GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

Anyone else have anything to ask or do before we move it along?

My post from earlier got eaten with a 404 error from the site. I don't feel like typing it out again so, I'm good to go.

I will be travelling tomorrow, so no posts from me.

Have a safe trip. :)

I have an idea and I wanted to get your thoughts on it.

If this Vancaskerkin guy is a fairly decent guy as are his fellow deserters, we might be able to convince them to come with us back to the Citadel. Let's call this Plan A.

If they don't, then I'd like to try sneaking in and knocking them out. Shrike may have some ideas about where to find some stuff that can knock out people without harming them. Let's call this Plan B.

I'd like to be as non-threatening as possible for trying Plan A. Could we say that we stopped by the Sanctuary where Audria could pick up her priestess' robes? She would change into her robes, leave her armor and the heavy weaponry with the others, walk up to the shop. and start talking to them to try working the conversation around to why they left the guard and convincing them to come back peacefully.

If that doesn't work or Audria figures that they aren't on the up and up, she'll join back up with the others and we go with Plan B, finding out where they stay for the night and using whatever we can find to disable them to knock them out and take them back to the Citadel.

As an aside, GM, would it be fair to say that Audria is familiar with the oaths that both the Korvosan Guard and the Sabel Company Marines take due to her training under Bartholomew? I was thinking that was her motivation for wanting to bring them in. She has a dim view of oathbreakers.

The Sanctuary is close enough to the butcher shop that you could stop on the way for a change of costume.

Since there is no Korvosan Guard oath that I can find in any of my materials, let's go with the one from Discworld, slightly amended. :D

Audria would note be familiar with the exact wording, but she would know that the guards swear to uphold the laws of Korvosa, defend its citizens, obey their superiors, pursue evil-doers and protect the innocent. The Sable Company marines swear to defend the city of Korvosa from threats airborne or waterborne. She would also know that the Field Marshal answers directly to the monarch, while the Sable Company commandant answers to the seneschal.

Woo! that makes this even easier.

Could I roll Knowledge(Local) to know about the history of the butcher's shop?

Untrained Knowledge(Local): 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6 That's probably not going to get me anything.

Don't suppose that Audria could ask around the Sanctuary or that Shirke, Dal, or Abella know something?

I was planning to reveal some of that on the next decent Perception roll for the front of the building, but a DC 15 Knowledge local works as well.

Sorry, I don't mean to hold us up, but Shrike isn't comfortable with playing bounty hunter with no questions asked. Also, she needs to go be Merula for late afternoon and early evening.

I should have specified that I wanted to move on from the scene in Kroft's office to discuss with the group before going ahead to All The World's Meat. She can meet back up with the group around midnight if that's okay. In that time, maybe the others could stake out the place or ask questions of the neighbors?

Shrike can also probably tell Audria where to buy nonlethal weapons now that the city is mostly open (I assume - would just take 10 on Knowledge: Local for 15), if she is asked about that. There are also poisons/drugs that cause sleep or unconsciousness, like the ever-popular shiver, drow poison, oil of taggit, maiden lily attar (from a module, no official price given), blue whinnis, Chelish deathapple, purple pesh, and sweetdream. There's an item called a toxic censer that turns other types of poison into inhaled poisons with a 20-foot radius. But I'm not sure how knowing where to find them would be adjudicated, or if Audria is even comfortable essentially using knockout gas.

Other than nonlethal weapons or poison, I'm not sure we non-spellcasters have a ton of options for knocking people out.

Actually, if it's between a fight and knockout gas, Audria would rather use the knockout gas.

It's a grey area if you are being strict about the Paladin's Code, at least the one in the CRB, but it's a better option in her eyes than potentially killing someone.

As a player, I was hoping there'd be knockout gas. That's why I was asking about it. :D

EDIT: I don't mind the delay. I'm happy to have the time to roleplay this out a bit.

Also happy to chat it out. I find the conundrum interesting even if Abella doesn’t

Happy to roll back the scene a little. This transitional segment in the AP is a little awkward and makes a number of assumptions, but I'm sure we'll find something that works for everyone.

Stakeout and information gathering are perfectly sensible activities while Merula is busy.

There is not a lot of information in the official materials about the actual workings of the guard, but since they stem from a military organization (the regular Chelish army that conquered the region), I imagine there's no resigning as such, although one can be discharged (honourably or not) and one can retire after a number of years. But that's just my interpretation.

For what it's worth, I do have Command and Hold Person prepared.

Okay, that's good to know. :)

Shrike will try to find/buy at least three more saps (for Audria, Abella, and Pippip) on her way to the butcher shop from her actual work, which would probably end at around, say, 9 in the evening. Would that be okay, GM?

Unless Audria brings it up, she wouldn't think to look for knockout poison. Even basic poisons have always been far too expensive for her in the past. Though that maiden lily attar seems perfect for our purposes, and with that low DC it's probably not all that expensive...

The saps are fine by me.

For the poison, let's say a 30% chance to find it on such short notice and at a late hour, so we'll roll a d100 (high is good).

1d100 ⇒ 10

No poison. :(

All good, thanks GM. Shrike is ready to appear with the three saps at around midnight then, and I'll subtract 3 gp from her money.

