GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

When she notices that Audria has not moved since the end of the battle and is sitting and staring blankly into space, Shrike momentarily pauses in her preparation to kill the predatory animal Lamm trained to eat human children. She approaches a few steps, but then Abella moves in to offer comfort, and so she returns to her self-appointed task.

Shrike cocks her head to one side but does not otherwise respond to Lina, the mask tracking her path as the ragged young woman walks out and is shortly followed by Abella.

Then she returns to perfect stillness as she scans the dark water. There is yet work to do.

Garret will search around this area for any writing that would discus Lamm's misdeeds and might free those who paid for the foul man's deeds.

I am going to search the area taking 20 for anything Lamm had of value or signs of his criminal activity.

Lania sees that the crocodile has, in fact, started to chew on Lamm's corpse. Bits of his armor float along the Jeggare River's surface, but the beast itself is too far under the walkway to easily hunt down, at least not without tearing apart some of the wooden boards to get to it.

With some of the party outside dealing with the aftermath of Lamm's death, Garrett meticulously searches the room. It takes him a while, but he is able to find a few rather...interesting things.

The first is a ledger, inside of which is a shockingly meticulous list of something that's clearly coded and in Varisian.

The second is a chest tucked below Lamm's bed. Though it's clearly meant to be locked, the chest is currently jammed open slightly by one of the items inside it.

It's immediately obvious to Garrett that the brooch is the most valuable item in the whole collection. It depicts a house drake and an imp in a yin-yang sort of pattern, and is festooned with various high-value gems.

And the last object of interest is a hatbox, surrounded by flies. On opening it, Garrett finds two familiar objects. The first is a deck of cards, the backs of which are identical to those Zellara left each of the party members to invite them to her house. And the second is a somewhat rotten, severed head, crudely covered in makeup in an attempt to give it the semblance of life. It's Zellara's head!

= = = = = Meanwhile, The Girls = = = = =

Outside of Lamm's lair, unfortunately, things aren't any quieter. Quite the opposite, in fact. In spite of the late hour, much of the city is back-lit, though it's by the flickering glow of fires. Alarm bells ring out. A squadron of hippogriff riders of the Sable Company swoop overhead, only for one, whose hippogriff is badly injured, to crash into the side of a building.

Through the chaos, a herald's voice can be heard shouting "The king is dead, long live the queen!" over and over, until he's silenced mid-sentence and another voice shouts "Hang that usurper!" The city seems to have descended into madness during the battle against Lamm!

After several minutes of fruitless waiting with eyes on the alligator, which seems to have no inclination to return to anywhere it would present a clear target, Shrike almost imperceptibly shakes her head at herself. This'll take hours I don't have. Would have been cleaner, though riskier, to let it all play out. It just looked like one good snap and it would have swallowed the halfling whole.

She will have to trust that the lizard cannot escape the submerged section of this room into the river itself. How else could Lamm keep it here, after all? It is not chained that they have seen and clearly had no love for him as a master. And if it could leave at will it is unlikely the sharks outside would be so bold. No, it is a problem for later. A day or two. When it's hungry again. Poisoned meat would be safest. A bolt between the eyes would be more merciful.

Shrike rises from her crouch, slings the crossbow away across her back, and joins Garrett in looking over the contents of the ledger she had handed him. When she sees it is coded and in a language she doesn't speak, she instead turns to sifting through the mostly-worthless objects from the messy tables and the much more interesting contents of the rusted strongbox. Drugs, baubles, weapons, a few vials that are clearly magical or alchemical in nature. It is a small fortune. It makes her teeth clench and her temples pound. All those lives destroyed so this squalid little rat could stash a few trinkets in his filthy nest and squat on top of them until he died. She wishes she could bring him back to life so she could kill him again.
Knowledge (nobility) DC 15: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

Shrike turns away and grips the edge of the table to master the sudden flame of rage. Lamm's death should have quenched it. But she feels more like a bow drawn back to the point of breaking that has suddenly lost its target. She turns to the hatbox instead.

A short, sharp exhale through the nose and a sudden tension in her shoulders, as though she stopped herself from drawing a weapon, are all the reaction she betrays when the fly-ridden hatbox is opened and the head of their erstwhile informant revealed.
Heal (DC 10), untrained: 1d20 ⇒ 10
"This is weeks old." The rasp of Shrike's voice is rigidly calm. Abella and Garrett will know the implication: they met Zellara face to face just an hour or so ago. Does she have a twin? Or did we meet her ghost? "I knew something was off. She said Lamm had stolen her cards but read us a future from them anyway. But not this."

The mask turns slightly toward the door they entered by. She had not cared enough to point out to Lina that it was unwise or even impossible to try to get back to street level and Zellara's alone. They had had to jump a fair distance down from the upper walkway to reach this level, and the only other route to it that they had seen was guarded by spiders in the rotting ship, while the waters seemed infested with enough sharks to make any attempted swimmer soon regret it. Now it seems it might be unwise to return to that house at all.

Abella tosses up her hands and sighs as Audria just runs outside. She glances over to Shrike. ”I do not understand what the problem is. He was the worst of men, and I killed him in the heat of combat while he was trying have a lizard eat us? And a bunch of children are free now. What is there to feel bad about? An unambiguous triumph of Good over Evil. It’s almost sickening how straightforwardly virtuous it is.” She finally waves the subject off. ”Ah, well. Some people just cannot tell the difference between Good Things and Bad Things. Shame, really.”

She then joins Shrike and Garrett looking through the items, kneeling down as she sifts through them. She lingers on the scrimshaw kraken before setting it aside while shaking her head. ”Ugh, the gems ruin it.” She lingers again on the twin succubi figurine, running her fingers along its curves. Then someone tells her how much its worth and she sets it aside. ”I could spend a year without being alone in bed once for that money.” The dagger catches her eye next. The inscription makes her roll her eyes, but the key-like shape gives her pause. ”Does Lamm have a kid? This might unlock something.” She lastly picks up the aballone symbol of Shelyn. ”Oh! Just the thing to cheer Canary up. We can say it’s a sign from the Eternal Rose.” She pockets that for the moment as she sees Shrike open the box. Jumping up, she rushes over to it.

