Legacy of Fire: PoW/SoP Edition! (IC Thread)

[Doc_Maynot]

"Ack! Poor man... Oi!" She shouts at whoever is listening. "Died of smoke lung! And it wasn't magic that set the fire. Looks like we'll have to start asking questions after all. Lets start with anyone who wasn't around helpin' put the fire out."

[bcool999]

Rowan

Following Yenna's autopsy, Rowan thinks for a bit before examining the cart, trying to determine if the astronomer died in his sleep, or if not, why he didn't leave the cart before choking to death on smoke.

Spoiler: OOC

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Gonna take 20 on searching the cart. Might find something hidden/useful and Rowan isn't great at social interactions... good at appraising shiny things and deciphering languages though.

[digiman619]

Rowan

Following Yenna's autopsy, Rowan thinks for a bit before examining the cart, trying to determine if the astronomer died in his sleep, or if not, why he didn't leave the cart before choking to death on smoke.

Due to the point of ignition being near the window, and the body being found near the remains of the bed, you determine that the astronomer was almost certainly asleep when the fire started, and didn't wake up until it was far too late. There's no way to know if his slumber was due to some sinister action or mere fatigue that lead him to that final sleep, however.

[stack]

Akaash helps where he can, but leaves the actual interviewing of the survivors to others.

[bcool999]

Rowan

Knowing that there is little left that he could discover, Rowan joins Yenna on her investigations into witnesses, aiding where he can, but mostly listening and trying to piece events together.

[pfm1995]

Opening his eyes again, Dariush quickly moved out of the burned-out caravan and towards where the other slaves were loitering, now that the panic had died down. He's sucking on the flesh of his thumb; to an enquiring look he responds: "Burned myself."

[digiman619]

One at a time, Garavel introduces you to the members of the caravan

Spoiler: Almah

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Almah is a beautiful young merchant princess, the latest in a long line of wealthy agents of the Pactmasters of Katapesh. Her family, originally from Varisia far to the north, has dwelt in Katapesh for several generations now. Unfortunately, her family has been down on its luck for most of those generations as a result of bad investments and the economic intrigues of rival merchant princes, but Almah is ready to steady the ship and rebuild her family legacy.
Almah is a canny competitor who knows that she will not get a second chance to impress her mysterious superiors. Thus she has thrown everything into this expedition.

Spoiler: Almah's Testimony

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Almah hired Eloais in Solku about a month ago to read his cards for her—she hasn’t visited the land of her ancestors, but having a harrower at her side felt “right.” She’s hesitant to reveal what his readings told her. She isn’t convinced the fire was arson, but if it was, she hopes the PCs find out who started the fire quickly.
She does seem somewhat distraught at Eloais’s death—if asked, she bitterly asks the PC how they would feel if one of their friends burned to death. She admits that Eloais and she didn’t have a romantic relationship, but she did spend a lot of time with the Varisian.

Spoiler: Father Zastoran

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Zastoran hails from the coastal capital of Katapesh. A cleric of Nethys, the god of magic, Zastoran joined up with Almah years ago when she was just starting out in business, and has been her personal physician and spiritual advisor ever since. Zastoran is a friendly, chatty chap who misses the comforts of his home city and who naturally gravitates toward good conversationalists with interest in culture and the arts.
Zastoran’s small wagon contains an enormous chest that holds dozens and dozens of potions, an entire stock of medicinal supplements and magical aids meant to protect Almah’s band and the early settlers who will flock to Kelmarane once it has been liberated of gnoll inflence. Despite this, he is loath to give out his potions and treats the loss of each as more serious than the injuries that they heal.

Spoiler: Father Zastoran's Testimony

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The cleric was reading a book by the fire-pit, but the mercenaries were being too loud for him and he’d just stood up to return to his wagon when the fire started. He can attest that all six of the mercenaries were at the fire-pit and nowhere near the astrologer’s wagon when the fire broke out, and that Dashki was not. He thought Eloais was a charlatan and that Almah is better of now without his attention, but admits she did seem quite fond of him.He finds Dashki to be unsettling, and his obsession with Almah somewhat disturbing; “No one with healthy desires skulks around a pretty woman the way he does; who knows what a scoundrel like him is capable of?” He also ruefully admits that while he thought Eloais was a fake, he did appreciate his conversation; “Not a one of these others here can discuss the poetry of Bellianais or the music of far-of Absalom. Eloais was well traveled and intelligent. I will miss him.”

Spoiler: Dashki

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The caravan's gnoll expert (i.e., know a lot about gnolls, not a Gnoll with levels of the Expert NPC class), is a foul man named Dashki. Even ignoring his foul hygiene and horrendous table manners, his crude manners and obvious lust towards his employer are enough to keep him away from anyone with a modicum of class.

