Aster thinks the regular Dottari look a bit agitated, judging by how many of them are on alert, with their hand resting on their sword hilt or crossbow trigger. Still, they aren't searching around. The Armigers on the other hand are looking for people to talk to. Soon they'll be out of sight beyond the bridge.
"What now, Aster? Do we just wait for the Armigers to head past the bridge and then see if we can get past the Dottari as just a pair of common travelers making our way across the city?" asks Rexandi.
"It would be worth knowing if they are truly looking for us I guess." Aster agrees with crossing once the Armigers have had enough time to leave.
The Hellsquires ask around for a few minutes, but soon enough move into the Yolubilis district and out of sight.
The group easily and effortlessly walk across the bridge without suspicion. Apparently no one received the memo about who to look out for. Now in the Yolubilis district, the group can choose either to look into those Hellsquires (armigers), or get off the roads and finish their journey back to the Wasp Nest.
"I'm torn," says Rexandi in a low voice to the group. "We should get intel on what these Armigers are doing, just for the sake of keeping tabs on... you know. But we also don't want to take unnecessary risks. What do the rest of you think?"
"What's the worst that can happen we blow them up know before we fight them as fully trained Hell Knights."
"If they are after us, I won't be able to run away effectively. I can go to the coffee house leaving the rest of you how are fast and quiet to track them?" Aster offers.
"I may have an inherent dislike of the Hell Knights, moreso because of our recent encounter, but I am sure many of them were well intentioned when they joined, but have been lead astray by their Order, and their superiors."
"The city and especially the church of Asmodeus does do quite a propaganda job of telling everyone how important they are and how much you should be constantly afraid of crime, so recruitment probably gets a combination of well-meaning folks and those who just want to wield power, and it's not until later that the former discover that everything's run by the latter."
Aster heads to the coffee house, while the other three Ravens sneak around to spy on the Hellknight Armigers. Perhaps to the Raven's surprise, the Armigers are asking around for information about the group of people who fought the Hellknight yesterday. They've already learned that Vandomir Jarvis was one of them, and he was accompanied by a Tiefling woman and a Gnome or Halfling man. They were dressed like mercenaries, rugged mercenaries, but Vandomir had a big bow and another human had a big hammer. The Gnome/Halfling man had a bunch of daggers, and Vandomir and the human with the hammer cast magic. Nobody knows who the Tiefling woman is or what she's about. She sort of just stood there and looked at people.
The sneaky Ravens retreat with all haste as they realize the Armigers are closer on their tail than they surmised. Back at the Wasp Nest, Aster has had a bit of time to settle down. Vendalfek the faerie dragon has been a non-stop chatterbox, who's very interested in learning about baby humans. Aster realizes that he thinks they hatch from eggs.
When all are together and accounted for, their welcome comes from Setrona Sabinus. Setrona has collected all sorts of fruit and nuts for the group to snack on while she talks with them.
Setrona doesn't care what the Raven's Strike Force has been up to. To her, it's time to outline everything she's learned from the Skritt Squad's reconnaissance.
"The Skritt hit the jackpot." Setrona starts. "Turns out there's only one entrance through the sewers, and it goes straight to the Warden's Quarters. The Skritt went in four separate times to pinch stuff, and have everything. Including a map, a key, and a list of prisoners. Four of the prisoners are in for "supporting a terrorist organization", one is some crazy person, three are armigers of the Order of the Torrent, and then there's my cousin, Octavio, Lictor of the Order of the Torrent."
"They also watched the Holding House from the outside, and got a basic idea of who lives there. The Warden is called "the spider" by the guards, and it's a she. We've looked at the records, and her name is Captain Sabo. I don't know why she's called the spider. There are always nine guards, which rotate by the week. Sabo lives there full-time as the tenth. The guards have talked about someone called "the visitor", but the Skritt never saw anyone all that out of the ordinary. I wrote down what the patrol routes were, which'll give you some idea of how to sneak around. I also have a copy of various forms, which you could use as templates if you want to forge stuff."
Setrona picks up her dagger and says "Whatever you decide to do, I'm coming with you on this one. Octavio is the last of my family, and I won't see him die by the same city he worked so hard to keep safe."
"Well lets make sure we bring extra gear. If we are going to rescue a Lictor and 4 hell squires if they can lend a hand we should put a sword in it."
"10 defenders well . . . it is a good thing that there is a sewer entrance. But once the alarm get's raised Someone is going to get reinforcements if there isn't a contingency or alarm already."
