Ascension - Thieves Guild - Reboot (Inactive)

Game Master bbangerter

The lead-lined suit and hat is always fun, but usually requires more than Rex's 8 str...

Anything specific you would like the knowledge bank to tell you guys? =]

That's fairly broad question. What sort of question should we ask a bout? Maybe an example?

"The rakshasa risks alerting others if it is to free with its mind reading. And in a crowded bar it will take time to sort through the minds of those present. Not that other precautions shouldn't be made... but it will take some luck on its part to zero in on any danger to it."

Diguri will be able to secure two copies of the memory altering spell.

A Halfling male walks up to the group. "I hope I am not too late for the party.". He nods at mistress Diguri. "There is no sign of Firyin m'am."

He turns to the others. "I am Rory. From the sound of it, I will be helping you on your mission. Can someone give me a quick run down of the plan so far? I apologize for my tardiness. The Mistress had me elsewhere."

Portrait of Rori

After being debriefed, Rori speaks up. "I could plan on performing in the tavern when they arrive. I am not sure if they are resistant to my songs." He looks to the investigator for the answer. "Have we thought about poison? If I was performing, I could wear the glasses and point out the Rakshasa to the bartender.. He pauses and scratches his head. Hell...what if one of us disguised ourselves as a bartender? Whoever did could wear the glasses and slip him the drink..." He looks at the others awaiting their responses.

"If things get rough, I could drop glitterdust on them and disappear or if he is not resistant to my song, put the bastard to sleep and let one of you coupe de grace him."

"Plan? Hardly. I think we were winging it and hoping to stab the thing with our holy bane weapons, that we don't really have. Your plan sounds good. I doubt I can get my gear into the room and under the apron of a bartender, but maybe the bar needs security?"

"Ooo, a copper!"

"Wait, nevermind, its just a beetle.

"Oh right, hi Rori. I'm Tess!

Rori gives a slight bow to the inquisitor. "Well met Tess."

"It'll take a strong poison to bring down a creature like that," Rex comments, "Though I can provide a few weak ones, if necessary."

Rori's brow tightens. "Hmm. I am not very knowledgeable in types of poisons. That may not be the best option then." He removes a black leather glove from his right hand and offers the hand to Rex. "And you would be?"

"Rex. I'm just here for the job."

Alexia" The tefling states blandly indicating herself. "Assuming your song is closer to an arcane spell then a psudodragon's poison? I'd say you don't have the best of chances to affect them. They are ridiculously hard to enspell.
your SLA is still subject to spell resistance. You are looking at a 17 or so to hit their SR.

"Were we talking about a single target a Pesh overdose would work well enough. It would also obscure the deed what with Rosuc's profession. However more than one in the same place on the same day would stretch believability."

With that the tiefling massages one temple and looks to the table. "As to an actual plan, we are attempting to hammer that out now. With as many unknowns as we currently have i'd currbetly advocate not getting involved. This rushed job is just asking to end in failure with one or more captured. "

"Only if it is daring us to succeed too. The way I sssee it though is there is no harm showing up, ssseeing how bad its going to be and then backing out, only to be thrown in head first by the over confident member of our little gang. Its all but a guarentee."

Rori speaks up, "Well, I guess we need to split up and get to work. How about Nyx and Tess go look for a way to obtain holy weapons and water? Rex and I can do recon at the Silver Spirits? We will locate a good ambush point and talk to the locals. Alexia, it sounds like you can get your wish list alone. If you finish before the allotted time, you can meet us at the Silver Spirits." He looks around judging the teams reactions. "I guess we try to meet up in about five to six hours and finalize the plan..." Rori trails off waiting for the response.

GM: What time of day is it? When is the meeting scheduled to happen?"

It is currently around midnight. It is unknown when the rakshasa will show up, though it is expected to happen sometime during the day.

"Soo, wait, where do they keep those?" Tess asks holding up a extended finger as if to ask for another moment and as to the location of a variety of holy weapons.

"Likely anywhere they can before getting them shipped to Gumlat. I'd say that there are even chances of opportunities in churches devoted to gods of crafting and crusader or warrior deitys. More so if they are both in one. So Torag is possible, Iomedae, Sarenrae and Abadar would also also be options. Of course just seeing if there is a gathering point those groups use to ship weapons off to Gumlat could skip the angle of interacting with those of the church entirely." Alexia responds as she glances over to the halfling.
"As to splitting up that is reasonable.
It will be a small challenge to obtain such spells in the middle of the night with little to barter. Mistress Diguri are there any viable night markets or dealers in the area you can think of that would be open in the middle of the night?"

