Outpost IV: PFS2e 2-13: A Gilded Test PbP (Inactive)

Game Master James Martin

Jack♢'s elven eyes narrow when he notices they're being tailed. "Sloppy. They're messing with the wrong players," he mutters to the others.

He nods in agreement to the ambush plan. Seconds later, he's disappeared into the city's shadowy corners.

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Aldonza dashes after her, and looks for somewhere in the alley to disappear.

Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

"Yes, dear, you remind me of a friend of mine. She was a gobling; she was born a goblin but adopted by halflings, so they were her family," she says with a tolerant smile at Nikebei. "But remember she might think your skin color is strange, and it would be rude to point that out, right? Desna's not my personal goddess, but she has an aphorism I'm fond out: Learn from what is different."

She frowns -- Miladistra's words make her wonder if somehow there might be a rogue faction of Pathfinders again -- but starts hustling as quickly as her armor-laden legs will carry her after the others. "Try not to hurt anyone too badly," she urges Nikebei. "We don't know quite what's going on here!"

Stealth (untrained): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14

You lay a trap for the tails, Jack O' Diamonds taking the lead. The tails are good; you're better. You ambush them as they come around a bend in the alley. It's two humans, a male and female. Both hold up their hands to show they're empty.

"Peace, Pathfinders. Muesello sent us to keep an eye. I've got a wayfinder in my pack, if you'd let me retrieve it?" The man says, slowly retrieving his wayfinder and showing it to anyone who wants to inspect it. It's verified and looks legitimate. "Oppara's not the nicest place to our sort. Muesello wanted us to insure you made it to the rendezvous unharmed. And to suss out if you were the observant types. That's all our briefing was. No harm intended." The woman nods and keeps her hands out where you can see them.

Jack♢ is amused to know that their group managed to get the upper hand against fellow Society agents. He gives his deck a quick shuffle, and reveals the top two cards: 2 of cups, and 2 of hearts. "Well played, folks," he congratulates the tracker duo, "You weren't too shabby. Here, a little prize." The card shark flicks the two cards to the man and the woman.

"Gotta say: think I'm gonna like this Muesello guy."

Tao puts her hands on her hips, clearly unappreciative for the "help", but doesn't say anything, which indeed, is unusual for her.

Jesselle re-voices "Yeah, well played" mimicking her roguish mentor. She vows in that very moment to get herself a deck of cards after this is all over.

”So you’re locals, then?”, Aldonza asks. ”Any nuggets of wisdom about the city? Also, who are you?”

Deroff feels so free. He gets to run across the street again. No "Deroff, play nice." No "Deroff, that is someone else's home." No "Deroff, don't scare the children." Now he gets to run again and turn into this alleyway and-

And the missus stops. Well, back to boredom.

"What's going on in Oppara? All the more reason to find Musello, then." Miladistra inspects the wayfinder; it's legit. Also it has an etching of a rosemary branch. Cute.

"Don't want to keep him waitin'. Let's get moving."

Nikebei listens intently to Grams words and help her along as much as she can.

Once the Pathfinders, introduce themselves, Nikebei takes a good long and hard look at the Wayfinder, then puts in in her mouth as you would a coin, to test its authenticity. "Pathfinders, righty! Yes wees very perceptiney" she passes the wayfinder back, covered in goblin saliva. "Yeah, that was a fun game, but wees are good, thanks .... what's yous names? Wees go see Musello now, have dinner. Can I buys some dem foot nasties on the way?" he asks as they make their way to meet the Venture Captain.

Nikebei buys 2 x caltrops.

"You should be careful," Grams warns them. "Fortunately, no one got hurt, but ... it could have been horrible. Cooperate is part of our motto, after all. I might have to have a word with this Venture-Captain, and let him know that it could have turned out very badly!"

The man nods. "Noted. I'll pass my observations along to him when we meet up for reports. Otherwise, we'll be on our way. Muesello is waiting for you." He bows slightly and heads off on his way along with the woman.

You arrive at the bait shop, where the right words said to the clerk causes him to lead you to a room in the back where a grey haired man is working on clockwork gears.

