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So I’ve been meaning to put this up for a couple of weeks now, but haven’t had a lot of time between working on new things for the Archives, my regular job, and running games. Now that a few things have opened up, I thought I’d go ahead and transfer some of this over.
I’ve been running Council of Thieves now for a few weeks. Thanks to the idea of “Party Roles” from a Kingmaker thread, the players in my game have been motivated to do more out of game contributions, including taking turns with a regular story log of the game. This will be a thread to post those story logs in, for any who are interested in reading.
In addition, I’ll be posting my own thoughts with each log, tips on running that part of the session, experiences we had, and other information for prospective GMs of Council of Thieves.
I’ll start off with Session One in this post and will throw up the next two when I get the chance (maybe soon, maybe not).
Enjoy!
GM: Blake “Nethys” Davis
Lyra: Matt
Lyra is a female half-elf sorcerer 1. She took the Undead bloodline and her background involves the Foxglove family and being subjected to strange tests at an early age, giving her the bloodline. She was shipped off to Westcrown by a sister jealous of her powers and now has taken an interest in ridding the city of the shadow beasts.
Kindrus : Chuck
Kindrus is a male human (Chelish) fighter 1. He is the member of a now dead Noble House from Westcrown that was destroyed when he was in another country. He has been living under a false name and seeks information on restoring his House.
Malcolm Gray : Josh
Malcolm is a male human (Chelish) oracle of lore 1. He was cursed with blindness at a young age but was constantly interested in knowledge. He studied at the Diamond Academy in Absalom before taking an interest in the Pathfinder Society. He was sent back to Westcrown, home of his birth, to dig up information on Delvehaven for an unknown Pathfinder contact.
Sigvald : David
Sigvald is a male human (Chelish) inquisitor of Irori 1. He is from a smaller Noble family that has long worshipped Irori. He sees Irori as the perfect human, pure and without fault. He strives to shape himself in this sense, but as a result also sees non-humans as less than him, becoming somewhat of a racist.
Player Intro: Recruiting Lyra – Written by Blake
An abandoned building in Rego Cader, about five blocks north of the Obrigan Gate
Lyra grumbled in her sleep, tossing and turning under the rag that she had snatched for a makeshift blanket. Her dreams were plagued with visions of undead, of shadows, and of pain. Out of the darkness came two skeletons, laughing at her. They stopped the cackling, one of them poking at her, Lyra unable to turn away.
“Are you sure this is who Arael meant Tarv? She just looks like another gutter-rat,” one of the skeletons said, looking closely at her. Lyra blinked her eyes and watched as the skeletons began to slowly change, twisting and turning until they became closer to two people standing over her.
“Yes, he said she’d be here. Some kind of arcanist… I don’t see a familiar or a spellbook though…” The girl, Lyra could see she was a girl now, leaned down closer and a lock of curly hair spilled out of her hood. “Hey, you awake?” Lyra finally woke up completely and shot backwards with a start, glaring at these two newcomers. She could see them much better now. Both of them were wearing hooded cloaks that obscured most of their faces. Lyra could only tell what the woman leaning over her looked like, and she was definitely pretty. Curly hair, something glittering back in the hood, probably earrings of some kind, and sparkling blue eyes flashing with a light that was not any normal hue. Magic perhaps? The other one was very muscular, his hand lightly hovering over a large hammer that hung at his side. His hands were smeared with grease and soot and a dirty leather apron could be seen between the edges of his cloak. Before she could get a better look at the woman’s face, the unknown woman took a step back.
“Guess so… sorry to wake you, we just wanted to make sure we had the right person.” The woman looked her over before nodding to herself, apparently satisfied at some inward conclusion. She then reached into her pocket and fished out a note, dropping it at the floor between her and Lyra. “A friend of ours, Janiven, wants to meet you. To talk to you about the…,” her voice dropped quickly and she and the larger man looked around before she continued, “…shadows in the night. If you’re as interested as us in getting rid of them, then follow the note.” The woman smiled and took a step closer, in what seemed like an attempt to reassure her before the larger one grabbed her arm.
“Tarv, let’s go, this one creeps me out.” The woman shot an annoyed glance at the man before she sighed and nodded. The two of them turned and began to leave, but the woman stopped at the door, hesitating for one moment. She turned around. “We can change this city.” With that, she stepped out and closed the door. The note she had dropped lay in front of Lyra, a time and place written on it.
“Vizio’s Tavern, 147 Iondu Street, Scribe Sector. Rova 19th. –J”
Player Intro: Recruiting Kindrus – Written by Blake
A small bar in Rego Crua
The pickings for work this time of year were few, and Khereden, now called Kindrus, found himself taking a short job as a bouncer outsider a rather seedy bar. Few Hellknights and Dottari came around these parts and, except for the occasional drunk, things were quiet. There was a decent crowd tonight and the girls were keeping most of the regulars happy. It wasn’t great work, but it was work.
