Kaerishiel Neirenar

Lania 'Shrike' Fordyce's page

807 posts. Alias of Cinnabar.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Old Korvosa, night, 17 Sarenith, 4708:
Shrike comes down to street level ten feet at a time, in several acrobatic but careful bounds that avoid the risk of a sprained ankle. "Wanted to see how you were. What you needed. And if you've heard of this new sickness. I think he's behind it." She does not need to elaborate about who 'he' is.

I love the RP, but also don't want this to take up too much of your writing time and be a distraction from the main action going on the next day. So to summarize, if you like: Shrike will ask Ivy about what she needs, whether money, or help with training to get back her old strength and dexterity, or something else. She might drop a hint about maintaining social connections, but won't press about Ivy choosing to room with this unfriendly stranger instead of taking up her old life again, because Shrike doesn't really know what's happening there. She'll also ask how Ivy came to be Lamm's prisoner. When and where it happened, whether she was always kept in the Dead Warrens, what Lamm looks like, if she saw any other people while imprisoned, and most importantly, if she overheard her captors mention anything about other places they spent time. That kind of thing.


Pillar Hill, night, 17 Sarenith, 4708:
"Thank you, Mamma. I will be very careful. I promise." Because she cannot promise more than that, Lania smiles at her mother, and swallows away a stinging throat, and goes to wash, and tend her gear, do her practicing, and finally fall into bed.

The Sanctuary, morning of Oathday, Sarenith 18
Shrike observes Majenko's dramatics, and withdraws from the magic backpack a small paper-wrapped bundle tied with twine for easier carrying. She unwraps it, and offers to the little drake a walnut-studded scone, sliced in half with a thick layer of jam and one of whipped cream spread between the halves to form a kind of sandwich. It resembles very much the sort of thing that might be served in bite-size form at an upscale ladies' tearoom. "For your great troubles." The tone is so extremely flat and solemn that, like Pava, she is probably teasing a little bit.

Shrike does not usually go about the city with food, but there had been several scones left from the plate last night, and they had been easy enough to amend this morning into a more elegant and portable form. She must be prepared. If the house drakes like sweets, then by the gods, sweets they shall have.

Knowledge (Local) - Lavender: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 Would Nobility be at all relevant here, if this place is normally a perfume shop? If so, the result is 23 instead.

Her croak grows grimmer at the news that the house drakes have found a place that smells of death. "Endrin Isle. Old Korvosa. Should investigate that. After Lavender maybe."


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

It does seem we've been slowing down, so I'd support trying to get the ball rolling again and assuming everyone comes along for the ride. Since we really have no idea what we're going to find at Ye Olde Snake Oil Shoppe, just going there and talking to the shopkeeper before deciding what else to do seems like a fine plan, Audria. Shall we just skip straight to being at Lavender and what we see there, etc.? I'd be good with that.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

GM Harrow:
Yes, she is trying to meet with Ivy as Shrike. Merula doesn't know Ivy is back around, or at least, we haven't covered a reason that she would. Also, it would be suspicious for Merula to be too curious about Lamm.

Old Korvosa, night, 17 Sarenith, 4708:
After confirming from her vantage point in the Shingles that Ivy is home and her roommate is busy with some kind of elaborate marine costume — perhaps Exemplary Execrables has not yet shut down operations due to the plague — Shrike knocks quietly on the window closest to Ivy with Thorn's haft, and then retreats back from the grimy panes to crouch on the rooftree of a neighboring building that is only three stories, instead of four. She does not wish to be seen by Jeonia Chirco, if at all possible. If and when Ivy comes to the window to investigate, she stands up to be noticed and cocks the pale mask in greeting. "Got a minute?"

Pillar Hill, night, 17 Sarenith, 4708:
Seeing that insomnia is keeping Mamma up again, Lania unseats the magic sleeves to undo all illusions on her clothes, and scratches at the bedroom door quietly to get her attention. She keeps her voice down, so as not to wake Isi in the next room over from what looks like a restful sleep. "Mamma. I'll not come in — I am feeling perfectly well, so do not worry after me, but as I told Junie, I was in the same room with an ill person not so long ago. So I will not approach closely until I am sure I was not infected, and the danger is passed. In the meantime, would you mind terribly looking over this embroidery for me?"

She holds up the fine magical cloak marred by the large and distinctive embroidered fly with the skull on its back. "Someone had very poor taste in costume choice. But this came to me as a fair find today, and it is a lovely piece, save for this ugly design. Do you think you might be able to do me a great favor, and unpick it without damaging the rest of it? I will leave it here outside the door for you, if so. But do not stay up for such a project, if you are sleepy. It is not so very urgent."
If Vita assents, she leaves the cloak with her before bed.

Sanctuary of Shelyn, morning, Oathday, 18 Sarenith, 4708
Shrike returns to the Sanctuary in the early morning, much fortified by multiple helpings of scones and the fresh pot of tea that had been left outside her door soon after dawn. She waits in Sister Jenelyn's room for the others to gather. "What's the word?"


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Sanctuary of Shelyn, evening of Wealday, 17 Sarenith, 4708

Shane wrote:
"Well, perhaps they'd allow us to buy anything of use to us but not of use to them?"

"Hm." It's a noble offer, but Shrike doesn't think for a moment that Eries Yelloweyes will take a single pinch of their money. Still, if there had been something in the stash that would be truly helpful for the present situation but that only a wizardly type like Shane could use, she would not have recognized it, not being a frogmaker herself. "Worth a look-in."

Remainder of Wealday, 17 Sarenith, 4708:
Shrike takes care to remain unseen as she crosses the Narrows of St. Alika to Old Korvosa and Ivy's new shared living space. It seems she had not stayed at either the Cathedral of Pharasma or Pava's Garrison Hill safehouse for long, which is entirely typical for her. Shrike wants to at least make contact before she moves on from this situation as well.

