A hot wind blows into Nex from the Mana wastes, a flick of tingly magic is felt settling as it subsides. The city has been bustling lately with its recent expansion into a unrivaled fishing city, due to work by a local druid known as Krain dudawn. There has been talk among the city on how much longer it will be until Nex declares Geb an enemy again, after all, supposedly the only reason they've held off until now is the need for food from the undead state.
________________________________________________
Stepping off the boat known as "The lovely lilly" that had brought you to Nex for a reasonable price after a friend of yours suggested you could find well paying work in the new fishing city and its sub stats. It does seem they where right, with just a look around the docks you can see no less than two notice boards every couple hundred feet. Some of the flyers are hung simply with a nail hammered into the board, others are crudely stuck into the wood with a knife.
Criers stand here and there, handing out samples of (mostly fish based) products and asking if people would be interested in work at various establishments. It really does seem like the city is in better shape than any other you've seen. For now Notice boards seem like a good place to start, or maybe you could talk to one of the Criers. If your feeling brave you could even look for tavern work, probably a little less reputable than the other options though.
Candida the Shadow makes her way off the "Lovely Lilly" quietly and begins to survey sources of possible work. She looks at the flyers and speaks to criers trying to make a short list of possible jobs that she is qualified for and pays the most. When she is finished this task she is going to see what work looks best and start seeking out the potential employers.
Candida at this point does not have her eidolon summoned and is trying to be inconspicuous.
Candida finds MANY jobs, most of which require she is either over qualified for, or lack proper pay for the work. She doe's manage to find a crier who seems like he might have something interesting. He's talking to what seem to be a group of odd looking folk that consist's of a Tengu, a Kitsune and a Lizardman when you first see him.
"Yep, that's right Mr.Nobelium'll be happy to see you lot! let him know Olly sent you yeah, I work on commission you know!" The young boy turns from the group who're already hurrying off, a quite but clearly exited chatter having broken out amongst them.
The boy turn's towards you and smile's as he rushes towards you. "Hey lady! You look like the type that's good at some stuff! I know a guy who's just dying to meet people like you! Name's Nobelium, he's got a ship called "Miss Earies curse" you'll find it way's down the dock. First come first serve though." At this point the boy holds out his hand, presumably for a tip but it could be for a down low.
Candida gives the lad a low down, then a high five and finally a silver piece with her other hand, thanks him and moves toward the ship indicated.
Candida does not go straight there. She seeks out a quiet place like an alley and take a minute to summon her eidolon, the form for the day being Coils. She emerges from the alley with a pet snake around her neck. Candida then makes her way to the dock a couple of ships away from "Miss Earie's Curse" and when there is no-one around lets the eidolon slip into the water.
Coils then swims past and under the "Miss Earie's Curse" before returning to Candida.
The boy looks oddly, almost dejectedly at Candida as she high fives him, only to light up when she gives him the silver piece. You think you even see a light tear well up in his eye. "Thank you Miss, I got enough now..." At this the boy scampers off, you don't see him again as you go about your business on the docks.
While it is extremely difficult to find a completely empty ally, after looking for a good half hour though you manage to find one. Before coils even gets to the ship in question she spots something, it seems to be a half-elf patrolling the underside of the ship, swimming just as well as a fish. Seem's to have no trouble breathing either.
As Coils gets withing viewing distance of the Half-elf his head snaps to her, he makes no motion towards her, he simply smiles and waves.
Coils nods his head in acknowledgement of the half-elf's waving, then continues swimming not going closer to "Miss Earie's Curse" and returns to Candida. The two then proceed to "Miss Earie's Curse" and observe the ship from the dock, not going on board.
As you approach the Miss Earies curse a white haired man covered head to toe with vials of strange liquid and what looks like red candles walks aboard the deck. He's immediately followed by the group that the boy had sent here before you.