Heal: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (15) + 3 = 18

”Oh yes! Weeks old! I would say the most likely cause is a trauma-induced incorporeal perpetual consciousness-imprinted thanergy weave. Commonly known as a ghost. The scientific name hasn’t caught on yet. I need to figure out how to make it catchier. As for twins, take it from me: twins are usually not as similar as you may think. And I would have picked up on something like that.”

Lore (Negative Energy): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
To see if she recognizes any traits of the energy that creates undeath

I'm going to assume people leaving took some of the vermin repellant, which would keep the spiders away, just in the interest of not having that fight happen right now. Also going to give people a bit to come to a decision about whether to investigate the brooch, Zellara's unique situation, or something else.

Surprisingly, Abella doesn't detect negative energy in regards to Zellara's head. In spite of the obvious death of Zellara, there's no sign that necromancy of any type was used here. However, there's something intensely magical about the Harrow deck.

No one but Shrike is trained in Knowledge (Nobility) to attempt that roll, GM, and she critically failed the check. Sorry. Unless a different Knowledge can be used, the brooch is just another trinket to us. Would it be Knowledge (Local) to know about the key-shaped dagger and if Lamm has a child as Abella suggested?

Abella tosses up her hands and sighs as Audria just runs outside. She glances over to Shrike. "I do not understand what the problem is. He was the worst of men, and I killed him in the heat of combat while he was trying have a lizard eat us? And a bunch of children are free now. What is there to feel bad about? An unambiguous triumph of Good over Evil. It’s almost sickening how straightforwardly virtuous it is." She finally waves the subject off. "Ah, well. Some people just cannot tell the difference between Good Things and Bad Things. Shame, really."

"She's just a kid." Shrike has paused on her way to look for the alligator. Perhaps without realizing it, her voice has become less harsh, closer to the way she spoke to the half-elven boy. "When I was her age I threw up over killing a goblin. She'll harden. Or not. Some people don't."

"Oh yes! Weeks old! I would say the most likely cause is a trauma-induced incorporeal perpetual consciousness-imprinted thanergy weave. Commonly known as a ghost. The scientific name hasn’t caught on yet. I need to figure out how to make it catchier. As for twins, take it from me: twins are usually not as similar as you may think. And I would have picked up on something like that."

Shrike lets Abella's grandiose adjectives wash over her and latches on to the one word from the diatribe she understood well enough. "A ghost. So she needs to... move on somehow."

She picks up the Harrow cards from the box to sort through them, trying not to touch Zellara's head. Her hands are deft and careful as she looks for the cards used to summon them, remembering their appearances if not their names. The twins, the black sun, the battered warrior, the rabbit with a broken sword. Had they even been real? Hers had certainly felt real enough.

This explained why such a powerful magician had not only not taken out the gang herself, or hired professionals to do so, but had chosen several people who seemed decidedly unwilling or unsuited for the task. A ghost's ability to interact with the world beyond making people see things was probably limited. And a vengeful spirit would not be picky or overly concerned with the fates or methods of the pawns it chose. Just throw enough people with a grudge at the same problem and trust that it would work itself out. Junie's superstition about frogmakers was true after all. They would curse you even from beyond the grave. She — they — had done at least one thing Zellara wanted, but if she left things like this, the ghost would probably not be at peace, and then there was no telling what it would do.

Besides, Zellara's ghost had given her both Isi and Lamm in a single night. For that minor miracle she owed the spirit a decent burial of her mortal remains, at the very least. And maybe the Harrow deck had to be returned to Zellara's house, or some such thing. She nods to herself, coming to a decision. "Burial. Return the deck. Dump the drugs in the sewer or on the Guard. The rest of this is fancy money. Sell it, set some aside for the other children and split what's left. Any problems with that?"

Unless someone objects, she starts wrapping up the valuables in whatever rags are to hand and putting them in her backpack, taking special care to make sure the dagger will not damage anything else.

"We can figure out how to split it once we leave here. It sounds like something dire is happening topside. We should go and investigate." Garrett says, as he heads up to find out what the shouting is about.

I didn't realize we were supposed to be able to hear all that was going on in the streets — I thought that was why it was marked as pertaining to Audria and Lina. If we can hear all that while still down below, it definitely makes things more urgent. Please let us know, GM.

Lina had been walking, lost in her own head when she heard footsteps quickly approaching. She quickly wiped her face and turned, her hand slipping into a small pouch on her belt. Seeing Audria approaching, she withdrew her hand and her mouth opened, looking for the right words when Audria's flood of emotions halted her own.

With compassion she didn't know she had, Lina wrapped her arms around Audria and held her tight. "You are different Audria. We did what we had to do. Not because we wanted to take advantage of people, but to protect others from what we went through. We know Lamm was a monster, and he would have kept hurting others for his own benefit. I mean he was still using kids when we walked in there tonight."

"Audria, you are better than them. We, are better than them..." Lina paused as she heard shouting in the streets.

"The king is dead?"

"We have to get off the streets...and fast. Let's get to Zellara's. Maybe she can hide us. Whatever's happening, we don't want to get caught in the middle of it." Lina grabbed Audria's hand and turned to run.

"Lamm got off too easy. He should have been made to rot in a cell for the rest of his miserable life" she thought to herself.

Garrett takes whatever needs to be taken and then heads up.

Abella looks at the box with even more fasciation as she realizes there is no thanergy at work. ”No thanergetic traces! Now this *is* getting interesting. That means no necromantic interventions are at-play here. Could this finally be an incidence of a self-perpetuating thalergetic weave phenomenon? Hmm….” She picks up the deck and looks it over. She follows Shrike and Garrett along automatically, her interest taken up entirely by this mystery.

It was mostly targeted at Audria/Lina, but it'd be easier to move everyone as a group. I'll do some handwavium, and if you want to chat more in Lamm's lair, you can do it in spoilers or label it as before.

Lina and Audria are joined by Garrett, Abella, and Shrike as they start making their way through the streets of Korovosa. On the way there, they pass a few groups of people, some of whom carry improvised clubs, torches, or other rioting tools. Most look at the party, however, and choose not to mess with a group that's obviously been fighting to kill.

