"Y- You can't?!", Olandil's happiness quickly switches to amusement and irritation. "I'm stuck here for 5 years and the Society sends me some upstarts?! On top of escaping through a blockade, I have to babysit rookies. Great!" He throws his hands into the air. He paces around for a short moment with his fingers on his chin, and then turns to you again.
"Okay, fine. Poppo's plan is plan B for the time being. I have a pickup arranged waiting for me at Whaler's Point. It's taken a LOT of effort and bribes to make it happen, so let's try that first. Loyalists are on my back for a few weeks now and I don't want to risk staying here even one day after what happened in the warehouse."
He starts moving on through the tunnel, and urges you to follow. The trip through the tunnel takes a while, but natural light seems to be emerging in the distance, illuminating a ladder. "This is the place.", Olandil whispers. "Let's hurry."
Climbing up the ladder, you find yourself in a sand pit overseeing the beach. There is a problem, however. A gang of a lightly armed thugs wait at the top of the ladder leading out of the Guts. Past the rocky outcropping where the grate opens to the salty air, a small fleet of sailing boats flying the Chelish flag swarms the coast all the way to the harbor’s entrance, the Pinch. "You’re too late, Pathfinders," their leader shouts. "The Navy’s just sneaked its picket boats in under the Shorewall cannons and halted fishing. Your escape’s cut off! Just give up and we’ll send you our nicest one-way ship out of town."
Turn 1 - Go if bolded
Tenibri
Eadric
Oma
Soldiers
Officer
Olandil
Cypher
Helme
|
Tenibri is unable to recognize what effect Olandil used with the wand, but finds it impressive nonetheless! He follows the man, and the other Pathfinders, with eagerness. Through the guts and up into the light when they encounter the thug.
"Come on!" Tenibri waves his hand back to the heart of Pezzack, and begins pacing in frustration. "Pezzack is blowing up right now. The White Thistles and the Galtans are both making moves right now to unseat the Loyalists."
"You. can't. win."
The wayang throws his hands in the air. "Do you really want to be on the losing side of this? If you survive, is that how you want to be remembered?" He begins mimicing a small child, and points at the leader. "There's grampa. Not only is he an oppressive slaver, he failed to prevent the Pezzack revolution. He's a weak, failed slaver!"
"Come on, man!" Tenibri echoes his initial outburst. "Abandon whoever is giving you these orders." He makes eye contact with the other thugs as he continues, pointing at the leader. "If he won't... you should!" He punctuates this with a single pointing motion at each thug individually.
"You don't even have to join us... just walk away and through that simple action you can join the better side of history!"
Convince an NPC who serves an oppressive or tyrannical leader to abandon that leader of their own free will by succeeding at a Diplomacy or Perform (oratory) check with a DC equal to 15 + your character level.
|
Eadric can't help but feel a little hurt at Orlandil's outburst, "Easy there, Bro. We may not have, like, the most fancy of magics, but we're most excellent at all this spy stuff. Like ghosts we are, Bro, in and out before anyone knows what happened. We'll totally have you out in no time. He says, trying to sound cheerful and confident rather than hurt.
When met with the soldiers, Eadric waits to see how the people react to Tenibri's stirring speech, cracking his knuckles and trying to look tough just in case it helps the cause...
While Eadric manages to climb up to the topmost layer of the pit, Oma fires a bolt at one of the hired muscle. The man shouts in pain. Obviously, it hurt a lot.
Olandil picks up a potion from his bandolier and starts chugging.
"It certainly was, but your attempt is at an end.", the officer resopnds, as he points his finger at Eadric, and all of the mercenaries take their daggers and lob them in Eadric's direction. The officer himself takes a few steps closer and swipes at Eadric with his guisarme.
All but one of those attempts miss, however. A dagger skewers Eadric's thigh as he looks out for the commander's attack.
