It is fairly easy for Ignatius to find footprints in the dirt that match up with the fake orc king and his two guards. Following their trail, he soon come across a rather plain-looking squat building in the center of town. The entrance is open and unguarded.
Ignatius enters inside and investigates, keeping an eye for any traps that might be laid to ward off intruders. He looks for any magic portals or anything weird that may be there, so as to get some clues. Once inside, he also casts Detect Thoughts in the room.
Vaga stands clueless in the middle, looking around as his mates are running around doing different choires. He has no idea what to do!
"Sometimes inaction is the best choice of action. " Vaga thinks to himself. Contempt with these wise words, he decides to sit down a while and contemplate.
Guys, I really have no idea what to do, heh.. are we looking for the orc king or what?
Sorry for being inactive these last few days. Some things came up that are (hopefully) done with. Anyway, back to the story.
Ignatius: Perception: 8+4=12
Ignatius looks around and sees two orc guards rushing about. He notices that the building itself is rather empty. There isn’t much to see besides basic furniture in the one room that exists within the building. One bed in the corner, a simple chest at the foot of the bed, a small round table with two wood chairs around it. Upon casting Detect Thoughts, he senses the presence of another sentient creature besides the guards in the room.
Upon casting Detect Thoughts, he senses the presence of another sentient creature besides the guards in the room.
Ignatius tries to perceive the direction from which this unknown creature's thoughts came, as well as what it is thinking. He tries to locate it if it is visible, albeit trying to hide his own presence the best he can.
“I... I don’t know,” Keeley replies. She steps tentatively toward Harvey and slowly, carefully leans down to check on him. After a brief moment, everyone around Harvey hears him say “Well, that’s a surprise.” They watch as he snaps out of his trance and turns his head to see Keeley’s face right next to his. “Well, hello to you too,” he says with a smile. Keeley instantly backs away before asking “What did you find?”
“Something magical,” Harvey says. “A magic gem, to be precise. It has the orc king imprisoned inside of it. I believe it’s inside of his house over there-oh, Octavius is already there.” He points at the short building where Octavius and Kaled are now entering.
Vaga finally understands how he can contribute and stands up again. "Well, let's waste no more time and get over there." he says in his usual task-oriented way. He then eagerly marchers over to the tent and joins up with Octavius.
Well inside he will actively try to listen, search and spot (whichever is most suited) for hidden gems.. and orc kings.
So, on Friday we will move to the house, or at least my ex will. I will help of course. This week will probably be very hectic so if my activity goes down, you know why. Myself, I will have to move in to my parents, so if I don't check in next week it's prolly because I have thrown myself in front of the closest train.
@Skatan Hey man, take it easy! Life isn't so bad at all! Happiness and sorrow go hand in hand, so never lose hope. Life is too valuable to be wasted. Cherish it, my friend.
Octavius walks into the building, followed by Kaled, and says to the guards “Hello, friends. I am looking for a gem. It contains our imprisoned king. Thanks to my potion of Clairvoyance, I am able to ascertain that it is here in this chest.” He points to the chest. The guards look at each other, then one of them pulls out a key and unlocks the chest. The rest of the party joins up with them just as Octavius pulls out a small, round violet gem. “Now,” he says thoughtfully. “How do we get him out of here?”
"Maybe Harvey can help, he seems to be a resourceful guy. I wonder though, who in the nine hells put the orc king in there!? I sure hope it wasn't one of Nanna's plots.. " The last part is said in a hushed voice, to himself more than to others, but the more perceptive could have overheard it.
"Good idea! I'm the proud founder of the monk Order of Sharp Teeth, I could smash and crush the gem with my mouth!" Vaga then curls up his lips while biting down hard to show everyone his meaty jaw muscles and white(ish), strong teeth. There's some bits and pieces missing from chewing to much rock, but there's no doubt he has the bite of a warhound.
"I think we need to see Karlos and update him on the situation. If we explain that someone is going around snatching the souls of local leaders, we can form an alliance. We can call off the invasion and gain greater resources for finding the perpetrator."
[Spoiler]You are a wicked, evil, dastardly DM @Nimran !!! [/spoiler]
Yup. That is a soul gem. Makes a warrior a powerful mage...
Once... an evil wizard began to study and experiment with lich phylacteries, trying to find a way to make souls into an unlimited power source for tapping arcane energy. For assistance, he made a pact with Vecna, finding the deities eye and hand, sacrificing both his own for the full power needed. Once he had the hand and eye he began his search for 3 souls, one of pure malice, one of pure heart, and one of pure neutrality. These individuals gathered, he waited for the planetary alignment and brought the three to a forgotten place of power, here, with a unique ruby, he started the ritual, trapping a shard of para-elemental ice within the center of the gem along with the souls of the three, at this point Vecna added the last bits of needed power, and much to the wizard's dismay, one of the final components was his own soul...
Marvellous arcane power was the result...
Rumour has it though, foolish adventures seeking to free the souls trapped within broke that original gem, yet each shard simply devoured the souls of those fools and created more gems that more foolish adventurers sought to free the souls within and they broke those gems into shards and... You get my drift...
...
If only we had a sharp implement that has the ability to suck souls out...
“I can take you to him,” says the guard, and he leads the party through the town to Karlos’ home. It is an equally small and plain building, though the party notices a strange symbol etched on n the door. The guard walks over to the door and knocks.
Moments later, a large orc opens the door and steps out. He is an older, balding orc man, his eyes clouded over with blindness, wearing a long green robe. In his right hand, he holds a staff of gnarled and twisted wood. “What is it?” he asks in a soft, raspy voice.