Later
On the way home, Shrike uses extreme caution, taking an extremely circuitous route that involves, among other things, going over the Narrows to the Shingles-connected roof of a particularly warrenlike Ridgefield tenement and then into its labyrinthine passages, down into the tunnels below it, and back up to street level two buildings over. In the tunnels, she simply pulls off her chain shirt and mask, then uses the illusion sleeves to change the look of her clothes to an unremarkable artisan's walking-dress and a hooded cloak of green twill, so that it is Merula who emerges onto the street. Her hair is still loose and her ears poke through; fortunately, the hood can cover many sins. She covers the remaining distance on the ground, but still taking care to stick to alleys and byways rather than main routes, and attempting to stay, if not unseen, at least uninteresting to any hostile eyes.

Merula arrives home to 22 Crescent Street through the main door and checks first the kitchen, then Junie's bedroom just off it, and finally Mamma and Isi's rooms on the second floor, hoping everyone will be peacefully abed and she can ghost in and out without disturbing them. The kitchen and in fact the entire downstairs looks as though it has been militantly scrubbed: Junie's handiwork. Upstairs, outside her own room, a covered tray with a plate of walnut scones and quince jam has been left before the door, along with a list of necessities that are low (butter, oats) — and, she sees with resignation, their copy of today's Korvosan Times with the thinly-veiled advertisement for "Lavender's Luxuriant Liniment" circled several times.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Sanctuary of Shelyn, evening of Wealday, 17 Sarenith, 4708

GM Harrow wrote:

Majenko flaps over to Shrike, settling on her shoulder and rubbing his head against the mask. "I like you people! You take care of us, and we take care of you. No one messes with us!" He takes off and does a loop in the air before landing again, this time on Audria's outstretched hand. His tiny claws prick her skin a little, but not painfully so. "That's, uh, a lot of things to remember to look for, but we'll do our best. Where will I find you tomorrow morning, here or..." He lifts a wing and flaps it in Shane's direction.

"Oh, and the rewards! Hmmmmm." The house drake puts a claw to his chin pensively. "Pretty, shiny things. Sweets. A nice bit of fabric for nests. Yes, I think any of these would be good."

If Shrike is startled by Majenko butting his head affectionately against her mask, she does not show it. She tips her head toward him slightly in a return bump, and her croaking voice gentles to see how easily and deftly he flies now, after a few weeks' recovery, as he showily loop-de-loops to Audria. "Shiny things, sweets, nice fabric. Got it. Thanks, Majenko."

Audria wrote:
"No, she might need those potions," the paladin says when Shrike says they could ask for the potions. "Besides, we've already asked her and her kin to keep an eye out for some very dangerous people. That's more than enough to repay us for what we did, I think."

"Already owed her for telling us about Girrigz at all. Whole city does." The broadsheet had been Shane's, so Shrike looks to him when Audria makes her request.

Shane wrote:
"Maybe someone who can detect magic should get a going over? With all due respect, while I understand how you don't want to take advantage of the impoverished, it might have something we could use to deal with threats to the city." It DOES sound like junk but he's seen some odd things in his time. "I'll go to double check if folks like?"

Shrike does not speak right away. Eventually her fingers twitch outward again. "Suit yourself. Couldn't say what most of it's for. She said she hadn't much use for it. But everyone can use an emergency fund." If they are all very lucky, Eries may soon have information from the other wererats, and so they might have to stop by her warehouse again anyway.

After making arrangements to meet there again tomorrow morning, but before leaving the Sanctuary of Shelyn, Shrike pulls Pava aside. "Any of the Warrens prisoners ever show up at your safehouse?"

Whether or not Pava has seen Ivy in the intervening weeks, Shrike soon afterward leaves Shelyn's temple in her customary tree-based fashion.

It sounds like the conversation about the scam cure is happening several hours later, so I won't respond to that, but Shrike will of course help investigate that the next day if the group decides on it. Depending on Pava's answer, Shrike might not have to start asking her other stage contacts about Ivy on her way home, so I'll hold off on a "remainder of the 17th" post for now.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Something that has always been true, but that I only consciously realized because of this segment, is that Shrike respects priests and matriarchs, and basically no other kind of worldly authority. Gods, clerics, and older women get titles. Everyone else better like being called by their name. (Or a noun that's not their name, if she really likes or dislikes them.)


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Art studio, Sanctuary of Shelyn, evening of Wealday, 17 Sarenith, 4708

After declining warm milk with honey, Shrike steals around the temple like a restless wraith until she hears muffled voices coming from behind the closed door of a studio room that should be empty by this hour of the evening. Though it goes against the grain, she taps a knuckle twice on the door right before opening it. The impassive sharp-beaked mask takes in the scene for a moment. "Said what needed saying?" She comes just inside, closes the door silently behind herself, and crosses her arms.

"Shane's learned the Sister's under a necromancy. Needs a 'strong restorative magic' to wake up." Whatever that means, the flat croak implies. "He's sending to Abella for help. Meantime, the other Sister wants to feed you."

Once back in Sister Jenelyn's room, Sanctuary of Shelyn

Seeing that Shane and Elric are wrapping up negotiating a night-flight over to Thief Camp with Majenko, Shrike's head twitches toward the house drake with a worrying intensity at the news that anyone is hunting his kind, for any reason. For simplicity's sake, I'll just assume it's Majenko unless you say otherwise, GM. Not that I would object to introducing another house drake!

"Any become more than annoying, tell us who and where. We'll explain their mistake." Shrike has no patience for humans who cannot understand that house drakes are as intelligent as people, and are not large pigeons or even flying cats. Though she expects that the little dragons' wings, sneakiness and innate magical abilities can keep them safe from most ordinary humanoids, someone could always get lucky and trap one with a net, as had happened to Majenko before. And there are certainly people running about that could pose a real danger to a lone house drake. Speaking of which, there are things that the drakes generally should know to look out for.

