Search Posts
Does the Banshee confuse anyone else? She's the main line of aerial defense. She also has sunlight powerlessness and is in a tiny room at the top of the castle surrounded by nothing but the outside. Are people really invading the haunted castle at night? My players refuse to enter except during daylight.
Two years is a long time
Looking through the map of Harrigan's Fortress, I'm a bit confused about E2 and E2a. E2 has a small white circle, with the letter C in the circle, located in the center of the room. E2a has the same thing in the center of the room, but the letter is F. Based on the information the book gives me about these rooms, I know that E2 has a hatch door that leads to the roof (E2a). My immediate assumption is that these symbols designate the location of both ends of the same hatch. My confusion, though, is what the letters are supposed to mean. I tried to find some sort of universal map key for Pathfinder maps, but couldn't find anything that addressed these symbols. Am I missing something? From my experience with Curse of the Crimson Throne, C means the trapdoor is in the Ceiling and F means the trapdoor is in the Floor, so those ae both ends of the trapdoor. I never did find anything explaining that though.
We just gave every squadron in the fleet +2 Morale once and moved on.
If you are interested in Pathfinder: Level 20, the link from Aaron Shanks leads to a page you can purchase it at but has absolutely no information on the game. There's a link in the original Post which takes you to a website with actual information, once you go and find it.
Prophecy hasn't stopped. It's stopped being guaranteed. Previously, every actual prophecy came true. They were a guarantee. As of Aroden's death breaking a major, real prohecy, fate is no longer guaranteed. That doesn't mean Fate and Destiny don't still exist, they're just not perfect. I can take a pretty good guess as to what my players will do and run the Harrow towards that. It won't all come true, but it'll be pretty close.
The links lead back to this article, which seems counterintuitive.
Take care man. Thanks for everything.
Personally, I appreciate the efforts of people like yourself and sympathize, though I can't full understand, the situation y'all have been in. While some decisions feel a little ham handed, I'm not the person who was being hurt, and I can take a little hamhandedness in order to make the game more welcoming and inclusive for other people. I'm sorry those with less empathy are such a visible and vocal group. I certainly hope and assume that they are a small minority of the people who play this game. So I hope you can try not to take it too personally. There are vocal jerks in every industry, employer and customer alike. Good luck, and I hope things improve for everyone involved. How do you feel about Haunts? Do you think they were implemented well in 1E? Do you think 2E makes them better? Personally I appreciate the idea of a "trap"/hazard with supernatural or other unusual source. However, when our group first ran into them in Rise of the Runelords and then all over the place it seemed in Carrion Crown, while they initially scared us and left us in concern, as we learned the mechanics, they seemed to boil down to "sitting there and take it, hoping it's not lethal, since you can't reasonably generate enough Positive Energy to stop them and there's no other way to deal with them (rarely there is, but you pretty much never know what it is in advance)" and then heal up afterwards. I like the thematics, but they always seemed more of "something that happens to you" than something you interact with.
To where would we put forth requests for the continuation of the adventures of Varian Jeggare and Radovan Virholt, updated to 2E?
To my understanding, in Earthfall, the Veiled Masters called forth the Starstone and orbital struck at Azlant. In doing so, they shattered the continent of Azlant. If Azlant was the target, how did the Starstone end up thousands of miles to the east and create the Inner Sea? Big bounce?Becasue gods intervened and blocked the shot that would have destroyed everything, causing the big rock to split into lots of little ones. Turning a cannonball strike into a shotgun strike. Azalant still took a direct hit, and nearby continents like Avistan and Garund and Arcadia took scatter spray damage, but the world recovered. It would not have if the gods didn't deflect most of the blow. So, the Starstone itself presumably hit basically where Absalom is now? And there were larger pieces which shattered Azlant itself and made the big "holes" where the Inner Sea ended up?
To my understanding, in Earthfall, the Veiled Masters called forth the Starstone and orbital struck at Azlant. In doing so, they shattered the continent of Azlant. If Azlant was the target, how did the Starstone end up thousands of miles to the east and create the Inner Sea? Big bounce?
I would have liked to see them, but I think it's safe to say at this point, they won't be released.
One of them knew the rules, woohoo! Yay for improvement.
I'm glad I'm not the only one really confused by Ablative Plating. I feel like it should have a Reaction to activate or something. Otherwise, 10 minutes of work for 1 minute of use is basically useless.
That dadgum dragon really has been in the art the entire time.
Shimye-Magalla was the only Mwangi specific deity I could find for years. I was a little disappointed to see that the Mwangi Expanse only barely references them. I don't suppose there's anywhere else to get more information on this deity or plans for there to be more information?
I've only been in here a few times in the past decade. I'm currently working my through since the answers were interesting, and since I had that question on Aeon/Ioun Stones which I asked earlier (also either here or on the Band of Bravos stream I'd asked about how the BoB Shenses and the HV Shensen were related). Given my own difficulties in internet "discussions" I've had over the years, I just want to say I'm very impressed at your patience and discretion at people who actively questioned you in bad faith. The way you've handled yourself is a credit to people and internet discussions and makes me want to leave the internet much less than I do after having my own discussions with close minded people. So that's pretty cool. Thanks, And since it's a question thread where I'd be in the wrong for not bringing up my own questions, how do you feel about the Dresden Files?
Is there any sort of Lore explanation for the transition from Ioun Stones to Aeon Stones? I would have though all the Azlanti exploration of Ruins of Azlant would have been a great place to find out they actually called the stones something else (especially with the Aeon Empire in Starfinder), but we didn't see anything like that when we played through it. Is it just a change we're supposed to ignore as 1E becomes P2E? I liked the changes that had Lore updates to show they "weren't really" changes, just an updated understanding
Awesome. Both of those links go to places which have active links to the stories. I'm thrilled to see that. Thanks Y'all.
It's been a while since I was on the Forums much. It looks like all of the old links are broken. At one point, it was said all of the old serial webfiction would me maintained and available "in perpetuity" in addition to the ability to buy and download the stories. I haven't been able to find the older serial web fiction with searches and, as I mentioned, the old links don't work any more. I've finished buying all the novels. Is there still a way to access to the older series web fiction for free? Or do I have to buy it now?
That was a good one, I liked it. They were good with the rules and setting elements. I'd like another one from this author.
I gotta say, two of the pictures match real well with character descriptions. The other two, not so much
Well, we finished the module. And there were yet more blood drinkers. I can't read the module until the adventure path is complete. Can you at least tell me if there ends up being a reason for all the blood draining?
Dude, even the plants wanted to drink our blood. And what was our last encounter before heading to Nal'shakar? A Cult of Blood drinkers. At this point I'm expecting a WoD style Cain or Assamite in the dadgum tower. Also, at the rate we're going, I'm not expecting to have all of my delicious (?) blood for much longer.
Is it just me, or does this module have an extremely high number of things that want to drink my blood? We haven't even headed up to Nal'Shakar yet, but it seems like everything wants my personal blood.
