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I'm so sorry about the delay - I thought I had already posted in this thread. Unfortunately, work's been getting away with me, and I've come to the realization that my schedule just isn't sustainable with as many PbP games as I'm in, so I've decided to drop the Curse of the Crimson Throne campaign. I sincerely apologize for having to drop the campaign, and I quite enjoyed my time with your group, but I just can't maintain this pace.
On that note, I'm back. My sincerest apologies for the delay - what with the holidays and work piling up, I've been having trouble finding time to post to any of my campaigns, and this one wasn't showing new posts for some reason. Regardless, I'm back now and will try my best to keep up, though the posting rate in this game is a good deal faster than I'm accustomed to.
As the group splits up to begin work on the cure, Kandru tries to follow Audria's lead - she understands enough of the theory behind the healer's art to function, but nowhere near the levels needed to help craft the antidote to the plague, so for the remainder of the day, she finds another way to make herself useful. While the scholars work, she tries to remain helpful as best she can, working with the more bureaucratically minded of the temple staff to create a system to efficiently distribute the antidote once found. The actual antidote itself can be safely ignored for the time being - rather, Kandru spends the day trying to make sure that places where citizens can get the cure are roughly evenly distributed, that those responsible for distributing the antidote won't be overwhelmed by the crowds of the sick, et cetera. The problem of how to produce the antidote is significantly more challenging, given that Kandru does not in fact know what ingredients they will require, but she sets that aside as a problem for once the cure has been found and its ingredients listed.
Kandru nods attentively as the alchemist presents the list of ingredients and steps for production. "I'm no alchemist, but might I have a copy of this list? With how many copies of the cure must be produced in a short amount of time, it's imperative that we have some sort of logistical system in place - I've been working on a means to distribute the cure once found, but I'll need that list to continue my work on procuring the reagents and getting them to the alchemists."
...Looking back over my posts, it doesn't look like I ever did. I could have sworn Kandru tried and failed to counteract Andiasin's buffing spells, but it seems I was mistaken. Regardless, I think Pava's triage should still be the focus of this round - I'll cast Dispel next round.
As Pava falls again, Kandru scowls at the Urgathoan priest, muttering an Infernal imprecation. Holding the golden key of Abadar aloft, she strides into the fray - moving to Pava's side, she casts a spell to heal the worst of the injured Shoanti's wounds, praying she is able to help the rogue.
Spells: Summon Monster III - elapsed
Bless - 75 rounds remaining
Unfortunately, Kandru's already burned her Dispel Magic for the day - she can use her bonded holy symbol to regain the slot, but there's a lot of triage to be done here.
Apologies - I thought I had used that earlier, but it seems I was mistaken.
Kandru springs into motion as she shakes free of the spell - rather than directly attack, she blesses Audria again, but her summoned wolves continue to press their assault against the undead minions. The injured one yelps in pain, dissolving into motes of light, but the uninjured one moves around the pool, coming to Pava's aid. The wolf snarls at the wicked cleric, leaping at her throat, but it fails to get past Andaisin's defenses.
Unfortunately, the RNG doesn't seem to be on our side today. Hopefully, we'll be able to break free next round, but it's a hard blow nonetheless.
Kandru glares at the priestess from behind her mask as her limbs freeze up, her holy symbol still held aloft. Her wolves, on the other hand, continue to attack the blinded zombies, trying to break apart the line of undead between the party and the master cleric.
I feel like that round went rather well, all things considered. I do apologize for catching Shrike in the spell's radius - still, considering that it successfully blinded all the zombies and she only needs a 4 or above to avoid blindness, I think it was probably still worth it.
My sincerest apologies - I wasn't trying to put three rounds as a hard limit before Kandru follows the advice of the great tactician Leeroy Jenkins. Rather, my idea was that the party would cast buffs and such for a solid minute or two if need be, and that like Elric was saying, Kandru would save her round/level summoning spells for the last moment so they don't run out prematurely.
