Dungeon Master S's "Race for the Runecarved Key" (Inactive)

Game Master Chris Marsh

This will all be over soon...this will all be over soon...this will all be over soon...this will all be over soon...this will all be over soon...

Caduceus sweats as the party continues to edge Sneve closer and closer to the edge.... Not there yet...

Even though we've been using bluff so far, could we introduce Nachts as a manifestation of the curse and let him use his intimidation,and generally creepy to down right disturbing countenance, to sell this over the top? Aelwynd can be curiously charming (as the feat) so his intimidation doesn't cause hostility afterwards) if he can add in a creepy story to help sell Nachts entrance. Please skip the post if we think it wouldn't be a good idea.

"They say that death himself stalks those that deign to possess the key. Those that actually possess the key? They suffer forever with hooked chains piercing the skin of their souls, never knowing peace again. Of course that's nothing that you would worry about I'm sure..."

It's creative, fits, and you get to use abilities in which you've invested. I'll allow it, which means it's enough.

Sneve seems convinced, in fact, he starts backing away a bit and mutters to himself "I need to see a man about a dog..

He gives an awkward smile, and asks if you'll excuse him. It's clear to you that you've made your point, and knocked him out of the running.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I am keen on taking another run at The Duchesses, though I'm sure I could be persuaded to go after just about any of the others if there was a particular reason for it."

"I've got no one on that list I feel like talking to. I'll follow you to The Duchesses."

Back in the main building, Sheila gives you the rundown. “There were two women at the pre-auction who paid their deposit in Minkaian coins which, according to our sources, may have been stolen during a recent caravan raid. If such is the case, the duo no doubt have dubious intentions. The women call themselves the Duchesses and they likely have ties to one of Magnimar’s criminal organizations; I suspect the Rushlight Society. Still, it is their finances and not their intentions that most concern us. Some of our more reliable street contacts informed me that the two women were last seen entering the home of a local merchant named Windun Landers. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Landers has a wrought iron rushlight mounted on his door casing. Head to the man’s residence, and see if you can’t figure out how much money these “Duchesses” have. If all is as I suspect, they don’t have enough to bid competitively. I’m also near certain they’re using stolen funds, so leave whatever gold you find. I don’t want us bidding with illegally gotten coin—that’ll create more problems for us than it will solve. Lastly, whatever you happen to find, do not involve the authorities. I cannot risk the courts subpoenaing your testimony during the auction.”

Sheila gives you the address of Windun Landers’s residence.... You find yourself standing at the door.

"I could get all of the wrinkles out of my cloak with that irony."

may have been stolen during a recent caravan raid. If such is the case, the duo no doubt have dubious intentions.

I’m also near certain they’re using stolen funds, so leave whatever gold you find. I don’t want us bidding with illegally gotten coin.

The paladin merely fumes in silence at the hypocrisy.

Yeah.... it's a different kind of venture-captain than we saw later on...

"I have this weird feeling I've heard about this before. We are being ordered about, doing various tasks that toss about our morality, forcing us to avoid the authorities, all from a person who feels like they could save a life one day and destroy someone the next? Do you think that maybe Heidmarch is really Grandmaster Torch in disguise?"

"If not, well, I don't know if we plan on just marching in there, but I do have some teleportation and invisibility to help sneak in there for one person, but I wouldn't feel comfortable just tossing one person in there. Wanna all just go in and see how much we can learn?"

At the start of this day, Sielan cast extended greater magic weapon and overland flight.

Hold your tongue... hold your tongue. Give Shiela a big kick in the back side once you get her in private. This isn't the time for mutiny.

"Of course M'lady. Windun Landers, Rushlight Society and gather information only. We will be the epitome of subtlety and effectiveness as always. This shouldn't take long." Aelwynd's words drip with honeyed hostility. He dips his head, and doffs his hat in a grand sweep. When his head raises, his eyes are narrowed and focused, and only briefly meet the Venture Captain. There will be a discussion after this is all done. Count on it.

The half-elf grins and with a flourish, spins on his heels and quickly strides out of Heidmarch Manor, letting the door swing wide behind him.