Muesello brushes back his gray hair as he paces behind his desk. “A concerned friend brought a series of illegal street tournaments to my attention. They would like the Pathfinder Society to look into them, and as you have probably guessed, that is why you are here.” He gestures towards the city outside the balcony. “Many of those that compete in the tournaments have gone missing. I have arranged for you to go undercover and take part in the upcoming tournament. I need you to find out who is organizing them and, if possible, what their purpose is.”

He hands over a piece of paper. “Go to this street corner on the eastern edge of Grandbridge. The tournament contact will meet you there. Oh, and before I forget: would you kindly hand over your wayfinders? We should not advertise who we are during this mission. I want you to be as discreet as possible. The situation in Taldor is delicate, and we do not want to attract unwanted attention.”

”Illegal tournaments?”, Aldonza asks. ”What are we talking about? Jousting? Archery? Commedia del’Arte?”

"Cool!" Jesselle nearly belches out. She puts up her dukes and starts shadow-boxing in the air, keeping Jack♢ in her peripheral vision, trying to impress him.

Tao exhales deeply here, rolling her eyes. She pulls out her Radiant Wayfinder "Will you remove this stone from it?" she asks Muesello - a Pearly White Spindle Aeon Stone glistening to his eye. Assuming he gladly obliges, handing it back to her, she holds her palm open, and the stone jumps into orbit around her head, following a semi-predicatble path, carving three major arcs around the rough circumference of her upper body.

"I have the same question as Aldonza - what are the Rules or Engagement for these Tournaments? I would suspect we'd need at least some information about them in order to succeed in infiltrating them without raising too much suspicion!"

Before he has a chance to answer, Tao is already drawing upon her experience to relate "Back home when two families need to settle a dispute over a wild boar, assuming the elders deem it appropriate, and both parties be equally willing, they may each send a son forth into a "tournament" (but we don't call it that) in which a suitable patch of ground is wetted so as to cover it in mud and the sons have to best the other unarmed and without throwing blows - the last son standing in the "mud pit" (that's what we call it) gets rights to the boar - but when it comes time to slaughter it they have to share the meat with the whole encampment..." she goes on to tell a time when one of her other cousins represented her family and how that turned out and how it's really "competitive" because in the end "everyone wins" and maybe this "tournament" is like that?...

GM - Tao would like to Glean Lore to see if there are any Gladiators in her ancestral line...

Religion (Expert) +9

Grams shrugs as she has no Wayfinder to hand over, but listens intently to the answer to what sort of tournament it is.

"Can you tell us anything more about who's gone missing? Or at least how many people?"

Miladistra pets Deroff some more. "Er... fightin' ain't my strong suit. Now trickin' people, yea I could do that." She keeps her gaze on the wolf as she retrieves her wayfinder.

"But if people are gettin' hurt or kidnapped. Yeah, I'll help however I can. What kinds of tournaments are these? Are we gonna have to pass a test?"

"Undercover missions're my favorite game. Whole life's been one big undercover mission. Gotta pick a new alias for this one. Call me..." Jack♢ shuffles his deck and reveals the top card at random, "'Five of Locks.' Just 'Five' for short."

Impressed by Tao's eagerness to fight, the ceaseless gambler mutters, "Right, gonna put a few silvers on Tao when placing bets..." Little surprise that he's planning on gambling at the underground tournament.

"Don't got no wayfinders. Usually I just show 'em this," Jack♢ says and flips out a playing card: the jack of diamonds, stamped with the Glyph of the Open Road. "Hold onto it, pal, 'kay?"

He poses a question to Muesello: "Who do you wager is behind this shady business? You know the city."

”What are we talking about? Jousting? Archery? Commedia del’Arte?”

Muesello sighs. "Street fighting mostly. Brawls, etc. But I've heard rumors of bigger things planned."

"Can you tell us anything more about who's gone missing? Or at least how many people?"

Muesello shakes his head. "Only a few verified cases. Mostly second sons of minor nobles and prominent businessmen's sons. Others have gone missing but I can't be sure they're linked to this."

"Who do you wager is behind this shady business? You know the city."

Muesello shrugs. “Usual suspects like the Aspis Consortium could always be involved, though there’s no indication of that from what we’ve learned so far. There are potential adversaries both foreign and domestic that might want to harm my friend and their allies, but there’s no point in idle speculation. See where the evidence takes you.”

