!GM PDK'S HELL'S REBELS (CLASSIC PFS Book 1 and 2) (Inactive)

Game Master Purple Dragon Knight

GM, I believe you are right. Andor drank the potion.

Andor walks to Forvian and takes some rations and water out of his bag of holding.

”Here is some water for you and your friends. And some food, too. We are here to rescue you. A common friend asked us to help you so that you can help us free this city from the cancer that is killing its citizens. Let us get out of here first. Then we can discuss what led to your incarceration.“

Andor then looks at the men that they fought.

”Forvian, our identity needs to be protected but I do not want to let anybody die that was merciful to you and your companions.“

"F@!* these bastards! what is this? the gentler-softer rebellion?! let's loot 'em and leave! huh... where are we goin'? got a safehouse lined up nearby? the Salt Gate's wide opened, but we may run into patrols..." he boots one of the dying jailers, who issues a groan. The stuff holding Andor glued to the floor starts breaking.

Andor looks at Forvian with understanding and frees himself of the sticky goo.

He moves to the body of the dwarf and starts searching him and the other fallen men but continues talking to Forvian.

"I know that you were mistreated and that you are angry. But I would like to know if any of these men treated you fairly and potentially even sympathized with you and your companions ... having someone on our side that has information about the current Thrune operations would be beneficial. But you are a better judge of their characters."

"Hell no! they called us 'batch number 2' after their first group of men died of exhaustion! Thrune is using this operation to line his pockets and that bastard dwarf was skimming from him by having us work day and night so that it wouldn't look like he's skimming from him... if what I said just made any sense. They're all bastards. Let them rot in Hell! Let's go!"

VIRTUAL IN-MODULE LOOT (not to be confused with actual chronicle-sheet-granted loot):
BLUE: potion cure moderate wounds x2, tanglefoot bag x1, mwk chainmail, heavy steel shield, composite longbow (+2 Str) with 18 arrows, mwk heavy mace, 28 gp
PURPLE: mwk breastplate, mwk greatclubdestroyed, mwk brass knucklesUE, cloak of resistance +1, 4 gp
GOONS: (studded leather armor, light mace, manacles, bronze Thrune pendant worth 30 gp, 4 gp) x6

"You disguise too..Err.. Be safe to go our hideout." Red looks to Andor for him to pull out the disguise kit.

aid disguise: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 = 15

Andor nods "Yes Red, very good idea!"

Disguise 1: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (13) + 2 + 2 = 17
Disguise 2: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 2 = 12
Disguise 3: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 2 = 18
Disguise 4: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 + 2 = 11
Disguise 5: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 + 2 = 23
Disguise 6: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 + 2 = 24

"Let us get their money and the items that we believe are useful. Slitherin Kid and Red ... I believe you should take the Cure Moderate Wounds potions. I would advise not to take the Thrune pendants with us although they are worth something ... too dangerous if they are found with us."

Andor can parry some attacks so the level 2 characters Red and SK2 could take the cure moderate wounds if you do not mind. Andor will keep the small loot for the group in his bag of holding: tanglefoot bag x1; 7x4gp + 28 gp= 56gp; 6 x manacles. The cloak of resistance +1 should be taken by someone with weak will saves that could become a danger to the group if they are turned against us by spells I believe ... so Red or Roldala ;-) maybe?.

What remains for the group to take as it does not fit in Andor's bag of holding: mwk chainmail, heavy steel shield, composite longbow (+2 Str) with 18 arrows, mwk heavy mace; mwk breastplate, 6 x studded leather armor, 6 x light mace; 6 x Thrune pendants

I'll take the potion thanks

"Those pendants DO like nice but I'll leave them be" The Slitheren Kid looks disappointed.

"Slitheren Kid 2 has a point ... the pendants do look nice! Kardess, I think we can take them with us now but melt them for use in your alchemical lab!" Andor puts the pendants into his bag of holding, too.

"Okay, Forvian, you and your guys are disguised now. We have taken everything we need. Let us just do a quick search of the building to see if have missed anything ... especially if Forvian is right and the dwarf was skimming here."

Perception to search the rooms and 1 inspiration spent: 1d20 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (16) + 4 + (4) = 24

Andor: In addition to the red bearded dwarf's personal wealth, a lockbox in the front office contains his profits thus far from selling salt on the black market: 67 gp and 423 sp.

