GM Dak - Shattered Star 2

Game Master Dakcenturi

"Beauty... she even has a spinnaker for extra speed when ye need it... may the River Rat let her go smoothly out into the harbour... LET GO ALL LINES, BOYS 'N GIRLS! HOLD ON TO THAT BOOM TEMMER!"

Profession Sailor, Guidance: 1d20 + 7 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 7 + 1 = 22

Lexi looks the sailboat over with the curiosity (and skittishness) of a cat. After studying it a bit, the brainy gal's able to raise the sail, almost expertly!

Quite pleased with herself, Lexi again begins to sing softly under her breath.

"Lexi helped to raise the sail,
Ham and Tuna!
Lexi helped to raise the sail
Ham and Tuu-uu--na!"

Amelexis Int Check: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

After losing out on such a large lunch, Gurk takes his time carefully climbing into the water hut, not completely comfortable on these strange huts. Once on board, Gurk begins to search for any scurrying rodents among the cramped space to make up for earlier.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18

"A moment, Master Davor," Temmer says, "I thought our intention was to not take it out until tomorrow."

I'm fine going for a joyride, but we did want to wait, IIRC. I think we wanted to hit up a monument again on our way before we actually go out. Plus talk to Natalya. That said, I'm good with moving to the next day at any point.

"Yes, I know... but let's give her a swim 'n see how fast she'll handle into the waves!"

Davor sails the Siren's Purr around the harbor, then out of it past the breakwater to see how she'll do in open water near the monuments. He performs several figure of eights maneuver to test her turning radius, and to get his fellow Pathfinders comfortable with their job and how she handle... and to make sure everyone remembers to SIT DOWN and not get hit by the boom when tacking into the wind. Finally, on his way back, Davor maintains the same bearing for a long straight run to see how fast she can go and how long it takes to get there...

Lexi thoroughly enjoys the test run Davor makes out into the bay, but there's still something bothering her, so she approaches the half-orc and makes her misgiving known.

"I love this boat, sir, but...won't its sail make it more obvious to prying eyes when we head out to the piling? Lady Heidmarch did warn us to keep a low profile in our hunt for the other shards. And if it were to be stolen, that'd set us back more than the loss of a second rowboat."

"Look at the hundreds of ships and boats out on the bay Lexi! no one can even see us from shore at this distance. And we're nowhere near the pilings. If ye're worried about prying eyes you'll never have a decent night's sleep. This is a big city and if someone has decided to keep tabs on us, they'll be able to do so without our knowin'... for now, focus on learning how to sail this thing, unless you want to swim to that piling!"

Bixby relaxed a little as the vessel proves seaworthy, and a little more still as Davor seems a highly-skilled pilot.

"I fail to see the purpose to wait--we have a boat, and we have a mission. We should continue now before we lose our advantage."

With my trip, I may have missed the reason for waiting a day--if so, ignore me.

"I would tend to agree with you Master Copperpot. We should vote on it. Two yays so far; let's hear the rest of ye!"

Gurk tilts his head a bit at the question. "Do Gurk get food or shiny from one of them?"

We had discussed waiting a day to talk to our captive once the influence of the shard had worn off to try and drill her for information. I'm good either way.

Sorry, I realized I missed this earlier.

"Um...how do we moor a boat to a giant rock column to keep it from floating away?"

"There may well be a cleat on the column that we can tie on to, Lady Dusk; if not, I imagine there's an anchor on board. Might be worth looking for that now, though I hadn't thought to need it so quickly," Temmer replies.

We had indeed talked about waiting so we could interrogate Natalya. Plus stop at a monument. The plan was to rent the boat for tomorrow.

Verris shrugs, "We might learn more of the shard and who's after it from Natalya if we wait. That being said, not sure she has much information that might help us find this next one. Might be waitin' fer nothin' if that's the case."

I'm good either way too.

"I think we should talk with Natalya first," Lexi opines. "Since Natalya was a bearer of the shard of pride for longer than any of us, perhaps she has some insight into the next piece of the Sihedron that Bixby didn't see."

I could see Lexi going either way on this issue, so....
Crow Piling Now!/Crow Piling Later!: 1d2 ⇒ 2 (Crow Piling Later!)

