DM CD's Unrest in Atlus
Game Master Vethcyr

Just to be clear, we skipped over the process of carrying 60 bags of powder a few at a time up and down the stairs with Jamros accompanying each trip, right? And nothing significant occurred during that time?

After making his last trip, Pygrado wipes the sweat from his brow and shoulders his discarded gear. He makes sure everyone is well clear of the room before Leto lights the fuse. This, he says, is going to get some attention.

We dropped them from above actually

Gareth chuckles to himself upon hearing Leto's comment. He mutters under his breath, "That's how you know it's the best idea."

When Leto lights the fuse, Gareth takes off at a sprint down the hallway, laughing hysterically if/when the explosion happens.

Over the course of several minutes, you toss the bags of powder down to the floor below. The bags pile haphazardly near the door. You hear the impacts continue, and the door begins to groan and creak, with large dents forming in the center as the battering continues. As the fuse ignites, the door shatters and you hear a voice shout, "Good work, now get in there and secure the... powder? EVERYBODY FALL BACK, NOW!"

The powder explodes. Not all at once, but the cascade of explosions over the course of a few seconds is deafening. The tunnel collapses behind you as you run toward the palace. You outpace the cave-in easily, and all is soon quiet.

As you climb the stairs up, you hear the sounds of battle echoing from ahead of you.

Hearing the sounds of battle, Gareth draws his bow and presses on quickly up the stairs.

Leto pulls out his wand of magic missile and follows at the rear of the pack.

Let's hope that teaches the bastards a lesson.

When we get up there, we find someone in a position of authority to report to. Our information is more valuable than we are as soldiers, so try to stay together and not get distracted.

Also, profile finally update to fully reflect level 4 and new gear.

From the top of the staircase, you see a large, wide passageway with a fortified wall and gate at the far end. It is about ninety feet from you. From behind the crenellations, a squad of silver guards fire crossbows at a group of golems. A large number of piles of mining debris - rocks, wood, and other detritus - are scattered around the area. The golems use these as cover from the archers, and return fire with crossbow bolts of their own. Several destroyed golems and slain guardsmen lie on the ground between the two sides.

Upon your arrival at the top of the staircase, the golems cease fire and move behind cover to protect themselves against the archers on the wall. The archers on the wall see this, and one calls out "Assassins! Shoot them!"

Initiative Order
Caladrius: 21+
Martin: 21-
Gareth: 18
Jamros: 16
DM: 14
Pygrado: 13+
Leto: 13-

Map

Caladrius ducks and moves to the back of the staircase.

Martin, Gareth, and Jamros - you're up.

Gareth steps forward, his hands up in a non threatening gesture. He shouts, "Hold your fire! We're from Silverkeep, sent on a special mission by Master Vincenzo! The king is in danger!"

Diplomacy:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

He also motions for Jamros, "Jamros! Get those golems to stand down!"

Martin does not feel like dieing today.
Total defence action

Jamros, wielding the dagger, moves behind the nearest cover and hits the ground.

A voice calls out, "Wait, Gareth?" A guard stands up from behind the crenellations, and looks in your direction. "It is you! You're alive!" he calls out, before turning to the first guard and saying something to him. The other guard calls out "All right, we believe you. Get over here and we'll open the gate for you."

The guards stand down and the golems do not act against you.

We are off initiative, now that tensions have been defused.

Gareth lets out a prominent sigh of relief. He exclaims, "Sweet Barleybrew! Volinar!"

Brushing his hair back, he turns to the others, "C'mon out boys, we're in good hands now."

As he approaches the gate, he yells back up to Volinar, "You wouldn't believe the sh*t we've been through the last few days. I'm looking forward to tellin ya and the rest of the Guard about it. But first, let us in!"

(Assuming we get let in without any problems)

As Gareth and the rest enter the gate, his temperament rapidly shifts from relief to seriousness. "We've got some problems. Stronginthearm and the dwarves are coming through the tunnels. They're some 2,000 strong, and close. Looking to undermine the palace and catch us with our swords sheathed. We may have slowed them down with a cave-in just minutes ago, but they're a hard-workin' bunch. They'll find a way in sooner or later."