Kandru rushes into the room, holding her holy symbol aloft. "Miss Shrike, close your eyes! Vale dic oculis tuis..." As she finishes her prayer, a mote of light appears over Shrike's head before blossoming into a blinding flash searing the retinas of those around the masked vigilante.
Behind the priestess, the two hounds she summoned leap into the fray, snarling masses of fur and claws seeking zombie flesh.
Buffs Counter: Summon Monster II - 5 to 4 rounds
Summon Monster III - 6 to 5 rounds Bless - 80 to 79 rounds
Kandru nods as the others lay out their plans, laboriously winding her heavy crossbow as she prepares to enter. "Right - I like the way you think. Bit like raiding a smuggler's den, yeah? I've got some spells, and I can call down some of Abadar's sanctified trackers, but they don't last forever - we'll have to move quickly once they're here."
I think the combat spell plan sounds good - Kandru will cast Bless and open with Burst of Radiance. As for summons, if we have two full rounds to prepare, Kandru can bring in 1d3+1 celestial wolves - should help with flanking. If it comes to it, too, I could pop Spell Immunity, but frankly, I'd prefer to save that for once we've seen her and her lackeys cast spells for a round or two, see what needs countering.
Kandru follows the others into the laboratory somewhat belatedly, having tarried to try and identify the unfamiliar creature in the vat. "Sorry about that - is everything..." Her onyx eyes go wide at the sight of the vampire, and she stops abruptly, blanching a lighter shade of blue behind her mask. Clearing her throat, she hisses a quiet response to Shane's query, pitching it loud enough for the others to hear - she's sure the vampire scholar can hear it, but her aim is more to warn off her more brash colleagues from facing a foe far out of their depth. "The very powerful kind, my friend. I'd advise caution here - if our friend here loses his temper, it will not end well for any of us." She nods to the vampire scholar. "If he's offering a trade for Ruan's life, then there's an Abadaran proverb about not looking a..." She trails off, furrowing her brow. "...Actually, the proverb's about carefully reviewing the terms of an agreement and proposing addendums or revisions before finalizing a deal, but if the alternative is messy death, then we should probably skip the 22-Cs in triplicate, if you know what I mean. Protodeacon Zakarashvili would metaphorically have my head, but it's better than this fellow literally having it." Behind her mask, the Justicar squints at the ancient vampire. "...though there is an uncanny resemblance between the two."
Kandru rushes up the stairs to the narrow catwalk, following Shrike and Pava as they enter the next room. "It's probably best if we stay together in groups - no telling what..." She trails off as she sees the horrific creatures bobbing in their cylindrical vats. "Gods... is - is that one there still alive?"
As the door opens and the cultists on the other side move to intercept, Kandru springs into action - rushing into the room, she keeps her head down as she makes for the catwalk, keeping the wall to her back to limit the cultists' range of movement. The Justicar holds her crossbow at the ready, trying to keep as many of the cultists as possible in her direct line of sight, but as she moves, her hand shifts to her golden key, and she mutters a prayer under her breath for the success of Elric and Shrike.
Apologies for my short posts recently - I'll try to write more substantial segments going forward.
Kandru nods as Shrike lays out her plan. "I think that would be best - I can't say what else we'll find out here, but what we have should be safeguarded. I can accompany the group back and deactivate the trap, if you so wish, but if you wish to activate it, I'll gladly help you there as well." Turning to the five survivors, she clears her throat - when she speaks again, her tone is notably softer, still holding her customary utilitarian terseness, but with a hint of authoritativeness she prays will set their minds at ease. "Right, once you've left here, it should be fairly easy to find a way out from the Hospice. Do any of you five know the way to Citadel Volshyenek in Midland? There should be some empty bunks in Barracks 3 from the Bridgefront rota - you can wait there, and we'll try and get in contact with your families, let them know you're safe."
While Audria and Shrike see to the prisoners in the next room, Kandru takes a closer look at the curious blood spatter on the wall. "This is strange - at first glance, it's almost as if someone exploded here. Who knows? If the blood veil were created here, perhaps this is what remains of the first to succumb to it."
