The Great (Pathfinder) Society...in Magnimar! (Inactive)

Game Master Eric Swanson

untrained Perform (stringed instrument): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18
Yamyra takes advantage of the lull in activity to doodle a bit with her banjo during the meal, supping lightly between 'songs'.

Gared, who had been doing just fine forgetting where they were until the captain pointedly reminded him, chose to forgo his attempt to question the captain to become intimately acquainted with one of the buckets. The dwarf managed an apologetic look towards Carridan before running below deck, bucket in hand.

The dwarf emerged from his room for dinner, looking much more grounded and calm, if still a bit uncomfortable. The archer settled in with his companions and glowered silently at his food.

Unless someone or something brings him out of it, Gared will sulk for the rest of the evening.

Carmina devours her dinner at a pace reminiscent of a lion after a week of fasting, leaving her very quickly with no food and a badly dented spoon. "Gared, are you going to eat that all by yourself?" she asks, staring at the dwarf's food with hunger in her eyes.

Horven eats his dinner without saying a word. Dialla and his training occupied his mind, so much so that he barely registers Yamyra playing her banjo. His past failures and ineptitude spurred him to do better, even if it meant shutting the world out. He looks up at the morose dwarf and Carridan and instantly feels bad. Yes, he wanted desperately to be a more integral part of the team, but he realizes now that there was more than one way to carry one's weight. He didn't know how he could take their minds off the voyage, but he couldn't leave them to their misery. "Gared, Carridan, I could use some help with my training. Would you mind if I asked you both for some of your time?"

Gared's face lit up in surprise as Carmina broke his train of thought. The dwarf stared blankly at her for a moment before he broke out laughing. He took a few big bites of his meal and passed the plate over before he was finished chewing. "Try not to be wolfin' it all down and once now, girl."

You all enjoy a dinner marred by thoughts of brooding and contemplation, interrupted by Yamyra's performance. She does draw several appreciative rounds of applause, along with 2d8 ⇒ (1, 1) = 2 gold pieces in various pieces of coinage for her trouble.

Soon the night falls upon your ship as you continue to make your way down the Korvasan coast. You all retire to your cabin below decks and try to catch some shuteye...

Carridan nods with a forced grin at Horven's question. "Sure, Horven, if you think I could help." It's plain in his tone that he's not sure he can, but he's willing to try.

---

Carridan's sleep later that night is fitful at best. It's not so much the motion of the boat as it is the tightness of the space. The press of bodies and heat and smell, even this early into a voyage, all leave the normally awkward druid quite out of sorts.

As sleep finally takes him, dreams of his last voyage by sea steal into his thoughts. He awakes with a start, wiping sweat from his brow with a shaking hand as the smell of smoke and screams fade from memory. Except- the screams don't fade, not entirely. With a start, Carridan looks up toward the deck and slaps his nearest two companions awake. "I think someone's in trouble," he hisses as he fumbles for a lamp. "Hurry! Hurry! Get up! Quick!"

With the lamp struck, he hurries for the deck. Dreams and memories of his past drive his steps as he mutters, "Not again. Gods, not again."

After practicing his exercises in perception with Gared and Carridan involving some colored cards, Horven falls asleep with little difficulty.

---

The halfling practically falls out of his bed as he is slapped awake. "Wha...what is it, Carridan?"

When the druid rushes off with no explanation. Horven follows behind him, buckling his gear on.

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I'm assuming Gared and Horven are closest to Carridan, considering they were training together and I suspect gendered quarters might be a thing.
Gared woke with a start, spring to his feet even as he took his bearings. "Horven, ye should be wakin' the others and findin' us quick!" hissed the dwarf, who needed no time to do anything but grab his bow, his keen eyes seeing clearly in the dark. The dwarf was off towards the sounds within seconds of waking, sparing no haste.

Horven concedes with a nod, going to wake Yamyra and Carmina in a nicer way than he was woken up. He gently shakes each woman. "Yammy, Carmina, wake up! Something is going on!"

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Carmina gives Horven the look one normally reserved to malfunctioning alarm clocks, but somehow manages to resist hitting snooze and forces herself up from her bed. "Whatever's going on better have a really good reason to do it in the middle of the night."