Turn 1+2 - Go if bolded
Tenibri
Eadric (-4 HP)
Oma
Soldiers
Officer
Olandil
Cypher
Helme
|
|
Eadric barely even feels the dagger in his thigh, in fact, relative to the assault from the strix the other day, it practically tickles. "Woah, nice weapon, Bro!" He says with a gleam in his eye as he steps closer to the leader, totally ignoring the dagger in his thigh, "Mind if I try it out?" He drops his own spear, jabs the officer in the face, and attempts to rip the guisarme from the man's hands.
___
|
|
Tenibri takes a moment to center himself, drawing in the arcane energies that he's always taking advantage of. He visualizes the creature that he wants to see, and suddenly the ground next to the leader and one of his flunkies starts shimmering as the dirt vibrates with potential energy.
Conjurer's Focus (Sp): An occultist can spend 1 point from her arcane reservoir to cast summon monster I. She can cast this spell as a standard action, and the summoned creatures remain for 1 minute per level (instead of 1 round per level). At 3rd level and every 2 levels thereafter, the power of this ability increases by one spell level, allowing her to summon more powerful creatures (to a maximum of summon monster IX at 17th level), at the cost of an additional point from her arcane reservoir per spell level. An occultist cannot have more than one summon monster spell active in this way at one time. If this ability is used again, any existing summon monster effect immediately ends. This ability replaces the arcanist exploit gained at 1st level.
This spell functions like summon monster I, except that you can summon one creature from the 2nd-level list or 1d3 creatures of the same kind from the 1st-level list.
This spell summons an extraplanar creature (typically an outsider, elemental, or magical beast native to another plane). It appears where you designate and acts immediately, on your turn. It attacks your opponents to the best of its ability. If you can communicate with the creature, you can direct it not to attack, to attack particular enemies, or to perform other actions. The spell conjures one of the creatures from the 1st Level list on Table 10–1. You choose which kind of creature to summon, and you can choose a different one each time you cast the spell.
A summoned monster cannot summon or otherwise conjure another creature, nor can it use any teleportation or planar travel abilities. Creatures cannot be summoned into an environment that cannot support them. Creatures summoned using this spell cannot use spells or spell-like abilities that duplicate spells with expensive material components (such as wish).
When you use a summoning spell to summon a creature with an alignment or elemental subtype, it is a spell of that type. Creatures on Table 10–1 marked with an "*" are summoned with the celestial template, if you are good, and the fiendish template, if you are evil. If you are neutral, you may choose which template to apply to the creature. Creatures marked with an "*" always have an alignment that matches yours, regardless of their usual alignment. Summoning these creatures makes the summoning spell's type match your alignment.
A small bit of the earth bursts forth from the ground, forming into a small creature that begins battering the leader!
Helme and Cypher both do their thing, and start casting spells.
Tenibri summons an elemental and it immediately swings at the officer, distracting the man enough so that Eadric is able to pry the guisarme out of his hands, while punching him with the other hand. Oma launches a bolt at him at the same time, leaving the officer heavily bruised and with a bolt protruding from his arm.
Having thrown their daggers at Eadric earlier, the mercenaries pull out their swords and close in on the main fighting area to deal some damage.
One of the soldiers attempts to tumble past Eadric's new weapon, but leaves an opening for the brawler . Meanwhile, the man standing next to the commander decides to dispose of the newly-appeared elemental. He seeems pretty determined and strikes a mean wound, too.
Meanwhile, Olandil climbs up the ladder and to the top of the hill, to swing at the approaching soldier . But he misses the man by a large margin, since he saw Olandil's approach.
The officer, being robbed of his guisarme, quickly pulls out a sap and performs a nasty strike on Eadric.
Turn 2+3 - go if bolded
Party has Bless active
Tenibri (Elemental -12 HP)
Eadric (-4 lethal -12 nonlethal)
Oma
Soldiers
Officer
Olandil
Cypher
Helme
Gellius -32
|
|
Eadric quickly spins around, clumsily swinging the unfamiliar weapon at the man trying to flank him. In doing so he inadvertently opens himself up for a nasty whack to the back of the head from the man he believed disarmed, "W-woah..." Shaking his head free of all the stars, Eadric stumbles around again, ramming his elbow into the officers face and kicking out at the man behind.
