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Adria returns to the Asmodean Library. She finds the ancient tomes comforting. But it isn't long before she begins to wonder how her new friends are doing. One night she takes a walk in the cool evening, carefully looking at the walls of the old buildings. In a dark alley she sees crossed swords etched on a brick wall. She goes in the direction the swords are pointing.
Adria returns to the Asmodean Library. She finds the ancient tomes comforting. But it isn't long before she begins to wonder how her new friends are doing. One night she takes a walk in the cool evening, carefully looking at the walls of the old buildings. In a dark alley she sees crossed swords etched on a brick wall. She goes in the direction the swords are pointing.
After Adria's side quest ends this happens...
Eventually, Arael and Janiven ask the four of you to return to
the Shrine of Aroden to discuss an important matter.
When you arrive, Arael and Janiven sit down to talk with you alone. The priest explains that in the past few weeks, a group of thieves calling themselves the Bastards of Erebus have committed a spree of robberies
near the old city, with at least one incident resulting in a double murder. The Bastards are reputed to be a gang of tieflings living in the ruined part of the city; their name implies a connection to Hell, though he doesn’t know if the bandits are using it just to evoke fear, if their tiefling heritage actually stems from a fiend of Erebus, or if they have some greater connection. Regardless, they always leave behind a wooden token showing a devil’s head in profile, and have become more brazen about their nighttime crimes. For whatever reason (Arael suspects corruption and Janiven suspects incompetence), the city guards have as of yet done little about the Bastards—which is probably why the mayor
turned to the Hellknights for help. The people of the city are growing worried; it’s bad enough that they can’t go out at night except for a few key streets, but at least they were safe in their homes during the dark hours. Now even that safety seems to be vanishing. However, Arael
believes he has accurate information from a vagrant living in the ruined part of town (a man who comes to the active city to beg for copper coins, but sleeps in an abandoned house across the wall) as to the location and nature of the tieflings’ lair. In fact, it was after returning from a visit to this contact that Arael was captured by
the dottari under suspicion of rebellion.
Arael reiterates the goals of the Westcrown Redeemers:to increase the quality of life of the people of Westcrown and eventually inspire Cheliax to rid itself of House Thrune and its evil taint. He believes that eliminating the Bastards of Erebus will show Westcrown that there
are people who care about justice and protecting the innocent—and if someone other than the Hellknights does this, it shows the people that there is strength that has nothing to do with Hell. \
As you have already established yourselves as competent, not particularly fond of the Hellknights, and willing to take risks to
protect others, he asks you if you would help defeat this tiefling menace. He can promise you no reward but justice, whatever loot the Bastards have on them, and the gratitude of tens of thousands of Westcrown citizens.
Arael tells you he has a knack for making potions, and promises you that for the next month he will make you whatever potions he can if you provide the necessary materials (this means you can buy potions at half the sale price). This is all the support he can offer at this time.
"Do we know where these attacks occurred?" asks Sorshs of the two.
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Adria follows the swords until late late at night. Finally they lead to nowhere so she just goes to the bar and pounds a few back. Then staggars back home to the library. Then later at the meeting on the heels of Sorsha's question:
Yes, where they occurred and what was taken? Find out what the fish eats and you know what to use for bait.
Nilus spent his time looking around for a good fitting breastplate and mail. He also assisted Calina in getting settled in with the Redeemers and becoming an apprentice to Areal's alchemy.
Nilus final activity was to canvass the mercenary scene for news of the Hellknights and the commander that was embarrased by their actions at the bridge.
Been the most shit storm week at work guys. I promise posting will pick back up!
"How about we crash the Bastards hideout some night while they're out on a crime spree. Even if there are a few left behind we should be able to handle them. Then we can set up an ambush to greet them when they walk through their own door."
You learn that the bandits always attack at night. They never attack two
nights in a row, and most attacks are anywhere from 3 to 7 days apart (the last attack was the same night that the you went into the sewers at the start of this adventure). Eight attacks have taken place in the past 3 weeks—mostly places with small, portable valuables such as a gemcutter, but one was a moneylender and another a crafter of fine weapons. It was the weaponsmith who was killed, presumably because he heard noises downstairs and went to investigate; the tieflings killed him, then went upstairs and killed his wife, probably so there
would be no witnesses. They always leave a wooden token or coin with their mark in the shop they’ve robbed and on the bodies of those they’ve killed, and twice they’ve scrawled their name on the building’s front door with a sharp object. Obviously they’re sneaky (and the way
Arael says this indicates he feels this way about most tieflings) and skilled at picking locks, for none of the robberies resulted in broken doors or windows, and they even relock the door after leaving. Given the small size of the shops, the number of tieflings involved in a
single break-in is probably very few—more than about four and they wouldn’t have much room to move around inside the place they were robbing. However, he suspects it’s more than just a group of four tieflings involved, though he has no evidence for this—“they just tend to gather in large groups for protection when not working for normal people” (again, showing a bit of his prejudice against tieflings).
Janiven’s scouting mission brings some more information to the table. She knows the Bastards keep a lookout in the old church’s bell tower, but she didn’t spot any patrols during the 3 hours she spent watching
the location (though a new tiefling eventually replaced the one in the bell tower). Near the temple are a bunch of two-story buildings, probably a shop of some kind on the bottom with a small residence above. She didn’t risk getting close enough to see what was in any of them, but
she did see that the one with windows on the ground level had them boarded up. Other buildings farther out (on the order of 200 feet or more) were either ransacked or had sturdy, locked doors to thwart looters. She also noticed a barn-like structure nearby, little more than a hitching post with a roof, which had a lot of loose rock piled within
it, but she couldn’t figure out what the point of that was. She can sketch out a map of the area and point out a path by which even clumsy people can approach unseen to within about 50 feet of the church; any closer and they risk being spotted by the bell tower lookout.
