GM Harrow’s Curse of the Crimson Throne - AE

Game Master GM Harrow

"I'm sorry, Lord Carowyn, but Lady Carowyn was among those killed," Audria tells him, trying to be merciful by being brief and feeling very, very small in that moment. "Thank you for telling us what you do know. I'll go look for the list," she adds before leaving the saferoom and taking a count of the dead.

GM, Audria will take 20 to find the list and all of the dead in the manor. Including Ruan, how many are unaccounted for?

After counting the corpses in the manor and comparing the number with the guest list and what they know of the Carowyns' servants, Ruan seems to be the only one missing.

By the time it's apparently confirmed that Ruan is the only one unaccounted for, Audria is drained. She's grown numb to the horror throughout the manor, though the pallor her color takes on shows that it is still affecting her. All she can do is continue pushing through until they can leave this house of nightmares.

"I guess all we have left is to see Lord Carowyn somewhere safe and to find out what the butcher knows," she says after they've finished checking the servants' quarters.

Once they have determined that the servants' quarters are empty of both zombies and any living survivors, Shrike guides Ausio Carowyn out of his safe room in the cellar and to the mercifully untouched outbuilding by the shortest route possible, through the elaborately mocked-up 'dinner party' where they had found the first zombies. She holds her cloak up to conceal most of the dining room as they pass through it, as though he were a panicky horse needing blinders. But there is no hiding the bloodstains that have dried on the fine Qadiran carpets, the buzzing of flies, or the overwhelming stench of death.

Only after he is safely ensconced there does she stalk through the rest of the house, counting and re-checking the dead. By the time she returns to the outside, where Elric and Galewing are keeping watch over both the unconscious elf and Ausio in the servants' quarters nearby, her every step and stillness has a contained but increasingly visible intensity.

Shrike looms over the mad acrobat, readying her spear in both hands.

"Who can wake her."

"I might be able to," Audria says. "I can't guarantee it, though."

I think Elric was the only one that even got hurt, and Kandru patched him back almost to full. Audria's got two Lay on Hands, so that's 2d6 points of healing. If no one objects, she'll use that.

Lay on Hands (2 uses): 2d6 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10

Audria waits for everyone to be ready and for the elf's bonds to be double checked before kneeling next to her and placing a hand over the worst of her wounds, the one that she'd given her, and says a prayer to Shelyn to grant the elf succor. It galls her to do it, but she also knows that, whatever information they might be able to gather, it is not for her to decide if someone is truly repentant or not or if they may become so in the future.

Still, given all she's seen and learned about this one, she doubts there's anything like a conscious or a moral compass left in the elf.

Actually, I think no one declared tying Josie up yet, but when we discovered them, Shrike would have put the masterwork manacles on her wrists and bound her ankles with rope. (And did the manacles come with a key? She would take it, of course.)

"We need to take her somewhere secure. Let's bring her back to the Citadel, report this massacre to Kroft and request the use of a secluded cell. She has valuable information that might help us find Ruan, but I doubt she'll tell us anything willingly. Kandru and Shane, do you have any magic that might compel her to talk to use - and tell the truth?" Elric says.

He helps Shrike check the elf's bindings, then hoists her across Galewing's back and ties her to the saddle.

"A cell." Shrike puts her hand with its spiked hand protector on Josie's shoulder as Elric is picking her up. She keeps her voice low, as the murderous elf is starting to stir under Audria's magic, but the specific kind of flatness it holds is the one that means deep skepticism. "So she can be tortured before death. Or vanished before she talks. Or escape tomorrow when more robins desert. No. We can talk here."

"Murder bird's got it in one." Pava sidles up to stand at Shrike's shoulder. "Citadel's only secure if the guard or their masters actually want you locked up and squawking. You feeling tip-top secure in that then? And that even if they did, that they'd let us know what she had to say? Or even Kroft?"

"We really should have had this conversation before I woke her up," Audria mumbles to herself before weighing in with a louder voice.

"We should question her here, then we can worry about what to do with her," she says. "Besides, Kandru's a member of the Guard, or at least close enough to one. I think that's official enough."

Elric hesitates as he considers the objections. He sighs and hoists the elf to a standing position.

”I see your point. There’s a reason we’re here and not a guard patrol. We can put her in the cellar strongroom where we found Carowyn. That should do for now, while we figure out how to proceed.”

Unless anyone objects, Elric leads the prisoner to the cellar. Once there, he ensures that she is both bound, gagged and blindfolded. Then he enlists the aid of the rest of the group to clear the room of anything that can be used as a weapon or tool to escape.

