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GUARD BARRACKS
Lannior decides to join the beast trainer in the yard during the heat of the day, training through the noon and early afternoon hours.
Beastmaster Ishyal is a boisterous Qadiran woman covered with scars. She oversees a group of recruits teaching tricks to a pack of barely domesticated Thuvian desert dogs — vicious beasts native to the barren wasteland — while recruits learn tactics for fighting with them.
"Come on, come on! Don't be afraid to show the dogs who's boss. You three, get in there and show me what you've got!"
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TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
Tatiana's pleasant demeanor seems to win over the woman immediately.
"Well, skilled laborers are best. Do you have any skills in magic or engineering? But even unskilled work be helpful for some of the heavy lifting and things. Come with me, and I'll get you started."
She leads Tatiana and Kent out to where a transport of some sort is being constructed. It looks like a building that isn't built into the ground, as if it's meant to be moved, but it seems like it will be far too large to move easily. You wonder how this will be accomplished eventually.
Whims tries to talk to some of the workers, but they're all too busy to talk, and wave her off gruffly. One man tells her to go talk to Temeera in the office, though Whims already saw Temeera leave the office with Kent and Tatiana. Knowing that it's empty, do you go into the office to look around?
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GUARD BARRACKS
Lannior decides to join the beast trainer in the yard during the heat of the day, training through the noon and early afternoon hours.
Standing in the courtyard, Celebdan is intently observing the trainer at hand, dealing with the animals, to the extent that he barely notices the sun beating mercilessly upon them. It seems that the grace of Shelyn is protecting him from the elements.
"Come on, come on! Don't be afraid to show the dogs who's boss. You three, get in there and show me what you've got!"
Celebdan ponders briefly. Having spent much of his life in the church of Shelyn, he had little encounter with the natural world, much less in handling such beasts. However, it seems that Ishyal merely wants them to cow the beast. And that, he can do.
Making sure he has locked eyes with one of the mutts, he paces slowly and ominously towards it, drawing himself tall, presenting himself an imposing figure. Just when he is about three paces away from the dog, he suddenly lets out a loud shout at it. "Kiai!"
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GUARD BARRACKS
Despite being tired out by the oppressive heat, Lannior proves to be a natural with animals, quickly befriending the wild dogs. Celebdan proves adept at yelling at the dogs in a commanding manner, getting their attention so they obey. It's almost like a form of acting, and Shelyn would certainly be proud of his performance.
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TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
Kent uses his knowledge of locks, traps, and other small devices to help with some of the finicky bits of engineering work being done by the team building the transport building. Tatiana can assist with some unskilled work, carrying things for people and delivering tools on occasion.
Among other things, you learn that at the center of the transport building, they're building an animated altar, which apparently will attack any intruders. In fact, Temeera's so busy giving instructions to her workers that she occasionally forgets to warn people of dangers, and when Kent gets too close at one point, the altar reaches out and tries to slam him once before the other workers get in the way and somehow shut it down. Luckily, he's wearing his armor, and its slam attack misses.
In the mean time, Whims goes into Temeera's office and starts looking through her notes. She finds one page in particular that looks interesting, written in some sort of magical text. Whims finds she has a hard time looking away from that page.
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TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
Whims looks away from the magical script and shakes off the compulsion effect. She realizes the page was trapped with an Illusory Script spell, which could have gotten her into trouble.
Continuing to look through the notes, she gains some valuable information before leaving the office.
This all happens while Kent and Tatiana are busy working on the transport building.
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GUARD BARRACKS
Hadanka manages to pull his hand away before the dog bites it off, but he still gets scolded by Beastmaster Ishyal for not "showing the dog who's boss".
TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
Tatiana and Kent see a small secret compartment being constructed into the transport, but Tatiana gets distracted, so only Kent notices that it's marked with a small "x" carved into the floor where it's covered.