Bazzle only knows that Captain is a rank of the Dottari. A Captain would be very well trained, and experienced in combat. They would likely give one member of the party a hard time, but would never be able to face the Strike Force all on their own. Bazzle doesn't know the name Sabo, and the spider doesn't ring any bells either.
Setrona says "That's the thing. If you're going to fight, we will need to get in and out real fast. Fort Imbrex is not far at all. I doubt it would take them longer than five minutes, maybe less. The good news is the holding house doesn't have an actual alarm."
Most soldiers are Fighter, but named NPCs may have differences
- Recruit (1, maybe 2HD)
- Soldier
- Lieutenant (4HD ish)
- Captain
- Major (8HD ish)
- Duxotas (rank warden) (Same as Major, but with some extra levels in aristocrat)
- Duxotar (high warden) (Same as Duxotas, but with quite a few levels in aristocrat)
"Perhaps its time for us to call on our larger political movement. If there was a nosy protest or riot in the area. Those in Imbrex would be busy in response and those in the holding house would not want to go out into the street."
"People could get killed, if you remember what happened at Aria Park." Setrona says, not outright condemning the suggestion, but using intonation to get a read on how Bazzle responds.
"I don't want anyone hurt." He moves his hands in a motion that makes it clear anyone. "At some point standing up to a tyrant takes risk. It only needs to be enough to get soldiers tied up and make the idea of going out on the street an unpleasant idea. If they think that their back up is tied up."
"We can use those more used to risk and better able to retreat take the heat. Then have lots of folks do last minute shopping before curfew, walk their dogs, chase their cats and so on. The guards from Imbrex will be out and engage and not ready to respond fast."
Setrona pauses, then calls out for Rexus to give some input. After explaining the situation, Rexus grimaces. "You're right, that's a real risk. Last time there was a protest, the Dottari ran us over. It wasn't a slaughter, but a few people did die. I worry that Thrune would do it again. If we want a distraction like that to work, and keep people alive, we're going to have to protect them. Our best bet for that would be the Salties. They could minimize any damage from the Dottari. We could probably use the Street Performers to inform and guide protestors to safety. And we could use the Skritt to sabotage any troops coming out of Fort Imbrex. It would be quite the maneuver. So how does that sound, Bazzle?"
"Well we could stage such event entirely. Let the street performers dress up as the Chelish Citzen's Group and clash openly with the Salties. Sure its staged but they could create a big diversion if they do it right and actually destroy some property of some pro-Thrune stooges. Who knows.
"Okay, that could be done." Says Rexus after a quick pause. "We could set them up on the other side of Fort Imbrex, have them start a fight, which would draw out the troops. Then you guys go into the Holding House for your mission. If anyone alerts the Fort on your end, the reinforcements would be smaller."
"So let's send em a raven and get moving." Setrona urges.
Aster finishes her scone, slips the rest of her coffee, and pulls herself to her feet (with a quick dabbing of her lips to make sure their are no crumbs). "Ready" she says.
The street performers begin dressing up using the disguise kit located here as CCG, while Rexus begins composing a letter to send to the Salties via Raven. Meanwhile, Setrona puts on her leathers and urges the group into the sewers. Her freckled face is smiling from ear to ear, and her brown eyes are bright and eager. "Hold on, cuz. We're comin."
The Skritt in the sewers help guide their allies through to Bleakbridge. They've been thinking about different ways to get from one side to the other, and the Skritt have come up with an awkward idea. They suggest to the Silver Ravens to use their new barge, which they show with pride. It's a bunch of empty crates and barrels, lashed together. They've got four oars, and a long hook, which looks like someone took a scythe blade and strapped it to the longest pole they could find.
"Yes, yes. Take oars and paddle up and right. Use hook on pillars to pull closer. Also good if needs rest. Skritt not tried yet, but very sure it works. Yes, yes. Want it?"
"Yes? No? Want to walk bridge instead?"
"I... the barge... um..." Aster frets a bit about the stability of the craft, but the enthusiasm the Skritt show about their creation is too much to brush off. "To not use it would be a crime." she thanks them and then tries to gingerly (with as much grace as she can) board the barge.
The Skritt cheer at Aster's decision, and quickly usher the group to the river. A team of six Skritt take charge, putting each Raven into an open barrel that's strapped to the barge. "Remember! Use paddles up river, not just across. Stay under bridge. Use hook to pull up river or take rest. River loud, so spells are good if Ravens has them. But ships and guards watch, so be fast, hide behind pillars, don't get swept down."
