GM TK-421 Agents of Edgewatch

Game Master CtotheZ

Taking a moment to line up a shot, Mason gives the trigger a squeeze, then loads up another round.

◆ Devise a Stratagem: 1d20 ⇒ 15

◆ Strategic Strike, total result of 23
Piercing/Concussive w/Precision: 1d6 + 1d6 ⇒ (6) + (3) = 9

◆ Interact (reload)

Roscoe blasts the thi g with cold and then applies some mundane healing to Mason which seems effective

Rocky moves over to the ledge and tries to pummel the airborne creature that's above her head... Weird 3D geometry on a 2D surface... f$~$ it but between her strikes and Mason's shot they manage to finish it off.

*** Out of Combat***
Bold may act

Red (-30hp?)
Green (-30hp?)
Roscoe
Mason (-6hp)
Towerr
Rocky
Aeric

Weird that the regular healing worked but the Rejuvenating Flames didn't. Will have to keep that in mind in case we run across those creatures again. Mason let's see if I can heal you up the rest of the way.

Rocky and Aeric were the ones I healed with treat wounds from the darkness fight so Mason is good to use Treat Wounds on.

Roscoe is going to Treat Wounds on Mason as he refocuses.

Treat Wounds
Treat Wounds DC15: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
Healz: 2d8 ⇒ (2, 7) = 9

And with that, Mason is now back to full health.

Cough cough.

”Thanks Roscoe.”

Not a problem, glad your feeling better.

Roscoe will approach to get a closer look at what is on the ground.

Roscoe will want to take a closer look at the orange cloud icon.

"Everyone alright? Limbs all working again? Those things were weird. And why'd they kiss you Towerr? Sunny personality?"

Mason gives a wink to the big automaton.

Roscoe finds a corpse of another flying creature of the same variety and a pile of rags similar to those worn by the unknown assailants the agents just let leave from what he can tell by just looking.

Roscoe will take a closer look and see if anything is usable, if not he will move a bit north and take a look.

Rocky will keep her guard up and make sure no more surprises Happen

Roscoe sees amongst the pile of rags a well crafted bag. Inside the bag is a controlled substance similar to that seen in the ratfolk cart.
Since your immediate actions after combat were to perform medicine and then to search I didn't tell you that there is a new magical aura. Once you resume your default search activities you would notice it. I'm gonna hand wave the ID checks because I hate them. This is a Bag of Holding type 1.

Roscoe would speak up after finding the bag, If you all don't mind I would like to carry the bag. Seems that this substance is what was on the cart. Maybe after this we can look into this more and see what this is, but now let's head north first.

Roscoe will head a bit north to look and see in the area we have not looked at yet.

A shallow pond fills the western half of this chamber, its placid surface revealing glowing cave fish that swim slowly through the water. At the pond’s northeastern edge, water flows into a stream that runs north before cascading down into a yawning pit in the floor, from which a faint glow emerges.

According to the directions from Skerix the agents are certain the way towards the club is to the passage north west beyond the pool and they surmise that the tunnel south west leads further into the darklands.

Let's make note of this other path in case we have to make our way back for a future investigation but I think the path is this way. Ready everyone?

Little bit of retcon to Mason.

Retcon:"What? I don't remember something kissing me! All of the sudden I was frozen in place then after several seconds I find these creatures have been defeated. Sorry I wasn't any help in that fight."

Also, how do I proceed with this Vargoullie poison? Does my character know he's poisoned? Assuming non magical means he can't drink a health potion? Im also a bit flustered that something like this has an effect on a non fleshy being. Had to look it up and nothing says it doesnt effect automatons, but still, seems silly that it would.

"Aye. Shall we then?"

Also, how do I proceed with this Vargoullie poison? Does my character know he's poisoned? Assuming non magical means he can't drink a health potion? Im also a bit flustered that something like this has an effect on a non fleshy being. Had to look it up and nothing says it doesnt effect automatons, but still, seems silly that it would.

Who said you have Vargouille poison?

We should try to clean ourselves up a bitbbefore we press on. Want to look our best.

After cleaning up. Ready to press on.