Ok folks give me a PM when you're done with Natalya and ready to dungeon it... I will be busy this coming week and will check momentarily, but I think I will leave the RP in your fine folk's good hands! Assume Davor is sulking for not getting his way! ;)

Let me know if you all want to do anything else or jump ahead to talking with Natalya the next day.

Jump ahead to Natalya

Since we're already out, maybe we could pass close enough to the Crow piling to see if there's a place to moor the sailboat for when we return. Otherwise, yeah--let's talk to Natalya. A quick reminder that Verris already rolled a 21 in this post and got successful Aid Another rolls from Lexi and Davor for a total of 25 (+2 if Nat's unfriendly/hostile to start).

Jump ahead to Natalya- no piling. For whatever reason Amelexis you keep saying the exact opposite that Davor says... while this is cute RP-wise this is gonna really stretch this AP if you keep this up. I said "Dungeon" and you said "Natalya" (and the group was thus convinced to do so). To speed things up I say ooc to jump to "Natalya" and you try to steer us back to the piling?! is there something I'm missing?

Gurk shakes his head as the longshanks begin to argue about what to do. "Gurk know which do first. Which can be set fire be doing first, always." A small spark of flame crackles in his hand as a delighted grin appears on his face.

Bixby reluctantly agrees to try talking to Natalya first, though he is eager to check the piling.

"Do what must be done," he says dismissively. "But all kinds of unforeseen consequences are certain to result from this decision."

Jump ahead to Natalya, please. That was the plan a while ago.

After finding a secure place to tie off the boat back at the docks the group makes its way back to the manor and gets some rest waiting for Natalya to no longer be effected by the curse. When the time comes, Travor comes to tell the group that Natalya is feeling better and they could speak to her now. He leads you to Natalya's room where her door is open and she is sitting on the edge of her bead, leaned over with her head in her hands.

Conscious of the fact that he had failed to keep the longshanks away, Gurk still attempts to try and persuade the queen longshank anyway. "Gurk try to stop longshanks as best he can. But longshanks no listen. Gurk still get half shinies?"

"All things considered, Gurk, maybe things worked out for the best that we didn't leave Natalya alone: That blonde-haired woman and her thugs might very well have killed her if we just left."

Turning to Natalya, Lexi gives her a big smile and introduces herself. "My name's Amelexis but my friends call me Lexi. I made the mistake of picking up that weird shard you found, and I acted...badly while under its effects. Lady Heidmarch found a way to counter its powerful curse, and she's not angry at either of us now. But there may be another shard in Magnimar, and we want to find it before someone else gets ensnared by its magic and causes problems. Can you tell us where you found the shard you were carrying?"

"And do you know the blonde-haired woman I mentioned earlier? The tips of her hair were dyed black: Very distinctive and very stylish!"

Verris joins Lexi in talking with Natalya, trying to win her over after their initial unfortunate meeting.

"Like Lexi mentioned, we're lookin' for another of those cursed shards you happened upon. We ain't got any bad feelin's over what happened. Hope ye understand why we had to fight with ye like we did. We wanna try start over, have a relationship that's good fer both parties if we can. That bein' said, can you tell us more about the shard? How ye found it? Where it was? Who was after ye... and anything else about the shard really. We know ye were under the curse but it'll help with Lady Heidmarch if ye cooperate. We can put in a good word fer ye too if ye help us!"

As Lexi mentioned already, my roll is below. I can roll again if you want?

Since we're already out, maybe we could pass close enough to the Crow piling to see if there's a place to moor the sailboat for when we return. Otherwise, yeah--let's talk to Natalya. A quick reminder that Verris already rolled a 21 in this post and got successful Aid Another rolls from Lexi and Davor for a total of 25 (+2 if Nat's unfriendly/hostile to start).

Lexi and Verris had already asked about five percent of the questions Bixby had, but he had found that asking too many questions at once could slow down the investigation.

I will wait until later to ask if it was sunny, partly cloudy, or overcast when she found the shard--

Temmer waits to see what the woman has to say, doing his best not to interfere. It's ... unfortunate ... that they have to take such a tack, but at least there's no torture involved. He's not sure he could stand for such measures.

Natalya looks up as she wipes a tear from her cheek and smiles at Gurks words "If only I had shinnies to give..." she says meekly, a shadow of the prideful woman you had fought with only a couple days past.

