Lara, The Crimson Whisper's page

"Brought back? Is that even possible? And who'd want the bastard back, anyway? Me, I don't think there's much need to dispose of the body in any way. Even the guard's probably thankful you did their dirty work for them. But I'll go with whatever you guys decide, fire or no."

"Seems like the mobs have moved on, and it's getting late. We could probably make it there without much trouble right now, but we can wait for the sun to set, too - it'd be easier to move around unseen by then."

Lara studies the dwarf after his reaction to Daranil's comment, and ponders her words carefully. Azig ends up replying first, but she nods and adds her voice to the ratfolk's.

Getting a +1 on Bluff from Studied Target

"I'm sure Daranil didn't truly mean it. After all, Lamm left us with enough scars to remember him by without having his ugly mug following us around as a walking corpse. Putting his skull, or his body, on display, with his hideout burning in the background, though? I'm pretty sure that'd grab any would be Hamm's attention, and get the right message accross, even with all the chaos going through the city right now."

"And you're right to be worried, Azig. I'd think we should be able to make our way back to the hideout if we keep to ourselves, but..." Lara shrugs. "Too many crazy people on the streets right now, though, so who knows?"

Lara then focuses her attention outside, trying to get a feel for what's happening right now.

Perception: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Go ahead and put Lara as 5'7

When the waitress comes near the table again, Lara calls up to her. "I'll have a vegetable stew, as well, thanks." and sets the payment aside.

As she leaves, Lara joins in on the talk about Lamm, nodding to Bridgette.
"Heh, yeah, I'm pretty sure we'd find quite a few more people who'd want Lamm dead if we went around asking. Probably some more around this inn, even. Pity I wasn't around to actually do the deed... but knowing he's dead still helps. Personally, I'd think it more fitting if we just let his corpse there to rot, and as a message to whatever aspirant crime lords might have looked up to him, as a warning of what they might expect. But I guess a huge funeral pyre works as a message, as well."

Seems the Slayer popped in and is gone again.

Still here, but my last three weeks were extremely difficult for several reasons. I'll post in the morning and will keep it up from now on as things are finally settling down (or should be, I'm starting to realise I shouldn't be overly optimistic).

Survival: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Lara, after having taken Pak back somewhere safe after his grievous wound back at the fishery, makes her way back through the crowded streets.

She spots the group getting back out, and with them a couple of new faces.

With all the chaos around them, she figures letting herself be seen by Azig and Daranil is probably the best course of action. Sneaking up on the group could spell trouble, especially with the newcomers.

"If you guys are already here... I'm guessing you either got Lamm already, or the bastard managed to escape. Please tell me it's the first one. Even if it means I missed it, I'd rather have the guy dead than having to find out where he's holed up again."

Thanks for letting me get back in the game! How do you guys figure would be the best way to bring Lara back in? Run things as if she was right there with you all along?

I'd love to join in, if you guys would have me along again. Sorry for just up and disappearing like I did, but I had a really rough time IRL after I last posted (back in March), and have been pretty much unable to post since.

Things are getting better and I've been checking back to the games I was in - and seeing how you're asking for one more player, figured I would try my chances again, if you guys would have me.

"I agree. If we don't stop him fast, we're gonna be facing Lamm's thugs in no time."

Lara gets ready to move in for the kill, but noticing Neghed's hesitation, opts to draw her sap instead. Trying not to harm the dog too much, though, makes her completely miss her swing.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
Damage (non-lethal): 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

C'mon, Lara. Focus. You know what you have to do. Don't hold back. You're putting everyone in danger by doing so.

Stealth: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Disable Device?: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20

"Hm. Seems like Lamm will be sharing his last day with our king. Guess he should be thanking us for the honor." Lara comments with a smirk, before nodding to Pak with a more serious expression.

"If you do need to leave, Pak, don't worry. We'll see this through."

As Neghed questions their approach, Lara takes out her thieves tools and sets to work on the door, giving it a quick check for traps before trying to work on the lock.

"Better to keep Lamm unaware of us for as long as possible, I think. We don't want to give him a chance to run off."

"A source of magical healing sounds good. Much as I'd prefer not to give Lamm and his thugs a chance to strike back at us, I doubt we'd be so lucky, so it's best to be prepared."

"As for me, I'll just need to get the rest of my stuff and I think I'm good to go. Don't have much need for lights, either, but it wouldn't do to have some of you be blind going in."

Lara looks at the barrel giving off the magical light. "That's a neat trick. Does it work on anything? Could you cast it, say, one of my arrows before I let one fly at a target? Keep them lit up and visible, while we remain in the shadows? Could be a nice way to engage them."