Spoiler: Dashki's Testimony

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The gnoll expert claims to have been fiishing up dinner by the campfie when the wagon went up. As the interview progresses,
he grows more and more frustrated, crying out, “No! I had nothing to do with the fire! How do we even know the fire was set? That idiot burned a hundred candles in his wagon. Perhaps he just got unlucky. We’re in gnoll country. It was probably pugwampis.”
If asked about pugwampis, Dashki is grateful for the change of subject and says, “Terrible critters what crawled up from the Darklands below the earth. ‘Jackal rats,’ some folks call ’em, on account of their pointed little heads. They worship gnolls as gods and infest their communities like rats. Wherever pugwampis go, bad luck is sure to follow. The gnolls hate pugwampis because of it, and try to kill them all the time. But they always come back. Perhaps their bad luck caused the fortune-man’s candles to start a fire? Yes, pugwampis. I am certain it was pugwampis.”

Spoiler: Caravan Guards

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There are 10 in total, more or less evenly split amongst men and women. Some of them work for the Pactmasters and were assigned to Almah, and the rest are mercenaries that she hired. All of them exude an aura of arrogance and competance; they are convinced they could wipe the floof with you and treat you thusly for the most part.

Spoiler: Caravan Guards' Testimony

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Almah's personal guards were guarding her tent and saw nothing as the tent doesn't have a clear line of sight to the burnt wagon. They did notice Dashki observing the tent and trying to be hidden; it's clear that he was spying on Almah when the fire started.
The Mercs were having fun near the fire-pit. None of them though much of the deceased astrologer, thinking him weak. They do mention that the caravan scuttlebutt is that Almah had a thing with Eloias, and perhaps Dashki offed him to "get rid of the competition"

Spoiler: Camel Drivers

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A friendly, late middle-aged human couple that tends the dozen-or-so animals kept by Almah’s band as food or transportation. The merchant princess hired them from the nearby town of Solku. Everyone seems to like the man, Hadrod, and his wife, Hadrah, who also help cook the camp’s meals and take care of many additional menial tasks. Both are tremendous gossips and make a game of keeping tabs on everyone in the camp. The arrival of a new group excites both of them almost more than the recent commotion, and Hadrod and Hadrah pepper you with questions about their backgrounds, clothes, and interests while they attempt to conduct their interview, making it somewhat unclear who is running the interrogation.

Spoiler: Camel Driver's Testimony

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The camel drivers are excitable and prone to fiishing each other’s sentences. Hadrah was the first to notice the fire, but she and her husband were distracted by trying to get their animals under control soon thereafter. Hadrod in particular seems on the verge of tears—his favorite goat Rombard went missing during the chaos, and he fears the worst. The two thought that Eloais was “nice enough for a foreigner,” but didn’t really understand his talk of “Cyclones and Fiends and Uprisings.” But Lady Almah’s trust in the astrologer was good enough for them to know he was a good man. When asked about Dashki, their expressions darken but they refuse to say more.

[pfm1995]

Re-grouping with the others, Dariush looks puzzled.

"Maybe the fire was an accident, as Dashki suggested. Still, something doesn't feel quite right. Why would he have a fire lit if he was asleep? And, worse, where did Rombard go? I don't suppose any of you are decent trackers or know some small divination magics?"

[stack]

Akaash shakes his head. "I am not a tracker. My divination ability is limited, if there was magic to be looked for I might be able to help, but beyond that..." he shrugs.

[bcool999]

Rowan

"Hmm..." Rowan says in response to searching for a goat, "While I am not against doing a good deed and returning a lost goat, I think we should first remove the contradictions in our witness testimonies. Both the Mercs and Doctor were at the firepit, but neither mentioned seeing Dashki while he said he was there. The guards clear up that Dashki was busy with his... fascination... with his employer, but I wonder if that is all of his deceptions?"

[digiman619]

Garavel takes you to Almah, who is intrigued by your findings. While she has never heard of these "pugwampis", she is willing to let Dashki prove his innocence by finding one. She then instructs you to accompany him in his search, for if this is a shallow attempt to cover the truth, he will almost assuredly take this opportunity to flee. She further informs you that if he does take this opportunity to escape, she wants him captured and returned alive; she wants this investigation to be as above-board as possible.

Spoiler: OOC

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I might have sent you guys search for these alone, but none of you are trackers,

[pfm1995]

"Of course, bannu. A pugwampi or a guilty man will be returned to you." With a deep bow, Dariush walks backwards out of her presence and pulls a sharpening stone out of his pack, making the snaggletooth on his sickle even worse.

[stack]

Akaash simply nods to the request, trying to recall if he had heard the name before.

Spoiler: know nature

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(1d20+9)[20]

[stack]

"A species of evil fey, gremlins. Bearers of ill fortune. I could not say how likely it is that one would be here, but they do exist."

[bcool999]

Rowan

Leaning on his staff somewhat, Rowan strokes his chin before nodding and saying, "While we are searching anyway, we can also keep an eye out for that lost goat. Let us check our supply of water and begin shall we?"

[pfm1995]

Looking up, "Agreed, we should leave as soon as possible... could someone else talk to the creep about it? It's just that I'm pretty sure he can afford to strangle me." Dariush says softly.