Forvian says, "We're in no condition to fight now, but after a rest, we'll join your efforts if you'll have us! we'll also spread the word of what happened here! THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW! THRUNE CAN'T JUST WALK IN OUR TOWN AND MAKE US SLAVE FOR HIS PROFIT!!!!"

After the other men calm him down, Forvian says, "If ye folks won't keep the pendants, we'll keep 'em... Rebellion Fund and all... like ye said, they're made out of bronze so it'll be easy to re-purpose them. By the way, you big croc is called Red? the small rat with the boomstick is called Slitheren Kid 2? what are your names, over there?"

Forvian shakes your hands as you each quickly introduce yourselves to him and his men.

"Is there any alcohol about?" Kardess asks, "It would look even worse for these guards if their drunkenness enabled your escape."

"Red is called Red...Rrr" He responds with a menacing like grin. "Rrr...good.. people need know the revolution come!..Rrr..Yes you join fight!"

Right before leaving the establishment, Red will swift action into human form.'

Roldala gives a close-lipped smile at Forvian's offer. Freedmen make the best liberators.

"We'll find a good use for those medallions, don't worry."

When raging I've got reasonably good saves, so I'm okay passing on the Cloak, and the potion distribution seems reasonable.

”Then let us go! “

"Yeah lets scram!"

Red happily accepts the potion and pockets it. "My raggity cloak I like..Rrr.."

Turning in front of your eyes into the form of a human once more, Red walks out the door first to check if the coast is clear. And calls if it is.

Red already has a cloak!

The trip through the streets of Kintargo is VERY SLOW with the ragtag bunch of exhausted men. You notice a horse cart dealership nearby, with a few horses to rent. A bit further down you also spot an inn, about one minute walk from your location, with a vacant sign leaning on its porch.

What do you do?

Red eyes the inn and whispers to the group,"Perhaps we buy horse, better go back to safehouse than stay inn."

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 1 = 13 Anything odd, or any markings on either establishment that we should be suspicious of?

Oh! Then **yoink**

Roldala's shoulders are a bit broad for the cloak, but it's still serviceable as a cape.

She nods at Red's suggestion, and looks meaningfully at Andor.

Andor agrees with Red and after Roldala also believes that renting a cart makes sense Andor asks Forvian

"Do you and your team have a home base in the city? Where do you want us to accompany you to safety? I would go over and rent a horse and a cart so we can transport you better but we have to agree where to and also align on a safe route."

"If none, maybe you can follow us to our safehouse." The husky voiced Red suggest.

The Slitheren Kid looks for signs of trouble.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

”Well, wherever we will bring your crew in your weekends state we still need to transport you. So let me check out this store!“

Andor approaches the cart and horse rental and asks what they have available.

A cheerful man greets you, and says that it's 1gp to rent the horse and cart for the day; if you fail to return by curfew there's a 5sp charge the next morning.

GM, any response from the mercenaries where they want to go? They must have homes, families etc. - what do we believe Laria would say if we would follow Red’s suggestion and bring them along? Lots of attention I would rather avoid.

You all get a sense that the men are ready to join the Rebellion and wish to hole up under Laria's shop for a few days. Your return to Laria's is uneventful, as the men stay still in the cart under blankets. Laria sends word to a few supporters of your Rebellion, and within the hour, some people show up with blankets, soap, towels, scissors... a few men even arrive with a shipment a new furniture, including a properly sealed wooden tub, mattresses, and chairs. The Wasp's Next below is thus properly arranged for Forvian and his freedom fighters.

A few days pass, and after a rest, a haircut, a shave and new clothes, Forvian's men are unrecognizable from their previous appearance. You have restored not only their bodies, but their pride and fighting spirit.

What is your next move?

Andor is really astounded about the speed things are moving and also a little afraid about the size the rebellion is gaining.

”We can all be very proud of ourselves that we saved the lives of these men and have gathered loyal citizens that want to return freedom to this city. Laria, I know that this endeavour is very dangerous for you and I thank you for your trust and also trust that you put in all the men that have now gathered in the wasp nest!“

In a moment where the team is together and no others are there Andor shares his concerns.