The door to 3 Lancet Street is, once again, slightly ajar, but this time, there's no wonderful smell of cinnamon and flowers. The chair that Garrett sat in is in pieces, and no food sits on the table for the party to partake of. In fact, everything is covered in a layer of dust, as if the house has been abandoned for weeks. The only evidence anyone has been here is the footprints in the dust from the party's visit earlier that day.

As Abella enters the room, still carrying Zellara's Harrow Deck, the deck begins to glow. Several of the cards fall out of it, each matching one the party received from Zellara's Harrowing earlier, and a moment later, Zellara herself appears, standing in the wreckage of her home. She grimaces, refusing to look anyone in the eye.

"If you're here, and you have my deck, then Lamm is dead and you know much of the truth. Still, I imagine...I imagine you have some questions." She wrings her hands. "Most of them I can't answer. I told you the truth, that Lamm killed my son. But when I found his hideaway, the guard wouldn't pursue him! So I tried it on my own, and..." She shrugs, as if trying to be nonchalant about something she shouldn't be nonchalant about. "I died for my trouble. Lamm's men came here later that night and ransacked my beautiful home, but in spite of my...death..." She shudders. "...I found myself bound to my cards and to my home. With my death, and that of my son, avenged, I should be ready to move on, and yet, you seem to still be in need of my help."

"Alas, there are troubled times coming to the city, and my Harrowing was all too accurate for each of you. In the future, my Harrow deck can be used to help guide you through what may come to pass in Korvosa, but right now, there is little I can offer you beyond the four walls of my home and a few broken chairs."

"I appreciate your willingness to aid us...but are you sure you are not ready to be at peace?" Garrett asks with a note of concern and unease for the apparition in front of them.

Now, Zellara's house:

"I appreciate your willingness to aid us...but are you sure you are not ready to be at peace?" Garrett asks with a note of concern and unease for the apparition in front of them.

"We owe you." It's agreement, though not precisely thanks. Shrike still has her crossbow out since discovering the house's true appearance, but she keeps the point of the quarrel facing the floor. Not that a mundane crossbow is likely any threat to a ghost.

"Peace is a dream I've been chasing for a while," Zellara half-sighs, "but I took a Harrowing for the city, and I feel like I need to see things through. I can't leave right now and abandon my home when chaos and violence are coming."

She grins sheepishly. "But enough about that. What did you find at Lamm's, besides my deck and me?"

Going to stall to let others RP if needed.

Abella looks intently at the deck and the apparition of Zellara. ”Ah so the connection was of a more psychic kind. That explains it.” She takes note of the cards that fell before picking them up. ”You are an impressive woman. A tenacity that goes beyond death is something I can appreciate. That said, I have never been much of one for group projects, and this sounds all a bit heavy for some lazy thanergist who just wanted a bit of old-fashioned revenge.” She taps her chin as she mulls over something. If she wants to resurrect Cainabeth, she is going to need to vastly improve her powers. Whatever wildness is coming to the city seems like a good opportunity to do so. And these people are capable enough. Plus a fortune teller on their side…. But most of all, if Cainabeth came back and found out she had let the city fall apart, she would skin Abella and tan the hide. ”But I will make an exception. I hardly have anything better to do. I might even try to be a good girl and behave.” She holds out her hand to the apparition. ”I’m sure you cannot actually shake it, but the gesture is enough.”

That settled, she makes sure they pull out all of the items they came across at Lamm’s and shows them all to Zellara.

"Peace is a dream I've been chasing for a while," Zellara half-sighs, "but I took a Harrowing for the city, and I feel like I need to see things through. I can't leave right now and abandon my home when chaos and violence are coming."

She grins sheepishly. "But enough about that. What did you find at Lamm's, besides my deck and me?"

"See what through?" Shrike wants to know before they move on to showing the ghost the items. "Why will we need your help?"

The continued sound of shouting from outside makes her impatient, though it does not show. She wants to have Isi home safe with the doors locked and windows shuttered as soon as possible.

She has not lived through the death of a king before, but she is fairly sure the transfer of power to a new monarch when the succession is well-known should not cause riots and cries of usurpation. Everyone knew King Eodred did not have an heir with his young wife; so was she not next in line to the crown? Did he have other blood relatives farther back in the family tree who should have inherited the throne instead? She is sure she knew at one point, and she remembers the celebrations for the royal wedding four years ago, but for the last three years her own troubles and concerns have been much more important to her than keeping track of the status of the crown. That world and that life now seem as far removed from her own as a distant dream.
Knowledge (Nobility) - Succession?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

When the others arrive at Zellara's they find Audria huddled in a dark corner of the room they were gathered in earlier. She barely acknowledges their arrival, but when Zellara appears and Audria learns that the woman has been dead this whole time, she starts pushing herself deeper into the corner and curling up into a tighter ball. She mutters something under her breath and for a moment her eyes flash in a kaleidoscope of colors.

Casting detect evil on Zellara

When the others arrive at Zellara's they find Audria huddled in a dark corner of the room they were gathered in earlier. She barely acknowledges their arrival, but when Zellara appears and Audria learns that the woman has been dead this whole time, she starts pushing herself deeper into the corner and curling up into a tighter ball. She mutters something under her breath and for a moment her eyes flash in a kaleidoscope of colors.

Casting detect evil on Zellara

"The cards say things will be hard for Korvosa, and the streets now speak the truth of that." Zellara grins ruefully. "Go out tomorrow and listen to what people are saying. There's been resentment of the queen for a long time."

"And speaking of the queen..." Zellara picks up the drake-and-imp brooch. "I don't know, but that looks royal to me."

Audria's detect spell, surprisingly, doesn't ping back that Zellara is evil.

Audria blinks and the colors vanish. She still looks shaken, but at least she's no longer trying to push herself through the walls. Hearing of the hard times ahead, Audria feels her spirit quail. This is too much, too big, for her. The queen? The city? She can barely hold herself together! How is she supposed to do anything worthwhile when she's falling apart?

Lina's words helped, some. They had at least calmed her down, but the young paladin could see that Lina was hurting too. All of them are to some degree, she realizes, but how can she do anything to help? She doesn't have the words to soothe the pain, nor does she know the first thing about keeping a city from flying apart. Usless and useless again.