Behind the mask, Kandru scowls at the sleeping forms of the necromancers. As Shrike and Pava step forward to end their lives and Shane nods his assent, her ebon gaze flicks to the rest of the members of the party, thinking, and one taloned hand rises to her holy symbol, but after a moment, she firmly nods assent as well. She knows the killers should be arrested, brought to trial, but as the others have said, that's not realistic here and now - to a certain extent, too, it's personal for her. All the horrors she's seen, the murders, the accidents, even a few maulings, she's had to act as an impartial observer, a masked arbiter of perfect logic. It's always brought her comfort, kept her sane to know that the gods have their own way of dispensing justice to the deserving and punishment to the wicked in the afterlife. The undead of the hidden shrine are an affront to that, dragging back the soul from beyond to be used as a twisted plaything - that these cultists would sleep with such an abomination guarding their rest is more disturbing to her than anything she's seen in her time in the Watch. For a moment, her hand reaches back for her crossbow, but after reconsidering, she lets it fall, content to watch Shrike and Pava at their bloody work.
Ordinarily, Kandru would be against cold-blooded murder, no matter the victim's crimes - from what she saw in the previous room, though, and given how she's written up, it makes sense for her to have serious issues with necromancers on the whole and these ones in particular, so while she (probably) won't go bed to bed shooting them with her crossbow, neither will she stop Shrike or even make a counterargument for leaving them alive.
As the party deals with the last of the necromancer's minions, Kandru nods, making a motion to dismiss her spell - she thinks better of it at the last second, however, moving to the glass separating the reanimated bodies in the walls from the rest of the room and silently breaking it with the stock of her crossbow before releasing the spell. "My apologies for the short notice regarding the spell, but it seemed prudent. Is anyone seriously injured?" The Justicar gives the evildoers' gear a cursory glance, but decides to leave the spoils to the others - there's little of use to her in the pile of mage's equipment, and she hopes her compatriots will be able to make better use of the various bespelled items. While the others work, she moves over to the first of the twitching corpses immured in the wall, now free of the glass divider. Methodically making her way along the walls, she stills each corpse with bolts from her crossbow - she seems to take more of an interest in the work than her new companions might expect from the normally stoic Justicar, taking care to ensure that each of the mockeries of life are truly destroyed rather than merely disabled, and as each one goes limp, she stops to whisper a brief prayer that the unfortunate souls bound to these creatures be judged as they lived rather than for how they were desecrated.
"Kandru, Shane, can either of you do anything about that magical protection that's enveloping Rolth?" Kandru furrows her brow, turning her holy symbol to face the archer as she repositions. "He shrugged off my first spell like it was nothing - I don't know that I'm strong enough to break his defenses outright, but I can give you another benediction for your shots." Another beam of divine energy emerges from the golden key, giving the tips of the marine's arrowheads a flicker of magic. "Try it now, see if that helps."
Ah - apologies. I wasn't sure if it had been factored in.
Kandru scowls behind her mask, moving to get a better vantage point on the necromancer. "Judging by his inane prattle, I take it our new friend has an inflated sense of self-importance?" She raises her holy symbol again, nodding to Shane. "Unfortunately, I can't treat the cause, but I may have something to say about the symptom. You might want to move back a bit there, Mister Shane. The Master of the First Vault shall bring order from cacophony!" As she casts her spell over the chaotic melee, the sounds of the battle - arrows thudding into flesh, steel against hardened leather, the like - begin to sound muffled, as though heard from beneath the water.
Quick note - Elric has Blessing of the Faithful, so his attacks resolve at +2, in case that makes a difference with any of his iteratives.
As the group enters the room, Kandru turns to face them, furrowing her brow - from the Physicians and the Urgathoan garb, she assumes they're enemies of some sort, but it seems to her that there's history she doesn't know of. "Who-" A quick glance at the rest of the group lets her know that there will be time to talk later - instead, she holds up her holy symbol, invoking a benediction on Elric.