"SO! As you can see my friends, THIS! Is nothing less than the best business OPPORTUNITY you'll see in a lifetime!" His speech is littered with odd emphasizing, he almost shouts every other word. The group of beast people seem rather uncomfortable.
The lizardman responds in a slightly less gruff tone than you had anticipated, leading you to believe it may actually be a lizardwoman. "I don't know, we'd feel a lot better about it if we got half the money up front... just for safe sake you know."
The white haired man runs his hands along his flask and red candles, seemingly thinking for a moment. "Very WELL! With one PREVASIO." He snaps his fingers and moments later a small, purple frogman is at his side, he carry's a rapier and a holly symbol. "Say "I will CARRY through with the job if I AM paid half in advance."
The lizardwoman does, the Tengu does, and the kitsune does. After they do the frog man Croaks and say's to the white haired man "All's good" He then croaks loudly a second time.
"Wounderful! Please follow Good sir Rogar here to the hold to get half your payment." The man smiles widely as the group heads down the stairs to the bowls of the ship with the frog man.
Back on your end a voice is heard over your shoulder. "The old captin's pretty good eh? Had yeah shivering in yer boots there for a second right?" As you turn around to face the voice Coil's recognizes that it's the half elf from under the boat. The man lets a small frown take over his face. "Shame bought that lot though, showed a bita promise, but lying to the captain ain't nothing that'll get yea just a slap on the wrist." A smile returns as he holds his hand out to you. "Ah, but where are my manners, the name's Falkner. Judging by that little beauty on you got I'm assuming your here for the job?"
Candida shakes Faulkner's hand and replies "My name is Candida, sometimes called Candida the Shadow. And this is Coils. You will excuse her not shaking your hand, she does not have hands of her own. I was here about the job. Can you tell me, the nu... gentleman with the vials and white hair is the captain. And the small, blue frog man is using detect lie. And they were lying, yes?"
Falkner let's loose a chuckle that sounds like a barely contained cackle. "Well, yes. That's grim business. COME! Meet captain Nobelium, seems you'll be the first to do so and live in this city." Falkner leads you by the hand with a surprisingly firm grip for his slim frame, he's not forcing you though, it seem's he's just exited.
As soon as you step on board the ship the Captain twirls around to meet you. "AH! A fresh ONE! Come, come! We shouldn't discuss this business in the open air." With that the white haired captain Nobelium motions for you to follow him into the hold.
Candida extracts her arm from Faulkner's grip and starts to move away. "I will have to tell my family I am taking new employment and may be gone a while. I will be back." says Candida as she leaves. She is not going onto the ship or coming back.
Falkner seems to deflate a little as Candida prepares to walk away. "You don't have to lie to me you know. I mean, I don't take it like Captain up there but, I still don't enjoy it... Look if you don't want to come on the boat fine, it would have helped if you'd have come before the group of the flaming pants but still." Falkner hands Candida a note he produced seemingly out of nowhere. "All the details of the job, if you feel like of course." With that Falkner walks to the edge of the dock, turns and waves, then hops backwards into the water.
Candida takes the note and reads it on the dock.
The job is a challenging one Candida, but with your little friend I must assume you capable. So I don't think it beyond your means. Put simply we want a trinket. Put less simply we want it off the corpse of the local crime boss Don decorso, he's been throwing a few to many wrenches into the captains plans for us to ignore. All we know about the bastard currently is that he frequents a tavern a bit further into town called "The bug eyed pug". I'd recommend against an assassination though, rare is it the pricks got less than 6 body guards on him. He don't skimp on'em either, Rogar went after'em once and got tore up pretty good by the end of it.
So in summery, we want you to ruin a local crime lords business however you can. Your reward, half of whats in our hold.
Signed, Free captain Falkner.
P.s. There's a lot of stuff in the hold... a LOOOOOOT of stuff.
Candida reads and then, after a pause for thought, motions to catch Faulkner's attention and for him to come back so she can speak to him.
