Qillian moves to strike the woman who threw the explosive, but she dodges out of the way of his fist.
Rizzok's bolt flies true and strikes the man in orange in the arm. Hissing in pain, he flicks a dagger into one hand before throwing it at Bennett...
...and pops his shadowy duplicate!
Round 2! Bold may act!
Kyras (Briar Bomb 2/4, Entangled 2/5)
Feelo (Channel Luck +1)
Green
Rizzok
Qillian
Bennett (Entangled, stuck 1/3)
Orange (-2)
Breezy
Cladara
As Breezy moves into the room, the lady next to Qillian cackles before stepping to the side and tossing another casket over the tables towards Bennett...
...and it hits the poor archer square in the torso before exploding into a cloud of smoke that spreads rapidly and smells of terribly old cheese.
Kyras is within the splash radius and takes 4 fire damage .
In addition to limiting the sight of those within it, the cloud's stench could cause problems!
Round 3! Bold may act!
Kyras (Briar Bomb 3/4, Entangled 3/5)
Feelo
Green
Rizzok
Qillian
Bennett (Entangled, stuck 2/3)
Orange (-2)
Breezy
Cladara
Bennett is still stuck somewhere in the cloud of noxious fumes, but Qillian manages to land a few hits on the bomb-throwing lady.
Round 3! Bold may act!
Kyras (Briar Bomb 3/4, Entangled 3/5)
Feelo
Green
Rizzok
Qillian
Bennett (Entangled, stuck 2/3)
Orange (-2)
Breezy
Cladara (-14)
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Feelo prays briefly to Desna, with conviction. "Starsong, protect me from the evil these assassins do!" He sucks in a deep breath and plunges headlong into the yellow cloud of stinking vapors. He hugs the wall to his right, turning the corner and following it until he nearly tramples Breezy! He opens his eyes and steps to her side, taking in the room and beginning to plan his next action.
This spell wards a creature from attacks by evil creatures, from mental control, and from summoned creatures. It creates a magical barrier around the subject at a distance of 1 foot. The barrier moves with the subject and has three major effects.
First, the subject gains a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a +2 resistance bonus on saves. Both these bonuses apply against attacks made or effects created by evil creatures.
Second, the subject immediately receives another saving throw (if one was allowed to begin with) against any spells or effects that possess or exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment [charm] effects and enchantment [compulsion] effects, such as charm person, command, and dominate person. This saving throw is made with a +2 morale bonus, using the same DC as the original effect. If successful, such effects are suppressed for the duration of this spell. The effects resume when the duration of this spell expires. While under the effects of this spell, the target is immune to any new attempts to possess or exercise mental control over the target. This spell does not expel a controlling life force (such as a ghost or spellcaster using magic jar), but it does prevent them from controlling the target. This second effect only functions against spells and effects created by evil creatures or objects, subject to GM discretion.
Third, the spell prevents bodily contact by evil summoned creatures. This causes the natural weapon attacks of such creatures to fail and the creatures to recoil if such attacks require touching the warded creature. Summoned creatures that are not evil are immune to this effect. The protection against contact by summoned creatures ends if the warded creature makes an attack against or tries to force the barrier against the blocked creature. Spell resistance can allow a creature to overcome this protection and touch the warded creature.
At a whistle from the bomb-throwing lady, the man in orange nods. Picking his way through the remains of Kyras's bomb, he tries to jump over the table...
...while avoiding any opportunistic strikes from the half-orc...
...and lands deftly on his feet before preparing his sword to strike!
Round 3! Bold may act!
Kyras (Briar Bomb 4/4, Entangled 4/5)
Feelo
Green
Rizzok
Qillian
Bennett (Entangled, stuck 3/3)
Orange (-2)
Breezy
Cladara (-14)
Grinning, the bomb lady steps into flanking position with the man in orange across Qillian. The man in orange's sword aims for Qillian's tender organs...
...but he misses!
The lady, meanwhile, tries to stab Qillian with her rapier...
...and pokes him in the kidney! Worse yet, her blade seems to have been coated in some vile purple liquid!
Qillian feels momentarily weakened, but the feeling passes as swiftly as it came.
In the meantime, the noxious cloud of smoke dissipates as quickly as it appeared.
Round 4! Bold may act!
Kyras (Briar Bomb 4/4, Entangled 4/5)
Feelo
Green
Rizzok
Qillian (-12)
Bennett (Entangled, stuck 3/3)
Orange (-2)
Breezy
Cladara (-14)
|
The half-orc groans as the blade pierces his side. Swaying sightly, he can only hope to survive this team, but if he is going to go down, Qillion is going to go down fighting.
Spliting his attacks, he punches the women and kicks back at the man in orange, before rolling to the side to try and avoid their flanking.
As Bennett's shadowy duplicate returns, Qillian finds both opponents too quick to land a blow on as he spins and kicks.
Rizzok realizes that the doors on the other side of the pit are still closed.
Kyras's bomb gets stuck to his fingers as he throws it, causing it to go wildly off-target!
The man in orange avoids the worst of the blast, but Qillian and the bomb-throwing lady both suffer the full effects.
Round 4! Bold may act!
Kyras (Briar Bomb 4/4, Entangled 4/5)
Feelo
Green
Rizzok
Qillian (-17)
Bennett (Entangled, stuck 3/3)
Breezy
Orange (-4)
Cladara (-19)
What do you do?
Shaking his head, the man in orange hops back over the table and tries to get back into flanking with his boss.
