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In the morning, after a good nights rest and reporting to Eando Kline about last night's ritual, you all get up and are ready to head out when you spot Ilmyrn jogging towards you.
"Hello. Sorry I had to leave last night, I was urgently called back. But Fola Barun tracked me down this morning and told me she had another mission for you. Apparently a pathfinder was caught smuggling a cocatrice into the city yesterday! The beast turned him to stone and the city guard are just going to leave it like that as 'just punishment.' Don't worry, the bird's been killed, but that still leaves our pathfinder as stone.
We don't want to encourage smuggling . . . but this is basically a death sentence. So Fola has pulled some strings and the city has agreed to let us release him. Fola wants you to do the honors." he hands you a jar marked 'anti-petrification stuff' and a bit under the label in smaller handwriting is written "Technically greater salve of antiparalysis"
"I wish I could come with you, but another group of pathfinders just graduated and Krtyton Shane has asked me to properly document and store all the new recruits' files. Sorry. Oh, before I forget, Fola did send along a little gift to say sorry for inconveniencing you." He hands you a small potion bottle filled with a silvery liquid labeled "lesser silvertongue mutagen."
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Ogren gives a broad smile at seeing Ilmyrn again. He rushes the half-elf and locks his leg in a muscle bruising hug. "ILMRYN! I MISSED YOU!"
After possibly getting shooed away, the goblin starts bounces some at the thought of not having to go straight to the spooky scary mansion and can do something else instead, even if it's not going to ultimately prevent the mansion mission after all.
He takes the salve and very gently wraps it in fabrics and towels and puts it carefully into his pack. "There! Shouldn't break unless I fall more than 30 feet! Sooooo, let's go free a Pathfinder?"
Ilmryn gives Ogden a handshake (as well as anyone else who offers one) and then is off.
The streets are unusually crowded today, and there seems to be more and more agitated people as you get closer to the destination.
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Ogren humms a happy tune as he bounces down the street, glad he got an open sign of affection from Ilmryn and only stops to notice the agitation in the air when it gets a bit too obvious. He frowns for a moment thinking before he starts clambering up the side of a building and jumping off in an attempt to alleviate the tension. "Look at me! I'm falling!"
It works especially well at breaking the ice. ".... so these three ringleaders are who exactly?"
For several blocks, the quiet lanes of Westgate’s residential neighborhoods feature small houses, low-key cafes and taverns, and the occasional specialty shop. The fragrant scent of tended flower gardens in the warm sunlight blends with the low hum of distant conversation over what would normally be a pleasant boulevard. The quaint, square is also filled with people; several dozen townsfolk shout and argue, their voices somehow out of place among the silent statues.
Above the whole crowd, standing on the lip of a fountain, two women and one man are shouting.
". . . .And the pathfinders are ruining my apothacary business. They just hand out healing potions like so much candy . . . AT COST! No one is buying them anymore. . ."
"Abdar says this man should be punished, and he should! But I've learned that the pathfinders have come here to free him in defiance of Abdar's Will and justice . . . ."
"The presence of the Pathfinder Society has caused problems for absolom! Who can forget just a few years ago when the Pathfinder's Enemies came nocking at the door, dragging the entire city into their private little war . . . ."
Towards the center of the crowd, you can just barely make out the head of a statue of a pathfinder peeking over the crowd. You doubt the crowd will let you un-stone him while they are still riled up. You doubt simple diplomacy will convince the crowd to disperse, through a hard intimidate check might. You think the best option is to dismantle their arguments.
You think you can talk down the apothecary with a crafting or mercentile lore check.
You can probably talk down the guy talking about ‘justice’ by making a religion check to poke holes in his theology, or some sort of lore involving rules (legal lore, hell lore, Absolom lore, etc.)
The person talking about the magic attack on Absolom is talking about an undead uprising staged by one of the society’s enemies. You can attempt an Arcana check or Undead lore check to bring up nuances to the arguement that he is ignoring.
You can each attempt 1 check (total, not one per person). If you role-play well or make a particularly salient argument, you may get a bonus.
