GM Lictor Lane's (Half) Mad Men with a Kick - CoT Team 2 IC Thread (Inactive)

Game Master michaelane

Janiven replies, "I agree with you Coran. And, I believe small actions can potentially make big changes. Even little things like standing up to criminals or bullies can make a difference. Once we have the support of the Wiscrani, we can tackle bigger challenges."

Janiven replies, "I agree with you Coran. And, I believe small actions can potentially make big changes. Even little things like standing up to criminals or bullies can make a difference. Once we have the support of the Wiscrani, we can tackle bigger challenges."

Franco listens intently, and flusters a bit with pride as they talk of reform. " So how do we proceed, might i inquire? " he absent mindedly stopped for a moment to pick a bit of chicken from between his cat like teeth"There's some sort of plan I assume?"

Antal leans back in his chair. "I've heard speeches like this before. What makes your little revolution more likely to succeed than any that have come before?" The aging halfling is clearly unimpressed. "I wish to help this city as well, but idealism only brings one so far. Plans are important, and I would not like to have the Hellknights come and knock over my shop because someone got careless. What exactly are you proposing Janiven?"

Sucks being the voice of reason in a room of idealists.

Caravas turned to the older halfling and smiled. "Believe me, I don't want that either. But I have to say that I don't consider myself an idealist. After growing up for 15 years on the streets of this town, watching my mother and myself scramble and fight for ever last scrap of food I know how real this life here can be. That's why I want to change it. I want as few people as possible to go through what I had to because they can't all be saved by some divine destiny or something like that. They have to fight. And I want to make the fight a bit easier and shorter."

Looking at Caravas, Franco and Antal "Janiven said small actions can make big changes, which means to me small people can cause big changes, who si smaller than us." Coran smiles then sighs "I haven't ever left this city because I was born as a slave and became property once out of the womb as it is with most of our kind." he looks at the older halfling "I am not going to be anyone's slave again, this is why I want to fight for change."

"Those are good sentiments Coran. That's exactly why I approached each of you. You're right too Antal, that's why we seek small actions and winning the people to our side."

It's still a couple hours till sundown. Janiven stands and you see her glance out the window. She shakes her head. She then shutters the windows and goes to the door and locks it.

"Don't worry, we'll only be here another hour, but I don't want us to be disturbed. We won't be after dark, but if any of you are concerned, I can arrange for you to spend the night here. Would any of you like another drink before we continue?"

Coran looks at Janiven "I think for this part I'll take an Ale." he smiles and waits for her plan to be revealed.

Janiven walks back to the bar and grabs another pitcher of ale to bring back to the table. She fills Coran's tankard and her own. Remaining standing, she takes a deep breath and begins.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with me here today. I have chosen each of you for a singular reason - everyone here, myself included, has suffered, whether we realize it or not. I have lived in Westcrown my whole life, and although I love this city, I must admit, as must you, that despite our peace and prosperity at least for some, we continue to suffer. Fear should not be an expected part of life, and yet each night brings fear to our doorsteps. Yes, Westcrown has been safe from war and famine for nearly seventy years, and yes, our businesses have prospered - but this safety and prosperity has been bought in the coinage of fear and prayers to Hell. Other lands live free from tyranny. Other cities do not fear the night. Other governments do not cede the streets to monsters of the infernal shadows. Westcrown was once such a place, and she wants to be such a place again. Westcrown is not only her buildings and canals and docks and history -she is also her people. Westcrown is our friends and neighbors, our mothers and fathers, our siblings and cousins, our sons and daughters! With but a small group of supporters and dedicated brothers and sisters, we can earn the trust and admiration of those people. A Westcrown free of these shadowy beasts that stalk our streets is one step closer to a Westcrown free of the devil that is the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune!"

Coran listens to what is being said, moved by everything said by Janiven. He wants to speak to add something but has no words. He looks at his fellow idealists wondering if anyone could say no to what was just said.

Caravas nodded. Everything Janiven said was true. This was a golden opportunity to make a difference and make things better, not just for themselves, but all those living in Westcrown. He raised his glass in salute. "Well said! I'm in. I'm tired of hiding out at night. We improve things for all of us if we make a change. The biggest question though, is how do we begin?"

Suddenly, you hear someone try to open the front door and a loud knocking comes from the barred door. Janiven darts to the window to look outside as the knocking continues. She breathes, "Morosino," and runs to the door, unlocks it, and opens it.

