PFS PbP: Master of the Fallen Fortress & Murder's Mark (Inactive)

Game Master Hawkeye127

Follows along.

The young guard averts his eyes as the barbarian stares him down, then turns scarlett as the group makes it's discoveries. At your request to see the Locked Box, he silently motions for you to follow him back into the city. He leads you down Absolam's winding streets until you reach a rather unassuming building in the Coins District. The building itself is sturdy and solid, with 12-foot-high ceilings, heavy wooden doors except where noted, and no windows. Upon knocking on the door, you're greeted by a small, elderly woman who seems in distress. Through the cracked door, she mutters "Yes? We're closed right now. What is it you lot want?"

Arthrax looks to the cleric, who seems to have the best notion of what to do in this situation. Or perhaps Dolph, whose forebears could identify slight nuances of prints with such precision and skill.

"I want to be able to stitch together a superior sphinx!" the alchemist thinks silently to himself.

The cleric, openly shows the holy symbol of Sarenrae, bows his head to the woman and speaks, "Dearest Lady Walder, we come with the authority given to us by Deputy Sheriff Feldane and offer our condolences to you on the murder of your noble and upstanding husband. We have been given the honourable task to bring to justice those who did commit this crime. With your permission, we would like to further our enquires by seeing for ourselves the scene of the burglary and to look upon your husband. We want you to know, we will not rest until we have bought to justice those responsible, so that you can have closure on such a terrible deed. Our escort here, an upstanding member of the city guard, can confirm our authority to persue our enquiries given us by Lawkeeper Feldane." Dar'erthan stops momentarily to let the woman understand the import of the words he speaks before politely asking "May we come in?" Dar'ethan waits, despite is empathetic voice during his introduction, his resolve to enter and continue the investigation can be felt under the surface.

Misforstått smiles. In the alchemist's mind (and probably only in his mind), he offers a helpful, sympathetic smile.

Aid Another to Dar's Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (9) - 1 = 8

(Apparently, the tiefling forgot to brush his teeth earlier. They're filled with the remnants of several meals.)

Confused by the cleric's flowery words, Mrs. Walder looks to the town guard for some answers. With a shrug, he says "Aye, they're with the Sheriff's department. Because, you know, apparently Absolam now contracts out homocide investigations."
Still confused, but a littl bit more relieved, she opens up the door and let's you all in. As you step in, you see that lamps warmly illuminate this large showroom. Glass display cases, broken in a few places, line the walls, while two additional cases sit like islands in the center of the room. The cases contain an eclectic mix of valuables such as unusual tools, masterwork weapons, jewelry, fine china, antiques, and artwork. A set of merchant’s scales rests on top of one of the display cases.

Evenstar stares down the guard once more as he makes the disparaging remark about the sheriff outsourcing homicide investigations, apparently upset the deputy won't learn his place.

intimidate: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16

She begins looking through the showroom, including the broken glass.

"What was taken here? Can you think of anything suspicious that has happened recently?" Evenstar asks gruffly in an overly gruff voice, apparently still trying to intimidate others.

diplomacy: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (1) - 2 = -1

diplomacy: -1

Awwww, yeeeaaah! ;-P

"A little less haste Evenstar." Dar'erthan admonishes the barbarian gently. "Perhaps you can take us to your husband's body?" he asks of the woman. He tries to engage the woman in conversation, "Do you have any ledger of what passed into the business recently, and what might have been stolen? If after we've seen your husband, we could look at the areas from which things were stolen or were trashed at least. Then, if your body guards are available for questioning, it would be very helpful. And if you would answer the questions my colleagues have, I would be most grateful." the cleric lets his soft voice fade into the quietness of the house and let's the woman take the lead.

Diplomacy 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

"Who was the last person your husband was seen dealing with? His last customer, I should say." Not an expert at bandied words by any means, Arthrax gets to the point.

"We are here to help kind woman." Dolph draws a potato and offers it. "You need to have more fiber. It will help with your mood."

Diplomacy assist: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

If she is unfriendly or hostile, add +2 to that roll

Arthrax tries, unsuccessfully, to hide his grin at the son of a shepherd's statement and spud offering.