Before we press on, I must urge everyone to take note of Rocky and my status for the next several days. It's apparent that Rocky and I were kissed... as you say... by these creatures. I am not certain now but we could have potentially caught a disease they carry.

Towerr continues to explain the factors of the disease...

well... the options appear to be head north and jump in the water or continue on the solid ground. i'm voting for solid ground. everywhere else we have explored, or at the very least spent some time wandering through it to potentially notice anything interesting.

Do any of you do anything else before heading to the northern passage? And other investigations or searches? And other skill checks?

With what Towerr said would I be able to look over Towerr and Rocky to check for an affliction?

You can always attempt a Medicine check if you wish. Towerr did relay enough information about the particular disease, and with your medical knowledge, you know if they have not yet reached the onset time since exposure, you could get a false negative. In your professional opinion its best to "wait and see" and depending on how long the rest of the nights activities goes, you might not know until morning. Unless you stay with them throughout the night for "observation". Onset time is minimum 1 hour to maximum of 6 hours.

beyond checking that tunnel to the south, there’s nothing else the player can think of that would need to be done. If there’s something obvious Mason would know, I might need more insight please

Don't worry Towerr I will keep an eye on you and Rocky and if anything happens I will look into it more. But if you guys are ready then let's head to this club.

Roscoe is ready and good to head to the club.

Nope, no additional insight. There's a tunnel going deeper into the darklands, theres a pool of water that seems to go deeper under the city as well, and a passage north which you're certain is your destination. Just making sure everyone is satisfied before changing scenes.

Thanks Roscoe. I just hope I don't have it. Since I lack physical ears, I don't want to know where a set of leather wings might sprout.

Towerr gives a shaky chuckle.

I feel good. Ready to get the lead out

We'll assume a group consensus unless Aeric says otherwise and we can always retcon.

The tunnel here ends in a door of iron-banded wood set in a frame of white brick, not quite thick enough to completely muffle the sounds of festivities of bacchanalian magnitude.

The agents head for the northern passage and locate the door. Aeric does not detect any traps and Mason doesn't sense anything out of the ordinary. The door is locked however, leaving the agents to surmount one last hurdle before arriving at the House of Planes.

Aeric is able to make short work of the lock with two successful checks.

This next bit is a non-combat scenario. There are no maps. Its all theater of the mind.

The agents are able to slip in to the crowd unnoticed and find themselves in the "Boneyard" room, as evidenced by a clearly labeled sign.

The walls of this room have been painted with an endless field of gravestones under a black sky. Open archways along the walls lead to numerous other rooms. A tall, black-robed woman with long white hair and ash-colored makeup perches on a spiral-marked headstone in the room’s center next to an oversized stone sarcophagus filled with dirt.

As soon as the agents enter the room, the white-haired host—obviously dressed as Pharasma— swans over to meet them. She’s a bombastic, campy performer with a decidedly irreverent take on the goddess of life and death, winking at the agents and loudly asking: “All right now, honey babies, are you ready for some judgment?”

I think it will be best to let the author explain directly to you about how this next scene should go instead of trying to give you my translation of their rules. Feel free to ask follow up questions if you have any.

This encounter is intended to let you explain in character how the social encounters within the House of the Planes will work. “Pharasma” is an excellent cold reader and can tell right away that the characters are there to talk to some big shots— she lets them know that in each room (including this one) is a powerful figure holding court, and that the best way to impress these patrons is to show off their talents and bravery by completing the challenge in their room.
(She illustrates this by pointing out the Boneyard’s patron, who is eagerly watching someone lose their nerve partway through the burial challenge.)

At the end of the conversation, Pharasma winks again and asks the characters if they want to stay here and “have a seat on my spire” or if they want to get judged.

The burial challenge is exactly what it sounds like. A character will be burued alive in a sarcophagus with a thin layer of dirt (no issues escaping) that will require a successful Fort and Will save to hold your breath and prevent yourself from panicking.

The agents see the rooms patron, as pointed out by "Pharasma", is a female halfling who is rolling her eyes hard at the current patron attempting, and failing, to impress her at the challenge.

Would love to. Roscoe will say with a smile. Do you need us all to or just one of us? My companion here is a construct so I am not sure if he would need to.

