DM Jesse's Kingmaker PbP (Inactive)

Game Master Jesse Heinig

In an involuntary reaction, Carinna screams before she is able to contain herself and cover her mouth. She then regains control of her thoughts and steps forward, menacing the creature with her sword. Come on, Carinna, you can do this... this is nothing in comparison to that bug infested cave...

"Of course... what was I expecting entering the underground again..."

I'm not sure where the spider is, but Carinna would spend her move action to position herself between the spider and the rest of the party.

Cassandra jumps like the others at the sudden appearance of the wolverine but does not immediately ready to strike like the others. Had it appeared like a normal wolverine, she'd be right there with them. But it had melded from the wall and was currently on the ceiling. No natural wolverine could do that. "I don't think that's a wolverine." She doesn't sound sure but currently she was more curious than aggressive.

Delay until after it goes.

Remember, ceiling is 15' high. If you don't have some kind of crazy reach or a ranged weapon, the wolverine on the ceiling is not in attack range!

No one is attacking. They've all readied attacks if it comes into range.

The wolverine performs some kind of little dance (on the ceiling) and makes a series grunts.

Telmarni: Spellcraft: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

"It's summoning help!" shouts Telmarni. "Not sure how, but it's casting a spell!" She leaps into the air and flies toward the creature.

Telmarni: Scimitar attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21

She slashes the wolverine with her scimitar, but for a little creature it seems surprisingly tough.

Telmarni: Scimitar damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Wolverine: Concentration: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

The wolverine's spell is ruined!

Party up!

"Oh no...we didn't want to fight...!" Korinne cries, seeing little choice now but to release her held magic before Telmarni ended up injured, or worse.

Acid Splash (Ranged Touch; Into Melee): 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (1) + 3 - 4 = 0
Damage: 1d3 ⇒ 2

But at the last second she trips, nearly sizzling her own feet with the orb.

Wait...do wolverines normally use magic?

Kn. Arcana: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

"Something's not right...I've never heard of a wolverine that uses magic!" Korinne warns.

While drawing one of her arrows, Carinna yells back to Korinne. "Well... I've also never seen a wolverine on the ceiling moving like a spider! To be honest, if it is attacking us, I don't really care if it is a wolverine, a raccoon, a spider, or any other crazy beast out there, I'll just attack back!"

With her bow in her hand, Carinna aims to the wolverine, waiting to see if he'd do anything else to try to harm them. "Hey you there, wolverine! If you are able to cast spells, perhaps you are smart enough to understand us! We don't want to fight you, but we will if you don't stop this nonsense!"

Cassandra didn't like this situation. Was this the old man they were trying to find? Was he a druid? Why didn't Ralan mention this? Did anyone know he was a druid? "The crazy old man we're looking for might be that wolverine. And we could leave. Let him get hungry and try again," she suggests. However, she didn't think they would all turn back as a group so she readied an attack as well.

The wolverine steps backward on the ceiling away from Telmarni and starts making odd grunting noises again, at which point it is immediately struck by arrows. Whatever it was doing, its attempt fails.

Telmarni presses the attack, moving closer with a heavy beating of her wings in the cramped space.

Telmarni: Concentration: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 Spell combat activated
Telmarni: Scimitar attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20
Telmarni: Scimitar attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Telmarni: Scimitar damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Telmarni: Scimitar damage: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

She weaves magic in the air as she slashes her scimitar back and forth, bloodying the creature horribly. It screeches and hisses with its anger.

Kava pauses in her sermonizing to release a spell that causes a sudden ringing noise of incredible piercing power to erupt.

Kava: Sound burst: 1d8 ⇒ 5

...this is enough to finish the job; the creature falls from the ceiling, twisting and writhing as it does so, and when it hits the ground it is a dirty, wrinkled old man in ragged clothing. Telmarni swoops to the ground and checks on the dying old man. "He's... disgusting," she says with a twist of her nose. "I think he's been down here for a loooong time."

COMBAT ENDS

You are able to catalog the various items and loot that the bandits kept stashed down here, now that the wolverine-man is defeated. Much of it looks like trade goods or jewelry robbed from travelers coming down the riverways. While some of it probably belonged to Oleg at one point, much of it is clearly ill-gotten plunder taken from other local hunters or even from unfortunate adventurers and travelers, probably lying in shallow graves somewhere abroad.

