GM Dak - War for the Crown 2

Game Master Dakcenturi

Wow, I goofed again: Somehow I missed that Sara got dropped. Maybe I need new glasses. B-p

Subtract 2 from Capricia's attack, please.

After Bimble's swirl of colors disappear, Rossana moves closer to help Sara immediately. Not wanting the opponents to target her yet, Rossana closes her eyes and sends out a wash of warm healing, stabilizing her friend.

Free: 5ft step
Standard: Casting Stabilize on Sara

The gnomish outburst of color almost managed to keep Otavio from pushing up, but he overcomes his fears and rushes right in - after the explosion of colors dissipates. He has to. Sara is down and only the vilest of Gods know what these wicked madmen would do to her. While he doesn't have the time to internalize all of this, it does put Otavio into a frenzy. "Flank the bastard! Toss 'im into the grinder! Yeah, that's right, we're going to chop you to bits and feed you to the dogs!"

Std action: attack (with combat expertise)
Move action: move along the wall
Attack: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Current AC 21 & 4 temp hp

Seeing Sara drop, Bimble moves up and unleashes a cone of brilliant colors that wash over the enemies.

Will: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Will: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Unconcious: 2d4 ⇒ (2, 2) = 4

As the colors wash over them the halfling stands there in a daze for a moment while the cultists drops to the ground unconscious. With the cultist down, Caspian moves up to attack the halfling slicing into her. Otavio moves to finish off the downed cultist and does just that as he jabs his blade into the mans chest.

Sara lies on the floor, but luckily it seems like her bleeding stops after Rosanna casts a spell to stabilize her. With the cultist down, Capricia moves to attack the stunned halfling leaving another deep wound.

After the severe injuries and the effects of the spell starting to ware off the halfling looks around a little confused but seemingly back to normal.

Round 3
Rosanna/Capricia, Enemies, > Bimble/Caspian/Otavio/Sara
Round 4
Rosanna/Capricia, Enemies, Bimble/Caspian/Otavio/Sara

Capricia takes another hack at the traitorous halfling.

mwk falcata (Flagbearer): 1d20 + 9 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 9 + 1 = 20 for slashing damage: 1d8 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 4 + 1 = 13 (19-20/x3)

Bimble enters the room, finally getting a good look at the halfling woman they had been fighting. Something occurs to him--an encounter from the gala that had seemed so positive. Sadly, like many things in the gala, this was ending poorly.

"Wyssilka, is that you? I thought us little folk were supposed to stick together? How can you halflings work for the forces that oppress you?"

With limited magics remaining, Bimble instead moves to Martella, trying to help her free.

Move and then help Martella. If there's no way to help, just pass.

Caspian sidesteps to catch the halfling between himself and Capricia, before striking once more.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 12 Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Moving into the room, Rossana's eyes fall upon the last standing enemy. Please let them be the last one, Rossana thinks as she fires a bolt into the mess.

Free: 5ft step
Standard: Shooting at the halfing
Move: Reload

Crossbow: 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 4 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 1 - 4 - 4 = 19
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4
Confirm Crit: 1d20 + 6 + 1 - 4 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 1 - 4 - 4 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

Good Hit!! Sara silently cheers you all on

Otavio is torn between hitting the halfling with the pommel of his sword - Bimble seems to know her. Maybe we ought to keep her alive? - and turning her into a kebab by sticking the pointy end through her chest. Said uncertainty translates to a rather discombobulated effort.

Full-round action: charge (+2 to hit, -2 to AC)
Attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Currently at AC 19

While Bimble moves to help Martella Caspian and Capricia strike out at the halfling who seems to ignore Bimbles comment. While Caspian misses he distracts her enough to open her up to Capricia's attack, Rosanna finishes the woman off with a particularly well placed shot from her crossbow.

Out of combat.

Seeing Bimble going to unlock Martella's bonds, Rossana pauses as she goes to heal Sara. After a moment's hesitation, she casts Stabilize on any of the cultist still alive, starting with the halfling mage. With that done, Rossana pulls out her wand and heals a few of Sara's wounds. "We'll want to tie those ones up before they wake."

