PbP Gameday VII: Pathfinder Module: Murder's Mark [Tier 1-2] (Inactive)

Game Master Uktar

Ankird and Centimere take station guarding the unconscious youth. Ankird notices the boy's breathing seems to becoming more labored.

The yellow townsfolk snarls his anger and frustration, and he starts to lash out at Jaretti. Dexus mystic bolt flashes past his face and he shrieks in near hysteria, landing a solid blow.
sap attack: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20
nonlethal dmg: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

The injured gray townsman looks at his unhinged compatriot, the blood on his clothes and seems to realize that this is definitely NOT what he signed on for. He Withdraws, forswearing all violence, "I'm getting too old for this $h1t."
He left his sap lying on the ground, but he does have a short sword in a sheath on his hip.

Eroil
Dexus
Jaretti -5 NL dmg
Rumple
Aurk
Ankird
bound, unconscious teen with hood over head
Blue townie: unconscious (-5 NL dmg)
Yellow townie
White townie: prone & asleep for 9 rounds
Gray townie -3hp, dropped sap and withdrew.

bold may act.

I think that he might be dying he says as he dismounts and tries to administer first aide
1d20 ⇒ 6 heal to see if he can stabalize

The dwarf has to double move to get up to the wounded teen. As he passes the rowdy town folks, he gives them angry looks.
I assume he is too far to attempt to stabilize, but he does at least give the teen a glance.
heal: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15

Aurk is about to round the corner to help with the last crazed ruffian, but upon hearing Ankird say the young fellow is dying he stops and moves to the fallen person.

He takes out his wand to prepare to heal him.

Double Move: 15' & Drawing Wand

Eroil levels her spear towards the yellow townie and prepares to attack.
"Yield or ... else!"
Diplo: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Jarretti takes advantage of the poor fool, with a side swipe of the sap.

sap nonlethal versus his AC (denied Dex).

to hit: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
damage: 1d4 + 1d6 ⇒ (3) + (2) = 5
confirm: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18
extra damage: 1d4 ⇒ 2

Nice hit Jaretti

Jaretti grunts in frustration at the abuse that the townie has inflicted upon him. He pulls out his sap and barks out, "That's not very neighborly!" before smacking him upside the head and felling him with one blow.

CLW on boy: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Aurk's wand does just enough to return the boy to consciousness, as the rest of you truss up his attackers.

Even in his disabled state, the boy dressed in the fashion of a carnival worker flinches away from you when he first awakens. But when you don't immediately start kicking and beating him, he calms down a bit.
"Wh-what happened? I was just trying to...um, well you see yesterday I made a friend. His name's Grayson--he lives here in town, and well, since we've been told we have to leave, I thought I'd say goodbye and give him this." He holds up a small toy Sphinx. "but then those men saw me and started yelling at me, then started beating me...I thought I was goner for sure. Thanks for saving me. I-uh-I better get home. My mom's gonna be pissed off--I mean really angry." He staggers to his feet and nearly falls, but then steadies himself. He does not look to be in very good shape.

The Heal check reveals that it's all just nonlethal damage to the boy, but the mob clearly got out of hand and just kept kicking him even after he was down, leading to it becoming a life-threatening situation. Among the attackers, the one that was hit with lethal damage did stabilize right away, two are unconscious from nonlethal damage, and one should wake up from the sleep spell at any moment.

Before the boy runs off, Aurk heals him again.

Wand of CLW on boy: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

He then looks at the ruffians they roughed up. "We should tie them up. Turn them in. Nearly killed the boy."

Stay here with us so we can protect you, other wise other cretins might attack he says.

"Thank you, stalwart dwarf. Your ministrations and magic are too kind. As for you, brave knight, who's courage far outstrips his height, will you escort me back home? I'm certain my mother would be grateful to you for saving me...and if you could stick around long enough for her initial temper to subside, all the better. I doubt she'll yell much while you're there" The boy is obviously feeling a lot better, and clearly has picked up a bit of flair for flattery from his time on the road with the Carnival.

In the meantime, the townsman who was put Asleep by Rumple's scroll awakens. "What's going on? Are-are you going to feed us to that horrid, indecent flying monstrosity?"

Aurk puts his wand away and then walks over to the newly awakened individual. With club in hand and taps his own shoulder. "Naw... waste of good meat. Why feed you to her when we can make a stew out of you and eat you ourselves."

While tying up the townsmen, Rumple is extremely rough and pulls the knots with all his might. Luckily for them, the scrawny little dwarf is not very strong. Afterwards, he sits himself by a tree and proceeds to pout. Maybe he's trying to cool off. Aurk's comment to the newly wakened townie not only makes him smile, but it even draws forth a slight chuckle (even if it is bitter sounding).

