"I am Kintargo’s lord-mayor, yet Kintargo is not my city. Nor is it Cheliax’s city. Kintargo belongs to no one person, but to all who live here and make it the greatest city in Cheliax. We call it the Silver City not only for the gleaming waters of the Yolubilis, but for its purity. Kintargo is unique in the nation of Cheliax in this way. We are not the nation’s largest city, nor its strongest. We may not have Westcrown’s history, Ostenso’s naval superiority, Corentyn’s trade dominance, or Egorian’s power, but nor do we have Westcrown’s decay, Ostenso’s violence, Corentyn’s slaves, or Egorian’s damnations. Kintargo is our own, and as Cayden Cailean is my witness, I intend to do all that I can to ensure our silver shall never tarnish under Thrune’s touch!”
—Lord-Mayor Jilia Bainilus, two days before she vanished
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*
*
*
Even with the cobblestones of Argent Avenue and the foliage of Aria Park still wet from the morning’s light rain, dozens of Kintargans have gathered along the facade of the opera house to protest the city’s new lord-mayor, Paracount Barzillai Thrune. The city’s new leader was appointed by Her Infernal Majestrix, Queen Abrogail II, in the wake of the previous lord-mayor’s sudden flight from the city— an event that still has local rumormongers whispering furiously. In a scant seven days, Paracount Thrune has instituted martial law, a curfew, and seven outlandish and polarizing proclamations.
These actions and more have called many of Kintargo’s dissatisfied citizens here on this overcast morn. There’s been no sign yet of Barzillai Thrune himself, and the opera house’s doors remain tightly closed—as they have since the man chose the landmark as his new home—but judging by the growing sound of the protesters, he surely can’t ignore the scene on the streets below much longer. A dozen dottari—city guards—have created a barricade against the protesting citizens. With the dottari barricade is Barzillai Thrune’s bodyguard: The white-eyed Nox. The dottari and Nox have managed to maintain a peace in the protest. For now.
Abrogail Thrune II is more colloquially known as “the Queen.”
Barzillai Thrune is more colloquially known as “the Inquisitor.”
If you critically succeeded, open the spoiler below
Barzillai’s full proper title is “Paracount Barzillai of the Thrice-Damned House of Thrune, Chelish High Inquisitor of Asmodeus—Prince of Darkness, savior of Cheliax.” Although, now there should be a “lord-mayor” in there somewhere.
It becomes clear that Kintargans from many walks of life have appeared here—from the downtrodden to the well-endowed. There are also many Kintargans of different ideologies: Kintargo partisans (who despise Cheliax’s tightening grip on their city and demand local rule); economic conservatives (who feel the squeeze as Thrune enacts new taxes and business policies); advocates of democracy (whose bitterest complaint is Thrune’s appointment instead of legal election); anarchists (who hope the protest turns into a good riot); and Chelish loyalists (who support Thrune’s actions to curb the city’s dissentious streak). And much work can be done even here.
Listen for Rumors (secret): With this many people from various parts of Kintargo, gathering rumors spreading through the city (rather than specific sections of the city) is significantly easier than normal. Choose one topic (such as Kintargo’s economic state) or individual (such as Barzillai Thrune) you wish to learn about, or you can choose to listen for general scuttlebutt. Make a Diplomacy check, with the same results as Gather Information. Alternatively, you can use Perception to Listen for Rumors, but in this case you can only gain general scuttlebutt, not rumors about specific individuals or topics.
Pilfer (manipulate) Kintargans of all walks of life are here, but most importantly are the wealthy! Seems as good a time as any to make some coin. You make a Thievery check to Steal from various wealthy individuals.
Critical Success You get a hefty haul! You manage to Steal 2d10 sp in various coins with no one being the wiser.
Success As a critical success, but only 1d10 sp in coins.
Failure Someone notices you along the way. You Steal 1d6 sp in coins and one of your victims—or an observer—notices you and confronts you. You must talk your way out of this predicament (usually with Deception to Lie).
Critical Failure As a failure, except you don’t manage to Steal any coin.
Rabble Rouse (auditory, emotion, linguistic, mental) You rile up the gathering crowd for the protest. Attempt a Diplomacy or Performance check.
Critical Success Your words have earned you recognition. You gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Charisma-based skill checks in Kintargo for the next 24 hours. Further successes to Rabble Rouse increases this bonus, to a maximum of +3. In addition, the crowd respects you and moves to assist you; you do not treat the crowd at the protest as difficult terrain.
Success As a critical success, except you still treat the crowd as difficult terrain.
Critical Failure Your words attract the wrong attention. You take a -1 circumstance penalty to Charisma-based skill checks in Kintargo for 24 hours.
Search for Contact (concentrate, secret) Requirements your Reason to Protest is to Meet a Contact; Effect you scan the crowd to try and find your contact. Attempt a Perception check to Seek out your contact.
Silence Faction (emotion, linguistic, mental) You attempt to coerce one of your rival factions with a presence at the protest. Choose one faction (Kintargo partisans, economic conservatives, advocates of democracy, anarchists, or Chelish loyalists) and attempt a Deception or Intimidation check. If you succeed, that faction is silenced or oppressed for the remainder of the protest.
Watch the Crowd (concentrate, secret) You observe the moving crowd of the protest. Make a Perception check to Seek to see if you notice anything of note.
Chance and Jisara gain a +1 circumstance bonus to Perception checks made during the protest.
Vitalis gains a +1 circumstance bonus on Deception and Intimidation checks made during the protest.
Rigel/Stargazer gains a +1 circumstance bonus to Deception and Thievery checks made during the protest.
Round 1
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Vitalis
Chance
Jisara
Rigel
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Chance was suspicious of the anonymous message, and his immediate reaction was to ignore the invitation for a clandestine meeting at the demonstration. When the day of the protest arrives, though, he decides that if there is any hope of learning something that might lead to finding his missing friend, he will have to take the risk.