I'm a little confused on how the PCs get to the Emperor. The way the module is written you're basically supposed to hit them with the random encounters with the Emperor's Thugs as soon as they hit Old Korvosa. So either they fight the Thugs, or they're taken to the Emperor. If the kill the Thugs, there's another Thug encounter, where either the go to the Emperor or the kill the Thugs. If they win that one, a third group of Thugs politely asks them to visit the Emperor. However, they don't know they want to visit the Emperor until after they're met Laori, which shouldn't have happened yet. Did this confuse anyone else? How did you deal with it?
And if you're saying that putting on the Mask when you're already sick cures you, I don't think there's a rule that says that. While wearing the Mask you can't contract the disease, and if you already have it you won't get worse, but nothing says it cures the disease. from PSRD:
A creature with immunities takes no damage from listed sources. Immunities can also apply to afflictions, conditions, spells (based on school, level, or save type), and other effects. A creature that is immune does not suffer from these effects, or any secondary effects that are triggered due to an immune effect.
Plaguebringer's mask grants immunity too Blood veil, put it on someone they get cured and then rinse and repeat.Am i right in the fact that the pc's can easily start curing everybody in the hospice when they get their hands on a plaguebringer's mask? I don't think that's a Ruling, I think that's the Rule. Putting on the mask once doesn't make you Immune to Blood Veil forever, it makes you Immune to Blood Veil while you are wearing it. Otherwise, why does the Cult need more than one? It's just like you only get a Resistance Bonus to Saves while wearing a Cloak of Resistance. You can't just get one and pass it around to everyone with any magic item.
Plaguebringer's mask grants immunity too Blood veil, put it on someone they get cured and then rinse and repeat.Am i right in the fact that the pc's can easily start curing everybody in the hospice when they get their hands on a plaguebringer's mask? I don't think that's a Ruling, I think that's the Rule. Putting on the mask once doesn't make you Immune to Blood Veil forever, it makes you Immunre to Blood Veil while you are wearing it. Otherwise, why does the Cult need more than one? It's just like you only get a Resistance Bonus to Saves while wearing a Cloak of Resistance. You can't just get one and pass it around to everyone with any magic item.
So, doing a weekly journal is hard. I'm obviously way behind. I do have notes I hope to one day catch up on and start posting. I did want to post one of the events of the last game, wherein the DM was hoisted by his own petard. At the beginning of the second module, I had the players roll d20 for every PC and related NPC with Varisian blood. I didn't tell them why, but it was to see if any were immune to Blood Veil. They got one Nat 20, for Ingvano, the 10ish year nephew who was rescued from Lamm in the first game. So the PCs are called to visit Cressida who gives them some plot info they missed, mainly than Ruan was handed over to Rolth and two Queen's Physicians. So Cressida asked the PCs to quietly investigate the Physicans and the Hospice. The PCs verified this story and determined that a large number of healthy Varisians had gone missing. They set up a sting operation which nearly worked. The morning after they returned home, Dragos Omoroi showed up with bad news. Ingvano had been missing for several days. He was last seen taking his sick girl friend to the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden for help. Ingvano was a healthy Varisian. The PCs did some investigation and verified that he had gone there, but that his name wasn't listed as anyone checked in (though the girl was marked as being there and died). This is where I was petarded. I thought I was clever in replacing Ruan with Ingvano (he'll be in one of the other rooms with Varisans). However, apparently Zaskia doesn't take nephew danger lying down. She spent three grand on scrolls of Scrying and Teleport. She scryed on him and found him on the table in Ramoska's room. We ended game with them about the Teleport into Ramoska's room. With him there. Oops.
With no real healing, I'd advise it not be too tough or long a fight. a CR 7 encounter is likely to kill a couple party members when you're level 4. Especially since a flying enemy is party hard to stop at level 4.
You have to adjust a bunch of the timeline references, as House on Hook Street is set like 8 years after CotCT. I'm running Hook Street concurrently with parts 2 and 3 of CotCT. I've found it works well so far. Just managing what happens where and when. I haven't significantly added or removed to either though, just meshed them together. My party just captured Greely (oops) and is about to get called to check out the Alleyway by the toy store. Then the House itself, then Carrowyn Manor. While they're in the Manor, the quarantine will go into effect, so the party won't know they didn't stop the disease until they get into Escape.
If you're just looking for foreshadowing, maybe have some female members of the Guard end up being recruited. Then they break off the friendship.
I stacked the deck for the first Harrowing, as I wanted it to all mean something. We actually did an In Game Harrow about someone's past which was entirely done on the spot, and it worked out pretty well. However, I still went through all the cards last night and currently have a stacked deck ready for the second module's Harrowing tonight. I like having a spiel pre-planned rather than trying to come up with it on the fly.
I managed to massage my PCs into capturing Lamm and turning him over to the Guard. So we got an additional encounter wherein they assisted the Guard in a prisoner transfer, which included Lamm, Vancaskerkin, and some people they didn't know, from Volshyenek to The Longacre Building. There was an attack by Fast Zombies, a couple Pugwumpis, and a speedy little hard to see Fey which tried to break the prisoners out. A line from the fey after all his "buddies" were killed on his way out indicated that "Rolth underestimated them." That was my first foreshadowing of Rolth after the Dagger. Given the information about the Longacre Building that came out in the updated hardcover CotCT, I used the Derro connection to have Gaedrenn become one of the unknown escapees. So the PCs found him in Rolth's bedroom, grousing at the zombie of Hookshanks Grueler. I didn't get much more foreshadowing here, as after doing the lawful thing earlier, my PCs went nuts and massacred Gaedrenn the second time. I feel I've gotten a fair chunk of Rolth foreshadowing going.
