Of Kings and Commoners - Kingmaker AP

Game Master RPGGGM

Does that mean I get to be Alia the White? Or do I first have to best a Balor in single Combat?

I think you had to grab your elf blade on the way down and smack the balrog™ a bunch with it.

Works for me as long as it doesn't start smacking back...so at the bottom, if I smacked it enough, we get teleported to a snowy mountaintop and I get to be Mythic! Awesome! Then I'll teach that Beetle of Many Colors a lesson in humility!

It grows increasingly dark as Posh descends.

Soon Posh finds himself in what his ears and the hair on the back of his neck tells him is a vast space as large as the castle above.

Soon Posh finds himself in what his ears and the hair on the back of his neck tells him is a vast space as large as the castle above.

Posh takes the time to look around carefully, his clothing were still giving off the light spell to help illuminate the area. He looked down to see if he could see Alia's blade, however for the moment it seemed there was just darkness here, especially as the pebble Alia dropped was glowing and went past him.

Posh's light only illuminates more darkness and the rope which disappears into the well tunnel above him. It is still night and windy so even the wall's cap and winch is difficult to see.

Water drips from the unseen ceiling into presumably more water below.

Then something slides forward out of the dark. It seems to be a small riverboat with ribbed sails like a dragon's spine frill, and a small house amidships. There is the rhythmic noise of oars being worked.

A ghostly face with pale like luminescent fungi takes shape at the bow. The figure is draped in black robes and black scarf covers the lower part of his face. On his head he wears a broad round Tian Xia-style rice hat. All around the man, Posh's light picks out flakes of some sort flaoting through the moldy air like gently falling snow, or perhaps huge moats of dust floating through sunbeams.

Posh is currently hanging at about eye-level with the figure on the ship.

Zokon keeps looking down can he see the boat and the man? if so he takes out and arrow and gestures to it, as if questioning the others on whether he should get it ready to use?

Illthir, wrapped in some blanket she found, makes her way out to the commotion by the well. It looked awfully dark down there and she couldn't help but feel that they were using their new friend as bait for some monstrous fish. "So *uh* what are we doing?"

And then the light on Posh's person seems to wink out plunging the well bottom into an even deeper darkness.

"Good question. Assuming Posh can't find the blade, we're gonna have to head down there, right?" Scarlet stretches. "All of this roughhousin' makes me tired. We need to get some sleep."

Bottom of the Well

"Почему ты пришел?"

The voice is silken rasp that seems to form in Posh's head without traveling the unseen spaces between.

"Why have you come?"

Bottom of the Well

"Почему ты пришел?"

** spoiler omitted **

The voice is silken rasp that seems to form in Posh's head without traveling the unseen spaces between.

"Why have you come?"

Posh, having been a constant one to run for trouble was tempted to call for help, but instead he gulped and forced a awkward smile.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17 May not be relevent, but if he finds Posh sexually attractive, that's another +1. That being said, if he did he'd probably want to keep Posh...or eat him...

Seeing everything go dark

"Ahh darn." he stores his bow and gets out a torch and lights it..

"Hells," Serena mutters, her hand reaching for her sword.

Bottom of the Well

There is a very long pause....

Bottom of the Well

"The water here is deep, and perhaps too dark for one such as yourself to see in."

Bottom of the Well

"The water here is deep, and perhaps too dark for one such as yourself to see in."

Posh sighs, feeling like he somewhat knew that this might be the case, but shakes his head.

Posh can't really look at anything just now. His light has gone out. It is like really really dark here. Like really dark. At present Posh cannot even see the tip of his own nose. And it is tough to know if his eyes are actually open or not. It's that kind of darkness.

"Most assuredly. What do you have to offer in exchange for the retrieval of this most priceless blade for your dear dear friend? The darkness is nothing to me and my crew. We were born in it, molded by it. I am Zcerneboch, a traveler upon the Lightless Seas."

There is a noise like a pirate with two peg legs walking on the deck. It seems very close.

Posh's reaction...

Alias eyes are fixed on the rope, on the darkness below. Anything around ceases to exist. There is only darkness ahead now, only darkness left in the world, the voices around a murmur slowly changing into a static background noise.

While negotiations for Posh's immortal soul drag on the Mivoni soldiers pull a couple of Hotspur's bedraggled guardsmen and some horses from the stable, and most shocking of all a second bound, gagged and unconscious Hotspur from the guardhouse next to the gate! It has to be a second Hotspur because the other one had just left not five minutes before with all of his dwarven mercenaries*! But how?

============

* After a suitable growled through gritted teeth "GOOD BYE" from Blue and his lieutenants to Scarlet (with one growled 'bark' from Arbalasti and stony silence from Warbeard of course) and a grim-eyed nothing for anyone else. And trust me, dwarves can do grim-eyed like nobodies business.