Never having been to a protest before, Chance spends an anxious morning trying to decide how best to blend in with the crowd despite his unique appearance. He decides, with regret, to leave his nicest cloak on its hook due to its recently-forbidden embroidery. Instead, he wraps himself in his second-best (and more than a little threadbare) cloak, its dark red hue a near-perfect match for the rich crimson of his shaggy hair and eyebrows. He looks in a mirror and nods.
With the black leather of my armor, at least I look patriotic; maybe the Inquisitor's goons will pass me by when they inevitably start bashing heads.
The gnome also spends a few minutes creating a prop to add to the impression that he is just a typical Kintargo citizen out for a pleasant day of protest against the tyrannical, sponsored-by-the-literal-forces-of-Hell, government of Barzillai Thrune, nobody out of the ordinary, certainly not someone coming to the park for a secret meeting with a probable rebel conspirator.
Soon, the gnome finds himself hurrying across the city from his flat in the Redroof District near old Hocum's long-dark Fantasmagorium (no relation) towards Aria Park, the rapier he wears mostly for show bouncing against his leg and his second-best cloak billowing behind him, and, propped on his shoulder, a makeshift flagpole with a large scrap of fabric tied to one end, big letters in green paint standing out against the light gray canvas:
TAKE THE HINT!
BRING BACK MINT!
Oh, maybe I'll have time to stop at Crissali’s Fine Tomes after the protest! I wonder if old Crissali has acquired anything new? Hopefully he'll have forgotten about the incident with the ink bottle last week. If I really do leave town, I will miss that dusty shop!
* * *
When he arrives at the park, Chance is surprised at the size of the crowd. How am I supposed to find my anonymous source in the middle of all of these shouting people?
Chance sticks to the outer edges of the mass of demonstrators, waving his pro-mint flag and joining half-heartedly in the various chants as he moves from group to group, looking for someone who looks like they're looking for him.
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The walk from Villegre to Jarvis End is a trek but Vitalis feels the trip today is worth the effort. The new lord-mayor is the rightful ruler of Kintargo appointed by the Queen herself. One cannot argue with that. However, these new proclamations that Barzillai Thrune has instituted are arbitrary and unjust. Perhaps the Inquisitor lacks political experience or perhaps he is simply abusing his power. Regardless, a protest is the lawful way to bring up objections to such policies and Vitalis intends to make his voice heard. Still giddy from receiving his acceptance letter from Lictor Sabinus, the time flies during his journey.
Vitalis notes the Aria Park is not far from Songbird Hall and makes a brief visit to his friend and high priest, Zachrin Vhast. He is sure Zachrin is already aware of the protest today, but all the same, he warns the priest to be extra vigilante today as events like today's can often be unpredictable and the law enforcement in Kintargo leans towards heavy-handedness.
After kneeling before the altar and saying a prayer of good fortune to Shelyn, he departs and completes his walk to Aria Park. He is surprised that the crowd has grown so large already. He politely yet forcefully makes his way towards the front of the crowd to make sure he is seen once Barzillai Thrune finally deigns to address the protestors. Surely even he cannot ignore a crowd of this size for long. Once he sees how many lawful citizens disagree with the new proclamations, he would be smart to reconsider them. The lord-mayor serves the citizens of Kintargo after all.
The wait for a response is interminable but as he waits a group of trouble making anarchists catches his eye (and ears). Determined that this should remain a peaceful protest he approaches them.
With one hand on hip and an accusatory finger in the loudest members' face, he makes it clear in no uncertain terms that their presence is unwanted here and that he will not tolerate them promoting anarchy in Kintargo.
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"I've no idea what's possessed me to go through with this," Jisara grumbles, staring into the mirror in front of her, searching for imperfections. The mirror's cloudy, warped surface made this more of an ordeal than she'd have liked, but it's what she had. Displeased with what she finds, she fussed with her hair until it was reconfigured to her liking.
To an outside observer, this might seem to just be the vanity of a young woman, but it was a deadly serious undertaking. The mantle of dark, curly hair on top of her head was not done out of fashion, but to hide the short, pointed horns that grew there. The makeup painstakingly applied to her face and neck were similarly intended to mask the reddish hue of her skin. Her tail was more challenging, but even this had a solution: she simply tied it to her leg and hid it under a skirt.
As irritating as the whole routine was to her, Jisara knew she was lucky, in that she could disguise herself at all. Many tieflings she'd met had such dramatically fiendish features that, short of powerful magic, there was no way they would ever pass for a human. Even still, she was nervous. It was rare that she left the Devil's Nursery in person, even rarer that she did so during daylight hours. She could hardly bundle herself up in a heavy cloak and hide under its hood, though, as there was no easier way to get singled out in a crowd than to look like you were trying to avoid notice.
Satisfied that her disguise would at least pass casual inspection, she again reads the letter that had found its way to her. It wasn't meant for her, of course, but that was nothing new. What was unusual was that it was addressed to Strea Vestori, someone not seen since the Night of Ashes. Its request for a rendezvous at a political protest with an anonymous benefactor, promising information, only made it more interesting.
"This is an awful idea. If it goes poorly, I'm holding you responsible," she says. The cat, sitting on the desk next to the mirror, doesn't reply. Instead, he blinks his yellow eye at her once before jumping to the floor, heading toward the door.
"Okay, yes, you're right. Let's go. Once we're there, though, you need to keep an eye out for trouble." Smiling at her little joke, she opens the door and steps out into the world.
*****
At the park, Jisara hangs back to watch the crowd, looking for any signs of danger before plunging in to find her contact. She looks down to the cat near her feet, gesturing toward the growing protest.
"Go on, see if you can find him. Remember, you're looking for a human man with a black glove on one hand. Come tell me if you find him." She leans against a nearby tree, arms crossed, while the cat bounds off into the crowd and she gauges the situation in front of her.
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Rigel gives himself another look-over in the mirror before leaving. He’s wearing a quite colorful outfit, mostly red with a few patches of orange, and a feathered hat. I hope wearing my armor underneath doesn’t get too uncomfortable. He checks once more in his bag, seeing a dark blue mask and cloak, both covered in his own less-than-successful attempt at embroidering a starry pattern. He steps out and, trying to hide his nervousness, puts on his usual chipper expression and half jogs, half skips towards the site of the protest. He doesn’t bring any sort of signs or flags, but that’s okay, he’s not there just to yell and try and make a point, and he figures not being weighed down would help.
