Rexus gathers the officers of the Silver Ravens together in the study on the second floor of the Long Roads Coffeehouse. Laria provides a tray of pastries and three large pitchers of various coffees.
"I've finally finished translating the documents you folks uncovered beneath the Fair Fortune Livery," Rexus announces. "Apparently, the last of the original Ravens saw the writing on the wall and House Thrune's impending victory, for they hid these records as a sort of time capsule to ensure the Thrunies couldn't redact them or their works from local history. There are plans for defending the city from all sorts of potential attacks, from armies, to dragons, to verbal espionage. I urge you all to read my translations and notes on the matter: it's really quite invaluable if we're to rise above merely smacking around the occasional Queensman and actually toppling Barzillai Thrune."
Davina takes the proffered bag. "Thank you for your generosity. It is appreciated."
When she hears the archbaroness call out to her, she turns and smiles brightly and gives the woman a short bow. Turning back to Jess, "You are in trouble now young lady." she says giving her a quick hug.
"I'm so sorry you have that horrible thing on your face. I hope it fades quickly."
Davina is very excited about what Rexus learned, and is more than happy to review the notes over and over. "What a treasure trove of documents. These are going to be so much help in what we need to do. I'm tired of just nipping at Ol' Barry's men. We need to do something to get the cities attention sooner rather than later."
"Speaking of things we forgot to finish, did we ever find out who or what broke the wall? Any new movement on the Jill's? What's up with Clenchjaw's?"
"What about you? You're not just a tiefling. You're something else. Answer for an answer? Would that suit you?"
T'chazzar absorbs the recent changes with equanimity. To Jessi he notes, "The brand is actually good for the Ravens. That kind of highly-visible cruelty helps to push people against Thrune - they can't help seeing it and thinking of what happened if it was done to them or their families. Hopefully it'll heal soon."
To Dom and Davina he says, "All right, we need our next operational goal. We've managed to grow the influence of the Ravens, but we can't challenge Thrune directly yet. We need to continue to make administration difficult while garnering more support from the people. I think it's time we tried to contact the Red Jills."
Domitius listens to the Archbaroness with an equanimity born of his time taking orders while he was the property of the Sarini family. For a moment, he allows himself to wonder how things might have been if he had come to Kintargo and become a slave in the Aulamaxa household instead of the Sarinis. He rapidly dismisses the idea. No telling what would have been different. Some little thing wouldn’t have happened that, for all I know, could be what makes all the difference. Play the hand you’re dealt, Dom.
"I'll see to it that someone at the Opera House Society puts a leash on Jessibel; she acts out there because she thinks she's the smartest person there. I know now she'll be in good hands when staying in Villegre under your watch."
Dom nods at Jessibel’s grandmother. "If Your Ladyship’s leash-holder, whoever that ends up being, needs a hand at any point, please have them contact me."
After Jessi comes downstairs and Davina hugs her, Jessibel turns to face Dom. He takes Jess by the shoulders, smiling at her. "You did good, saving Leora. You’re a clever girl; almost as clever as you think you are. But even the cleverest fish in the ocean, sometimes, it doesn’t see the net until it’s too late. Please, Dymka, no more shenanigans."
He pauses, as if suddenly noticing something, then gestures with his hand at his forehead. "You’ve got a little something on your..." He stops as the girl glares daggers at him, and tries what he hopes is a disarming grin. "Too soon?" Dom hopes being grounded includes keeping her from using coin shot.
Later, at the Wasp’s Nest, Dom nods appreciatively at the clear benefits of Rexus’ hard work. "Thank you for putting all the effort into getting that work done, Rexus."
Dom is silent on the way back to Eradon Manor, seemingly a thousand miles away. As he and Davina enter the house, Dom pauses at the doorway to the study. Looking in, he sees the portrait that hangs in there of Davina’s late husband, Derius. He turns back to Davina, a slightly troubled look on his face. Then he speaks. "May I ask something? If your husband was still alive, would you keep what we are doing from him? Would you think it better to shield him from this, or involve him?" A look of sudden realization seems to come over Domitius. "Would you have even gone to Aria Park that day?"