"Ask Carridan when you see him."

Carridan hurried up to the top deck, where he heard the cry emanate from, followed closely by the others in your party. Jasper is still snoring peacefully (and loudly as well) so you leave him be. Hurrying as fast as he is able he makes pretty good progress despite the rocking motion of the vessel, his seasickness forgotten.

When he reaches the area where he heard the cry, a gruesome sight awaits him: The passenger Dialla is in the process of dumping a bleeding body, the First Mate's brother Chebby, over the side of the deck. A closer look in the ship's lights shows his throat was slashed from ear to ear. Dialla’s bloody dagger leaves little doubt as to what just took place.

As you stare at her, she sees you and does not bother to hide her guilt. She slips into a defensive stance, her dagger at the ready, and says to the druid, "“I have no quarrel with you: I am Dialla Marteme, of the Balconies of Bis in Kaer Maga. That offal you saw me kill is responsible for the death of my niece. She was only thirteen years old, friend, and the damned Ardocs bought the alibi Chebby’s pig-of-a-brother provided. My sister deserved justice Kaer Maga’s “society” failed to provide, and so that task fell to me. I’ve been tracking Chebby for going on seventeen months, and now the deed is done. Yet I have no wish to taste the captain’s justice. I ask only for your silence—I have a plan to assume Chebby’s appearance for the rest of the voyage. I was going to cut loose a rowboat to make it look like I’d left the ship, pose as Chebby, then leave and return home to Kaer Maga once we reach Korvosa. If you remain silent and let me go, I’ll give you my dagger and this ring in thanks. What say you?”

Let me know if you wish to attack her, or do something else during her speech.

Horven muses for a moment, once again recalling the courthouse and justice not served properly. "And if we let you go, you think you can pull off your ruse?"

DM Eric, what kind of Knowledge Check would it be to know enough about Kaer Maga to either confirm or deny what she has said of the place?

"!?" For all that the rest of you have seen clear efforts over the last few days on Yamyra's part to 'toughen up', this almost casual violence & the even more casual brutality it alludes to, still leaves her momentarily speechless.

Gared stepped forward and stared at the blood stain on the deck in front of him, his knuckles white on the tightly gripped bow held across the front of his thighs. The dwarf shook visibly, and as he spoke without hardly a pause, the action seemed forced.

"Where I come from..." The dwarf's voice, dangerous and low, was steady as he spoke, despite the tremor that shook his body. "It's the community that decides what justice is, and the community that metes out that justice..."

The dwarf's crystal blue eyes flashed like lightning as they rose to meet Dialla's. "I want you to look me in they eyes and tell me why I should help you escape justice because you decided to mete out your own version of the same."

The Erastilian let his bow fall to one side as he took another step forward, his visage softening slightly. "I will not make this decision lightly, and I will not make it without my community, my companions."

"You- you want our help to murder someone on your word that he- that he just deserved it?" He glances down at his simple garments and then back at her with a bewildered look, "And you're bribing me with jewelry and the weapon you used to do the deed?" His bewilderment shifts to a tight frown as he shakes his head, "You're well and truly mad, madder than Jasper, if you think I'll go along with this." Carridan balls his fists, ready to call upon Gozreh for aid.

Dialla's eye flash with anger as Carridan and Gared lay down their accusations. "Obviously, you have NEVER had a sister you cared for...a sister who looked up to you and admired you....a sister who LOVED you!" She hisses in rage. "Perhaps I should tell you how she was found...brutally assaulted and...violated! As for your idea of justice....fahhh!" She waves her dagger over her head. "I have seen justice or the lack thereof practiced! If I had brough this matter to the proper authorities, they would have taken their own sweet time...investigating this matter! Meanwhile her MURDERER sails off, free to savage another young girl! Have you no COMPASSION??!"

She pauses then, trying to control her temper here. "Now I ask you one last time. Will you help me or not?"

"You've a blood-covered dagger in your hand and you want us to just take you at your word?" Carridan shakes his head, "Even if what you're saying is true, I'll not help you become the very kind of person you hate. Where would it end? You avenge your sister, that man's brother then avenges him. His victim's family wants further bloody justice... no, lady. No."