"Bye bro!" Scarlet waves back. She barks at Arbalasti for a bit.

Eventually the Mivoni soldiers arrive and discover... another Hotspur?

"Um." Scarlet pauses. "Well, this is going to be a mess. Messier than I hoped for."

Posh can't really look at anything just now. His light has gone out. It is like really really dark here. Like really dark. At present Posh cannot even see the tip of his own nose. And it is tough to know if his eyes are actually open or not. It's that kind of darkness.

"Most assuredly. What do you have to offer in exchange for the retrieval of this most priceless blade for your dear dear friend? The darkness is nothing to me and my crew. We were born in it, molded by it. I am Zcerneboch, a traveler upon the Lightless Seas."

There is a noise like a pirate with two peg legs walking on the deck. It seems very close.

Posh thinks for a moment, looking around and knowing he can barely see anything any that he's in a really bad situation, but attempts to keep up a smile.

Bottom of the Well

There's a fetid scent in the cave air that makes it difficult to breath without coughing.

"An agreement then, I shall return your lady's sword and in return some time in the future you will retrieve something of equal value for me. Is it a bargain?"

Bottom of the Well

There's a fetid scent in the cave air that makes it difficult to breath without coughing.

"An agreement then, I shall return your lady's sword and in return some time in the future you will retrieve something of equal value for me. Is it a bargain?"

Posh bit his lip. He had a feeling this was going to bite him in the ass at some point, but he knew how much Alia loved that blade and her magic was tied to it somehow he didn't entirely understand. Defeated, he gave a nod.

"Oh Posh do you need help?" he calls down, ready to descend

Bottom of the Well

The hand that Posh's hand comes into contact with is long-fingered, cool, and disquietingly spongy.

"Return to your bright world then and take your rest. Return to the well at this time tomorrow and we shall see if I and my crew are worthy anglers."

Posh notes that he can see his hands again, thanks to his glowing shirt cuffs. He can see his feet too and the rope above until the darkness claims it. He can also make out Zokon high above at the top of the well. Other than that though there is nothing but the dark around him.

Of Zcerneboch there is no sign.

Bottom of the Well

The hand that Posh's hand comes into contact with is long-fingered, cool, and disquietingly spongy.

"Return to your bright world then and take your rest. Return to the well at this time tomorrow and we shall see if I and my crew are worthy anglers."

Posh notes that he can see his hands again, thanks to his glowing shirt cuffs. He can see his feet too and the rope above until the darkness claims it. He can also make out Zokon high above at the top of the well. Other than that though there is nothing but the dark around him.

Of Zcerneboch there is no sign.

Posh was a bit confused about the situation, but also glad that he wasn't in the dark anymore. He tugged twice on the rope to send a message up.

"May I thhow you to your new roomth for the night?" Igor says suddenly appearing out of nowhere just behind Alia.

"Yes please good sir." he replies without thinking while repacking his rope and torch

"Walk thith way."

"May I thhow you to your new roomth for the night?" Igor says suddenly appearing out of nowhere just behind Alia.

** spoiler omitted **

"Hello again Igor. I hope we didn't cause too much of a mess. I assume my old room will be fine?" he grinned as he expected the Lord had not revoked his stay, nor the free meals. If that was the case he was going to try and run up the biggest tab since when he worked for the king.

Alia, her trance transferred from the dark below to Posh, doesn't hear what Igor asked of her the first time around.
The second time asked, she shakes her head:"I will hold a Vigil next to the Well. I would not find sleep, either way, but appreciate the offer."

Scarlet shrugs. Sure, sleep by a well next to manor with warm, comfy beds.

The pillows didn't make good forts, anyway.

"I'll set up the tent, then."

Scarlet shrugs. Sure, sleep by a well next to manor with warm, comfy beds.

The pillows didn't make good forts, anyway.

"I'll set up the tent, then."

I was thinking of having Posh visit the two that night. Maybe bring a hot chocolate for Alia and coffee for Scarlet Scarlet.

"Hello again Igor...."

Does Igor know what Posh actually looks like? How long has he been playing Miles?

"Yeth, sir...." Igor says suspiciously eyeing the gnome, and when Igor eyes something it gets eyed.

Anyone taking Igor up on a real guest room in the great house, rather than a monk's cell as you would have had before the dwarven mercenaries moved out?

Durgan hesitates before accepting the offer.
"Igor, do you know anything about how there happened to be two Hotspurs? He was somehow abducted and restrained without anybody knowing, while another took his place. Did you see anything?"
Sense Motive: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (12) + 10 = 22

"Thorry thir, Thrapth and I were cleaning up after the meal in the kitchen when the hullabaloo was occurring." Igor says sheepishly.

Igor seems to be telling the truth.