"My apologies for disturbing you, but I bring disturbing news. Someone has trapped the soul of your king in a soul gem, and had been impersonating him for time. I do not know how long. The same has happened to the town of *insert name here*, and I fear someone has designs on the whole region. I come to parley with you on behalf of *town name*. A large force of young orc who claim allegiance to your king are even now descending on the town with intents to raze it. Right now, you are our only hope of stopping them without bloodshed, and I hope that we can work together to restore your king and our mayor,and bring the attempted Kingslayer to justice."
I occurs to me that I completely forgot the name of the town we supposed to be helping. I'm sorry, I've had a difficult day and am really drained. But since I kicked off this line of inquiry, I didn't want to hold everyone else up.
Vaga stands next to Fiona and waits for the blind orc to have a chance to reply. Vaga knows that in diplomatic matters, he would probably serve the crew better but he chooses to remain silent for now. If he feels the conversation going the wrong way, he will turn on his celestial charisma and superior rhetoric skill and get to work.
The other sentience feels oddly muddled and faint, as though it was far away. Ignatius can’t seem to get any clear information from it.
Ignatius: Arcana check: 6+4=10
He vaguely recalls that a presence can be masked somewhat from thought detection if it is shielded by some kind of magic.
Ignatius gets annoyed that his subtle Divination magics are masked so easily by random mysterious creatures. He grins mischievously as an idea strikes his mind.
He thinks to himself:
"Whatever thou art, mysterious being, Thinking yourself cunning and clever, Now you shall have your undoing, And playing tricks you shall do never!"
Ignatius (still invisible) exits through the door and tightly closes it shut. He then goes over to the window, and casts Summon Swarm into the house with the mysterious creature! Ha!
I assume that other than the mysterious creature, Ignatius was alone in that building (since the other party members are in the shaman's house, and there is none other in or around here). So now we have a trapped quarry.
Comments
'Boy' she thinks to herself, 'Good thing I passed on that double shot of butterscoth ginger ale.'
"Sometimes inaction is the best choice of action. " Vaga thinks to himself. Contempt with these wise words, he decides to sit down a while and contemplate.
Ignatius looks around and sees two orc guards rushing about. He notices that the building itself is rather empty. There isn’t much to see besides basic furniture in the one room that exists within the building. One bed in the corner, a simple chest at the foot of the bed, a small round table with two wood chairs around it. Upon casting Detect Thoughts, he senses the presence of another sentient creature besides the guards in the room.
He vaguely recalls that a presence can be masked somewhat from thought detection if it is shielded by some kind of magic.
"Should, should we poke him? He has been silent for a long time."
“Something magical,” Harvey says. “A magic gem, to be precise. It has the orc king imprisoned inside of it. I believe it’s inside of his house over there-oh, Octavius is already there.” He points at the short building where Octavius and Kaled are now entering.
Well inside he will actively try to listen, search and spot (whichever is most suited) for hidden gems.. and orc kings.
*Fiora runs to join the search*
*Fiora turns to the guards*
"With the king temporarily unavailable, who is in charge in his stead?"
Oh... Is that a soul gem? Powerful stuff if you want to claim it...
https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Soul_Gem_(3.5e_Equipment)
*Fiora addresses her comrades*
"I think we need to see Karlos and update him on the situation. If we explain that someone is going around snatching the souls of local leaders, we can form an alliance. We can call off the invasion and gain greater resources for finding the perpetrator."
Yup, it’s a soul gem.
Yup. That is a soul gem. Makes a warrior a powerful mage...
Once... an evil wizard began to study and experiment with lich phylacteries, trying to find a way to make souls into an unlimited power source for tapping arcane energy. For assistance, he made a pact with Vecna, finding the deities eye and hand, sacrificing both his own for the full power needed. Once he had the hand and eye he began his search for 3 souls, one of pure malice, one of pure heart, and one of pure neutrality. These individuals gathered, he waited for the planetary alignment and brought the three to a forgotten place of power, here, with a unique ruby, he started the ritual, trapping a shard of para-elemental ice within the center of the gem along with the souls of the three, at this point Vecna added the last bits of needed power, and much to the wizard's dismay, one of the final components was his own soul...
Marvellous arcane power was the result...
Rumour has it though, foolish adventures seeking to free the souls trapped within broke that original gem, yet each shard simply devoured the souls of those fools and created more gems that more foolish adventurers sought to free the souls within and they broke those gems into shards and... You get my drift...
...
If only we had a sharp implement that has the ability to suck souls out...
Hmmmm...
Moments later, a large orc opens the door and steps out. He is an older, balding orc man, his eyes clouded over with blindness, wearing a long green robe. In his right hand, he holds a staff of gnarled and twisted wood. “What is it?” he asks in a soft, raspy voice.
"My apologies for disturbing you, but I bring disturbing news. Someone has trapped the soul of your king in a soul gem, and had been impersonating him for time. I do not know how long. The same has happened to the town of *insert name here*, and I fear someone has designs on the whole region. I come to parley with you on behalf of *town name*. A large force of young orc who claim allegiance to your king are even now descending on the town with intents to raze it. Right now, you are our only hope of stopping them without bloodshed, and I hope that we can work together to restore your king and our mayor,and bring the attempted Kingslayer to justice."
Vaga stands next to Fiona and waits for the blind orc to have a chance to reply. Vaga knows that in diplomatic matters, he would probably serve the crew better but he chooses to remain silent for now. If he feels the conversation going the wrong way, he will turn on his celestial charisma and superior rhetoric skill and get to work.
He thinks to himself:
"Whatever thou art, mysterious being,
Thinking yourself cunning and clever,
Now you shall have your undoing,
And playing tricks you shall do never!"
Ignatius (still invisible) exits through the door and tightly closes it shut. He then goes over to the window, and casts Summon Swarm into the house with the mysterious creature! Ha!
EDIT: I take it that this means the orc guards were outside the building.