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The flurry of additional comments seemed to convince the vampiric Lady and she nodded her head at Thraag. "I would be honored to dance the Sunset Waltz with you, pr..." she glanced at Reine with a tiny smirk at the corner of her lips "Professor."
It took well over 20 minutes for the group to make their way through the throng to where they had last seen the merchant princess. They found the dark skinned woman in a knot of wealthy but not quite so ostentatiously dressed partygoers, all in deep conversation.
Unable to escape the thug's surprisingly skillful lock, Nargun instead slammed his hand into the man's side, nearly cracking his ribs.
DM rolls:
The man hooked his foot behind Nargun's ankle and whirled the off-balance dwarf around into the noxious cloud. The guard in the corner lunges at Whisper, burying his axe deep in the wolf's back. Pilts casts a spell on himself while using the guard's distraction to cannily evade the wolf's attacks. The executioner screams and struggles in the mass of writhing black arms but can't escape the painfully constricting tentacles.
Lady Splinterbone gave Reine a curious look before turning back to Thraag. "A wandering scholar? It's so rare to meet a learned man in these degenerate days. I am, however, unfortunately already spoken for for the Sunset Waltz. I would be delighted to show you around otherwise, though, 'Professor'."
The group returns to Ukshakka's dugout where she'd hidden her kayaks. It doesn't make for a very comfortable night but it is enough of a shelter to allow the group to eventually fall asleep and get some rest. Returning to Asvig Longthews' home, they find that while most of the thralls had run away all the non-enslaved servants had stayed and had cleaned up after the massacre. On seeing the murderers return, the workers take shelter in the kitchen, barring the door from the inside. The bodies could be found piled in the barn, likely awaiting a holy man to sanctify them before they were put on a blazing pyre themselves.
Lady Splinterbone looks taken aback at Reine's bluff and people in the crowd murmur to each other, apparently impressed. The tall, pale woman quickly recovers and gives Thraag a small nod of the head. "My apologies, my lord. Allow me to introduce myself, then. I am Lady Splinterbone, the Countess of Brittlewood. I do not believe we have had the pleasure of meeting before."
Info Gathering: Most people in the neighborhood think the Towers are abandoned. The elm tree visible in the courtyard that is visible over the wall is dead, probably from a lack of water.
Continual Flame spells light the windows and courtyard every night but most people think this is just a persistent magical effect like the force field. An invisible field of magical force surrounds and covers Kolat Towers. The field is paper-thin and stands just outside the outer wall of the estate, extending upward to contain the buildings in their entirety. Nothing can pass through the barrier. including air, fog, rain and snow. Creatures that don't realize the field is there bounce off it, with birds especially prone to striking it. The ground outside the field is regularly littered with the tiny corpses of birds that broke their necks hitting it and street cleaners come by every morning to sweep them up. There are no openings in the force field, which extends 1 foot underground. People have dug under the wall before but reported back that the Towers are magically locked. Also the neighborhood City Watch station is right across the street and people trying to dig under the force field are normally spotted before they manage to dig a big enough hole to burrow under the fence. With a 25 Gather Info (Sky+Declan AA) they find someone (Jolly Jen, female dwarf cleric of Olladra who runs the Temple of Good Cheer, a shrine to the goddess of fortune/underground off-books casino) who has been keeping a log of people going into the Towers. She says these people usually hold something up in front of them or touch their pocket or something at their neck and the front gate opens by itself and they just walk through the force field. Refer to this post for a likely related item the group looted from a Tarkanan torturer.
Lady Splinterbone, enamored or not with the dashing half-orc, does not seem charmed by a man who did not bother to introduce himself. "Well, I have been approached more coarsely in the past but I certainly didn't expect to be so here at the viscount's gala." The crowd gathered around her chuckled politely as if she'd scored a point in some unspecified game. "Who are you, my handsome, uncouth friend?"
Kolat Towers was in Southern Ward, in fact it was on Slop Street not very far from the Safehaven Inn where they'd tracked down Remallia Haventree's "missing" agent and the group's current hireling, Maxeene the talking horse. In spite of its name the neighborhood was upscale for transient Southern Ward, with a noble villa, several businesses catering to moneyed short-term visitors to the city, and a handful of taverns all within staggering distance of an expensive looking short term boarding house. Whie the rest of the neighborhood was well kept and expensive looking, Kolat Towers was a dilapidated, dual-towered walled compound. A 10 foot high wall with a single iron door in it surrounded the two towers, with the abandoned wizard's tower spiraling up into the air over the roofs of the neighboring buildings. The larger building had a squat block base 40 feet high with a tower that extended well over 120 feet into the air. The smaller tower stood apart but connected to the larger building by a bridge about 40 feet over the flagstone courtyard. This second tower was a mere 80 feet at its peak, bringing it in line with its tallest neighbors in the rest of the neighborhood. Walking past on a preliminary assessment, Declan and Skylar note the shimmer of an invisible field of magical force cutting the towers off from the rest of the neighborhood. There was even a dead bird on the ground, evidence that the invisible force field extended up well into the sky.