"May be more than just imps flying around invisible these days. Someone snuck in here with magic to hurt the priests. You see anyone sneaking around like that, we want to know. Anyone who seems like a necromancer or a cultist. Or just an elf woman with a long blonde braid. Anyone who wears a red bug helmet over their whole head. Or has a skull-fly symbol like this." She withdraws the illuminated copy of Serving Your Hunger to show Urgathoa's symbol to the little drake. "Anywhere that's not a grave but stinks like death. We want to know about it. Spread the word. Not asking your kin to put themselves at risk. But they see a lot from above. Including invisible things. And we'll reward them for good information."

She pauses. "What... would a good reward be?"

Then, unusually for Shrike, she shifts her shoulders while standing in place, as though settling something heavy. She crosses her arms and turns her head toward the others, including all four in the mask's slow rotation.

"Speaking of. I turned down some potions and alchemy-swag from Yelloweyes as a reward. And other bits and bobs. Copper trumpet. Some tools. One pearl. An... empty bottle?" Her fingers twitch in the way they do when most people would shrug. "Wasn't going to take from her for not killing a crew I'd've liked to. I know Eries the fishmonger. She's not rich. Doubt the potions'd be strong enough to help the Sister. But you could ask. She was relieved they lived. Said to come to her if we needed anything."

Another reason to decline the reward is that Shrike has no idea just how valuable all that stuff was! But she could recognize that the vials were probably magic potions, what the tanglefoot bag was, etc.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

I would like to exchange information with Audria and Pava IC before Shrike peaces out for the night, but it seems like we're slowing down a bit here, so if no one has posted by tomorrow I'll just post a summary of what she would tell/ask them and then Shrike's next actions for the evening.

She won't stay the night at the Sanctuary while she's worried about her family. That means moving around the city alone at night, but that is not unusual for her, and we have seen no threats on the streets yet to make her think it is unwise. She always takes 10 on Stealth or any other necessary checks to avoid notice by anyone while moving around the city at night.

If a house drake can be deputized to tell Abella the situation and that we need her help, so that we can assume she'll be there the next morning, that's one thing off her list. The next is going to Cherie's home and to Aylos and Sorcia's apartment as Merula to ask if any of them have heard from or seen Ivy. Then she'll return to her own home by a very circuitous route in order to throw off any pursuit, and check to see if everyone is healthy and if Junie has any requests. She just wants to make sure there haven't been any Key-Lock killings in her household.

Another of her priorities probably requires an IC conversation with Majenko or another house drake and could potentially wait until tomorrow. The short of it is that she wants to ask the house drakes generally to keep an eye out in their regular flying around the city for any of the following: A) Rolth Lamm (i.e. a male human necromancer), B) his blonde female elf friend, C) unusual necromancy/the smell of a lot of death all concentrated in one place, D) cultists, especially with Urgathoa's symbol, E) any people in red bug masks (Red Mantis), F) any very unusual activity in general (like a lot of strangers going in and out of a place that was abandoned two weeks ago.)

Shrike doesn't want them to poke around dangerous places to investigate or put themselves at risk at all, just to take extra note of what they might see in their normal lives and patterns of movement. She will ask what reward would be most desirable to the drakes, and offer a reward of that kind for any house drake who brings us information of this type that leads closer to Lamm or to the perpetrators of this plague. She also wants to know about the people trying to capture or harm the drakes because of the rumors about their blood - if there is an especially scary drake-hunter, or an organized operation going on, Shrike wants to help take them down.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike is silent. Something about the temple servant's and attending cleric's description is bothering her. A stabbing wound where the heart should be combined with a slice of the carotid seems like overkill. And why should there be this foul magic on Sister Jenelyn, but not Brother Theolan? She closes her eyes, slows her breathing, and quiets her mind.

A scarlet-skinned imp popping into view above her, chortling, its sharp tail stabbing down—

—a row of identical knights in closed helms with flowing crimson plumes, silently observing a pending execution—

—a long curved sabre with a strange serrated edge, dripping red with blood—

The shrike mask rocks back slightly. She has been focused on Lamm for almost a month, and perhaps it has given her tunnel-vision. Whether he or his father was the original Key-Lock Killer, she does not know, but she does know for a fact that he is not the only person who has recently been in the city who has all three of magic, stealth, and skill with a blade. The Red Mantis woman in the buglike mask had been flying and invisible — until she did not want to be. She had cut the throat of their failed assassin with such force that it took his head clean off. Her associates had also been invisible, or nearly, until they wished to be seen. And they had used daggers as well as sabres in their executions of the fallen would-be Mantises. Stabbing and slashing both.

"Red Mantis could be involved too," Shrike says finally. "Cultish assassins. Glimmer enough for invisibility and flight at least. Saw them three days after the king's death. Never since. Abella knew about them.

"Just one more thing to ask people to look out for. Besides bringing her here. And searching the Old Fishery and the Vaults. Maybe tomorrow." She feels relatively fresh, but the last bit of the sun's light is nearly gone from the sky at the horizon, and there are many things to do yet tonight.

Get Abella. Talk to Majenko and find Ivy. Check on everyone at home.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Unable to do anything further, Shrike returns to Shane and Sister Jenelyn and waits.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Were the now-healed slashes on Sister Jenelyn in some kind of pattern too, GM?

Shrike examines Sister Jenelyn only briefly. If the Sister was discovered in the atrium, it is possible she was not even targeted specifically, but unluckily happened to catch the killer in the act on his way in or out. The atrium is unguarded, and as Shrike knows from experience, not difficult for a proficient climber to use as a convenient entry and exit point to the Shingles.

She herself knows little of healing or the body and would not know what signs to look for, if it is some lingering poison that ails the priestess. She knows even less of magic, leaving that to Shane. Rather than do nothing but be alone with her growing unease while she waits for his verdict, she goes to inspect the atrium and then the Brother's room with her candle lamp, spending a few minutes in each place to be sure she has not missed anything obvious. If Brother Theolan's room looked undisturbed to the other Shelynites, the murderer must be careful and good at covering his tracks, but any clues she can gather about the timeline of events, anything he left like blood or hair or footprints, and any animals or other creatures he might not have noticed or considered useless as witnesses, like the songbirds that roost in the atrium's trees, could potentially help them find him.

