Mantisbane Pact with GM Zek

Game Master Zektolna

One of the cultists replies to Talia, “Look, we want to work with you. Most of us said as much during our last meeting. We just weren’t expecting you to walk right up to us in the bar. We normally handle things with more subtlety.

“We still can’t tell you exactly when we’re meeting, but if you visit Betty a week from now, we’ll have a message for you. Of course, if you plan on helping us with Kaleidoscope, we need to know what you can bring to the table. We have a general idea of your abilities, but we need specifics. We’ve been planning this hit for a while now, so bringing in so many new people presents a lot of risk. We need to know it’s worth it.”

He gestures at all of you as he concludes.

The other cultist says, “And unless I’m mistaken, you couldn’t scry on us even if you wanted to, so maybe try a different tactic next time. We’ve been on this island a lot longer than you have.”

"That sounds like a decent arrangement. I'll consider visiting Betty a week from now and see what your answer is. As for Kaleidoscope, don't overplay your hand. You might have been planning that hit for a while, but you still don't know what Kaleidoscope is, or whether you could actually succeed in killing it. So to that end, I'll keep specifics on our own abilities to ourselves, at least until we hear your answer. After that, maybe we can talk."

Talia gives them a deferential nod and turns to go before glancing back at the other cultist "You are mistaken but as I said before, I'll keep the specifics to myself - at least until we have your answer. You might have been on this island a lot longer than we have, but you haven't been battling the Mantis for as long as we have. Let your friends know that I don't hate you or your organisation - our goal is eliminating the Red Mantis, not eliminating assassin guilds in general, or fretting who rules Ilizmagorti. Something that should hopefully put minds at ease"

I'm finished with these guys for now and pretty happy that the decision is a week+ away. Gives us time to do Goldshackle + Goblins without any clashing priorities. Unless anyone has any objections, we could leave this meeting place and do some recon on the Goldshackles markets (or organisation) before we rest for the night?

Knowledge Local: 1d1d20 + 19 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 19 + 2 + 2 = 29

The lead cultist shakes his head, "Regardless of how much of what you've said is true, we still need to know what you're capable of. Even if you only share some of what you can do. We're not asking you to tell us your identities or swear a blood pact or anything like that. Just demonstrate or explain yourselves enough that we know you actually are the ones that have been causing so much trouble for the mantis. You should at least give us that much, if you want any chance of good news when you talk to Betty anyway."

The cultist points at the rest of the group and says, "Do any of you have anything to say for yourselves?"

Holding off on that knowledge check for now.

"Yeah...I don't really know what you all are talking about, but we are legit. We killed their pet in the pagoda. Look into it quietly, and you'll find out its true. The bugs had me prisoner there."

I'd only say that assuming we're having this convo privately. If we're in the middle of a crowded public tavern still, I wouldn't want to say something like that where it might be overheard.

Talia gives the men a dark look. "I'm so not in the mood for games. In one conversation, I told you who you are, who your target is, and what two high ranking Mantis agents think of you. You chose to reach out to us don't forget, and I immediately responded. Now you want us to jump through hoops to prove our expertise or who we are. If you still need things to be spelled out even further, then perhaps my high opinion of your organisation was rather misguided."

Talia folds her arms. "This is a two way street, don't forget, I'm trusting your organisation's capabilities as well, and you haven't shown any of your cards either. If you can afford to be choosy about your allies, that's fine, I'm perfectly happy to step back and approach the Stalkers directly instead with a similar offer and see if they might be more accommodating."

Its so weird at how obstinate they are being on this. Per the vision, they seem to actually want / would appreciate our help, but if they want to be difficult I'll just walk away. We don't really need them for anything - heck theres more of an incentive to slaughter them (and collect their bounty from Klorn) than there is to ally with them at this point.

”Lads must be sure of themselves to turn their nose to our help. If this hit is as important as they say, can’t imagine them even dreaming of messing it up.” He muttered.

Achutla, we're in a private basement, not a common room.

Ruel shrugs his shoulders and nods his head in Talia's direction. "What she said. You're either satisfied with who we are, or you look elsewhere."

Alayna waited to see what the others did before mentioning what she could do, and was glad she didn't start blurting out the few spells she'd demonstrated so far. She stays quiet and secretly hopes she doesn't stand out.

