Punishments for poor performances made by bards, jesters, and other entertainers vary widely, but none is as harsh as death. When a performer is put to an untimely death, the spirit may linger behind, seeking vengeance or a chance to redeem themselves.

Clothed in the tattered remains of their performance outfits, Bonefiddlers and undead parodies of the entertainers they once were. Withered and skeletal in their appearance, bonefiddlers enjoy using their ghostly instruments to bring pain and suffering where they once brought joy and laughter.

Often found leading groups of lesser undead raised through their ghostly music, Bonefiddlers primarily rely upon the their unholy performance to charm and ensnare living creatures. Though they prefer to stay out of direct combat, a bonefiddler pressed into melee can use their ghostly instruments to deliver brutal strikes which steals the very life of their opponent.

Smoldering Gaze (Su) As a standard action, a mudbane may use smoldering gaze on one target within 30 ft. that had line of sight. The targeted creature must succeed on a DC 11 Will save or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. This is a fear effect. A creature that makes its saving throw against a mudbane’s smoldering gaze cannot be affected by the gaze of that mudbane for 24 hours. The save DC is Charisma-based.

Squeeze (Ex) Mudbanes are adept at squeezing through the tightest spaces and never take any penalty for squeezing.

Every major population center has storied of children who go missing while playing near sewer drains and crumbled buildings. Living in the shadows and squalor of major urban center, mudbanes are often the reason for these stories.

Monstrous creatures, mudbanes make their lairs in the stinking cesspits and dark pits of urban life. Though they are roughly man-sized, mudbanes are adept at squeezing themselves into the smallest spaces they can, using these hidden crevasses to lie in ambush for their prey or to avoid pursuit by those who would see them exterminated.

A mudbane’s thick fur is often matted with detritus and other cast-offs of urban life, all of which help them to blend with their surroundings. Though a mudbane’s appearance is brutish, they have an uncanny ability to temporarily disguise themselves as a member of the race they are hunting. Being physically weak, mudbanes often target younger prey, using their ability to disguise themselves to confuse gullible children. And even if the prey manages to escape from a mudbane’s attack, the mudbane’s filth encrusted claws often mean that the lucky prey finds themselves perishing not to the mudbane’s claws, but to the diseases they leave behind.

Devour Magic (Su) When a mnemonic ooze’s intelligence draining attack hits an arcane spellcaster, the target must make a DC 17 Will save or lose a prepared spell of a level equal to or less than the amount of intelligence drained by the ooze’s attack. 0-lvl spells count as a 1-lvl spell for this attack. Spells drained in this manner may be cast by the ooze on the ooze’s next action. If the mnemonic ooze does not cast the spell, it is considered absorbed as if the mnemonic ooze had resisted the spell with spell resistance. In addition, any magic weapon striking the mnemonic ooze is subject to a targeted dispel magic effect. A mnemonic ooze may activate a magic item with the Use Magic Item skill, but is always assumed to absorb the item’s effects rather than casting it.

Split (Su) When a mnemonic ooze gains its starting hit points in temporary hit points, the mnemonic ooze splits into two creatures, each with the starting stats of the original ooze.

Transparent (Ex) Due to its lack of vivid coloration, a gray ooze is difficult to discern from its surroundings in most environments. A DC 15 Perception check is required to notice the gray ooze. Any creature that fails to notice a gray ooze and walks into it automatically suffers damage as if struck by the ooze's slam attack and is immediately subject to a grab attempt by the ooze.

Created in an attempt to duplicate a grey ooze through arcane means, the mnemonic ooze is an intelligent creature that feeds off of arcane energy. Often found around places where arcane magic is prevalent, such as wizard’s schools, or bardic lodges, mnemonic oozes pick suitable locations, such as fountains or pools, and use their natural transparency to blend in. Disdaining combat, mnemonic oozes will wait until activity in their area has died down before emerging to feed off of magic items like wands and scrolls. Particularly inattentive spellcasters can find themselves quickly overrun with mnemonic ooze’s as the creatures absorb all of their magic items, splitting in the process.