A few hours into his shift, Kindrus found that he had some company outside. A younger Varisian man was leaning up against the building. No real weapon he could see, which was strange in this part of town, just some warm clothes and a colorful scarf. Kindrus kept an eye on him, but the man didn’t seem to be doing any harm.
“You know, I think you’re the one my boss told me to come find,” the man said, his head now turned in Kindrus’s direction. He cocked an eyebrow and stayed silent, looking back at this newcomer. “He told me to tell you that there’s some work if you’re interested. It doesn’t pay much, but should leave you pretty satisfied.” Kindrus shook his head and went back to ignoring the man. He got job offers all the time from people that couldn’t pay, he wasn’t about to fall for another one. The Varisian leaned back up off the wall and walked over, reaching over to hand Kindrus a piece of paper. “If you’re interested, follow the message. Janiven will be happy to see you.” The young man started to walk away as Kindrus began to crumple the paper up, before he stopped and spoke again.
“Oh, my boss told me to tell you something else, though I’m not sure I really get it myself. ‘We can help you find answers for your House and Home.’” With that, the Varisian shrugged and walked off down an alleyway.
ON THE NOTE
Vizio’s Tavern, 147 Iondu Street, Scribe Sector. Rova 19th, 4:00. –J
Player Intro: Recruiting Malcolm – Written by Blake
A crowded tavern in Rego Pena
Malcolm sipped at the grimy water in front of him, grimacing at its taste. He looked out from the corner booth, trying to find the person he had come to meet. He had finally received a letter from his contact in the Pathfinders after months of waiting, telling him to meet a young man named Sclavo at this place and time. Malcolm had to admit, he was a little nervous. He had been looking into reasons behind why Delvehaven had been shut down for over 6 months now, and had little more information than when he began. All he could gather is that it seemed to have been sealed twice. Once by the Pathfinders, re-open by a sect of Thrune Pathfinders, and then sealed shut again by the House of Thrune. Past that, all of the information was marred by red tape. He still had no idea why these groups shut it down to begin with.
Malcolm was startled out of his thoughts as a young man sat down in the booth opposite of him. The man did not look at all what Malcolm had imagined. He was Garundi, with very dark skin, short and cropped white hair, and glittering bright blue eyes. Beyond that, he was dressed quite nicely in Chelaxian fashion, making for a very bizarre contrast. The man extended his hand and shook Malcolm’s quickly with a firm grip.
“Malcolm Gray, am I right?” he started, his accent not as thick as his face would make it seem. “My name is Sclavo, I was sent to meet you by a mutual friend of ours named Janiven. I’m sorry I can’t stay long and talk,” his voice dropped to a quieter tone, “but what she has to talk about cannot be done in public.” He fetched a small piece of paper out of his pocket and slid it towards Malcolm.
“Come to the address on this paper at the specified time. Janiven will have more information for you then about your…” he hesitated, looking for the right word, “…organization.” Sclavo smiled widely, his bright teeth contrasting with his dark skin as he reached forward to shake Malcolm’s hand again. “It was a pleasure to meet you, I’m certain we’ll see each other again soon.” With that last bit said, Slavo stood and left, leaving Malcolm alone once more with the note.
Vizio’s Tavern, 147 Iondu Street, Scribe Sector. Rova 19th, 4:00. –J
Player Intro: Recruiting Sigvald – Written by Blake
A small bar in Rego Pena
Sigvald looked down at the mess that this place called ‘soup’ and scowled. The Halflings who served at his family’s home made better looking grub when they scrubbed their hands off into the sink. He looked around, trying to find the contact he was supposed to meet. He had made his inquiries quietly, placing money in the right places, not wanting to suffer the same fate as those his family had sent out before him. He had received a note earlier this morning at the house, telling him to be here at this hour if he wanted more information. Still, no sign of the contact yet.
He grumbled and spooned a bit of the mess out of his bowl, sniffing it distastefully. When Sigvald looked back up, he was surprised to see a woman sitting opposite him. Thin and wiry, she looked more like a scullery maid than anything else. At least she was human, and Chelish by her appearance.
“Considering you’re the only one in here without facial hair, I’m guessing your Sigvald.” Her voice had a bit of a deep tone to it, gravelly like the earth. Sigvald nodded quietly, casually glancing around to see if she had brought any friends. There was a newcomer that stood near the bar, watching the table, probably a bodyguard of some sort. He had the stench of the sea coming off of him, and what looked like a pair of well-used axes hanging at his sides. Sigvald turned back to the woman, who was fishing out a piece of paper and sliding it in front of him.