The two cultists sigh and one says, "Very well. We can't exactly force you to show us some of what you're capable of. Just know we tried to improve your case should you not like the news you receive from Betty in a week's time."

-----

Once Talia has a chance to recall what she knows of Goldshackle's market, she remembers that the market is called Fleshmarket Close. Goldshackle is the sole proprietor and member of the slave market's leadership, though she does have many hired hands who help keep the slaves in line and operate as security. The slave trade in Ilizmagorti is big business, so she's able to afford excellent mercenaries.

Ruthilda is also known to keep a personal gnoll slave named Tukh by her side at all times. She tows him around at the end of a golden lead. She's been known to replenish her stock from time to time by pulling drunk sailors off the streets. The Mantis don't seem to mind as she actively avoids taking any of their own.

The market itself is located in Alcasar, accessible only through a long, twisting alley off one of the district's side streets.

I think we want to visually view the slave market (if everyone wants) or we rest for tonight and maybe leave that for tomorrow. I kinda want to see what it looks like on a map or how it functions / runs so we can make a quick plan and then strike. I promised Jaxira I'd approach her if we ever wanted to take the fight to Goldshackle but I can always meet up with her tomorrow.

You need to refresh your spells, right? Why not tell Jaxira this today and then rest (either on the ship or at Shark's) so we can hit the place in the morning. Given our track record with disguises, I don't trust that a scouting mission will be more trouble than it's worth.

I'm fine with resting first. If we do scout, maybe only send the most stealthy person while the less apt hang back, otherwise I think Ruel might be right. Can we scry it or something like that? Go buy a slave?

Yeah, I'm fine resting before we spy on the slave market.

Alayna can cast invisibility on herself over and over, but it's probably not wise to send her off alone at this point. Especially into a slaver's den. So while I'm open to ideas, I don't know if scouting is the best course.

Yeah lets hold off on splitting the party during a scouting mission. With any luck Jaxira will fill in any blanks and we can shotgun it from there.

So GM, I think we meet with Jaxira just briefly, then rest for the night and then make our plan to eliminate Goldshackle tomorrow.

Achutla, most divination spells are off the table (except for my vision spell which targets the Record and not anyone on the Island). As a rough rule of thumb, if it targets or includes anyone or anything on the island, its rendered null. We still don't know why this is but it means the scrying is off the table for now. Spells like Commune and Contact Other Plane are fair game tho since they don't 'target' or affect the island or anything within it.

When you go to meet with Jaxira, she's eager to help with dismantling the slavery operation. However, when you ask what she knows she says, "Goldshackle was who I was being brought to... but since the ship wrecked, I never actually made it to her market. I've only heard about it from a distance. I'm afraid I can't provide much in the way of concrete details, other than to assure you Goldshackle is thoroughly evil. She would sell her own mother if she thought it would make her a profit."

Feel free to ask her specific questions, but if you're looking for information on the layout or what kind of foes you might face, Jaxira's not going to be able to give those details.

If we bought a slave that's been there a while, wouldn't they presumably know the staffing and layout? We could free them after.

Pretty good plan. That was the cover story I was going with (ie buy a slave) to ideally meet Goldshackle face to face tomorrow. Even if she doesn't show, that slave will give us useful intelligence, if shes providing difficult to find.

GM, if Jaxira doesn't know anything that could help us, then I don't need to ask her anything further. She's making up the numbers for this fight - having a pocket druid is always useful. I think we are ready to rest up for the night and plan our attack tomorrow - I'll probably use one of those Incense of Meditation to Maximise all my spells for this fight.

Alrighty. If you're resting, feel free to post your spell list(s) and preparations for the next morning. Might be good to ic or ooc discuss your exact plan before we get into the middle of it.

Uruelleth rubs his smooth chin while he thinks on the battle plan. "One way in... through a long and twisting alley. Sure to be other ways out, but we won't know 'em until we're there..."

With a grunt of frustration, he shakes his head. "I don't like our chances being sneaky. Going there to buy a slave for information just risks us getting made. Then when we go back, Goldshackle will have all her guards on alert and probably all her merchandise moved.