Into the room stumbles an out-of-breath, and frightened looking teenager who yells out, "They've got Arael!" and immediately doubled over in a fit of coughing.

Antal stands to his full height and steps near the boy with his mug. "Drink this boy. Dust will have caked upon your esophogal tract while you ran. This will help a bit, after a few sips breathe slowly and deeply." Antal watches carefully as the boy drinks the lemonade, and listens carefully to his breathing.

Coran watches as the boy enters looking as if the devil was chasing him. Coran gets up from his seat going to a window facing the street and watch for said "Devil".

Stealth Roll for staying out of view of those outside if anyone.
1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13

Perception Check to see if the boy is followed.
1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Janiven's face grows grim as she comforts Morosino and asks him to explain himself. Antal steps in with the lemonade. Ignoring his advice, the boy grabs the mug and sucks down a huge gulp, nearly choking himself again in the process. In a moment the lad recovers enough to spurt out, “The dottari nabbed Arael, and the Hellknights of the Rack are trying to get custody of him! There's a bunch of Hellknights on their way here now! I only just made it in here!"

Everyone can hear the sound of clanking armor coming toward the tavern from outside.

Surprisingly, in the midst of this, Janiven remains remarkably calm. She bars the door again and turns to you, "I'm sorry for getting you involved in this. It wasn't supposed to be this way. I promise, I'll help get you out of here."

In a confident, commanding voice she orders, "Antal, there is a back way, but we have to get into the sewers. Everyone into the kitchen, we have a trapdoor to the sewers in there."

Coran looks at the oncoming Hell Knights, "Lady and Gentlemen, there are about 10 of mentioned Hell Knights are almost to the door and they don't look like they want to talk."

He watches how calmly Janiven is handling the situation like a professional. "Wonderful the Sewers, I love the sewers a great place to hide." he pauses a second "Should we try to bar the door to slow them down? Coran looks at Janiven.

"Fool boy, listen to your elders when they tell you things." A sound rap on the skull with the little halfling's cane drives the idea home. "Ugh... the sewers. I suppose having ones pants dirtied could be better than being run through by our friends. I will endeavor to move ahead and see how we can go about it." Antal moves into the kitchen, searching for the trapdoor.

Coran looks at Antal while rubbing the his head "don't worry old man I am planning on doing what Janiven says I just want to make sure you have enough time to hobble away." Coran hops down from the chair heading into the kitchen.

Franco goes to reach for his dagger but shakes the idea from his mind calmly and clears his throat. Moving swiftly ahead of his halfling friend he searches for the fore mentioned trap door." Antal Do be careful descending old friend." He says thoughtfully as he crouches near the entrance."Although I doubt those clankers from the Nail would be able to pursue us very far for fear of rusting up their greaves." Apparently pleased, He flashes a toothy smile.

Janiven joins you in the kitchen, "Unfortunately, I have no doubt they'll try to pursue us, but let's see if we can slow them down a bit. Morosino, get down there now!"

Morosino lifts up a trap door hidden in one of the cabinets and drops into the sewer. At the same time, Janiven pulls down a shelf near the kitchen door, it falls with a CRASH in front of the door.

"Well I suppose that's subtlety out the door. Hup!" Antal says as he drops through the trapdoor into the sewer. "And now my shoes are ruined. This day just keeps getting better." The halfling keeps his hands up, keeping his prized cane and crossbow from the dirty water.

Caravas smiles at Antal's comment and drops down into the sewers behind him. "It's true my friend, but a day when you live on to continue the fight is always a good day. We may have alot of trouble on our tails, but this is going to be a good day because these are the first steps on a larger path."

Coran climbs down the ladder and begins breathing through his mouth "Antal my suggest you don't breath through your nose, you might not get sick. Don't worry about the Shoe I know a good cobbler that can fix those up good as new for you." He pauses and looks up the ladder "We should get moving before those knights grabs us."

A few more crashes come from above as Janiven continues wreaking havoc in the kitchen. Moments later, the trapdoor closes and Janiven drops to the floor next to you.

Just a second,"she says and you can hear her rustling around in a sack. Moments later you hear a crack and light begins shining from a sunrod in her hand.

"This way," she orders and quickly proceeds down the tunnel. The sunrod lights a door just ahead which she quickly passes through and bars behind you.

You find yourselves in a sewer tunnel running left and right. Janiven bars the door behind her saying, "I hope between the mess I left for them in the kitchen and this door that we'll slow them down enough to get away."

