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I lucked out (kinda): I'd just received my new laptop a few days earlier, so killing all cookies and cache wasn't a big deal for me. Finally found and reloaded my image-editing software today, so I'm pretty much back to normal. Our GM still out there?
Lila ties off her rowboat and then helps Apemantus scout a bit with her one good eye.
Lila hops onto the passenger bench of her rowboat and waits to see which two men will offer to do the rowing.
On the way to her rowboat, Lila reluctantly purchases 50 feet of silk rope, storing it under one of the vessel's seats.
"Deep underground?" the bard echoes the party's benefactor. "I'm too weak to carry lots of rope," she adds to the others. ...and too cheap to pay for it!
Happy New Year!
Still here, still interested. Got a rowboat. Just waiting to see if anyone needs to shop or has a brilliant plan for proceeding.
At Vanderboren Manor, Lila asks Lavinia if she knows Shefton, giving a description of the greasy, shifty half-elf in case he goes by a different name. After a moment's thought, she suggests that the noblewoman ask her crew of Kovas if any of them knows the man...or anything about Parrot Island. "Anyone need to buy additional gear? Maybe some rope or a crowbar? Do we have enough light sources? I can cast a simple cantrip to chase away some of the darkness." "My rowboat's only supposed to fit 4 people, but we can probably make it work if Nayala sits on someone's lap."
When Shefton stays inside, Lila agrees to Nayala's plan to meet up with the others.
Shefton entering the tavern presents a dilemma for Lila (and Nayala, too, she adds mentally and eventually). We're both waaaay too pretty to not garner attention inside a drinking establishment, especially without disguises! Yeah, that's a problem...especially for someone who always expects to be the center of attention! another part of the bard's subconscious adds, but Lila tunes that voice out quickly. Assuming that Nayala doesn't enter the place immediately, Lila approaches and asks the sylph if she has a Plan B.
Lila gives Nayala a confident nod and then tries her best to be inconspicuous as she trails her friend at a distance (let's say about 50 ft.).
Lila's a bit worried about Nayala tailing shifty Shefton by herself, but she rather doubts her own stealth comes close to rivalling the sylph's. "Maybe I could follow--a safe distance behind you--just in case this is some sort of set-up," she says a bit nervously. "And some of us should probably report to Lady Lavinia." After another nervous fidget, the pretty bard blursts out, "And don't forget--I own a rowboat! Though...it'll be a tight squeeze trying to fit six folks in it. Plus, I'm not 100% sure where Parrot Island is, either."
Lila keeps her mouth shut, letting Apemantus's gambit play itself out. Reaching into her coin pouch, she produces a single gold piece and gives it to Richter, her share of the shifty half-elf's fee.
Wow Nayala...just Wow! And I thought MY rolls were bad!
Like Apemantus, Lila's wary of Shefton (though probably not as wary as she ought to be). The smart gal's already picked up on a couple of nuggets the half-elf's let slip: He mentioned knowing Vanthus (and not Brissa) and that he smells of salt. While maybe the salt smell comes from his sweat, it might also be because the fellow spends a lot of time swimming in the nearby ocean. Though shouldn't that have washed away some of the other smells wafting off him? "Five gold's rather steep, don't you think?" Lila replies with a coy smile. "I'm a bard and sing for a living, and 5 gold's about the best I can ever hope for...for a whole night's efforts! Besides, my business is probably with Brissa, not her man. Can't you come down some on your asking price?"
Lila begins to get frustrated and wonders how well Lavinia knows her brother and if perhaps Vanthus fed his sister a red herring were she to try to track him down. "Maybe Vanthus is staying closer to home...maybe to keep an eye on his sister," the bard theorizes to the others. As she leads the group north into Merchant District, a business catches her attention: Cages of Plenty, a seller of exotic pets. "Remember all those animals we saw in the Blue Nixie's hold?" she asks excitedly. "Maybe they were to be delivered here! It's even possible that Vanthus is in league with the creeps who tried to steal Lavinia's ship...maybe." Settling on a cover story that she's seeking a smallish constrictor snake to use as a prop in a dance performance, Lila chats up the proprietor, eventually bringing the conversation around to the nobles living in the nearby villa (the Vanderborens).
While away from the ears of Lady Vanderboren and her many Kovas, Lila advances a theory that's been building in her mind. "If Vanthus is wicked enough to steal a family signet ring and raid his parents' vault...how much of a stretch is it to wonder if maybe he was somehow responsible for the elder Vanderborens' deaths? I mean, the ship was surrounded by water; the flames would have to spread really fast for no one to have time to jump overboard."
Not entirely sure where to turn next in the investigation, Lila leads the others south into Sunrise District. There she finds a couple of gambling halls (The Bridgehouse and The Hunter's Trap) that Vanthus may have visited in the past (hopefully recently). Trying The Hunter's Trap first, she asks more about Brissa Santos, claiming to have been an old acquaintance of hers; she adds a description of Vanthus at the end, saying she'd heard Brissa had hooked up with a man of that description.