Once outside he turns and answers Sielan. "I like the way you think, and I am fine with the group staying together. I think we will be a bit more direct this time. No more diplomacy or lies. We know this Rushlight Society is criminal and we can afford to be a bit more...intimidating. We don't need to steal anything, only discover how much their funds amount to and then report back to our Venture Captain once confirmed."

Man, sign me up for days like these AGAIN!!!! #sarcasm

Nachts nods his head, having been comparatively quiet. His normal grin has shriveled to a small smile as he has pondered, pondered, and pondered some more. Finally noticing his companion's tone and attitude, he finally chimes in. "While your distress ... is ... a blessing from ... my Prince in Darkness, I ... believe he would want ... the agony of your soul to be ... pure, untainted by deception." He shifts his glaive and continues. "Slave of the Inheritor" he says, less as a condescending shot and more as to catch Caduceus' attention "I have worked ... many times under Venture ... Captain Sheila Heidmarch. The ... amount of care she shows for ... the agents under her, the efforts ... she has made to reach out to other ... organisations, and ... the commitment she has displayed ... to this Society's ideals make ... her behavior right now ... puzzling. I have seen her ... leave the lodge on a search ... for missing weakling agents, putting it ... and a collection of ... precious artifacts at risk. I'm not ... certain what is going ... on but there is something ... deliciously dark ... about her current behavior. I have ... heard that the ... Ten sometimes use methods you would disapprove of. Like these" he continues, wiggling his eyebrows as his smile grows slightly. "Perhaps she is a pawn of the Ten. Or some of the Ten. Playing along ... might help you ease your spirit. Perhaps. Or it might ... twist your ideals ... into nothingness. I suppose ... the question is, are you ... willing to go through the crucible?" he asks with a barely suppressed cackle.

Turning to address Sielan and Aelwynd he chimes in: "Being alone ... does not concern me. My soul is ... torn by the absence of anyone and everyone. Teleport me in ... I will open the ... way for you."

Lol I feel your pain. When I played this at Gen Con, I was playing a morally flexible sorcerer. And the breakneck pace of real life didn't give me a lot of time to reflect.

Eventually one of you knocks on the door. Windun opens the door, "Yes? Can I help you?"

Oh no, I was reflecting on the past couple days IRL. I've already said way too much about what I feel about this author's depiction of Sheila Heidmarch. :D

This is the same day I presume? And dinner with the Doctor is tonight? Also, do we have a plan? Saul's plan is always lie through your teeth until caught, then sucker punch. I suspect that may not be the best of plans here.

This is the same day. Dinner is with the doctor later tonight.

Focusing his eyes on Nachts, a smile warms the paladin's face. "Of course you would see it as slavery. My Lady accepts my devotion, but does not compel it. You have my earnest sympathy that you think it should be any other way with one's patron. Your words try to sweeten the messenger. For all our sakes, I hope they are true."

Let's go with Saul's amazing skills at diplomacy to get us in the door, though no lies(bluff) so that Cad may assist or do it himself. Once inside we can switch tactics if necessary to find out where the Duchesses are and then we can find them and their money. We really do have important business to discuss with him, and it's in his best interest to speak with us, inside and away from the street(otherwise we go with Nachts and he will be decidedly less friendly). Cad should be detecting evil on each of these people from now on(we should have been doing it all along really) so we can decide if they are worthy of our actions(and just how far we are willing to go).

I'm offended. Nachts is one of the biggest people persons of his faith. The rest of them wear people I hear.

Ariana nods in agreement but gives a scowl to Ms. Heidmarch as she leaves with the others. "It's not ok to steal from these people but the Aspis have at it?" She shakes her head.

"I'll just stand by looking all body guard while you get us in the house."