When he does, she will ask "Just two questions. What sort of business is Don Decorso in and how big is his gang? I don't expect specifics, just what you know. Second, I don't need to see it, but some idea of the value of half is what is in your hold please? Finally, I will try and come up with a plan to take the guy down. If I think it is beyond me, I won't do the job but I won't expect payment either. You OK with that?"
Faulkner teeters on the edge of the dock as you call him back over. After hearing your questions he picks his ear and answers plainly. "Only thing I can answer there is how much is in our hold, we know nothing about the guy. He's real careful about blocking all our magic when we try to spy on him. So if I where you I'd just assume every low life you run into is under the guys wing." Faulkner scratches his prickly beard for a moment as he seems lost in thought.
"You see that building about three buildings down? Well I'd say we've magicaly expanded the hold to be about as long as from here to there, thirty feet tall and four ships wide. I can barely walk through it anymore its getting so stuffed. House cleaning really, need room for more loot."
"Very well Faulkner, I will go and see what I can do about this crime lord. Thanks for the information."
What Candida is going to do is wait until the evening and go to "The Bug Eyed Pug" where she will get herself a meal and a drink and eat quietly. Candida is not going to have my eidolon summoned when she goes to the tavern. All I want to do for the moment is get a sight of Don Decorso and his flunkies and give no cause for suspicion or alarm.
With the sun setting in the Sky it seems prime time for tavern goers to be coming in for dinner. The bug eyed pug is easy to find, seeming to be one of the more popular establishments in the area. It's popularity is reinforced when you see it's pretty mush the only two story building in the town.
When you arrive you instantly notice that there's a large group of sketchy looking people gathered around a door to what seems to be a private room in the back. After a moment a barmaid stays saunters up to you and asks "High, welcome to the Bug eyed pug, would you like to take a seat?" She gestures you towards the main dinning area.
"Thank you"replies Candida, taking a seat a vacant table. She then orders a meal and mead. Candida is going to eat and drink slowly and observe the comings and goings from the private room.
The meal the barmaid brings you is grilled fish and a side of steamed seaweed. It's pretty good, but the mead is awful.
As you watch the group of shady characters, you catch one or two speak of how Don decorso throws the best party's. The next hour or so is uneventful though, as the sun starts to set you see a few very large men enter the tavern and put on aprons. The barmaid that served you arrives at you table and speaks. "Hey, you should probably get goin. Decorso's boys get pretty rowdy once the sun sets."
"Best not to be a girl alone in their way then. Thanks for the warning."Candida pays for the meal, tips the barmaid who waned her a silver piece, leaves most of the mead and then departs.
Candida is going to go into one of the surrounding streets. When she gets a minute alone, she will re-summon Coils. Checking nobody is watching, she will shift to bat form and take up position on top of one of the buildings not far from "The Bug Eyed Pug" and watch. Coils, who has a climb speed is going to make her way up from the street on the other side and wait on the roof with Candida.
The plan is to observe where Decorso's thugs go when they leave and follow them. Quietly and from a distance. And as a bat.
Two men make their way out of the Bug eyed pug, you believe you recognize them from among decorso's crowd. One of them is so drunk he's almost yelling their conversation and is exceptionally easy to hear. One's wearing a dark coat and seem's only a little drunk. While the other is a scarred, nasty looking man who probably has more booze in his body than blood at the moment.
"Ah this place's great! Shame they get rid of all the cutie's when things really get goin!" The exorbitantly drunk one slurs.
"Ey, you're just as bad as any of us. Hehe, Just cause you're Decorso's best mate don't make you anymore high class." The dark coated one scowls and walks off, as the drunkard yells after him. "Yeah run on yea lil'baby, I'm ganna run an see my barmaid lassie!"
"Creep!" The coated man yells back to him.
Candida is going to follow the guy in the coat to his home and note it's location.
If this goes without incident Candida will do the same the next night except she won't go into the bar. What Candida wants to do is repeat this for several nights, building up a picture of who is in the gang, where they live and a bit about their habits. Including Decorso.