If no one has any shopping to do, Lila suggests starting the search in Azure District as Lavinia suggested. That section of town seems to have more brothels than regular taverns , so the vivacious gal decides to target the Bloodthirsty Pelican first, then maybe following up at the Empty Grave.
Hurricane Eta got me a little bit; I'm gonna be slow the next few days. Hope everyone's alright; good luck with the aftermath.
"What's the Scarlet Brotherhood?" Lila asks. "And why aren't women allowed in it?"
Lila nods at Nayala's words. "Everyone got the means to take dear Vanthus alive?" The small lady draws a leather sap from her belt and flashes a wide smile.
Some dark thoughts and guesses begin to enter Lila's mind. She decides--at this point, at least--to address only the only foremost on her mind. "Your brother would need a signet ring to enter the vault and remove things," the teen begins slowly. "Did your parents grant him such a ring while denying you--apparently the legal heir--one? If not, how did Vanthus obtain one?" The girl keeps the next follow-up questions unspoken for now: How far would Vanthus go to obtain such a ring-key? And how far would he go to ensure that his many thefts went unnoticed by his and Lavinia's parents?
I've never used automatic bonus progression, so I'm voting for normal equipment and treasure. Easier to stick with what I know.
While waiting for Lady Lavinia to detail the next mission she has planned for the group, Lila does a lot of training with the unusual sword she's always carried but never used. The short gal has learned to wield it somewhat formidably, using an unusual technique that vaguely resembles a dance and makes use of her hips and legs rather than her lesser arm musculature. When she meets up with the others for meals or relaxation, she reports that she's added some items to her weapons repertoire: cold iron and silver daggers and crossbow bolts with tips fashioned from those same metals. Also, she's purchased a flask of alchemical fire which she's heard are good for dealing with swarming insects and the like.
Did Richter get a big coin pouch? I'm pretty sure I had that split among everyone, because I don't have that on my sheet. It's possible I missed it somehow, but I never saw an actual coin amount to go with that bag. I think the plan was to split it equally. EDIT: In hindsight, I should have added the 200 gp each reward from Lavinia. EDIT II: The bag o' coins in question would likely have been split six ways, as that's how many PCs we had during the raid on the Blue Nixie.
SAVAGE TIDE LOOT LIST
Lila fulfills her obligation to Lady Vanderboren, escorting her safely back to her manor house. There, she mentions to Nayala that she's going to look for Mokhai, adding that "it might take a few days." She heals any lingering wounds from the mechanical snake's bites before leaving. The one-eyed bard is gone for a full week, however. When she returns, she looks more grim and resolute than before. Lila bluntly reports that she found no sign of her old friend anywhere in the city. Sense Motive DC 17: Lila's either lying about Mokhai or leaving something out about what kept her busy for the past week.
LILA THE BLACK 2ND LEVEL—RONDELERO SWASHBUCKLER--UPDATES
BAB +1
Swashbuckler Features
Lila frowns at the lack of wealth in the vault of her new, allegedly wealthy noblewoman friend. "Was this about what you were expecting?" she asks Lavinia. Eyeballing the IOUs she adds, "Do you want me to total these receipts and IOUs, or do you have an Accountant Kova to do that?"
Lila stands back, keeping Lavinia at bay as well. "Since your parents never mentioned if you'd need an additional set of keys for all these chests, might as well let Richter's Thingamabob try to open them." Unless you've got a Kova the Trap-Springer you've never told us about....
"You have a brother?" Lila inquires. The teen catches herself before she asks if this brother is cute.
Lila fidgets. Turning to Lavinia, she asks, "Did your parents have keys to these chests? Might they be trapped?" Gesturing to Nayala, she asks the noblewoman a third question: "Or should our sharp-eyed trap-finder take a look at them first?"
"Chimera looks to sunrise
"And you people say my rhyming is bad! At least I don't use the exact same word to rhyme in my compositions!" After looking things over, the pretty teen makes some more observations aloud. "I spy with my little eye...two things that are red: one point of the eight-sided star symbol, and the eyes of the monsters in the bas reliefs. My guess is the red bit on the symbol is a pointer of sorts and that 'sunrise and sunset' refer to whether to rotate the pillar east or west. Maybe the number of eyes each creature has is like a combination code for opening the vault." "Let's see.... A chimera has three heads, each with two eyes, so the grand total's six. Cyclops--one. If we want to trust the Kora/Kova/whatever who said an umber hulk has four eyes--Do we really want to trust her?--that just leaves the basilisk. Is that the lizard thing with extra legs, or does it have extra eyes?"
After wracking her memory, the teen blushes a bit when she realizes the answer is before her: She merely counts the red gemstone eyes on the bas reliefs.