As Verris and Lexi begin asking question she nods "Yes, I... I'm sorry for my part in all that as well. Not that I've lived the most honest life, but... I mean I was trying to turn over a new leaf and then that whole shard thing almost destroyed that..." She pauses for a moment and looks to you each in turn with a nod before she says "So, thank you for rescuing me from myself, or at least my worst self under the influence of that cursed shard."

She lets out a brief sigh and smiles slightly "Well, in any case, if you are interested in the shard I will try and tell you anything I can to help."

Over the next few minutes she explains that she found the shard on a skeleton inside a secret chamber she discovered in the Crow. She further confirms that the Tower Girls were the ones hunting her and the blonde that was mentioned was a lieutenant of the gang named Tiesha. The tower girls have moved their hideout to the Crow and after Natalya disappeared after finding the shard that is what lead them to hunt her down.

Upon hearing that the Tower Girls are located inside the Crow piling, Lexi follows up on some things with Natalya.

"If Tiesha was a lietenant, who is the gang's leader, and what are her capabilities or talents? Are there other lieutenants we should look out for? How many Tower Girls are there in total? What weapons and tactics do they favor?"

After giving Natalya an opportunity to answer the first round of inquiries, Lexi's had time to formulate a few more questions.

"Are there traps we should know about? Passwords that might get us past a guard post? How do the Tower Girls travel between the piling and the city and, assuming they use boats, is there a place on the piling where such vessels can be tied off? Will we need climbing gear inside the Crow, or are there actual staircases?"

Bixby raises an eyebrow at Lexi and pulls out his notebook. He crosses off a number of the questions he had jotted down.

She would make a fine investigator--excellent questions. To start, at least.

"What were you initially doing at the Crow when you found the relic? Had something alerted you to its existence?"

With so many needless questions being thrown around, Gurk moved off a bit and sat down with a bit of hidden leftovers from earlier. Longshanks worry too much. No shinies, no askin'.

Temmer listens, but doesn't interject, Lady Dusk and Copperpot having asked everything that came to his mind.

He fears they're going to have to do quite a lot of fighting in the piling. Not that he shirks from battle, but it hardly seems appropriate battling a lot of likely impoverished thieves, and all women at that.

After the meeting, Davor departs for a bit of shopping, keeping to the main streets and away from dark alleys. He later comes back with a beautiful Shoanti-styled calumet, complete with tribal feathers and fancy leatherworks, two pounds of the best halfling tobacco he could find, and last but not least, a beautifully crafted masterwork trident.

Edited shopping list:

After the new batch of questions Natalya replies in turn. She explains that Ayala is the leader of the tower girls. She is quite skilled with a bladed scarf, but more importantly she is a wererat and a tough one at that. There are a few others that Ayala has 'gifted' with the wererat curse and those would be others to look out for. She can't be certain the exact numbers since she has been away for a little while now but she would say at least 20 others there. The tower girls prefer short swords or hand crossbows and are extremely agile. They know how to hit the vital spots to cause more damage.

Aside from some 'alarm' type traps there weren't any others when she left but that could have changed. There won't be any getting past guard posts unless they can all manage to pass themselves off as tower girls, which may be difficult since there are a number of male party members. They use row boats to get back and forth and the main entrance there is a place to tie off, though a bigger boat may be able to be tied off somewhere else with some effort, it will be nearly impossible to approach without alerting the tower girls. They could try using the morning mists as cover but anything bigger than a row boat would likely be spotted pretty easily. She notes that for the most part the place can be traversed pretty easily but there is one spot with some ropes and a platform that some climbing gear would prove useful.

When Bixby asks about the shard she shrugs "Was just snooping around in Ayala's quarters when I found the secret door that lead to the old bones. Was just luck... good or bad depending on your point of view..."

Upon hearing that Ayala is a wererat, Verris gives a subtle sidelong glance towards Lexi. Guess she was right about the wererats being around Magnimar.

Shaking her head at the thought she turns her attention back to the questioning and listens to the rest of what is said.

Do we want to keep the climbing gear from the thugs instead of selling it if it's needed for the tricky section?

Gurk tilts his head during the queen talk. Longshank rats? She be right in head? They be some big rats. Mmm. Rats. Contentedly distracted by the thought, Gurk zones out as they keep questioning the queen.