Franco paces at the edge of the sunrod's illumination, peering into the darkness both left and right before turning to Janiven, whom he lets his eyes rest on for a little longer than a moment."Left or Right then?"

Perception Check1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17

Janiven looks to Franco, "We have a hidden safehouse in Rego Sacero. Let's get there and then we can determine our next move."

She moves the sunrod close to the wall, "Do you all see that sword drawn in chalk? Good. This one points to the left. That is the direction of the safehouse."

She gets down on the ground next to the door and pushes aside a rock next to the door. "Good, they're still here." She pulls out a small satchel and begins removing vials. "These are healing potions. We stashed them here a few weeks ago in the event of an emergency like this. I have three for each of you." She passes out three potions to each of you.

"They might take a few minutes to finish searching the tavern, but some are going to follow us down here once they grab a lantern or make torches. They might even try to infiltrate the sewers ahead of us if they can guess our route. We need to keep moving. Let's get started and talk more on the way."

You look around and can see that the tunnel is only five-feet high, though it is 10-feet wide. A three-foot trench for sewage and water takes up a third of the width with the foul mix a foot or so below the level of the walkway.

Please give me a marching order. You may pick from on point, center or rear guard. Janiven will be on point and Morosino in the center. If I don't hear from you, I'll assign a position based on class.

Coran gets down the ladder and looks at where they are. He knows that this is going to be a slippery trip. He looks over at Antal hoping he doesn't fall in Coran didn't want to pick anyone out of the mess.

"Janiven let me know where you want me to be I have been down in certain parts of the sewers with a friend of mine."

I will take point or rear guard

"Coran, you can take point with me. Thank you for offering, your assistance will be helpful."

Tentative Marching Order (traveling to left)

Caravase walked in a bit of a squat and bent over. "No worries, I'll watch our rear, make sure we don't get snuck up on. However, if you don't mind can we hurry along? I've never exactly been happy in places like this.

Janiven replies, "I'm in agreement with you Caravas, the sooner we get to the safehouse, the better."

You begin to move down the sewer tunnel, sounds of the Hellknights fading behind you as you move away from the tavern. Janiven's light shows a well-constructed tunnel, made of large blocks of quarried stone. The sewage channel itself is filled mostly with water, but garbage and sewage is visible as well. It appears to be about three feet deep.

As you move along, Janiven points tobthe sword symbols and explains, "Arael and I made these marks a few months ago while we explored the sewers. We marked all intersections so our people could find their way through the sewers to our hideout. If we get separated, keep following the marks. Eventually, we will reach one that points up to the safehouse."

Sludging ahead through the water, Franco shook his head and doubted that the smell would ever come out of his nose, much less his boots.

"So where is this Safehouse? Anyone we know?"Franco talks absently, seemingly aloof of the distant Hellknights

"My nephew is right, we should know the location, in case we get separated. Also, who is this Arael fellow?" Antal tries to step as much as he can on the edges of the water to stay dry.

Coran listens to everything being said thinking about with Janiven it would be easier to get to this safehouse with her, but we could still get to it if we follow the marks. Were neither of them listening,

"Not trying to start any sort issue, but Janiven stated that if we follow the marks we can find the safe house if we happen to get separated." he looks up for a second at Janiven "Also being told the final destination down here wouldn't make any sort of difference because unless you know the sewers like the back of your hand you wouldn't find it unless you go in the streets." He smiles then continues to breath through his mouth.

Janiven replies, It's ok Coran. We're all still getting to know one another, so perhaps it would help if I share more information. The safe house is in Rego Sacero in an abandoned temple of Aroden. The best way for us to get there should be the sewers. They are relatively clean and safe if you stay out of the sewage itself, although there are a few creatures down here. But, it will keep us from the Hellknights above where the terrain is more favorable to them. Arael is a priest of Iomaedae and the leader of our little group. I hope he's managed to escape, but if not, I'll figure out what I can do when we reach the safe house."

Coran listens to Janiven knowing she knows what she is talking about "Shall we get going then."

You march through the sewers for about ten minutes. You occasionally hit an intersection and Janiven pauses to look for the marks, then points to the right direction and you continue on.

You can see that you are approaching another intersection when you hear voices ahead.

"We need to go this way. I'm sure they must be this way."

A second voice calls, "No you idiot. You have no idea which way we need to go. I'm sure it's this way."

A third voice interrupts, "You're both fools. We should wait right here, I'm sure they'll eventually run right into us."

The three voices continue arguing while you decide what to do.