After making sure the door can’t be locked from the inside, he leaves the captive with a bit of advice.

”If I were you, I’d do some hard thinking about what you can say to keep our masked friend from killing you outright. Personally, I’m tempted to just pile all those dead in here with you and leave. Then you can see what gets you first - starvation or the Blood Veil.”

Back with the rest of the group and out of earshot, he asks Alright. What do we do now?”

Within, among the painting supplies, is a tawdry-looking divan, a small shrine to Shelyn, several scandalous portraits of Olauren Carowyn, and Ausio Carowyn himself - looking much worse for wear in his dirty and crumpled Keleshite costume.

Kandru nods in greeting to Lord Carowyn, letting the rather more gentle Audria break the news of the tragedy to the distraught nobleman. As the others speak, she gives the rest of the room a perfunctory scan, dismissing the collection of nigh-identical portraits as redundant and therefore frivolous. At the man's question about the safety of the manor house, she shrugs. "Well, we've apprehended your killer, so I suspect there's little to worry about in that regard. Actually, this house may be one of the safest in the city - it's been mistakenly declared a quarantine site, and those whose job it is to check these things aren't very good. Your larder seemed fairly well-stocked - all things considered, it's probably one of the better places to ride out the plague." After a moment, she blinks, realizing herself. "...Except for all the decaying corpses, that is. That does tend to be rather distressing, doesn't it?"

"We need to take her somewhere secure. Let's bring her back to the Citadel, report this massacre to Kroft and request the use of a secluded cell. She has valuable information that might help us find Ruan, but I doubt she'll tell us anything willingly. Kandru and Shane, do you have any magic that might compel her to talk to use - and tell the truth?"

The tiefling's eyebrows raise behind her mask. "Actually, I do have some magic that might help. There's a spell for contracts, negotiations, interrogations, that sort of thing - all the Justicars use it. It's not that difficult to ward against, but we'll be able to tell if it works or not." Furrowing her brow, her onyx eyes unfocus for a moment as she thinks over the various prayers and intercessions she has picked up over the years. "Nothing's coming to mind so far as making her talk in the first place is concerned, but if we can get her started, she'll speak only truth."

Kandru happens to have the ideal spell for this situation, though DC 15 might not make this the most reliable option.

"Citadel's only secure if the guard or their masters actually want you locked up and squawking. You feeling tip-top secure in that then? And that even if they did, that they'd let us know what she had to say? Or even Kroft?"

The Justicar whirls to face Pava, an incredulous look on her face as she sputters, trying to find words. "You mean... not take her to the Citadel? Deal with her without the process of law? Without the courts?" As she begins to pace, agitated, one clawed hand instinctually rises to her face and returns with her mask, revealing lean, hatchet-like features marred by serious burn scars along the left side of her skull. As she speaks, she unconsciously polishes the back of the mask with the sleeve of her robe, scowling. "No, no - there are procedures, methods that must be followed. We must hold ourselves above the bloodthirsty mob, dispensing vigilante justice at the edge of a blade - we must turn her over to the proper authorities because that is how these things are done!"

Thinking that having at least two people guarding their prisoner would be a good idea, Audria stays with Elric after helping to clear out anything that could be useful in causing mischief. She shudders as he makes his threat and looks into his eyes, wondering if he would follow through on it if given the chance. She hasn't seen this side of him, and if she's honest, it terrifies her more than a little.

"Y-you wouldn't actually do that, would you," she asks in a whisper as they climb back up the stairs.

"No...I wouldn't. But when dealing with a prisoner you need to interrogate, it's best to keep them on edge." Elric says softly to Audria.

Back with the others, he addresses Kandru's objections.

"I would prefer to do things by the book as well, Kandru. But the problem is that we can't trust the proper authorities to do the right thing at the moment. First, the Guard and Sable Company are stretched beyond their breaking point. I've seen it, and I think you have too. Second, there is a risk that there is corruption within the ranks. The guard was specifically instructed to ignore this site, despite strong indications of a crime."

He turns to face the rest of the group.

"I won't contribute to outright torture, but I agree that some measure of intimidation may be needed to get her to talk. Perhaps making her think that we really would lock her up and throw away the key. Or convince her that Rolth has given her up. She reacted when Shrike mentioned him. "

I think the point of the panic room is that it does lock from the inside, but maybe we can temporarily jam it and prevent it from locking, while pushing some heavy things against the door from the outside?