Feel free to make an intimidate check, if you want, Aurk.

Intimidate: 1d20 - 1 ⇒ (6) - 1 = 5

Aurk tried to get off being intimidating, but his comical appearance ruined the affect.

The man seems more perplexed by the dwarf than anything.
"Listen, we didn't mean the boy no harm--well, no real harm. Things just kinda got outta hand. We wuz just trying to rough him up, and then we wuz gonna tie him up against that tree as a warning to the rest of the stinkin' Varisian Carnies to stay outta our town!---um, I mean...we didn't mean him no real harm."

Do you want to escort the boy home? You are close to the Carnival. There'd probably be time for Ankird to run him home while someone else fetches the sheriff while the rest of you guard your four prisoners.

That may be the first time I've ever heard a DM suggest splitting the party. Either it's gonna be a no-op or we are all going to die in dramatic and gruesome ways.

Rumple is not very fast, so he'll choose to sit on the prisoners while the swifter folks run to and fro. In addition, he spends most of the time giving them a good scolding about bullying and picking on people who are different from them. He even shares a few stories of torment and abuse from his younger days, back under the mountain.

Aurk goes "Oook!" Then looks at the boy. "Take you home, others grab sheriff."

That being said, Aurk will be part of the group that takes the boy home.

You escort the boy back to his family, and while stormclouds started to form behind his mother's eyes (metaphorically speaking), as his harrowing tale unfolds, she's near tears when she learns you've saved the boy's life. "You and your friends, you are family now. You'll always have a warm hearth and hot meal waiting for you at the Umbra Carnival...and here, take this scarf. It's been in the family for generations. It marks you as one of ours. It is a Scarf of Suggestive Dance. Use it in good health."

Meanwhile, the sheriff arrives about the same time as the young boy's escorts return, and she takes the men into custody. "Thank you for your intervention, or this could have been a real tragedy. This carnival can't leave soon enough. Hopefully, things will calm down once they're gone."

Even as she sends her deputy to the local stables to borrow a wagon and horse to haul away the local thugs, another deputy comes running up, breathless from his haste. "Sheriff, come quick. There's been another murder! Some beggar was hung from a tree down by the docks."

You see Sheriff Feldane deflate at the news before she lets out a heavy sigh. After getting a more specific location from the deputy, she tells him. "You stay here until Bill gets back with a wagon. Take these men back to the jail and keep them locked up there until I get back."

Then she turns to y'all. "Well, you coming?"

You come upon a corpse that is suspended by the neck from a dirty and torn Varisian scarf. His eyes have been gouged out, his mouth has been stuffed with rags, and his left hand has been severed at the wrist and is missing. A sheet of paper has been pinned to the body’s shirt and is stained with blood, emblazoned with the Varisian words “We take care of our own.”

Dexus takes a moment to examine the corpse before it is cut down.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16

Drawing a harrow card from the vest and a note from the trousers he lays them out for everyone to see.

The harrow card is The Desert, showing an androsphinx and the note says that the bearer is hired to work on one of the Skull River boat crews and promises an advance if new boots are needed.

Aurk looks around the hanged body for anymore clues that might have been left behind.

Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19

The sheriff recognizes the victim as Filton Legg, a beggar and reprobate. "That card and the scarf certainly could be obvious ways to try and frame the Carnival, but still, the sooner they're gone, the better off my town will be...these murders didn't start until they came to town." She glances at the note. "Arhaneem Braeton is a wealthy river merchant who owns a small fleet of ships that traverse Lake Syrantula and the Skull River."

Please make linguistics and/or Craft (Alchemy) check.
Also, feel free to make either Diplomacy (Gather Information) or Kn-local checks if you want to try and learn more about the victim and/or Braeton.

Dexus thnks back on his knowledge of this region, trying to remember anything he had seen in his day job.

Knowledge Local - Victim: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

Knowledge Local - Braeton: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14

"So who was this poor soul? Can you tell us anything about him? Why cut off the hand? Perhaps someone was trying to animate it?" With that, he glances around as if expecting a hand leap down from an overhanging branch and try to strangle him.

Take 10 on a heal check for the missing hand => 10+11=21.
diplomacy on victim: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Back at the mamma's house
We were doing our duty. It isnt good for people to be picked on just on suspicion of having some something. Thank you for this wonderful scarf. he says as he ties it around Centimere's neck.

At the tree
Ankird gets Centimere to sniff around the tree to see if he can pick up a familiar scent.

