Tisha:
Go ahead, ask for a reimbursement of your expenses. Zellara urges you.
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"The ambassador." Zellara jokingly suggests. "I have no idea."
If we are going for illusions, why take cheap ones?
[b]"Ok, how's this sound for a plan. I go in alone as a customer looking for some meat. Give me a minute or so to shop, and then you guys tromp in looking for trouble. ... The meat is sold through the window to customers on the outside in the morning. Only the special business was handled inside. Zellara comments to Tisha.
"Good evening gentlemen, good to have you here. Please take a seat and let me tell you why I need you here." Zellara greets the two guards and offers them to sit at the small round table. Once they sit, she continues. "As you can see, I'm in the business of telling the future, and lately that led to a really good outcome for one of my customers, but at great expense of someone else. And that someone else is not happy about that." "I've seen some unpleasant things come my way in my future, and I'd rather not face them on my own. Can't tell the day or the hour, so I decided some guarding all around the clock is the sensible thing to do. But my regular staff has to sleep some time, and that's where you come in." "At least until the riots have died down. They make a perfect cover for all kind of evil doing and keep the city guard busy. So I hope it won't be more than a week - your tarriff is fair, but it is still adding up quickly - until everything is back to normal and I can count on the neighbours and the city guard to keep this area safe. But until then, your job would be to keep an eye out on the road, and the other one stay in talking distance to prevent some scheming criminal who wants payback to catch me by surprise - or catch me at all."
"Hihi. I think you forget, that you are the evil scheming one here."
Sure thing.
Ever been to the castle before Zellara? Hehe, no.
This is a big city, why would you want to know everyone? And important is a very subjective term. There are the officials, that you won't miss when you meet them. For everything else important depends on what you're after.
"Probably someone ransacked my home. It has been a few weeks since I was murdered. And probably Gaedren and his crew did it."
"I can read it, but I'm no bookkeeper."
You hold a card of the deck to your forehead .
Yes, but only in a very limited range.
"Yes." Zellara replies to Tish.
"No." Zellara replies. "I can do this illusion, identify magic and do readings with the deck." "And when I'm not doing this kind of appearance I can talk to the mind of the one who carries me."
Zellara smiles her brightest smile "It's magic." Then she goes on to tell - others might say fabulate - about you becoming heroes in the changes to come, about a fight good vs. evil, and a long journey and hard choices that will decide if you'll come out victorious. It sounds not as concise and decided as the information about Gaedren was, and more what you'd expect from a soothsayer. A sceptic may object that you'll be able to match that foretelling to a lot of things in retrospect. But it points in a direction that doesn't sound like your current day to day life. Seeing the sceptic looks she adds "You can't see the future as you can see today. The future isn't decided yet and so everything you see is blurred."
Zellara looks, and if you dare touch her feels real. "There is no son. And I'm no ghost. I care a lot about Korvosa, if you're asking for unfinished business." "The harrow deck was my life. Everything revolved around it. And now that my body was fed to the croc and my rotting head put in a box, the deck is my body. This..." she tells, pointing at herself "is magic that I - the deck - can do." "But as for leaving this plane of existence, I don't see why I should. And you would do well to take me along. As you for sure can use some help in what lies before you." "As for what is happening... King Edored is dead. And not everyone is happy with Queen Ileosa claiming the throne." Detect Magic on the Deck: You are overwhelmed by the powerful magic.
Out of thin air Zellara appears in the room. "Welcome back and congratulations on removing Gaedren from Korvosa. And thank you for retrieving my Harrow Deck." "Last time we met, I left out a little detail - that I tried to retrieve the deck myself and failed horribly. But as fate has it, I am the harrow deck now." "I imagine you might have some questions?"
Are you questioning me? :P
"Anyway, an old fishery north of here, at Westpier 17. And be careful not to be eaten by his pet crocodile." "That's all the help I can offer for now. But if you are willing and able to solve this problem we share and you have found my readings to be helpful, I offer you to do that in the future for you for other occasions too." Before someone sceptical asks the obvious question Zellara adds "For free."