Rexus gathers the officers of the Silver Ravens together in the study on the second floor of the Long Roads Coffeehouse...
"Wow Rexus, that's awesome! Thanks, I know you've put a zillion hours into translating those!"
As the group is gathered to talk about their next activities, Leora brings up the Red Jills. "From what I remember, we heard some rumors that their leader went crazy, and she made some kind of deal with the Dottari or Mayor or CCG, and they mug people. Their hideout is on the eastern slope of Temple Hill. I think last we talked, we were hoping to convince them to join the resistance, or at worst, get them to stop mugging people."
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Dom is silent on the way back to Eradon Manor, seemingly a thousand miles away. As he and Davina enter the house, Dom pauses at the doorway to the study. Looking in, he sees the portrait that hangs in there of Davina’s late husband, Derius. He turns back to Davina, a slightly troubled look on his face. Then he speaks. "May I ask something? If your husband was still alive, would you keep what we are doing from him? Would you think it better to shield him from this, or involve him?" A look of sudden realization seems to come over Domitius. "Would you have even gone to Aria Park that day?"
Davina gives the painting of the much older man with a sad smile. She looks around to make sure that her parents or aunt and uncle aren't about, "We would both have been there. He knew about the family history of Raven membership. He would have encouraged me to look for Rexus. He would have gone himself just to take Old Barry's measure. He would have written articles, and used his position as a professor to teach the truth. He wouldn't have been young enough to be a member of the Ravens."
She moves over and touches the painting. "He would have been behind this one hundred percent, and could have given us good advice on how to handle things."
Domitius grimaces, as if he had accidentally stepped on Davina’s foot. "Forgive me, Davina. It wasn’t my intent to stir up sadness with that question. I look at you, and I watch you risk so much. You have all of your family here, and your daughter off at school, and still find it in you to fight this fight." He sighs. "Most everyone left in this world that I care about is involved in this thing. Or they are adjacent to it, like Zea," he admits, after a telling pause. "And it churns me up inside every time we face danger."
Dom pauses briefly, as if choosing his words, or deciding if he has the courage to speak them. "You and Rexus both, the way you talk, you make it sound like you see no… I guess no value, in trying to curb the Queensmen. To restrain their cruelty." He stops again, unsure if he wants to continue, but after a moment, he does. "I understand the need to kill the head of the beast, of course. But should we not also make it afraid to use its claws? These svoloch, they come onto your land. They destroy your property. They beat our friends, and they..." He pauses. His voice had been rising, and he reins himself in before he alerts the rest of the house, or all of Villegre. "They act like they need not fear any consequence for their actions. The one that got away from us the other day, he was the one that orchestrated the beating of Jessibel. That he escaped, it gnaws at me, Davina. I want him. I want him to know that Dukkan will come for him, and I want them all to fear acting out against this city."
Again, Dom goes silent for a moment, staring at a spot on the floor between them. "I promised myself, after my last run-in with Sharkey, that I would never again give you cause to question your trust in me. But I could not remain silent on this matter."
He looks back up to the painting, smiling. "As fierce as you are, with Master Derius at your side, I'd bet Leora another sail we'd have tossed the Thrunes out by now."
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Eradon Manor, 29 Pharast
"What kind of mother and decedent of a Raven would I be if I didn't try to stop this madness. Kintargo should be a free city, and not ruled over by Barry. I had to do something. Things will only get worse if we can't remove him."
"I see the Queensmen as a symptom of the larger sickness. If we can remove the source those who find joy in cruelty and ruling over their fellow citizens will either fade back into the background or the citizens will remember and take care of them."
"I understand your anger. It hurts to know that Kintargo citizens can do that type of thing to other citizens with no remorse. I won't think less of you if you find that man to teach him a lesson. What I fear is that you could be blinded by anger for that particular man and not notice other things going on around you. I'm also worried that you are going to go out and do something rash. I've got enough rashness to deal with handing Jess. I'm very glad her grandmother has reined her in slightly. She was keeping me up at night." she gives a small smile to soften her words.
