Curse of the Crimson Throne

Game Master stormcrow27

Yes Yanis plans to sicken them all, after talking if that doesn't work. I should buy some poison and pretend like I am there to help them and poison them HAHA

Cressida replies to Spelbar first. She says "Before he deserted, Vancaskerkin was a up and coming watch sergeant. He rose through the ranks pretty quickly, more by reputation then by provable deed. Verik is an attractive man, with a winning smile and quite fit. In many ways, he was a good recruitment tool for the Guard, but obviously he was rotten to the core. As for his "men", they're normal guardsman, all human, and also morally bankrupt. All the World's Meat was originally seized by the government since the previous owner tried to not pay his taxes, but he died in prison and it's remained in escrow until Verik and his goons made it their hideout. We're not sure what he's doing there now. Also, if you need a home base, I can offer the Citadel barracks as a safe place to rest or stay the night.

She turns to Headsman and says "No offense taken. I'm eager to see justice done and scummy guards off the street as much as you are. They blacken the name of the Guard, and moral authority is as important as swords and magic these days, especially with the young queen taking over as our new leader."

She also says "Vancaskerkin was a longbowman by speciality, and a fairly good ones. His melee weapon of choice was a spear. The others are your typical swordsman with bows. Did you have any other questions?

Looks like it's time to scrounge up some good nonlethal feats. There's got to be some insanely good stuff out there somewhere....

Io nods, "Does the name sound familiar to anyone else? I can't shake the feeling I've heard it somewhere before.... Ah, whatever. So, we rush in and knock a bunch of people out? Works for me. Short, simple, and sweet."

Any of these guards ring a bell to Headsman? I imagine he might be familiar with the name of the guards who took out his father. Any of their names come up?

Same for The Merlin, he's probably at least tangentially aware of the guards, at least ones that frequent the Midlands.

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

Vancaskerkin doesn't. The other guards, however have a couple of names that stand out. Karalo, Baldrago, Malder, and Parns. Baldrago, Headsman thinks, may have been one of the guards that took out his father. The other three may have been on the take from the King of Spiders, a mysterious criminal who runs a multitude of vice centers (drugs, prostitution, gambling) on Eel's End in Old Korvosa.

Cressida also tells you that she doesn't know how many guards deserted with Vancaskerkin, but be prepared for a fight.

As the name 'Baldrago' comes up, Headsman's jaw clenches. He holds off on mentioning anything to Marshall Kroft, much as he has held off on addressing her at all, but it is easy to tell for other members of the party that he has some manner of concern with that name.

Machaera closes her eyes as the Field Marshal describes the lead deserter. The name of the butcher’s shop he’s using as a base is disturbingly symbolic, and the slender weight of Machaera’s sword against her hip now presses guiltily rather than comfortingly. She tries to focus on her options, her thoughts racing over a variety of less-familiar spells, and weapons. She imagines their weight in her hands. How hard can swinging a sap be? No edge to it, but perhaps that’s not the real problem here. Charm? Only one chance at it. Otherwise… Either of those two would work, but we’d have to act quickly. A firework? Adding wormwood, and henbane…

“Yes, that ought to do it,” she murmurs. Her eyes snap open as Io asks if the deserters’ names sound familiar to anyone: that is a disturbing thought, based on what little she knows of the others’ less than happy pasts. She notices that one name in particular provokes a response from Headsman, and expects a fierce explanation once the group is alone again.

So what is the group's next move? Go forth and take care of Vancaskerin, go south to Osirion and fight mummies, try to save Sandpoint from goblins, become pirates? Inquiring DM minds want to know.

we are going to find these rogue guards

"DO you wish us to find your deserters presently? We are presently looking for some work." Yanis asks.

“Which is to say,” Machaera jumps in smoothly, rising and arranging her skirts as the group gets ready to leave, “just how dangerous do you think Vancaskerkin is? Is he charismatic enough that we need to act before the night is out? It might be tidier with a day to gather supplies and prepare some different spells, but we could opt for the direct approach.”

