Shadows of the Sand (Inactive)

Game Master caster4life

Damn, this dame smells good, after a battle and all. And damn. Drow in town? How did I miss that? Damage control.

"Thanks for the lift, doll. Yeah, been out of town working another case, so haven't been to my usual haunts. Moses Fallion was a friend of mine...er... well, he poured my whiskey. Bout as close to a friend as me and Jackdaw have. So... what do we have here in this warehouse? Must be a reason they were gathering here. Perhaps clues were left behind."

Saul gets up and also starts looking around.

unfortunately burned all my inspiration in the battle so my skills checks are not going to be up to par. Will take a 20 if I am allowed.

perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Hadha remains perched on the crates and uses his position to survey the areas as well. And to keep an eye on Saul. But mainly to look for clues that might be missed at ground level.
percep: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Amari, leaning against one of the crates during the exchange without leaving Saul out of his eyes, heads towards the crate the dried were standing over.
Something interesting had to be inside or they would not have dropped their cover over it...

You find several bottles in the crate. It's hard to tell but they look dangerous.

by total coincidence, I do have undercommon.

k local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Saul uncorks the bottles and whafts the contents under his nose.

"Poisons. Madness inducing poisons. Don't know what they were intended for, though. Let's keep looking. Here's some notes, but my body is so tired I can't make heads or tails of the scribbled drow language."

K. Local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Does Zaza need to understand undercommon or is it good enough that Saul translates for us?

If Saul chooses to translate, which it seems like he did, you figure it out.

”Bloody hell’s, these drow intend to make diplomatic meetings between Qadira and Taldor look like a holiday gathering at my ex-in-laws house. Turkey and potatoes and poison, with two cousins drunk on the floor and the shrewish aunt sipping bad bourbon...”. Saul shudders.

”It won’t take much to cause war between our countries. We should find where these talks are happening and warn somebody.”

Zaza explains what she knows of these poisons.

At Saul's reaction, Zaza waves Saul off dismissively. "So, a group of Qadirans and a common Taldan show a Taldan nobleman a note in a language he doesn't understand, then tell him that dark elves are out to poison them and start a war. Do you suppose the nobleman will believe us? Or are they going to detain and interrogate us about what Qadira is really plotting?"

Just an FYI, Saul, the party's quest from their spymasters is to find the route by which the Drow are infiltrating Taldor and shut it down. That might help clarify what is and is not intended as a plot hook here.

No one told me that! They aren't saying really why they are here so Saul is coming to his own conclusions.

Dame is damn feisty.

"Well then, missus, I'm guessing you are the act first and apologize second kind of person. You would get along really well with Jackdaw. Perhaps we take a break for the day and come back at this with fresh eyes, eh?"

<I will follow him.> Hadha signs.
That may help, yes. I think this fight has taken more than it's fair share of our resources.

By the way, Zaza is being dismissive toward Saul because she lumps him in with Taldans, who she doesn't really respect. She's really much more pleasant normally.

"It's been quite a day. We should destroy the poisons before we go. Unless someone dares to use these things themselves."

If nobody wants the poisons, Zaza intends to pour them onto the ground if she can do so in a safe manner.

Any other gear or info from the drow bodies?

Just letting you know Saul so you know the players aren't being mean to the new guy, though they're not about to divulge much info IC since they're a team of spies.

Can't check their equipment until I get home to my hero lab later today.

"Well....alright then. I'm happy to work more with you; if you don't want me and Jackdaw, I'll be sniffing around by myself since I can't rest easy with drow in town. Look for me tomorrow..."

Saul slowly limps out of the warehouse, and heads back to his small apartment.

Anyone who follows will see he walks into a dingy rundown place, with a handwritten sign on the door that reads "Gibson Investigations".

The Taldane heads home and the Shadows have to decide their next course of action. They know that they are due to meet back up with their superior, Shalazat, soon.

Once Saul has taken his leave and the shadows are about to leave, Amari mentions the other to wait, then points at the two dead Drow and signs:
<What shall we do with the bodies?
Letting them to rot in the desert is a fitting end, but it may draw attention.
But maybe honored Shalazat wants to inspect the dead before we dispose them?>

<Good point. We can't risk taking the bodies out of here. We've already been seen by one person too many. If you want to hide the bodies, I can clean up the evidence.>

Zaza will clean up the scene with a bit of magic. Prestidigitation.

Afterwards, when they have some privacy, Zaza discusses their next steps. "We'll meet up with Shalazat, tell her what has transpired, and rest and recover. We'll see if she has different thoughts about this Saul Gibson--if she wants us to silence him, we must do so."