"Or not open. Hours of operation is of little consequence."

fair enough.
The tiefling responds as her eyes dart across the rest of those at the table then to the scrolls
"now who of you feel yourself capable enough liars to cloak your affiliations without magic aid? Even one failure in this will make this mission much harder to complete. And doubtless our targets for this rushed will have methods in place to identify deception."

could I press an insect into service to act as messenger? Basically have Xabu take the thing to Rosuc's room or Elsa's home with a note around it a skin when the meeting is going to occur? I want to keep Xabu as unknown as possible.

"So what am I doing exactly? Just point and shoot?"

"Find some spots to hide, make sure you have a good view of the building and surrounding areas. likely keep hold of those glasses. It will be easy to tell an enemy if they have a crossbow bolt sticking out of them. Counter spotting and keeping lookout for whatever the mages or any aid they call in start doing."Alexia rattles off as she looks at the man.
"At least that's what I understood. Though I assume whatever scouting Rori wants might be helped by a proficent death dealer."

"Right," Rex responds, shrinking into the form of an attractive but poor female half-elf. "Should I try to get a job inside as a barmaid?"

"A barmaid with weapons? I like the sounds of that."

"Small weapons. I can give myself room to hide them."

Any reasonable quantity of holy water is readily available for purchase from numerous temples. The same with holy weapon balms.

"There are a few fences that may have such items on hand, or be able to get them quickly. Understandably the price is usually a little higher. Successfully pulling off this operation will more than pay for such a weapon."

If you want to steal a holy weapon:
A temple of Iomadae or Serenrae are the two most likely to have such an item already available. You'd venture one of Serenrae would be less well guarded, but both are well known and established temples, and both are within throwing distance of you current location, so may not be the best options if you hope to keep things more on the quiet side when the theft is discovered. Along with several other temples near the great library, there are other smaller ones scattered about the city if you wish to try your luck elsewhere.

Just let me know if the group wants to go for a theft option, or pool some money to purchase something from a fence. If pooling money, Diguri will contribute a fairly large sum to that - 10k gold - to be paid back later.

Remind me what Alexia was going to collect?

The Silver spirits, not counting the upstairs bedrooms, consists of 3 rooms, one larger main room, though large is overstating it, a small kitchen with a door out the back, and a single private room. Rosuc, when there, is always in the main room.

There are several side streets one could hang out in, generally unobserved due to the large volume of foot traffic that goes through the area daily, coming or going through the south gate nearby, and a few abandoned buildings, including the one right behind The Silver Spirits. Any could be a good spot to ambush from if the rakshasa flees in the given direction. The large front windows on the tavern would allow an archer on a roof clear access to nearly anyone inside the tavern, if the windows were busted out first.

If or when a fight breaks out, due to the closeness of the south gate you can be assured two dozen guardsmen will show up within 30 seconds, though most will be completely ineffective in dealing with rakshasa.

Whatever night time activities need to happen can still go on, but will get this part of the planning out of the way
In the morning Rex approaches The Silver Spirits in somewhat grubby clothing and disguised as a barmaid. While things are still relatively quiet he approach the bar keep about a position in the establishment. After chatting for a bit he agrees to a trial basis, at a meager pay.

Are there any other details I forgot to address?

Rori follows Rex to the Silver Spirits. He will check around this evening if anyone is still awake. If not, he will rest for eight hours and then get to work the next morning.

Use Bluff +22 for Diplomacy (gather information) to see if I can find out about Rosuc, the Rakshasa, or their plans/meeting.

Mistress Diguri comments, "If you intend to borrow some appropriate weapons from one of the temples it would be best to take care of that immediately with no further delays. If you wish to contact some fences, I'm sure Nyx has several in mind she could suggest, and if not I've several I'd recommend."

The Silver Spirits is open all night and all day. In the early afternoon hours of the day till late at night the place is packed to overflowing, making movement through the tavern difficult. If combat were to take place in this environment all movement would be hampered to cost 15' of movement to move 5' as though very difficult terrain - at least until the place cleared of all those not interested in being involved in a tavern brawl. After about 1 AM the crowds begin to thin, till it is down to less than a dozen people till things begin to pick up again late morning.

" I shall see what can be done for my acquisitions then. I shall meet you all once I have obtained them and prepared myself for the day. Unless there is anything else I shall depart."
---- If no
The spellcaster then stands, turns on a heel and exits the area.

If the group wants to raid a supply wagon leaving for Gumlat in hopes of a bane or holy weapon that is an option. There are supply wagons leaving every day, and it wouldn't take much to set up an ambush a few miles outside of town along the road. The more valuable wagons aren't hard to pick out based on the number of guards and a few casters with them.

I'd be up for robbing a wagon, and to keep this rolling that's exactly what Jidhuun will do prior to meeting at designated Rakshasa killing location.

I'd be up for robbing a wagon, and to keep this rolling that's exactly what Jidhuun will do prior to meeting at designated Rakshasa killing location.