Shrike nods agreement with Pava's characteristically colorful way of putting things, and sighs silently when Elric suggests putting the cracked elf in the cellar panic room to cool her heels while they discuss their next move. Audria is right: if they had wanted to take her to another location, the time to discuss it was before bringing her back to consciousness. But she does not object out loud, and goes to jury-rig the room's door so it serves the opposite of its original purpose, and cannot be locked from the inside. One of the enormous full casks will do to block it from the outside. If nothing else, it will be impossible to leave without making a terrific noise.

Even now the strange too-broad smile of the face paint gives the elf's profile an air of malevolence. She watches sidelong in silence while Elric sits 'Josie' on the divan of the interior room and adds a makeshift blindfold and gag to her bonds.

"If I were you, I’d do some hard thinking about what you can say to keep our masked friend from killing you outright. Personally, I’m tempted to just pile all those dead in here with you and leave. Then you can see what gets you first - starvation or the Blood Veil."

Shrike waits for Elric to leave the room, letting the silence linger a little while before she speaks from just outside the doorway.

"He's wrong. But only about one thing." The croak is somehow more terrible for its lack of any emotion. "You should pray I am your death. All other paths from here are worse."

Shrike shuts the door and shoves the huge cask over to block it with a loud scraping sound.

"You mean... not take her to the Citadel? Deal with her without the process of law? Without the courts?" As she begins to pace, agitated, one clawed hand instinctually rises to her face and returns with her mask, revealing lean, hatchet-like features marred by serious burn scars along the left side of her skull. As she speaks, she unconsciously polishes the back of the mask with the sleeve of her robe, scowling. "No, no - there are procedures, methods that must be followed. We must hold ourselves above the bloodthirsty mob, dispensing vigilante justice at the edge of a blade - we must turn her over to the proper authorities because that is how these things are done!"

Upstairs, she watches covertly from behind the huge black eyeholes as the Justicar offhandedly removes her mask to polish it and reveals burn scars that cover nearly the entire left side of a fine-boned, sharp-featured face. She is distinctive-looking, to say the least. Shrike turns her own mask deliberately away, lancing a twinge of something very like envy before it can sting her tongue sharp. For Kandru it is a religious observance, not really an effort to protect her anonymity. Criminals would be making more problems for themselves than they solved, if they tried to turn the tables and track her down for revenge. No one wants the enmity of the entire Bank of Abadar.

She wonders idly if the Justicar does this every time she feels in conflict with her faith. And if she even recognizes why, if she does.

"I won't contribute to outright torture, but I agree that some measure of intimidation may be needed to get her to talk. Perhaps making her think that we really would lock her up and throw away the key. Or convince her that Rolth has given her up. She reacted when Shrike mentioned him."

"Agreed, Elric. She's outcast. Now Lamm's abandoned her. Or she suspects it. And she's scared of being alone. Bored. That's why all the zombies and costumes. Playing with dolls. The drugs too probably. Can't stand to be in her own head. Locked up alone for life. That's where I'd push." Shrike's even croak does not change during this assessment.

The sharp-beaked mask turns toward Kandru. "The real bloodthirsty mob would see her publicly and legally and properly hanged and drawn and quartered. Bring their children like it's a feast day." Shrike has not forgotten the celebratory mood surrounding the false Trinia's attempted execution, at least before Blackjack interfered. "I'd just kill her. No ceremony. Better luck next life. Won't hurt anyone more in this one. That's if she cooperates."

Got ninja'd by Kandru

"...Except for all the decaying corpses, that is. That does tend to be rather distressing, doesn't it?"

The look Audria gives Kandru makes her thoughts clear.

Naw, you think?!

"No...I wouldn't. But when dealing with a prisoner you need to interrogate, it's best to keep them on edge." Elric says softly to Audria.

Some of the tension in Audria's shoulders relaxes as she hears Elric's answer. She'd nearly starved after her mother's death and being kicked out by Halvara. Despite being so young when it happened, the memories of that kind of pain are stark and clear.

"Th-that's good. I--I wouldn't wish that kind of death on anyone," she whispers back.

Audria listens as the debate begins. Seeing the burns on Kandru's face, she feels some sympathy, and wonders if they are why she wears the mask, but those considerations are pushed back as Shrike's rebuttal brings back memories of the day the Queen had tried to execute an innocent young woman in Trinia's place.