"And as you've already seen, we've lost control of the golems. There's a lot of foul play going on. Dülff turned on Visran for whatever reason and turned all the golems against us. You should have seen one of them. Six arms, gigantic, fast as ever. Nearly tore all of us apart. And then there were some assassins. Wore those creepy bug helmets. We fought off three of them, but apparently two more are headed straight for the king. I don't know who hired them, but I'll bet they've disguised themselves as our own. You didn't let anybody in here before us, did you?"

Jamros makes some motions about the golems and the dagger, indicating that they will begin attacking again as soon as he leaves with it. He indicates he could stay and help destroy them for a minute before moving on. Rather than going in the gate, he stands near the middle of the golem group.

The guards open the gates, but when he sees Jamros gesticulating wildly, the guard officer shouts down, "You've got plenty to do by the sounds of things. Just keep them docile long enough for us to recover the bodies of our fallen from beyond the wall."

A couple of guards retrieve the corpses of their comrades from the central area, and then motion Jamros through. As you pass the portcullises, the golems reactivate and begin launching bolts once more. The guards drop the gates just after you pass through them.

To Gareth: "A couple of mithral guards came tearing through here a few minutes ago. Teleported straight past the gate, and told us that a group of assassins were on their way up here, dressed as guards. They said that someone in court had been colluding with the enemy, and that they had to arrest that person before he or she could harm the king. They took off toward the palace after that."

The guard officer turns to Volinar and says, "You go with them. Show them the way to the palace and then get us some reinforcements down here!"

Jamros follows.

Martin looks over the two mithral guards, does he recognize them? or could they be the assassins themselves?

There are no mithral guards here. Only silver guards. The mithral guards they mentioned ran past several minutes ago.

Martin looks kind of nervous
"Did you recognize the two guards? were you sure that they themselves were not the assassins?"

Gareth nods at Volinar, "After you, buddy. Oh, and while you're at it, if you wouldn't mind showing us to a healer... we sure as Desna's fortune could use one. But only if it's quick of course."

Ninja Edit to Martin:
"Oh, if they tried to frame it on us, I'll bet anything that those two were the assassins. They were even wearing armor like this. Here."

Gareth mutters the command word for his glamered armor multiple times and changes it from the Silver Guard garb to a drab commoner's robe, to a set of full plate, to a noble's clothing, back to his Silver Guard armor. "I took this off one of their bodies. They could really be disguised as anything."

Leto looks around at them, "I am fairly certain that the mithral guards that you saw were imposters. two of the assassins that were coming here were dressed as mithral guards." Leto glances at the opening. "My advise would be to blow it up. All your friends down there are dead. Only enemies come from there now. If you can, blow the tunnel to Kingdom come."

"I didn't recognize them, but there are a lot of mithral guards. I haven't met them all," the officer says. "Besides, you look at a guard's uniform, not his face. If these assassins have that sort of equipment, you'd best get to the keep and raise the alarm. Go, now!"

EDIT: Leto posted. The officer responds to Leto, saying "That's unfortunate, but I expected as much. Sadly, all of the blasting powder was down there, under the supervision of the mine administrators. By the sounds of things, you put paid to the lot."

Volinar will lead the way at a run when you are ready. In the meantime (or as you run), he says, "I'm not sure if we have time to stop and find a healer if assassins are infiltrating the palace. With the battle going on, things are a little chaotic. It might make it difficult to find a healer and stop the assassins you mentioned."

Gareth nods at Volinar, "I figured as much. We've made this far all banged up, we can hold out longer."

To Leto/the officer: Gareth produces the blasting powder from his backpack. "I've got a bit left and I think Martin does as well. It's yours if you can use it."

I'm carring 5 bags right now.

Leto, didn't you say something about the other assassins being elves? That armor can't disguise that, and it'll narrow our search.

Says the half-elf wearing a Red Mantis helmet...

"It sounded like you brought enough down to keep them busy. Keep the powder and just get reinforcements down here. We'll handle the rest," the guard officer says.

Volinar motions for you to follow, saying to Pygrado "And you - get rid of that ridiculous helmet. If you weren't vouched for by Gareth you would have been shot on sight. The guards in the palace likely won't be so understanding. If you're right, they've already been infiltrated. Any suspicious sign will likely get us all killed."

