GM Bret’s PbP Gameday XIV Core What Prestige is Worth (Inactive)

Game Master BretI

You get an immediate response from Zarta. “It is getting to be a long day. Meet me at Gelkine‘s landing in the Market of Breaths instead.”

You have been going for over twelve hours
Also your group has shown they can navigate Dis without issue.

Will move ahead as soon as someone confirms that group wants to connect with Zarta.

"We are following some leads, maybe tell her we will meet her in three hours. That gives a couple of hours to follow up here and another hour to get to the meeting spot." suggests Khellek.

And hopefully getting our two slightly out of kilter timelines back on track.

Waiting to hear what else you plan to do now that Khellek has finished analyzing the contracts.

I think we are out of leads at the library are we not? We found the relevant people at the wall. We freed the imp at the fighting pit. That I think only leaves the market (where Zarta has been chasing down leads), and this meeting that the lovely Zarta has lined up. Or did I miss something?

I was confused by your statement. The response to the sending was done after your analysis of the contracts had completed and you were saying it would take three hours before you met Zarta.

Khellek leads the group to the Market of Breaths. It takes an hour to get there.

The floating tower drips a constant rain of pitch onto the streets below and vibrates with a chorus of screams from the countless living tongues layered into its walls. In contrast, the upper portico hums pleasantly with commerce. Pergolas covered in thorny vines and quivering flesh loom over the maze-like cobbled streets. Snaking flames illuminate storefronts promising life, death, and everything in between, while tents of all shapes and construction host the quick patter of haggling and the predatory gaze of shopkeepers. Fiends, mortals, and more barter and deal, all under the watchful gaze of an enormous blue dragon perched atop the tower.

There is a tiefling named Gelkine with a bone barge carried by a fiendish roc who ferries people back and forth from the ground to the market for a fee of 10gp per trip. Many fiends are just flying up under their own power, having no need for such conveyance.

Zarta doesn’t appear to be here so she is likely waiting above.

Doodle couldn’t help but stare at the thousands of screaming tongues that were made into a part of the wall. ”Can we please find Zarta quickly? I’m not sure how much more I can take of this place,” she whispers, shaking her head.

"I'm with you Doddle. I can't stand being here much longer. The place leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And I mean for real!"

The roc sets down the one carriage and lands.

A tiefling leaps out and opens the carriage door, allowing the passengers to disembark. Big door on that carriage, easily big enough for an ogre to use without squeezing.

Once the passengers have disembarked he starts calling for passengers wishing to go up to the market. “Gold coin accepted! Only 10 gold each!”

Khellek looks at his poor scholar's purse. Then with a sigh starts to count out gold. "Paying seems like the best way to use our limited time and resources at the moment." he grumbles, rubbing at his temple.

He does offer a nod to Doodle though, the gnome looks like their head hurt just as bad as his.

"So it is 10 gold each... anyway we can negotiate for a group rate?"

The tiefling seems puzzled, then says “Sure. I’m certain that there are many here that would gladly pay your fare in exchange for something else.” With a gesture towards a pawn shop, he says “I’m not into dark bargains, but there are plenty who are.”

Tholvinus pipes up with an offer to find someone who would make a contract and likely give them a better deal.

"Just pay the gold. We don't have that much free time." mutters Khellek. And we have already had to fight one unnecessary battle to recover one of our number, I don't feel like another for a soul inadvertently traded away.

Two Blades handed over his fare for the trip. "Chalk it up as a business expense, just get a receipt." he said.

Tholvinus looks mildly disappointed that no one want to make a bargain.

At this point I’m assuming everyone pays their fare.

You each pay the fare and get into the carriage. You find the seats very hard with pointy bits you want to avoid. Guess that comes with using bone as the main building material.

The flight up is quick and reasonably stable. You are dropped off in a clearing that is obviously used by this ferryman all the time. As soon as all of you depart the carriage, Gelkine starts hawking his services to any that would listen.

Zarta comes over and greets you.

“Shall I escort you to the establishment I found for us to rest in?”

I’m going to assume you take her up on this,

She leads you to The Warm Welcome, an armory for an efreeti consortium. The copper-haired gnome greets the Zarta and your group with exuberant enthusiasm. He introduces himself as Artinean Tecbright.

Zarta suggests you hang that imp, gesturing towards Tholvinus, on one of the hooks before the group adjourns to the back room.

Zarta tells you there is a night hag named Yseldra who has a contract on the soul of another of Leventi‘s operatives named Ophelia Peran. She has managed to haggle the night hag down to 10,000 gp, but thinks there is room for further negotiations if you are willing to reveal more information than she was.

“Doesn’t matter if it is Dis or the mortal planes, wielded properly information has value.”