Tenacious Grapple (Ex) A chitterwolf gains a +2 racial bonus on CMB checks to grapple and to CMD against grapple attempts. In addition, it may use its grab ability against creatures of Medium or smaller size.

Inside deep caverns and shadowy ruins, dozens of holes burrowed in dirt and rock espouse the deadly presence of a chitterwolf nest. As chitterwolves are highly territorial and always hungry, it is not uncommon to find areas around their chosen nests stripped clean of life. Voracious hunters, a chitterwolf nest will only migrate to more fertile grounds when there is absolutely no prey left for them.

A mature chitterwolf resembles a bloated, malformed mixture of arachnid and canine. The three sickly eyes on either side of a chitterwolf’s stunted, dog-like head continually twitch and roll, constantly searching for new sources of food. Chitterwolves typically hunt in pairs, searching out prey large enough to feed the entire nest. When suitable prey has been found, chitterwolves use their namesake chittering sounds to herd the prey and alert distant pack members.

One the prey has been cornered and surrounded, chitterwolf hunting packsl strike en masse, leaping and locking their thick, lipless jaws onto the hapless food source. Individually small, chitterwolves use superior numbers to drag the prey to the ground where it can be killed and consumed by the pack or torn apart and taken back to the nest holes to feed the young.

Things seemed to settle down for everyone over the next few days. Simon was crashing on the couch at Ravan’s apartment in Old Korvosa and the rest of the group was staying together at an inn recommended by Cressidia. Three days into their rest, Ravan came down ill with Filth Fever from his encounters in the Dead Warrens. Don had come by Ravan’s apartment so that Ravan, Simon, and he could search for two adjacent apartments in Old Korvosa that could be used as a temporary base of operations. While Ravan was getting ready, a knock came at the door, which Simon offered to answer.

As Simon opened the door, he was greeted by a kick to the knees which sent him sprawling to the floor. Rolth had sent revenge in the form of his servant Cabbagehead and the reanimated corpses of several victims that the PCs had failed to rescue from the Dead Warrens. Simon never managed to regain his feet as Cabbagehead brutally curb-stomped his face into the floorboards several times, resulting in a motionless wizard bleeding to death. Ravan and Don fared better, though the archer was forced to draw his rapier when he was cornered by the undead. Ravan was significantly wounded, but managed to hold on until all of the attackers had been taken down.

On the other side of town, a second group of Rolth’s minions (a carrion golem made from the unused parts of Rolth’s would-be flesh golem and Derro parts) and the remaining zombified prisoners ambushed Taviri, Walcoul, and Lionel as they neared the stable where Lionel’s horse was resting. Both Taviri and Walcoul ended up contracting Tetanus from the carrion golem’s attacks, but overall were much more proficient in taking down their enemies.
The PCs sought each other out again to pool information about the attacks. Apparently Rolth wasn’t too happy about the destruction of his lab. From the experience gained by thwarting the ambushes, everyone except Simon and Don (who had missed a significant portion of the Dead Warrens) leveled up to 4. Within a few days, the group would be called together again by Cressidia Kroft.

The morning that they were called together to visit the Field Marshall, both Taviri and Walcoul had to give a generous donation to the Church of Abadar for healing of the lockjaw which had set in. Taviri had an especially bitter pill to swallow as he consciously hid his holy symbol of Zon-Kuthon and asked for Abadar’s blessing. Once together, the group found themselves invited to attend the execution of Trinia Sabor as impartial helpers of Cressidia, who was suspicious of Trinia’s swift trial which had been held in secret. The group rushed to prepare themselves in the few hours that they had before the execution party.

Showing up in newly purchased finery, the PCs mingled with the noble crowd.Taviri made it a point to meet with Glorio Arkona, patron of House Arkona, as he had been spending his off-time setting up a series of information contacts to seek out the location of his missing sister. Making Glrio’s acquaintance, Taviri discovered that while Glorio was enjoying the prospect of the execution’s violence, he was disdainful of the Queen’s methods.

