Out of Character: I was wondering what summon whould be using Commune and whether it would be more closely tied to Archival's history - Sarenrae - or his current worship - Abadar.
Those attempting to communicate with animals, will you attempt that before of after the Commune and Speak with Dead? I will need Perception or Survival checks to find the animals first, followed by Handle Animal (Preferable) or Diplomacy (-2 penalty) to get information.
After the werewolves, Kyra also gained 1,600 XP for the castle being built. I have no progress on updating my spreadsheet.
Theaton will attempt to speak with the local animals after he gets the grave dug. He is hoping that maybe something was seen by a local resident that can shed some light onto this. He will ask the fey to see if they can find anything out from the local animals too.
"I would actually recommend using your spell first, Kresnik. That way we can have a rough starting point to go off of for the six questions the summon gets for Commune, which will only result in a simple answer of yes, no, or unsure. Lyrakien azatas and silvanshee agatheons each have the ability to use Commune." After a moment I exclaim, "Oh! I might be able to summon a nosoi psychopomp! I've never tried it before, but they have the ability to Speak with Dead, and can also ask 6 questions. That is a possibility too… "
I'll aid another to help Kyra with a diplomacy role. I can roll a 1 and still beat a dc 10 aid check on Diplomacy, so the negative she would get is negated. Prior to that I'll aid Caelum in Perception to find the animals.
Neither Archival nor Kresnik can think through what they know and come to a conclusion about this area. The fey finish conferring with each other, and Perlivash the faerie dragon flies over and sits on Theaton's head announcing, "We think we may perhaps, possibly have a clue as to what might have maybe happened here. There are some tales among the fey that powerful effects from the First World, which is our natural realm, can 'mark' their victims somehow. Natural life will shun the area, that's why no insects are approaching the body. That's one possibility and its all we have to say about that!"
Speaking with animals, Theaton can ask his wolf and the party's mounts. They all agree that it, "Feels bad-wrong," but cannot express their feelings better. A pair of rabbits 200' away say they saw nothing, but they don't want to get any closer.
Out of Character: So Archival wishes to count as having Summon Neutral Monster, instead of Good? Or is that the level 7 feat you grabbed?Note you don't currently have the prerequisite for Summon Good Monster, so it's a useless feat to you. You can retrain the feat when you find a trainer.
Kyra's familiar unfortunately can't speak with animals of its kind yet, and there aren't many felines around either. So I don't think she will be making a Diplomacy check to get info from animals unless there's another power at her disposal.
Kresnik says, "Well, that is a start, though it certainly does not bode well. Perlivash, have any of you heard of any fey powerful enough to produce such an effect in this area recently? Failing that, can you think of a way to find out? I doubt our usual methods would be able to find such a being."
"We thought about that," Perlivash replies. "It could be many fey who have studied magic and have the ability to move between planes. It could even be the Eldest - fey of such power they are considered gods. We're not sure who would be interested in this area."
The name that instantly comes to Theaton's and Jesla's mind is Count Ranalc, banished Eldest of darkness and traitors. He is supposed to be trapped on the Plane of Shadow so he may not be the one reaponsible. The other Eldest occupy a range of non-lawful alignments, it could have been any of them, or something else reaponsible.