Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

"Oi, Alia. You alright?" Scarlet breathes a sigh of relief. "Thanks Durgan."

"Alright. For the hundredth time, we ain't spies. We've seen the Stag Lord and his troops- they're as dirty as they come. The Company here, great. The Stag Lord, no good. That's all I gotta say."

"Hey Ledda, can I get Alia's estoc back? She's obsessed with it!"

Alia wakes.
What happened?
Opening her eyes, she sees the castle floor, Durgan...
Oh, THAT happened!
Coughting, then standing, she whispers "Thank you" to her Healer, then realizes her blade is gone...but not realizing hostilities were ended.
Casting Shield on herself, she retrieves her bow and empowers it, before starting to make sense of what Scarlet is talking about.

Hey, I was out cold. My darling is gone, I am panicky. Buffing up and getting ready for trouble before re-evaluating the tactical situation - with the expectation that it's unchanged.
Move to stand+draw Bow, Standard for Shield, Swift to Arcane the Bow.

Zokon will attempt to help orange with his heal skill, he will pull out bandages etc and do his best

Heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (13) + 6 = 19

"Don't the beetles have healers? to do this?"

Miles De Nerthopln wrote:

Miles bows to everyone with a wide smile.

"Nice knowing you all. Hope to see you again." he cast vanish and wasn't seen again.

Performance goes silent.

Hold up there. Durgan's invisibility purge is still active. If you cast that spell right now (Durgan hasn't moved to Alia's side just yet), it will be suppressed.

Balls, looks like I'll need to think up something else...

Alia wakes.

What happened?
Opening her eyes, she sees the castle floor, Durgan...
Oh, THAT happened!
Coughting, then standing, she whispers "Thank you" to her Healer, then realizes her blade is gone...but not realizing hostilities were ended.
Casting Shield on herself, she retrieves her bow and empowers it, before starting to make sense of what Scarlet is talking about.

Hey, I was out cold. My darling is gone, I am panicky. Buffing up and getting ready for trouble before re-evaluating the tactical situation - with the expectation that it's unchanged.
Move to stand+draw Bow, Standard for Shield, Swift to Arcane the Bow.

"Alia!" Miles speaks up as he runs towards her and throws himself at her with open arms. "I'm so sorry I couldn't help you earlier! I missed you, all you guys!" the strange gnome mentions, without explaining where he's from or how we knows them.

Your darling is here! Atleast, that's what he thinks :p Something is probably going to hurt him a minute. Alia, feel free to slap the little weirdo being all over you. XD

Grapple/Hug: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

"Wha- you know him? Why didn't you say anything? Whoa, put down the bow! We ain't fightin'!"

Zokon will attempt to help orange with his heal skill, he will pull out bandages etc and do his best

"Don't the beetles have healers? to do this?"

The company all carry at least one healing potion of moderate or better strength in the same pouch on their belts. Angus gets there first. One of them was on death's door. He would be at 15 past 0 when Angus gets to him. The three by the stair all pull through.

"Hey Ledda, can I get Alia's estoc back? She's obsessed with it!"

Scarlet finds Ledda and asks about Alia's strange sword. The dwarf nods to his captain, the giant blue dwarf in the center of the courtyard. Scarlet's brother holds it like a long knife in his giant hands, entranced.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

"...so you found it, yeah? Good. Alia will go crazy if she doesn't have it. Kind of like you and your stuff."

Beetle looks up, dazed. He considers for a moment and then extends his hand with the sword outward and lets it fall into the castle well.

Fhooo... CLANK... CLANK-CLANK.... Sploosh.

"Bro, you are so weird sometimes!" Scarlet puts her hands on her hips and then shakes her head in resignation. "All of this weapon envy. Now we gotta get it back. Thanks, bro."

She turns to Lady Luljeta. "Hey! Where does the well water lead to? I dunna know if the blade sank to the bottom or if it's halfway to the sea!"

Oh boy. Be glad I didn't see that, or that "we ain't fighting" would be a thing of the past :P - that said, considering the map, there's water all around the castle - so...it must go down to the ground water, or it would have made sploosh much much earlier...

Alia finds herself assailed by the strange gnome from earlier, running at her with open arms.
AoO - Trip: 1d20 + 9 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 9 + 2 = 15
Intercepting him, Alia asks: "Just what do you think you are doing, Sir Miles?" before rushing past him looking for Beetle, stumbling through the Darkness.