Eadric swiftly disposes of two enemies with a one-two punch-and-kick trick. His targets both collapse under their own weight and stop moving. Still breathing, though.
Turn 2+3 - go if bolded
Party has Bless active
Tenibri (Elemental -12 HP)
Eadric (-4 lethal -12 nonlethal)
Oma
Soldiers
Officer
Olandil
Cypher
Helme
Gellius -40
|
Cypher coos softly to the soldiers fighting the elemental...
Sleeeeep my darlings...
as the magic sweeps forth towards them, Cypher enwrapping yellow and pink adorned soldiers with their magic, counting on the fact that sleep spells don't work on elementals to protect the little ally and not drain the magic.
The two men drop their weapons, fall to the ground and start snoring in peaceful bliss.
The elemental slips back into the earth; a rumble of stones and pebbles can be seen as it glides under the surface only to burst forth again in front of the red thug.
|
|
Tenibri motions with a hand and the earth elemental pauses after its impressive assault, clearly being held back by the wayang's dominion. He pulls the cowl back from his robe, exposing his intricate tattoos. He yells across the pit.
"This is what I was talking about." The hand not holding the elemental back sweeps the scene... the alternately snoring and groaning bodies making a grim point. "People will have their freedom. You can't win. The Thrunes won't win, strong as they seem now. Go. NOW! Abandon this foolish path. Save a life. Free a slave. Don't listen to Thrunes. You still have a chance."
"Why are you still here?"
The man decides he does not want to die today. He drops his weapon, lifts his hands in the air to show you his palms, and slowly backs off into the distance.
Officer +1 guisarme (well, that's in Eadric's hands now, but you need proficiency), sap, full plate, javelin, nets (2)
3 x Mercenary potion of cure light wounds, acid (2), smokestick, tanglefoot bag, masterwork studded leather, daggers (4), short sword, thieves’ tools, trade goods worth of 25 gp
Olandil on the other hand, seems defeated by the outcome of his plan. "Well, there goes the whaler ship plan. Let's go back to the Academy and see what Poppo is cooking up."
He slowly descends back into the Guts to head for the Academy, whether you are coming or not.
|
|
"Nice one, Bro!" Eadric says to Tenibri as he carefully pats down some of the sleeping guards, "That was, like, most stirring. If I was working for, like, some sort of oppressive government or something, I'd totally start revolting after that speech." When he discovers the potion, his eyes light up, smiles widely, "Don't mind if I do." and downs it in one. He then hops to his feet and follows after Olandil.
Olandil turns around just before disappearing in the tunnel: "Unless they have something that can take me out of this damned town, I'm not interested. Hurry up, so we can get out already. I'm sick of this place, and have Loyalist hunting me."
He folds his arms and waits for you to finish, then continues to the Academy with the group.
Immediately after arriving to the academy, Olandil rushes for Poppo's lab, interrupting the gnome in a manner that might be considered rude:
"Sail the whale, now!" Olandil pleads. Poppo paces around the Academy basement, his only response a faint, anxious humming. "I know you don’t want to stay here. You’ve been working on that thing forever. Let’s get in it and get out of here!"
"No!" Poppo marches up to Olandil. "I’ve been researching for months, but I need time to actually perform the last stages of the ritual properly. If I try to rush it, the whale might collapse, or explode, or sprout feathers, or any number of things that would normally be fascinating but aren’t going to get us out of here. At least not in one piece. And I like being in one piece! Don’t you? You’re just going to have to wait a while. And then we’re all going to need to pray to Gozreh and Nethys that it works."
Poppo’s voice drifts off, his bright eyes losing focus for a moment, before he clears his throat and announces with renewed optimism, "What I’m saying is, my ritual is a work of art. Just give me a little time, and I’ll have our flawless escape plan ready." Olandil says, "There’s no need to worry. Poppo is one of the most skilled wizards in the Academy. He’s just a bit prone to nerves when he’s put on the spot."