Carmina sighs. Why did they insist on making matters harder than they need to be? "Carridan, could you please calm down a little?" she says, sounding more than a little annoyed. "No-one would pay as much as Horven saw her do just for an opportunity to kill someone like Chebby unless they've been seriously wronged. If what she says is true – and I do believe it is – then I will not rat on her because I would do the same myself!" She takes a moment to calm herself down and bring her voice down before she wakes up the rest of the ship. "Now, let's just take it easy for a second, all right?" she says, having noticed both Dialla's reckless dagger-waving and Carridan's clenched fist. "I don't like it when fights break out and I can't take part. It's dull."

Horven couldn't stand by and let this escalate, so he steps in front of Dialla and the others. "Gared, you know better than anyone else what happens if we let crimes go unpunished. I still remember the courthouse. I don't want coin or treasure from this, but give this woman some peace of mind. This really isn't our business to begin with. I say we go back to sleep and forget this ever happened. If we ever see you again, Dialla, with blood on your hands, we will be at odds. Go with the gods and may they forgive you."

The halfling looks to the others to see their reactions.

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Carridan shakes his head, "I already looked the other way when you let that undead horror continue to walk free. I'll not turn aside in the face of bald murder, Horven. I agreed to work with you to help people, not- not to play accomplice to assassinations!" Carridan's face is hard as stone.

"Gentlemen." Yamyra's voice assumes a firmer, more secure tone. Turning to Carridan, "Esti o deschizatoare de drumuri acum. Noi nu judecăm, nu condamnăm, noi nu ne asumăm superioritate morală asupra altora. Am explora. Noi cooperăm. Prezentam."
Setting a hand on his arm, she softens, slightly, "Dacă sunteți atât de mișcat de conștiință, procedați la fel de mult."
"Nu-mi place să permită o crimă pentru a merge fără răspuns, fie, dar nu avem încă să știm acuratețea real, sau inexactitatea, de cuvintele ei."
Her composure having returned in the course of acting to smooth over her own companion's disagreements, Yamyra returns her attention to Dialla. "We do have Compassion. What we don't have, is facts in support of your tale. It would speak more highly to your character had you offered those in purchase of our silence than..." Her face scrunches up as she wrestles between her normally non-combative nature & genuine disgruntlement, "base coin'."

Carridan rips his hand away from Yamyra's touch, his face darkening further with frustration. "Don't touch me! And- and stop talking down to everyone like you're better than them!" He points a weathered, calloused finger at the halfling's nose, "You're wrong." He turns to Carmina and then Horven, pointing at each and repeating in turn, "You're wrong. And you're wrong!" He voices takes a tone of sadness with Horven, but it only slightly colors his otherwise increasingly angry tone.

Spinning back to Dialla, "If murdering that man and avenging your sister was all you really cared about, then you shouldn't mind being taken into custody. Justice, as you see it, has already been done hasn't it?!" At this point, the normally soft-spoken Carridan's voice hits a wrathful pitch and the winds shift slightly, carrying on them the subtle scent of a storm.

Horven lets out an exasperated 'pfah' and looks at Carridan. "And what justice will be done, Carridan? She'll hang off this ship and us along with her. What's done is done. Either we make this our business and set aside our given task or we go about our business . I don't believe in bloody revenge but I don't think that a difference will be made here. If you'll excuse me, I need to get some more sleep. Sort this out if you wish, but I'll not have it be a point of contention between us. The dangers we face ahead will be nothing compared to this, if the Crow was any indication of what we must go through. I will pick my fights and this shall not be one of them."

Horven storms off, heading back down below deck and back to sleep.

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"If it were Gared's blood on her knife would you slink back to bed?!"

"If Gared were a murderer! But I know him better than I know you, Carridan!" Horven yells, quite irate at this point.

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"And do you know the man she just murdered better than me? NO!" Carridan's ire hits its peak and his words flow from him rapidly and with a smooth cadence, totally unlike his normal lilting, hesitant speech. "Yamyra's right in saying that we know ONE thing right now, Horven - this woman is a murderer. You presume the dead guilty of all she claims. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. If she had the right to avenge her sister, than doesn't her victim's brother now have the same right to avenge him? Do the foul hearted have any less a right to live than those who are good?" He turns once more to the woman, the blood on the knife's edge standing out sharply in the light of his lantern. "I joined these people with the promise that I'd be able to heal people. While you have seen to it that this man is beyond my ability to help, I will not be your accomplice. You can surrender yourself to the captain and weather what judgment she sees fit or you can try and stop me from going to her." His eyes flash in the lantern light even as his voice carries over the darkened waves.