While mingling, Simon was caught up by the arm and a familiar voice requested a private discussion. It was Vencarlo Orsini, who Simon and his previous group had left Trinia Sabor with. After a few minutes of small talk and sympathies for the dead PCs, Simon and Vencarlo got down to business. Simon asked how Trinia had managed to be captured by the castle guard to which Vencarlo replied that she hadn’t. The real Trinia was still hidden away safe at Vencarlo’s house. This left Simon puzzled as to who was going to be executed, and Vencarlo made some quips about the true nature of the Queen’s justice. Following their exchange, the rest of the group came together as the trumpets sounded the main entertainment for the evening.

A burly executioner led a wobbly, glassy eyed woman from the holding area to the executioner’s block. Simon, who had met the real Trinia, couldn’t even tell that this woman was a different person, though a quick Detect Magic from Simon showed his that “Trinia” was definitely under some magic effect. After the girl was readied, Queen Illeosa made her grand appearance. Lionel, who had never met the queen, made a Detect Evil on the queen, but discovered that she was not evil (which surprised the player).

A short speech later and the crowd fell silent waiting as the order for the execution was given. The headman hefted his axe at which point Simon uncomfortably called out across the silence “wait, there’s something wrong” which got odd looks from the crowd around him, a vicious look from Queen Ileosa and Sabina, and a smirk from Vencarlo. The headsman wouldn’t be stopped by a dissenting voice, however, and continued his course, only to be stopped by Blackjack.

All hell broke loose at Blackjack’s appearance. Lionel and Don stood stunned and unsure of what to do. Ravan threw sleep poisoned shurikens at “Blackjack” but “accidentally” hit the executioner. Simon did the same with a daze spell. Taviri actually targeted Blackjack with a command spell in an attempt to stop the vigilante, but Blackjack shrugged off his magic. Under Simon and Ravan’s combined attack, the executioner stumbled and then passed out and fell onto the guards who were attempting to push their way up the platform. Seeing his teammates in action, Walcoul tripped several guards who were pushing their way up as reinforcements. Vencarlo laughed and nodded approvingly.

Freed of having to deal with the executioner, Blackjack freed “Trinia” and began to make his way to the parapet. Taviri tried to cast another spell to hold Blackjack, but Ravan had readied to throw his last sleep poisoned shuriken at the cleric and hit. Taviri failed his save and fell asleep, his spell fizzling on his lips. The rest of the group pushed the crowd away from the fallen cleric, claiming that he had fainted. Walcoul stealthily pocketed the shuriken that he had keenly spotted Ravan throwing to keep Taviri from realizing what had happened.

Blackjack escaped and the rest of the group pushed their way clear of the stampeding crowd and encroaching guardsmen. Simon discovered that Vencarlo had left a note in his pocket asking the PCs to meet at his house as soon as possible. The PCs arrived at the dueling academy and were introduced to the real Trinia Sabor. After some long explanations and heated discussions with Taviri and Lionel, the group settled on the fact that it was a good thing that Blackjack had not allowed “Trinia” to be executed. It was decided that Trinia would continue to stay with Vencarlo until things cooled down.

Unfortunately, things did not cool down. A couple of weeks went by and the PCs went about various personal business but were contacted by Vencarlo shortly after a 5,000 gp reward was put on Trinia’s head. The PCs offered to help escort Trinia out of the city and managed to do so with little trouble. It was late at night by the time the PCs made it back to Korvosa, and as they crossed the North Bridge they witnessed a black sailed ship with a single yellow light being fired upon and sunk in the Jeggare River. Puzzled by this, the PCs returned home and vowed to investigate the next day. Upon returning home, Simon felt a call from Zellara’s Harrow deck and pulled the cards out. Zellara appeared and announced that dire happenings were on the winds and offered a new Harrow reading for the PCs. The Harrowing went through and that ended the session.

The group was given the same mission, and was told to be more careful and ensure that they had fully stocked up before they headed to the Dead Warrens. Ready this time, they set off to retrieve the dead Shoanti’s body. Simon accompanied them to the entrance but waited outside for the arrival of the last member, Don the ranger (who was finishing up his character sheet).

The PCs entered the mausoleum and found the remains of the previous party cold on the floor. As they approached, the remaining skeletal guardians once again animated to attack. This time, things went much more smoothly, and though some damage was dealt, a Command Undead from Taviri left the party with three battered human skeletons to act as porters (Taviri only has a 7 Str, so he can’t carry his own equipment). Everyone got to loot their own dead body to get their stuff back.