"I say, we do this straightforward. Belkzen Blitz time. No warnings, no mercy. Anyone who fights back is put down hard. What do you say?"

"That's certainly more my normal style. All this subterfuge is foreign territory for me."

I'm going to assume that Jaxira would be able to tell us where Goldshackle spends her time (I'm assuming that market is a big place) since she has been within the city a long time and was going to be brought directly to her. Let me know if this is an incorrect assumption GM, I don't want us planning something and then being unable to find her / shes hiding in a difficult to reach place.

Talia presses her palms to her temples for a moment. "Killing Goldshackle shouldn't be too difficult. Sure, she has allies, that she pays a good amount of money, but I don't think they will stay loyal to her once shes dead - theres no-one to pair their paycheck after all. What I'm more worried about is getting a whole bunch of slaves out of the city. Previously we would just teleport out but that's not going to be an option. You can bet that the Mantis will figure its us and probably take what they perceive as the best opportunity to take us down. I have a strategy for that, but not real strategy to kill Goldshackle - I'll leave that to you guys."

I kinda want to pick a low visibility area and (maybe with a bit of help from a Fog spell) cast Summon Ship (I can use the Altar from Sharks Place to get CL 11 (so a Sailing Ship)). The idea is that you can pull out of the port, and the Sailing Ship (with siege weapons) pulls out to make it harder for people to chase us. Once the ship is summoned (and we are prebuffed) we move to the Market, kill whoever we need to kill, and basically flee the city while Talia's shell game tries to confuse anyone trying to give chase. Thats the idea anyway.

”I see nay reason to let any of the scum live. If everyone is all right with a bloodbath, then I’m in. Also sends a message that we aren’t to be fooked with.”

Tentatively, Alayna speaks after having gone wide-eyed about the prospects of a bloodbath. "Maybe we could go first thing in the morning? Before the customers arrive, when they're setting up. I could bring up some fog, and get us close before they expect anything. I've noticed I can tell where someone is in a fog, even when I can't see them."

"I like that idea. I am good at sneaking."

"That sounds handy, kid. Alright. Let's go for it." With a rather morbid grin she adds, "What have we got to lose?"

”Just our lives. And life is cheap here.”

Jaxira is eager to help when you come to her with your plan. She’s happy to accompany you to ‘buy a slave’.

The market opens shortly after dawn, so you head for the winding alley entrance, hoping to get close before springing into action.

At the start of the twisting alley, a pair of bouncers inspect each person that passes by. Most seem to be regulars to the market. When you approach, one holds up a hand and asks, “You looking or buying? Serious buyers only. This isn’t for window shoppers.”

Go ahead and specify whatever buffs you're casting beforehand. I'm assuming you would have them up at this point.

"Buying" Talia says sharply, eyeballing the man. She didnt feel like mincing words nor did she think the bouncers wanted to get into a proper interrogation. "I'm not here to f@*# about. I'm looking for quality merchandise here and in exchange I'm willing to part with my coin. So you tell me, am I wasting my time here?"

Barkskin on Kilarra, Magic Circle Against Evil on Uruelleth (because low will save), Communal Resist Energy (Fire) on Party, Resist Energy Cold and Electricty on Talia, Overland Flight on Talia, Heightened Awareness on Talia

Bharaz stood there, arms crossed. He had a dagger already summoned and was wearing a hooded cloak that concealed his face, but not the size of his arms.

See Invisibility is up and ability mastery for +2 Dex. 2 spell slots left

Uruelleth stands close by Talia with a relaxed look on his face. He takes in the bouncers professionally, assessing their combat utility.

shield is up. He's used a dose of oil of keen edge on his falchion.

Alayna does her best to keep the anxiety off her face. She lets herself settle into the role of a servant in the Sivlamlik again -- though the surroundings couldn't be more different -- drawing a mask of strict control over her expressions.

She'd drawn a cloak of winds around her and solidified them into armor and shields of force to protect her from a stray arrow.

Mage armor and shield for right now.

Achutla pretends he is guard, and stays quiet as a guard should.

I'll do heroism and shield of faith for now.

Kilarra eyes the guards, attempting to judge their experience. When the guard catches Kilarra's eyes she gives him a wink and a smirk.

Note to self: buffs: barkskin, resist fire, shield.

