The Holding Room - Round 1 - continued
26 Green Pirate
22 Aconite
19 Marianna
18 Nylthe
16 Alejia
14 Okuru
10 Red Pirate
9 Wilen
9 Juis
Leaping towards the woman, Aconite bites deeply, injuring her, but not hitting anything too vital. As the eidolon's teeth rip flesh, he gets her bodily fluids in his mouth, and is exposed to her toxic blood, for Alejia, is not human, but a vishkanya, a race of exotic humanoids, with snake-like traits.
Marianna lifts on the gate, but cannot budge it.
Nylthe snaps her bullwhip and succeeds, though barely, in pulling the cutlass from the Green Pirates grasp, watching as it clatters to the floor near her.
Stepping back from the eidolon, Alejia fires her hand crossbow at the pet. The bolt is fired true, but magical protection on Aconite prevents him from taking any damage.
Okuru bangs his morningstar against the bars, but it seems to have no effect except for making his hands hurt.
Engaging now, Red Pirate moves down from this hiding spot and joins the attack on Aconite.
Wilen sets one of his bombs against the rusty metal gate, and when it explodes, he sees that there is a small amount of damage, but realy not very much.
The Holding Room - Round 1 - concluded
Surprised by the attack of the pirates, Juis is nonetheless able to react in time to club the nearest one about the head and shoulders.
End of Round 1
The Holding Room - Round 2
26 Green Pirate (3hp dmg, disarmed)
22 Aconite (5hp dmg)
19 Marianna
18 Nylthe
16 Alejia (8hp dmg)
14 Okuru
10 Red Pirate
9 Wilen
9 Juis
Bars (1hp dmg taken)
Disarmed by the whip of Nylthe last round, Green Pirate steps away from either foe, and retrieves his weapon, spending the whole round to do so.
The Holding Room - Round 2 - continued
Aconite pounces again on the pirate leader, Alejia, and as the eidolon strikes with claw and tooth, he rends and shreds her defenses, ripping a mighty wound in her midsection. Grabbing her wound, Alejia goes down.
Just then, Marianna gets the right amount of leverage and manhandles the iron gate, shoving it upwards enough for the trapped Pathfinders to free themselves.
Nylthe cracks her whip at one of the nearby pirates once again, but this time he jerks the whip-handle from her. Before more can go amiss, she deftly reaches down to grab hold.
With Alejia down, and looking mortally wounded, the rest of the pirates give up in an instant. With a clatter, they drop their cutlasses on the ground. "Quarter!" cries one. "Mercy" cries another.
It is clear that leaderless they will not put up any kind of fight.
End of Combat
Just as Okuru smarts off, a low groan is emitted from the elderly man hanging from the stocks. He does not seem hurt, but has passed out from the strain of hanging by his arms.
Juis bends to give medical attention to the fallen Alejia, but he doesn't have the skill to close the wounds she suffered at the hands of Aconite, and even with Nylthe's fumbling attempts at aid, the vishkanya captain is near death.
Helping the sage down from this imprisonment, you soon learn that he is Hirako Gurukaza, the acclaimed Tien scholar you were sent to save. "I am eternally grateful for your rescue, Pathfinders," he says with a low bow. "I promise to send back the best possible report of your bravery and dedication to the superiors of your order. If you could transport me back to Riddleport, I have an engagement with the Cyphermages to complete."
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Wilen sees that the captain's wounds aren't getting any better and tries to jump in and help...
Okay, so maybe this isn't as simple as configuring a bomb... or disabling a trap. Marianna, Okuru, you may as well try!
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He then addresses the scholar.
We're glad to get you out of here safe. We'll have you back to Riddleport in no time.
The pirate chieftain has a pair of curative potions (cure light wounds) but those are the only magical things you find.
While Nylthe and Wilen stumble around, Okuru comes up and stitches the wounds closed, saving Alejia from exsanguination. Packing her and the captive pirates aboard the ship, you also agree to escort the sage back to Riddleport.
The dwarf captain has little trouble steering her boat out of the mooring at Viper's Cove, but you must leave the Topaz Titan behind since there is no one left to sail it.
After an uneventful trip back to the shore, Gurukaza thanks you and offers the assistance of the Cyphermages should you ever be back in Riddleport. He vows to do his best to convince Elias Tammerhawk, leader of the mages to ease his political tension with Overlord Cromarcky, and things settle into an uneasy truce.
Alejia is turned over to the Riddleport authorities such as they are, but its unclear from the interaction just how long she'll stay incarcerated. At least her behavior of kidnapping cyphermages is halted, for now. Your reputation among the pirates of Riddleport advances considerably as a result of bringing her to justice.
Returning to the Pathfinder Lodge in Maginmar, Venture-Captain is quite please with your performance and gives you each a week off in the city for rest and relaxation before she asks you back for a next mission.
End of Scenario
You achieved both success conditions : 1) rescue the Cyphermage and 2) stop Alejia. Capturing or killing her was not necessary, but you managed that as well.
The Chronicle Sheet also has two boons:
1) Debt of Cyphers - gives a +2 Know Arcana or Linguistics when in Riddleport due to checking with Gurukaza. Also get a +2 Diplomacy to Gather Information in the city due to connections with crime bosses.
2) Riddleport Respect - gain a +2 on Intimidate checks in Riddleport due to respect accorded your group for the capture of pirate lord Alejia Netrav.
The only loot item on the Tier 1-2 sheet is potion of cure moderate wounds. Disappointing...
Let me know if you have any purchases I can record on the Chronicle for you.
The new thread to continue with Veterans VAult is located here. Feel free to dot in the Gameplay thread also. Will start as soon it looks like everyone has re-mustered.