CLW Wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
CLW Wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
CLW Wand: 32/50 left

Helping Sara up off the floor, Rossana turns to Lady Martella to see if she needs any medical attention as well. "It seems we made it here in time, at least. Lady Martella, do you have any answers to all this chaos that has started up? Or if the others are safe, such as the Princess?"

Heal: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21 to check on Martella's condition.
Also, how many of the cultists did Rossana manage to stabilize?

Martella is barely conscious and appears to be in pretty bad shape, you see several empty vials on the ground which look similar to those from the alchemy room and you notice Martella's clothes, in addition to being stained with blood, have various splotches of different colored liquids on it. When Bimble unshackles her from the wall she falls to her knees on the floor, barely able to stay upright. In a hushed voice, with a lot of effort she whispers "Thank you..." before passing out.

You managed to stabilize the halfling and one of the cultists, the other two died.

You can tell she has been beaten and tortured within an inch of her life. While it seems they used alchemical agents to try and pry information out of her, there aren't any signs of anything too concerning, with some healing and rest she should recover without the need for anything special.

After quickly checking Lady Martella's condition, Rossana casts a quick healing spell to help ease some of the pain. "Looks like they were torturing her down here, but there doesn't seem to be anything too bad here. Let's take her to safety so that she can get a proper rest. Does anyone else need a little bit of healing before we head up?"

Casting CLW:
Lady Martella: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Have a couple extra spells to use as it seems we're done for now down here. Have three up for grabs:
CLW 1: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11
CLW 2: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
CLW 3: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

With a little bit of healing Martella wakes up. She sits back up, her back pressed against the wall and takes in a deep breath as she looks around at you all. She rubs her wrists and ankles where the bindings had been. While still severely wounded, she seems a bit more herself than moments ago.

"Thank you for coming to my rescue, I had feared the worse. How did you end up finding me?" she asks. Looking down to see she is just in her slip she moves her legs to her side and crosses her arms across her chest. She looks around and motions toward a chest in one of the corners of the room. Without waiting for an answer to her previous question she asks "Can you see if the rest of my clothes and gear are in there?"

Rossana quickly retrieves the lady's clothes to help her state of undress. "Here you go. We put a few clues together from your messages beforehand to find this place," Rossana explains. "Sir Caspian might have helped out a bit as well."

Martella, looks and see's Caspian standing there, obviously still a little out of it. A deep smile washes across her face.

As Rossana checks the chest she finds that in addition to Martella's clothes from yesterday and her gear, there is a heavy sack containing 2000 gold coins. When Rossana brings Martella her clothes she stands and promptly gets her gear back on. Turning back to face the group she looks to Caspian, still smiling "So I guess Morilla found you? I'm glad you decided to stick around Oppara."

She looks to the others as she continues "Is it safe to get out of here? With everything that has happened I would rather not linger in case there are any more that come."

A small part of Capricia wants to revel in Martella's misfortune, but the ex-pirate quickly douses those embers of bitterness. Though perhaps, technically, she was Martella's slave, the noblewoman had never truly treated her as such. And the duelist's first encounter with Taldan royalty and nobility had swiftly taught her there were WAY worse people out there.

As a result, she dutifully interposes herself between the noblewoman and Otavio as Martella dresses, the hint of a smirk tugging at one corner of her mouth as she makes a little twirling motion with one finger, signaling Otavio to turn around and give Martella some privacy as she re-clothed herself.

"If anyone has some rope, I can tie up the Fantabulous one and her henchman," she announces to the others.

As the battle concludes, Bimble lets the more energetic members of the party minister to the cultists and Martella. When she's recovered, he uses a bit of magic to clean her up Prestidigitation and chimes in with his own question that's been on the top of his mind.

"Do you know what happened to Princess Eutropia?"

Martella shakes her head "Not yet, that is one of the reasons we need to get out of here. I need to see what has happened in the city since they've held me captive down here."