”I have two admit that the sabotage that we witnessed some days ago is something that gives me sleepless nights. Especially now where so many people put their lives on the line for this rebellion I feel that we have the responsibility to check the wasp nest out and find out what is going on there. Let us talk to the Tengus again and the men that live there now and also search the area thoroughly!“

"We'll keep looking," says Korva. "You worry about being heroes and get out there!"

Later, Rexus comes down from his study and says, "I have to rest my eyes... this has been a tough week. Anyone available with skills in Linguistics? I could use an assist putting some order in these notes."

;-) I take this answer as a GM hint that there is nothing to be gained searching. Sorry, who is Korva?

"Rexus, of course we can assist you again. Did you actually check this strange page that Kardess discovered? Any idea what this was about?"

Linguistics + free inspiration: 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (13) + 8 + (2) = 23

Andor spends one day helping Rexus compile the info gathered so far. Reduce amount of time for Rexus' decoding by one more week - if someone wants to check the thread and tally where we are at that would be swell... total time starts at 7 weeks and each PC can reduce this by 1 week by spending a day with Rexus and successfully making a DC 20 linguistics check

Anthys uncovers an interesting passage during his time with Rexus:

We just started the adventure a week ago and Kardess and Andor made successful checks. So we were down from 7 to 5 weeks. This is now the second week and Andor's check above just reduced the amount of time from 5 to 4 weeks and Kardess as well as the Slitheren Kid 2 can still try to reduce that further - if both are successful we would be done after 2 weeks already! ;-) Does Rexus know something about the strange page that was uncovered last week?

He has no idea, but he bookmarked it in case he finds some kind of cipher in the documents...

Red grows restless and tired lounging about in the wasp nest as the intelligent lot attempt to decipher papers. "Rrr..THIS IS BORING!", he yells and stomps around the common area in frustration.

Just at the right moment, when the lot are done with the study, the werecrocdile-kin burst into the room roaring! "Rrraa...Let's go find demon lady!" He forcefully suggest, in hopes that his words will yield action, and perhaps bloodshed...

Intimidate: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (3) - 2 = 1 Yes! I will intimidate my allies into submission.

However, the situation is more comical than it is scary.

Andor completely understands that Red wants to take action and therefore he agrees to investigate the situation with the Tiefling community that is facing aggressive attacks.

”Red is right. Let us save some more lives hopefully but we have to see if any of those Tieflings will trust us. I am in favour of going to the Devil’s Nursery immediately to investigate why there were killings and what kind of trophies are taken!“

"Sounds good. The tieflings need our help too"

"Hmmp. May as well. I can't make anything of these papers."

can we do more linguistics checks on the papers?

Yes, you can roll for the second week!

Laria approaches the group as you start talking about the tiefling murders, and nods.
"You heard it too? yes, someone’s killing tieflings down in the Devil’s Nursery. I’ve heard that whoever’s doing it is taking trophies, but I’m not sure what kind. What a horrible situation... do you feel up to righting more wrongs? this is all driving the tieflings of the slums into a panic... Left unhandled, these murders will eventually drive the tieflings to riot, giving Barzillai Thrune all the excuse he needs to raze the slums and further establish martial control over the city," says Laria, sipping some coffee and offering refills.
"I fear... that the killings might be acts of terrorism performed by agents of Asmodeus. If the murderers can be stopped and you can make it clear that the Silver Ravens have stepped up to defend some of Kintargo’s most downtrodden citizens, the rebellion’s support can only grow... What say you, friends?"

There are four likely avenues of investigation the PCs can take to unravel the mystery of the Devil’s Nursery Murders: 1) Interviewing Locals; 2) Investigating a Murder Site; 3) Examining a Body; or 4) Catching the Killer.

”You are right Laria! I had not thought of the consequences but this is more political than just solving a murder case!“ Andor says deep in thoughts.

Suddenly he sees Edmund and his black cat and looks at them surprised. He looks at Edmund and Laria for some kind of introduction. Then he says to Laria ”This guy looks capable!!“

"My thoughts exactly, dear Andor," replies Laria, "but alas, he has made it clear that his capabilities lie not in the arts of the kitchen, and thus, was wundrin' if ye'd take him to stretch his legs inta the tiefling slums?"

"Well, I mean- I have used a knife before..." he says, absentmindedly.

Glancing around the room, he takes stock of those sitting about the table. For a brief moment his face flashes with uncertainty before he is able to control it again.