She listens with interest to what you tell her of the Hellknights and Teena.

She suggests now might be a good time to rest, then as a group we can go accept the invitation from Rowane.

”It has certainly been a full day of….well, a lot of very bad things,” Doodle nodded, thinking some rest would do her sanity good.

”Where is this Yseldra located? Wonder if she might be ok the way to Rowena’s?”

Zarta says “She has a small shop called Yesterday's Glories. in the back alleys of this market.”

"So we go there next and speak to this Yseldra. Anything we need to know about them before we go parlay?"

"Such as how this Yseldra came to be in possession of one of Leventi's operatives souls. I must say they seem to be a poor judge of character given how their people's souls are being bartered away beneath them."

"Devils can't be trusted so of course they can't judge character!"

Zarta smiles and says “I agree, this does seem rather sloppy of Leventi. All of the devils I’ve dealt with have been much more careful about such things. Yseldra claims that the high price of this contract is because she is currently leasing the soul and would need to cover the termination fee.”

“Rather expensive acquisition, so it really depends on how air tight you want the case to be.”

”Numair, you think you could sweet talk them into dropping that price some? We are already literally in hell….Id like to succeed at the mission and never have to come back to this place again. I say we try to ge the soul.”

Khellek nods. "Once is more than enough in any existence for a trip here. Why anyone would choose to come here voluntarily is beyond me."

He offers Numair some words of advice.

Not sure if I can aid (+2), or use inspire competence -(+3) Numair on any attempt to talk the devil down, but happy to try.

Numair quite happily goes to talk with Yseldra, prominently displaying the writ, and explaining that they are investigating Leventi for using borderline-chaotic methods to pursue lawful ends, which should be anathema to Hell.

Diplomacy, Hell Headache(TM): 1d20 + 23 - 2 ⇒ (19) + 23 - 2 = 40.

Very nice diplomacy roll there. You did need a good one.

Yseldra And Numair get to haggling. She would much prefer a dark bargain and is even willing to value it higher than normal. So far that has not interested the group so unless I hear differently I’m going to assume that continues to be the case.

During the bargaining, Khellek gets the impression that Yseldra is getting tired of working with “that devil”who leased the contract to her. She doesn’t name the devil ever, client privacy.

Numair is able to haggle her down to 5000 gp. The only way she is willing to go lower is if the group is willing to share information about “that devil’s” latest acquisition: the Hellknight Teena Forester.

Numair has no objection to sharing the requested information, but does not want to make a unilateral decision for the party. That said, if no-one disagrees, he certainly will share.

"Teena betrayed her other companions. While I would not offer the soul of anyone, I think that is a bed she has already made for herself. We don't know that much about her, but I see little harm in sharing what we do know."

Can we tell why Yseldra wants to know about Teena, or what details in particular she wants to know?

“I would like more details than that.”

You are talking to a night hag that trades in souls. She is asking about a recent acquisition made by a devil. Likely is interested in providence — where they got the soul and how.

Grog stands near Khellek and tries not to look bored.

Damned hag

Numair shrugs.

"From what we learned from her former colleagues, Teena Forester and her colleagues were members of the Order of the Pike operated out of Fort Inevitable in the River Kingdoms and died during a bandit ambush in 4690 AR. Leventi was the devil who shepherded them to Hell, and subsequently tempted their comrade Teena Forester into his service. They consider her taking a deal from that devil a betrayal of their camaraderie and a sign of weakness.

We reviewed a couple of their contracts - The Hellknights' contracts include two different documents both signed by the Hellknight Staebius Kalmp. The first damns his soul to Hell in exchange for the physical strength with which to subdue the untamed wilds. The second forgives the debt of his soul in exchange for the souls of his four subordinates, recognized by the contract's author as the signer's property, which is highly irregular."

He then arches an eyebrow.

"Will that much detail satisfy you?"

She asks if you have a copy of Kalmp’s contract and any of the four Hellknight’s contracts.

Going to assume you don’t mind allowing her to read them.

She quickly scans them, giving a disgusted “Tch!” sounds as she reads some sections.

Nodding, she says “That will suffice.” as she hands you back your copies of the contracts. She goes over to one of the bookshelves and scans the books. She withdraws one and goes over to her desk. She asks “Purchaser’s name?” as she makes a couple of journal entries.

Once that is concluded, she extracts the contract from another book and hands it over.

Korvan feels that is too much to give to these infernal beings but keeps it to himself. He would rather be hunting these things down in some forested land on his native plane. The faster the group can leave this place the better.

Doodle clasps her hands in glee. ”How about that, Ms Zarta?! We are getting all kinds of evidence against this nasty devil!”. She was ready to move ahead to the group’s next meeting.