Once there, he does his best, despite his conspicuous outfit, to blend in with the bustling crowd of people. Being a former circus performer, Rigel is no stranger to crowds, but nevertheless is taken aback by the sheer number of people, and he struggles to make his way through. Eventually, he locates what appear to be a group of anarchists, and settles himself walking next to them. A little chaos never hurt anyone. Well, anyone who didn’t have it coming, anyway. He’s tempted a few times to respond to a couple of people who try and argue against them, but instead resigns himself to observe for now and see how the crowd of people acts. Wouldn't want to draw unnecessary attention to myself anyway.
She watches as the tiefling stands right next to the wealthy man and looks at the barricade of dottari. Without taking his eyes off of the barricade, the tiefling slips his hand into the wealthy man’s pocket and pulls something out that he transfers to his own pocket. Jisara has been in the Devil’s Nursery long enough to know a pickpocket when she sees one. The tiefling continues standing next to the wealthy man for a moment to not arouse suspicion.
Eventually, Jisara’s cat finally meets back up with her, only to shake his head at the tiefling—no sign of the man with the single black glove.
At that particular anarchist’s comment, Vitalis puts one hand on the glaive on his back—he has no intention of actually causing harm, merely to scare. As soon as he sees the glaive and the symbol of Shelyn on Vitalis’s person, the anarchist puts two and two together. He puts his hands up in innocence and slowly backs away from the Shelynite. ”Look man, I don’t mean any harm; peace and love and all that!”
The anarchists who were so vocal before quiet down almost immediately, save for the occasional ”I’m not messin’ with a f*cking paladin!”
The crowd at the protest certainly seems agitated and discontented, but they don’t seem overtly violent. Eventually the anarchists who were quite vocal before start quieting down—some of them even leaving. All Rigel can catch from them is the occasional ”I’m not messin’ with a f*cking paladin!”
Rigel’s eyes wander to a woman in the crowd wearing jewelry that she probably should not be wearing at an event like this. She talks with a man next to her—you presume her husband—when a human man bumps into her. With some brief apologies to the woman he starts moving on, and the woman continues talking with her husband—only now she is no longer wearing the jeweled necklace she had previously.
As the day continues, more Kintargans make their way to Aria Park as the crowd grows in size—but there is still no sign of Lord-Mayor Thrune.
Round 2
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Vitalis
Chance
Jisara
Rigel
==================
Jisara finds herself distracted by the pickpocket, enjoying the show as he relieves the noble of his financial burden. Still, she thinks, straightening up a bit, if I can see it... She takes a breath, infusing her next words with a bit of magic.
"I admire the hustle, brother, I really do, but there are a lot of eyes here, and none of them are in a good mood. You might want to move on before someone catches on." She sends the message on its way, and watches to see how he reacts.
Once Thatch returns, she bends down to scoop him up. "No luck, huh? That's okay, we'll switch. You people-watch, and I'll go look for this guy." As she says this, Jisara gives the cat a scratch behind the ears and lifts him up into the trees branches. "I'll be back in a little while. Let me know if you see anything interesting."
Chance sighs and rests the end of his little flagpole on the cobblestones.
I may be going about this the wrong way, he thinks. I'm looking for a human man, but I'm surrounded by human men - they probably make up almost half the crowd. Trying to spot one of them who is wearing only one black glove is almost impossible; from my vantage point, I can't see more than a few men's hands at a time, and most of the time I can't see both hands on anybody.
He shakes his head. No, I won't find my mysterious correspondent by diving into the haystack and looking for one needle. So time to try a different tactic: stop looking for the needle at all, and just try to get a handle on the haystack.
He moves further toward the back of the crowd and, if possible, tries to gain a bit of height by standing on a bench or perhaps on the edge of the fountain.
Content with his admonishment of the anarchists, he returns to the monotony of waiting. As the time passes, he turns to chatting with the crowd to pass the time. I really should have paid closer attention to the recent news. What did they say happened to the previous lord-mayor? Jilia Bainilus, wasn't it? I liked her. Maybe someone around here recalls.
Vitalis saves any shouting for Barzillai Thrune...or troublemakers. During most of his time spent waiting, he maintains a calm and friendly demeanor. After his initial outburst against the anarchists, he doesn't stoop to arguing with any other factions. They all have the right to have their voices and opinions heard whether he agrees with them or not.
Rigel chuckles at the theft. She really shouldn’t have brought something that expensive here. What did she think was going to happen? The more he watches, however, the more he realizes that the pickpocket is likely in very real danger. He starts mentally rifling through his options to see if he can help, but comes up empty.
Rigel continues wandering around the square, content to just observe, until a group of Chelish loyalists catch his eye. Rather than watching passively, he instead steps towards them and begins to loudly berate them. ”Oh, sure, because mint is SUCH a threat. I mean, seriously, look at yourselves! Are you really that eager to blindly follow whatever authority presents itself? I’ve never seen a group as sorry and pathetic as you, and I grew up in a circus!”
As Chance gets a better vantage point, he watches the crowd for any sign of anything interesting. While looking over at the crowd, he notices a halfling moving through the crowd. He watches as the halfling moves past a human man and swipes his coin purse, the halfling putting it in his own pocket.
The tiefling Jisara messages is startled—understandably—by the witch’s whispering voice. He surprisingly manages to maintain his composure long enough to not draw too much attention to himself. He then promptly gets out of there with his pickpocketing haul in hand.
Jisara actually manages to find a man with a single glove in the crowd! Though as she makes her way toward him she realizes that he is an elf—not the person she is looking for. Thatch eventually meets back up with her, and the cat simply whispers in Jisara’s ear and says ”Third floor window.”
