Aubrey's Eberron campaign. (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

"Nevharath and I will go forward with our plan, but we will offer safety rather than artifacts. Come, let's get started.". She stands, moves to the corner and pulls a mirror from her pack. As she watches in the mirror, inspecting her handiwork, she transforms into a grubby hobgoblin merc. "Remember, we are good guys, too, eh?"

Disguise: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (18) + 23 = 41

"Well, when Croke whacks Jeebo, maybe at least I can talk to the goblin's corpse. This'll be interesting."

"A thought struck me just now... Did the Inspector seem possessed? Maybe you found the quori's current host."

Gil and Nevharath will pound the pavement looking for either of the targets.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 34

Nevharath shifts his look to that of a grizzled human mercenary. Altering hair to brown, height shorter, a little more stocky, skin more tanned and scarred, changing eye color disguise: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25 "How do I look?" he asks to Gil before they head out.

"A thought struck me just now... Did the Inspector seem possessed? Maybe you found the quori's current host."

Gil and Nevharath will pound the pavement looking for either of the targets.

[dice=Diplomacy]1d20+18

"I can neither confirm or deny it, but....well, let's just say he's never been a pillar of the community. Or if he is, it's a rather shaky one."

Well, if you want to find Gral Muut, he's at the Blue Suns Shipping Co., per the clue I gave - no need for a gather info check for that. Or are you going directly for Jeeboo?

Bah, all the talk has been about Jeeboo; I forgot we should know where to mind Gral Muut. Jeeboo appears to be the more pressing since he's be actively hunted.

"Well, partner, who do we seek out first?"

Well, to save you too much bother and angst: from an RP perspective, the main lead you have is Gral Muut. So you would probably follow up on that as a matter of course. It doesn't really make much sense to trawl the bars for Jeeboo directly since you would be looking for a lead you already have. From a metagame perspective, it'll probably be quicker anyway since a gather information check takes hours whereas you know where Gral Muut is and can just go there. He might then, if you do it right, just tell you where you can find Jeeboo.

OK. I thought that it was late in the day and that nobody were at work anymore.

"Ez, can you keep track of multiple groups? If so, can you contact them as well?"

"How about this - Gil, Rod and Nevharath head to the Blue Sun and talks to the good goblin. Meanwhile, Ez fires up his divination spell, keeping tabs on Croke and his friends as they look for the bad goblin. Rolund, Runzyl and myself stay in reserve ready to intercept them if necessary. Once we corral and interrogate Gral Muut, everybody gathers up and heads for Jeeboo's location; where is decided by Ezreal, as he knows who's where and what's going on."

"This means that, ideally, Ez needs to keep on top of three groups - Rod's crew, us, and the bad cops. Can you do that?"

I thought it had only been a short time - I'm still trying to figure out how you got the police station, grilled the cops, and came back to the bar while the rest of us had basically a 30-minute conversation.

OK. I thought that it was late in the day and that nobody were at work anymore.

It's probably mid to late afternoon by now.

"I have to admit possession was my first thought as well. I don't recall Croke being the kind of guy who would be on the wrong side of the law. It may be that we never knew him as much as we thought we did. Possessed or not his position is going to make this complicated if we come into direct conflict."

"Two groups. Three only if I were very close to one and communication only with the very close group. I've already linked my vision to Gil's for the rest of the day. If I begin a scrying it will require all of my attention for an hour; I will not be able to check in on Gil until I complete the link. The sensor on Croke or Jeeboo will only be active for twenty minutes once in place. I could create a whisper chain as well, but it will only function within a block or so for an hour and a half at best."

"Shall I begin the process to keep an eye on Croke?"

Gil is no slouch in this department. She has telepathic bond and can link three people to herself for communication. Also Clairaudience/Clairvoyance which has an 800 ft range but is only one way.

Ln Local Sharn (Has Croke made a sudden shift to the criminal recently? 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (12) + 22 = 34

EDIT: I am assuming that during the 1 hour casting time for scry switching my vision back and forth to Gil is off the table due to the concentration required.

Ez:

Ez again:

"Ignore Croke, Farlowe. We don't have the time for you to spy on him if he's taking a leak or not. Keep your concentration on the changeling. We'll deal with Croke if he shows up to kill the goblin."

Info has already been revealed and it is interesting so assume I was casting.

Ezreal slides back from the dragonshard and looks across the table at the others, "Well that was quick. There IS no Croke. He isn't simply warded; Croke was not a valid target for the spell. At a guess, Croke has been killed and replaced by a changeling or some other shapeshifter. It is also possible Croke was always an identity maintained by one or more changelings like the Tyrants."

"It is time to go. Now there is no point in me waiting here to focus on the scrying or to teleport the strike team in. Up. We have to move now. To the Blue Suns Shipping Company."

"Damn. So all we did was give them the lowdown on our actions then. Aye,....let's see how this plays out."

Have Nevharath and I left? ie, are we aware of Ez' discovery?

"We never really told him anything beyond Jeeboo's name. The other goblin is safe, at least for now." Janosz gives his new warhammer a pat as he walks out. "Looks like I might get to break this thing in, too. Nice!"

Have Nevharath and I left? ie, are we aware of Ez' discovery?

You've probably left by now. Shall I assume you are looking for the contact?