"Kandru, do you remember the day Blackjack saved a young woman they claimed was Trinia Sabor from the executioner's axe or the mob that was looking to kill Trinia before that," she asks the Abadarite, her voice uncharacteristically flat as her eyes flicker with iridescent fire in their depths. She meets the Justicar's eyes without flinching as she contiinues on. "I do because Trinia is one of my closest and dearest friends. I've known her for years, and I know she didn't, she couldn't, do what she's accused of. We also know that the woman they were going to kill just to save face wasn't Trinia because Trinia was already gone from Korvosa by then. They were going to kill her just because she looks enough like Trinia to fool anyone that doesn't know her."

The flickers of flame in Audria's eyes turn into flames of holy fire as she stares into Kandru's own. Fury at what has happened here mixes with the anger and fear that she wasn't even aware she was bottling up into an explosive brew that boils over.

"Where was the law in that?! Where was justice for Trinia and for that young woman?! Queen Ileosa would have killed them both! If the law allows for that, then is it really worth upholding," she snarls.

Shane keeps his eye on the prisoner, the very wand that scorched his mirror image earlier ready to fire if need be while the others discuss the best way to proceed.

He's not sure how to react as the debates start. Normally he rather enjoys debates, the ones he can win, but his concern right now is more for the time and place of this particular debate.

Gagged as she is, the elf cannot respond to either Elric or Shrike beyond a snort of contempt at the former and an almost... anticipatory? giggle at the latter.

@Shrike, please roll Please give me a Disable Device roll to jury-rig the escape room door.

1d20 ⇒ 20

Disable Device, masterwork thieves' tools: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 11 + 2 = 19
Is there a specific DC I'm going for here? Jamming the lock is something where we can check to see if it worked by attempting to lock the door ourselves.

Shrike would respond to Audria here, but I want to give Kandru a chance to post first.

"The real bloodthirsty mob would see her publicly and legally and properly hanged and drawn and quartered. Bring their children like it's a feast day."

The tiefling glances up at Shrike, her face a mask of indifference. "What of it? I'm not defending our elven 'friend' here - within the legal system, these things do tend to happen to mass-murderers. It may even be educational for the children - show them that our laws protect them from people like this madwoman. Our solutions are the same in the end - it's simply that while mine is based on the foundations of the rule of law, yours is a roundabout route to anarchy."

"Where was the law in that?! Where was justice for Trinia and for that young woman?! Queen Ileosa would have killed them both! If the law allows for that, then is it really worth upholding?"

Kandru scowls back at the Shelynite paladin, her onyx eyes like empty pits as she fixes Audria with her chilliest glare. When she speaks, her words hold uncharacteristic vigor, as though she were giving a sermon or making some thorny philosophical point. "The execution you mention was highly irregular, and that is precisely why we must follow the proper procedures here and now! You're talking about executing this woman because it seems clear to us that she murdered these people - yet Trinia Sabor was to be executed because it seemed clear to the Queen's guard that she murdered the old king!" Agitated, she begins to pace again, her hooved feet clacking against the stones of the hall's floor. "Where do we draw the line? If the investigators feel there is sufficient evidence? Some of the more conspiracy-minded Watchmen I've known might have felt Lord Carowyn was working with this elf - do we kill him, too?" The Justicar sighs, shaking her head. "What you say of Trinia Sabor... it was a grave miscarriage of justice. But that miscarriage started with people like you, who thought their copper-sail judgements were worth more than the rule of law and the judicial process of this land! If she had received her day in the courts, if she had told her story before an Arbiter, if her story could have been verified, she would not have faced the headsman!"

Sighing again, she stops her pacing, crossing her arms. "If you wish to kill her, I can't stop you. Know that you're opening a door that can't be closed - murder for a good cause is still murder nonetheless."

The DC to jury-rig the door is 25. You can make multiple attempts.

"So we're not above the bloody mob. We just first must pretend to have no eyes or brains." Shrike's level voice loses a bit of croak for a moment, sounding almost baffled, or perhaps even amused. "What's right doesn't become wrong if you didn't fill out a form. And what's wrong doesn't become right if you did.

"But it doesn't matter what any of us thinks of the usual 'rule of law.' Right now there's nothing to uphold. No law but power. Or did you think your Arbiter Zenderholm's on a holiday?"

This is too much. Raw emotions and a simmering, smoldering anger she's been holding back mix with Kandru's words and the implication, whether meant or not, that they are somehow responsible for the anarchy threatening to tear the city and its people to shreds breaks the dam holding everything back. Kandru wants proof? She wants due process? Fine! Audria will show her in a way that can't be denied.