“Come to the address on that note in two days. Our friend, Janiven, wants to meet you for an early dinner at 4:00. We’re as interested in certain ‘disbanded’ groups as you are.” Looking around, the woman motioned to the fish-smelling man at the bar and the two of them quickly departed. Sigvald snatched the note and unfolded it.
Vizio’s Tavern, 147 Iondu Street, Scribe Sector. Rova 19th, 4:00. –J
Player Chronicle – Written by Josh (Malcolm), Edited by Blake
I was startled out of his thoughts as a young man sat down in the booth opposite of me. The man did not look at all what I had imagined. He was Garundi, with very dark skin and short, cropped white hair. His eyes were alert to his surroundings but seemed to be laughing at some joke at the same time. Beyond that, he was dressed quite nicely in Chelaxian fashion, making for a very bizarre contrast. Most non-Chelaxians in such nice attire wear the mark of the house they are affiliated with but I couldn’t see any. He extended his hand in and gave a firm shake.
“Malcolm Gray, am I right?” he started, his accent not as thick as his face would make it seem. “My name is Sclavo, I was sent to meet you by a mutual friend of ours named Janiven. I’m sorry I can’t stay long and talk,” his voice dropped to a quieter tone, “but what she has to talk about cannot be done in public.” “But who-“ I started, but he held up a hand before I could continue. He fetched a small piece of paper out of his pocket and slid it towards me. “Come to the address on this paper at the specified time. Janiven will have more information for you then about your…” he hesitated, looking for the right word, “…organization.” Sclavo smiled widely, his bright teeth contrasting with his dark skin as he reached forward to shake my hand again. “It was a pleasure to meet you, I’m certain we’ll see each other again soon.” I made some small protests about him not actually telling me anything but he was already up and walking out. Frustrated, I glanced at the note, (Vizio’s Tavern, 147 Iondu Street, Scribe Sector. Rova 19th, 4:00. –J). I remembered what Vizio’s Tavern used to be, it was a hole in the wall kind of place, mostly frequented by merchant guards. The head of the family running it had died a few weeks before I got back into town and the surviving family had left to live with some other relatives. It had stood abandoned ever since.
I left and asked around to see if anyone had taken a new interest in it. It was, apparently, owned by some unknown human and a half elf and no word on when it will reopen. The woman was probably this Janiven that Sclavo mentioned. She is a well known bodyguard/guide to the city, getting hired by outside merchants when they visit to keep them safe from the thugs, as well as keep the dangers of the shadow beasts far away from them. What she wants with me is a complete mystery.
And to make things more worrying this Sclavo is a complete unknown. He’s either very good at hiding who he is or he really is just nobody of importance. And his involvement with Janiven leaves an even bigger hole. I can’t learn anything else from asking around so the only other recourse is to go see her.
I arrived at the appointed time at Vizio’s Tavern. It was hard to tell the place was even about to open. No sign out front, no people moving in food stocks or furniture, nothing. Stepping in I noticed two people already there. They were both human men and an interesting contrast. They shared the similarity in being well armored, wearing spiked gauntlets, with longswords at their sides and shields on their backs. The difference came in their appearance. One of them, who I later learned to be Kindrus, was very ragged in his appearance. The armor and sword were visibly well used and his hair was smeared with bits of dirt. The other one, Sigvald, was the complete opposite. He had striking blue eyes, black hair that he kept neat and short and clean shaven. His clothes fit him properly and were free of dirt, stains and tears.
“Greetings”, I said approaching them both. “Sigvald.” The clean one said. “What?” “My name is Sigvald.” “Oh.” I said in understanding. “Yes, I am Malcolm Gray.” “Name’s Kindrus.” the other said, smiling while shaking my hand. “And Janiven?”, I asked. “In here.” I heard from the kitchen. “Sit down; I’m preparing some food now. And there should be one other on the way.” I sat down as Sigvald said, “So what the Hells is up with your eyes?” “My eyes?” I asked, puzzled. “Oh yes!” My eyes had glowed with a golden internal luminescence since I was 14. I didn’t even notice it anymore. “This happened when I was a teenager. I had been struck blind as a child, but one day my sight suddenly returned at the same time my eyes began to glow.” I was in lecture mode now, so I was able to relax. “The cause of my returned sight as well as the glow is still unknown. I have hypothesized that arcane means, possible even divine intervention, is the reason for the return of my sight, but no-“ “Ok, s+&~, I was just curious.” Sigvald said throwing his hands up in the air. “You don’t need to tell me your life story.”