Thanks for reminding me that Pygrado is doing the in-universe equivalent of walking into a bank while wearing a ski mask!

picking up the pace, Martin scowls at Gareth, "Volunteer your own blasting powder. For all that we have been through the last couple of days, this should be the first of my rewards. I didn't sign up for this crap."

"Correct. They were elves. So let everyone know that they should stop any elves, especially if they are dressed as mithral guards. Discrimination complaints will abound, but we can worry about that later." Leto looks over at Pygrado. "And if you are going to keep that thing on, I am going to walk 100 ft behind you. Because I don't want to get killed when you are shot on sight by the guards."

Gareth can only shrug at Martin in response.

When Leto offers his suggestion, Gareth seems notably offended. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can't just round up all the elves and treat them like they're murderers. No, no, no, what about all of our good elven servants and soldiers? We need them all working to protect the king and fight this war, not sitting around worried they'll be executed for something they didn't do. The last thing we need to do is make everybody afraid of each other. If we go to the palace with our wits about us, someone will stick out sooner or later, and then we can deal with it."

Pygrado takes off the helmet and stuffs it into his pack. Given the circumstances, it seems best to avoid miscommunications.

Gareth, I'm not saying we need to arrest all the elves. Just that it will allow us to limit our search. Anyone not an elf we can assume not to be an assassin, or at least not the ones Leto saw. Leto, is there anything else you remember about them that we can use to narrow down the pool of candidates?

As I believe ML left for Italy today, I'll run Leto for the time being. He said he would be back in about a week.

"They were black-haired elves, a man and a woman," Leto says. "They seemed to be the brains of the operation. The man was the best swordsman I've ever seen, and the woman kept shooting rays from her sword and turning momentarily invisible. The guards never stood a chance."

As you run, Volinar chimes in, saying "The mithral guards who came through here were black-haired elves. The woman cast the spell that teleported them past the golems and behind our gate. Both had rapiers. I was too busy bandaging the wounded to pay closer attention to them."

"Then we know who we're up against. If that girl's a spellcaster that can turn invisible, then I don't think ordering a sweep of the palace for black-haired elves will do us any good. So we've gotta look for them ourselves! And we gotta do it with a low profile." Gareth shakes his head. "Maybe we do need to find a healer after all. If we wanna have any shot at taking them down."

You pass through an old wing of the palace dungeons. "Silverkeep stopped using this wing about ten years ago," Volinar says as you run past. "The folks in charge wanted to implement their secret mine entrance as unobtrusively as possible." You run up some stairs and past some silver guards guarding access to the main dungeons. They say that a couple of mithral guards ran past not too long ago, heading up into the palace proper.

You emerge into the palace itself. Its corridors and public spaces are crowded with citizens taking shelter. Guards and servants bustle about, but the scene may as well be complete mayhem. Someone shouts at someone else to make way, a group of refugees argue about whether it would have been better to take refuge in the temple of Nethys, and a pair of guards march an unruly refugee down toward the dungeons. A lone mithral guard, covered in blood, dashes through the crowds and up a staircase on the opposite end of the corridor from you. He or she wears a full helmet and armor, making identification impossible.

"Well, we might as well head straight up. The king is likely to have a healer on hand anyway, and the sooner we get to him the faster we can warn them of the plot."

Martin makes his way through the crowd, roughly pushing people aside when necessary, crossing towards the stair case.

Gareth picks up his pace and pushes his way through the crowd along with Martin. As he walks, he asks, "Volinar, where does that staircase lead? Where is the king?"

"It leads to the upper levels of the palace. The royal chambers are a few floors up, but the king might be meeting with the guard commanders to coordinate defenses elsewhere in the palace. We'll need to ask the guards on duty up above to be sure."

You push and shove your way through the crowd and to the staircase. A pair of silver guards block refugees from ascending, but let you through when they see that some of you are dressed as guards. If you ask them where to find the king, they'll shrug and say "Upstairs somewhere. Ask a mithral guard."

Well then let's talk to that one.

Pygrado dashes up the stairs after the blood-covered guard, hoping his lack of armor will allow him to catch up. If he doesn't find him after two minutes of running, he will return to the rest of the party.

ouch... sight*

Sorry about the delayed response. I was sleeping off the morning's champagne/chocolate binge. I'll assume that you all go after the bloodied guard.