They then snuck down to the branching corridor leading into the tunnels and picked a passage. The scouts made good enough stealth to see a derro working on preparing a body without alerting him. The rouge went back to give the info out and the monk decided to sneak a bit closer, botching his roll. Alerted, the derro let loose the remaining stirges who latched onto the monk. During the fight, the monk took some pretty heavy damage but was fortunately saved by the cleric’s Channel Negative Energy which not only hurt the enemy, but healed the tiefling (he had rolled the “healed by both positive and negative energy” trait on the Fiendish Heritage table from the Council of Thieves AP).

The group backtracked and dealt with the two derro that were playing Rat-Squish in their sleeping quarters. The derro got surprise and acted before anyone else, but just couldn’t get through the paladin’s armor (who had realized that AC for a charge in melee type should be above the 16 that his Barbarians had). After cornering the derro, the PCs made short work of the crazy little buggers.

The PCs next headed to the disposal room and easily dealt with the Otyugh “garbage disposal” and were rewarded with the first part of the Shoanti’s dissected body. Heading down the bone corridor, the acid traps hit everyone at least once and destroyed all three porter skeletons (poor Tav and his weight problem). The necrophidius fight went back and forth as at least half the party was dazed or paralyzed for the fight with the other half being unable to hit the constructs. To be fair, the construct really couldn’t hit the PCs either, and I didn’t want to just coup-de-grace the paralyzed guys while there were still viable targets in range. Numbers eventually favored the PCs, who dispatched the constructs just in time to be joined by Simon and Don.

The lone derro in the next room proved no problem as Ravan ran in and grappled him, then pinned him down and let the rogue sneak attack him. Prying the boards loose from the pantry, the paladin and the carrion golem engaged in a “hugging contest” as neither could grapple/hit the other. Finally, they lured the golem out of the room (essentially just telling the paladin to get the heck out of the way) and surrounded it. The golem had one of the Shoanti’s arms, which gave them two pieces of their macabre puzzle.

The cleric managed to spot a secret door in the back wall (they never realized that the entire place was full of passages since they all rolled pretty low on perception checks through the dungeon) and the group decided to take that route instead of using the regular tunnels. The passage led them to the library and a short argument on how to get all the books out before they continued on. In the workshop, they found the patchwork body to be used for a flesh golem, including the Shoanti head that topped it. Reclaiming the head, they pushed further into the last rooms.

There was nothing to be seen in the first bedchamber, but the second was filled with swirling darkness. They threw a torch in to light it up, but realized that it must be magical when the torch failed to fully illuminate the room. The rogue did see the last piece of the Shoanti body sitting against the far wall and snuck in to retrieve it but was ambushed by a skeleton which had appeared from nowhere.

In the general confusion that followed, the group scrambled to figure out what was going on as undead continued to appear in the small room. The situation was further exacerbated by Don rolling a crit fumble and nearly shooting his own eye out. While the Don and Taviri were trying to deal with the bleed caused by the fumble, the rest of the group pushed into the room. The paladin, selected as the heaviest fighter, was hit by a sneak attack scorching ray from Vreeg, who had been floating invisibly above the group, tossing creatures out of his robe of bones.

Over the next 45 minutes or so, the group got to feel my general frustration at not being able to hit their AC all evening as they couldn’t hit Vreeg’s magically enhanced AC either. The paladin called smite but failed to hit the flying necromancer for something like 9 rounds in a row. Once again numbers prevailed as the group made every single save against Vreeg’s spells and wand and eventually whittled the little guy down. On Vreeg’s last turn he attempted to flee but was finally hit by … everyone with a weapon. I guess fate demanded a cinematic ending as Vreeg was pulled from the sky and curb stomped by the angry PCs. We ended the session there as it was 30 minutes past closing time at our gaming store (the guy running the place graciously let us stay as it was the last fight and he was to having too much fun watching the combat to kick us out anyway).