Is she really supposed to be Shelyn's chosen champion? She can't believe it, now more than ever. She's not even sure she'll have a home or any friends after this.

Well, there is one thing she can do.

"Th-the kids and Eliana, d-did they get to the temple safely," she croaks, her voice hoarse from earlier. "Are they safe?"

Audria speaking up catches Abella’s attention and she immediately begins patting herself down. She finally produces an abalone holy symbol of Shelyn. ”Look, Canary! We found this with Lamm’s stash. Of all the places to find such a fine holy symbol of your goddess! Personally, I think it’s a sign that you are on the right path and that you shouldn’t worry too much about evil old men who had been asking for it. The others can attest that I’m not lying to cheer you up, as they saw it there, too, and I am certainly not the kind of person to go out of my way to cheer up people.” Realizing she is talking too much, she just presses the holy symbol into Audria’s hand. ”Anyways there you go. A sign from whats-her-face.”

Audria takes the gifted holy symbol, more out of confusion than willingness. Abella seems not to care, however, proclaiming it a sign from Shelyn, even if she can't remember the goddess' name.

"Maybe it is," Audria mutters as she remembers another holy symbol she and Eliana had come across years ago.

I wish Tallyfeather was here. She'd know. She'd know if what I did was right or wrong and if I should go back to the temple or not.

"Th-thank you," she tells Abella before breaking down and turning into a blubbering, sobbing mess as the nights events hit her hard. Relief, guilt, anger, satisfaction, sorrow, and more roil in her heart in so much of a blur that Audria can't rightly say how she feels as the emotions come out as she weeps.

"Th-the kids and Eliana, d-did they get to the temple safely," she croaks, her voice hoarse from earlier. "Are they safe?" [...]

"Thank you," she tells Abella before breaking down and turning into a blubbering, sobbing mess as the nights events hit her hard.

"Audria. Look at me." Shrike takes the girl by the shoulders. Despite the harshness of her voice, her grip is gentle. "Take a breath. Collect yourself. I need you to take me to your temple to get my brother. Understand?"

Even if I could find it alone with the address, any priest with half a brain isn't letting just anyone in off the street right now. And thanks to you, Isi is there. Or he had better be.

Lina was taken back by the sudden emergence of Zellara's ghost, and she slowly crept towards the door until it started speaking. She couldn't argue with the spirit, but it still didn't help her feel right about Lamm's death. Lina took small comfort knowing that the bastard couldn't hurt anyone else...although seeing Zellara's ghost, she couldn't help but wonder if Lamm was down for good.

"We should all go. It'll be safer to travel together, what with the city in an uproar" she said, standing near the door, listening to the shouts in the streets.

Audria nods as Shrike holds her by the shoulders. It takes another minute, but she does manage to calm down.

"I-I-I can *hic* g-get you there," she says once she's back in control of her voice.

My vote's for the temple, no offense to Zellara.

"We could also try and help others. This chaos could lead to a lot of people getting hurt." Garrett suggests.

Shrike nods almost imperceptible assent to Lina and Garrett's words. She lets go of Audria, squeezing her shoulders once in wordless encouragement, and steps back.

Zellara's ghost had made only one request and given no specific information about what she thinks is about to befall the city. Going out into the streets and listening to what the people are saying about the queen and her accession to the throne is what Lania will be doing anyway before or after work. At least if her lessons and rehearsal are not cancelled due to the rioting. She will hardly be able to avoid learning more unless the situation is so uncertain it is best to stay home.

Yet the imp-and-drake brooch being somehow connected to the royal family is an interesting tidbit. She does not know how to return it, but selling it is now out of the question. If it is so instantly recognizable, any attempted fence would likely either face awkward questions or be reported outright for theft. But that is a problem for tomorrow. Nothing will be able to be sold before then. Not at a price more favorable than the pinch on the sail offered by the lowest Fronter togsmen used to disposing of the clothes and shoes of dead sailors and drug addicts before morning.

"Right. Temple first." Shrike sweeps the items back into bags somewhat haphazardly and moves toward the door. It still hangs open, revealing part of the dark and dusty inside to the street. The house is clearly abandoned. Any filch with a fancy to lift some things in the confusion could come in and nab the Harrow deck or what furnishings remained. She turns back to Zellara's ghost. "Want it locked?"

"That would probably be best, yes." Zellara nods at Shrike. "You're all welcome back any time. The key is hidden under the doormat - I know, unoriginal, but there's nothing inside worth stealing anyway." Zellara finishes her goodbyes and her ghost, or spirit, or whatever it is fades away into the Harrow deck.

Outside, the streets continue their descent into madness. It's truly shocking how the old king's death could have created this much chaos this quickly - a few tiny-looking dragons zip by, chased by a pack of imps (this being Korvosa, the imps aren't horribly out of place, though they're usually more controlled than this). A few drunken people stagger by, one of them sporting a jagged-looking wound to the head. And then, as the party rounds the corner and starts pushing into the Five Corners district of North Point, Korvosa, they come across a man, wearing rags, and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"THE EYE OF GROETUS LOOKS- *hack, hack* - looks upon Korvosa! DOOM APPROACHES! *hack*"

His gaze shifts toward Abella, and his eyes, already wide and maddened, grow to the size of metaphorical saucers. "YOU! You're the one from my dream! DOOM! DOOM upon us all!" He picks himself up off the street and starts walking toward Abella, tripping on the gutter and staggering as he comes closer.

The normally well-ordered streets have become a scene out of the worst stories she's heard of far off Galt. Audria prays that Talanaliel made it to the temple before everything went crazy. The imps are no small threat to the little thrush. The drunk and injured cause her concern, and she makes a note of which way they came from to avoid leading the others down that path. She feels a little better as they enter the Five Corners, the temple isn't far now. The obviously ill man does present a cause for concern when he staggers after Abella.

"Shelyn, guide my path," she prays, hoping that something will come to her. She has already seen more misery and hurt this night than she can stand, and as much as she wants to get away, to crawl back to the temple and hide, she can't find it in her heart to abandon the unwell mad-man.