Jisara looks up at the third-floor window of the opera house overlooking Aria Park. A glint of crimson catches her eye. As she stares longer at the mostly-curtained window, she catches glimpses of a figure standing behind the curtained window, looking down at the gathering protest in Aria Park.
”Well, the official story is that she left to Arcadia. But I heard Lord-Mayor Bainilus didn’t flee to Arcadia at all. Broke her neck falling down a flight of stairs. Praying a bit too hard to Cailean, if you understand my meaning.”
The growing crowd of citizens begins to grow rowdy—apparently spurred on by the words of a rabble-rousing circus performer. Citizens begin pressing on the dottari barricade—even the Thrune loyalists—and give the dottari the third degree:
”Mint?! I run a candy shop!”
“What happened a week ago?! Three buildings burn down and then the Inquisitor shows up?!”
“And where in the nine hells is Thrune?!”
Before the crowd can get much further, Nox angrily waves her glaive at the crowd—with about a foot of distance between the blade and the closest person, but it is still enough to shock those next to the barricade into backing away.
”Do you see the lord-mayor here?! No? Then no one can answer your questions! So sit down and shut up!”
Knowing better than to mess with the armed-and-dangerous woman, the crowd backs down. Though it is clear that the air of agitation and impatience has grown more palpable.
Round 3
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Vitalis
Chance
Jisara
Rigel
==================
After his second hour at the protest, Vitalis senses the situation getting very tense. The crowd looks like it is gearing up to charge the opera house and the dottari and that female bodyguard look like they are itching to spill blood.
Vitalis interposes himself between Nox and the front-most protesters. He winks at the odd-eyed woman. "Let's not be too hasty now. Harming a Kintargan will only make things worse. Surely Barzillai Thrune isn't going to cower inside the opera house all day. Does he really want his first impression as lord-mayor to be that of weakness? Why don't you fetch your master instead of engaging in this 'sword' measuring contest? I mean your glaive is impressive but if we get right down to it, I believe mine is longer." Vitalis points to the weapon sheathed on his back.
He keeps one eye on the crowd and one eye on the dottari expecting it is only a matter of time before one side has had enough.
Chance approaches the pickpocket with a friendly smile on his face and begins talking quickly to try to catch and keep the halfling's attention.
"Hello, hello, beautiful day to get our heads knocked in, isn't it? You look like someone who's used to crowds like this, are you? Because I'm not - not used to crowds like this - and I was wondering if, as you've made your way through the crowd, you might have seen a man - one of the longshanks, I mean - wearing just one black glove on his hand. Because I found the other one, the other glove I mean, and I'd like to return it to him. Have you seen a human man wearing one black glove? Today, I mean. Here, at the protest?"
Chance approaches the pickpocket with a friendly smile on his face and begins talking quickly to try to catch and keep the halfling's attention.
"Hello, hello, beautiful day to get our heads knocked in, isn't it? You look like someone who's used to crowds like this, are you? Because I'm not - not used to crowds like this - and I was wondering if, as you've made your way through the crowd, you might have seen a man - one of the longshanks, I mean - wearing just one black glove on his hand. Because I found the other one, the other glove I mean, and I'd like to return it to him. Have you seen a human man wearing one black glove? Today, I mean. Here, at the protest?"
Jisara freezes in place upon spotting the man in the window. Only one person that could be, she thinks to herself, not at all liking the idea of the Inquisitor Thrune looking down on her. She kneels to speak with her cat one more time.
"So, first off, good eye. This place is getting rowdy, though, and sooner or later the dottari are gonna start cracking skulls. We gotta find this guy first. I'll make another circuit, you keep watching the crowd. Hopefully I find him soon, but if not, you come grab me before this turns into a riot. Then we head home, maybe grab some fish on the way. Deal?" Without waiting for a reply, she turns and dives back into the press of Kintargans.
"The paladin's right! If Barzillai Thrune wants to be Lord-Mayor, he should come out here and face his citizens, not hide from us like a coward! I doubt he has anything better to do anyway!" Rigel cheers.
As he waits with the rest of the crowd for that to happen, Rigel will try to engage some of the other protest-goers in conversation about Thrune, hoping to hear something interesting.
The halfling quickly makes their exit with their haul.
Chance continues to try to find his contact, and actually finds a man wearing a single black glove! As he approaches the man, he discovers that it is in fact an elf who has lost his other glove—not the person Chance is looking for.
Chance tries to find the one-gloved man, but is severely interrupted .
Jisara and Thatch book it towards the human, meeting up with each other along the way. Unfortunately, she is interrupted by the appearance of a certain someone , and that distraction is enough for her to lose sight of the contact!
As Vitalis watches the crowd, he notices a halfling that bumps into a wealthy-looking human man. Vitalis watches as the halfling snatches the human’s coin purse from him as he bumps into him. As the halfling apologizes to the human, she slips the coin purse into her own pocket.
Vitalis interposes himself between the halfling and her exit, demanding that she return the man’s coin purse. The halfling recognizes Vitalis as a paladin, sees that the dottari have started taking notice of the situation, and timidly hands the coin purse to Vitalis, slowly walking away in hopes of no further conflict.
”Thank you,” the human says upon receiving his coin purse back. ”I guess I should’ve been more careful. I know it’s not much, considering your status, but here’s something for your troubles.”
The human reaches into the coin purse and hands Vitalis silver pieces.
But just as the human is about to say something else, he is interrupted .
At the end of the third hour, the crowd grows increasingly hostile, pushing on the dottari barricade! The third-degree given to the dottari/Nox eventually deteriorates into demands for the lord-mayor.
”THRUNE! THRUNE! THRUNE! THRUNE!”
At three minutes past the hour, the distinctive sound of bells ring out, echoing over the sound of the chanting crowd.
The Devil’s Bells, the massive bells at the top of the Temple of Asmodeus, are a mystery. For years Kintargans have been confounded by the seemingly random intervals at which they peal. The crowd quiets at the loud bells from the temple several hundred feet away.