Qillian takes advantage of his foe's distraction and strikes...
...and it's a knockout! The man in orange crumples as his boss shrieks in displeasure and tries to stab Qillian again...
...and she pokes him!
At last, both the gunk on the floor from Kyras's bomb and the goop gluing Bennett to the floor become brittle and disintegrate!
Round 5! Bold may act!
Kyras (Entangled 5/5)
Feelo
Green
Rizzok
Qillian (-23, poisoned)
Bennett
Breezy
Orange
Cladara (-19)
As Rizzok's bolt flies into the wall, Cladara laughs harshly - only to be cut off by the sudden arrival of Bennett's arrow in her side. She grasps it and pulls it out, throwing it back at him, and Breezy's smaller arrow catches her in the chest. Eyes wide, she falls to the floor.
As the Pathfinders sweep the lair, they find a journal. There isn't much time to read it thoroughly, but a quick skim reveals that the gang, calling themselves the Ghostknives, planned to take control of Daggermark's military and overthrow the Assassin's Guild.
Back at Dryblade House, the Pathfinders once again find Timinic. He is organizing several other agents who are all clearly demoralized at the death of the venture-captain. "Oh," Timinic says as he notices the group, "you're back. Did you get the bastards? We're all packed up and ready to leave - think they're done with the Society. I know I am." He shakes his head as he picks up his pack.
Timinic does not seem very excited to hear the news. "Cool," he says, "but I'm still not convinced the Pathfinder Society is for me. It seems far too dangerous - both for me and those close to me." A tear comes to his eye and is quickly wiped away.
Perhaps this could be averted if Timinic could be persuaded to stay?
|
|
"On the contrary Timinic. We've ferreted out the threat to the usual order in Daggermark. In fact, the military will be on high alert for anyone trying the same tricks again. If you were to stay in Daggermark and act as a liason between the military forces of that city and the Pathfinder Society I'm certain an accord would be reached which would afford you the same level of protection."
As Rizzok speaks, a bit of color seems to come back to Timinic's face and hair. "Well..." he says slowly, "I guess we could try that out. And maybe the Pathfinder Society's not so bad as I thought. Thanks for helping me see reason."
And with that, our heroes conclude their adventure in Daggermark!
|
“It is true, the pathfinder life isn’t for everyone. If today told us one thing, is that trust is hard earned. And this lot has certainly earned my trust. Thank you everyone for getting to the bottom of this. I gues, I’ll see you around.”
Kyras nods at everyone as a sign of a job well done. Ragged and dirty from the adventure in the sewers, he jesturs to follow him for a drink.
As the Pathfinders take some time to read through the recovered journal, the truth of the events that brought about so much death unfolds.
The chaotic River Kingdom of Daggermark maintains a semblance of stability via a common understanding among its residents: those who draw their neighbor’s ire often end up dead. Daggermark’s Assassins’ Guild and Poisoners’ Guild hold considerable sway in the unruly city-state, sharing power with the local military. New members of the Assassin’s Guild receive local contracts as part of their training, and any citizen can hire a student assassin once per year at a reasonable price. Only members of the military are exempt from these trainee contracts, meaning those who seek security and social advancement often enlist in the army. This system has kept the peace for years, but a cabal of Assassin’s Guild defectors called the Ghostknives saw the military exemption as a loophole it could use to overthrow the Guild and seize control of the city. By quietly eliminating army officers and replacing them with coconspirators, the Ghostknives could set the stage for a bloody coup.
The venture-captain stationed in Daggermark, Istivil Bosk, accidentally stumbled upon a Ghostknife assassination occurring outside of the bounds of the Assassin’s Guild’s rules. To save himself from the assassin’s blades, Bosk invoked one of the River Freedoms, the cherished values that form the backbone of River Kingdom society. The second River Freedom, “Oathbreakers Die,” encapsulates the significance River Folk place on personal vows—every vow comes with an implicit promise to keep it or die trying. Bosk swore an oath that he would not reveal the Ghostknives’ existence to anyone or interfere with their plots, which convinced the assassins to spare his life. Bosk was true to his word, though he continued to monitor the group’s activities, watching silently as Ghostknife assassins began targeting military officers.
Yet when Bosk learned that Timinic, a Pathfinder agent who had been exploring the sewer complex below Daggermark, was marked for death, his loyalty to the Society overruled his oath to the assassins. He revealed the situation to his most trusted friend, Sergeant Brandur Clovesh, who promised to help hide Timinic until Bosk could request an evacuation from the Grand Lodge. Despite Bosk’s best efforts, the Ghostknives noticed that Timinic disappeared before help from the Grand Lodge arrived.
The Pathfinders's actions exposed the Ghostknives and compromised their leadership, causing the cabal to collapse. Any Ghostknives who survived the initial raid were quickly eliminated as the Assassin’s Guild rooted out the remaining defectors. Ghostknife sympathizers within the military abandoned their posts and fled the city, fearing that they would be ousted from the military by Jallor Clovesh and handed over to the Assassin’s Guild once the guild identified any officers who were promoted because of the cabal’s intervention. The flurry of desertions roils the military for a couple days, but before long Daggermark returns to its anarchic equilibrium.
Timinic chooses to remain with the Society, returning to Absalom with recommendations for missions that could reinvigorate Pathfinder activity in the Daggermark Lodge. Pemak's assurances go a long way towards convincing Society leadership that Dryblade House is worth the effort to rebuild.