A Push of the Fates.... Zakhara... You Jewel!

Game Master Insnare

Yes. Was just waiting to see if there was more information and for Fadilah to tell us what she learned. If you just want to assume that happened, then next step would be to probably sneak into the tent while Uday is out... does anyone have a better idea?

Well, all we really learned is that zin are often tricksters. I still don't know which side I'm on... except I really dislike this guy who's going around telling people that their faiths are all false gods.

I'm all for helping him. Better the admitted trickster than the one who hides his true intent.

Well, if we are agreed, I was wondering if your gen might have an invisibility spell? If I can slip into the tent, I am pretty good at picking locks, so I might be able to get them free.

"I'll give it a try."

Fetch spell: invisibility (<= 60): 1d100 ⇒ 83

"No such luck."

You make your way through the tent town in the evening to where the main tent is located. The tent is a large rectangular shape 110 feet long and 65 feet wide. The outer walls and 8-foot roof(top) are made
of dyed yellow wool. There is a large tent flap at the front where there are two guards leaning on their polearms half sleeping.

Can we time it for when Uday is out eating at someone else's tent again? And is the tent tied down in the back, or could I lift the edge and roll under it perhaps?

Well theoretically you could but you would have to stake him out for a few days. The tent has a bottom.

Okay, I'm out of ideas. Was hoping we wouldn't have to do a direct confrontation with someone with the at least apparent power of a god. ... What does everyone think? Should we just ask for an audience and then play it by ear?

Well, you do not have to. the tent is made from canvas and you can make an alternative entry point

"Let's watch him, get a feel for his movements, and then make our move. We can cut a small slit in the fabric to allow you entry."

Sorry guys, been hammered with work...

"Agreed" - Aggrammar nods at Nura - "I am not the best fer stakeout missions, but I'm thinkin' this is probably our best option. We need ta understand this Uday better, methinks"

Okay, watching him first is a good idea.

Please tell me how you plan on staking him out. Once you throw your ideas at me I can give you rolls that you will need to make in order to observe and not be observed.

Zairiah says

Aggrammar, can you ask your brother if he knows where Uday is eating soon, because we want to see him again... if we can get a public place where we know he will be at ahead of time, then we'll likely have a better chance than when he is in there.

She also asks Sham (the Zin snake) to explain as best he can what exactly she will need to do to free his parents, so she knows everything ahead of time and can be as ready as possible.

"I can do that" - Aggrammar nods - "But why not just watch his tent, and follow him when he leaves?"

We aren't trying to follow him. We are trying to get into the tent to rescue the Zin.

You guys want Agrammar to distract Uday by having lunch or dinner with him? Then Zairiah can do a recce of the tent or do you have something else in mind?

We could do that, but I just thought that Aggrammar's brother being an all-in disciple, and close enough to have Uday over for dinner, would know some of the schedule ahead of time so we could make a plan for when to do it. If Uday ate with him, surely he will honor someone else similarly soon, right?

If I am overthinking it, I don't mind just fast forwarding to slitting a hole in the tent and having a battle. Just am not too keen on having Uday there if he has the power of a deity, and was trying to find a safer way.

Ok, can I get a Charisma check and a wisdom check to see which side of the tent you cut into.

Charisma 16: 1d20 ⇒ 9
Wisdom 13: 1d20 ⇒ 7

Agrammar and the group is able to butter up his brother and get the information that Uday will be in attendance with a rival clan of Agrammars this evening and will only be bringing a smaller retinue than he did the time before.

So that evening, the four of you nonchalantly make your way to the big top tent of Uday as his entourage and him move about with a group of Mamluks carrying a 6 foot by 3 foot chest in toe.

Once the coast is clear you slice open the canvas in the rear portion of the left hand side of the tent. The four of you slip in and you arrive into a partition of the tent. It looks like a storeroom. The partition is 25 feet long and 300 feet wide their are two tent flaps: one in the south of the room and one in the east.

A wooden desk lies on its side next
to a shattered chair. Documents are scattered everywhere. There is also A wooden barrel containing chunks of dried
camel manure, called jalla, used as fuel for the fireplace all over the floor. The cooking area includes a brick
fireplace, a few pots and pans, some cups and plates, and
an assortment of eating utensils. The stove was tipped
over, the pots dented and bent, the plates shattered.
A 3-foot-square cloth flap covers an opening in the
ceiling, used for extra ventilation.

Wow... how big is this tent? 300 feet wide? And a 6 foot by 3 foot chest... that's coffin shaped.

Zairiah sees the mess and wonders if anything is still in here. She mentally asks Sham if he can sense anyone's thoughts in here, and if Uday ever transported them in a coffin sized chest. Then, depending on the answer, either keeps looking or not.

The tent is 120ft long and 60ft wide. Width wise the partition takes up half of the tent but length wise about 1/5th. The chest does not have that coffin head part. It is even.

Sham says, "Yes, luckily Uday looks only to be carrying half of the band with him in the chest. I sort of remember being kept underground. There should be some sort of entrance in one of the partissshionsss."

Zairiah thinks

>"Ah, thank you. That helps. Any people in the tent with thoughts you can detect?"<

Zairiah takes any intact/clean looking documents, thinking hey, I'm here already, might as well, although she has little hope that there is something actually important in this mess. Then she carefully moves the eastern flap to peek through.