Martella, looks and see's Caspian standing there, obviously still a little out of it unable to post from work :P. A deep smile washes across her face.

Caspian returns the smile although he waits for Martella to dress before offering her the embrace that family deserves.

"Between Morilla and myself we know most of your secrets Martella." He explains with a teasing smile, different from any emotion he's shown so far. "Still, your step-up down here is quite impressive, although your gardening leaves a little to be desired!"

He glances at the cultists, aristocratic hauteur reappearing all over his face. "The penalty for kidnapping and torturing a Taldan noble is death. Unless any of your object these people should be handed over to the authorities at once."

Hehe that was actually in reference to her looking at the party and not seeing her own brother standing there :P

Martella grins to Caspian's jest and when he mentions death she looks at the halfling woman with a scowl on her face "I'm surprised you let them live... the authorities, I'm sure have their hands full, perhaps it would be better if they simply met their fate here and now..."

Sara excepts Rossana's hand up, and gives the lady a quick hug, "Thank you for continuously bring me back to life. Someday I'll figure out how to avoid being hit with pointed objects." looking down at yet another blood stained and torn dress, she sighs.

She'll listen to all the talking, and nod at the proper times, then add at the end to Caspian's kind of question "No objection. Um... I could probably carry the halfling. Leave some of the rest of you with your sword arm free." with that she'll heft a bound evil little turd of a stabby stabby over her shoulder with a huff.

"Okay. Ready."

Martella grins to Caspian's jest and when he mentions death she looks at the halfling woman with a scowl on her face "I'm surprised you let them live... the authorities, I'm sure have their hands full, perhaps it would be better if they simply met their fate here and now..."

Caspian nods. "I agree. Better that than them escaping in the future."

Unless stopped he passes his rapier cleanly into the cultist's heart before turning to Sara.

Capricia steps up to Sara's side, ready to interpose herself between the bard and Caspian if needed.

"You don't think Fantabulous WhatsHerName will give up any information of value if interrogated?" the swordswoman asks Martella. "Or do you not have a safe place nearby to conduct such an interrogation?"

Turning to face Sara a bit more, Capricia adds, "I'm afraid I agree that we can't turn her over to the authorities if we want true justice done to this murderous traitor."

Capricia doesn't carry any rope, so I left things hanging in my previous post. Assuming she was given some, she'd have disarmed and searched the halfling thoroughly before binding her like four times (Can't be too careful with halfling rogue cultists!).

Did the halfling have anything of interest on her person?

"This is the safe place I imagine." Caspian replies, glancing at his sister. "The fact that they broke in here shows us how capable they are..."

Martella nods to Caspian's words and adds "She was rather boastful in her torturing too, I doubt there is much more to learn then what she already related to me. However, my brother is right this is the closest, secure place. If you all want to interrogate her you are welcome to but I need to check on the Princess."

"Wait, What!" Sara steps back, more than a bit shocked, as the rapier goes through the cultist and then suddenly many faces are turned toward her.
"Listen, I'm all for fighting to the death, even kicking a foe when their down to make sure, but killing an unconscious person without a word in edgewise... " she trails off with a shake of her matted, bloodied curls.
Pulling herself up(which is hard with a shoulder full of halfling) and facing them all "If our city is to survive this horror, shouldn't we at least TRY to uphold the law. I'm not talking about the stupid ones like no woman can rule, but the common decent laws everyone knows, like Do Not Murder People."

"I favor the law every bit as much as you." Caspian replies calmly. "Would you deny that they are deserving of death? Both Taldan law and natural justice demands it. Given what happened at the Exaultation Gala we can be certain that law and order in Oppara is going to be... diminished for a time. This is the safest thing that we can do, and it is just also."

LG arguing in favor of a cold blooded kill...

Rossana is quite surprised as the cultist is finished off so swiftly, then more so as she herself tries to interpose between them. "You're right, the laws would give them death, but I'm tired of all this! We've had to fight for our lives this whole time, running into murderer after murderer. I'm tired of fighting, and I'm tired of killing. I just...don't want anymore today, okay? Haven't enough people died already?"