Poppo interjects, "Hey! I’m right here! And like I said, flawless escape plan." Olandil continues, "There is one more factor we still need to take into account. The Loyalists we met at the docks are going to be watching the harbor like hawks. We’ll need to create a diversion, and for that, we’ll need allies. Go to one of the factions. See if you can cut a deal for them to help our escape. A distraction maybe. If I know Pezzack, all of the factions are on guard after my announcement, with spies all over the town, so I doubt that you’ll get a chance to speak with a second faction. I would come with you, but honestly, someone needs to protect the professor, and I don’t trust any of your abilities as much as I trust my own."
Poppo says, "One word of warning! Once you leave here, the Passfinders are going to be blamed for everything, right?"
Olandil shrugs, "Your point is? I don’t care if the Loyalists tell all of Cheliax the Pathfinder Society caused everything that has ever gone wrong in this town. Besides, I saw a few posters hanging in town that would counter that argument. Not that it matters - once we’re out of here, I want nothing further to do with the Society, and if you all have a lick of sense, you’ll make this your last mission too. The Society doesn’t care about its agents. Why do you think they sent such an amateur team for my rescue?"
He takes a few deep breaths, and regains a clear head. "Alright. What I am saying is - I know you've been in touch with some of these local revolutionaries. I'll grab some disguise and to talk to whoever you think is most likely to help us. They will have to deal with the seamen guarding the docks."
|
|
Cypher nods.
The white thistles will gladly help us...
They give a grin.
I'll have no trouble convincing them. In fact, just let me take Eadric as a body guard and I'll go take care of it.... I'll be back in a few hours, and don't ask any questions you don't want answers to.
They wink at Eadric.
Poor Eadric is used to my tactics by now, the stalwart manly man.
|
|
"Sure thing, Cyph!" Eadric says, starting to blush, "You know I've totally got your back. Always." He makes sure his disguise is still serviceable after all the recent action, then turns to Olandil, "You, like, seriously don't have to worry about the seamen anymore, Bro, Cyph will totally sort everything out. We'll have you out of here in no time!" He smiles reassuringly, trying his best not to be hurt by yet more jabs about his perceived inexperience, and gets ready to follow Cypher back to the Inkwell.
When Cypher and Eadric leave, Poppo continues working undistracted. He re-checks his calculations and the ritual yet again and again, frequently reading from and writing into a book of notes he has on the table.
Whoever takes even a cursory glance over the notebooks discovers that Poppo’s approach is organized, meticulous, and detail-oriented
to the point of obsession.
With the negotiations with the Thistles being a great success, Lorrin promises to hinder the Loyalists in some way. The city is otherwise a mess. Olandil's speech was very convincing, apparently, and the people of Pezzack are still in trance and at large.
With the streets in such a condition, you are again forced to take the Guts to the Academy, and even those are filled with people rushing to some place or another. Late at night, Poppo finally seems satisfied with his work, and asks all of you to take your belongings and whatever you wish from the academy. You are not coming back, and neither is he. Olandil is ecstatic, but cautious - he's been waiting for this moment for the last five years, and there won't be another chance.
Poppo packs his tomes and scrolls and leads you trough the guts to what clearly seems to be a section of the guts dedicated to a smuggling operation. WIth the added bonus of being completely devoid of anyone overseeing it, there are multiple open crates filled with hay and various other things to prevent the goods from banging against the crate walls.
Poppo gestures to carry on further, and you start to smell it again. Whale guts. As you come closer to your destination, the stench becoes almost overwhelming, but Poppo and Olandil carry on, even if with a little help of magic and alchemy.
You destination is a cave half-filled with water, and a large carcass of the whale is swimming belly-up in the pool in the middle of the entire section. Poppo performs the necessary rites, without being overly dramatic or loud. He simply performs what needs to be done, syllable by syllable, movement by movement. Once he finishes, the whale turns around and stabilises.
