How to paint a Raven Silver (Hell's Rebels)

Game Master Jesper Roland Sørensen

Lena looks quite content with the day's events. "It was a small strike, but it was a strike against Thrune. Someone will notice, and the people will come to us." She looks almost giddy at the thought of the rebellion growing.

"Small or big the important thing is that we keep punching at them. Eventually the small things add up into one big thing. Plus, we are getting better at this I think."

"That we aaaaaaah crap. We should have probably like, hidden our faces."

That said, it's a new week, and that means it's time for a NEW REBELLION PHASE!!! Yaaay!

As time marches on, so too does the progress of the new Silver Ravens.

Phase 1: Upkeep
At the start of upkeep, we spend 20 gp to remove the Disabled condition from the Moneyfarm team. That leaves us with 20 gp in treasury.
Loyalty: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9 Well THAT's unfortunate...
Attrition: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (3, 2) + 2 = 7
However, thanks to our missions we get bonus friends!
Bonus friends: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 1) = 6

That more-or-less cancels out the attrition we just had, leaving us with 29 supporters total. Our notoriety is fine, our treasury is fine, Rexus knocks us down to 4 notoriety by spreading some quiet disinformation, next step is:

Rebellion Rank Up: 3
At Rebellion Rank 3, all characters get a single potion worth 300 gp or less, thanks to our rebellion's supporters. But wait, we still have enough to rank up again, to...

Rebellion Rank Up: 4
At Rebellion Rank 4, we've earned the unofficial title of 'Guardian' for everybody. This gives us any of the following as a bonus feat: Alertness, Deceitful, Persuasive, or Stealthy. Choose wisely!

We're one supporter away from going ham and hitting rank 5, but maybe our free 1d6 supporters next round will make up the gap? (It doesn't matter much since rank 5 just gives us an extra team slot and bonus EXP which we aren't using.)

Anyways, we're on to the 'pour money into the rebellion' phase. Meliora's going to donate 70 gp, because she has ~plans~ and we need to get back above 40. If anyone else wants to, please feel free to throw something in. I like having money for our rebellion. With that done, it's time to move to...

Phase 2: Action
We have 2 actions, +1 bonus strategist action.

Action 1: Recruit new Freedom Fighters team, auto-success due to ~plot~
Congratulations, Mic. You're now the proud leader of the Bronze Parrots, a group of revolutionaries who we haven't done anything with yet!

Action 2: Change Officer Role
We need to move away from straight recruitment, and as a result we'll be moving Mic off of Recruitment Duty and into being the party sentinel. We'd move Jack, too, but we don't have time because of the third action I absolutely need to take today...

Action 3: Upgrade the Moneyfarm to Tier 2.
This costs 50 gp out of the treasury, and automatically succeeds. They're now Merchants, and can still earn gold (and more of it!), but can also move items in the marketplace to give us more possible inventory to buy from.

Phase 3: Events
Event? (48% chance): 1d100 ⇒ 71

Still nothing. The event chance remains doubled, but thankfully all's quiet. I'd like to get to rank 5 next time and get some spies, but for now we've got an ok position.

AND THAT'S THE REBELLION NEWS... ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO RISE UP AGAINST.

At the start of the new week you all compare notes on what you have noticed while looking for the spy within the nest. (Those who rolled over 20 on the sense motives earliere.) You have noticed one of your freedom fighters "Morgar Manthai" engaging in something suspicious over the week, such as writing a strange letter and even one time skulking about and eavesdropping on your conversations.

Meliora you can attempt to help Rexus decode the documents again.

Now without the need to cast a spell to do it!

Foresight: 1d20 ⇒ 5

Linguistics: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

As for our traitor...

"So, we talkin' to him?"

Morgan is male or female?

"Maybe feed some false information about our next action and see what happens? "

”We can’t just orchestrate that... we don’t exactly know when or how he’ll be spying on us, and the others might act on it since we can’t keep a secret from everyone but him. Besides, how would he have used those tiny tools..?”

She’s applying occam’s magnificent razor, a spell that she’d learned to put to use when problem solving: when multiple problems are happening in the same body, assume they are connected to one main source.

Male

Lena thinks about the problem for a little while, "Let's take him to dinner in a private room at the coffee house, and tell him we have a special message that needs delivered to an ally. If the info ends up in Thrune's goons hands we know we have our traitor. I think we might have two different issues. If the tools are too tiny for him to use."

"Hmm...maybe I could follow him after your meeting and make sure Morgar goes where you told him to go," Jack suggests to Lena and the others, pulling up the hood of his magical cloak to emphasize his point.