On the third floor of the Kintargo Opera House, a window is thrown open, allowing the curtains inside to ominously flow out in the wind. Standing at the windowsill is the imposing figure of a ruggedly handsome, middle-aged man. He is dressed in red, orange, and black clothing and an ornate set of half-plate, all emblazoned with the pentagram of Asmodeus and the cross of Cheliax. The man’s receding hairline is mostly hidden due to the dark buzzcut he has. The man looks down at the protest beneath him with a smirk, swirling a glass of blood-red wine in his left hand.
This is him. The new lord-mayor. The Inquisitor: Barzillai Thrune.
Everyone, even the dottari, is surprised at the Inquisitor’s appearance, but that surprise quickly deteriorates, as the crowd angrily erupts in a cacophony of shouts, demands, and questions that get lost in the noise.
Barzillai Thrune closes his eyes and turns his head slightly to the side, as he raises his right hand, palm out, to request silence from the restless crowd. However, when the crowd does not quiet, and continues to shout at the Inquisitor, the lord-mayor slowly opens his eyes as he glances sidelong down at the crowd, his smirk twisting into a condescending sneer. In a swift movement, the Inquisitor reaches down to his hip and unstraps a mace of dark metal that spirals around a glowing orange core like dark, metallic flames. Barzillai swings the mace through the air—prominent flames issuing from the orange core of the mace as it passes through the air—and slams it against the side of the windowsill, singeing the flowing curtain and causing cracks to spiderweb across the glass of the massive open window!
The Inquisitor’s words pierce through the crowd’s, muting the cacophony in pure terror of the Asmodean’s rage.
”Hmph.” Lord-Mayor Thrune slowly removes the mace from the side of the windowsill and straps it back onto his belt. He clears his throat and looks down at the gathered crowd with a smirk on his face.
“Ah, my adoring little chickadees.” Despite his gruff appearance, Barzillai Thrune speaks in a surprisingly melodious baritone. ”I am sorry to say I have not yet adapted to your quaint, country ways, being accustomed as I am to the sophistication and learning of Egorian.” As if to emphasize his words, the Inquisitor takes a brief sip from his glass of wine.
”Nonetheless, know I have heard your concerns, and that I appreciate your valued feedback, and I know we shall eventually find a mutual understanding in the fullness of time. I take pride in updating Kintargo’s quaint, outdated laws to the modern standards the city deserves, and strengthening its ties with the empire in these cruel times, but obviously I have approached my duties too aggressively.
“You say you chafe at the presence of nonnatives in positions of power? That authorities not of this city have no place as its leaders? That you will not be yoked by intruders? Your lord-mayor hears you. And so it is with a heavy heart that I issue this proclamation, in response to your demands:”
Barzillai Thrune sweeps his free hand across the horizon. hmm…” The Inquisitor swirls the glass of wine in his hand for a moment and takes a long sip from it. ”Let’s say...” A smirk grows across Barzillai’s face as he raises his glass of wine to the crowd, giving a toast to the citizens' deteriorating freedom.
The silence over the crowd swiftly shatters as a deafening cacophony of livid citizens echoes throughout the park!
But that doesn't make any sense at all! Chance rocks back on his heels as the crowd erupts in angry shouting. The gnome starts to make his way to the edge of the demonstration again, putting the mass of protestors between him and the line of dottari.
Why would he bar captains from stepping off their vessels to enter the city? It has nothing to do with the complaints he acknowledged, and anyway, if I were the captain of the ship, that's the kind of rule that would convince me to seek a different port entirely! He shakes his head in confusion. And what in the Hells is ‘squassation’?
"Squassation? What is that, like, getting birds to squawk in your face for a while?" Rigel mutters to himself, fractions of a second before the crowd erupts in anger. Looking around, he realizes that some kind of conflict is inevitable, he starts making his way through the crowd, trying to get someplace he can avoid being seen. He eventually gets himself into a secluded alleyway , where he takes a moment to catch his breath before opening his bag.
The fear and trepidation is clear on his face as he stares into the bag, before reaching in and pulling out the mask and cloak. He mutters reassurances to himself as he changes into his other outfit.
Not good! This is not good at all! Vitalis' inner voice shouts. The previous proclamations were merely unjust. This new one is an outright threat. Squassation...That's some kind of torture.
Vitalis senses the crowd is not taking this proclamation lightly and does not want to be caught in the crossfire. He climbs up onto the lip of the fountain to gain a good vantage point and to hopefully avoid being trampled. He has no intention of getting in trouble with the dottari but will try to keep people from getting hurt if he can.
The proclamation, and the mental image that comes with it, draws an involuntary hiss out of Jisara. She catches herself after a moment, hoping no one noticed in the sudden uproar, and turns to scoop up her familiar, cradling him in both arms.
"He was right there," she complains, trying to force her way through a crowd that even now is threatening to boil over into a full blown riot. Bloody humans, damn them and their theatrics.
Eventually, she makes her way to the periphery of the crowd, and finds herself near the fountain on the edge of the plaza. She looks up nervously as another human, this time bearing an enormous polearm, climbs up onto the fountain, and takes a few cautious steps backwards.
This was an awful idea.
Shouts fill the air as the dottari barricade starts to break down—the frontmost dottari needing to back up to avoid being trampled! Suddenly, something flies from the crowd—a large handful of manure flying straight for Barzillai Thrune!
The Inquisitor sees the flying feces coming for him at the last second and instinctively dodges out of the way of it, but in doing so causing him to spill his crimson wine all over his armor and clothing! The lord-mayor glances down at the clothing that is now stained red where it should not be red and his demeanor shatters as he shrieks in pure rage!
The Thrune slams the open window shut, causing the already cracked glass to completely shatter, raining shards down on the dottari barricade.
The dottari use their shields as makeshift umbrellas against the falling glass. Nox, however, makes no such attempt to shield herself from the glass, she merely looks around at the hesitating dottari and shouts ”You heard him! Go!” The dottari nod as they draw their weapons to deal with the front line of the crowd, closest to the opera house’s entrance!
