[PFS] GM - Mark Garringer's 06-05 - Slave Ships of Absalom Table 1 (Inactive)

Game Master Zizazat

Eryndir's arrow catches the captain directly in the chest! Lysassa's magical missle strikes her immediately after, leaving her with a glazed look in her eyes.

Aria unleashes a cloud of glitterdust which explodes in the doorway now that Lucia and Tori are clear!

Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

But manages to cover her face in time to avoid the worst of it!

Round 2
Captain Wardak (18 damage taken)
Lucia
Tori
Eryndir
Aria
Benjamin
Lysassa

Benjamin is up for Round 2!

GMBOT Benjamin moves over to Tori's fallen form and casts stabilize on her.

Round 3
Captain Wardak (18 damage taken)
Lucia
Tori
Eryndir
Aria
Benjamin
Lysassa

Unphased by the glitterdust the captain moves forward and slashes at Eryndir, but misses!

Attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11 *miss*
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

All PCs may act!

Lucia will give Tori a Healing potion.

I prefer if she cast the dice herself, I don´t have much luck lately.

"Tori wake up... please, wake up..."

Casting Sleep DC 14 save

CLW: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

"Huh, what?" Tori says with a confused cough as she awakens from Lucia's judicious use of the looted potion.

Eryndir takes a 5-foot step back and fires two arrows at near point blank range (if that doesn't let him move out of reach, he takes the AoO).

Arrow; flurry: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Arrow; flurry: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Lysassa will cast virtue on Eryndir (+1 temp hp for the next minute)

Aria begins casting her spell.

Eryndir lets two arrows fly at the captain but the veer harmlessly into the glittery cloud behind her!

Round 3
Captain Wardak (18 damage taken)
Lucia
Tori
Eryndir
Aria
Lysassa
Benjamin

Looks like Benjamin is up again!

"Great Thisamet, bring doom upon this slaver, this taker of freedom! We will celebrate her passing!" Doom, DC 13

Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17 *success*

"Your God will not save you, fool!" she hisses!

Round 4
Captain Wardak (18 damage taken)
Lucia
Tori
Eryndir
Aria
Lysassa
Benjamin

She takes a 5' step towards Eryndir and slashes at him with both kukri!

Attack 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 *hit*
Attack 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12 *miss*
Damage 1: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Damage 2: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Aria's sleep spell goes off...and the Captain goes down!

Will Save: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10 *success*

Out of Combat

A few of you notice that there is smoke coming from the captain's cabin...

Lucia looks around looking for water to use against the fire.

There are several barrels of potable water in the hold, they hold about 50 gallons of water and weight almost 450 pounds each. It would take two PCs 1-2 rounds to move it into the cabin and another round to try and fight the fire.

Alternatively you can try a Survival check to fight the fire in the cabin using blankets and available materials before it gets further out of hand.

"Thanks for pulling me out and healing me." Tori says with gratitude, retrieving the other healing potion from her backpack and drinking it down.

CLW potion: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

She then joins Lucia in looking in on the fire, "This'll work better if we have two teams, one grabbing the water, the other using blankets. I'll try to use the blankets, two of you please grab a barrel." Tori then runs into the room and tries to smother the fire with items on hand.

Survival: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

Aria ties up the captain with some rope that should be on hand, requesting another PCs aid if its some kind of skill check she would be terrible at, before helping grab a barrel of water and fighting the fire

As Aria prepares the captain to be tied up, she finds the keys to the manacles as well as to her cabin. Freeing one of the slaves, Aria then uses the manacles to secure the captain.

Meanwhile, Tori plays amateur firefighter with pretty decent sucess!

Lucia and Eryndir grab a barrel of water and haul it into the cabin.

Lysaasa looks at Benjamin and says, "Create water?"

To which the cleric shrugs and replies, "Sorry, not that kind of cleric."

The fire is quickly brought under control, but most of the papers burned up rather quickly and are not readable. However, with all the blanket thrashing there are bits of ash and paper fluttering around the room, Tori notices one bit as it spirals down toward the ground and plucks it out of the air. The tiny, charred bit of parchment bears a single word written in black ink: "Muhlia"

Lysassa will move to help with the barrel of water

"Does anyone know a way to create water out of thin air?"

Tori shows the piece of paper to the group, "It looks like she was burning evidence. We should question the captain and the former prisoners."