The Skritt give each Raven an oar, then place the pole-hook into the center of the barge so anyone could use it. With a grunt, they quickly push the barge into the river, and one of the Skritt throws a bottle at the barge. "She is called Wishful Thinks!"
The objective of the game is to get from one side of under Bleakbridge to the other side of under Bleakbridge, by rowing in a barge across the river. You will have to fight the current in order to avoid being swept out to sea, but still be making progress to get across. You will also have to avoid being seen by guards or nearby ships, getting overly fatigued, and you may have to handle some unfortunate random events.
Each character is in a barrel on the corner of the barge. They are equipped with an oar for rowing, and in the center of the barge is the pole-hook, which is easily within everyone's reach.
Characters will need to paddle in order to get the barge to move, but the characters must divide their directions in order to avoid being swept out to sea. Some characters will need to paddle upriver, while some characters will need to paddle across the river. Paddling is either a full-round action or a move action, and uses a Strength check either way.
Paddling upriver enough to fight the current for a round requires two DC12 Strength checks.
Paddling across the river requires any number of DC8 Strength checks, with the more successes meaning faster progress.
Paddling as a full-round action is a regular strength check, but paddling as a move action carries a -4 penalty.
The game is won when the barge has 5 successful DC8 strength checks to paddle across the river, AND has not lost an upriver paddle check (or did and then recovered).
When the DC12 strength checks to fight the current of the river fail, the barge starts following the river and is no longer underneath the bridge. The game cannot be won until the barge gets back up the river, which requires a DC15 strength check per failure. Failing this DC15 strength check does not incur an additional failure. If the barge fails to fight the current 4 times (without any successful attempts to bring it back upriver), it is swept out to sea, and will be discovered by the Scourge of Belial automatically.
When you fail a strength check, you must make a fortitude saving throw against fatigue. (Aster, you can ignore your first failed fort save, but the next failed save after that will impart the fatigued condition despite your immunity.) The DC starts at 10.
Each round, a single character can opt to use the pole-hook to grab onto a pillar. Doing so requires a standard action (or full-round) to make melee attacks with this 15ft reach improvised scythe. Damage is not required. Upon a success, the barge does not move across the river that turn, but the wielder can automatically bring the barge upriver by up to 2 fails. Do note that paddling and then using the pole-hook is only feasible if you have the Quick Draw feat.
Creative approaches are welcome. For swim speeds, you'll need a minimum of 30ft to get any value out of it, and you'll have to make swim checks. Grappling hooks, adamantine arrows with ropes, crank crossbows, spellcasting, all of that is welcome.
Good luck! Ask questions if you're unsure.
The barge is pushed into the river, and now the Ravens need to paddle.
Vandomir's first attempt to keep us upriver...
Between Aster and Vandomir, the barge holds against the push of the river. It is now up to Bazzle and Rexandi to find a way to bring it closer to the far shore.
"Bazzle, how are you at swimming?"
"Not great, not terrible better without gear."
"Well I'm thinking of using my water lung hex and having one of us go into the water with a rope and swim to the far side, and tie the rope off there so we can pull the team in."
"I could have given someone the ability to breathe as well."
"Well that certainly makes it safer. I can go."
Still debating their strategies, Rexandi and Bazzle paddle away, getting the makeshift raft slightly closer to the other side. Unfortunately, it appears by shear dumb bad luck that a ship has detected the raft. The Stinging Imp raises its sails, and prepares to leave the dock to approach Bleakbridge. It will take time, however, so a particularly speedy getaway could still prove fruitful.
Aster continues to keep them upriver.
Vandomir keeping us upriver
Fail
Save vs fatigue
Fail
Vandomir is fatigued
Aster paddles as hard as she can, but Vandomir cramps up! The barge will get carried down the river at this rate!
Rexandi looks a bit panicked for half a second, then she weaves subtle strands of shadow.
"I hope this works," she mutters under her breath.
celestial merfolk
The shadows ripple and form into the strange, light-and-dark dappled form of a merman with shimmering scales, who at Rexandi's urging immediately starts pushing the boat while swimming with his powerful tail fluke!
Rexandi conjures a beautiful celestial merman who begins pushing against the barge. Although the illusions can't affect the objects, the shadowstuff that created the summoning does!
Bazzle uses the pole hook to get some additional speed.