Session 12 - a Night in the Bookmaker Komora's player is sick, and I didn't want to start the Dead Warrens without him, so I wrote up some additional encounters to slow them down from reaching the place (giving Vreeg a girlfriend and using her as the source of the Skeletal Bat Swarm I was added based on the previous skeletal bats), so of course the players decided to devote the entire game to the Bookmaker Hypertime Interlude. Hypertime Night 15 - Bella and Corvin, Voilena, Zaskia - More research, a battle with no memory (11 Tooth Fairies). All three of them failed the Will Save, so the Forgotten one was able to make everyone forgot the fight. They simply woke up injured confused. Bella knew what happened, but at this point Bella's made friends with the Atomies, as they actually used Speak with Animals to chat with her. At this point, she knows the score and is defending Costa's apartment, but she has no way to tell the PCs. This was the first time enough noise was made that Costa came out of his apartment to check up on them. When the party retired to rest for the afternoon, Zaskia had a Nightmare. In it, she heard the siren call of her youth, which she previously resisted (which is why she'sa Changeling, not a Hag). But in the dream she fell to it, traveling north with generic companions. All of her companions die in horrible ways, and then a giant partial face in the sky warned her to not go North. She was very grumpy when she awoke, so they took the rest of the day off, deciding to go back to the bookstore the next day. The dream was the first bit of foreshadowing. I'm planning on adding a side quest to the campaign when the party heads to Scarwall. The "Witch Queen" is forming an army up there, and she's Zaskia's Annis hag mother. She gains power by easting her children, instead of making them new Annis Hags. One of her lieutenants is thus making the rounds of the children, trying to keep them from feeding her. Foreshadowing! Took a day off to recover from the battle and Zaskia’s bad dream Night 16 - Bella and Corvin, Voilena, Zaskia - Feygate research complete, need a Key, a Frame/Door, and energy to open/power, basically took 20 searching the entire place top to bottom They took the place apart and put it back together. They didn't find the gate because it's not obvious, it's one of the Calligraphies hung upon the wall, and it only shows as magic in moonlight. The 50/50 for Tooth Fairies that day came out with no encounter. The following day, they tried again to get Costa to let them in the basement, as they're sure something down there is summoning the tooth fairies (or that he's got a dead kid buried down there). They made god arguments, so he agreed. However, he wanted to just show Voilena down there "because she was the one hired." They agreed, though Corvin was mad and unhappy about it (I'm not sure if that was player or character, now can I tell why he's so angry). So Voilena went down to the basement and looked around. There was nothing strange except the wall sized Bas Relief of Varisian things, with the symbol of the Palatine Eye hidden on it. Costa told her the reason he hired her, and why he only wanted her down here. His old partner was a member of the Order of the Palatine Eye. He'd noticed the hidden Eye symbol in her clothing. After discussing the Order with her, he's willing to make contact with them on her behalf. He also told her there was a hidden Order safehouse back there, but it was warded. If she can take care of his issue, he'll take that as enough competence to give her what she needs to try and get in there. Voilena has the True Silvered Throne Shaman archetype, so this is how I'm getting her in with the actual organization. Research showed that a portal to another plane needed three key components. A Key that resonated mystically with the other Plane. An energy source to open and hold open the portal. And some sort of gateway or framework for the Portal to open in. The Key is a piece of paper made from Hair like Autumn. The energy is moonlight shining upon it. The framework is an arcane drawing with First World symbology which the Calligraphy Wyrm copied from one of the books. And that's where the Tooth Fairies come from and why they only come out sometimes. Night 17 - Bella and Corvin, Voilena, Zaskia, Soug - Research moves on to fluctuations in an attempt to find out why the Tooth Fairies don't show every day. Voilena walks around the place speaking in Sylvan and has a talk with something invisible after bribing it with a potion of CL. A big battle involving 7 Tooth Fairies, 6 something else (theorized as Atomies’s) occurs, in the end all of the PCs were in basically the same spot they'd found themselves after the forgotten battle earlier (which was awesome). Corvin gets shrunk while talking about Hair like Autumn and leaves in a huff, making Bella go with him though she wanted to stay. The next day Majenko collects a bunch of bird eggs to pay to the hidden guys (as the Fey only give something when they get something), Trilby is not pleased. Despite some kvetching, they got a lot of information and were able to do a lot of theorizing. They think there's a faerie gang war going on. In theorizing, they've basically figured everything out in some of their theories, but they haven't matched which parts of each theory matches the actual truth yet.
I made the anarchy last a lot longer. Food wasn't scarce on day one (though roving mobs kept most shops closed), but it became scarcer. My party captured Lamm, and it took most of a week for them to get from the Old Fishery to Citadel Volshyenek to turn him in. Large roaming mobs to indicate the streets aren't safe forced them to take a circuitous route. Encounters along the way forced them to expend their resources. My anarchy lasted several weeks before things started to calm down again. The PCs were wise enough to spend most of the time closeted up in Zellara's or a shop owned by one of their father's. to play up the Anarchy, I rolled a random ecounter every time they went outside during the Anarchy, in addition to the scripted random encounters. Heck, I still roll random encounters everytime someone goes off alone, to "foster" party unity.
To be fair, Cressida and the Korvosan Guard are LN, she meant what she told them (though torture is something the Korvosa guide book says is a standard punishment for a certain level of crime). It's not her fault that Trinia is taken away from her by the Queen's people. It is an interesting correlation I hadn't noticed. No one blinked at Lamm being tortured before he was executed, but everyone trusted Cressida as well (and they thought Trinia was probably innocent). The entire group is CN, CG or NG, no Law in them ironically. They didn't attack the Accuser because they didn't think it would go well for them. So far the random encounters have had an Erinyes, Barbed Devil and an Accuser Devil show up. They didn't have the fight the first two (the Erinyes was scouting for Hellkights and the Barbed Devil was sent to the Grey District to skeep an eye open for troubles starting up down there during Anarchy. They'd also seen Hellknights patrolling the district on their way to Trinia's. They didn't know if they could kill the Accuser before it got away (Greater Teleport at will) and since the Hellknight patrols they've seen all appear to be a similar make up (two armigers, two Hellknights, one Signifier) and they've seen the Signifiers use 5th level spells, they were pretty sure they'd lose a fight with the Hellknights. Since they didn't want Trinia to get caught, they took the Accuser's abuse in order to help her.