Kindrus laughed. “Well this just got interesting, to say the least.” A loud banging drew our attention as a woman clomped through the door. She was a short and willowy half elf, rare enough around here, but the most striking thing was a vicious scar across her otherwise beautiful pale face, that started at her brow then slashed down across a scarred over hole where her left eye used to be. Her clothing was disheveled and seemed to be a cobbled together mess of whatever was still wearable. She glared around as she tossed a backpack she was carrying to the floor. “Alright, where is he? Let’s get this over with, how much do you want to cover my debts?” I looked around confused. “Debts? I don’t know anything about debts.” I said. “Wait, you aren’t here for the money I owe him?” she said, looked confused. “No.” “Oh well never mind then.” She slumped into a nearby chair. “Who do you owe money?” I asked. “Nothing. Forget about it.” She sank further into her chair. “So who set up this s%&!?” “That would be me.”
A woman stepped from the kitchen, carrying a tray covered in plates, with freshly cooked fish. She was of average height and build with neatly trimmed brown hair framing a tired face. She was prettier then most, but not a classical beauty. Her sharp features told the tale of someone who was used to stressed times, and constant alertness. “As you have all probably guessed by now, I’m Janiven” she said, placing the plates in front of us. “Eat up, we have much to discuss.”
“Okay”, I said as we ate. The dinner was short and quiet, the half-elf diving into her food while the rest of us ate at a normal pace. Sigvald seemed to pick at his food, constantly searching for napkins to wipe the grime off. After dinner, Janiven cleared the plates and returned. “So what is all this about? We’re all here for different reasons it seems but you seem to think we all have a common interest. What is that interest?” I asked.
“Freedom” she put bluntly. “Again, thank you for agreeing to meet with me here.” Janiven stood up, took a deep breath, and continued. “I have chosen each of you for a singular reason—everyone here, myself included, has suffered, whether we realize it or not. I have lived in Westcrown my whole life, and although I love this city, I must admit, as must you, that despite our peace and prosperity, we continue to suffer.” She walked over to the window, taking a cautious peer out from the slats as she spoke. “Fear should not be an expected part of life, and yet each night brings fear to our doorsteps. Yes, Westcrown has been safe from war and famine for nearly seventy years, and yes, our businesses has prospered—but this safety and prosperity has been bought in the coinage of fear and prayers to Hell. Other lands live free from tyranny. Other cities do not fear the night. Other governments do not cede the streets to monsters of the infernal shadows. Westcrown was once such a place, and she wants to be such a place again. Westcrown is not only her buildings and canals and docks and history—she is also her people. Westcrown is our friends and neighbors, our mothers and fathers, our siblings and cousins, our sons and daughters! With but a small group of supporters and dedicated brothers and sisters, we can earn the trust and admiration of those people. A Westcrown free of these shadowy beasts that stalk our streets is one step closer to a Westcrown free of the devil that is the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune!” She slammed her first into the table for emphasis.
I only had a few seconds to process this before a youth burst through the door. He seemed no older than 13 and was panting with exertion. “Janiven! They got Arael!” he yelled, stumbling into Janiven in his hurry. “They’re right outside!” “Whoa, whoa slow down.” she said handing him a glass of water, forcing him to sit down and catch his breath. “Who’s Arael?” I asked confused. She hesitated a second. “Our leader. I’m his second.” “They caught him.” the youth continued to gasp out. “Who caught him? Who is outside?” He turned his terrified gaze to her, some how looking even more scared. “The Hellknights.”
Here, dear reader, there is probably a need for some explanation. The Hellknights are the most effective law bringers in all of Golarion. But this effectiveness is because of the one thing that causes most to fear them, even those on the side of justice: ruthlessness. They hunt and persecute all law breakers. And I mean all, accidental, incidental, or deliberate, you will be hunted down and punished equally. Even in this, however, there is a multitude of methods howeverThere are many orders in the Hellknights, but only one is relevant in our case. The Order of the Rack. Their stronghold is based just outside our fair city. Their driving desire: to seek out any idealists and free-thinkers that might turn to rebels and squash the ideas before they can bloom. You now see why we were, figuratively speaking, s*@%ting our pants.
“Is there a back door?” Kindrus said readying his shield. “No but I’ve got something better.” Janiven ran into the back room as we readied our weapons and followed. Lyra was cussing impressively as she ran after. Kindrus’ normal smile disappeared behind a solemn expression. Sigvald was the most surprising, his face leeching of all emotion, but his body tensed to fight. I readied my own shield and flexed my hand inside my gauntlet to make sure nothing would catch. As we prepared Janiven moved to the stove and remove a panel showing a hidden cache. “Thank god I planned for this.” she said. “You planned for Hellknights to surround the building forcing us to use your secret escape tunnel?” I said perplexed. “What an oddly specific eventuality to plan for. Oh well, it seems to have helped in this situation.” She gave me an incredulous stare as she handed out some glass vials to each of us. “These can heal your wounds, but it’s all I’ve got. Now help me.” She motioned to stove which we pushed aside revealing a hidden door in the floor. “This leads into the sewers” she said opening it. Sigvald wrinkled his nose in disgust. “And I just had this outfit cleaned,” he mumbled. “It’s either this or the Hellknights outside.” We climbed in.