Nilus the Hellknights are shamed and unsuccessful finding the Bastards.
Your other questions have been answered. Any thing else?
Sorsha ambles over to the spot Janiven indicated. Once there, she brazenly, brazenly orders a coffee, milk, no sweetener, no foam. She also orders second breakfast. She then sips her coffee and waits for everyone else.
Arael has a stockpile of potions he gives to the you before you leave. He withdraws a small chest from a secret space under the floorboards of the Iomedaean temple hideout and presents it to the party. The chest contains eight potions of cure light wounds, a potion of cure moderate wounds,
and a potion of shield of faith. This is of course to help you defeat the Bastards of Erebus, he just wants to make sure you all come back alive.
The hideout you are going to infiltrate is in the ruined part of the city. You have already made it across once so it can be easily done a second time.
The old church of Erastil (the Hideout) is in what used to be a lower-middle-class part of the city. The church served the spiritual needs of the conservative folk who lived in the neighborhood, most of whom lived within a few hundred feet of the church and ran small shops out of the bottom floor of their homes. The places were long ago looted of anything of value.
The old temple has a small bell tower jutting from the southeast corner—the large (but very weathered) bow and-arrow symbol on the bell tower clearly indicates that this used to be a temple of Erastil. Windows are 4 feet off the ground, 2 feet wide, and 4 feet tall, and are far too
grimy on the inside to look through. The bottom 3 feet of the walls are mortared stone, the rest is old wood, with a clay tile roof.
Are you approaching at day or night?
Sorsha will scout the place out at night and try to get at least a day's observation in before everyone else shows up.
What does she see?
Nilus snatches up a potion of CLW and CMW as well as the Shield of Faith potion.
It's a 50 by 25 building with an old bell tower with a lookout.
You also see movement in 4 other small buildings nearby.
4 windows on the north side of the church. 2 on the back, 3 on the south wall. 1 front door.
"Lookout in the bell tower. Shame to waste surprise."
"I can try casting sleep on the lookout before we go."
Day or night? It matters yo. =P
Nilus is all in favor of kicking in doors and smashing faces. Point him in the right direction and he is ready. Also, Garrand you have a potion of flight. And Adria you have scrolls of bulls strength, use one on Nilus before he kicks said door in.
Cast sleep on the guard at the top of the tower (DC14 range 130')
Once Garrand is done casting, Sorsha sneaks her way to the front door of the building where the guard was.
She checks the door for traps and disables any she finds.
Once she thinks it is clear, she motions the rest of the party over.
Night Night.
Sorsha moves to the door undetected. This sturdy wooden door is carved with scenes of elk, hunters, and farmhouses. It is in good condition except for a spot near the center where a piece is chipped off, as if someone had struck it with an axe. The door has a large keyhole. You find no traps and pick it with ease.
The rest of the party sneaks over easily as well.
We will say it is dusk just starting to get dark.
Now you are all huddled by the door an no one has seen you it seems. What now?
Sorsha sneaks inside.
Inside: Two wooden tables set up for playing simple card and dice
games sit in this large room. Four chairs are set up near each
table. In the northeast corner is a stack of small wooden crates,
to the north is a pair of water barrels, and on the far west side
of the room is a small table. A hallway to the northwest turns
out of view, and the interior wall of the temple’s bell tower takes
a corner out of the southeast part of the room. The place smells
of sweat, beer, and dog.
This was once the temple’s main worship room, with a wooden altar and podium in the southwest corner and several rows of chairs, but the tieflings disassembled the podium and altar to use the wood for various things downstairs. The eight chairs are simply built and are decorated with carvings of elk and hunters. The door to area B3 is plain and propped open with a brick.
Four tiefling thugs are on guard in this room at all times. Currently they are playing cards loudly. You also notice a foul-smelling cur of a dog sleeping under the table.
See Bastards Map.
Squares are Tifeling Thugs
Triangle is the Dog.
Each square is 5 feet
Nilus is ready to charge straight in and kill one while they are still flatfooted and unaware. Just give the signal Sorsha.
Sorsha yells, "Four bastards and one dog!" then quickly moves to the place indicated.
She spears Mean Mr Blue.
for damage
If sneak attack applies then sneak attack damage.
Nilus peeks through the door as the halfling woman moves like a shadow. He looses track of her until she shouts. The head of her spear pierces one of the Tifeling's heart and blood goes all over the cards! And he had a winning hand too....
Surprise round Go! Remember just one action.
Garrand will shoot.
Nilus moves to engage the tieflings snarling
We'll see who the real bastard is...
Round 1 start.
DC?
Nilus does his best to cleave purple's head from his body.
*edit* he has the 'precise shot' feat now
From the Channel.
Red Takes 3
Green Takes 3
Purple Takes 7
Nilus does in fact cleave most of purple's head from his neck. -6
Garrand shoots Green I suppose and Green goes down. -2
I need to roll will for the dog. I will get that up soon.
The dog takes 3 damage.
The Tiefling runs to the stairs.
AoO from Nilus.