Lila moves to Lavinia's side, trying to at least look like a bodyguard even if she's rather inept at that role. She peeks around a bit as well.
Lila fixes Richter with an annoyed glare. "It's called a lazy rhyme. Better to use 'best' than use 'mesh' and have totally stupid lyrics, right?" Under her breath the teen adds, "Everyone's a critic...." Turning to Nayala, the bard flashes a beaming smile. "No problem; healing's a specialty of mine. Back when I worked in the theaters of...." The teen suddenly falls silent. It's obvious she wants to keep her past life to herself. She instead helps Nayala look around the rest of the vault.
Nayala's delay in answering Apemantus's (and Lavinia's) question about who needs healing works to Lila's advantage. With Mokhai apparently out of the picture, the teen needs someone new to watch her back, and maybe that someone will be the daring young rogue. Time to earn some brownie points.... "No problem--I've got this!" she informs Apemantus and Lavinia. Stepping over to Nayala, the bard examines the wound left by the iron cobra, sings a little ditty, and reaches out to lightly touch the sylph's wound with one finger. "Bardic magic is the best/
"Good as new?" she asks the rogue, looking rather doubtfully at the not-quite-healed wound.
Lila keeps singing to inspire her comrades: "Cut it with a guisarm/
Screwing up her courage, the smallish girl closes on the iron cobra, her buckler up in a defensive position , and she stabs quickly at the guardian. for
Lila's good eye widens in alarm as the steel serpentine guardian appears and sinks its fangs into Nayala! As she wracks her brain for information on how to deal with such a guardian, the young bard draws her falcata but then seems to reconsider engaging the snake. Instead, she sings some words in a voice that is pleasant, clear, confident, and strangely inspirational: "Although we face a mighty foe/
Lils follows in Nayala's wake, her good eye scanning for anything the rogue might've missed.
"What's with that 8-pointed star?" Lila asks Lavinia. "Is it your family crest?" The bard purses her lips in mild annoyance. "And where is the device or whatnot that our little riddle applies to?"
"I'm more worried about traps," Lila answers Richter. "But I suppose a non-living, non-breathing guardian isn't entirely out of the question." Flashing a quick smile, the young bard concludes, "Better safe than sorry!"
Lila positions herself by Lavinia's side as the group enters the vault. Uncertain if there's any lighting inside, she calls a brief halt long enough to cast a light spell upon her dagger. Then she peers around the chamber with her one good eye.
Lila joins the others on the ferry, wondering if the plan is to rob Lavinia of all her wealth once the vault's open. Probably not, or someone would've whispered something to her by now or at least tried to make eye contact. Having Apemantus and Sebastian along certainly would complicate such a scheme. Both look sketchy enough to be criminals, though Apemantus sounds like a Goody-Goody every time he opens his mouth.... Good! I don't want to be on the run from the law...and I have no idea where I'd try to run in the first place. Not home! Besides, I like Lavinia; we could end up becoming best friends! She's got to be desperate for some company that's not a look-alike know-it-all old halfling freak....
When her turn comes around, Lila hops out of the carriage, taking a moment to scoop up the note she'd discarded earlier. In reply to Sebastian's question she shakes her head. "I'm sort of new to town."
Lila's about to make an irreverent crack about gold-plated loaves of bread when she remembers there's a noblewoman in the carriage with the group--a noblewoman who's promised to pay them all a tidy sum of gold if they behave and perform well enough to earn her continued support. She also remembers the last time she mouthed off to someone higher up the human food chain--in that case, the pirate Captain Cutler--it had cost her an eye. Swallowing her jest, the girl calls for the recovered note with its strange riddle to be brought forth. The Note: Chimera looks to sunrise Cyclops looks to sunset Umber Hulk looks to sunset Basilisk looks to sunrise
Sorry--meant to check this yesterday. The castle is on a small island just SW of the Noble District (near the top center of the city map found in the Savage Tide Player's Guide).
"Castle Yeraknkan is it?" Lila asks Lavinia with an amused smile. "Did the person who named it choke on a crust of bread while christening it? Or is it named after some famous local personage?"
Lila scooches as far against the window side as she's able. Maybe all these Kovas can fit inside one another like those painted northern dolls I once saw in a curiosities shop, she thinks. In her effort to scooch and avoid the demeaning situation of having to sit on someone's lap, the teen accidentally steps on the curled-up-and-napping Iorskan's tail. With something between a hiss and a roar, the golden dragon shoots out the open door of the carriage. "Um...I think he saw a squirrel," Lila lies rather convincingly.
"Money, history, and memories." Only one of those things interests me! Lila thinks, still feeling the sting of what she feels is Mokhai's betrayal. If she can obtain enough wealth, however, perhaps a life in Sasserine wouldn't prove too unappealing.
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