[stack]

"I will fetch him. If he causes trouble then he will be dealt with." Akaash goes to get the foul man so they can depart.

[digiman619]

Dashki leads you out as you grab torches. As you go out, tracks are immediately visible the heading southwest, towards more hilly terrain. Phantom creatures seems to haunt the underbrush, until you get close enough to see their true nature as ordinary nocturnal creatures.
As you ravel further and further from the caravan, a sense of dread seems to hover over you. As you come closer, a sound that sounds like a child in pain hits your ears, as you get closer, the sounds become clearer; the camel driver's goat must be nearby.
Eventually, following the sounds and tracks, you get to what can only be described as a cactus forest; Many of the prickly plants are tightly gathered; no doubt an underground water source feeds them. You see, tied to a cactus near the middle, the goat, clearly terrified. It'll take about 3 turns of carefully maneuvering around the cacti to get to him though.

[pfm1995]

Dariush shivered. He didn't like the desert at night, it was too quiet. All you could hear was the wind, and the smallest animal noise echoed louder than a desperate merchant. He shivered again, pulling his flickering torch closer. Plus, it's *cold*.

Some time later, Dariush stands outside the forest. He looks at the goat, looks at the cacti, looks back at the goat... looks back at the cacti.

"This... is very obviously safe. Clearly we should simply walk in and take the goat; we could even leave our weapons out here." He turns to Dashki. "You first."

[stack]

A trap that was set by someone either too ignorant to realize it is obvious or set for something that wouldn't be expected to notice."Hold a moment." He closes his eyes in concentration.

Spoiler

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using spiritualism tradition power to grab divination sphere for 1 minute as a standard action, then spending a spell point to divine using the life sphere aternate divination as a standard the next round. Medium range.

Divine Life: If you possess the Life sphere, you may divine the location of nearby living creatures. These creatures do not have auras; you instead determine their condition according to the list below:
• Normal: Has at least 90% of full normal hit points, free of disease.
• Fair:30%to90%offullnormalhitpointsremaining.
• Poor: Less than 30% of full normal hit points re- maining, a icted with a disease, or su ering from a debilitating injury.
• Weak:0orfewerhitpointsremaining,a ictedwith a disease that has reduced an ability score to 5 or less, or crippled.

[digiman619]

Spoiler: stack

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You sense two life-forms, one normal and the other poor.

[bcool999]

Rowan

"I can teleport us past the cacti, and even teleport the goat back if it is calmed, but I am unfortunately not yet mature enough in my art to teleport more that a single being at a time, and not from range either." Rowan tells the others as he inspects the situation. "If I did teleport someone over there, there might be quite a gap in time before aid could be arranged."

[digiman619]

Dashki swore up a storm. "It's gotta be me, doesn't it? None of you fools know anything about handling animals, so I've gotta stick my neck out to go get the ****ing goat. Because gods forbid that one of you morons are remotely useful!" He swears again, but a serious look crosses his face. "I want covering fire. If you won't be in the thick of it, you will at least be helpful." He pauses for a second, anger once more his visage, "And I swear, if any of you fools hit me, I will beat the **** out of you!". He takes a breath, and looks to Rowan and says "Once the rest of you are in position, do it."

[pfm1995]

Nodding, Dariush unloops his crossbow and loads a bolt. Lying down on the sand, he motions to Rowan and says,

"I'm ready. I'm also better in a fistfight than I am with this, so if things go wrong forget the goat and get out of there."

[stack]

Akaash opens his eyes and holds up a hand to halt the others. "There is another living thing out there, aside from the goat. Rather than teleport in, perhaps we should all go. Move so that we can support each other as we do. Sending one in there alone is too dangerous, let us attack into the ambush."

[bcool999]

Rowan

Hearing that there is indeed a creature lying in wait, Rowan revises his earlier plan slightly. "In that case, let's spring the trap, but reduce the danger. I shall place... a tether -for lack of a better word- on Dashki before I teleport him over, and if he becomes endangered, I can quickly pull him back to us. Meanwhile, we can engage it at range. That way, we can use the cacti against it as it wished to use it against us."

Thus explaining, Rowan reaches for Dashki with a slight bow and an 'excuse me' as he applies the 'tether'.

Spoiler

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Using Dimensional Beacon Talent to mark Dashki. No spell point cost for simply marking, lasts for an hour. DC 10 Fort Save vs sickened (1d20+5)[18]

[digiman619]

Well, that sounds like a better plan. Everyone in position?

[bcool999]

Rowan

After obtaining the permission of the one actually being flung into danger, Rowan stands ready with one hand on the mans shoulder and the other on his staff, ready to begin the incantation once the others are prepared.

[pfm1995]

Dariush nods again, his eyes not turning from the cactus patch.

[digiman619]

As Rowan finishes his technique, Dashki blip out if existence, only to reappear a few feet away from the goat. As he calms the goat, he reaches for his dagger to cut the rope, a strange hyena-headed beast, no bigger than 2 feet tall jumps out, wielding a small shortbow.

Roll for Initiative!