Red ponders the creatures...
Ursh swims in...
Tentacle
but water is her second home and she gets out of the way!
Eramos thumps the beast twice...
R 35
O (Sleeping 6)
Wiz 36
The devilfish fills the water with a horrible black ichor!
The Devilfish lashes back out at Eramos from under the water...
Attack
Damage
Grapple
Eramos is hit but not grappled.
The wizard simply moves away from Liz and casts again.
Gauril is struck by five more missiles
Damage
|
Unable to locate the sea monster in the obscuring inky blackness, Red turns his attention to the flying assassin. Red looses an ear-piercing scream.
Will +Mod
The wizard is Dazed!
R 35
O (Sleeping 6)
Wiz 48
|
"Poor choice!" Lizbeth growls, letting her anger at the wizard's stubbornness overpower her and unleash her blood's potential. Suddenly, the Vishkanya's eyes shift to take on a draconian aspect and he fingers lengthen into claws. Taking a step forwards, the eagle knight lashes out rapidly to strike the enemy assassin.
for
for
for
for
Two of the tree strikes land - and Liz is startled to find the Wizards skin is as hard as stone! The first hit does almost nothing, but the second one strikes hard.
R 35
O (Sleeping 6)
Wiz 67
Eramos and Ursh seem to have little joy in the water...
Ursh is deathly ill with nausea, and Eramos if flailing in the inky darkness!
The Devilfish continues to try crush and grab Eramos...
Attack
Damage
Grapple
The Wizard is Dazed
R 35
O (Sleeping 5)
Wiz 67
Is your CMD Correct? 10 +7 BAB +3 STR + 2DEX = 22 CMB.
This also looks like base stats without Rage buff being added in.
Assuming there was something I missed...
RAW it is still a 50% miss chance, however, there is some latitude there under the heading:
Varying Degrees of Concealment
Certain situations may provide more or less than typical concealment, and modify the miss chance accordingly.
In this case, I'll make it a 33% miss chance instead.
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Still unable to see through the inky cloud obscuring Eramos and the sea monster, Red again targets the flying assassin. He conjures a ball of packed ice and snow and throws the snowball.
Fort
Red hurls a hard packed snowball at the Wizard and it hits squarely - the man frosts over and is clearly suffering!
Wiz 83
The barbarian has been grabbed, and the beak gnashes at him!
Savage Bite
Damage
The beak has trouble getting a hold of him...
There's a lot of thrashing around...
Liz continues to attack the rather stupefied Wizard.
for
for
for
Two blows land, but the wizard is STILL alive!
Wiz 84.
***
The wizard moves away and fires off a pair of fiery rays at Gauril!
Attack vs touch
Damage
Crit? = no
Attack vs touch
Damage
The Venture Captain is extremely injured by the continued magical assault.
***
As the wizard cast his spell, he succumbs to his injuries and sips into unconsciousness - falling into the water with a slow and gradual descent. The Devilfish breaks off from Eramos suddenly, leaving him free to swim for his life...
The party gets itself above decks about the moment Red realises the slumber has worn off. You see the wizard get pulled to the depths by a tentacle, and the force of the grab suggests he is to meet a rather grizzly fate.
***
If Guaril takes a few seconds to catch his breath, smooth his mustache, and confirms that
there are no other combatants around, then speaks “Every investment is a gamble, and it seems this paid off— barely. I assume that sly fox Aaqir told you about the plan, yes? Let your enemies see you in a moment of weakness, allow them to strike and taste blood, then lure them toward a trap while they think they’re winning. I, ah,” he motions noncommittally toward some of the blood staining the deck, “think I may have let them taste too much blood tonight. You can imagine how thrilled Uncle Guaril is that a few of his heavily armed friends happened to be in the neighborhood in his time of need,”he
remarks while flashing a knowing smile.
“Speaking of deals and mutual backscratching, you should know that Aaqir and I have nearly finished one to help us perform the other. I got a little too ambitious in Varisia and made a few enemies we didn’t intend to unleash, and that’s made staying in business as we are… less than wise. Fortunately, Aaqir’s looking for talent like ours, and I’m not really in a position to say no. That’s not to say I’m breaking up the family business—hardly the case. This is just a mutually beneficial marriage of two honest enterprises in which everyone gets a juicy cut—so long as we play nice with our proverbial in-laws. Be prepared to be even more upstanding than usual, but be ready to do things the old fashioned way. This is the start of something big.”
With that, you row back to your lodgings for a rest...
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|
Red helps treat the injuries of the wounded, using his healing hex.
"Godfather. Do you mind if we relieve our enemies of some of their former belongings? Seems a shame to leave them lying here on the deck."
Red helps sort through the gear, detecting magic and attempting to identify any enchanted items.
"If we've no other work before us this day, I'd welcome some rest, so I can recharge the arcane batteries. Let's get home and hit the rack."
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Brushing herswlf off and aighing at her bruised knuckles from punching the Wizard's stone-like skin, Lizbeth floats down to join Guaril and the others, helping carry people out of the water should they need the hand. Smiling and bowing to the Sczarni gangster, Lizbeth laughs softly at his joke regarding blood.
