Nicolai cocks his head listening. "I think they've got a guard dog around here, somewhere." he points off to the left.
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"Glad to see that your concern for the children was short lived" Nicolai says half sarcastically to Lucien.
"Just hold the fort for a second" Nicolai says, eager to get a word in before everyone storms the fishery "I assume the children will come back here as night falls. If our goal is to avoid as much collateral damage and possible hostages might I suggest we attack during the day, when most of the "lambs" will be out on the streets."
Nicolai will follow the rest of the group as they head towards the fishery. "I'd suggest that we observe the fishery at night and again in the morning. Check for routines and see who is guarding the place and how many children might be present day and night."
Never lost power but the internet at home has been down since 5 o'clock last night.
Thanks for this.
"Apologies, Ma'am." Nicolai says "I know very little about this Zellara. Only that she is some sort of fortune teller and that this is her shop" He pulls the card from his pouch and nods to the others in the room "May I take it that you all have received this mysterious summons as well?" he says as he lays his card, The Joke, face up on the table for everyone to see, curious to see what cards the others have received.
Nicolai finishes his rounds, satisfied that this Zellara woman means him no harm. As he leaves his apartment he settles his cloak around his shoulders and settles Nipper gently on his shoulder. Walking down Lancet street he approaches number 3 and enters. Once inside he sees an elderly woman seated at a table and three other gentlemen standing around the table. He nods to the woman "Madame Zellara, I presume?"
Nicolai padded out of his bedroom into the main room of his apartment and, after breaking his fast, he puled his beloved Harrow deck from it's case and began shuffling for a spread. As he looked at the cards as he shuffled he noticed something odd, one of the cards in his deck had a different backing than his. "How did that get in there?" as he pulled the card from the deck he noticed that it was the Joke, a card he most often identified with. But that was before...before the fates decided to dump a world of hurt on him and he folded like the proverbial house of cards. The death of Natalia and their unborn child hit him with a tidal wave of grief and he chose to let himself drown in it. He drown himself in dose after dose of Shiver, hiding from the pain inside until, he hoped, that he would join his Natalia in the afterlife. It wasn't until he hit rock bottom and he was found by the Korvosan Guard face down in his own filth, by the same Sergeant that brought him news of his wife's death. That Sergeant took pity on him and brought him to his own family so that he could recover. It was there with Tayce, and her daughter Breanna, that he began to find hope in the world again. Once he fully recovered he began fruitlessly searching for the merchant of death that had nearly taken his life and had destroyed the lives of so many others. Thanks to his contacts and former clients of his he had a name, Gaedren Lamm! He turned the card over and read the note on the back before dropping it in shock. Excitedly he grabbed his cloak and hit the streets, talking to people he knew about whoever lived at this 3 Lancet Street.
Nicolai will enter the ship's cabin behind Garret and Shrike, his wand at the ready."Lead on." he says warily.
Nicolai accepts the wand "Thanks. Will probably hit better with this than with this thing" he indicates the crossbow he carrying.
Just slow your roll. Unlike others I do not live on these boards. I'm a divorced Father who only gets to see his daughter every other weekend and when I'm with her that's my entire weekend. If I post on those days it's usually early in the morning when she's still asleep. I work Monday through Friday and Monday night is my IRL game night, so I post when I can. Right now Nicolai is not too impressed with some of the members of this party who put the word murder in murderhobo. To him Abella is a psychopathic murderess and Shrike is borderline schizophrenic. Speaking of which you seem quiet keen on telling others how to run their characters and how the should move and act which makes it decidedly less fun for those of us who just want to play.
Nicolai fires his crossbow from the top of the stars across the opening at the half-orc attacking Audria
Nicolai nods at Lina and loads his crossbow, waiting for her to open the door.
Nicolai moves through the room with the pool of fish to stand behind Lina and draws his crossbow.
Nicolai recoils as Abella flat out kills Hookshanks "But, he was out. No need to murder him." He steps back as she reaches out to touch him but releases a breath he didn't even know he was holding as she casts the Guidance spell on him. "I don't know what Lamm did to any of you but he didn't do anything to me that I didn't do to myself. He may have had his Lamb's out pushing Shiver but he didn't make me take it, that was on me. Anyway, I'm out of spells that will do any good now."
Apologies, I forgot the building is skewed and north is to the left and not the top. So when you said north door I was assuming one of the ones by where Yargin was at.