Taking 20 on Perception in the atrium and Brother Theolan's room for 31 (assuming dim light since it is well after sunset by now.)


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

For thoroughness' sake, Shrike turns over Brother Theolan's body and inspects his back to see if there are any injuries they missed. If she finds none, she goes in search of Sister Jenelyn and anyone who can tell her where the two senior priests were found.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

I'll give the Knowledge (Local) roll a shot, assuming like Shane that being told the information in the first spoiler by Elric is enough to attempt it.

Knowledge (Local): 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18 Okay, nothing more than what Pava told us.

Shrike thinks about Shane's question for a time, her still blank-eyed mask seeming to stare down at the body. "Can you still see traces of it if he was witched? I think Rolth Lamm is the Key-Lock Killer. Have since the Dead Warrens. And he's not just a thug. He's a frogmaker. A soul-stealer. His derro friends like poison too. Sneaking in and out and paralyzing victims would be easy. We still need to see where Brother Theolan was found. And talk to Sister Jenelyn. Look for magic and for poison."

She does not yet voice her creeping fear, like something cold and slimy sliding down her spine. Maybe Brother Theolan and Sister Jenelyn were targeted only because they are relatively high-ranking priests of one of the goodly gods, who have been trying to heal all the sick and desperate they possibly can, and thus interfering with the progress of Lamm's weaponized plague. Other priests who have been doing the same should be warned.

But maybe Lamm was trying to terrorize Audria, who invaded his laboratory and killed his underlings, by invading her home and killing her family. And if that's true, then her own family may also be at risk.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

And a happy Year of the Snake to you as well, GM.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike has turned half away to reach into the pack and bring out the rag-wrapped key-shaped blade, snapped off just below its hilt, that they discovered in Rolth Lamm's laboratory in the Dead Warrens. One of her ears twitches markedly listening to Pava's bitten-off bitterness. When she turns back around, Audria is gone, and this time Elric seems to have had enough and is snarling back.

She waits until he is done, comparing the cuts left in Brother Theolan's chest to the width of the viciously keen edges. Then she sets the strange hiltless weapon down on the stone dais with a click. Though it is a fine blade, without a safe handle on its sharpness, anyone who tries to wield it would only hurt themselves.

"Anger's fine. Good aim's better. She won't even blame you for missing. Just herself for being in the way."


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Ah, I'm a bit too late. That's fine. I would have been willing to, but I don't mind Elric stepping in either. It can be a challenge to compress complicated things into Shrike's words. I'll try to have her add something brief though.

Thanks for being willing to adapt OOC, Pava.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

I mean, I think Pava is way out of line here in-character, and it seems clear by now that IC Audria is not going to snap back, so I'm not sure what the RP purpose of it is. Although I generally enjoy Pava's vibe, I don't know how much in-character fighting I want to do about the rest of it, and I also don't want to have to avoid conflict only by ignoring half the things Pava says.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike nods her thanks to Shane's quick explanation — Sister Jenelyn seriously injured and unconscious, Brother Theolan's body preserved by magic, Audria considering selling her glaive.

Pava wrote:
"If you want to take on raising funds quick instead of the flaming church that employed him and let this happen in the first place, let's bring that oversized prybar to Gemshare Jewelers or the Bank of Abadar and-" they pause, considering their surroundings. "...Get a loan or something."

Shrike pauses with the corner of the sheet half-raised and her head turns with incredulous slowness toward Pava. "A loan." She, at least, is not going breeze over the fact that the Shoanti had obviously been about to suggest robbing the Bank of Abadar.

Of all the enemies I don't want to have, the God of Balanced Scales is right near the top.

But any follow-up she had to this not-quite-question flees her mind when she sees the Brother's injuries. Shrike goes perfectly still.

Perception DC 25: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Heal DC 15: 1d20 ⇒ 1
Well, I hope that what's hidden behind those spoilers is not just "It looks like it could be the work of the Key-Lock Killer," because that is the very first thing any of us should think, being natives of this city and having already found those two daggers.

"...Not a robbery gone wrong then." This was an intentional murder, and it was personal. No simple startled burglar would go to the trouble of killing in such a specific way, or leaving the carving of a key over the heart.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

The mask turns between the Shelynites and the other three, then to the shrouded corpse. "What's known of what happened?"

When Sister Rozalia and the younger man have gone, Shrike moves to the dais and lifts a corner of the sheet to examine Brother Theolan's body and see what kind of injury had killed him.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

"That what his soul wants?" The croak comes from what Shrike considers a polite distance of five feet behind the three huddled songbirds. It's the first sound she has made in entering the chapel and catching just enough of the conversation to know that Audria is planning to resurrect the Brother. After avoiding the queue of ill people and the tent from which the priests' overlapping voices spiral up in a song of shared entreaty and exhaustion, it had not taken her long to find the room with the covered body laid on the dais surrounded by flowers. Audria and two Shelynites she recognizes only by sight have clearly been mourning together for some little time, while Elric, Pava and Shane hover nearby.

The question is not at all rhetorical, and seems the first obvious one, to her — at least half of all tragedies produced for the stage hinge on someone's doomed efforts to resurrect a loved one against the soul's fate or will, through profane means, or as part of an unholy bargain.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

GM, please let me know when Shrike can be considered to arrive at the Sanctuary and jump back in with the others. She'll want to investigate the location and manner of Brother Theolan's death, as Pava was already doing I think.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike, Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

GM Harrow wrote:
Eries Yelloweyes blinks slowly at Shrike, then replaces the floorboard and the carpet. "As you wish, dear, but if you need anything you come to me. I know a few people around these parts." She climbs to her feet with a groan. "And we'll keep watch for those you are looking for. Don't you worry, go to your friends now."

"We will." Shrike nods to the elderly wererat with respect, including the boy as well with the smallest turn of her head. "Ma'am. Lisrek."