At that same time, several men and women in the crowd-that-is-now-definitely-rioting pull back their cloaks, revealing matching armbands, truncheons, and bronze necklaces of the Chelish cross—uniforms that are definitely not that of the dottari! Their sadistic grins spread across their faces as they move to mete out “justice”—including four that close on the PCs!
Get Out of the Way! [[A]] (auditory, linguistic, mental): You rouse the crowd to stand aside as you try to move. You attempt a DC 15 Diplomacy or Intimidation check.
Critical Success The crowd understands your message and gets out of your way. You ignore difficult terrain created by the crowd for 3 rounds.
Success As a critical success, except the duration is only 1 round.
Critical Failure The crowd takes offense to your words and actively moves into your way! For 1 round you treat the crowd as greater difficult terrain (instead of normal difficult terrain)
Blue pulls out a mace as he weaves through the crowd at Chance and swings, using the chaos of the rioting crowd to his advantage!
Red likewise pulls out a mace as they close the gap on Jisara and swings!
Yellow looks over at the obviously-rustling bush as they pull out a mace as well. ”Thought you could hide there, troublemaker?!” He closes in on the changing Stargazer and laughs as he swings at the vigilante. ”Embroidery? That’s illegal, you know!”
Green sees Vitalis standing on the lip of the fountain and decides to have a bit of fun! She moves through the rioting crowd to be right in front of Vitalis, then rushes at him!
The thug Shoves the paladin, causing him to lose his footing on the lip of the fountain!
But the paladin catches himself just in time to avoid completely losing his footing and falling onto the ground. Though the noble’s shoes are definitely ruined now.
The dottari are having a bit of trouble at the barricade, but are mostly handling themselves well. That is, until a stray dagger flies through the barricade and embeds itself directly in Nox’s throat!
Round 1
===============
Red
Yellow
Green
Blue
Chance (-5)
Vitalis
Jisara (-4)
Stargazer
Event
===============
Vitalis looks at his sopping feet and declares with a frown. "How rude! I don't suppose you'll be replacing those. I didn't come here for a fight but a man has the right to defend himself. Know that you brought this upon yourself when I take you down. But that will need to wait as I see a maiden in trouble which I cannot ignore."
Vitalis steps out of the fountain and stands besides Jisara whose name he has yet to learn. He swings at "Red" but does little except perhaps draw some attention. "Are you alright, miss? Stay close and I'll keep you safe from this ruffian."
Chance spits blood and glares at the Thrune thug. "I don't know who in the Hells do you think you are, but you should be careful about picking on us smallfolk. We might surprise you." He gives the man a malicious grin, then casts a simple spell that he learned in his first weeks at the Academy. He spreads the fingers of one hand wide, then calls out, "Cerba frosto!" and clenches his hand into a tight fist. Without waiting to see the goon's reaction, Chance dives into the crowd blocking the way behind him and tries to get away. He ends up next to a bush where a masked man is being assaulted by another of the Lord-Mayor's thugs.
"Sorry, is this shrub taken?"
"Be my guest." the masked figure responds to the gnome as he dodges out of the way of the mace, before magically summoning a small barrier of force to protect him. "Oh, yeah, because my failed attempt at embroidery is definitely the most illegal thing I'm doing right now." he shoots back at the thug. "It's definitely not this." He casts a spell, causing his hand to glow with a dark purple energy, and reaches out to grab the man by the arm.
,
When she sees the blow coming, Jisara turns to take it on her back in order to protect the cat held in her arms. She cuts off the involuntary shout of pain when it thuds into her, biting down on it and pushing her way through the crowd away from her attacker.
As she retreats, she sees the human stepping in to defend her, even as the thugs surround him. She very nearly just keeps running, but her conscience tugs on her mind just enough to stop her in her tracks. Holding the cat in one hand, she flings out a jolt of electricity with a flick of her wrist, which arcs off to strike the other one.
Vitalis moves out of the fountain and swings at the thugs, only to miss both of them.
Chance mentally damages the thug as he dives into the nearest shrub.
”Gah!” The thug grabs at his head as he is assaulted with the world’s worst brain freeze!
Stargazer reaches out and saps some of the thug’s life essence away from him!
The thugs are wholly surprised when they find that two of their number are absolutely shocked—literally!
Back at the barricade, Nox pulls out the dagger lodged in her throat.
The PCs see that as Nox pulls the dagger out of her throat, the wound begins to close, as flesh starts to stitch itself back together. Nox tosses the dagger to the side and mutters under her breath. ”Damn it!” She turns to face the opera house as she waves her glaive through the air, her body being surrounded with a dark aura of magic.
”Morec hatei!”
Nox slices her glaive downward through the air, and as she does a floating tear opens up right in front of her! She turns back to the dottari and shouts ”Hold the line!” then steps through the spatial tear she made with her glaive. Once she steps through, the tear closes and repairs itself, as if it were never there at all!
The thugs all look in astonishment at Nox’s disappearance, but quickly shake out of it as they return to harassing the PCs.
Red looks over at the paladin right next to him and moves over to flank Vitalis and swings twice at the paladin!
Green pulls out a mace and likewise swings at the paladin!
Yellow clutches is weak arm as he repositions himself in the bush. He looks at the clear hand-print left by Stargazer’s chill touch and manages to say ”Now it’s self-defense!” And swings twice—once each at Stargazer and Chance.
Yellow looks at the clear handprint left by Stargazer's chill touch and looks at the masked man in horror! "I didn't sign up for this!" The thug books it away from the rioting crowd and back into the streets of Kintargo!
Blue moves over to Jisara and raises his mace. ”And what the hell do you think you’re doing with that electricity?!”
Round 2
===============
Red (-2)
Green (-5)
Blue (-4)
Chance (-5)
Vitalis (-6)
Jisara (-8)
Stargazer
===============
"I can't believe that worked!" Stargazer mutters under his breath. He stands there for a moment, fully internalizing what he did, before he remembers what's going on, and quickly recovers. He steps forward into the crowd and casts another spell, this time causing a blast of blue light to shoot from his hands at one of the thugs attacking the paladin.