"Erm... if you say so... got it... no lying... no lying... ok..."

~~~

This will probably still fall under bluff, but technically none of it is a lie.

As Windun opens the door, Saul immediately goes into his spiel.

"Good evening. I do believe that the Duchesses, have made arrangements with you have they not? And they are representing themselves as a single interested party in the Runecarved key? It has come to my attention that the integrity of this auction may be at risk as one or more of the bidding parties have been known to engage in several questionable activities. I am here to audit the finances of the Duchesses and enter them into record prior to the commencement of the auction."

Insert a social skill here: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (17) + 21 = 38

Technically true is the best kind of true.

His eyes go wide, and a bead of sweat appears on his brow.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

"It must be difficult, being caught between everything and everyone. All of that liability must have you under terrible pressure. Rest assured, the sooner we find what we are looking for, the sooner you can breath easier."

He turns to Saul with a genuine smile and nods. "Now the easiest way this can go is if you introduce us to The Duchesses and we can take things from there. If for some reason you find that difficult, then you could just show us to their rooms and again, we would take it from there. It is only a simple book keeping matter after all."

Diplomacy+Inspiration: 1d20 + 10 + 1d6 ⇒ (15) + 10 + (4) = 29

Tricky to pull this off in PbP, so slightly winging it.

He steps back into the room, not blocking you out, but not exactly inviting you in either. His looks is.... odd.

Busy right now, but my sense motive bonus is +21 thanks to versatile performance, so Saul will poke Aelwynd and let him know.

Would Saul poke Nachts as well?

Poke anyone for a bot. :-)

Nachts cocks his head to the side.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25

He feels like he is on the cusp of figuring out where the strange man is hinting at. But alas, not close enough.

Perception+inspiration: 1d20 + 22 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + 22 + (4) = 29

Following Saul's nudge and Nacth's glance, Aelwynd nods to the two men and looks up the stairs before turning back to Windun. "You never said a word."

With a smooth grace he ascends to the next floor where he finds an unlocked room with one bed inside. After a brief search of the room, Aelwynd finds a locked box with Minkan art on it hidden under the bed.

"This must be it." he says under his breath, as he takes out some stiff wires and a slender hooked piece of metal from within his belt pouch.

Perception vs traps: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (16) + 23 = 39
Disable Device: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (16) + 17 = 33

If this opens it, then he will count the money and close and lock to box back up, replacing it where he found it.

"I do admit, this is all going a lot more smoothly than I would expected. I was expecting assassins to leap out at us from every which way by now."

Ariana gives Sielan a look when he says that. She puts her hand on her sword, and waits for the assassins called forth by the Knight to appear.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (4) + 14 = 18

Saul, not having any real concept of appropriateness, sneaks up behind Sielan.

Stealth: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (9) - 2 = 7

"Boo!"

The man stares at Sielan, and the jumps at Saul's joke.

Regardless, Aelywynd cracks open the chest to 5,000 Minkain stamped coins, not enough to even make an opening bid!

Looking about it appears that Windun has returned to his daily routine, and is specifically ignoring you. The door to leave is open.

You likely have time to chheck in with Sheila for one more before needing to meet the Dr.

"Aw, you got me Saul. I thought someone might have been attacking."

"I'm not saying I want someone to attack. I'm just saying that is the way it goes in a lot of stories."

Given the list of options Sielan doesn't seem very committed to any of the goals. "I think one of you mentioned Dymal. We could go follow up on that and what his patron is wanting."

"Yes. Let us go ... see who Dymal ... bows to."

"Aye, let's see if we can talk Dymal out of bidding without resorting to blatant thievery or murder."

The quick meeting with Sheila brings feelings of deja vu. “While we’re not sure how much of a threat Dymal Rinks poses to our winning the auction, we don’t want to take any chances. Our informants tell us that Rinks owes a considerable debt to the proprietor of the Matador, Master Basaale Minvandu. Short on the funds to cover his debts, Dymal Rinks hopes to cash in on the Runecarved Key as part of a wild investment scheme. Unfortunately for Rinks, Minvandu wants his debts paid immediately and has sent his collectors to track the halfling down. I suspect we can easily knock Rinks out of the auction by turning him over to Minvandu’s thugs. Still, I’m a little wary of this course of action as handing Rinks over to the bone-breakers may very well result in his death. Despite being a desperate little imp, Rinks is a decent arbitrator and if word gets back that we played a part in his death, it might make things difficult in the future. If you can avoid getting him killed it might help. Perhaps you can pretend to be thugs and scare him off or simply threaten to rat him out to Minvandu if he doesn’t back out of the auction. In any event, do whatever you need to do to drive him away. Oh, and he lied about his whereabouts. Our informants say he’s hiding out at the Galesford Inn in Dockway.”

