him. So yes, the welfare of two spirits might be something I want to preserve but not over the welfare of the living... I already promised I will help you find freedom but you have to come through as well..." he says with all honesty.

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Sure no worries. And you know how Ishmael is... (and me as a player) getting the backstory is as important as winning :D

[planswalker]

"Ah, a bargain. That I get/That is understandable" They say over each other.

"I/He was the second born of the Shadow Spider's sons. When my/his older brother began to experiment with improving the skulk race through taking the traits of the best species and adding them to our/his own, I/he volunteered. However, she/I was not compatible with me/him. To graft a skulk with the powers of a nymph, he said, would require us to be fused to a third, one that could handle the stress and survive the physical and spiritual jarring. I volunteered/was captured and underwent the procedure. When we awoke, she/I was in command of an ancient, dead body and a dark, evil presence was there with us. We had been tricked, all three of us. Though our bodies and souls were fused, he had not taken into account our psyches. Even more so than souls or bodies, minds must be compatible. We went mad and when our nephews rebelled, we aided them. Her/my powers of seduction/beauty were corrupted by its unlife and we were infertile now, and therefore of no use to him. When all three of us turned against him, father/his dad supported the older son. However, we were deemed less dangerous than our nephews and we still respected the Shadow Spider, so we were instead banished to the surface in the city. There, the vampire took control. It used our powers to avoid the sunlight and gain many more thralls to itself than it could have. It would take the young girls and promise them power, to make themselves more dangerous than the priests who abused them. All it took was their will. After a decade of loyal service, he freed them to do as they will, offering them a place to come back to should they ever need it. Due to her/my influence, it would only take the girls who truly thought death better than life. The rest disappeared from the system and left Aldhaven behind.

We can show you the treasure caches in this building, as long as where all the coffins are. The power of these coffins is that if you are a spawn and the coffins are opened in sunlight or underwater, you will vanish from that one and reappear in another empty one somewhere else. We were honestly surprised when the dragon mages' spell canceled that effect too."

[Monodominant]

Ishmael listens fairly impressed by all this.

He does wonder why the Shadow Spider ended supporting the older corrupt son given how he had perceived the old skulk to be thus far.

"Very well. Tell me where those are then or show me..." he says and turns to the doomguide.

"I believe our work is not over. There are still spawn here and though my heart bleeds at the lost lives and corruption of little girls we must free their souls and send them on their way regardless..." he says truly annoyed.

The owner of that Orphanage would definetly pay. By abusing the girls in his service he only made it easier for them to turn and accept the vampire's offer.

[planswalker]

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perhaps the Shadow Spider learned from the mistakes of his sons?

"We will guide you. The largest cache is in the northeast corner, and is guarded by Clarisse and Jamina, the only two true vampires to have been turned by it."