/vx/ - Videogames and Paranormal

>>175608
Kind of, though if she comes too close she could be visible to Salt Mixer (if she decided to not look at the commotion... which seems unlikely). She could also go outside to see

>>175609
Though it's probably more of a breach of work rules than idling within the establishment, she decides to go outside and look in at the patio.

>>175610
Amber can see Mustard Trim awkwardly responding to a table, Trakr bending over about to die of laughter, and Red Scabbard, alternating between hacking up and trying to complain.

>>175611
Poor Mustard! But if he knew why she did this, he would have found the same amount of glee she's feeling. She can't help but stick around for a few more seconds before going back inside.

>>175612
Trakr manages to compose himself for just long enough to struggle out the phrase

"Excuse me. My goulash isn't spicy enough."
Then he goes back to laughing

>>175613
Trakr does seem to have a good sense of humor regarding the whole thing, and Amber is glad she didn't spice up his dish. Anyway, she knows better than to be missing for an extended period of time and goes back to the hostess stand, wondering if Red Scabbard will leave.

>>175606
>The skin, in those few places where it shows through the fur, like the nose and the edges of the eyes, is black. She looks oddly stiff, with yellowing eyes, pupils that "bleed" black into her irises. Her eyes are open, and there is a small smile on her face. She does not shiver nor shake, but her chest rises and falls almost normally.
Fucking hell, I thought Baka cured her.
Oh well, it won't matter soon.
Posey narrows her eyes.
"Very well then."
She telepathically calls the ghast that she still controls.
"Bring her to the car. Tell Mason that I will be there as soon as I have Gloomy."
And with a bippity boppity boop, she casts Disguise Undead, to transform the ghast into a handsome, still-living, elegantly-dressed version of itself.
>One cannot just march a ghoul into the Duke's Court. But as the fumes issuing from the cocoon surround the creature, the form of the ghoul is replaced with that of a stately courtier armed with a rapier. Of course, it will have to keep its mouth shut.
I love that spell's description.
"And do try to freshen up a bit; we'll be meeting important guests. Do well on this trip, and I'll see to it that you are rewarded appropriately." Posey punctuates, sending the ghast on its way as she trots off to comb Gloomy 's mane.
"And you two." She says, referring to the Dreads."
"Drop your weapons, and remain inanimate in this room until I return. Do not pay any regard to those who enter the room." Posey says, functionally putting the Dreads on idle mode.
She trots off
"~Oh Gloomy! I've got such a splendid lesson for you..." She says in her sing-song voice as she finds her little sweetie

>>175615
>>175606
Wait... A minute...
>She looks oddly stiff
>yellowing eyes, pupils that "bleed" black into her irises
>Her eyes are open, and there is a small smile on her face
>She does not shiver nor shake, but her chest rises and falls almost normally.
...Is she dead?
Posey takes 10 on her religion check to identify undead, for a modified 21, to check if this dog is undead.

[1d100 = 10]
[1d20 = 18]

>>175614
Amber faces an elderly couple that's a bit... too talkative. There's a bit of back and forth, but mostly there are long pauses of not much going on.

>>175615
The ghast obeys

The little colt's tail wags

>>175616
Well, it's breathing, which implies life, and it's lacking in the typical animating magic of the undead.

>>175631
So long as she still has an int score of 3 (ability to speak) and is still alive, she'll do.
It doesn't take long for Posey to get Gloomy ready.

>>175633
The colt is ready soon enough, even if he does smell of mesquite wood.

Posey is ready, as is the sacrifice

>>175631
>>175614
It doesn't appear Red Scabbard is going down without a fight, with him getting Salt Mixer involved

>>175631
>>175634
Oh no. Amber engages with niceties with the couple as she gets them seated, perhaps at a high table, but otherwise is zoned out. High Sewn getting involved concerns her so she peels herself away to eavesdrop while inside the restaurant.

>>175634
>even if he does smell of mesquite wood
I don't think I get the reference.
Posey sniffs Gloomy for a bit, wondering why his familiar scent of faint charnel miasma and abyssal smog has changed.
Nevertheless, she gets ready to leave.

>>175635
Salt Mixer says they can send the overly spicy spice-based dish back to the kitchen, and give him a new plate that's a bit more within his tolerance levels, free of charge. Trakr commentates on this.

>>175636
Oh no, the charnel miasma and the abyssal smog are still there, just with a bit of a wooden smell added. All the same, they are ready

>>175640
Alright then.
Let's go disappoint some mourning gnolls.

