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As you enter the theater dressed to go see a play;
A gnome directs the performers for the latest play, an indecipherable piece vaguely titled Dweomer Blade. He wears armor and directs with a longsword, pointing at the actors and the stage with his weapon as he
shouts commands and berates his workers, demanding seemingly impossible feats of them repeatedly. The actors all wear various pieces of armor and wield weapons, though these offer but vague clues as to what the obscure play is actually about.
The gnome welcome’s your arrival, and tells you pointedly that he needs a break from “working with these amateurs” anyway. He bids you to join him on stage as he dismisses his actors for a short break to their dressing rooms, which also act as personal quarters during times of high stress (which seems like all of the time at the Captive Audience).
"You're a bit early, we are not ready for the public yet"
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Following Mohoks prompt, Kiyoshi steps forward and bows to the gnome.
"We're here on behalf of a mutual friend, Jarovar. We believe he usually collects goods from you? We were looking to trace the goods back to their source, we were hoping to meet with the supplier. We would be greatly indebted to you if you could tell us who supplies you?"
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"Jarovar, sure he comes by here sometimes..he supplies some of our stage props. Here let me show you one of them"
He then moves over to one of the vases standing on stage and picks it up and starts to sing a verse from the play. It's a romantic interlude and as he is singing it he's looking Birgit deeply in her eyes.
Mohok senses that something is wrong right before the gnome pulls out a small stick that he throws on the floor and smoke starts pouring out of it while everyone else thinks it's part of the performance.
init
Surprise round: Mohok
Normal round:
Zarunkumar,Birgit,Kyoshi,Belka
Gnome
You guys again
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Mohok feels the little magical tingle that Zarunkumar zaps him with, but he chooses to hold on to that edge, just as he chooses to deal mortal damage to the gnome. Need to let him know we mean business, and I'll need that little boost to my aim when I'm trying to just knock him out. For now, I'm gonna hurt him.
He steps to his right, then swings his blade at the tricky fellow.
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Belka's axe cuts through the smoke hanging in front of her and it swirls and moves around in nice patterns..but there's not a spray of blood that follows it, Belka in her rage forgot that gnomes are smaller then she is. (didn't hit AC)
Birgit tries to make the gnome have some terrible luck (I think that's enough to not be effected by the misfortune) but he doesn't seem to be effected by it that much.
Kiyoshi continues to assist Belka.
The gnome swings his sword again with a flourish and takes a step closer to Belka tries to stick his sword into Belka
(I think that confirms)
"If you surrender now I will let you live" says the gnome with a wicked grin as he stick his sword all the way through Belka midsection.
init
You guys
Gnome
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Zarunkumar shoots a burning arrow into the gnome at the same time as Mohok slices through the smoke..and part of the gnome. a trail of blood is seen leaving the cloud.
As the smoke clears you can see the corpse on the ground getting bigger. It turns into a grayish humanoid with a noseless face.
He was carrying a longsword (magical), cloak (magical), one more smokestick and a scroll (containing a spell)
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As Zarunkumar provides some healing for the shapechanger he gets a little bit of color back (so he looks more gray now?) and is breathing a bit more easily..but he doesn't wake up. (still below 0 hps).
While Mohok makes sure the creature is secure.
Having little else to go on you guys decide to investigate the playhouse;
You find a dozen dressing rooms through a short corridor behind the stage. Each room has a piece of paper with a name scrawled on it tacked to the door where it looks like a nameplate used to be. One of the doors still features a gold-faced nameplate that says “Senlokto Boraminder”;
The door is locked with an average lock, which requires a DC 25
Disable Device check to unlock or a DC 15 Strength check to break through.
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After realizing the doppelganger isn't going to spill any secrets, Mohok clubs him with the hilt of his sword, knocking him unconscious once again. After they explore a bit and find the locekd dressing room, Mohok says, "Looks like this was the gnome's spot. Let's see if he's still alive, might be willing to tell us a thing or two if we help him out."
He gives the door a tentative push with his two meaty hands, then rams it hard with his shoulder, bursting it open.
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As you break down the door and look around;
In the dressing room are a carpet, bed, desk, mirror, and chair. Zarunkumar finds a note in a dressing drawer, which provides further incriminating evidence.
Belka looking around under the carpet finds a trap door hidden beneath the carpet. The trap door opens to a ladder that leads down 15 feet to a crawl space measuring no more than 20 feet square. In one corner of the room is a pile of rags, beneath which lies the decomposed body of the true Senlokto Boraminder. In the other corner of the room lie scattered papers, including the deed for the Captive Audience, signed by Senlokto Boraminder, as well as papers providing the details of the recent renovations to the playhouse, some of them signed by both Ouidda and Senlokto.
(Assuming you look around further)
None of the other doors to the dressing rooms are locked. In each of the other dressing rooms in the back of the playhouse rests a charmed actor or actress. There are a total of 12 dressing rooms, not including Yero’s. All of the actors lie docilely on their beds, muttering their lines to themselves repetitively, and don’t move or otherwise act.
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”Nice work, Belka,” Mohok says on the discovery of the trap door. When they find the unfortunate gnome and the other materials in the room, he says, ”Well, looks like we’ve found some evidence at this end of the deal, now we just need to nail down whatever’s at the other end.” He collects the papers and stuffs them into his backpack, half-orcs not being known for their filing systems.
When they discover the charmed folks in the other dressing rooms, he says, ”I guess we should tell the venture captain about this, seems like it’s more dirt on the Spider. Anyone know if this spell will wear off eventually?”
Once they’ve sorted out the theater, he asks his companions, ”To the ship?”
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Right before Mohok can shove the papers into the black hole know as his backpack Zarunkumar speaks up "Hey Mohok, can I have a look at those?"
Zarunkumar will study the papers
and find nothing. Upon further inspection
she still sees nothing. Finally, looking a little harder
she notices that the signature on the deed and the signature on the renovation details are very different. Holding up the renovation details she points to the signature and says "This is a forgery. This signature right here is a forgery the real Senlokto didn't sign this document, it was clearly a forgery by our friend the shapechanger." she is about to hand it back to Mohok when she quickly reconsiders and says "You know what I think I'll just hang on to these. When we get back to the Venture-Captain it will be easier for me to explain the differences if I'm the one to hand them to him." Not to mention the fact that they have a better chance of surviving the trip in my bag then in his.
Zarunkumar then proceeds to neatly flatten out the papers and carefully places them in her bag between the spellbook she is currently working on and the one she keeps with her just incase she runs out of room in the first, there it should stay nice and safe till she can use them as evidence against their current foe.
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Mohok reaches for the papers that Zarunkumar has been studying, and reaches even further as she begins to put them away, then gestures vaguely at his backpack, which has crumpled papers sticking out of it, "You don't wanna put 'em all in one place? You know, keep 'em organized?"
He shrugs and says, "Whatever, let's get to the ship."
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As you approach the docks at night;
At this late hour, the briny sea air of Almas’s wooden docks is void of the daytime crowds of crew members bustling about.
Nearly a dozen ships are docked here, and several more are anchored in the calm waters further from the shore. One ship in particular still has lanterns hanging lit next to its gangway, a shoddy wooden plank that connects the old ship to the dock.
Red letters scrawled on the side of the ship read “Sailswift,” and several cloaked men move to and fro on the ship’s deck with uncanny grace, shifting boxes of cargo about and going below deck occasionally.