The Beast & the Harlot: Dragoncat's Curse of the Crimson Throne (Inactive)

Game Master Dragoncat

More investigation suggested that Aeliana was now a "Little Lamm," and that his parents had been relieved of their burdens. Since then, he's been trying to get the Korvosan Guard to do their job and deal with Lamm as the monster he so obviously is. His frustration at their continued apparent lack of effort is matched only by his frustration at his inability to find (and deal with) Lamm himself.

Things were going well in the confidence games Fayne was playing. He soon had a nice home and was comfortably supporting his wife and newborn daughter, Eleeva. He was generally respected by the common folk but always had a suspicious eye cast upon him by those who had sharper minds than the simpletons that were easily deceived. The more the masses were amazed by his predictions the more cocky and overconfident he became. His readings were more like shows, using his psychic/fortune-telling "powers" to make bold, brash statements about anymore he desired, in particular the beacon of hope of the people, “Black Jack”, expecting that no backlash would come to him due to the popularity of the underground hero (or that what he said might actually prove to be true).

One day, Jarrin was asked to help with locating the famous criminal Gaedran Lamm. Jarrin agreed and put on quite the show, gallantly claiming that Lamm and his associates were living on borrowed time. Fayne assured the masses that justice would soon be at hand and prosperity would return to their fair city as a result, filling the building once more. Foolishly he boasted that this future had been shown to him time and time again. Since Jarrin felt his standing in society was enough to protect him he was naive enough to think that his words would never fall on the ears of these villains, so what was the harm? For all he knew Lamm had escaped and left the town for good.

Evidently harm found its way to Fayne. His home was looted and then burned to the ground with disregard to anyone that may have been inside. Jarrin was at a high-society function working his craft for the nobility that evening and had no idea of what had happened while he was away. Returning later that night, he found that not only his home was in ruins but also his life, as two small burnt corpses had been brought out of the rubble. Clearly his words had been heard and this was the vicious response.

Jerrin was devastated, he might be a con-man but he was as good as any home-loving man would be to his family. He was sure Gaedran Lamm did not approve of Jarrin’s forecast of the villain’s fate. Jarrin took to grieving over his wife and daughter full time, neglecting anything else for months. People in Korvosa felt his pain but they also knew that he had likely brought down this upon himself, perhaps even a message from the gods. Eventually Jerrin spent most of his nights in drink and self-pity, losing any faith he ever had in said gods, and his life spiraled downward fast.

Slowly over time Jarrin found that vengeance was growing stronger than the grief. That strength soon had Jarrin dedicate the rest of his life into finding a way, any way, to bring Gaedran Lamm to justice for all of his crimes, including the murder of his family, whether he had that proof or not. Jarrin had also grown to love this city, another reason that he had made up such stories was to give the people who looked up to him any hope that things would get better, no matter who was ruling the city.

But how Fayne would be able to locate a man that no one was able to pin down was still a mystery. Perhaps to track down the myth named Black Jack? Discover if there were any secrets within The Hellknights or the Korvosan Guard. Was evil truly even higher than that, for the young Queen Ileosa surely seems to crave the power of ruling the city.

Whatever that case might be somebody had to determine the truth and help rescue this once fine city from the burdens of its dire conditions. Surely a man with the talents of Jarrin Fayne could find himself to be valuable in times like these. But as this day drew up him, he had to wonder if his current investigation on trying to find Gaedran Lamm would ever bear fruit.

"Nah. Nobody has. You ain't heard one of Gaedren's Lambs got pinched?" the gaunt man said, speaking softly, gnawing on a bone he held delicately between two long fingers.

"Nope. Never heard that. Which one was it?" the other replied, watching the first, his eyes sunken and his shoulders shaking, though it was a warm night.

"New girl." Crunch crunch. "Forgot her name. Guard's all over now. Gonna be a couple of days til things quiet down."

"Days?" the shaker whined. "I can't make it that long."

"Can't help you. I can't sell what I haven't got."

The shaker stared at him for a minute, his hand slowly reaching behind his back, for the dagger tucked in his belt. The gaunt one dropped the bone on the street and licked his fingers.

"What did she look like?" a third man said, startling the first two. A big man, broad shouldered and tall, approached them, a massive hammer slung over his shoulder.

"What did who look like?"

"The girl that got pinched," the big man said. He was a local Varisian, a laborer from Old Korvosa by the look of him, but he had that big hammer. "You said you didn't know her name, but do you know what she looked like?"

"Maybe I do," the gaunt man said. "What of it?"