>>175640
Well that's disappointing! At least it made his experience moderately more inconvenient. Amber won't risk doing it all a second time, and goes back to work.

>>175641
Mason is ready as well
>disappoint
wat

>>175643
Just me anticipating failing the check.

Does the drive to the church go smoothly?

What racial bonuses should a griffon PC get? One should be flying, obviously. Griffons are also large and geared more towards fighting, so a physical ability might get a bonus. On the other hand (claw?) a charisma malus would be appropriate.

>>175645
What stats did pegasi get?
Griffons should get flight, and maybe a natural claw attack.
Note that claw attacks are especially useful for flying characters.
Conversely, you could just stat them as 3.5e Raptorans (Races Of The Wild), which are a very powerful and popular race in 3.5e. If you use Raptoran stats, you might want to bump up flight to level 1.

>>175645
they have cat body, so they always land on their feet. also maybe agility.

>>175595
Heh heh, ain't she just the cutest? Silver continues cradling the little mare.

"I imagine there are plenty of cultures where those really are practical skills. Spirits bringing rain does make me think of how pegasi can manipulate weather. Maybe some cultures saw this occur and assumed it was weather spirits that were responsible."

>>175595
Alright, Kira heads into the pen. Once inside, she looks at the goat with her sad eyes that look so much like a bat pony's.

"I'm sorry Hopper, but it has to be this way."

She closes her eyes, clearing her mind and preparing herself for what's to come. From deep inside, her instincts begin to call out and reach for the surface. That part of herself which most would consider to be ponylike is slowly quieted as a more primal, animal-like side drowns it out. She is no longer Kira the lamia, facing Hopper the goat. She is now a predator, facing her prey.

Kira opens her eyes, the pupils and irises contracting to be far more slitted, far more snake-like. Gone is the sadness with which she looked upon the goat, replaced with the intense focus of a predator. Her tongue flicks out of her mouth, getting a taste of prey in the air. Her mouth reflexively opens up, a small pop ringing out as her false pony jaw gives way. The skin around her mouth seems to morph and stretch unnaturally as it opens far wider than it should on a normal pony. Her fangs extend fully, and if it weren't for the few remaining pony features such as the ears and mane, Neela would have a hard time believing Kira could have ever looked like an equine.

Raising her upper half into the air as tall as she can given the limits of the enclosure, the lamia looks down at the goat, opens her mouth up fully, and with a small hiss strikes at the goat's head, intending to wrap her jaws around it to start a grapple.

[1d20+8 = (10+8) = 18]

>>175644
Yes. Though the soldiers are inquisitive tonight, and there are more of them out than the night before. There are more of every creature out than the night before, as the rain has passed. Posey isn't especially harangued, but she isn't necessarily unseen.

>>175645
Uh... let me get back to you on that

>>175649
Still blushing, and still craddled, she looks away and says "Not, heh, not in front of my coworkers. They already think you and I slept-" but then breaks off mid sentence and looks directly into Silver's eyes, and says "Saw what? Pegasi moving clouds? No, that's not it, most of these are far away from any ponies. Or at least there were." It's at this point that her eyes start wandering around again "But anyways it's not quite the same thing. Well, it is, kind of. I mean, the magic is the same, or the magical mechanism is... similar? But philosophically it's an entirely different worldview. Incredibly different. Under Celestialism, ponies are stewards over the natural order. You could say that ponies hold a higher place within the machine of the universe we understand as Harmony, well, a higher place than most creatures. Basically all creatures. And there are a few faiths sort of like that. Like the Changelings. Well the changelings aren't very much like Celestial harmony at all, but I mean, they see themselves as kind of above nature as its kind of top predators, able to take advantage of things, if not necessarily tasked with the responsibility of, well, maintaining it." At this point, Silver probably regrets sparking this tangent. "But, I mean, in these other faiths. The ones where they pray to spirits for rain, they see themselves as below a whole class of spiritual creatures and gods. Well, Celestialism has Harmony as a Spirit and Changelings have the Great Mother that are above them, but, you know" She starts gesticulating as if this aids in communication. "These faiths don't think they have the power to change the weather. They have to ask another spirit to aid them. And that spirit is not as high as, well, being the universal essence of magic and order itself. Or the creator god. But anyways, these spirits manipulate the weather directly themselves by magic. Sometimes these are understood to be singular gods, but sometimes these are more like regular creatures that happen to be made entire out of magic and are immortal. Well, okay, that's not a regular creature, but I mean, it's a level below a god and above the practitioner."