Lara's eyes widen at Zellara's offer. "That's... That's quite a sum. Should help quite a bit in whatever preparations we may need to make."

"And can you tell us where that fishery is? We haven't had much luck tracking him down, although knowing he's holed up in one might allows to pin it down with what we know of the kids movements."

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26 To see if Lara can figure it out.

She then turns to Daranil with a grin. "I can't really help you in coming up with a better term, but your fear turkey idea is a good one, I think. It was pretty much what I was thinking of doing before I met up with you all - go after his thugs one by one, take'em out, until I could get to the man himself. But considering the trouble we had at finding out where he is, I'm not too sure that would have worked out. Scaring him too soon might make him try to slip away."

She nods towards Azig. "I'd say that's where my skills lie. Moving about unseen, stalking a target and knowing when and where to strike. I'm a pretty good shot, and I can be pretty deadly up close, too. Know a bit about traps and locks, too, so I can help you out if the need arises."

"I'll, huh, pass on the food. Both the fake and the one on the basket." Lara says as she takes a sit with the others and keeps looking around the room.

"Eh, never was much into magic." Lara replies to Thoric with a shrug. "Nic'd probably be able to tell you more, shame he couldn't join us. Assuming his fortune telling was more than a con, anyway." She says with a chuckle.

"Speaking of which, I suppose that could explain the chairs, the food and the note, right?" She looks to Daranil, who seems to be the one more knowledgeable about magic in their current group. "Zellara was supposed to be a fortune teller, from what I've heard. I agree with Azig that I don't think we were spotted, at least not by Lamm's people - if he has someone on his payroll that could both spot us and not give himself away, I doubt we'd still be sitting here now."

"Hmm, what do you guys make of this?" Lara says as she holds out the paper to the others. "Seems like Zellara was meeting someone when she disappeared, I guess."

She turns to Pak. "Did the guard look into what happened to her? Do you know any details?"

"Hmm, what do we have here?" Her attention drawn to the papers near the crystal ball, Lara moves over to the small table and takes a closer look at them.

"Nope, magic's not really my thing. Certainly looks the part for a haunted house, but as far as I can tell, nothing strange is going on. Wonder what made people so sure it was actually haunted?"

Lara gives the room a good look, even if she can't pick up on magic auras.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23

"Sounds good. Not much else we can do while we wait for Miniweathers, anyway."

"Eh, not too sure. Kinda hard to tell from just looking. And it's probably best if we wait for Miniweathers to come back with that permit. Heh, look at us, actually upholding the law, and because of our Dearest Friend, too. Guess fate has a sense of humour."

She looks to the house and considers their options for a moment. "You know, knocking might not be such a bad idea, Neghed. Worst case, nothing happens. If it does, though, we get a better idea of what we're working with. And who knows, if it really is Zellara's spirit haunting her own olhouse, she might even be able to let us in, anyway, if she can somehow tell what we mean to do."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. It... It means a lot. Don't worry, I'll keep an eye out and keep everyone in line while we wait for you. Everyone seems pretty focused on our goal, I think as long as we lean on that, we should be able to keep us all working together without trouble." Lara whispers back to Pak before he leaves.

I... Get why Pak would trust me over the others, considering I've been straight with him in everything they've hired me to do so far. Still, nice to know he at least values my current actions more than where I came from or my past.

K Religion (Untrained): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22

Hmm. Maybe if I knew a bit more about the gods and stuff, I could understand what Daranil's is hinting at. Does Urgathoa grant him some sort of control over the spirits?

As they head on towards the haunted house, Lara takes a moment to get near Thoric.

"Thoric, right? I don't know what Lamm did to you, but I could hazard a guess. And trust me, all us here want to see him pay for his crimes - Miniweathers included. I get why you might be pissed of at the guard, knowing Lamm's been able to do as he pleases all this time. But from what I could tell, it's not that the guard doesn't care, it's that they can't do much about it - heinous as he is, Lamm's a small fry in Korvosa's underworld. The guard doesn't have the means to go after them all, so the bit players end up being able to do as they want. The guard's pretty open about recruiting mercenaries for help, though - something you might want to think about when we're done with Lamm."

Or, you know, take up the task of cleaning out the city yourself... But with how difficult going after Lamm on my own has been, better see how this plays out before making further plans, or try to recruit others to my crazy idea.

"Well, let's check out the house, then. There won't be a problem with just going nearby and having a good look, right?" Lara says as she looks to Pak for confirmation.