"Does anyone have something we can give him, or any skill in the medicinal arts," she asks the other quietly while she keeps an eye on the man.

"That would probably be best, yes." Zellara nods at Shrike. "You're all welcome back any time. The key is hidden under the doormat - I know, unoriginal, but there's nothing inside worth stealing anyway." Zellara finishes her goodbyes and her ghost, or spirit, or whatever it is fades away into the Harrow deck.

The shrike mask dips briefly in acknowledgement. It's always good to have a spare safehouse. Even if it is haunted by an unusually helpful but cryptic ghost. Shrike waits for the rest to be out before swiftly locking the door and replacing the key under the mat.

Outside, the streets continue their descent into madness. It's truly shocking how the old king's death could have created this much chaos this quickly - a few tiny-looking dragons zip by, chased by a pack of imps (this being Korvosa, the imps aren't horribly out of place, though they're usually more controlled than this). A few drunken people stagger by, one of them sporting a jagged-looking wound to the head. And then, as the party rounds the corner and starts pushing into the Five Corners district of North Point, Korvosa, they come across a man, wearing rags, and shouting at the top of his lungs.

"THE EYE OF GROETUS LOOKS- *hack, hack* - looks upon Korvosa! DOOM APPROACHES! *hack*"

His gaze shifts toward Abella, and his eyes, already wide and maddened, grow to the size of metaphorical saucers. "YOU! You're the one from my dream! DOOM! DOOM upon us all!" He picks himself up off the street and starts walking toward Abella, tripping on the gutter and staggering as he comes closer.

"Does anyone have something we can give him, or any skill in the medicinal arts?"

Shrike swiftly slings the crossbow behind her back, draws her guisarme and interposes herself between Abella and the madman. Her spear is leveled at his chest and her croaking voice is as hard and unwavering as its point. "No. Back off, empty."

The first statement is as much an answer to Audria as a warning to the crackbrained tatterdemalion. It had not taken Shrike long to learn that soft words and understanding were often not enough to keep a situation in Korvosa's slums from spiraling out of control, but almost everyone moved more carefully around a drawn weapon.

If this doesn't work and he continues to come closer to Abella, Shrike will attempt to trip him with the guisarme, including with any attacks of opportunity he provokes from her.

Garrett will grab the Harrow deck if no one else does and bring it with them. Upon seeing the crazed man he says, "Doomsayers as the city burns..how original. I do not have anything to aid him though."

Shrike gestures for the others to go around the madman while giving him a wide berth. She backs up with them if they do, keeping herself between them and her eyes and weapon trained on the man at all times.

Are we waiting on someone in specific?

I don't think so.

Sorry, I got distracted. I was originally going to wait for Abella, but I've also been drowning in company the last week.

The doomsayer eyes Shrike and takes a step back from Abella, but continues to scream at her at the top of his lungs. "I SAW you! great *hack* sickness and peril, and YOU standing in it! You'll bring writhing, crawling doom on us all!" Though he shouts, however, he keeps a fair distance from the party, and especially from Shrike.

It takes a few more minutes to get to the Sanctuary of Shelyn. It sits on the corner of a wide street and narrow alley in North Point. The front is a round pavilion with white stone pillars, a stone floor, and a few benches. Ivy and flowers crawl up the pillars and the trellises between them, forming a greenish wall around the pavilion. Behind them, a wide building with a tile roof sits - outside is a human priest with a glaive in his hands. He's perhaps middle aged, and he peers into the night. "Stop and identify yourself, in the name of the Eternal Rose!" He shouts into the darkness as you approach.

Audria steps forward and raises her hands up.

"It's me, Audria," she says, grateful to be back at last, and fearing what is sure to be an epic tongue-lashing. "Talanaliel should have come here with some children we rescued. They made it here safely, didn't they?"

Garrett keeps an eye on the streets behind them as Audria is talking to the gate guard in case roving bands happen upon the group.

No worries, GM. Hope your hosting went well.

Shrike slowly and visibly puts her weapons away as they approach the pavilion and are stopped by the priest. She stays to one side of Audria and lets her do the talking, keeping one eye on the glaive-wielding man and one on the alley beside the temple and its entrance.

Ah sorry about that! A crazy work week. Feel free to poke me if you are waiting for me

Abella smiles in amusement at the doomsayer. ”My dear, we live in Golarion. If the world is not ending every other week, it’s an oddity.” She shrugs as he turns his attentions to Shrike. ”He’s more a danger to himself than us, I’d wager.” She takes the brooch that Zellara pointed out and turns it over in her hand. ”Royal, eh? Maybe one of these Rose people knows something.”

It went okay, just a lot of time commitment and energy toward friends/family for a decent length of time. I've been struggling with posting as I start a few new projects I've been meaning to work on. I'm taking some steps to try to be more disciplined about it, so sorry.

"Yes, the Rose's guidebird brought them here. Filthy creatures, one and all, but with some work, a hard scrubbing or two, and some learning, they may turn themselves around, not unlike you." The words are harsh, but the priest grins as he says them. Audria recognizes him as Brother Theolan, the same priest whose holy symbol she found when she was a Lamm. "We brought them inside, with the sudden anger out here. And I grabbed one of the practice glaives and armor to stand guard. So far, I've been making it with looks and shouts, but it won't hold in a fight, I'm no good with this thing."

Theolan steps aside. "Why don't you come in? You look like you've had a rougher evening than I, and I'm sure Talanaliel will be glad to see you. Most of the street-rats you found are asleep - they acted like they hadn't seen a bed in months, even the rolls we put out - but if you want to wake them, that choice is yours."

Inside the wide, tile-roofed building, a priestess sits on an intricately-carved chair, a knife in her hand as she quietly whittles on a walking staff. Other than her chair, most of the common area is taken up with sleeping Lamms, and a few that are decidedly not sleeping. A few sparkling eyes regard the party warily, and more than a couple shake and shiver as the adults enter the room.

If you have anyone you'd like to wake up to talk to (Shrike) go ahead and find them.

"They haven't," Audria mutters under her breath when Brother Theolan mentions how they reacted when they had a nice, warm place to sleep.