Nicolai takes a step back as the Gnome, Hookshanks, swings at him. He rises his arms and begins casting a spell "Conem Color" he says as a bright cone of coruscating colors springs from his hands and engulfs the Gnome.
Nicolai will move to the Northern door and open it.
Unless there are multiple bad guys with differing initiative. You could potentially have a Group A, Group B, and a Group C or more.
Happy Thanksgiving (or Happy Thursday) everyone
For initiative I usually group the results by those with a higher initiative count than the bad guy and those with a lower roll. people can post within their grouping regardless of initiative order and I sort it out in my posts. That way the bad guy gets a chance to react instead of being piledrived by the whole group at once
Looking at a map of Korvosa, the Fishery is within a mile of Nicolai's apartment in Midland so he still benefits from Nipper's Initiative bonus, just not the Alertness feat.
Nicolai moves up to the door opposite Garrett and waits to see what reaction their intrusion brings.
"Had we not gone off half cocked" He pointedly looks at Abella "I could have prepared some spells. But, as it is, I cast a couple before entering Zellara's shop so I only have a few left. Also, I'm without my companion which puts me at a further detriment." "Since we haven't tipped our hand yet I suggest we take this opportunity to do a little reconnaissance and come back in the morning when the fishery is open to see exactly what we are up against. How many henchmen Lamm has, how many children are present, what other defenses they might have. Then with proper preparation we could strike tomorrow night."
Somewhat taken aback by Abella's insistence on killing Lamm, Nicolai interjects "I agree Lamm needs to be stopped. By sword if he resists or by rope if he does not, but I will not outright murder the man." Nicolai looks at Shrike as she makes her statement about the children "Yes, and then what? What do we do with the children after we've gotten them out, by any means necessary? Do we just turn them loose on the streets to fall in with another gang? or do we make arrangements for their lives post Lamm? He looks past the others in the crowded room to Audria as she tries, nervously, to hold her ground and sees her holy symbol for the first time "Audria, is it? Do you think the Sanctuary would take them in, at least temporarily until further arrangements could be made?" "My condolences for your loss, Madame" Impressed by Zellara's knowledge of Lamm's whereabouts he thinks to himself "Maybe she does have the Talent if she can divine his location that exactly. Although she's been looking for him for over a year and I've only been searching for him for a month or so." "is there anything else you can tell, or divine for, us that will help bring Eran's murderers to justice?"
Nicolai smiles as the young woman takes a seat at the table and sprawls across the chairs exuding an aura of bravado when she is just as confused as he was as to what exactly is going on. "Nicolai." he says in introduction "and the other gentleman has not, as of yet, introduced himself before your arrival." He looks up as the young girl literally stumbles through the door. He's slightly taken aback as the thrush lands on the girl's chest and begins to speak "A songbird and her human familiar, I see." he says as he extends a hand to help Audria up from the floor as her bird lands on his shoulder "I'm glad I left Nipper at home tonight as that is usually his perch." His motion is arrested as the cloaked, masked figure enters the room. He watches as this 'Shrike' lays her card on the table and then stands with her back to the wall where she can survey the entire room her face inscrutable behind the mask. His observation of the mysterious woman is interrupted as yet another person, this one dressed as little more than a vagabond, enters the salon.
Nicolai turns the odd card over and over in his hands "How did that get there?" he thinks to himself "The Vision is a card of knowledge or madness, sometimes both." He reads the back of the card a second time.
Arriving on Lancet Street he pauses for a moment to observe the shop from a distance. Seeing a male halfling enter he muses for a moment "Well, that's not Zellara. What in the Gods names is going on?" He'll step into a side alley and cast a couple of spells on himself before stepping back onto the street.
He sees the man seated at the table and nods his head to him "Greetings. My name is Nicolai, Nicolai Fortescu, and I believe that Madame Zellara is expecting me...us???. I take it you received one of these too?" he pulls the card from his pouch and places it on the table. He looks around the shop and at the tapestries in particular
@Audria
Thank you, GM Elfriede for picking up Nicolai. I had envisioned Nicolai's missing sister as having been one of Laam's lambs before escaping his clutches and she is now running with the Catsdew Lofties in Old Korvosa
Nicolai's background touches on several of the Campaign traits (i.e. Dropout, Missing Sibling, All Alone, and Drug Addict) and also gives a reason for involvement in some events later in the AP. Two of my favorite characters for roleplaying are Nicolai himself and Randall McNally a smart assed Bard whose mouth seems to get him in trouble. I'm in the NW suburbs of Chicago, where Winter is a long, cold, grey suck and in the Spring orange barrels blossom along every major street and expressway.