Taking her cue from Zairiah, Nura moves into the tent and begins investigating the documents.

Among the debris are two books with ripped pages:
Medicinal Applications of Common Herbs and Healing
Techniques of the Ancients.

Zairiah peeks through the eastern section of the tent and there is what looks like Uday's bedroom which is lavishly decorated but also a complete mess.

Right next to the entrance to this area, called the qahwa,
includes a small iron stove (which holds hot coals or
jalla), a ceramic kettle (for boiling water), a few cups and
spoons, a coffee grinder, and a sack of coffee beans.

Beyond that is a large cedar cabinet with lavish brass hinges and intricate designs.

Beyond that are Clean abas, shirts, and
trousers have been piled
haphazardly in the corner. Next to the pile is an empty
basket.

There is a bed in the center of the room and in the southern part of the partition is a large hole in the ground. Anyone with Animal Lore can roll for it.

"Not very godly organization, is it?" Nura says.

Zairiah smiles at Nura but says nothing, still worried that people are in here somewhere, and wondering why Sham hasn't answered her about detecting thoughts.

She slips in and opens the ornate cabinet.

Sorry I forgot.

Sham responds, "In the cabinet there are two sets of thoughts and four sets through the hole."

Zairiah warns Nura quietly that there is something with thoughts in the cabinet before she opens it.

She also asks Sham

>"Are any of them your family?"<

Sham says, "Those two thoughts are not zin. One I think is not sentient. It is more like urges than thoughts."

>The ones in the hole though... they are Zin?<

Just to make sure we're on the same page... she opens the cabinet anyway.

Zairiah opens the cabinet and sees a little girl that looks to have been shrunk to about six inches in height on the top shelf.

GM Rolls

In the light on the bottom of the cabinet you see the outline of a giant cobra sleeping in the cabinet.

Zairiah, you have won the surprise round, so you can choose to attack or close the door

I choose to grab the little girl, thinking she needs to be saved and perhaps restored to full size at some point. That's my surprise round action... not sure how initiative works now though. You said it was sleeping, so is it now awake and gets an attack on the surprise round? If we go into first round with me still at the top of initiative, I definitely close the door.

Zairiah quickly (but carefully, so as not to harm her) grabs the six inch girl.

PLease give me a move silently check

Move Silently (20%): 1d100 ⇒ 93

The snake is mostly invisible and you put your foot on the wrong part of the floor and it is really the snake. You slip and get caught inside some of the parts of it and as of yet not been able to grab the little girl.

INiative Party 1d10 ⇒ 7, Snake 1d10 ⇒ 5

Round 1

Party

Not sure how failing to be silent canceled my entire surprise round action, but whatever.

Zairiah grabs the little girl.

You are right, you were able to grab the girl but not leave the cabinet because of this large blob of a giant cobra.

Okay... so he moved because I woke him up, and so the door won't close anymore? I'm going with that as the premise, but feel free to correct as always. I also don't know if you can withdraw in 2e, or how that works... sorry. Going to write it as though I know what I am doing, but main idea is to withdraw and go down the hole to get the Zin... if they are freed they might be able to handle a cobra without me having to make even more noise fighting it.

Zairiah backs away from the snake, not wanting to draw it into striking at her. Once she is far enough away that it doesn't seem likely to be able to reach her, she whispers to the girl that she'll get her someplace safe and then they can talk, and continues down into the hole.

Did Sham confirm that there were Zin thoughts down there?

If Nura attacks it (or if anyone else is here and does so), she'll pause before going down into the hole and support them with her bow. She'd rather secure the Zin first, but also doesn't want to abandon the party.

Nura slashes at the snake with cat-like reflexes.

Nura vs. snake (scimitar): 16 - 1d20 ⇒ 16 - (16) = 0 Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Now that you have stepped on the snake, this artist rendering of the encounter from the module should help kind of explain what it looks like. The little girl you have grabbed is all the way at the back. The snake was invisible but you kind of heard it breathing.

big snake

Agrammar and Fadilah

Fadilah is just waiting outside of the tent for the Impossible Mission team to finish their task.

Agrammar draws his weapon and shield, wading in on the giant cobra - "I hear cooked snake is not too bad" - he growls.

Attack (Scimitar THAC0 17): 15 - 1d20 ⇒ 15 - (18) = -3
Damage if it hits: 1d8 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 1 + 2 = 6

Agrammar and Nura both strike the giant 13 foot long coiled cobra.

Sham attacks the cobra 15 - 1d20 ⇒ 15 - (6) = 9 miss
The cobra tries to bite Agrammar 17 - 1d20 ⇒ 17 - (8) = 9 miss and then uses its hypnotic stare at Nura saving throw 1d20 ⇒ 15 and she is not hypnotized.

Initiative Party 1d10 ⇒ 6, Snake 1d10 ⇒ 1

Party

"Was this thing starin' ye down or somethin'?" - Agrammar grunted at Nura, and attacked again.

Scimitar THAC0 17): 15 - 1d20 ⇒ 15 - (8) = 7
Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 + 2 = 5

Zairiah shoots at the cobra.

Attack (Shortbow): 16 - 1d20 ⇒ 16 - (13) = 3
Damage (Sheaf Arrow): 1d8 ⇒ 3

Nura