You find trade goods, adventuring gear, and assorted tools worth a total sale value of 6,850 gp, a large chest that contains 4,500 cp, 2,052 sp, 894 gp, and 21 pp, and a large bag that holds 2,900 gp worth of stolen jewelry.

For defeating the Stag Lord and his minions, each party member earns 1,632 experience points.

"Wait...then he was a shapeshifter? Like Cass and Tiger?" Korinne asks, looking confused. "I guess that means he could understand us, but maybe didn't care or thought we'd just kill him anyway," she says sadly.

---------

Later, once the rest of the bandits' ill-gotten gains has been sorted, Korinne takes a moment to rest atop a nearby crate. "Okay, so I guess now that we've looked around everywhere we should probably try speaking with some of the prisoners," she suggests as she stifles a yawn. It had been a long and harrowing day but she knew their work wasn't quite finished, not yet.

"Wow." Cassandra waves a hand in front of her face in an attempt to disperse the smell. "Tel was right. He's been down here a long time. I am not sure he even understood us."

"Wait...then he was a shapeshifter? Like Cass and Tiger?" Korinne asks, looking confused. "I guess that means he could understand us, but maybe didn't care or thought we'd just kill him anyway," she says sadly.

"No. I think he was a druid. Besides, neither of us can transform all the way into an animal." After giving the place a once over, She heads back up with the others to do one last duty.

Telmarni cleans her black scimitar and says, "He was definitely some kind of spellcaster. I think Cassie is right, he may have been a druid - but it doesn't really explain why he was down here, or what he was doing with the bandits. We might never know. Maybe one of the survivors can tell us."

With the help of your confederates, you are all able to remove many of the goods from the cold cellar to the courtyard above, where it's much easier to evaluate things in the sunlight. Vance, idly holding his bow as he watches the prisoners in the former (owl)bear cage, says, "I guess that's it, huh? The Stag Lord's fallen. The reign of bandits in these parts is over, for now anyway."

Hatch says, "Well, the ladies' Charter says that this whole area needs to be mapped. There's still a lot of ground to cover."

Tiger says with a shrug, "I presume you have some sort of plan for where to go and what to do next?"

With a shrug, Carinna sheathes her blade and puts her bow back to its place. "I guess we'll never know..."

Once back to the ground floor, Carinna nodded to Korinne. "Yeah, lets talk to them before anything else... it needs to be done soon... it is getting late and I'd like to solve this before we have to rest."

While coming closer to the jail, Carinna turned to Tiger to answer his question. "Hatch is right, we still have a lot to scout and map. I believe we'll first map the whole region and then look for a nice place to settle a town... perhaps at Oleg's, or even here... even if in a poor state, I believe this fort could be restored with the proper amount of work."

"I believe a good question would be what you will do next. You did not fought us, so it means you earned your freedom..." turning to Jex, she added a bit uncertain. "And you too. As you know, we'll be bringing this piece of land into civilization, and you are welcome to help. I believe you understand that this a one time opportunity, but one that will take a lot of work. You are welcome to join us, like Hatch and Vance did, but by doing so, you'll be submitted to our judgement and the law of Brevoy."

"Oleg might like us but there is no way he'd agree to that," Cassandra says, shaking her head. She could see him fuming in her mind at the suggestion. Oleg moved this far south to get away from civilization. He'd not be too keen to let it take over. "This place could work...after some work...a lot of work." A naturally high point with a river nearby made it ideal as for location.

But now it was time for her least favorite part of this whole adventure. Once again they lead the ones that they were giving a chance out away from the others to find out about them. Namely, how they ended up here?

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4 Ugh. Karma's back.

How many are left alive to "interview" that we aren't turning over for a bounty?

Without any initial Sense Motive rolls:

Jex will answer any question willingly (it's in his nature).

The commander, Akiros, is badly wounded but stabilized. Kava could heal him up if you want to interrogate him. The journal that Korinne talked about earlier is probably his.

Dovan seems very weaselly. He is currently staggered, which means he can be interrogated, but he seems the sort who is likely to lie.