Amari nods, then (with some help of Lo), proceeds to stuff the two drow into crates.
He will make sure that the crates they end up in are not the topmost ones and will pile a couple of stacks in front of thema

The Shadows conceal the bodies then go to meet Shalazat at the rendezvous point. They find multiple magical objects on the dead Drow.

Did Hadha want to follow the Taldane? If so, give me a stealth check and a perc check.

Shalazat greets you in your meeting place, exchanging the code words to assure you she is not a disguised enemy. "I dealt with the other enemies and found these." She holds out two other fragments of some sort of encoded map.

Amari starts a signed report after a short respectful nod.
<We encountered two subjects in the warehouse.
The fight was fierce but in the end we put them down.
A Taldane was fighting against them as well.
He is hunting them too.
We agreed to work together with the man to hunt down the drow.
It seemed the best course of action to prevent him to raise an alarm.
He did saw through our cover and identified us as Qadirans.
We think he is trustworthy in that he does indeed want to hunt down the drow and is ready to cooperate with us to see that deed done.
I cannot pledge for his intentions afterwards.
Hadha is following the man right now. We will know if he ends up going to the guards after all.>

stealth: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (16) + 19 = 35
perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Hadha follows the new guy from a distance. However, as he leaves the warehouse, he uses the last of his power to force his body into a new, smaller form. He looks the same, but he now only stands about 3 ft tall and his muscles are even more lithe. He practically disappears into the scenery as he moves.
Minor Metamorphosis to reduce size and up my dex by 2. Modifications are included above.

The best perception I could hope to do would be +13, with inspiration, so I couldn't possibly notice Hadha

My base is +13, haha. Just wanted to be sure. :)

Linguistics: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

Zaza takes out the two additional map fragments, matching it with what Shalazat found. She peers at the map for a while, then hands it off again, frustrated. "I can't make sense of this thing."

She considers whether it appears that more pieces are necessary to understand the map.

Shalazat nods to Amari and Zaza. "Unfortunate that he became involved. How did he end up at the warehouse? Regardless, he is involved now. Keep him close for now and cooperate with him. If he proves a problem, we'll have to deal with him." Seeing Zaza struggle with the map, she shrugs. "I did not know either. Perhaps Hadha or the Taldane will decipher it."

The next day, Shalazat wears a hood and modest tan clothing as she walks through town with the Shadows, looking for Saul.

The sun rises the next day and the morning light shines in the PI's closed eyes, waking him. He groans from the spot on his rumpled couch and sits up.

Oh hells, Saul Gibson, what have you gotten yourself into? Couldn't just be happy to live out the rest of your days in this backwater town hunting down cheating husbands and lost cats, could you? Had to get involved with crazy Qadirans and drow...

Grumbling, Saul wipes the crumbs from the former day's dinner out of his stubble and stumbles to his desk. Only after searching it does Saul remember he gave up the booze. Damn it!

Throwing on his duster, he heads out the door, pausing first to look at the longspear leaning against the wall. No... not yet. Instead he picks up his mace and hangs it from his belt before leaving.

----

In town, Saul starts asking around. Not about drow, no, that would be stupid. He starts asking if any people have gone missing recently, or if anyone has suddenly started acting really strange. Saul has been doing this a long time. He has sources; beggars mostly; a few shopkeeps; and knows how to do it without attracting attention.

gather information w inspiration: 1d20 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (12) + 6 + (5) = 23

Linguistics: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Lo shrugs after a glance at the map. "Looks like nonsense to me."

he walks into a dingy rundown place, with a handwritten sign on the door that reads "Gibson Investigations".

Hadha reports back later that night, He didn't go to the guard, so I didn't kill him. If he is an investigator like he says he is I suggest we get into town early. Chances are good he'll find us before we find him.

--------------------------------------
The next day sees Hadha dressed as a street rat. He wears the shabby clothes naturally and doesn't blend into the rabble so much as straight up join them and subsequently disappear.
perception to see Saul before he sees me: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
stealth to sneak up on him and appear standing at his side: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30

a couple of perceptions to see Hadha: 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (9) + 7 + (5) = 21
a couple of perceptions to see Hadha: 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (16) + 7 + (5) = 28

"What....? Gods! Where did you come from?"

You are an old man now, Gibson.

Nice one. Show the Taldan the sneakieness of us Shadows! ;-)

Your shadow. This way.
Hadha leads Saul to the rest of the group. He may or may not be smirking the whole way.

Saul whispers. "I'll follow you discreetly. Lead the way by a good 100 feet and for Desna's sake, don't do that again. Nearly gave me a damn heart attack."

Saul follows.

Saul's comment may or may not be the cause of that unconfirmed smirk.