"I generally avoid the slums, unless I have a reason to be there. But it sounds like you gentleman have one of those. The name is Edmund. In fairer times I would much rather be outside the walls of the city... yet, here I am- and there you are. I suppose that makes us allies of sorts."

His tone comes off as more pragmatic than standoff-ish, though he is clearly not yet comfortable with the current situation. I hope my gut is right about these folks. Even coming here in the first place was a huge risk- and it sounds like it is going to be right into bear's den...

"Oh! How foolish of me. This oaf down here is Kissan." The cat gives a low growl, clearly aware of her master's words. "Oh, hush up Kiss- you know I don't mean it like that." He turns back to the people at the table. "She's a keeper, don't you worry."

Too many humans. Too many nights away from the sky. How do they stand these smells?

The jaguar faithfully follows her companion through the city streets, always alert for a threat to either of them.

Hooman not careful. Must watch for him. Nose is weak.
---------

Upon entering the coffeehouse, she is overcome with an acidic scent. Snorting, she tries to clear her nose, though only somewhat successfully- the overwhelming smell of fresh ground coffee assaulting her senses.

As Edmund sits in the corner, the cat settles in at his feet- ready to pounce at a moments notice. Soon though, a child comes over, and before she knows it they are on their way back through another door and into a more secluded room. As usual, the humans spend more time talking than paying attention- so she remains alert.

As Edmund motions towards the cat, she senses his body language change ever so slightly.

::groooooowl::
Dumb hooman. Like cub who doesn't know better. And she reaches out and swipes a paw playfully at his foot.

”Oh wow! Laria, after you sent Bennybeck to support the Bellflower network and then asked Kardess to go on a secret mission, I am very happy that we have reinforcement! Especially, now that we had our first fight and saw how dangerous that can get. But you are right Edmund, we have to be careful! All these working people are very kind but it is obvious to the city officials now that this place is a centre of resistance and we have to face this at some point!“ Andor says and walks over to shake Edmund’s hand.

”Team, are you ready to start the investigation? I would have started with some interviews but now that we have a tracker here it might be best to start with the sites of the murders that we know of. Is that fine?“

"People who saw something probably live near the scenes too. Two birds, one stone."

Red's already halfway to the door. "Rrr... Okay... Nuff talk...Rrr.. go now!... We walk to site and talk to people on way! Rrr.."

The Slitheren Kid follows Red. "Yeah lets go!"

The human shrugs at the Cat, and paces off to catch up with whom he now presumes is "Red" and and unidentified Ratfolk.

Well, that happened quickly...

Pulling up alongside Andor during the travels, he attempts to sort all these happenings out. "So... you guys have a full fledged rebellion? Like, leaders, and plans, and everything? Here I thought this was just going to be a small group of people, all growl and no bite, ya know?" He says, glancing at the cat loping beside him. "So, uh. How do we fit into all these plans of yours"

Bouncing from person to person, Edmund tries to get a feel for who all these new people are... and the motivations that have lead them to the point of rebellion.

No need to RP all of the exchange of info, I am just looking for a little character interaction, personality, etc to get a feel for the group. Feel free to point me to big things that I need to know. I have read the Player's guide, and have started working my way through the gameplay thread (but that is going to take me a while to really understand/digest. Thanks!

Andor is quite reluctant when he is asked about a rebellion! All of this started for him about a year ago when he moved to this city to change something because he believed in freedom. His mother and father originally come from Cheliax and leaving was under not so pleasant circumstances.

”Well Edmund, after things moved quite rapidly a couple of months ago also the Pathfinder society sent agents to this town after the legitimate government and the most outspoken critics of the infernal Thrune regime were identified and then obliterated by a real Thrune family member. The group that you see here Edmund was assembled by the Pathfinder Society to see how things are developing but we decided because of our own interests and our own willingness to help this city to stay. We found allies in Laria and Rexus, as well as other people who know this city and due to personal reasons have an interest to get rid off this totalitarian regime. I do not know what your reasons are to support us but I trust in Laria that she asked you the right questions. But if you want to elaborate and tell us more about yourself then this would be very much appreciated!!“

"Red hate rules...Rrr...You fight with us against Thrune...Rrrr..." Red responds simply to the newcomer as he hustles through the busy streets.