Falgrim Sneeg was stabilized and could be brought around with minimal healing. You know he's wanted for murder after he deserted his mercenary company (according to Kesten Garess), but nothing else about him.

Ralan, aka Tiger, seems to be cooperative.

Auchs is bound and unconscious but probably not smart enough to answer questions well.

There are four other "foot soldier" bandits who survived and could be interrogated.

The others suffered fatal wounds or bled to death.

"So, eh, who's up for questionin'?" says Vance as he leans against one of the crumbling walls.

Figure out who you'd like to interrogate - you can just make a list, if you prefer, or we can do them individually.

My vote, Jex (probably not a threat but still want to know what he did), Akiros, Dovan, Auchs (can he keep his anger in line or can we help control it), other four. Don't think we can get away with letting Falgrim go. Garess would probably have words with us if we did try to protect him. Brevoy is setting the rules allowing us to render judgement here so we can't ignore them in this case.

Any other ideas from anyone else?

Carinna points to Jex first. "Come, Jex, lets talk... you seem pretty eager to chat, right?" She points to him and then to a section on the fort where they would be able to talk alone. When he is there, she begins. "Very well, Jex, go on. We want to know what you did, so speak honestly. I'm interested in what you did before you joined the Stag Lord, and I want nothing but the truth... you have one chance to convince us that you are interested in building a better and honest life, so don't bother lying to us... we'll eventually cross your tale with the others, so any lie will, for sure, bite you in the ass."

Since Jex is already out o cell, we can start with him. Even if compulsively honest, I'm concerned if he can be trusted. Then she'd probably go through those who are already awake (Dovan, perhaps the stinky one and his brother), then Akiros, Auchs and any other that remains. She'd probably be leaving Falgrim for the last... only wanting to know his tale before delivering him to Garess. Depending on his crime, she could even try to reason with Garess.

Remember that the Sense Motive DC to "get a hunch" about someone defaults to 20.

Jex spills his guts, as you'd expect.

"Ehh... first off, I'm cooperating, right? I didn't fight against you ladies when you fought the Stag Lord. And I'm telling you everything I know! That counts for something, right?"

His hand unconsciously moves to circle around his throat nervously. His speech is likewise nervous and fast, and he has the mannerisms of someone desperately trying to curry favor.

"Well uh, before, I was a day laborer in Daggermark. I worked as an apprentice to a mason for a while. You know, hauling rocks, cutting rocks, turning big rocks into little rocks. But, eh, Daggermark is a dangerous town, you know? So, eh, I was roped in to doing some, eh, 'reporting' for some folks. You know the kind, as soon knife you as look at you? They wanted to know about the kinds of places my employer was building... secret doors, special rooms, that sort of thing. And I could go along or get my throat cut, right? But, eh, I got a few extra coppers here and there to just, you know, talk about what we were building, right? A new house or a temple or a smith's shop or whatever. And, well, I guess there was some kind of struggle inside one of the big Guilds and the guy who was paying me wound up on the outs and someone decided they had to clean up the loose ends. One of my buddies got poisoned and died an' I took that as a sign that it was time to clear out! So I left with the next couple of wagons outta Daggermark," Jex says.

"We, uh, we got ambused by the Stag Lord while trying to follow the river through the forest, an' he killed the wagon driver and said, 'All right, if you want to live, you can follow me. Otherwise, you'll go in the ditch by the side of the road.' So, uh, what choice did I have, really?"

"Listen, I know all kinds of things about the other guys and gals, you know, some of them maybe don't like to talk about their pasts but you gotta open up to someone at some point and I listen a lot and sometimes words gets around, you know? I can tell you anything you want to know!"