Misforstått stands quietly, trying to look "official".

Diplomacy: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0

Woo hoo! I guess picking his nose doesn't help. :-)

Evanstar's icy glare stops the city guard in his tracks. "Eh, ye know what? I think I'll just be waitin' outside." he quickly says.
The barbarian's demeanor doesn't help with Agnes, though. She begins to stutter over her words as she rambles. "Eh, I'm not sure what was stolen. We haven't taken inventory of our losses an' we're still finding rooms that've been ransacked an' I couldn't begin to tell ya who our last customer was an'...oh this is all me fault! I should have gone with him last night! It just bothered me to think of him ogling that winged she-lion whatsit—all that prancin’ about without a top on. But none a’ that would matter if only Archie was still here with me!” With that, she breaks down into tears. As she sits there sobbing, one of Waldin's private guards comes up and says "We'll take care of her. If you folks still want to look around, feel freee to do so. Just tell us when you want to head downstairs. We keep that pretty tightly locked."
Map updated.

Arthrax will follow the others around, moving heavy things out of the way, peering under crevices, and generally just trying to help them search for clues.

Perception Aid Another (whoever's bonus is highest): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Survival: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

"We may just need to look around," Evenstar suggests. "I doubt she will have much to help us with, especially given her current state," the barbarian adds.

You find that there's not much to go on in the main room here. The glass cases are 4 feet high and individually locked, though some have been smashed open. Broken glass has been swept up into careful piles but otherwise this room is empty.

Dolph wanders off into one of the other rooms, his brow furrowed with intense concentration as he inspects every inch of the area.

He takes 20 on perception for 27 (or 29 for stonework) and 20 on survival for 27

This area is the guard’s quarters. Two cots and a bunk bed sit in the room. Footlockers are tucked underneath the cots to store personal belongings. A table and chairs are in the room’s center, a well-used deck of harrow cards on the tabletop. A large, rusty red blotch remains on the floor where the guard’s body was discovered. It looks like someone tried to clean up the blood, but the floor is permanently stained. As Dolph looks around, one of the gurads enters and says "This is where we found Jorey. Poor bastard had his throat slit ear to ear by those damn thieves."

Arthrax looks to the guard. "Is his body with the owner's, as well?"

Evenstar follows Dolph, also investigating the rooms for any clues.

take 20 perception assist: 20 + 7 = 27

Sorry, guys. You cannot take 10 or 20 to aid another. You can take 10 or 20 on your own check, though.

Ah, thanks for pointing that out! I'll just do my own take 20, then.

Dolph shakes his head, his teeth gritting, at the guard's comment. "In the Old Country, thieves we would slapped in the stocks and spinned in the circles while we were throwing of the rotten produce."

Dar bows his head in greeting to the guard, "Welcome my friend, my name is Dar'ethan and these are my companions. We come to find the truth behind the crimes that have been committed against this household. We hope to find those who killed your friend, Jorey. Your mistress gave us leave to explore the scenes of the crime and to examine the bodies. If you like, you are welcome to join us, I am sure we will have questions to ask as we go." The cleric nods his head once more.

"Other than the body, did you find anything else here that might help us in our task? So what happened that night, You and Jorey split up, why?" He listens to the answer before he raises his finger, "one more thing. Do you know how the criminals entered and left here, after all your master, may Pharesma judge him kindly, had good security measures in place?"

I know we've had some details, but its kind of you go round and get the statements again, in case they remember something or the story changes?

"Yes, where did the thieves get in?" Evenstar nods.

"As far as we can tell, they either picked the lock or used a key to get in through the front door. Jorey was the only one here when they came in. He was holdin' down the place after me and the other two had gone to retrieve old Walder's body after Agnes came in screamin' he'd been killed. We sent both of their bodies to the temple of Erastil nearby."

"So they came in through the front door...that's curious," Evenstar responds.

sense motive: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Arthrax nods at the guard. He then moves to a separate room, looking for clues as to what happened.

