DM Carbide's The Consortium Compact [PFS] (Inactive)

Game Master John Woodford

Kiddrik recalls that there's no formal alliance between the Aspis and Kortos Consortia, so they're probably only working together in a limited capacity--for the time being. The Kortos Consortium in particular is sufficiently decentralized that the Aspis Consortium seems to have an agreement with only part of it--House Locosta. If this cooperative venture fails, it's very likely to sever ties between the two groups--as long as the Pathfinder Society can't be implicated in that failure. House Locosta, incidentally, claims to make its money in the Qadiran spice trade, but that's just a cover story. They actually make most of their profits buying and selling Qadiran slaves.

"Anything to limit slave trade works for me," says Muusa.

Karayan nods at the man "Thanks, and it is the kind of establishment I think it is?"

The man laughs again. "You've the right of it. The only time I've ever heard of it overflowing was when the sewers backed up in the flood, a year gone."

Karayan takes his leave and heads out to the overflowing oyster, assuming the others will follow him.

Kiddrik, you find out nothing more regarding the alchemist; he's apparently not on the customer service end of things. You do find out that there may be a slightly higher incidence of disappearances in the area around where Delroya said the alchemist works.

The Overflowing Oyster is a dirty, broken-looking building that barely fits between the fishing tackle shop to its north and the junk shop to its south. Hanging over the door is a creaky sign that shows a painted oyster with pearls spilling from its gaping shell.

The interior of the Overflowing Oyster displays a mix of rickety furniture and gaudy decorations, from strands of obviously fake pearls hanging over the kitchen’s entrance to wooden carvings of sultry mermaids and cheap paintings of ships at sea.

Xukong takes a seat at a lonely table with a good view and tries to look unassuming, inasmuch is as possible for someone who looks like it, and begins to take in all it sees.

I sweep the room with detect magic.

Knowledge (Engineering) to judge the condition of/recognize anything interesting about what I see: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30

And I wash hoping for a posh brothel ;-)

Karayan stands in the middle of the room and waits for the owner to greet him.

If possible, Amiri will try to remain outside with a decent view through the windows or door – across the street, if possible; trying to attract as little attention as possible.

Kiddrik leaves his longspear across the street with Amiri, then follows Karayan in though the doors. He doesn't stop when Karayan does, instead heading straight to the bar and taking a seat as he looks around.

It's early in the day, right? How many people are here?

Muusa enters the Oyster tentatively, standing next to Karayan as if to say I thought you were taking me to a nicer place!. She is also without longspear.

It's in the 8-9AM range; you have a few hours to get ready. BTW, my day was over half meetings, one of which was over lunch--wiped out my usual time to hit the boards from work. On the bright side, they fed us, so I can't complain too much.

When you get there, the place is mostly deserted. One solitary customer is finishing a bowl of some sort of mush while the bartender (or so you'd guess from the stained apron he wears) cleans the place up after what passes for the breakfast rush. He looks at the lot of you as you come in and smiles hopefully. "Welcome to the Oyster! What's your pleasure? Give me a minute to get the dishes out of your way, hey?"

Xukong, there's a faint aura on the bartender. The building, although it looks rickety, probably won't fall over any time soon.

Xukong keeps a careful gaze on the bartender. "Do you have a menu?"

Interested in figuring that aura out if there's nothing else to see.

Spellcraft if applicable: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24

Karayan fixes the man in his sight Mesmerist stare, he has -2 to will saves

"What a nice place you have got here, I am certain that with a bit of effort you can really make something of it" Karayan opens, hoping to get the man on his side.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17

Xukong: faint abjuration aura; he seems to be wearing +1 leather armor under his faded shirt and stained apron.

"Thank you, sir. Most kind of you to say so. Call me Pal." To Xukong, he points at the chalkboard over the bar, on which is written "Porridge, bread, cheese." A few other entries have been recently erased, by the look of it. "That's all I have left now, sir. At least until the boy from the market gets here!"

"How long will that be?"

"Around four bells of forenoon." Which is to say, 10AM.

"I can wait. I am expecting someone."

Xukong takes out a beautiful box of jade dominoes and looks to Karayan.

"Shall we play a game?"

"Not now, I am in the middle of a conversation" Karayan replies to Xukong while he walks towards the bar "I heard you have some items available for selling, might that be true?"

Karayan is trying to get a feel for the man and how well he would be able to resist a charm person

Muusa busies herself by wandering about the place, wrinkling her nose at the grime, but mainly scanning for entrances, exits, hiding points.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (3) + 12 = 15

"They don't even have any meat," she complains. "And dear, you said you'd take us to someplace more private. Do you have any private booths?" she turns to the barkeep and queries him, one eyebrow arched.

Karayan, he seems pretty canny.

Muusa returns to Karayan's side. "before you do anything, let me give this fellow a look; it will make him more con-duc-ive." She works hard for the long Taldan word.

Muusa will use Misfortune to make sure he has to roll twice for the Charm Person.

With his teammates working handily on the tavern-owner, Kiddrik heads over to the place's only customer.

"Hi," he says warmly, "I've never been in here before, and I certainly won't turn down some help." He looks at the man (or woman's) meal. "Got any meal suggestions for me?"