You put a pin in that thought - Jex might be useful to confirm the stories of other bandits. But, he might also lie about anyone he doesn't like. So that will be a balancing act.

~~~~~~~~~~

Do you care much about the order of Dovan-Akiros or Akiros-Dovan, or are you fine with just doing them in any order, or would you perhaps like to interrogate them separately at the same time?

Carinna listens attentively to Jex's tale, imagining if he was telling the truth or not. While assessing her senses, she answered his questions. "Yes, you are cooperating, and as I said, this means you'll be able to walk free if you want... the difference is the direction you'll take. For instance, you are a criminal, since you worked for the Stag Lord and I can only imagine what you did for him because you had no choice."

"The place we are trying to build have no place for criminals, so we are trying to discover if we could allow you to stay, or if you'll be heading south, perhaps back to Daggermark... the others who fought against us, have a more limited range of options, though."

Sense Motive DC 20: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

I have no preference on the order of the interrogation, but would probably interrogate those conscious first and then awake the others... as an example, if we find one of them is unrepentant or is too dangerous to be alive, we'd kill him before waking the others.

Also, I assume the DC 20 Sense Motive check is just for the hunch, right? If some of them tries to actively lie to us, it would be a normal opposed bluff-sense motive roll?

Correct, if someone tries to spin a tale and you're trying to figure out if they're lying, it's an opposed roll. But you don't necessarily know in advance. So shooting for a 20 is a good barometer. :)

Also, getting a hunch might tell you more than just whether someone is lying. You might get an impression of how they feel about something - for instance, you might recognize that someone has real hate for someone else, or is scared of them but won't say it, or something like that.

Jex nods. "I'm... I'm not a crook, I mean, I just... I got stuck in a bad situation. Not everyone is some kind of heroic wizard or protected by the gods, you know?" He sounds a bit sniveling.

Your impression of Jex is that he is used to currying favor by ratting out other people, but that only works if your information is reliable. So he is probably honest about this.

Cassandra rolls her eyes at "had no choice". "There's always a choice. Greed got you here. You chose to give away secrets that weren't yours to give and get something for it. Then everything spiraled out of control. Now you are doing it again. You really think snitching again is going to help you? Or make things worse?" It would be nice to corroborate stories to see who was lying but Cassandra didn't want reward that kind of behavior. It would come back to bite them in the ass like it had all those people that hired him as a mason. Hang on."Do you at least remember the trade? Making big rocks into smaller ones?" That was a skill they could use. And when it was his ass on the line for stuff he made, he might show some integrity.

I also have no preference for order. Then again, Akiros does sound interesting so him.

"Hey, it's easy to judge when you can take on guys like the Stag Lord, right? I'm not that tough. And if I'd stayed in Daggermark and tried to not do what they said, I'd be dead! Tongue all black and swollen and hanging out and GAACCK," says Jex, grabbing this throat and making a face comically like a poisoning victim.

"But, yeah, I can break rocks. I know the vinegar technique and the piton technique. Uh, with granite or some of those solid gray boulders, anyway. Marble is a bit beyond my skill. Eh, way beyond."

~~~~~~~~~~

Your next "interviewee" is Akiros. The rugged man is very disoriented - Kava's healing magic has helped him to recuperate somewhat, but he is still suffering the aftereffects of a horrible wound and fatigued from the fighting.

"What do you want me to say?" he rasps. His breathing is labored from his healing injury, and he holds his side. He neither smiles nor frowns; he seems Stoic. "That I made bad choices? That I'm a bad person? Those are all true." Even in this admission, something about him seems regal, but also defeated. "Some people can live up to high standards... but I am not one of them."

"I left my life behind when I killed two people. I'm a murderer; I confess it freely. If my life is forfeit, so be it. Perhaps an end to this turmoil will be welcome," he says, wistfully.

Sense Motive (Jex; Hunch): 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

"I don't know..." Korinne frowns. "He kind of has a point. It's not always easy to stand up to bullies and other scary people like that, especially if you don't have any help or anyone that'll stand up for you," she continues, looking around at her companions. "Not that I think what Jex did was good, not at all! But maybe it's not always so...so...black and white?"

------------

Sense Motive (Akiros; Hunch): 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (7) - 1 = 6

"You can't mean that, can you?" Korinne replies quietly. "If you'd really wanted to die, then why did you run all this way? And why make things even worse by joining the Stag Lord?"

Poor Kor, she's really not the best judge of character sometimes!

Still thinking about what to do with Jex, Carinna finishes his statement. "Very well, Jex... it is enough for now. We'll think about what to do with you, but I have a question for you: What do you want to do? We are building a kingdom here and it will take years of hard and honest work... would you be willing to live to these terms if we decide we can trust you, or would you rather walk free and away from here?"