It’s up to the others, really, whether we want to kick in the door right now or try to be a bit sneakier about things. Machaera’s got mage armour prepared, so barring dispels flying around, she’s good for an hour without going back for physical stuff. That does mean being a spell down that could be used for other things, and going in without a charm person or (if we go shopping for scrolls) sleep or the like, but if we want to do things with fists and sharp pointy bits, that’s OK too, I guess.

Give me half a round to prepare, and I'm golden. Though becoming pirates does sound fun...

Io leans against the wall as she responds to Machaera, "Ah, whatever, pointy ears. He's nothing we can't handle, I'm sure. Though I do wish I knew where I heard that name before...."

Note: that's an OOC wondering as well. I know I've heard that name before, but I can't for the life of me remember where from.

It's the last name of the owner of the Golden Gambling Hall at the start of Second Darkness, and also the name of one of the mercenary fighters in the first chapter of Rise of the Runelords. I think it's an in-universe joke Paizo has, like the Green Dragon Inn in the City of Greyhawk from waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the early 80s/late 70s. Sigh, my inner grognard is showing.

Cressida Kroft says "You could wait for a day or so. I doubt he's going to be able to gather an army of disgruntled guardsman and march on the Citadel, especially given the curfew, but I would like this wrapped up sooner rather then later. I'll give you official passes so the guards don't arrest you for breaking the new law, and they'll hold with the Acadame loaners to the guard, the Sable Company, and the Hellknights. You don't want to get arrested by the latter, especially."

'Though, if we decide to wait, waiting until tomorrow night might be the best idea. Get half of 'em while they're sleeping. Mopped up a tribe of bugbears like that back in '99' Spelbar suggests.

Headsman's fists clench. "If it was just me, I'd probably go right now, but... Whatever you guys think."

... Baldrago. I remember that name I heard one of the others shout it that night while they were...

Cressida Kroft says "You could wait for a day or so. I doubt he's going to be able to gather an army of disgruntled guardsman and march on the Citadel, especially given the curfew, but I would like this wrapped up sooner rather then later. I'll give you official passes so the guards don't arrest you for breaking the new law, and they'll hold with the Acadame loaners to the guard, the Sable Company, and the Hellknights. You don't want to get arrested by the latter, especially."

Why don’t we split the difference, then: do what preparing we can, and attack tonight? That would give us enough time to pick up a few tricks, and still let the brash (and/or justifiably vengeful) youngsters have their fight pretty quick.

“Thank you, Field Marshal,” Machaera says with a nod. “That is most kind.” She keeps the rest of her thoughts to herself, Better to know than not that the Hellknights are a law to themselves, I suppose. Not that it does any wonders for my affection for this ridiculous city.

“Rest assured that we’ll bring Vancaskerkin in as soon as we can. It’s just a relief to know that he’s not yet a firebrand before a crowd with an all-too-willing ear.”

Unless anyone has anything else to add, I guess it’s stakeout time. :)

aside from heading back to the homestead for my magical girl transformation sequence, I'm ready to apprehend some oath-breakers

aside from heading back to the homestead for my magical girl transformation sequence, I'm ready to apprehend some oath-breakers

Retraining for the magical child vigilante archetype already, Black Merlin? That's a genre switch from grim bird of prey avenger. Though getting unchained summoner spells and a familiar, plus the colorful transformation sequence could be interesting. Black Merlin Prince transformation, go!

I'll need whatever plans and times you're going to go take care of Vancaskerkin and his goons.

"I could busy myself for the day, we can go this evening when they might be more lax and eating? Maybe I can get them to let me in so I can check them over?" Yanis says as they walk out of the building.

I was just going to light some candles and twirl around a lot.

'Tonight works for me as well as any other. I'll need to go see a man about a bird first, but I could meet at Jeggare Museum around dusk'

"Sounds good. Meet you folk there." Headsman nods gruffly.

“Indeed. I’ll collect my paints and patches, anything else that I can think of that might be useful, and join you all then,” Machaera agrees. She speaks triflingly of her alchemical gear, not because she really thinks of it as only a disguise, or as if it can’t achieve wondrous things, but because, despite everything and her own shortcomings as a mage, it’s just not magic.