It looks like there's at least a whole scene with Audria that has to play out before Shrike gets there at midnight. Since the outcome could change things pretty drastically, I'll wait to post about Shrike's reaction to what Dal, Pip, and the others have found out so far about the Cow Hammer Boys until it has been resolved. For the record, both I and Shrike think that Audria trying to confront the ex-Guards in robes instead of armor, with only Abella and Talanaliel for backup, is a terrible idea. But Shrike already gave that warning and has peaced out for now. So I guess we'll see how it goes.

Timeline wise, I think it looks like Audria & Pip (Not sure if Abella went as well) went to the shop while Dal was questioning the neighborhood.

I wasn't sure if that Local check was going to work as a Gather Information roll, if so, here's how long it would take Dal.
Hours: 1d4 ⇒ 4

Yeah, that was the idea.

Gotcha, thanks.

If Abella's player is still busy, we could say she's keeping any eye on Audria's stuff. She wasn't going to show up armed to the teeth while trying to talk them into coming with her back to the Citadel.

That said, I'll have a post up this evening. Don't have time at the moment.

Here, had a busy weekend.

I will say that Abella is not going anywhere near a group of outlaw guards without armor and a weapon. She is way too cynical both in general and about this particular situation.

Fair enough. Audria is that naive, so would Abella mind watching her stuff at the place we're supposed to meet? I'm hoping this won't take long.

She knows Audria is that naive and isn’t going to let her be without at least someone to protect her, so she will be nearby with your stuff. Imagine her peeking around a corner to keep an eye on her :D

Works for me!

Uh oh. You know, Audria can probably just take 10 in many situations like this. I try to remember to do that whenever Shrike has an out-of-combat skill check. The more dice you roll, the more variation you see — good and bad.

Yeah, but Audria's also a terrible liar. Besides, I didn't think this was a situation where she could take 10.

My partner is very sick with Covid and I'm taking care of them. I'm testing negative so far and taking precautions, but if I disappear for a few days I probably got sick as well.

Thanks for the heads up. Praying for a speedy recovery.

Oh dang. Yeah, take care.

Oh, bad luck. I hope your partner feels better soon, GM, and that you don't catch it.

I hope they feel better soon and that you don't catch it, GM!

Slang note: 'Hack' is real, meaning a person or thing that is for hire. E.g. hack-horse, hired hack, hackney. 'Ruffler' is 'a bully, cheat, or violent or swaggering blackguard.' Hence, the made up 'hack-ruffler,' meaning a bully-boy for hire.

Hope Audria's not getting too annoying. I know how frustrating it can be to try helping someone out of their own self-doubt and self-pity, mainly because I'm the one that people have been frustrated with. I'm trying hard not to have her be woe-is-me, pity me, but I don't know if I'm succeeding.

Abella is used to moody, depressive blondes thanks to her sister, so it’s fine :D

Abella is used to moody, depressive blondes thanks to her sister, so it’s fine :D

Thanks! That gave me a chuckle. :D

Not sure how I didn't catch it but I don't have access to the roll20 map

Here is the invite link. I didn't manage to find the source images for everyone's portraits to use as tokens, so if you can link me to any character art you have I'll replace the placeholders I have now.

The one you have is fine. I just can't see anything.

I edited your PC so that you can control it and you should see the map now.

Sorry for the delay, I was very busy with holiday prep today. I likely won't be able to post tomorrow as well. Happy Thanksgiving to those in the U.S.!

Don't want to make this decision for the whole group, but Shrike wants to quietly open the door and rush 'em. :) We could wait for them to fall asleep, but we don't know for sure that they sleep here. Some might leave. We might be seen loitering. Meanwhile, five on two is good odds to overpower them quickly. Then we can ideally do the same with the two and then the one upstairs.

Do we want to bring Audria up? She's still in the alley (presumably with Pip) because she isn't exactly the stealthiest in her breastplate.

Tally can fetch her if needed if Dal's caught up to Shrike and Abella.

Intuitively, it seems like it should be pretty safe to bring Audria at least up to the gate so we can discuss in whispers. Talanaliel isn't with Shrike right now though, to ask her to get Audria, and I'm not sure where Dal officially is.

My, my. Are we gonna be Benny Hill, Get Smart, or Monty Python? :P

In all seriousness, I think Dal should be at least up to where Abella is, and it seems like Shrike went in and came back out to talk to her. I think we could assume that Tally is in the know and can fetch Audria, but it would be nice to have the GM confirm that is the case.

I expect Tally can fly around as needed while not attracting much attention, so I'm fine with her fetching Audria and passing on bits of info to anyone at the back of the group.

Woo Hoo! I get to join the party! (Note, this 100% out of character. Audria is not nearly as bloodthirsty as I pretend to be sometimes.)

The holiday took me.

Yeah, Dal moved up to join Shrike and Abella by the door.

I'll have a post up shortly.

Should Shrike be able to go again here before Dal and Abella can do anything? I was figuring that that standard attack would be her surprise round action. Everyone else who was aware at the start of combat (so, the party, not the Cow Hammer Boys) would then get one move or standard action for their surprise round action before we're in regular initiative. She's just going to attack again, of course, but I thought I should ask. Don't want to deprive them of a turn.