The young paladin throws down her glaive, sending Tally fluttering over to Shrike to perch on the vigilante's shoulder, before shucking off the gauntlets around her hands. Tears of anger and frustration stream down her face as she hastily undoes the straps holding her breastplate on. Before her armor has hit the ground, her fingers are working furiously at the clasps holding her gambeson closed and the buckle of her sword belt. As she grabs the hem of her sweat-damp shirt, she looks Kandru in the eyes, matching her cold glare with one light by holy fire as the anger and fury she'd been bottling up blazes.

"Fine! Then tell me I deserved these! Tell me that Eliana and I deserved to die at the hands of Lamm and his lackies," she spits before turning around lifting the hem of her shirt up past her shoulder blades to reveal the dozens of white, criss-crossing scars across her back and leaving nothing but her underwear covering her breasts.

"I was lucky," she says after a moment, her voice barely under control. "So many others died. So many others starved. The guard, the judges, the Abadarians, none of them gave a damn about us!"

She lets the hem of her shirt drop as she turns to face Kandru, her face twisted with rage and pain.

"We were only so much gutter trash to them, and you have the gall to stand there and prattle on about due process and the courts! If they'd done their jobs, if they had actually given a damn about the law or what was right, then I wouldn't have killed Giggles, and I wouldn't have held Lamm while Abella slit the bastard's throat! Look me in the eyes and tell me to my face that I--no! That we were wrong to kill him! Tell me that Korvosa is a worse place for his and his lackies' deaths! Tell me that to my face, Kandru!"

The short paladin glares at Kandru, shivering from the tempest of emotions roaring through her as she struggles to maintain what little composure she has left.

"Audria, Kandru, please, Elric asked if one of us had a spell to use to help get the truth. Kandru has such... let's use that first, get the information we can, then debate again later on the ethical quandary of serving the law even when the lawful authorities have possibly been usurped by rulers or superiors with criminal intent. It is unreasonable to expect Kandru, a priestess of the god of law, to just ignore her faith while trying to petition the spells that come of it, and Kandru, forgive me, but I believe your God is also the god of cities, and your city, OUR City, is in danger. I think that may allow other avenues for holding a prisoner while we consider how compromised which parts of the authorities might be so we make sure we don't release a killer right back on the streets." Shane is not a diplomat by nature, but he hopes he is able to help them find a meeting place. "We all need each other and we HAVE been given a duty with no small amount of authority of our own."

Retconning my last post.

Audria returns ice with fire. She knows she's losing her temper, but anger and resentment were blazing high, fueled by her horror and grief.

"Irregular? Oh yes, tell me about how irregular it was. Do you want to talk about the bribes I've seen guardsmen take from the man that tried to have me beaten to death for trying to keep him from doing the same to my best friend, my sister, afterwards," she asks with saccharine sarcasm before continuing on in a much harsher voice. "Maybe if the guard had done its job, then I wouldn't have held Gaedren Lamm while his throat was slit or killed his orcish lacky."

"Took his name to the robins. My ten-year-old brother's kidnapper. Dozens of victims over decades. They had more important matters to sort. Like his gold in their purses. Everyone knew what he was. And no one did anything," Shrike agrees, flat. Without precisely meaning to, she finds she has moved to a position just behind Audria's shoulder again. "Until us.

"Cast your spell or don't, Justicar. I'd walk through that door again every time."

***

Since it seems there is now majority agreement on at least interrogating 'Josie' here, Shrike silently slips past Shane back down the stairs to the basement, shoves aside the heavy wine cask blocking the panic room door, and readies her spear once more to deal with the outcast as she deserves on a moment's notice, before entering the room. She fully intends Josie will not survive the end of the coming conversation, unless it seems to her by then that most of the group actively want to bring the mass-murdering madwoman as a living prisoner to Kroft. Though she still thinks that would be no kindness to anyone, except perhaps the Justicar's conscience.

Shrike waits for Kandru to cast whatever spell she means to cast, if any, before removing the makeshift gag from the mad acrobat. She does not break the silence first. If desperation or sheer boredom has made Josie inclined to say anything already — even defiance or nonsense — that will be important information.

Josie Stealth: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (12) + 19 = 31
Shrike Perception: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

Upon opening the door, Shrike does not see the elf where she expects to see her. The gag and manacles lie on the floor. From the corner of her eye she catches some movement, right before a foot slams into her ribs with a force that steals her breath.