After Davina speaks her piece, Dom spends a long moment deep in thought, his brow furrowed as if he was trying to frown his way to understanding. Finally he speaks, his voice low, his eyes not quite rising to meet hers. "I understand, Davina. Please forgive my outburst earlier today. As we proceed with this thing, I will do my best to not let anger or bloodlust cloud my judgment. I will try to make sure my heart does not get ahead of my… head." We winces a bit at the clunky turn of phrase, then continues. "Between my encounter at Sarini Manor, and Jessibel’s multiple run-ins recently, I think we’ve had more than enough of that. If you ever feel I need reminding of this, please do so."
Domitius finally lets himself look Davina in the eye before continuing. "I cannot recall that I’ve ever explicitly said this to you, but thank you, Sudarynya. You have been exceedingly kind to me, almost more than I feel I deserve. I promise you, I will find a way to repay this kindness. Even if you will not let me murder Madame Estrella," he stage-mutters that last bit with a deadpan expression for a second, before grinning.
She grins brightly Don't let her hear you say that. Her heart would give out for sure, and I'd be listening to her ghost complain about her demise for the rest of my days."
The past few days have taken a bit of a toll on the rebellion's membership. Between the Days of Wrath displays throughout the city, folks seem to be dismayed that Lord-Mayor Thrune's grasp on the city may be unbreakable. Several alleged supporters are suddenly hard to find or no longer willing to put out their necks for the Silver Ravens. An exception to this general rule comes in a report from Zea, who says that she's gathered another four tieflings willing to stand up to those she calls "The Thrunies."
Laria also reports that a snarky half-elf coffeehouse regular named Emery Greenbow was reportedly dragged off by a group of Queensmen after he made a wise-assed comment to them. His fate is unknown.
The Silver Ravens' teams truly shine. After a bit of an upgrade, Forvian Crowe and his crew are able to find the dottari watch tower where Emery Greenbow was originally taken and rescue the half-elf when the dottari try to move the prisoner to the Holding House for formal sentencing.
Turl's Troupe does even better. They find the Red Jills' headquarters: an old, rundown, connected Arodenite shrine and orphanage that's been closed for almost a century. Turl reports that he and his performers spied lookouts on the rooftops as well as a two-Jill patrol that watches the ground-floor entrance. His guess on the total membership of the Jills is between 12 and 18 ruffians, but most are usually out in the city plying their thuggish trade. The dwarf reckons that maybe half a dozen Jills are present at the hideout at any time.
Turl also informs the Ravens that he spoke with Dom's friend Zea, who informed him that three of the female Jills have indeed signed on to be succubus servers for Saul Porter's grand opening gambling tournament. New flyers posted throughout the city proclaim the Dancing Devil Gambling Hall will open on Sunday, 4 Gozran. With at least three of the Jills occupied at the gambling hall, that might be the day to raid their headquarters, the dwarf opines. "Or," he adds through a twitching beard, "ye might raid their hideout earlier an' mop up the lasses after closin' during the tournament."
"Waiting until we know three will be gone is a good idea. We know at least three will even the numbers somewhat. We should head either at first thing in the morning or right before dusk. What do you all think about that plan?"
"I'm still a bit curious to see if we can't convince them to join the cause," says T'chazzar. "But anything that evens the odds a bit will be good - we should pick the terms of the engagement in case they do decide to fight."
He takes on a musing expression for a few moments and says, "I don't even know what to think about the gambling hall. Something about it seems like it's connected to me somehow but I can't put a finger on it."
Falina listened with interest as the group spoke and discussed the information and results of their efforts this week. It was most;y good news and she was pleased that things were going well. If it went anything like the last time though they needed all of the help they could get to pull this off and good morale now would help when things got ugly later on. "I agree, take the Jills on when they are undermanned, it makes sense and makes our jobs easier. As for turning them, I imagine their leader at least will need to die for that, if we take that person out then the rest might fall into line with us."