---

Carinna sighs at the man's lack of common sense. "Look, Akiros, I was told that you are a man who made terrible choices, but also that you could be reliable, but I'll never let an unrepentant murderer walk among us. And just to make something very clear, I'm not here to convince you to live, it is the other way around."

"You, a former murderer and fugitive, was caught working for a bandit lord. Our common sense says that you should indeed be killed for your crimes, so if you agree with us, I think we are done here... so, do you really think your best option is to die an ignoble death in a God's forsaken ruin?"

Sense Motive DC 20: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27

Sense Motive (Jex; Hunch): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

"Hey, it took a lot of work to get to this strong. None of it was easy." Cassandra was surprised by her anger. She was close to taking a swing at Jex but held back. Just looking at him made her angry. She turns and walks a few paces away to avoid anymore outbursts.

------------

Sense Motive (Akiros; Hunch): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

"I get it. You did something awful out of anger. To say you regret it would put it lightly. You know you deserve to die for what you did but but can't bring yourself to end it. So you charge recklessly into every fight. Your hoping for an end that hasn't come, even now. Hoping...because the nightmares are getting worse. Every night you wake in a cold sweat, their screams still echoing in your head. Sometimes you are the one screaming. It's gotten so bad you see them in the shadows during the day now. They are always watching you. Judging you. Cursing you."

"Dying might make you feel better but you're leaving it to us. Then we have to live with killing a good person. And I think you are still a good person or else your past wouldn't bother you so much. Do you want us to go through what you are? I thought paladins were supposed to be chivalrous. You know, protect women and all that."

Jex

Jex says, "Look, I'll do whatever you want me to do! I'll help out, carry things, stand watch, whatever you need! As long as I get regular meals I'm as reliable as the tides."

Probably not THAT reliable, but he's not a child-molester or a murderer or a thief... mostly he's just a coward with no convictions, it seems.

Akiros

Akiros says in response to Carinna, "I've been waiting for death to come. When that blade went through my innards I thought it finally happened... but then I found that I'd been salvaged, once more. Is this some kind of divine punishment? That I have to live with my mistakes for so long?" He sighs.

"I'm not unrepentant - there is not a day that I do not regret what I have done. But I do not deny it. I make no excuses. I was - I am - a weak man, and all it took was one moment of weakness to destroy everything."

When Cassandra interjects, he replies, "Paladin?" His face goes pale. "Where... where did you get such an idea?"

At his last question, Carinna gave Korinne a nod, gesturing her to bring forth the old journal. She then showed it to Akiros. "We had no idea it was yours, so we read it a bit. We know what you did." She let her words sink for a bit before continuing. "And this is the reason we are talking to you instead of already having executed you."

"You felt from a tremendous height, Akiros, but you are not dead yet. I'll ask you just one more time... do you prefer to die in shape, your fight your way back into light? The easy or the difficult road? Will you be defined by your biggest mistake, or by your tenacity to accept such a dark fate?"

"We could help you... but you really need to want this." She looked at him attentively. It was true he would be mostly useful in the close future for his experience, but they would have a lot to think about already... adding a struggling man who doesn't want to be helped would no be an option.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

"Carinna's right! You're still a good person in there, because a good person wouldn't have written what you wrote," Korinne adds, her face flushed slightly. Although they couldn't have known it was his, she couldn't help but feel a small bit of shame and embarrassment from having read the man's innermost thoughts without permission. "M-maybe you can't fix what you did, but you can...can make up for it, by doing something good and productive with your life. There'll be new people coming in to settle and build their lives here...isn't that something Erastil would be happy about? Helping a new community grow?"

Diplomacy (Aid Another): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

"It only takes one horrible moment to destroy everything," Akiros whispers sadly. "How do you think I would 'make up for it'?"

Let's see if I help.

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

I do not.

"Trust me when I say you have no idea what a horrible moment is." And he didn't. Not when you grew up with some of the stories she heard. Lycan that murdered their whole family. Kobold's and giant's that abandoned their whole society because they they were forced to torture and kill innocent lives. She scoffed at his woe-is-me story.

"By helping others, of course!" Carinna answers. "Of course, this is the general answer but I think you got the meaning. Saving one live will not cleanse what you did but it is a start. Among those in our base, there is a priest of Erastil, Jhod Kavken, who got a vision of a lost temple in these woods... perhaps by helping him to bring back the temple to its former glory, you'd be one step to bring yourself to your own former glory."

