The Conquest of Ambervale

Game Master Nicos

"Hello, forgive my brashness, but I urgently need to speak with you in private. I don't have much time, so please don't pepper me with questions."

Bluff, pass secret message: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29
DC 29 Sense Motive for anyone listening besides Zypp

The guy pales and you can enter the room, not because he invited you but because he didn't oppose.

What are you doing here!?

@ The others

The two guards get scared but also get read to fight gripping their spears with the strength they have left, but more importantly, they ready to sound an alarm.

What a buncha dicks. BEND TO MY WILL, SLAVES.

So *cough* what Sven and Vendrick do? *cough*

Well apparently you decided social skills don't work, so iunno. =(

No, I'd say it worked pretty well. You have successfully convinced them that you are a threat!

"Pepperclamp has been taken into custody, though I'm sure you already know about that. I'm with a small group of ambassadors from Aldwall. Our goals are the same as Pepperclamp's: To dethrone the king, by any means available. Can you help us?"

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17

Complainer :p,...more seriously, Assuming Sven want to proceed without a fight he can do it, the issue is how to avoid they to sound the Alarm once Sven is gone. EDIT: Wait, 1d6x10 minutes?, wow, Influence Opponent's Attitude have to be one of the most simplistic ludicrous rules in PF.

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@Desmond

De...Detrhone!?, what?, I just did what mr Pepperclamp ask me to do it because his family have always been nice with my family. Listen, I didn't wanted troubles, I just was there with my eyes open to give Mr Pepperclamp the information he wanted, that is all I did

Well, the plan currently is to go in, talk to the prisoner, and "subtly remind" the goblins on the way out that they disobeyed orders, and their ass is grass if the king ever hears about this.

So we have 1d6x10 minutes to complete our mission before everything goes south, basically. At least, by my reading. Their attitude is changed to Friendly for that long. Though perhaps it'd be more accurate to say that for 1d6x10 minutes they're scared s%@*less of making me mad.

I have to be honest here, despite my general dislike for the social skills, (I think) I've been faithful to the rules in at least 90% of your rolls in this campaign, but this time the raw is causing me physical pain. As written that section on intimidate is nonsense, the 1d6x10 thing is horrible (too little or too long) and the DC is ridiculously low (lvl 5 Sven can easily intimidate a level 10 desmond), once Sven is not there intimidating there what stop them to run away for their lives and sound an alarm?

*Calming down*, Anyways, using the nonsensical raw, once the duration is over they most surely will report the ambassador and his bodyguard actions.

Well, do you want to change them? We can hash some stuff out if you want. I've always thought Intimidate DCs were ridiculously low myself (more for people who are higher level than your or something. Like my 7th level Bloodrager in Skull and Shackles could, if he wanted, Intimidate a 15th level Barbarian they came across recently. Just...no.).

And that Bloodrager was me. Intimidating Prowess is a national treasure.

I don't know, My personal feeling is to assign the DC and the result depending what you do/say, to whom you are trying to influence and what you are asking from them, but that have a good deal of subjectivity. And btw I have no problem with the demoralize use of intimidate.

I think in this case "I'll kill you if you tell anyone" suffices though?

In a short term yes. In a longer term, you should provide a (or at least insinuate) something that makes them reasonably believe you long lasting threat.

Sven starts to walk past the goblins, and gets a few steps before he stops, waving a finger in the air. He reaches out and lays his hand on each of their heads.

"Ah! Almost forgot something important. If you tell the king about this, I will know. I'm sticking around court for a while with the new ambassador. I will find out, and you will regret it for the rest of your short life."

"Okay?" he says cheerfully, and claps his hands for Scaly to follow. His gator does, and hisses at the goblins as they pass.

"...Should've just moved aside. My bodyguards are not to be trifled with." Vendrick says calmly as he steps within.

De...Detrhone!?, what?, I just did what mr Pepperclamp ask me to do it because his family have always been nice with my family. Listen, I didn't wanted troubles, I just was there with my eyes open to give Mr Pepperclamp the information he wanted, that is all I did

"Right, of course...did I say "dethrone"? I misspoke. But I do need information about the king. Just tell me what you know, and we'll take care of the rest."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31

@ Sven, Vendrick

The goblin guards let you pass, scared for their lives. In the inside the cells are empty and Sven don't detect any olfactive figment of that goblin past presence.

@ Desmond

What do you want to know?

Perception (Secret Doors?): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (20) + 14 = 34

zero secret doors

"Well. That didn't go as planned. I suppose it's time to bail out and go see if Desmond has learned anything."

To be precise, you find no trace at all of a captured goblin.}

You return to the embassy and Amra is already there

Sorry I could not find any useful track, It was not an easy task by itself but I can swear that last night somebody worked exhaaustively to cover any possible trace.

I wanted to feed a goblin to Scaly on the way out but if we're fast forwarding...

"There was no prisoner in the gaol either."

"Do you know anything about what the king might be planning to do? Have you heard anything about the changes he wants to make to the kingdom?"