"Do as you like, but don't involve me," Horven says with a tone of finality as leaves.

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Gared's face was pained as he listened to his companions voice their opinions, parts of each of their arguments and perspectives resonating with him even as the conflict between those he cared for wounded him. The dwarf shook his head as Horven stormed off, and he raised a hand to the druid as the halfling did so. "Enough. Let him go." Gared stepped towards the man and gently but firmly put a hand on his shoulder, meeting the man's gaze. The dwarf's eyes were filled with a haunted sorrow, and his voice mirrored the emotion they betrayed. "I know. I'm with you." The archer's empathy was deep, and his face spoke what his lips did not. I understand... it said, and then with a squeeze of Carridan's shoulder, the dwarf turned about again. Now Gared's face was stone, and though there was a still a sorrow there, it was a grim sort that was accompanied by fire. With conflict between his friends, the dwarf's disciplined control of his words faltered, and a thick dwarven accent again accompanied his words as he addressed Dialla.

"When Carmina be sayin' that she might be doin' the same if she found herself in yer shoes, there's some wisdom there. I canno' be knowin' yer suffering that brought you to the point where ye decided to take another's life, though I've been being to that point meself..." The dwarf shook his head regretfully. "But me sympathies end when the safety o' me friends is tested. Ye failed to carry out yer vengeance without involving me and me kin, n' now our fate be tied to yer own. If we be aidin' ye and ye're found out, we're set to share in yer punishment, and our work n' our lives be too important t' risk t' be shieldin' some poor girl who's acted out o' vengeance. I'll be puttin' in a good word fer ye with the capt'n, but I be fer lettin' 'em know the truth o' the matter." The dwarf sighed and gave an apologetic look to Carmina and Yamyra before he motioned for Carridan to head towards the captains quarters. The dwarf's eyes then turned to Dialla to see what the woman would do.

Okay I am going to assume Carmina and Yamyra are staying behind here with Gared to watch Dialla, while Carridan is finding the Captain. Let me know if this is not correct, and I can retcon this.

As Horven storms off, leaving Carridan to find the Captain on his own, Gared watches to see what Dialla does. She looks back at where Carridan disappeared, before turning a hard gaze back to Gared. "I am truly sorry you will not see things my way. I will not let you turn me over to the Captain, or anyone else for that matter." She says as she steps against the deck railing and starts chanting softly under her breath.

Round 1: Yamyra, Gared, Dialla, Carmina.

OK, you are currently about 15 feet away from her, and it is dark outside so if you do not have darkvision or low-light vision then she does have concealment.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

"Well now, that simplifies matters." Yamyra comments as she recognizes Dialla's spell. "Somewhat," she clarifies, shrugging. "I don't know how long it will last you, so I would recommend you take advantage of the confusion to see if you can't hide somewhere until matters calm down. It seems unlikely the Captain will allow a single watch for the rest of the night, but this is a largish ship and I would hope you had the sense to find yourself a bolt-hole in case you found yourself needing one."
Shaking her head, Yamyra looks to the others, "She's going to disappear. I'm going to hope she has supped enough blood tonight not to hunger for more."

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Gared noted the spell and moved quickly, dropping his bow and pulling out his net as he closed the distance between them, but pointedly did not throw the thing as Dialla finished her spell. Readied action to throw the net at Dialla should she make any offensive action.

"Looks like yer magic was a bit too fast fer us this time, Dialla. Best not to roll those dice again."

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Carmina recognizes the spell just moments before Dialla disappears from their sight. "Well, that's a nice spell," she remarks, feeling the need to add something to the discussion.

While Yamyra and Gared ready themselves for an attack, Dialla finishes her spells and, as expected, fades from view. This action does not trigger Gared's readied action.