Serena is going to stabilize all the dwarves (those who yet live) near her. Then she will take a moment to lay hands on herself. 1d6 ⇒ 1

On the topic of splashing sounds - Illthir makes some as she continues her swim!

Durgan takes a look at the horse and tries to guess what might be in the bundle (if it is still on or near the horse).
Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (5) + 12 = 17
And if there is any Profession check at all that would be relevant, he can do it at a +6.

Durgan takes a look at the horse and tries to guess what might be in the bundle (if it is still on or near the horse).

And if there is any Profession check at all that would be relevant, he can do it at a +6.

'What pack?' asks the GM innocently.

The bedazzled horse's back is bare (aside from magical glitter).

Oh boy. Be glad I didn't see that, or that "we ain't fighting" would be a thing of the past :P - that said, considering the map, there's water all around the castle - so...it must go down to the ground water, or it would have made sploosh much much earlier...

Alia finds herself assailed by the strange gnome from earlier, running at her with open arms.
[dice=AoO - Trip]1d20+9+2
Intercepting him, Alia asks: "Just what do you think you are doing, Sir Miles?" before rushing past him looking for Beetle, stumbling through the Darkness.

Nicely done ;) Shame it wasn't a punch, but still just as hilarious.

Alia deftly trips the gnome, landing face first on the floor and clearly it not being the reunion he was expecting. He shuffled around and got himself to his feet.
"But Alia-" he cut himself off once he realised what was amiss "It's me!" he exclaimed as he puled off his headband-

To reveal everyone's favourite (or atleast, he thinks he is) Gnome, the great and powerful Poshment Underhill! He gives a bow as he puts the headband back on, but this time remaining as he was.
"That was some battle, huh guys?" he called out with a grin, though he tried to then find his way in the darkness, following after Alia "Blasted darkness! Esme warned me I should've taken the time to buy a wand."

Psst, Posh. It still says you are third level.

The group (mostly) adjourns to the hall to await the arrival of the Mivoni guard.

"Bro, you are so weird sometimes!" Scarlet puts her hands on her hips and then shakes her head in resignation. "All of this weapon envy. Now we gotta get it back. Thanks, bro."

She turns to Lady Luljeta. "Hey! Where does the well water lead to? I dunna know if the blade sank to the bottom or if it's halfway to the sea!"

"LEAVE IT!" Blue says grabbing Scarlet by the arm. "The thing is accursed, and should be destroyed."

Looking a bit abashed the blue dwarf releases his reddening sister.

Blue turns away. He easily puts out the fire on the stable roof with a quick application of his water magic.

Noticing the exchange, but trying to pretend she didn't Lady Luljeta sheepishly says: "Well, um, the catacombs."

She pales visibly at the mention of the place (which is quite a trick given her usual pallor). "But we can't go down there until my father returns."

Zokon waves at Posh "Hello again." he keeps his bow out and is looking around for an ambush

"Accursed swords? Ugh, you never tell me- hey let go." She taps him on the arm. "No one tells me anything..."

She frowns as Lady Luljeta mentions catacombs and father's permission. "Fine, we'll deal with it later. It's not like Alia's gonna leave here without it." She exhales, tired.

Only to suddenly spring to life and bear hug her gnomish friend! "Posh! Where have you been? Oh man, good to see you back. Wait, you were Miles? Haha, you totally fooled me. Oh come on. I gotta show you around." She turns at Erevenywg. "You knew, didn't you? Haha!" Scarlet nearly doubles over, laughing at it all.

"Oh man. Let's go in the hall, talk things out, then we get her dad's permission or whatever and dig Alia's blade into the Stag Lord's face."

Durgan frowns.
"Lady Vsevolod, when do you expect your father to return? We cannot tarry long."
He turns to the others and speaks quietly.
"I know we cannot leave Alia's blade behind. But we also can't let the Beetles reach the Stag Lord before we do. We need to beat them there and kill the bandit king. If they can make it past the Mivon forces, I imagine they'll make a beeline for the Stag Lord and then we'll have to fight them again."

Of course, Durgan has no idea about whatever subterfuge is happening with Hotspur.

What would the other PCs have told Durgan about Posh?

Durgan frowns.

"Lady Vsevolod, when do you expect your father to return? We cannot tarry long."
He turns to the others and speaks quietly.
"I know we cannot leave Alia's blade behind. But we also can't let the Beetles reach the Stag Lord before we do. We need to beat them there and kill the bandit king. If they can make it past the Mivon forces, I imagine they'll make a beeline for the Stag Lord and then we'll have to fight them again."