Lachen, having a thing or red_haired girls, looks around for Maudette
Spotting someone from the raised dais was one thing but the crowd moved chaotically and by the time they got to where Grimes had spotted Lady Splinterbone she had already moved. It took a few minutes of chatting to get the direction she'd moved in. The man Grimes was chatting up leaned in under the pretense of flicking a bit of webbing from the detective's shoulder. If Grimes could barely hear the man's warning over the din, it was certain no one else could overhear. The group made their way through the crowd and eventually reacquired Lady Splinterbone, the tall, pale woman standing taller than almost all the other woman in the crowd and taller than half the men. A song was just coming to an end and the man she'd been dancing with was giving her an elegant bow just as the dreamers walked up. She had a group of admirers standing around but gave the newcomers a onceover that came to a surprised halt when she saw Thraag . "My, my," she said. "Who knew this gala had such interesting guests?"
Pilts's reassurances to Whisper don't seem to convince the wolf, and Whisper snaps at the man. Whatever else he is, the would-be Emperor is very spry, and he dodges wolf teeth and zipping arrows with equal aplomb.
Artegall downs one of the guards and lets Pilts in on their mission.
The man looks oddly at Artegall for half a second; barely an acknowledgment but Artegall is pretty sure his message was received. "The Arkonas! Perfidy! Base villains!" Pilts's voice rises, somehow, and takes on a fuller tone, as though he is on stage. "You'll never take me alive, assassins!"
The Varki tracker speaks up. "If you have assassins coming after you, I know a place in Kalsgard we could go where anyone watching your inn wouldn't know to look for you. I stay at the shrine of Shelyn with a friend when I'm in town. There's enough space for you there."
The room was very crowded. From the dais, Grimes spotted a woman matching Lady Splinterbone's description and Reine someone matching Ardvin's.
....to find the vault where the stolen coin is hidden....
Whisper turns from dragging Jabbyr to the floor and leaps up on the would-be Emperor of Old Korvosa, trying but again failing to pull him to the ground too. As he dodges around the throne he yells "Why are you doing this!? I gave you what you wanted!" Artegall studies and strikes at the nearest active foe (Berry Red). Seeing the executioner nearby, he stays on his guard . With a moment's study, Artegall finds a hole in the thug's defenses and skewers him through the heart. He topples to the floor like a statue shoved off a plinth.
A mass of huge, writhing black tentacles suddenly burst out of the floor all over the southeastern corner of the room, completely smothering the executioner as she lay facedown on the floor.
Nargun slashes hard into the guard who had stumbled out of the cloud but doesn't put him down. Pilts continues to duck, dodge, and weave away from the attacks coming his way. "You people are crazy! I helped you! What do you want!? Money? I have money, you can have it!" DM rolls:
The guards still on their feet rush Nargun, one grabbing and the others chopping with their axes. Pilts carefully backs away along the wall, saying "Nice doggy, good doggy," to Whisper. Deep under the pile of tentacles, the halfling screams but can't manage to burst out of the magical effect.
Loot:
4x each:
leather armor, dagger, masterwork shortbow with 20 arrows, masterwork siangham, shinobi shozoku, jade raven statuette (worth 50 gp), masterwork thieves’ tools Searching the bodies, the attackers are revealed to be Tian men and women, though there is nothing else to further identify them. DC 20 Knowledge (local) check: You recognize the jade raven statuettes carried by each of the ninja as a symbol of the Frozen Shadows, a guild of thieves and assassins in Kalsgard.
"Lady Splinterbone is a stunningly beautiful woman with dark hair, red lips, and an elegant, clinging black dress." "Ardvin is a thin, dark-skinned woman with short, curly dark hair and a bright yellow sunburst on her chest." "Maudette is a small, perfect doll of a woman with lavish red curls in a green velvet dress." "I do not know where any of them are at the moment but I'm sure you will be able to find them. None of them are easy to miss."
Adrian jumps down and hits the ninja solidly once. DM rolls:
Defying all reason and sense of self-preservation, the lone remaining ninja stays and continues fighting. He leaps, spins, and slashes Byron hard enough to draw blood but not do much damage.