,
With her escape cut off by another thug, Jisara has little choice but to stand her ground. She summons a shield into place between her and her newest attacker, then decides to show, rather than tell, him what she's doing with her electricity. She can't help but grin as the energy strikes one of his fellow goons.
"Well done, masked man! Let's see if we can get rid of the rest of Thrune's goons!"
Chance takes a deep breath and in a credible tenor, sings loudly enough to - he hopes - carry over the noise of the crowd.
"Will you join in our protest?
Who will be strong and stand with us?
Barzillai's proclamations are no jest!
All can see they are unjust!
Don't let Thrune's Goons' attack
Give you pause or drive you back!
They would not be fighting here
If our demonstration did not cause them fear!
If we hit back, we'll make them run!"
He casts another simple spell, shouting "Flugantaj rokoj por ĵokeoj" and pointing at the blue thug. A piece of detritus flies up from the cobblestones and speeds through the air towards the goon's head.
Stargazer summons a blue ray that flies at Green, but the thug manages to dodge out of the way.
Jisara’s magic pulses to the two thugs, engulfing them and causing them to start jerking from the jolts of electricity! Red just looks on at the scene and screams ”Holy sh*t!!!”
Chance begins singing, which makes the rioting crowd go absolutely buck-wild as they benefit from the bard’s song! He then throws a piece of gravel, but unfortunately misses completely.
Round 2
===============
Red (-2)
Chance (-5)
Vitalis (-6)
Jisara (-8)
Stargazer
===============
Vitalis can't see exactly where the singing is coming from but whomever the bard may be inspires him to fight even harder.
Vitalis follows the woman's retreat and swings the flat of his glaive at the remaining thug (Red).
He turns to the woman. "I must say your ability is shocking." Wink. "I thought I'd be saving you but it seems instead you saved me. You have my thanks. It's not much but let me offer you this minor boon as repayment. The name's Vitalis by the way. But I'd say this is not the best place for conversation. I recommend a strategic retreat."
Vitalis uses Lay on Hands on Jisara restoring 6 hp (and giving her a +2 bonus to AC for a round if it still matters).
Vitalis slams the flat of his glaive into the thug, completely knocking him out!
The dottari continue to hold the line at the barricade—knocking out several citizens that insist on fighting! One of the dottari on the front line watch the electricity flying and scowls as he turns to two other dottari.
”We’ve got it up here! You two take care of the ones back there!”
“Right!”
The two ordered dottari start to push through the crowd.
Round 3
===============
Chance (-5)
Vitalis (-6)
Jisara (-2)
Black
White
Stargazer
===============
Jisara hesitates for a moment, not sure how to respond, but the human's healing magic washes that hesitation away, along with most of her injuries.
"Don't mention it," she replies. Looking past him, she spots the dottari pushing through the crowd. "I agree, let's make ourselves scarce." Before taking off, though, she turns to shout at whichever lunatic is trying to sing in the midst of this chaos. "Hey, unless you plan to serenade the entire city guard, it's time to get lost!"
Chance continues to sing as the last of "Thrune's Goons" goes down, but changes his tune when he sees the dottari charging into the crowd.
"They wanna push us around
Well they can't, Well they can't
They wanna keep us down
Well they won't, Well they won't
They wanna take us to prison
They wanna make the city a prison
Yeah, yeah, well they can't..."
Before taking off, though, she turns to shout at whichever lunatic is trying to sing in the midst of this chaos. "Hey, unless you plan to serenade the entire city guard, it's time to get lost!"
"That was sort of the idea, but the lady has a point," Chance mutters to himself. Taking a breath, he shouts,
Without waiting to see how the mysterious stranger reacts, Chance runs through the bushes onto the grass to the clear path south of the plaza. When he hits the path, he turns heads east , heading in the general direction of the voice that warned him to run.
Vitalis looks at the dottari now entering the mix. "Smacking around thugs is one thing. Brawling with law enforcement is a whole 'nother beast. I'd prefer not to be a wanted man. Especially so now with this Thrune fellow in charge."
He follows the magical woman as fast as his legs will take him. I don't know if she has any destination in mind but anywhere is better than here right now.
I’d say that it’d be a long shot with Heraldry (since that’s mostly related to coats of arms), but Society would definitely ID them. You’d still have to take the action to Recall Knowledge, though.
The dottari both wade their way through the crowd to make their way to Stargazer, and Black takes a swing at the masked man!
White looks over to the east and sees the other fleeing PCs.
”Should we stop them?”
Black motions to the group of still-rioting citizens. ”You’re kidding, right?!”
Round 3—>4
===============
Chance (-5)
Vitalis (-6)
Jisara (-2)
Black
White
Stargazer
===============
Taking a breath, he shouts,
The masked man is somewhat slow to react, but is brought back to reality by having to dodge the guards attacks. He shouts, "It's been fun, but I really need to get going now!" before bolting out of the crowd and heading east towards where the shout came from.
Chance keeps running, the dark red skin on his cheeks flushing darker from the exertion, but greets the masked stranger cheerfully enough. "Glad you made it! Lovely day for a jog, isn't it? Snake eyes! Wasn't that terrifying? And exhilarating! I've never been to a protest before, is that what they're usually like? Oh, look, there are two more protestors up ahead who had the same idea we had! I wonder if that's the woman who warned me? Let's catch up to them."
Without waiting for a response, the gnome runs harder to catch up to the two people ahead of them.
"Hi! Excuse me, Miss? Are you the person who shouted about my singing? And running away? I just wanted to thank you for noticing! And for the warning! Running away was a good idea! Are we running to someplace? My rooms - well, room - is across town in the Red Roof District, so it would be a long run, but I believe we are coming near to a particularly good coffee shop? Personally, I could use some coffee! Need to calm down after all that excitement! Would you and your very well-armored friend like to join us? By us I mean me, and the strange masked man running behind me! Now that you mention it, I don't think I asked him if he wanted any coffee."
Chance turns around and begins running backwards to shout at the mysterious stranger running behind them. "Hello, masked man? Would you like to join us for coffee? COFFEE?!?" To make sure his new acquaintance gets the message, the gnome mimes holding a cup of coffee, raising it to his mouth, blowing on it, and then taking a sip, while still trying to run backwards.