"He's due back by the end of the week." Four days.

"You would be welcome to stay until then." she says looking hopefully at Zokon.

Ummm.. Beetle is bladebound with his weapon, by his logic his own weapon is cursed, thus why did he throw Alia's away?

Zokon notices the lady's look and shudders a little on the inside I'll never understand women, she was stopping me for Hotspurs sake and now this act?"

"I think we need to go, our business needs to be taken care of and this side trip has already cost us alot of valuable time." he says to his companions

Alia has no time to welcome Posh(although she does find a short...very short moment to smile at the reunion), nor to adjourn to the hall, after finding out that her blade is down the well. Spending a few moments to run a quick calculation of her success chance to throw the Blue Beetle down the well in a variety of scenarios, she instead checks the slipperyness of the well's side. A few minutes of enlargement and strenght would remain...using her size, there was a chance she could descend the well squeezing downwards:"Scarlet, get a rope!"
Climb: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (14) + 10 = 24

Because he's an ass :P I had considered Kensai, but went for the more party-friendly Soul Forger, to craft whatever you guys wish starting next level. He's Level 5. And he didn't just drop in my bound blade/unawakened black blade, but also my attached object, as per drawback. I doubt going into the catacombs via the well is a grand idea, but not going would be ignoring the drawback. No can do. And I have no reason to expect something nasty and undead is waiting down there for me while I'm out of spells and have a bow. :P

Scarlet shrugs and complies with her boss. "One rope, coming up..."

Zokon approaches Alia when he kens to what is going on "Umm Alia I have a fine blade here that will service you well until you've retrieved your blade. It will be of more benefit to you for the moment." he partially draws the rapier to emphasise his meaning

Durgan begins scouring his brain for the circumstances under which it is permissible to venture onto prohibited property for the purpose of recovering critically important items such as soul-bonded relics. Perhaps there is some legal precedent for such action...

"Lady Vsevolod, you are in charge of this manor. It is vital that my companion recover her sword immediately. You have the authority to allow her to enter the catacombs, and I wish to accompany her. I will ensure that no bodies are disturbed (unless they disturb us first), and that no items are taken from the catacombs other than the sword. We will not hold you liable for any harm that may befall us. I will swear an oath to Abadar to these terms. As I said, it is vital."

"But you can't just climb down there! It's too dangerous! I mean wouldn't you rather wait for morning after some rest?"

"Accursed swords? Ugh, you never tell me- hey let go." She taps him on the arm. "No one tells me anything..."

She frowns as Lady Luljeta mentions catacombs and father's permission. "Fine, we'll deal with it later. It's not like Alia's gonna leave here without it." She exhales, tired.

Only to suddenly spring to life and bear hug her gnomish friend! "Posh! Where have you been? Oh man, good to see you back. Wait, you were Miles? Haha, you totally fooled me. Oh come on. I gotta show you around." She turns at Erevenywg. "You knew, didn't you? Haha!" Scarlet nearly doubles over, laughing at it all.

"Oh man. Let's go in the hall, talk things out, then we get her dad's permission or whatever and dig Alia's blade into the Stag Lord's face."

Posh just grinned as he passed her and headed after Alia.

Alia has no time to welcome Posh(although she does find a short...very short moment to smile at the reunion), nor to adjourn to the hall, after finding out that her blade is down the well. Spending a few moments to run a quick calculation of her success chance to throw the Blue Beetle down the well in a variety of scenarios, she instead checks the slipperyness of the well's side. A few minutes of enlargement and strenght would remain...using her size, there was a chance she could descend the well squeezing downwards:"Scarlet, get a rope!"

[dice=Climb]1d20+10

Because he's an ass :P I had considered Kensai, but went for the more party-friendly Soul Forger, to craft whatever you guys wish starting next level. He's Level 5. And he didn't just drop in my bound blade/unawakened black blade, but also my attached object, as per drawback. I doubt going into the catacombs via the well is a grand idea, but not going would be ignoring the drawback. No can do. And I have no reason to expect something nasty and undead is waiting down there for me while I'm out of spells and have a bow. :P

Posh smiled towards her as he arrived at the well and looked down, whistling at the distance.

"Good idea, keep a commentary going so we know what's down there and if your in trouble." he says to Posh

Slight flaw in Posh's plan is that Mage Hand can't move magic items.