Centimere reacts excitedly to some scent he manages to gather around the tree, but Ankird soon realizes it was only a squirrel which scurries up the tree.

Eroil smiles at Ankird.
"What shall we do next?"

Dexus shares his findings with the group Read my spoiler if you like

To sum up the latest crime scene:
Evidence discovered on Body:
It was hung from the tree by its neck with a Varisian Scarg, and you discovered a harrow card of The Desert, depicting an androsphinx, stuck just inside the body’s vest. In the trouser pocket, you found a dingy, heavily creased, note appearing to be a few days old. The note is signed “Arhaneem Braeton,” but bears no personal seal. The note explains the bearer has been hired to “work on one of the Skull River boat crews, and is on probation—an advance is permitted to buy new boots if necessary.”The Sheriff informed you that "Arhaneem Braeton is a wealthy river merchant who owns a small fleet of ships that traverse Lake Syrantula and the Skull River."

Evidence Dexus turned up by taking to the streets to ask about the victim Filton Legg, and the man who signed the note found on his body, Arhaneem Braeton: Filton was addicted to a substance known as shiver. Some people suspect the drug is produced locally, but sold in other towns and communities so that the drug’s manufacture is not traced directly back to the source. Filton seemed to have an inside connection.

Anyone else want to try Diplomacy and/or a Knowledge-local check?

Varisian Scarf,of course, not Scarg

Wondering if there are any other rumors floating about, Jarretti will seek out sources.

diplo: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25

Jaretti is able to learn a couple of interesting tidbits: Having sold or lost everything he had of value, Filton was reduced to begging. Nevertheless, he started to change over the past few months—drying out, attending temple, and becoming respectable. Filton had been looking for honest work of late, but was publicly bitter toward persons he would not name.

The practice of severing the left hand was a practice popular among gangs and thieves’ guilds in Korvosa some 10 to 20 years ago. It was a reprisal done to someone who sought relief from an illegal debt by going to the authorities. The idea was the victims retained their right hands so they could still make good on their obligations.

The sheriff heaves a great sigh. "While this clearly looks like a setup, I'm afraid I have no choice but to make an arrest--the town is an overfilled powderkeg ready to explode. Hopefully taking the sphinx into custody will help defuse the situation, at least for a time. Perhaps you gentleme--folks could go speak with Braeton to see if he knows anything about what happened to poor Filton here..." She provides directions to Braeton Manor.

Off we go he says.

Hmm.... I wonder what they do with those severed hands... thinks the dwarf to himself as he follows along to meet the Braeton.

Aurk follows along to Braeton's Manor but the last murder itches his brain. He then blurts out his thought. "Odd that last murder was. Seems like the murderer knew way too much of what goes on around here for some visiting travelers."

As you approach, the early afternoon sun reveals a well-maintained, sturdy 2-story stone manor house that's set back from the road a good 100' or so. The front double doors appear to be slightly ajar.
Map
What's the plan? I've placed you on the edge of the map, but that's just for convenience. You can start further away.

"I'm willing to scout ahead. I have a feeling that things are going start to fall neatly into place." Jaretti whispers to the group.

"Please scout ahead!" Eroil nods to Jaretti, knowing that she is not very good in moving silently!

While the rest of the party lingers about 100 feet away from the manor, pretending to be fascinated by the architecture of the estate on the other side of the street, Jaretti takes to the bushes and attempts to sneak up on the manor. As Jaretti approaches, he sees that all the windows on the home are closed, with heavy curtains drawn over the windows. But he does notice a hint of natural light filtering out from small crack from the heavy front doors being ajar.

Jaretti, draw a path for your scouting mission and make a perception roll.

Jaretti will skirt along the treeline, duck under the window and then peek inside the door.

perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
+1 if searching for traps

Aurk goes off to a tree to relieve himself while Jaretti does his sneaky sneaky.

The party barely notices the little shadow named Jaretti as he sneaks up to the door. He peers inside...

What next?

Centimere will sniff around for familiar scents

Rumple checks his watch and looks to see if the bus is coming yet.

For a moment, Jaretti thinks he could go ahead and search the whole house by himself. That moment passes, and he returns stealthily to the group.

"Don't see anyone up front beyond the door. We should be able to get in without notice."

Take 10 on stealth if needed. I'll go back to the door when the group is ready.

Aurk tries to sneak up to the door too, but sticks out like a purple, sore thumb.

Stealth: 1d20 - 4 ⇒ (6) - 4 = 2

Dexus hangs back, not wanting to get too close just yet.