"I'm looking for a girl," the big man said. When the shaker giggled, the big man's face turned hard, but his voice stayed low. "Not like that. My sister disappeared. I've heard stories about this Gaedren you mentioned, and I've heard my sister had been seen with his 'lambs,' so I want to know what the girl you're talking about looked like."

"Easy there," the gaunt one said. "This one weren't no relation to you. She were Chelish, to look at her. I don't believe Gaedren's got any Varisian girls lately. You might ask about the harbor. You never know what a sailor might take on board when it comes time to weigh anchor." He snickered, stepping past the big man.

"I've asked. She's been seen at the market, not the harbor."

"You got a name?" the shaker said, a cold grin spreading across his face. "You know, so's if I see her, I can say you was looking?"

"Jakob," the big man said. The two thieves were on either side of him now, and they went for their knives. They knew there was no way this Jakob could bring that huge hammer to bear before they cut him. They hadn't seen the curved sword at his waist though, and the shaker's belly was slit open before he noticed it. He dropped his knife, trying to hold his insides inside, and Jakob turned to the gaunt one.

"A Varisian girl," Jakob said, softly. "Brown hair, like mine. Blue eyes. Missing one of her front teeth. You said you might have seen her?"

"One of Gaedren's lambs," the gaunt man. "Just like you said. I wasn't going to try anything. That was all him. You know what shiver does to their minds."

"I know," Jakob said, sheathing the scimitar. "Where do I find Gaedren?"

The man shook his head. Now he was starting to shake a little. "Please. I can't. You don't know what he'll do to me if I tell. He'll...."

Jakob never found out what Gaedren would have done to the thief. He smashed a fist into the man's face, and left him sprawled across the body of the other one. He walked out of the alley, looked up at the stars and whispered. "I'll find you, Hannah. With Erastil's help, I will."

Female Half-Elf Sorcerer 1
CG Medium humanoid (elf, human)
Init +2; Senses Low-Light Vision, Perception+3

~DEFENSE
AC 12, touch 12, flat-footed 10 (+2 Dex)
hp 6 (1d6)
Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +3, +2 vs. enchantment spells and effects

~OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft.
~Known Sorcerer Spells (CL 1st, concentration +5):
1st (4/day) - comprehend languages (DC ) , identify
0th (at will) - light , message , prestidigitation (DC 14) , read magic (DC )

~STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 15, Con 10, Int 11, Wis 12, Cha 18
Base Atk +0; CMB +0; CMD 12
Feats Cosmopolitan (Perception, Linguistics), Eschew Materials, Simple Weapon Proficiency, Skill Focus (Diplomacy)
Skills Acrobatics +2, Bluff +8, Diplomacy +8, Disguise +4, Escape Artist +2, Fly +2, Heal +1, Intimidate +4, Perception +3, Perform (Untrained) +4, Profession (Gambler) +5, Ride +2, Sense Motive +1, Stealth +2, Survival +1,
Languages Common, Elven, Gnome, Halfling
SQ Adaptability, Bloodline Arcana, Cantrips, Destined Bloodline, Elf Blood, Elven Immunities, Keen Senses, Low-Light Vision, Multitalented, Touch of Destiny,

~SPECIAL ABILITIES
Adaptability (Ex) Half-elves receive Skill Focus as a bonus feat at 1st level.
Bloodline Arcana Whenever you cast a spell with a range of "personal," you gain a luck bonus equal to the spell's level on all your saving throws for 1 round.
Canter You grew up among thieves and scoundrels, and their unusual speech patterns and turns of phrase don't phase you in the slightest today as a result. Anyone who attempts to use Bluff to deliver a secret message to you gains a +5 bonus on his Bluff check. When you attempt to intercept a secret message using Sense Motive, you gain a +5 trait bonus on the attempt.
Cantrips You learn a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells. These spells are cast like any other spells, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.
Destined Bloodline Your family is destined for greatness in some way. Your birth could have been foretold in prophecy, or perhaps it occurred during an especially auspicious event, such as a solar eclipse. Regardless of its origin, you have a great future ahead of you.
Elf Blood (Ex) Half-elves count as both elves and humans for any effect related to race.
Elven Immunities (Ex) Half-elves are immune to magic sleep effects and get a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells and effects.
Keen Senses (Ex) Half-elves receive a +2 bonus on Perception skill checks.
Low-Light Vision (Ex) You can see 2x as far as humans in low illumination. Characters with low-light vision have eyes that are so sensitive to light that they can see twice as far as normal in dim light. Low-light vision is color vision. A spellcaster with low-light vision can read a scroll as long as even the tiniest candle flame is next to her as a source of light. Characters with low-light vision can see outdoors on a moonlit night as well as they can during the day.
Multitalented (Ex) Half-elves choose two favored classes at first level and gain +1 hit point or +1 skill point whenever they take a level in either one of those classes.
Skeptic Growing up, you were always around magical effects to the extent that you realized that much of it was smoke and mirrors. You gain a +2 trait bonus on all saving throws against illusions.
Touch of Destiny (Su) You can touch a creature as a standard action to give it a +1 insight bonus on attack rolls, skill checks, ability checks, and saving throws for 1 round. You can use this ability 7 times a day.