The muttered rumors soon flared into a call for vengeance against the king’s murderer and the violence of the previous weeks threatened to surge to life again with new riots when Field Marshall Kroft marched into the inn where the PC’s were staying. She quickly commandeered a private room and beckoned the group to join her. She explained that she needed the PC’s to seek out and capture Trinia before the mob found her and lynched her. She also professed some questions as to the queen’s method of delivering the news, but that wasn’t important at the moment. Cressidia introduced Gurei, a monk who, like the PC’s, had proven himself by completing odd jobs for the Korvosan Guard during the riots. He was to accompany the PC’s as his skills might prove valuable. The PC’s agreed to help and headed off to the Midland District to find Trinia.

The group quickly found their way to the Midland District, but getting in unobserved proved to be a tougher task. Cyril and Gurei knew the area well, and helped to lead the group through some back alleys and side streets to avoid the roving mobs, hellknights, and guardsmen. Twice the group managed to sneak past these groups, but the third time, a trio of hellknights spotted them and moved in. Initiavtive was rolled and the incredibly slow hellknights watched as all of the PC’s, except for Simon, ran for it. Simon just couldn’t get over the fence. Everyone else watched as the guards surrounded Simon, but just as they reached him, Simon managed to sneak away, thanks to a little help from destiny.

Regrouping, the PC’s found themselves at Trinia’s building in an area the locals called “the Shingles”. Cyril approached the door and was met by a middle aged woman who peered anxiously at him from the cracked door. One failed check later, and the woman tried to slam the door, crying out in alarm. Cyril kicked in the door, proving that frail old woman strength is no match for brawny half-elf strength.

The PC’s flooded into the building but were dismayed to find that it was a three story building with multiple rooms on each floor. Figuring that they didn’t have much time, Tanoff came up with a plan to get Trinia’s whereabouts by throwing gold at the alarmed tenants. This actually worked out really well, as they pointed out Trinia’s floor in exchange for “phat lootz”. Rushing up to the third story, the PC’s began searching doors. Funny enough, the only door that was barricaded was the door picked by Shoanti Max, whose Shoanti tribal name was apparently “Great Kicker of Doors” and with a Nat 20 Max sent the door flying off the hinges and across Trinia’s tiny apartment.

Strangely enough, despite the utter destruction of her door, Trinia still appeared to be sleeping in her bed. As the group rushed over to apprehend her, Gurei head something outside and rushed to the window to see the skinny young painter rushing across the rooftops. With a shout of alarm, everyone jumped out the window and began the Shingles Chase.

Everyone had a lot of fun with this. Max and Gurei managed to keep up with Trinia most of the way, though they both received a good dose of dazing thanks to some low saves. Max plunged off the rooftops once near the end, but bounded back up the next turn to assist Gurei with wrestling the feisty bard to the ground.

Simon said “no way” to trying to run her down and proceeded with a slow one square a turn pace. He attempted to hinder Trinia’s escape with some spells, but after his efforts proved only to hamper his own allies he gave up and just walked slowly towards her.

Tanoff tried to follow along, but his stubby dwarven legs just weren’t going to be much help. After falling off once and failing to continue the foot chase on the ground, Tanoff climbed back up and took Simon’s lead, walking only one square a turn. He continued to fire arrows ineffectually at the fleeing Trinia, until he crit fumbled and spilled all of his ammo down into the streets below.

The real winner of the chase was Cyril, who after a good first turn of chasing Trinia got stuck on the same ledge for two turns, then fell, then failed to climb up three times, then fell again, then climbed up, then moved one square, then fell again. Left with only 1 hp at the end of the chase, we all had a good laugh at the fact that the wizard make it twice as far as the ranger.

Gurai and Max finally managed to catch and pin Trinia on the final Shingles space. They tied her up, but Gurei said that he wanted to question her on his own before turning her over to the guards. Any dissenting opinions were bull-rushed by the monk as his player just did what he wanted. They took Trinia back to his place (bow-chicka-wow-wow) and interrogated her. The frightened young woman pleaded with then and confessed her innocence in the whole matter. Gurei and Cyril got into an argument on what to do with her which turned into the Lawful Good Monk proclaiming that the law couldn’t be trusted while the Chaotic Good Ranger declared that the law was the only way to go. After some head scratching arguments, Gurei got his way because he refused to go with what everyone else wanted.

