Masks of the Living Neb (Inactive)

Game Master Nebten

I am better at stealth than stealing so I could check out the upstairs level and at the very least, get an idea about what is up there.

"And you blend in," says Garuneh in agreement.

Liz will sneak upstairs and go to the stairs that lead to the upper level

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Stealth: 1d20 + 9 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 9 + 4 = 23
1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Liz sneaks up the stairwell to the ground floor. When she reaches it, there is an acolyte cleaning a breast plate. He appears to be quite focused and doesn't notice the rogue.

Liz will sneak out to the stairs to the upper floor.

Sorry, I need to make a clarification.

Liz sneaks into the armory, a 15' by 20' room. A pair of weapon racks sits in the center of this chamber, each bearing a variety of arms, most of which look new. Mounted to the walls is a host of steel shields as well, each one painted with the symbol of Razmir.

There is one closed door that exits this room.

Does it look like the acolyte will be engaged in an all night cleaning?

This appears to be another form of punishment, so it could last for hours.

Liz slips back down to Garuneh. There is an acolyte up there cleaning armor as punishment detail. It could last hours and I don't think I could slip out on my own. perhaps you could offer to help clean the armor and I can slip out while you distract him and message you when I am ready to come back.

"What's the worst that could happen? He and I could be flogged," says Garuneh wryly.

He walks up to the acolyte quietly and makes a shhing gesture, then mimes offering to help clean the armor.

The acolyte spies Garuneh coming up the stairs. Upon seeing the druid's gesture, his body language gives a sign of relief. He puts his hands together in a prayer of thanks. He points over to the blades where an oil and rag sit.

Perhaps drop a tool when I go to open the door, or draw his attention away Aid another

Liz will wait until Garuneh occupies the acolyte and sneaks out the door, opening it only long enough for her to slip out.

Liz's Stealth: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 9 + 2 = 17
Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

The acolyte looks at Liz as she tries to slink past him. He shrugs and continues to his duties.

1d6 ⇒ 4

Elizabeth enters the Worship Hall. It has only flitters of light and feels very empty compared to the crowds that fill the room for prayer during the day. Murals depicting the life and ascension of the Living God decorate the walls of this chamber. These murals start on the north wall and go around the room, the first of them illustrating him as a young, ambitious man, garnering great riches and power while helping the poor and the weak and encouraging them to flock to his banner. The next set of murals shows him entering the Starstone Cathedral in Absalom to undertake the test to become a god, while those following show him emerging victorious, with a mask shrouding his face, so that all could worship him without fear of looking upon his ascended countenance. Finally, he is seen founding the nation of Razmiran and spreading his faith all around the world—this last sequence a hopeful plan for the future, as his dominance is far from certain.

Elizabeth starts to make her way up the grand staircase with her eyes focused on the jeweled beauty before her. A large golden mask rests upon a marble pedestal at the top of the stairs, with a green gemstone set into the mask’s forehead, and smaller gems set around it. A stained glass window in the wall behind the pedestal depicts a similar mask.

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

As Elizabeth climbs halfway up the stairs, she can see two grey robed priests, each one flanking the stairs in a set of alcoves. They do not appear to have been stirred.

Blast it, I don't think I can get by both of them twice.

Liz goes back down and into the armory, picking up a rag and helps Garuneh polish the armor. She messages when the other acolyte turns towards something else, Two priests on the steps in acloves, Don't think I could get by both of them twice. We can perhaps see if we can get assigned to guard duty on steps.

Does Liz ever remember seeing guards on the steps before? Or if the two priests had higher ranking clothing/masks?

Nobody from the group has never been past the first step of the stairs from the first floor to the second floor. It is strictly forbidden for an acolyte to ascend to the second story. Liz could not see the alcoves from the bottom of the stairs. You surmise that grey is higher then white (acolyte). You have only seen one black priest.

Are you adding the Blend bonus to her Stealth? Should be +4 and she can stealth without concealment.

No I didn't, sorry. Liz sneaks by the acolyte without him noticing.

Since Liz is not confidant she can sneak past both acolytes, she returns to the bunk room and speaks to Bria and Aldous.

There is one locked down down here past the cells but it is too difficult to open so we need to see who has a key to it. The stairs leading to the top floor are watched by two acolytes and I don't think I could sneak by both of them twice unless Aldous has some magic that could help me.

"I may be able to put both of them asleep for about three minutes. That is far from a certain thing, and would basically mean we've deflated war on the church at this time. If it worked, though, it would give you the time to do you thing, though. The only other spells I have today are levitate, web, and see invisibility, at least those are the ones which might have been useful."

"Did you see any vertical ascension areas? I could levitate you silently and pretty effortlessly if you think that would help."

Any balconies in say the main hall where one can access the upper floor?

Perhaps if one of them is put asleep and say, fall down the stairs, that would make a good excuse to get up there and at least have a look around. If that doesn't work, I can case the outside for ways up to the second floor.

The worship hall's ceiling is open air until the second story. There is only a walkway that goes around its edge. Map is updated to reflect this.

Garuneh inspects his armor polishing work. Satisfied, he gives the acolyte a thumbs up and heads back down stairs to join Liz and the crew.

"Plans afoot?" he whispers.

Getting levitated up is possible, then I could case the upper floor quickly and then come back down. I don't plan on picking any locks until we all know what is up there. Sound good?

"Why don't we declare war on the temple?" Bria asks wistfully. "But if you would rather sneak about, I'll wait in the armoury. When trouble breaks out, I'll come running."

