[IC] Graveyard Shift: Session 2

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Dec 14, 2019 1:37 am
OOC:
Bruv only suffers the effects of fear vs. the captive, and even then, it's just a setback (not an increase in difficulty). Bruv can heal 2 strain if he had strain before the spell was cast (which I think you did). Advantage can never be used on the current spell, since you have to use the advantages before the spell's effects are resolved. It's a minor point, but it means that a spellcaster in the midst of an encounter can't be at full strain if he's just cast a spell. (Balance issues, folks on the forums say.)

We can actually pass Nekurr's boost to Hildar for the Forbidden check (in addition to unskilled assistance) since I only meant for one PC to make the Vigilance check. And Bruv passed a boost, too.
OOC:
6 advantage!
Dribbage (or whatever is left of him) seems unnerved by Nekurr's continued blustering, but as far as Nekurr and Hildar can tell, the captive sounds like he's telling the truth (or at least a kernel of truth). Nevertheless, Hildar and Nekurr pore over the passage looking for some idea of what the incantation actually sets out to accomplish. However, there is enough archaic language (and presumably Uthuk Yllan language) sprinkled through it that they are not able to tell exactly what the spell would do if cast.

However, Nekurr does spot a symbol that nearly matches the one on the runestone. Hildar focuses on this section and works out what the runestone must do. The passage suggests that if the user wets the stone with blood, the runestone summons a creature from the Ynfernael realm. In fact, the more blood spilled, the more creatures spill forth from their hellish domain. In the hands of a skilled user, the stone becomes even more effective, summoning more Ynfernael fiends for the same amount of blood.

As a summoner himself, Hildar can't help but notice that there is no indication that the creatures thus summoned would be friendly.
OOC:
In game terms: Ynfernael Key rune (as an action, activate and choose to suffer a number of wounds not exceeding your wound threshold; for each wound suffered this way, summon one Ynfernael minion; as an Implement, a user with the Dark Insight talent can use the Runes skill to summon Ynfernael creatures, adding the Additional Summon effect to the spell without increasing the check’s difficulty; when the spell’s effect is resolved, the spell caster suffers 1 wound; if the check fails, the spell caster suffers an additional 2 wounds; attack spells increase their base damage by 3.
Meanwhile, Nera begins exploring the nearby area, stomping on the ground and listening for subtle differences in the noise it makes. In the span of about a minute, she's able to ascertain that the tunnels seem extensive indeed. They seem to extend out to every grave in the vicinity, and even beyond. By the time she's a few dozen yards away, however, she realizes she left her bow leaning up against a tree near the others!
OOC:
2 Threat = leaving the bow. You're medium distance from it. Might not matter, but you have to decide if it's worth going back for it at this point.
OOC:
Nekurr still has his Heroic Ability available, too, if you need another hint of a possible course of action.

Rolls

boost

1 Advantage

Total: 1 Advantage

boost from Bruv

Dec 14, 2019 3:25 am
"I might not be great at magic but there is a whole church that is... it's a bit grey but we've done our job. The rest is free civil public safety we can ask for help if need be."
Dec 14, 2019 4:11 am
Not one to leave perfectly good valuables out in the open Nera hurries back to her bow, figuring it might take more manpower to discern how extensive the tunnel system is. "If it matters, these tunnels go all over the place!" She shouts to everyone who still look deep in thought over that book and Vizerion.
Last edited December 14, 2019 4:12 am
Dec 15, 2019 5:23 pm
SavageBob says:
Nekurr still has his Heroic Ability available, too, if you need another hint of a possible course of action.
OOC:
Do I? I though I used it in the crypt :o If that is the case, I may have a note dropping from the book that clarifies if Vizeron can be trusted about this portal. Is he trying to help close the portal, or just taking controlling those things ;)

Anyone has a better suggestion?
Last edited December 15, 2019 5:25 pm
Dec 16, 2019 3:07 am
CESN says:
OOC:
Do I? I though I used it in the crypt :o If that is the case, I may have a note dropping from the book that clarifies if Vizeron can be trusted about this portal. Is he trying to help close the portal, or just taking controlling those things ;)

Anyone has a better suggestion?
OOC:
I think you thought about using it but never did? Unless you used it in the library to see the goat monster image? Just checked; you haven't used Foretelling this session yet. :)
Dec 16, 2019 8:06 am
CESN sent a note to SavageBob
Dec 16, 2019 2:15 pm
Nekurr says a silent prayer to Fortuna for some guidance. At that same moment, Nera bends down to pick up her bow, and something falls from her pack onto the grass. She sees it's Dribbage's private diary, which she helped skim through last night, and it's fallen open to a page near the back with some diagrams and notes on it.

From his horizontal position, Dribbage's eyes widen.
Dec 16, 2019 2:23 pm
"What? Why are you..." Nekurr looks around as Dribbage's reacts to his diary fall from Nera's pack. "What is that?"
Dec 16, 2019 3:25 pm
Nera grins. It is the grin of a trickster. "Just the goatman's dusty book." she verrry sloooowly bends down and picks it up.
Dec 16, 2019 7:08 pm
OOC:
Just pausing for a moment in case one of the other PCs wants to try something before we look at the journal.
Dec 16, 2019 7:26 pm
OOC:
Nope just sitting on Dusty Goatleg McStinkyPants with a knuckle sandwich on deck.
Dec 17, 2019 12:29 am
Nera is able to show the journal to anyone who wants to have a look. The captive wriggles from under Tronus and exclaims, "What are you doing with that? That's dangerous! You have no idea what you're doing!"