Bimble, who has stayed silent during these actions, chimes in. "There are valid arguments on both sides, but our priority right now is ensuring the safety of the Princess. Wyssilka is a halfling, so she is not too heavy to carry for the strong warriors among us. We can decide later with the passage of time what to do with her. If we find her, perhaps the Princess can dispense royal justice."

Bimble tries to live up to his sagely title.

"If we're to have a trial, it doesn't hurt to have all the facts," Capricia interjects. Digging into her pack, the redhead retrieves a NOTE.

"The symbol she wore marks her as a servant of Thamir Gixx, a god of opportunity, green, and assassins...if I'm remembering Bimble's words correctly."

Handing the note to Martella, Capricia inquires, "How much do you know of this Brotherhood of Silence?"

Sara nods her agreement, and though not one of the strong warriors the sagely Bimble was talking about, she'll continue to shoulder the halfling for now. Though she doesn't think one of the others would shank him and go Oops, she just feels since she spoke up about it she should bare the extra load.

She does arch an eyebrow at Capricia's questions. "The halflings in the catacombs had the same symbols."

Martella takes the note and looks it over she turns to Capricia and gives a shrug "Other than what she mentioned very little, it is on my list of things to look into when I get the chance. However, from what I gathered they were hired to kill me and, as you saw in the note, anyone working for me. She didn't mention who was pulling the purse strings but I would assume it was someone who opposed the Princess. This cult of Norgorber followers was just the muscle to strike out at me and in so doing, the Princess."

She turns and looks to Sara holding the halfling "Do what you will with her, turn her in, keep her for yourselves or kill her, it matters little to me, though she deserves death for the torture she met on me..." Turning back to everyone else she continues "Either way, let's get out of here so I can take stock of what has happened and ensure the Princess's safety."

"Where to?" Sara asks, not enjoying the not so happy attention of Martella, but also not willing to back down from it. Instead she'll follow with prisoner in tow.

Martella nods toward the door "I'm still not 100% if you can make sure we get outside safely I can take it from there. Give me a couple days to recuperate and take stock of things and make sure the princess is ok and I will seek you out again. I'll make sure you all have accommodations available to you at the Silent Horse, one of Oppara’s more lavish inns, for anyone that needs it."

"While I still have a home in Oppara, recent events have me convinced that we should stay in close contact. The Silent Horse sounds magnificent."

"You all know it already." Caspian adds, "My rooms are there for the moment. It will be a pleasure to have you all as neighbors."

When the group is ready to depart the hidden base under the warehouse Martella eagerly follows you out. Luckily there are no more dangers waiting for you as you exit. Once outside Martella pauses a moment to take in the fresh air, she steps over and finally gives her brother a hug with a smile on her face before turning to everyone else. [b]"I can manage from here. I still owe you from you work at the Gala too, I haven't forgotten. I will send your payment and have it waiting at the inn. Thank you again." She turns and hurries off toward the center of town unless otherwise stopped.

----------

Whenever you finally make it to the inn you find your payment of 500gp a piece waiting for you and rooms for each of you that need it. The city, while not in chaos is in a uneasy state as the dust still settles from what is now being called the Exaltation Massacre.

You all have 2 days of downtime before Martella will come to seek you out again, so use that time to level, sell/purchase gear, etc.

Upon reaching the inn, Rossana gives a curtsy to the group. "While I quite enjoyed our time together, I fear I must now return home to quell my parents' worries," she states. "We can meet up again tomorrow to find you a new dress Sara, especially with all this new gold. You as well, Capricia, even if you don't particular like to dress up."

-----

During her time off in the two days, Rossana will reassure her parents, doing her best to avoid letting her actual actions known just yet.

Bluff: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29

She'll also enjoy window shopping with Sara, and Capricia if she joins. A bit of downtime after all the action will be a nice change of pace, even as the city slowly settles down from the Exaltation Massacre.

As for sicknesses, she'll buy two vials of antiplague (one for Sara) for anyone that falls sick, and use her Remove Sickness spell to help assist recoveries. She'll use her remaining spells to heal everyone and restore their bodies.