Seeking a compromise, Cyril said that she should at least be handed to a third party for safekeeping. They contacted Vencarlo Orsini, who they had some previous experience with, and tested they waters to see if he would be a good candidate for holding the young girl until further plans could be made. Vencarlo seemed less than pleased with the way the Korvosan government was going and accepted the responsibility of taking care of Trinia until further proof of her innocence or guilt could be found.

The group returned to Field Marshall Kroft with the bad news that they hadn’t been able to catch Trinia. Cressidia wasn’t pleased that they had failed, especially since the mob was growing restless. Further, she introduced the PC’s to Thousand Bones, and elderly Shoanti and explained that Thousand Bones has brought even more problems to her doorstep. Thousand Bones’ grandson had been murdered during the recent unrest and Thousand Bones was demanding that Korvosa return his body for a proper burial before the Shoanti took the action upon themselves.

Since they had failed to bring Trinia back to the guard, the group agreed to help Cressidia out with Thousand Bones’ request. They received some minor healing and headed to the boneyard to find the “Dead Warrens” where the necromancer who had purchased the Shoanti body resided.

The mausoleum which housed the Dead Warrens was dark and had been tunneled out to connect to other underground passages. Halfway across the entry ossuary, the group was attacked by skeletal guardians.

Cyril was first to act and rushed to one side alcove to attack the skeletons that had risen there. The skeletons poured out of the alcoves to flood the group. The last to act in the surprise round was Simon, who prepped and fired his crossbow, and sprained his wrist with a critical fumble, losing 4 Dex. Cyril faced of with one of the two owlbear skeletons, which was supported by a normal human skeleton. Tanoff brought down two of three human skeletons but couldn’t manage to hit the third for the rest of the combat. Gurei held off two human skeletons by himself, but like Tanoff, just rolled like crap the entire fight. Max raged against the second owlbear skeleton and cracked it a good one, but not good enough.

In a few turns, the owlbear had clawed through the raging barbarian’s lowered AC. Cyril had nearly managed to destroy the first owlbear, but was clawed to death shortly after Max. Simon saw the writing on the wall and ran from the tomb. Gurei maneuvered himself to follow Simon and would have escaped had the owlbear that killed Max not mauled him to death as well. Tanoff, alone and surrounded by skeletons, cursed the cowardly human wizard that had left him to die and chanted a dwarven warsong, destroying the owlbear Cyril had weakened before the second owlbear made its third kill of the evening.

And, with that near TPK we ended the session. I guess next session Cressidia will have to send one of her more reliable groups to accomplish the task.

A week passed in which the group got to sell the random loot that they had managed to acquire over the last few days. The only other incident of note was that Max came down with a fever, which could only have come from being bitten by a rampaging Otyugh some days before. The next day, Max (having failed his DC 11 Fort save again) was looking even worse, so Ankou took the day to help Max rest and get better. Within two days Max had beaten back the fever, but was still weak and shaky when a runner from the Korvosan Guard arrived with a summons.

Cressidia welcomed the PC’s back to the citadel and explained to them that she was in a bit of a bind. Verik Vancaserkin, one of her Watch Sergeants, had gone rouge during the riots two weeks ago and had set up shop giving out meat to the poor. While not terribly ignoble, Verik had convinced several other guards to join him, and Cressidia could not allow the desertion to spread any further. She tasked the PC’s with bringing Vancaserkin and his men back to the Citadel, alive if possible.

Seeking information about All the World’s Meat, the PC’s set to the streets and found out that the ex-guards had not only set up shop as butchers, but they also spent the evenings as hired thugs, calling themselves the “Cow Hammer Boys”. The group devised a plan and entered All the World’s Meat, asking about the “night’s special cuts.” The guards smiled and ushered the few remaining patrons out the door, locking it so they could get down to dirty business.