You may also make a secret Society Check. Post your modifiers if you wish to check and I'll post your results.

Miladistra's Society is +2 Untrained

"Well, it's never easy, is it?" She ponders. "I can play the role of the pretty cheerleader. If anyone wants to perform, I can help them a bit- just give me a heads up." She fiddles with a flower in her hair.

Nymph's Token gives a bonus to Performance checks and Will Saves.

Society +3 (Trained)

"I can certainly fight -- and with my boys, I have even more experience breaking up fights," Grams said. "But hopefully it won't come to any of that."

Tao's eyes go cloudy white and she starts talking to herself in a strange language (*), barely visible wisps swirling around her like a sudden wind shifting her clothing and effects. Several moments pass before her eyes uncloud and she speaks "A distant cousin" Tao tells the story of "His name was Hilarium I think... married my great grandmother's third sister's daughter-in-law (after she lost her first husband of course)... crocodile took his right hand, still managed to win many bouts keeping a buckler attached to the stump and fighting with a starknife in the other... retired after several fights having won his freedom and died of old age..." she looks at Jesselle here "Held you as a babe once, at a gathering you were too young to remember" she adds "No nonsense type of man - never played cards or other games" she looks from her cousin to Jack♢ now, as if trying to make an implication here.

Which, incidentally, goes right over Jesselle's head.

"Muesello, does this Organization of Tournaments have Leadership? If one wanted to get involved, who would we ask to speak to? Or where would we start asking questions?"

...

*Rare Dialect of Varisian

Society +6

Nikebei puffs out her chest, "I knows bout fighting in arena, was in Tymon for my holidays, afores Iiss goes see the witchy one for Mr VC Smine. Dat big troubles." she continues as she nods her head continuously. "So dis here fight, does wees use all the kitchen knives, or does we be gentle and don't cut no one? Iiss got hands,can punchy punchy, but not as good as slicey, slicey." she says knowingly, he head now moving up and down, rather than from side to side. "Sos what fighty they do?"

"And when yous says theys goes 'missing', does that really mean dey is dead? Cos that don't sound fun fighting, no wonders it be illegals. Nikebei will cook up a storm, yous knows, if it bees illegals."

"Sos whats der name of der man we gotta meet? Is he reliables?"

Whilst this all goes on, Nikebei unpacks his complete backpack and possessions onto the floor looking for a wayfinder just in case she had one, of course she doesn't, but its always best to make sure.

Nikebei has +4 Gladiatorial Lore, if that helps in recalling any knowledge. She will of course Recall Knowledge using Society +0

Has everyone who has a Wayfinder, handed them over?

Muesello nods. "My contact is Vionnia Amnas. She's a local with a vested interest in the area. She'll help get you in and established." He gives you a quick description of a young woman with short red hair, as well as a sign and countersign response to give her.

”Hmmmm”, hmms Aldonza. ”So either Nikebei or Grams will be our ringer”

She looks at Jack♢. ”We can suss out the crowd while taking bets”

GM - check!

"Vionnia Amnas: Got it" practicing back-and forth the sign and countersign with her cousin a few times.

Tao and Jesselle then take about 10 minutes swapping clothing.

When Jesselle emerges, she is robed in colorful scarves, flowing dresses, bejeweled bandanas, sparkling earrings, lacey sandals, and light accentuating eye-liner, looking a little uncomfortable and awkward "I look like a girl" she complains, spending the next several minutes making adjustments as these strange clothes seem to invade every part of her body.

When Tao emerges, she has rubbed her make-up off and tied her hair into a ponytail, wearing a simple but dirty tunic tucked into baggy trousers hiked up to just below her knees, cheap shoes with holes in the toes, and topped with a black strapping captain's hat (into which she has stuffed her coiled hair)!

She smiles, lowering her voice to sound more masculine here, but failing at anything other than obvious exaggeration (Untrained in Deception) "Stop whining - you said you wanted to be a Pathfinder - well, here we are; This is our Mission!" to which her cousin nods and finally stops fidgeting.

"Ready!?" she declares to her comrades, noticeably excited to begin!

...

Before the party sets off, Jesselle will sheepishly hand Jack♢ a Mesmerizing Opal she stole from the pockets of her sister's attire...

