Kingmaker. The shadows behind the throne.

Game Master DBH

"What's our best way to quietly approach this? Otherwise one screaming lady will roust the entire castle."

Zelera nodded in agreement and said, "Yes, the Lady is the priority. I can take a short time to prepare a few more of my prayers that might help," she looked at Niadroub, "if we are willing to do without much in the way of magical support of course. What better way to restrict a bard than to take away their voice?"

AKA I can prepare silence, put it on one of us, and just down the bardic spells and sounds of the fight.

"Well, you do have at least one man who's quite good at quietly catching a fool unawares," Colwyn says as he helps Numesti reclaim and don his gear.

"Our real concern should be the inferior baron, Drelev. We don't know where he's lurking, so we need to keep alert. For all we know, we could blunder into one of those rooms just to find him schtupping one of those two women."

All the same, Colwyn votes for intercepting and neutralizing Lady Quintessa Maray first.

"When we do find Drelev, we don't want her around to provide back up."

Ok. Use the Drelev keep 4th floor map up top. Tell me what you are doing?

The party goes up the stairs and heads to M40 to confront Lady Quintessa, assuming they don't encounter any guards along the way. Numesti and Waffles will wait outside of M37 to make sure Baroness Drelev stays confined to her room.

OK. Tell me who is doing what and give me some rolls please. A high level Bard can make a lot of noise after all. :)

With a nod, Vibenia checks her crosbow before slipping forward like a living shadow, practically imperceptible from the moment her companions blink, moving to Lady Quintessa's room.

Stealth (urban): 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37
Perception (urban terrain): 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (18) + 15 = 33 (38 if human)

Seeing Vibenia all but disappear up the steps in front of them, Niadroub Kliip hooks his thumb at the ranger while looking at Colwyn. His eyebrows shoot up in a silent question.

By way of response, Colwyn follows behind Vibenia as quietly as possible. He slides his rapier from its sheathe in preparation for a close quarters encounter.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (12) + 17 = 29
Fast Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (18) + 18 = 36

As per Niadroub's plan, moving to M40

Ok, I've updated the Drelev keep 4th floor map. Judging from the faint sounds of snoring coming from M41 the Baroness is asleep. There are no sounds coming from M40.

What are you doing now?

Stealth: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Zelera followed as quietly as she could and it seemed that the Lantern King smiled upon the mischief she was about to be involved in as her steps were as silent as she could possibly be! When they were about to enter the room she held a hand up and indicated she was ready to cast the spell to stop sound around them.

"Care to check the door for any sing of a trap before we move in, My Lord" Vibenia whispers as they prepare to enter the room. "Or shall I just kick it in once the silence is up?"

perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (15) + 15 = 30

Botting Colwyn

"Not trapped or locked. Cast the Silence as quietly as possible and lets go" Whispers Colwyn

What are you doing now?

With the command given Zelera spoke the prayer, "King of jests, Laughing Liar, cover our mischief in Silen-," as the last work was said it was cut of by a sudden, unnatural, silence as she drew her dagger.

Silence has been cast on the first person going through the door, I believe that's you Vibenia? We have 10 rounds.

As all sound suddenly ceases, Vibenia nods, as much an acknowledgment to herself as her companions. While the spell would give them the best chance, both of taking the woman out without alerting others, and in negating the bard, it would also leave the ranger without her own magic. She would have to depend purely on her skill and weapons if it came to a fight.

Taking a deep breath, she puhes in the door to the room, entering immediately to make space for her companions to follow, weapon up and trained on the first identifiable target in the room.

Not having a single spell that doesn't have a verbal component, Niadroub Kliip backs further down the hallway away from the room the others are running into. Remaining out of the area of effect of Zelera's silence spell, the arcanist waits for any need that his magic can address.

EDIT: He pulls out his wand of lightning bolt.

A very attractive woman looks shocked as the door opens, her mouth opens and flaps pointlessly as she tries to say something.

Alone and realizing she's been Silenced 'Lady' Quintessa Maray immediately raises her hands in surrender.

Quintessa Maray

What are you doing now?

The Silence was the right move. Her first action would have been to Dimension door away to raise the alarm.

Marten sheathes his enchanted blade and pantomimes to Yala, making a gesture like stuffing something in his mouth. Yala hands him a leather thong, which he takes and holds up. He nods to the woman and gestures for her to open her mouth so that he can tie the thong around her head to prevent her from speaking when removed from the silence spell.

Once she's gagged, Vibenia gestures to the woman to take a seat, proceeding to produce rope and securely bind her to the chair, double-checking her knots when she's done. They could interrogate her later at their leisure.