You run up the stairs and enter a large antechamber. Between fifteen and twenty silver guards are in this room. A huge set of double doors on the far wall is closed. Tapestries and stone benches line the walls. A pair of silver guard officers sit at a wooden table in the center of the room, apparently directing the other guards, as well as a number of pages who go running in and out of the room through various entrances. Three mithral guards, one helmeted, are having a whispered but apparently intense conversation in a far corner of the room. Of the three, the helmeted one is female, the second is a bald, goateed male dwarf, and the third is an elven woman with blonde hair.

You also see the bloodied mithral guard standing in front of the table, talking with the officers. "...reports that his master has driven off most of the halflings. I fought a grounded group of them. They had already dropped their firebombs, but the bucket chains seem to be limiting the damage. You can start shifting your men back to the outer walls." The guard is male, going by his voice.

Perception:1d20 - 2 ⇒ (8) - 2 = 6
Sense Motive:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

Based on the checks, will post more in a little bit.

Perception 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15
Sense Motive 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

Pygrado dashes to the assembled guards.

Excuse me! Excuse me! I have urgent news for the ears of the king or Master di Tezirah.

One of the guard officers at the table responds, "What is it? Wait, you're not on palace detail. Who are you, and which district are you from?"

Gareth struts behind Pygrado at a more reserved pace, scoping out the room and taking particular interest in the elven blonde. "Man, the Mithral Guard sure gets all the perks, don't they?" he thinks as he flashes a smile across the room.

He steps up to the table and extends his hand to the guard officer. "Gareth Aldridge, Silver Guard. Pygrado over here and those guys back there are with me. We were sent on a reconnaissance mission commissioned privately by Master di Tezirah, and - well, we've come back with some urgent intel. Intel involving the safety of the king and the happenings of the mines. Nearly cost most of us our lives getting here. We gotta speak to either King Heric or Master Vincenzio right away!"

Diplomacy:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

"War room, two floors up. The king and di Tezirah will both be there, along with the guard commanders. Bregan, can you go with them and see that they don't waste the king's time?" one of the officers responds, directing the last bit at the bloodied mithral guard, who nods. "Follow me," he says, striding quickly towards yet another ascending staircase.

SM: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Jamros has been following the group, moving skillfully through the crowd, but having trouble keeping up with the group as they run up the stairs. He is jumpy.

As you walk, your escort asks, "Out of curiosity, what sort of things have you been facing? You look like crap."

Martin looks over the Mithral guard who is bloodied, does he notice anything out of order?

percp: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14

For reference, the bloodied guard leading your trek wears full mithral guard armor, consisting of breastplate, mithral guard cloak, and helmet. He carries a sheathed longsword at his waist, and is a big, bulky fellow. While his armor has a few dents and scratches in it, he does not appear wounded. In short, the blood he's covered in is not his own.

The helmet looks like this.

Gareth shrugs and responds to the escort. "What haven't we fought over the past few days? Goblins, barghests, some squad of halflings with exploding sticks. And then in the mines, a lot of golems. Ones with six arms."

He pauses and glances over the blood stains on the guard. "Looks like you've been busy today too. Though you've fared a bit better than we did. What have you been fighting?"

Do I need to roll bluff to omit the fact that we fought assassins?

If it's a deliberate omission on Gareth's part, then yes.

"Yeah, we heard that the golems went crazy down there. Between the halfling bombardments and the siege, we've had bigger problems to deal with than malfunctioning equipment. Besides, they were just keeping people out of the mines rather than making any offensive pushes. Anyway, I was overseeing the firefighting efforts. Bucket chains, a couple of borrowed decanters of endless water, fighting any halflings who threatened us. Took down one of their birds with a geyser of water," the guard responds, chuckling. As you walk, he removes his helmet, revealing himself to be a human man with dirty brown hair and a large scar across his left cheek. He stows it at his belt.

Gareth gives a hearty laugh at the mention of the geyser of water taking down the bird, partially because that mental image is amusing and also from relief that the man does not fit the assassins' profile. "Nice shot!" Still grinning he asks, "And how are we holding up in the siege?"