Session 11 – The Shingles Chase Hypertime Interlude Night 14 - Voilena, Zaskia, Corvin and Bella – Voilena and Zaskia began researching Fey Gates, while Corvin decided not to research anything. Corvin posted himself at the basement door, and Voilena stayed there to keep an eye on them. They both fell asleep. Zaskia posted herself upstairs, in the opposite corner from the basement door, and Bella patrolled. Bella headed over to the counter, when she heard the calligrapher. She was there by herself for a time, and then Zaskia jumped down from above. She didn’t quite catch the Calligrapher but had apparently interrupted him. All that was there was a propped open book with a golden pen for a bookmark. Zaskia apologized and headed out. Later on, something battled three tooth fairies, apparently. Bella, Zaskia and Corvin got there too late, but Zaskia saw a pair tiny forms fleeing and then caught for auras. They eventually shook her attempt to follow them. Corvin found a tiny tooth and they tried to return it to the combatants. They apparently took it, but later returned it. Bella was found sometime later after some unusual activity and the tiny tooth. The still unnamed party brought Costa up to speed, but he had nothing new to add. Days after Lamm’s execution, Corvin headed back to the Longacre Building to verify his death. On inquiring after Lamm and giving his name, he received a note from Zenia. In it, she gave the results of her questioning of Lamm, in which he refused to answer any questions while under the effects of magic. She also provided the results of his torture, which was that the first day of torture broke him, and he did nothing but babble nonsense afterwards. They tortured him for another day on principle, and then he was executed. Corvin passed the letter on to Soug. Real time: The group had left Cressida previously, heading from City Hall to Midlands. Majenk has to bow out for the time, as the Imp/Drake war in the skies had rekindled, with the party seeing flights and murders attacking each other in the skies. Seeing that the large groups of people causing problems were mostly on the main streets, the party stuck to side streets. At one point, they saw a pack of feral dogs mowed down by a patrol of HellKnights. Eventually they reached her building, making no attempts at stealth and talking to no one. Soug was left on guard outside. Bella went up the walls of the bulding. Komara, Zaskia, and Voilena tried to find her Shingles apartment while Corvin kept going up, to cut her off if needed. The three found her apartment and knocked, to no answer. Eventually they kicked the door in, and found her asleep in her bed. Komora was worried about magic, so he had everyone stand behind him as he cast Detect Magic and began concentrating. Bella was attacked by a half dozen cutpurses on one of the roofs, prompting Corvin to head to a window to see if she was ok. In doing so, he saw Trinia skipping out and hollered out an alarm. When he did so, Zaskia strode forward and shook Trinia’s shoulder, showing her to be an illusion. Looking out the window, the Chase was on. At this point I’m not real happy with how the Chase went. The rules from the Game Mastery Guide didn’t make sense to me. So we “clarified” them with the rules from the second chase deck. I didn’t give Trinia enough of a lead, so the PCs were catching up to her way too fast. The Rooftop Runner was frustrated, he was Medium encumbered and never made a single check. The PCs were so close to her, she never got a chance to use her Wand, as doing so would just mean they caught up faster. Fortunately, one of the cards was very difficult to get past (Perception 25 or Climb 30, for Trinie a Nat 18 or Nat 20), and she got stuck on it, so Zaskia was able to catch up to her. Komora got mired once and fell off, that was great. Soug started Mired, so she had to climb up to the first card. Corvin was coming from a different direction, so I gave him a different card (drawn from random from the Chase 2 deck), which he could never get past, until he got frustrated, and went back to help Bella, who had been waylaid by a random encounter which was keeping her out of the Chase (I’ve established that going out by yourself gets you a Random Encounter, to encourage togetherness with the PCs, Soug rolled no Encounter). When Zaskia caught up to Trinia on the hard card, she tried to reason with her. Of course, Diplomacy in combat is pretty hard to do. Still, I did a crappy job of RPing her, basically going with descriptions instead of RP, indicating she was terrified of getting killed and not having her surrender because of it. Zaskia made every save, Trinia couldn’t get off the square (was considering having her jump, move to the next square and climb back up then) and eventually Zaskia grappled her so she stopped fighting. All in all, I’m not happy with the Chase or how I ran it. Only two PCs could make any of the checks. The only spell they had which could have been useful was Spiritual Weapon, and they didn’t want to hurt her. Though Bella and Corvin killed six cut purses, all of which were previously established as having decent loot, the PCs didn’t loot them and continued on. (They didn’t loot Barvasi either. In looting his enforcers, they never used Detect Magic, and I had to make up some skill checks to make sure they didn’t miss the 8 suits of enchanted armor. I don’t know why they’re suddenly skipping all the loot.) The convinced Trinia that they wouldn’t hurt her and she had no choice but to go to the Korvosan Guard. They disguised her for the trip out of the District. It’s good they did, as a Random Encounter pulled in an Accuser Devil. He was acting as a checkpoint, requiring everyone to show and name themselves. They did so, explaining they were taking this woman to the Guard and refusing to tell anything else. It made Trinia show herself and didn’t see through the disguise. It did see through Soug’s disguise so it made a douchie remark. Soug returned in kind, which pissed the Accuser off, so it told them they could leave, but Soug had to stay. The party wasn’t happy with that. It offered them the alternative of taking everyone to the HellKights, which the party balked at (due to Trinia). Eventually, as the Accuser was getting more and more threatening, everyone left as ordered except Soug and Voilena. The Accuser was just planning on hurting Soug, so it settled on hurting both. The Accuser went invisible and summoned 4 Lemures, surrounding the two of them in the ally. It followed that up with a pair of Bat Swarms, then moved while invisible to where it would flank). Soug had no silver weapons, so she found she was doing minimal damage to the little devils. Voilena’s Spiritual Weapon tore through the Lemures and her Burning Hands hurt the Bats. They dropped three of the Lemures in total, before they retreated. Soug was bitten by the invisible Accuser when she provoked on the way out, giving her Devil Chills. The Accuser was overstepping it’s “authority” in attacking them, so it let them go, though the Bats did follow Voilena, forcing her to heal herself. The other Bat Swarm was too interested in the last Lemure to follow. After hooking back up and healing, they used some short cuts to catch back up with the others just as they found the nearest covered Guard Carriage once outside the Midlands. Zaskia traveled with the carriage to Citadel Volshyenek to transport Trinia, while the others followed on foot. Zaskia turned Trinia over to Cressida, who paid her and promised them both a fair interrogation and trial. When the party re-united, they headed back to one of their resting spots, splitting the full party loot they had been setting on, selling the excess gear, splitting the usable loot, and keeping a few things. 2,000 gold richer each, they leveled and looked into getting new gear. Corvin spent everything on a Haversack. Soug is looking at a mithral dagger, replacing his armor and possibly enchanting things or picking up a Wand of CL. The others are still shopping. In this time frame, the previous Hypertime interval where Corvin and Voilena took a patrol in the Grey District (taking Elkrais to the Citadel) took place. A few days after shopping was done, they were asked back to Citadel Volshyenek. There they saw that the Guard was nervous and on edge. After being shown to Cressida, they met Thousand Shoulders, where they learned that under the cover of the anarchy, some racists had murdered a your Shoanti named Gaekhen, the grandson of Thousand Shoulders. Komora was distracted during the conversation as Thousand Shoulder’s Spirit Crow was staring at him the entire time, eventually flying over and landing on his shoulder to examine him further. Soug was shocked and unable to speak, amazed that Thousand Bones was the very man she’d told the party had Reincarnated her. Thousand Shoulders did not hang around. He made his curt statement about his grandson’s murder, and that Korvosan/Shoanti relations would go very bad if his remains were not recovered from Rolth and the Dead Warrens. Zaskia remembered Rolth’s name from the attack on the Prison Transport earlier. They shortly learned that Rolth was Gaedren’s only known, living son. They learned about the Potter’s Field and that the Dead Warrens were beneath it, but didn’t get any more solid location than that. On the way out, Zaskia told Corvin of Amarina’s meeting with Lamm and Zaskia’s suspicion that perhaps Gaedrenn hadn’t died after all. The party is now looking for the Dead Warrens in the Grey District as well as gearing up for their first “dungeon crawl.”