RESULTS OF THE FIRST DAY'S INFILTRATION
GUARD BARRACKS
Because Lannior and Celebdan do so well in training the guard dogs, Beastmaster Ishyal mostly leaves them alone, as she spends most of her time berating less successful recruits, such as Hadanka. They are able to keep three of the treats used to train the dogs, which they're pretty sure they could use as a distraction for the dogs during the attack on the convoy. They also learn all of the desert dogs’ command words and develop a rapport with the beasts.
The group also notice the handlers shooing the dogs away from a crate of chocolate. Cargo manifests indicate that every crate containing chocolate shipped from Bloodcove and arrived in Aspenthar, where it received Prince Zinlo’s seal of approval before traveling to Pashow. Each PC at the barracks receives a small amount of chocolate as a reward for their dedicated work. If the PCs wish, they can use the chocolate to poison the dogs during the encounter by throwing it along with a treat.
TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
Kent and Tatiana learn about the animated altar at the center of the transport building, and identify many of its characteristics. They also notice that Temeera ordered a few of the workers to take turns walking around the transport’s interior in circles, though you're not sure why. They also discover a secret, lead-lined compartment in the transport’s back left corner, with a small "x" carved in the floor, marking the location.
From Temeera's notes, Whims learns the nuances of the animated altar’s programming. The construct’s commands automatically designate any creature holding a glowing vial as the primary target, and all other targets are ignored until the primary target is neutralized.
The complete list of things you can use while attacking the convoy can be found in the campaign tab here.
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Assuming you're keeping the groupings the same for who infiltrates each location the second day, those of you who posed as workers are able to go in easily to begin work for the day.
GUARD BARRACKS
Hadanka, Lannior, and Celebdan arrive to discover that today's training will be run by Drill sergeant Jaravo, a towering Garundi man. He'll be teaching the guards combat techniques, so apparently the training with the dogs is done. You overhear some of the other guards talking about Jaravo's penchant for showmanship, and suspect you may be able to impress him by doing or saying something flashy during your training.
Jayori knows that the guards will have this evening off, and where they tend to hang out when that happens.
TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
Kent, Tatiana, and Whims arrive to find that the artificers have taken over transport construction for the day. Supervised by a halfling woman named Lyshna, they're building a complex trap into the transport’s walls, designed to make the interior inhospitable. Engineers build and calibrate the trap’s components, while spellcasters provide arcane energy to fuel the apparatus. Meanwhile, people without the specialized knowledge to create the trap haul thousands of pounds of trade goods, food, and camping gear into the transport.
Some of the engineers are grumbling about having to work for Lyshna. When you ask why they have a problem with her, they tell you that when they've had to work for her in the past, she has taken delight in workplace accidents that hurt workers, laughing the most when people were hurt badly.
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GUARD BARRACKS
Hadanka trips one of the other guard trainees during combat training, much to the delight of Drill Sergeant Jaravo.
"I like your style! That reminds me of the time I was in the Mwangi jungle and ..." Jaravo goes off on a long story, and continues to focus on his new favorite pupil throughout the day. The distraction will serve to help the others infiltrating the guard barracks to succeed at whatever skills they use to fit in and/or sneak around to gather information today.
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GUARD BARRACKS
Lannior impresses Drill Sergeant Jaravo with his perfect aim with a longbow, though Jaravo still seems to prefer Hadanka's flashier style. He does leave Lannior alone through most of the training though, assuming most other recruits need more help. This allows Lannior to wander around a bit and look around throughout the day, gathering some additional information.
Celebdan's attempt to get fancy with his glaive just makes himself look bad, and Jaravo comes over to berate him personally.
"Learn how to handle your weapon before you go trying to show off like that! Hold it like this! Now show me a basic thrust! A parry! Come on, come on, swing it like you mean it!"
Jaravo focuses on Celebdan for much of the rmainder of the day, forcing him to work harder than any other guard recruit.
Jayori returns to volunteer at the barracks. He mentions his healing skills, and is quickly accepted, as the guard trainees have quite a variety of scrapes and bruises from their training.
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Jayori spends the day, tending to those recruits with injuries, making sure to chat them up as they he does so, hoping to make a friend or two.
Seeing Celebdan getting singled out, he makes a point of checking in on him whilst he is not under the watchful eye of the trainer.