"Hurry!", the gnome urges, "Get in through the breathing hole on top of the head!" Not later afterwards, he demonstrates the process. Being of smaller stature, he simply jumps inside and disappears in the whale's head. Olandil climbs on top of the head, and waits near the breathing hole. "Well? What are you waiting for? Don't stand there like a bunch of fools and get in!"
Once he awakens you from your awe, you climg up and jump in one by one. Surprisingly, the hole was wide enough for a medium creature to pass through with relative ease. Once you are all inside, Poppo assumes his position at... Ahem - THE HELM, which is a metal rod lodged into the front of the whale's tongue. The very tongue you are all standing on.
For a few minutes, all is quiet. Smelly, but quiet. Poppo steers the whale out of the cave, and heads through the ship blockade.
But it would have been too easy if you just passed through, and you all know that.
A whale that passes through a blockade without actually moving, on the surface of the sea, sometimes as little as meters away from ships was highly suspicious to the Chelish Naval captains, and after several harpoos didn't force the whale to dive or make a sound, they have decided to investigate. Further harpoons, this time with ropes on them are lodged into the whale soon aftewards, and you are being 'boarded'.
A woman's head peaks through the breathing hole. Her black hair getting used to the gravity and destroying her meticulously readied image. "Well isn't this just FASCINATING?", she asks with a smile on her face. "I don't know you, or the other four, but I see our friend Olandil over there, and ... the Academy gnome?", she smirks. "Give up and get out. You have 10 seconds, then I'll be bad. Hoping to see you get out peacefully, and VERY soon."
She winks while blowing you a collctive kiss, and the head disappears.
Oma
Olandil
Cypher
Eadric
Arixana
Helme
Tenibri
Sailors
|
|
She seems nice, Eadric thinks to himself as the woman's head disappears, "Do you think she'll, like, let us go if you gave another one of your most excellent speeches, Bro?" He asks Tenibri as he hefts his newly acquired weapon, "How about you, Cyph?" Knowing deep down that there are situations that even Cypher cannot talk themself out of, Eadric tries a few practice swings of the guisarme, quickly getting the hang of the unfamiliar weapon as he prepares for the inevitable assault.
|
|
Oh Darling Darling Darling... you seem to have misunderstood the situation. We are leaving this city, and you failed to see anything at all....
Suddenly, Cypher's voice takes on a magical ring to it as they continue to speak....
So why don't you all forget you saw us, prevent nasty bloodshed, and just go home?
As the womane pulls her head out, Cypher casts her charms. The womam stops mid-motion, then quietly continues to do what she was doing.
After a few seconds, voices can be heard from outside. "Just a stiff, dead whale. Push it away from the ships and let's go..."
Poppo and Olandil both sigh in relief. "Close one, that. But I bet being in the middle of a naval fleet, while inside a dead whale would be quite the tale, passfinders!", Poppo attempts to lift the mood shortly after.
You're not out of the dangerous waters yet, however, and as Poppo continues to steer the carcass through the blockade, a worm-like creature bursts from the whale's roof of the mouth quickly attempts to bite Tenibri in the face.
As the creature attacks Tenibri, the tentacle latches onto him and the worm pulls itself closer to the Wayang, grabbing him in the process.
Turn 1 - Go if bolded
Thing
Oma
Olandil
Cypher
Eadric
Helme
Tenibri
|
|
"Aha, nice one, Cyph!" Eadric cheers, "You totally did- Whoa!" The worm-like creature takes the celebrating man by surprise, "Watch out, Bro..." He rushes around to get a good, clear view of the thing attached to Tenibri and, hefting the unfamiliar weapon in his hand, sticks his tongue out in concentration, "Now hold very still... I've got this, Bro." After gauging the distance between himself, the thing, and Tenibri, Eadric slices down powerfully with the guisarme.
Tenibri struggles with the creature, but to no avail. Eadric makes some moves, and the worm hisses back at him thorugh the hundreds of teeth it presents during the act, but stays latched on.
Oma pierces the creature with his bolt. The critter stops moving, and Tenibri throws the fleshy tube on the ground. porobably stomps on it a few times, too - for good measure.