Session 10 – There will be less spiders now Hypertime Interlude Night 12 - Corvin, Bella, Voilena continue their research and vigil. They theorize there are multiple different types of Fey present, so maybe there’s a portal to the First World as wel. They can’t find one with a Detect Magic sweep, but realize that perhaps the portal is only open at certain times. During the night, Voilena does Detect Magic checks hourly. Voilena interrupts the calligrapher, but then lets him get back to work. Night 13 - Corvin, Bella, Voilena and Zaskia’s latest set of research nets them a full list of all tiny and diminuative fey. While Aquatic and some other Fey are assumed unlikely, the Tooth Fairies have a strong likeliehood after Voilena’s battle. Some of the other Fey seem as well likely. Bella kills what is assumed to be a Tooth Fairy before anyone else could get there. Voilena pops Detect Magic when she things the Calligrapher is near, and she notices that the Calligraphy pen looked to have a quickly fading magical aura around it. Meanwhile Vencarlo Orsini found Komora in Bridgefront where he’d been taking care of his grandfather. The party had been missing since they went to Eel’s End a few days ago. Vencarlo isn’t welcome there, and he’s worried, so he escorted Komara over to look for them as the city’s unrest grew. Komora arrived in time for spiders, lots of spiders. They were pouring from the open door of the ship and spreading to the Pier and each of the adjacen, attached boats. The party continues
Meanwhile
The party continues Downstairs, the party opened the spider marked door and saw a massive number of iridescent webs. Deciding they wanted nothing to do with spiders, they shut the door and left. Soug heard noises upstairs, so they bolted for the stairs. Corvin was slow and thus saw the Spider door opened by someone within, and two Dream Spiders crawled out to attack Corvn and Bella. Upstairs, Komara learned vermin don’t notice Color Sprays as the giant spider webs him down and tries to eat him. The others get upstairs, but as they do four more Dream Spiders crawl from the trapdoor and attack them. Though they’re tearing through the Dream Spiders, they do distract them long enough for the Ettercap to make a run for it. Two AoOs, a bolt, and a bullet later, it falls into the sea, where it enters a life and death struggle with a jig saw shark. After killing the last of the spiders, the party decides what they want to do. Corvin, Bella and Soug try to separate the burning brothel from the other boats, but no one has any knowledge of boats, so they settle for cutting down all the ropes and bridges. The fracas on the Twin Tigers appears to be down to spider swarms snacking on dead thugs and reefclaws. Komora and Zaskia and Voilena drag the 8 unconscious enforcers and Giggles to the dock, where they loot them of their magic and masterwork equipment. Soug has to run through a few spider swarms to escape. The PCs then watch Eel’s End burn, since the current wasn’t enough to push the boats (which were not very seaworthy) further than into each other , and make their way back to Citadel Volshyenek. They understand why there was less of a fuss about the mayhem, as they see the city has degenerated to anarchy once more. Majenko heads off to find info for them, and Corvin grabs one of the Wanted Posters for Trinia Sabor off the wall. When they talk to Cressida, she takes the blackmail letters and tells them of them to meet her at City Hall tomorrow, as she’ll want their help. She also thanks them, pays them, and grant them Marks of the Drake. Komara tries to give his back in private, as he wasn’t there for most of the mission. Cressida says she will look into it and that she’ll tell him if she needs it back. The group rests at the Guardhouse, taking advantage of some of the free healing, as they took quite the beating and would, it seems, need their full resources the following day. The next morning the party does a little re-equipping, spreading around the +1 Studded Leather Armors, getting a Potion of CL each and buying a group Wand of CL. They succeed in pushing through the area between Citadel Volshyenek and City Hall without too much trouble. The party asks after Cressida at City Hall and are shown to a meeting room she’s taken over for what looks like research. She tells them what she knows of Trinia, the guard’s confession and suicide and asks them to go bring her Trinia, whose address she has just found. Then she heads off to get guards to the outskirts of Midtown, so they’ll have someone to hand her over to. Quick Hypertime aside – the next time Zaskia is at the Sanctuary of Shelyn, she met with Amarina. Amarina was overjoyed that the man Zaskia told her about, to be executed at Longacre (AKA Gaedren Lamm) was in fact NOT the old man she’s talked to Zaskia about. He was just some madman. Zaskia, who was quite sure in the description, seems puzzled.
Session 9 – Valentine Delays We’d planned on playing through Valentine’s Day as only Komora couldn’t make it. However, Zaskia had to ditch at the last moment. I offered them to continue through Eel’s End without them, and I gave the alternative of dealing with personal plots in Hypertime. So we have a night of Hypertime. Komara was called on for a day patrol in the Grey District, but he couldn’t make it as “his Grandad was sick” so he asked his boon companions to cover for him. So Corin, Bella and Voilena agreed to take care of his patrol, working with Oli’via and Lawrence, a Pharasman Cleric and Ranger. While on patrol, the were first ambushed by a terribly ugly Dread Zombie and a bewildering number of skeletal bats. Someone had stitched on sheets of leather to their wings so they could still fly (poorly). They didn’t appear to be any real threat, other than through sheet numbers. During the fight, someone spotted a man crossing a hill at the edge of their vision. After dragging all of the undead bodies to the road for later disposal, the patrol went off to track then stranger, finding wheelbarrow tracks. On the way, they run into a dozen Gnome, Halfling or child zombies. While battling them, a ghoul snuck up on them. None of their foes proved dangerous though. While moving the corpses to the road, Corvin stopped the stranger again, heading in the other direction. They ran him down with little trouble. While he had a Crow badge and claimed to be on business, half the party believed him lying while the remainder knew that he was out of bounds even for a Crow. So he was taken back to the Grand Cathedral. After he was questioned there by Pharasmans, they asked the party, known as allies of the Guard, to escort this Elkaris fellow to Citadel Volshyenek for more thorough questioning. They do so, helping to collect the undead corpses on the way. And then, done with gaining Komara faction and foreshadowing an upcoming event, they went back to Bookmaker to continue Voilena’s side plot. The three brought up what Zaskia discovered from the invisible figure speaking Draconic, but Costa didn’t know anything about books in the basement. After some poor Diplomacy checks, he saw no reason to allow anyone into the basement. Soug and Corvin researched Shoanti in an attempt to figure out Soug’s past. Then Corvin spent the rest of the night failing research while Soug fell asleep.
The next day they failed to research anything. They discussed the calligraphy with Costa, but he claims it was something a shop girl was making, with several examples on display. That night, Bella almost caught the calligrapher in action, but whatever it was vanished before she got there. Nothing else happened that cloudy night.
Afterwards they went on to look for Shoanti. They didn’t accomplish much, but this did go back to the Shoanti Enclave which Soug had robbed three years ago. Also, Soug told her story of her death one more, this time giving enough details that’s Voilena could identify that she was Reincarnated.
Any feedback? Yay? Nay?