I would vote yes for our less athletic members.

I had meant to note I had purchased 4 scrolls: air bubble, comprehend languages, expeditious excavation, touch of the sea

Bixby continues his questioning for a while, diagraming the room on his parchment, noting the color of Ayala's blankets, and asking how many drawers the desk has. After he secures his litany of details, he scribbles a few more notes about possible connections to other conspiracies and unsolved crimes.

"I believe we have covered a small number of possibilities, but we should go. Any delay will throw off all of my calculations, and we would need to start over."

Amelexis catches Verris's quick glance and moves to her new friend's side.

"It was just an educated guess on my part. Wererats like three environments in particular: Big cities, seaports, and settlements with sewers. Magnimar checked all three boxes."

To the others she says, "We'll need to buy some silver weapons and maybe some silver-tipped arrows and crossbow bolts if we're to fight wererats." To Gurk and Davor she adds, "And be aware that any big rat you see may not be the tasty or sacred rodent you expect--it could be a wererat in animal form!"

Lastly, the aasimar draws Natalya's mithral blade from its scabbard and holds it before the young woman. "Since you'll apparently be laid up a while yet, would it be alright if we held on to this blade until we've finished dealing with the wererats in the Crow?"

If Natalya wants her blade returned immediately, Lexi will comply.

Also, I just noticed I've never actually made a Knowledge check for Lexi regarding wererats (its ability to defeat certain DRs was the reason I opted to take coin shot for one of her initial spells, hence Lexi's obsession with wererats).

Lexi will buy a silver dagger and 10 silver-tipped crossbow bolts before the expedition to the Crow. If anyone else would like to use Natalya's mithral shortsword, feel free to borrow it.

Amelexis Dusk Knowledge (local; lycanthropes) Check: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25

ADDENDUM @ Verris: Yeah, it makes sense to hold on to the climbing kit.

Temmer frowns, but is pleased they took the time to properly plan this ... adventure. On the way to the docks, he stops to buy 20 silvered arrows, as well as a fine quarterstaff masterwork on one end.

"I know we already paid for the sail, but do we want to consider finding two rowboats instead?" he asks. "It might give us a slight edge if they won't realize we're approaching."

He then turns to Lady Dusk.

"You mentioned and showed me earlier certain monuments that might prove beneficial," he says. "Are there any that might help us against wererats?" Might be worth going to The Battle of Charda (Beacon's Point, DC 20 Intimidate (while practicing weaponplay): +1 to attacks with melee weapons for 24 hours (+1 per 10 points you exceed the DC) or The Cenotaph (Capital District, DC 15 Knowledge (religion): +1 morale bonus to Fortitude saves for 24 hours (+1 per 10 points you exceed the DC)

Lexi turns her unblinking eyes toward Adistan. There's a bit more warmth in them than usual, likely because he's apparently actually listened to her when she's gone into encyclopedia mode.

"Well...the Cenotaph's boon might help us resist becoming wererats ourselves, should this Ayala bite us." Pausing a beat, the girl then deadpans, "Verris and I would look terrible with whiskers!"

Lexi cuts off one of her giggle fits with a loud, unladylike snort before falling silent for a few moments. "While the Battle of Charda's boon might indeed be helpful, the monument is located near the far southern edge of the city, and would be quite a distance out of our way were we to visit it."

One of Lady Heidmarch's servants beckons to Lexi, letting her know that she's wanted elsewhere in the manor.

I'll be making a slight change to the silver weapon Lexi will be buying; more on that in my next post.

Just waiting on you all to finalize your plans and then we'll move forward.

On the day the party is set to depart, Lexi's brought a package by one of the Heidmarch servants: The silver weapons she ordered have arrived. The crossbow bolts meet with the young aasimar's approval, but the silver weapon also enclosed is quite a bit larger than a dagger. Removing it from its tannish leather sheathe, Lexi examines the blade curiously.

Suddenly, her eyes widen slightly in recognition. "It's a gladius...like the gladiators at the Serpent's Run use!" she comments, taking a few practice swings. The servant waits until the girl's done hacking the air before pointing out that there appears to be some sort of writing on the leather scabbard. Lexi reads the letters, gasps in surprise, and hugs the scabbard to her bosom, looking so joyful and excited that she might just explode.