Poshment Underhill wrote:

"Hello again Igor...."

Does Igor know what Posh actually looks like? How long has he been playing Miles?

"Yeth, sir...." Igor says suspiciously eyeing the gnome, and when Igor eyes something it gets eyed.

Anyone taking Igor up on a real guest room in the great house, rather than a monk's cell as you would have had before the dwarven mercenaries moved out?

Good point, I don't think we really hashed it out, but I believe you did state anyone close to Hotspur would be checked with magic so potentially he could have been himself. I believe the idea was to hide when he heard a group was arriving, initially not knowing who they were and being paranoid, he assumed it was someone after him.

"I was also hoping to make an order since the good lord hasn't revoked my privileges I'd like a steak, lobster or your finest cosine." he smirked as this was but the start "Same for everyone too. Charge it to Hotspur and how late do you stay up for cooking? In case I need a snack."

Alia focuses on Scarlet, seemingly taking a few moments to process the information contained in her statement, before she replies: "I'll welcome your help in setting up a tent, but I'll want you to be well rested tomorrow. Find a warm, comfy bed. We are in a secured castle and I shall not be sleeping, there will be no need to watch over me, tonight."

"We need to consider where we are going to find help with the problem, now that the mercenaries don't appear to be an option again, we have wasted lots of valuable time." he says as they are following Igor

"Zokon, we could try to rally any of those in the Stolen Lands who feel they have been wronged by the Stag Lord. Form a militia. Or, we can try to lure the bandits out of their fort.
It is unfortunate that I had to use up that scroll of Invisibility Purge attempting to find Hotspur. If the Stag Lord has a wizard in his ranks, we'll need that spell. Perhaps in time I will be granted the power myself."

Durgan turns back to Igor. "I think I will take you up on that offer of a proper room."
He turns to Lady Vsevolod. "Thank you for your hospitality. I am sorry for the disturbance but glad it ended without loss of life; Lord Hotspur merely has to go meet with his father."

"Yeah. Sorry guys. I thought we could hire the Company for sure." Scarlet says. "We need to rethink our approach, then."

She turns to Alia. "I am a mercenary, Alia. Sleeping outside is part of the course."

Durgan addresses the gnome (Posh).
"Greetings. I am Durgan Far-Walker, itinerant priest of Abadar in the Stolen Lands. Bringing civilization to the wild and, of late, seeking to deal with the bandit problem. I've been traveling with this group for a few weeks now. May I ask who you are, and how you know them?"

Durgan addresses the gnome (Posh).

"Greetings. I am Durgan Far-Walker, itinerant priest of Abadar in the Stolen Lands. Bringing civilization to the wild and, of late, seeking to deal with the bandit problem. I've been traveling with this group for a few weeks now. May I ask who you are, and how you know them?"

"Well met, I'm Poshment Underhill the first, as far as I know anyway." he grinned with a bow "I joined the group sometime ago to help deal with the bandits, but I had some difficulties and left with Esme to travel and perform. I wanted to the group, but I had no idea if you were all dead or not so I found employment here near the greenbelt and it appears that the Stag Lord wishes to sell his land. I hoped to meet you all at Oleg's. How is ol' Oleg anyway? Still keeping beautiful Svetlana happy I hope." the area suddenly gets quite at the mention of that name.

Feel free to correct or add what Posh had learnt under Hotspur as I can't remember and am having limited net access.

Scarlet is building a makeshift fireplace when Posh mentions Oleg. "Oleg... died. The Stag Lord's wizard came by and... we couldn't avenge him." She shakes her head. "A bunch of noblemen are gobbling what's left of the outpost. I mentioned letting Svetlana continue and they just laughed, like pigs ready to feast."

Scarlet continues building the fireplace for Alia. It's busy work, and it keeps her distracted.

"How is ol' Oleg anyway? Still keeping beautiful Svetlana happy I hope." the area suddenly gets quite at the mention of that name.

"So what you are saying is that she's available now, hmm?"

Poshment Underhill wrote:

"How is ol' Oleg anyway? Still keeping beautiful Svetlana happy I hope." the area suddenly gets quite at the mention of that name.

"So what you are saying is that she's available now, hmm?"

Posh would never do something so classless! But if she needed a little comfort...

Scarlet is building a makeshift fireplace when Posh mentions Oleg. "Oleg... died. The Stag Lord's wizard came by and... we couldn't avenge him." She shakes her head. "A bunch of noblemen are gobbling what's left of the outpost. I mentioned letting Svetlana continue and they just laughed, like pigs ready to feast."

Scarlet continues building the fireplace for Alia. It's busy work, and it keeps her distracted.

For the first time the group has seen Posh appears not only upset but raging as his hands curled into fists. He took a few breaths to try and remain calm as he shook with a rage.