The men that come and go from the bar seem, by and large, goons. Rankless peons in Decorsos employ. Decorso himself seems to either have a room in the tavern itself, or is able to move between it and his home with relative ease. As you constantly hear how "Decorso throws the best partys."
Candida in bat form around 3am and definitely after all the partying is over goes and has a close look at the structure of "The Bug Eyed Pug" as a building. If there is a space under the floor of the ground floor of "The Bug Eyed Pug" that Coils can sneak around in I will send her under there to scope out the area and spy. This will happen late in the night when, according to Candida's plan, Decorso and his goons will all be drunk as skunks and not very alert and perhaps letting slip information they would not if they were sober. One thing Candida has in mind is possibly getting access to the kitchen or bar room, slipping something in the drink or food of the criminal gang.
In scoping out the building Candida is going to try to find out if it is joined to any other buildings. If it is then Decorso may be going from the bar to one of these. If not, Candida reasons, he is almost certainly staying in "The Bug Eyed Pug". The other possibilities is he has an underground passage or else can become invisible, neither of which Candida thinks is likely.
Another plan Candida has in mind is burning down the "The Bug Eyed Pug" with Decorso and his thugs inside. Is it made of wood? Is it easy or hard for a lot of people to get out there in a hurry? Is Decorso's room upstairs or downstairs?
Candida is able to discern three things from her week of stalking the Bug eyed pug. Decorso has a room in the bug eyed pug that seems to be filled with anti-magic, seem's to emanate from an item as coils is able to squeeze right under his floorboards without poofing. He's had spellcasters in the room with him for sending's, so he has a way to deactivate it.
Decorso's right hand is the only non-goon or hired hand that visits the tavern. From what you can gather he's a non participant in the criminal stuff, just a friend of Decorso's. He's supposedly a coward but Decorso keeps him safe.
The goons seem VERY violent when the sun goes down, the reason the large men come into the bar every night is because they constantly harass the (Mostly female) day staff if they stay to long. In fact, on the third day of staking out the Bug eyed pug, you notice the man who was called a creep three days prior. He's standing in an alyway a bit down the block with a scowl on his face, it's close to the switch from day workers to the big night workers. He seem's to be watching the door.
Candida is going to continue to observe him. This is the very drunk guy who mentioned a barmaid girlfriend, so he might be waiting for her.
Candida is going to see if she can follow the some of the female staff from "The Bug Eyed Pug" to see where they live and hang out when they are not working there. By the sounds of things they are roughed up, groped and maybe raped on a regular basis, so I might be able to recruit them into acting against Decorso.
The female staff seems to be treated rather well during the daytime, it looks to be more of a "for when the ruffians get drunk" thing than anything else.
As Candida watches the drunkard she see's his eyes Bulge upon seeing the barmaid that served Candida around three days ago as she leaves for the night. He waits for her too pass the ally he's waiting in, then begins tailing her.
Candida will trail the drunkard, staying close enough to intervene if he tries to harm the barmaid, relying on the fact she is a bat and is above him to remain undetected. Candida is in bat form and her eidolon is not summoned.
Trailing the two is a rather simple affair. It doesn't take long for the barmaid to enter her home and close the door behind her, having seemed to not have noticed the man. In turn the Drunkard ducks into the ally between her house and another.
Candida has decided this guy has to go.
That is two eagles with the entropic template and given the evolution wing buffet. See the morphic savant archetype. they are summoned right next to the guy, Candida is above in bat form. The eagles are ordered to attack till he falls, smiting evil.