Diplomacy, improve customer's disposition: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16

The man grunts around his mouthful of porridge, something that might be a greeting.

While Muusa is distracting the man Karayan looks at him intently, willing him to look favorably at Karayan.

It is a spell-like ability, so no obvious verbal or somatic signals.
Charm Person DC16 and he takes -2 on his will saves

After that he joins Muusa with the owner "I have heard you are trading goods that you should not. I think it would be wise to close your establishment for the rest of the week. I have heard some people are looking into your trade and I would not want anything to happen to my friend. Stay low for a while and things should return to normal soon."

Kiddrik hikes a thumb in Karayan and Muusa's direction. "I just got off a boat with a few who'd rather hug their silver spoons than have a decent conversation with decent, regular folk." He sits down, shaking his head, "I guess I'm just looking for some human interaction."

He points to the man's food. "Hells. I'll even pay for your meal. Call it a fair trade for decent company. What's your name, friend? Not many folks out this early. What do you do?"

Kiddrik, this is actually after most day laborers have started working.

Roger. Then let's switch that last bit to "Most folks I saw were out at their jobs. What do you do?"

I"m mostly just trying to get him talking about himself. That usually makes people feel comfortable and interactive. :)

GM, are you waiting for us? Karayan has tried to charm the owner and wants to get him to close shop for the week.

Was Muusa able to get a Misfortune Hex in there? :D That way he'll have to roll twice to make his save against Charm Person.

He does get a save vs. the hex, though.

remember that he takes -2 on his will save vs the hex, due to my stare ;-)

Oh, before even the Charm Person? I like this combo. :D DC15 Will Save.

Kiddrik, the man finishes swallowing, then offers a handshake and a smile. "I've got a few minutes 'fore the tide turns and I have to get the boat out."

Karayan, the only thing you'll have to watch for is that the barkeep or the customer might notice your spellcasting. Kiddrik seems to have the customer distracted...maybe one of the other party members can try to distract the barkeep, and you could use Bluff to cover up what you were doing.

It is a spell-like ability, and therefore has no verbal, somatic or material components.

Link to PRD were that is stated

Nevertheless
Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

Kiddrik sits down, fishing out a handful of silver and setting them out for the man’s meal. ”A boat, huh? That’s a fine way of making a living? So you fish? Or haul goods? Or,” he smiles in a friendly but conspiratorial way, ”… or something else? I heard all kinds of exciting stuff happens here in Diobel. What’s the saying? Commerce is commerce and a profit’s a profit?”

As you're preparing to charm the barkeep, Muusa hears someone else puttering around in the room behind the bar. A young man emerges with an empty tray and starts gathering dirty dishes from the bar. He says nothing as he works.

Amiri, Xukong, or Muusa--want to try anything to distract him so he isn't paying attention to the barkeep at the critical time?

Xukong stares intently at the chalkboard over the bar, and suddenly, it is utterly blank - cleaner than it's been in years.

Ru-Shi erase spell-like ability. Just like that.

Then it turns its attention to the serving boy.

"Pardon me, I am new here. Where do you keep your menu? I cannot see one."

Neat. :D

The young man looks up at Xukong and points to his mouth, shaking his head, before returning to his task.

Okay, I can try one other trick, but do Amiri or (more likely) Muunokhoi have anything to try?

GM: If we are about to break this encounter: sorry

No problem! It's a stretch, but that's a good thing, and I've got time to think it through (or try to). OTOH, if I were running this at a table, I would be having some heartburn around now, as the designers assumed a purely skill-based approach to the task and didn't take enchantments into account AFAICT. To their credit they provided a lot of guidance for different ways to handle it using skills, though, so it wasn't that much of a railroad.

I am hesitant to cast a spell (like Create Water, heh) as it will draw attention. She's bad with social skills...and if she goes over to talk with Xukong it will look suspicious. I think this one may be Amiri (Intimidate) :D

What about daze?

Amiri steps up to the bar near Xukong and purrs menacingly, "I'd like to know that, too." In the moment that the young man's attention is on the barbarian, Muusa hexes the bartender and Karayan charms him. Both hex and spell bite on the man.

What are you going to tell him to do?

My post got eaten, but Daze has V, S, and M...would have been noticeable.

"My friend, we heard that some people do not like that you sell, how shall i put this...."

Karayan hesitates and then continues "...items under the counter. Apparently they are coming over to teach you a lesson. I think it would be good if you had 'urgent business in Absalom' and close shop until next week."

Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

The man pales. "Thanks for the warning. I knew that rat b@stard couldn't keep his mouth shut. Gregon! Grab your things, we're going to lay low for a while." He addresses the others in the room. "Sorry, folks. We're closing now." As he speaks, he hurries the remaining customer, Kiddrik, Xukong, Muusa, and Amiri out of the bar. The mute young man looks a little askance at Karayan, but obeys nonetheless.

Unless any of you do anything else to interfere, the bar will be closed and empty in short order.

"No problem, be safe."

Karayan steps outside and waits for the other pathfinders to gather "That wasn't that hard. Now the only question is whether we want to stay in the vicinity to be certain that those two don't meet each other outside of the place at noon. Although I think that they will move on and not wait outside if they see the place is closed down, after all, they will be suspicious and I guess they prefer to meet at another date then expose themselves"