Session 8 Back to Plot I hate typing one of these entirely out and then losing it. Such a pain. Redoing it. Argh. Corvin investigates what Lamm implied when he was dropped off at the Longacre building. He calls in a few favors with the Korvosan Guard to get to visit both Lamm and his Arbiter, the infamous Zenobia Zenderholm. Lamm tells him that he was first on the scene, and he knows the signs of violence better than the law. He can describe the wounds and how she was killed. He’d like out, but he’d settle for not being killed. Corvin decides against trying to break him out. The Hanging Judge says the evidence against him is clear cut, and his decades of crime deserve the maximum punishment (torture and death). She can question him. She can have the torturers question him. She can try to delay the trial a few days to give Corvin some time, but that’s all she can manage for him. He thanks her and leaves. After looking into the murder of his mother, he learns that she was “savaged by an animal or something” and there was little investigation. No leads, no witnesses, nothing to go in. The nobles asked for her body immediately for a funeral. Corvin goes and seeks counsel from Voilena and Zaskia. Corvin decides against hiring an investigator. They discuss possible divinations, and decide to never tell Soug. Zaskia's Hypertime interlude at the Sanctuary of Shelyn. While attending the monthly “talent show” at the Sanctuary, Zaskia notices Amarina seems worried about something. Upon investigating, she learned that Amarina was worried about an old man she hadn’t seen since before the King died. He was an old, sad seeming man. He showed up every month and only seemed to smile during her solo. In fact, he was the main reason she sang a solo every month, to make him smile for a few minutes. Zaskia offered to investigate, and upon gaining the description, realized she was talking about Gaedrenn Lamm. Zaskia reluctantly brought Amarina up to speed on his situation. Amarina was shocked, but she felt as if she should visit him in jail, one last time. At Zaskia’s request, she agreed to speak to him on Corvn’s behalf. The party, minus Komara, return to Citadel Volshyenek, where their presence was requested yesterday. On arriving, they were shown in to
On reaching Eel’s End, the party split up to investigate. They made some money, and spent some time, eventually finding a drugged out man who’d seen the Ambassador head into Barvasi’s area once. At that point, the party sought entry. However they didn’t have an appointment, and the Enforcers were more loyal (scared of Barvasi) then they were hungry for bribes. They offered to take a letter to them if they’d provide one. After more time prevaricating, the party eventually wrote a letter requesting a meeting and passed it on with “postage”. They settled in to wait for a reply, gambling, whoring and sleeping. Soug played a game of Knivesies versus a penniless, desperate commoner whom she crushed. It was ok though, she bought him a 2CP beer before he left. Zaskia similarly trounced Adam the Face Stabber, a Duelist seeking reknown. After midnight when Barvasi’s guests left and the letter went in, our heroes retired to the “inn” one at a time for nights in cramped, safe beds. The next day they sought entry around noon, where they were told they were expected for dinner. So they return at dinner time and welcomed before the Throne of Spiders. Barvasi is entertaining a half dozen thugs, one of whom some of the party recognize as Lamm’s old employee Giggles. Corvin gives accounting of the group, so Barvasi agrees he might have something, and a game of Knivesies may help him remember. The party with their two Knivesies champions eagerly agreed. While they failed to agree internally who to send, Corvin jested that he would do it. Barvasi accepted, and soon enough a Thug and Corvin stood across from each other on a table. Corvin managed to succeed, and the thug was sent off in disgrace. Happy now, Barvasi agreed to sell the remaining letters for a mere 1,500 gold. The party angered him in their poor attempt to haggle him down. So he lowered his price to only 1,500 gold AND two victories in knivesies. So Soug battled with Giggles in Knivesies and became triumphant. Then Zaskia stepped forth for the final round. As the thugs argued about who would face the 6 foot Varisian with 4 inch nails, Giggles shoved them aside and competed again. While he made one or two attempts for coins, he was there for blood (though he’d rather have faced Komara) and he had leveled since last they fought. Zaskia still managed to win, knocking him out and off the table with only a single coin remaining. An amused Barvasi restated his terms. Zaskia agreed, on the condition that she also got the caged House Drake. Barvasi laughed, he’d never let his faithful pet go, not for less than 5 grand. When Zaskia expressed surprise at how much he liked his pet, Barvasi offered to show her how entertaining he could be. And so he called forth for a spider. Soon afterwards, a Dream Spider came up from downstairs. It crawled across the roof, down the chain and attacked the Drake. Although the cage provided cover both ways, Dream Spiders are terribly ineffective. The terrified Drake managed to get the upper hand, but before he could win, Zaskia ended the fight with a swing of her Bec de Corbin. Already angered when he heard the party’s whispering and seeing their avoidance of his trap door, Barvasi took this insult poorly. “Kill them all” And so the longest combat to date began. While the thugs shortly proved to be well outmatched, Barvasi’s lead off shot with a Hand Crossbow did a surprising amount of damage (with three dice of sneak attack). However, a timely Bec de Corbin critical and a Spiritual Weapon attack dropped him before he could engage with his blades or realize he needed help. Giggles put up something of a fight, but still injured from Knivesies, he went down as well. Two more thugs dropped almost immediately convinced the remaining two that they were out of their league, so they took Corvin’s advice and left. Screaming. At the top of their lungs. Right past the Enforcers. And four ships worth of people. Cue massive battle. One Enforcer arrived each round for the next full minute. The party had expended most of their healing in Knivesies. The following melee was active. Corvin dropped, Bella dropped, Soug dropped, Zaskia came close. Voilena was never hit between her armor and Harrow points. They were really missing Komora and his color sprays. Some of the downed were healed enough to get back in the fight. Voilena’s last Channel Energy got most of the party and two of the Enforcers back up. After a two hour battle, including Zaskia’s new familiar stealing Barvasi’s potions and feeding them to unconscious PCs, the party stood victorious. One Enforcer had tried to flee but was dropped in step, and he fell off the boat to the hungry reefclaws below. The final enforcer, seeing Barvasi’s body, fled, screaming to the rest of the boas. As the party struggled to get each other up, Eel’s End went mad with the Enforcers all down Barvasi supposedly dead. Fights broke out, braziers were knocked over. Made mad by the noise and violence above, four reefclaws managed to scale the Golden Dragon and went inside, ripping and tearing comatose customers. Upturned braizers caught lace and silk on fire, and the brothel boat started to blaze, as violence overcame the Twin Tigers. And so we called it for the week, as madness reigns.
Session 7, back off the rails Hypertime Interlude 3
Back off the Rails The group arrived at Citadel Volshyenek around noon, to assist/observe the prisoner transfer of Lamm from Volyshenek to the Long Acre Building. 12 prisoners are being transported, Lamm, the Cow Hammer Boys, Verik, two of the cutpurses who tried to mug them, and four people they didn't recognize. They 12 are secured in a barred wagon. The Wagon is driven by a Guard with a second riding Crossbow. The party falls in around the wagon, to make sure nothing awry happens. Then they notice someone behind them knocked to the side, then Soug is knocked to the side by an unseen person. And then the zombies begin to appear. Six zombies appear, two at a time, each closer then the last. As people start to react, they attack, and two more attack, breaking their invisibility. As soon as people engagae them, they hear three large cracks, as the portion of the cart connecting the horses to the wagon, the door lock, and Lamm's manacles each shatter. Presumably the two now-visible Pugwampi are part of the cause, and the Quickling that shows up shortly after was the rest. Combat ensues, as the Fast Zomblies continue their attack, the living are hampered by the pugwampi aura, the prisoners try to escape, and the fey menace everyone. Lamm vanished from the wagon, and Corvin slowed the prisoner's escape until Komara Color Sprayed the wagon. Three prisoners made it out of the cage, one of the cutpurses escaped, and a random cultist was murdered by the maniacal Quickling. Lamm tried to sneak away invisibly , but was ultimately caught via Detect Magic (darn his broken hip). Soug and Bella fell to the zombie assault, but they were rescued before they died. The Quickling was a nuisance, attacking those just healed, coup de gracing anyone left alone too long, and striking anywhere he pleased. An imp dropped by to harass them but didn't stay long. Eventually the PCs get everything under control and the Quickling departs in boredom, but not before telling Gaedrenn something about a Rolth's plan being almost good enough. The authorities arrived and, with the help of some House Drakes, brought the horses back. The party Mended the cart back together and everyone was off the Longacre. Once there, Gaedrenn implied to Corvin that he had one last card to play, info about his mother in return for getting him out of there. And with luck next week we'll make it to Eel's End at last.
Personally, I'd be thrilled for a little less base murder in my games. My party took Lamm alive and turned him over to Citadel Volshyenek. My recollection was Zellara wanted justice, and she didn't feel the guard would go capture Lamm. She was perfectly happy to have the law actually prosecute him once the party captured him. I made sure the Harrow showed the party would be deciding the future of Korvosa, for good and ill. I'm thrilled every time they make the actual good choice, instead of the easy choice. That said, I've taken this opportunity to make Lamm a much more active part of the game. The party just escorted Lamm and other prisoners from Volshyenek to the Longacre Building. Rolth organized a jailbreak which the party managed to stop, so Lamm make it to Longacre where he'll be tried and executed, barring intervention. I imagine his final fate will be found in Rolth's lair, since we all know how secure Longacre is.