The book fell open to a page featuring a crude drawing of a gravestone labeled "Bent. Dribbage" with a smaller note, "Must be blood kin." Below it is some sort of wavy ring labeled "portal." There are two arrows drawn, one pointing toward the gate with the label "sacrifice," and a second pointing away from the gate, labeled "Ynfernael spawn?" In the margins are what appear to be mathematical formulae and arcane symbols. Then some furious scribbling: "MASS problem — dogs — too small — Human? — SUMMON LORD? Maybe if NOT DRIBBAGE blood." The word "NOT" is underlined several times.
Dec 17, 2019 1:12 am
Bruv puzzles at the page a moment, "Bent Dribbage... as in Cap'n Bentolin Dribbage, Hero of the Third Darkness, Patron of Saint Durvin's Cathedral
... Beloved Father.
", he gestures over to the headstone. "So yer neighbor'ood dogs failed. You awlready stuff a 'uman in yer portal down dere? We expectin' yer Lord?"
Dec 17, 2019 3:15 am
"N—No!" The creature looks away, down at the earth. "I would never hurt anyone. That was never the goal! I only wanted to... prove that I could command divine power, just like the clerics." He trails off for a moment. "I never realized the spawn I summoned would turn on me. But those notes you have there are… outdated. Dogs just turned... crazed when I tried to sacrifice them. For a time, I thought a larger sacrifice might work, human-sized... But I could never... I wasn't able to go through..." He looks to you, tears in his eyes. "Now I realize, it was never about mass. It was about bloodline."
Dec 17, 2019 8:04 am
Nekurr looks at the diary and then at vizeron and then back at "sacrifice". "Bloodline or blood line?" he asks automatically as he tries to figure out vizeron again, before playing him like a cat plays a ball of yarn.
OOC:
Can that be a clever retort for 2 threats on vizeron's next social? Not sure how that works actually.
Can I also re-roll vigilance since he is now under a different pressure?

Just as a summary, his flaw is that he has thin skin and his motivation is sticking it to those Durvin clerics.
Last edited December 17, 2019 8:04 am

Rolls

lie detector

6 Success, 1 Advantage, 2 Failure, 1 Threat

Total: 4 Success

Dec 17, 2019 1:49 pm
OOC:
Not quite on the Desire Motivaiton, but close enough. Clever Retort is fine, but since I'm not having him roll Deception against you (so you don't know automatically whether he's lying or not), we'll just use it as a free 2 Advantage to you, which I'll use to give you another of his Motivations.

Flaw: Thin-skinned
Strength: Methodical
Desire: Prove himself a competent magic-user
Nekurr gets the impression that the captive is telling the truth. In fact, the comment about blood lines seems to have sparked something in the man, as his demeanor changes. He sighs, but then seems almost proud as he explains, "I needed my own blood to activate the rune, you see. But I was never able to summon anything larger than those fiends that attacked us. I needed a proper portal to the Ynfernael realm." His coven-hoofed legs stir slightly. "Creating that took some doing—and my legs. But they were a sacrifice worth making! Now, as long as a Dribbage draws breath, the portal will be there. Unless someone from my line traverses..." He trails off, eyes wide, as if he's revealed a bit too much.
Dec 17, 2019 2:34 pm
"You mean that you can't close that portal and we'll have these creatures rushing out forever unless you sacrifice that nice niece of yours?" Nekurr stare at him angrily "That's the stupidity you decide to make because you're throwing a tantrum? I mean, just because the clerics at Durvin's thought you couldn't cast a spell if your life depended on it, you have open a gate to Ynfernal? A mage with the skill to open a portal and pull that hybridization with a goat, surely would have the patient, power and method to learn some illusion tricks no?"
OOC:
Mix of coercion and probing questions ability (+3 strain if it counts) with the aim of bullying him to spills the beans! Using his thin skin to get to him and then turn to his motivation and strength.

I'm guessing PPP as usual with this guy and maybe a B from playing his flaw/motivation.
OOC:
GM Edit: +1 boost for appealing to his Methodical side. Ignore the "from Bruv" part. That was auto-complete!
Last edited December 17, 2019 2:36 pm

Rolls

shame on you

3 Success, 3 Threat

Total: 3 Success, 3 Threat

boost from Bruv

Dec 17, 2019 2:50 pm
"Anyone in favor of getting the Church involved? This seems a bit above our paygrade due to scale now and this is not Divine, but Infernal." Tronus almost spits out the last of his statements atop Mt SadDribbage.
Dec 17, 2019 3:25 pm
"Not knowin' 'ow much toime we 'ave, Oi'd be 'esitant to 'ave any of us leave...

'ildar!? 'Ow's it goin' with'at book!?
",
Dec 17, 2019 8:18 pm
"Frustratingly" Hildar says absently in response to Bruv before jerking his head in Dribbages direction "So if one of your bloodline wasto pass through the portal it would close?" he says whilst studying him for a response
OOC:
Basically trying to read if his response is the slip I think it is
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