Kandru blinks as the door opens, taken aback by the horrors of the corpse-filled hall - as the others seem to focus on one corpse in particular, she tries to move into the center of the room, away from the walls. While the others work, she clutches her holy symbol and whispers a quiet prayer to Abadar, glancing up at the walls nervously. "Gods - I mean, I've seen a thing or two in my time, but this... I'd like to take some time and cleanse this place. Maybe not right now if you think we should press on, but before we leave, I'd like to at least put these people to rest."
Kandru glances up at the skeletal motif on the room's doors, furrowing her brow in concern at the chamber's elaborate but grim bas-relief. At Audria's words, she shrugs, her ebony eyes flicking between the trapped doors. "After those patients in the upper ward, I can probably do as many as four, but anything after that's up in the air. Best not to take the chance on anything we're not ready for, though - for all we know, that south door might connect to the entire rest of the complex, have those other two as decoys." The tiefling shrugs, sighing. "Though why they'd bother to create elaborate death-traps in rooms only their senior members could access is beyond me, but I suppose there's a correlation between 'people who want to bring about the end of the world' and 'people who do not think logically about their actions.'"
Kandru is now leveled up to Level 8! +6 HP (now 57)
+1 to all invested skills Aura of Protection 8 rounds/day +1 Wis
"She's paying them. Or the Crown treasury is. Not a king's ransom. His estate. Arkonas might be in on it too. They've plenty of scratch."[/b] Kandru nods, sighing. "Unfortunately, the wealth of evidence would seem to bear that out. As an investigator, I know I can be a bit of a skeptic of untried claims at times, but from this perspective, it's rather obvious. Still, that doesn't answer the underlying question of why she's doing this. Her questionable legitimacy aside, even if she killed King Eodred, I'd assume she'd want to run the city she spent so much effort gaining, not slow it to a standstill by eliminating the backbone of our economic might." Shrike's mention of the Arkonas gives her pause, and she furrows her brow. "I hadn't seriously considered the Arkonas as the masterminds behind all this, to be frank. Even their... gray shipments are still shipments nonetheless - I imagine they're not doing well with the quarantine. The Queen has a buffer of sorts before the city's collapse drains the coffers of the throne - as the saying goes, Pharasma and Abadar are the two gods you cannot escape - but to the best of my knowledge, the Arkona fortunes are dependent entirely on the strength of the market, which has none for the time being."
As the group finishes with the upper level of the hospice, Kandru takes the opportunity to skim through Dr. Davalus's notes, hoping to get a broad-strokes idea of what the Red Mantis agent was doing with the plague. "Mister Driscoll, you had mentioned that the late doctor was an assassin, yes? I shouldn't think assassins are encouraged to kill cities because they feel like it - devalues their services and all that. I shouldn't think any of the death cults coming to mind would be rich enough to afford something like this, either - people doing well in life tend to want to stay that way. I'd consider it at the very least likely that some additional party is involved here, at least financially."
Kandru sighs as Shrike brusquely commands the immune Varisians into the office, her tail twitching as she speaks up in an attempt to calm them down. "Please wait in this office for just a moment - for your safety. We'll have you back to your families in no time."
"Later I may ask you to work with me to see what commonalities in the healing experiments and those immune reveal. The Doctor's research might yet be useful if we can turn his perverse work to some good." Kandru nods, loading another bolt into her crossbow as she takes up position beside the door to the main chamber. "But of course. It seems the unlamented doctor hadn't made much headway with overcoming this immunity, but with luck, he's helped us find the factor responsible. My knowledge is more practical, but I'll gladly assist you."
Kandru glares at Pava as she kills Doctor Davalus, sighing after a moment. "You've already heard my argument about killing captives, so I won't repeat it. By all rights, I should be filing a 2-9-C-III-12 form, but a death mid-commission of another crime requires a CL-223-1107-B addendum, and the Bank hasn't responded to my requisitions for more forms since the plague started." As the group uncovers the paperwork revealing him to be a Red Mantis agent, she scowls. "Look at that - these notes would have made a strong case in the Arbiters' courts, you know." When Audria comes to fetch her, however, she follows the paladin into the cramped room, the breach of procedure forgotten. "Of course - I'll do what I can for them." Pulling out her holy symbol, she intones a prayer, curing the wounds of the immune Varisians.