If it appears that we are out of immediate danger, Vitalis slows down slightly and looks at the gnome quizzically. "Coffee?! Now? You go on ahead. It should be safe enough for you to make the journey if you keep your head down. But I'm going to stay in the area and see if anyone else needs help. With the protest turned violent, people are probably injured. I won't be doing anyone any good if I rush back into the thick of it and get myself killed but perhaps I can aid those on the periphery."
The gnome's manic energy throws Jisara for a loop, and she temporarily finds herself at a loss for words. While trying to regain her ability to speak, she runs through some likely escape routes.
"The Red Roof District is good," she says, ignoring the repeated calls for coffee. The man seems hypercaffeinated as it is. "The dottari only come around the Nursery when they have numbers and surprise on their side. Arresting half the city will take the numbers away, and word will spread quickly, denying surprise to them as well."
When the man--Vitalis, he said?--turns to head back, Jisara grabs his forearm, shaking her head. "You're tall, heavily armed and armored, and you directly engaged with their goons. If you head back there, they'll spot you right away. There's nothing you can do there except put yourself in danger. Come with us, lay low for a bit."
Next, she turns and gives the latecomer, all dressed up in a costume and mask, an incredulous look. "What are you supposed to be?"
Vitalis feels torn in two directions. He responds to the woman, "You're right...I suppose. I must admit I have not been in a situation of this scale before yet it goes against my nature to allow harm to come to others. But I am just one man and I cannot right all of Kintargo's wrongs on my own. A wise man would choose his battles strategically to be the most effective. I will follow you for now. But if we come across someone in need because of this violence, I can't in good consciousness pass them by."
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Chance keeps running, the dark red skin on his cheeks flushing darker from the exertion, but greets the masked stranger cheerfully enough. "Glad you made it! Lovely day for a jog, isn't it? Snake eyes! Wasn't that terrifying? And exhilarating! I've never been to a protest before, is that what they're usually like? Oh, look, there are two more protestors up ahead who had the same idea we had! I wonder if that's the woman who warned me? Let's catch up to them."
Without waiting for a response, the gnome runs harder to catch up to the two people ahead of them.
"Hi! Excuse me, Miss? Are you the person who shouted about my singing? And running away? I just wanted to thank you for noticing! And for the warning! Running away was a good idea! Are we running to someplace? My rooms - well, room - is across town in the Red Roof District, so it would be a long run, but I believe we are coming near to a particularly good coffee shop? Personally, I could use some coffee! Need to calm down after all that excitement! Would you and your very well-armored friend like to join us? By us I mean me, and the strange masked man running behind me! Now that you mention it, I don't think I asked him if he wanted any coffee."
Chance turns around and begins running backwards to shout at the mysterious stranger running behind them. "Hello, masked man? Would you like to join us for coffee? COFFEE?!?" To make sure his new acquaintance gets the message, the gnome mimes holding a cup of coffee, raising it to his mouth, blowing on it, and then taking a sip, while still trying to run backwards.
”Hold it right there!” As Stargazer disengages the dottari, the two guards swing at the masked man!
Black is mostly assaulted by the rioting crowd, but White manages to slam his mace against the vigilante’s head, only to be caught completely off-guard as the weapon partially passes through the man with the twinkle of starlight! ”What the—?!”
At that same time, the rioting crowd seems to grow more rowdy, giving the dottari barricade some issues. Black and White see this and curse under their breath as they proceed to deal with more direct matters.
The PCs continue to hightail it away from Aria Park, and after several seconds of running they hear the rioters’ screams shift to sheer shrieks of terror! But they do not stop.
The four of them eventually make it to an out-of-the-way alleyway in Jarvis End where they all stop to catch their breath from the running.
Blood pounding in his head after the dizzying blow, he runs out of the crowd and joins the others. Clutching the back of his head, he waves off questions about his costume and coffee. He almost stops when he hears the shift in the screams, but resigns himself to keep running. Can't help if I'm dead, can I?
Once he gets to the alleyway, he slumps against the wall, hair matted with blood. He starts clutching what looks to be a holy symbol around a necklace and muttering to himself. After a moment, everyone feels somewhat refreshed.
He eventually calms his breathing somewhat, and looks at the gnome confusedly, his eyes seemingly glowing with a starry light. "Coffee?"
While running, Vitalis hears the screams of terror and is filled with regret. What is happening back there? From the sound of those screams, no doubt people are dead. Could I have done more? Or would I be dead too?
Once the four runners stop, Vitalis puts his hands on his knees and pants with exhaustion.
He addresses the newest comer, the masked man. "My thanks...umm...It would seem introduction may be in order. With all this running, I haven't caught any of your names. I'm Vitalis Tanessen of the noble House Tanessen. I'm also a champion of Shelyn."
After introductions, "By the way, I identified those thugs attacking the crowd as members of the Chelish Citizen's Group. They are Thrune loyalists who work as an unofficial militia in Kintargo. However I'm still trying to wrap my head around the whole situation. There were Chelish loyalists amongst the protestors too but the violence seemed indiscriminate. And did you hear those screams? I can only imagine what's happening. This never would have happened while Jilia Bainilus was lord-mayor."
In place of introducing herself, Jisara sets the cat she's been carrying down on the ground, then going to offer a helping hand to the costumed man. Absolute nutter, but he didn't have to heal us. That's worth a good turn.
"I think it's more that you just never noticed it happening," Jisara says, her voice cool. "Far as I see it, the only thing that's changed about the dottari is whose skulls they're cracking. They're all the same people they were two weeks ago, after all."
"Yes, these are the same people. Yet normally even within Cheliax there are laws protecting its citizens. Unfortunately it seems the Inquisitor has decided to "unleash the dogs" so to speak. The lord-mayor and the dottari are the law. If protesting won't work, what else can we do? You might say it's my privilege speaking, but I never feared the dottari before. But now under the new lord-mayor, I'm not so sure."