She looked to T'chazzar and said, "Interesting, though I think someone needs to teach this Sul person about the difference between demons and devils. At least he chose the right demon for the job, a succubus would do that kind of work for a devil if the pay was right." She looked thoughtful for a moment and then said, "If it would help I could try to infiltrate the casino and try to find out what they are up to. It might even be fun."
Dom nods in response to the discussion about the problem the Jills pose. "Falina's probably right. If nothing else, their leader will probably have to go before we can convince the rest of the gang to chnage their ways."
As your group approaches the abandoned buildings said to house the Red Jills gang, it's obvious the place isn't entirely empty: a dull metal brazier that looks like half a rain barrel can be seen through the open door of the south building, a healthy fire burning within.
You spy two hooded guards, one on a second-floor balcony of the south building and another skulking in the shadows of a narrow alley between the buildings. While you're fairly certain the lookout on the raised deck saw your group's approach, the fellow in the alley is currently looking the other way.
I rolled a 4 (+6 = 10) for your passive Perception check as the group approached. Do you want to use Inspiration?
Also, do you want to make it Standard Operating Procedure in the future to take 10 on such checks or should I continue to make d20 rolls?
T'chazzar silently holds up one hand with two fingers, then points to the roof, then the alley. He starts heading toward the alley while nodding for Dom to take out the roof sniper.
Unable to sneak up on the alley watcher, he draws his sword as he resigns himself to another fight.
Although the male tiefling in the alley is really slacking in his watch duties, poor T'chazzar manages to accidentally kick a loose stone that clatters across the ground and belatedly catches the Jill's attention. The Jill on the second floor landing slips through the open doorway and into the darkness of the building's interior before Dom can react, no doubt trying to raise an alarm.
From their current positions, Dom and T'chazzar can see a makeshift rope-and-woodplank bridge over the alley where the lazy guard lounged; it connects the two buildings' rooftops.
"They don't look like they want to talk. Let's try to get inside." She moves toward the doorway to the south.
I'm unable to move my piece on the map right now, but I'd like to move as far over to Red Jill 2 as I can, and ready my sword.
With T'chazzar's stealth attempt having failed, Dom rushes past the drow toward the tiefling. Meanwhile, Davina is the first to react, heading south to the ladder leading up to the second floor landing. As T'chazzar continues to act, the tiefling who earlier slipped inside the south building (or perhaps it's another red-cloaked Jill) makes a brief reappearance, carefully skipping across the makeshift bridge between buildings before again vanishing from sight onto the roof of the north building while hooting like an owl (likely some sort of alarm signal).
You hear a single thump of something heavy striking wood coming from inside the ground floor of the south building where the makeshift brazier burns.
After the close call with Thrune at the Days of Wrath, and being deep in enemy territory, Leora pretends she's an alchemist, rather than a cleric. She smashes a vial on the ground, the sharp smell of peppermint washing over the group and invigorating them. Then she moves closer to T'chazzar.
Nodding in agreement with Davina Falina followed the aasimar closely and watched for trouble as she felt the blessing from Leora's disguised spell and shuddered slightly. the blessing was anathema to a part of her and that part didn't like it at all, fortunately she was able to ignore it and keep going. As she went she cast a spell and a layer of energy overlay her body like a flexible second skin and vanished from sight.
Trusting Dom to take care of the Jill in the alleyway, T'chazzar jogs to stay near Davina and try to get upstairs to catch the runner.
Dom walks over to the Jill and tries to lay him out with his sword, but his first attack is wide.
Leora's spell washes over the party but isn't enough for Dom to strike the Jill in the alley, who draws a short sword and stabs ineffectively at the half-orc before Dom's attack, and then stabs again. The second attack finds a chink in Dom's armor, drawing blood .
Meanwhile, Davina reaches the ladder and climbs up to the second-floor landing; T'chazzar is on the ladder right behind her.*
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Dom does his best to rebound after the bad swing, but the stab he takes from the Jill throws off his aim.
Davina will keep moving until she sees an enemy to attack.
T'chazzar follows, hot on Davina's heels, up the stairs to the roof to chase down the runner.
Since Dom is still nearby, Leora produces another vial to help him with the Red Jill.