First thing, Machaera will go back to her apartment and get her full adventuring kit instead of her fancy duds. Then, depending on how much time she has, she’ll try to track down a sleep scroll, or a chroma grenade, or both, before meeting the others at dusk as the Merlin suggested. (She might drop by the jeweler who fixed the brooch for us for the latter. It sounds like the sort of thing a gnome might like.)

That's where! I really should have known, considering I'm in both RotR and SD at the moment....

Io yawns, "Okay. See you all there, once the boring stuff is done? Got it. I'm gonna go practice my nonlethal takedowns. It's been a while..."

It's kind of funny playing as an on-the-fly, shrug-it-off kind of character, as most of my PCs at the moment are meticulous planners. It's a nice change of pace.

I'll be heading back to Raidnack's and doing a quick patrol of the neighborhood as Kilo, gathering information and making sure everything is alright through the riots. Then, I'll be looking to pick up a tanglefoot bag or 4 and a couple spider sacs (alchemical item). Gonna go a little spider-many hopefully. Then, once I've done my shopping, I'll catch a few hours of shuteye and get dressed for an evening on the town.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13

Knowledge (local): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Headsman will stop by Zellara's and check how things are going with moving in some of the kids. This will also allow him to get in touch with any new information that might have been gathered on the street. He'll also get a few hours of sleep before it's time to head out to that butchery.

Yanis will go with Headsman

In order

Machaera can find either for sale from Poshment or from the local shops. You have enough time before the curfew, and you have the passes on top of that.

Io practices full, half, and quarter Nelsons along with the People's Elbow.

Kilo finds things are far better under control with martial law being imposed. Custom is few and far between, though someone has dropped an order for blunderbuss pellets on his doorstep.

Yanis and Headsman head back to Zellara's and find that the Court has settled in nicely. About 10 kids have cleaned up the living space and started to work on quarters in the house, though they take the Shingles to avoid being caught by the guards.

As an aside, has anyone heard from Corvus? I haven't seen a post from him since November?

I’m afraid I haven’t. I think we only have this game in common among the places we hang out on the messageboards.

Machaera takes advantage of what’s left of the morning to visit the Green Market again and catch up with Poshment, letting him know that they’ve delivered the queen’s brooch and passing on the good news that she seemed quite pleased with his work.

After bantering a bit about the odds that Poshment could expect to be commissioned to craft more royal jewelry, Machaera explains what she’s looking for, and after poking about in his glittering wares for a moment, the inventive gnome pops up again with the goods: a rather flashy-looking globe given its use, Machaera thinks, but then that’s Poshment’s style. She pays careful attention as he explains how it works, since she hopes to start making the things on her own soon.

With that, Machaera returns home, and braces herself for the rest of the day, to say nothing of the evening to come. Mulling over strategic possibilities, she collects her gear to prepare for at least two types of battle, the first being confronting the proprietor of the Gilded Orrery in her lair. She and Machaera have never seen eye to eye, and given the Orrery’s close connections to the Acadamae, after the scandal of the false accusation levelled against the free-spirited elf mage, it took a while before the shop would deal with Machaera other than with ill-concealed bad grace. Putting in an appearance in armour and armed to the teeth would be a pointed token that Machaera remembers how easily gossip and rumour outran due process and, more importantly, truth.

* * *

In the event, Machaera and the Weagra creature prove able to conclude their business with civility, if rather coolly. With a new scroll in her case of a spell to induce sleep for possible use tonight, or, hopefully, further study, Machaera spends the rest of the afternoon putting in her eccentric but fearless appearance in the fashionable spots of the Heights until it’s time to meet the others.

Corvus had some things pop over the holidays, but he should be back with us now.

Spelbar makes his way through the city back to Midland and Raidnack's Rifles. The old soldier disappears into the building and Kilo Kithuann emerges a short while later carrying a backpack and a small slip of paper. At least all this discord drummed up a little business. He makes his way to Orton's, a local ironmonger, to purchase the materials to fulfill the order. Kilo chats with Orton for awhile, checking on how the other merchant has fared through the chaos.