Viscount Brellin at first leaned away from Hannah but something about her manner convinced him. And then... something happened. The entire gala other than the party froze in place for a moment as Hannah reached out and put her hands on the viscount. Even the viscount stopped moving- stopped breathing, stopped everything even down to the tiniest eye movement and heartbeat as far as Hannah could tell- as the air around him warped, like a heat shimmer on the horizon in the desert. When Hannah stood up, the viscount blinked. Everyone down on the dance floor started moving again. "I... you what?" His breathing came easily, with no sign of the congestion he'd had before. His voice was higher, lighter now that it was free of the disgusting mucus that had been clogging his throat. No one other than the party seemed to notice that anything strange had happened. "I feel so strange." He shook his head and looked at Grimes. "My signet ring? I wouldn't normally let anyone, uh..." The viscount drifted to a stop, clearly confused. He shook his head again before focusing back on Grimes. "Ah. Um. Yes." "Well," he said, glancing with something approaching reverence at Hannah "I suppose if you can do me a small favor, I can let you have one of my signet rings." The viscount leaned forward and gestured for the strangers to lean in, too. "I have a somewhat embarrassing little task perfect for some outsiders no one knows. You see, the most prestigious dance at the ball is the Sunset Waltz, and of course many would like to dance it with me. But I have just learned that my beloved will be arriving at the ball just in time for the dance." "Unfortunately, I promised someone else. A few someones, in point of fact. If you can discreetly and quietly break off my engagements with those three women, I'll see that you have a signet ring to take with you once I receive their acknowledgments. It is Lady Splinterbone, Miss Ardvin Telgriette, and a woman I met earlier named Maudette." "Do you agree?" If the Sunset Waltz was to take place at sunset as the name implied, it was imminent. The golden light streaming in the windows said sunset was not far away. Kn: Planes, DC 15 or Perception, DC 18: Either through planar knowledge or simple observation you know that due to Celephais’s unusual timelessness, the PCs have as much time to accomplish these tasks as they would like. Sunset seems only moments away, but the PCs can take several hours, if necessary, to deliver the viscount’s regrets and receive the proper acknowledgments.
Zaraleva steps up and heals Byron, arrows falling to the ground as re-knit flesh pushes them out of his body. Lyraesel slashes her opponent and trips him to the deck, then leaps on him and rips out his throat with her teeth.
Byron steps past Lyraesel and her bloody maw and past her savaged opponent to cut the head off Adrian's kicking bag. Aiko lightly dodged around Lyraesel and her prey and tagged the archer past Byron's shoulder. At this point a sane opponent would retreat but the last remaining ninja looked like he had no intention of leaving.
Hannah could think of any number of things that could be ailing the viscount, though his otherwise healthy presentation made it a bit of a challenge. The viscount shook his head. "A trifle. Nothing you need to worry yourselves about." With another terrible hacking cough he chokes up another wad of black phlegm and tosses away another ruined handkerchief full of greasy black gunk. From atop the elevated dias, Thraag and Grimes both witness partygoers being yanked violently into the darkness high overhead. As before, the people they had just been talking to smoothly pivot to another conversation with barely a ripple of reaction. "Fed on?" The viscount laughs. "Oh you mean they're feeding well! Well of course, we have only the best refreshments at my gala. Have you had the opportunity to try anything? Though I am sure the things you have in your Lundun are different from what we have here. What sorts of drinks do your people have at parties, Sir Grimes?"
Abandoning the dwarf to his compatriots, the Trollskullers (and Skylar) head back uptown to North Ward to go over what they'd learned. Most importantly, it seemed that the Tarkanans were holed up at Kolat Towers in Southern Ward and they had acquired what appeared to be a key through the tower's legendary perpetual force field.
DM rolls:
Zaraleva's magically summoned water douses the last of the flames. The masked ninjas give no response to her offer- or threat, depending on how you looked at it. Lyraesel rips into the ninja in front of her, knocking him to the ground and ripping into his arm as he tries to defend himself. Byron chops into his target, dropping the ninja with his powerful blow. The archer dodges Adrian's kick from atop the funeral bier but can't get out of the way of the follow-up blow. That one drops their bow and pulls out another of the strange weapons. Another arrow hits Byron, doing some damage but barely any compared to what he's already endured. Lyraesel's opponent hops neatly back to his feet but can't hit her with his short one-handed sickle. Adrian has less luck as he maneuvers atop the funeral pyre, as his opponent manages to slice up one of his legs.
I don't normally include NPC party followers in combat unless the party really needs help. Do you need her?