Tie Up: If you have your target pinned, otherwise restrained, or unconscious, you can use rope to tie him up. This works like a pin effect, but the DC to escape the bonds is equal to 20 + your Combat Maneuver Bonus (instead of your CMD). The ropes do not need to make a check every round to maintain the pin. If you are grappling the target, you can attempt to tie him up in ropes, but doing so requires a combat maneuver check at a –10 penalty.

Vibenia's CMB is +13 so the escape DC is 33. If the DC to escape from these bindings is higher than 20 + the target's CMB, the target cannot escape from the bonds, even with a natural 20 on the check.

It figures that Vibenia knows how to tie a woman up.

Lol

@GM DBH, I love your title for the image of Maray - "A real combat monster." Hilarious touch.

"Looks like sneaking up on her was never going to be hard. Who could hear us approaching over how loud this outfit is?" Colwyn taunts Maray and her sense of style.

"Now then...why don't you point towards the room where we can find the baron," he instructs the captive woman.

After Colwyn mocks her silently to no response you drop the Silence and get an answer.

Update. M37 is the Baronesses room. You hear snores coming from there which tells you she is asleep. M41 is the Baron's room, which has the convenient secret door to where you are now. :).

Maray shrugs distractingly. "Why should I tell you anything? You are just going to kill me."

What now?

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24

Zelera grinned a bit wickedly at the woman's current plight and defiance and said, "Oh I am sure we can come up with worse things to do to you than kill you if we tried. But lucky for you we are not after you. I'm sure you owe the Baron no real loyalty so if you tell us what we need to know I see no reason why we can't let you live. We can take you with us or simply tie you up here so you can claim you were helpless to stop us," she giggled and said, "I rather like that last one, it really pulls one over on the stupid Baron and seems more than fitting."

Marten seems a bit nonplussed at Corwyn's mocking of the prisoner. It's easy to guess why—the knight clearly would consider the rules of chivalric conduct in force, and mistreatment of prisoners is hardly honorable.

Regardless, that is his liege's decision, not his.

Sense Motive +15, can't miss that.

"Drelev's time is over, regardless. Torture is a useless and cruel exercise, so there is no fear on that account, but your cooperation could mean a great deal in preventing needless violence as this city undergoes an abrupt change of management."

Something to remember. Maray is the 'Ambassador' from Pitax. Whose ruler Irovetti surrendered quickly to the barbarians and pointed them at Drelev and the other new Kingdoms like yours. He is known to have sent several attempts to sabotage yours and the other new kingdoms[/ooc].

Marten is keying in on the wrong motivation because he is assuming the best in people.

That reminds me.

Marten watches the captive carefully as she spars verbally with the team.

Detect evil.

Maray does not show up as evil :).

Also I was mistaken. Maray is not from Pitax and isn't working for Irovetti. Gossip around town is she showed up and wormed her way into Baron Drelev good graces as quickly as she could. So she showed up and made herself his mistress, but her aims are unsure?

Maray immediately relaxes and sends Colwyn a charming smile. "Well, it is nice to meet a real ruler! You have no idea how awful it has been trapped in this dreary keep while the Baron lets barbarians and giants to control things."

She lets you know that that Baronesses brother Imeckus Stoon is in room 34 and is a dangerous mage. The Baroness called him to come and visit when things started going bad.

The Baroness is an Aristocrat. No real danger.

The Baron himself is upstairs in M25, probably working on plans to get his power back, or take yours instead. :)

What now?

Zelera rolled her eyes at the obvious flirtation Maray was throwing Colwyn's way and thought it would be amusing to test him by seeing how he handled this situation. She could always try to distract Maray from him later if she needed to.

"Save your breath, sweetheart. I'm a married man," Colwyn rebuffs Maray. "My wife would probably also turn you into a newt or something, so you really don't to go down that road.

"So...now we've got the baroness' brother in the picture. A mage? Just great. Guess he goes on our list now, too."

Does the room numbering go up or down? I'm trying to figure out which direction we'll be traveling in and whether we'll be targeting the Baron or Stoon first.

"The information you've provided so far has been helpful though. Keep it up and there's no reason for you to come to any harm. Anyone else we should be wary of besides the baron and this mage?" Vibenia asks her.

The room numbering starts at the top of the keep and gets higher as it goes down. So the basement has the highest room numbers. You go up to reach M34.

I've added a complete map of the Keep up top. Drelev keep full. You can use that to plan your movements.

Maray shrugs at your dismissal of her charms, not the least bit offended. She likes to get in good with the people in charge and you're a lot more reasonable than the group she was trying to schmooze her way into. :)

"The Baroness is a complete b!~$@! As long as there was gold coming in to keep her in comfort she didn't give a shit about anything else. Her brother is usually scrying the Barbarians. Keeping an eye on what they're up to. He's like his sister though. Keep him paid and he's happy."