The old bartender looked over his spectacles at the bastard upstart. He continued to wipe a dirty stein with a grimy rag. “Where’s ‘who’, Jon?”

The young half elf was desperate. “You know who I’m talkin about, Eeny. She’s not at her Da’s and she ain’t here. And ye know what I really want to know.” Was she still working? Was she still OK? But more importantly, was she still off the Shiver?

The bartender put down his still dirty mug. Jon knew the answer even before the old human began to speak. “Sorry Lad, she stopped showing up to work nigh a fort night ago. I haven’t seen or heard a peep about her since.”

“A fort night?!” Jon shouted, slamming his fist on the bar, thusly killing the quiet conversation of the bars three patrons. The gnarled half-ork bouncer at the door shifted wordlessly, his attention on the half elf. “Why didn’t you call on me?”

“For what good, Jon? Huh?” Now it was Eeny who was getting angry. “Do ye not know who she’s getting her gear from? Do ye not know the man she’s runnin’ with?”

Jon knew the man. Knew his reputation. “I will find her and bring her back, Eeny.”

Eeny wanted to laugh in the flower eater’s face, but he knew that derision would only spur him on. The old bartender had once been of the adventuring sort. Once upon a time in a far off place he had fallen in love with an Elfish maiden, but, alas, it was not to be. Eeny Fletcher always had a soft spot in his heart for the half elf orphan. Bristled with pride as he watched Jon grow from a waifish boy to a man to a ranger with real promise.

“Look Jon, You know I hear things from times to times.” Eeny looked around to make sure no one was listening in. “If you really want to find Ellya you are going to have to find Gaedren Lamm,” he said from the side of his mouth. “I may know of a group of like-minded individuals.”

Jon listened intently.

His father would often take young Averys with him to the market and there, tell him all about the foodstuffs he bought. The man was a halfling, so a love of food came naturally to him, but he soon came to realize that he was not teaching Averys about food, but how to appraise goods and how to bargain. When the boy was old enough, James O’Lily brought Averys to the Bank of Abadar and applied for an internship. His family name was used on the application and that, and only that, resulted in him being approved. So the boy was enrolled in the rigorous education system of the church of Abadar.

Surely the events of his youth happened while he was still very young, but it filled him with a drive that was unmatched by most of his peers. Averys’ new parents never spoke to him of the riches his family once possessed and it wasn’t until his teenage years that he felt the need to rebel and go against the advice of his parents. He dug into his own history and uncovered more dirt than he could handle. Shutting the door to this terrible past, Avery instead focused on the future. He had a knack for making money and his father introduced him to a relatively untapped market – the spice trade, fueled by the many halfling sailors who frequented Korvosa. He was a friend of the halfling community and could name plenty of upstanding halfling citizens who would vouch for him. The result was that Averys could buy small packages of spices and then resell them in larger quantities. Through a system of pooling and then distributing, he turned small profits into larger profits. The tall man helped the small men and all benefited. It goes without saying that Averys ensured a sizable part of the profit went into his own pockets.

Now he had his starting capital and the know-how and drive to take the next step: turn an even bigger profit. But fate once again crossed his path and pushed him onto a different road. One day, he stumbled upon a locket of pure gold, inlaid with rubies. Inside this locket was a magically enhanced painting depicting a field of flowers and an ancient oak tree. In front of the tree stood a couple, each resting a shoulder on the shoulders of a boy. Old scars were ripped open and an anger he thought he had buried seeped through the walls of his carefully constructed world.
The tide of the past was rolling in and he couldn’t withstand it any longer.