With no further ceremony she exits the warehouse as silent as she came, hurrying through the unsettlingly empty evening streets for the Sanctuary of Shelyn. Though she is moving fast, it is second nature by now to be watchful for danger too.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

I'm really sorry everyone! I feel awful and ungrateful because I was the one who just brought up alternative ways of getting loot. But since one of the only things Shrike knows about Eries is that she is a longtime fixture in this neighborhood who has trouble making ends meet, I just don't think Shrike would think it was acceptable to take so many things of value from her. It's different from Kroft, who is well-off if not actually a noble, because it seems like this must be essentially Eries' life savings.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike, Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

GM Harrow wrote:

Both wererats exhale in relief as Shrike summarizes the results of the tough diplomacy employed in the sewers. "This... is better news than I had hoped for, dear. Thank you, and your friends. Girrigz probably made things very difficult for you, so I appreciate your restraint - and your friend saving the lives of those silly boys. They are just boys, y'know. Hotheaded and stupid." Lisrek looks like he might object to such characterization, then looks away, wrinkling his nose. "Well. I won't keep you. We'll be on the lookout for those you spoke of, as well. Will send you news as soon as we know anything. But, before you leave..."

With much creaking of joints, Eries rises from her own stack of cushions, folds back the thick Vudrani carpet on the floor and presses down hard on one of the floorboards, causing the other end to lift and reveal a small space underneath. "Just my humble stash, dear, nothing stolen. I want you to have it and share with your friends. I don't have much use for it anyway."

For long moments, Shrike stares at the little stash of vials, bottles, alchemical items and tools, as well as the single large and lustrous pearl. The Eries she knows of is not a wealthy woman, and often has trouble making ends meet despite her decades on the docks. That is typical for those who make their living buying the day's catch from the fishing fleet and reselling it to households and restaurants.

Either Eries has some lucrative side business — in which case Shrike cannot understand why she and her great-nephew live in a Shingles shanty above an abandoned West Dock warehouse — or else these valuables represent many years' worth of minor windfalls and hard-won payments-in-kind, carefully tucked away against disaster. Perhaps they were even intended to be used to buy some more permanent dwelling someday.

"Thank you. Truly."

It is a hunter's charge to provide for her people, as much as to protect them, and to never to take more from her surroundings than is healthy. (She does not think too hard about when Eries and Lisrek became included in this category.) In Crying Leaf, her aunt and grandmother would not fail to accept such a gift if honor demanded another family offer it: indeed, to do so would be a grave insult, and the sign of an excessive pride, even hubris. But a city is not a village. Resources are scarce, most people are strangers to each other, and money is necessary.

"...But I can't take this." She stands. "Your help's enough. Sure the girl and Pava and the others would agree. They send their regrets for being called away. If there's news or need for us, find any house drake. Tell it you have a message for Majenko. The drakes'll understand."


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Ah okay, it does make sense for Shane to use prestidigitation right away when we emerge from the sewers, before we even see the broadsheet-hawker. I just didn't want to assume, and Shrike wouldn't think to specifically request it. Thanks Shane.

Eries and Lisrek, West Dock warehouse, evening of 17 Sarenith 4708

Shrike manages to simply pause for a moment instead of instinctively jumping away or reaching for a weapon when the large rat that dashes close across her path in the twilight then exhibits very un-rat-like behavior by stopping and standing on its hind legs. The mask of the butcherbird tilts to examine it, even as it examines her. With a barely-there nod of recognition, she smoothly changes course and shadows the creature into the warehouse, her hand hovering near the mace in case this is not a friendly guide after all, but a trick. She hopes this is simply Lisrek or Eries in another shape, or just an especially intelligent animal friend of theirs. Do wererats look distinct to each other in rat form? She supposes they must be able to tell each other apart from actual rats somehow.

Inside, she looks about with interest as she places her feet with silent care. Though it seems dusty and abandoned, if the rotting tarps are anything to go by, there are still some goods that have not been broken into, and even a little food. And someone — most likely Eries — has made a cozy seating area with intact cushions and hangings. Possibly it has not been abandoned for that long.

The empty warehouse near Bailer's Retreat was fully looted of anything valuable long before she ever found it, and is much less comfortable than this: there is nothing that could be called furniture, and it smells less of incense and more of rodent droppings and mildewed straw brought on by roof leaks. From an ancient notice on the padlocked doors, already mostly disintegrated by rain when she first saw it, she has the vague impression that its ownership has been tied up in some years-long legal case. It had never occurred to her to try to make it a more pleasant place in the meantime. Perhaps she ought to fix it up a bit.

Shrike hesitates when Eries invites her to sit, not wanting to slight the wererats but wondering if Shane's cantrip was enough to clean her clothes and gear properly, so that she will not harm the silk cushions. In the end she sinks down onto one crosslegged, abrupt but controlled. Behind the mask she closes her eyes for a moment. The aroma of cloves and cinnamon from the tea is like heaven compared to the stink of the sewer. "My thanks ma'am. Lisrek. Can't stay long. Been a death at Shelyn's temple. Break-in. Others've gone to look into it.

"Girrigz's boys attacked us straight off. So we broke a few heads. But the girl kept trying to talk. Pava too. ...In a way. In the end they backed off. No one died. No wererats anyway. Two would've, but Audria healed them. That's her way." At this last, the usually-flat croak sounds caught somewhere between baffled, resigned, and proud. Shrike shakes her head almost imperceptibly and continues. "Girrigz agreed to join the search. In trade for sparing them he said. Don't know that he's changed his mind. But it's bought time. Can't start a war with the humans while he's hunting the Vaults." I hope.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike returns the nod with equal gravity before setting off.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike reads over Audria's shoulder and stills, the mask tilting away and toward the ground. The obvious snake-oil cure advertisement barely touches her attention. She is expecting it when Audria runs away without a word.

If it happened long ago enough to be in the newspaper, however, it is probably not an ongoing emergency, and they are only three blocks from Eries Yelloweyes' rooftop home. It makes no sense for the whole group to go all the way to Sanctuary first and then have to come back.