Well, the theoretical workaround is manipulating a different, nonmagical item(like a small rope with a noose weighing 1 lbs or less) to pick up the magical item(Estoc at 4 lbs). But not sure if it's really readily visible within short range from safety.

Well, the theoretical workaround is manipulating a different, nonmagical item(like a small rope with a noose weighing 1 lbs or less) to pick up the magical item(Estoc at 4 lbs). But not sure if it's really readily visible within short range from safety.

Looking at the spell description that might be possible, but that would have to be GM ruling on that because it simply states you can use a move action to move an item 15ft. It's duration is concentration so I can imagine there might be a few rolls for concentration by being hung up in the air, but the range is close (25ft + 5/2 levels. I'm 4th, but not updated this profile just yet) so my thinking is if I'm sent down I could be roughly 30ft away from it and pull it up or be only 15ft away from it and then use the spell, bring it to my hand and then pull me to safety!

This plan has a few dangers, such as what might be at the bottom of the well waiting, but that's why I'm hopeful that the range of 15ft or 35ft would make them both out of range of whatever, if there is anything down there, would jump out and grab at him.

After a little while an angry wet white half-elf stomps in trough the gate. Illthir glares at Hotspur (wherever he is). But on the bright side; at least she wasn't thrown down a well!

Posh is lowered into the dark well.

Angus could attach some shiny spinners to Posh if folks think it might help.

Serena gathers with the others at the well. "If he gets into trouble, I'll go after him," she says, not making it a question.

A dozen mounted Mivoni guardsmen arrive while the party prepares to tie Posh to wellheads's block and tackle mechanism and lower him into the well (you know the one) whose bottom lies beyond anyone's darkvision. Given the length of the rope (200 feet) wound around the take-up spar it is a long way down indeed.

The Mayor's son does not put up a fight and commands his mercenaries to stand down. He loudly announces their return to the city before the soldiers can react and leads his retinue out into the courtyard. His one-time pursuers struggle to catch up.

"While you're down there, if you could collect thome water. I have to do the cleaning you thee, and Mithtreth probably would like a bath." Igor says to Posh handing him a 5-gallon leather bucket.

"So long, bro. I wish we could have spoken longer." She waves goodbye.

Posh casts light as he descends so that he could at least see the bottom of the well and where the sword was. He casts it on himself as he begins to search, hoping to find the blade down there.
"Alia?! Can you make your blade light up?!" he called out, though he doubted she could and just continued to search, getting ready to tug once to stop when he saw it and twice when he has it.

Wordlessly, Alia casts light on a small stone and throws it down the well, past Posh.
It should be me going down there risking my life. This is not right. It is my blade. My precious.
"Best of luck, Posh!" Or as grandpa would have said: (Return with my blade...or impaled on it!)

Wordlessly, Alia casts light on a small stone and throws it down the well, past Posh.

It should be me going down there risking my life. This is not right. It is my blade. My precious.
"Best of luck, Posh!" Or as grandpa would have said: (Return with my blade...or impaled on it!)

Posh smiles, though he's greatful for the extra light, if she could've somehow lit up the sword itself that would've been a different matter. He takes his time, whistling as he narrows his eyes and takes his time to try and find Alia's precious. Possibly her morning look

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

That is not her morning look. That is what she will turn into if her precious is not returned to her...
"We wants it. We needs it. Must have the precious. They stole it from us. Sneaky little Dwurfdines. Wicked. Tricksy. False."

Zokon ties his own rope around a portion of the well mechanism and puts his bow aside, so that he can rapidly descend if Posh comes in need of help.
" Scream loudly if something comes for you and I'll descend to help you." he calls down to Posh

Illthir looks around, confused by the turn of events. Last time she had an overview of the situation Hotspur were literally kicking and screaming; now he was cooperating. And for some reason they were lowering a gnome everyone seemed to know into the well. I ... might have hit my head? With a worried expression she ran her hands over her scalp. Since she couldn't find any telltale bumps she then shrugged and went to find the nearest hot fire and a blanket. Brr!

Durgan is ready to help out if needed. He doesn't want to go against the wishes of the Lady of the Manor, but if his friend is being attacked by an undead monstrosity he will intervene and do penance later.

Although at the moment he may be too big to fit down the well.

Durgan would indeed be squeezed at this point.

A minute passes as folks secure the rope to Posh and send him down the well. Alia's light falls down the shaft illuminating the brickwork until it passes into a broader space some 60 feet below and then after a small splash, completely out of sight.