The bouncer doesn’t take much convincing and merely shrugs at Talia’s answer before letting all of you pass by.

‘Twisting’ was an apt description of the alley, because you zig zag at least four or five times before finally going straight for maybe a couple hundred feet. You’ve completely lost the entrance to the alley by the time you turn one more corner and are presented with a gorgeous estate. If you didn’t already know, it would be impossible to tell from the outside that there was a slave market within.

Two more bouncers guard the entrance to the estate. As you pass through the gates of the estate, you enter a large courtyard. On one side are a set of stables, though they don’t appear to have been used for horses in a long time. The mansion lies on the other side of the courtyard.

The courtyard itself is crowded. People are standing nearly shoulder to shoulder as they wait for the market to officially open. Ahead, you notice a large pit near the courtyard’s center. Smooth walls line the pit and, about 15 ft down at the bottom, you spot what are surely the slaves to be sold for the day. Eight men sit slumped within, metal collars on their hands, feet, and necks. From what you’ve overhead, the slave market rotates between selling men, women, and children, choosing to do so on separate days. Apparently Goldshackle believes such a method is more efficient… and more profitable.

Speaking of Goldshackle, you see the female dwarf standing opposite of you near the entrance to the mansion. Just behind her is her personal gnoll slave who somehow looks even more dejected than the slaves in the pit. The rumors were true. Goldshackle holds the gnoll with a golden leash. She’s also flanked by a pair of guards. Four more guards line the pit of slaves.

One of the guards shouts out, “Market will open in three minutes! Feel free to inspect in the meantime! Have your bids ready! They’ve been going fast lately!”

Map added. I’m not expecting you to start combat now, though you could if you wanted to. Also, you’ll need to use your imagination a bit. There aren’t any of the green, grassy parts to the courtyard, it’s all level paving stones. The slaves are in an empty pit, not a pool of fish. You’re also surrounded by other would-be buyers, so you’ll be moving through difficult terrain anywhere in the market. And yes, the person next to you is Jaxira. She left her animal companion behind for now as she was afraid he would be too conspicuous.

One thing I don’t think we’ve discussed since getting some new folks is an updated marching order. I’ve placed you on the map for now, but feel free to adjust your positioning if you like. And you might want to discuss an ‘official’ order in the discussion thread for future reference.

I'm going to assume that there is a ladder or something that can get the slaves out of the pit...because how else do you get them out after purchasing them, or how can you get a good inspection at the slaves.

Do we know what Jaxira's spell list is GM? Its probably something we would have asked her to advise us of before we arrived.

Alayna, save a fog spell if you can for our inevitable retreat. It should give us a bit of a head start" Talia mutters to Alayna as they file into the square. She spends a moment familiarizing herself with the area and noting the spaces around.

"Kilarra, if you can find a way to get yourself into a flanking position, I can Heaven's Leap Uruelleth into an opposite square. Would give Uruelleth a complete attack as well as setting you up for a flanking Sneak Attack at the same time. Speaking of Heaven's Leap I can pull the slaves up and out of the pit, but that would take time as I'd have to do it one by one. What do we think?"

Achutla and Bharaz can chip in with their own preferred tactics, Talia still doesn't know too much about them and how they prefer to fight. I didn't want to be presumptuous/

Also assuming we can have the above conversation without being heard.

Seeing Goldshackle, Baraz’s throwing hand twitched. ”She has nay honor. When this starts me daggers will be what sends her to Magrim. She’d best hope her excuses are good for when she gets there.”

Under his breath, Uruelleth mutters to his companions, "Crowd's going to make it a problem getting to 'em. Don't know if they'll retreat or keep fighting. Guards at our back will be an issue, too. If Talia moves me up, who's going to cover the spellcasters?"

Kilarra nods, "I can try."

I'm relatively slow, and prefer melee so I can take second from the front of the marching order.

"I will be with Uruelleth and Kilarra. Anyone fighting next to me will gain the advantages of my teamwork tactics."

Not really sure how to explain him sharing teamwork feats in character, especially since he's a lone wolf type and we all just met basically. That weird fluff discrepancy aside, I grant all my teamwork feats to my allies. I have:

Whenever you and an ally who also has this feat are flanking the same creature, your flanking bonus on attack rolls increases to +4. In addition, whenever you score a critical hit against the flanked creature, it provokes an attack of opportunity from your ally.