The Blue Suns Shipping Company has warehouses in the Cogsgate area of Lower Tavick's Landing. The place bustles, and even as the day is getting late it is pretty clear that commerce here doesn't sleep. There is an entrance to the Cogs here and a lot of the wares here are basic commodities headed for the manufacturies in the depths below Sharn. Wagons loaded with ores and pulled by elemental engines or teams of stoic warforged are hauled through the streets towards the black arch and cavernous passageway that plunges towards the lava-fueled foundries.

With a bit of asking around, it is a pretty quick job to find the one where Gral Muut works. Walking through the busy warehouse, they find a bugbear with a clipboard performing an inventory on pig-iron ingots.

Yes, we are looking for the contact. So we should be headed the same place as the others, it appears.

Gil-Hobgoblin walks up to the bugbear and waits until he's done counting. When he looks up or otherwise acknowledges him, he simply says, "Gral Muut."

Am I there? Who's there?

I think just Gil and Nev, right?

I believe just Gil and Nev.

"Dak?"

If you speak Goblin:

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (3) + 18 = 21

The bugbear eyes Nevharath as he speaks.

Goblin:

Nevharath spits to his side, disinterestedly, before looking back to the strange conversation taking place.

The bugbear sighs at Nevharath's display of displeasure. "Who says I know Jeeboo?" he asks in Common.

"I don't know who Jeeboo is either. I'm just following this guy (nods to Gil-Hobgoblin) because Sharn is a dangerous place these days."
diplomacy: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (2) + 16 = 18

Doing her best to maintain a goblin accent with her Common "A friend said you might. You don't, that's fine. You know who does? He's got a price on his head and I owe a life-debt; they said to cover this Jeeboo's butt this once and I'm square. I don't know him any better than I know you."

Bluff: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (12) + 21 = 33

The bugbear raises his shaggy eyebrows. "So what? Maybe Jeeboo deserves what's coming to him. Why do I want to get involved? Anyway," he continues, yellow eyes narrowing suspiciously, "How come your friends are so keen to help out Jeeboo but didn't bother telling you where he lives?"

Gil-Hobgoblin spreads her hands and shrugs her shoulders, brow furrowing. "That's a good point. I don't know - maybe they don't know either." Looking at Nevharath's alter ego for a moment, she thinks, Intentionally looking unsure, trying plant a seed - don't let me surprise you, before saying out loud, "Do you think that cursed cop is using me? Sending me out to find the goblin because he can't him himself?" Not waiting for a reply, he/she says, "Blasted cheatin' cop."

Stares at the ground for a moment, "OK, now I'm more certain the goblin's getting my protection when I find him. I hate being played." Turning away, he/she tells Nevharath loud enough for the bugbear to hear. "Maybe Grannt knows someone else that knows Jeeboo, he must have been wrong about this guy."

Taking Ithers' advice, sort of, but I'd already gone down this path, so an aboutface seems a little late - if he doesn't bite, she will leave. If Nev has an idea he wants to try, she'll wait. Otherwise she's clearing the deck for the next act.

"Cops? Yeah, see you later."

Gral Muut starts walking away.

She walks off, kicking herself and trying to think of a different angle for a retry. If she sees the others, she asks Nevharath mentally if he can communicate with them and let them know what transpired - maybe they can use it to their advantage - or ignore it totally. But she does not want anyone knowing the two groups are related, so if invisible communication is out, so is updating the others.

OK, now what?

The others get their chance, I guess, or Nev and I rewind and try a different approach. Not knowing any better, we are returning to the bar.

I can only do mind link 1/day so i cant contact them. plus i have to be in close range to manifest the power at first anyway.

OK, that went well, what's next?

I'm a little fuzzy on the timeline. Did my scrying attempt take the full hour casting and then fail? I assume so. They have gone to a place pretty near the bar we are in right? So it could be possible that they make it back to the bar about the time that we find out Croke is not who he seems.
Otherwise we were already on the way to join them with Ez keeping an eye on things by peeking in for short glimpses. He would have seen them failing (by body language, no voice) and we meet them as they are leaving.

"Somebody want to follow that guy? Invisibly maybe?"

I'll try to read his thoughts if it's possible.

"Meh. Rolund, Ezreal - why don't we go find him again and put the fear of death in him, quite literally? Let's capitalise on the fact that we are traveling around with a bunch of Karrnathi necromancers."

Going for it (always fun when Rolund rolls out the Intimidate check)?

Rolund gives a nod to the Shadowmarcher's suggestion. "The rest of you follow us at a short distance and try to remain unseen."

"Does he mean that literally? Or could we look like a work gang of goblins - for example?" She whispers to the mage.

"Rolund, our new friend's ability to link with me reminds me of a spell. I learned of it when I trained, but I think it's within my reach now. Would you be interested in such a link? I would only 'hear' what you consciously pushed to me."

"Will do."

"Subterfuge has failed us. Now it is time for the direct approach. Can you actually imagine Rolund or I convincing anyone that we were goblins? Let's go. We can either approach him directly or let Rolund lean on him. We will figure it out on the way. I suggest opening with the direct approach and holding the fear of death as a reserve."

Gil's mood had no improved after her failure, but she adds, "I did not use any magic to convince him to aid us the first time. We have more options there, if necessary." Then she lapses back into contemplation.

She has changed her appearance back to Matilda and suggests that Nev take his normal form as well (if he hasn't already).

Nevharath will return to his normal appearance, in that case.

OK, now what?