GM Ladile & the Pathfinder Society Present: Portent's Peril CORE (Tier 1-2) (Inactive)

Game Master Lady Ladile

"Far. Bow!"

Anastasia moves forward, pulling her bow while running. She stops and quickly sends an arrow toward the dazed woman.

While Pavo continues to wind up his magic, Thran and Anastasia open fire on the woman with magic missiles and good old-fashioned arrows! The assault leaves her significantly worse for the wear but she does not fall.

Rising from Anastasia's shoulder, Flovi zips forward towards the fray as well.

"Can't let the bad woman get away! I'll help too!"

1d2 ⇒ 1

The Qadiran woman recovers from the dazing effects of Thran's magic and, spitting curses, rushes towards the eastern wall and begins scaling one of the ladders leading up towards the open skylights. Pausing partway up she then draws a deck of cards from her pocket.

Zeeva and Lady Qualstair continue to flee back towards the market entrance as the crowds continue to surge and stampede away from the fighting!
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Round 2

Flovi
Pavo
Sarzuket
Thranalas
Anastasia
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Qadiran Woman (-19)
==========
Zeeva
Rumble
Crowd

Active Conditions: None

Environmental Conditions: Crowds - All Squares are Difficult Terrain

Everyone is UP!

Current Map!

Sarzuket moves up and hops down the produce table, then casts guidance on Rumble.

She should, at this point, make a Will save vs. DC 13 or fall asleep if she has 4 HD or less.

Sarzuket leaps down from his lofty perch, granting Rumble the Wrecking Ball a bit of extra guidance for his wrecking. Pavo concludes his spell with a flourish, gesturing towards the injured Qadiran...and nothing happens. As if sensing the magic that had attempted to take hold of her, she turns towards Pavo and flashes him a wicked grin.

"Funny what a little elf blood will do for a girl!"

A very good and understandable try but alas; Pavo now understands that she didn't just resist the spell but that it had absolutely no effect on her at all.
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Round 2/Round 3

Flovi
Pavo
Sarzuket
Thranalas
Anastasia
==========
Qadiran Woman (-19)
==========
Zeeva
Rumble
Crowd

Active Conditions: None

Environmental Conditions: Crowded Squares = Difficult Terrain

Rumble, Pavo, Thran and Anastasia are UP!

Current Map!

Rumble sprints across the market place as fast as he can, axe raised overhead. "YA CANNAE GE' AWAY FROM US LASS! AAAAAARRRRR YYEEEE READAY TO RRRUUUMMMMBBBBLLLLLLLE?!?!?" he screams, intent on showing her the errors of her ways.
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If I can charge. If not, this'll be my AoO if she climbs while in my reach
Urgrosh vs Qadiran: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 221d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5 +2 hit/dmg if human, +2 if I can charge, potentially vs flatfoot AC if she is climbing!
Could I charge her from my original position (marked with a red circle)? If not, I just double move adjacent to her. How far up the ladder is she right now? Is there a knowledge check for her race?

Anastasia moves closer again in search of a clear line.

"Now, fist! Hit!" she cries and sends a telecinetic fist at the quadira woman.

"Curses! She's rather resistant to my magic," Pavo grumbles to himself as he moves through the cleared market, drawing his whip. He begins to encourage his companions.

"Well, this is not as bad a mess as when the Pathfinders went down to Senghor and tried to ambush the Aspis Consortium--the poor wizard couldn't stomp his way through a glass window--but it's a similar battlefield. We have a big, open market, high ceiling, sky lights, and ladders. I have confidence that with all these sharp minds, we can turn this to our advantage!"

Inspire Courage: +1 competence on attack and damage rolls, +1 morale bonus on save vs. fear

As the Qadiran begins her ascent up the ladder and you continue your pursuit, something suddenly occurs to everyone. She mentioned elf blood but the woman looks human. As this realization solidifies in your minds the Qadiran's appearance suddenly begins to shimmer and ripple and then fades away - revealing (to everyone's or perhaps no one's surprise) a scraggly-looking half-elven woman with a gold tooth!

Rumble charges for the charlatan, swinging his urgrosh and catching the woman in the leg as she'd only just begun her attempted ascent up the ladder, very nearly knocking her off of it. Pavo begins shouting words of inspiration, bolstering his allies. Anastasia follows up with another beautiful bow shot that catches her in the shoulder and elicits a cry of agony. The cards drop her from hand as she weakly raises it in the air.

"Enough! Enough...I'm not dying for this..." she gasps, her numerous wounds bleeding and dripping blood down onto cobblestones of the marketplace. "All my cards, I'll...lay them on the table...just, spare my life!"

Combat Over!

Wow the villain looks cool! love that pic!

Thran looks over the whole scene. "Despite the unfolding of events, I still prefer to stay away from the Harrowing. It's human magic that seems to do as much harm as good. Still, I am pleased that the ending was a good one."

"Tha's righ', ya cannae handle the raw migh' o' RUMBLE! Aye was tah slay a dragon tahday, ya know?" the dwarf points out, weapon still drawn as his allies form up around their foe.

"What was all this about?" Pavo asks as he arrives upon the scene of surrender. "Surely, there were easier ways to carry out an assassination."

Just as Goldtooth opens her mouth to reply to Pavo-

"YOU!"

