It’s nearing dawn by the time your conversation with Razelago is done and you head down to collect the reward waiting for you in the parlour on the ground floor.
A plain wooden chest sits on a table in the middle of the room. Inside the chest is 100 gp for Benedicte and 100 gp for Elodie, together with Cimri’s share, as well as a masterwork dagger for Cimri and Elodie, and one masterwork rapier for Benedicte.
If you want a different weapon than a masterwork dagger, let me know
Alongside the chest sit several bottles of a fine Wiscrani barbera wine, several loaves of fresh bread, garlic-flavored butter, and a variety of smoked fish and boar’s meat. It’s a veritable feast, and the best you have eaten in a long while.
Cimri whistles with glee, and wastes no time in cracking open one of the bottles. C'mon! Let's eat and get drunk."
The figure behind the screen moves slightly in a shrug. "Cimri stays here I believe at her own choosing - you are not bound to this site. As long as you are in town somewhere, I will get word to you when you are needed again."
Cimri nods. "I got fed up staying at my aunt's house, so I'm here for now." She gives a grin. "I don't mind the company, but I'm sure you'd be happier somewhere else!"
She nods in the direction of the screen. "Thanks boss, see you next time." With that, she is done. There's a reward waiting for her in another room, and she really doesn't do delayed gratification.
A dry chuckle comes from the other side of the screen at Elodie's words. "Yes, you are quite right, I needed to know you could work together on something unimportant before I gave you something more significant. And you have done well. You’ll each find your payment waiting in the parlor below, along with a gift for each of you. Go, enjoy, celebrate. You deserve a reward for your impressive work. We’ll talk more in the near future.”
Cimri nods. "You got it, boss." She heads out, eager to see what reward is waiting for her.
Leaving it there in case you have any other questions for Razelago before we close the scene
Cimri gives a careless shrug at Elodie's remarks. "Not so much that he'd throw a tantrum, more that I wanna show we can be trusted. I got one chance at getting out this dump, and for all you both look and sound like lordlings, you wouldn't be here if you had better options, amirite? So let's keep on his good side."
She squirms a bit at Benedicte's spell, not being used to magic, but gives him a tilt of her head afterward. "Between that and putting ol' Louslik on the floor, you're pretty useful."
...
Razelago is waiting for you when you get back, almost as if he hasn't moved from behind the screen where you previously met him. "Well, Cimri? Is it done?"
"And how, boss!" Cimri proceeds to give an enthusiastic re-telling of your adventure - she skips past the bit where she and Benedicte lost their breakfast, but gives credit to Elodie and also doesn't mention the bit where the dhampir face-planted on the ground. "So, all in all a good night, I reckon."
She leaves a pause in case anyone else wants to add anything.
Cimri nods in agreement, not breaking stride as she hurries back through the gap in the palisade and away from the awful stench of the tannery. "Not being able to lie is a serious flaw, in my opinion. But there's a time and a place, you know? I get the feeling Razelago is looking for repeat workers, and I'd hate to blow my chance of getting out of this s$&@hole of a town for a couple of gold."
A short walk later, giving you time to resolve things, and you are back at the looming ruin of the Ash House. It doesn't look any more inviting in the moonlight than it did in the light of day. Cimri grins. "Home sweet home!"
Cimri is searching around as you speak, and makes a sound of triumph as she spots a locked strongbox under a loose floorboard. "Aha!" A few seconds with her lockpicks opens it, and you see several soft, velvet bags full of coins. "Right, let's divide these up between us." She grins. "Normally I'd be the sort to take some of this for myself, but Razelago gives me the creeps. I'm not sure he's human. My vote, we give him all of this."
Even as she fills her pouch with the coins, she's moving back to the gap in the fence where you came in. "We're done here."
Elodie doesn't need light to see by so it's easy for her to creep through the open doorway and down the hall in complete darkness. Sadly for her, not in complete silence, though - the flooring is not nearly as well-maintained as the houses she is used to and a raised wooden floorboard creaks loudly - too loudly to be dismissed as a random noise.
The door to one room flies open, light spilling out from it into the hallway, and the man you saw before looks at you grimly. "I knew there was trouble out there!" His crossbow points unerringly at Elodie...
Everyone gets to move before he does - I'll keep the NPC and GMPC in the background so you can go first :)
Cimri grins at the bickering. "Yup, you're definitely related! And yup, I can get through most locks, no trouble. Give me a sec." Pulling some lockpicks out of her belt pouch, she fiddles with the door for a few moments.
DD:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
She frowns for a second, before there's a very slight clicking noise and the lock gives way. "Shall we?"
Cimri gives a hiss of surprise as Elodie conjures up the dark like a cloak, but she can quickly understand what the reasoning is. She stays stock still, not moving and waiting to see what happens.
