So the eighth game is completo, and my loving and adoring girlfriend has posted her synopsis on her blog here.
To sum up, my girlfriend linked up with Julium. The two of them followed up a lead to the drug dealers in Devies, only to be bushwacked by the drug dealer, Krislos. After dealing with him, the two of them followed his information to a meeting between two mercenaries hired by Krislos, and the servants of those who were producing the narcotics.
After defeating them, they discovered the drug producers were in fact fiendish myconids, spawned by a half-demon myconid sovereign named Mushroostopheles. (Yes, that was his actual name. Burn in hell haters, I did that joke just for me…) They rounded up the last of the natural myconids and went to engage the fiendish ones. After slaughtering the fiendish myconids, they engaged Mushroostopheles, but were in turn engaged by his financial backer, a young adult black dragon named Vuthalitrix. (Draconic for ‘Black Armor’)
Retreating from a losing battle, they managed to lose Vuthalitrix by charging through an area rumored to be the territory of an ancient dragon of indeterminate breed. They arrived back in Stilldale and raised the alarm, summoning their other friends.
Eventually Vuthalitrix did arrive, with Mushroostopheles in tow. The mushroom demon attacked the graveyard, in order to use his animation spores to create some shock troops. Natalia and Roan engaged and killed the demon king, while Vuthalitrix used the opportunity to attack the gathered townspeople.
Natalia and Roan returned and slew the black dragon, with Raelan delivering the final blow. The next day they went to the dragon’s lair and looted the dragon’s hoard, leaving the lair in the posession of the few natural myconids who had survived.
Finally, Natalia returned to her tree, only to find Sorval lurking in wait for her. One Geas/Quest spell later, Natalia finds out that Sorval intends to use her to kill Raelan. And that’s where we called game.
Remind me to look up that Geas/Quest spell. I need to figure out how to wiggle out of this. Raelan practially took down that dragon by himself. No way can Natalia kill Raelan, nor would she want to, anyway.
Geas/Quest
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Language-Dependent, Mind-Affecting]
Level: Brd 6, Clr 6, Sor/Wiz 6
Components: V
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One living creature
Duration: 1 day/level or until discharged (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
A geas places a magical command on a creature to carry out some service or to refrain from some action or course of activity, as desired by the character. The creature must be able to understand the character. While a geas cannot compel a creature to kill itself or perform acts that would result in certain death, it can cause almost any other course of activity. The geased creature must follow the given instructions until the geas is completed, no matter how long it takes. If the instructions involve some open-ended task that the recipient cannot complete through his own actions, the spell remains in effect for a maximum of 1 day per caster level. Note that a clever recipient can subvert some instructions.
If the subject is prevented from obeying the geas for a whole day, the subject takes 3d6 points of damage each day he does not attempt to follow the geas/quest. Additionally, each day he must make a Fortitude saving throw or sicken. A sickened creature moves at half his normal speed and suffers –4 penalties on both Strength and Dexterity. He heals damage at one-tenth his normal rate and cannot benefit from any magical healing effects. A sickened creature must make a Fortitude save each day or become crippled. Once crippled, the subject is effectively disabled (as if he had 0 hit points) and can’t choose to take strenuous actions. These effects end 1 day after the creature attempts to resume the geas/quest.
A geas (and all penalties) can be ended by limited wish, remove curse (only if the remove curse’s caster level is at least two higher than the character’s caster level), miracle, or wish. Dispel magic does not affect a geas.
Wizard and bards usually refer to this spell as geas, while clerics call the same spell quest.
Not sure how Jim would rule it, but as written if you are opposed to killing Raelen you could just refuse and suffer each day.
It is a tricky one as what is one’s own actions. One could take it to mean that it is something you can do yourself and another could mean something that you are capable of doing without involving others.
I would probably rule that you can attempt to kill Raelen and therefore the duration is “until discharged”. Which means if you keep refusing you will die.
Another way around it would be to walk up to Raelen tell him you are sorry but you have to kill him because you are compelled to by Sorvel and he will shoot you up with a good ole remove curse if he happens to be 2 levels higher than you or more.
Sorvel shouldn’t have reveled herself because now you can explain all this to Raelen if she didn’t also force you in the wording of the Geas to not speak of the compulsion you feel.
Another thing would be to rock out a beautiful Raelen took off my Geas but I still pretend to be under the influence and we take out Sorvel while she believes I am her pawn.
Fun stuff all around. Too bad the Geas wasn’t for build a treehouse lol
I looked it up last night, right after I put up this comment. I thought about just telling Raelan, too, because it doesn’t seem like it’s mind controlling all my actions, really–just makes me feel compelled to kill him. Am I reading that right? So if I tell him (or Roan–can’t clerics remove this?), he can just take it off me.
Maybe I can refuse and turn into a tree for the duration? But I don’t think it would last long enough…
At the same time, I also think we should run with it and use this situation as an opportunity to kill Sorval. We need to deal with this bitch. Natalia, for one, is sick of being hounded by all these little demons she keeps summoning to bug her about finding Raelan.
Yeah it is a pretty fun spell to use and as you said can be pretty useful in getting rid of Sorval.
So much fun leading her to a trap. But the compulsion is very very strong. As in you take damage by not doing it. Everyday you go without your “fix” aka killing realen is a day spent in torturous pain.
It would be the same as if a person with Severe OCD was tied up to a chair in a room where everything didn’t line up the way they wanted. They would end up with some serious rope burns trying to straighten the silverware.
Or perhaps the drug addict that has to put his hand into boiling water to get his drugs. Or i guess just an addict in his first week of withdrawals would work as well.
I always thought of it as extra involuntary information placed directly into your brain (like breathing)
You can hold your breath, or hold your eyes open without blinking, but eventually its going to hurt you.
I never thought about the OCD thing. Its a good idea.