Unarmed strike, sneak attack: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19 Damage, non-lethal: 1d4 + 1 + 4d6 ⇒ (1) + 1 + (1, 5, 6, 2) = 16

Shrike is bewildered (-4 to AC), disoriented (-4 to attack rolls) and hampered (speed halved, cannot take 5-foot step) for 1 round.

Initiative Shrike: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
Initiative J: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

Shrike can act. If anyone else wants to join in, please roll your own initiative.

Shrike gasps once, raggedly, as the wind is knocked out of her, but training takes over and she swiftly and silently lashes out with both sides of her weapon despite the instinctual struggle to breathe.

Thorn v. Josie, Two-Weapon Fighting, disoriented: 1d20 + 10 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 10 - 2 - 4 = 23
Damage, Thorn, Lethal Grace: 1d8 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 3 = 7
Thorn (haft) v. Josie, Two-Weapon Fighting, disoriented: 1d20 + 10 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 10 - 2 - 4 = 19
Damage, Thorn (haft), Lethal Grace: 1d6 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 3 = 9

If Josie goes down to the first or both of the above attacks:
Barely managing not to bend at the waist and just keep gasping or cast up her accounts, she plants Thorn's blunt end on the ground and raps out three loud bangs to alert the others.
"...Wand. On... Her." It's a bare rasping wheeze.

Should've knocked her out again if he really needed to talk it through. Stupid, stupid, stupid, mayfly. At least we took her armor.

I don't believe I can beat a 24, but I may as well try:

Initiative: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

Scowling as the elf is revealed to have escaped, Kandru fumbles with her crossbow, trying to bring it to bear on the mad elf. "We've beaten you once - it is illogical to assume we can't do so again! Throw down your weapon, or we will be forced to take drastic action!"

Even caught by surprise and winded, Shrike manages to bring her spear to bear against the elf, who collapses again mortally injured.

Combat over, elf is at -7 HP.

[spoiler=Prior Conversation]
"We didn't exactly kill Gaedren and his lackies out of hand," Audria says, her anger cooling in the face of Kandru's reasoned tone, and unaware that some of her companions had done just that. "I offered them a chance to surrender, and they fought back. I don't want to kill anyone I don't have to. Having two men's blood on my hands is more than enough for me. It's just that laws are just pieces of paper unless people follow them, and while I trust Kroft has Korvosa's best interests at heart, that doesn't extend to everyone in the guard, and certainly not the Gray Maidens nor the Queen's Physicians."
[/spoiler[

Hearing the sound of the brief fight, Audria rushes in only to see that it's already over. She turns to Shrike, not really worried so much about someone too stupid to know they've been beat.

"Shrike! Are you hurt? How bad is it," she asks, obviously worried for a friend and companion.

We should have kept her knocked out. It was stupid to leave her conscious while we debated and argued, she admits, feeling more than a little ashamed of herself.

At the sound of combat, Elric rushes towards the cellar. Seeing the elf sprawled on the floor, he relaxes a bit, but still keeps a hand on the haft of his hammer.

"Slippery, this one. Another reason why we can't just stick her in a regular jail cell. I guess we'll have to keep her under direct observation until we're done with her."

He bends to check her vital signs, to make sure Shrike has not critically wounded her.

Heal: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Hearing the sound of the brief fight, Audria rushes in only to see that it's already over. She turns to Shrike, not really worried so much about someone too stupid to know they've been beat.

"Shrike! Are you hurt? How bad is it," she asks, obviously worried for a friend and companion.

"'M fine. She... needs healing." Shrike's voice is still breathless, like she's forcing the words around a weight on her chest. The acrobat-necromancer is on the floor again, bleeding sluggishly from a thigh puncture that seems to have missed the artery. More worrying is a rapidly reddening indentation at her temple in the shape of Thorn's haft. She had been attacking on sheer muscle memory, too surprised to do anything clever or pull any punches.

Despite his misgivings, his father acceded to her request, and poured all his skill and craftsmanship into fashioning a haft so strong that nothing could shatter it...

She closes her eyes and draws breath slowly through her nose as she tries to relax the muscles around her sternum and stomach. After a few seconds, she crouches with a faint wheezing groan and then stands up again, twists her shoulders to either side experimentally, and elaborates, in a voice perhaps a bit croakier than normal, "No broken ribs. Be fine in a bit." She's had enough hard falls onto her back and sudden impacts to the stomach to not be unduly alarmed by the effects of having the wind knocked out of her briefly. It is more bruising to the pride than the body.