There is another acolyte in the armory cleaning things, if we all go up now, it would be too suspicious. How about we arrange to cover each other tomorrow? Bria could take care of the armory and let Aldous and I up. Then I can go find that evidence we were sent here for,along with the stolen items from the crypt.

"Okay, sounds good. Do we want to try the upper level tonight first?"

Well, since you have the spell available, let us try it. Liz will head up with Aldous.

Once at the appropriate spot, Aldous casts levitate on Liz, ducking around the corner to stay out of sight.

He raises the rogue silently up to the balcony level.

Giving he a nod, he waits for her to reappear and be lowered back down.

Liz slips over the balcony and starts a quick reconnoiter of the area, hopefully hearing little chirps.

(Messaging Aldous)Could you ask Dragon to chirp some?

Liz and Aldous walk upstairs and gain the attention of the acolyte still cleaning weapons and armor. His masked face silently follows the two of them as they make their way out of the armory.

1d3 ⇒ 1

When they open the door, a grey robed priest walking down the hallway calls out to Aldous & Elizabeth.

"Unmask yourselves. What are you doing up and about at this hour?"

Damn

Liz unmasks. I..Uh..I'm sorry elder brother..we..we were going to find an area where we could engage in acts unecoming an acolyte of blessed Ramzir.

Liz hangs her head and twiddles her fingers.

1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24 Diplomacy

"Truly, Brother, she speaks the truth. We sought privacy to explore one another more closely. If that is against the tenets of the Church, I was unaware of the prohibition. You have my apologies."

Aldous doffs his mask and puts on his most contrite face possible, trying to look abashed and amorous at the same time.

"I see. Well this is no hide-away camp. Try not to do any 'exploration' on holy grounds."

The gray robed priest holds his hand out in a familiar fashion, then nods in the direction of the main entrance.

Sorry, bit lost on what the priest is doing with his hand and nod.

as long as one hand isn't in his cassock, you're ok.

He looks like in exchange for coin, he'll let you out the front doors for some "alone time".

Aldous hands over some coins, blindly reaching into his pocket before depositing them in his outstretched hand.

1d7 ⇒ 1 GP
1d13 ⇒ 4 SP
1d11 ⇒ 11 CP

"Let's go, Sister." Aldous gently takes Liz by the elbow and heads for the door.

Yes brother. Liz says as she follows him.

When outside, she whispers to him. Well that went pear-shaped. Just how will we get up those stairs to explore? Perhaps you could talk to Dragon and see if we can figure out what room he is in?

"Yeah, but it could have been worse. These thugs are just thieving scum, after all. Let me see if Dragon can tell me where he is."

Aldous reaches out through the empathic link, sending a message of concern, interrogation, and comfort to his familiar.

"Where are you, little friend?"

The priest nods in approval at the coins and allows Aldous & Liz to pass outside. The large door shuts behind them with the sound of a bar being laid across to brace it. Most of the businesses are closed at this hour, but music and revery can still be heard from the north, in the direction of the Forest Bounty.

"Did they just get escorted outside?" Garuneh says to Bria. "I want to get caught now." He turns pink briefly while looking at the dwarf, then returns to meditation.

You know Aldous, we could go to the Forest Bounty and see if Reginar is there and report to him. Maybe he can offer advice for getting Dragon.

Bria looks at Garuneh curiously. What brought that on? Humans... "My guess is that they bribed someone. They seem awfully keen on making money around here."

"That may work. We would have to be circumspect, however. We don't want to attract attention to us, or to him."

Well we do have our normal clothes under the robes, so just a quick change and asking him into a room would work.

Liz heads over to the Forest Bounty to look for their contact.

The Forest's Bounty seems to be winding down by the time Liz and Aldous arrive. In the corner, again sitting alone is Reginar. He spies the two adventurer's and waves them over. After the wench swings by for any orders, Reginar starts to inquire about the week in hushed tones.

"How are things going in there? Where are the other two? Tell me of your experiences and what you've discovered so far."

Liz whispers back.They are currently still in the temple, we were trying to scout around and almost got caught but managed a cover story and slipped out here.

Liz sips her drink .It has been very rough, we are basically training to be thieves, bullies and charletons. We do transcribing of scripts, clean, and have taken some lessons on how to subdue people by weight of numbers. They also had us work a crowd as they preached and discovered they pickpocket a number of them. We..we also got sent to shake down a store owner for gold.

Liz looks very unhappy at this. Right now we are trying to figure out how to rescue Aldous's familiar and find the information you want.

"As Liz said, but it also bears noting they 'recruited' us in a rather violent fashion, and routinely uses physical punishments for even slight infractions. They are thugs, and seem to be training more of the same."

Indeed, they drugged our food. There is a door in the basement that I tried to unlock but it is very difficult, I'm going to see if I can learn who uses it, unfortunately, absconding with personal possessions isn't my strong suit so lifting a key would get me caught.

Reginar nods as he learns about the depravities and cruel treatment that occur within the temple of Razmir. After Liz and Aldous finish with their tale, he suggests a new course of action.

“Well, one thing has become obvious to me,” Reginar begins with a grave tone.

“We must destroy this threat before it grows any stronger. I have a number of contacts within the local government who would like nothing more than to see this scourge driven from Tamran, but they cannot act without proof. I need you to sneak inside the personal chambers of the high priest and steal any incriminating documents or ledgers. Armed with such evidence, we can bring these scum to their knees. Time is of the essence here, so you must return quickly. I think the time for subtlety is over. Do whatever you must to get the information we desire. As soon as you have the proof that we need, send up a signal if you can. I will then lead a raid to help you escape. When do you think you can do this?"