When you are adjacent to an ally with this feat, the first time you melee attack an opponent, you can spend an immediate action to take a 5-foot step, even if you have otherwise moved this round.

When you are flanking an opponent with an ally who also possesses this feat, you can throw yourself into your attacks in such a way that your opponent takes extra damage, at the risk of these attacks striking your ally as well. When you choose to use this feat, check the results of your attack roll against both your opponent’s AC and your ally’s AC. If you hit your opponent, you deal bonus damage as though you were using Power Attack. If you hit your ally, the ally takes no damage from your attack except this bonus damage. It is possible to hit both your enemy and your abettor with one attack. Extra damage from this feat stacks with Power Attack.

So I think all three of us should stick together in melee to maximize those bonuses. I'd like a round to cast divine power on myself at least. Other than that I will just follow Uru and Kilarra and try to set up flanking for them. I'll be dealing high single target damage, debuffing with shaken (cornugon smash) and sickened (cruel weapon).

Talia, Jaxira would be willing to adjust her spell list based on your requests. So if you have suggestions... other than evil aligned spells... she’ll probably be willing to prepare them. She’s a 6th level druid.

Also, they don’t appear to have ladders for the pit, but two of the guards have coils of rope at their sides.

Please continue your in-character discussion!

Mad Monkey's and Fog Cloud are two spells that I probably want her to have prepared. Mad Monkey's is particularly strong for a third level spell and should create some disruption.

"We should eliminate the guards outside the gates first, then turn our attentions inward. The three of us should wander over there for a smoke," Achutla says, indicating himself, Uru and Kilarra, "and then perform an alpha strike on them when we are close."

"If someone has a spell that could keep the courtyard guards from running into the complex for reinforcements for the first few moments, that would be good. Any distractions in the courtyard while we handle the gate would likewise be welcome. Yes?"

Talia frowns, shaking her head. "I would rather you use the moment of surprise to focus Goldshackle, instead of wasting it on killing the guards by the entrance. She is the priority threat, and if shes dead, theres a chance some of the guards will turn and flee. Its not like they are going to get paid."

Ruel scans the crowd and then gives a tight nod. "Gotta agree with Talia. Hopefully, once the crowd starts running, they'll have trouble getting to them. Bharaz can stay close by and keep 'em off the casters. Kilarra, you'll do better flanking me or Achutla."

He gives Alayna a long, somewhat distrustful look, then focuses on their target and her bodyguards.

How much spellcasting do we want to try to pull off before the fighting starts? I wouldn't mind bringing up mirror image first, but I still want to be able to pull off a full attack once Talia does the Heaven's Leap. I'll go along with the group. Though, we might also be able to pull off a surprise round. That's up to the GM.

Achutla shrugs and nods. I thought we meant to kill them all. Oh well, they will die another day.

Staying out of the way when the fighting starts was something that Alayna was well-trained to do. This was different. She was going to be a participant. She couldn't help but feel the trickle of sweat running down her back, and her breath was short.

When Uruelleth glared at her, she fights against shrinking back away from him. She draws in a deep breath and looks at the guards, then Goldshackle. Her eyes narrow as she hears peals of thunder in her head. She could envision lightning dancing along, bouncing from one target to the next. The crowd might get in the way, though, but she dismisses any concern for them. They were here to buy slaves, so they didn't need any compassion.

Alayna could drop a displacement on a melee-type if we're going to cast before we strike. Otherwise, she can either open up with some black tentacles for crowd control or a lightning arc for damage

Jaxira is happy to oblige Talia’s spell requests.

You would probably need some combination of Stealth and Bluff to get a surprise round off. The guards, by their nature, are watching closely. Goldshackle looks pretty perceptive as well.

"Anyone got a way to get the slaves riled up?" Uruelleth tosses out as an idea.

If there's some way to get everyone looking away from us and focusing on the pit, that might work.

”Aye. I could call her out. Curse her up and down as an affront to the Gods. Bet ye it would get her, and everyone else.’s attention. Know anything about her clan or background? Would make it more convincing.” Bharaz said.