IC Lords of Ruin (Spheres PF1)

[Athaleon]

"Just who we were looking for," Volistad joked without a hint of mirth. "We got a healer with us, though he couldn't fix whatever's wrong with Salty here, he's great at patching up wounds."

[CasualViking]

Calben Traser Perception +4|AC 23 (+4 vs giants), Touch 12, FF 22, CMD 15|Fort +6 Ref +4|HP: 77/77 "Alright people! Calben and his menagerie is here to get you back into fighting shape! Line up and get healed!". Calben summons the Golden Gnome, and directs it to heal the miners.

[Bansheexero]

The dwarves take defensive stances seeing a bunch of random outsiders approach them with a strange golden puppet gnome trying to make physical contact with them.

[PotatoGolem]

Xerxes rolls his eyes. Well then, don't get healed, if that's what you prefer. He's offering you healing free of charge. If you'd rather pay money for it or wait around in pain to slowly heal naturally, you are of course free to do so.

He turns back to the group. We should probably leave Salty with a healer, if we can find one.

[Bansheexero]

One of the group's guards say, "If you were where we were, you'd not trust your senses either. Strange colors and shapes addle the mind, lad. I apologize for the precaution, but we are not fully focused yet. We need to rest before we go further into the city, as there is no telling how it will affect us if we don't take preventative measures."

[PotatoGolem]

What happened to you that you're so worried about spreading? Calben may be able to treat it.

[Bansheexero]

"It was a strange cult we stumbled upon. We were cursed for not submitting to them. Our group was much larger, but several were driven mad. It starts with nightmares, but soon the nightmares spread to your waking senses and you see monsters everywhere, even in your allies. Even those who were not initially exposed to the curse seemed to contract it. We were able to disable and incapacitate the remaining few we believe suffer from it, but we are not sure who else may have it. We don't know how it spreads, but until we do, keeping contact to a minimum is our current plan."

[Athaleon]

"What kind of damned curse is that? Spreading to innocent people." Volistad's frown deepened as he racked his memory trying to think of where he'd heard of something like that before.

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Bluff in place of Knowledge (Arcana) via Pageant of the Peacock:
(1d20+21)[40]

[Bansheexero]

Unfortunately, even with the aid of his magic, Volistad does not have enough to go on to determine anything about the curse the dwarf mentioned.

[Athaleon]

"I wish I could help you. Maybe someone in town knows more about this kind of thing—it's beyond my ken." Volistad shook his head ruefully. "'less one of you has any ideas, we should get going."

[CasualViking]

Calben Traser Perception +4|AC 23 (+4 vs giants), Touch 12, FF 22, CMD 15|Fort +6 Ref +4|HP: 77/77 Out of earshot of the cursed miners, Calben hand-waves away the golden gnome and adresses the rest of the party. "Alright, what do you long'uns want to do next? Try to scare up some cash and make what we can of this map, or try to trade it for an alliance against the marauding giants?".

[Athaleon]

"I don't much like the idea of trading the goose that laid the golden egg... but it'll do no one any good if it ends up going unused because its secrets died with us. I'd be all for building an empire with it, if we had time, but we don't. Let's try to come up with a way to trade it for an alliance—and secure ourselves some knowledge or something that'll make us rich when all this is over."

[CasualViking]

Calben Traser Perception +4|AC 23 (+4 vs giants), Touch 12, FF 22, CMD 15|Fort +6 Ref +4|HP: 77/77 "I guess we're settled, then. Let's go talk to the dwarf in charge".

[Bansheexero]

The party realizes that the notion of "finding the dwarf in charge" does not really make much sense in Mzarik, as it mostly consists of independent companies involved in mining, forging, trade, and other similar business. The building in the center is a government hub, but they soon learn their oversight mainly extends to infrastructure, military, and emergency services. The party must determine which "dwarf in charge" they wish to trade with, along with understanding that trade laws are extremely lax. The city's overall stance is neutrality, but an individual company could be convinced to support one side or the other, but would lose civic support from Mzarik for as long as they operated in this fashion.

[PotatoGolem]

So it looks like trading this information to the dwarves isn't worth it. The kingdom will get the support of one company, which will lose the support of the dwarves as a whole. We're trading a priceless resource for relatively minor gain. Better to take this information to the kingdom directly.

[Athaleon]

"Not all of the information, mind you. They'll rob us blind, screw us out of any gain, or worse. Nah, we've got to be smart about this. Maybe put a bigger expedition together, or at least go out there with enough fodder for the machine to bring back something really valuable, and let things snowball from there. Also is there a, uh, convalescent house for Salty here? If I carry him right through the street, people might get the wrong impression."

[CasualViking]

Calben Traser Perception +4|AC 23 (+4 vs giants), Touch 12, FF 22, CMD 15|Fort +6 Ref +4|HP: 77/77 "Well. I don't know about you, but my purse will barely cover a mug of ale. ".

[Athaleon]

"I have some forty gold pieces. We just have to think of something that's cheap to buy in its raw materials, and valuable after it's been worked. Something that isn't too big or heavy. Any thoughts?"

[CasualViking]

Calben Traser Perception +4|AC 23 (+4 vs giants), Touch 12, FF 22, CMD 15|Fort +6 Ref +4|HP: 77/77 "....Drugs? Or maybe ingots into armor plate. Oh, clockwork, of course!"".