Shrike is at 47/47 HP and 16 nonlethal damage. If she took 32 more lethal or nonlethal damage she would go unconscious, but nonlethal damage heals at a rate of 1 per hour per character level, which is 6/hour for us. So in 3 hours she will have healed fully. Meanwhile Josie (Jolistina) is mortally injured, and we can't question her if she dies. Hence Shrike asking for healing for her. The cure light wounds wand or some equivalent minor healing spell from Kandru should stabilize her even if it doesn't take her into positive HP. Shrike will use a potion on her soon if no one else acts.

"Slippery, this one. Another reason why we can't just stick her in a regular jail cell. I guess we'll have to keep her under direct observation until we're done with her."

"Should've knocked her out again. That'll teach me to put faith in manacles."

Just as she did when her guisarme and not her leg splintered under the jaws of Gobbleguts the alligator, she prays briefly as she was taught. Thank you, Hunter, for this lesson.

"Blast it... I'm afraid I dont' have any spells meant for containment."

Audria doesn't look convinced by Shrike's wheezing reassurances, but figures it's better not to argue. She isn't much of a healer, but she does her best to render aid to the once more unconscious elf.

Heal: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16 That should keep her from dying, I think.

Kandru scowls as the elf collapses again, moving over to her unconscious form as Audria stabilizes her. "Curses - I had hoped not to have to do this; it's rather difficult to undo, but if she insists on escaping, measures will have to be taken." Clutching her holy symbol in her talon-tipped hands, she kneels by the elf's unconscious form, touching the golden key of Abadar to her forehead. The stone floor beneath the elf ripples and shifts, molding upwards into a crude sarcophagus of sorts that leaves her head free.

Using Stone Shape.

Once the mad elf is properly immured, she motions Shrike over. "Here - you're injured. I have a spell for field medicine that should help." Waiting for the masked vigilante to approach, she holds her holy symbol up, a wave of healing energy washing over those nearby.

Channel Energy: 2d6 ⇒ (2, 1) = 3

Looking down at the unconscious elf expectantly, she waits a moment before shaking her head, holding up her holy symbol to try again.

Channel Energy: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 5) = 10

As the elf regains consciousness, Kandru clears her throat. "Let's try that again, shall we? I had hoped the manacles we had placed on you would be sufficient, but since you decided to be difficult during our investigation, I have encased you in three inches' worth of marble - which, I believe you will realize, cannot be picked - and have no intention, nor indeed any reliable means, to remove you from it for the better part of a day. If it becomes necessary, I will visit tomorrow to remove these restraints - until then, I hope you realize, you have no realistic hope of escape. Now that we have made that clear, are you willing to answer our questions honestly?"

"Not to applaud the murderer, but that was a neat bit of escapalogy, eh?"

All negative effects on Shrike are gone thanks to the healing.

The elf comes to groggily, instinctually wriggling against the stone confines. A wild look comes into her eyes as she realizes that she is effectively entombed.

"No fair! Nasty, nasty priest!"

She screws up her face at Kandru, tongue sticking out.

"I'm more admiring the stoneshape," He tells Pava, "Excellent geomorphic utility."

"Heh, try and wiggle your way out of that. I'd be careful about insulting the Justicar, though. Right now, she's about the only thing that prevents us from leaving you here to rot." Elric adds, rather pleased to see the insane elf entombed in the marble.

Got it, thanks GM. I figured the mechanical negatives were already gone after one full round, so she was talking pretty normally again quickly, but the nonlethal damage remained. Now, she's at only 3 NL damage. Thanks Kandru!

Shrike backs out of the doorway just enough to let Kandru approach the fallen elf, but her shoulders subtly jerk away as the Justicar's magic causes the stone floor to liquefy and swallow their still-unconscious prisoner into a marble coffin, all except for her head. She whispers a few words in Elven with the cadence of a prayer.

At first she stays perfectly still in response to Kandru's summons, but eventually, warily shifts back the short distance to where she was. The two washes of healing energy have her standing a little easier— though still tensed and on the balls of her feet. "...Thanks."

"Not to applaud the murderer, but that was a neat bit of escapalogy, eh?"

"Should've just run though. Now and before. Too used to only needing one shot." Shrike matches Pava's mutter, though the mask stays trained on Josie as she comes around.

The elf comes to groggily, instinctually wriggling against the stone confines. A wild look comes into her eyes as she realizes that she is effectively entombed.

"No fair! Nasty, nasty priest!"