Overhearing the conversation, the halfling woman butts in, "I like your moxy kid! I don't care if one or all of you do it. But I can tell you I won't be impressed that your golem can get buried."

Also, if any of you wish to attempt to gather information about the patron in each of these rooms, you can attempt to gather information from other less notable patrons in the room with a Diplomacy check.

”A seat on your spire? Don’t threaten me with a good time love.”. Mason will wink back at the Imposter Pharasma. ”I suppose we should take a shot at this, burial thing, and see about winning some brownie points with our hosts, eh?”

Approaching the burial box.

”This seems a bit barbaric. Could be a hoot.”

if able to attempt, not sure how many, so I just posted the one check
Will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (10) + 7 = 17

Fort Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Will Save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

Willing to use a Hero Point if I fail

You need to roll both a Will save and a Fort save. Just one of each. If you fail, you fail to impress.

Fort: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

sorry, missed the AND portion.

Who would have guessed Breath Control would be handy? Not Aeric. And I did look around to see if there was any goofiness with Medicine for calming nerves. Hmmm, maybe some of the drugs we found....

Fort: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Will: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (11) + 10 = 21

I'm your huckleberry

Rocky will step forward with confidence

Fort Save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Will Save: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

The halfling woman watches each of the agents make a pass at the challenge in turn. Both Mason and Roscoe manage to keep cool and composed for the allotted duration. Aeric and Rocky aren't able to muster up the needed gumption.

The halfling woman gestures to the successful agents to join her at her table. "Tell your friends to go powder their noses." she says, indicating Aeric and Rocky. "You two look like you can keep calm under pressure. Those two don't impress me." she says with the confidence of a woman who is used to getting what she wants.

Assuming you all comply. She ignores Towerr's presence.

"My name is Leila. I'm the best fence in Absalom. I'm looking for some people who can keep their composure to help move items of... questionable ownership, across the city without falling to pieces under questioning."

This isn't the beginning of a side quest. This is just her being open with you. At this time you can have a "conversation" with her (Diplomacy check) to butter her up and maybe learn some information of value to your investigation. After a successful Diplomacy check you can then ask some questions about relating to the missing persons. Just consider that you are undercover so 'Donyou know anythingabout these missing persons?' Might be a bit too forward. As a fence she may have been approached to buy things that may have belonged to your missing persons.

Definitely sounds interesting and would love to hear more about this.

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27

"Indeed. Always looking for opportunities here and there to make some scratch."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

She smiles and nods at Roscoe, but then rolls her eyes a bit at Mason. "Eww... I hate it when people refer to money as 'scratch'... Anyway business has been good with all the riff raff coming in for the festival but nothing big. Just moving the usual stuff people would normally carry with themselves when they travel or walk about the city."

Yeah with all the influx of people you probably been seeing things from all over. Seen any weird or interesting things?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26

Willing to use a Hero Point if the roll is bad.

"I have had an influx of items from a thief named Raslo. A bunch of effect from Minkai including some Mason's tools. Its a bit odd too because I thought that sort of stuff, tools, was below her but... eh tough times change ones outlook I suppose."
The name Raslo is familiar to you. You met a Raslo, briefly, on your first night as Edgewatch agents.

Was that the guy who stole the purse and kicked our butts?

Yeah sometimes you just have to do whatever will give you some coin. Do you normally deal with just small stuff or bigger stuff as well?

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Willing to use a Hero Point if the roll is bad.

You never got that thiefs name. And that wasn't your first night on the job. That was in broad daylight of day two. Your first night was when you got your butts kicked by the adventurers in the tavern (no Raslo wasn't one of the adventurers). You have heard that name and been introduced to a person named Raslo before you got into a fight. You have gotten the 'lead' here. She got some Minkaian stuff (including Masonory tools) from Raslo, and you're looking for clues about missing Minkaian masons. You can try to ask follow up questions about Raslo. Not asking questions about Raslo isn't going to gain anything further at this point here.

Ok to retcon a bit and hopefully keep that diplomacy roll. :)

What does Raslo normally deal in if tools are not their thing?