>>175650
Hopper makes it easy for her. The goat doesn't seem to recognize Kira as anything other than a pony at first. Just as he did with the farmer, he walks towards Kira going out to the end of his twine, and stretching his muzzle and neck out towards her, to sniff or lick her, and focusing on her hoof.

With Hopper's head nearly in the center of the enclosure, Kira's full body likely doesn't enter inside the enclosure, at least not until she curls up later. Rather, a little part of her tail remains outside through the still open door. The farmer has walked away, evidently busy with other tasks. Neela stands near the open door, looking intently at the scene through the 2 by 4s and chicken wire that make up the walls of the pen, designed, presumably, to keep the foxes and coyotes out.

Kira finds that the enclosure is shorter in height than she can stand upright, but is still able to loom over the goat. Hopper is not small at all. He is massive for goat sizes, and is as big as the farmer stallion.

Kira easily bites into Hopper's head.

>>175651
Posey quickly and quietly leaves the vehicle, Gloomy trotting beneath her cloak. She telepathically commands the ghast to bring Sasha along. She goes to the church, and knocks, announcing that she's brought the volunteer.

>>175653
You could have told me this at the beginning of the week, GM.

Fuck it, Posey spends part of her meditation time making a Forgery check for Sasha and the ghoul.
Forgery is opposed by Forgery, and NOBODY takes forgery, so unless one of the guards is a lvl 5-10 Rogue (in which case, I had better be getting a ton XP for this encounter), it's improbable that they'd think twice, especially with Posey having a modified 26 taking 10 on her Bluff check.
She repeats this for the ghoul.
Posey would already have whatever paperwork she needs to bring Gloomy around.

Forgery checks are made secretly, so roll Posey's check herself. Exhausting all of her relevant modifiers and using her own passport as an example, Posey has a +15 modifier to her forgery check.

Forgery is only a class skill for Experts and Rogues, so it's improbable that the guards have any ranks in it. They do get a +2 bonus for being familiar with the type of document.

>>175654
>Forgery checks are made secretly, so roll Posey's check herself
*Roll her check yourself in secret

>>175653
Am I able to get through, GM?

>>175654
And for good measure, Posey uses her Charming Gaze on the guards to smooth things along (because why wouldn't she? It's at-will, and has no components).
DC 19, as usual.

>>175654
>>175655
>>175660
>>175656
On the one hoof, the ID cards are supposed to have a magic watermark that makes forgery very difficult or close to impossible if the magic is checked. It might be easier to leave the ghast at home and use a cover story about why the dog doesn't have one. Or in the alternative, use forgery to forge birth certificates that are then used to obtain real cards for the ghast and the dog, so that there is only ever one forgery roll.

But really, I don't think it matters, because unless this goes catastrophically wrong, how she was checked in does not matter. So we can just sidestep the issue and say sure, she gets in fine.

>>175642
Amber proceeds to get confused with the seating chart, and then, after an oddly short period of time, Amber can see Red Scabbard leaving, still thrusting his tongue out of his mouth, sometimes unfolding his wings up and outward, and looking back to Trakr angrily. Trakr has a very wide smile across his face, and giggles. Red Scabbard does not specifically look at or address Amber on his way out.

>>175661
There's always room for that
https://youtu.be/lyXoFWSVDQk?si=gqKcFPvI5n5fDhxG

Anyway, Posey proceeds with her plan.

>>175663
>>175640
Kaftars line up along the street, occasionally showing their beige fur under the light of the few street lamps. They watch Posey as she goes. Posey makes it to the old church.

>>175664
Posey knocks on the church door and announces that she has arrived.

>>175665
The assistant from the night before opens the door. From within, Posey sees a silhouette against the candlelight, and the voice of the priest calls:
"Come in"

>>175666 (checked)
"I have brought her." Posey says
She telepathically commands the ghast
>"Bring her in and keep her close. When I give the signal, paralyze her without killing her."

Posey continue
"Have you had adequate time to prepare?"

Are we doing this tonight, GM?

Whenever we get around to it, Posey requests that the priest take time to prepare Agire's body, as well as any spells, incense or items that could aid Posey in her skill check, and to call on as many of his flock as he's willing to bring to witness the ceremony.
Posey specifically requests the spell named Desecrate, a Clerical spell that she knows of specifically, as it is the envy of all Necromancers for its ability to create undead with additional HP.