As soon as the doors were closed, the PC’s sprang into action. The guardsman who had stepped out from behind the counter to close the door was nearly knocked straight out by non-lethal blows from Cyril two swords. He took a step back and drew his weapons, but a shot from Simon’s crossbow knocked him out. The guardsman who remained behind the counter began shouting for help as he drew a crossbow and fired at the looming Ankou, missing by a mile. Ankou stepped around the counter and struck the guard, fazing him but not knocking him out. With a roar, Max leapt upon the counter, but didn’t quite make it and crashed to the floor. Shaking his head at the wild Shoanti, Cyril stepped up and pommel-punched the remaining guard into unconsciousness.

The two guards were quickly trussed up before the PCs snuck their way towards the back of the building. Heading to a set of double-doors, the group prepared themselves for another fight and Ankou threw the doors wide … before being shot with two readied crossbow bolts. The remaining two Cow Hammer Boys had heard the shouts from up front and had prepared themselves as well. Recovering from the shock, Ankou charged forward and swung at one of the guards, again knocking him over the head in as non-violent a fashion as possible. Cyril followed quickly behind but couldn’t quite get a strike in at the guards. Max, angry at being made fool of earlier, rushed in with his greatsword turned sideways and delivered an attack of non-lethal force that hit so hard it actually damaged the poor guard who received it. The remaining guard drew his sword in a daze and slashed at Ankou, who had hit him, but couldn’t get the strike in before Simon’s crossbow bolt knocked him out.

All four of the Cow Hammer Boys were brought to the meat room and hung up by their bindings to keep them from getting away while a quick search was conducted of the rest of the building. The PC’s looked into the waste grate in the butcher’s room, but no one thought anything of it. Similarly, they found two angry pigs penned up in the kennels but gave them a wide berth. With nowhere left to go, the group figured that Verik must be hiding upstairs.

Verik was upstairs, but he wasn’t hiding. While the PC’s had been dealing with his men and searching All the World’s Meat, Verik had moved the tables and chairs of the lounge to create a makeshift barricade. The PC’s prepared themselves and surged up the stairs with Ankou in the lead. As Ankou reached the top of the stairs, he was again shot by the readied action of Verik’s bow. Simon seized the initiative and pushed his way into the room, calling upon the power of his magic to hypnotize Vancaserkin, who failed his Will save. On Verik’s turn he stood in a trance, wondering out loud who the people that were barging into his room were. In true Shoanti fashion, Max rushed into the room and leapt over the makeshift barricade and gave Verik a taste of “barbarian diplomacy” cracking the hypnotized man over the head with the flat of his blade, which seemed to shake Verik out from under Simon’s spell. Cyril similarly charged over and smacked Verik with non-lethal damage before Ankou failed his really easy acrobatics check and ended up tripping over a chair.

Seeing that his spell had been prematurely terminated Simon shrugged and missed Verik with a crossbow shot. Verik dropped his bow, stepped back into the corner while drawing his spear and stabbed at the angry Shoanti right next to him. Max retorted with a mighty blow which spent Verik spinning to the ground. Verik and his possessions were looted, though try as they might, the PC’s couldn’t make heads or tails of All the World’s Meat’s ledgers. Simon did find and kept a fascinating silver dagger which seemed magical but didn’t display any magical qualities. Returning the unconscious guards to Field Marshall Kroft, the group was paid the agreed amount and told they would be contacted again if help was needed.

Another week passed before they received a new job. Cressidia introduced the group to Vencarlo Orsini, a well-known and respected teacher of sword-play in Old Korvosa. After chatting for a few minutes Cressidia got down to business. The PC’s were being asked to head to a den of vice known as the Eel’s End to try and find some dirt on the Chelaxian Ambassador. Cressidia gave them a bag of gold in “donation to the cause” funds and sent them on their way. Vencarlo, being from Old Korvosa, accompanied the party and chatted with them for a while, building a friendly repertoire. Vencarlo pointed Eel’s End out to the group before returning to his dueling academy.