Eagle CR 1/2
XP —
N Small entroic animal
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9
DEFENSE
AC 14, touch 13, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +1 natural, +1 size)
hp 5 [7] (1d8+1) [1d8+3]
Fort +3 [+5], Ref +4, Will +2
SR 5
Celestial – Resist Acid, Cold, and Electricity 5
Fiendish – Resist Cold and Fire 5
OFFENSE
Speed 10ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee 2 talons +3 [+3] (1d4) [1d4+2], bite +3 [+3] (1d4) [1d4+2]
Special Attacks Smite evil/good
STATISTICS
Str 10 [14], Dex 15, Con 12 [16], Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7
Base Atk +0; CMB -1 [+1]; CMD 11 [13]
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +8, Perception +10; Racial Modifiers +8 Perception
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Smite evil/good 1/day as a swift action (adds CHA bonus (+0) to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD (+1) against evil/good foes; smite persists until target is dead or the celestial/fiendish creature rests).
Augment Summoning: Items in brackets [] represent the spell being cast by a character with the Augment Summoning feat.
Simple Template: Entropic (CR +0 or +1)
Creatures with the entropic template live in planes where chaos is paramount. They can be summoned using spells such as summon monster and planar ally. An entropic creature’s CR increases by +1 only if the base creature has 5 or more HD.
An entropic creature’s quick and rebuild rules are the same:
Rebuild Rules: Senses gains darkvision 60 ft.; Defensive Abilities gains DR and energy resistance as noted on the table; SR gains spell resistance equal to new CR +5; Special Attacks smite law 1/day as a swift action (adds Cha bonus to attack rolls and damage bonus equal to HD against lawful foes; smite persists until the target is dead or the entropic creature rests).
Entropic Creature Defenses
Hit Dice Resist Acid and Fire DR
1-4 5 –
5-10 10 5/lawful
11+ 15 10/lawful
Wing Buffet (Ex)
Source: PRG:APG
An eidolon learns to use its wings to batter foes, granting it two wing buffet attacks. These attacks are secondary attacks. The wing buffets deal 1d4 points of damage (1d6 if Large, 1d8 if Huge). The eidolon must possess the flight evolution, with wings, to select this evolution.
The man is caught completely off guard by Candidas eagles, He remains standing against their assault though he is obviously ravaged.
In response the criminal draws a switchblade and stabs into one of the eagles, injuring the creature badly.
One eagle falls but the second presses it's attack.
Candida hits the villain with a magic missile spell, hitting him with 2 magic missiles.
The thug falls after the first few strikes from the eagles. Bleeding badly from the cuts and bashes, it looks very much like he wont last very long without assistance in this state.
Candida lands in the alley, assumes human form and attempts an untrained healing check to stabilise the thug.
After moving his internal organs around randomly for a bit, she realises she is not making things any better and goes and knocks on the barmaid's door. If it is the barmaid that answers, Candida will say "Hello. I am not sure you remember me, I am Candida. I noticed one of Decorso's thugs followed you home and was lurking in that alleyway over there with a drawn dagger."
The barmaid is weary from a long day at work, seems like she was just getting ready for bed when you knocked. Her response when you tell her of the thug that seemed to be following her though snaps her wide awake. "Oh my! If that's who I think it is then I'd have been in some real trouble. Thank you Candida, you may well have saved my life." She goes to see the man, discovering that he's no longer breathing she suggests that you lay low for the day and come visit her at the Tavern tomorrow after she gets the city watch to deal with him. "I have friends on the watch, they wont ask me any questions. Oh! And the name's Rinn."
He was one of Decorso's thugs. Do you know why he was stalking you? And are the rest of that criminal gang just as bad? I hear they tend to... be too familiar, to put it politely, with the barmaids."
"Oh, honey he was just a bit clingier than most. Had to stay for the night s!!% one time and made the mistake of smiling at his drunk ass. Now shoo, well see each other tomorrow after I get this taken care of." Rinn hurries you away and sets off towards the guard house.
"Very well Rinn, see you tomorrow."
Candida will indeed return to the "Bug Eyed Pug" the following evening and seek out Rinn.
But I want to back track a bit, to this:-
Candida is able to discern three things from her week of stalking the Bug eyed pug. Decorso has a room in the bug eyed pug that seems to be filled with anti-magic, seem's to emanate from an item as coils is able to squeeze right under his floorboards without poofing. He's had spellcasters in the room with him for sending's, so he has a way to deactivate it.