"You seem to have made a friend." He says cheerfully, healing the worst of the half-elf's wounds, and also making him feel invigorated, and far less exhausted.
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GUARD BARRACKS
Once Lannior realizes he can 'wander' a bit, he first gets a good headcount of the number of guards in the company. He then heads to the armory to take stock at what the guard's might have at there disposal. If anyone questions him in the armory, he'll respond, I was just checking which of the arrows in here have the best fletching.
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GUARD BARRACKS
Jayori tends to the wounded guards. Luckily, Celebdan isn't too harmed from all the extra training he receives today, so he doesn't need help from the paladin. In their wandering, Lannior and Hadanka not only gets a good inventory of the guard's equipment, but are able to watch some mages getting their training in the compound, as well.
In the evening, you're all invited to join the guards when they head to a nearby pub for their night off. As you're drinking and hanging out with them, you get to know some of the guards.
You also notice some outsiders approaching yourself and the other guards, buying drinks and offering other indulgences. They make several comments about how maybe some of you would be happier moving up to Aspenthar to work for Prince Zinlo, instead of staying in Pashow.
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TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
Kent manages to harm himself enough to make the sadistic halfling laugh, distracting her enough to help you all in not getting noticed during your investigations.
RESULTS OF THE FIRST DAY'S INFILTRATION - TRANSPORT WORKSHOP ONLY
In working to help build the transport's trap, and just keeping their eyes peeled, Whims, Kent, and Tatiana learn that the trap will magically fill the transport building with heat, causing fire damage to anyone inside the building when it goes off. Because Tatiana and Whims are so closely involved in building the trap, they know exactly where and how to quickly disable the ventilation system that makes this possible, from several places around the transport building.
Since the sadistic halfling Lyshna seems to see Kent as a harmless buffoon after his "accident", she decides to send him to fetch things a few times throughout the day. In going to her belongings to get stuff for her, he has time to look over her notes, which just adds to the information Whims and Tatiana already know about the trap. He also notices several lavish gifts and valuable luxuries among Lyshna’s belongings, some emblazoned with the seal of Aspenthar’s royal family.
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GUARD BARRACKS
"Oh yeah, the prince is very generous with his employees. But even if the pay was the same, wouldn't you want to be in a successful city like Aspenthar, not one going through hard times like Pashow?" one of the strangers tells Lannior.
None of your team recognizes anything that could identify these strangers, other than their obvious allegiance to Prince Zinlo and Aspenthar.
RESULTS OF THE SECOND DAY'S INFILTRATION - GUARD BARRACKS
In watching the mage training at the guard barracks, Lannior and Hadanka learn how the mages use dancing lights to communicate via signals in the sky. You learn which patterns will tell the convoy to halt and the escorts to disperse and search the surrounding area for hidden threats.
At the pub, you get into enough casual conversations with the guard trainees, some of them fueled by alcohol, to learn some of their personal vices that you can later use against them. By revealing a damning secret or weakness, as a free action, a PC can inflict the staggered condition on a guard for 1d3 rounds. This ability only works once per guard.
You also impressed Drill Sargent Jaravo enough that one of you can take part as a guard in the final convoy when it moves out. This will not only give you one less "enemy" guard to fight, but allows you to already be in place at the start of the ambush.
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GUARD BARRACKS
You arrive on the third day of your infiltration to discover a rather twitchy, paranoid human man named Enyro organizing the troops. Officers teach navigators how to find hidden desert trails, while guards learn how to scout for threats and maneuver the convoy to safety without getting lost. You also overhear that today's the day they'll decide the final convoy route.
"Where are your orders?" Enyro asks when he sees your group.
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TRANSPORT WORKSHOP
At the transport workshop, a Garundi man with dozens of piercings named Duciar directs the team responsible for the transport’s outer trappings. Although given his nature, his "direction" is often just a gesture or word, so it may take some work to understand exactly what he wants.
The final preparations focus on sealing the transport with mechanical and arcane barriers. Craftsmen assemble chains and locks to restrict access, while mages add wards.