Aria shrugs, "I'd rather take her back with us and let someone more skilled in the art of interrogation deal with her, she doubtless knows valuable information about the operation."

Aria would potentially free all of the slaves unless there is an issue with that, and then, I don't know, bring them back into Absalom.

Aria - I assumed as much, but try to keep GM intrusion as minimal as possible during such narrative scenes. Like Aria would realize she can just use the manacles instead, and then free all the rest of the slaves. :)

Fair enough, I'll roleplay it out then

With the captain dealt with, the fire out, and the minor crisis avoided, Aria heads back to free the remaining slaves, including the gnome pathfinder. Expecting a flood of noise, Aria quickly holds up her hands, forestalling the tirade.

"Congratulations, you are all 'effectively" free. Your will is your own, but my companions and I would deeply appreciate it if you hung around to help the authorities sort out this mess with the captain. Its possible she might have been involved in a larger conspiracy, and you might unconsciously possess some small detail that might help us further".

After this request, Aria hesitates slightly, before continuing "I don't know any of your backgrounds, if you were unwillingly forced into slavery I...expect you will be free to return home. I don't know the laws of Abasalom in how they would work in a case like this, but if nothing else, my companions and I will vouch for each and everyones freedom. For those of you that entered into slavery willingly, (Yes, there are people that do this), then I am sure the authorities can find you kind owners (I was going to say honourable slave traders but didn't think that would be very believeable) for you to spend your time with. Now please, I'm sure the crew have food or drink around here somewhere...you are all welcome to share it among yourselves, but after, if you could all group up with us, it will make things go much smoother for everyone"

All done =]

Diplomacy (If applicable): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

The other slaves give indications they are more than amenable to what Aria is saying. The gnome Pathfinder, Rilla is very excited to be free and runs around the hold looking at this or that. You easily find the galley at the stern of the ship, behind the captain's quarters. Food is made available to the freed people.

After taking stock of the captain's quarters Rilla comes over to the captain to gloat more than a little. "Now if this is a turn of the worm! You burned up our papers! We're all free. But you, you my dear captain, you are going to jail!"

Rilla follows Aria around like a love sick puppy, asking her a unending stream of questions. "Do any of you know a Pathfinder named Sahar?"

Aria finds all of this slightly amusing, but remembers how happy she felt when she was freed, and certainly doesn't begrudge any over enthusiasm, besides, it was very cute.

"No, i'm afraid I don't know of a Pathfinder named Sahar...is he (or I guess she) a very dear friend?" she asks, curiously.

NB cute as in, "wow that kitten is so cute", rather than, "wow that guy over there is so cute". Felt it was important to distinguish that with Aria's flirty persona.

Tori shakes her head, "Yeah, who is Sahar?"

Rilla says "Oh Sahar? She's amazing! I mean, you guys are amazing too, but Sahar? She on, like, a whole other level! Always talking to that damn fox of hers. She's a good Keleshite girl from the deserts of Qadira, always wears that cover over her face. Wha'd she call it? Nakib, nabib, niqab! She told me she fought a dragon under Absalom once, in the sewers!"

Rilla eats a sandwitch, the source of which seems dubious at best. "Anyway, she was part of my last assignment. We got separated, and I got...umm, well. here. I just wondered if any of you knew her, or ran into her at the Grand Lodge maybe."

Tori just gives the gnome a pleasant nod as she returns to the captain's quarters to give it a brief search in case they missed something hidden.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Eryndir grunts as the kukri cuts flesh, and seeing the captain go down, he drops his bow and presses the wound closed until it stops bleeding. He then helps put out the fire.

He also helps with the search.

Aria keeps a calm face for the sake of the gnome, but privately worries about the safety of Sahar. "Im sure its nothing, maybe she came back an d is on another assignment, or maybe we are just unfamiliar with her. I can inform the Grand Lodge when I get back, I'm sure they would know best where she is if you two want to catch up."

"Yeah, we should go to the Grand Lodge! I'm sure Venture-Captain Valsin will still be a grumpy pants and probably yell at me. I think he'll want to hear my report though." Rilla says excitedly.

"..I'm sure the Venture-Captain would loooove to hear from this ..gnome.."

"I agree, it would be the smart thing to do to deliver you to the Grand Lodge"

Assuming the fire has gone out Lysassa will search the room carefully (take 20 for a 21 perception) as she sees her party members rush through the room quickly, clearly looking for something. After having cast detect magic.