Once in she closed the hatch. She grabbed and lit a torch from a alcove in the wall. “It’ll take them a few minutes to find it. We need to use that time to get out of here.” Stepping past us, she motioned at the wall just above the waterline. “Do you see that?” Looking closely I said, ”There appears to be some kind of sword etching in the wall. What does it mean?” “The swords are actually arrows. They’ll lead you to our safe house. It’s in an old temple dedicated to Aroden.” “You aren’t coming with us?” Lyra asked confused. “No, I can move faster taking another route, and we should try to split the Hellknights up as much as possible. Just following the arrows and you’ll be fine.”
With that she and the youth left us. “Well this has been an inauspicious start.” “Shut up Malcolm.” Sigvald said. “I’m just saying it could have gone better.” “Well it’s what we’re stuck with.” Kindrus said hefting a torch and starting forward. “Come on, we need to be long gone before they find this place.” We fell in to step Kindrus leading the way, with me directly behind him scanning the darkness outside of the torch radius.
Again, dear readers, I feel I must stop and explain. As I mentioned earlier, my eyes are far from normal. They were once blind, but can again see, and as I mentioned they glow. Something that I haven’t mentioned though is what they let me see. I can now see in the dark, unlike other humans, but this is merely a by product of what is really occurring. When you look around yourself you see what is happening right then. What I see is everything that could happen.
As I perceive things further and further from my body I see them explode into a kaleidoscope of choices. These choices are relatively simple: blink or not blink, pick something up with your right hand instead of your left, and so on. But the further away something occurs the further ahead in time I can see it occur: blinking a half second sooner keeps you from getting that bug that flew at you out of your eyes, or you blink to late and have an unfortunate circumstance. Pick up a fork with your left hand and knock over your glass, or use your right and avoid it. But there is a limit to what I can see. 0.793 seconds into the future or 29.8 feet away to be exact. Beyond that choices and consequences overlap making things impossible to make out.
Now, dear reader, I hope this doesn’t worry you. While I can see your immediate future I am no seer or fortune teller. Events still occur too fast for me to do anything more than react. Maybe someday it will approach that point but I’m getting even more off topic now.
We walked along, following the marks in the wall at each intersection in the tunnel. “I hope this is worth it.” Sigvlad said trying his best to keep any water from splashing onto his clothing. “Would you rather we had stayed and fought off all of the Hellknights?” Kyra said mockingly. “No, but it’s still horrible.” I ignored their bickering looking for the next marker. Suddenly, up ahead I spotted something just before the torchlight fell over it. It was a mushroom, approximately 2 feet tall. (A fascinating specimen) I thought to myself, (but why have no creatures down here eaten it for sustenance?) My question was soon answered as the wave created from our passage lapped against it. A high pitched shriek filled the air as the fungus seemed to come alive and writhe. “What the f~~@ is that?!?” Sigvlad yelled in astonishment covering his ears. “I don’t know,” Kindrus countered, stepping forward, “but it’s giving away our position.”
Kindrus stepped forward, hacking it to pieces. “Did we stop it in time?” Lyra asked while rubbing her ears. “Shh!” Sigvald said, motioning for quiet. “Hear that?” Around a bend in the tunnel we heard it. “What was that, Captain?” “Maybe the insurgents. Let’s investigate. Everyone be alert.” Clanking from around the corner came three Hellknights. My heart leapt into my throat. We wouldn’t be able to take on one, let alone three. It was then I noticed their armor. At first glance it appeared to be the armor of the Order of the Rack, but looking closer I could see that it was actually just partial plates over linked chains instead of the full plated suits that Hellkinghts usually wear. “Armigers.” Sigvald said, grinning. “These we can fight. Just don’t kill them, it’ll cause twenty different kinds of problems we don’t need right now.” Surging forward he and Kindrus struck at them with their swords while Kyra flung small bolts of ice at one that was hanging back with his crossbow.
I am ill suited to such combat tactics. I have no spells for summoning fire or transforming into a great beast. However, one of my areas of study while in Absolam was what to do when drawn into a fight you can not avoid. One such as me would normally learn to rely on my individual spells and abilities. Instead, from careful study as well as specialized training at the Diamond Adventuring Academy in Absalom, I taught myself to create openings. I took full advantage of this training pushing the Armigers off balance and swiping at their eyes with my gauntlet. While I did not harm with any of these attacks the true purpose was to keep them open, and it worked well as Kindrus struck at an Armiger’s side while I pushed his sword aside. Sigvald, likewise, dispatched his adversaries. Acting quickly I healed their injuries enough to make sure they would not perish but not enough that they would be able to rise and fight again.