Mirela takes down the guard in the corner with a pair of arrows. Whisper tries to bite the Emperor of Old Korvosa but can't quite manage to catch him. Artegall steps up and chops hard into the nearest guard. Cynara casts a spell and a cloud of stinking gas blocks off the entrance to the north. Nargun smashes past Pilts defenses, drawing blood from the would-be Emperor. He nimbly dances a few steps away, muttering a few words to summon a handful of exact duplicates surrounding him in a cackling, capering crowd. Artegall's opponent feints high and attacks low. Stumbling out of Cynara's cloud, coughing and eyes streaming with tears, come 2 of the guards from the north, one along the wall and the other staggering in between Nargun and Pilts. DM rolls:
Surprising everyone, the executioner screams a bloodcurdling cry and throws herself at Cynara with an enormous greataxe in her hands.
Happy New Year!
Zaraleva douses half the fire with magically summoned water. Lyraesel, Aiko, and Adrian rush the front of the ninja line but none are able to tag the nimble shadow warriors. Byron has better luck after taking a few seconds to study his fighting style, making solid contact with his opponent. DM rolls:
The archers behind the front line continue to be excellent shots, both sinking arrows into Byron's flesh while he and Lyraesel fend off the strange Minkaian weapons of the two in front with ease.
The servant looked blankly at Hannah. "His condition, madam?" It appeared that the viscount's cough was to be ignored just as completely as the horrors on the ceiling. As the other introduced themselves, the man's face broke into a smile. "Oh! Visitors! The viscount adores meeting strangers to the city! I will announce you immediately!" He hustled up the stairs and murmured a few words in the viscount's ear. The lavishly dressed nobleman broke into a smile and looked down at the group, hacking up another glob of phlegm and mucus into a handkerchief as he gestured for them to approach. Urbane and handsome, he looked the picture of health except for the tar-like phlegm that stained his chin and the front of his fine clothing with a crusty smear. "Hello, hello! I am told you are visitors to our fair city. From Lon-down? Where is that?"
I got some surprise guests in town and am taking off some time from work to show them around. I’ll try to get on the computer but probably won’t be able to post til Friday.
I got some surprise guests in town and am taking off some time from work to show them around. I’ll try to get on the computer but probably won’t be able to post til Friday.
I got some surprise guests in town and am taking off some time from work to show them around. I’ll try to get on the computer but probably won’t be able to post til Friday.
I got some surprise guests in town and am taking off some time from work to show them around. I’ll try to get on the computer but probably won’t be able to post til Friday.
Artegall stabs one of the guards and Whisper charges Pilts but doesn't manage to drag the man out of his would-be throne. Even surprised, the mob leader is impressively spry. Nargun rushes in with a huge overhand chop, taking Pilts in the side as he scrambles to get away from the invaders. "Kill them!" he screams. Cynara tries to put the guard to sleep and one does slump to the floor but the wounded man resists. DM rolls:
Between Eyve and Tweety's beating, Declan's snowball arrow was almost an afterthought. In control of the body or not, apparently the symbiont couldn't sustain it through that much gross physical trauma. Ott Ten-eyes went down in a heap almost exactly where he had lain ten seconds before.
It took a few minutes to get through the crush of bodies around the dance floor and the group caught snippets of several banal conversations- the assembled nobles and wealthy merchants and other rich folk spoke of fashion, the opera, mundane events happening around the city. Nothing of any substance was being discussed, not even the Viscount's severe and disgusting cough and definitely not the situation on the ceiling. Even when a conversation partner was ripped out directly out of a conversation, their neighbors smoothly moved on as if they'd never been there. Arriving at the southern end of the party several minutes later, the group was met by a well dressed (if much less ostentatious) servant at the foot of the stairs. "May I have your introductions?" Of course he would ask for their names and titles before introducing them to the Viscount.
DM rolls:
As Byron rushes them, the two closest ninjas whip out thick stabbing implements that Aiko might recognize but none of the others would , defending themselves expertly as they retreat in good order away from the heroes. One stabs him in the vitals as a pair of arrows streak in past the front two's shoulders.
Thraag motions and a piece of debris flies out to hit the strange dwarf-creature.
Flying debris and magical orbs streaked through the bars and slammed into the prone dwarf's side, making him jerk with each impact but not flinch or try to protect himself the way a normal person would. The dwarf flipped himself over onto his stomach and pushed himself to his feet in an utterly unnatural couple of motions, like a puppet on a string and with his 2 normal eyes still closed. He turned and rushed Eyve, one of his eyestalks flashing another ray at her. Kn:Arcana or Dungeoneering DC 20:
Once the symbiont is subdued the first time, the symbiont will usually act cowed, subjecting itself to the users wishes. However, the symbiont may try to take over its hosts mind again if the host is especially weakened, or if the host tries to do something not in the best interest of the symbiont, like remove it or attack another symbiont. When the symbiont gains dominance, the symbiont is in full control of the host’s actions, though it usually becomes apparent that the host is no longer in control of his or her body.
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