Session 6 - Back on Track Hypertime part 2 Corvin's the only one early, so he gets his own brief encounter. He's patrolling the bookstore alone, and suddenly he finds himself on the second floor, sword in hand, covered in horribly smelly sparkly white powder with no idea how he got there. Bella trots in and looks at him in confusion.
After that last bit of nonsense, we returned to the Adventure Path as our heroes moved to investigate All the World's Meat. On the way they do some asking around, learning of the four Cow Hammer Boys and their mercenary ways, plus their giving away of meat and the fact no one's spotted Verik in a while. A few players notice that the Vancaskerkin family has shown up again. The adventurers theorize that the "villains" are doing mercenary work to pay for their free food program. They decide to talk it out and walk in and drop the "special cuts" line. So the Cow Hammer Boys close shop for a discussion. It soon becomes evident the heroes don't want to discuss any mercenary work, they want to discuss why these guys deserted. The Cow Hammer boys aren't interested in a discussion of their previous jobs, so when the invaders refuse to leave, they call up reinforcements. The party attacks them and drops three of them immediately with a Color Spray (since cover doesn't help versus CS). The fourth tries to run but is beaten down just outside the shop. Fearing that the locals won't abide by the attack on free food in this time of trouble, our heroes drag the last unconscious foe inside and shut the door, but not before they're spotted by a cutpurse (random encounter triggered by "did anyone see us") outside. Fortunately, the party had invested in saps before coming. While Zaskia and Komara set about making sure everyone was unconscious for a while, Verik dithered upstairs about whether to go downstairs or out the window, and Corvin and Soug decided to verify the rest of downstairs was clear. After a few more rounds, Verik introduced himself and showed why the AP wanted him fought solo. I underestimated how dangerous he would be at that level. He said hi from the top of the stairs with an arrow that bloodied Corvin, while yelling at them to get out of his shop. Corvin, Soug, and Bella then investigated everywhere else, leaving Verik to the others. Zaskia double moved to infront of Verik, forcing him to switch to the spear, which he then bloodies Zaskia with. Soug attepts to tumble past, fails, and becomes the only person Verik missed with an attack. Zaskia took away the spear, so Verik closed the door so he could retrieve his bow (I apparently added a door to the top of the stairs). They failed to dislodge him from blocking off the door after Voilena healed Zaskia. When they tried the next round they found Verik had pulled back to the other room and was firing more arrows from the choke point. He re-bloodies Zaskia. Finally Komara and Voilena try diplomacy, but a DC 32 is basically unreachable at 2nd level. Zaskia has been trying some talking and threatening, but only with free actions, so the much easier Intimidate is never attempted. And then Verik rolled a nat 20 and confirmed on the previously uninjured Voilena. I've got a "Get out of Death" free card I've been holding, but I can only use it once, so Verik rolled a shocking 1, 1, 1 on 3d8 (s0 that's why people use DM screens) and Voilena dropped off the minimum crit of 24 damage. At this point, the PCs removed their gloves. A Color Spray blinded and stunned Verik , with Soug considered to be acceptable collateral damage there, and the changeling sheathed her claws somewhere inside of Verik over two rounds wile they healed Voilena. They did refrain from killing him, though they never did question him. They looted the building hurriedly (missing the Cow Hammer Boy's misgotten gains, finding only people's gear, small casks of salt, a strange enchanted silver dagger they can't identify, and some paperwork from upstairs [old paperwork from the closed business which Verik was trying to compose a love letter on the back of]. The party loaded up the cart with five unconscious bodies and Komara and Zaskia commenced to pulling it back to Citadel Volshyenek. They trailed immediately by three curpurses, and eventually blocked off by another three (as the original random encounter ran off for reinforcements, knowing there's be loot available from whoever survived the battle with the mercenaries). The cutpurses tried to mug the party, first mentioning that they know the party must have walked out the with CHB's treasure, and they dropping the politeness. A battle ensures and the cutpurses learn they were very outmatched. One escapes, they rest are dropped, looted, and left to stabilize (or not) in the streets. Upon reaching Citadel Volshyenek, our heroes hand over the deserters and claim their rewards. Then they are told Gaedrenn Lamm is being transferred to the Longacre Building tomorrow and offered the opportunity to help escort the prisoner transport. The party happily agrees and go off to rest and level before tomorrow's busy day.
Session 5 - The Queen Awaits Session 5 (01-17-17) Synopsis by Zaskia Things are finally calming down a bit in Korvosa. The mobs that plagued our streets have become a general unease in the populace as everyone tries to brace themselves for what might develop at the start of Queen Ileosa’s reign. Oh, and food is in short supply. Yay! In any case, our intrepid explorers, the Party With No Name, took a detour to the Sanctuary of Shelton. There they met with Cesarina the gardener, who showed them about the place. After some searching, the owner of the recovered abalone shell holy symbol was discovered (the choir leader, Amarina). Our heroes availed themselves of the Shelynite’s knowledge of local artisans to get a recommendation for acquiring fancy duds to try to gain admittance to the castle to return the Queen's brooch. A short while later, our heroes were in the friendly confines of Fine Fittings, trying on clothes suited for much, much richer people. Even Soug found attire he could wear, squeezing into robes and a hat that could conceal his goblinoid features in the disguise of a very foreign dignitary. With clothing plans thus made, and makeup and nails done at the Sanctuary of Shelynite (much to the chagrin of Master Painter Lanliss) the next day, our heroes trekked over to see the Queen. At the castle, the reception was...almost like they were expected. Promptly let in, and marched up the many, many stairs, our heroes found themselves under the scrutiny of [Captain/Lady/Door Warden/The Queen's Bodyguard?] Sabina. She questioned them about their errand and intentions before escorting them to an audience with Queen Ileosa. Distraught over her husband's death and the unrest in her city, the Queen rewarded the party with a chest of gold ingots and a request that they consider other ways that they might assist the city in its time of need. Specifically, the City Guard. An escort was kindly offered, that they might immediately go to their assistance. Not looking forward to guard duty in their fancy clothes, the Party With No Name declined the escort, but offered their assistance in the near future. They were told to seek out Captain Cressida Croft. On their way back to Corvin’s apartment, they were accosted by a very drunk guard sergeant, one Grau Soldado. Mistaking Zaskia for a former school acquaintance (Neffie?), Grau got kinda handsy and was backhanded for his troubles. Then he proceeded to go off on both Voilena and Komara for ignoring the city in its peril and being part of the problem- going so far as to challenge Komara to a duel right there in the street. Fortunately, Komara declined to take exception to the drunken rambling, and defused the situation in a most self effacing manner. As the others tried and failed to get through to the despondent guardsman and finally gave up, Zaskia figured she'd try to get him to come around without everyone else crowding in. After a few more rounds and a bit more conversation Grau finally started to come around, and before long was headed off to a local hotel, escorted by Zaskia, to sleep it off. The next morning, the two returned to Corvin's apartment, and the whole team headed off to Citadel Volshyenek. There they met Guard Captain Cressida Croft, who commissioned them to retrieve an errant guardman, Varric Van Kaskerkan. Apparently Varric has some strong opinions about the Queen, and has convinced some fellow guardmen to desert their post and join him near Northgate at a shop called All the Worlds Meet. Or All the World's Meat. Or All the Worlds Mete. Stupid homophones. Group name options (anyone)? The Harrow Seekers