Lowering the golden key of Abadar, she nods. "They should be recovered now. Do you have any plans for egress? There were a fair few Physicians in the main ward - I'm a decent shot with my crossbow, though if it comes to that I suspect I'll be better off helping Lieutenant Rivers." Turning to the younger holy woman, she raises an eyebrow. "What do you think? If the basement of this place holds a clandestine anything, there could be an exit, but that's likely even more heavily quarded than the main ward."
Behind the mask, Kandru's brow furrows in uncertainty, but after a moment, she scowls, bringing her crossbow to bear on the doctor. "Be that as it may, we have testimony that agents of the Queen's Physicians acted in concert with no less than two mass-murderers - as their direct supervisor, I suspect we could bring you up on at least an Aleph-9 suspension of medical practice pending review for malpractice. At minimum, you are guilty of gross negligence and outright incompetence, if not active collaboration with criminal offenders under Classification 1 Subclassification A-6 - that Queen Ileosa appointed you does not reflect well on you and in fact reflects rather poorly on her!" She laboriously winds the crossbow, keeping it aimed at Doctor Davalus. "Now please, step away from the desk, or I swear to you that I will not rest until I have personally notarized the signature of the co-chair of the committee to review the recommendation to permanently revoke your ability to practice medicine!"
I appreciate everyone's well-wishes for my dog - unfortunately, he passed about a week ago. I should be ready to get back into the game, though - thank you for your patience. Glad to have you back, Audria, and here's hoping work improves!
Kandru steps forward into the room, drawing her golden amulet of Abadar from within her robes and holding it aloft. Intoning a prayer to her god for strength, Shrike feels the powers of Abadar bolstering her strikes.
I realize that I haven't been posting as regularly as I should in this forum. My dog has been very ill for a couple of weeks, and I wanted to spend some time with him in case of the worst. I'll try to get something up tonight.
Well, I'm certainly hoping everything goes well with your cat! A healthy appetite is generally a good sign - hopefully, you don't have any trouble.
As the last Physician falls, Kandru approaches the unconscious patients, checking their injuries with a healer's eye - behind the mask, the priestess's brow furrows at the extent of the Varisians' injuries, but after a moment's examination of each, she hesitantly steps back, confident that they are stable but unsure about leaving them here. At Shane's suggestion, she nods resolutely, fumbling in her robes for her holy symbol, but Shrike's words give her pause, and she reluctantly lowers the golden key. "You're right - discretion is likely the better part of wisdom in this case." Scowling, she begins to rewind her crossbow, glaring at the room beyond where the Grey Maidens wait. "Well, to a greater or lesser extent, as the case may be - 'discretion' is likely to be interchangeable with 'covering fire' when dealing with the Queen's representatives."
Kandru mutters a brief imprecation in Infernal as the situation becomes violent, drawing her crossbow and winding it up before sighting down its length. After a moment to ensure a clean shot that doesn't endanger Pava, the thick string of the crossbow slams into the riser, and its bolt flies towards the physician menacing the Shoanti rogue.
Apologies - I seem to have misunderstood. I had thought we were skipping this fight and waiting on the GM to post.
As Elric lays out his plan, Kandru furrows her brow, shaking her head. Behind her beaked mask, her pitch-black eyes scan the room of ailing Korvosans before flicking to the archer. "It's a solid plan, but I have a few concerns - many of these people may be too ill to move, and if there is any wrongdoing elsewhere in this building, killing their victims and leaving their bodies for the fire would be the most straightforward way of covering their tracks." Sighing, she looks up where the lift platform rises to the catwalks. "I think you may be on the right track, though. Somewhere in this building, there must be someone with the ability to reach the lower floor. We don't know who that is, but we do know that they have to use this lift to access the laboratory. If we can create a situation that gives them cause to inform the basement laboratory without calling to evacuate the building, I suspect that will be our best bet." The priestess shrugs, turning back to the group. "That mad harlequin said something about collecting those untouched by the plague, yes? And we know who these individuals were to be delivered to. Now, I doubt we would be able to find a convincing patient on such short notice, but perhaps some blood in a vial might serve as a reasonable substitute - we could say this Rolth person sent us to fetch a sample of some sort, he urgently needs it for his work, that sort of thing."