"I'll talk to Yelloweyes. Meet up at the Sanctuary."

She is very aware that everything she is wearing, especially her boots, still stinks of sewer. Nevertheless, Shrike sets out for the old fishmonger and her nephew at a swift jog.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8
Audria wrote:
I'll double check on the ring when I get home tonight. I'm fine with Shrike having the ring of protection instead of Audria.

I'm not trying to claim it for Shrike. She got the handy haversack from that dungeon. Based on their comments at the time, Pava or Elric would be the ones next in line.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Awesome! I'll change that right away. Thanks GM!


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Sure thing, GM. I put a cell calculating that total value number of found loot and split money in each person's individual sheet of held items/loot. I'll think about how to make a Party tab that also allows for the items to be listed as Carried by someone a bit later. Right now this is how those figures look.

Abella: 11759.91
Audria: 7522.91
Shrike: 10905.96
Elric*: 5505.16
Pava*: 3355.16
Shane*: 4643.91

*Elric, Pava, and Shane each started with 3,000 gp worth of items of their choice, so that should be kept in mind when thinking about their totals.

If we were creating characters from scratch, suggested wealth by level at level 6 is 16,000 gp.

Abella and Shrike are closest to that, since they were the first and second, respectively, to claim a second big-ticket magic item. (Wand of spiritual weapon for Abella, cloak of resistance +2 for Shrike. Each worth around 4k.) But they are still well below 16,000 and would remain well below it when the things from Direption that are currently awaiting sale are sold and split.

P.S. @Audria: In the loot sheet it is listed that Audria has the ring of protection +1, since I thought we talked about it back here and you claimed it first, but I don't think that's reflected in her character sheet or stats at all. Did you not want this ring? Someone should definitely be wearing and benefiting from it. If you don't want it, please say so, and it can go to someone else. I think Elric and Pava also mentioned wanting it.

P.P.S. Shrike's next big priority should be to improve her AC and to-hit bonus. The ideal armor for her, from now until probably level 12 at least, is a mithral breastplate. That or a ring of protection for a more affordable boost to AC would be high on my list of perfect loot. As far as to-hit, I'm kind of at your mercy as far as when Thorn can improve. Or be improved? If I should be thinking about saving up money for that upgrade, the way you can usually pay to take a masterwork weapon or armor to +1, then I can do that.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

That's true for scrolls, but wands are spell trigger items, so Audria can definitely use the CLW wand without a check. "Spell trigger items can be used by anyone whose class can cast the corresponding spell. This is the case even for a character who can’t actually cast spells, such as a 3rd-level paladin." (Though note that if your archetype gives up spellcasting, it counts as though your class cannot cast the spell. For instance, Elric will never get spellcasting due to his Ilsurian Archer archetype, and thus could not activate the wand without a Use Magic Device check.)


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

I definitely don't think we should change how we're playing or start taking things that don't really belong to us. Like, the treasure from the Direption makes sense to regard as ours since it's salvage, but the ill-gotten gains from the All The World's Meat mission really didn't seem like they should be ours. They were evidence in very recent crimes that should really go back to the victims. Etc. It's just something to be aware of since an AP will be assuming we'll simply be snaffling anything listed as Treasure, and that's just not been true.

Since Pava could use a charge of the cure light wounds wand, I looked up who should have it and how many charges are remaining. (44/50, near as I can tell - it was last used in the Dead Warrens to undo the necromancy on Gaekhen's body.)

Abella was holding onto it and using it then, but Audria can activate it natively just as well. Can we assume Abella would have passed it back to one of us when she decided to stay and research with the Soldados / her player had to step away for OOC reasons?

If not, someone just needs to go in-character to get it back. We have no primary healer or divine spellcaster without her, so the wand is very important.

P.S. In looking up how many charges should remain on the wand, I realized there was a bit of loot that never got entered on the spreadsheet and was lost in the shuffle: the giant's +1 studded leather. I've added it now and we can just add it to the next sell-and-split.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

This is definitely not something Shrike is concerned with at all, but as a player I am a bit worried about how much loot we're going to miss out on by solving things peacefully and generally not behaving like murderhoboes. APs, in my experience, often say that you get the same XP for overcoming challenges without killing things as for killing them, but there are no corresponding notes about how to increase wealth by an equivalent amount.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

"Didn't say you did." At some point in all the fighting and tumbling about, Shrike's hood had come down, revealing the tangle of long pale hair with her pointed elven ears poking through, almost to the top of her head. She had mostly managed to avoid dragging her hair in the muck, but its usual loose waves are no more, and there is one small dark-clotted splotch near the tips that doesn't bear examining too closely. "It's a gamble. Could pay off. Wouldn't've happened with threats alone either."


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8
GM Harrow wrote:
Girrigz enunciates carefully in response to Audria's offer. "We neither require nor desire your assistance, smoothskin." He shifts his glare to Shane, and sneers. The wererat hisses at Shrike's threats. "Of course we would not hurt Yelloweyes! What do you take us f- no, don't answer that." He snorts. "House drake? They don't come here. But we'll find them." He jerks his nose towards the cavern ceiling.

Shrike tilts her head to one side measuringly, and does not otherwise respond even as the others offer further cooperation. She is not a knife for them to wield. She does not turn her back to the wererats as the group departs, and only hooks the silver mace stained with blood and bits of fur back to her belt once they are out of the den and into the sewer tunnels again.

Audria wrote:
"Pava. Shrike. I know you think that I'm just some silly girl that doesn't have the sense to pour water out of a boot, but could you please not vaguely threaten the people we're asking help from? I could feel you menacing Girrigz over my shoulders the entire time I was talking with him."

Shrike rolls her shoulders and places her feet carefully as she considers her response, wishing to be out of this cramped and stinking place. The croak, when it comes, is flat but not especially harsh. "Soft words alone don't always work. Threats saved their lives today. And us some blood." Audria had given the wererats multiple chances to stop fighting, but it had been Pava — and likely Elric's putting two arrows in his chest quick as blinking — that had actually scared the underlings into a confused retreat, and Girrigz into hesitating long enough to back down.