Session 5 - The Queen Awaits Here we enter our first moment of Hypertime. For those who show up early, I'm running a side plot, wherein Voilena Omoroi has a chance to make contact with members of the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye, the organization her moth belonged to. So whoever the first one to three people are, they are playing through this until the rest arrive. Voilena heads to Bookmaker, looking for a book on Osirioni to help her translate portions of her Grimoire. There she finds the book she needs, but it's our of her price range. Noticing Costa's flier looking for adventurers to take care of his "haunt" issue (from the Korvosa book), Voilena offers her assistance, plus those of her friends. Costa would have been suspicious of the three of them offering to spend the night in his shop, but he noticed that Voilena has a Palatine Eye worked into her clothes. So he agrees to their assistance. Costa's ex-partner in the Bookmaker was a member of the Esoteric Order, who returned to Ustalev some years ago. (I've reworked the Society Scenario The Veteran's Vault for this side quest, plus come up with a mystery investigation to cover Costa's Haunt issue). Voilena, Corvin and Zaskia investigate the bookshop. They find some diminuative foot prints of ink in a few spots across the shop. The Gunslinger uses her alchemy to determine the type of ink is unusual. While it's not high enough quality to count as Spellbook Ink, it's still higher quality than anything else Costa sells. Other than that, they basically get the lay of the land, learning that Costa's heard strange noises and found objects changing locations across the bookstore. Some of it happens at night, some during the day. The worst of the night sounds comes in waves, of some nights where it's terrible and some nights where's there's nothing, but he's never found anyone or thing. The Pharasmans say no ghosts, undead or haunts, and the Korvosan Guard didn't find anything either (I removed the new UG tunnel part). The trio spend the night, spread across the shop in four locations (with Bella), listening for trouble. Voilena falls asleep. Corvin feels Bella's excitement and beginning of a stalk through their empathic link. He heads over to help her, but before he gets to her, he feels her confusion, and then her settling down to look again. When he finds her, he tries talking to her, but she's confused. She never saw anything. A few hours later, Zaskia, on the second floor, hears movement and follows it. As she approaches, the tiny footsteps stop. After a few minutes, there's no more noise, so she investigates further, finding nothing but a petrified fern. Zaskia investigates for a while. In the morning, the three group up and discuss the night. After talking to Costa some more, they put the petrified fern into the pot they think it was taken from, head home and get some sleep. Zaskia picks up some backs of chalk powder, and our heroes return the bookstore for research and another night of investigation. Once more Bella seems to notice something and then forget about it, to Corvin's minor confusion. Once more Zaskia hears a noise, this time heading towards her. She lays in ambush, but the noise eventually stops. With the aid of the powder she's spread in an area on the second floor, she's able to find tiny little footprints (different from those made of ink from the previous day) which end at the same petrified fern from the previous day. She notices the part one part of the fern, the center part, has layers of chalk on it, while the other parts touching the ground where she found it only have a small amount. The group gathers to discuss, come to few conclusions and return to their original places. On doing so, Zaskia finds a crude drawing of a fern in the chalk near her starting point. Upon finding it, she makes a smart remark and hears giggles coming from a spot on the roof. She returns the fern to it's pot once more and finish off the night with no new clues. Hypertime Interlude over for now, back to the module Our heroes finally decide to visit the Queen to return her brooch, but first they go to the Sanctuary of Shelyn to return the Abalone Holy Symbol stolen from there. They return it to the Shelyn singer/priestess there and make friends with a number of people, and are offered favors and friendship as a reward. First they're told of a place where they can get appropriate clothing for meeting the Queen. They go to the Korvosan branch of "Fine Fittings" to buy fancy clothes and have them tailored. For most of them this is no big deal. For Soug it's a little more of an issue, as they need clothes which help disguise his Goblin nature. Eventually they buy and pay for their new clothes (at varying prices) with the understanding they'll pick them up tomorrow after the alterations are done. They spend the rest of the day shopping for appropriate jewelry and then head back to Corvin's apartment. On the way, they stop back at the Sanctuary of Shelyn, to see if they can get Zaskia's nails done (she's a Changeling). The finest artist they have seems somewhat reluctant and asks for a night to mull over possibilities. The next day they pick of their clothes. Komara is shown how to ratched a cleverly made turban onto Soug's head, thus helping to disguise Soug (along with foot tall shoes and a paddd set of robes) as a beardless, Dwarven Wizard. They return the Sanctuary and when Zaskia is led aware for make up and a manicure, the rest of the party gets their makeup down as well. Komara's having some problems as his Filth Fever from the spiderseeing madman from his dreams hicks in, but they're able to find him some alchemical remedies that will make him presentable for the Queen. The artist working on Zaskia's nails does an amazing job on them, and a new artform in Korvosa may have been born (surprisingly good roll). And so our heroes are off to Castle Korvosa, where they are welcomed with almost open arms and get to see the Queen with shocking ease. The Queen rewards them for the return of her brooch and asks them to aid the city. They agree and Sabina sends a runner to Citadel Volshyenek, while the party decides to return to Corvin's to change clothes first. On the way, the party is accosted by a drunken Grau Soldado, who think Zaskia is his old friend Neffi from Sandpoint. Zaskia punches his face in, at which point he notices Voilena. Grau was the helpful member of the Guard who testified as to the fisherman's lies in court, thus getting Dragos freed. Voilena tries to talk to him, but she's not rolling very well, so Grau is distracted by Komara and challenges him to an honor duel. The gothic noble-wannabe refuses the challenge, and after failing to get any traction, Grau wanders off elsewhere for a new drink. Fortunately, Zaskia takes pity on him and heads after him to make sure he's ok. She succeeds and takes him to an Inn to sober him up (thus keeping me from having to re-write the beginning of the next module). Soug shadows her (running into some Charlatans from whom she considers buying drugs, poisons, or cold remedies from) while the rest of the party retires for the evening. The next day, Zaskia, Soug, and the ashamed and repentant Grau meet up with the party. While the others talk inside, Grau has a random encounter in the streets with Drain Spiders (in a furthering of indicating the remaining dangers of the city, anyone in the party by themselves gets a random encounter roll when going somewhere by themselves) who he kills slowly, as they can barely hit him even 4 on 1. Grau then escorts them to Citadel Volyshenek where they were expected (yesterday). Grau turns himself in for desertion of duty and the party is shown in to Field Marshal Cressida Kroft. They agree to their first mission, and the players al receive organization sheets for the Korvosan Guard. Three of the players get their own additional organizations, but I couldn't think of anything for the other two (nor have they to date). Komara is part of the Church of Pharasma in his role as one of the Crows in Korvosa. Voilena will be joining the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye as soon as the subquest is complete. And Zaskia is part of the Wandering Varisians "organization".
|