Nikebei looks from one to the other, Tao and Jesselle, before running to Grams "Wees works with strange ones, that Tao has just changed clothes with Jesselle, I don't know who iiss talking too, it's very confusing!!!"

Miladistra hands her wayfinder over, and keeps Deroff distracted. Tao's strange trance earns a curious eyebrow. She shakes off her worry. It's not like I've been better...

Jesselle and Tao return dressed up. She giggles when Jesselle complains. She giggles again when Tao tries to disguise her voice.

"Well, it isn't too bad dressin' up. As long as you're comfortable." She checks her satin belt and makes sure it's tied and secure. "But I'm ready when ya'll are."

"Yes, dear. They're family, so they look alike and share things, the way family should," Grams reassures Nikebei. "They may not want you using their names right now anyway, since we're pretending to be other people, so that's OK if you don't know who is whom."

Ever the rogue, Jack♢ chuckles with Aldonza. "Always delighted to mix business with pleasure."

He accepts the opal pendant from Tao. "Betting that this does more for me than you? 'Kay then. Thanks hun." He takes 10 minutes affixing the talisman to his belt. (This thing breaks upon use, right?)

"Let's start the game and find the dealer."

(Assumedly we know where to look for this Vionnia Amnas, our contact person?)

Muesello takes the Wayfinders and smiles. "I'll keep these well safe for you. These, I think, will help you out." He pulls out a satchel that holds 1 lesser healing potion for each of you and hands it to Grams. "Now, I think you have a mission to accomplish." He nods and goes back to work.

Alright, before we begin I am to remind you that you each have 1 Hero Point to spend. If anyone does something particularly cool or in-character, feel free to PM your nomination for them to receive another Hero Point. I will also assign them as I see fit.

You head to the rendezvous location and spot your contact standing by a lamp post. You give her the pass phrase and she responds in turn, "The eagle is definitely better at catching fish." She smiles broadly. "I'm Vionnia. Pleasure to meet you! Are any of you hungry, because I'm starved! Let's grab a meat pie from Salvianella's stand before we head to the meet. Tell me about yourselves on the walk over and I'll pay for pies!" She's young and Taldan, with red hair and green eyes and an easy smile.

”Free pies? Who can resist?”, says Aldonza with a grin.

She gives Vionnia an elaborate bow. ”Aldonza Delamorte”, she announces. ”Devil-may-care harlequin” She gives her marotte a twirl. ”Danger and excitement are my stock in trade”

"Oh, you certainly don't need to pay, dear," Grams responds, greeting the younger woman with a smile. "But I certainly wouldn't mind some food. We should always eat when we can; no one likes someone who's cranky because they're hungry."

She listens to Aldonza and add her own story when there's a brief pause in conversation.

"I'm Brynsil, Brynsil Lustershale, though most people just call me Grams," she says. "I'm a mother of four, and grandmother of ... well, I don't want to bore you will all my grandbabies. After my husband died, my kids said I should get out and fulfill my old dream of adventure, so ... The Society seems the best way to do that, and now here I am. I think poor Regar's still a little horrified, but after Tharren and Katgwyn got married, well, there just wasn't a whole lot I needed to do back home. And I think I've been able to be of some use out here. I've met -- and rescued! -- more goblins than in the first 225 years of my life combined!"

Jesselle's tummy grumbles loudly, and she looks toward her cousin like "can we?" to which she nods in assent.

Tao's jaw drops when Grams reveals her age - so many lifetimes over her own! - and she begins sharing with Vionnia and the others her own story "Being in the Society helps me keep track of my family spread over the globe. Not just the money, but the travel too. I like to take weeks or months off between missions. Jesselle and I are off to visit another cousin a couple cities over after this is all through. Another reunion of the Heron family..." this reminds her of something to share "Speaking of Herons, I wonder if Deccum Oras Heron still operates in the area?" asking Vionnia now "You might know him as "Wire Head" - his fighting name - a gruesome technique involving serrated wire and judo to behead his foes - acquitted for 14 murders by a jury composed of his fans?"

If this turns any heads (no pun intended) or draws any surprised stares, Tao adds "Not all in our extended family are the scrupulous type" and even Jesselle weighs in here with "Yeah - he was always pretty mean at gatherings - even killed one of our uncles awhile back - and has since been disinvited" she spits on the ground here.