She waits while the others go in, too many questions and emotions rolling through her head like dice in a carnie's cup. She can still smell the blood on her from when Lamm was cut down as she held him.

"Is Eliana back safe, too," she asks once she and Brother Theolan are alone. She doesn't look at the priest's face, much like she hadn't when giving him back his holy symbol or when she had first come to the temple after the beating Lamm and his lackeys had given her.

Shrike enters the common area with alacrity at the priest's invitation, then halts just inside. She scans the children's faces until she sees one in particular. An indefinable tension goes out of her posture and she turns back to the middle-aged man to say, very low, "Thank you, Brother. I won't forget this."

With a careful nod of acknowledgement to the whittling priestess and the wakeful children, she picks her way silently over to where he lies fast asleep and curled into a defensive ball within one of the bedrolls. Lania's chest twinges. Isi always used to sleep sprawled out everywhere like a starfish. She is sure it will be far from the only change in him after his ordeal, but the important thing is to get him back to Mamma and Junie so he can begin recovering.

She looks around at the gathered urchins with another twinge. There are not even a dozen of the dirty, hollow-eyed faces here, although the main room of the fishery must have held over twice that. Where will those others be sleeping tonight? For their sakes, she must hope that they have knowledge of secret cubbyholes to flee to, off the streets. Hunter, hide their steps and dens from those who would prey on them tonight. Please keep those little ones in your sight and guide me to them as they need it.

"Isi, wake up. Time to go," she says, quiet, and shakes his elbow slightly. The boy rouses with a start, shrinking back from the touch, but makes no noise. To him and any of the children paying attention, she adds, "Lamm is dead. Hookshanks, Giggles, the dog and the fop too. Who else's got folks waiting at home? I'll come back tomorrow. Take you to them."

The next day is starting to look fairly overbooked, between eavesdropping for a ghost, fencing twice-stolen treasures, returning kidnapped children, looking for the runaways, making provision for all of them, killing a giant lizard — and with any luck, buying back her father's spear.

Brother Theolan offers room and board to those who wish to remain which he urges given the state of affairs in the city. He asks only for assistance in standing watch against any rioters who may think the temple to be an easy target for looting.

Seeing Shrike choose to return home with Isi, the holy man cedes her insistence. Brother Theolan appreciates the offer she makes to return and assist with locating the homes and families of any of the Lamms who are currently in the temple.

Let me know if anyone else chooses to leave otherwise we'll assume everyone is accepting Shelyn hospitality.

Abella, as often when some situation of social protocol has imposed itself upon her, tries to consider what her sister would do. Probably say something ridiculous, flowery, and utterly trite and do a bow or a curtsy or a bow-curtsy while fluttering her eyelashes. She attempts to flutter her eyelashes but really just blinks fast a few times. She then does an abortive curtsy that really is just bobbing up and down at her hips. She then affects her sister’s breathy voice as best she can. ”I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” She scowls as if she just stepped in something, then returns to her usual affect and voice. That really took a lot out of her. ”I mean not really, but I am happy to do so when it’s offered. Take things from people, that is. I figure if other people want to be nice to me, it’s their loss. And you here have to be nice to people, don’t you? Goodness, how exhausting. Well, nothing to do about it. That just comes with god-bothering territory, I suppose. Where’s my room?”

The priestess carving elegant designs into the walking staff laughs softly, the sound high-pitched and pleasant. The woman herself smiles at Abella and cocks her head, annoyingly beautiful in both movements.

"No more exhausting than it is to be so grumpy, I promise," she teases. The priestess sets down the wood and tucks the knife into a small sheath on her belt as she stands. Her proportions are emphasized by the belt cinching her religious robes pleasantly and her attractiveness overall would be startling if one forgot the blessings oft bestowed by the goddess for whom this sanctuary is devoted.

"I'm afraid some of you will have to share sleeping quarters for now, but any ready to retire may follow me. We will wake you when it is time for your shift to guard the Sanctuary doors, but we will be mindful everyone receive the rest they need." The priestess gestures to accompany her into a hallway leading deeper into the Sanctuary of Shelyn.

I'm not sure if this woman has been give a name yet by Audria or the former GM. If not, I will provide one.

"I would be happy to take you up on your offer. This is not a night to be wandering alone back home." Garrett says and then adds, "What do you know of the cause for this riot?"

Before leaving:
Shrike approaches Garrett, Abella, Lina, Audria and Talanaliel. "Hope you found what you were looking for. I did. But I couldn't have done this alone. And I pay my debts.

"See you tomorrow." The mask dips once and she walks away. The blond boy sticking so close to her he is almost concealed by her cloak lags behind a step to give them a hesitant smile, then darts after her to take her free hand as the two disappear into the night.

Abella does her best to stay cool, but the blush in her cheeks immediately dispels the illusion. ”Grumpy? Oh no, I am just charming you with my witty, amusingly detached banter.”

She pauses when Shrike calls them over. She yawns and waves off Shrike’s thanks. ”I really should thank you. I have yet to find a debt I would rather not pay, but you are all entertaining enough i certainly wouldn’t mind making this a thing.” She makes a circle motion towards everyone to accentuate what “this” is.

Hi everyone. I'll probably get started on our story tomorrow sometime. In the meantime, I know there was a question from Audria about magically-growing hair. Let me think about that one. I can't imagine an mechanical advantage to it outside of selling it for a profit, but I may just handwave that by saying it's not worth anything in-game.

In the meantime, it's good to have you on board. I'll be trying to post every day, but I expect we'll miss a weekend day here and there. I'll also let you know if I won't be around for a bit so you're not sitting here wondering where I am. I hope you all have fun here!

Go ahead and dot the gameplay thread. You can delete if after, if you want.

I'm fine with that. I was going for flavor, not anything mechanics wise. To be honest, it could be more of a hinderance than any help depending on what you set as the trigger. Spontaneously growing magic hair is quite the tell.

Thank you for picking Audria. I'm looking forward to this and seeing where the story goes.

By the way, do you want a list of NPCs connected to our characters that you can draw from? I was thinking of doing that anyway to help me keep the names I've got going straight.

Greetings and salutations. A pleasure to make your acquaintance.