She screws up her face at Kandru, tongue sticking out.

Shrike moves to be in view of the stone-shackled elf, her spear and shoulders held easily upright, her head cocked slightly to the side like a bird seeing something tasty, and the flat black eyes of the mask focused downward with grim intensity. She remains silent for now to hear how "Josie" responds to Kandru and Elric, though this method of imprisonment has already suggested several dire threats to her mind.

Audria shivers as Kandru effectively entombs the insane elf. The look the paladin gives "Josie" when she calls Kandru nasty speaks volumes.

You're the last person that should be calling anyone nasty.

Turning to the others, Audria's expression softens.

"I'll be with Lord Carowyn. I doubt I'd be much use here, anyway," she says.

"No fair! Nasty, nasty priest!"

Kandru sighs. "I'll take that vague answer as 'yes.' Give me a moment here..." Kneeling again, she touches her holy symbol to the sarcophagus, reciting another prayer. "The one blessed under the eyes of Abadar can speak only truth."

Casting Abadar's Truthtelling - the DC's only 15, but we'll at least see whether she succeeds or fails.

Stepping back, she nods to Shrike. "We'll want to wait a moment. I... don't actually know how well this spell will work for an interrogation - most clerics use it for contract negotiations. If the magic takes, she'll look like something else for a moment - a being of perfect order." Folding her arms behind her back, she steps back and lets the others approach. "Either way, it would likely be best if I stayed in at least some capacity - I've taken part in several more mundane interrogations before."

Pre-Rolling Sense Motive: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21

Will save: 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 4 + 2 = 16 That elf bonus vs. enchantments coming in clutch

The elf looks momentarily confused as Kandru casts her spell, then a wide grin splits her features. " Tricksy priest, you won't win against me twice!"

"Don't be so coy. This just means that we'll leave you in your little stone coffin and try again tomorrow. At some point, you'll start to see the wisdom of cooperating. I suspect the fact that this marble contraption does not have a built-in chamber pot will accelerate that process." Elric says dryly.

"Lamm's not coming for you, hecil. No one is." Despite having just been caught off-guard and kicked in the chest with enough force to put a normal person on the ground, Shrike's croak does not sound particularly angry, just flat as the frozen surface of the Jeggare in Abadius. Her hood fell away with the kick, revealing the full length of the delicate points of ears that mirror the elf's, almost brushing the top of her head. "You know that. Josie, or whatever you call yourself now. So you're going to tell us where he's been hiding. And with who. Since it's clearly not you."

Shrike paces one coiled step closer to the entombed necromancer.

"I won't kill you if you don't. Won't hurt or maim you. Or give you up to die slowly." The impassive mask with its cruel hooked beak rotates slowly downward until its huge black eyes seem to stare directly into the murderous elf's.

"I will seal your feet in stone. In a hole so deep and dark you forget what the sky looks like. No one to talk to. No toys. No drugs. Just you. For life."

She leans in, her voice turning almost gentle.

"And you're going to live a long, long time."

Intimidate, Renown: 1d20 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 10 + 4 = 24

Intimidate Aid Another for Shrike: 1d20 ⇒ 8

Sorry, no dice. For all his combat efficiency, Elric really isn't all that scary.

Shane allows a bit of acid to drip almost casually on the floor as he eyes the elf.

Acid splash but no real target, and untrained intimidate attempt to aid. 1d20 ⇒ 8

Damn it. Nearly ruined my shoes.

Kandru narrows her onyx eyes as she watches the mad elf's reaction to Shrike's threats, her impassive gaze taking in the entombed assassin's struggles analytically.

After a moment, she speaks up. "I know you - Josie, your name was? I know your type. Your life as a killer for hire - it's a life of freedom, yes? After what you've faced, the horrors of your past, you've chosen a life where nobody will tell you what to do ever again." Unclasping her arms from behind her back, she begins to walk around the simple sarcophagus, glaring down at the elf. "You like to be in control - to take charge of your own destiny. I imagine it must be difficult to be imprisoned like this - unable to move, unable to escape... Apropos of nothing, the average elf can survive for fourteen days without food - up to three without water. Now, our presence here is not exactly... official, and if we do have to waste time searching on our own, we may be... delayed in releasing you. It shouldn't be too long without your, I don't think - no more than, say, two to three days." Stopping her pacing, she raises her eyebrows. "Of course, if you were to give us information, tell us what we want to know, we might not be delayed to as great an extent, you understand?"

Intimidate (Aid Another): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22