Now to lay out the specifics for the sacrifice. Posey is is personally trying to hit a DC 35 sacrifice check to create the effect of Greater Planar Ally call on a Lilitu, an Apostate Demon that specializes in impersonating deities, priests and angels to trick them into worshipping demons (hitting the DC 40 for Limited Wish isn't so realistic), and to use its powers to raise Agire from the dead. HOWEVER, since Posey is doing this on an altar of the Angel, she is doing it directly under the eye of whatever spiritual entity the Kaftars actually worship. It's possible that regardless of her check or the success of her ritual, an entity from beyond the void will offer its own reward/effect as it sees appropriate for her offering, despite the specifics of her plea. It's also plausible that the Angel will become enraged by a mere pony desecrating its congregation and may smite Posey for her hubris or send one of its servants to attack her, especially if she rolls especially low... Posey cannot take 10 on this roll.
Posey makes an appeal for the audience of a ravenous spirit of hunger to reveal itself and disgorge Agire from the grave.

Posey has a base religion mod of +11. She can further increase her mod in the following ways:
>+1 taking an hour
>+2 altar
>+2 masterwork tool (grimoire)
>+1 tortured 1 day prior (disease + heartbreak)
>+1 HD
>+1 Sadism
>+1 Masochism
With these modifiers, Posey has to roll a 15 or higher to succeed in her check, improbable, but still plausible.

Further, there are other mods that could possibly increase the check, but are not guaranteed:
>+1 successful perform check (Posey's slam poetry)
>+1 race hated by the Angel?
>+1 loss of extremities by hungry demon (does a ghast count?)
>+1 10 or more followers
>+1 100 or more followers (would require rallying the kaftar neighborhood and risk exposure)
>+1 doing it in public (on the steps of the church)
>+2 presence of a ghast (in generic d&d the deity of the Gnolls also has rulership over ghouls)
The following are spell effects that could potentially increase the check:
>+1 Desecrate
>+1 Unhallow
>+1 Guidance
>+20 Guidance Of The Avatar (cheesy)
>+10 Imbue With Spell Ability to imbue Posey with Sacrificial Skill + Lore of The Gods (would also allow reroll of the check)
>+1 killed in really cool and flavorful way (Posey casting Necrotic Bloat and popping Sasha like a balloon)

>>175669
I could also try for the DC 30 Planar Ally to try to call an Efreeti for 3 Wishes... But that's just asking to get monkey-pawed. Genies are jerks.

>>175662
Watching a pony doing that with his mouth cannot be anything other than amusing. Amber refrains from audibly laughing, but she does smirk as she watches Red Scabbard makes his exit, hopefully for the last time, out of the restaurant. Once he's finally out of sight she can focus on whatever late-night customers arrive, presumably for the bar.

>>175668
I'm a little busy, but we'll get to it

>>175671
However entertained Amber may be by this, it does not entertain her nearly as much as it did Trakr.

The ponies going to the bar, usually single, don't need to be guided. Well, sometimes they do, since a wall blocks most of the view of the bar from the entry point, and you kind of have to look to the far left. The time comes to stop accepting customers for the restaurant, and to close for the night. Customers are still eating, but it's helpful to begin cleaning up

>>175674
It's part of Amber's duty to turn away latecomers, however many there might be. If there aren't any at the moment she helps the waiters, since she can't bear to stand around when there's something to do.

>>175674
>we'll get to it
Ready when you are then.
I laid out potential parameters above.

>>175675
And then, closing time. Amber finds that she did indeed make a mistake, at least early in the shift, in directing too many customers to Melon Mangrove. She has half of the booths, and unlike Cream Pop's, hers are in line of sight to Amber. But it may also be from customers who slipped through Amber while she was not marering her post, as again, hers are the closest to the entrance. A few tables to clean up, chairs to put up, and of course, Mustard is doing the same.

>>175677
"I'm sorry about that imbalance. I should've been more careful with all those customers," she apologizes to the other customers. Unfortunately it seems like her sidequest hurt her performance, at least a little. At least moving things around keeps her from dwelling on it too much.

>>175667
>>175669
>>175676
>>175677
Is the priest prepared for Posey's plan?

>>175678
The customer vary in reaction, many of them not knowing what he is referring to and some understanding. But one gives her an unpleasant look.

It is done: all work that could be considered among Amber's duties is complete.

>>175679
Ritual baths have been taken and prayers said

>>175680
>prayers said
Okay, does he have any helpful spell prepared?

Posey wordlessly gets to work, levitating and rummaging through her components pouch while flipping through her necronomicon as she gets ready. With a single hoof, she reaches beneath her cloak to pet Gloomy.
The ghast leads Sasha inside.

"Will anycreature else be joining us for the ceremony?"

>>175680
Drat, I meant the waiters, not the customers.

She might finally get the chance to eat, and takes a gander at the kitchen to see what's available.