Attempting to change the subject and mood, but not without some impending irony, Tao recovers with "So - are these meat pies a specialty of the region?" realizing only too late that the previous subject of conversation may well spoil peoples' appetite!

Grams says I gotta use a different name, gotta be in diskkize. "Hi you can call me Nikebeyou." she smiles and winks at Grams, though she is a little confused when Grams gave her real name and life story. "Iss a cook cook, Iss used to fry fish fish, but now goes an adventures. Lets mes tastey the pie."

Her mouth opens wide and she takes a large bite of an extremely hot pie. as she munches down "Hmmmm .... nice...let me see the gravy ... I detect a tad of flour, a soupcon of pepper and ..... oooooh .... wait for it .... chilli flakes, good an hot. Now as for the pastry, not as good as my gran could make ... but.... " she then goes on to dissect the contents of the pie with a forensic attention to detail. Then critiquing the pie against her grandma's pies she warbles on .... whether she has an audience or not, well in reality she's talking to herself less than halfway through her monologue.

"Howdy Vionnia. Lead the way." She smiles.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

A little too overbearing.

"Ma and Pa always told me I wasn't meant to stay there. I thought they were givin' me the speech every young adult gets. But they knew who I was. Who Mother was. I was a blessin', but they knew I would wander off."

"My Uncle- not by blood- helped me focus mah senses. He also let me take care of his companion, Deroff. He will accept as many meat pies as you would give me- I'm not much into eatin' animals."

"I will take an apple though."

The missus loves talking to new people. Maybe she's an alpha.

Deroff isn't sure of what's going on, but he does like the smell. Oh yes. That's a good smell. Chicken, Beef, Pork, Fish- the four categories every wolf needs.

Deroff walks up to the missus, brushes against her leg and looks up to face her. She looks at him and speaks to the new person. Did she ignore him? He risks a scolding and denigrates himself by whining at just the right pitch- her ears twitched, she heard it.

She didn't even yell, instead she's dropping the food at his feet. Sniff sniff... nibble... lick... salty. Very salty. Very tasty.

More please.

Jack♢ relaxes himself. "And I go by the alias 'Jack of Diamonds'. It's my lucky card, see. Gave up on real names a long while ago."

"How 'bout a quick game while we eat?" he offers, simultaneously performing complicated card shuffles to show off. He doesn't seem to think much of the local cuisine.

Vionnia buys the pies and distributes them. The seller is an older lady with a small wheeled wooden cart who nods to Vionnia and clearly knows the woman well. "Salvianella's been selling the best pies in Taldor here for years. They're truly a national gem. I never pass up a chance to have one!" She nods to each of you as you introduce yourselves and eats her pie slowly, savoring it.

"We're heading into the Narrows, the poor district of Oppara. The first match is a brawl. Simple rules: put on a good show. Don't loot the fallen. Stay in the designated fight area. Otherwise, good luck!" She leads you into the Narrows, where ramshackle buildings creak in the wind and the air is full of the smell of refuse and rot under a deeply industrial air full of cinders and ash. Natives give you looks of suspicion and close their doors as you pass, and Vionnia takes several dodgy alleys and sharp sudden turns, as if she's trying to throw off any tails.

She stops in a small courtyard, where the buildings around it are about 15 feet tall. Mildewy, ramshackle houses surround a dour yard with a crumbling well in the middle. The cloudy gray sky is reflected in the watery mud that covers most of the yard.

SLIDE 6. I've placed you on the map. Feel free to change placement in that general area. The dotted yellow line is the basic area of the courtyard.

Vionnia leaves you there and bids you wait. She heads off and returns a few minutes later. "Your opponents are ready when you are. The price purse is being held. I think your opponents are funeral workers. They reek of those embalming chemicals. If you're ready, I'll give the signal?"

You have time to make preparations as you see fit. When you give Vionnia the go-ahead, she will signal the start of the match.

"So we shouldn't use any weapons," Grams says. "I'm not sure I like the idea of punching someone, though I guess these old bones can manage it if I have to. Never thought the Society would get me into something like this..."

She tightens the straps of her shield on her arm, and makes sure she's ready once she has her answer. Will have axe out too if weapons are allowed.