Rexus joins the rest of the team with some new infomation from the documents he is translating. "I've found a few new infomations in these papers. The Silver Ravens defended Kintargo from being conquered no fewer than a dozen times during the Chelish Civil War: five times from power-hungry noble families, four times from agents of Thrune, once from an invasion of skum from the sea, once from a cabal of Nidalese vampires, and once from a blue dragon named Rivozair."

He pauses for a moment before finding another piece of paper. "Also it appears I forgot to share this with you last week. The Silver Ravens maintained their main headquarters in and below the Kintargo Opera House; unfortunately, no information in the documents indicates any other safe houses the group may have maintained. And as a estimate of time I think if Meliora can help me again next week I should have trasnlated the last of the documents."

Any decision on what to do with the possible spy in your midst?

Lena calls the suspected spy over making sure no one else but the group is nearby, "Morgar we're going to the Fair Fortune Livery tomorrow night. We're thinking of making it a secondary base. Would you please run by there, and check it out for us. I want to make sure no one has moved in recently. Please keep this quiet. We don't want this getting around just yet."

Bluff: 1d20 ⇒ 20

The fighter looks a bit strange back at Lena, almost like he is not really himself. "Eehhh... Sure thing, but ehhh... Why me and not one of the tengu sisters? I'm not really a rogue sneaking around, I'm more of a brawler often making more noise the I like too." He finally says after struggling a little in the beginning.

"Thats why it will work silly! No ones gonna question a big guy like you wandering about, A sneaky bird lady though? People will talk."

She piped in, giving her best smile to the man.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17

Lena gives him a long look. "You look like a local. The Tengu sisters sort of stand out."

Lena you think there is something wrong about him, not like a spy but like he thinks he is being punished because of something, he can't remember he has done.
"Ehh.. Right miss. I was just thinking they would be better to sneak in."

Meliora is leaving this to them, though she did fire up a Detect Charm spell prior to the dinner just to watch.

No charm magic, I'm guessing? She's useless for this talking stuff outside of that, though.

No Meliora isn't as uselesd as she thinks, she detects a lingering effect on the poor fighter.

"A big part of not being seen is blending in to what is going on. No one notices a cat but I know of a wizard that would often send her familiar to spy on things. Basically invisible. You will not be out of place so that is your advantage."

"Eh. I think I understand now, but the place has been abandonned a long time wouldn't it be out of place if I suddenly started looking around on the grounds?"

Morgar leaves for the mission and returns just before curfew. "The fair fortune seems to be deserted at least on the main floor. However down stairs there is a rancid smell and some little strange creatures crawling in and out of holes in the walls. I didn't dare to go further in by myself, I didn't want to be trapped by something that has moved in after you guys cleared it with Rexus."

Was Jack supposed to follow Morgar, as per this post? If so, maybe we can assume Jack took 10 on his Stealth checks (for a total of 23).

"Thank you for the update. It sounds like something has moved back in."

I thought we were going to follow and see if he does what he was asked to do. We were also going to hide out early and see if guards showed up thus proving his guilt. If he's been compelled to report on us, we need to figure out how to fix it.

I moved you ahead because things felt like it have stopped going anywhere.

Retcon
Jack follows Morgar from him leaving the meeting. At the exit of the secret basement he suddenly stops to look at a rat sitting on a barrel. They both stare at each other for a little while before, he nods and continues further ahead.
At the livery Jack sees him go in as he reported, and the creature he saw was the gremlins you scared off last time.
The smell is the foul pool further in, where the doors are open after your last visit, so that the smell has spread to the rest of the basement.

Jack later reports that Morgar is indeed telling the truth...before sheepishly reporting the strange incident with the rat.

"I could've sworn they nodded to each other, though I know how crazy that sounds...."

"They nodded?" she looks at Meliora. "What could that be? A familiar? Something with an illusion on it?"

"Jack did it have any special markings on it?"

"None that I saw," Jack replies to Lena. "But then again, I was keeping my distance and trying not to be seen."

If there was anything unusual about the rat, I'm sure our GM will report it.

"The rat nodded? Assuming you had not had something to drink that is odd." Mic smiles "We may be letting our imagination get away with us. Usually the simplest solution is the right one, there was a rat and it looked at our man."

She pauses and shrugs "Of course a familiar is always an option. Not sure if I have heard of anythng like that."

Know Local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8 Anything on this sort of thing?

Guessing not with that roll.

"so the rat is our rat? Interesting I could you know maybe find a spot to hide and shoot the smelly thing into a bajillion peices?"

She offered while sketching teh outlines for some really long pistol like thing....