Lyra was able to fell her opponent after which Sigvald reached out and magically stabilized his condition. (Divine powers.) I thought. (But what is their source? I see no holy symbol and he has no marked disfigurement like I do.) Sigvald noticed me looking at him but pretended not to notice. Before I could say anything Kindrus spoke up, “We need to move. We don’t know how spread out they have become, and we want to confront as few of them as possible.” He downed one of the potions that Janiven had given him. Sigvald and I were quickly searching our opponents. “They’ve got some potions as well, just like the ones we got from Janiven. And the symbol on the wall says to go the way they just came so let’s get going”, Sigvald said, starting forward. I made a note to ask him about his abilities the next chance I had.
As we continued on we stumbled across another patch of the shrieking mushrooms. We were ready for them this time to and silenced them much faster. We paused, but there seemed to no one around that had taken notice. That is until the water erupted next to me and a goblin, covered in some sort of filthy camouflage, slashed at me with a crudely made dagger. “You fall into G+**yoo’s trap!” it shrieked. It stabbed at me ineffectually with its weapon. I silenced it with a punch to its temple. “You know things are going to Hell when goblins show up.” Sigvald said in disgust, turning away. I sighed, trying to shake off the filth now coating my gauntlet.
“What is that?” Kindrus exclaimed. He pointed with his sword to a strange creature directly ahead of us. It was about the size of a cat, bulbous and bloated, standing on four stubby legs and looking like a combination of the worst aspects of a snail and a leech. It bobbed it’s antennae at us then made a low warbling sound. From around it a dozen more turned from the refuse they were gnawing on and began swarming forward. “Torbles!” yelled Sigvald. “Don’t let them bite you!” But they were already upon Kindrus biting with their hideous toothless maws. Where they connected metal and flesh both sizzled. Kindrus swore slicing them in half with one swing. We were able to dispatch them but I was forced to use my own divine abilities to heal our wounds and keep from using up our quickly dwindling supply of potions.
We had only taken a few steps when a sound caught our ears. It was a strange scraping sound, almost of stone on stone, followed by a rattle. (What could possibly cause I sound like that?) I thought. My question was quickly answered as a horror that all would recognize and fear stumbled around the nearby corner: an animated skeleton. Who it may have been in life was impossible to tell, it had been dead for so long, but its weapon, a pitted and rusted scimitar, while old, was still quite deadly. I stumbled back a stumble as Sigvald filled in the others on there weaknesses. I was only half listening as the abomination to all living things clacked toward us. Kindrus’ first was barely effective, with nothing truly substantial for his sword to catch on, and my brain finally kicked back on. “Smash them!” I yelled putting actions to my words and stepping forward and planting my gauntlet square into its ribs, creating a sizable hole. Understanding Kindrus dropped his sword and pummeled the skeleton with his own gauntlet. Soon it was again dead and unmoving. We moved on quickly, hoping it was the only of its kind in the sewers.
Finally, the arrows along the wall pointed upwards to a manhole above us. Kindrus unslung his shield and ascended the ladder, sword at the ready. Lifting the cover he gave a brief yelp and nearly tumbled back in dropping the cover. A muffled laughed could be heard on its other side. “It’s okay. Leatherface won’t bite you.” We heard. Grimacing, Kindrus reopened the hatch. Climbing out he said, “Well then next time don’t have your pet crocodile snout first at the only place your allies can pop out. I was about to come back out and hack it to pieces.” Confused I followed after. There was indeed a crocodile on the streets above us. A smaller and more than likely not full grown crocodile, but a crocodile nonetheless. A man with green hair stood nearby smiling. “Ah no worries, Leatherface is just a big old softy aintya boy?” the man said patting the creatures, Leatherface apparently, side and smiling. It growled in what I hoped was pleasure.
“I’m guessing that you’re with Janiven?” I said. “Yup, she’s inside. Come on.” He motioned toward the back entrance of what may have once been a beautiful temple but had long since fallen to disrepair. Pushing the door opened the green haired man stepped forward, Leatherface following behind. We entered a room packed full of a dozen people, many talking to each other. Other than Sclavo, who I noticed talking with an animated female gnome, I didn’t recognize any of them. “Ah, about time you showed up.” Janiven said rising from a nearby chair. She smiled saying “Welcome to the Children of Westcrown.” “What?” “It’s a working title.” She said. “A name for all of us. Everyone here”, she motioned at the group with her hand, “wants the same thing, to see Westcrown free.” “It’s good you finally showed.” she continued. “Run into any problems?”