Kandru follows close behind Shrike and Shane, nodding slightly without turning her head as she passes the nurse. Behind her plague doctor's mask, her eyes roam over the suffering patients arrayed along the walls of the room, but her body language paints a practiced picture of indifference - this mask is different from her own, but the principles are the same, how cold, calculating competence can solve problems unassailable by all the concern in the world.
Kandru will also wear doctor's gear. She's not the best with Bluff, so she may have to rely on a more duplicitous teammate, but I'm hopeful she can still help in some capacity. Apologies for the delay in posting - I've been helping a friend through a rough patch. I'll try to get better about posting to this campaign.
Kandru nods appreciatively to Shane as the last of the Queen's forces falls. "Quite a potent spell, Mister Driscoll. It seems I'll have to be a good deal faster to keep up with this investigation!" Stepping forward to examine one of the fallen, she lifts up the unconscious Physician's mask, furrowing her brow behind her featureless mask. "Can't say I recognize the face. Supposed to be doctors from around here, weren't they? It's what I was told, at any rate." She shrugs, standing and dusting herself off. "Well, I can't say I know all the apothecaries in the city - Brother Ishani might be more familiar, though." As Shrike presses the mask into her hands, she lifts her own mask as she shrugs on the thick leather overcoat over her white temple robes. As always, the burn scars twist the left side of her mouth into a permanent macabre smile, but as she dons the broad-brimmed hat, the right side of her mouth twitches upwards, joining the left in a wry grin. Glancing up at Shrike, she raises her eyebrows as she lowers the long-beaked healer's mask over her face. "Quite the comfortable fit, aren't these? Who knows? Perhaps everyone will wear them in the future." "What you said. Was that true? Think Kroft could hold them on suspicion?" Kandru straightens indignantly - it seems that it's a sore point of sorts for her, though her annoyance doesn't seem directed at the other masked woman. "Yes indeed - it's a very real law, and I've had cause to register official protests about the Korvosan Guard's habit of not enforcing it." Sighing, she shakes her horned head. "Actually, I've registered protests about several laws that are no longer enforced. So far, the only form that's been returned to me is my requisition for more forms. Sergeant Sirov claims nobody can remember why they even instituted half those laws in the first place, but that's no excuse. How are we to build an orderly society if we refuse to enforce laws simply because we don't know why they exist? 'Understanding is not required for obedience' - that's one of the first lessons Protodeacon Zakarashvili taught me, and it's served me well since."
I wasn't trying to overstep by making up a law for Kandru - in my mind, it was some obscure guild-related law with no realistic grounds for enforcement, especially not in an active plague situation. Bizarre laws like that tend to accumulate in sufficiently old legal systems - in one city in Kansas, it's illegal to sing the alphabet on the street at night, in Milan, frowning is illegal, and in the UK, it's illegal to handle salmon "suspiciously," whatever that means. I didn't envision anyone except some of the more eccentric Lawful types (such as Kandru) actually taking it seriously.
As the group exits the Carowyn manor, Kandru winces as the salt air from the sea stings her burn scars, affixing her mask back over her face as she follows the rest. At the ambush site, the tiefling investigator scowls behind her mask as the Queen's officials come into view - raising her crossbow, she sights along it at an armored knee, providing covering fire for Shrike as she aims to disable the Gray Maiden guard. "Halt! We have reason to suspect you of impersonating an accredited healer, an offense under the Healer's Integrity Act of 4503, paragraph nine, subparagraph five, codicil 22-A!" Glaring at the Queen's Physicians, the woman fumbles with the pouch at her side for another bolt. "Under the aforementioned Healer's Integrity Act, you are obligated to lay down your weapons and submit to a verification of credentials and/or guild membership!"
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