Shrike pauses for a moment, so they can all faintly hear the sound of the wererat leader still excoriating his own crew. He had seemed genuinely surprised at the idea that he and his gang would punish Yelloweyes for betraying their location. Perhaps she had misinterpreted his expression, and he had thought they had offered the old fishmonger harm themselves, in order to find him. Perhaps he is a very good liar. Either way, she isn't sure they have done right to leave him alive. What if he does find the Urgathoans, or Lamm, and makes common cause with them out of mutual hatred for the city and most of its people?

"You gave him Yelloweyes' name. Think he's kind to 'traitors to the cause?' Better he know where we stand. You heard him. He only respects strength."


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike does not mistake the flare of hostility in Girrigz's face when Audria tells him that Eries ratted him out. She also does not miss that he has said nothing about his future plans toward the people of Korvosa. "Yelloweyes asked us to talk to you. Like we talked the mob out of hurting her boy. Didn't want you harmed. So don't think to touch her. Or anyone doesn't raise a hand to you first. We'll be watching." The croak is very even, but the threat is unmistakable, though she is merely standing straight and still rather than in a combat-ready stance as before.

"You find something, tell a house drake and ask it to tell Majenko."


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

As a player, I'm not bothered by it at all, and in fact I like it. Sorry if I've given any other impression!

In-character, Shrike thinks these particular wererats are probably evil, have probably preyed on innocents before, and will probably continue to do so in the future regardless of any agreement they make with us, and so would prefer they had continued fighting and we had killed them. That's just her way, and her mentor-mediated interpretation of her own god's teachings, which don't have a lot of grey area. But I think that some contrast and balance between the two is good. If Shrike were sure of her suspicions, she would insist; since she's not, she'll defer to and support Audria's judgment. I hope I conveyed that appropriately, and if you ever think she's being too harsh, definitely feel free to tell me.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

That should push Audria's check result to 30. Not sure Shrike would really want to help negotiate with these guys and make it more likely that they live to terrorism another day, but she can be ambivalent about that and still want to help out Audria. It seemed Aid Another was strongly hinted as being helpful/necessary here, so probably a very high check, and she's the only other one of this group trained in Diplomacy.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike reluctantly straightens up a bit from her ready stance after Girrigz lowers his rapier a fraction. It takes all her self-control not to grab Audria's arm as the girl goes walking straight toward the center of the knot of nervous, armed wererats with no weapon drawn herself. She considers following in Audria's wake, but the situation is balanced on a knife's-edge as it is, and she has no intention of re-hanging the mace. Staying put might be the best way to back her play. Shrike watches keenly for any twitch that might signal the resumption of violence while Audria talks. When she is done, the harsh croaking voice addresses the wererats directly for the first time.

"Don't know what you want or why. But you won't get it through random attacks. Just a swift death. And not just for you. You got some other aim. We're listening."

Diplomacy, Aid Another: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

'We' might be overselling it, though the flat tone and impassive mask do not show her feelings. She does not care a button for the wererats' grievances while plague is wracking the whole city. She is also sure Girrigz would have celebrated if Audria had been alone and his rushers had managed to kill her for approaching them in peace. Only negotiating from a position of clearly greater strength had made him hesitate. As far as she is concerned, nothing of value would be lost if someone like that, someone planning to use the chaos to act out his hatred on random citizens and bring down a war on his own people's heads, was snuffed out here with all his followers, and their bodies left to rot. But this is what Audria wants, and Shrike has come this far by backing the girl's plays whenever possible. Maybe if the wererats' leader can be turned aside from his course, the underground-dwellers really can help find Lamm, or Andaisin, and end the plague sooner. That would be something worthwhile.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike lets the two in front of her stumble back from Pava without taking advantage, but remains still and watchful of all the wererats in her crouched position. The huge black eyes of the mask are focused on Girrigz with a silent, hawklike intensity. Come on, empties. Try me. Not all of us want to show restraint.

If we're still in rounds, I guess she'll ready the same set of actions again for Round 5, but instead of only Girrigz it will trigger if any of the wererats approach intending harm.

Readied Acrobatics to move through X's square, acrobat's pillar, daredevil softpaw boots: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 13 + 2 + 5 = 37
Readied Up Close and Personal v. X, Motivating Display, daredevil softpaw boots: 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 8 + 1 + 2 = 18
Damage, Up Close and Personal with silver light mace, Hidden Strike, Lethal Grace: 1d6 + 2 + 3d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 2 + (8, 4, 8) + 3 = 26


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

GM, I know you can ready a move action, but can I ready a move action that will trigger a swift action? You can usually take swift actions anytime you can take a free action, so I think it should be fine, but I thought I'd ask. Basically, Shrike doesn't have enough movement to reasonably get through the other wererats, get to Girrigz and act, so I want her to instead step up to just in front of Pava and prepare to move through his square if/when he charges in, which will let her attempt an attack with Up Close and Personal. Even if she fails to move through his square and provokes an attack of opportunity, she would still get to make her attack with lesser Hidden Strike attached, as though he were denied his Dex bonus to AC. If she does succeed, that will put us in a better position for flanking next turn. I'm thinking here that the other wererats were probably frightened by Pava's Dazzling Display, so are going to flee, and she can tell that's they're scared and wavering. As long as they only flee, she will not take attacks of opportunity against them even if they are provoked.

Shrike touches her heels together silently, slides into the tunnel opening and takes a crouched stance, ready to spring, with the mace held behind her at an odd angle. She is extremely unimpressed with both being shot at and the wererats' aim. But this one seems more dangerous, and even an incompetent will eventually get lucky.

Readied Acrobatics to move through Girrigz's square, acrobat's pillar, daredevil softpaw boots: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 13 + 2 + 5 = 26
Readied Up Close and Personal v. Girrigz, Motivating Display, daredevil softpaw boots: 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 1 + 2 = 19
Damage, Up Close and Personal with silver light mace, Hidden Strike, Lethal Grace: 1d6 + 2 + 3d8 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 2 + (4, 1, 8) + 3 = 19


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

I'm sorry to hear it, Adam. I hope her passing is as peaceful as possible.