The man peers out into the yard, not seeing anything unusual. "Abby? You there girl?" There's no sound, and after a few moments more he shakes his head and returns inside, closing the door behind him.
Even as Benedicte points at the door, it opens and a middle-aged man steps out, peering into the darkness. The light spilling from the open door behind him illuminates his features, showing his long greying hair tied in a ponytail and the squint as he tries to see anything in the yard. He carries a heavy crossbow with an ease of use that suggests he's a good shot. "Abby? Heard you barking, girl. Everything ok?"
So far, he hasn't seen you. But as his eyes adjust from the light to the dark, he probably will. Especially if you draw attention by moving.
Cimri grins. "Hide the evidence, eh? I like your style. But I'll do you one better." Lifting the carcass up, she drops it over the side and into one of the tanks of foul-smelling gunk. There's a faint splash and the dog's corpse slowly sinks into the muck and vanishes without a trace.
Cimri looks disgusted - both with the surroundings, but also more with herself for giving into it - as she draws an evil-looking kukri from her belt. She shakes her head and gives Benedicte a glare. "Wizards. Put that thing away before you hurt yourself with it."
She attacks the dog while its attention is focused on Elodie; it barely even registers she is there before she carves it up.
Her well-placed blow cuts deep into the dog's neck, breaking its spine; it twitches feebly for a couple of seconds before dying.
Cimri wipes her blade on its fur. "Never liked dogs much." She gives Elodie a crooked smile. "You done good, girl. Kept your head - and yer stomach! OK, let's keep moving."
The hound gives a sharp yelp as Elodie stabs it, that turns into a whine as it seems to recognise it is facing a predator rather than easy prey. The sharp, metallic tang of its freshly-spilled blood fills Elodie's nostrils, stronger even than the overpowering stench of the tannery.
Staggering to one side slightly, its bite again misses the agile girl as she easily dodges out the way.
I agree that the scent ability is unlikely to work here, but the dog made its save so the point is moot unfortunately
The dog whines in confusion as the darkness starts to coalesce around it, before giving a sharp bark that dispels the clinging gloom. It gives a low, menacing growl as Elodie circles around, turning quickly on its four paws and launching itself at her! In the gloom however its jaws close only on the night air as Elodie hastily dodges out the way.
Elodie and the dog go once more and then Benedicte and Cimri are back in the game, sickened for 10 rounds
Although she's older than Elodie, Cimri isn't that much taller and is just as nimble - she slips elegantly through the gap, rolling her eyes at the noise Benedicte is making.
That however is the least of your problems: as you straighten up and look around, you see murky water pools in rows of sunken tubs. Unspeakable muck encrusts each vat and half-submerged skins float within. From these scabby concoctions drifts a sinus-assaulting reek—a dizzying miasma of rotten eggs, lime, and far worse.
Elodie has no trouble keeping her stomach under control but Benedicte and Cimri immediately double over, gagging and retching!
Cimri and Benedicte are nauseated for 1 round, then sickened for 10 rounds
From the shadows, Elodie hears a low growl, followed by the keen eyes of an angry guard dog padding into view...
The night is dark, but there's a sliver of moon which provides enough light to navigate the road into and around Longacre, provided you tread carefully. (Elodie, of course, has an advantage since she can see in the dark - at least, out to 90 feet or so.)
Because of the smelly processes involved in the operation, the tannery sits a mile west outside town - nicely isolated for your purposes, but too much loud noise will bring attention at some point.
A log palisade surrounds the tannery. In places, gaps between the gray, dry-rotted trunks are wide enough to pass a hand through. To the west, a muddy trail slips beneath a plank gate similar to a barn door. These barriers do absolutely nothing to block the heavy stench of chemicals and dung drifting from within. The gate is wide enough to easily admit work carts, and has a mechanism that opens and closes it via a lever on the inside of the palisade. It might be possible to access the mechanism with some clever trickery. Otherwise you are looking at climbing over the fence to get in.
Elodie Perception:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21
Elodie however spots that there’s a gap in the palisade. It might take a bit of work to squeeze through (DC 12 Dex or Escape Artist) but it looks better than the other options.
The figure behind the screen however gives a dry chuckle. "I am aware of your various... foibles, all of you. I did my research before bringing you here. I would caution you however that the locals are a superstitious crowd and may not have the same... open-mindedness."
Cimri grins, and gives Elodie a wink. "Long as my blood stays in my veins, we're good. Don't care who else you bite."
She makes a show of checking she has everything she needs. "We going or what?"
Oh, we're definitely not changing this one up! I was more thinking that if we can keep a decent pace on it then I might consider putting something together in January next year - I got very into watching some of the actual play streams during Lockdown, and there's a game called Blades in the Dark that everyone seemed to have a lot of fun playing. Would be fun to give it a go.
Anyway, I'm going to concentrate on this game for the moment!