The next step is get some sleep or go visit Rowane.
You are on about hour 13 of your 48.

Doodle votes to have a sleep then go meet Rowane.

"I could do with a nap!"

Two Blades nodded in agreement at the notion of getting some sleep.

Korvan yawns in agreement...

The group rests in a back room of The Warm Welcome.

Khellek is refreshed after two hours, but knows it is six more hours before the rest of the group is ready.

To keep things moving, I will skip ahead to the Rowane so the whole group isn’t waiting.

Khellek, if you have something to do we can still handle it. We just need to have it not conflict with the visit to Eleusys.

After the rest, you get to pay to get ferried down and then Khellek leads you to Eleusys.

The palace of the Queen of Dis sprawls expansively in the shadow of the Iron Scepter, a haven of darkly beautiful foliage amid iron and flame. Beyond gates of intricately woven branches, floating forested terraces orbit the grounds, sending cataracts of spring water into the tree line below. Groves and structures seem to shift subtly as if the ground were some slumbering behemoth, and smaller infernal beasts prowl the treetop terraces and soaring bridges between wings of the palace. The plaza before Eleusys brims with petitioners, devils, and visitors to Dis queueing for an audience with Erecura or her handmaidens: the norns Felixia, Rowane, and Selieste.

The creatures waiting in line grumble as a livery-adorned imp with a runed halo ignores them, approaching the newcomers instead. “Greetings from my mistress, Rowane. She welcomes you to Eleusys and bids you wait here a moment until I return to fetch you.”

As the imp flies away, it is accosted by an exquisitely groomed Keleshite man in fine robes and wearing a silver Aspis badge. “I have an urgent matter regarding a contractual error that cannot wait! A devil has stolen my property…” The imp ignores the man, who grinds his teeth in frustration at the palace gates.

Numair, noting the badge, makes sure that his Wayfinder is not showing, and then walks over to the Keleshite man.

"Hello there. I could not help overhearing. What seems to be the problem? We might be able to help..."

Diplomacy, Hell Headache(TM): 1d20 + 23 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 23 - 2 = 33.

Khellek spends his free time reading books from his bag, and reviewing the various contracts that the team has so far located. "You never know, the odd comma or full-stop can totally change the meaning of a document. Especially a legal document, and even more especially one that was crafted by a devil. The Devil really is in the details."

---------------------
At the palace, Khellek settles in for a wait. "This ... is much more pleasant than I was expecting." he murmurs. While his eyes may be old, his ears are still keen. Taking off his glasses he peers at the Keleshite man. "Numair... while we wait, you may want to talk with him and find out what he wants. Likely it is of no concern to us, but on the off chance... information can be power. Here more than most places."

"[b]While

Numair manages to get the fellow talking, although he is still hesitant.

His name is Kirash Nouri. He made a deal with Leventi to get silver agent status in exchange for property of the devil’s choosing. The devil chose his slave named Narsino, however Kirash had already submitted the paperwork to free Narsino thus his pending status was as a free person, not his property.

He has the papers but is very hesitant to let others see them.

Since you do not have the appropriate skills to analyze the contract (Linguistics, Profession Barrister or Profession Merchant), it will take another diplomacy check to get him to allow Khellek to view them or Khellek himself asking via Diplomacy. Either way one of you could aid the other.

"Perhaps I may be of assistance?" suggests the elderly scholar.

"I have a little knowledge of the manipulations of language." he adds modestly.

diplomacy: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28Likely with extra +2 from aid-another

Numair nods.

"He really is quite knowledgeable about this sort of thing..."

Diplomacy, Hell Headache(TM), Aid: 1d20 + 23 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 23 - 2 = 25.

There you go, Khellek!

Is Khellek visibly wearing their wayfinder? I know they have one, but I don’t think you ever answered if it was kept visible or not.

Well, since he was clearly Aspis, I figured it wasn't a good idea to flaunt it, which is why I made sure mine was hidden ;-)

Yup, and it was a good thing you did. Khellek never said he did that which is why I now have to ask.

Aid another diplomacy 1d20 + 11 - 2 ⇒ (8) + 11 - 2 = 17

Doodle examines her,sef so that nothing reveals she is a pathfinder before piping up. ”Lets us help you. As luck would have it, we are no friends of that tricky Leventi either!”

Oh, no. I doubt that Pathfinders are especially popular in Hell.

While he knows the Aspis and Pathfdinders don't get along (he had had a run in or two) with his wisdom, he would likely forget to hide a wayfinder if he had been wearing it openly.

Well then, can we get one more successful aid then?

Although the group doesn’t seem threatening and Khellek does seem capable, Kirash seems to be hesitating as he stares at Khellek’s wayfinder.

Can we get one more successful Aid on the diplomacy?