"I am glad you still stand Karela! Been a long time since I showed up at the pickled imp to assist you eh? Time flies no mistake." she greets him warmly and, activating her wand, allows the venture-captain to slowly heal his wounds. "Glad you have come to an arrangement and yes Aaqir led us to your little poem so we just happened to be in the right place."
After they are done, Lizbeth takes some time to get a strong drink and listen to the rumours about town.
Easy enough for you all to Spellcraft/identify.
3x sets of:
Combat Gear elixir of swimming, oil of light, oil of magic
weapon (2), potion of cure moderate wounds, smokestick
(3); Other Gear boots of the catUE, +1 studded leather, mwk
kukris (2), 49 gp
"Help yourself to their belongings, they won't be needing them, and I don't think it would be prudent for me to be connected with them" the GodfatherCaptain gives Red his blessings "You are a man of respect and honour, that will take you far, very far"
AS you depart, he waves goodbye and replies to Liz, "So much luck, I am a lucky lucky man, a handy trait in this line of business"
***
The next day is 'Deliberation Day: There are no major events this day. The High Council spends much of the day in deliberation to determine which candidate should succeed Grayrain. They call upon several dozen citizens to offer input and testimony to aid in the decision. Those not under political obligations take the opportunity to host private meetings to broker alliances, draft trade deals, and manage other personal interests.
Your day is spent talking to Osiriani traders, and you even spot the Sapphire Sage wheeling and dealing through his intermediaries.
As you are leaving your event, a particularly enterprising character approaches; the festivities attract their fair share of peddlers, and one such enterprising person has chosen you to hawk their wares to - "Discerning adventurer, would you like a lost treasure from the ancient sands?"she reveals a silver amulet that depicts a scarab with feathered wings spread in flight "A mere twenty five golds"
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Before the party heads back to town, Red tries on the boots of the cat. "Anybody mind if I hang onto these shoes? Fit me like a glove."
Red listens with shrewd interest to the banter among the Osiriani traders. Scrutinizing the hawker's scarab with Ursahla, Red casts detect magic, using his knowledge of the arcane and spell craft to determine the nature of any enchantments.
|
|
Once the wizard has been dispatched, Ursahla turns her attention to the assassins on the ship.
The undine sits beside the first one, pulling her shaving kit from her haversack. She cradles the head of the dead assassin in her lap and begins to sing softly as she expertly takes the blade across his scalp, collecting the hair as it is cut away. The words to the song a clearly a bawdy sea shanty, but she sings gently as if she were singing a lullaby to a sleeping child in her lap.
She continues this process with each of the assassins until she has collected all the hair to make her wigs.
The amulet is non-magical, and you believe the price is pretty fair for what it is, but Red identifies the symbol as that of an Osirian family that fled Osirion to Absalom to escape Qadiran occupying forces, but that disappeared nearly two millennia ago. He also knows there were rumours that the family perished from a terrible disease around 4000 ar, and the city provided them a burial following Osirian traditions: a secret tomb bearing grave goods hidden underground...
|
|
Eyeing the amulet, Lizbeth lets her fingers slide softly across the chain and her eyes light up at the simple beauty of it. Smilig warmly to the seller, Lizbeth makes a show of examing the piece, though she hardly knows its worth until advised and then makes a pass at haggling.
"A wonderful piece, where does it come from? The silver is nice but without the pedigree it might not see its worth. 15 gold?" she asks.
"A nice Lady like you quibbling with a poor unfortunate wretch such as myself over less coin that you spend on a few drinks? Surely ma'am, 20 would be the very best I could do, less than that I'd almost be paying you to take it. Came to me by way of a merchant from far off lands, said to be lucky for the owner..."
|
|
Smiling broadly, Lizbeth fishes out for a share int he amulet and hands over the gold pieces with Red. Taking the amulet in hand, the Eagle Knight turns the amulet over in her hands to better inspect their prize.
"Ooh, which far off land would this be? The Shackles? Iabaria?" she asks, genuinely intrigued.
The coin and bauble change hands, and the vendor seems quite pleased with the trade. "From distant Osirion I'd wager, but I would not speak of such a man lest he channels the powers of the ancient deserts and inflicts me with a Mummys curse" she adds mysteriously.
***
The party is summoned, well Hellikon is summoned, the rest are invited - by the Sapphire Sage to a casual trade meeting with several merchants and dignitaries from the region. As the event concludes, you are left alone with Amenophus himself who makes small talk whilst sharing a platter of dates.
He pulls out a small amulet, identical to the one you bought earlier "This came from a peddler today in the marketplace, the markings of the family is of an old one interred here in Absalom" You show him your 'matching amulet' and he looks more concerned "The reappearance of such jewelry is a good sign that someone has happened upon the tomb and begun looting it. It’s infuriating that others continually violate the sanctity of our dead and the treasures of our people, as if our ancestors were simply corpses with no rights.”
Calming slightly he continues, “Someone has either found the hidden tomb or decided to make a clever forgery, but I suspect the former. The city has its hands full with current events, and this is a job better suited to trained explorers. I shall reimburse you for the amulet. I ask that you find the tomb, place the amulets back where they came from, and reseal the vault so that no one else disturbs it. So long as you do not take any of its contents, one might take this as an opportunity to study a rare form of Osirian burial.”