Lady Qualstair comes storming up, eyes wide, with Zeeva right on her heels. She looks at you all, clearly surprised by this development. "This woman is a charlatan, a con artist! Several weeks ago I went to her for a card reading but caught her stacking the deck in order to be able to claim good fortunes for her customers! Of course I exposed her for what she is," she explains. "And she was none too happy about it, either."

"And she is the fortune-teller who gave me that Harrow reading that set all of these events in motion," Zeeva adds, arms now folded across her chest as she gives the half-elf a cold stare.

"Now now...things don't have to get any uglier, do they?" Goldtooth responds with a soft chuckle. "I already said that I would tell all that you wish to know...and trust that you'll show a small bit of mercy on a poor, penniless woman," she adds with a sickly-sweet smile.

"About a month ago when I was in the city of Kaer Maga, I was approached by a man named Madreki Gael. This poor man was ever so upset; seems he used to have quite a bit of pull among the families that belong to the Sczarni, but then a rival came along and took that away from him," Goldtooth explains. "What was his name? Oh yes, it was Guaril Karela. This Karela managed to ally himself with a number of powerful merchant families from Qadira and form a new faction among the Pathfinder Society - the Exchange, or so I'd heard."

She shrugs. "Not that it was any of my business but oh, how Madreki fumed! However the Sczarni are nothing if not resourceful and so he quickly hatched a plan. See, word had come to him about my own encounter with Miss High-and-Mighty here," she glares at Lady Qualstair. "And he had also learned that she'd be visiting Korvosa again, quite soon. So he contacted me and offered the chance to get even. I'd get rid of the good Taldan lady and make it look like Qadira's doing. You know that the two countries haven't always been on the best of terms, yes? Of course you do," she grins. "I suspect Madreki hoped the lady's death would cause an international incident and all the unfortunate consequences that tend to follow such things...distrust, destabilization of trade, perhaps even outright war - enough to fracture this 'Exchange' and more!"

"Stack deck! I knew it was not true!" Anastasia rejoices Lady Qualstair's accusation. "Still we found many things happen in card places. Need keep mind open, more research", she continues, thinking.

"Madreki. Now all found out. Investigation done!"

Rumble's eyes glaze over about 13 seconds into her monologue, when he realizes there won't be anymore fighting. Suppose I'll have to find another assignment then. Something with real dragons and maybe a troll or two. That'd be fun.

”Yes. All is clear as mud,” Pavo says. ”I still do not understand Zeeva’s role in your scheme, but at least we save Lady Qualstair. Twice.”

Apologies for the delay; worked yesterday and then crashed when I got home!

Goldtooth scowls. "She didn't have a role - she wasn't supposed to be involved at all!"

"Yes, it looks like I became the proverbial fly in the ointment," Zeeva remarks, arms still folded across her chest as she glares down at the Sczarni woman. "You turned up the Yellow Prophet when you gave me that Harrow reading but I suspect you weren't planning on that happening at all, were you?"

"No," Goldtooth admits, chagrined. "I...I only intended to stack the deck," she glances at Anastasia, "to ensure good omens. The Yellow Prophet wasn't even in my deck and I had no idea where it came from - and still don't."

"Seems to me that the Fates had other things in store rather than just letting you and this Karela have your way," Zeeva says as a satisfied smile slowly creeps across her face. "You, of all people, should know that Fate doesn't always play by the rules - ours or anyone else's!"

Zeeva now turns to smile at the group of you. "Well! I have to say that I wasn't expecting this turn of events but I'm so thankful that no one was hurt...no one who didn't deserve it, at any rate." Spotting Flovi as she settles again on Anastasia's shoulder, Zeeva raises a curious eyebrow. "It also looks like you've made a new friend or two?" she asks, also turning to Lady Qualstair. "The guard should be here any moment now to take Miss Goldtooth off our hands. After that, you'll have to let me tour you around my market while you tell me everything that's happened since we parted ways earlier..."

The End.
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And that's it! If anyone wishes, feel free to post an 'Easter Egg' scene which is akin to the little shots you see in a movie during/after the credits rolling. Thank you so much for playing!

After the boring business with the guards is over, Sarzuket fully takes in the scents and flavors of the market, trying every fruit, produce and spice on display. In the end, a few silver pieces are exchanged and he walks away with a few large burlap sacks full of vegetables, and a smaller bag with a few select fruits and spices.

"I'm bringing this back to our ship and I'm gonna fire up the grill. Drizzled with Qadiran olive oil and sea salt, and with these spices, you won't believe how good that is. B.Y.O.M. and B.Y.O.B. Rumble! we'll throw any fresh butcher cuts you have alongside these veggies!"

Rumble shows up tot he ship ready for a cookout. Before boarding, he waves in two carts full of groceries. In the first is simply the largest barrel of dwarven ale that fits in the cart, with a handle of dearven whiskey. The second is heavily laden with fine cuts of meat. "Aye 'ope this's wha' ya 'ad in mind, Gnome! Rumble takes 'is cookin' seriously an' there'll be no 'ungry on tha ship tonight! HAHA! Le's look inta workin' togetha more of'en, eh?"

Anastasia returns to the lodge, with Flovi the pseudodragon still on her shoulder. "In Society, we always need make report after mission, she explains. She places all her notes on the table, and starts to sort them out to a final report, pointing interesting bits of information to the pseudodragon. The notes are very messy, and sometimes she stops to wonder aloud: "What I meant with this? When? Why? They say that I unclear sometimes. Maybe right. Can you see what I meant here?"

"Ribbit", the toad resents Anastasia's new friendship.