Such a good thing my irl gaming group isn't here, they are all determined that all gnomes are evil, nasty creatures that deserve to be slaughters on sight, perceptions sometimes....its impossible to convince people -_-

Lucia will check the rest of the ship (magic and perception) in the time the slaves a carried to the boat (at least the places we have yet to see).

The Pathfinders are able to leisurely explore the rest of the of the boat and find no further resistance. There are normal supplies as well as the gear from the crew. Nothing you'll need now in the last scene, but standard loot for your Chronicle.

The harbor pilot, Zigil, dutifully navigates the ship through the Ship Graveyard safely to the docks, where city officials take custody of the vessel. Lady Darchana herself is present and authorizes payment of the bounty. She suggests that she will accompany you to the Grand Lodge so that information can be shared and reports given in a 'secure location.'

Everyone arrives in Skyreach at Venture-Captain Valsin's office, and despite the late hour he is there waiting. He stands as you enter, bowing to Lady Darchana. "My lady, you grace me with your presence again. I believe my team has satisfactory news to report to you." He gives a few of you a meaningful glance, as if to say you better.

Rilla cannot contain herself or be bothered with decorum, she rushes forward and hugs the Venture-Captain. "Venture-Captain Valsin, thank you, thank you, thank you! I am honored you sent these fine Pathfinders to rescue me! I never knew you cared!"

Venture-Captain Vilsin accepts the hug, but rolls his eyes at the gnome's exuberance. "Welcome back to the Grand Lodge Rilla" he manages. Looking at the rest of you he says, "Well? Report!"

Aria clears her throat before responding

Here we go...

"Our primary mission was to discover the origins of the servant girl that had a scrying sensor attached to her. We spoke to the servant girl, who appeared to be entirely innocent of the entire affair, but told us the name of the slave trader who had sold her away. With the traders name in hand (Mahjub), we headed into his shop, and foiled an unrelated attack on his person carried out by some nasty thugs. Mahjub claimed innocence of the entire affair, but we were able to discover his source for the slave...a source that we discovered was planning on selling a pathfinder into slavery!

"After reporting to Lady Darchana, she was able to successfully succeed in granting us a cover identity to infiltrate the ship "At Sea", a ship under the command of Captain Wardak, an Okeno pirate captain, the owner of the pathfinder to be enslaved, and the link between Mahjub, and the slave girl. With great courage and unimaginable skill, we succeeded in capturing the ship, eliminating resistance, freeing the captured slaves (including Rilla here), and successfully taking this creature (assuming Wardak is with us, at this point the point of Aria's shoe makes swift contact with Wardaks ribs) alive, in order for the authorities to gain any further information she might know."

Aria pauses for breath, having rattled this off rather quickly, before adding as an afterthought "We also managed to discover Mahjubs client list, so we can know if anyone else might have been exposed to this spy racket. Sadly, Wardak succeeded in burning any incriminating evidence before we could capture her alive, although a scrap of paper bearing the word Muhlia was found, although the term escapes me...perhaps the captain herself can shed some light on it?"

Venture-Captain Valis nods his head as Aria recounts the day's adventure, it is the closest thing to pride you've ever seen on this man's face. A look of pure surprise comes over his face at the mention of the name Muhlia.

"You there, Captain Wardak, you work for Pasha Muhlia Al-Jakri?" the Venture-Captain demands.

The captain just scowls at him, unspeaking.

Lady Darchana arches an eyebrow and looks at Valsin. "It's worse than I feared. Guards!" she calls out into the hall and two powerfully built women dressed in scale mail enter and secure the captain. "You know where to take her."

Turning back to the Pathfinders, "It seems this may become an all too often greeting for awhile." She begins casting a spell* and then glances around the room carefully.

"Pathfinders, you have done a great service to Absalom today. The full extent, understandably, may never be widely known or recognized by the sleeping masses, but know that the Pathfinder Society can count on me as a friend and ally, and I hope that I may call upon you again in the future should the need arise." she says, satisfied with her magic.

Rilla recounts what she can to Venture-Captain Valsin about her time spent in the Okeno slave markets on Stonespire Island, confirming several interactions with a heavily veiled humanoid woman who forcibly took blood samples on two occasions. Finally Rilla asks, "What of Sahar? The others?"

Venture-Captain Valsin closes his eyes and slowly shakes his head. "No contact," is all he says on the matter.

Fin