Never really cared much for the law, but if Pak wants to find a way to legally get us inside, I guess we should try not to make his life harder.

"Doesn't surprise me the price would be out of our means. Would be nice to have the place to ourselves, though, I'll give you that. Hm..." Lara stops to ponder for a bit, as she tries to recall what she knows about the previous owner.

"I even think Zellara would happily let us stay there, if she hadn't disappeared. The name seemed familiar, and I just realised why: She, too, had a similar appreciation for our 'favorite person', as Daranil put it." She looks around the tavern to see if anyone is paying much attention to them before continuing. "The Lambs took something from her, see? Her harrow deck - she was a fortune teller, and that's what she used for her readings. Her son tried to get it back, and, well... You can guess how well that went." Lara expression darkens for a moment as she looks to them.

"Sadistic bastard that he is, Lamm even sent the guy's head and hands back to her as a warning... She tried to reach out to the guard for help, but got turned down, and decided to try and get revenge on her own, right before disappearing."

"I know nothing about ghosts, but if Lamm did her in, too, and it really is her spirit haunting the place now... Maybe she'd be sympathetic to what we're trying to do, if she learned of it. We seem to want pretty much the same thing."

K Local: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
For any details on Zellara.

Lara lets out a sigh as she fishes her coin pouch and checks how much she saved up.

I was keeping this in case we needed more supplies, or bribes, or the like. And here we are discussing buying an abandoned house, when we could probably just move in and no one would notice or care for a while. I know it shouldn't really surprise me, given Korvosa's love for laws, and Pak's presence, but still...

She then chuckles at Daranil's question. "Oh, definitely. We don't want to spoil the spooky atmosphere before we remove whatever is haunting the house! How many haunted houses are you expecting to visit in your life? Better make sure to enjoy your first one to the fullest!"

"A bit more serious, now, I'd say it depends. Do we want to check out the house first? And if so, do we want to try to sneak inside? You know, just so we can make sure it really is haunted and it's not someone scaring off potential buyers? I'd think we can pass ourselves off as some interested parties appraising the place from outside if we went during the day, but if we're breaking in, probably best to do so under cover of night."

She then places her coin pouch on the table. "Unless you want to try and buy it first, of course. Got a bit of money with me, but I have absolutely no idea how much we would need. Where would we check the price? And if it belonged to Zellara and she disappeared, who's even trying to sell it?"

"While your suggestions seem fine at first glance, I'm worried they'd end up tipping Lamm off, and make finding him that much harder." Lara sighs as she sits down quietly next to ghe group, visibly frustrating with her lack of results.

"Our best bet for information might be Miniweathers, I think - just because the guard doesn't seem keen to move against Lamm doesn't mean they don't have info on him - from what I could gather, they just don't have the resources to focus on small time crime lords like Lamm. I got the feeling Miniweathers was pursuing this more out of personal interest than as an official assignment. But I figure it also means they won't raise much of a fuss if a group of upstanding citizens like ourselves decide to do their dirty work for them." She adds with a sarcastic grin.

"I agree with finding a new place to meet up, though. A haunted house could work well."

"Hmmm, yeah, he does seem familiar. 'Course, does get hard to tell, we haven't seen each other in quite a while. I think Lamm got mad at him once, too - about something he'd stolen and kept hidden instead of giving it to him. Nic... Hmm..." Lara ponders for a bit. "Nicolai. Yeah, that seems right."

"As for the 'gnomish' guard" Lara gives a small chuckle "I believe he's here for me, actually. Nothing to worry about, though. I know the guy - halfling named Miniweathers."

"Got me some paid jobs for the guard in the past. Contacted me recently and I set up a meeting here. But I'll probably have to turn him down this time - I figure this whole thing with Lamm's gonna keep me pretty busy. Might as well see what he wanted and let him know. And I'll tell Nicolai to come over and have a talk with you while I'm at it."

She then nods to Azig "As soon as I'm done with Miniweathers, I'm good to go look for a decent place to hide tomorrow."

She then heads over to the table and waves at Nicolai. "Nicolai, right? It's been a while, I didn't recognise you until Nedheg pointed you out. You should go say hi to him, too. We were just talking about catching up and stuff, but I actually have some things I need to talk with this fine officer here first." Lara's tone is casual enough, but as she looks Nicolai in the eye, he can tell that something more serious going on.

She then turns to Pak and nods. "Officer Miniweathers, sorry about the wait. We can talk now, if you want." She then spots the silver coin on the table. "Or after you get your reading, I guess. I'm a bit surprised, I didn't think you cared for this stuff at all."