As you wait to see what the murderess will do, you all hear a voice echoing softly from near you. "I shall assume Chebby's form and then disappear once we reach Korvosa. No one will be the wiser."

Feel free to post any responses here to her. If you agree to let her go, then I will move things along.

"Good luck," Carmina says to the disembodied voice, then turns around and yawns. "I think that I'll be going back to my bed. Wake me up if anyone else gets murdered."

OK I think it is time to wrap this up.

Carridan is steered over to the Captain's cabin, where his report of a murder onboard is met with a healthy dose of skepticism. However, when she sees the bloodstain on the deck, she sings a different tune. "What happened here?"

After explaining to the Captain what Dialla told you, she mutters a curse under her breath. "By the Hells, search the ship from stem to stern! See if you can find them!" A search verifies both Dialla and Chebby are missing, as well as one of the longboats.

"By Gozreh's teeth, Now I will have to find a replacement in Korvosa! That will set us back...we have to get this shipment to Kaer Maga." She turns to address you now. "I suppose I should thank you for warning us about her, but I am disappointed you could not stop her from escaping. I do not tolerate wanton slaughter on my ship!"

Unable to do anything else further, the Wanton Ways continues on her way...

OK, feel free to interject here. I will post again this evening.

Carridan shoots the others a wounded look as it becomes clear Dialla escaped. Too upset and frustrated to start another argument, he searches for the murderer on his own before at last giving up with a dejected shake of his head.

He spends the rest of the night on the deck of the ship, wondering to himself why people seemed eager to accept his help but then seemed so unwilling to offer their own in return. The thoughts are sobering and more than once the druid contemplates taking flight and returning to his home in the forest.

Gared followed the druid as he went off looking for Dialla. "Ye be wanting some help? Me eyes might be better off than yers in this dark." The dwarf's expression was serious and empathetic as he considered the man.

Carridan looks at Gared, his expression one of weary sadness, "Is she even here any more or did you help lower her down to the skiff yourself once I'd left?"

Despite the heightened tensions between the crew and the party, nothing else happens during the rest of your journey. At dawn on the second day, the Wanton Ways reaches the Lady’s Cape. The Lady’s Light rises majestically and eerie above the morning fog.

Captain Fessender anchors offshore just to the north of the Cape itself, and helps you unload all of your supplies and mounts onto the lone remaining longboat. The Wanton Ways can’t approach the Cape itself due to the reefs, so the crew sets you ashore just to the north and wishes all of you good luck.

Glancing about you and consulting your map, you see the hook-like peninsula that makes up the area around the Lady’s Light is a combination of relatively open salt marsh, thickly vegetated swampland, and a few hilly regions. To the south you note a small hut on an island to the south of you. It looks like you could follow the beach around the Cape itself to reach the makeshift bridge that leads to the island.

Given what transpired the other night, Horven remains quiet, letting the others decide the path to follow.

So is my first retraining done, Eric?

Horven: Your first training will be completed tomorrow.

Gotcha.

As Carridan and the others disembark, the haggard man, still obviously uncomfortable on the boat, shakes the captain's hand and adds softly, "Thank you, Captain, and I'm- I'm sorry I couldn't help Chebby." He nods as he departs, his shoulders bunched with self-inflicted guilt.

After their feet are once more on solid ground and the group surveys the area, Carridan points to the hut. "Perhaps whoever lives there could help us get to the Lady's Light? Or at least suggest a safer course to take?" His posture, even now, already seems more relaxed and at ease than it was just a few minutes prior aboard the boat.

Nodding in contemplation of Carridan's words, Yamyra turns to Jasper. "Are you acquainted with any of the inhabitants of the area?"

Jasper stares around him in a state of almost catatonic wonder as he looks about him at the what you must assume is familiar territory for the unhinged priest. Yam'yra's words seem to shake him out of his spell. "Aye two tribes ...boggards of Baladab Souko and the troglodytes who call themselves the Children of Zevgavizeb. Ware both tribes, yet I be OK to deal with 'em."

"Sooo... not acquainted with who might live here..." Yamyra drawls ironically as she points to the hut to the south of them.

Jasper stares at the diminutive halfling uncomprehendingly, before her words finally register. "Hut be place where Maroux be! And that be where Maroux is place!"