Nicolai sits down at a nearby table and pulls a well worn deck of cards from his satchel. After shuffling the deck he begins to lay them out on the table in three rows of three. "Care to know your future? For the low cost of three coppers I will tell you" he winks conspiratorially "For a silver I'll even tell you the truth."
Completed Submissions:
Dotted for Interest:
Apologies if I missed anyone. Please let me know and I'll add you to the list.
I'm going to throw Nicolai's hat into the ring. Nicolai is a Human (Varisian) Wizard (Diviner: Foresight school) who will eventually go into the Harrower Prestige Class (probably around level 8 or so). As a disclaimer: I've played Nicolai in this AP several times now, none of them getting any farther than near the end of the second book, but I am capable of keeping Player knowledge separate from Character knowledge.
Nicolai shrugs as the others turn over their weapons to the thugs before doing the same "If there comes a time when I need to use these we are well and truly screwed."
Once everyone is gathered Nicolai explains his plan. "You see, this spell I just learned will set up a field of invisibility centered on me. If we can get to The Narrows we can "Borrow" a boat and I can use this spell to turn it and everyone else within ten feet of me invisible. Then we can paddle across The Narrows and land somewhere in Old Dock, probably by Eel's End, or we can cross from the west side somewhere in Bridgefront. From there we can hunker down somewhere until morning and go to Vencarlo's Academy to look for him there." he looks at his companions and shrugs "What do you think?"
Nicolai is discouraged to find the Acadamae closed but can understand their self isolation during these desperate times. Turning to the streets he tracks down an old acquaintance from his brief time in the Acadamae, one Corwyn Yeats, a friend who had specialized in illusionary magic. Nicolai grumbles something about price gouging but reluctantly pays his "friend" his fee. After studying the spell he begins laboriously transcribing it into his own spellbook.
After several hours of writing he takes leave of Corwyn and returns to his apartment to await his friends and make plans for entering Old Korvosa. Once there he spends his time idly shuffling through his Harrow deck before deciding to do his own Choosing. Laying the cards out in the traditional pattern his picks own. The Courtesan stares back at him "The Courtesan, the card of political intrigue." how apropos he thinks to himself "Her mask embodies the social niceties that must be followed. If it slips, negotiations can take an unexpected turn. The card can also indicate a woman of power who shapes events. How she is treated decides the outcome of the situation. Well, I don't think the Queen is going to like how we treat her in the times to come."
"I think we're going to need something a little more than luck" Nicolai says in response to Cressida's advice, to which the little faerie sitting on his shoulder gives him a "I can't you just said that" look. Nicolai chuckles at the glare and says "I have an idea on how to get across unseen but I'll need some time to find someone to teach me that spell. So let's say we meet up at my place before sunset and make our way from there"
Nicolai stares aghast as the Queen hauls the Commandant off his feet and stabs him with his own arrow "Did you see that?" he asks the others as the Queen and her Seneschal disappear. Seeing the Gray Maidens wade into the crowd, swinging their batons he says "Perhaps we should fall back and regroup before we get swept up in the riot" The next morning when Grau appears Nicolai thinks to himself "I've been expecting this." "Shall we go then? he says, smiling at the guardsman. Once inside the citadel Nicolai notices the stage of neglect as they pass through the halls "Things must be bad. Cressida would never let things get this way if she could help it."
Nicolai recognizes the spell for what it is and grins "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that people aren't out to get you." He listens intently as Kroft gives her briefing. When she finishes he asks a simple question "How do you expect us to infiltrate the island? The Maiden's control the only bridge across and they patrol the river in-between on barges."
"I don't know, but it seems Zellara wants to tell us something"
Nicolai chuckles at Aloysia after the pair have departed "Nice cover there, Aloyisa." he beams "that had to be hard to do, watching the money just walk out of here like that. Tell you what, I'll cover your part of the money in exchange for your ticket to the Martbledome. Deal?"
Nicolai picks up the pouch and examines the coins inside, he looks to the others with a raised eyebrow for agreement, before handing it back to Deyanira "Thank you for your offer but I'm afraid we can't accept this. It's too much for something we would have done for free. Please, keep your money." Looking at the tickets Nicolai smiles "Now this is something I can accept and I, for one, would love to hear you and your sister perform."
Nicolai said he was going to take a month off to craft items. Right now he's at 21 days (10 for his headband, 6 for Gamon's belt, 4 for Aloysia's belt, and one for a wand of shield. That leaves an additional 9-10 days for more crafting.