I'd love a list of NPCS! I have like 200 for Kingmaker (which is a bit overkill, to be honest), but I'm just starting my lists for Curse of the Crimson Throne, so any NPCs you all have to offer would be great. I'm going to poach all your NPCs from your backgrounds anyways, haha.

Poach away! That's why I put them in there.

And 200 NPCs! How do you keep track of them all?

@Lina: How long ago did you break off association with Gaedren Lamm? Audria was there for about nine years from when she was not quite five until she was just shy of fourteen, a little over two years ago. I'm trying to see if there may have been a connection there at some point.

Thank you, GM Elfriede for picking up Nicolai. I had envisioned Nicolai's missing sister as having been one of Laam's lambs before escaping his clutches and she is now running with the Catsdew Lofties in Old Korvosa

Good evening, dears! Happy to be playing with y’all. I’ll get to thinking on NPCs for you.

@Nicolai: How long ago did Katarina run with Lamm's Lambs? Just wondering if Audria would have met her at some point. Audria had been with him from about 11 years ago to a little over 2 years ago.

Just as an FYI about myself. I really, really like putting images in my posts, so I'll often include links when describing something. If there's essential information on them, I'll include that in the description for them, because I know that can be annoying on mobile sometimes. I'll be using Slides for maps, and will be using either Google Drawings or straight links for my images.

Don't feel like you need to create a bunch of NPCs. If you have a couple in your backstory that are still alive, that's plenty. I'll be generating a couple dozen names soon to give me a pool to work with, plus pulling from the AP.

You're talking to the guy that accidentally made a list of almost two dozen NPCs when he was only asked for three or four. Don't worry, if I make a list, it'll be because I want to, and because I'm going to need it for my own reference anyway.

Speaking of the AP, is it okay if Audria has a pre-existing relationship to one of the NPCs? I am pretty sure you can guess which one.

Hello all! Thanks for the invite. I look forward to adventuring with you all and figuring out who framed my family!

Hello! Glad to have you aboard! Are you sure it wasn't Old Man Jenkins? :P

As I often do with characters, I mocked-up Abella in Heroforge

She and her late sister are identical twins, but their wildly different personalities and lifestyles have left them diverging quite a bit. This is a perfect comparison (Abella is naturally the thin colorless one).

Hi all! Thanks for the opportunity to play with you, GM Elfriede and friends. Looking forward to coming up with ways Shrike could have a preexisting connection with other PCs - or just forging them over the course of the adventure.

I'll think about a few more NPCs Shrike would have strong connections to in the city, besides the obvious two: her mother and brother. There are a couple mentioned in her backstory (as enemies) that were pulled straight from the Guide to Korvosa, and logically speaking she would have a few more that are theater contacts, underworld informants, or perhaps even distant elf relations. I'll try to keep it to no more than six NPCs for now, though.

Glad I'm not the only one who likes having picture references for things. I tend to collect fantasy art whenever I see it and stash it away in folders and subfolders for later use.

@GM Elfriede: List of NPCs now in the profile. Let me know if I need to make changes.

Also, I made adjustments to Audria's build, basically swapped out Skill Focus for Acrobatic.

@Audria
My thoughts have been that she disappeared when she around eight years old and ran with the Lambs until she was 14 when she was getting "too old and disrespectful" for Lamm's taste and she escaped one step ahead of Gobblegut. She met up with the Lofties shortly thereafter and has been with them for about three years now. She would be 17 now, so she was definitely there during Audria's time.

Poach away! That's why I put them in there.

And 200 NPCs! How do you keep track of them all?

@Lina: How long ago did you break off association with Gaedren Lamm? Audria was there for about nine years from when she was not quite five until she was just shy of fourteen, a little over two years ago. I'm trying to see if there may have been a connection there at some point.

Lina would have been with the Lambs until about 16, so 7 years ago. I'm sure they were both Lambs at the same time. Question is would they have formed a relationship. I think it would make sense and be a good tie-in.

Lina would have been an older sister type to most of the girls. She would have kept a distant eye on things even after leaving, the guilt that she couldn't save the rest probably still eats at her. She would have been the type egging the children on do what Lamm asks to avoid punishment, holding the new additions until they stopped crying, etc. Some may have seen her as another one of Lamm's overseers, or seen her as a comforting presence.

When the were kids out on the streets working, Lina would be following from a distance, making sure they didn't get into serious trouble, causing distractions, slipping extra food or coin to them, and hoping not to be seen while doing it.

@Audria: I keep track of them all in a giant Google Doc (really, only 12 pages, 9 point font), where I have a brief blurb about them, where I intend to use them, maybe an RP sample for them so I can keep attitudes and "accents" clear, and a portrait for as many as possible.

Sounds like a lot of you could have been dealing with Lamm at the same time as Lambs or siblings of Lamm's Lambs. Do you want a little more time to work out the details, or should we get started in Gameplay?

I just updated Abella’s profile with some NPCs. I’ll get some art and voice samples for you in the coming days.

As for connections with other characters, Abella is not the kind of person who has a lot of friends. However, her identical twin sister would have been very beloved and popular. She was a member of the Korvosan Guard who went out of her way to always let the Lambs off as easily as possible, seeing shades of herself and Abella in them, and she often gave them gifts and told them outrageous stories. They both came to Korvosa about five years ago.

I’m good to go whenever!

@GM Elfriede: That makes sense. Probably better than the way I tend to do things.

I'm guessing there's no issues with the NPCs I picked and laid out how Audria knows/feels about them.

@Lina and @Nicolai: Yep that works. It looks like Katarina is only a year older than Audria, so they would have likely gotten to know each other well over the five or six years that they were in Lamm's gang together.

As for Lina, I could see Audria remembering her as an adopted big sister who helped protect her and Eliana from Lamm's wrath. Lina would probably know Yargin, Lamm's right hand man during Audria's time with him, given the timeline. Lina would probably know Katarina, though it looks like the overlap isn't as much as it is with Audria and Eliana.

@Abella: How long ago was Cainabeth killed? A month? Just trying to see if Audria would have been a witness, though it seems unlikely.

Re: Starting: I'm good to go! I didn't really see anything else that would suggest Audria knows them or someone related to them.