I would like to be involved as well.

It might be something of sufficient difficulty that GM Ascension requires we actually run it as an encounter. Arguably you could also try to raid the supply depo the caravans are getting stuff from, that would likely be harder but also very likely result in us being guaranteed to get what we want. Alexia burned a decent chunk of her power today scouting and proving her worth to Nyx/the mistress. Additionally she is busy bartering with a bunch of hedge mages to get spells that will actually work on Rakshasa.
I would be entirely happy to help if the timing can be finessed that everyone can be there though. Though I feel that Nyx/Jidhuun/Rori could do an excellent job making off with whatever they need. Making sure no one realizes the stuff is gone for a day or two would be really nice, that way we don't need to worry about divination defenses.

I'd prefer to keep the group together, so not going to worry about exact timing of things, and have the whole group go.

Early in the morning the group slips out one by one, taking various routes out of the city, and looking for a suitable ambush site where prying eyes will not see.

Farm houses are frequent close to the city, with distances varying from a half mile to two miles apart.

You can either 'take over' a lone farmhouse somewhere along the road, find a copse of trees to lay in ambush, or at the top of a hill overgrown with plants. A farmhouse would provide the easiest place to hide bodies and excess wagons, but is also most likely to be found out if someone realizes there are no farmers about.

The depo is an option, but is also within the sitting and easy alarm/whistle distance to summon additional guards, and has more guards overall.

Nyx will do her best to help you guys, but the more isolated the spot, ironically the less helpful she can be, since her ability to blend in and disguise hop is of slightly less use in an ambush in an isolated area.

My thoughts were similar to Nyx, many of our players function much better in a city where they can blend in. With how much focus our party has on disguise and misdirection over raw combat power I think the Depo might actually be much easier. At least in the assumption that whatever powers we expend on this are not available for the encounter with the Rakshasa.

Depot seconded, here. I plan on slipping in stealthy like taking the first opportunity to take a peek at the books o tracking what's in stock. Editing the books, and then editing the actual stock. If it works it will buy us a few days before anyone might notice the discrepancy.

Ok, supply depot within the city walls it is.

Map

More than a dozen men mill about the stone warehouse, the only stone building in the vicinity. Many are common soldiers, with chain mail shirts, short swords and short bows.

Four men stand out from the common soldiers, one wears a breastplate, shield, longsword and longbow, and bears an insignia denoting a higher rank. Another has a composite longbow and is dressed in leather armor. A third also has a breastplate and a light crossbow, and the trappings of a priest of Abadar. The fourth is dressed in the robes of the tower, though he appears to be more bureaucrat than wizard, with a stack of papers in one hand and a quill in the other, with which he makes marks as various boxes, bags, and barrels are loaded into a cart parked in the wide street before the open doors.

The pre-dawn darkness is cast aside by a half dozen sunrods both within and without the warehouse.

A second wagon can be seen rolling up the street from the south with four 4 soldiers. The wagon is empty, and no doubt will take the place of the first to be filled with goods.

That second wagon looks like an excellent target. As is typical of Alexia she is going to send Xabu to scout the surrounding area and report back. I'm also going to be looking for any collections of pest insects, a wasps nest would be perfect. Just the sort of thing a disgruntled peasant might throw at a group of bureaucrats and guards in order to ruin their day and cause a viable distraction.

Alexia, finished with her shopping, gathers with the rest of the group in their agreed upon meeting spot.
"I'll be sending Xabu forward to scout for weaknesses additionally I can outfit him with arcane sight so we can know what boxes in the depo we want to target. It also means we can know if any of those guards are wearing magic items. It looks like we will need to separate that bureaucrat if we want to modify the books. Nyx, do you know the names of that guard captain, his ally the priest or the mage? It would be good to know if we can tailor our distractions to get where we need to be. If we can bluff someone into taking over for the bureaucrat.
Rex, as it is your skill set please get into position to overwatch and attack if our ruse fails. My skills of disguise are not impressive so I shall maintain some distance as well."
With that she examines the roofs of the area before thinking again "Do any of you have a spell of See invisibility prepared? I could do so but it would expend resources I could use on other things. It seems that this sort of place would have someone invisible watching the cargo transfer in case something were to happen. "

"It might also be an option to ambush the men in the caravan coming down the road right now. If one of us produces a fog or provides a distraction for the main group a Silenced assault on the four guards would provide us all a reason to be close and a viable exit strategy."

"I can see the magically hidden things easily enough, leave that to me. I might even be able to get into the warehouse unseen, even with a pesky wizard, but I don't have a method of relaying the information of what I see without giving up my possible presence; they might be able to hear me but they still probably couldn't find me. Not really sure how long it might take to look over all the stuff in there and grab up what we need for today." Jidhuun tugs on her sleeves and changes her outfit to match the uniform of the guards. "Not enough time to really put on another disguise if we plan to move quickly so I'll just have to be extra careful not to lose this one by drinking one of my elixirs before heading in." She then casts see invisibility and gives a once over of the scene to see anything ethereal or invisible.