Yeah, I hear you. :-)

Yeah, scenarios like this are hard on the ole LG alignment, lol

"Do we know what sort of debts he owes? We did, as it happens... 'liberate' a nice sum of Aspis coin. If you feel that he is a decent arbitrator, it seems it would be good to have him as an ally of the society. Perhaps being straightforward with him and offering him a way to clear his debts in exchange for backing out of the auction would be even more preferable to him than winning the auction in the first place."

"Whatever works. Just get face to face with him and get him out. I don't think the Aspis coin will make him bite though, that's trading one problem for another."

Saul nods an then heads off with his compatriots.

"Well, I guess the simplest solution is to... well... lie through our teeth until he scrams. Have a couple of us pretend to be bone-breakers and close in on him, one of us tips him off and convinces him to book it."

He smirks. "Alternatively, if he's interested in taking stolen Aspis gold but nervous about 'trading one problem for another' as she put it, we could convince him that Sheila Heidmarch has no love for the Aspis Consortium, and would gladly provide protection should they find out where their coin ended up. As we are working on her behalf she may be forced to own up to the problem afterwards."

He pauses, then looks over at Caduceus. "Any ideas? You know me... my specialty is spinning tales. I make mountains out of molehills, split hairs, and make hay while the sun shines. Probably not your area of expertise. As much as I enjoy a bit of chicanery, this Venture Captain is really grinding my gears."

He puts his hand on the haft of an adamantine greataxe protruding from his pack. "And I know something about grinding gearsmen..."

He shrugs. "If you've got a good way out of this please share. I am, after all, a Silver Crusader, and all of this deceit for what seems like a less than stellar cause does make me feel a little more impish than is likely healthy."

With a thought and then a soft shake of his head, "While I appreciate your efforts toward justice, that seems to be putting a thumb on the scale just a bit too much."

"Well... I guess if we're going to go with the straightforward route we'll need some of you to act as bone-breakers, and one of us to 'tip him off.' Nachts and Aelwynd certainly have the imposing demeanor. Sielan and Ariana don't even have to try to act... I mean look at them! Armed to the TEETH!"

"This isn't the sort of tale I go for, but as good a tale you spin, I'm thinking that is a lot to hope for. I would offer my own coin to cover his debt, but if he is trying to bid against all others, I can't imagine I have enough to ever cover it."

"I don't do much besides hold a weapon. I'd be hard pressed to make something think I would hurt him if I wasn't going to do it. We might need to find out more about Minvandu though if we are going to pretend to be his goons. Maybe we can find another way to cover for the little guy."

"I might be just overthinking it though. I can hold my weapons well enough. I can do my best to look menacing while someone else does the hard work."

"Perhaps we should give Caduceus an opportunity to speak with him in good faith and attempt to negotiate a reasonable settlement to clear the man's debts using the Aspis gold and/or our own, in exchange for leaving the bidding. I'm sure he'd jump at the opportunity to clear his debts sooner rather than later."

Saul shrugs. "And if that fails, then perhaps we insinuate that we are aware of parties that would use his debt to Minvandu to force him out of the bidding in a much harsher manner."

He shakes his head slowly back and forth. "...and failing that, well. I'd rather try our luck at the auction than sentence him to death by debtors. I'd sooner put up Heidmarch's disappointment than know I was a part of that. I've got no bone to pick with Dymal. Plenty of bones to pick with the Aspis... but none with Dymal."

He thinks for a moment before adding. "Of course half of the time I say that about someone they try to stab me. THEN I have a bone to pick..."

"You've got a creative and clever mind Saul. I like letting Caduceus speak to Rinks and explain how we can help instead of just going in with a ruse and a threat. Those are still options of course, but I agree that we shouldn't sentence this fellow to death by informing his enemies of his whereabouts. So, if we're in agreement, let's go see if Rinks is home then, shall we?"

I really need to keep in touch with everyone from this group after this. Smart, fair and disciplined are a rare and wining combination.

Ariana gives a menacing smile. "I can make thug work. I'd rather not turn him over to death if we can avoid it. Let's see what the little man has to say. Maybe he'll let us know how we can help him out. If not we can always stuff him in a box and ship him someplace far away." She half jokes on the way out the door.

"Master Rinks, good to see you once again. I know you are busy, so I will get to the point. We know what kind of trouble you are in, and to whom. We would like to help you. However, the auction is not your best option. Are you willing to treat with us about this?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (12) + 18 = 30