'Do you know if any alchemist's are still working in all this? I need something a little less deadly than my own work. Some of these looters are just kids.'

Corvus will ask around to see if he knows any other merchants that used to work with All the World's Meat before it was seized to see if he can gain any details or descriptions on the layout.
...
While people are gearing up on non-lethal items, do we want any infiltration items like thunderstones or smokesticks?

knowledge local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
profession-merchant: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Spelbar makes his way through the city back to Midland and Raidnack's Rifles. The old soldier disappears into the building and Kilo Kithuann emerges a short while later carrying a backpack and a small slip of paper. At least all this discord drummed up a little business. He makes his way to Orton's, a local ironmonger, to purchase the materials to fulfill the order. Kilo chats with Orton for awhile, checking on how the other merchant has fared through the chaos.

'Do you know if any alchemist's are still working in all this? I need something a little less deadly than my own work. Some of these looters are just kids.'

Orton replies, with a grimace, "Some over in the richer parts, but none after hours. This martial law has most people scared not to come out. Hopefully the queen gets a handle on things soon.

Should you want to make a dragon pistol or other scatter cone weapon down the road and need nonlethal shot, they do make salt shot alchemical cartridges that do non lethal at 12 gp a pop.

Corvus will ask around to see if he knows any other merchants that used to work with All the World's Meat before it was seized to see if he can gain any details or descriptions on the layout.
...
While people are gearing up on non-lethal items, do we want any infiltration items like thunderstones or smokesticks?

knowledge local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17
profession-merchant: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Corvus, also please roll a Diplomacy check. From your local knowledge, you figure out that old the world's meat is a two story building, with a single entrance into the store front, some upstairs offices built on a much smaller second floor as a upstairs extension, and there is a cattle pen located next to the store. It is located in Northgate on Old Korvosa island, on 22 Stirge Street.

Yanis would buy some items to help with nonlethal take downs.

Hmm. With this group, I might end up taking the Master Alchemist feat at some point, just so Machaera can mix up the goodies everyone wants more quickly. FWIW, she's already carrying one thunderstone, and a banshee ballerina firework, if folks are thinking we might want noisemakers for distractions.

Anyone else notice the boards are slow to respond to today? Think the winter storms are affecting the inter-webs?

diplomacy: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

This may be a Dungeon Module throwback, but I seem to recall a villain that injected potions with an actual syringe? Is there something like that we could use for "inject sleep poison" for the good 'ol sneak up from behind and incapacitate? Saps are fine, I guess, but there's something dirty about heroes physically knocking someone out as opposed to chloroform or something... just my 2 cents.

I think there's an item called a Syringe Spear. Hm... any nonlethal weapon recommendation for Heads? A sap seems rather... piddly.

grappling, or unarmed strikes

Yanis will meditate and prepare some new powers.

Dazzle and Collapse

'Yeah, probably much safer to operate up closer to North Point. I'll ask around up there.' Kilo thanks Orton and arranges to have the metals delivered to his shop. Kilo begins making his way towards the more affluent shopping districts looking for an open alchemist.

DIplomacy: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

or

Knowledge(local): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

I'll look until I'll have enough time to crank out the order and then meet at the museum if I can't find an open shop

DM suggestions: You can always do non lethal damage with your lethal weapon as a -4 to the attack bonus. The poison sand tube, which is a martial weapon, shoots out poison in a 15 foot cone when loaded with 3 doses of inhaled or contact poison, and everyone in the cone has to make a save or get hit with it. Also, additional nonlethal alchemical weapons include sneezing powder, ghast retch flasks, and flash powder.

Sneezing Powder
Price 60 gp; Weight 2 lbs.