Following Davina and T'chazzar still Falina made her way around and up the ladder to the top and waited to see what was there.
Up on the rooftop, T'chazzar and Davina see a rope-and-plank bridge hanging across the alley between buildings; somewhere to the north they also hear the sound of someone chanting a spell. T'chazzar's extended darkvision may also reveal other details .
Down in the alley, Dom feels his muscles juiced by Leora's spell. His tiefling foe again stabs at him, timidly and poorly. He calls out a few words in Infernal*. Moments later, another Red Jill emerges from the south building's interior, swooping around and positioning himself behind Leora with a triumphant "Ah-ha!"
"Could use some help here!!"
The chanting spellcaster stands in the shadows of a clockless clocktower beyond the edge of the north building (the token named Scarplume); he or she is dressed not only in a Red Jill's hooded cloak but wears scarlet robes as well.
You think you just saw folded wings on the spellcaster.
Ooh--there's a tiefling crossbowman (Red Jill #1) kneeling on the downward slope of the north building's roof, gaining some cover. An ambush!
NOTE: I lessened the DC a nudge for T'chazzar as this guy's in the line of sight to something easier for the drow to spot.
Crap! Two more tiefling crossbowmen also present (RJs #4 & #5); these two may be beyond Davina's limited darkvision.
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"Back down, Davina! Ambush!" shouts the drow. He brings up his swords and waits for Davina to head back down, doing his best to block incoming bolts.
"Aww come on, we were gonna talk!" Leora grumbles as the Red Jill opens the door and steps out behind her. Hearing T'chazzar shout that it's an ambush, she decides to give Dom everything she's got so he can take care of their two foes quickly. She pulls another vial, attempting to disguise this spell as a magical oil for his weapon.
Davina does as T'chazzar suggests and backs down the stairs. "That's not good. We really just going to talk. No it's too late. You've pissed us off."
Dom replies to the tiefling's call.
Then, using his newly empowered might, he brings his blade crashing down on the Jill.
Domitius turns and addresses himself to the fellow on the other side of Leora. "You could walk away, you don't have to do this."
The latest Red Jill to arrives stabs at Leora when the spellcaster gives him an opening, but his attack is a bit wide of the mark. Moments later, Dom's falcata hacks into his comrade, severing the jugular and maybe a few more arteries judging from the fountain of blood that gushes from the deep wound as that Jill meets his maker in a messy manner. When the mighty half-orc suggests that the fellow could still walk away, he gazes quickly up to the rooftop before nodding. "Perhaps we could speak more inside and out of sight," he comments during his tactical withdrawal.
The reason for his worry soon becomes apparent: A winged creature wearing a red cloak and crimson robe swoops through the night sky and tries to blast T'chazzar with a fiery ray. Its aim is true and the drow is charred pretty badly . The thing takes a moment to hiss at Davina, hinting that she might be the next target.
Up at rooftop level, T'chazzar sees the tiefling crossbowmen try to close on his position at a command from their flying leader just before he gets roasted. Each climbs the sloped roof with ease (losing what cover it had provided), closing and firing (two at Davina, one at T'chazzar). The drow's missed, but Davina's grazed by each bolt aimed her way .
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T'chazzar grunts as the blast hits him. "Stupid fiends," he mutters. He stows one of his swords , steps back by the cover debris on the roof and closer to the ladder , and balls his empty hand into a fist, which shimmers slightly as he catches his breath .
When Leora sees the burst of flame headed at her friends who were up on the roof, she yells to the flying creature. "Hey! Didn't you hear? We're gonna go inside and talk?" To hide their escape into the building, Leora moves quickly towards the door, then reads from a scroll. The alley fills with mist and she hopes some of it wafts over her friends on the roof too.
Does the mist obscure the flying chick from where I am at?
As the figure swoops closer, T'chazzar realized his understandable error. The fire-flinging winged creature is no fiend--it's a strix like Kiri, though with fully operational wings.
Not one to let another spell slinger get the better of her Falina quickly moved up close to T'chazzar and chanted and gestured as a pair of black bolts leapt from her fingertips and flew into the flying strix.