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Samna talks to the Abadaran. "Ah, but wouldn't you rather let the courts decide than random chance? Does Abadar usually work his will through the gaze of a dumb creature? I don't think so. No, the guard should have brought this case to the district court, or--better yet--to their local councilperson, since the Pathfinder Society is involved. Who knows what connections the fellow has?"
The religious figure sputters out some half-baked counter argument to Samna’s case but he can’t quite find the words. Some of the crowd start murmoring things like ‘yeah, he wasn’t given a trial,’ and such. About a third of the crowd disperses.
Alaric sticks the knife in. The Religious guy's arguement is thuroghly defeated. The Apothocary and Arcane character still remain.
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Ogren cocks his head for a moment at the argument about the Pathfinder Society and their 'personal' war. "But if I remember correctly, Absalom has been dragged into many wars before, no? Maybe the Society was the reason for this last one, but there have been ones in the past. But the Pathfinders also help people with undead all the time, don't they? If you had a zombie or a ghast appear in your basement, who would you turn to?"
The Arcanist sputters for a moment, "But, I mean, like you said we have had enough wars that we don't need the pathfinders bringing more into it!" but he's already lost the crowd. Several of the townspeople turn and agree that the pathfinders have cleared out undead around the town a lot, and that sometimes their clerics can kill whole swaths of undead with channeling energy and spells, whereas most guards are stuck poking undead with pointy sticks. Another third of the crowd disperses. The arcanist, seeing how he's lost the crowd, leaves. The religious guy stays but clearly no one is listening to him anymore. The last person remaining is the Apothicary talking about how pathfinders have ruined his business.
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"Then adapt," Isurus says in a quiet but steely voice. "Business is competition just like hunting for fish. If one shark is faster and able to catch the fish before another shark, the fast one grows. If the slow one does not become faster or smarter, it will die. That is not the fast shark's fault. Do not blame others for your own failures. Adapt. Or perish."
[dice=Intimidation (T)]1d20+6
"Then adapt," Isurus says in a quiet but steely voice. "Business is competition just like hunting for fish. If one shark is faster and able to catch the fish before another shark, the fast one grows. If the slow one does not become faster or smarter, it will die. That is not the fast shark's fault. Do not blame others for your own failures. Adapt. Or perish."
”See that! They don’t even care! They hear how they have DESTROYED my business and their response is ‘suck it up?!’ Have you ever heard of a less empathetic organization? Is this the kind of people we want in Absolom?!”
The crowd seems to be on the side of the apothecary.
Jaxon tries to find a way to save the man’s business.
But he accidentally suggests several illegal practices that the apothecary quickly calls him out on.
The remainder of the crowd is turning ugly.
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"And I am sure that the Pathfinder Society will compensate you well for your potions. Or would you rather me inspect them to see if they have been watered down to double your profits?" Alaric asks if an inquisition will be necessary in an attempt to cow the man. He grabs one of the potions and looks it over, taking a sip as he tosses a few coins his way.
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Ogren pauses for a moment and looks over at everyone else in the group. "Wait, I thought we didn't sell potions? Don't we almost never seem to have enough. I think I heard Fola yesterday ranting about how hard it is to get enough to send recruits out with one or two per party much less everyone. Could someone be selling them on the side? We might have a BAD person in the Society!" He then gives a very disappointed frown at the idea. "Actually, if you want, we could see about getting a contract to buy some of your potions! We're always needing them so it'd be a great stable source of income!"
The crowd starts talking amongst each other at Alaric and Ogren's points.
"Wait, he can sell to the society? Why doesn't he do that?"
"Wait, are his healing draughts watered down? I had one last week that barely healed a papercut."
"Man, this is turning out to be bogus."
But as you see the crowd dispersing, you hear from someone in the crowd a shout.
"No! I won't! He's . . . it's divine decree that he remain stone FOREVER! It is holy doctorine! Shivaska wills it!"
Then out of nowhere, two creatures appear, causing the small remainder of the crowd to flee in panic.