Okay, everyone. One of the things this haul has got me thinking about is "how do we transport our loot?" Being in town and bringing things up piecemeal is perfectly doable but, eventually, we're going to be out in the wilderness and will need to transport our loot to town. One of the things I'm thinking about is a Portable Hole. If everybody chips in 5,000 we can commission one and have it ready in 20 days, just as Nicolai finishes up with everyone's magic items. Let me know what you think.
That's each! Seriously, there are some big ticket items on there that no one wanted. The Flask of Curses goes for 25k (12,500), there's 10 suits of Full Plate at 15,000 (7,500), 12 Plaguebringer's Masks at 24,000 (12,000), 14 +1 Breastplates at 18,900 (9,450), the +2 vicious scythe is over 18 grand by itself (9,159). The total for everything unclaimed is 70,598.51, then divide that by 4.
I'm sorry if that caught anyone off guard but GM Fez and I have been working on Nicolai and Kroft's burgeoning romance behind the scenes, via PM, for over a year now and I thought now was a good time to make it public, otherwise I'm just playing with myself. For an additional 3,000 Nicolai can add an another enhancement to the belt. So it could be a Belt of Physical Might (+2 Str, +2 Con). It would take him six days to create. If we stick to the above plan and sell off the rest of the unclaimed items everybody gets an additional 17,649 GP's, 6 SP's, and 2 CP's
So far Nicolai is booked for the next 14 days (10 for his headband, and 4 for Aloysia's belt) so if anyone wants anything else made now's the time to speak up.
Nicolai basks in the warmth and camaraderie of his people, a feeling he hasn't felt since his Natalia passed away. He spends the evening eating and drinking, dancing and singing, laughing and playing with the children until, all too regretfully, it is time to retire. He makes his way, lightheadedly, back to his apartment where he falls fast asleep and dreams of good times gone by. At the soiree with the guildmasters Nicolai will solemnly listen to the byplay between them, trying to get a feel of how the city is doing and their plans for the aftermath of the plague. Once their offer is made Nicolai will seek out the headmaster of the Acadamae and will commission the creation of a 1st level pearl of power to be picked up within the week. During the dinner Nicolai will keep making eye contact with Kroft, trying to ascertain her mood. When she presents the group with their badges he politely pushes his back across the table, explaining that he's not much of a joiner and that some of the things he and the others do might be considered extralegal and that he's sure that there's "Some rule about fraternization among the ranks" to which she has the good sense to blush somewhat. Once in the armory, Nicolai mills about until he finds something he likes, a magical crossbow. Once the dinner is over Cressida escorts the party to the Citadel's gates, where Nicolai pulls her into a warm embrace, "Let the world be damned" he whispers in her ear as she stiffens and blushes while the guards suddenly seem interested in their shoes or any other item of interest they can find. Grau Soldado gives a comic thumbs up, behind the Field Marshall's back, as he passes by.
Finally at the ceremony Nicolai listens to the words from Sabina but can't help understand the sinister undertones of her speech. Smiling, he accepts the writ and the congratulations as he glances at the others to see if they caught the nuances as well.
Aloysia: Potion of cure moderate wounds, Potion of poison , Headband of inspired wisdom +2 , flask of alchemist's fire, and a second disguise kit . Gamon: Amulet of natural armor +1, +2 breastplate , Belt of mighty constitution +2, and a Potion of cure moderate wounds Jolon: Potion of remove disease, Scroll of bless, scroll of cure light wounds, flask of holy water, healer's kit, +1 agile breastplate, Ring of protection +1, cloak of resistance +1 , belt of mighty constitution +2, potion of cure moderate wounds, incense of meditation x3, wand of cure serious wounds, wand of remove disease, scroll of raise dead, and a scroll of restoration Nicolai: Masterwork club, scroll of burning hands, scroll of magic missile, flask of alchemist's fire, thunderstone, blank spellbook, +1 dagger, headband of vast intelligence +2 , wand of magic missile, scroll of teleport, Rolth's spellbook, cloak of resistance +2 , and a potion of cure moderate wounds That leaves us with a conundrum. Each of the cultists had four potions of cure light wounds on them and as far as I can tell none of them used one, which leaves us with 56 potions . I propose we split them up equally and then you can keep as many as you like and donate, or sell, the rest.
Level 8
Skill points (8)
Free spells
Good luck, GM Fez. I hope you can to come back to us as soon as you are able. |