Zellara closes her eyes, puts her fingers of both hands on her temples and concentrates. "I sense a lot of skepticism in this room." She opens her eyes again and smirks at Ernhild.
Zellara draws a card "Tisha... the Locksmith. This endeavour will be a key to a new destiny for you." Another card "Narciso... the Peacock. The out come will lead to a sudden shift in your personal life." Third "Briggi... the Juggler. Fate is on your side." Fourth "Ernhild... the Dance. You'll manage to stay in harmony with your morals and values." Then she lays out a spread. The Demon's Lantern, The Foreign Trader, The Bear. "In the past, you have been led out of dark places by a guiding light, you decided to make an informative pact, and learned that brute force is way to reign for good or for bad." "In the present, The Teamster, The Trumpet, The Big Sky. You feel a driving external pressure, but you make a declaration power. But there is the danger of new shackles, that replace the old." In the future... The Rakshasa, The Mute Hag, The Twin. Enslavement will be shaken off. A dangerous blood pact will be sealed and dark secrets will lead to despair. But you can turn the tides, for better or for worse."
Harrow Point use: In “Edge of Anarchy,” the PCs are faced with numerous
situations where they need to be quick on their feet or skilled with their hands. During this chapter, a character can spend his Harrow Points in the following ways. Dexterity Rerolls: A PC can spend a Harrow Point to reroll an initiative check, Reflex save, attack roll modified by Dexterity, or Dexterity-based check. The PC must abide by the new result (although if he has additional Harrow Points, he can use them for additional rerolls). Dodge Bonus: A PC can spend a Harrow Point to gain a +1 dodge bonus to his Armor Class for one encounter. He can spend up to 3 Harrow Points per encounter to increase his Armor Class in this manner. Speed Increase: A PC can spend a Harrow Point to increase his base speed by 10 feet for one encounter.
"You don't have to trust me. I tell you what I know, all the information I have and I can do a harrow reading for you to tell you what will come of this." Zellara replies. "No promises from me, no obligations on you. I only ask, that you put an end to a horrible person, I know you despise." "I'd appreciate it a lot if you joined, but if you think it is a set up of any kind, you're free to leave. I have no way to prove anything to you at this point."
"You read the sign at the door? I'm good at what I'm doing."
After Briggi entered too, an attractive middle-aged Varisian woman with long, dark hair enters from the street after him. "Thank you, for accepting my invitation." She nods to each of the persons present to greet them by name. "Ernhild, Tisha, Narciso, Briggi, ... I'm Zellara." She produces a set of Harrow Deck from the pocket of her coat and shuffles the cards idly. the cards seem to float and dance through
"Again, thank you for coming, my friends, and for putting up with my unconventional method of contacting you. I have reason to remain hidden, you see — a vicious man would see great harm done to me if he knew I was reaching out for help. This man has done something terrible to each of you as well. I speak, of course, of Gaedren Lamm, a man whose cruelty and capacity to destroy the lives of those he touches are matched only by his gift for avoiding reprisal. You see, a year ago, his thieves stole this, my harrow deck, from me. It is important to me, an heirloom passed down through a dozen generations, and also my sole means of support. When Lamm’s pickpockets stole it, my son Eran tracked them down and returned my deck to me." "But Gaedren had him followed, and soon after he left my home, Gaedren’s thugs murdered him. I sought help from the Korvosan Guard, but they turned me away. And so I asked around. I paid bribes. I consulted my harrow deck for advice. And recently, I was rewarded — I found out where Gaedren dwells. He can be found in an old fishery north of here, at Westpier 17, where he trains abducted children to be pickpockets and counts his stolen treasures." "But I need your help. I cannot hope to face this man on my own, and the Guard moves so slowly that if they were willing to help, Gaedren would certainly know of their coming well in advance. And even if they arrested him, what guarantee would I have he would be punished? This criminal has evaded the law for decades. But you know of these frustrations as well, for word on the street has it that Gaedren has wronged each of you, too. So there we are. It is time for him to pay." She looks at each of you to see if there is the determination to follow through with this. "Are you in?" |