"Slay them holy minions of Shivaska! While I make my retreat!" the voice shouts.
Whoever summoned the creatures must have also fled in the ensuing confusion.
Round 1, bold may go
Samna
Isurus
Ogren
Strange Floating tiny creatures
Jaxon
Alaric
The creature looks half dead from a single strike from Isurus.
If you don't notice I tend to play a little loose with scenarios, especially repeatables, just to keep them a little fresh. I never change the mechanics of course, but sometimes I switch out NPCs for other guys or have things play out slightly differently for them to make more story sense. Again, I don't intentionally mess around with mechanics, just fluff to make the repeatables more . . . repeatable.
Samna's first attack hits, dealing some amount of damage. They appear unphased by Ogren's words. He's not even sure if they speak common.
Red seems to heal some of his wounds slightly?!
Red Attacks Isurus
(piercing and evil)
Step
Step
(Note, the current HP totals represent you getting your TEMP HP Taken off first)
Round 2, bold may go
Samna -4HP
Isurus -3HP
Ogren
Strange Floating tiny creatures
-Red -17 HP
Jaxon
Alaric
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Alaric shifts into the middle of everyone, using them as a sort of cover as his magical aura kicks up the dust from the ground around him.
Alaric raises his hand and rocks a small explosion on the creature
[ooc]DC 18 Basic Reflex[ooc]
HP 26/26
AC 20 (22 w/ shield raised)
Resistance: Mental 2
Spells (1) 2/3
Focus Points 2/2
Hero Point 2/3
Turns out Isurus didn't need the fort save (I'll keep what he rolled in case he gets hit again) because Ogren made the monster enfeebled 2, which caused it to miss.
Still need a fort save from Samna
Jaxon's strikes take down Red.
Round 2, bold may go
Samna -4HP
Isurus
Ogren
Strange Floating tiny creature
Jaxon
Alaric
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"Thank you!" Isurus shouts hastily as Ogren forces the creature to reconsider the path it took to become what it is now, distracting it and saving him the gruesome bite wounds that may have happened otherwise. He grimaces with fury as he strikes back at the demonic sphere of teeth.
He moves on to the remaining demonic creature and thrusts at it with his trident.
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"Thank you!" Isurus shouts hastily as Ogren forces the creature to reconsider the path it took to become what it is now, distracting it and saving him the gruesome bite wounds that may have happened otherwise. He grimaces with fury as he strikes back at the demonic sphere of teeth.
He moves on to the remaining demonic creature and thrusts at it with his trident.
[dice=Trident (T)]1d20+6
[dice=Piercing, Curse]1d8+3+2[dice=Trident (T)]1d20+6-5
[dice=Piercing, Curse]1d8+3+2
Isurus’s first strike finds its home, dealing significant damage.
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Ogren gives a surprised face as the floating teeth ball rabbit things bite at Isurus and then INTO Samna! He scowls at the one still alive. "Bad bunny! BAD!" He then hefts his mace and takes a swing at it like a baseball.
He then reaches over and pulses a burst of healing into Samna with an elbow as the other arm bring up his shield.
The other enemy falls down. No one seems diseased. There is a statue of a middle aged human in front of you with a look of shock on his face. He wears no armor and resembles the description of the petrified pathfinder.
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" . . .that a cocatri . . . oh, hey, where am I?" the statue comes to life to reveal a balding, poorly-dressed middle-aged human.
" . . . last time I listen to Guarril," he mutters under his breath as he turns around to face the group.
"I'm assuming you guys are pathfinders who saved me from the cocatrice? Thanks. 'name's Vincent Goldheirch, but everyone calls me Vinnie. I was doin' a favor for an associate when, well, I guess you can tell things went sideways. My contact never told me I was smuggling in a cocatrice. I thought it was like . . . a normal chicken or something. Listen, thanks. I uh, I don't have any money on me . . . but . . . oh! I do own a small little brewery up in Varisia! I'll send you all some cases of my best, free of charge! That sound like a good thank-you present?"