That's hilarious - what's the saying? Real stupidity beats artificial intelligence every time...
And yeah, fiction-first requires complete buy-in from the players because it's not about optimising your build which means you have to trust that the GM isn't going to screw you over Tomb of Horrors-style. The mechanics mean that they're easy to learn, but more difficult to GM. Luckily the first one I played in had a GM who knew exactly what she was doing, I think I would have been put off completely if it was run badly.
Heh, I haven't even thought about 'kobolds ate my baby' for 20+ years, it was a fun beer & pretzels game! Good times :)
I am moving more and more towards the 'fiction-first' type of games like Apocalypse World and its spin-offs (I had a fun Monster of the Week RL group for a while). I find the complexity of a lot of games really doesn't have a payoff, PF1 is about as far as I'm willing to go in terms of theorycrafting a character to optimise it. Shadowrun - at least back when I played it - had so many options and so many splatbooks that it took forever to build a PC, who then lasted maybe a game session or two before something geeked them...
(yup, travel by coach isn't that speedy, it's just more comfortable than walking!)
The silhouetted figure behind the screen speaks first. "The owner, Jabral Louslik, is a useful person in the community - he employs many, and is generally liked. I would prefer no permanent harm coming to anyone, for now. As for sending a message - we will get to that, but for now the money will do."
Cimri pipes up to answer the other questions. "Louslik works late but once it's night, he's probably the only one there. Plus his dog, of course. A couple of the local gong farmers go by at the end of their shift to drop off the crap they've collected, but if we're quick we can be in and out before they know we're there."
Thanks, that's a useful (and fair) summary. I didn't see anything that made me think it's way better than PF1, and the length of the rulebook put me off so I'm happy to stick with what I know :)
With that said, are there any alternate gaming systems you like to play?
Cimri grins as Elodie sticks a blade in her face, not at all worried. "Feisty. I like it." She rolls her eyes at Benedicte's protest of needing some time, but waves her hand and wanders off to wait for him to get himself ready.
The room you go into was once a library, judging by the shelves, although there is nothing now but ashes and a wet mulch of what might have been paper, once upon a time. A dim light illuminates the room in a soft, magical glow, not enough to clearly see by for most people. The weird, catlike creature has curled up in the middle of the floor, putting itself between you and a wooden screen. The soft glow of light illuminates a shadowy figure behind the screen, projecting their silhouette, which nods as you enter.
"Greetings. I know a little about you, and you know nothing about me. All you need to know is that my name is Razelago and I work for the Archbaron, who is looking for a few people who will handle work that is... beyond his usual servants. I have a job for you, and if it goes well there will be more work later on. Think of this as a test, if you like."
"Just outside the town of Longacre there is a tannery. Cimri will know it if the two of you do not." Cimri wrinkles her nose in disgust, and nods. "Yeah, when the wind's in the wrong direction you can smell it from here! Disgusting."
Razelago continues uninterrupted. "The owner of the tannery is behind on his taxes, and my sources suggest that he is using that money to fund some of the local unrest in this area. I would like you to break in, steal that money and bring it to me. The owner is a good employer and well-liked in town, so I would prefer if no permanent harm comes to him. And it goes without saying that you should not be caught. That would be unfortunate."
"As you can see, this is a good test of your initiative and abilities. I have no doubt you will do well. Bring the money back here and you will be rewarded."
Thankfully you don't have long to wait (in-game, anyway) - you managed to unpack a few things, have a supper of trail rations, and fall asleep uncomfortably for a few hours before Cimri shakes you both awake. At your best guess, it's about 4 in the morning, the young woman gives you a quick grin by the light of the candle she's holding. "Razelago's here, his pet-thing just came to get me. You wanna meet your new boss, now's the time."
Cimri gives a look that slowly becomes a smile. "Fine, you weirdo. Play it your way. Curious to see how long you can rough it for when there's a perfectly good inn a half-mile's walk away."
Sorry, like I said on discord the last month has been pretty crazy. I need to finish some things up but will get us moving again on Weds and then do my best to post regularly from there.
The ground floor of the manor has over a dozen rooms, any of which would be suitable as a bedroom provided you don't mind the absence of any bed or mattresses. Cimri has a corner room with windows (no glass) on both sides, letting in the light but also the chill evening air. She has a bedroll and a small pack of possessions, but nothing that would suggest she has been here for very long. Cimri shrugs. "I had a fight with my aunt so I'm here till she cools off, or I get too tired and hungry." She doesn't elaborate.
The only room on the ground floor that is clearly out of bounds is guarded by a large, panther-like beast that is sleeping outside the locked door. When it sees you, it turns its face in your direction and growls slightly, pulling the entirety of its face upward and away to reveal the bone underneath. It's an unsettling sight, to say the least. Cimri shudders. "That's Razelago's room, but I don't think he lives there. It's where I met him, first night I stayed here."