Perception: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

He then proceeds to trip and fall, not noticing his own foot. He curses and grumbles as he gets back up.

Dolph nods and smiles. "The temple of Erastil is good. You also worshipthe god of the Son of a Shepherd. Take these produces for your faith in the ways of nature."

Dolph scratches his chin. b]"If they had already with the killing of Walder, maybe they were with using his key to enter the house of money?"[/b]

Evenstar investigates the room where the guard was killed, looking for anything that might have been missed previously.

take 20 perception: 20 + 7 = 27

"Unknown to you, you might have passed your master's murderers on the way to his body. It would help if you or you colleagues could try and remember any 'unusual' people your remember from that time." Dar asks the guard. "Do you know if any keys were found on your master's body?"

"We can finish our investigations here, before we visit the temple." Dar nods to Dolph, "Yes if you wanted to enter the house, killing the master is one way to do it. Whatever the criminals wanted, was found in this place, or at least thats what they believed."

He watches as the barbarian, starts a methodical search.

Aid another Perception 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Misforstått perks up at the thought of examining dead bodies. But he wants the party to thoroughly examine this area to their collective satisfaction, first.

After completing the search of the rooms, Evenstar nods.

"Perhaps we should examine the corpses now," she agrees. "Yes, tiefling...you will get your chance."

Evanstar is pretty sure that the guards are telling the truth, and nobody is successful in finding anything useful. In response to your questions, the guard says "Naw, we didn't pass 'em on the road, we walked in on 'em. Damned buggers were still here when we got back. Little gits ran out the back window before we could get 'em, though. They were weird lookin', too. Tall, skinny, an' not a damn hair on their bodies near as I could tell. Also, their skin was blue! It's why why we figured that damned freakshow from the circus was involved. Anyways, you lot wanna take a look at the vault downstairs? That's where they hit the hardest. I figure if you could find anythin', it be down their."

"Sure! I'll go downstairs!"

"Downstairs it is. Blue skinny creatures...that's not ringing a bell for me," Evenstar admits. "But we didn't see anything like that at the circus, did we? Unless Miss Sexy Hips can turn into different forms..."

"I heard other Pathfinder field agents in the lodge say something to the effect of: 'hips don't lie.' Do you think there's truth to that? How would they incorporate a Zone of Truth into the pelvis?"

Arthrax chuckles at the tiefling's comments, following the others down to the vault. Blue people? He didn't remember seeing any blue people at the circus...but then again, they were thrown out of most of the exhibits before they could really look around.

"Well, Misforstatt, I heard some other Pathfinders talking about things being 'Smurfy,' but I have no idea what that's supposed to mean," Evenstar responds.

Dolph starts heading downstairs. "If we are not with the finding of information here, we should continue on to the floor of blue peoples." He rifles through his bag and frowns. "They have obviously not been eating their carrots. Dolph does not have fresh carrots, as they are not in the season." He draws another orange. "The oranges will have to doing."

Arthrax approaches Dolph as they descend to the basement. He extends his left hand. "I like oranges..."

"I doubt your carrots would have that much effect Dolph, ever thought maybe beetroot?" says dar, still thinking of the blue creatures. As they walk down to the vault Dar remains in thought, "blue humaniods...hmmmm?"

Misforstått heads downstairs. "Tell me more about this... smurfiness, was it?"

As the group moves down to the vault downstairs, Evenstar responds to Misforstatt.

"I didn't hear much about what they were saying, just that there were these little blue creatures that always said 'smurf,' or everything was 'smurfy.' There was only one girl smurf or something. Honestly, it sounded completely made up, but who knows? Perhaps smurfs were the culprit here."

Arthrax shakes his head at the conversation. "That's smurfing crazy-talk."

"Aw, smurf it! Let's go downstairs."

Oh good lord...
This bare corridor leads to the double doors of the vault. A hook for a hanging lantern is mounted on the western wall at the base of the stairs, and underneath it is a single chair. Beyond the heavy steel door, this darkened chamber is lined with shelves, including freestanding shelving in the center. There is ample room in the vault, but labeled boxes, bags, weapons, and armor are spread throughout.