With crumbs and gravy all around her mouth, Nikebeyou is careful to place her burnt chef's hat on her head, straight and neat. She drops her pack of knives, "Dems too deadly for jus a fisty fight" she says, "can yous looks after dem." Nikebeyou asks. Taking the two bolas from her backpack, she fastens the rope and leather balls to her belt along with a couple of pots of hot pepper, she mumbles "Hot pepper in der eyes ... not nice, make dem eyes weep!" and sniggers a bit.

Then she jumps up and down, slapping her own face and going "Iss ready!"

Move Nikebei forward down the steps, I left the space open in case a sneaky wanted to get in first and hide in shadows or something.

Sorry, poor choice of words. Melee is probably better. You can certainly use weapons!

Jack♢, shortsword in one hand and a handful of playing cards in the other, confidently struts about. "We know the rules, but do they know the odds?"

(No particular preparations, so I'm ready.)

Tao channels the power of her two Gladiator Ancestors - Hilarium and Deccum - and, dressed in Jesselle's boyish outfit, starts twirling her bladed scarf in an effort to pump up the crowd and intimidate the enemy with a show of prowess.

"Whose looking to lose their head tonight!?" she hollars in her contrived lower-pitched masculine voice, flinging her blades towards any crowd member that dares to "boo" her (if any) and stopping just short of their neck to add some "umph" to her taunting.

"Let's get this party started f&~&ers!" any semblance of her typical warm-hearted gentleness disappearing under a facade of murderous bravado!

◆) Saoc Astology: 1d8 ⇒ 5
◆) Pump Up Crowd as Black Hat Contender (Performance): 1d20 + 11 + 1 ⇒ (12) + 11 + 1 = 24

Saoc Astology

Jesselle rubs her eyes - she can barely recognize her cousin! - as Tao, with a certain matriarchal cunning, endeavors to "win back" the attention given to Jack♢ by eclipsing him in "cool factor" in sharing this aspect of her spiritual psyche!

If allowed, she will also Cast and/or Sustain Bane (◆◆) just prior to stepping into the center!

Miladistra puts on her best smile and plucks a flower from her ear. She offers it to the now excited Tao. "A gift of my appreciation, madame!" Miladistra gets down to one knee.

Nymph's Token gives a +1 bonus to Performance and Will Saves. Enjoy!

Meanwhile Miladistra pulls out her scroll of Magic Fang and scruffs Deroff. "Alright boy. You'll need this more than I will."

She stands right behind Tao, letting her soak the attention.

Performance: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17
Miladistra prepars her sickle and loads her crossbow. While cheering and fanning the woman.

As Nikebei watches Jack♢ brace his shortsword ready for the fight, she looks across at Grams quizzically, before with a shrug she picks up her kitchen knives. She picks up two curved blades, one with a strange looking hook at the end and the other having holes drilled into the blade.

She holds a Khopesh and Dogslicer

Tao takes the 2d8 ⇒ (1, 4) = 5 Red and Green Nymph Feather and duffs it right into her Captain's Hat!

Aldonza steps out into the courtyard. She smiles at the crowd, holding her arms out wide, and turning slowly.

”Ladies and gentlemen, and children of all flavors!”, she announces. ”You came here for sport! You came here for blood! But you’re about to get more than you bargained for!”

She raps her marotte on the ground in a pounding rhythm.

”Lift your voice, and lift your fist!
Grab a drink, and let’s get pissed!
Who’ll survive, and who’ll be killed?
Leave it to the Slayers’ Guild!”

She repeats the verse, exhorting the crowd to join in.

Performance (Panache): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

"Tao, there's no need for that sort of language," Grams admonishes the Varisian woman, eyes cutting toward Nikebei.

She shakes her head and sighs as Aldonza starts singing about getting drunk, and using the word piss. Surely this wasn't going to help the Society's reputation if anyone found out about them -- not to mention giving Jesselle and the goblin (and maybe the wolf) a poor example to follow.

"Let's try not to hurt anyone too badly," she whispers to her companions, stepping forward into the courtyard.

Nikebei says to Grams, "Nikebeyou over and out Gramps." as Grams' whisper reaches her ears. I womders, maybe Grans spirit resides in Grams now, best do as she says.