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CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Round 3:

All the bellowing and the mushroom's continued shrieking added to the damp, foul atmosphere are enough to make a person's head spin. The strange creature seems to be completely stationary, not actively attacking them or really doing anything but screaming its honeycombed head off, so Shrike slogs up through the stream of filthy wastewater to the drier ground beside the flow, then dashes along past the mushroom to put her back to the stone corner and prepare for the new wererats' attack.

"Give it up, girl. They made it simple." She's not sure Audria will even hear her over the mushroom's noisy shrilling. It seems to her that the Maiden can't possibly demand this many chances for a pack of miscreants who set dog-size rats on and then shot at her chosen for merely approaching their front door and politely asking to talk. But fortunately, Audria isn't alone, and so she's only going to waste her breath, not her life. Pava and Elric aren't hesitating, any more than Shrike is. Still, it suits her to time her response for when these new rats inevitably ignore the girl and make their murderous intentions clear.

She looks to Pava, tips her head toward the advantageous place currently occupied by the wounded wererat, and raises her mace in readiness for whenever the next foolish rat-man ventures past the cover provided by the corner to both her and them.

Ready action silver light mace v. X, Motivating Display, flanking(?): 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 1 + 2 = 28 Ignore +2 if not flanking please.
Damage, silver light mace, Lethal Grace, lesser Hidden Strike: 1d6 + 2 + 3d4 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 2 + (4, 4, 3) + 3 = 22 Ignore 3d4 if not flanking please.

Move, ready action to attack the first enemy that enters the square above her. Hopefully Pava will take down Yellow and step up to flank anything that enters that square with Shrike. I couldn't make the movement work to get in front of Audria and attack or do Total Defense. This move takes her through 1 square of difficult terrain and 4 of normal, so I hope this can be done with a regular move action. If Shrike needs an Acrobatics check to move safely through the mushroom's square, please feel free to roll it for her, same modifiers as her first roll to get through the rat's space, above. For any of the other wererats that aren't in that square right above Shrike, that wall should provide cover (+4 AC) against their attacks, just as they would get cover against attacks she made from this space against e.g. Blue.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Cool, thanks GM!


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

GM, sorry if it's been addressed, but can I ask what the situation with difficult terrain and light is? Which squares are difficult terrain? The room is all revealed to us as players, so is there a light source in here? Or, Pava: do you have the ioun stone out?


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

I'm sorry your grandmother is poorly and the new commute is going to eat into your time, Adam. Hope things turn around for you soon.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Round 2:
Emboldened by how easily the first rat perished, Shrike strikes the rat that tried to bite her, then clicks her heels together and vaults into the air. With clearly supernatural speed and agility, she flips over the one in front of Audria, crushing it to the floor with the head of the mace for leverage as she goes. She reshoulders her bow and spins to face the creatures down the slippery tunnel.

Silver light mace v. Red Rat, Motivating Display: 1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 1 = 17
Damage, silver light mace, Lethal Grace: 1d6 + 2 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 3 = 7
Acrobatics to move through Purple Rat's square, acrobat's pillar, daredevil softpaw boots: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 13 + 2 + 5 = 39
Up Close and Personal v. Purple Rat, Motivating Display, daredevil softpaw boots: 1d20 + 8 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 8 + 1 + 2 = 28
Damage, Up Close and Personal with silver light mace, Hidden Strike, Lethal Grace: 1d6 + 2 + 3d8 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 2 + (1, 2, 2) + 3 = 16

Standard to attack Red, then if Red (hopefully) dies, move through Purple's square with Acrobatics as part of move action to end up in Red's former space, swift action Up Close and Personal, put bow away as part of move action. If Red doesn't die, same actions, but ending in the square behind Red, and she would need to make a second Acrobatics check to move through Red's square as well.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike motions at Audria to move back a step. If whatever is making the shrieking and squeaking comes charging out at her, as Shrike suspects it will, they will be able to take it on more easily if there is less of a bottleneck here. But she does not want to charge in swinging a weapon herself if Audria is still trying to give the creatures a chance to see reason instead of attacking. Regardless, she shifts the bow to her off hand and drifts over the dim and fetid muck underfoot like a swift shadow, drawing the silver mace as she goes. Anything that comes charging through the tunnel at the girl is going to get crunched.

Move half speed with Stealth, draw weapon as part of move, standard to ready an action to attack the first enemy that comes in range. Should get Hidden Strike if an enemy is unaware of her presence when attack triggers.

Stealth, dim light or darkness, belled catsuit: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 13 + 2 + 2 = 37
Silver light mace v. X: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Damage, silver light mace v. X, Hidden Strike, Lethal Grace: 1d6 + 3d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + (4, 4, 3) + 3 = 18
If this attack goes off, attacking from Stealth against an unaware opponent (i.e. a flat-footed one), that will trigger Frightening Ambush. Possible free Intimidate check to demoralize:
Intimidate, dim light or darkness, Renown: 1d20 + 10 + 2 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 10 + 2 + 4 = 19


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Shrike silently picks her way to a position just beside Audria and the dim circle of the candlelight but flattened against the wall, where she could step over just once and shoot immediately at anything that attacks the girl from within the gap. Her bow is in hand, but she has no arrow on the string just yet. She listens for any sound of movement beyond.

Taking 10 Stealth and Perception for 27 and 21 respectively.


CG F Half-Elf Vigilante (Double Scion) 6 | HP 47/47 | AC 18 (T 14 FF 14) | CMD 19 | Fort +5 Ref +9 Will +8 (+10 v. enchantment, +9 v. compulsions) | Init +10 | Perc. +9/+11 (dim light or darkness) | Conditions: - | Harrow Points: 8

Welcome back, GM! Sounds like quite an undertaking, but no doubt a beautiful one.

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