Status

So how do we want to handle the stealth rolls? Should I roll for every move action I make, will the gm take that on, or will one roll by either be sufficient? If I'm rolling should I add the distance difficulty modifier into the roll?

Hide 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (6) + 26 = 32 DC22 for anyone in our group that is watching me

Detect magic and arcane sight can both piece 3ft of wood. Assuming we can get into the building undetected we should be able to pinpoint the largest collection of magic stuff as our most likely targets for obtaining weapons. Alchemical tools are cheap enough and easy enough to obtain that while they would be nice to have getting them here is not a necessity. We are going for the big ticket items, hopefully in a manner that keeps us unseen and unnoticed. If the theft is seen then we basically have to toss the weapons under a lead sheet until whoever is trying to get them back gives up.

Also check the campaign info page, as a skill that we should not know the success of Stealth is rolled by GM ascension. The list of other skills that work like that are over there.

Dumb question then, disregard.

"I have the message spell, but I am not sure it will penetrate the stone walls. I can also create an image with sound if you think we need a distraction or just a sound." He places his index finger over his mouth while he thinks. "The wagon may be our best option though."

Knowledge Local Guard Captain: 1d20 + 16 + 2 + 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 16 + 2 + (2) + 1 = 39
Knowledge Local Priest: 1d20 + 16 + 2 + 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 16 + 2 + (4) + 1 = 37
Knowledge Local Mage: 1d20 + 16 + 2 + 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 16 + 2 + (2) + 1 = 38

Message spell can go around corners/walls, so the warehouse won't be a problem for those inside or out unless the doors are closed tightly.

The second wagon, still a half dozen blocks from the warehouse is only lightly guarded - there not being much value in stealing an empty wagon. Four lightly armored guards, two sitting in the wagon seat, and one on either side walking along with it. The only real risk here is if one of them is able to call out an alarm.

Nyx pulls the rest of the team together, swiftly pointing out the guards.

"That one", she says, pointing to the mage, "Is an abjuration specialist, but is a coward and would almost certainly flee at the sight of combat. One the other hand, that priest of Abadar would be more inclined to stand and fight, while that Captain, I would prefer not eliminating. He has taken bribes from people like us, that is, people that serve the Mistress, in order to look the other way for crimes such as this. Generally, I'd prefer not ruining such a valuable resource, but each to their own I guess."

"Xabu is in the process of scouting the building, he can tell us our desirable targets. With the way the guards are arranged and the presence of multiple defenses I believe we will encounter severe issues if we attempt to steal the objects we desire at the moment."
With that the mage scribbles a quick map with lines of magically generated dirt.
" Simply taking the boxes in whatever fashion we desire at the moment will be prevented by the ledger they are currently using to keep track of all the delivered objects. Secondly assuming the guilds of Coran are anything like the guilds of the hold there will be a check of the goods immediately before the caravans depart. I can handle identifying what we desire out of the boxes, we still need to get hold of that ledger to modify and to physically obtain the objects.
We will need to intercept the wizards ledger before he passes it off to safer keepings. Abjuration will mean we need to be especially cautious of magic traps and bindings, explosive runes, sepia serpent patterns and illusory pages on top of arcane bindings and spells for proof against theft. The best method would be to convince him we are the person to pass the ledger off to, if he is a coward then a forceful enough play at merchant inspector might be able to part the man from his book. I could also have Xabu attempt to steal it and have us just attempt to disarm the traps if anyone feels their skills are up to task. I could do it but it would take days before I could be certain no dangerous magic defenses remained.
As for accessing the objects, I am thinking we could use the Captain for that. Pay him enough to have our pick of guards to actually do the second inspection of goods. Assuming one or more of us can masquerade well enough to be undetected we could then use that opportunity to steal the goods. If he is not in charge of that then we use him to find out who would be doing the last inspection."
Then they ride off and do not realize the missing goods until they arrive in Gumlat. By then the deception of Rakshasa hunting mercenaries would not be necessary."[/b]

so here's a potential plan. Likely full of holes, feel free to inform Alexia of them.

"That's great, while you all work on that complicated plan, I'll dip into the warehouse, look around, and then pop out with what we need. If we fail to get the ledger we'll just make sure we dump the weapons after the job's done in a discrete location. Once the diviners locate their goods they'll be hard pressed to justify spending more money to come after the most recent wielders... maybe?"

"So who is pretending to be the inspector that will forge the revisions and who is going to engage the captain with bribe?"