"Lady Heidmarch has some connections and called in a favor," the servant announces, trying not to grin.

I'm good with either getting a second rowboat or taking our chances with the bigger rowboat, since we've already paid its rental. I'll also suggest visiting the Cenotaph, since at least Lexi and Davor have a shot at hitting the monument's Knowledge (religion) DC to get its boon...and since it's not out-of-the-way.

As the group finalizes its plans, Bixby strongly prefers the larger boat.

"The smaller the vessel, the more larger the leaks!" he exclaims. "Or, so I've heard it said," he adds.

Flipping through his papers, he says "Though--I can't remember where."

I think we're good to go. I doubt arriving in the fog is going to do much for us, and even then it will only be the first combat it helps us on.

Verris returns Lexi's deadpan look, saying "Think I could pull off the whiskers. It's the rat's tail that's the deal-breaker fer me." She holds the deadpan expression for a few moments before the facade cracks and she starts grinning, obviously joking.

As the party talks about which boat to use, Verris shrugs. "Can see the advantage of both. Might be safer to travel all together though. Don't feel strongly either way." She shrugs again, happy to go with whichever method is wanted most by the party.

As they get ready to leave Verris states, "Need to buy some things on the way as well. Should only take a few minutes. Might help with the fight with the were-rats."

Want to buy the 20 durable alchemical silver arrows on the way.

"Let's stop this nonsense! one of you gotta shell out for a second rowboat. Bixby, I know you got the most amount of unused coins stashed from our last haul... tell you what: I'll buy the damn thing from you after we're done! Also, can one of you make us look like Tower Girls from afar? at least if we have a matching color of cloak covering our backs, we might be able to get there right under their sentry's noses until it's too late for them to sound the alarm... assumin' there's even sentries there..."

Lexi looks up from her prized treasure as Davor speaks. "That's a great idea! I wish I'd been paying more attention to what was going on once we got back with Natalya. Did we sell off Tiesha's armor? I bet me or Verris could disguise ourselves as her well enough; the other one could wear a red bandana and be Natalya taken prisoner! Davor and Adistan would make wonderful thugs...err, no insult intended. Bixby and Gurk...hmm...they could either duck down real low or maybe act like other prisoners. I can use prestidigitation to color the ends of my hair or Verris's blonde like Tiesha's was! This plan is virtually foolproof!"

Bixby has to concede that the plan has merit, but shakes his head. "No plan is foolproof! Think of the contingency plans we'll need to have in place! A variation of the wind, choppiness of waves, the fog, how many traitor goblins we have with our group, etc. Any one of these things could blow the plan to smithereens!"

I'm good with the plan, just playing paranoid.

Cool... if Bixby will grant an interest free loan of 50gp to Davor, he'll buy a second rowboat right away and then proceed with our best disguise person to switch a few minor details on us so we look like the Tower Girls coming back to base from afar...

Disguise Time: 6d3 ⇒ (3, 3, 3, 2, 1, 1) = 13 x10min = 130 min
Bixby Disguising Girls, Minor Details Only, Taking 10: 10 + 6 + 5 = 21
Bixby Disguising Boys, Minor Details Only, Different Gender, Taking 10: 10 + 6 + 5 - 2 = 19

Admiring himself in a mirror, Davor bats his long eyelashes and puckers his lipstick covered lips, making sure none of it went on his pristine white tusks. He (she?) then says, "Oh, impressive Master Copperpot! I believe I could... be coerced to go on a date with myself, if in a pinch... bwahahahaha!"

"Gurk already small. Can hide inside boat-huts real well," Gurk mentions.

Sounds good here as well.

Verris is wearing Tiesha's armour and is happy to pose as the woman if necessary. I don't think this is going to hold up long term though. I'd imagine it might get us close enough for an ambush attack?

Thinking of a few more questions, Verris returns to ask Natalya, "Do the rest of the Tower Girl's have sight or hearin' of the guard posts on the Crow? Are there any alarms that the guard posts can sound to alert the rest of the gang without sendin' a runner?"

I've deducted 40GPs (sale price of gear) from my share of the goods we got from the thugs etc and assigned a climber's kit to myself on the loot list. I've also *sold* the garnet while buying the arrows and added that to my money total.

Verris is ready whenever the others are.