She shrugs at Elodie's question. "He said he was waiting on you, so now you're here I don't reckon you'll have a lot of time. But Longacre's a way from anywhere, even on horseback. The only other places nearby are probably even more dull." Her eyes narrow. "One day Imma get outta this dump, off to Egorian or Westcrown or somewhere you've actually heard of." She cracks a smile, her mood obviously changeable. "Who knows? Maybe you'll be coming with me."
There is a staircase to the upper floors, but it's rotten with mould and fungus. Cimri pauses as you approach it. "I wouldn't get too close. First night I was here, couldn't sleep and I heard... something up there. Whatever it was, I hope it stays away."
You now realise that Cimri has picked the room that is furthest away from the staircase. Doing her best not to show how unnerved she is, she turns back to you. "If you're wondering about toilets, there's nothing down here, all the plumbing was upstairs by the look of things. There's an outhouse the servants used, out that way." Her eyes gleam with malicious amusement. "It's fine if you don't mind the stinging nettles."
The woman's eyes widen slightly as the penny drops. She doesn't seem at all offended by Elodie calling the place a backwater dump. "Oh, so you're the ones Razelago was talking about. Sorry, your lordships, I wasn't expecting anyone so..." her arm waves up and down, taking in everything from your clothes to your posture. It's hard to disguise the fact you're noble-born, not that you were trying to.
She gives you a smile. "Anyways, I'm Cimri. Cimri Staelish. Looks like we'll be working together, whenever Razelago gets round to telling me what's what. And to answer your question, hasn't been called Morgatalli manor for a looong time." Cimri gives you a good-natured grin. "Way I heard it, the Morgatalli family backed the wrong side in the civil war, so the Thrunes burned 'em all one night and gave their land to the Fex family. We just call it Ash House, these days." She gives you a shrewd look. "There's room enough inside for us all, but it might not be as comfy as you're used to. There's an inn in town that caters to well-born folk, it's called the Arch and Lark. There'll be rooms there for sure, the owner's such a snob she only lets people stay if they measure up - she'll be very happy to see you." Another grin. "Just don't say I sent you, she thinks I'm a bad piece of work. 'Unseemly' was the word she used, if I remember right."
Cimri shrugs at you. "Or you can stay here. Just might not have the comforts you're used to."
Travelling by coach is far less tiring, and more comfortable, than walking - but it isn't significantly faster. Particularly on unpaved roads, which almost all roads outside the capital are. It's over a week of travel, staying at inns and hostels along the way, before you arrive at Longacre.
The small town is barely larger than a village, with perhaps 1500 or so people living there. It is reputedly where you end up if all else in life has failed you - pensioned-off soldiers with nowhere else to go and no other employment talk about the "long march to Longacre" and the town has a sort of gloom about it. Your carriage passes through a stone gate, and then along the main street, past a temple that seems to be dedicated to Iomedae, and then out of town to the opposite side, ending up outside a sprawling stone manor-house mostly hidden from the road by heavy tree cover.
It's only when the servants have unloaded your luggage, and then left again with a bow, that you can see that what was once clearly a thriving manor-house is now a charred ruin, with soot-streaked stonework and a missing roof indicating a long-ago fire that gutted the place.
While you're still looking at the ruins that mark the address that Benedicte was given by this mysterious Razelago, someone steps out of the front doorway, over the long-rotted wooden doors that lie on the ground, and walks towards you. She is perhaps 5 or 6 years older than Benedicte, wirily built and with hard eyes that become more friendly when she sees you aren't an obvious threat. Her hands move away from the heavy, lethal-curved blades at her belt as she sizes Benedicte and Elodie up, before giving a slightly mocking bow. "Evening, your lordship and ladyship. Are you lost?"
Elodie doesn't have the room to herself for very long; she's still in the middle of changing when the door opens again and her most-hated cousin, Etienne, saunters in. Unlike Elodie and Benedicte, Etienne is blond and handsome and he knows it; his looks and his connections have won him a favourable marriage that rapidly lifted up his status within the family. His golden curls and winning smile are at odds with the malice that lies within his heart, as he gives Elodie an unpleasantly cheerful grin.
"Hey, bloodsucker! Heard you got out and just wanted to say you're not wel-" He doesn't get any further than that as Elodie flies at him, with a ringing slap that rattles his jaw - he steps hastily back as she bares her fangs (and other things) at him, and stares for a moment before retreating, turning his back as he strides to the door and leaves. "You little b%*@!! You'll pay for that."
Fortunately, he doesn't have his spell components with him, or any of his lackeys; he came to bandy insults, not brawl with a half-naked hellcat. Of course, components and lackeys can be swiftly retrieved. Definitely best to hurry out of here before he decides to return, although he'll probably wait for the mark on his cheek to disappear first. Admitting he got slapped won't do much for his pride.