What I told to lord Pepperclamps is that there have been unusual people in the castle. They are not too evident, but from time to time I have seem goblins that are not members of the court, or the guard or...from Tuskkep. Last one was from the clans of the swamp I could swear, with his yellow skin and a patch in an eye.

Vral:things around that attack are just too suspicious. Anyways, I'm getting bored being locked in this place, how much time are the investigation of your going to last? I want my revenge

"Eyepatches never bode well."

Do Sven and Vendrick do something while Desmond is away?

"Eyepatches never bode well."

Oh hi Sven, when did you get here?

"Yes, I've seen that one too. Do you think the general public already knows about outsiders being allowed into the castle? If not, would they even care?"

Sometimes an outsider come to live in Tuskeep but it is unusual, we don't trust outsiders easily

So, what's the plan?

"Be patient Vraljyiya, we must be certain of the King's guilt before we can take action. Your word alone is merely slander."

Vendrick has tea while he awaits Desmond's return.

I dunno. Find the dude with the eyepatch since it's the only lead we have? The prisoner's gone (if he was ever there to begin with) and the trail to find the swamp goblins was either nonexistent or erased.

I'm disappointed at the little number of goblin avatars

In the evening that day you hear the news that Pepperclamp and other 3 plotters will be put on trial/execution for tomorrow midday. A 4 plotter escaped and is suspected to be hiding in the slums.

Btw, Tuskeep is a little bigger than Aldwall but way more densely populated

SO, let me think

(a) To look for the eyepatched goblin or anything within the castle you will need a reason or a distraction so your actions are not too suspicious. Or you could try to looks like a goblin (Vraljyiya could help with that if you get her a cauldron and some black market ingredients)

(b) According to Zypp he have seen a couple of outsiders goblins, but it is likely that those goblins were not in the city alone. You could try to search for newcomer outsiders in the city.

(c) Freeing Pepperclamp and the others (or disrupting the trial) could set back Kayiqard short term plans (though if you go this way you have to think a way to avoid witnesses)

(d) Or trying to spy Kayiqard henchmen to see what you find (at this point you know little about who is supporting the king, but clearly he could not made a conspiracy by himself)

This poor sap doesn't know anything.

Desmond says goodbye to Zypp and leaves.

Once he returns to Sven and Vendrick he tells them what he learned.

"So the king is definitely in bed with the clans, but we don't have anything concrete to use against him. I think we should save Pepperclamp and his "accomplices". While were at it we can look for Eyepatch Guy."

"Vraljyiya, you're going to be thanking us for this investigation once we hand-deliver the King to you. In the meantime, can you cook us up something to disguise ourselves as goblins? It would be a lot easier to blend in if we weren't twice as tall as everyone else here."

"Saving Pepperclamp eh? I think I might have a few magic tricks to accomplish that. When should we make our move Desmond?"

Oh yeah, old Vraljyiya have a recipe for that, but I don't have the ingredients at hand, but I would need...

She gives you a list of ingredients for you to collect them, most easily by buying or stealing them from the black market in the slum.

And, btw, even if Zypp doesn't know more, he is still a guard inside the castle with access to areas that could be difficult to you.

So?

"I'm sure I can acquire the ingredients on the premise of spell components. Let's go."

Ok, you decide that the ability to be like a goblin would be useful in whatever you try to do next. Vral give you instruction about how to contact with the "dealer", a were-rat called Hius -Don't try to deceive him and he will not try to bite you, plain and simple - She say

In That part of the slums the building are very closed to each others, creating an intricate collection of very narrow roads, a rickshaw could not travel through them. It is not hard for you to find him using Vral instruction

Not very often I have the pleasure to trade with longshanks, but yeah, i have everything on the list, it would be...50 gold pieces, say the very, very filthy goblin.

"Fair enough." Vendrick hands over the gold.

You successfully trade and prepares to leave, and you are actually on your way out of there when you notice other goblins approaching, what draw your attention to them are their skin color, a blueish one, and that they have are more furry, like the ones Vendrick and Sven when they travelled to those snowy mountains.

They have not seen you, they seems to be in direction to meet hius, but they are using a different road than you.

Desmond notices a look of recognition on Vendrick and Sven's faces.

"You know those guys?"

Hm. Didn't see Nicos had posted.

"Yeah, they're the ones we tracked after they attacked us while you were off doing...something. They live up on the mountains. With some BIG creatures."

"Hm. I somehow doubt they came down for a tropical getaway. I would bet they're part of the king's new circle of friends."

"Considering the lethality of the beast we encountered, I'm surprised anything else lives on those mountains."

"Not much use following them as we are now, let's head back and rectify that."

"Agreed. I've grown weary of my long legs and pink skin."

"I don't like the idea of being small and weak. And ugly."

"Well, you only need to worry about two of those things."

"And I'm sure you'll still have all your powers intact. If things go sour, you could turn into a boar-goblin and grow to a terrifying height of five-foot-eight!"

Sven just glares at Desmond.