“You could say that.” Sigvald laughed. “We ran into the Hellkinghts in the sewer.” All conversation stopped. “And you’re alive?” Janiven said an amazed look on her face. “There were not any fully trained Hellkinights.” Sigvald said taking Janiven’s empty seat. “They were squires, Armigers. None of the training or abilities of a true Hellknight.” Janiven relaxed “Oh, I ran into a few of them as well. Were you followed by them?” “No we were able to incapacitate them.” Kindrus said sheathing his blade. “How many?” “There were three, unless that skeleton used to be one as well.” “Skeleton? You ran into a skeleton down there?” Kindrus nodded. “Well you can definitely fight better than the others. They are mostly shopkeepers and workers, none of them are really trained for combat.” Janiven motioned to the others. “I don’t know how much help they will be getting Arael back so I’ll be relying on you quite a bit.”
“Get him back?” I asked confusedly. “He’s alive?” “Yes, the Knights caught him and are shipping him out to their fortress for interrogation. We know the path the coach will be taking but we need to hurry. Once he’s inside those walls there is no way we can get him out.” “Wait, what’s this ‘we’ stuff?” Lyra said stepping forward. “You four as well as a few others are going to come help me ambush them. We know how many will be there. The rest of us will draw off as many as we can while you free Arael. I’m needed to watch over the others to keep them safe but you can watch after yourselves.” Lyra waved her hands, “Now wait, I still haven’t agreed to this.” “But you’re involved anyways.” said Kindrus. “We only knocked them out but we will still become a target for attacking them.” Lyra grumbled at this and sat down. “Come on.” Janiven motioned. “We have an ambush to plan.”
I shifted in my position behind the boulder. We had quickly chosen our ambush point as well as the four that would come with us: Vitti, the green haired man we had met before, Gorvio, a horse trainer at his uncle’s stable, Larko, a dock worker armed to the teeth with axes, and Fiosa, a fiery Halfling woman with a mischievous grin. They had set up their own ambush point a few hundred feet from the road where they would lead off the Hellknight horsemen while we handled the rest.
I heard the coach approaching, clacking heavily over the ground, followed by what sounded like half a dozen or so horses. The clomp of the horses continued for a few seconds before startled yells showed the trap had been sprung. “Bandits? You four, go get them!” someone yelled in an authoritative voice. The neighing of the spooked horses was drowned out at as a large number of them ran off toward the others. Waiting a few more seconds I ducked out and sprinted toward the sounds. As the cart came into my vision I saw that there were still half a dozen Armigers with the cart, including one sitting behind a massive ballista bolted to the top. A man in full plate gestured empathically as I ran forward.
Lyra appeared in my vision and laid a hand onto one of the horses pulling the cart. It jerked back in fright and stopped looking ready to rear up at her. Three Armigers descended from the cart and swung at her. She fell under their blows. (S$~+.) I rushed forward, punching one of them while Kindrus drew the attention of the remaining men on the cart. A bolt whizzed past my head imbedding into the ballista. The man turned it toward where Sigvald was sniping from and launched his own attack. It flew out of my view and I heard it connect solidly with something that I hoped wasn’t Sigvald.
I shoved and punched the men around me trying to draw them away from Lyra. It worked, Kindrus running past them with a potion in his hand. I did my best to keep the others occupied but succeeded all too well. Their blows were getting past my shield and cutting into my unarmored limbs. I staggered under their blows until a final slash connected with my stomach causing me to pass out from the pain.
I awoke in a daze with Lyra standing above me shouting something I couldn’t make out. She looked tired and scared, and threw aside the empty potion she had used to revive me. From behind her a sword slashed down, cutting into her. She screamed and staggered off to the side. An Armiger was behind her, wounding but still fighting. I quickly stood and planted my fist square into his face. I surveyed the battlefield: most of the Armigers had fallen, save for one, as well as the man in full plate. Kindrus was keeping them occupied but even as I watched a lucky blow from Full Plate slipped past his guard smashing him in the face. He went down, but Sigvald quickly appeared, slashing and downing the last Armiger and drawing Full Plate’s attention.
I used the last of my spells to heal Lyra’s wound and ran over to the downed Kindrus stopping his bleeding with a basic cantrip. “Lyra! See if you can get him out!” I yelled pointing to the cart. Lyra nodded and ran toward the locked door. I ran over to Full Plate, his mace clearly keeping Sigvald on his toes. Sigvald slashed down his sword slipping between the gaps in Full Plate’s armor. “May Asmodeus take you!” he yelled, lifting a holy symbol from his throat. A wave of fire rolled out from him. It didn’t burn my flesh, but instead my soul, and I fell yet again under the onslaught.