When Saul arrives, Zaza is there, smiling. "Welcome back. Hope you slept well. As a token of our good faith, we will let you borrow these items that we retrieved from the drow. We can't have you fight when you're so poorly equipped, after all. This is not your payment, mind you. You'll get your share of what we find going forward." Saul gets quite a collection of items.

"We will also teach you how to move quietly, the way we do. Well, not quite as good as we do, but good enough that you're not a liability." She returns Hadha's smirk.

"Now, for you to prove your own worth. Take a look at this map. We assembled it from the drow we've slain, but it's encoded. Seems like this might be your specialty." Zaza hands Saul the assembled map. DC 20 linguistics to read the spoiler several posts above.

Ah Hells. No pressure or anything.

"These items are amazing, doll. Is this one... yes, I see. And also... indeed. Yes, you are proving your word. Jackdaw will be well pleased. He was a little hesistant on our arrangement but he is greedy. He will understand this. Alright then, let's see the map..."

I have a +7 + d6 in linguistics but it is still a roll of the dice and the GM knows how well that works out for me. Can I take a 20?

Let's get the roll as is. If nobody gets it still, then you guys can pick one person to retry while others roll aid but you'll need to RP the struggle and deciding working together in that case.

linguistics: 1d20 + 7 + 1d6 ⇒ (17) + 7 + (4) = 28

Thank Desna I actually understand this. This group is not to be trifled with.

”You came to the right person. Takes a local, right? The start of your search starts down the town well.”

I guess this Saul Gibson is useful after all.. Not that Zaza was about to admit it.

"Hm . . . I suppose it does take a local. How did you figure that out?

"Look. These squiggles here are water, clearly. And then this symbol is indicative of a tree. That is easy enough. But to put a tree on a map means it must be a particular note worthy tree, and then this slash here indicates a dam, and I know a place around here where a dam blocks a river next to a particularly large and ancient willow. Trace that back to this set of squares, which probably are buildings near that tree on the edge of town. And set in the very middle is this circle, where I know the well to be. The well connects to the town's sewer, which is disgusting but how the engineers of this place decided to keep the common man sick and downtrodden. Standard Taldor stuff. A sewer seems a very likely place for drow to hangout, don't you think? These markings here remind me of an old map I saw long ago that stood for the Darklands. It seems very possible our sewer system is a direct connection, which is more than a little disturbing but would explain why the drow picked this town to base their operations from."

"Speaking of that, I have some more investigations to do on the missing people. That is a priority for me, since it turns out some of these missing people are...were...friends. I am going to send Jackdaw with you down the well. He is efficient muscle. He can meet you at the well bottom after dark... when prying eyes have gone to sleep."

Zaza follows along Saul's chain of reasoning and is suitably impressed. "Yes, I suppose we'll have to wait for nightfall to go in undetected, when the town well won't be so busy. But I make no promises about this Jackdaw. If he isn't there, we aren't going to wait."

Assuming they go their separate ways, Zaza would want to inspect the well to see how easy or hard it would be to explore.

"Okay, ma'am. Let me follow up on my new leads. I suggest waiting until nightfall before you head down the well... Lots of people around right now. Jackdaw will meet you."

Saul hands back the map pieces and goes back into the town square to continue his investigation.

Knowing Hadha followed the man, he quickly signs a question:
<Did he meet up with this Jackdaw fellow?
I am concerned about this guy. We know even less about him than we know of Saul.>

Sorry for not responding sooner, got a busy week at work.

Haha shakes his head. <Not that I saw, but i did not risk entering his... establishment.>

The Shadows split off from Gibson. Zaza takes a discreet look down the well during a busy part of the day. It looks dark down there but the stones of the well are rough enough that it should not be too difficult to climb down.

DC 10 climb check.

Before the nightly action takes place, Amari will bring a few topics to the discussion with the other shadows.
<We are entering enemy terrain, so we should be prepared for both ambushes and traps.
That means, wide spacing without breaking visual contact.
No one goes alone. Whoever sticks with this Jackdaw should be accompanied by another Shadow in case his allegiance swings the wrong way.>

Take-10 (16) will bring me down safely

<Perhaps we let Jackdaw take point? It will let us keep an eye on him. He may even think of it as a compliment.>

Zaza is not especially good at climbing, so she decides to make it as easy as possible by taking off her armor and stowing her buckler. She'll put them on again once she reaches the bottom.

Take 10=10 once armor is off.

I man manifest Minor Metamorphosis to gain a 10 foot climb speed, so no problem for me

<That's a good idea. We should keep them separated as well, as much as we can. At least as long as their loyalty is in doubt.>

So you're heading down at night? Let's get stealth checks from everyone since I presume that you want to be quiet. Let's also hear from Lo how Serenity is getting down there or if she is staying behind.

Or do you see him?

stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24