Coran hears the voices looking up at Janiven "I think we should continue moving maybe we'll be lucky and they will slip in the water." he then looks around at the floor "or maybe we can find a better place to defend ourselves." He looks at his fellow companions with a questioning look.

Janiven replies, "I think if we're going to keep moving, we'd better prepare for a possible fight. We could try to draw them back to an earlier intersection, but I think we need to be careful that we don't get stuck between two groups if we have any behind us."

You can see Morosino growing visibly nervous as discussion of facing the Hellknights continues.

Coran, if things don't pick back up with the rest of this group, I may fold you in with Team 1. They've had one drop, but the rest are going strong.

Looking back at Janiven "If we head back to the intersection it should be a good place to defend ourselves. Also there we might have a better chance to see if someone is trying to sneak up on us." Coran does not look happy about the idea of facing Hellknights but to get away and maybe give Westcrown a new chance at life he will.

Ok, that works thanks. Would I have to make any changes to Coran to bring him over.

Janiven whispers, "Let's do it. You take the rest, including Morosino and head back to the intersection. I'll give you two minutes and then see if I can draw them to you."

If we don't get some action from the rest of the group by tomorrow night, we'll move you over and end this thread. You'll fit in fine, although they're going to be a bit rogue heavy since you kinda fit in that theme too. They have a barbarian, two rogues and a bard. They've lost an oracle. If you want to consider rebuilding, feel free, but if you like Coran, stick with him. They're still in the tunnels, so we can just have them bump into you. Perhaps you were sent from the safe house to try to find Janiven.

" I think we have to keep moving until we make it to the safe house, that's the ultimate goal. If we drop back and wait at an intersection to defend, we could be quickly overwhelmed. We have the advantage of surprise here and also of knowing where we're going." Franco explains in a hushed voice that almost sounds like a hiss." Janiven, is there any way a couple of us could go around the hell knights and hit them from the front and flank." His heart races and he clearly doesn't shy away from testing his steel against this foe. " If we're gonna take them out, it's gonna have to be fast, the loner we fight them the better chance they got, and we have to be prepared to run for it.

"That's a great idea Franco, but I don't know the tunnels that well. We only have the one path marked and I don't know a way around. I think either of these plan will work. We need to get past them. You guys tell me which way you feel more comfortable tackling it."

Welcome back Franco. Hopefully we'll see Sazer, Antal and Caravas again too. Otherwise, I may take both of you over (although then we're really rogue-ish crazy). If we wind up in between, I'll see if we can recruit a few more.

"I like the sound of Franco's plan, I will probably be more useful in that type of fight than something straight on." Coran thinks for a second. "Would getting them into the water work to end the fight quicker, maybe tossing oil or something slippery at their feet or even just tripping them in. Then that should give us time to escape while they are either fishing themselves out. Coran tries to look confident but is thinking of all the times he has seen Hellknight justice in the streets against escaped slaves.

I could easily switch Coran to a Urban Druid or a Cleric of Cayden or Abadar which would also work with his concept and it would give him healing. which is needed in the other group.

"I could scout around another way, my eyes see just fine without torches and if I'm quiet enough and i remain out of there lights, i should be good. It is a risk though, and perhaps Coran is right, some sort of snare or trap would be ideal, any ideas on specifics?"

Franco would work as a stealth/ mobile based fighter/ or even a monk, I don't mind rebuilding if it's needed.

Let's do it. Coran, any of those options is good. Go with whatever you think you would have the most fun playing out of those. Franco, I'm also open to either of those options for you. I would lean toward the stealth-based fighter or sticking with the ninja, but for both of you, I would prefer you to pick something that you will enjoy.

They are wrapping up a fight with goblins in the sewers right now. It should wrap tomorrow or Sunday. Let's plan on you guys coming from the safe house looking for Janiven and hearing the fight.

OK will change him over I will reread the options and post him here tomorrow or Sunday for approval.

Link to IC Thread

They've wrapped with the goblins already so join anytime.

I am changing Coran to an Oracle of Steel, the Dwarf would have been more of a mentor then the sewer guy. Should be up later today will post after I get the ok.

I think you probably mean Oracle of Metal (or maybe Oracle of Battle). Either way, I approve. I actually play an Oracle of Metal in another PbP and I play an Oracle of Battle in PFS. Both are a lot of fun.

Here is the Revised Coran I did mean metal. I think it captures the feel of the original character.

Looks good Coran. One question. What are the Hero Points?