This coarse yellowish-red powder is a splash weapon that causes uncontrollable sneezing for 1d4+1 rounds. Anyone standing in the square of impact must succeed at a DC 12 Fortitude save to resist the powder, while those in adjacent squares must make DC 8 Fortitude saves. Creatures affected by sneezing powder must make a DC 10 Fortitude save every round for the duration or be staggered until their next turn. This is a poison effect. Crafting this item is a DC 25 Craft (alchemy) check

Ghast Wretch Flask
Price 50 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Harvested and concentrated from the remains of slain ghasts, this foul-smelling powder is kept in tightly sealed flasks. It is thrown as a splash weapon and the flask breaks on impact, releasing noxious dust. The target is nauseated for 1 round and sickened for 3 rounds after that. A successful DC 12 Fortitude save prevents the nauseated condition, but not the sickened condition. Creatures within 5 feet of where the flank hits are sickened for 1 round. This is a poison effect. Crafting this item is a DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check.

Flash Powder
Price 50 gp; Weight —

This coarse gray powder ignites and burns almost instantly if exposed to flame, significant friction, or even simple force such as throwing it against a floor (a standard action). Creatures within a 10-foot-radius burst are blinded for 1 round (Fortitude DC 13 negates). Crafting this item is a DC 20 Craft (alchemy) check.

Syringe Spear, martial weapon, 100 gp, 1d8 damage, x3 crit, two handed, 20 ft throwing range, can brace for charge, injects one unit of liquid into the target, which can include acid, poison, alcohol, etc. Note, not a reach weapon.

Anyone else notice the boards are slow to respond to today? Think the winter storms are affecting the inter-webs?

[dice=diplomacy]1d20+2

@Corvus you find out another couple of pieces of information from street contacts. Verik and his eight guards have been handing out free meat every day to the people of Old Korvosa, and they're calling themselves the Cow Hammer Boys. They also hire out as mercenaries. The code phrase they use is I want to ask about the night's special cuts.

@Kilo, You find you have enough time to do both, and even get time to sleep. @Anyone with alchemy, also don't forget you can make pellet and fuse grenades, which can work nicely against swarms, and the pellet grenades can have any metal as part of the material in them, so you can kill lycanthropes with silver pellet grenades and so on. You never know when you might run into a vicious weredung beetle swarm shifter vampire...

This is the guy I was thinking of. Too bad the stats aren't listed here.

I think there's an item called a Syringe Spear. Hm... any nonlethal weapon recommendation for Heads? A sap seems rather... piddly.

Unfortunately, the only ones I know are exotic, and/or take a bit of investment. The cat-o’-nine-tails might be kind of fun, and is martial, but it can’t get past any armour, which is likely to be a problem with deserters from the Guard. It’s a pity, because otherwise it might be neat, in a disturbing sort of way, to re-enact some aspects of a horrifying legend from Herodotus. That is some serious contempt right there, and the sort of thing I can imagine Headsman dishing out to people he really dislikes. (As an aside: Yikes! The ancient Mediterranean world’s casual acceptance of slavery is something I’ll never be able to wrap my head around.) Sorry. Paroxysm of Classics major geekery over, for the moment.

A wand of sleep may work, but the low DC concerns me. It's not that much lower than the alchemical options, but at least it's reusable every round and shouldn't alert the target if it fails. A blowgun with Drow Poison also seems like a good setup. Corvus will just purchase the sap. We'll just call it a clue bat.

*Ready to meet at the rendezvous point.

Headsman will also buy a sap on the way to the rendezvous point.

Kilo enters the upper-scale alchemist's shop feeling slightly out of place in his simple workman's attire. He checks in with the proprietor regarding the events of the last few days, asking how things have been, before moving onto business proper. After buying a few non-lethal items Kilo thanks the owner and makes his way back to his own business. He spends a few hours making shot and powder before setting up his bedroll for a few hours sleep. On the way to meeting his companions, he drops off the pellets to the buyer and offers some powder, one isn't much good without the other after all. After completing the transaction, Kilo makes his way to a deserted alley and changes outfits.

Ok, bought 4 tanglefoot bags and 4 spider sacs. That should come out to 320. I figure I'll wait to hear what the profit was from the order before changing totals. Good to meet up other than that.