@Audria: Nope, no issues with the NPCs. In fact, after combing backstories loosely for NPCs and scouring Book One for anyone with a speaking role, I have 36 NPCs.

Gameplay is up and running! I got impatient to be started.

@Audria: Yeah a month was my thinking. Abella is very impatient for revenge and really only waited as long as that because she knew she needed to get clean first

@Abella: Okay. This is going to be interesting, especially if you're playing this more realistically.

Sorry GM, I posted as Verene by accident before realizing and changing it. I'm really going to have to watch that; I haven't had multiple characters on the boards before, to worry about posting as a wrong but default one. Will you be able to remove her easily?

I've read everyone's backstory closely now, and I'm not sure there are good reasons for Lania/Shrike to have interacted with Audria, Lina or Nicolai before. Audria and Lina also probably don't know anything about Lania's brother, Isi, as he was kidnapped only six months ago. Though if Lina keeps tabs on the 'Lambs' even now that she is out, she might have seen him without knowing who he is. Of course, it's up to the GM whether he even is or ever was one of the Lambs, or whether he was killed outright. If Audria makes a living as a singer, she and 'Merula' might know each other very peripherally, but not if she spends most of her time in the temple of Shelyn.

However, because Abella and Garrett have also been out in the city actively investigating Lamm, Lania might have run across them as Shrike before, in the course of realizing how varied his crimes are and how many people he has hurt. What do you guys think?

Still working on making some NPCs.

@Shrike I like that! Abella would have likely been looking much rougher and less put-together than she does now.

@Shrike: Sorry for the delay in replying. Audria has spent most of her time at the Sanctuary of Shelyn, but she and Eliana are occasionally asked to play and sing at other venues. There might have been a time or two Audria and Merula have run across each other.

That said, Talanaliel is going to have something to say about your alias. She's small and probably tasty looking to a shrike. I hope I can at least make it funny.

@Audria and Lina: If you'd like to have stolen the deck originally, it's totally cool if you did, but it was a year ago, so it may be too late for you to have been a Lamb. Zellara's look is more because you both used to be, not because she necessarily knows it's you.

I like not knowing for certain either way. Lina may suspect she did, and wonder if she did, but not knowing is a nice little quirk.

I'm glad you guys seem to have liked the Harrow post. It took forever to write.

I love that stuff! Lots of great imagery.

Agreed!

But the time was worth it, was it not? I love flavorful posts and that one was fun.

I will be traveling to my parents’ for the holiday, but I doubt it will much affect my posting. I write 99% of them from my phone anyways!

I liked the Harrow post a lot too, GM.

Audria, Shrike does support an immediate resort to violence when a child's life seems to be in danger, but I think we can see that the windows aren't easily breakable glass, but "roughly placed planks that cover the empty frames behind them." Up to you if that and/or Shrike verbally trying to stop her would change Audria's actions or not.

A) I apparently missed that detail. I thought they were still glass. She is young and impulsive, so I don't think it'd change her actions much.

B) This entire set of encounters is going to be setting her on edge. There is a loooooot of unprocessed emotions here. She's going be waspish at least until this is resolved. That said, she isn't a complete idiot and I did say that was her actions if no one stopped her.

Also, kinda still getting a handle on Audria. I should have a better handle on things as we play.

All good. If it's not possible to snipe through the windows, we may need to make a big distracting noise and draw the gnome outside anyway. :)

Audria could sneak around to the double doors on the left side of the building and try that way.

Just as an out of game FYI, no children are currently in immediate danger, outside of violating child labor laws. I probably should have mentioned in recruitment that there's less than stellar treatment of children early in the AP, though.

Noted on both counts. I have tried running this AP before and I have both versions, so I'm well aware of how kids get treated at the start.

That said, Tallyfeather ain't the sharpest tool in the shed. She's probably fuzzy on humanoid interactions.

That's good to know OOC, but IC Lania heard "angry gnome is shoving a child into a chute" and assumed the worst, like that it goes down to the river to drown the child or to a pit with hungry rats or something.

I'll hold off on responding to Lina until we have a better idea of what the possibilities are. But if a cursory glance does not tell her that the kid is not in imminent danger, she'll shoot to kill (she is perhaps unjustifiably confident she can do so in one hit) and pull the whole place if that's what happens. I'm not sure we're going to find a better situation than this, anyway. One gang member alone, and we might be able to shoot from essentially behind an arrow slit.

Also, the first three NPC descriptions are done and in the character profile. This is her family/household. Still working on a few others.

Just wanted to mention that Abella is a bit of a caustic personality, but I assure you that my plan is for her to focus 99% of that at our enemies. I'm a more mild-mannered lady and am happy to try to wrangle her into being more placid as needed to not ruin anyone else's fun!

I'm just a firm believer in pushing and momentum in pbp, and I'm especially excited for this game and want us to go the distance! As long as we are pushing forward, I'm happy :D

No worries. I'm just going to be playing up that Doubt drawback I took. :D

As for me. I'm a pretty easy-going guy from Alabama. I've got a weird sense of humor, so I try to keep things clear with emojis.

There's definitely a balance to be struck between planning/preparation and pushing the game forward. I think it's good to err slightly on the side of pushing the game forward. Lania will also be more accommodating in the future when the stakes are less personal. As a player, I didn't realize the walk from Zellara's house to here would be over an hour so Nicolai's mage armor would be gone. Why wouldn't he bring his familiar with him, though?

I'm more than willing to handwave going to get the familiar and whatnot in the interest of keeping the game going forward.

We were told he was there and would bolt if he found out we knew. I think waiting to go after him would go against what we were told in case word that the lady knew his location got out.

Looking at a map of Korvosa, the Fishery is within a mile of Nicolai's apartment in Midland so he still benefits from Nipper's Initiative bonus, just not the Alertness feat.

I'm a little confused, I thought Nicolai and Audria were looking at the double doors on the side of the building and going in that way. Did the plan change or am I just being an idiot?

I'm not sure a plan really crystallized. A few people suggested things, then people started opening doors.

Well, that's the default plan. :P

Garrett did his thing. He figured that others would take his way in or make their own.