"Or are you so drown in self pity that you imagine neither the God whom you dedicated many years of your life had turned His back to you for good? Pray to him, and I'm sure he'd guide you back to his flock..." Carinna, not being a religious people, was feeling a bit uncomfortable by trying to convince him of his god... this was however, her last try.

"I'm not sure there's room for me," says the clearly troubled man, "But if you would have my aid, then I will give it. Better than following that beast of a man. Perhaps... less of a waste," says Akiros uncertainly.

There's no telling what the future will hold for him... but clearly his troubles will not be solved with a simple pep-talk and a one-minute counseling session.

Dovan

Dovan, the black-haired rogue, is leaning lazily against the wall when you bring him up for interrogation. "Hey, I like it rough, but at least give me a kiss to go with the slap, all right?" he says with a lopsided grin.

"So... I'm Dovan. From Nisroch. I am - was - the right-hand man of the Stag Lord. Trusted with all of the operation, I was. Up until that doomsayer arrived, anyway," he says with a nod in the direction of Akiros. "I mean, not that I'm part of the Stag Lord's plans for conquest. It's easy for anyone to see that he was a madman. He ranted about how a 'Dark Lady' had chosen him for kingship. I think the drinking was beginning to affect his mind. I, well, kind of encouraged him to keep drinking - you know, it kept him complacent, maybe eventually it would bring him down. I guess you beat me to it." He smiles again. "Anyway, I grew up in the bad parts of Nisroch, which is most of it. I was targeted for a particularly gruesome murder and I decided it was best to get out while I could. I managed to survive on the road until I encountered the Stag Lord and his men, and he decided I would be useful. Later he started giving me orders and telling me to just handle things, so he could focus on getting drunk. I had to walk a bit of a balancing act there to keep things going without going too far, but without making him mad."

"What else can I tell you?" he inquires.

Any Sense Motive checks, make 'em now!

After Dovan we can probably handle the other survivors in a single block, then move back to get the group re-assembled with our new recruits.

OOC, I want him. That is a man perfectly suited for Spymaster or Court Assassin. In character, hard sell.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Cassandra couldn't make heads or tails of this man. He was putting off way too many signals. He did realize he might die if he said the wrong thing right? Had to commend his confidence, grating as it was. "What'd you do that made him mad? And did you mean targeted or caught for murder?"

"It's not that I made him mad. It's just that Akiros, when he's not in one of his 'woe is me' funks, he has this... natural command. The men would look up to him. Even when he hated himself, they still wanted to follow him."

Dovan shakes his head ruefully.

"I don't know why you'd follow a man with a death wish, but people do strange things," he says.

"Anyway, Nisroch - I was born in a brothel, actually. It happens. Anyway, as I grew up I made myself handy around the place, helped to protect the workers, took care of errands, occasionally ran messages and did advertising. Nothing significant, just keeping the business going. Well, I found out - much to my chagrin - that one of the customers had dropped a bunch of money to get the right to kill one of the girls during one of his 'escapades.' And of course since I knew, that made me a target as well. I found out because I overheard him making the deal - the owner didn't use his normal office for the deal because it was so bad, he used a secret room in the basement, which he didn't knew that I knew about. Anyway, I went to talk to some of the girls, to tell them what was up, and I heard him saying 'Just make sure nobody causes any trouble. Otherwise I will have to cut my way out.' But he was rich, paying in jewels. So I spread the word and then got outta town as fast as I could, before I would be noticed."

Carinna says nothing more to Akiros before sending him back to the cell. After the interrogations were done, she would talk to the others about him.

---

Sense Motive DC 20: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

As Dovan makes his joke, Carinna draws her dagger while keeping her sword on her lap. "I'll keep that in mind... if found guilty, consider my sword the slap. Of course, I could add a kiss before." She gestures with her dagger.

"So, basically you are telling us that the Stag Lord was an incompetent drunk... which means someone had to do the work for him, and it was you, right? Tell me how you, allegedly, helped things not to get worse... as far as we know, you as a group caused countless murders, thefts, extortions, and so on. Sorry, but I'm not seeing how you helped in the regards of making everything better. Also, could you tell me why have you not killed him while he was asleep?"