"Hannis (the Baron) is really under pressure right now. He always has 8 guards around him and is desperately trying to figure a way out of the current situation. He thought shifting the attention to you might be the solution. Looks like he was wrong." She ends with a smirk.

Maray is a pragmatist and good at reading people and situations. She thought she could gain power by cozying up to Baron Drelev, but can see that things are about to change.

What now?

Marten taps his lip for a moment, then says, "Think you could get the Baron away from his guards for a little 'personal time'?"

Maray smirks, "I can, but I'd have to cast a spell to do so. And what's in it for me?"

What now?

"Why a chance to get into the good graces of the soon to be sole remaining power growing out here of course! Our fearless leader may be spoken for but he, and the rest of us, would be grateful for your assistance," she grinned in amusement as she added, "I know that I, and my god, would enjoy having a trickster such as you around, especially if you could pull this off."

diplomacy: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

Marten adds, "What is your motivation, in any case? Wealth? Security? Social connections? We can make a deal more effectively if we understand what you want."

Automatic aid Diplomacy for a +2, which pushes Zelera's total to 35.

Maray looks very interested in Zelera's words. "Well, it's wonderful to finally met people who understand how to play the game of politics and power. Poor Baron Drelev though he was born to it, but sadly got in well over his head!"

"Your kingdom in the other hand has dealt handily with the problems thrown at it and judging by our meeting are very proactive on settling with your enemies."

Clearly this is the game she likes to play and your kingdom is a rising power. As Baron Drelev's certainly isn't.

If she can't charm her way into a relationship with the leader then being around the inner circle and getting to observe your decision making, and perhaps have a little influence works out well for her.

Marten's words on the other hand get an amused roll of her eyes. "Let a Lady have her secrets good Sir. I will say that the other nations in this area of the world are very interested in what is happening with the new kingdoms forming. Is it surprising they would want to have an observer close at hand?" she responds demurely.

Noticeably she doesn't give any hint on which neighboring power she is working for? Though she is known to be from Daggermark.

What now?

What Maray is offering is to use a Message spell to get Drelev to visit her room without his bodyguards. What you do to him after that doesn't seem to concern her much. :)

"So...you're clearly from Daggermark, though I'd say not Assassin's League...or Poisoner's League either for that matter, since nobody seems to have succumbed to a sudden illness." Vibenia says, studying the woman carefully. "You clearly know how to talk your way into, and out of a tricky situation which could probably be useful. If you're able to help us lure him away from his guards...well I'm sure the 'good deed' is likely to be rewarded."

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23

Having heard the conversation after the silence spell was dismissed, Niadroub Kliip had come into the room to hear enough of the conversation to know what was going on. The options having been laid out for Maray, Niadroub Kliip pragmatically points out, "Ootherwise, you're a preesooner."

OK, I just need someone to tell her to do it and we'll get the murder moving. :)

Since it seemed they had an agreement with Maray, Zelera said, "Alright Maray, let's do this."

"Lure him away from his guards and we'll do the rest. What's the path he'll take to come to you?" Vibenia asks.

Maray points to the secret door that leads to M39. "We can't have a married man wandering into a ladies room in full view can we?" She says lightly.

Place yourselves where you wish to ambush the Baron in M40, then give Maray the word to call him.

What now?

With the room so cramped, and realizing that she would be of limited use in such cramped quarters, Zelera said, "I'll go out into the hall and make sure he does not try to run if he tries to run." As she slipped out she focused and drew upon the fey power that had been granted to her to make her flesh as resilient as that of a pure blooded fey.

Activate Fey Skinned and in the hallway to block his escape if he flees.

Niadroub Kliip places himself in the very far corner across from secret door that Maray indicated.

Almost as an afterthought, the arcanist watches the traitorous courtier to try and determine if she's really trying to assist them.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Vibenia moves to the corner of the room, crouching down beside the bed, and draping part of the bed skirts over herself as she waits silently.

Stealth (Urban environment): 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28

Remember the Baron is upstairs at the moment. He will come down the stairs and use the hallway to reach his room at M39. He will see anyone waiting in the hallway! Maybe use M41 and its secret passage to hide?

Could those of us not in on the ambush just wait in one of the other rooms we've come through?

Yala drinks a draught of disguise self and makes herself look like a courtesan, perhaps a "special friend" of Lady Maray. Although, since Yala is a Kellid barbarian, her idea of a courtesan is like something out of pulpy barbarian fiction. Which... probably isn't a bad choice.