The PC’s ignored the delights that the Eel’s End offered and headed straight for the ship owned by the proprietor of Eel’s End and local crime boss Devargo Barvasi. With some smooth talking and coins, the PC’s slid their way past security and into Devargo’s audience chamber. A bunch of wannabe thugs were hanging out inside, waiting for a chance to prove themselves to the big man, who was himself lounging on his spider infested throne. Devargo demanded to know who the hell these guys were and what they were doing in his ship. Ankou stepped forward and told Devargo that they were looking for blackmail material on the Chelaxian Ambassador and that they would be willing to pay 500 gold for it. One great roll later, and with a hefty sum of money on the table, Devargo was suitably impressed enough to not throw the PC’s out, though not impressed enough to give them what they wanted. Instead, Devargo proposed that they play a couple of rounds of “knivesies”, a Riddleport gambling game.

After a quick overview of the rule, Ankou stepped up as the first challenger. Devargo directed one of the thugs-in-training to be his opponent. Gold was cast and the match began. With a smirk, Ankou reacted first but instead of going for the dagger or the coins he pointed at the thug and cast “Cause Fear.” The thug failed hi save miserably but Ankou’s sense of satisfaction at “thinking-outside-the-box” was short lived as the thug fled directly away from him with violent force. Ankou failed his strength check to resist and both men flew off the table, still bound at the wrist. After a moment of stunned silence in the room, Devargo roared out with laughter and declared both men losers and himself the winner of all the profits. Ankou shrugged since at least Devargo was pleased with the results.

Cyril and thug #2 were up next and, like Ankou, Cyril won initiative but didn’t grab the dagger. Having particular knowledge of human anatomy, Cyril wanted to end the match quickly and lashed out with a devastating uppercut which made the thug see double. The thug wasn’t out though and grabbed for the dagger on his turn. Cyril punched again but was cut by the thug’s Attack of Opportunity and missed. The thug grabbed some coins. Cyril swung again and was cut one more time before landing a solid blow and knocking the thug out. Devargo applauded Cyril’s complete disregard for his own safety, bringing them one step closer to winning his approval.

Giant Max the Shoanti stepped up next and everyone threw their money down and ran to bet on Max’s side, expect Simon. The devious wizard bet on thug, thinking to win all the money, and with a smirk cast enlarge person on the man as the match started. With both the bulky Shoanti and large thug on the table, both of them were making acrobatics checks to avoid slipping off. Enraged at this turn of events, Max raged and bull-rushed his opponent right off the table and onto Simon. Devargo roared his approval with laughter. It looked like the information was the PC’s, but Devargo remarked that not everyone had gotten a chance to play. All eyes turned to Simon.

Simon wasn’t too worried as he had secretly surrounded himself in magic armor before entering the Eel’s End. Bob the minion mounted the table across from Simon, the remaining thugs bet on Bob while the PC’s all bet on Simon. The match began with Bob grabbing the dagger from the table. Simon, somewhat wary of the dangerous looking knife, called upon his arcane power to shrink Bob, but Bob pulled on the strap linking them and Simon lost his spell. Bob grabbed some of the few going off the table (the group was a bunch of cheapskates who only threw in 1 gp each in the hopes of making more off the thugs). Simon saw that Bob had only managed to grab a few of the coins and realized that with a good grab, he could win the match. Simon was stabbed by Bob as he reached for coins, but couldn’t manage to get enough to end the game. With only a few coins left, Bob would be the winner, but Ankou threw some more cash on the table, keeping the match going. The rest of the group was trying to defect to Bob’s side, but the thugs were pushing them back, not wanting to split the cash. Bob grabbed a generous handful of coins, leaving only a few left. Simon decided that offensive tactics were the way to go and summoned an acid dart to strike Bob, but Bob lashed out with an attack of opportunity and critically hit. Drawing from the Crit Deck, Simon was forced to make a Fort save and failed, meaning that Bob the minion had permanently blinded Simon by cutting his eyes out. Bob grabbed the last couple of coins and won the match.

Devargo was doubled over with laughter by this point and told the group that they had definitely earned their blackmail letters. Telling the guards to watch the PC’s, Devargo descended into the ship, laughter echoing through the hold. The rest of the group comforted the now blind Simon and bound his wounds before Devargo returned with two letters. He took the PC’s money and gave them the blackmail and then kicked them out of his audience chamber.

The PC’s used the rest of the money they had been given to get a restoration for Simon, giving him his eyesight back, and the returned the letters to Cressidia, who thanked them and gave them some additional cash before the session ended.