A couple of questions about this. The room is made of wood yes? This is where Decorso sleeps? Anything else in there that looks relevent? Is Decorso in the habit of getting drunk before he goes to sleep? I may not know, but no harm asking. How much room is there underneath the room where I sent Coils to spy?
Candida is thinking of setting this room on fire with Decorso asleep in it, which is where all these questions are heading. Another question, if I set fire to the "Bug Eyed Pug" how many people will be endangered by the blaze aside from Decorso and his ugly lot, who deserve all the incineration I can send their way.
The night is long as Candida awaits the morning, the death of the thug seems to be a very hush hush occurrence. Rinn must have been telling the truth when she spoke of having friends in the guard.
The next day at the bar Decorsos men seem in ill spirits. A death among them must not be a common occurrence, seeing as most of the town leaves them alone. Mostly keeping to the backrooms only three of the men sit in the front. Rinn, while here, is being held up in the kitchen and has asked you to wait just a bit longer to speak. The three men seemed to be eyeing her a bit harder than usual when she was out. That stare gets placed on you after she asks you to wait. Eventually one of the men comes over to your table.
"So, what yea on with the server girl." The man is a large half-orc with large tusks and horrid scars all over his body. His right hand is missing, replaced with a spike that is currently skewering a steak. A net is hanging off his left side. His friends remain on the other side of the pub, glaring your way.
"She is a new friend. And you and your two friends" Candida gestures casually at the other two thugs he had just left "also seem to be on with the server girl as you put it. Why is that?"
"Well, see," The half orc motions for his friends to come over "rumor has it. That b~*~$ was the one what killed our buddy. He got picked up outside her house after all. Just wondering if you happen to know anything about that?" The man takes a bite out of his steak, his teeth slicing through the meat like a knife.
"Sorry about your friend. I had heard one of your gang had died, but that is all I know about it. I really think you are mistaken it was Rinn. Look at her, slip of a girl against one of you, bigger, stronger, know how to use weapons? I don't see it as possible. Now a girl that size might be able to kill your friend if she was a witch or ninja or something, but Rinn isn't. And why would you work as a barmaid if you had those sort of skills? No idea who killed your buddy, but it wasn't her."
The three men begin moving around the table, each taking seats. "Yeah, yeah! Course not, don't know what we was think'n, lil'lass like her? HA! Course she ain't kill'n one'a our boys. Course again, kinda strange, o'll Jubby bites it outside her house then the next day she's talking to the mysterious raven haired woman sit'en at the bar what ain't never been seen round here." Another bite of steak later and the half-orc concludes. "So!... Considerin that we can get away with most anything in this town why'o why shouldn't we gut yeah right here, then go after the little trollop back in the kitchen."
"Interesting view" replies Candida laconically. She then hits the half-orc and as many of what look like fellow thugs as she can with burning hands. She then bolts out the door and as far into the dark as she can get, trying to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity as much as possible.
"Very interesting inde-" It is at this point that the hand of flame envelops the three men. One of them falls out of his chair, seemingly trying to hide, probably having expected you to cower and run, not fight. The other two however jump up, anger burning in the half orcs eyes.
The half-orc is quite, he stands quickly and jabs his spiked arm towards you.
As the spear like spike of the half-orc digs into your arm, the second man stands, moves towards the door and deftly throwing a dagger at you.
Candida transforms into bat form, a standard action. She then attempts an acrobatics roll to leave a threatened square without provoking an AoO and moves out of the inn, ending well above the doorway outside. The idea is to avoid further AoO and end up out of reach and hard to see.
Candida transforms into bat form, a standard action. She then attempts an acrobatics roll to leave a threatened square without provoking an AoO and moves out of the inn, ending well above the doorway outside. The idea is to avoid further AoO and end up out of reach and hard to see.
[dice=Acrobatics]1d20 +2