Antiplague+Remove Disease Bonus: 50gp apiece, +9 to save, or +4 and roll twice and choose better when saving

Using Lesser Restoration, Rossana will also try to cure lost ability scores.

"Thank you" she tells Rossana, eager to take her up on the offer. "First though I should see to our prisoner here." she'll ask the others if anyone has anyone they trust in the guard, or if they knew if the pathfinders would detain the halfling for them. If nothing else she'll just take her to the nearest station (hopefully with a noble or two to make them not arrest Sara as well).

Sara will stat at the inn with the others, though she will go visit her own family at the bakery. Make sure they are all okay, and request a bit of time off of work.

She will also happily except some lesser restorations, as she is still suffering a bit in those regards.

I'll look at purchases tomorrow

Bimble decides that recent events warrant a more focused study on magic, both to aid in combat and espionage. He hits the books hard, and offers to exchange notes with Lord Caspian.

Caspian is quite amenable to an exchange of notes and in addition introduces Bimble to a number of his friends and colleagues in the city, facilitating his entrance into quite a few of the cities magic repositories.

What would you like? :)

In the morning, Sara will drag Capricia to Rossanna's, with persistent logical arguments peppered with occasional honeyed flattery. Once the other noble woman has been collected, and Sara's eyes pop back into her head at the elegance of the Thorn estate, they'll go shopping and hopefully a stop at her father's bakery after. The baker's daughter has already seen to her family, and assured her father that she'll do her best to not be killed, again.
The real reason to visit isn't her family or the food, but the people. As the crowd bustles, Sara will borrow the movable stairs that the many Nole daughters use to reach high shelves, and to yell loudly in a place everyone can hear.
Which is what Sara wants it for today. Climbing up in her new lovely new dress, she'll call out “Ladies and Gentleman, your ears for a moment. Two nights ago our great country democratically changed its laws. Taking us out of the stagnant past, in a bright future for us all.” her voice is hopefully and clear, then she lowers it allowing dread to creep in “As the announcement was made, those that against the decision didn't argue or debate, they took out swords and started Killing all those around them.” she lets the voices settle “Rumors are diseases tainting the truth. I was there. I saw the swords come out, the screams of fear, the corpses...” another pause “No matter your thoughts on the momentous decision our lawmakers made that night, Violence is not the answer. The fact Thugs decided our process was beneath them should concern us ALL!!”

With that she'll apologize for disturbing their lunch, and step down.

She'll do that several times through out the day, at various places around town.

Caspian is quite amenable to an exchange of notes and in addition introduces Bimble to a number of his friends and colleagues in the city, facilitating his entrance into quite a few of the cities magic repositories.

What would you like? :)

Alchemists can learn spells from wizard spellbooks, so the question is, what would YOU like (if anything).

"Do you think this wise?" Capricia quietly asks Sara following the baker-turned-activist's first speech to the people on the streets of Oppara.

But the question seems to be mostly rhetorical: Capricia stands watch each time Sara speaks, standing close to her new friend and watching the crowd for threats, her falcata sheathed but nonetheless a prominent deterrent.

"Wise?" Sara sighs when she gets down "No... but I think it is important. Everyone will try and go back to normal, they'll just want to ignore the WRONG from that night, if they even heard about it. Maybe... it will keep them awake?" she shrugs, "But we can stop if it makes either of you uncomfortable."

Capricia watches Sara closely as she answers the question. Then she nods and answers, "I've got your back."

Rossana nods. "Court gossip will only go so far before trickling down with vastly different information," Rossana points out. "Most people will hear a skewed account instead, so I think it's a good idea." She'll then join in by using her shifting abilities to add dramatic flair to the proclamations and let others see the ones that threatened the country.

Bimble definitely prefers his anonymity, but is keen to see if the pamphlets he had written detailing the heroic acts of the Senate and the Lion Blades against the treacherous assassins of Emperor Stavian had gained any circulation or notoriety.