STR 10
DEX 10
CON 14
INT 14
WIS 16
CHA 14

HD 1D8+CON = 10HP
BAB 0
SAVES F2/R0/W2 > F4/R0/W5

Feats
H Skill Focus Diplomacy
1

Skills
1 Diplomacy
2 Sense Motive
3 Appraise
4 Profession Merchant
I Knowledge Local
I Knowledge Religion
H Knowledge Geography

Traits & Drawbacks
T Love Lost (Orphaned: +2 profession merchant.)
T Helpful (Aid Another gives a +4 instead of a +2.) - (Through the Adopted trait.)
D Avarice (When treasure is divided, if you do not end up with at least 10% more treasure than any other individual companion does, you have a hard time being helpful to your allies. You become irritable, and can’t take the aid another action for the next week.)

Special
LANGUAGES
-Common, Chelish, Halfling, Varisian.
HUMAN
-Focused Study (Skill Focus @ 1, 8 and 16)
-Silver Tongued (+2 bonus on Diplomacy and Bluff. Shift three instead of two steps when using diplomacy.)
CLOISTERED CLERIC
-4 skill points instead of 2.
-Diminished Spellcasting: Only one domain and can cast one less spell per level.
-Breadth of Knowledge: Half level (minimum 1) to knowledge checks and can make them untrained.
-DOMAIN: Travel with the Trade subdomain.
-1 Floating Disk, 2 Locate Object, 3 Fly.
-+10 feet movement speed.
-Silver-Tongued haggler: Free action to get ½ level (minimum 1) to diplomacy, bluff and sense motive, 3+wis times a day.
-Channel Energy: 1D6 positive energy.
-Orisons: can cast prepared lvl0 spells without limitations.
-Aura: Lawful
-Spontaneous Casting: can spontaneously cast spells with ‘cure’ in the name.

Notes:
-Can cast Abadar’s Truthtelling (1) and Blessing of the Watch (1).
-Can prepare Word of Recall as a 5th level spell.

Salvation had come in the form of a worn and battered holy symbol of Sarenrae that Grune had stumbled upon. Sarenrae was a well know deity among the city's less fortunate inhabitants and curious, and more than a little desperation, cause him to seek out a local temple. When Gaedren found out, his rage was enormous and beaten within an inch of his life and his limp body and broken holy symbol were tossed onto the trash heap, like so much other garbage.

Somehow Grune, survived and in a half conscious state made his way back to the temple where the clergy took him in. He never left.

Now a grown man, Grune serves the church as an inquisitor, helping to spread justice among the poorer quarters of the city. He has a soft spot for the street urchins that still infests the streets and often provides them with safe lodging for the night. He has also devoted his life to saving those poor unfortunate children like him, who are still in the clutches of Gaedren and over the years he has helped more than one escape. He hates that old man and would give much to see his filth swept from the streets.

Temples have always been good places to pick pockets; lots of people making donations, paying attention to the priest during service and not to their belongings. Joseph preferred not to return to a given temple after a successful visit, but one time, when he was eleven years old, he entered a temple of Sarenrae, and his life changed forever. He'd only ever gone in to pick the pockets of a few inattentive worshippers, and maybe swipe some coin from the collection tray as it was passed around, but the priest's sermon made him think.

He could appreciate the morals being preached, and he liked the idea of people helping each other to improve, instead of the dog eat dog world he was used to. So he went back the next weeks, and the week after, and the week after that. He started taking far less pride in his pickpocketing, and prayed in the silence of his heart for the chance to leave this place and never return. And almost half a year later, his prayer was answered.

In the middle of one night, Lamm stormed into the room where Joseph slept and kicked him out of his blankets. Joseph scrambled to his feet, only to be kicked back down.

"So what's this then?" the man asked, holding up Joseph's Ankh. "Well? Don't tell me you've gone and got religion on us! You're coming with me."

That night was one of the worst of Joseph's life; he was beaten so badly that he was blinded in both eyes. When his sight had only barely recovered a week or two later, he was thrown out into the street; deprived of the food and shelter that had been the only good part of his life under Lamm's control. So he prayed. When he awoke the following morning, his belly sore from lack of food, he heard a woman's voice whisper in his ear, "I will protect you, Joseph Malson, if you will protect my followers. If you will aid those who need it, and bring my wrath to those who have earned it."

"But I can't even see; how can I do as you ask?" Joseph asked, too confused to wonder how this woman knew his name.

"Then open your eyes, and let my light show you the way," the woman whispered. Joseph opened his eyes, and gasped. He could see again. He couldn't see very far, certainly, but he could see the people walking past. Even the dark alleys hid nothing in the pre-dawn light.

"Go to my temple, Joseph Malson, and explain yourself to my priests," the woman whispered. "You know which temple I mean. Explain to them everything, and do as they tell you. You have escaped Lamm, as you asked for; it's time to prove yourself worthy of my gift to you."