Lara keeps her gaze on Azig as he talks, trying to betray nothing of what she's feeling as she looks for any signs of deception. At Nedheg's question, she lets out a sigh and her expression softens.

"I... I don't think he's lying, for what it's worth. And he did see me keeping an eye on Lamm's guys earlier today - could have easily ratted me out to him then, instead of coming here to talk. I think we can trust him on this."

Yet another who's life got ruined by Lamm. I do think he's got the right idea, though. Probably could use his help.

She gives Azig another long, appraising look, before nodding. "Lara. And I'm in. 'Bout time that bastard got what he deserved, before he wrecks anyone else's lives. Don't know who else we can turn to, though, but that's something we can worry about after we know more. Keep trying to gain their trust, and I'll be close by, watching them and looking for weak links."

She then turns to Nedheg, her expression serious and worried. "Don't feel like you need to get involved in this, though, Nedheg. I'll get him for both of us if you'd rather stay away. It's the least I could do to repay you for looking out for us other kids back then."

Looks like I still meed more training, if this Azig can spot me this easily. Still, if he wants to give up his advantage for a chance to talk, probably best to play along.

Lara steps out of the shadows and joins the pair at Azig's gesture, touching Nedheg's arm and giving him a nod and a small smile as she casually puts herself between the half-orc and the rat man.

There'll be time to catch up later... Right now, I have to figure out exactly what this guy's deal is.

"You've got quite a good eye, Azig. As for you not being a spy for Lamm... I've been watching you too, you know. You seem to be working for him somehow, so tell us, what's this all about?" She eyes Azig cautiously, but makes no threatening gestures. "If you were trying to get to me, well, here I am. But I'd prefer you left Neghed out of this - he's suffered enough at Lamm's hands on my behalf, and I don't want to make him deal with that snake anymore."

Seems like a good setup. Hope you don't mind if I tag along for now :)

@Pak: My suggestion to you is that, having worked with Lara in the past, you try to get in touch with her to get more info on Lamm. Maybe leave a note for her with the orphanage she's been donating to, setting up a meeting? If you agree, I'll follow up on that when you post.

In preparation to follow through with her plans, Lara has been scouting out Lamm's place, taking note of who's part of his current crew, their habits and schedules. If she's going to take them all on alone, it's going to need careful planning and picking them off one by one.

As she's looking at the place, she notices the ratfolk watching her. She's not sure what his role his, but given his frequent visits to Lamm, he's probably part of the group, too. That he spotted her is not ideal, but she hasn't done anything - yet.

Well, then, Mr. Rat, let's see who hunts who.

Lara slinks back into the shadows, trying to lose him, and then tries to follow him along - see where he goes, who he talks to. She tails him to a bar at the docks, and stays outside, waiting, not wanting to make her presence known.

When she sees him come out she takes note of his partner, and her eyes widen as she recognises him.

Is that... Neghed? I thought... I thought he ended up dead, after that beating all those years ago for refusing to discipline me. Good to know he also survived that. Still, why would this rat guy seek him out? Is he... Looking for more info on me? Does he suspect anything?

Lara tries to get closer to the pair without getting noticed, hoping to find out exactly what Azig's deal is.

Stealth: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18

Shouldn't be too hard for some of us: Neghed, Nicolai, Daranil, and me were all part of Lamm's Lambs, and seem to all have escaped him and gone our separate ways after a brutal beating.

I can tie myself to Pak easily enough, I think. Lara worked with the Korvosan Guard for a bit (since they're willing to work with mercenaries and adventurers), and Pak could have been one of my contacts at the Guard.

Don't have many ideas at the moment for linking up with Azig, though. But I'm sure we can figure something out when we all get here :).

Thanks for having me along, and congratulations to everyone else who got picked, too! Can't wait to create an amazing story with you all!

Eltonj, will you be opening up the Discussion thread for us?

It's getting tough to pick.

Sorry for making it tougher! I've been working on Lara for the last few days and I've finally finished writing her down.

4d6 ⇒ (6, 1, 3, 6) = 16 15
4d6 ⇒ (6, 3, 5, 5) = 19 16
4d6 ⇒ (6, 2, 3, 1) = 12 11
4d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 1, 2) = 11 10
4d6 ⇒ (5, 1, 6, 6) = 18 17
4d6 ⇒ (5, 5, 6, 3) = 19 16

Gold: 5d6 ⇒ (5, 4, 5, 3, 2) = 19 190 gp