Nothing out of the ordinary about the rat, though Jack is sure that it was there one moment and then gone the next moment.

Jack seems to be at a loss for how best to proceed.

"Maybe Morgar's a wererat. We could try feeding him cheese laced with silver shavings, I suppose...."

"Might be but that doesn't sound right. Maybe we should detect magic around and see if something glows."

"By 'we' I'm guessing you mean yourself," Jack replies with a wry smile. "I can be your lookout and bodyguard while you concentrate on your spell, though, if you'd like."

"Come to think of it...we is probably the better idea," Jack adds. "Maybe you and Meliora can cast the spell and scan the area while the rest of us watch over the two of you."

Once you decide on the action descrip to me, how you are going about detecting magic. Are you going a round around the nest or just focusing on the area Jack reported?

"Let's start with the area where Jack saw the "rat", and then we'll move from there in a clockwise fashion. Meliora what do you think about that plan?"

I see us a few feet apart getting as wide a cone as we can.

I see us a few feet apart getting as wide a cone as we can.

This is pretty much what I was thinking as well. Jack will tag along with his longbow at the ready, leaving any close combat to Mic initially.

"Hmmm Maybe it will be a bit weird if we all go, I'll stick about the base and finish work on my new project and well keep the troops active and all. Unless you need me?"

She offered running a hand across her soot covered cheek and then into her hair.... blackening part of it probably unintentionally.

1d20 ⇒ 8

As you start the search in the cellar leading out of the nest (C1), Lena and Meliora both detects faint traces of a magical aura. Meliora can tell you that the aura is some kind of illusion and around a day old since it was cast.
You split up to quickly cover the entire nest in searching for an intruder, as you searches through the hideout you all hear faint sounds and detects the smell of sulfur in tiny amounts around in the other rooms. Finally as Jack enters into Rexus office the intruder is caught red handed slipping out of thiun air to appear before him clearly frustrated she has been discovered by him and draws a tiny blowgun and shoots a dart at him.

Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 28
1 damage and a fortitude save DC13.

Combat 1 round
Everyone
Creature.

Assuming that Jack lets us know there's an issue Lena will move toward Rexus' office at a good clip. She makes it to the doorway. "What's going on?"

"OUCH! Why you little...!" comes Jack's voice from the northwest section of the Wasp's Nest. "In here, ladies--there's some sort of little devil!"

The ranger drops his bow, plucks the tiny thorn from his neck, and tries to grapple the creature.

Fort Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16

Jack CMB (grapple): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

Speaking as she moves Mic closes quickly, hoping to end the fight she tries to grab the intruder to grapple it.

"Guess you found something Jack?"

Grapple: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Yeah! Dogpile on the Rabbit!

Not going to get away form both of us. Of course I have no idea if it is legal. I like to think you have the top half and I have the bottom.

I don't see anything in the rules against two people grappling, but I treat it as Jack is the initial grappler and Micheria is providing assistance.

A little vit surprised Jack catches the tiny woman by the left wing, and as he struggles to reel her in Micheria joins and gets a hold of the other wing, letting her hang in the air between the pair.
"Normally a guy invites me out before grapping my wings, but I'll let it slide if you release me from this plane." She says uncertain if she is any match for the two fighters.

"Release you from this plane? You better worry about getting out of this room. Why are you here?"

"If I could leave this dungeon I would trust me. You don't even know do you? You moved me here when you took my things from the old livery basement." the creature responds.

"Hold up hold up hold up."

Meliora squints at the creature, trying to figure out what it is.

Knowledge (Planes): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20

"I would have remembered taking a tiny woman with me." 'It's on my bucket list, after all.' "You were not in the stack of papers, you're not a raven figure, you don't look like silver, and you sure as heck ain't a magic suit of leather armor because I ain't seen ya' anywhere near Cana's unfairly nice rear!"

She folds her arms, puffing a cheek huffily, a little bit too busy being indignant at having an intruder to realize that she's actually making a large portion of her usual inner monologue into an outer monologue.

"So! How about you try clarifyin' a little more, 'fore we see if it's possible to pluck the wings off an imp?"

"It's completely possible, for the record. I know. I've checked."

It's an Imp.

"You are clueless ain't you? A wizard like you should have heard about invisibility magic, even if you are just a newbie. When you moved the things from the livery I was forced to follow you to this place. But you have to guess what it is that compells me to follow."

"We have to guess? Hmm." Thinking about Meliora's inner er outer dialog. "I doubt you are tied to the armor. Maybe the papers or one of the figurines? We can start checking things out." Lena gives the imp a glare.