I awoke yet again, but this time, an unfamiliar man stood above me. He was a half-elf, holding a holy symbol of Iomedae and smiling down at me. “Welcome back to the land of the living.” He said helping me to my feet. “Arael?” I asked. “Yes. There is little time for introductions, we must hurry.” He pointed off in the distance but I couldn’t see what at. “I’m sorry but my vision is limited, what are you indicating?” “The other Armigers were de-horsed but are quickly returning. We must make haste if we are to be gone by the time they come back.” I glanced around and noticed the others standing ready to go. I nodded and we started off at a brisk pace back to town.
GM Commentary – My players keep OUT
The first bit of our game was focused on introductions. I let the players arrive and talk to Janiven a but, but made her busy in the kitchen with preparing food so the players could talk to each other. Josh as Malcom was playing his character in a pretty amusing way, acting almost like an annoying robot as he answered everything literally and just badgered the others. David as Sigvald was as I expected, he kind of had his nose turned down towards the rest, though more particularly towards Lyra, being the only non-human at the table. Matt as Lyra was suspicious of everyone, and nearly attacked Sigvald a few times. Lastly was Chuck as Kindrus, who was going for Leadership later and had a decent Charisma. As a result, he tried to be friendly to most of the others while keeping a handle on any information that was spilled.
The intro with Janiven went well, the players were interested in the hook. When the Hellknights attacked, they were thoroughly frightened and wanted to GTFO. Lyra thought Janiven had set a trap at first, but went along anyways. Sigvald was the most reluctant to go into the sewer, but finally caved when the Hellknights nearly had gotten through the door.
The Sewers as a whole were… interesting. The first few encounters started off well, and the suspense was high as the PCs ran throughout the maze. As the book instructed, I needed to give them a certain amount of XP before they left. I used my Sewer Generating program (from another thread) to perfect this and kept generating a sewer until I got one that was pretty diverse and low on too many encounters. Still, it ended up dragging on. The first battle with the Hellknight Armigers was fun, and when the Goblin burst out Sigvald nearly went ape-s#&# on the poor thing “STUPID GOBLIN! HOW DARE YOU?!” Of course, the best part was in one of the Armiger battles. Kindrus and an Armiger were fighting with the Armiger on a few plans of wood, and Kindrus tried to chop through them. He sadly rolled too low to destroy it, but I figured a round of battle on it would cause them to break (not telling them that of course). As it turned out, both him and the Armiger moved off of it with Sigvald taking his spot on the boards. SPLOOSH. Prissy ‘want to be clean and pure all the time’ Inquisitor in the sewers. He was not happy.
The players were excited to finally get out of the sewers when they did, tired of the constant combat and the annoying as all hell Shriekers (which popped up a lot). Vitti and Leatherhead greeted them at the top and they moved into the base.
The role-play with all of the Children was a lot of fun. Through the course of the campaign, I’d often (when faced with groups of NPCs) just take each PC separately and ask who he or she wanted to go hang out with. In this case, it was also important as I was secretly keeping track of who got paid the most attention. This would play into determining which NPC went onto which Tier later (if you haven’t read my doc on the CoW, then that bit might not make sense). Lots of fun role-play was had, and the PCs were recruited to go help rescue Arael.
The battle against the hellknights ended up being the last thing for the night, and it was epic. A little over 30 rounds of combat. Surprisingly, none of it was really boring. The PCs and my own rolls were overall pretty bad, but, being 1st level, things hurt when they got hit. A PC would go down, and a few rounds later get healed by someone else. At one point there were enough downed Armigers that PCs would start running to each of them trying to loot them for more healing potions to feed their friends. It was *crazy*. I was also really proud with how well the Leader did. I though that, as a level 1 cleric, he wouldn’t do much. On the contrary. He was hard to hit, his bursts near the end that hurt *everyone* were scary, and the flame that he threw into the faces of the more heavily armored combatants took its toll.
Near the end, I gave the players a Perception check to hear Arael shouting to come to the door side of the wagon. One of them heard and took one of his unconscious friends over as well, as Arael was screaming he could help. I decided that Arael had managed to secretly hold onto a hidden holy symbol, and he used it through the bars to help heal the wounded.
The last few rounds was the Leader squaring off against the few conscious PCs. Kindrus was taken down to 1 HP short of death, and the others were bouncing up and down like the ground was a trampoline. The blow that finally did him in was from Kindrus himself, who charged, critted, and ended the life of this Hellknight.
The battle having taken 30+ rounds, there was more than one Hellknight that expired, so they didn’t get the bonus FP. They were happy to be alive though and didn’t really care.
That ended the first session. I’ll throw up information on the next one later. :)