Crossing her arms, she continued. "As far as I can tell, you are giving too much emphasis to possibly to one thing you did in your life that could somehow be considered altruistic, while taking the focus away from what you did here in this Fort. The way I see it, you look even worse than the Stag Lord, who was a madman, while you are completely in control of your actions. Spill it out, or we shall indeed go rough..."

Intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Dovan makes a move to hold his hands up defensively, which ends abruptly because his wrists are bound. "Hey, I'm not claiming that I'm blameless. Keeping the Stag Lord drunk was the best way to keep him occupied, but no operation would mean no booze, which means angry Stag Lord wakes up and starts killing people. It was a tough balancing act, to be sure." He cocks his head and says, "I'm sure that snitch Jex spun some story about how he was forced into these circumstances. All right, I won't say I was forced, but I sure didn't want to stay in Nisroch. Look, you know the Stag Lord was a monster; you fought him. Nobody here could've stood up to him. The best I could do was try to mitigate what he did. It hurt but it was practical. I'm not making any claims about being a paladin, like Akiros."

"This whole tale you are selling, Dovan... I'm not buying it." She says it plainly. "To me, your escape from Nisroch is meaningless. You were never in danger were you? Your story is inconsistent... you were never targeted by this supposed murderer."

"Also, about the Stag Lord's business, if your life with him was so dire, why have you stayed? You mentioned you could sneak away and also that you are capable to taking care of your own... oh, and don't tell me that you only remained here to keep the Stag Lord in check... not even you will believe in such b%@&$!&&! Your last chance, Dovan..."

Watching Dovan, Carinna remembered his uncle's favorite quote about a duck. 'If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.'... stop quacking, Dovan...

Cassandra hadn't noticed all that. She was tuning out a lot because she didn't like his attitude to begin with. Now she is looking at him suspiciously and with intensity. Never good to have a predator's undivided attention.

"Hey, I'm under a lot of pressure here! My life is on the line!" says Dovan with some enthusiasm. "What do you want from me? The Stag Lord had master trackers working for him - I couldn't just run off one night, he'd make sure they found me and killed me!"

Korinne: Linguistics: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

Does scent pick up anything odd? I want to poke holes too. Poking holes is fun.

Smells like he wears Axe body spray, which as we know is the body spray of choice for d-bags. ;)

Sense Motive (Dovan): 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (3) - 1 = 2

Korinne continued to be amazed at Carinna's uncanny ability to really see through a person's words to get a reading on their true feelings.

I wonder how she does it? Could it be magic of some sort? A blessing from the gods? Ooh, I bet that's it!

However, the more that Dovan talks, the more that she notices something as well. At first she's not entirely sure, but as she tunes out the meaning of the words and simply focuses on the enunciation, the way they roll off the tongue...

"Wait a minute! You're not from Nisroch at all!" she suddenly exclaims, giving Dovan an accusatory glare. "That accent of yours, it's from Ustalav! You're just a lying liar that lies!"

Infuriated, Carinna stands up, her sword in her hand. "I think I got enough of you Dovan. Actions have consequences, and your tongue have failed you this time... you've gambled with lies and you've lost."

Moving closer to him, Carinna holds him and brings him back to the cell. She would talk to the others after the other bandits have spoken for themselves, but her mind was pretty much settled in a decision: Dovan did not deserve another chance... he had it, and he threw it away.

"Wait." Cassandra grabs Carinna and Dovan. "You're right. Your life is on the line. We were told the sentence for unrepentant bandits was death. Mr. woe-is-me told the truth and wants to do better now that there is a chance to. It never mattered what you did. We'd have given you a second chance had you spoke the truth. So last chance. Who are you? Lie again and you join your drunken lord."

"Yes, just try being honest - really honest - this time," Korinne pleads. Despite all these bandits had done, she still really didn't want to have to kill more than they absolutely had to. "You never know, you might actually like it!"

The captive Dovan looks exasperated and squirms slightly. "Look, I gave you my real name, I really did live in a brothel, there really was some hinky business going on there and I was afraid for my life. It's easy to get the details a little messed up, I'm kinda under a lot of pressure here. I'm not eager to get killed! What can I do so that we're on the same page here?"